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1934

February 5 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • AD 62 – Earthquake in Pompeii, Italy.
  • 756 – An Lushan, leader of a revolt against the Tang Dynasty, declares himself emperor and establishes the state of Yan.
  • 789 – Idris I reaches Volubilis and founds the Idrisid dynasty, ceding Morocco from the Abbasid caliphate and founding the first Moroccan state.
  • 1576 – Henry of Navarre abjures Catholicism at Tours and rejoins the Protestant forces in the French Wars of Religion.
  • 1597 – A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
  • 1649 – Charles Stuart, the son of King Charles I, is declared King Charles II of England and Scotland by the Scottish Parliament.
  • 1778 – South Carolina becomes the second state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
  • 1782 – Spanish defeat British forces and capture Menorca.
  • 1783 – In Calabria, a sequence of strong earthquakes begins.
  • 1807 – HMS Blenheim and HMS Java disappear off the coast of Rodrigues.
  • 1810 – Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.
  • 1818 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.
  • 1849 – University of Wisconsin–Madison’s first class meets at Madison Female Academy.
  • 1852 – The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.
  • 1859 – Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, is also elected as the prince of Wallachia, joining the two principalities as a personal union called the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.
  • 1862 – Moldavia and Wallachia formally unite to create the Romanian United Principalities.
  • 1869 – The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger”, is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.
  • 1885 – King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.
  • 1905 – In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with four basic specialties.
  • 1907 – Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic.
  • 1913 – Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.
  • 1917 – The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.
  • 1917 – The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto.
  • 1918 – Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane; this is the first aerial victory by the U.S. military.
  • 1918 – SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.
  • 1919 – Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.
  • 1924 – The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal.
  • 1933 – Mutiny on Royal Netherlands Navy warship HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën off the coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.
  • 1939 – Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th “Caudillo de España“, or Leader of Spain.
  • 1941 – World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.
  • 1945 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.
  • 1958 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.
  • 1958 – A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.
  • 1962 – French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.
  • 1963 – The European Court of Justice’s ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.
  • 1971 – Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.
  • 1975 – Riots break in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
  • 1985 – Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
  • 1988 – Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
  • 1994 – Byron De La Beckwith is convicted of the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
  • 1994 – Markale massacres, more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.
  • 1997 – The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.
  • 2000 – Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.
  • 2004 – Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
  • 2008 – A major tornado outbreak across the Southern United States kills 57.
  • 2020 – United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

