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January 26 in History
- 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph.
- 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes the sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
- 1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people.
- 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
- 1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War.
- 1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
- 1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers.
- 1700 – The 8.7–9.2 Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
- 1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
- 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day.
- 1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales.
- 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
- 1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States.
- 1841 – James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong.
- 1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.
- 1856 – First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
- 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
- 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia rejoins the Union.
- 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.
- 1905 – The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.
- 1911 – Glenn Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.
- 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
- 1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers’ Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.
- 1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
- 1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird.
- 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (“Complete Independence”) which occurred 17 years later.
- 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
- 1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
- 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
- 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
- 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later.
- 1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.
- 1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).
- 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.
- 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
- 1956 – the Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland.
- 1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be the first woman Physician to the President.
- 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
- 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
- 1972 – JAT Fight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries.
- 1980 – Egypt–Israel relations are formally established.
- 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
- 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
- 1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
- 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
- 2001 – The 7.7 Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.
- 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.
- 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.
- 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board including former five time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant.
Births on January 26
- 183 – Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (d. 221)
- 1436 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Lancastrian military commander (d. 1464)
- 1467 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (d. 1540)
- 1495 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
- 1541 – Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (d. 1596)
- 1549 – Jakob Ebert, German theologian (d. 1614)
- 1582 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (d. 1647)
- 1595 – Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679)
- 1624 – George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1705)
- 1657 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737)
- 1708 – William Hayes, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1777)
- 1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (d. 1785)
- 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
- 1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1785)
- 1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (d. 1805)
- 1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1844)
- 1781 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (d. 1831)
- 1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet (d. 1876)
- 1824 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (d. 1888)
- 1832 – George Shiras, Jr., American lawyer and jurist (d. 1924)
- 1842 – François Coppée, French poet and author (d. 1908)
- 1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (d. 1905)
- 1857 – 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
- 1861 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (d. 1932)
- 1864 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (d. 1934)
- 1866 – John Cady, American golfer (d. 1933)
- 1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (d. 1968)
- 1878 – Dave Nourse, English-South African cricketer and coach (d. 1948)
- 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
- 1885 – Michael Considine, Irish-Australian politician (d. 1959)
- 1885 – Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (d. 1974)
- 1885 – Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (d. 1962)
- 1887 – François Faber, French-Luxembourgian cyclist (d. 1915)
- 1887 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (d. 1947)
- 1887 – Dimitris Pikionis, Greek architect and academic (d. 1968)
- 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1973)
- 1891 – August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (d. 1942)
- 1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (d. 1976)
- 1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (d. 1926)
- 1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (d. 1976)
- 1899 – Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (d. 1974)
- 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (d. 1940)
- 1904 – Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (d. 2004)
- 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Charles Lane, American actor and singer (d. 2007)
- 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 1987)
- 1907 – Henry Cotton, English golfer (d. 1987)
- 1907 – Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (d. 2001)
- 1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
- 1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (d. 2009)
- 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (d. 1997)
- 1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
- 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (d. 2002)
- 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
- 1914 – Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (d. 2006)
- 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1917 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (d. 2014)
- 1918 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian dictator, 1st President of Romania (d. 1989)
- 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American author (d. 2009)
- 1919 – Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
- 1919 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2020)
- 1920 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (d. 2009)
- 1921 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1999)
- 1922 – Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
- 1922 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (d. 1993)
- 1922 – Gil Merrick, English footballer (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
- 1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1998)
- 1925 – David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman’s Own (d. 2008)
- 1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
- 1926 – Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani linguist and scholar (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American architect and businessman, co-founded the Sea Pines Company (d. 2014)
- 1927 – José Azcona del Hoyo, Honduran businessman and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
- 1927 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (d. 1985)
- 1927 – Hubert Schieth, German footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Roger Vadim, French actor and director (d. 2000)
- 1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and educator
- 1934 – Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and publisher (d. 2020)
- 1934 – Charles Marowitz, American director, playwright, and critic (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Huey “Piano” Smith, American pianist and songwriter
- 1934 – Bob Uecker, American baseball player, sportscaster and actor
- 1935 – Corrado Augias, Italian journalist and politician
- 1935 – Henry Jordan, American football player (d. 1977)
- 1935 – Paula Rego, Portuguese-born British visual artist
- 1936 – Sal Buscema, American illustrator
- 1937 – Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leonean soldier and politician, 2nd President of Sierra Leone (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Francisco Gonzales, former 1960 Summer Olympics yachting team member and murderer
- 1938 – Henry Jaglom, English-American director and screenwriter
- 1940 – Séamus Hegarty, Irish bishop
- 1940 – Frank Large, English footballer, centre forward and cricketer (d. 2003)
- 1943 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- 1943 – Jack Warner, Trinidadian businessman and politician
- 1944 – Angela Davis, American activist, academic, and author
- 1944 – Jerry Sandusky, American football coach and criminal
- 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
- 1945 – David Purley, English race car driver (d. 1985)
- 1946 – Christopher Hampton, Portuguese-English director, screenwriter, and playwright
- 1946 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and film critic (d. 1999)
- 1946 – Susan Friedlander, American mathematician
- 1947 – Patrick Dewaere, French actor and composer (d. 1982)
- 1947 – Les Ebdon, English chemist and academic
- 1947 – Redmond Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, Irish director, producer, and production manager
- 1947 – Michel Sardou, French singer-songwriter and actor
- 1948 – Alda Facio, Costa Rican jurist, writer and teacher
- 1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author
- 1949 – David Strathairn, American actor
- 1950 – Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (d. 2008)
- 1951 – David Briggs, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1951 – Andy Hummel, American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2010)
- 1951 – Anne Mills, English economist and academic
- 1953 – Alik L. Alik, Micronesian politician, 7th Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia
- 1953 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician and diplomat, 39th Prime Minister of Denmark
- 1953 – Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1954 – Kim Hughes, Australian cricketer
- 1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1957 – Road Warrior Hawk, American wrestler (d. 2003)
- 1958 – Anita Baker, American singer-songwriter
- 1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, American comedian, actress, and talk show host
- 1961 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Tom Keifer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian painter, sculptor, and photographer
- 1962 – Tim May, Australian cricketer
- 1962 – Oscar Ruggeri, Argentinian footballer and manager
- 1963 – José Mourinho, Portuguese footballer and manager
- 1963 – Simon O’Donnell, Australian footballer, cricketer, and sportscaster
- 1963 – Tony Parks, English footballer and manager
- 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1964 – Adam Crozier, Scottish businessman
- 1965 – Thomas Östros, Swedish businessman and politician
- 1965 – Natalia Yurchenko, Russian gymnast and coach
- 1966 – Kazushige Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
- 1967 – Anatoly Komm, Russian chef and businessman
- 1967 – Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database
- 1968 – Jupiter Apple, Brazilian singer-songwriter, film director, and actor (d. 2015)
- 1969 – George Dikeoulakos, Greek-Romanian basketball player and coach
- 1970 – Kirk Franklin, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1973 – Larissa Lowing, Canadian artistic gymnast
- 1973 – Melvil Poupaud, French actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager
- 1973 – Mayu Shinjo, Japanese author and illustrator
- 1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball player
- 1977 – Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player and coach
- 1978 – Corina Morariu, American tennis player and sportscaster
- 1981 – José de Jesús Corona, Mexican footballer
- 1981 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor
- 1981 – Juan José Haedo, Argentinian cyclist
- 1981 – Colin O’Donoghue, Irish actor
- 1982 – Reggie Hodges, American football player
- 1983 – Petri Oravainen, Finnish footballer
- 1983 – Eric Werner, American ice hockey player
- 1984 – Ryan Hoffman, Australian rugby league player
- 1984 – Iain Turner, Scottish footballer
- 1984 – Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer
- 1985 – Heather Stanning, English rower
- 1986 – Gerald Green, American basketball player
- 1986 – Kim Jae-joong, South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, director and designer.
- 1986 – Mustapha Yatabaré, French-Malian footballer
- 1987 – Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Dimitrios Chondrokoukis, Greek high jumper
- 1989 – MarShon Brooks, American basketball player
- 1989 – Emily Hughes, American figure skater
- 1990 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican race car driver
- 1990 – Peter Sagan, Slovak professional cyclist
- 1990 – Nina Zander, German tennis player
- 1991 – Tom Meechan, English footballer
- 1992 – Sasha Banks, American professional wrestler
- 1993 – Lana Clelland, Scottish footballer
- 1993 – Florian Thauvin, French footballer
- 1995 – Sione Katoa, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1997 – Gedion Zelalem, German-born American soccer player
- 2001 – Latalia Bevan, Welsh artistic gymnast
Deaths on January 26
- 724 – Yazid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 687)
- 738 – John of Dailam, Syrian monk and saint (b. 660)
- 910 – Luo Yin, Chinese statesman and poet
- 946 – Eadgyth, Queen consort of Germany (b.c 910)
- 1186 – Ismat ad-Din Khatun, wife of Saladin
- 1390 – Adolph IX, Count of Holstein-Kiel (b.c 1327)
- 1567 – Nicholas Wotton, English courtier and diplomat (b. 1497)
- 1568 – Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (b. 1540)
- 1620 – Amar Singh I, ruler of Mewar (b. 1559)
- 1630 – Henry Briggs, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1556)
- 1636 – Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552)
- 1641 – Lawrence Hyde, English lawyer (b. 1562)
- 1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and theorist (b. 1640)
- 1744 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683)
- 1750 – Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1686)
- 1779 – Thomas Hudson, English painter (b. 1701)
- 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German harpsichord player and composer (b. 1732)
- 1799 – Gabriel Christie, Scottish general (b. 1722)
- 1823 – Edward Jenner, English physician and immunologist (b. 1749)
- 1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer (b. 1791)
- 1831 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian soldier (b. 1798)
- 1831 – Anton Delvig, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1798)
- 1849 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (b. 1803)
- 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (b. 1808)
- 1860 – Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, opera singer (b. 1804)
- 1869 – Duncan Gordon Boyes, English soldier; Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1846)
- 1870 – Victor de Broglie, French politician, 9th Prime Minister of France (b. 1785)
- 1885 – Edward Davy, English-Australian physician and engineer (b. 1806)
- 1885 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (b. 1833)
- 1886 – David Rice Atchison, American general and politician (b. 1807)
- 1887 – Anandi Gopal Joshi, One of the first female Indian physicians (b. 1865)
- 1891 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer, invented the Internal combustion engine (b. 1833)
- 1893 – Abner Doubleday, American general (b. 1819)
- 1895 – Arthur Cayley, English mathematician and academic (b. 1825)
- 1904 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman (b. 1846)
- 1926 – John Flannagan, American priest and academic (b. 1860)
- 1932 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded the Wrigley Company (b. 1861)
- 1942 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1868)
- 1943 – Harry H. Laughlin, American sociologist and eugenicist (b. 1880)
- 1943 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist and geneticist (b. 1887)
- 1946 – Oskar Kallas, Estonian linguist and diplomat (b. 1868)
- 1946 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer and academic (b. 1884)
- 1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (b. 1898)
- 1948 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1882)
- 1948 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1876)
- 1948 – John Lomax, American musicologist and academic (b. 1867)
- 1952 – Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Mongolian general and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1895)
- 1953 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
- 1957 – Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)
- 1962 – Lucky Luciano, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897)
- 1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American publisher (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, Romanian-American actor (b. 1893)
- 1975 – Donald Sheldon, American bush pilot (b. 1921)
- 1976 – João Branco Núncio, Portuguese bullfighter (b. 1901)
- 1977 – Filopimin Finos, Greek production manager and producer, founded Finos Film (b. 1908)
- 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
- 1980 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (b. 1922)
- 1983 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
- 1985 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1914)
- 1990 – Bob Gerard, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1914)
- 1990 – Lewis Mumford, American sociologist and historian (b. 1895)
- 1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor (b. 1912)
- 1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch businessman and humanitarian (b. 1905)
- 1993 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (b. 1912)
- 1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (b. 1922)
- 1996 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1921)
- 1996 – Harold Brodkey, American author and academic (b. 1930)
- 1996 – Frank Howard, American football player and coach (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Henry Lewis, American bassist and conductor (b. 1932)
- 1997 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer and psychic (b. 1904)
- 2000 – Don Budge, American tennis player and coach (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Kathleen Hale, English author and illustrator (b. 1898)
- 2000 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (b. 1912)
- 2001 – Al McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
- 2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (b. 1942)
- 2003 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian and academic (b. 1917)
- 2003 – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Scottish banker and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1931)
- 2004 – Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani politician (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and designer (b. 1906)
- 2010 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist and essayist (b. 1917)
- 2011 – David Kato Kisule, Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda’s gay rights movement (b. 1964)
- 2011 – Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Roberto Mieres, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Christine M. Jones, American educator and politician (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Stefan Kudelski, Polish-Swiss engineer, invented the Nagra (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Padma Kant Shukla, Indian physicist and academic (b. 1950)
- 2013 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, Japanese author (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Paula Gruden, Slovenian-Australian poet and translator (b. 1921)
- 2014 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Ralph T. Troy, American banker and politician (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Cleven “Goodie” Goudeau, American art director and cartoonist (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier and politician (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 14th Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
- 2016 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (b. 1921)
- 2017 – Mike Connors, American actor (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Tam Dalyell, Scottish politician (b. 1932)
- 2017 – Lindy Delapenha, Jamaican footballer and sports journalist (b. 1927)
- 2017 – Barbara Hale, American actress (b. 1922)
- 2020 – John Altobelli, American college baseball coach (b. 1963)
- 2020 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (b. 1978)
Holidays and observances on January 26
- Christian feast day:
- Alberic
- Founders of Cîteaux (Alberic of Cîteaux, Robert of Molesme, Stephen Harding)
- Blessed Gabriele Allegra
- Paula
- Timothy and Titus
- January 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Australia Day (Australia)
- Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)
- Engineer’s Day (Panama)
- International Customs Day
- Liberation Day (Uganda)
- Republic Day (India)
-
January 20 in History
- 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
- 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
- 1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the “Houses of Parliament”.
