January 27, 1984 -  Pop-singer Michael Jackson had his hair accidentally catch fire while filming a commercial for Pepsi. The fire started when a spark from the pyrotechnics landed on Jackson's head. Unaware of the fact that his hair was burning, Jackson continued performing for more than ten seconds before the crew rushed in to douse the flames. The commercial was filmed in front of a full house of fans in a simulated concert at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Jackson suffered second-degree burns and had to undergo treatments to hide the scars on his scalp. The incident is blamed for Jackson's subsequent addiction to pain pills. Footage of the accident can be seen here, while the commercial itself can be viewed here.

January 30, 1835 -  Richard Lawrence, a deranged man who believed he was King Richard III of England, attempted to assassinate President Andrew Jackson by firing two pistols at his back. Both pistols misfired, and several people, including Congressman Davy Crockett and President Jackson himself, subdued Lawrence by wrestling him to the ground. This was the first assassination attempt on a President of the United States. Lawrence allegedly believed that the U.S. government owed him a large sum of money and that Jackson was preventing him from receiving it. He also blamed Jackson for the death of his father, even though his father had died nine years earlier in England having never traveled to America. At the trial for the attempted murder the prosecuting attorney was Francis Scott Key, author of The Star-Spangled Banner. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the rest of his life in various institutions for the mentally insane.

February 1, 2003 -  The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. Subsequent investigations determined that the cause of the accident occurred during launch when a briefcase-sized piece of foam insulation broke off the Space Shuttle's external tank. The debris struck the leading edge of the left wing, damaging the shuttle's thermal protection system. During reentry the damaged area allowed hot gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, rapidly causing the break-up of the entire space craft. Debris from the Space Shuttle was strewn across parts of Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

Side Note

  
Four U.S. Presidents have been assasinated while in office. The most well-known are the assasinations of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, but did you know that James A. Garfield and William McKinley were also murdered during their service?