Births on February 5

  • 976 – Sanjō, emperor of Japan (d. 1017)
  • 1321 – John II, marquess of Montferrat (d. 1372)
  • 1438 – Philip II, duke of Savoy (d. 1497)
  • 1505 – Aegidius Tschudi, Swiss statesman and historian (d. 1572)
  • 1519 – René of Châlon, prince of Orange (d. 1544)
  • 1525 – Juraj Drašković, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1587)
  • 1533 – Andreas Dudith, Croatian-Hungarian nobleman and diplomat (d. 1589)
  • 1534 – Giovanni de’ Bardi, Italian soldier, composer, and critic (d. 1612)
  • 1589 – Esteban Manuel de Villegas, Spanish poet and educator (d. 1669)
  • 1594 – Biagio Marini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1663)
  • 1605 – Bernard of Corleone, Italian saint (d. 1667)
  • 1608 – Gaspar Schott, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1666)
  • 1626 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (d. 1696)
  • 1650 – Anne Jules de Noailles, French general (d. 1708)
  • 1703 – Gilbert Tennent, Irish-American minister (d. 1764)
  • 1723 – John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic (d. 1794)
  • 1725 – James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1783)
  • 1748 – Christian Gottlob Neefe, German composer and conductor (d. 1798)
  • 1788 – Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1850)
  • 1795 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist (d. 1871)
  • 1804 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Finnish poet and hymn-writer (d. 1877)
  • 1808 – Carl Spitzweg, German painter and poet (d. 1885)
  • 1810 – Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist and composer (d. 1880)
  • 1827 – Peter Lalor, Irish-Australian activist and politician (d. 1889)
  • 1837 – Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist and publisher, founded Moody Church, Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers (d. 1899)
  • 1840 – John Boyd Dunlop, Scottish businessman, co-founded Dunlop Rubber (d. 1921)
  • 1840 – Hiram Maxim, American engineer, invented the Maxim gun (d. 1916)
  • 1847 – Eduard Magnus Jakobson, Estonian missionary and engraver (d. 1903)
  • 1848 – Joris-Karl Huysmans, French author and critic (d. 1907)
  • 1848 – Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean lieutenant (d. 1882)
  • 1852 – Terauchi Masatake, Japanese field marshal and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1919)
  • 1866 – Domhnall Ua Buachalla, Irish politician, 3rd and last Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1963)
  • 1870 – Charles Edmund Brock, British painter and book illustrator (d. 1938)
  • 1876 – Ernie McLea, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1931)
  • 1878 – André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded Citroën (d. 1935)
  • 1880 – Gabriel Voisin, French pilot and engineer (d. 1973)
  • 1889 – Patsy Hendren, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1962)
  • 1889 – Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (d. 1962)
  • 1889 – Recep Peker, Turkish officer and politician (d. 1950)
  • 1891 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (d. 1976)
  • 1892 – Elizabeth Ryan, American tennis player (d. 1979)
  • 1897 – Dirk Stikker, Dutch businessman and politician, 3rd Secretary General of NATO (d. 1979)
  • 1900 – Adlai Stevenson II, American soldier, politician, and diplomat, 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1965)
  • 1903 – Koto Matsudaira, Japanese diplomat, ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1994)
  • 1903 – Joan Whitney Payson, American businesswoman and philanthropist (d. 1975)
  • 1906 – John Carradine, American actor (d. 1988)
  • 1907 – Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (d. 2007)
  • 1907 – Pierre Pflimlin, French politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2000)
  • 1908 – Marie Baron, Dutch swimmer and diver (d. 1948)
  • 1908 – Peg Entwistle, Welsh-American actress (d. 1932)
  • 1908 – Daisy and Violet Hilton, English conjoined twins (d. 1969)
  • 1908 – Eugen Weidmann, German criminal (d. 1939)
  • 1909 – Grażyna Bacewicz, Polish violinist and composer (d. 1969)
  • 1910 – Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic (d. 2007)
  • 1910 – Francisco Varallo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2010)
  • 1911 – Jussi Björling, Swedish tenor (d. 1960)
  • 1914 – William S. Burroughs, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1997)
  • 1914 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist, biophysicist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
  • 1915 – Robert Hofstadter, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
  • 1917 – Edward J. Mortola, American academic and president of Pace University (d. 2002)
  • 1917 – Isuzu Yamada, Japanese actress (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Red Buttons, American actor (d. 2006)
  • 1919 – Tim Holt, American actor (d. 1973)
  • 1919 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1996)
  • 1921 – Ken Adam, German-born English production designer and art director (d. 2016)
  • 1923 – Claude King, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – James E. Bowman, American physician and academic (d. 2011)
  • 1924 – Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy, Indian cardinal (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – Robert Allen, American pianist and composer (d. 2000)
  • 1927 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch captain and pilot (d. 1977)
  • 1928 – Tage Danielsson, Swedish author, actor, and director (d. 1985)
  • 1928 – Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, and author (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – P. J. Vatikiotis, Israeli-American historian and political scientist (d. 1997)
  • 1929 – Hal Blaine, American session drummer (d. 2019)
  • 1929 – Luc Ferrari, French pianist and composer (d. 2005)
  • 1929 – Fred Sinowatz, Austrian politician, 19th Chancellor of Austria (d. 2008)
  • 1932 – Cesare Maldini, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2016)
  • 1933 – Jörn Donner, Finnish director and screenwriter (d. 2020)
  • 1933 – B. S. Johnson, English author, poet, and critic (d. 1973)
  • 1934 – Hank Aaron, American baseball player
  • 1934 – Don Cherry, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1935 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1982)
  • 1935 – Johannes Geldenhuys, South African military commander (d. 2018)
  • 1936 – K. S. Nissar Ahmed, Indian poet and academic
  • 1937 – Stuart Damon, American actor and singer
  • 1937 – Larry Hillman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1937 – Gaston Roelants, Belgian runner
  • 1937 – Alar Toomre, Estonian-American astronomer and mathematician
  • 1937 – Wang Xuan, Chinese computer scientist and academic (d. 2006)
  • 1938 – Rafael Nieto Navia, Colombian lawyer, jurist, and diplomat
  • 1939 – Brian Luckhurst, English cricketer (d. 2005)
  • 1940 – H. R. Giger, Swiss painter, sculptor, and set designer (d. 2014)
  • 1940 – Luke Graham, American wrestler (d. 2006)
  • 1941 – Stephen J. Cannell, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1941 – Henson Cargill, American country music singer (d. 2007)
  • 1941 – David Selby, American actor and playwright
  • 1941 – Barrett Strong, American soul singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1941 – Kaspar Villiger, Swiss engineer and politician, 85th President of the Swiss Confederation
  • 1941 – Cory Wells, American pop-rock singer (d. 2015)
  • 1942 – Roger Staubach, American football player, sportscaster, and businessman
  • 1943 – Nolan Bushnell, American engineer and businessman, founded Atari, Inc.
  • 1943 – Michael Mann, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1943 – Craig Morton, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1943 – Dušan Uhrin, Czech and Slovak footballer and manager
  • 1944 – J. R. Cobb, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1944 – Henfil, Brazilian journalist, author, and illustrator (d. 1988)
  • 1944 – Al Kooper, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1944 – Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 51st Yokozuna (d. 1971)
  • 1945 – Douglas Hogg, English lawyer and politician, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
  • 1946 – Amnon Dankner, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1946 – Charlotte Rampling, English actress
  • 1947 – Mary L. Cleave, American engineer and astronaut
  • 1947 – Clemente Mastella, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Justice
  • 1947 – Darrell Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1948 – Sven-Göran Eriksson, Swedish footballer and manager
  • 1948 – Christopher Guest, American actor and director
  • 1948 – Barbara Hershey, American actress
  • 1948 – Errol Morris, American director and producer
  • 1948 – Tom Wilkinson, English actor
  • 1949 – Kurt Beck, German politician
  • 1949 – Yvon Vallières, Canadian educator and politician
  • 1950 – Jonathan Freeman, American actor and singer
  • 1950 – Rafael Puente, Mexican footballer
  • 1951 – Nikolay Merkushkin, Mordovian engineer and politician, 1st Head of the Republic of Mordovia
  • 1952 – Daniel Balavoine, French singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1986)
  • 1952 – Vladimir Moskovkin, Ukrainian-Russian geographer, economist, and academic
  • 1953 – Freddie Aguilar, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1953 – John Beilein, American basketball player and coach
  • 1953 – Gustavo Benítez, Paraguayan footballer and manager
  • 1954 – Cliff Martinez, American drummer and songwriter
  • 1954 – Frank Walker, Australian journalist and author
  • 1955 – Mike Heath, American baseball player and manager
  • 1956 – Vinnie Colaiuta, American drummer
  • 1956 – Héctor Rebaque, Mexican race car driver
  • 1956 – David Wiesner, American author and illustrator
  • 1956 – Mao Daichi, Japanese actress
  • 1957 – Jüri Tamm, Estonian hammer thrower and politician
  • 1959 – Jennifer Granholm, Canadian-American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Michigan
  • 1960 – Aris Christofellis, Greek soprano and musicologist
  • 1960 – Bonnie Crombie, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 6th Mayor of Mississauga
  • 1960 – Micky Hazard, English footballer, central midfielder
  • 1961 – Savvas Kofidis, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1961 – Tim Meadows, American actor and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Jennifer Jason Leigh, American actress, screenwriter, producer and director
  • 1963 – Steven Shainberg, American film director and producer
  • 1964 – Laura Linney, American actress
  • 1964 – Ha Seungmoo, Korean Poet, Pastor, Historical theologian
  • 1964 – Duff McKagan, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
  • 1965 – Tarik Benhabiles, Algerian-French tennis player and coach
  • 1965 – Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian footballer and manager
  • 1965 – Keith Moseley, American bass player and songwriter
  • 1965 – Quique Sánchez Flores, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1966 – José María Olazábal, Spanish golfer
  • 1966 – Rok Petrovič, Slovenian skier (d. 1993)
  • 1967 – Chris Parnell, American actor and comedian
  • 1968 – Roberto Alomar, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
  • 1968 – Marcus Grönholm, Finnish race car driver
  • 1969 – Bobby Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
  • 1969 – Michael Sheen, Welsh actor and director
  • 1969 – Derek Stephen Prince, American voice actor
  • 1970 – Jean-Marc Jaumin, Belgian basketball player and coach
  • 1970 – Darren Lehmann, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1971 – Michel Breistroff, French ice hockey player (d. 1996)
  • 1971 – Sara Evans, American country singer
  • 1972 – Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark
  • 1972 – Brad Fittler, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1973 – Richard Matvichuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1973 – Trijntje Oosterhuis, Dutch singer-songwriter
  • 1973 – Luke Ricketson, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1974 – Michael Maguire, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1975 – Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1976 – John Aloisi, Australian footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Abhishek Bachchan, Indian actor
  • 1977 – Ben Ainslie, English sailor
  • 1977 – Adam Dykes, Australian rugby league player
  • 1977 – Adam Everett, American baseball player and coach
  • 1978 – Brian Russell, American football player
  • 1978 – Samuel Sánchez, Spanish cyclist
  • 1979 – Nate Holzapfel, American entrepreneur and television personality
  • 1980 – Brad Fitzpatrick, American programmer, created LiveJournal
  • 1980 – Jo Swinson, Scottish politician
  • 1981 – Mia Hansen-Løve, French director and screenwriter
  • 1981 – Loukas Vyntra, Czech-Greek footballer
  • 1982 – Laura del Rio, Spanish footballer
  • 1982 – Kevin Everett, American football player
  • 1982 – Tomáš Kopecký, Slovak ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Rodrigo Palacio, Argentinian footballer
  • 1983 – Anja Hammerseng-Edin, Norwegian handball player
  • 1984 – Carlos Tevez, Argentinian footballer
  • 1985 – Lloyd Johansson, Australian rugby player
  • 1985 – Laurence Maroney, American football player
  • 1985 – Paul Vandervort, American actor, film producer, and former model
  • 1985 – Cristiano Ronaldo, Portuguese footballer
  • 1986 – Vedran Ćorluka, Croatian footballer, centre back
  • 1986 – Marcos Díaz, Argentinian footballer
  • 1986 – Kevin Gates, American rapper, singer, and entrepreneur
  • 1986 – Sekope Kepu, Australian rugby player
  • 1986 – Billy Sharp, English footballer
  • 1986 – Reed Sorenson, American race car driver
  • 1986 – Carlos Villanueva, Chilean footballer
  • 1987 – Darren Criss, American actor, singer, and entrepreneur
  • 1987 – Curtis Jerrells, American basketball player
  • 1987 – Alex Kuznetsov, Ukrainian-American tennis player
  • 1987 – Linus Omark, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Donald Sanford, American-Israeli sprinter
  • 1988 – Karin Ontiveros, Mexican model
  • 1989 – Marina Melnikova, Russian tennis player
  • 1990 – Dmitry Andreikin, Russian chess player
  • 1990 – Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian cricketer
  • 1990 – Jordan Rhodes, Scottish footballer
  • 1991 – Nabil Bahoui, Swedish footballer
  • 1991 – Gerald Tusha, Albanian footballer
  • 1992 – Stefan de Vrij, Dutch footballer
  • 1992 – Neymar, Brazilian footballer
  • 1993 – Leilani Latu, Australian rugby league player
  • 1993 – Ty Rattie, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1995 – Adnan Januzaj, Belgian-Albanian footballer
  • 1996 – Stina Blackstenius, Swedish footballer
  • 1997 – Patrick Roberts, English footballer
  • 2016 – Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutanese prince