- 1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
- 1356 – Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
- 1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
- 1567 – Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.
- 1576 – The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
- 1649 – The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.
- 1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signed preliminary articles of peace with France, setting the stage to the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year.
- 1785 – Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
- 1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony.
- 1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.
- 1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
- 1877 – The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
- 1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
- 1921 – The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.
- 1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
- 1929 – The first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, In Old Arizona, is released.
- 1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom dies. His eldest son succeeds to the throne, becoming Edward VIII. The title Prince of Wales is not used for another 22 years.
- 1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner are sworn in for their second terms as U.S. President and U.S. Vice President; it is the first time a Presidential Inauguration takes place on January 20 since the 20th Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms.
- 1941 – A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
- 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”.
- 1945 – World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
- 1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
- 1949 – Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
- 1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States of America.
- 1954 – In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
- 1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated the 35th President of the United States of America, becoming the second youngest man to take the office, and the first Catholic.
- 1969 – Richard Nixon is inaugurated the 37th President of the United States of America.
- 1972 – Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
- 1977 – Jimmy Carter is inaugurated the 39th President of the United States of America.
- 1981 – Ronald Reagan is inaugurated the 40th President of the United States of America. Twenty minutes later, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
- 1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
- 1989 – George H. W. Bush is inaugurated the 41st President of the United States of America.
- 1990 – Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- 1991 – Sudan’s government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.
- 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France killing 87 of the 96 people on board.
- 1993 – Bill Clinton is inaugurated the 42nd President of the United States of America.
- 2001 – George W. Bush is inaugurated the 43rd President of the United States of America.
- 2001 – President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
- 2009 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States.
- 2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
- 2017 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, becoming the oldest person to assume the office.
- 2018 – A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.
Births on January 20
- 225 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (d. 244)
- 1029 – Alp Arslan, Seljuk sultan (probable; d. 1072)
- 1292 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (d. 1330)
- 1436 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (d. 1490)
- 1488 – John George, Marquess of Montferrat, Italian noble (d. 1533)
- 1488 – Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (d. 1552)
- 1499 – Sebastian Franck, German humanist (probable; d. 1543)
- 1502 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish-Mexican rancher and missionary (d. 1600)
- 1526 – Rafael Bombelli, Italian mathematician (d. 1572)
- 1554 – Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
- 1569 – Heribert Rosweyde, Jesuit hagiographer (d. 1629)
- 1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1624)
- 1586 – Johann Hermann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
- 1664 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (d. 1718)
- 1703 – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (d. 1741)
- 1716 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and numismatist (d. 1795)
- 1716 – Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
- 1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress (d. 1794)
- 1741 – Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Swedish botanist and author (d. 1783)
- 1755 – Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1824)
- 1762 – Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, Belgian-French composer and theorist (d. 1842)
- 1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1836)
- 1781 – Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, Austrian-German historian and politician (d. 1848)
- 1783 – Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
- 1799 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician, 5th President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1858)
- 1804 – Eugène Sue, French author and politician (d. 1857)
- 1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
- 1814 – David Wilmot, American politician, sponsor of Wilmot Proviso (d. 1868)
- 1834 – George D. Robinson, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
- 1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
- 1856 – Harriot Stanton Blatch, U.S. suffragist and organizer (d. 1940)
- 1865 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
- 1870 – Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian pianist and composer (d. 1894)
- 1873 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
- 1874 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and coach (d. 1938)
- 1876 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1957)
- 1878 – Finlay Currie, Scottish-English actor (d. 1968)
- 1879 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and educator (d. 1968)
- 1880 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
- 1882 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1957)
- 1883 – Enoch L. Johnson, American mob boss (d. 1968)
- 1883 – Forrest Wilson, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
- 1888 – Lead Belly, American folk/blues musician and songwriter (d. 1949)
- 1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer and businessman, founded the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (d. 1967)
- 1893 – Georg Åberg, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1946)
- 1894 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist, created Little Orphan Annie (d. 1968)
- 1894 – Walter Piston, American composer, theorist, and academic (d. 1976)
- 1895 – Gábor Szegő, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1985)
- 1896 – George Burns, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1996)
- 1898 – U Razak, Burmese educator and politician (d. 1947)
- 1899 – Clarice Cliff, English potter (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (d. 1990)
- 1900 – Dorothy Annan, English painter, potter, and muralist (d. 1983)
- 1900 – Colin Clive, English actor (d. 1937)
- 1902 – Leon Ames, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1902 – Kevin Barry, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 1920)
- 1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
- 1907 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (d. 2000)
- 1908 – Fleur Cowles, American author and illustrator (d. 2009)
- 1909 – Gōgen Yamaguchi, Japanese martial artist (d. 1989)
- 1910 – Joy Adamson, Austria-born Kenyan painter and author (d. 1980)
- 1913 – W. Cleon Skousen, American author and academic (d. 2006)
- 1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani businessman and politician, 7th President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2002)
- 1918 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1993)
- 1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (d. 2006)
- 1922 – Ray Anthony, American trumpet player, composer, bandleader, and actor
- 1922 – Don Mankiewicz, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Slim Whitman, American country and western singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and composer (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician (d. 2020)
- 1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)
- 1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
- 1927 – Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist and academic (d. 2007)
- 1928 – Antonio de Almeida, French conductor and musicologist (d. 1997)
- 1929 – Arte Johnson, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Masaharu Kawakatsu, Japanese biologist
- 1929 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
- 1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1931 – David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese pianist and composer (d. 1992)
- 1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Tom Baker, English actor
- 1935 – Dorothy Provine, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2010)
- 1937 – Bailey Howell, American basketball player
- 1938 – Derek Dougan, Irish-English footballer and journalist (d. 2007)
- 1939 – Paul Coverdell, American captain and politician (d. 2000)
- 1939 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist
- 1940 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater and actress
- 1940 – Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician
- 1940 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (d. 2009)
- 1942 – Linda Moulton Howe, American journalist and producer
- 1944 – José Luis Garci, Spanish director and producer
- 1944 – Farhad Mehrad, Iranian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
- 1944 – Pat Parker, African American poet
- 1945 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist and sportscaster (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Eric Stewart, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1946 – David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1946 – Vladimír Merta, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist
- 1947 – Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and sportscaster
- 1948 – Nancy Kress, American author and academic
- 1948 – Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
- 1949 – Göran Persson, Swedish lawyer and politician, 31st Prime Minister of Sweden
- 1950 – Daniel Benzali, Brazilian-American actor
- 1950 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2014)
- 1950 – Mahamane Ousmane, Nigerien politician, President of Niger
- 1951 – Iván Fischer, Hungarian conductor and composer
- 1952 – Nikos Sideris, Greek psychiatrist and poet
- 1952 – Paul Stanley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1952 – John Witherow, South African-English journalist and author
- 1953 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and convicted sex offender (d. 2019)
- 1954 – Alison Seabeck, English lawyer and politician
- 1955 – McKeeva Bush, Caymanian politician, Premier of the Cayman Islands
- 1956 – Maria Larsson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs
- 1956 – Bill Maher, American comedian, political commentator, media critic, television host, and producer
- 1956 – John Naber, American swimmer
- 1957 – Andy Sheppard, English saxophonist and composer
- 1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, director, and producer
- 1959 – Tami Hoag, American author
- 1959 – R. A. Salvatore, American author
- 1960 – Apa Sherpa, Nepalese-American mountaineer
- 1960 – Scott Thunes, American bass player
- 1960 – Will Wright, American video game designer, co-founded Maxis
- 1963 – James Denton, American actor
- 1963 – Mark Ryden, American painter and illustrator
- 1964 – Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
- 1964 – Ron Harper, American basketball player and coach
- 1964 – Jack Lewis, American soldier and author
- 1964 – Kazushige Nojima, Japanese screenwriter and songwriter
- 1964 – Aquilino Pimentel III, Filipino lawyer and politician
- 1964 – Fareed Zakaria, Indian-American journalist and author
- 1965 – Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer defender and manager
- 1965 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
- 1965 – Warren Joyce, English footballer and manager
- 1965 – John Michael Montgomery, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Anton Weissenbacher, Romanian footballer
- 1966 – Rainn Wilson, American actor
- 1967 – Stacey Dash, American actress and television journalist
- 1967 – Kellyanne Conway, American political strategist and pundit
- 1968 – Nick Anderson, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1968 – Junior Murray, Grenadian cricketer
- 1969 – Patrick K. Kroupa, American computer hacker and activist, co-founded MindVox
