1648

On This Day

February 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
February 1 in History
- 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
- 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
- 1662 – The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
- 1713 – The Kalabalik or Skirmish at Bender results from the Ottoman sultan’s order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
- 1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
- 1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
- 1814 – Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
- 1835 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
- 1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
- 1864 – Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war.
- 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- 1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
- 1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.
- 1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.
- 1897 – Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
- 1908 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
- 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.
- 1924 – Russia–United Kingdom relations are restored, over six years after the Communist revolution.
- 1942 – World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.
- 1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
- 1942 – Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
- 1942 – Mao Zedong makes a speech on “Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature”, which puts into motion the Yan’an Rectification Movement.
- 1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.
- 1946 – The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.
- 1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
- 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.
- 1968 – Canada’s three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.
- 1968 – The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.
- 1972 – Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
- 1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
- 1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.
- 1989 – The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.
- 1991 – A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.
- 1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case.
- 1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
- 1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
- 2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
- 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
- 2004 – Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.
- 2005 – King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d’état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
- 2009 – The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government.
- 2012 – Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said.
- 2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, is opened to the public.
Births on February 1
- 1261 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop and politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1326)
- 1435 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (d. 1472)
- 1447 – Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1504)
- 1459 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (d. 1508)
- 1462 – Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer (d. 1516)
- 1552 – Edward Coke, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1634)
- 1561 – Henry Briggs, British mathematician (d. 1630)
- 1635 – Marquard Gude, German archaeologist and scholar (d. 1689)
- 1648 – Elkanah Settle, English poet and playwright (d. 1724)
- 1659 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (d. 1729)
- 1663 – Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, Filipino nun, founded the Religious of the Virgin Mary (d. 1748)
- 1666 – Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (d.1732)
- 1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German violinist and composer (d. 1733)
- 1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1768)
- 1701 – Johan Agrell, Swedish-German pianist and composer (d. 1765)
- 1761 – Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, South African-French mycologist and academic (d. 1836)
- 1763 – Thomas Campbell, Irish minister and theologian (d. 1854)
- 1796 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss minister, poet, and educator (d. 1865)
- 1801 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (d. 1881)
- 1820 – George Hendric Houghton, American clergyman and theologian (d. 1897)
- 1836 – Emil Hartmann, Danish organist and composer (d. 1898)
- 1844 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (d. 1924)
- 1851 – Durham Stevens, American lawyer and diplomat (d. 1908)
- 1858 – Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican diplomat (d. 1942)
- 1859 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
- 1866 – Agda Meyerson, Swedish nurse and healthcare activist (d. 1924)
- 1868 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
- 1870 – Erik Adolf von Willebrand, Finnish physician (d. 1949)
- 1872 – Clara Butt, English opera singer (d. 1936)
- 1872 – Jerome F. Donovan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1949)
- 1873 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1901)
- 1874 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1929)
- 1878 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika (d. 1955)
- 1878 – Milan Hodža, Slovak journalist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (d. 1944)
- 1881 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (d. 1966)
- 1882 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973)
- 1884 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player and physician (d. 1949)
- 1884 – Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (d. 1937)
- 1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant, pilot, and author (d. 1947)
- 1890 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1942)
- 1894 – John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
- 1894 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (d. 1955)
- 1895 – Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman (d. 1980)
- 1897 – Denise Robins, English journalist and author (d. 1985)
- 1898 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician and author (d. 2012)
- 1901 – Frank Buckles, American soldier (d. 2011)
- 1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1902 – Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard (d. 1947)
- 1902 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (d. 1967)
- 1904 – S.J. Perelman, American humorist and screenwriter (d. 1979)
- 1905 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Günter Eich, German author and songwriter (d. 1972)
- 1907 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian pianist and composer (d. 1993)
- 1908 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (d. 1980)
- 1908 – Louis Rasminsky, Canadian economist and banker (d. 1998)
- 1909 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
- 1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Chinese general and politician (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
- 1917 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (d. 2013)
- 1917 – Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player and soldier (d. 1944)
- 1918 – Muriel Spark, Scottish playwright and poet (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Ignacy Tokarczuk, Polish archbishop (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Mike Scarry, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Zao Wou-Ki, Chinese-French painter (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Teresa Mattei, Italian feminist partisan and politician (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Peter Sallis, English actor (d. 2017)
- 1921 – Patricia Robins, British writer and WAAF officer (d. 2016).
- 1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano and actress (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Ben Weider, Canadian businessman, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (d. 2008)
- 1924 – Richard Hooker, American novelist (d. 1997)
- 1924 – Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
- 1928 – Sam Edwards, Welsh physicist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Tom Lantos, Hungarian-American academic and politician (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi judge and politician, 12th President of Bangladesh
- 1930 – Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Indian-Bangladeshi general and politician, 10th President of Bangladesh (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Hassan Al-Turabi, Sudanese activist and politician (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Nicolae Breban, Romanian author, poet, and playwright
- 1936 – Tuncel Kurtiz, Turkish actor, playwright, and director (d. 2013)
- 1936 – Azie Taylor Morton, American educator and politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Don Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1937 – Garrett Morris, American actor and comedian
- 1938 – Jimmy Carl Black, American drummer and singer (d. 2008)
- 1938 – Jacky Cupit, American golfer
- 1938 – Sherman Hemsley, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
- 1939 – Fritjof Capra, Austrian physicist, author, and academic
- 1939 – Claude François, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 1978)
- 1939 – Paul Gillmor, American lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
- 1939 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
- 1939 – Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Jerry Spinelli, American author
- 1942 – Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
- 1942 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
- 1942 – David Sincock, Australian cricketer
- 1944 – Petru Popescu, Romanian-American director, producer, and author
- 1944 – Burkhard Ziese, German footballer and manager (d. 2010)
- 1945 – Serge Joyal, Canadian lawyer and politician, 50th Secretary of State for Canada
- 1945 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
- 1945 – Mary Jane Reoch, American cyclist (d. 1993)
- 1946 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Karen Krantzcke, Australian tennis player (d. 1977)
- 1947 – Adam Ingram, Scottish computer programmer and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
- 1947 – Normie Rowe, Australian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1947 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
- 1948 – Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
- 1950 – Mike Campbell, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
- 1950 – Ali Haydar Konca, Turkish politician, 4th Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs
- 1950 – Rich Williams, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1951 – Sonny Landreth, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1952 – Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Chuck Dukowski, American singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1956 – Exene Cervenka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi Arabian businessman (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Gilbert Hernandez, American author and illustrator
- 1958 – Luther Blissett, Jamaican-English footballer and manager
- 1958 – Eleanor Laing, Scottish lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
- 1961 – Volker Fried, German field hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Daniel M. Tani, American engineer and astronaut
- 1961 – Kaduvetti Guru, Indian politician (d. 2018)
- 1962 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2004)
- 1962 – Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Takashi Murakami, Japanese painter and sculptor
- 1964 – Jani Lane, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
- 1964 – Mario Pelchat, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1964 – Linus Roache, English actor
- 1965 – Stéphanie of Monaco, designer, singer and princess
- 1965 – Brandon Lee, American actor and martial artist (d. 1993)
- 1965 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
- 1966 – Michelle Akers, American soccer player
- 1967 – Meg Cabot, American author and screenwriter
- 1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1968 – Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1969 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentinian footballer
- 1969 – Andrew Breitbart, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 2012)
- 1969 – Brian Krause, American actor and screenwriter
- 1969 – Franklyn Rose, Jamaican cricketer
- 1969 – Patrick Wilson, American drummer
- 1970 – Yasuyuki Kazama, Japanese racing driver
- 1970 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (d. 2000)
- 1971 – Harald Brattbakk, Norwegian footballer and pilot
- 1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor and producer
- 1972 – Christian Ziege, German footballer
- 1973 – Andrew DeClercq, American basketball player and coach
- 1973 – Óscar Pérez Rojas, Mexican footballer
- 1974 – Walter McCarty, American basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Martijn Reuser, Dutch footballer
- 1976 – Phil Ivey, American poker player
- 1976 – Mat Rogers, Australian rugby player
- 1977 – Lari Ketner, American basketball player (d. 2014)
- 1977 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (d. 2011)
- 1978 – Tim Harding, Australian singer and actor
- 1978 – K’naan, Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist
- 1979 – Valentín Elizalde, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
- 1979 – Jason Isbell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1979 – Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Héctor Luna, Dominican baseball player
- 1980 – Moisés Muñoz, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2005)
- 1981 – Hins Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter
- 1981 – Christian Giménez, Argentinian footballer
- 1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer
- 1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh rugby player
- 1982 – Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer
- 1983 – Heather DeLoach, American actress
- 1983 – Kevin Martin, American basketball player
- 1983 – Jurgen Van den Broeck, Belgian cyclist
- 1984 – Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer
- 1985 – Dean Shiels, Irish footballer
- 1986 – Jorrit Bergsma, Dutch speed skater
- 1986 – Lauren Conrad, American fashion designer and author
- 1987 – Sebastian Boenisch, Polish footballer
- 1987 – Moises Henriques, Portuguese-Australian cricketer
- 1987 – Austin Jackson, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist and actress
- 1987 – Giuseppe Rossi, Italian footballer
- 1988 – Brett Anderson, American baseball player
- 1989 – Ricky Pinheiro, Portuguese footballer
- 1991 – Kyle Palmieri, American hockey player
- 1993 – Diego Mella, Italian footballer
- 1994 – Joe Boyce, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter
Deaths on February 1
- 583 – Kan B’alam I, ruler of Palenque (b. 524)
- 772 – Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
- 850 – Ramiro I, king of Asturias
- 992 – Jawhar as-Siqilli, Fatimid statesman
- 1222 – Alexios Megas Komnenos, first Emperor of Trebizond
- 1248 – Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
- 1328 – Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
- 1501 – Sigismund of Bavaria (b. 1439)
- 1542 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480)
- 1563 – Menas of Ethiopia
- 1590 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian and academic (b. 1527)
- 1691 – Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
- 1718 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1660)
- 1733 – Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (b. 1670)
- 1734 – John Floyer, English physician and author (b. 1649)
- 1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (b. 1657)
- 1750 – Bakar of Georgia (b. 1699)
- 1761 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French priest and historian (b. 1682)
- 1768 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (b. 1685)
- 1793 – William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1717)
- 1832 – Archibald Murphey, American judge and politician (b. 1777)
- 1851 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1797)
- 1871 – Alexander Serov, Russian composer and critic (b. 1820)
- 1893 – George Henry Sanderson, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
- 1897 – Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (b. 1826)
- 1903 – Sir George Stokes, Anglo-Irish physicist, mathematician, and politician (b. 1819)
- 1907 – Léon Serpollet, French businessman (b. 1858)
- 1908 – Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
- 1922 – William Desmond Taylor, American actor and director (b. 1872)
- 1924 – Maurice Prendergast, American painter (b. 1858)
- 1928 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
- 1936 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and politician, 128th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878)
- 1940 – Philip Francis Nowlan, American author, created Buck Rogers (b. 1888)
- 1940 – Zacharias Papantoniou, Greek journalist and critic (b. 1877)
- 1944 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (b. 1872)
- 1949 – Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, Romanian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1880)
- 1949 – Herbert Stothart, American conductor and composer (b. 1885)
- 1957 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
- 1958 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
- 1959 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (b. 1873)
- 1966 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and journalist (b. 1885)
- 1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1895)
- 1968 – Echol Cole and Robert Walker – sparking the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
- 1970 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
- 1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1976 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1878)
- 1979 – Abdi İpekçi, Turkish journalist and activist (b. 1929)
- 1981 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American engineer and businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (b. 1892)
- 1981 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian pianist and composer (b. 1908)
- 1986 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1987 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
- 1989 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (b. 1918)
- 1992 – Jean Hamburger, French physician and surgeon (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Ray Crawford, American race car driver, pilot, and businessman (b. 1915)
- 1997 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (b. 1916)
- 1999 – Paul Mellon, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1907)
- 2001 – André D’Allemagne, Canadian political scientist and academic (b. 1929)
- 2002 – Aykut Barka, Turkish geologist and academic (b. 1951)
- 2002 – Hildegard Knef, German actress and singer (b. 1925)
- 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia crew
  
  Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1959)
  
  David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1956)
  
  Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American engineer and astronaut (b. 1961)
  
  Laurel Clark, American captain, surgeon, and astronaut (b. 1961)
  
  Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1957)
  
  William C. McCool, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
  
  Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1954)
- 2003 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer and bandleader (b. 1922)
- 2004 – Suha Arın, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
- 2005 – John Vernon, Canadian-American actor (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-American playwright and composer (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Beto Carrero, Brazilian actor and businessman (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Don Cornelius, American television host and producer (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Helene Hale, American politician (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Ed Koch, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Shanu Lahiri, Indian painter and educator (b. 1928)
- 2013 – Cecil Womack, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
- 2014 – Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
- 2014 – Vasily Petrov, Russian marshal (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Rene Ricard, American poet, painter, and critic (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1935)
- 2015 – Monty Oum, American animator, director, and screenwriter (b. 1981)
- 2016 – Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, Guatemalan general and politician, 27th President of Guatemala (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Desmond Carrington, British actor and broadcaster (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Barys Kit, Belarusian rocket scientist (b. 1910)
- 2018 – Mowzey Radio, Ugandan singer and songwriter (b. 1985)
- 2019 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio host and panelist (b. 1961)
- 2019 – Clive Swift, English actor (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Wade Wilson, American football player and coach (b. 1959)
Holidays and observances on February 1
- Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)
- Air Force Day (Nicaragua)
- Christian feast day:
  
  Astina (Syrian Church)
  
  Blessed Candelaria of San José
  
  Brigid, patron saint of Ireland (Saint Brigid’s Day)
  
  Verdiana
  
  February 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in February. (Mexico)
- Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia)
- Heroes Day (Rwanda)
- Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and some Neopagan groups in the Northern hemisphere)
- Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)
- National Freedom Day (United States)
- The start of Black History Month (United States and Canada)
Read More February 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
On This Day

January 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
January 30 in History
- 1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
- 1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
- 1607 – An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.
- 1648 – Eighty Years’ War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
- 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
- 1703 – The Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
- 1789 – Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.
- 1806 – The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
- 1820 – Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.
- 1826 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.
- 1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.
- 1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.
- 1858 – The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.
- 1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
- 1889 – Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.
- 1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.
- 1908 – Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
- 1911 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.
- 1925 – The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.
- 1930 – The Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the extermination of the Kulaks.
- 1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
- 1942 – World War II: Battle of Ambon. Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are massacred at Laha airfield. Three-fourths of remaining POWs will not have survived by the end of the war, including 250 men who will be shipped to Hainan Island in South China Sea and never returned.
- 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.
- 1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.
- 1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.
- 1948 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
- 1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1959 – The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
- 1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
- 1960 – The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
- 1964 – In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh’s military junta in South Vietnam.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
- 1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
- 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.
- 1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.
- 1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
- 1979 – A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
- 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.
- 1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.
- 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
- 2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.
- 2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.
Births on January 30
- 58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)
- 133 – Didius Julianus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 193)
- 1410 – William Calthorpe, English knight (d. 1494)
- 1520 – William More, English courtier (d. 1600)
- 1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641)
- 1573 – Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1638)
- 1580 – Gundakar, Prince of Liechtenstein, court official in Vienna (d. 1658)
- 1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676)
- 1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)
- 1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741)
- 1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773)
- 1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778)
- 1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778)
- 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829)
- 1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864)
- 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838)
- 1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
- 1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899)
- 1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899)
- 1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922)
- 1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932)
- 1859 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
- 1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935)
- 1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950)
- 1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951)
- 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)
- 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
- 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937)
- 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
- 1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)
- 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
- 1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983)
- 1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000)
- 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)
- 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988)
- 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
- 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989)
- 1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000)
- 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
- 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
- 1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976)
- 1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (d. 2008)
- 1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018)
- 1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999)
- 1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007)
- 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013)
- 1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
- 1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
- 1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005)
- 1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
- 1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996)
- 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author
- 1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011)
- 1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020)
- 1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984)
- 1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973)
- 1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998)
- 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
- 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician
- 1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author
- 1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense
- 1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
- 1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
- 1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager
- 1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic
- 1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge
- 1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997)
- 1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue
- 1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author
- 1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
- 1948 – Nick Broomfield, English director and producer
- 1948 – Miles Reid, English mathematician and academic
- 1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer
- 1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director
- 1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995)
- 1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer
- 1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator
- 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
- 1955 – Tom Izzo, American basketball player and coach
- 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster
- 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
- 1958 – Derek White, Scottish rugby player
- 1959 – Cynthia Carter, Welsh journalist, author, and academic
- 1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018)
- 1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer
- 1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan
- 1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager
- 1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach
- 1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1968 – Felipe VI of Spain
- 1969 – Justin Skinner, English footballer, midfielder and manager
- 1971 – Kimo von Oelhoffen, American football player
- 1972 – Jill McGill, American golfer
- 1972 – Chris Simon, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1974 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
- 1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress
- 1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
- 1975 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese musician and singer
- 1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer
- 1977 – Dan Hinote, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1978 – Carmen Küng, Swiss curler
- 1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
- 1979 – Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – João Soares de Almeida Neto, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Georgios Vakouftsis, Greek footballer
- 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
- 1981 – Jonathan Bender, American basketball player
- 1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
- 1981 – Afonso Alves, Brazilian footballer
- 1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
- 1981 – Mathias Lauda, Austrian race car driver
- 1982 – Jorge Cantú, Mexican baseball player
- 1984 – Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1984 – Arthur Chu, Asian-American columnist and former Jeopardy! contestant
- 1984 – Kid Cudi, American entertainer
- 1985 – Gisela Dulko, Argentinian tennis player
- 1985 – Torrey Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Trae Williams, American football player
- 1986 – Nick Evans, American baseball player
- 1987 – Ben Cutting, Australian cricketer
- 1987 – Lance Franklin, Australian footballer
- 1987 – Phil Lester, English Internet celebrity
- 1987 – Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler
- 1987 – Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
- 1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor and director
- 1989 – Tomás Mejías, Spanish footballer
- 1989 – Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
- 1990 – Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
- 1990 – Joe Colborne, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Andrew McCullough, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Nils Miatke, German footballer
- 1990 – Luca Sbisa, Swiss ice hockey player
- 1990 – Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer
- 1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
- 1991 – Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
- 1995 – Jack Laugher, English diver
- 1995 – Víctor Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2015)
Deaths on January 30
- 680 – Balthild, Frankish queen (b. 626)
- 970 – Peter I of Bulgaria
- 1030 – William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
- 1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
- 1240 – Pelagio Galvani, Leonese lawyer and cardinal (b. 1165)
- 1314 – Nicholas III of Saint Omer
- 1344 – William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury (b. 1301)
- 1384 – Louis II, Count of Flanders (b. 1330)
- 1497 – Lê Thánh Tông, King of Vietnam (b. 1442)
- 1574 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese historian and philosopher (b. 1502)
- 1606 – Everard Digby, English criminal (b. 1578)
- 1606 – John Grant, English conspirator (b. 1570)
- 1606 – Robert Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1565)
- 1649 – Charles I of England (b. 1600)
- 1664 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor (b. 1599)
- 1730 – Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
- 1770 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (b. 1712)
- 1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, said to have designed the American Flag (b. 1752)
- 1838 – Osceola, American tribal leader (b. 1804)
- 1858 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist and ornithologist (b. 1778)
- 1867 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (b. 1831)
- 1869 – William Carleton, Irish author (b. 1794)
- 1881 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (b. 1844)
- 1889 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary (b. 1858)
- 1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
- 1928 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
- 1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866)
- 1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862)
- 1947 – Frederick Blackman, English botanist and physiologist (b. 1866)
- 1948 – Arthur Coningham, Australian air marshal (b. 1895)
- 1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule (b. 1869)
- 1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871)
- 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman, founded Porsche (b. 1875)
- 1958 – Jean Crotti, Swiss painter (b. 1878)
- 1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman; founded the Heinkel Aircraft Company (b. 1888)
- 1962 – Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician and engineer (b. 1894)
- 1963 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (b. 1899)
- 1966 – Jaan Hargel, Estonian flute player, conductor, and educator (b. 1912)
- 1968 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1889)
- 1969 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
- 1973 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (b. 1885)
- 1974 – Olav Roots, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1910)
- 1977 – Paul Marais de Beauchamp, French zoologist (b. 1883)
- 1980 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1918)
- 1982 – Lightnin’ Hopkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1912)
- 1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
- 1991 – Clifton C. Edom, American photographer and educator (b. 1907)
- 1994 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (b. 1912)
- 1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1999 – Ed Herlihy, American journalist (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French soldier and actor (b. 1911)
- 2001 – Johnnie Johnson, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American surgeon and educator (b. 1915)
- 2005 – Martyn Bennett, Canadian-Scottish violinist (b. 1971)
- 2006 – Coretta Scott King, American author and activist (b. 1927)
- 2006 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and academic (b. 1950)
- 2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Marcial Maciel, Mexican-American priest, founded the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi (b. 1920)
- 2009 – H. Guy Hunt, American soldier, pastor, and politician, 49th Governor of Alabama (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Fadil Ferati, Kosovar accountant and politician (b. 1960)
- 2011 – John Barry, English composer and conductor (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Frank Aschenbrenner, American football player and soldier (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Doeschka Meijsing, Dutch author (b. 1947)
- 2013 – Gamal al-Banna, Egyptian author and scholar (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
- 2013 – George Witt, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
- 2014 – Stefan Bałuk, Polish general and photographer (b. 1914)
- 2014 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
- 2014 – William Motzing, American composer and conductor (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Arthur Rankin, Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Ülo Kaevats, Estonian academic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1947)
- 2015 – Geraldine McEwan, English actress (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgarian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Frank Finlay, English actor (b. 1926)
- 2016 – Francisco Flores Pérez, Salvadorian politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1959)
- 2016 – Georgia Davis Powers, American activist and politician (b. 1923)
- 2018 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (b. 1982)
- 2019 – Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)
Holidays and observances on January 30
- Christian Feast Day:
  
  Adelelmus of Burgos
  
  Aldegonde
  
  Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)
  
  Armentarius of Pavia
  
  Balthild
  
  Charles, King and Martyr (various provinces of the Anglican Communion)
  
  Hippolytus of Rome
  
  Hyacintha Mariscotti
  
  Martina
  
  Matthias of Jerusalem
  
  Mutien-Marie Wiaux
  
  Savina
  
  Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox), and its related observances:
  
  Teacher’s Day (Greece)
  
  January 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Day of Azerbaijani customs (Azerbaijan)
- Day of Saudade (Brazil)
- Fred Korematsu Day (California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia)
- Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, and its related observances:
  