Deaths on February 5

  • 523 – Avitus of Vienne, Gallo-Roman bishop
  • 806 – Kanmu, emperor of Japan (b. 736)
  • 994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
  • 1015 – Adelaide, German abbess and saint
  • 1036 – Alfred Aetheling, Anglo-Saxon prince
  • 1146 – Zafadola, Arab emir of Zaragoza
  • 1578 – Giovanni Battista Moroni, Italian painter (b. 1520)
  • 1661 – Shunzhi, Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty (b. 1638)
  • 1705 – Philipp Spener, German theologian and author (b. 1635)
  • 1751 – Henri François d’Aguesseau, French jurist and politician, Chancellor of France (b. 1668)
  • 1754 – Nicolaas Kruik, Dutch astronomer and cartographer (b. 1678)
  • 1766 – Count Leopold Joseph von Daun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705)
  • 1775 – Eusebius Amort, German theologian and academic (b. 1692)
  • 1790 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (b. 1710)
  • 1807 – Pasquale Paoli, Corsican commander and politician (b. 1725)
  • 1818 – Charles XIII, king of Sweden (b. 1748)
  • 1881 – Thomas Carlyle, Scottish philosopher, historian, and academic (b. 1795)
  • 1882 – Adolfo Rivadeneyra, Spanish orientalist and diplomat (b. 1841)
  • 1892 – Emilie Flygare-Carlén, Swedish author (b. 1807)
  • 1915 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1850)
  • 1917 – Jaber II Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1860)
  • 1922 – Christiaan de Wet, South African general and politician, State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1854)
  • 1922 – Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, Croatian engineer, invented the mechanical pencil (b. 1871)
  • 1927 – Inayat Khan, Indian mystic and educator (b. 1882)
  • 1931 – Athanasios Eftaxias, Greek politician, 118th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1849)
  • 1933 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician (b. 1863)
  • 1937 – Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (b. 1861)
  • 1938 – Hans Litten, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1903)
  • 1941 – Banjo Paterson, Australian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1864)
  • 1941 – Otto Strandman, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1875)
  • 1946 – George Arliss, English actor and playwright (b. 1868)
  • 1948 – Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (b. 1883)
  • 1952 – Adela Verne, English pianist and composer (b. 1877)
  • 1954 – Hossein Sami’i, Iranian politician, diplomat, writer and poet (b. 1876)
  • 1955 – Victor Houteff, Bulgarian religious reformer and author (b. 1885)
  • 1957 – Sami Ibrahim Haddad, Lebanese surgeon and author (b. 1890)
  • 1962 – Jacques Ibert, French-Swiss composer (b. 1890)
  • 1967 – Leon Leonwood Bean, American businessman, founded L.L.Bean (b. 1872)
  • 1969 – Thelma Ritter, American actress (b. 1902)
  • 1970 – Rudy York, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1913)
  • 1971 – Lew “Sneaky Pete” Robinson, drag racer (b. 1933)
  • 1972 – Marianne Moore, American poet, author, critic, and translator (b. 1887)
  • 1976 – Rudy Pompilli, American saxophonist (Bill Haley & His Comets) (b. 1926)
  • 1977 – Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1894)
  • 1981 – Ella T. Grasso, American politician, 83rd Governor of Connecticut (b. 1919)
  • 1982 – Neil Aggett, Kenyan-South African physician and union leader (b. 1953)
  • 1983 – Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American chemist and academic (b. 1925)
  • 1987 – William Collier, Jr., American actor and producer (b. 1902)
  • 1989 – Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (b. 1937)
  • 1991 – Dean Jagger, American actor (b. 1903)
  • 1992 – Miguel Rolando Covian, Argentinian-Brazilian physiologist and academic (b. 1913)
  • 1993 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (b. 1922)
  • 1993 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
  • 1993 – William Pène du Bois, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
  • 1995 – Doug McClure, American actor (b. 1935)
  • 1997 – Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (b. 1920)
  • 1997 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (b. 1906)
  • 1998 – Tim Kelly, American guitarist (b. 1963)
  • 1999 – Wassily Leontief, Russian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
  • 2000 – Claude Autant-Lara, French director and screenwriter (b. 1901)
  • 2004 – John Hench, American animator (b. 1908)
  • 2005 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma, Togolese general and politician, President of Togo (b. 1937)
  • 2005 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (b. 1921)
  • 2006 – Norma Candal, Puerto Rican-American actress (b. 1927)
  • 2007 – Leo T. McCarthy, New Zealand-American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 43rd Lieutenant Governor of California (b. 1930)
  • 2007 – Alfred Worm, Austrian journalist, author, and academic (b. 1945)
  • 2008 – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian guru, founded Transcendental Meditation (b. 1918)
  • 2010 – Brendan Burke, Canadian ice hockey player and activist (b. 1988)
  • 2010 – Harry Schwarz, South African lawyer, anti-apartheid leader, and diplomat, 13th South Africa Ambassador to United States (b. 1924)
  • 2011 – Brian Jacques, English author and radio host (b. 1939)
  • 2011 – Peggy Rea, American actress and casting director (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Sam Coppola, American actor (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – Al De Lory, American keyboard player, conductor, and producer (b. 1930)
  • 2012 – John Turner Sargent, Sr., American publisher (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Jo Zwaan, Dutch sprinter (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Reinaldo Gargano, Uruguayan journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Uruguay (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Egil Hovland, Norwegian composer and conductor (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Tom McGuigan, New Zealand soldier and politician, 23rd New Zealand Minister of Health (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Robert A. Dahl, American political scientist and academic (b. 1915)
  • 2015 – K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka (b. 1933)
  • 2015 – Marisa Del Frate, Italian actress and singer (b. 1931)
  • 2015 – Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
  • 2015 – Herman Rosenblat, Polish-American author (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – Ciriaco Cañete, Filipino martial artist (b. 1919)
  • 2020 – Kirk Douglas, American actor (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances on February 5

  • Christian feast day:
    • Adelaide of Vilich
    • Agatha of Sicily
    • Avitus of Vienne
    • Bertulf (Bertoul) of Renty
    • Ingenuinus (Jenewein)
    • Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan (in Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Anglican Church in Japan)
    • February 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Mexico)
  • Crown Princess Mary’s birthday (Denmark)
  • Kashmir Solidarity Day (Pakistan)
  • Liberation Day (San Marino)
  • Runeberg’s Birthday (Finland)
  • Unity Day (Burundi)

February 5 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /

This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice).