- 1969 – Nicky Wire, Welsh singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1970 – Edwin McCain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1970 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
- 1971 – Derrick Green, American singer
- 1971 – Gary Barlow, English singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
- 1971 – Ger McDonnell, Irish mountaineer and engineer (d. 2008)
- 1971 – Jung Woong-in, South Korean actor
- 1971 – Questlove, American drummer, DJ, and producer
- 1971 – Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 66th Yokozuna
- 1972 – Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
- 1973 – Stephen Crabb, Scottish-Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
- 1973 – Queen Mathilde of Belgium
- 1974 – David Dei, Italian footballer and coach
- 1975 – Norberto Fontana, Argentinian racing driver
- 1975 – Zac Goldsmith, English journalist and politician
- 1976 – Kirsty Gallacher, Scottish journalist and sportscaster
- 1976 – Michael Myers, American football player
- 1976 – Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
- 1977 – Paul Adams, South African cricketer and coach
- 1978 – Salvatore Aronica, Italian footballer
- 1978 – Sonja Kesselschläger, German heptathlete
- 1978 – Allan Søgaard, Danish footballer
- 1979 – Choo Ja-hyun, South Korean actress
- 1979 – Will Young, English singer-songwriter and actor
- 1980 – Karl Anderson, American wrestler
- 1980 – Philippe Cousteau, Jr., American-French oceanographer and journalist
- 1980 – Philippe Gagnon, Canadian swimmer
- 1980 – Kim Jeong-hoon, South Korean singer and actor
- 1980 – Petra Rampre, Slovenian tennis player
- 1980 – Matthew Tuck, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
- 1981 – Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
- 1981 – Jason Richardson, American basketball player
- 1982 – Ruchi Sanghvi, Indian computer engineer
- 1982 – Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer
- 1983 – Geovany Soto, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
- 1983 – Mari Yaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
- 1984 – Malek Jaziri, Tunisian tennis player
- 1985 – Marina Inoue, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1985 – Tanel Sokk, Estonian basketball player
- 1987 – Janin Lindenberg, German sprinter
- 1987 – Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2011)
- 1988 – Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian footballer
- 1988 – Jeffrén Suárez, Spanish footballer
- 1989 – Nick Foles, American football player
- 1989 – Washington Santana da Silva, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1990 – Ray Thompson, Australian rugby league player
- 1991 – Ciara Hanna, American actress and model
- 1991 – Tom Cairney, Scottish footballer, midfielder
- 1991 – Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player
- 1991 – Jolyon Palmer, English racing driver
- 1992 – Jorge Zárate, Mexican footballer
- 1993 – Lorenzo Crisetig, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Seán Kavanagh, Irish footballer, defender
- 1994 – Lucas Piazon, Brazilian footballer
- 1995 – Joey Badass, American rapper and actor
- 1995 – Calum Chambers, English footballer, defender
Deaths on January 20
- 820 – Al-Shafi‘i, Arab scholar and jurist (b. 767)
- 842 – Theophilos, Byzantine emperor (b. 813)
- 882 – Louis the Younger, king of the East Frankish Kingdom
- 924 – Li Jitao, Chinese general of Later Tang
- 928 – Zhao Guangfeng, Chinese official and chancellor
- 1029 – Heonae, Korean queen and regent (b. 964)
- 1095 – Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester
- 1156 – Henry, English bishop and saint
- 1189 – Shi Zong, Chinese emperor of Jin (b. 1123)
- 1191 – Frederick VI, duke of Swabia (b. 1167)
- 1191 – Theobald V, count of Blois (b. 1130)
- 1265 – John Maunsell, English Lord Chancellor
- 1336 – John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (b. 1306)
- 1343 – Robert, king of Naples (b. 1275)
- 1479 – John II, king of Sicily (b. 1398)
- 1568 – Myles Coverdale, English bishop and translator (b. 1488)
- 1612 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
- 1663 – Isaac Ambrose, English minister and author (b. 1604)
- 1666 – Anne of Austria, Queen and regent of France (b. 1601)
- 1707 – Humphrey Hody, English scholar and theologian (b. 1659)
- 1709 – François de la Chaise, French priest (b. 1624)
- 1751 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
- 1770 – Charles Yorke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
- 1779 – David Garrick, English actor, producer, playwright, and manager (b. 1717)
- 1810 – Benjamin Chew, American lawyer and judge (b. 1721)
- 1819 – Charles IV, Spanish king (b. 1748)
- 1837 – John Soane, English architect, designed the Bank of England (b. 1753)
- 1841 – Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish explorer (b. 1780)
- 1841 – Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1791)
- 1848 – Christian VIII, Danish king (b. 1786)
- 1850 – Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1779)
- 1852 – Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 6th Yokozuna (b. 1794)
- 1873 – Basil Moreau, French priest, founded the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
- 1875 – Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (b. 1814)
- 1891 – Kalākaua, king of Hawaii (b. 1836)
- 1900 – John Ruskin, English painter and critic (b. 1819)
- 1901 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (b. 1826)
- 1907 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (b. 1842)
- 1908 – John Ordronaux, American surgeon and academic (b. 1830)
- 1913 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (b. 1852)
- 1915 – Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, Irish businessman, philanthropist, and politician (b. 1840)
- 1920 – Georg Lurich, Estonian-Russian wrestler and strongman (b. 1876)
- 1921 – Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer and academic (b. 1847)
- 1924 – Henry “Ivo” Crapp, Australian footballer and umpire (b. 1872)
- 1936 – George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
- 1940 – Omar Bundy, American general (b. 1861)
- 1944 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (b. 1860)
- 1947 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (b. 1911)
- 1947 – Andrew Volstead, American member of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1860)
- 1954 – Warren Bardsley, Australian cricketer (b. 1882)
- 1954 – Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (b. 1890)
- 1955 – Robert P. T. Coffin, American author and poet (b. 1892)
- 1962 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (b. 1887)
- 1965 – Alan Freed, American radio host (b. 1922)
- 1971 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
- 1971 – Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (b. 1903)
- 1973 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and surgeon (b. 1885)
- 1973 – Amílcar Cabral, Guinea Bissauan-Cape Verdian engineer and politician (b. 1924)
- 1977 – Dimitrios Kiousopoulos, Greek jurist and politician, 151st Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1892)
- 1980 – William Roberts, English soldier and painter (b. 1895)
- 1983 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
- 1984 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
- 1988 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (b. 1890)
- 1988 – Dora Stratou, Greek dancer and choreographer (b. 1903)
- 1989 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 1990 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
- 1993 – Audrey Hepburn, British actress and humanitarian activist (b. 1929)
- 1994 – Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1909)
- 1994 – Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, first Kenyan Vice-President (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1927)
- 2002 – Carrie Hamilton, American actress and singer (b. 1963)
- 2003 – Al Hirschfeld, American painter and illustrator (b. 1903)
- 2003 – Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
- 2004 – Alan Brown, English racing driver (b. 1919)
- 2004 – T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (b. 1917)
- 2005 – Per Borten, Norwegian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist and politician (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Miriam Rothschild, English zoologist, entomologist, and author (b. 1908)
- 2009 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian patriarch (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Etta James, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
- 2012 – John Levy, American bassist and manager (b. 1912)
- 2012 – Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Alejandro Rodriguez, Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (b. 1933)
- 2013 – Toyo Shibata, Japanese poet and author (b. 1911)
- 2014 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (b. 1921)
- 2014 – Jonas Trinkūnas, Lithuanian ethnologist and academic (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Edgar Froese, Russian-German keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1944)
- 2016 – Mykolas Burokevičius, Lithuanian carpenter and politician (b. 1927)
- 2016 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (b. 1920)
- 2018 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Naomi Parker Fraley, American naval machiner (b. 1921)
- 2020 – Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (b. 1947)
- 2020 – Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives
Holidays and observances on January 20
- Armed Forces Day (Mali)
- Army Day (Laos)
- Christian feast day:
- Abadios
- Blessed Basil Moreau
- Eustochia Smeralda Calafato
- Euthymius the Great
- Fabian
- Manchán of Lemanaghan
- Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando
- Richard Rolle (Church of England)
- Sebastian
- Stephen Min Kuk-ka (one of The Korean Martyrs)
- January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Heroes’ Day (Cape Verde)
- Inauguration Day, held every four years in odd-numbered years immediately following years divisible by 4, except for the public ceremony when January 20 falls on Sunday (the public ceremony is held the following day; however, the terms of offices still begin on the 20th) (United States of America, not a federal holiday for all government employees but only for those working in the Capital region)
- Martyrs’ Day (Azerbaijan)
-
January 16 in History
- 27 BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
- 378 – General Siyaj K’ak’ conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
- 550 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
- 929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba.
- 1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
- 1362 – Saint Marcellus’s flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
- 1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
- 1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
- 1547 – Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
- 1556 – Philip II becomes King of Spain.
- 1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
- 1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.
- 1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
- 1757 – Forces of the Maratha Empire defeat a 5,000-strong army of the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.
- 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
- 1786 – Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
- 1809 – Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
- 1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
- 1862 – Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
- 1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
- 1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.
- 1900 – The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
- 1909 – Ernest Shackleton’s expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- 1919 – Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.
- 1920 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University.
- 1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France.
- 1921 – The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.
- 1942 – Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
- 1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
- 1964 – Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.
- 1969 – Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets’ crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
- 1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.
- 1979 – The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.
- 1991 – Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.
- 1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
- 2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
- 2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.
- 2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
- 2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
- 2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She becomes Africa’s first female elected head of state.
- 2016 – Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant.
- 2018 – Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve.
