Saturday 28 January 2012, 06:23:58

Does time loop?

28 January 814: Charlemagne, king of the Franks since 768 and emperor of the Romans since 800, dies in Aachen aged around 70.

28 January 1225: Thomas Aquinas, Italian Dominican priest, is born in the castle of Roccasecca 8 km north of Aquino on or around this day.

28 January 1393: King Charles VI of France escapes death and four of his closest friends die when their costumes catch fire at a masquarade ball in the Hôtel Saint-Pol in Paris, making the already mentally weak king lose his mind.

28 January 1547: Henry VIII, king of England since 1509, dies in London at 55.

28 January 1728: “The Beggar's Opera” by John Gay premieres at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London, running for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time.

28 January 1807: Pall Mall in London becomes the first street lit by gaslighting.

28 January 1871: Paris surrenders after being besieged in the Franco-Prussian War for four months.

28 January 1933: In Cambridge, Punjab-born Rehmat Ali publishes the pamphlet “Now or Never” about a Muslim nation in India, coining the name of Pakstan by combining letters from Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh and Balochistan.

28 January 1958: The Lego brick is patented.

28 January 1986 : The space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after takeoff, killing its crew of seven (probably only when their module crashes into the ocean several minutes later).