The Chinese scattered firecrackers around the house – why?

• 393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
• 971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
• 1264 – In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons’ War.
• 1368 – In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
• 1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
• 1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.
• 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.
• 1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.
• 1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
• 1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
• 1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.).
• 1793 – Second Partition of Poland.
• 1795 – After an extraordinary charge across the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of a battle between ships and cavalry.
• 1846 – Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.
• 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States’ first female doctor.
• 1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ends.
• 1899 – The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first President.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.
• 1904 – Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
• 1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.
• 1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
• 1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
• 1937 – The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin’s regime.
• 1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan’s invasion of Australia’s Territory of New Guinea.
• 1943 – World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.
• 1945 – World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
• 1950 – The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
• 1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee”.
• 1958 – After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.
• 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is overthrown.
• 1963 – The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese army stationed in Tite.
• 1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
• 1967 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
• 1967 – Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.
• 1968 – USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by naval forces of North Korea.
• 1973 – United States President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
• 1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
• 1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
• 1998 – Netscape announced Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.
• 2001 – Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Communist Party of China to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.
• 2002 – U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.
• 2003 – A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.
• 2018 – A 7.9 M_w  earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.
• 2018 – A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds “dozens” of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.

Births on January 23

• 599 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 649)
• 1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
• 1378 – Louis III, Elector Palatine (d. 1436)
• 1514 – Hai Rui, Chinese politician (d. 1587)
• 1585 – Mary Ward, English Catholic Religious Sister (d. 1645)
• 1622 – Abraham Diepraam, Dutch painter (d. 1670)
• 1719 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1790)
• 1737 – John Hancock, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1793)
• 1745 – William Jessop, English engineer, built the Cromford Canal (d. 1814)
• 1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1832)
• 1780 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (d. 1827)
• 1783 – Stendhal, French novelist (d. 1842)
• 1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French-Russian architect, designed Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and Alexander Column (d. 1858)
• 1799 – Alois Negrelli, Tyrolean engineer and railroad pioneer active in the Austrian Empire (d. 1858)
• 1809 – Surendra Sai, Indian activist (d. 1884)
• 1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian novelist and activist (d. 1895)
• 1828 – Saigō Takamori, Japanese samurai (d. 1877)
• 1832 – Édouard Manet, French painter (d. 1883)
• 1833 – Muthu Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1879)
• 1838 – Marianne Cope, German-American nun and saint (d. 1918)
• 1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist and engineer (d. 1905)
• 1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist and mathematician (d. 1915)
• 1855 – John Browning, American weapons designer, founded the Browning Arms Company (d. 1926)
• 1857 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian meteorologist and seismologist (d. 1936)
• 1862 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1943)
• 1862 – Frank Shuman, American inventor and engineer (d. 1918)
• 1872 – Paul Langevin, French physicist and academic (d. 1946)
• 1872 – Jože Plečnik, Slovenian architect, designed Plečnik Parliament (d. 1957)
• 1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
• 1878 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
• 1880 – Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, Mexican politician (d. 1967)
• 1889 – Claribel Kendall, American mathematician (d.1965)
• 1894 – Jyotirmoyee Devi, Indian author (d. 1988)
• 1896 – Alf Blair, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1944)
• 1896 – Alf Hall, English-South African cricketer (d. 1964)
• 1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian activist and politician (d. 1945)
• 1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
• 1897 – Ieva Simonaitytė, Lithuanian author (d. 1978)
• 1897 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (d. 1989)
• 1898 – Georg Kulenkampff, German violinist (d. 1948)
• 1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
