January 26th, 1998President Bill Clinton denies having an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never. These allegations are false.”

Yet, months later, Clinton finally does acknowledge that he did have relationship with Lewinsky. The House of Representatives impeaches Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice over the scandal, but Clinton is acquitted by the Senate the following year, and he finishes the rest of his term in office.

1788The first European settlers in Australia, the British expedition including hundreds of convicts land in present day Sydney.

1880General Douglas Macarthur is born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Macarthur commanded US forces in the Pacific during World War II and round the postwar allied occupation of Japan. He also led American troops under the UN banner during the early months of the Korean War.

1961Wayne Gretzky, considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time, is born in Ontario, Canada.

And 1988Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical "The Phantom of the Opera" opens in New York. In 2006, it leaps past "Cats", another Lloyd Webber musical to become the longest running show in Broadway history.

Today in History, January 26th, Mike Garcia, the Associated Press.