  Martyrs’ Day (India)
  
  School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)
  
  Start of the Season for Nonviolence January 30 – April 4
Read More January 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
On This Day

January 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
January 17 in History
- 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
- 1362 – Saint Marcellus’ flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
- 1377 – Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
- 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
- 1562 – France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.
- 1595 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
- 1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
- 1648 – England’s Long Parliament passes the “Vote of No Addresses”, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
- 1773 – Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
- 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
- 1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
- 1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
- 1852 – The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.
- 1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
- 1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
- 1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens’ Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
- 1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
- 1904 – Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
- 1912 – British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
- 1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.
- 1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
- 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
- 1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
- 1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
- 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
- 1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.
- 1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
- 1945 – World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.
- 1945 – The SS-Totenkopfverbände begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
- 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
- 1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
- 1948 – The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.
- 1950 – The Great Brink’s Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston.
- 1950 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.
- 1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military–industrial complex” as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
- 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
- 1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
- 1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
- 1977 – Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.
- 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
- 1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher’s F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
- 1991 – Crown prince Harald V of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
- 1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
- 1994 – The 6.7 M_w  Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
- 1995 – The 6.9 M_w  Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
- 1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
- 1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
- 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.
- 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
- 2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s nuclear testing.
- 2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.
Births on January 17
- 1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
- 1429 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (d.c. 1498)
- 1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
- 1463 – Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (d. 1535)
- 1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508)
- 1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545)
- 1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
- 1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
- 1517 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English Duke (d. 1554)
- 1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624)
- 1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
- 1593 – William Backhouse, English alchemist and astrologer (d. 1662)
- 1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
- 1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671)
- 1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
- 1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745)
- 1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723)
- 1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766)
- 1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
- 1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
- 1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
- 1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
- 1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
- 1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829)
- 1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832)
- 1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
- 1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
- 1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
- 1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
- 1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
- 1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
- 1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906)
- 1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914)
- 1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
- 1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918)
- 1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
- 1853 – Alva Belmont, American suffragist (d. 1933)
- 1852 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930)
- 1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
- 1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935)
- 1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
- 1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
- 1863 – David Lloyd George, Welsh lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
- 1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
- 1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
- 1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
- 1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934)
- 1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, English admiral (d. 1936)
- 1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
- 1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910)
- 1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
- 1877 – Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková, Czech botanist and zoologist (d. 1937)
- 1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969)
- 1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960)
- 1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
- 1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948)
- 1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
- 1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972)
- 1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
- 1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
- 1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963)
- 1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946)
- 1898 – Lela Mevorah, Serbian librarian (d. 1972)
- 1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947)
- 1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
- 1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960)
- 1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
- 1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
- 1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
- 1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
- 1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960)
- 1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987)
- 1907 – Alfred Wainwright, British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Cus D’Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
- 1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
- 1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
- 1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1914 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
- 1914 – William Stafford, American poet and author (d. 1993)
- 1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2011)
- 1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
- 1918 – Keith Joseph, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Education (d. 1994)
- 1918 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Georges Pichard, French author and illustrator (d. 2003)
- 1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani general and politician (d. 2018)
- 1921 – Jackie Henderson, Scottish footballer, forward (d. 2005)
- 1921 – Charlie Mitten, English footballer, outside forward and manager (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
- 1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican academic and politician, 50th President of Mexico
- 1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Betty White, American actress, game show panelist, television personality, and animal rights activist
- 1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (d. 1962)
- 1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
- 1924 – Jewel Plummer Cobb, American biologist, cancer researcher, and academic (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (d. 2017)
- 1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000)
- 1925 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer and author (d. 1996)
- 1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and politician
- 1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish-English ballerina and actress (d. 2006)
- 1926 – Clyde Walcott, Barbadian cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
- 1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
- 1927 – E. W. Swackhamer, American director and producer (d. 1994)
- 1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
- 1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012)
- 1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian-Swiss ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1986)
- 1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
- 1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
- 1931 – Douglas Wilder, American sergeant and politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
- 1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
- 1932 – Sheree North, American actress and dancer (d. 2005)
- 1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
- 1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
- 1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer/ventriloquist, and television host (d. 1998)
- 1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
- 1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
- 1936 – John Boyd, English academic and diplomat, British ambassador to Japan
- 1936 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
- 1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and academic
- 1938 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (d. 1991)
- 1938 – Toini Gustafsson, Swedish cross country skier
- 1939 – Christodoulos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 2008)
- 1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host and producer
- 1940 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan athlete
- 1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan physician and politician, 39th President of Uruguay
- 1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect
- 1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer and activist (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and author
- 1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist and educator
- 1942 – Nigel McCulloch, English bishop
- 1943 – Chris Montez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1943 – René Préval, Haitian agronomist and politician, 52nd President of Haiti (d. 2017)
- 1944 – Ann Oakley, English sociologist, author, and academic
- 1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian poet, playwright, and composer
- 1945 – Anne Cutler, Australian psychologist and academic
- 1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
- 1949 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2003)
- 1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014)
- 1949 – Augustin Dumay, French violinist and conductor
- 1949 – Andy Kaufman, American actor and comedian (d. 1984)
- 1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican-American author and academic
- 1952 – Tom Deitz, American author (d. 2009)
- 1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, and producer
- 1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player and educator
- 1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist
- 1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, activist, and environmentalist
- 1955 – Steve Earle, American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, author and actor
- 1955 – Pietro Parolin, Italian cardinal
- 1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball player and referee
- 1956 – Damian Green, English journalist and politician
- 1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian, television personality and game show host
- 1957 – Ann Nocenti, American journalist and author
- 1958 – Tony Kouzarides, English biologist, cancer researcher
- 1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
- 1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player and coach
- 1961 – Brian Helgeland, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese broadcaster and politician, 46th Japanese Minister of Finance
- 1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer
- 1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
- 1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1963 – Colin Gordon, English footballer, striker, agent, manager, chief executive
- 1964 – Michelle Obama, American lawyer and activist, 46th First Lady of the United States
- 1964 – John Schuster, Samoan-New Zealand rugby player
- 1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1966 – Trish Johnson, English golfer
- 1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
- 1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1968 – Rowan Pelling, English journalist and author
- 1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar
- 1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor
- 1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish director, screenwriter, and author
- 1969 – Tiësto, Dutch DJ and producer
- 1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
- 1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player and actor
- 1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer
- 1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player
- 1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005)
- 1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
- 1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer and actor
- 1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician, 37th Treasurer of Australia
- 1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player and sportscaster
- 1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer and manager
- 1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian viola player, composer, and producer
- 1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
- 1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor
- 1978 – Lisa Llorens, Australian Paralympian
- 1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter
- 1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
- 1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1980 – Modestas Stonys, Lithuanian footballer
- 1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer and manager
- 1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
- 1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
- 1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
- 1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver
- 1983 – Marcelo Garcia, Brazilian martial artist
- 1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
- 1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler and manager
- 1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Cody Decker, American baseball player
- 1988 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
- 1988 – Will Genia, Australian rugby player
- 1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer
- 1989 – Taylor Jordan, American baseball player
- 1989 – Kelly Marie Tran, American actress
- 1990 – Santiago Tréllez, Colombian footballer
- 1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
- 1991 – Esapekka Lappi, Finnish Rally Driver
- 1991 – Slade Griffin, Australian rugby league player
- 1991 – Alise Post, American BMX rider
- 1993 – Frankie Cocozza, British singer
- 1994 – Mark Steketee, Australian cricketer
- 1998 – Jeff Reine-Adelaide, French footballer
- 1998 – Sophie Molineux, Australian cricketer
- 2000 – Devlin DeFrancesco, Canadian race car driver
Deaths on January 17
- 395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347)
- 644 – Sulpitius the Pious, French bishop and saint
- 764 – Joseph of Freising, German bishop
- 1040 – Mas’ud I of Ghazni, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire (b. 998)
- 1156 – André de Montbard, fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
- 1168 – Thierry, Count of Flanders (b. 1099)
- 1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165)
- 1329 – Saint Roseline, Carthusian nun (b. 1263)
- 1334 – John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (b. 1266)
- 1345 – Henry of Asti, Greek patriarch
- 1345 – Martino Zaccaria, Genoese Lord of Chios
- 1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328)
- 1456 – Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont, French translator (b. 1395)
- 1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian soldier and politician (b. 1405)
- 1588 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)
- 1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
- 1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop and lexicographer (b. 1551)
- 1705 – John Ray, English botanist and historian (b. 1627)
- 1718 – Benjamin Church, American colonel (b. 1639)
- 1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
- 1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and composer (b. 1682)
- 1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1671)
- 1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish-French composer (b. 1806)
- 1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1762)
- 1861 – Lola Montez, Irish actress and dancer (b. 1821)
- 1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
- 1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
- 1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812)
- 1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (b. 1804)
- 1887 – William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
- 1888 – Big Bear, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1825)
- 1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)
- 1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
- 1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
- 1908 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
- 1909 – Francis Smith, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
- 1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822)
- 1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
- 1930 – Gauhar Jaan, One of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India. (b. 1873)
- 1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864)
- 1932 – Ahmet Derviş, Turkish general (b. 1881)
- 1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893)
- 1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848)
- 1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1885)
- 1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
- 1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian historian and general (b. 1869)
- 1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883)
- 1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903)
- 1952 – Walter Briggs Sr., American businessman (b. 1877)
- 1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
- 1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player and educator (b. 1890)
- 1972 – Betty Smith, American author and playwright (b. 1896)
- 1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940)
- 1977 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)
- 1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer and lawyer (b. 1899)
- 1984 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1903)
- 1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 1988 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (b. 1938)
- 1991 – Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
- 1992 – Frank Pullen, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915)
- 1993 – Albert Hourani, English-Lebanese historian and academic (b. 1915)
- 1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Russian spy (b. 1926)
- 1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1918)
- 1996 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1936)
- 1996 – Sylvia Lawler, English geneticist (b. 1922))
- 1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian farmer and politician, 20th Australian Minister for the Navy (b. 1912)
- 1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906)
- 2000 – Philip Jones, English trumpet player and educator (b. 1928)
- 2000 – Ion Rațiu, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1917)
- 2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Roman Personov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor and director (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Raymond Bonham Carter, English banker (b. 1929)
- 2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Ray Stark, American film producer (b. 1915)
- 2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
- 2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian businessman (b. 1960)
- 2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist and academic (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, 3rd Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1919)
- 2006 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Art Buchwald, American journalist and author (b. 1925)
- 2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
- 2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943)
- 2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1948)
- 2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (b. 1943)
- 2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
- 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician and CM of West Bengal for 23 years (b. 1914)
- 2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek journalist and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
- 2010 – Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 2011 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Ernie Alexander, American educator and politician (b. 1933)
- 2012 – Julius Meimberg, German soldier and pilot (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Marty Springstead, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
- 2013 – Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1941)
- 2013 – Jakob Arjouni, German author (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Yves Debay, Belgian journalist (b. 1954)
- 2013 – John Nkomo, Zimbabwean politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano and actress (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da’i al-Mutlaq (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (b. 1942)
- 2014 – John J. McGinty III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1940)
- 2014 – Sunanda Pushkar, Indian-Canadian businesswoman (b. 1962)
- 2014 – Suchitra Sen, Indian film actress (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Ken Furphy, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (b. 1931)
- 2015 – Don Harron, Canadian actor and screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2016 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
- 2016 – Melvin Day, New Zealand painter and historian (b. 1923)
- 2016 – V. Rama Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor of Sikkim (b. 1935)
- 2016 – Sudhindra Thirtha, Indian religious leader (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Tirrel Burton, American football player and coach (b. 1929)
- 2018 – Jessica Falkholt, Australian actress (b. 1988)
- 2019 – S. Balakrishnan, Malayalam movie composer (b. 1948)
- 2020 – Derek Fowlds, British actor (b.1937)
Holidays and observances on January 17
- Christian feast day:
  