- 2020 – The impeachment of Donald John Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
Births on January 16
- 972 – Sheng Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 1031)
- 1093 – Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (d. 1152)
- 1245 – Edmund Crouchback, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1296)
- 1362 – Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland (d. 1392)
- 1409 – René of Anjou, king of Naples (d. 1480)
- 1477 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
- 1501 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
- 1516 – Bayinnaung, king of Burma (d. 1581)
- 1558 – Jakobea of Baden, Margravine of Baden by birth, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by marriage (d. 1597)
- 1616 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (d. 1669)
- 1626 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Belgian painter and educator (d. 1699)
- 1630 – Guru Har Rai, Sikh Guru (d. 1661)
- 1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, Norwegian author and poet (d. 1716)
- 1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1755)
- 1691 – Peter Scheemakers, Belgian sculptor and educator (d. 1781)
- 1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer and educator (d. 1800)
- 1749 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1803)
- 1757 – Richard Goodwin Keats, English admiral and politician, 3rd Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)
- 1807 – Charles Henry Davis, American admiral (d. 1877)
- 1815 – Henry Halleck, American lawyer, general, and scholar (d. 1872)
- 1821 – John C. Breckinridge, American general and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
- 1834 – Robert R. Hitt, American lawyer and politician, 13th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1906)
- 1836 – Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)
- 1838 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
- 1851 – William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
- 1853 – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and manager (d. 1937)
- 1853 – Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, Greek-English general (d. 1947)
- 1853 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (d. 1931)
- 1870 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, State Elder of Estonia (d. 1942)
- 1872 – Henri Büsser, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1973)
- 1874 – Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet and author (d. 1958)
- 1875 – Leonor Michaelis, German biochemist and physician (d. 1949)
- 1876 – Claude Buckenham, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1937)
- 1878 – Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1947)
- 1880 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (d. 1954)
- 1882 – Margaret Wilson, American author (d. 1973)
- 1885 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (d. 1967)
- 1888 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (d. 1945)
- 1892 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (d. 1949)
- 1893 – Daisy Kennedy, Australian-English violinist (d. 1981)
- 1894 – Irving Mills, American publisher (d. 1985)
- 1895 – Evripidis Bakirtzis, Greek soldier and politician (d. 1947)
- 1895 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
- 1895 – Nat Schachner, American lawyer, chemist, and author (d. 1955)
- 1897 – Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet and academic (d. 1977)
- 1898 – Margaret Booth, American producer and editor (d. 2002)
- 1898 – Irving Rapper, American film director and producer (d. 1999)
- 1900 – Kiku Amino, Japanese author and translator (d. 1978)
- 1900 – Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
- 1901 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (d. 1973)
- 1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner, rugby player, and missionary (d. 1945)
- 1903 – William Grover-Williams, English-French race car driver (d. 1945)
- 1905 – Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Johannes Brenner, Estonian footballer and pilot (d. 1975)
- 1906 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (d. 1964)
- 1907 – Alexander Knox, Canadian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
- 1907 – Paul Nitze, American banker and politician, 10th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2004)
- 1908 – Sammy Crooks, English footballer (d. 1981)
- 1908 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Günther Prien, German captain (d. 1941)
- 1909 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974)
- 1911 – Ivan Barrow, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (d. 1982)
- 1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
- 1914 – Roger Wagner, French-American conductor and educator (d. 1992)
- 1915 – Leslie H. Martinson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
- 1916 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2004)
- 1916 – Philip Lucock, English-Australian minister and politician (d. 1996)
- 1917 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, founded Carl’s Jr. (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Nel Benschop, Dutch poet and educator (d. 2005)
- 1918 – Allan Ekelund, Swedish director, producer, and production manager (d. 2009)
- 1918 – Clem Jones, Australian surveyor and politician, 8th Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2007)
- 1918 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Jerome Horwitz, American chemist and academic (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1991)
- 1920 – Elliott Reid, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Gene Feist, American director and playwright, co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1924 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
- 1925 – Peter Hirsch, German-English metallurgist and academic
- 1925 – James Robinson Risner, American general and pilot (d. 2013)
- 1928 – William Kennedy, American novelist and journalist
- 1928 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 1996)
- 1929 – Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Sri Lankan anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Mary Ann McMorrow, American lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Norman Podhoretz, American journalist and author
- 1931 – John Enderby, English physicist and academic
- 1931 – Robert L. Park, American physicist and academic
- 1931 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th Federal President of Germany (d. 2006)
- 1932 – Victor Ciocâltea, Romanian chess player (d. 1983)
- 1932 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist and anthropologist (d. 1985)
- 1933 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004)
- 1934 – Bob Bogle, American rock guitarist and bass player (d. 2009)
- 1934 – Marilyn Horne, American soprano and actress
- 1935 – A. J. Foyt, American race car driver
- 1935 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015)
- 1936 – Michael White, Scottish actor and producer (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Luiz Bueno, Brazilian race car driver (d. 2011)
- 1937 – Francis George, American cardinal (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Marina Vaizey, American journalist and critic
- 1939 – Ralph Gibson, American photographer
- 1941 – Christine Truman, English tennis player and sportscaster
- 1942 – René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Barbara Lynn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – Gavin Bryars, English bassist and composer
- 1943 – Ronnie Milsap, American singer and pianist
- 1944 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (d. 2015)
- 1944 – Jim Stafford, American singer-songwriter and actor
- 1944 – Jill Tarter, American astronomer and biologist
- 1944 – Judy Baar Topinka, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1945 – Wim Suurbier, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1946 – Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
- 1946 – Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano and actress
- 1947 – Elaine Murphy, Baroness Murphy, English academic and politician
- 1947 – Harvey Proctor, English politician
- 1947 – Laura Schlessinger, American physiologist, talk show host, and author
- 1948 – John Carpenter, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
- 1948 – Ants Laaneots, Estonian general
- 1948 – Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
- 1948 – Ruth Reichl, American journalist and critic
- 1949 – Anne F. Beiler, American businesswoman, founded Auntie Anne’s
- 1949 – R. F. Foster, Irish historian and academic
- 1949 – Andrew Refshauge, Australian physician and politician, 13th Deputy Premier of New South Wales
- 1950 – Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
- 1950 – Robert Schimmel, American comedian, actor, and producer (d. 2010)
- 1952 – Fuad II, King of Egypt
- 1952 – Piercarlo Ghinzani, Italian race car driver and manager
- 1952 – L. Blaine Hammond, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1952 – Julie Anne Peters, American engineer and author
- 1953 – Robert Jay Mathews, American militant, founded The Order (d. 1984)
- 1954 – Wolfgang Schmidt, German discus thrower
- 1954 – Vasili Zhupikov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1955 – Jerry M. Linenger, American captain, physician, and astronaut
- 1956 – Wayne Daniel, Barbadian cricketer
- 1956 – Martin Jol, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1956 – Greedy Smith, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist (d. 2019)
- 1957 – Jurijs Andrejevs, Latvian footballer and manager
- 1957 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1957 – Mark Pawsey, English businessman and politician
- 1958 – Anatoli Boukreev, Russian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1997)
- 1958 – Lena Ek, Swedish lawyer and politician, 9th Swedish Minister for the Environment
- 1958 – Andris Šķēle, Latvian businessman and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Latvia
- 1959 – Lisa Milroy, Canadian painter and educator
- 1959 – Sade, Nigerian-English singer-songwriter and producer
- 1961 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian guitarist and composer (d. 2006)
- 1962 – Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian electrician and politician, 51st Australian Minister of Defence
- 1962 – Maxine Jones, American R&B singer–songwriter and actress
- 1963 – James May, British journalist/co-host of Top Gear
- 1964 – Gail Graham, Canadian golfer
- 1966 – Jack McDowell, American baseball player
- 1968 – Rebecca Stead, American author
- 1969 – Neil Back, English rugby player and coach
- 1969 – Marinus Bester, German footballer
- 1969 – Stevie Jackson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
- 1969 – Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
- 1970 – Ron Villone, American baseball player and coach
- 1971 – Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player and coach
- 1971 – Josh Evans, American film producer, screenwriter and actor
- 1971 – Jonathan Mangum, American actor
- 1972 – Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer
- 1972 – Ang Christou, Australian footballer
- 1972 – Yuri Alekseevich Drozdov, Russian footballer and manager
- 1972 – Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer and manager
- 1972 – Joe Horn, American football player and coach
- 1974 – Marlon Anderson, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1974 – John Hopoate, Tongan-Australian rugby league player and boxer
- 1974 – Kate Moss, English model and fashion designer
- 1976 – Viktor Maslov, Russian race car driver
- 1976 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak swimmer
- 1977 – Jeff Foster, American basketball player
- 1978 – Alfredo Amézaga, Mexican baseball player
- 1979 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
- 1979 – Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, American actor, playwright, and composer
- 1980 – Albert Pujols, Dominican-American baseball player
- 1981 – Jamie Lundmark, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981 – Paul Rofe, Australian cricketer
- 1981 – Bobby Zamora, English footballer, striker
- 1982 – Preston, English singer-songwriter
- 1982 – Tuncay, Turkish footballer
- 1983 – Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
- 1983 – Andriy Rusol, Ukrainian footballer
- 1984 – Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer
- 1984 – Miroslav Radović, Serbian footballer
- 1985 – Joe Flacco, American football player
- 1985 – Jayde Herrick, Australian cricketer
- 1985 – Gintaras Januševičius, Russian-Lithuanian pianist
- 1985 – Twins Jonathan and Simon Richter, Danish-Gambian footballers
- 1985 – Sidharth Malhotra, Indian actor
- 1986 – Johannes Rahn, German footballer
- 1986 – Mark Trumbo, American baseball player
- 1986 – Reto Ziegler, Swiss footballer, left back
- 1987 – Jake Epstein, Canadian actor
- 1987 – Charlotte Henshaw, English swimmer
- 1988 – Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
- 1988 – Jorge Torres Nilo, Mexican footballer
- 1991 – Matt Duchene, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Hannes Anier, Estonian footballer
- 1993 – Amandine Hesse, French tennis player
- 1994 – Chris Smith, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Mikaela Turik, Australian-Canadian cricketer
- 1998 – Cameron Murray, Australian rugby league player
- 2003 – Adriana Hernández, Mexican rhythmic gymnast
Deaths on January 16
- 654 – Gao Jifu, Chinese politician and chancellor (b. 596)
- 957 – Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali al-Madhara’i, Tulunid vizier (b. 871)
- 970 – Polyeuctus of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch (b. 956)
- 1263 – Shinran Shonin, Japanese founder of the Jodo Shinshu branch of Pure Land Buddhism
- 1289 – Buqa, Mongol minister
- 1327 – Nikephoros Choumnos, Byzantine monk, scholar, and politician (b. 1250)
- 1354 – Joanna of Châtillon, duchess of Athens (b. c.1285)
- 1373 – Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (b. 1342)
- 1391 – Muhammed V of Granada, Nasrid emir (b. 1338)
- 1400 – John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1352)
- 1443 – Erasmo of Narni, Italian mercenary (b. 1370)
- 1545 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (b. 1484)
- 1547 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
- 1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish publisher and scholar (b. 1480)
- 1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral and politician (b. 1512)
- 1595 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1546)
- 1659 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
- 1710 – Higashiyama, Japanese emperor (b. 1675)
- 1711 – Joseph Vaz, Indian-Sri Lankan priest and saint (b. 1651)
- 1747 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet and playwright (b. 1680)
- 1748 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch lawyer and scholar (b. 1684)
- 1750 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1667)
- 1752 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (b. 1705)
- 1794 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (b. 1737)
- 1809 – John Moore, Scottish general and politician (b. 1761)
- 1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, Jamaican-American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1759)
- 1834 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (b. 1769)
- 1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (b. 1795)
- 1864 – Anton Schindler, Austrian secretary and author (b. 1795)
- 1865 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (b. 1828)
- 1879 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian-French poet and bookseller (b. 1827)
- 1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and academic (b. 1834)
- 1891 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (b. 1836)
- 1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
- 1901 – Jules Barbier, French poet and playwright (b. 1825)
- 1901 – Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter and academic (b. 1827)
- 1901 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, American soldier, minister, and politician (b. 1822)
- 1906 – Marshall Field, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Marshall Field’s (b. 1834)
- 1917 – George Dewey, American admiral (b. 1837)
- 1919 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 5th President of Brazil (b. 1848)
