475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song dynasty.
1349 – The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
1431 – The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen.
1760 – Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.<refFrançois Xavier Wendel (1991). Wendel’s memoirs on the origin, growth and present state of Jat power in Hindustan (1768). Institut français de Pondichéry. p. 61.</ref>
1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the Constitution.
1792 – Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed.
1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain’s war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul’s Cathedral.
1816 – Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
1822 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process.
1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
1857 – The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
1858 – Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
1861 – American Civil War: “Star of the West” incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina.
1861 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
1894 – New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1914 – The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
1918 – Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
1921 – Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.
1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
1923 – Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations’ decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control.
1927 – A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.
1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
1945 – World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.
1957 – British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.
1960 – President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.
1961 – British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland Spy Ring in London.
1964 – Martyrs’ Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
1965 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1991 – Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1992 – The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia.
1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
2004 – An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalls near the Karaburun Peninsula en route to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements kills 28. This is the second deadliest marine disaster in Albanian history.
2005 – Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh.
2005 – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
2007 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.
2011 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, killing 77 people.
2014 – An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.
2015 – The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes.
2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli leaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill.
Births on January 9
727 – Emperor Daizong of Tang (d. 779)
1418 – Juan Ramón Folch III de Cardona, Aragonese admiral (d. 1485)
1475 – Crinitus, Italian scholar and author (d. 1507)
1554 – Pope Gregory XV (d. 1623)
1571 – Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, French commander (d. 1621)
1590 – Simon Vouet, French painter (d. 1649)
1606 – William Dugard, English printer (d. 1662)
1624 – Empress Meishō of Japan (d. 1696)
1645 – Sir William Villiers, 3rd Baronet, English noble and politician (d. 1712)
1674 – Reinhard Keiser, German composer (d. 1739)
1685 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (d. 1766)
1728 – Thomas Warton, English poet, historian, and critic (d. 1790)
1735 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician (d. 1823)
1745 – Caleb Strong, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)
1753 – Luísa Todi, Portuguese soprano and actress (d. 1833)
1773 – Cassandra Austen, English painter and illustrator (d. 1845)
1778 – Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi, Turkish Ney player and composer (d. 1846)
1811 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English journalist and author (d. 1856)
1818 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (d. 1881)
1819 – James Francis, English-Australian businessman and politician, 9th Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)
1822 – Carol Benesch, Czech-Romanian architect, designed the Peleș Castle (d. 1896)
1823 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (d. 1908)
1829 – Thomas William Robertson, English director and playwright (d. 1871)
1829 – Adolf Schlagintweit, German botanist and explorer (d. 1857)
1832 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, Canadian journalist and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec (d. 1900)
1839 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and academic (d. 1906)
1848 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)
1849 – John Hartley, English tennis player (d. 1935)
1854 – Lady Randolph Churchill, American-born wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, mother of Sir Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
1856 – Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet (d. 1912)
1859 – Carrie Chapman Catt, American activist, founded the League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women (d. 1947)
1864 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1926)
1868 – S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1939)
1870 – Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co-designed the Golden Gate Bridge (d. 1938)
1873 – Hayim Nahman Bialik, Ukrainian-Austrian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1934)
1873 – Thomas Curtis, American sprinter and hurdler (d. 1944)
1873 – John Flanagan, Irish-American hammer thrower (d. 1938)
1875 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (d. 1942)
