Today is Monday, Jan. 22, the 22nd day of 2018. There are 343 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On Jan. 22, 1968, the fast-paced sketch comedy program “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” premiered as a weekly series on NBC-TV.

On this date

In 1498, during his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrived at the present-day Caribbean island of St. Vincent.

In 1901, Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81 after a reign of 63 years; she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII.

In 1908, Katie Mulcahey became the first — and only — woman to run afoul of New York City’s just-passed ban on females smoking in public establishments. (Mulcahey served a night in jail after refusing to pay a $5 fine; the law, which did not specify any fines, ended up being vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.)

In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson, in an address to Congress, pleaded for an end to the war in Europe, calling for “peace without victory.” (By April, however, America also was at war.)

In 1922, Pope Benedict XV died; he was succeeded by Pius XI.

In 1938, Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” was performed publicly for the first time in Princeton, New Jersey.

In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.

In 1953, the Arthur Miller drama “The Crucible,” set during the Salem witch trials, opened on Broadway.

— The Associated Press