• 1898 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (d. 1978)
• 1899 – Glen Kidston, English race car driver and pilot (d. 1931)
• 1900 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh organist and conductor (d. 1988)
• 1901 – Arthur Wirtz, American businessman (d. 1983)
• 1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Minister of National Education of Colombia (d. 1948)
• 1905 – Erich Borchmeyer, German sprinter (d. 2000)
• 1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (d. 1968)
• 1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
• 1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (d. 1953)
• 1912 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian director and manager (d. 2009)
• 1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, Algerian-French painter (d. 1960)
• 1913 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (d. 2007)
• 1915 – Herma Bauma, Austrian javelin thrower and handball player (d. 2003)
• 1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian-Barbadian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
• 1915 – Potter Stewart, American lawyer and judge (d. 1985)
• 1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photographer and journalist (d. 2018)
• 1916 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (d. 1979)
• 1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• 1918 – Florence Rush, American social worker and theorist (d. 2008)
• 1919 – Frances Bay, Canadian-American actress (d. 2011)
• 1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian biologist and diver (d. 2013)
• 1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host (d. 1962)
• 1919 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (d. 1996)
• 1920 – Gottfried Böhm, German architect
• 1920 – Henry Eriksson, Swedish runner (d. 2000)
• 1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (d. 2010)
• 1922 – Leon Golub, American painter and academic (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 2016)
• 1923 – Horace Ashenfelter, American runner (d. 2018)
• 1923 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American soldier and author (d. 1996)
• 1924 – Frank Lautenberg, American soldier, businessman, and politician (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Marty Paich, American pianist, composer, producer, and conductor (d. 1995)
• 1926 – Bal Thackeray, Indian journalist, cartoonist, and politician (d. 2012)
• 1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (d. 1994)
• 1927 – Fred Williams, Australian painter (d. 1982)
• 1928 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (d. 2017)
• 1929 – Myron Cope, American journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Phillip Knightley, Australian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2016)
• 1929 – John Polanyi, German-Canadian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1930 – Filaret, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan
• 1930 – Mervyn Rose, Australian tennis player (d. 2017)
• 1930 – Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
• 1932 – George Allen, English footballer (d. 2016)
• 1932 – Larri Thomas, American actress and dancer (d. 2013)
• 1933 – Bill Hayden, Australian politician, 21st Governor General of Australia
• 1933 – Chita Rivera, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1934 – Pierre Bourgault, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2003)
• 1935 – Mike Agostini, Trinidadian sprinter (d. 2016)
• 1935 – Tom Reamy, American author (d. 1977)
• 1935 – Teresa Żylis-Gara, Polish operatic soprano
• 1936 – Brian Howe, Australian minister and politician, 8th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
• 1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player and sportscaster
• 1936 – Cécile Ousset, French pianist
• 1938 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and promoter, founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (d. 1999)
• 1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
• 1939 – Ed Roberts, American disability rights activist (d. 1995)
• 1940 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (d. 2015)
• 1940 – Joe Dowell, American pop singer (d. 2016)
• 1941 – Jock R. Anderson, Australian economist and academic
• 1941 – João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Brazilian journalist, author, and academic (d. 2014)
• 1942 – Laurie Mayne, Australian cricketer
• 1942 – Herman Tjeenk Willink, Dutch judge and politician
• 1942 – Phil Clarke, New Zealand rugby union player
• 1943 – Gary Burton, American vibraphone player and composer
• 1943 – Özhan Canaydın, Turkish basketball player and businessman (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Gil Gerard, American actor and producer
• 1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (d. 2019)
• 1945 – Mike Harris, Canadian politician, 22nd Premier of Ontario
• 1946 – Arnoldo Alemán, Nicaraguan lawyer and politician, President of Nicaragua
• 1946 – Boris Berezovsky, Russian-English businessman and mathematician (d. 2013)
• 1946 – Zvonko Bušić, Croatian terrorist, hijacker of TWA Flight 355 (d. 2013)
• 1946 – Don Whittington, American race car driver
• 1947 – Tom Carper, American captain and politician, 71st Governor of Delaware
• 1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesian politician, 5th President of Indonesia
• 1948 – Anita Pointer, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
• 1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor, producer, and composer
• 1950 – Bill Cunningham, American bass and keyboard player
• 1950 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (d. 2018)
• 1950 – Suzanne Scotchmer, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
• 1950 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet (d. 2012)
• 1951 – Margaret Bailes, American sprinter
• 1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, American captain and pilot
• 1952 – Omar Henry, South African cricketer
• 1953 – John Luther Adams, American composer
• 1953 – Alister McGrath, Irish priest, historian, and theologian