1879 – John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic (d. 1958)
1881 – Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)
1881 – Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1956)
1885 – Charles Bacon, American runner and hurdler (d. 1968)
1886 – Lloyd Loar, American sound engineer and instrument designer (d. 1943)
1889 – Vrindavan Lal Verma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1969)
1890 – Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (d. 1938)
1890 – Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (d. 1935)
1891 – August Gailit, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1960)
1892 – Eva Bowring, American lawyer and politician (d. 1985)
1893 – Edwin Baker, Canadian soldier and educator, co-founded the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (d. 1968)
1896 – Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-English conductor and director (d. 1971)
1897 – Karl Löwith, German philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1973)
1898 – Gracie Fields, English actress and singer (d. 1979)
1899 – Harald Tammer, Estonian journalist and weightlifter (d. 1942)
1900 – Richard Halliburton, American journalist and author (d. 1939)
1901 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1991)
1901 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
1902 – Rudolf Bing, American impresario and businessman (d. 1997)
1902 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint, founded Opus Dei (d. 1975)
1907 – Eldred G. Smith, American patriarch (d. 2013)
1907 – Earl W. Renfroe, African American orthodontist, educator, and activist (d. 2000)
1908 – Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher and author (d. 1986)
1909 – Anthony Mamo, Maltese lawyer and politician, 1st President of Malta (d. 2008)
1909 – Patrick Peyton, Irish-American priest, television personality, and activist (d. 1992)
1910 – Tom Evenson, English runner (d. 1997)
1912 – Ralph Tubbs, English architect, designed the Dome of Discovery (d. 1996)
1913 – Richard Nixon, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)
1914 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
1915 – Anita Louise, American actress (d. 1970)
1916 – Fernando Lamas, Argentinian-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1982)
1916 – Vic Mizzy, American soldier, pianist, and composer (d. 2009)
1918 – Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and golfer (d. 2005)
1919 – William Morris Meredith, Jr., American poet and academic (d. 2007)
1920 – Clive Dunn, English actor (d. 2012)
1920 – Hakim Said, Pakistani scholar and politician, 20th Governor of Sindh (d. 1998)
1921 – Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
1921 – Lister Sinclair, Indian-Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
1922 – Har Gobind Khorana, Indian-American biochemist and academic, Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
1922 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean politician, 1st President of Guinea (d. 1984)
1924 – Sergei Parajanov, Georgian-Armenian director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1925 – Len Quested, English footballer defender and manager (d. 2012)
1925 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (d. 1989)
1926 – Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2002)
1928 – Judith Krantz, American novelist (d. 2019)
1928 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and politician (d. 1994)
1929 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (d. 2015)
1929 – Heiner Müller, German poet, playwright, and director (d. 1995)
1931 – Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American author and critic (d. 2008)
1933 – Robert García, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
1933 – Roy Dwight, English footballer, outside forward
1933 – Wilbur Smith, Zambian-English journalist and author
1934 – Bart Starr, American football player and coach (d. 2019)
1935 – Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)
1935 – Dick Enberg, American sportscaster (d. 2017)
1935 – John Graham, New Zealand rugby player and educator (d. 2017)
1935 – Brian Harradine, Australian politician (d. 2014)
1936 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American author
1936 – Marko Veselica, Croatian academic and politician (d. 2017)
1938 – Claudette Boyer, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2013)
1939 – Susannah York, English actress and activist (d. 2011)
1940 – Barbara Buczek, Polish composer (d. 1993)
1940 – Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss journalist and politician, 86th President of the Swiss Confederation
1941 – Joan Baez, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
1941 – Gilles Vaillancourt, Canadian politician
1942 – John Dunning, American author
1942 – Judy Malloy, American poet and author
1943 – Robert Drewe, Australian author and playwright
1943 – Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
1943 – Scott Walker, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (d. 2019)
1944 – Harun Farocki, German filmmaker (d. 2014)
1944 – Jimmy Page, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1944 – Mihalis Violaris, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actor
1945 – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Syrian-Armenian scholar and politician, 1st President of Armenia
1946 – Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Indian historian and academic (d. 2013)
1946 – Mogens Lykketoft, Danish politician, 45th Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
1947 – Ronnie Landfield, American painter and educator
1948 – Bill Cowsill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1948 – Jan Tomaszewski, Polish footballer, manager, and politician
1950 – Alec Jeffreys, English geneticist and academic
1950 – David Johansen, American musician and actor
1950 – Sandy Martin, American actress
1951 – Crystal Gayle, American singer-songwriter and producer