  Anthony the Great
  
  Blessed Angelo Paoli
  
  Blessed Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch
  
  Charles Gore (Church of England)
  
  Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
  
  Mildgyth
  
  Our Lady of Pontmain
  
  Sulpitius the Pious
  
  January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- National Day (Menorca, Spain)
- The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)
Read More January 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
On This Day

January 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
January 14 in History
- 1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
- 1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
- 1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last bishop of Prague and, subsequently, the first Archbishop of Prague.
- 1539 – Spain annexes Cuba.
- 1639 – The “Fundamental Orders”, the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut.
- 1761 – The Third Battle of Panipat is fought in India between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Marathas.
- 1784 – American Revolutionary War: Ratification Day, United States – Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain.
- 1814 – Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark cedes the Kingdom of Norway to Charles XIII of Sweden in return for Pomerania.
- 1822 – Greek War of Independence: Acrocorinth is captured by Theodoros Kolokotronis and Demetrios Ypsilantis.
- 1858 – Napoleon III of France escapes an assassination attempt made by Felice Orsini and his accomplices in Paris.
- 1907 – An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000 people.
- 1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition makes landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
- 1939 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
- 1943 – World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
- 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.
- 1950 – The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight.
- 1952 – NBC’s long-running morning news program Today debuts, with host Dave Garroway.
- 1953 – Josip Broz Tito is inaugurated as the first President of Yugoslavia.
- 1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.
- 1957 – Kripalu Maharaj was named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.
- 1960 – The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country’s central bank and banknote issuing authority, is established.
- 1967 – Counterculture of the 1960s: The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco, California’s Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love.
- 1967 – The New York Times reports that the U.S. Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments.
- 1969 – USS Enterprise fire: An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 28 people.
- 1972 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.
- 1973 – Elvis Presley’s concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.
- 1993 – In Poland’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen, drowning 55 passengers and crew; nine crew-members are saved.
- 2000 – A United Nations tribunal sentences five Roman Catholic Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of more than 100 Bosnian Muslims.
- 2004 – The national flag of the Republic of Georgia, the so-called “five cross flag”, is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.
- 2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
- 2011 – Former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees his country to Saudi Arabia after a series of street demonstrations against his regime and corrupt policies, asking for freedom, rights and democracy, considered as the anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution and the birth of the Arab Spring.
Births onJanuary 14
- 83 BC – Mark Antony, Roman general and politician (d. 30 BCE)
- 1131 – Valdemar I of Denmark (d. 1182)
- 1273 – Joan I of Navarre, queen regnant of Navarre, queen consort of France (d. 1305)
- 1451 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1522)
- 1477 – Hermann of Wied, German archbishop (d. 1552)
- 1476 – Anne St Leger, Baroness de Ros, English baroness (d. 1526)
- 1507 – Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal (d. 1578)
- 1507 – Luca Longhi, Italian painter (d. 1580)
- 1551 – Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Grand vizier of emperor Akbar (d. 1602)
- 1552 – Alberico Gentili, Italian-English academic and jurist (d. 1608)
- 1615 – John Biddle, English minister and theologian (d. 1662)
- 1683 – Gottfried Silbermann, German instrument maker (d. 1753)
- 1684 – Johann Matthias Hase, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (d. 1742)
- 1684 – Jean-Baptiste van Loo, French painter (d. 1745)
- 1699 – Jakob Adlung, German organist, historian, and theorist (d. 1762)
- 1700 – Picander, German poet and playwright (d. 1764)
- 1702 – Emperor Nakamikado of Japan (d. 1737)
- 1705 – Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, French sailor, explorer, and politician (d. 1786)
- 1741 – Benedict Arnold, American-British general (d. 1801)
- 1767 – Maria Theresa of Austria (d. 1827)
- 1780 – Henry Baldwin, American judge and politician (d. 1844)
- 1792 – Christian de Meza, Danish general (d. 1865)
- 1793 – John C. Clark, American lawyer and politician (d. 1852)
- 1798 – Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, Dutch historian, jurist, and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1872)
- 1800 – Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian composer, botanist, and publisher (d. 1877)
- 1806 – Charles Hotham, English-Australian soldier and politician, 1st Governor of Victoria (d. 1855)
- 1806 – Matthew Fontaine Maury, American astronomer, oceanographer, and historian (d. 1873)
- 1818 – Zachris Topelius, Finnish author and journalist (d. 1898)
- 1819 – Dimitrie Bolintineanu, Romanian poet and politician (d. 1872)
- 1824 – Vladimir Stasov, Russian critic (d. 1906)
- 1834 – Duncan Gillies, Scottish-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Victoria (d. 1903)
- 1836 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter and lithographer (d. 1904)
- 1841 – Berthe Morisot, French painter (d. 1895)
- 1845 – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, English politician, 34th Governor-General of India (d. 1927)
- 1850 – Pierre Loti, French captain and author (d. 1923)
- 1856 – J. F. Archibald, Australian journalist and publisher, co-founded The Bulletin (d. 1919)
- 1861 – Mehmed VI, Ottoman sultan (d. 1926)
- 1862 – Carrie Derick, Canadian botanist and geneticist (d. 1941)
- 1863 – Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, Portuguese general and politician, 10th President of Portugal (d. 1929)
- 1863 – Richard F. Outcault, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
- 1869 – Robert Fournier-Sarlovèze, French polo player and politician (d. 1937)
- 1870 – George Pearce, Australian carpenter and politician (d. 1952)
- 1875 – Albert Schweitzer, French-Gabonese physician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- 1882 – Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American historian and journalist (d. 1944)
- 1883 – Nina Ricci, Italian-French fashion designer (d. 1970)
- 1886 – Hugh Lofting, English author and poet, created Doctor Dolittle (d. 1947)
- 1887 – Hugo Steinhaus, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
- 1892 – Martin Niemöller, German pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
- 1892 – Hal Roach, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1992)
- 1892 – George Wilson, English footballer (d. 1961)
- 1894 – Ecaterina Teodoroiu, Romanian soldier and nurse (d. 1917)
- 1896 – John Dos Passos, American novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 1970)
- 1897 – Hasso von Manteuffel, German general and politician (d. 1978)
- 1899 – Carlos P. Romulo, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the United Nations General Assembly (d. 1985)
- 1901 – Bebe Daniels, American actress (d. 1971)
- 1901 – Alfred Tarski, Polish-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1983)
- 1904 – Cecil Beaton, English photographer, painter, and costume designer (d. 1980)
- 1904 – Emily Hahn, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
- 1904 – Babe Siebert, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1939)
- 1905 – Mildred Albert, American fashion commentator, TV and radio personality, and fashion show producer (d. 1991)
- 1905 – Takeo Fukuda, Japanese politician, 67th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1995)
- 1906 – William Bendix, American actor (d. 1964)
- 1907 – Georges-Émile Lapalme, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1985)
- 1908 – Russ Columbo, American singer, violinist, and actor (d. 1934)
- 1909 – Brenda Forbes, English-American actress (d. 1996)
- 1909 – Joseph Losey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Anatoly Rybakov, Russian-American author (d. 1998)
- 1912 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
- 1914 – Selahattin Ülkümen, Turkish diplomat (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Mark Goodson, American game show producer, created Family Feud and The Price Is Right (d. 1992)
- 1919 – Giulio Andreotti, Italian journalist and politician, 41st Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Andy Rooney, American soldier, journalist, critic, and television personality (d. 2011)
- 1920 – Bertus de Harder, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 1982)
- 1921 – Murray Bookchin, American author and philosopher (d. 2006)
- 1921 – Kenneth Bulmer, American author (d. 2005)
- 1922 – Diana Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Gerald Arpino, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2008)
- 1923 – Fred Beckey, American mountaineer and author (d. 2017)
- 1924 – Carole Cook, American actress and singer
- 1925 – Jean-Claude Beton, Algerian-French engineer and businessman, founded Orangina (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Moscelyne Larkin, American ballerina (d. 2012)
- 1925 – Yukio Mishima, Japanese author, poet, and playwright (d. 1970)
- 1926 – Frank Aletter, American actor (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Warren Mitchell, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1926 – Tom Tryon, American actor and author (d. 1991)
- 1927 – Zuzana Růžičková, Czech harpsichord player (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Lars Forssell, Swedish author, poet, and songwriter (d. 2007)
- 1928 – Hans Kornberg, German-English biologist and academic (d. 2019)
- 1928 – Garry Winogrand, American photographer and author (d. 1984)
- 1930 – Johnny Grande, American pianist and accordion player (d. 2006)
- 1930 – Kenny Wheeler, Canadian-English trumpet player and composer (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Frank Costigan, Australian lawyer and politician (d. 2009)
- 1931 – Martin Holdgate, English biologist and academic
- 1932 – Don Garlits, American race car driver and engineer
- 1933 – Stan Brakhage, American director and producer (d. 2003)
- 1934 – Richard Briers, English actor (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Alberto Rodriguez Larreta, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1977)
- 1936 – Clarence Carter, American blues and soul singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer
- 1937 – J. Bernlef, Dutch author and poet (d. 2012)
- 1937 – Ken Higgs, English cricketer and coach (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Leo Kadanoff, American physicist and academic (d. 2015)
- 1937 – Rao Gopal Rao, Indian actor, producer, and politician (d. 1994)
- 1937 – Sonny Siebert, American baseball player
- 1937 – Billie Jo Spears, American country singer (d. 2011)
- 1938 – Morihiro Hosokawa, Japanese journalist and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Japan
- 1938 – Jack Jones, American singer and actor
- 1938 – Allen Toussaint, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2015)
- 1939 – Kurt Moylan, Guamanian businessman and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Guam
- 1940 – Julian Bond, American academic and politician (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Ron Kostelnik, American football player (d. 1993)
- 1940 – Siegmund Nimsgern, German opera singer
- 1940 – Trevor Nunn, English director and composer
- 1940 – Vasilka Stoeva, Bulgarian discus thrower
- 1941 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Faye Dunaway, American actress and producer
- 1941 – Gibby Gilbert, American golfer
- 1941 – Milan Kučan, Slovenian politician, 1st President of Slovenia
- 1942 – Dave Campbell, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1942 – Gerben Karstens, Dutch cyclist
- 1943 – Angelo Bagnasco, Italian cardinal
- 1943 – Mariss Jansons, Latvian conductor (d. 2019)
- 1943 – Shannon Lucid, American biochemist and astronaut
- 1943 – Holland Taylor, American actress and playwright
- 1944 – Marjoe Gortner, American actor and evangelist
- 1944 – Graham Marsh, Australian golfer and architect
- 1944 – Nina Totenberg, American journalist
- 1945 – Kathleen Chalfant, American actress
- 1945 – Maina Gielgud, English ballerina and director
- 1947 – Taylor Branch, American historian and author
- 1947 – Bev Perdue, American educator and politician, 73rd Governor of North Carolina
- 1947 – Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (d. 2003)
- 1948 – T Bone Burnett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1948 – Muhriz of Negeri Sembilan, Yamtuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan
- 1948 – Carl Weathers, American football player and actor
- 1949 – Lawrence Kasdan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1949 – Mary Robison, American short story writer and novelist
- 1949 – İlyas Salman, Turkish actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1949 – Lamar Williams, American bass player (d. 1983)
- 1950 – Rambhadracharya, Indian religious leader, scholar, and author
- 1950 – Arthur Byron Cover, American author and screenwriter
- 1951 – O. Panneerselvam, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
- 1952 – Sydney Biddle Barrows, American businesswoman and author
- 1952 – Maureen Dowd, American journalist and author
- 1952 – Konstantinos Iosifidis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1952 – Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, Romanian engineer and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Romania
- 1953 – David Clary, English chemist and academic
- 1953 – Denzil Douglas, Caribbean educator and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
- 1953 – Hans Westerhoff, Dutch biologist and academic
- 1956 – Étienne Daho, Algerian-French singer-songwriter and producer
- 1957 – Anchee Min, Chinese-American painter, photographer, and author
- 1959 – Geoff Tate, German-American singer-songwriter and musician
- 1961 – Rob Hall, New Zealand mountaineer (d. 1996)
- 1963 – Steven Soderbergh, American director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1964 – Beverly Kinch, English long jumper and sprinter
- 1964 – Shepard Smith, American television journalist
- 1965 – Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player, coach, and lawyer
- 1965 – Bob Essensa, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1965 – Slick Rick, English-American rapper and producer
- 1966 – Rob Flello, English lawyer and politician
- 1966 – Terry Angus, English footballer, central defender
- 1966 – Marco Hietala, Finnish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1966 – Rene Simpson, Canadian-American tennis player (d. 2013)
- 1966 – Dan Schneider, American TV-producer
- 1967 – Leonardo Ortolani, Italian author and illustrator, created Rat-Man
- 1967 – Emily Watson, English actress
- 1968 – LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
- 1968 – Ruel Fox, English-Montserratian footballer, Midfielder, Manager and Chairman
- 1969 – Jason Bateman, American actor, director, and producer
- 1969 – Martin Bicknell, English cricketer
- 1969 – Dave Grohl, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and drummer
- 1971 – Lasse Kjus, Norwegian skier
- 1971 – Bert Konterman, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1971 – Antonios Nikopolidis, Greek footballer and manager
- 1972 – Kyle Brady, American football player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Dion Forster, South African minister, theologian, and author
- 1972 – James Key, English engineer
- 1973 – Giancarlo Fisichella, Italian race car driver
- 1973 – Paul Tisdale, English footballer and manager
- 1974 – David Flitcroft, English footballer and manager
- 1975 – Georgina Cates, English actress
- 1976 – Vincenzo Chianese, Italian footballer
- 1977 – Narain Karthikeyan, Indian race car driver
- 1977 – Terry Ryan, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Shawn Crawford, American sprinter
- 1979 – Karen Elson, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and model
- 1979 – Evans Soligo, Italian footballer
- 1980 – Clive Clarke, Irish footballer
- 1980 – Cory Gibbs, American soccer player
- 1981 – Abdelmalek Cherrad, Algerian footballer
- 1981 – Hyleas Fountain, American heptathlete
- 1981 – Concepción Montaner, Spanish long jumper
- 1981 – Chiharu Niiyama, Japanese actress and model
- 1981 – Jadranka Đokić, Croatian actress
- 1982 – Braith Anasta, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
- 1982 – Marc Broussard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1982 – Chris Heighington, Australian-English rugby league player
- 1982 – Léo Lima, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Thomas Longosiwa, Kenyan runner
- 1982 – Víctor Valdés, Spanish footballer
- 1983 – Cesare Bovo, Italian footballer
- 1983 – Jason Krejza, Australian cricketer
- 1984 – Erick Aybar, American baseball player
- 1984 – Erika Matsuo, Japanese violinist
- 1984 – Mike Pelfrey, American baseball player
- 1985 – Joel Rosario, Dominican-American jockey
- 1985 – Shawn Sawyer, Canadian figure skater
- 1986 – Yohan Cabaye, French footballer
- 1986 – Alessio Cossu, Italian footballer
- 1987 – Atsushi Hashimoto, Japanese actor
- 1987 – Jess Fishlock, Welsh footballer
- 1988 – Kacey Barnfield, English actress
- 1988 – Jack P. Shepherd, English actor
- 1989 – Frankie Bridge, English singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1989 – Adam Clayton, English footballer
- 1989 – Mattia Marchi, Italian footballer
- 1989 – Liu Xiaodong, Chinese footballer
- 1990 – Lelisa Desisa, Ethiopian runner
- 1990 – Grant Gustin, American actor and singer
- 1990 – Áron Szilágyi, Hungarian fencer
- 1992 – Robbie Brady, Irish footballer
- 1992 – Chieh-Yu Hsu, American tennis player
- 1993 – Daniel Bessa, Brazilian footballer
- 1994 – Kane Elgey, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Abi Phillips, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1994 – Kai, South Korean singer, model, actor and dancer
- 1995 – Georgios Diamantakos, Greek basketball player
- 1995 – Alex Johnston, Australian rugby league player
Deaths on January 14
- 769 – Cui Huan, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
- 927 – Wang Yanhan, king of Min (Ten Kingdoms)
- 937 – Zhang Yanlang, Chinese official
- 973 – Ekkehard I, Frankish monk and poet
- 1092 – Vratislaus II of Bohemia
- 1163 – Ladislaus II of Hungary (b. 1131)
- 1236 – Saint Sava, Serbian archbishop and saint (b. 1175)
- 1301 – Andrew III of Hungary (b. 1265)
- 1331 – Odoric of Pordenone, Italian priest and explorer (b. 1286)
- 1465 – Thomas Beckington, English statesman and prelate
- 1476 – John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b. 1444)
- 1555 – Jacques Dubois, French anatomist (b. 1478)
- 1640 – Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1578)
- 1648 – Caspar Barlaeus, Dutch historian, poet, and theologian (b. 1584)
- 1676 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1602)
- 1679 – Jacques de Billy, French mathematician and academic (b. 1602)
- 1701 – Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Japanese daimyō (b. 1628)
- 1742 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist (b. 1656)
- 1753 – George Berkeley, Anglo-Irish philosopher and author (b. 1685)
- 1766 – Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1723)
- 1776 – Edward Cornwallis, English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1713)
- 1786 – Michael Arne, English organist and composer (b. 1741)
- 1786 – Meshech Weare, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1713)
- 1823 – Athanasios Kanakaris, Greek politician (b. 1760)
- 1825 – George Dance the Younger, English architect and surveyor (b. 1741)
- 1833 – Seraphim of Sarov, Russian monk and saint (b. 1759)
- 1867 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter and illustrator (b. 1780)
- 1874 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (b. 1834)
- 1883 – Napoléon Coste, French guitarist and composer (b. 1806)
- 1888 – Stephen Heller, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1813)
- 1889 – Ema Pukšec, Croatian soprano (b. 1834)
- 1892 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (b. 1864)
- 1892 – Alexander J. Davis, American architect (b. 1803)
- 1898 – Lewis Carroll, English novelist, poet, and mathematician (b. 1832)
- 1901 – Mandell Creighton, English bishop and historian (b. 1843)
- 1901 – Charles Hermite, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1822)
- 1905 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist and engineer (b. 1840)
- 1907 – Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, Scottish soldier and politician, 6th Governor of New Zealand (b. 1832)
- 1908 – Holger Drachmann, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1846)
- 1915 – Richard Meux Benson, English priest and saint, founded the Society of St. John the Evangelist (b. 1824)
- 1919 – Platon, Estonian bishop and saint (b. 1869)
- 1920 – John Francis Dodge, American businessman, co-founded the Dodge Automobile Company (b. 1864)
- 1926 – August Sedláček, Czech historian and author (b. 1843)
- 1934 – Ioan Cantacuzino, Romanian physician and bacteriologist (b. 1863)
- 1937 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet, author, and playwright (b. 1889)
- 1942 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (b. 1883)
- 1943 – Laura E. Richards, American author and poet (b. 1850)
- 1944 – Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Turkish author and politician (b. 1869)
- 1949 – Harry Stack Sullivan, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (b. 1892)
- 1951 – Gregorios Xenopoulos, Greek author, journalist, and playwright (b. 1867)
- 1952 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1878)
- 1957 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
- 1959 – Eivind Berggrav, Norwegian bishop and translator (b. 1884)
- 1961 – Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (b. 1888)
- 1962 – M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer, scholar, and politician (b. 1860)
- 1965 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (b. 1903)
- 1966 – Sergei Korolev, Ukrainian-Russian engineer and academic (b. 1906)
- 1968 – Dorothea Mackellar, Australian poet and author (b. 1885)
- 1970 – William Feller, Croatian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1906)
- 1970 – Asım Gündüz, Turkish general (b. 1880)
- 1972 – Horst Assmy, German footballer (b. 1933)
- 1972 – Frederick IX of Denmark (b. 1899)
- 1976 – Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1922)
- 1977 – Anthony Eden, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1897)
- 1977 – Peter Finch, English-Australian actor (b. 1916)
- 1977 – Anaïs Nin, French-American essayist and memoirist (b. 1903)
- 1978 – Harold Abrahams, English sprinter, lawyer, and journalist (b. 1899)
- 1978 – Kurt Gödel, Austrian-American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1906)
- 1978 – Robert Heger, German conductor and composer (b. 1886)
- 1978 – Blossom Rock, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1980 – Robert Ardrey, American-South African author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 1981 – John O’Grady, Australian author and poet (b. 1907)
- 1981 – G. Lloyd Spencer, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1893)
- 1984 – Ray Kroc, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1902)
- 1986 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
- 1987 – Turgut Demirağ, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 1987 – Douglas Sirk, German-Swiss director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
- 1988 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician, 5th Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1902)
- 1991 – Gordon Bryant, Australian educator and politician (b. 1914)
- 1995 – Alexander Gibson, Scottish conductor (b. 1926)
- 1996 – Onno Tunç, Armenian-Turkish composer (b. 1948)
- 1997 – Dollard Ménard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
- 2000 – Leonard Weisgard, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
- 2004 – Uta Hagen, German-American actress (b. 1919)
- 2004 – Ron O’Neal, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Charlotte MacLeod, Canadian-American author (b. 1922)
- 2005 – Conroy Maddox, English painter and educator (b. 1912)
- 2005 – Rudolph Moshammer, German fashion designer (b. 1940)
- 2005 – Jesús Rafael Soto, Venezuelan sculptor and painter (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Henri Colpi, French director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Jim Gary, American sculptor (b. 1939)
- 2006 – Shelley Winters, American actress (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Vassilis Photopoulos, Greek painter, director, and set designer (b. 1934)
- 2008 – Judah Folkman, American physician, biologist, and academic (b. 1933)
- 2009 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (b. 1937)
- 2009 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and academic (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Georgia Carroll, American singer, model and actress (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Txillardegi, Spanish linguist and politician (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Dan Evins, American businessman, founded Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (b. 1935)
- 2012 – Arfa Karim, Pakistani student and computer prodigy, youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in 2004 (b. 1995)
- 2012 – Giampiero Moretti, Italian entrepreneur and race car driver (b. 1940)
- 2012 – Rosy Varte, Armenian-French actress (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Jon Bing, Norwegian author, scholar, and academic (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Flavio Testi, Italian composer and musicologist (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Bob Boyd, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Zhang Wannian, Chinese general (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Alan Rickman, English actor (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese sociologist, (b. 1906)
- 2018 – Spanky Manikan, Filipino veteran actor (b. 1942)
- 2018 – Cyrille Regis, French Guianan-English footballer (b. 1958)
Holidays and observances on January 14
- Christian feast day:
  