- 1933 – Bekir Sami Kunduh, Turkish politician (b. 1867)
- 1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer, rapist and cannibal (b. 1870)
- 1938 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Indian author and playwright (b. 1876)
- 1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (b. 1850)
- 1942 – Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (b. 1885)
- 1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
- 1942 – Ernst Scheller, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Marburg (b. 1899)
- 1957 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, English general and politician, 16th Governor General of Canada (b. 1874)
- 1957 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian cellist and conductor (b. 1867)
- 1959 – Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and author (b. 1887)
- 1960 – Arthur Darby, English rugby player (b. 1876)
- 1961 – Max Schöne, German swimmer (b. 1880)
- 1962 – Frank Hurley, Australian photographer, director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1885)
- 1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect, designed the Monument to the Unknown Hero (b. 1883)
- 1967 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic (b. 1901)
- 1968 – Bob Jones Sr., American evangelist, founded Bob Jones University (b. 1883)
- 1968 – Panagiotis Poulitsas, Greek archaeologist and judge (b. 1881)
- 1969 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)
- 1971 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
- 1972 – Teller Ammons, American soldier and politician, 28th Governor of Colorado (b. 1895)
- 1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (b. 1919)
- 1973 – Edgar Sampson, American musician and composer (b. 1907)
- 1975 – Israel Abramofsky, Russian-American painter (b. 1888)
- 1978 – A. V. Kulasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1890)
- 1981 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Virginia Mauret, American musician and dancer
- 1986 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
- 1987 – Bertram Wainer, Australian physician and activist (b. 1928)
- 1988 – Andrija Artuković, Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, 1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (b. 1899)
- 1995 – Eric Mottram, English poet and critic (b. 1924)
- 1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and critic (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Kaye Webb, English journalist and publisher (b. 1914)
- 1999 – Jim McClelland, Australian lawyer, jurist, and politician, 12th Minister for Industry and Science (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist and academic (b. 1914)
- 2001 – Auberon Waugh, English author and journalist (b. 1939)
- 2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
- 2003 – Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
- 2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician 34th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
- 2005 – Marjorie Williams, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
- 2006 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941)
- 2009 – Joe Erskine, American boxer and runner (b. 1930)
- 2009 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
- 2010 – Glen Bell, American businessman, founded Taco Bell (b. 1923)
- 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1914)
- 2010 – Takumi Shibano, Japanese author and translator (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Joe Bygraves, Jamaican-English boxer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Jimmy Castor, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Sigursteinn Gíslason, Icelandic footballer and manager (b. 1968)
- 2012 – Lorna Kesterson, American journalist and politician (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch pianist, conductor, and musicologist (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2013 – André Cassagnes, French technician and toy maker, created the Etch A Sketch (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Gussie Moran, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Glen P. Robinson, American businessman, founded Scientific Atlanta (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Gary Arlington, American author and illustrator (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Ruth Duccini, American actress (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Miriam Akavia, Polish-Israeli author and translator (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Yao Beina, Chinese singer (b. 1981)
- 2016 – Joannis Avramidis, Greek sculptor (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Ted Marchibroda, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2017 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Ed Doolan, British radio presenter (b. 1941)
- 2018 – Oliver Ivanović, Kosovo Serb politician (b. 1953)
- 2019 – John C. Bogle, American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (b. 1929)
- 2019 – Lorna Doom, American musician (b. 1958)
- 2019 – Chris Wilson, Australian musician (b. 1956)
- 2020 – Christopher Tolkien, British academic and editor (died 2020)
Holidays and observances on January 16
- Christian feast day:
- Pope Benjamin (Coptic)
- Berard of Carbio
- Blaise (Armenian Apostolic)
- Fursey
- Joseph Vaz
- Honoratus of Arles
- Pope Marcellus I
- Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Coptic Church)
- Titian of Oderzo
- Eve of Saint Anthony observed with ritual bonfires in San Bartolomé de Pinares
- January 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- National Religious Freedom Day (United States)
- Teacher’s Day (Myanmar)
- Teachers’ Day (Thailand)
-
January 12 in History
- 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned since his election in June 1523.
- 1554 – Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma.
- 1616 – The city of Belém, Brazil is founded on the Amazon River delta, by Portuguese captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco.
- 1808 – John Rennie’s scheme to defend St Mary’s Church, Reculver, founded in 669, from coastal erosion is abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture.
- 1808 – The organizational meeting leading to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
- 1848 – The Palermo rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- 1866 – The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.
- 1872 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.
- 1895 – The National Trust is founded in the United Kingdom.
- 1911 – The University of the Philippines College of Law is formally established; three future Philippine presidents are among the first enrollees.
- 1915 – The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to require states to give women the right to vote.
- 1916 – Both Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann, for achieving eight aerial victories each over Allied aircraft, receive the German Empire’s highest military award, the Pour le Mérite as the first German aviators to earn it.
- 1918 – The Minnie Pit Disaster coal mining accident occurs in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys die.
- 1921 – Acting to restore confidence in baseball after the Black Sox Scandal, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is elected as Major League Baseball’s first commissioner.
- 1932 – Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.
- 1942 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
- 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive.
- 1962 – Vietnam War: Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission in the war, takes place.
- 1964 – Rebels in Zanzibar begin a revolt known as the Zanzibar Revolution and proclaim a republic.
- 1966 – Lyndon B. Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.
- 1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
- 1969 – The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
- 1970 – Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
- 1971 – The Harrisburg Seven: Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other activists are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.
- 1976 – The United Nations Security Council votes 11–1 to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights).
- 1986 – Space Shuttle program: Congressman Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Columbia on mission STS-61-C as a payload specialist.
- 1990 – A seven-day pogrom breaks out against the Armenian civilian population of Baku, Azerbaijan, during which Armenians were beaten, tortured, murdered, and expelled from the city.
- 1991 – Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of American military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
- 1998 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
- 2001 – Downtown Disney opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
- 2004 – The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
- 2005 – Deep Impact launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket.
- 2006 – A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.
- 2010 – An earthquake in Haiti occurs, killing between 220,000 and 300,000 people and destroying much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
- 2012 – Violent protests occur in Bucharest, Romania, as two-day-old demonstrations continue against President Traian Băsescu’s economic austerity measures. Clashes are reported in numerous Romanian cities between protesters and law enforcement officers.
- 2015 – Government raids kill 143 Boko Haram fighters in Kolofata, Cameroon.
- 2016 – Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
- 2020 – Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupts, and kills 39 people.
Births on January 12
- 1483 – Henry III of Nassau-Breda (d. 1538)
- 1562 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1630)
- 1576 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (d. 1660)
- 1577 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist and physician (d. 1644)
- 1588 – John Winthrop, English lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1649)
- 1591 – Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish painter (d. 1652)
- 1597 – François Duquesnoy, Flemish sculptor and educator (d. 1643)
- 1598 – Jijabai Shahaji Bhosale, venerated mother of Indian king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (d. 1674)
- 1628 – Charles Perrault, French author and academic (d. 1703)
- 1673 – Rosalba Carriera, Italian painter (d. 1757)
- 1711 – Gaetano Latilla, Italian composer (d. 1788)
- 1715 – Jacques Duphly, French organist and composer (d. 1789)
- 1716 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and politician, 1st Spanish Governor of Louisiana (d. 1795)
- 1721 – Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1792)
- 1723 – Samuel Langdon, American minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1797)
- 1724 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (d. 1789)
- 1729 – Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1797)
- 1746 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss philosopher and educator (d. 1827)
- 1751 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1825)
- 1772 – Mikhail Speransky, Russian academic and politician (d. 1839)
- 1786 – Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1855)
- 1792 – Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist and academic (d. 1841)
- 1797 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (d. 1873)
- 1799 – Priscilla Susan Bury, British botanist (d. 1872)
- 1822 – Étienne Lenoir, Belgian engineer, designed the internal combustion engine (d. 1900)
- 1837 – Adolf Jensen, German pianist and composer (d. 1879)
- 1849 – Jean Béraud, Russian-French painter and academic (d. 1935)
- 1853 – Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician (d. 1925)
- 1856 – John Singer Sargent, American painter and academic (d. 1925)
- 1863 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and philosopher (d. 1902)
- 1869 – Bhagwan Das, Indian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1958)
- 1873 – Spyridon Louis, Greek runner (d. 1940)
- 1874 – Laura Adams Armer, American author and photographer (d. 1963)
- 1876 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the Turkish Provisional Government (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Jack London, American novelist and journalist (d. 1916)
- 1876 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (d. 1948)
- 1877 – Frank J. Corr, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1934)
- 1878 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian-American author and playwright (d. 1952)
- 1879 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver and engineer (d. 1968)
- 1879 – Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician, 17th Mayor of Tallinn (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Milton Sills, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1930)
- 1884 – Texas Guinan, American entertainer and bootlegger (d. 1933)
- 1889 – Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Indian-Pakistani spiritual leader (d. 1965)
- 1890 – Johannes Vares, Estonian poet, physician, and politician (d. 1946)
- 1892 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian engineer and businessman, co-founded the Russian Aircraft Corporation (d. 1976)
- 1893 – Hermann Göring, German commander, pilot, and politician, Minister President of Prussia (d. 1946)
- 1893 – Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian-German architect and politician, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (d. 1946)
- 1894 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer and actor (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (d. 1959)
- 1896 – David Wechsler, Romanian-American psychologist and author (d. 1981)
- 1899 – Pierre Bernac, French opera singer and educator (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- 1901 – Karl Künstler, German SS officer (d. 1945)
- 1903 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1960)
- 1903 – Andrew J. Transue, American politician and attorney (Morissette v. United States) (d. 1995)
- 1904 – Mississippi Fred McDowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972)
- 1905 – Nihal Atsız, Turkish author, poet, and philosopher (d. 1975)
- 1905 – James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist and academic (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
- 1906 – Emmanuel Levinas, Lithuanian-French historian, philosopher, and academic (d. 1995)
- 1907 – Sergei Korolev, Russian colonel and engineer (d. 1966)
- 1908 – Jean Delannoy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1908 – Clement Hurd, American illustrator (d. 1988)
- 1910 – Patsy Kelly, American actress and comedian (d. 1981)
- 1910 – Luise Rainer, German-English actress (d. 2014)
- 1912 – Richard Kuremaa, Estonian footballer (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Mieko Kamiya, Japanese psychiatrist and psychologist (d. 1979)
- 1915 – Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
- 1915 – Joseph-Aurèle Plourde, Canadian archbishop and academic (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Ruth R. Benerito, American chemist and inventor (d. 2013)
- 1916 – Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx, British poet and Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2018)
- 1916 – P. W. Botha, South African politician, 8th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Walter Hendl, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Jimmy Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2007)
- 1920 – James Farmer, American activist, and politician, co-founded Congress of Racial Equality (d. 1999)
- 1920 – Jerzy Zubrzycki, Polish-Australian sociologist and academic (d. 2009)
- 1922 – Tadeusz Żychiewicz, Polish journalist and historian (d. 1994)
- 1923 – Ira Hayes, American marine who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima (d. 1955)
- 1924 – Olivier Gendebien, Belgian racing driver and businessman (d. 1998)
- 1925 – Bill Burrud, American television host, producer, and actor (d. 1990)
- 1926 – Morton Feldman, American composer and academic (d. 1987)
- 1926 – Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Ruth Brown, American R&B singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2006)
- 1929 – Alasdair MacIntyre, Scottish-American philosopher and academic