February 4 in History 

  • 211 – Following the death of Rome’s Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarreling sons, Caracalla and Geta, whom he had instructed to make peace.
  • 960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
  • 1169 – A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.
  • 1454 – In the Thirteen Years’ War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
  • 1555 – John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.
  • 1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master’s death.
  • 1758 – The city of Macapá in Brazil is founded by Sebastião Veiga Cabral.
  • 1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
  • 1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.
  • 1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.
  • 1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
  • 1810 – Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe.
  • 1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the two-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and two ships.
  • 1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
  • 1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
  • 1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
  • 1899 – The Philippine–American War begins with the Battle of Manila.
  • 1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
  • 1938 – Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command.
  • 1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
  • 1945 – World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
  • 1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
  • 1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
  • 1961 – The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.
  • 1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
  • 1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
  • 1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
  • 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
  • 1974 – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
  • 1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
  • 1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
  • 1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency’s history.
  • 1992 – A coup d’état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
  • 1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
  • 1998 – The 5.9 Mw  Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
  • 1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
  • 2000 – The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.
  • 2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.
  • 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.
  • 2015 – TransAsia Airways Flight 235 with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after take-off, killing 43 people.
  • 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.

Births on February 4

  • 1447 – Lodovico Lazzarelli, Italian poet (d. 1500)
  • 1495 – Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1535)
  • 1495 – Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (d. 1568)
  • 1505 – Mikołaj Rej, Polish poet and author (d. 1580)
  • 1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian, founded the French school of spirituality (d. 1629)
  • 1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet and politician (d. 1699)
  • 1676 – Giacomo Facco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1753)
  • 1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (d. 1731)
  • 1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (d. 1763)
  • 1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (d. 1804)
  • 1740 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
  • 1778 – Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (d. 1841)
  • 1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese journalist and author (d. 1854)
  • 1818 – Emperor Norton, San Francisco eccentric and visionary (d. 1880)citation needed
  • 1831 – Oliver Ames, American financier and politician, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
  • 1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1921)
  • 1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1926)
  • 1862 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (d. 1942)
  • 1865 – Abe Isoo, Japanese minister and politician (d. 1949)
  • 1868 – Constance Markievicz, Irish revolutionary and first woman elected to the UK House of Commons (d. 1927)
  • 1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German lawyer and politician, 1st President of Germany (d. 1925)
  • 1872 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian and Macedonian revolutionary activist (d. 1903)
  • 1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1905)
  • 1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (d. 1953)
  • 1877 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (d. 1953)
  • 1881 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (d. 1939)
  • 1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (d. 1955)
  • 1883 – Reinhold Rudenberg, German-American inventor and a pioneer of electron microscopy (d. 1961)
  • 1891 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
  • 1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and academic (d. 1964)
  • 1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
  • 1896 – Friedrich Glauser, Austrian-Swiss author (d. 1938)
  • 1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist and academic (d. 1997)
  • 1897 – Ludwig Erhard, German soldier and politician, 2nd Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1977)
  • 1899 – Virginia M. Alexander, American physician and founder of the Aspiranto Health Home (d. 1949)
  • 1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (d. 1977)
  • 1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (d. 1974)
  • 1902 – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 2003)
  • 1903 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American author and screenwriter (d. 1977)
  • 1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedian, actress and music hall performer (d. 1986)
  • 1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (d. 1945)
  • 1906 – Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, Irish librarian (d. 1994)
  • 1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997)
  • 1908 – Julian Bell, English poet and academic (d. 1937)
  • 1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian banker and politician, Norwegian Minister of Industry (d. 1999)
  • 1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian-American conductor (d. 1993)
  • 1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2006)
  • 1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
  • 1914 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author and publisher (d. 1980)
  • 1915 – William Talman, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968)
  • 1915 – Norman Wisdom, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2010)
  • 1917 – Yahya Khan, Pakistan general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
  • 1918 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (d. 1995)
  • 1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher and author (d. 1991)
  • 1920 – Janet Waldo, American actress and voice artist (d. 2016)
  • 1921 – Betty Friedan, American author and feminist (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Lotfi Zadeh, Iranian-American mathematician and computer scientist and founder of fuzzy logic (d. 2017)
  • 1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Russell Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
  • 1925 – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Christopher Zeeman, English mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
  • 1926 – Gyula Grosics, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Dave Sands, Australian boxer (d. 1952)
  • 1927 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
  • 1928 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1967)
  • 1928 – Osmo Antero Wiio, Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Paul Burlison, American rockabilly guitarist (d. 2003)
  • 1929 – Neil Johnston, American basketball player (d. 1978)
  • 1930 – Tibor Antalpéter, Hungarian volleyball player and diplomat, Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Arthur E. Chase, American businessman and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, Argentinian dancer and politician, 41st President of Argentina
  • 1935 – Wallis Mathias, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1994)
  • 1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish opera singer (d. 1989)
  • 1935 – Collin Wilcox, American actress (d. 2009)
  • 1936 – David Brenner, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2014)
  • 1936 – Claude Nobs, Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – David Newman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
  • 1938 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (d. 2010)
  • 1939 – Stan Lundine, American lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New York
  • 1940 – George A. Romero, American director and producer (d. 2017)
  • 1941 – Russell Cooper, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of Queensland
  • 1941 – Ron Rangi, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
  • 1941 – Jiří Raška, Czech skier and coach (d. 2012)
  • 1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese journalist and politician, 2nd President of the Regional Government of Madeira
  • 1943 – Wanda Rutkiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish mountaineer (d. 1992)
  • 1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language
  • 1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer and actress
  • 1947 – Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and politician, 3rd Director of National Intelligence
  • 1947 – Dan Quayle, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States
  • 1948 – Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter
  • 1948 – Rod Grams, American journalist and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1948 – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • 1949 – Michael Beck, American actor
  • 1949 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general (d. 2010)
  • 1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
  • 1951 – Phil Ehart, American rock drummer and songwriter
  • 1952 – Jenny Shipley, New Zealand educator and politician, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • 1952 – Thomas Silverstein, American prisoner, founder and former leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang (d. 2019)
  • 1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak politician, Prime Minister of Slovakia
  • 1957 – Don Davis, American composer and conductor
  • 1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (d. 2005)
  • 1959 – Christian Schreier, German footballer and manager
  • 1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Siobhan Dowd, English author and activist (d. 2007)
  • 1960 – Adrienne King, American actress, dancer, and painter
  • 1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer and playwright (d. 1996)
  • 1961 – Stewart O’Nan, American novelist
  • 1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1962 – Stephen Hammond, English banker and politician
  • 1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
  • 1964 – Elke Philipp, German Paralympic equestrian
  • 1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
  • 1966 – Tony Butterfield, Australian rugby league player
  • 1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
  • 1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
  • 1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
  • 1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Eric Garcetti, American lieutenant and politician, 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles
  • 1972 – Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and television host
  • 1972 – Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1973 – Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer
  • 1973 – James Hird, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1973 – Manny Legace, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter
  • 1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian race car driver
  • 1980 – Raimonds Vaikulis, Latvian basketball player
  • 1981 – Jason Kapono, American basketball player
  • 1981 – Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist
  • 1982 – Chris Sabin, American wrestler
  • 1982 – Ivars Timermanis, Latvian basketball player
  • 1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian cyclist
  • 1983 – Lee Stempniak, American ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Rebecca White, Australian politician
  • 1984 – Sandeep Acharya, Indian singer (d. 2013)
  • 1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
  • 1986 – Maximilian Götz, German race car driver
  • 1986 – Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer
  • 1987 – Darren O’Dea, Irish footballer
  • 1987 – Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
  • 1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast and singer
  • 1993 – Bae Noo-ri, South Korean actress
  • 1998 – Maximilian Wöber, Austrian footballer

