- 49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.
- AD 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin dynasty.
- AD 69 – Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba as deputy Roman Emperor.
- 236 – Pope Fabian succeeds Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome.
- 1072 – Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo in Sicily for the Normans.
- 1430 – Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, establishes the Order of the Golden Fleece, the most prestigious, exclusive, and expensive order of chivalry in the world.
- 1475 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui.
- 1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London.
- 1776 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense.
- 1791 – The Siege of Dunlap’s Station begins near Cincinnati during the Northwest Indian War.
- 1806 – Two British brigades occupy Cape Town after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
- 1812 – The first steamboat on the Ohio River or the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union.
- 1863 – The Metropolitan Railway, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between Paddington and Farringdon, marking the beginning of the London Underground.
- 1870 – John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.
- 1901 – The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
- 1916 – World War I: In the Erzurum Offensive, Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire.
- 1920 – The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I.
- 1920 – League of Nations Covenant enters into force. On January 16 the organization holds its first council meeting, in Paris.
- 1927 – Fritz Lang’s futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
- 1941 – World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.
- 1946 – The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented.
- 1946 – The United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the Moon and receiving the reflected signals.
- 1954 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, explodes and falls into the Tyrrhenian Sea killing 35 people.
- 1962 – Apollo program: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle, which became known as the Saturn V Moon rocket, which launched every Apollo Moon mission.
- 1966 – Tashkent Declaration, a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
- 1972 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.
- 1981 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments
- 1984 – Holy See–United States relations: The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-establish full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning the United States Congress’s 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy.
- 1985 – Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.
- 1990 – Time Warner is formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications.
- 2007 – A general strike begins in Guinea in an attempt to get President Lansana Conté to resign.
- 2012 – A bombing in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, kills at least 30 people and 78 others injured.
- 2013 – More than 100 people are killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in Pakistan.
- 2015 – A traffic accident between an oil tanker truck and passenger coach en route to Shikarpur from Karachi on the Pakistan National Highway Link Road near Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Karachi, killing at least 62 people.
Births on January 10
- 626 – Husayn ibn Ali the third Shia Imam (d. 680)
- 1392 – Johanna van Polanen, Dutch noblewoman (d. 1445)
- 1480 – Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1530)
- 1538 – Louis of Nassau (d. 1574)
- 1607 – Isaac Jogues, French priest and missionary (d. 1646)
- 1644 – Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French general (d. 1711)
- 1654 – Joshua Barnes, English historian and scholar (d. 1712)
- 1702 – Johannes Zick, German painter (d. 1762)
- 1715 – Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1775)
- 1729 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian priest, biologist, and physiologist (d. 1799)
- 1745 – Isaac Titsingh, Dutch surgeon, scholar, and diplomat (d. 1812)
- 1750 – Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, Scottish-English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1823)
- 1760 – Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, German composer and conductor (d. 1802)
- 1769 – Michel Ney, French general (d. 1815)
- 1776 – George Birkbeck, English physician and academic, founded Birkbeck, University of London (d. 1841)
- 1780 – Martin Lichtenstein, German physician and explorer (d. 1857)
- 1802 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian-Austrian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (d. 1860)
- 1810 – Ferdinand Barbedienne, French engineer (d. 1892)
- 1810 – Jeremiah S. Black, American jurist and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of State (d. 1883)
- 1810 – William Haines, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Victoria (d. 1866)
- 1812 – Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect and academic (d. 1881)
- 1828 – Herman Koeckemann, German bishop and missionary (d. 1892)
