January 12, 1959 (Monday)
- The Caves of Nerja were discovered in Spain by five boys who wanted to go hunting for bats. The cave, blocked by stalactites, had been sealed for more than 3,000 years and was a trove of Paleolithic artifacts.
- In the largest mass execution of former officials since Castro's victory, Cuban communists shot 71 supporters of Fulgencio Batista over a seven hour period, then buried them in a mass grave.
- A Lufthansa jet crashed at Rio de Janeiro, killing 36.
- Born: Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter and Roxette guitarist; in Halmstad
Read more about this topic: January 1959
Famous quotes containing the word january:
“Here lies interred in the eternity of the past, from whence there is no resurrection for the days—whatever there may be for the dust—the thirty-third year of an ill-spent life, which, after a lingering disease of many months sank into a lethargy, and expired, January 22d, 1821, A.D. leaving a successor inconsolable for the very loss which occasioned its existence.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)