- 1929 – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher and logician (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, founded Tim Hortons (d. 1974)
- 1930 – Jennifer Johnston, Irish author and playwright
- 1930 – Glenn Yarbrough, American singer and actor (d. 2016)
- 1933 – Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Alan Sharp, Scottish-American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Mick Sullivan, English rugby player and coach (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Teresa del Conde, Mexican historian and critic (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Kreskin, American mentalist
- 1936 – Jennifer Hilton, Baroness Hilton of Eggardon, English police officer and politician
- 1936 – Raimonds Pauls, Latvian pianist and composer
- 1936 – Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet and activist (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Shirley Eaton, English actress
- 1938 – Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Pakistani scholar and politician (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Bob Hewitt, Australian-South African tennis player
- 1940 – Ronald Shannon Jackson, American drummer and composer (d. 2013)
- 1940 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2007)
- 1941 – Long John Baldry, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and voice actor (d. 2005)
- 1941 – Fiona Caldicott, English psychiatrist and psychotherapist
- 1941 – Chet Jastremski, American swimmer and physician (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Bernardine Dohrn, American domestic terrorist, political activist and academic
- 1944 – Hans Henning Atrott, German author and theorist
- 1944 – Joe Frazier, American boxer (d. 2011)
- 1944 – Cynthia Robinson, American R&B trumpet player and singer (d 2015)
- 1945 – Maggie Bell, Scottish singer-songwriter
- 1946 – Hazel Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove, Scottish lawyer and judge
- 1946 – George Duke, American keyboard player, composer, and educator (d. 2013)
- 1947 – Richard Carwardine, English historian and academic
- 1947 – Tom Dempsey, American football player and educator
- 1947 – Sally Hamwee, Baroness Hamwee, English politician
- 1948 – Kenny Allen, English footballer
- 1948 – Anthony Andrews, English actor and producer
- 1948 – Gordon Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 34th Premier of British Columbia
- 1948 – Brendan Foster, English runner and sportscaster
- 1948 – William Nicholson, English author and screenwriter
- 1949 – Kentarō Haneda, Japanese pianist and composer (d. 2007)
- 1949 – Ottmar Hitzfeld, German footballer and manager
- 1949 – Hamadi Jebali, Tunisian engineer, journalist, and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Tunisia
- 1949 – Haruki Murakami, Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and essayist
- 1950 – Sheila Jackson Lee, American lawyer, judge, and politician
- 1950 – Göran Lindblad, Swedish dentist and politician
- 1950 – Bob McEwen, American businessman and politician
- 1950 – Dorrit Moussaieff, Israeli-Icelandic jewelry designer and businesswoman, 5th First Lady of Iceland
- 1951 – Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer
- 1951 – Chris Bell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1978)
- 1951 – Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host and author
- 1951 – Drew Pearson, American football player and sportscaster
- 1952 – Phil Perry, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1952 – Ricky Van Shelton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1952 – John Walker, New Zealand runner and politician
- 1952 – Walter Mosley, American novelist
- 1953 – Mary Harron, Canadian director and screenwriter
- 1954 – Howard Stern, American radio host, actor, and author
- 1954 – Martin Kylhammar, Swedish professor of culture and society
- 1955 – Tom Ardolino, American rock drummer (NRBQ) (d. 2012)
- 1956 – Nikolai Noskov, Russian rock singer and singer-songwriter
- 1957 – John Lasseter, American animator, director, and producer
- 1957 – Jeremy Sams, English director, playwright, and composer
- 1958 – Christiane Amanpour, English-born Iranian-American journalist
- 1958 – Curt Fraser, American-Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1959 – B. Brian Blair, American wrestler and politician
- 1959 – Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1960 – Oliver Platt, Canadian-American actor
- 1960 – Dominique Wilkins, French-American basketball player and manager
- 1961 – Simon Russell Beale, Malaysia-born English actor and historian
- 1962 – Joe Quesada, American author and illustrator
- 1962 – Richie Richardson, Antiguan cricketer
- 1962 – Luna Vachon, American-Canadian wrestler and manager (d. 2010)
- 1963 – François Girard, Canadian director and screenwriter
- 1963 – Nando Reis, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1964 – Jeff Bezos, American computer scientist and businessman, founded Amazon.com
- 1965 – Raekwon, American rapper
- 1965 – Rob Zombie, American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director
- 1966 – Olivier Martinez, French actor
- 1966 – Craig Parry, Australian golfer
- 1967 – Vendela Kirsebom, Norwegian-Swedish model and actress
- 1968 – Junichi Masuda, Japanese director, producer, and composer
- 1968 – Heather Mills, English businesswoman, activist and model
- 1968 – Mauro Silva, Brazilian footballer
- 1969 – David Mitchell, English novelist
- 1969 – Margaret Nagle, American screenwriter and producer
- 1970 – Zack de la Rocha, American singer-songwriter
- 1971 – Scott Burrell, American basketball player and coach
- 1972 – Priyanka Gandhi, Indian politician
- 1972 – Espen Knutsen, Norwegian ice hockey player and coach
- 1972 – Paul Wilson, Australian cricketer and umpire
- 1973 – Brian Culbertson, American pianist and producer
- 1973 – Hande Yener, Turkish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1974 – Melanie C, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1974 – Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian skier
- 1975 – Jason Freese, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
- 1975 – Jocelyn Thibault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1977 – Yoandy Garlobo, Cuban baseball player
- 1978 – Luis Ayala, Mexican baseball player
- 1978 – Maurizio Zaffiri, Italian rugby player
- 1979 – Marián Hossa, Slovak ice hockey player
- 1979 – Lee Bo-young, South Korean actress and model
- 1979 – Grzegorz Rasiak, Polish footballer
- 1979 – David Zabriskie, American cyclist
- 1980 – Bobby Crosby, American baseball player
- 1981 – Amerie, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1981 – João Paulo Daniel, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Dan Klecko, American football player
- 1981 – Angus Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player
- 1981 – Luis Ernesto Pérez, Mexican footballer
- 1982 – Paul-Henri Mathieu, French tennis player
- 1982 – Hans Van Alphen, Belgian decathlete
- 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
- 1982 – Dontrelle Willis, American baseball player
- 1984 – Daniel Sepulveda, American football player
- 1984 – Jonathan Zydko, French footballer
- 1985 – Artem Milevskiy, Ukrainian footballer
- 1985 – Issa Rae, American actress, writer, director, producer and web series creator
- 1985 – Borja Valero, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Kehoma Brenner, German rugby player
- 1986 – Miguel Ángel Nieto, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Naya Rivera, American actress and singer
- 1987 – Salvatore Sirigu, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Claude Giroux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Thiemo-Jérôme Kialka, German footballer
- 1989 – Axel Witsel, Belgian footballer
- 1991 – Pixie Lott, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
- 1991 – Matt Srama, Australian rugby league player
- 1992 – Ishak Belfodil, Algerian footballer
- 1992 – Samuele Longo, Italian footballer
- 1993 – Zayn Malik, English singer-songwriter
- 1993 – Simone Pecorini, Italian footballer
- 1993 – Do Kyungsoo, South Korean singer and member of boy band EXO
- 1995 – Sarah Mehain, Canadian Paralympic swimmer
- 1995 – Alessio Romagnoli, Italian footballer
Deaths of January 12
- 690 – Benedict Biscop, English scholar and saint, founded the Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey (b. 628)
- 914 – Ahmad Samani, Samanid emir
- 947 – Sang Weihan, Chinese chief of staff (b. 898)
- 1140 – Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia
- 1167 – Aelred of Rievaulx, English monk and saint (b. 1110)
- 1320 – John Dalderby, bishop of Lincoln
- 1321 – Marie of Brabant, Queen of France (b. 1256)
- 1405 – Eleanor Maltravers, English noblewoman (b. 1345)
- 1519 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1459)
- 1665 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician and lawyer (b. 1601)
- 1674 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (b. 1605)
- 1700 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (b. 1620)
- 1720 – William Ashhurst, English banker and politician, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1647)
- 1732 – John Horsley, English-Scottish historian and author (b. 1685)
- 1735 – John Eccles, English composer (b. 1668)
- 1759 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1709)
- 1765 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (b. 1696)
- 1777 – Hugh Mercer, Scottish-American general and physician (b. 1726)
- 1778 – François Bigot, French politician (b. 1703)
- 1781 – Richard Challoner, English bishop (b. 1691)
- 1829 – Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1772)
- 1833 – Marie-Antoine Carême, French chef (b. 1784)
- 1834 – William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
- 1856 – Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak philologist and politician (b. 1815)
- 1861 – Václav Hanka, Czech philologist and author (b. 1791)
- 1892 – James Caulfeild, 3rd Earl of Charlemont, Irish politician, Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone (b. 1820)
- 1892 – William Reeves, Irish bishop and historian (b. 1815)
- 1899 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club (b. 1816)
- 1909 – Hermann Minkowski, Lithuanian-German mathematician and academic (b. 1864)
- 1911 – Andreas Papagiannakopoulos, Greek journalist, judge, and politician (b. 1845)
- 1916 – Georgios Theotokis, Greek lawyer and politician, 80th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1844)
- 1921 – Gervase Elwes, English tenor and actor (b. 1866)
- 1926 – Austin Chapman, Australian businessman and politician, 4th Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1864)
- 1934 – Paul Kochanski, Polish violinist and composer (b. 1887)
- 1938 – Oscar Florianus Bluemner, German-American painter and illustrator (b. 1867)
- 1940 – Ralph Hitz, Austrian-American hotelier (b. 1891)
- 1940 – Edward Smith, English lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1898)
- 1943 – Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and critic (b. 1902)
- 1944 – Lance C. Wade, American commander and pilot (b. 1915)
- 1958 – Charles Hatfield, American meteorologist (b. 1875)
- 1960 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (b. 1899)
- 1962 – Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian journalist and activist (b. 1869)
- 1965 – Lorraine Hansberry, American author, playwright, and director (b. 1936)
- 1967 – Burhan Asaf Belge, Turkish diplomat (b. 1887)
- 1971 – John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, English admiral (b. 1885)
- 1973 – Roy Franklin Nichols, American historian and academic (b. 1896)
- 1974 – Princess Patricia of Connaught (b. 1886)
- 1976 – Agatha Christie, English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1890)
- 1977 – Henri-Georges Clouzot, French director and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 1983 – Nikolai Podgorny, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1903)
- 1988 – Connie Mulder, South African politician (b. 1925)
- 1988 – Piero Taruffi, Italian racing driver and motorcycle racer (b. 1906)
- 1990 – Laurence J. Peter, Canadian-American author and educator (b. 1919)
- 1991 – Robert Jackson, Australian public servant and diplomat (b. 1911)
- 1992 – Kumar Gandharva, a Hindustani classical singer (b. 1924)
- 1994 – Gustav Naan, Estonian physicist and philosopher (b. 1919)
- 1996 – Joachim Nitsche, German mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
- 1997 – Jean-Edern Hallier, French author (b. 1936)
- 1997 – Charles Brenton Huggins, Canadian-American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1998 – Roger Clark, English racing driver (b. 1939)
- 1999 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1961)
- 2000 – Marc Davis, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1913)
- 2000 – Bobby Phills, American basketball player (b. 1969)
- 2001 – Luiz Bonfá, Brazilian guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
- 2001 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (b. 1913)
- 2002 – Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1917)
- 2003 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist and author (b. 1912)
- 2003 – Kinji Fukasaku, Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine general and politician, 44th President of Argentina (b. 1926)
- 2003 – Maurice Gibb, Manx-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1949)
- 2003 – Alan Nunn May, English physicist and spy (b. 1911)
- 2004 – Olga Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (b. 1932)
- 2006 – Pablita Velarde, Santa Clara Pueblo (Native American) painter (b. 1918)
- 2007 – Alice Coltrane, American pianist and composer (b. 1937)
- 2007 – James Killen, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1925)
- 2008 – Max Beck, American intersex advocate (b. 1966)
- 2009 – Claude Berri, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
- 2010 – Daniel Bensaïd, French philosopher and author (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Hasib Sabbagh, Palestinian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Consolidated Contractors Company (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Bjørn G. Andersen, Norwegian geologist and academic (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Glenda Dickerson, American director, choreographer, and educator (b. 1945)
- 2012 – Bill Janklow, American lawyer and politician, 27th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1939)
- 2012 – Charles H. Price II, American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Jim Stanley, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Precious Bryant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Alexandra Bastedo, English actress (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Connie Binsfeld, American educator and politician, 58th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (b. 1924)
- 2014 – George Dement, American soldier, businessman, and politician (b. 1922)
- 2015 – Trevor Colbourn, American historian and academic (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Robert Gover, American journalist and author (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Carl Long, American baseball player (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian soprano and actress (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Inge Vermeulen, Brazilian-Dutch field hockey player (b. 1985)
- 2017 – William Peter Blatty, American writer and filmmaker (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Graham Taylor, former Grimsby Town player and former manager of the England football team. (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Keith Jackson, American sports commentator and journalist (b. 1928)
- 2020 – Sir Roger Scruton, English philosopher, and writer (b. 1944)
Holidays and observances on January 12
- Christian feast day:
- Aelred of Rievaulx
- Benedict Biscop
- Bernard of Corleone
- Marguerite Bourgeoys
- Tatiana
- January 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Lee–Jackson Day can fall while January 18 is the latest, celebrated on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day. (Commonwealth of Virginia)
- Memorial Day (Turkmenistan)
- National Youth Day (India)
- Prosecutor General’s Day (Russia)
- Zanzibar Revolution Day (Tanzania)
-
January 11 in History
- 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
- 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, Quraysh surrender.