Deaths on February 4

  • 211 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (b. 145)
  • 708 – Pope Sisinnius (b. 650)
  • 856 – Rabanus Maurus, Frankish archbishop and theologian (b. 780)
  • 870 – Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury
  • 1169 – John of Ajello, Bishop of Catania
  • 1498 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (b. 1429/1433)
  • 1505 – Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Louis XI of France (b. 1464)
  • 1508 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (b. 1459)
  • 1555 – John Rogers, English clergyman and translator (b. 1505)
  • 1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1517)
  • 1615 – Giambattista della Porta, Italian playwright and scholar (b. 1535)
  • 1617 – Lodewijk Elzevir, Dutch publisher, co-founded the House of Elzevir (b. 1546)
  • 1713 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (b. 1671)
  • 1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
  • 1781 – Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737)
  • 1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect and educator (b. 1728)
  • 1843 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (b. 1770)
  • 1891 – Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (b. 1816)
  • 1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (b. 1841)
  • 1926 – İskilipli Âtıf Hodja, Turkish author and scholar (b. 1875)
  • 1928 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
  • 1933 – Archibald Sayce, English linguist and educator (b. 1846)
  • 1940 – Nikolai Yezhov, Russian police officer and politician (b. 1895)
  • 1943 – Frank Calder, English-Canadian ice hockey player and journalist (b. 1877)
  • 1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator (b. 1872)
  • 1956 – Savielly Tartakower, Russian-French chess player, journalist, and author (b. 1887)
  • 1958 – Henry Kuttner, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
  • 1959 – Una O’Connor, Irish-American actress (b. 1880)
  • 1968 – Neal Cassady, American novelist and poet (b. 1926)
  • 1970 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (b. 1897)
  • 1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1894)
  • 1975 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1908)
  • 1982 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1935)
  • 1982 – Georg Konrad Morgen, German lawyer and judge (b. 1909)
  • 1983 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (b. 1950)
  • 1987 – Liberace, American singer-songwriter and pianist, (b. 1919)
  • 1987 – Meena Keshwar Kamal, Afghan activist, founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (b. 1956)
  • 1987 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (b. 1902)
  • 1990 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1915)
  • 1992 – John Dehner, American actor (b. 1915)
  • 1995 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1921)
  • 2000 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
  • 2002 – Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg (b. 1907)
  • 2003 – Benyoucef Benkhedda, Algerian pharmacist and politician (b. 1920)
  • 2005 – Ossie Davis, American actor, director, and playwright (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – Betty Friedan, American author and activist (b. 1921)
  • 2007 – José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
  • 2007 – Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian-English poet and translator (b. 1959)
  • 2007 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
  • 2008 – Augusta Dabney, American actress (b. 1918)
  • 2008 – Stefan Meller, Polish academic and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (b. 1924)
  • 2010 – Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-American composer (b. 1919)
  • 2011 – Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1913)
  • 2012 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1934)
  • 2012 – Florence Green, English soldier (b. 1901)
  • 2012 – Robert Daniel, American farmer, soldier, and politician (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Mike deGruy, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1951)
  • 2013 – Donald Byrd, American trumpet player (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Reg Presley, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
  • 2014 – Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Eugenio Corti, Italian soldier, author, and playwright (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Dennis Lota, Zambian footballer (b. 1973)
  • 2015 – Wes Cooley, American soldier and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Fitzhugh L. Fulton, American colonel and pilot (b. 1925)
  • 2016 – Edgar Mitchell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (b. 1949)
  • 2017 – Bano Qudsia, Pakistani writer (b. 1928)
  • 2018 – John Mahoney, English-American actor, voice artist, and comedian (b. 1940)
  • 2019 – Matti Nykänen, Finnish Olympic-winning ski jumper and singer (b. 1963)

Holidays and observances on February 4

  • Christian feast day:
    • Andrew Corsini
    • Gilbert of Sempringham
    • John de Brito
    • Blessed Rabanus Maurus
    • Rimbert
    • Veronica
    • February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola)
  • Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Christianity)
  • Independence Day (Sri Lanka)
  • Rosa Parks Day (California and Missouri, United States)
  • World Cancer Day

February 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
  • 1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
  • 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
  • 1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
  • 1661 – Maratha forces under Chattrapati Shivaji defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
  • 1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
  • 1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
  • 1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
  • 1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.
  • 1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
  • 1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
  • 1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
  • 1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
  • 1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
  • 1834 – Wake Forest University is established (as Wake Forest Institute) in North Carolina, United States.
  • 1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
  • 1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
  • 1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of 7 lives.
  • 1917 – First World War: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
  • 1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
  • 1930 – Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a “Unification Conference” held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
  • 1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
  • 1933 – Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.
  • 1943 – The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.
  • 1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
  • 1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
  • 1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
  • 1953 – The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.
  • 1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
  • 1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
  • 1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of “a wind of change”, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
  • 1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.
  • 1966 – The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
  • 1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
  • 1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
  • 1984 – John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
  • 1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
  • 1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
  • 1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
  • 1994 – Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
  • 1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
  • 1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
  • 2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
  • 2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.