- 1829 – Epameinondas Deligeorgis, Greek lawyer, journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1879)
- 1834 – John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, Italian-English historian and politician (d. 1902)
- 1836 – Charles Ingalls, American farmer and carpenter (d. 1902)
- 1840 – Louis-Nazaire Bégin, Canadian cardinal (d. 1925)
- 1842 – Luigi Pigorini, Italian paleontologist, archaeologist, and ethnographer (d. 1925)
- 1843 – Frank James, American soldier and criminal (d. 1915)
- 1848 – Reinhold Sadler, American merchant and politician, 9th Governor of Nevada (d. 1906)
- 1849 – Robert Crosbie, Canadian theosophist, founded the United Lodge of Theosophists (d. 1919)
- 1850 – John Wellborn Root, American architect, designed the Rookery Building and Monadnock Building (d. 1891)
- 1854 – Ramón Corral, Mexican general and politician, 6th Vice President of Mexico (d. 1912)
- 1858 – Heinrich Zille, German illustrator and photographer (d. 1929)
- 1859 – Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, Spanish philosopher and academic (d. 1909)
- 1860 – Charles G. D. Roberts, Canadian poet and author (d. 1943)
- 1864 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (d. 1931)
- 1873 – Algernon Maudslay, English sailor (d. 1948)
- 1873 – Jack O’Neill, Irish-American baseball player (d. 1935)
- 1873 – George Orton, Canadian runner and hurdler (d. 1958)
- 1875 – Issai Schur, German mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1877 – Frederick Gardner Cottrell, American physical chemist, inventor and philanthropist (d. 1948)
- 1878 – John McLean, American hurdler, football player, and coach (d. 1955)
- 1880 – Manuel Azaña, Spanish jurist and politician, 7th President of Spain (d. 1940)
- 1883 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1966)
- 1883 – Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1945)
- 1887 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (d. 1962)
- 1890 – Pina Menichelli, Italian actress (d. 1984)
- 1891 – Heinrich Behmann, German mathematician and academic (d. 1970)
- 1891 – Ann Shoemaker, American actress (d. 1978)
- 1892 – Dumas Malone, American historian and author (d. 1986)
- 1892 – Melchior Wańkowicz, Polish soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1974)
- 1893 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1932)
- 1894 – Pingali Lakshmikantam, Indian poet and author (d. 1972)
- 1895 – Percy Cerutty, Australian athletics coach (d. 1975)
- 1896 – Yong Mun Sen, Malaysian watercolour painter (d. 1962)
- 1898 – Katharine Burr Blodgett, American physicist and engineer (d. 1979)
- 1900 – Violette Cordery, English racing driver (d. 1983)
- 1902 – Dobriša Cesarić, Croatian poet and translator (d. 1980)
- 1903 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (d. 1975)
- 1903 – Pud Thurlow, Australian cricketer (d. 1975)
- 1903 – Voldemar Väli, Estonian wrestler (d. 1997)
- 1904 – Ray Bolger, American actor and dancer (d. 1987)
- 1905 – Albert Arlen, Australian pianist, composer, actor, and playwright (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Gordon Kidd Teal, American engineer and inventor (d. 2003)
- 1908 – Paul Henreid, Italian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
- 1910 – Jean Martinon, French conductor and composer (d. 1976)
- 1911 – Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Bangladeshi activist (d. 2013)
- 1911 – Norman Heatley, English biologist and chemist (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Maria Mandl, Austrian SS guard (d. 1948)
- 1913 – Franco Bordoni, Italian racing driver and pilot (d. 1975)
- 1913 – Gustáv Husák, Slovak politician, 9th President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1991)
- 1913 – Mehmet Shehu, Albanian soldier and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1981)
- 1914 – Pierre Cogan, French cyclist (d. 2013)
- 1914 – Yu Kuo-hwa, Chinese politician, 23rd Premier of the Republic of China (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Dean Dixon, American-Swiss conductor (d. 1976)
- 1915 – Cynthia Freeman, American author (d. 1988)
- 1916 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- 1916 – Eldzier Cortor, American painter (d. 2015)
- 1916 – Don Metz, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Les Bennett, English footballer and manager (d. 1999)
- 1918 – Arthur Chung, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 1st President of Guyana (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Harry Merkel, German racing driver (d. 1995)
- 1919 – Terukuni Manzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (d. 1977)
- 1919 – Milton Parker, American businessman, co-founded the Carnegie Deli (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Rosella Hightower, American ballerina (d. 2008)
- 1920 – Roberto M. Levingston, Argentinian general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (d. 2015)
- 1920 – Max Patkin, American baseball player and clown (d. 1999)
- 1921 – Rodger Ward, American aviator, race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2004)
- 1922 – Billy Liddell, Scottish-English footballer (d. 2001)
- 1924 – Earl Bakken, American inventor (d. 2018)
- 1924 – Ludmilla Chiriaeff, Canadian ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 1996)