- 947 – Emperor Tai Zong of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty invades the Later Jin, resulting in the destruction of the Later Jin.
- 1055 – Theodora is crowned empress of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1158 – Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia becomes King of Bohemia.
- 1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
- 1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
- 1654 – Arauco War: A Spanish army is defeated by local Mapuche-Huilliches as it tries to cross Bueno River in Southern Chile.
- 1693 – A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.
- 1759 – The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group), is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- 1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.
- 1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
- 1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post: General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
- 1863 – American Civil War: CSS Alabama encounters and sinks the USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.
- 1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
- 1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
- 1912 – Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week.
- 1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.
- 1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
- 1923 – Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.
- 1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
- 1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces attack Tarakan in Borneo, Netherlands Indies (Battle of Tarakan)
- 1943 – The Republic of China agrees to the Sino-British New Equal Treaty and the Sino-American New Equal Treaty.
- 1943 – Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City.
- 1946 – Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People’s Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.
- 1949 – The first “networked” television broadcasts took place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming.
- 1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.
- 1961 – Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City’s boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic.
- 1962 – Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.
- 1962 – An avalanche on Huascarán in Peru causes around 4,000 deaths.
- 1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
- 1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
- 1973 – Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.
- 1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
- 1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
- 1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.
- 1998 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
- 2003 – Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois’s death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.
- 2013 – One French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia.
Births on January 11
- 347 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (d. 395)
- 889 – Abd-ar-Rahman III, first Caliph of Córdoba (d. 961)
- 1113 – Wang Chongyang, Chinese religious leader and poet (d. 1170)
- 1209 – Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (d. 1259)
- 1322 – Emperor Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1380)
- 1359 – Emperor Go-En’yū of Japan (d. 1393)
- 1395 – Michele of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France (d. 1422)
- 1503 – Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
- 1589 – William Strode, English politician (d. 1666)
- 1591 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1646)
- 1624 – Bastiaan Govertsz van der Leeuw, Dutch painter (d. 1680)
- 1630 – John Rogers, English-American minister, physician, and academic (d. 1684)
- 1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish bishop and anatomist (d. 1686)
- 1642 – Johann Friedrich Alberti, German organist and composer (d. 1710)
- 1650 – Diana Glauber, Dutch-German painter (d. 1721)
- 1671 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general and diplomat (d. 1745)
- 1755 – Alexander Hamilton, Nevisian-American general, economist and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
- 1757 – Samuel Bentham, English engineer and architect (d. 1831)
- 1760 – Oliver Wolcott Jr., American lawyer and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of the Treasury, 24th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1833)
- 1777 – Vincenzo Borg, Maltese merchant and rebel leader (d. 1837)
- 1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English physicist (d. 1869)
- 1788 – William Thomas Brande, English chemist and academic (d. 1866)
- 1800 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist and engineer (d. 1895)
- 1807 – Ezra Cornell, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Western Union and Cornell University (d. 1874)
- 1814 – James Paget, English surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)
- 1815 – John A. Macdonald, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
- 1825 – Bayard Taylor, American poet, author, and critic (d. 1878)
- 1839 – Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican lawyer, philosopher, and sociologist (d. 1903)
- 1842 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)
- 1843 – Adolf Eberle, German painter (d. 1914)
- 1845 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish mathematician and physicist (d. 1912)
- 1850 – Joseph Charles Arthur, American pathologist and mycologist (d. 1942)
- 1852 – Constantin Fehrenbach, German lawyer and politician, 4th Chancellor of Weimar Germany (d. 1926)
- 1853 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter and sculptor (d. 1932)
- 1856 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Fred Archer, English jockey (d. 1886)
- 1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (d. 1947)
- 1859 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (d. 1925)
- 1864 – Thomas Dixon, Jr., American minister, lawyer, and politician (d. 1946)
- 1867 – Edward B. Titchener, English psychologist and academic (d. 1927)
- 1868 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1940)
- 1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor and educator (d. 1945)
- 1872 – G. W. Pierce, American physicist and academic (d. 1956)
- 1873 – John Callan O’Laughlin, American soldier and journalist (d. 1949)
- 1875 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer and academic (d. 1956)
- 1876 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
- 1876 – Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1952)
- 1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (d. 1952)
- 1885 – Alice Paul, American activist and suffragist (d. 1977)
- 1887 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (d. 1948)
- 1888 – Joseph B. Keenan, American jurist and politician (d. 1954)
- 1889 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist and academic (d. 1938)
- 1890 – Max Carey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
- 1890 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian poet and critic (d. 1954)
- 1891 – Andrew Sockalexis, American runner (d. 1919)
- 1893 – Ellinor Aiki, Estonian painter (d. 1969)
- 1893 – Charles Fraser, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1981)
- 1893 – Anthony M. Rud, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
- 1895 – Laurens Hammond, American engineer and businessman, founded the Hammond Clock Company (d. 1973)
- 1897 – Bernard DeVoto, American historian and author (d. 1955)
- 1897 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
- 1899 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress, director, and producer (d. 1991)
- 1901 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Maurice Duruflé, French organist and composer (d. 1986)
- 1903 – Alan Paton, South African author and activist (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologist and theorist (d. 1960)
- 1906 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic, discoverer of LSD (d. 2008)
- 1907 – Pierre Mendès France, French lawyer and politician, 142nd Prime Minister of France (d. 1982)
- 1907 – Abraham Joshua Heschel, Polish-American rabbi, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1972)
- 1908 – Lionel Stander, American actor and activist (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Arthur Lambourn, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1999)
- 1910 – Shane Paltridge, Australian soldier and politician (d. 1966)
- 1911 – Tommy Duncan, American singer-songwriter (d. 1967)
- 1911 – Nora Heysen, Australian painter (d. 2003)
- 1911 – Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 70th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Don “Red” Barry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1980)
- 1913 – Karl Stegger, Danish actor (d. 1980)
- 1915 – Luise Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2001)
- 1915 – Paddy Mayne, British colonel and lawyer (d. 1955)
- 1916 – Bernard Blier, Argentinian-French actor (d. 1989)
- 1917 – John Robarts, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Ontario (d. 1982)
- 1918 – Robert C. O’Brien, American author and journalist (d. 1973)
- 1920 – Mick McManus, English wrestler (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Gory Guerrero, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990)
- 1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, American economist and politician, 24th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (d. 1998)
- 1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian and philosopher (d. 2016)
- 1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, engineer, and businessman, founded Carroll Shelby International (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Roger Guillemin, French-American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1924 – Sam B. Hall, Jr., American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1994)
- 1924 – Slim Harpo, American blues singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1970)
- 1925 – Grant Tinker, American television producer, co-founded MTM Enterprises (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Lev Dyomin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1998)
- 1928 – David L. Wolper, American director and producer (d. 2010)
- 1929 – Dmitri Bruns, Estonian architect and theorist (d. 2020)
- 1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian lawyer and politician, 10th Deputy Premier of New South Wales (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian painter, historian, and curator (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican actor and director
- 1933 – Goldie Hill, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
- 1934 – Jean Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Canada
- 1936 – Eva Hesse, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1970)
- 1938 – Arthur Scargill, English miner, activist, and politician
- 1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier
- 1940 – Andres Tarand, Estonian geographer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Estonia
- 1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer
- 1942 – Bud Acton, American basketball player
- 1942 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist and actor (d. 2011)
- 1944 – Mohammed Abdul-Hayy, Sudanese poet and academic (d. 1989)
- 1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Jharkhand
- 1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German actress, author, and businesswoman (d. 2017)
- 1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1946 – Tony Kaye, English progressive rock keyboard player and songwriter (Yes)
- 1946 – John Piper, American theologian and author
- 1947 – Hamish Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player
- 1948 – Fritz Bohla, German footballer and manager
- 1948 – Joe Harper, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1948 – Madeline Manning, American runner and coach
- 1948 – Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 54th Yokozuna
- 1948 – Terry Williams, Welsh drummer
- 1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1949 – Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 2nd Vice President of Iran
- 1951 – Charlie Huhn, American rock singer and guitarist
- 1951 – Willie Maddren, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
- 1951 – Philip Tartaglia, Scottish archbishop
- 1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright (d. 2013)
- 1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer and architect
- 1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian lawyer and politician
- 1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author
- 1952 – Lee Ritenour, American guitarist, composer, and producer
- 1953 – Graham Allen, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
- 1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Agricultural Development and Food
- 1954 – Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian physicist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Defence
- 1954 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1956 – Big Bank Hank, American rapper (d. 2014)
- 1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1957 – Peter Moore, Australian rules footballer and coach
- 1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager
- 1958 – Vicki Peterson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1959 – Brett Bodine, American NASCAR driver
- 1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish racing driver (d. 1989)
- 1962 – Chris Bryant, Welsh politician, Minister of State for Europe
- 1962 – Susan Lindauer, American journalist and activist
- 1962 – Brian Moore, English rugby player
- 1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American-Australian swimmer
- 1963 – Petra Schneider, German swimmer
- 1964 – Ralph Recto, Filipino lawyer and politician