• 1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, American politician, 41st Mayor of Los Angeles
• 1953 – Robin Zander, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1954 – Trevor Hohns, Australian cricketer
• 1957 – Caroline, Princess of Hanover
• 1958 – Sergey Litvinov, Russian hammer thrower (d. 2018)
• 1959 – Clive Bull, English radio host
• 1960 – Jean-François Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1960 – Greg Ritchie, Australian cricketer
• 1961 – Neil Henry, Australian rugby league player and coach
• 1961 – Yelena Sinchukova, Russian long jumper
• 1962 – David Arnold, English composer
• 1962 – Aivar Lillevere, Estonian footballer and coach
• 1962 – Elvira Lindo, Spanish journalist and author
• 1964 – Jonatha Brooke, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress and producer
• 1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyanese economist and politician, 7th President of Guyana
• 1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – Louie Clemente, American drummer
• 1966 – Damien Hardman, Australian surfer
• 1966 – Haywoode Workman, American basketball player and referee
• 1967 – Owen Cunningham, Australian rugby league player
• 1968 – Taro Hakase, Japanese violinist and composer
• 1968 – Petr Korda, Czech-Monacan tennis player
• 1969 – Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager
• 1969 – Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player and actor
• 1969 – Susen Tiedtke, German long jumper
• 1970 – Spyridon Vasdekis, Greek long jumper
• 1971 – Scott Gibbs, Welsh-South African rugby player and sportscaster
• 1971 – Kevin Mawae, American football player and coach
• 1971 – Marc Nelson, American singer-songwriter
• 1971 – Adam Parore, New Zealand cricketer and mountaineer
• 1971 – Claire Rankin, Canadian actress
• 1971 – Lisa Snowdon, English television and radio presenter and fashion model
• 1972 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
• 1973 – Tomas Holmström, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1974 – Glen Chapple, English cricketer
• 1974 – Rebekah Elmaloglou, Australian actress
• 1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player
• 1974 – Richard T. Slone, English painter
• 1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
• 1975 – Nick Harmer, German musician
• 1975 – Phil Dawson, American football player
• 1976 – Brandon Duckworth, American baseball player and scout
• 1976 – Anne Margrethe Hausken, Norwegian orienteering competitor
• 1976 – Alex Shaffer, American skier
• 1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
• 1979 – Dawn O’Porter, Scottish-English fashion designer and journalist
• 1979 – Juan Rincón, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
• 1981 – Rob Friend, Canadian soccer player
• 1982 – Wily Mo Peña, Dominican baseball player
• 1982 – Oceana Mahlmann, German singer and songwriter
• 1982 – Andrew Rock, American sprinter
• 1983 – Irving Saladino, Panamanian long jumper
• 1984 – Robbie Farah, Australian rugby league player
• 1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
• 1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
• 1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch model and actress
• 1985 – Yevgeny Lukyanenko, Russian pole vaulter
• 1985 – Aselefech Mergia, Ethiopian runner
• 1985 – Jeff Samardzija, American baseball player
• 1985 – San E, South Korean rapper
• 1986 – Gelete Burka, Ethiopian runner
• 1986 – Marc Laird, Scottish footballer
• 1986 – José Enrique, Spanish footballer
• 1986 – Michael Stevens, American YouTuber and educator
• 1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
• 1986 – Sandro Viletta, Swiss skier
• 1987 – Leo Komarov, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1988 – Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
• 1990 – Şener Özbayraklı, Turkish footballer
• 1990 – Alex Silva, Canadian wrestler
• 1990 – Martyn Waghorn, English footballer
• 1992 – Reina Triendl, Japanese model and actress
• 1994 – Addison Russell, American baseball player
• 1995 – Luke Bateman, Australian rugby league player
• 1995 – Tuimoala Lolohea, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1998 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (d. 2018)

Deaths on January 23

• 667 – Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo
• 989 – Adalbero, archbishop of Reims
• 1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
• 1199 – Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, Moroccan caliph (b. 1160)
• 1252 – Isabella, Queen of Armenia
• 1297 – Florent of Hainaut, Prince of Achaea (b. c. 1255)
• 1423 – Margaret of Bavaria, Burgundian regent (b. 1363)
• 1516 – Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
• 1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian priest, scholar, and composer (b. 1490)
• 1549 – Johannes Honter, Romanian-Hungarian cartographer and theologian (b. 1498)
• 1567 – Jiajing Emperor of China (b. 1507)
• 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Scottish politician (b. 1531)
• 1620 – John Croke, English politician and judge (b. 1553)
• 1622 – William Baffin, English explorer and navigator (b. 1584)
• 1650 – Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (b. 1584)
• 1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian historian and philosopher (b. 1668)
• 1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician and academic (b. 1717)
• 1789 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (b. 1724)
• 1789 – John Cleland, English author (b. 1709)
• 1800 – Edward Rutledge, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1749)
• 1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (b. 1725)
• 1805 – Claude Chappe, French engineer (b. 1763)
• 1806 – William Pitt the Younger, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
• 1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (b. 1776)
• 1812 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (b. 1764)
• 1820 – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (b. 1767)
• 1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (b. 1757)