  Barba’shmin
  
  Blessed Devasahayam Pillai (Latin Church)
  
  Divina Pastora (Barquisimeto)
  
  Eivind Berggrav (Lutheran)
  
  Felix of Nola
  
  Macrina the Elder
  
  Odoric of Pordenone
  
  January 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Defender of the Motherland Day (Uzbekistan)
- Feast of the Ass (Medieval Christianity)
- Flag Day (Georgia)
- National Forest Conservation Day (Thailand)
- Old New Year, and its related observance:
  
  Azhyrnykhua (Abkhazia)
  
  Yennayer (Berbers)
- Ratification Day (United States)
- Revolution and Youth Day (Tunisia)
- Sidereal winter solstice celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; marking the transition of the Sun to Capricorn, and the first day of the six months Uttarayana period. (see April 14):
  
  Magh Bihu (Assam)
  
  Maghe Sankranti (Nepal)
  
  Maghi (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
  
  Makar Sankranti (India)
  
  The first day of Pongal,
  
  Uttarayan (Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Rajasthan)
Read More January 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
On This Day

January 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
January 8 in History
- 307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying
- 871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
- 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco
- 1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador
- 1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
- 1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.
- 1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
- 1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
- 1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
- 1806 – Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes a British colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
- 1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in the north American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
- 1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
- 1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
- 1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
- 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
- 1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
- 1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
- 1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator.
- 1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
- 1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
- 1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.
- 1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
- 1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ ascends the throne to become the last monarch of Vietnam.
- 1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
- 1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran’s head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
- 1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
- 1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
- 1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
- 1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
- 1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
- 1963 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
- 1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.
- 1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
- 1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
- 1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
- 1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
- 1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
- 1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time”.
- 1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
- 1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
- 1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
- 1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
- 2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
- 2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
- 2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
- 2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
- 2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
- 2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
- 2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
- 2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.
- 2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
- 2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
Births on January 8
- 1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
- 1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
- 1462 – Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch nobleman (d. 1531)
- 1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
- 1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese daimyō (d. 1623)
- 1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
- 1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
- 1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629
- 1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
- 1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
- 1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
- 1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
- 1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
- 1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
- 1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
- 1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
- 1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
- 1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
- 1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
- 1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
- 1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
- 1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
- 1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
- 1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
- 1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
- 1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
- 1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
- 1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
- 1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
- 1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
- 1843 – Karl Eduard Heusner, German admiral (d. 1891)
- 1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
- 1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
- 1860 – Emma Booth, English author (d. 1903)
- 1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
- 1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
- 1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
- 1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
- 1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
- 1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
- 1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
- 1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
- 1876 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
- 1879 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (d. 1948)
- 1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
- 1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
- 1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
- 1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
- 1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
- 1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
- 1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
- 1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
- 1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
- 1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
- 1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972) name=”Jöckle1995″>Clemens Jöckle (1995). Encyclopedia of Saints. Alpine Fine Arts Collection. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-88168-226-7.</ref>
- 1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
- 1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
- 1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
- 1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
- 1900 – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
- 1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
- 1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
- 1904 – Tampa Red, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
- 1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
- 1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and poet (d. 1988)
- 1906 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
- 1907 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese general and civil servant (d. 1991)
- 1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
- 1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
- 1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
- 1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
- 1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
- 1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
- 1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
- 1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
- 1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
- 1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
- 1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
- 1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
- 1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian
- 1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
- 1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
- 1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
- 1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
- 1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
- 1926 – Lazzaro Donati, Italian artist (d. 1977)
- 1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
- 1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
- 1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
- 1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington
- 1928 – Gaston Miron, Canadian poet and author (d. 1996)
- 1928 – Luther Perkins, American country guitarist (d. 1968)
- 1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
- 1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
- 1933 – Nolan Miller, American fashion and jewelry designer (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist
- 1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter
- 1933 – Willie Tasby, American baseball player
- 1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
- 1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
- 1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)
- 1935 – Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher, founded Lapham’s Quarterly
- 1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
- 1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech-American conductor
- 1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
- 1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
- 1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
- 1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer and educator
- 1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan-American fashion designer
- 1939 – Ruth Maleczech, American actress (d. 2013)
- 1939 – Alan Wilson, English mathematician and academic
- 1940 – Mark Bretscher, English biologist and academic
- 1940 – Cristy Lane, American country and gospel singer
- 1941 – Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1942 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (d. 2018)
- 1942 – Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
- 1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress
- 1942 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
- 1943 – Charles Murray, American political scientist and author
- 1944 – Terry Brooks, American lawyer and author
- 1945 – Nancy Bond, American author and academic
- 1945 – Phil Beal, English footballer, defender
- 1945 – Kadir Topbaş, Turkish architect and politician, 31st Mayor of Istanbul
- 1946 – Robby Krieger, American guitarist and songwriter
- 1946 – Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexican drug lord
- 1947 – Don Bendell, American rancher and author
- 1947 – David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
- 1947 – David Gates, American journalist and novelist
- 1947 – Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
- 1947 – Luke Williams, New Zealand-American wrestler
- 1948 – Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish director and screenwriter
- 1949 – Lawrence Rowe, Jamaican cricketer
- 1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
- 1951 – Karen Tei Yamashita, American author and academic
- 1952 – Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist and educator
- 1952 – Peter McCullagh, Irish mathematician and academic
- 1953 – Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
- 1954 – Konstantinos Kypriotis, Greek martial artist (d. 1995)
- 1955 – Spiros Livathinos, Greek footballer and coach
- 1955 – Mike Reno, Canadian singer and drummer
- 1957 – Nacho Duato, Spanish dancer and choreographer
- 1958 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
- 1958 – Rey Misterio, Sr., Mexican wrestler, trainer, and actor
- 1959 – Kim Duk-koo, South Korean boxer (d. 1982)
- 1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (d. 2005)
- 1960 – Dave Weckl, American drummer
- 1961 – Calvin Smith, American sprinter
- 1966 – Willie Anderson, American basketball player
- 1966 – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2009)
- 1966 – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
- 1967 – Torsten Gowitzke, German footballer and manager
- 1967 – Steven Jacobs, Australian television host and actor
- 1967 – R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player
- 1967 – Tom Watson, English politician
- 1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player
- 1971 – Jesper Jansson, Swedish footballer
- 1971 – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer and coach
- 1972 – Paul Clement, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1972 – Giuseppe Favalli, Italian footballer
- 1973 – Mike Cameron, American baseball player
- 1975 – Harris Jayaraj, Indian composer and producer
- 1976 – Kenneth Andam, Ghanaian sprinter and businessman
- 1976 – Carl Pavano, American baseball player
- 1977 – Amber Benson, American actress, writer, director, and producer
- 1977 – Francesco Coco, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Seol Ki-hyeon, South Korean footballer and manager
- 1979 – Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
- 1979 – Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
- 1979 – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1980 – Adam Goodes, Australian footballer
- 1980 – Rachel Nichols, American actress and producer
- 1981 – Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
- 1981 – Trent Waterhouse, Australian rugby league player
- 1982 – Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
- 1983 – Jon Daly, Irish footballer
- 1984 – Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player
- 1984 – Jeon Ji-ae, South Korean actress
- 1984 – Kim Jong-un, North Korean soldier and politician, 3rd Supreme Leader of North Korea (probable)
- 1986 – David Silva, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Adrián López, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Michael Mancienne, English footballer
- 1989 – Aaron Cruden, New Zealand rugby player
- 1991 – Josh Hazlewood, Australian cricketer
- 1991 – Stefan Johansen, Norwegian footballer
- 1991 – Stefan Savić, Montenegrin footballer
- 1991 – Shin Ji-min, South Korean singer and rapper
- 1992 – Stefanie Dolson, American basketball player
- 1992 – Koke, Spanish footballer
- 1992 – Apostolos Vellios, Greek footballer
Deaths on January 8
- 307 – Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 259)
- 482 – Severinus of Noricum, Italian apostle and saint
- 871 – Bagsecg, Viking warrior and leader
- 926 – Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury
- 1079 – Adèle of France, countess of Flanders (b. 1009)
- 1107 – Edgar, king of Scotland (b. 1074)
- 1198 – Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1106)
- 1332 – Andronikos III, emperor of Trebizond
- 1337 – Giotto, Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto’s Campanile (b. 1266)
- 1354 – Charles de La Cerda, French nobleman (b. 1327)
- 1424 – Stephen Zaccaria, archbishop of Patras
- 1456 – Lawrence Giustiniani, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1381)
- 1464 – Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian and academic (b. 1385)
- 1538 – Beatrice of Portugal, duchess of Savoy (b. 1504)
- 1557 – Albert Alcibiades, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (b. 1522)
- 1570 – Philibert de l’Orme, French sculptor and architect, designed the Château d’Anet (b. 1510)
- 1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)
- 1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1564)
- 1664 – Moses Amyraut, French physician and theologian (b. 1596)
- 1707 – John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Scottish Secretary of State (b. 1648)
- 1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1653)
- 1775 – John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (b. 1706)
- 1789 – Jack Broughton, English boxer (b. 1703)
- 1794 – Justus Möser, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1720)
- 1815 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (b. 1778)
- 1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)
- 1853 – Mihály Bertalanits, Slovene-Hungarian poet and educator (b. 1788)
- 1854 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English field marshal and politician, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (b. 1768)
- 1865 – Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1779)
- 1874 – Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French historian and archaeologist (b. 1814)
- 1878 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1821)
- 1878 – Gauchito Gil, Argentinian saint (b. 1847)
- 1880 – Emperor Norton, English-American businessman (b. 1811)
- 1883 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene-Hungarian poet (b. 1825)
- 1896 – William Rainey Marshall, American banker and politician, 5th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
- 1896 – Paul Verlaine, French poet and writer (b. 1844)
- 1901 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1873)
- 1912 – Friedrich Schrempf, German journalist and politician (b. 1858)
- 1914 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and 30th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1823)
- 1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
- 1916 – Ada Rehan, Irish-American actress (b. 1860)
- 1918 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (b. 1892)
- 1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1827)
- 1920 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (b.1852)
- 1925 – George Bellows, American painter (b.1882)
- 1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1880)
- 1934 – Alexandre Stavisky, Ukrainian-French financier (b. 1886)
- 1935 – Rauf Yekta, Turkish musicologist and author (b. 1871)
- 1938 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general (b. 1857)
- 1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1869)
- 1943 – Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (b. 1919)
- 1943 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (b. 1879)
- 1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American lieutenant and sailor (b. 1878)
- 1945 – Karl Ernst Krafft, Swiss astrologer and author (b. 1900)
- 1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (b. 1887)
- 1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and academic (b. 1883)
- 1952 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1866)
- 1953 – Hugh Binney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
- 1954 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1898)
- 1956 – Jim Elliot, American missionary and martyr (b. 1928)
- 1958 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (b. 1869)
- 1961 – Schoolboy Rowe, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
- 1963 – Kay Sage, American painter (b. 1898)
- 1969 – Albert Hill, English runner and coach (b. 1889)
- 1969 – Elmar Kaljot, Estonian footballer and coach (b. 1901)
- 1970 – Georges Guibourg, French actor, singer, and playwright (b. 1891)
- 1972 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and author (b. 1911)
- 1975 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
- 1976 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1898)
- 1976 – Robert Forgan, Scottish-English physician and politician (b. 1891)
- 1979 – Sara Carter, American singer-songwriter and harp player (b. 1898)
- 1980 – John Mauchly, American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
- 1981 – Matthew Beard, American actor (b. 1925)
- 1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Swiss-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1908)
- 1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German general and pilot (b. 1919)
- 1983 – Tom McCall, American journalist and politician, 30th Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
- 1983 – Gale Page, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1984 – Eerik Kumari, Estonian ornithologist and academic (b. 1912)
- 1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (b. 1906)
- 1990 – Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (b. 1919)
- 1990 – Terry-Thomas, English actor and comedian (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Steve Clark, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
- 1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor and comedian (b. 1915)
- 1994 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player and coach (b. 1925)
- 1996 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (b. 1968)
- 1996 – François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)
- 1996 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (b. 1907)
- 1997 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
- 1998 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
- 2002 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy’s (b. 1932)
- 2003 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
- 2004 – John A. Gambling, American radio host (b. 1930)
- 2006 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish broadcaster and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (b. 1908)
- 2007 – Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1916)
- 2007 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1922)
- 2007 – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician and activist (b. 1953)
- 2007 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1925)
- 2008 – George Moore, Australian jockey and trainer (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan Journalist (b. 1958)
- 2010 – Art Clokey, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
- 2011 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (b. 1937)
- 2011 – Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Dave Alexander, American singer and pianist (b. 1938)
- 2012 – T. J. Hamblin, English haematologist and academic (b. 1943)
- 2012 – John Madin, English architect, designed the Birmingham Central Library (b. 1924)
- 2012 – Bernhard Schrader, German chemist and academic (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Jeanne Manford, American educator and activist, co-founded PFLAG (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Alasdair Milne, Indian-English director and producer (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Madeline Gins, American poet and architect (b. 1941)
- 2014 – Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher, Dutch-Australian swimmer (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Antonino P. Roman, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (b. 1942)
- 2015 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
- 2016 – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (b. 1926)
- 2016 – German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor, comedian and talent manager (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (b. 1925)
- 2017 – James Mancham, Seychellois politician (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian politician (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Peter Sarstedt, Indian-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
- 2020 – Pat Dalton, Australian rules footballer (b. 1942)
- 2020 – Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter, and director (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances on January 8
- Babinden (Belarus, Russia)
- Christian feast day:
  
