Today in History: January 20

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – On this day in Bahamian history, Roger Smith, retired professional tennis player, was born in Freeport, Grand Bahama, in 1964.

Smith played both singles and doubles tennis.

As a singles player, he was the highest-ranking Bahamian on the ATP circuit, 96 to be exact. As a doubles player has ranked number 73.

At the Grand Slam level, the furthest he reached was the third round at the United States tennis open as a singles player, and as a doubles player, he reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 1990.

Smith represented The Bahamas in Davis Cup in 1994 and the summer Olympic games in 1996.

Also on this day in 2002, the cornerstone of the new St. Anslem’s Church was laid in Fox Hill. The church was completed and dedicated one year later, in March 2003.

On January 20, 1981, the lowest recorded temperature for New Providence occurred, temperatures got down to a cold of 41.4ºF.

In 1959, suffragettes called on the governor and presented him with a petition to be forwarded to the Colonial Office in London. Suffragettes pictured at Government House gate are in front from left to right: Doris Johnson, Mary Ingraham, G.K. Symonette and Eugenia Lockhart. And in the back row: Mildred Donaldson, Shirley Sands, Madam Willa Mae Saunders and Marion Stuart.

On this day in 1979, The Nassau Guardian promoted the visit of Pope John Paul II.

On January 25, the then  pope started his first official visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico.

During his reign, Pope John Paul II (“the Pilgrim Pope”) made 104 foreign trips, more than all previous popes.

In 2012, Senator John Delaney, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs accompanied by Permanent Secretary Archie Nairn, toured the new remand court facilities at Her Majesty’s Prisons.

At the time, it was said the new court would make it unnecessary for the prison buses to race through the streets to take prisoners to and from remand hearings at the courts downtown.

In  2013, officials of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation launched a full investigation into another oil spill off of Pinder’s Point in Grand Bahama.

They claimed the oil slick, the second in months involving The Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) was no longer visible. BORCO said that a pipeline was the source of the spill. It contained oily residue caused by the decommissioning of several pipelines.

Finally, in 2021, American President Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States.

He defeated Donald Trump in the November 6, 2020 election.

However, trump supporters staged an insurrection on the capital on January 6, which put Washington on high alert, making this inauguration the most heavily guarded in history.

Our Jerome Sawyer reported from Washington that night, giving Bahamian audiences a unique perspective on the events of that day.