Births on February 3

  • 1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)
  • 1392 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English nobleman and military commander (d. 1455)
  • 1428 – Helena Palaiologina, Queen of Cyprus (d. 1458)
  • 1478 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)
  • 1504 – Scipione Rebiba, Italian cardinal (d. 1577)
  • 1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau (d. 1723)
  • 1689 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
  • 1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (d. 1755)
  • 1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
  • 1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)
  • 1747 – Samuel Osgood, American soldier and politician, 1st United States Postmaster General (d. 1813)
  • 1757 – Joseph Forlenze, Italian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1833)
  • 1763 – Caroline von Wolzogen, German author (d. 1847)
  • 1777 – John Cheyne, Scottish physician and author (d. 1836)
  • 1790 – Gideon Mantell, English scientist (d. 1852)
  • 1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (d. 1830)
  • 1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general and politician (d. 1891)
  • 1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1847)
  • 1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)
  • 1816 – Ram Singh Kuka, Indian credited with starting the Non-cooperation movement
  • 1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
  • 1817 – Émile Prudent, French pianist and composer (d. 1863)
  • 1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician and educator (d. 1910)
  • 1824 – Ranald MacDonald, American explorer and educator (d. 1894)
  • 1826 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
  • 1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
  • 1842 – Sidney Lanier, American composer and poet (d. 1881)
  • 1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-Canadian businessman (d. 1915)
  • 1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor, designed the Vulcan statue (d. 1935)
  • 1859 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (d. 1935)
  • 1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge (d. 1946)
  • 1867 – Charles Henry Turner, American biologist, educator and zoologist (d. 1923)
  • 1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
  • 1874 – Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, (d. 1946)
  • 1878 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
  • 1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian pharmacist and poet (d. 1914)
  • 1889 – Artur Adson, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1977)
  • 1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (d. 1968)
  • 1892 – Juan Negrín, Spanish physician and politician, 67th Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1956)
  • 1893 – Gaston Julia, Algerian-French mathematician and academic (d. 1978)
  • 1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)
  • 1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre (d. 1976)
  • 1899 – Café Filho, Brazilian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
  • 1900 – Mabel Mercer, English-American singer (d. 1984)
  • 1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 1973)
  • 1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
  • 1905 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1990)
  • 1905 – Arne Beurling, Swedish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
  • 1906 – George Adamson, Indian-English author and activist (d. 1989)
  • 1907 – James A. Michener, American author and philanthropist (d. 1997)
  • 1909 – André Cayatte, French lawyer and director (d. 1989)
  • 1909 – Simone Weil, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1943)
  • 1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
  • 1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (d. 1990)
  • 1914 – Mary Carlisle, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2018)
  • 1915 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler and hammer thrower (d. 1998)
  • 1917 – Shlomo Goren, Polish-Israeli rabbi and general (d. 1994)
  • 1918 – Joey Bishop, American actor and producer (d. 2007)
  • 1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner, baseball player, and manager (d. 1994)
  • 1920 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian race car driver and pilot (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician and author (d. 2016)
  • 1924 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
  • 1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Shelley Berman, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
  • 1925 – John Fiedler, American actor (d. 2005)
  • 1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German soldier and politician, 8th Mayor of Berlin
  • 1927 – Kenneth Anger, American actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino journalist and politician, 21st President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2003)
  • 1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American lawyer and politician
  • 1934 – Juan Carlos Calabró, Argentinian actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1935 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, American blues, soul, and funk singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
  • 1936 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (d. 1984)
  • 1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1937 – Billy Meier, Swiss author and photographer
  • 1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
  • 1938 – Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (d. 2013)
  • 1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American wrestler and trainer
  • 1941 – Howard Phillips, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
  • 1943 – Dennis Edwards, American soul/R&B singer (d. 2018)
  • 1943 – Eric Haydock, English bass player (d. 2019)
  • 1943 – Shawn Phillips, American-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Johnny Cymbal, Scottish-American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1993)
  • 1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist, essayist, and poet
  • 1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor and director
  • 1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author and playwright (d. 2015)
  • 1949 – Jim Thorpe, American golfer
  • 1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
  • 1950 – Grant Goldman, Australian radio and television host (d. 2020)
  • 1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian footballer and manager
  • 1951 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
  • 1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1956 – John Jefferson, American football player and coach
  • 1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor and comedian
  • 1957 – Eric Lander, American mathematician, geneticist, and academic
  • 1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American commander, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1958 – Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American economist
  • 1958 – Greg Mankiw, American economist and academic
  • 1959 – Óscar Iván Zuluaga, Colombian economist and politician, 67th Colombian Minister of Finance
  • 1960 – Tim Chandler, American bass player (d. 2018)
  • 1960 – Marty Jannetty, American wrestler and trainer
  • 1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
  • 1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
  • 1961 – Linda Eder, American singer and actress
  • 1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and academic
  • 1964 – Indrek Tarand, Estonian historian, journalist, and politician
  • 1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress and producer
  • 1966 – Frank Coraci, American director and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Danny Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Tim Flowers, English footballer and coach
  • 1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
  • 1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian-American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer, songwriter, and composer
  • 1969 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (d. 2015)
  • 1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
  • 1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer
  • 1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
  • 1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish pianist and composer
  • 1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist and producer
  • 1976 – Isla Fisher, Omani-Australian actress
  • 1977 – Daddy Yankee, American-Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
  • 1977 – Marek Židlický, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
  • 1979 – Paul Franks, English cricketer and coach
  • 1982 – Becky Bayless, American wrestler
  • 1982 – Marie-Ève Drolet, Canadian speed skater
  • 1984 – Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos
  • 1985 – Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress
  • 1985 – Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Lucas Duda, American baseball player
  • 1986 – Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater
  • 1986 – Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress
  • 1988 – Cho Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
  • 1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
  • 1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
  • 1990 – Martin Taupau, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1991 – Corey Norman, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Olli Aitola, Finnish ice hockey player

Deaths on February 3

  • AD 6 – Ping, emperor of the Han Dynasty (b. 9 BC)
  • 456 – Sihyaj Chan K’awiil II, ruler of Tikal
  • 639 – K’inich Yo’nal Ahk I, ruler of Piedras Negras
  • 699 – Werburgh, English nun and saint
  • 865 – Ansgar, Frankish archbishop (b. 801)
  • 929 – Guy, margrave of Tuscany
  • 938 – Zhou Ben, Chinese general (b. 862)
  • 994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
  • 1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and England (b. 960)
  • 1116 – Coloman, king of Hungary
  • 1161 – Inge I, king of Norway (b. 1135)
  • 1252 – Sviatoslav III, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1196)
  • 1399 – John of Gaunt, Belgian-English politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1340)
  • 1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1386)
  • 1451 – Murad II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1404)
  • 1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)
  • 1537 – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (b. 1513)
  • 1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian and author (b. 1513)
  • 1618 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania (b. 1573)
  • 1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1564)
  • 1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1648)
  • 1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Spanish statesman and economist (b. 1723)
  • 1813 – Juan Bautista Cabral, Argentinian sergeant (b. 1789)
  • 1820 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1762)
  • 1832 – George Crabbe, English surgeon and poet (b. 1754)
  • 1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (b. 1774)
  • 1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet, author, and historian (b. 1809)
  • 1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)
  • 1922 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1839)
  • 1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
  • 1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1878)
  • 1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (b. 1859)
  • 1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1865)
  • 1945 – Roland Freisler, German lawyer and judge (b. 1893)
  • 1947 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (b. 1887)
  • 1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American journalist and politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
  • 1955 – Vasily Blokhin, Russian general (b. 1895)
  • 1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and academic (b. 1871)
  • 1956 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (b. 1916)
  • 1959 – The Day the Music Died
    • The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
    • Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
    • Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
  • 1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
  • 1961 – William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Scottish-Australian captain and politician, 14th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
  • 1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
  • 1963 – Benjamin R. Jacobs (b. 1879)
  • 1967 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
  • 1969 – C. N. Annadurai, Indian journalist and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
  • 1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambican activist and academic (b. 1920)
  • 1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and engineer (b. 1873)
  • 1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1904)
  • 1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
  • 1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 1989 – Lionel Newman, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1916)
  • 1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
  • 1993 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1927)
  • 1996 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (b. 1922)
  • 1999 – Gwen Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1950)
  • 2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian biologist and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
  • 2005 – Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist (b. 1904)
  • 2006 – Al Lewis, American actor and activist (b. 1923)
  • 2009 – Sheng-yen, Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (b. 1930)
  • 2010 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
  • 2010 – Frances Reid, American actress (b. 1914)
  • 2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (b. 1930)
  • 2012 – Terence Hildner, American general (b. 1962)
  • 2012 – Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1961)
  • 2012 – Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1942)
  • 2012 – Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Cardiss Collins, American politician (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – James Muri, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Martin Gilbert, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1936)
  • 2015 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
  • 2015 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – Balram Jakhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (b. 1923)
  • 2016 – József Kasza, Serbian politician and economist (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
  • 2017 – Dritëro Agolli, Albanian poet, writer and politician (b. 1931)
  • 2019 – Julie Adams, American actress (b. 1926)
  • 2019 – Kristoff St. John, American actor (b. 1966)
  • 2020 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on February 3