• 1837 – John Field, Irish pianist and composer (b. 1782)
• 1866 – Thomas Love Peacock, English author and poet (b. 1785)
• 1875 – Charles Kingsley English priest and author (b. 1819)
• 1883 – Gustave Doré, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1832)
• 1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, American lawyer and politician, 16th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1825)
• 1893 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1817)
• 1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer and conductor (b. 1877)
• 1922 – René Beeh, Alsatian painter and draughtsman (b. 1886)
• 1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor and academic (b. 1855)
• 1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian physician and author (b. 1849)
• 1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina (b. 1881)
• 1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (b. 1876)
• 1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (b. 1903)
• 1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (b. 1887)
• 1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and illustrator (b. 1863)
• 1947 – Pierre Bonnard, French painter (b. 1867)
• 1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian-English director and producer (b. 1893)
• 1963 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (b. 1908)
• 1966 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1895)
• 1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (b. 1871)
• 1973 – Alexander Onassis, American-Greek businessman (b. 1948)
• 1973 – Kid Ory, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1886)
• 1976 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and activist (b. 1898)
• 1977 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (b. 1903)
• 1978 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1946)
• 1978 – Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1980 – Giovanni Michelotti, Italian engineer (b. 1921)
• 1981 – Samuel Barber, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
• 1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
• 1984 – Muin Bseiso, Palestinian-Egyptian poet and critic (b. 1926)
• 1985 – James Beard, American chef and cookbook author for whom the James Beard Foundation Awards are named (b.1905)
• 1986 – Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and painter (b. 1921)
• 1988 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist and academic (b. 1896)
• 1989 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1904)
• 1989 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish race car driver (b. 1961)
• 1990 – Allen Collins, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1952)
• 1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian author and critic (b. 1912)
• 1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1993 – Keith Laumer, American soldier, author, and diplomat (b. 1925)
• 1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Russian field marshal (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and author (b. 1929)
• 1999 – Joe D’Amato, Italian director and cinematographer (b. 1936)
• 1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman, co-founded the Hyatt Corporation (b. 1922)
• 2002 – Paul Aars, American race car driver (b. 1934)
• 2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Robert Nozick, American philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1938)
• 2003 – Nell Carter, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
• 2004 – Bob Keeshan, American television personality and producer (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Helmut Newton, German-Australian photographer (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Johnny Carson, American talk show host, television personality, and producer (b. 1925)
• 2007 – Syed Hussein Alatas, Malaysian sociologist and politician (b. 1928)
• 2007 – E. Howard Hunt, American CIA officer (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1932)
• 2009 – Robert W. Scott, American farmer and politician, 67th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1929)
• 2010 – Kermit Tyler, American colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
• 2010 – Earl Wild, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
• 2011 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness instructor, author, and television host (b. 1914)
• 2012 – Wesley E. Brown, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1907)
• 2012 – Maurice Meisner, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Bingham Ray, American businessman, co-founded October Films (b. 1954)
• 2013 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (b. 1937)
• 2013 – Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet, French bishop (b. 1922)
• 2014 – Yuri Izrael, Russian meteorologist and journalist (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Riz Ortolani, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1926)
• 2015 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
• 2015 – Prosper Ego, Dutch activist, founded the Oud-Strijders Legioen (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (b. 1924)
• 2016 – Jimmy Bain, Scottish bassist (b. 1947)
• 2016 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (b. 1921)
• 2017 – Bobby Freeman, American singer, songwriter and record producer (b. 1940)
• 2017 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (b. 1941)
• 2018 – Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, composer and singer (b. 1939)
• 2018 – Nicanor Parra, Chilean poet (b. 1914)
• 2018 – Wyatt Tee Walker, American civil rights activist and pastor (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on January 23

• Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands)
• Christian feast day:
  • Abakuh
  • Marianne of Molokai
  • Emerentiana
  • Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  • Ildefonsus of Toledo
  • Phillips Brooks (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Jayanti (Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal, India)
• World Freedom Day (Taiwan and South Korea)