  Abo of Tiflis
  
  Apollinaris Claudius
  
  Blessed Eurosia Fabris
  
  Gauchito Gil (Folk Catholicism)
  
  Gudula
  
  Harriet Bedell (Episcopal Church (USA))
  
  Lawrence Giustiniani
  
  Lucian of Beauvais
  
  Maximus of Pavia
  
  Our Lady of Prompt Succor (Roman Catholic Church)
  
  Pega (Anglican and Roman Catholic churches)
  
  Severinus of Noricum
  
  Thorfinn of Hamar
  
  January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
- Earliest day on which Children’s Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday in January. (Thailand)
- Earliest day on which Lee–Jackson Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Virginia)
- Typing Day (International observance)
Read More January 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
On This Day

January 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day
January 1 in History

During the Middle Ages under the influence of the Catholic Church, many countries in western Europe decided to move the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals – December 25 (the Nativity of Jesus), March 1, March 25 (the Annunciation), or even Easter. The Byzantine Empire began its numbered year on September 1.

In England, January 1 was celebrated as the New Year festival, but from the 12th century to 1752 the year in England began on March 25 (Lady Day). So, for example, the Parliamentary record notes the execution of Charles I as occurring on January 30, 1648, (as the year did not end until March 24), although modern histories adjust the start of the year to January 1 and record the execution as occurring in 1649.

Most western European countries changed the start of the year to January 1 before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to January 1 in 1600. England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to January 1 in 1752. Later that year in September, the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies. These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.

January 1 became the official start of the year as follows:

Julian calendar:
- 1544 Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
- 1556 Spain, Portugal
- 1559 Prussia, Sweden
- 1564 France
- 1576 Southern Netherlands
- 1579 Duchy of Lorraine
- 1583 Northern Netherlands
- 1600 Scotland
- 1700 Russia
- 1752 Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies
- 1804 Serbia
Gregorian calendar:
- 1750 Tuscany
- 1797 Republic of Venice
- 1918 Ottoman Empire
- 1941 Thailand
Events on January 1