  • Christian feast day:
    • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
    • Ansgar
    • Berlinda of Meerbeke
    • Blaise
    • Celsa and Nona
    • Claudine Thévenet
    • Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
    • Hadelin
    • Margaret of England
    • Werburgh
    • February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
  • Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
  • Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
  • Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
  • Heroes’ Day (Mozambique)
  • Martyrs’ Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
  • Setsubun (Japan)
  • Veterans’ Day (Thailand)

February 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of “Roman law”.
  • 880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
  • 962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
  • 1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
  • 1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
  • 1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
  • 1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
  • 1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
  • 1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • 1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
  • 1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
  • 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
  • 1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
  • 1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
  • 1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
  • 1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
  • 1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
  • 1899 – The Australian Premiers’ Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia’s capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
  • 1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria.
  • 1909 – The Paris Film Congress opens. An attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPCC cartel in the United States.
  • 1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
  • 1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
  • 1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
  • 1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
  • 1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
  • 1935 – Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.
  • 1942 – The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.
  • 1959 – Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.
  • 1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
  • 1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
  • 1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
  • 1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
  • 1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
  • 1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
  • 1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
  • 1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
  • 2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
  • 2002 – Wedding of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
  • 2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men’s singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
  • 2005 – The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
  • 2007 – Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.
  • 2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.