- 1964 – Albert Dupontel, French actor and director
- 1965 – Mascarita Sagrada, Mexican wrestler
- 1965 – Aleksey Zhukov, Russian footballer and coach
- 1966 – Marc Acito, American author and screenwriter
- 1967 – Michael Healy-Rae, Irish politician
- 1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Finance
- 1968 – Tom Dumont, American guitarist and producer
- 1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican-American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster
- 1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian painter and sculptor
- 1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach
- 1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor
- 1970 – Ken Ueno, American composer
- 1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1971 – Jeff Orford, Australian rugby league player
- 1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
- 1972 – Christian Jacobs, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1972 – Anthony Lledo, Danish composer
- 1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress and playwright
- 1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor
- 1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer and captain
- 1974 – Roman Görtz, German footballer
- 1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player
- 1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer
- 1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player
- 1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player and coach
- 1975 – Matteo Renzi, Italian politician, 56th Prime Minister of Italy
- 1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player
- 1977 – Shamari Buchanan, American football player
- 1977 – Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater
- 1977 – Olexiy Lukashevych, Ukrainian long jumper
- 1978 – Vallo Allingu, Estonian basketball player
- 1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress
- 1978 – Michael Duff, Irish footballer
- 1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer
- 1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American director and screenwriter
- 1979 – Michael Lorenz, German footballer
- 1979 – Henry Shefflin, Irish hurler
- 1980 – Josh Hannay, Australian rugby league player
- 1980 – Mike Williams, American football player
- 1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player
- 1982 – Blake Heron, American actor (d. 2017)
- 1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress
- 1983 – Turner Battle, American basketball player
- 1983 – André Myhrer, Swedish skier
- 1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer
- 1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver
- 1984 – Kevin Boss, American football player
- 1984 – Dario Krešić, Croatian footballer
- 1984 – Matt Mullenweg, American web developer and businessman, co-created WordPress
- 1984 – Stijn Schaars, Dutch footballer
- 1985 – Newton Faulkner, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1985 – Lucy Knisley, American author and illustrator
- 1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American Professional BMX rider
- 1987 – Danuta Kozák, Hungarian sprint canoer
- 1987 – Daniel Semenzato, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Jamie Vardy, English footballer
- 1987 – Kim Young-kwang, South Korean actor and model
- 1988 – Rodrigo José Pereira, Brazilian footballer
- 1989 – Kane Linnett, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Ryan Griffin, American football player
- 1991 – Andrea Bertolacci, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Dani Carvajal, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Lee Seung-hoon, South Korean rapper and dancer
- 1993 – Michael Keane, English footballer
- 1993 – Will Keane, English footballer
- 1996 – Leroy Sané, German footballer
- 1997 – Cody Simpson, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
Deaths on January 11
- 140 – Pope Hyginus, Bishop of Rome (b. 74)
- 705 – Pope John VI (b. 655)
- 782 – Emperor Kōnin of Japan (b. 709)
- 812 – Staurakios, Byzantine emperor
- 844 – Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine emperor (b. 770)
- 887 – Boso of Provence, Frankish nobleman
- 937 – Cao, empress of Later Tang
- 937 – Li Chongmei, prince of Later Tang
- 937 – Li Congke, emperor of Later Tang (b. 885)
- 937 – Liu, empress of Later Tang
- 1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1000)
- 1068 – Egbert I, Margrave of Meissen
- 1083 – Otto of Nordheim (b. 1020)
- 1266 – Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania
- 1344 – Thomas Charlton, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of Ireland
- 1372 – Eleanor of Lancaster, English noblewoman (b. 1318)
- 1396 – Isidore Glabas, Metropolitan bishop of Thessalonica (b.c. 1341)
- 1397 – Skirgaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania
- 1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian painter (b. 1449)
- 1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (b. 1428)
- 1546 – Gaudenzio Ferrari, Italian painter and sculptor (b. c. 1471)
- 1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian poet, scholar, and theorist (b. 1470)
- 1554 – Min Bin, king of Arakan (b. 1493)
- 1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet and painter (b. 1583)
- 1696 – Charles Albanel, French priest, missionary, and explorer (b. 1616)
- 1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (b. 1632)
- 1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French priest and theologian (b. 1637)
- 1735 – Danilo I, Metropolitan of Cetinje (b. 1670)
- 1753 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (b. 1660)
- 1757 – Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1688)
- 1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French-English sculptor (b. 1695)
- 1763 – Caspar Abel, German poet, historian, and theologian (b. 1676)
- 1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens, French philosopher and author (b. 1704)
- 1788 – François Joseph Paul de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
- 1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh composer and poet (b. 1717)
- 1798 – Heraclius II of Georgia (b. 1720)
- 1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer and educator (b. 1749)
- 1824 – Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry, Anglo-Irish politician and peer (b. 1736)
- 1836 – John Molson, Canadian businessman, founded the Molson Brewing Company (b. 1763)
- 1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and songwriter (b. 1779)
- 1866 – Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, Irish actor (b. 1818)
- 1866 – John Woolley, English minister and academic (b. 1816)
- 1867 – Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian businessman and politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1812)
- 1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist and biologist (b. 1810)
- 1891 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French urban planner (b. 1809)
- 1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer and rugby player (b. 1862)
- 1904 – William Sawyer, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1815)
- 1914 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and philanthropist (b. 1842)
- 1920 – Steinar Schjøtt, Norwegian philologist and lexicographer (b. 1844)
- 1923 – Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)
- 1928 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (b. 1840)
- 1931 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor, historian, and author (b. 1852)
- 1937 – Nuri Conker, Turkish colonel and politician (b. 1882)
- 1941 – Emanuel Lasker, German mathematician, philosopher, and chess player (b. 1868)
- 1944 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1903)
- 1947 – Eva Tanguay, Canadian singer (b. 1879)
- 1952 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (b. 1889)
- 1952 – Aureliano Pertile, Italian tenor and educator (b. 1885)
- 1953 – Noe Zhordania, Georgian journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1868)
- 1954 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
- 1957 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and politician, Solicitor-General of Australia (b. 1867)
- 1958 – Alec Rowley, English organist and composer (b. 1892)
- 1958 – Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1961 – Elena Gerhardt, German soprano and actress (b. 1883)
- 1963 – Arthur Nock, English-American scholar, theologian, and academic (b. 1902)
- 1965 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player (b. 1893)
- 1966 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor and painter (b. 1901)
- 1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian academic and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of India (b. 1904)
- 1968 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and scholar (b. 1876)
- 1969 – Richmal Crompton, English author and educator (b. 1890)
- 1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet and playwright (b. 1881)
- 1975 – Max Lorenz, German tenor and actor (b. 1901)
- 1980 – Barbara Pym, English author (b. 1913)
- 1981 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889)
- 1982 – Paul Lynde, American Actor and comedian (b. 1926)
- 1985 – Edward Buzzell, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1895)
- 1985 – William McKell, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
- 1986 – Sid Chaplin, English author and screenwriter (b. 1916)
- 1986 – Andrzej Czok, Polish mountaineer (b. 1948)
- 1987 – Albert Ferber, Swiss-English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1911)
- 1988 – Pappy Boyington, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1912)
- 1988 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, Polish-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
- 1989 – Ray Moore, English radio host (b. 1942)
- 1990 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (b. 1898)
- 1991 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
- 1994 – Helmut Poppendick, German physician (b. 1902)
- 1995 – Josef Gingold, Belarusian-American violinist and educator (b. 1909)
- 1995 – Onat Kutlar, Turkish author and poet (b. 1936)
- 1995 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army captain (b. 1918)
- 1995 – Theodor Wisch, German general (b. 1907)
- 1996 – Roger Crozier, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1942)
- 1999 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
- 1999 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish author and poet (b. 1897)
- 1999 – Brian Moore, Irish-Canadian author and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2000 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, invented Clearasil (b. 1911)
- 2000 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
- 2001 – Denys Lasdun, English architect, co-designed the Royal National Theatre (b. 1914)
- 2002 – Henri Verneuil, French-Armenian director and playwright (b. 1920)
- 2003 – Jože Pučnik, Slovenian sociologist and politician (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Solveig Dommartin, French-German actress (b. 1961)
- 2007 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (b. 1919)
- 2008 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, co-founded Carl’s Jr. (b. 1917)
- 2010 – Miep Gies, Austrian-Dutch humanitarian (b. 1909)
- 2010 – Éric Rohmer, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1920)
- 2011 – David Nelson, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, Iranian physicist and academic (b. 1980)
- 2012 – Gilles Jacquier, French journalist and photographer (b. 1968)
- 2012 – Edgar Kaiser, Jr, American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942)
- 2012 – Wally Osterkorn, American basketball player (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Steven Rawlings, English astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1961)
- 2012 – David Whitaker, English composer and conductor (b. 1931)
- 2013 – Aaron Swartz, American programmer (b. 1986)
- 2013 – Guido Forti, Italian businessman, founded the Forti Racing Team (b. 1940)
- 2013 – Nguyễn Khánh, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Mariangela Melato, Italian actress (b. 1941)
- 2013 – Tom Parry Jones, Welsh chemist, invented the breathalyzer (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Alemayehu Shumye, Ethiopian runner (b. 1988)
- 2014 – Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Indian-Bangladeshi jurist and politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Chai Trong-rong, Taiwanese educator and politician (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Chashi Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi director and producer (b. 1941)
- 2015 – Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle, American neuroscientist and academic (b. 1918)
- 2016 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player (b. 1919)
- 2016 – David Margulies, American actor (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Adenan Satem, Malaysian politician and Chief Minister of Sarawak, Malaysia (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Edgar Ray Killen, American murderer (b.1925)
- 2019 – Michael Atiyah, British-Lebanese mathematician (b.1929)
Holidays and observances on January 11
- Children’s Day (Tunisia)
- Christian feast day:
- Anastasius of Suppentonia (Roman Catholic)
- Leucius of Brindisi (Roman Catholic)
- Mary Slessor (Church of England)
- Paulinus II of Aquileia
- Pope Hyginus
- Theodosius the Cenobiarch
- Thomas of Cori
- Vitalis of Gaza (Roman Catholic)
- January 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Triodion can fall, while February 14 is the latest; celebrated 70 days before Easter. (Eastern Orthodox)
- Eugenio María de Hostos Day (Puerto Rico)
- Independence Resistance Day (Morocco)
- Kagami biraki (Japan)
- National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (United States)
- Republic Day (Albania)
- Carmentalia (January 11th and January 15th), (Rome)