- 1925 – Billie Sol Estes, American financier and businessman (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Musallam Bseiso, Palestinian journalist and politician (d. 2017)
- 1927 – Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian-American singer and actress (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Johnnie Ray, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1990)
- 1927 – Otto Stich, Swiss lawyer and politician, 140th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2012)
- 1928 – Philip Levine, American poet and academic (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Peter Mathias, English historian and academic (d. 2016)
- 1929 – Tony Soper, English ornithologist and author
- 1930 – Roy E. Disney, American businessman (d. 2009)
- 1931 – Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1931 – Rosalind Howells, Baroness Howells of St Davids, Grenadian-English academic and politician
- 1931 – Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Malaysian cleric and politician, 12th Menteri Besar of Kelantan (d. 2015)
- 1931 – John Zizioulas, Greek metropolitan
- 1934 – Leonid Kravchuk, Ukrainian politician, 1st President of Ukraine
- 1935 – Ronnie Hawkins, American rockabilly singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1935 – Sherrill Milnes, American opera singer and educator
- 1936 – Stephen E. Ambrose, American historian and author (d. 2002)
- 1936 – Walter Bodmer, German-English geneticist and academic
- 1936 – Robert Woodrow Wilson, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 – Daniel Walker Howe, American historian and academic
- 1937 – Thomas Penfield Jackson, American soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Donald Knuth, American computer scientist and mathematician
- 1938 – Frank Mahovlich, Canadian ice hockey player and politician
- 1938 – Willie McCovey, American baseball player (d. 2018)
- 1939 – Jared Carter, American poet and author
- 1939 – David Horowitz, American activist and author
- 1939 – William Levy, American-Dutch journalist, author, and poet
- 1939 – Scott McKenzie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
- 1940 – K. J. Yesudas, Indian singer and music director
- 1940 – Godfrey Hewitt, English geneticist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1941 – Tom Clarke, Scottish politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
- 1942 – Graeme Gahan, Australian footballer and coach
- 1943 – Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973)
- 1944 – Jeffrey Catherine Jones, American comics and fantasy artist (d. 2011)
- 1944 – Frank Sinatra, Jr., American singer and actor (d. 2016)
- 1945 – John Fahey, New Zealand-Australian lawyer and politician, 38th Premier of New South Wales
- 1945 – Rod Stewart, British singer-songwriter
- 1945 – Gunther von Hagens, German anatomist, invented plastination
- 1946 – Aynsley Dunbar, English drummer and songwriter
- 1947 – George Alec Effinger, American author (d. 2002)
- 1947 – James Morris, American opera singer
- 1947 – Peer Steinbrück, German politician, German Minister of Finance
- 1947 – Tiit Vähi, Estonian engineer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Estonia
- 1948 – Donald Fagen, American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1948 – Bernard Thévenet, French cyclist and sportscaster
- 1949 – Kemal Derviş, Turkish economist and politician, Turkish Minister of Economy
- 1949 – George Foreman, American boxer, actor, and businessman
- 1949 – Linda Lovelace, American porn actress and activist (d. 2002)
- 1950 – Roy Blunt, American academic and politician
- 1952 – Scott Thurston, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1953 – Pat Benatar, American singer-songwriter
- 1953 – Bobby Rahal, American race car driver
- 1955 – Michael Schenker, German guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1956 – Shawn Colvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1956 – Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spanish author
- 1958 – Eddie Cheever, American race car driver
- 1958 – Anatoly Pisarenko, Ukrainian weightlifter and trainer
- 1959 – Chandra Cheeseborough, American sprinter and coach
- 1959 – Chris Van Hollen, American lawyer and politician
- 1959 – Fran Walsh, New Zealand screenwriter and producer
- 1960 – Gurinder Chadha, Kenyan-English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Brian Cowen, Irish lawyer and politician, 12th Taoiseach of Ireland
- 1960 – John Mann, English lawyer and politician
- 1960 – Benoît Pelletier, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1961 – Janet Jones, American actress
- 1961 – Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Italian-American violinist, author, and educator
- 1962 – Michael Fortier, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1962 – Kathryn S. McKinley, American computer scientist and academic
- 1963 – Malcolm Dunford, New Zealand-Australian footballer
- 1963 – Kira Ivanova, Russian figure skater (d. 2001)
- 1964 – Brad Roberts, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Maciej Śliwowski, Polish footballer
- 1969 – Simone Bagel-Trah, German businessperson
- 1970 – Buff Bagwell, American wrestler and actor