Pre-Julian Roman calendar
- 153 BC – For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.
Early Julian calendar (before Augustus’ leap year correction)
- 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.
- 42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.
Julian calendar
- 193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emper]or.
- 404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights.
- 417 – Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable).
- 1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable).
- 1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
- 1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
- 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
- 1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is first explored by the Portuguese.
- 1515 – Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII.
- 1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
- 1583 to 1700 – see January 11
- 1600 – Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25.
- 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.
- 1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1701 to 1800 – see January 12
- 1801 to 1900 – see January 13
- 1901 to 2100 – see January 14
Gregorian calendar
- 1707 – John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.
- 1739 – Bouvet Island, the world’s remotest island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
- 1772 – The first traveler’s cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, were issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
- 1773 – The hymn that became known as “Amazing Grace”, then titled “1 Chronicles 17:16–17” is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
- 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag; the Grand Union Flag at Prospect Hill.
- 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne’s command rebel against the Continental Army’s winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
- 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
- 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
- 1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
- 1803 – Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
- 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States.
- 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.
- 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.
- 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.
- 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
- 1847 – The world’s first “Mercy” Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.
- 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use.
- 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
- 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
- 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming’s proposal for standard time (and also, time zones).
- 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government
- 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.
- 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
- 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
- 1901 – Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
- 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister
- 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
- 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson.
- 1912 – The Republic of China is established.
- 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world’s first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
- 1923 – Britain’s Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
- 1927 – New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War.
- 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin’s secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
- 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
- 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
- 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.
- 1934 – A “Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring” comes into effect in Nazi Germany.
- 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
- 1945 – World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops kill 60 German POWs at Chenogne.
- 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
- 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.
- 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens.Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
- 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
- 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
- 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
- 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
- 1958 – European Economic Community is established.
- 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces.
- 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
- 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
- 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
- 1965 – The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.
- 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00.
- 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
- 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community.
- 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board.
- 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing all 213 people on board.
- 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.
- 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community.
- 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
- 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet.
- 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.
- 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
- 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
- 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor.
- 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
- 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
- 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.
- 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
- 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
- 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.
- 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being.
- 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
- 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU.
- 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
- 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece later adopts the euro).
- 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is “deemed to be elected” to the office of President until October 2007.
- 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.
- 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia killing all 102 people on board.
- 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
- 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.
- 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.
- 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.
- 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
- 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
- 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year’s celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others
Births on January 1
- 766 – Ali al-Ridha (d. 818) 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam
- 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
- 1449 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492)
- 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548)
- 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531)
- 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511)
- 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
- 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649)
- 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692)
- 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728)
- 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748)
- 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787)
- 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
- 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800)
- 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780)
- 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818)
- 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796)
- 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, credited with designing the Flag of the United States (d. 1836)
- 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849)
- 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821)
- 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860)
- 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847)
- 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874)
- 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853)
- 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880)
- 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868)
- 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864)
- 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866)
- 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861)
- 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878)
- 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849)
- 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys’ High School and Knox Church (d. 1902)
- 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908)
- 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908)
- 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
- 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904)
- 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941)
- 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
- 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933)
- 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923)
- 1859 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916)
- 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935)
- 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian, and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937)
- 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer, and curator (d. 1946)
- 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957)
- 1867 – Mary Ackworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949)
- 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher, and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
- 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927)
- 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937)
- 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929)
- 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970)
- 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952)
- 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959)
- 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949)
- 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
- 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965)
- 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974)
- 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966)
- 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969)
- 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942)
- 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948)
- 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940)
- 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, and mathematician (d. 1974)
- 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970)
- 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972)
- 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990)
- 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977)
- 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945)
- 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982)
- 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
- 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker, and actor (d. 1988)
- 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931)
- 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959)
- 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960)
- 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971)
- 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
- 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
- 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
- 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991)
- 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944)
- 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
- 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
- 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997)
- 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948)
- 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010)
- 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990)
- 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007)
- 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
- 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986)
- 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Ernest Hollings, American soldier, and politician, 106th Governor of South Carolina (d. 2019)
- 1923 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (d. 2019)
- 1923 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist and composer (d. 1999)
- 1924 – Francisco Macías Nguema, Equatorial Guinean politician, 1st President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (d. 1979)
- 1925 – Matthew Beard, American child actor (d. 1981)
- 1925 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2005)
- 1926 – Kazys Petkevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
- 1927 – Doak Walker, American football player and businessman (d. 1998)
- 1927 – James Reeb, American clergyman and political activist (d. 1965)
- 1927 – Maurice Béjart, French-Swiss dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 2007)
- 1927 – Vernon L. Smith, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1928 – Ernest Tidyman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984)
- 1928 – Gerhard Weinberg, German-American historian, author, and academic
- 1929 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2012)
- 1930 – Frederick Wiseman, American director and producer
- 1930 – Gaafar Nimeiry, Egyptian-Sudanese politician, 4th President of the Sudan (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (d. 1989)
- 1933 – James Hormel, American philanthropist and diplomat.
- 1933 – Joe Orton, English dramatist (d. 1967)
- 1934 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (d. 1984
- 1934 – Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian politician, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1935 – Om Prakash Chautala, Indian politician
- 1936 – James Sinegal, American businessman, co-founded Costco
- 1939 – Michèle Mercier, French actress
- 1939 – Phil Read, English motorcycle racer and businessman
- 1939 – Senfronia Thompson, American politician
- 1941 – Younoussi Touré, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali
- 1942 – Alassane Ouattara, Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast (doubtful)
- 1942 – Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn, English dentist and politician
- 1942 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1942 – Dennis Archer, American lawyer and politician, 67th Mayor of Detroit
- 1942 – Gennadi Sarafanov, Russian pilot and cosmonaut (d. 2005)
- 1943 – Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer^.
- 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska^.
- 1943 – Vladimir Šeks, Croatian lawyer and politician, 16th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
- 1944 – Mati Unt, Estonian author, playwright, and director (d. 2005)
- 1944 – Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese field marshal and politician, 7th President of Sudan
- 1944 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (d. 2013)
- 1944 – Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani field hockey player and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1945 – Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver
- 1945 – Victor Ashe, American politician and former United States Ambassador to Poland
- 1946 – Claude Steele, American social psychologist and academic
- 1946 – Rivellino, Brazilian footballer and manager
- 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey
- 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
- 1948 – Dick Quax, New Zealand runner and politician (d. 2018)
- 1948 – Pavel Grachev, Russian general and politician, 1st Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
- 1949 – Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician and diplomat
- 1952 – Shaji N. Karun, Indian director and cinematographer
- 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico
- 1954 – Bob Menendez, American lawyer and politician
- 1954 – Dennis O’Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (d. 2012)
- 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
- 1955 – LaMarr Hoyt, American baseball player
- 1955 – Mary Beard, English classicist, academic and presenter
- 1956 – Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and astronaut
- 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
- 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
- 1958 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian rapper and DJ
- 1959 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros
- 1959 – Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach
- 1962 – Anton Muscatelli, Italian-Scottish economist and academic
- 1963 – Jean-Marc Gounon, French racing driver
- 1964 – Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
- 1966 – Anna Burke, Australian businesswoman and politician, 28th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
- 1966 – Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia
- 1966 – Tihomir Orešković, Croatian–Canadian businessman, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia
- 1968 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
- 1971 – Bobby Holík, Czech-American ice hockey player and coach
- 1971 – Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Indian politician
- 1971 – Sammie Henson, American wrestler and coach
- 1972 – Lilian Thuram, French footballer
- 1974 – Christian Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Industry
- 1975 – Becky Kellar-Duke, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Chris Anstey, Australian basketball player and coach
- 1975 – Fernando Tatís, Dominican baseball player
- 1975 – Joe Cannon, American soccer player and sportscaster
- 1979 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
- 1981 – Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian racing driver
- 1981 – Mladen Petrić, Croatian footballer
- 1982 – David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
- 1982 – Egidio Arévalo Ríos, Uruguayan footballer
- 1983 – Melaine Walker, Jamaican hurdler
- 1983 – Park Sung-hyun, South Korean archer
- 1983 – Calum Davenport, English footballer
- 1984 – Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
- 1985 – Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
- 1985 – Tiago Splitter, Brazilian basketball player
- 1986 – Pablo Cuevas, Uruguayan tennis player
- 1986 – Ramses Barden, American football player
- 1987 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer1987 – Patric Hörnqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1988 – Marcel Gecov, Czech footballer
- 1989 – Jason Pierre-Paul, American football player
- 1991 – Darius Slay, American football player
Deaths on January 1
- 138 – Lucius Aelius, adopted son and intended successor of Hadrian (b. 101)
- 404 – Telemachus, Christian monk and martyr
- 466 – Qianfei, Chinese emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty (b. 449)
- 898 – Odo I, Frankish king (b. 860)
- 951 – Ramiro II, king of León and Galicia1031 – William of Volpiano, Italian abbot (b. 962)
- 1189 – Henry of Marcy, Cistercian abbot (b. c. 1136)
- 1204 – Haakon III, king of Norway (b. 1182)
- 1387 – Charles II, king of Navarre (b. 1332)
- 1496 – Charles d’Orléans, count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
- 1515 – Louis XII, king of France (b. 1462)
- 1559 – Christian III, king of Denmark (b. 1503)
- 1560 – Joachim du Bellay, French poet and critic (b. 1522)
- 1617 – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1558)
- 1697 – Filippo Baldinucci, Florentine historian and author (b. 1625)
- 1716 – William Wycherley, English playwright and poet (b. 1641)
- 1748 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and academic (b. 1667)
- 1780 – Johann Ludwig Krebs, German organist and composer (b. 1713)
- 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
- 1789 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, British Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1716)
- 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Italian painter and educator (b. 1712)
- 1817 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (b. 1743)
- 1846 – John Torrington, English sailor and explorer (b. 1825)
- 1853 – Gregory Blaxland, Australian farmer and explorer (b. 1778)
- 1862 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
- 1881 – Louis Auguste Blanqui, French activist (b. 1805)
- 1892 – Roswell B. Mason, American lawyer and politician, 25th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
- 1894 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857)
- 1896 – Alfred Ely Beach, American publisher and lawyer, created the Beach Pneumatic Transit (b. 1826)
- 1906 – Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian farmer and politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (b. 1833)
- 1918 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet and author (b. 1858)
- 1921 – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German lawyer and politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
- 1929 – Mustafa Necati, Turkish civil servant and politician, Turkish Minister of Environment and Urban Planning (b. 1894)
- 1931 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
- 1937 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (b. 1874)
- 1940 – Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian author and educator (b. 1865)
- 1944 – Edwin Lutyens, English architect, designed the Castle Drogo and Thiepval Memorial (b. 1869)
- 1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
- 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
- 1954 – Duff Cooper, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1890)
- 1954 – Leonard Bacon, American poet and critic (b. 1887)
- 1955 – Arthur C. Parker, American archaeologist and historian (b. 1881)
- 1960 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
- 1966 – Vincent Auriol, French journalist and politician, 16th President of the French Republic (b. 1884)
- 1969 – Barton MacLane, American actor, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
- 1971 – Amphilochius of Pochayiv, Ukrainian saint (b. 1894)
- 1972 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
- 1978 – Carle Hessay, German-Canadian painter (b. 1911)
- 1980 – Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1891)
- 1981 – Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist (b. 1920)
- 1982 – Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
- 1984 – Alexis Korner, French-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and admiral, co-developed COBOL (b. 1906)
- 1994 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
- 1994 – Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1994 – Edward Arthur Thompson, Irish historian and academic (b. 1914)
- 1995 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1996 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
- 1996 – Arthur Rudolph, German-American engineer (b. 1906)
- 1997 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
- 1998 – Helen Wills, American tennis player and coach (b. 1905)
- 2000 – Betty Archdale, English-Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1907)
- 2001 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2002 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (b. 1944)
- 2003 – Joe Foss, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1915)
- 2005 – Shirley Chisholm, American educator and politician (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Harry Magdoff, American economist and journalist (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Roland Levinsky, South African-English biochemist and academic (b. 1943)
- 2007 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (b. 1912)
- 2008 – Pratap Chandra Chunder, Indian educator and politician (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Claiborne Pell, American politician (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Lhasa de Sela, American-Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1972)
- 2012 – Kiro Gligorov, Bulgarian-Macedonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Nay Win Maung, Burmese physician, businessman, and activist (b. 1962)
- 2012 – Tommy Mont, American football player and coach (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist (b. 1945)
- 2013 – Patti Page, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (b. 1910)
- 2014 – Juanita Moore, American actress (b. 1914)
- 2014 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Boris Morukov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1950)
- 2015 – Donna Douglas, American actress (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Omar Karami, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 58th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Dale Bumpers, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1925)
- 2016 – Fazu Aliyeva, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer and producer (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Derek Parfit, British philosopher (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Tony Atkinson, British economist (b. 1944)
- 2017 – Yvon Dupuis, Canadian politician (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Robert Mann, American violinist (b. 1920)
- 2019 – Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist (b. 1952)
- 2019 – Paul Neville, Australian politician (b. 1940)
- 2020 – David Stern, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1942)
- 2020 – Alexander Frater, British travel writer and journalist (b. 1937)
- 2020 – Barry McDonald, Australian rugby union player (b. 1940)
Holidays and observances on January 1
- Christian feast day:
  
  Adalard of Corbie
  
  Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  
  Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
  
  Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
  
  Feast of Fools (Medieval Europe)
  
  Fulgentius of Ruspe
  
  Giuseppe Maria Tomasi
  
  Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Octave Day of Christmas, considered a holy day of obligation in some countries (Catholic Church); and its related observances:
  
  World Day of Peace
  
  Telemachus
  
  Zygmunt Gorazdowski
  
  January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)
- The second day of Hogmanay (Scotland) December 31-January 1, in some cases until January 2.
- The last day of Kwanzaa (African-Americans)
- The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
- Constitution Day (Italy)
- Dissolution of Czechoslovakia-related observances:
  
  Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
  
  Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State (Czech Republic)
- Emancipation Day (United States)
- Euro Day (European Union)
- Flag Day (Lithuania) commemorates raising of the Lithuanian flag on Gediminas’ Tower in 1919
- Founding Day (Taiwan) commemorates the establishment of the Provisional Government in Nanjing
- Global Family Day
- Independence Day (Brunei, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan)
- International Nepali Dhoti and Nepali Topi Day
- Jump-up Day (Montserrat)
- Kalpataru Day (Ramakrishna Movement)
- Kamakura Ebisu, January 1–3 (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)
- National Bloody Mary Day (United States)
- National Tree Planting Day (Tanzania)
- New Year’s Day (Gregorian calendar)
  
  Japanese New Year
  
  Novy God Day (Russia)
  
  Sjoogwachi (Okinawa Islands)
- Polar Bear Swim Day (Canada and United States)
- Public Domain Day (multiple countries)
- Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)
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MCQs / Q&A | Personalities

John Dryden Quiz

John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott called him “Glorious John”. He was made Poet Laureate in 1667. Source: Wikipedia

John Dryden Quiz Questions

1. When was John Dryden born? (Dates according to Gregorian calendar)
a) 2 February 1641
b) 15 May 1636
c) 19 August 1631 (Correct)
d) 15 December 1628

2. Where was John Dryden born?
a) Aldwinkle (Correct)
b) Cardiff
c) Liverpool
d) Dorchester

3. Which school did John Dryden attend?
a) Shrewsbury School
b) Westminster School (Correct)
c) Harrow School
d) St. Paul’s School

4. Which poem did John Dryden write for the coronation of Charles II?
a) The Medall
b) The Hind and the Panther
c) Religio Laici
d) To His Sacred Majesty (Correct)

5. Which play did John Dryden write in 1665?
a) Secret Love
b) The Indian Emperour (Correct)
c) All for Love
d) The Conquest of Granada

6. When did John Dryden write Annus Mirabilis?
a) 1672
b) 1675
c) 1667 (Correct)
d) 1701

7. Which poem written by John Dryden regarding successor to Charles II angered Whigs?
a) Absalom and Achitophel (Correct)
b) Eleonara
c) Love Triumphant
d) Cleomenes

8. When was John Dryden poet laureate?
a) 1640-1648
b) 1701-1715
c) 1690-1700
d) 1668-1688 (Correct)

9. When did John Dryden die?
a) 26 January 1715
b) 12 May 1700 (Correct)
c) 11 July 1703
d) 12 November 1699

10. Where did John Dryden die?
a) Cambridge
b) London (Correct)
c) Oxford
d) Bristol

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MCQs / Q&A | Personalities

William Harvey Quiz

William Harvey Quiz Questions

1. What did William Harvey discover?
a) Blood circulation (Correct)
b) Planetary motions
c) Cortisol
d) Vitamins

2. When was William Harvey born?
a) 31 March 1584
b) 1 April 1578 (Correct)
c) 25 September 1587
d) 30 December 1575

3. Where was William Harvey born?
a) Richmond
b) Plymouth
c) Liverpool
d) Folkestone (Correct)

4. Which college did William Harvey attend?
a) Christ College
b) Gonville and Caius College (Correct)
c) Rhodes College
d) Trinity College

5. Which university did William Harvey attend?
a) London
b) Oxford
c) Padua (Correct)
d) Edinburgh

6. At which hospital did William Harvey serve?
a) St. Bartholomew’s (Correct)
b) St. John’s
c) St. Luke’s
d) St. Andrew’s

7. Who appointed William Harvey physician extraordinary in 1618?
a) George II
b) William IV
c) James I (Correct)
d) Edward IV

8. When did William Harvey publish Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus?
a) 1880
b) 1628 (Correct)
c) 1885
d) 1882

9. When did William Harvey die?
a) 18 January 1648
b) 3 June 1657 (Correct)
c) 7 July 1660
d) 12 November 1665

10. Where did William Harvey die?
a) Nuremberg
b) Prague
c) Vienna
d) London (Correct)

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