1952 – Kaushik Basu, Indian economist and academic
1952 – Hugh Bayley, English politician
1952 – Mike Capuano, American lawyer and politician
1953 – Javad Alizadeh, Iranian cartoonist and painter
1954 – Philippa Gregory, Kenyan-English author and academic
1955 – Michiko Kakutani, American journalist and critic
1955 – J.K. Simmons, American actor
1956 – Waltraud Meier, German soprano and actress
1956 – Imelda Staunton, English actress and singer
1958 – Stephen Neale, English philosopher and academic
1959 – Mark Martin, American race car driver and coach
1959 – Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
1959 – Otis Nixon, American baseball player
1960 – Lisa Walters, Canadian golfer
1961 – Didier Camberabero, French rugby player
1961 – Oliver Goldstick, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Henry Omaga-Diaz, Filipino journalist
1962 – Ray Houghton, Scottish-born footballer
1963 – Irwin McLean, Northern Irish biologist and academic
1964 – Stan Javier, Dominican baseball player and manager
1965 – Iain Dowie, English-Northern Irish footballer and coach
1965 – Eric Erlandson, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1965 – Haddaway, Trinidadian-German singer and musician
1965 – Andrei Nazarov, Estonian decathlete and coach
1965 – Joely Richardson, English actress
1966 – Stephen Metcalfe, English politician
1967 – Matt Bevin, American politician, 62nd governor of Kentucky
1967 – Claudio Caniggia, Argentinian footballer
1967 – Dave Matthews, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1967 – Gary Teichmann, South African rugby player
1968 – Jimmy Adams, Jamaican cricketer and coach
1968 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
1968 – Mardi Lunn, Australian golfer
1968 – Giorgos Theofanous, Greek-Cypriot composer and producer
1970 – Lara Fabian, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Angie Martinez, American rapper, actress, and radio host
1971 – Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian author and critic
1971 – Scott Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 – Jay Powell, American baseball player
1972 – Rawson Stovall, American video game producer and author
1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor
1975 – James Beckford, Jamaican long jumper
1976 – Radek Bonk, Czech ice hockey player
1978 – Mathieu Garon, Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer and manager
1978 – Chad Johnson, American football player and actor
1978 – AJ McLean, American singer
1980 – Édgar Álvarez, Honduran footballer
1980 – Sergio García, Spanish golfer
1980 – Luke Patten, Australian rugby league player and referee
1980 – Francisco Pavón, Spanish footballer
1980 – Wang Zulan, Hong Kong singer
1981 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager
1982 – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
1984 – Drew Brown, American musician and songwriter
1984 – Benjamin Danso, German rugby player
1985 – Juan Francisco Torres, Spanish footballer
1986 – Jéferson Gomes, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Uwe Hünemeier, German footballer
1986 – Amanda Mynhardt, South African netball player
1987 – Sam Bird, English race car driver
1987 – Lucas Leiva, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Jami Puustinen, Finnish footballer
1988 – Katherine Copely, American ice dancer
1988 – Marc Crosas, Spanish footballer
1988 – Lee Yeon-hee, South Korean actress
1989 – Michael Beasley, American basketball player
1989 – Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-Canadian actress
1989 – Michaëlla Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
1989 – Yana Maksimava, Belarusian heptathlete
1989 – Chris Sandow, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Jordan Turner, English rugby league player
1990 – Justin Blackmon, American football player
1991 – Edon Hasani, Albanian football player
1991 – Alvaro Soler, Spanish singer-songwriter
1993 – Katarina Johnson-Thompson, English long jumper and heptathlete
1993 – Marcus Peters, American football player
1993 – Kevin Korjus, Estonian race car driver
1995 – Braden Uele, New Zealand rugby league player
1999 – Shannon Tavarez, American actress (d. 2010)
Deaths on January 9
710 – Adrian of Canterbury, abbot and scholar
1150 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (b. 1119)
1202 – Birger Brosa, Jarl of Sweden
1282 – Abû ‘Uthmân Sa’îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi, Minorcan ruler (b. 1204)
1283 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese general and scholar (b. 1236)
1367 – Giulia della Rena, Italian saint (b. 1319)
1450 – Adam Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester
1463 – William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent, English soldier (b. 1405)
1499 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)
1511 – Demetrios Chalkokondyles, Greek scholar and academic (b. 1423)
1514 – Anne of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France and Louis XII of France (b. 1477)
1529 – Wang Yangming, Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar (b. 1472)
1534 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (b. 1477)
1543 – Guillaume du Bellay, French general and diplomat (b. 1491)
1561 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1514)
1571 – Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French admiral (b. 1510)
1598 – Jasper Heywood, English poet and scholar (b. 1553)
1612 – Leonard Holliday, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1550)
1622 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (b. 1576)
1757 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1657)
1762 – Antonio de Benavides, colonial governor of Florida (b. 1678)
1766 – Thomas Birch, English historian and author (b. 1705)
1799 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1718)
1800 – Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)
1805 – Noble Wimberly Jones, American physician and politician (b. 1723)