- 1970 – Alisa Marić, Serbian chess player and politician, Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports
- 1972 – Mohammed Benzakour, Moroccan-Dutch journalist, poet, and author
- 1973 – Glenn Robinson, American basketball player
- 1973 – Félix Trinidad, Puerto Rican-American boxer
- 1974 – Jemaine Clement, New Zealand comedian, actor, and musician
- 1974 – Davide Dionigi, Italian footballer and manager
- 1974 – Steve Marlet, French footballer, forward and coach
- 1974 – Bob Peeters, Belgian footballer and manager
- 1974 – Hrithik Roshan, Indian actor
- 1975 – Jake Delhomme, American football player
- 1976 – Adam Kennedy, American baseball player
- 1976 – Ian Poulter, English golfer
- 1978 – Johan van der Wath, South African cricketer
- 1979 – Simone Cavalli, Italian footballer
- 1980 – Sarah Shahi, American actress
- 1980 – DeShaun Foster, American football player
- 1981 – James Coppinger, English footballer
- 1981 – Jared Kushner, American real estate investor and political figure
- 1982 – Julien Brellier, French footballer
- 1982 – Tomasz Brzyski, Polish footballer
- 1984 – Marouane Chamakh, Moroccan footballer
- 1984 – Trent Cutler, Australian rugby league player
- 1984 – Ariane Friedrich, German high jumper
- 1984 – Kalki Koechlin, Indian actress
- 1986 – Kirsten Flipkens, Belgian tennis player
- 1986 – Hideaki Ikematsu, Japanese footballer
- 1986 – Kenneth Vermeer, Dutch footballer
- 1987 – César Cielo, Brazilian swimmer
- 1988 – Leonard Patrick Komon, Kenyan runner
- 1988 – Vladimir Zharkov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Emily Meade, American actress
- 1989 – Kyle Reimers, Australian footballer
- 1990 – Mirko Bortolotti, Italian racing driver
- 1990 – Ishiura Masakatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1990 – Cody Walker, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – John Carlson, American ice hockey player
- 1991 – Chad Townsend, Australian rugby league player
Deaths on January 10
- 259 – Polyeuctus, Roman saint
- 314 – Miltiades, pope of the Catholic Church
- 681 – Agatho, pope of the Catholic Church
- 976 – John I Tzimiskes, Byzantine emperor (b. 925)
- 987 – Pietro I Orseolo, doge of Venice (b. 928)
- 1055 – Bretislav I, duke of Bohemia
- 1094 – Al-Mustansir Billah, Egyptian caliph (b. 1029)
- 1218 – Hugh I, king of Cyprus
- 1276 – Gregory X, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1210)
- 1322 – Petrus Aureolus, scholastic philosopher
- 1358 – Abu Inan Faris, Marinid ruler of Morocco (b. 1329)
- 1552 – Johann Cochlaeus, German humanist and controversialist (b. 1479)
- 1645 – William Laud, English archbishop and academic (b. 1573)
- 1654 – Nicholas Culpeper, English botanist, physician, and astrologer (b. 1616)
- 1698 – Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French priest and historian (b. 1637)
- 1754 – Edward Cave, English publisher, founded The Gentleman’s Magazine (b. 1691)
- 1761 – Edward Boscawen, English admiral and politician (b. 1711)
- 1778 – Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist and physician (b. 1707)
- 1794 – Georg Forster, German-Polish ethnologist and journalist (b. 1754)
- 1811 – Joseph Chénier, French poet, playwright, and politician (b. 1764)
- 1824 – Victor Emmanuel I, duke of Savoy and king of Sardinia (b. 1759)
- 1828 – François de Neufchâteau, French poet, academic, and politician, French Minister of the Interior (b. 1750)
- 1829 – Gregorio Funes, Argentinian clergyman, historian, and educator (b. 1749)
- 1833 – Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1752)
- 1843 – Dimitrie Macedonski, Greek-Romanian captain and politician (b. 1780)
- 1851 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (b. 1775)
- 1855 – Mary Russell Mitford, English author and playwright (b. 1787)
- 1862 – Samuel Colt, American engineer and businessman, founded Colt’s Manufacturing Company (b. 1814)
- 1863 – Lyman Beecher, American minister and activist, co-founded the American Temperance Society (b. 1775)
- 1895 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American chemist, physicist, and academic (b. 1836)
- 1895 – Benjamin Godard, French violinist and composer (b. 1849)
- 1901 – James Robert Dickson, English-Australian businessman and politician, 1st Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1832)
- 1904 – Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter and sculptor (b. 1824)
- 1905 – Kārlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (b. 1835)
- 1917 – Buffalo Bill, American soldier and hunter (b. 1846)
- 1917 – Feliks Leparsky, Russian fencer and captain (b. 1875)
- 1920 – Sali Nivica, Albanian journalist and politician (b. 1890)
- 1922 – Frank Tudor, Australian politician, 6th Australian Minister for Trade and Investment (b. 1866)
- 1926 – Eino Leino, Finnish poet and journalist (b. 1878)
- 1935 – Edwin Flack, Australian tennis player and runner (b. 1873)
- 1935 – Charlie McGahey, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1871)
- 1941 – Frank Bridge, English viola player and composer (b. 1879)
- 1941 – John Lavery, Irish painter and academic (b. 1856)
- 1941 – Joe Penner, Hungarian-American actor (b. 1904)
- 1941 – Issai Schur, Belarusian-German mathematician and academic (b. 1875)
- 1949 – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer and geophysicist (b. 1865)
- 1951 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)
- 1951 – Yoshio Nishina, Japanese physicist and academic (b. 1890)
- 1954 – Chester Wilmot, American journalist and historian (b. 1911)
- 1956 – Zonia Baber, American geographer and geologist (b. 1862)
- 1957 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
- 1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American novelist (b. 1867)
- 1959 – Şükrü Kaya, Turkish jurist and politician, Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
- 1960 – Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1879)
- 1961 – Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (b. 1894)
- 1967 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (b. 1893)
- 1968 – Ali Fuat Cebesoy, Turkish general and politician, 6th Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey (b. 1882)
- 1969 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 2nd Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1891)
- 1970 – Pavel Belyayev, Russian pilot and astronaut (b. 1925)
- 1971 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer, founded Chanel (b. 1883)
- 1971 – Ignazio Giunti, Italian race car driver (b. 1941)
- 1972 – Aksel Larsen, Danish lawyer and politician (b. 1897)
- 1976 – Howlin’ Wolf, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1910)
- 1978 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist and author (b. 1924)
- 1978 – Don Gillis, American composer and conductor (b. 1912)
- 1978 – Hannah Gluckstein, British painter (b. 1895)
- 1980 – Hughie Critz, American baseball player and scout (b. 1900)
- 1980 – George Meany, American plumber and trade union leader (b. 1894)
- 1980 – Bo Rein, American football player and coach (b. 1945)
- 1981 – Fawn M. Brodie, American historian and author (b. 1915)
- 1984 – Souvanna Phouma, Laotian politician, 8th Prime Minister of Laos (b. 1901)
- 1986 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech journalist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1987 – Marion Hutton, American singer (b. 1919)
- 1987 – David Robinson, English businessman and philanthropist (b. 1904)
- 1989 – Herbert Morrison, American journalist and producer (b. 1905)
- 1990 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (b. 1925)
- 1992 – Roberto Bonomi, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1919)
- 1995 – Kathleen Tynan, Canadian-English journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 1997 – Elspeth Huxley, Kenyan-English journalist and author (b. 1907)
- 1997 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
- 1997 – Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Edward Williams, Australian lieutenant, pilot, and judge (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Sam Jaffe, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1901)
- 2004 – Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)
- 2005 – Wasyly, Ukrainian-Canadian bishop (b. 1909)
- 2005 – Jack Horner, American journalist (b. 1912)
- 2005 – Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium (b. 1927)
- 2007 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Bradford Washburn, American explorer, photographer, and cartographer (b. 1910)
- 2008 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater and actor (b. 1967)
- 2008 – Maila Nurmi, Finnish-American actress, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Patcha Ramachandra Rao, Indian metallurgist, educator and administrator (b. 1942)
- 2011 – Margaret Whiting, American singer (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Jean Pigott, Canadian businesswoman and politician (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Gevork Vartanian, Russian intelligence agent (b. 1924)
- 2013 – George Gruntz, Swiss pianist and composer (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Claude Nobs, Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Petr Hlaváček, Czech shoemaker and academic (b. 1950)
- 2014 – Zbigniew Messner, Polish economist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (b. 1929)
- 2014 – Larry Speakes, American journalist, 16th White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Junior Malanda, Belgian footballer (b. 1994)
- 2015 – Taylor Negron, American actor, playwright, and painter (b. 1957)
- 2015 – Francesco Rosi, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Robert Stone, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1937)
- 2016 – Wim Bleijenberg, Dutch footballer and manager (b. 1930)
- 2016 – David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1947)
- 2016 – George Jonas, Hungarian-Canadian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1935)
- 2017 – Buddy Greco, American jazz and pop singer and pianist (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Clare Hollingworth, English journalist (b. 1911)
- 2020 – Qaboos bin Said, Ruler Of Oman (b. 1940)
Holidays and observances on January 10
- Christian feast day:
- Gregory of Nyssa
- Leonie Aviat
- Obadiah (Coptic Church)
- Peter Orseolo
- Pope Agatho (Roman Catholic)
- William Laud (Anglican Communion)
- William of Donjeon
- January 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Fête du Vodoun (Benin)
- Margaret Thatcher Day (Falkland Islands)
- Majority Rule Day (Bahamas)