Births on February 2

  • 1208 – James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
  • 1282 – Maud Chaworth, Countess of Leicester (d. 1322).
  • 1425 (or 1426) – Eleanor of Navarre, Queen regnant of Navarre (d. 1479)
  • 1443 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (d. 1486)
  • 1455 – John, King of Denmark (d. 1513)
  • 1457 – Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, Italian-Spanish historian and author (d. 1526)
  • 1467 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican sister (d. 1501)
  • 1494 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
  • 1502 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher and historian (d. 1574)
  • 1506 – René de Birague, Italian-French cardinal and politician (d. 1583)
  • 1509 – John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader (d. 1536)
  • 1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1565)
  • 1536 – Piotr Skarga, Polish writer (d. 1612)
  • 1551 – Nicolaus Reimers, German astronomer (d. 1600)
  • 1576 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (d. 1622)
  • 1585 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter (d. 1662)
  • 1585 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (baptised; d. 1596)
  • 1588 – Georg II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl, German nobleman (d. 1644)
  • 1600 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
  • 1611 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (d. 1633)
  • 1613 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
  • 1621 – Johannes Schefferus, Swedish author and hymn-writer (d. 1679)
  • 1650 – Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
  • 1650 – Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II of England (d. 1687)
  • 1651 – William Phips, Royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (d. 1695)
  • 1669 – Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (d. 1732)
  • 1677 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French composer (d. 1745)
  • 1695 – William Borlase, English geologist and archaeologist (d. 1772)
  • 1695 – François de Chevert, French general (d. 1769)
  • 1700 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German author and critic (d. 1766)
  • 1711 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (d. 1794)
  • 1714 – Gottfried August Homilius, German organist and composer (d. 1785)
  • 1717 – Ernst Gideon von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
  • 1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1838)
  • 1782 – Henri de Rigny, French admiral and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1835)
  • 1786 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1856)
  • 1802 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist and academic (d. 1887)
  • 1803 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (d. 1862)
  • 1829 – Alfred Brehm, German zoologist and illustrator (d. 1884)
  • 1829 – William Stanley, English engineer and philanthropist (d. 1909)
  • 1841 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and hydrologist (d. 1912)
  • 1842 – Julian Sochocki, Polish-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1849 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet and playwright (d. 1921)
  • 1851 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican illustrator and engraver (d. 1913)
  • 1856 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
  • 1856 – Makar Yekmalyan, Armenian composer (d. 1905)
  • 1857 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (d. 1918)
  • 1860 – Curtis Guild, Jr., American journalist and politician, 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
  • 1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)
  • 1862 – Émile Coste, French fencer (d. 1927)
  • 1862 – Cornelius McKane, American physician, educator, and hospital founder (d. 1912)
  • 1866 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1873 – Leo Fall, Austrian composer (d. 1925)
  • 1873 – Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and diplomat, 13th German Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1956)
  • 1875 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (d. 1962)
  • 1877 – Frank L. Packard, Canadian author (d. 1942)
  • 1878 – Joe Lydon, American boxer (d. 1937)
  • 1880 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
  • 1881 – Orval Overall, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
  • 1882 – Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (d. 1944)
  • 1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)
  • 1883 – Johnston McCulley, American author and screenwriter, created Zorro (d. 1958)
  • 1883 – Julia Nava de Ruisánchez, Mexican activist and writer (d. 1964)
  • 1886 – William Rose Benét, American poet and author (d. 1950)
  • 1887 – Ernst Hanfstaengl, German businessman (d. 1975)
  • 1889 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (d. 1952)
  • 1890 – Charles Correll, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 27th Yokozuna (d. 1959)
  • 1893 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1974)
  • 1893 – Raoul Riganti, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1970)
  • 1893 – Damdin Sükhbaatar, Mongolian soldier and politician (d. 1924)
  • 1895 – George Halas, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
  • 1895 – Robert Philipp, American painter (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – George Sutcliffe, Australian public servant (d. 1964)
  • 1896 – Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician and logician (d. 1980)
  • 1897 – Howard Deering Johnson, American businessman, founded Howard Johnson’s (d. 1972)
  • 1897 – Gertrude Blanch, Russian-American mathematician (d. 1996)
  • 1900 – Anni Frind, German lyric soprano (d. 1987)
  • 1900 – Willie Kamm, American baseball player and manager (d. 1988)
  • 1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-born American violinist and educator (d. 1987)
  • 1902 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
  • 1902 – John Tonkin, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1995)
  • 1904 – Bozorg Alavi, Iranian author and activist (d. 1997)
  • 1905 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (d. 1982)
  • 1908 – Wes Ferrell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
  • 1909 – Frank Albertson, American actor (d. 1964)
  • 1911 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (d. 1968)
  • 1912 – Millvina Dean, English civil servant and cartographer (d. 2009)
  • 1912 – Burton Lane, American songwriter and composer (d. 1997)
  • 1913 – Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor and singer (d. 1985)
  • 1914 – Eric Kierans, Canadian economist and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2004)
  • 1915 – Abba Eban, South African-Israeli politician and diplomat, 1st Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
  • 1915 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (d. 2005)
  • 1915 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (d. 2014)
  • 1916 – Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1985)
  • 1917 – Mary Ellis, British World War II ferry pilot (d. 2018)
  • 1917 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2018)
  • 1918 – Hella Haasse, Indonesian-Dutch author (d. 2011)
  • 1919 – Lisa Della Casa, Swiss soprano and actress (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Georg Gawliczek, German footballer and manager (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – George Hardwick, English footballer and coach (d. 2004)
  • 1920 – John Russell, American Olympic equestrian
  • 1920 – Arthur Willis, English footballer, full-back, player-manager (d. 1987)
  • 1922 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey player (d. 1978)
  • 1922 – Robert Chef d’Hôtel, French athlete (d. 2019)
  • 1922 – James L. Usry, American politician, first African-American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2002)
  • 1922 – Stoyanka Mutafova, Bulgarian actress (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Jean Babilée, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (d. 1997)
  • 1923 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster (d.2012)
  • 1923 – Bonita Granville, American actress and producer (d. 1988)
  • 1923 – Red Schoendienst, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
  • 1923 – Liz Smith, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
  • 1923 – Clem Windsor, Australian rugby player and surgeon (d. 2007)
  • 1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American singer, pianist, producer (d. 2007)
  • 1924 – Sonny Stitt, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1982)
  • 1925 – Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, French academic and politician, 20th President of France
  • 1927 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991)
  • 1927 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (d. 2012)
  • 1928 – Ciriaco De Mita, 47th Prime minister of Italy
  • 1928 – Jay Handlan, American basketball player and engineer (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Tommy Harmer, English footballer, inside forward, youth team coach (d. 2007)
  • 1929 – Sheila Matthews Allen, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – George Band, English engineer and mountaineer (d. 2011)
  • 1929 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Waldemar Kmentt, Austrian operatic tenor (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Dries van Agt, Dutch politician, diplomat and jurist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
  • 1931 – Les Dawson, English comedian and author (d. 1993)
  • 1931 – Glynn Edwards, Malaysian-English actor (d. 2018)
  • 1931 – John Paul Harney, Canadian educator and politician
  • 1931 – Judith Viorst, American journalist and author
  • 1932 – Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (d. 2002)
  • 1932 – Robert Mandan, American actor (d. 2018)
  • 1933 – M’el Dowd, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – Tony Jay, English-American actor (d. 2006)
  • 1933 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (d. 2009)
  • 1933 – Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma
  • 1935 – Pete Brown, American golfer (d. 2015)
  • 1935 – Evgeny Velikhov, Russian physicist and academic
  • 1936 – Duane Jones, American actor (d. 1988)
  • 1936 – Metin Oktay, Turkish footballer and manager (d. 1991)
  • 1937 – Don Buford, American baseball player and coach
  • 1937 – Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian lawyer and politician, President of Panama (d. 2015)
  • 1937 – Anthony Haden-Guest, British journalist, poet, and critic
  • 1937 – Remak Ramsay, American actor
  • 1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist
  • 1937 – Alexandra Strelchenko, Russian Singer (d. 2019)
  • 1938 – Norman Fowler, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1938 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
  • 1939 – Jackie Burroughs, English-born Canadian actress (d. 2010)
  • 1939 – Mary-Dell Chilton, American chemist and inventor and one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology
  • 1939 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
  • 1940 – Alan Caddy, English guitarist and producer (d. 2000)
  • 1940 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (d. 2008)
  • 1940 – Wayne Fontes, American football player and coach
  • 1940 – David Jason, English actor, director, and producer
  • 1941 – Terry Biddlecombe, English jockey (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Bo Hopkins, American actor
  • 1942 – Graham Nash, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1944 – Andrew Davis, English organist and conductor
  • 1944 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (d. 2012)
  • 1944 – Ursula Oppens, American pianist and educator
  • 1945 – John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, English economist and academic
  • 1946 – John Armitt, English engineer and businessman
  • 1946 – Alpha Oumar Konaré, Malian academic and politician, 3rd President of Mali
  • 1946 – Constantine Papadakis, Greek-American businessman and academic (d. 2009)
  • 1947 – Greg Antonacci, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1948 – Ina Garten, American chef and author
  • 1948 – Al McKay, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1948 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (d. 1973)
  • 1949 – Duncan Bannatyne, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
  • 1949 – Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (d. 1996)
  • 1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer
  • 1949 – Ross Valory, American rock bass player and songwriter
  • 1950 – Osamu Kido, Japanese wrestler
  • 1950 – Libby Purves, British journalist and author
  • 1950 – Barbara Sukowa, German actress
  • 1950 – Genichiro Tenryu, Japanese wrestler
  • 1951 – Vangelis Alexandris, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1951 – Ken Bruce, Scottish radio host
  • 1952 – John Cornyn, American lawyer and politician, 49th Attorney General of Texas
  • 1952 – Rick Dufay, French-American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1952 – Park Geun-hye, South Korean politician, 11th President of South Korea
  • 1952 – Ralph Merkle, American computer scientist and academic
  • 1952 – Carol Ann Susi, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1953 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
  • 1953 – Jerry Sisk, Jr., American gemologist, co-founded Jewelry Television (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Christie Brinkley, American actress, model, and businesswoman
  • 1954 – Hansi Hinterseer, Austrian skier and actor
  • 1954 – Nelson Ne’e, Solomon Islander politician (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – John Tudor, American baseball player
  • 1955 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet and author
  • 1955 – Bob Schreck, American author
  • 1955 – Michael Talbott, American actor
  • 1955 – Kim Zimmer, American actress
  • 1956 – Adnan Oktar, Turkish theorist and author
  • 1957 – Phil Barney, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
  • 1958 – Michel Marc Bouchard, Canadian playwright
  • 1961 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (d. 2013)
  • 1961 – Lauren Lane, American actress and academic
  • 1962 – Philippe Claudel, French author, director, and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Andy Fordham, English darts player
  • 1962 – Paul Kilgus, American baseball player
  • 1962 – Kate Raison, Australian actress
  • 1962 – Michael T. Weiss, American actor
  • 1963 – Eva Cassidy, American singer and guitarist (d. 1996)
  • 1963 – Kjell Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1963 – Andrej Kiska, Slovak entrepreneur and philanthropist, President of Slovakia
  • 1963 – Philip Laats, Belgian martial artist
  • 1963 – Vigleik Storaas, Norwegian pianist
  • 1965 – Carl Airey, English footballer
  • 1965 – Naoki Sano, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
  • 1966 – Andrei Chesnokov, Russian tennis player and coach
  • 1966 – Robert DeLeo, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
  • 1966 – Adam Ferrara, American actor and comedian
  • 1966 – Michael Misick, Caicos Islander politician, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
  • 1967 – Artūrs Irbe, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1967 – Laurent Nkunda, Congolese general
  • 1968 – Sean Elliott, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Scott Erickson, American baseball player and coach
  • 1969 – Dana International, Israeli singer-songwriter
  • 1969 – Valeri Karpin, Estonian-Russian footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Roar Strand, Norwegian footballer
  • 1970 – Jennifer Westfeldt, American actress and singer
  • 1971 – Michelle Gayle, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1971 – Arly Jover, Spanish actress
  • 1971 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer and sportscaster (d. 2014)
  • 1971 – Jason Taylor, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1971 – Hwang Seok-jeong, South Korean actress
  • 1972 – Melvin Mora, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1972 – Aleksey Naumov, Russian footballer
  • 1973 – Andrei Luzgin, Estonian tennis player and coach
  • 1973 – Aleksander Tammert, Estonian discus thrower
  • 1973 – Marissa Jaret Winokur, American actress and singer
  • 1975 – Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Donald Driver, American football player
  • 1975 – Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
  • 1976 – Ryan Farquhar, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
  • 1976 – James Hickman, English swimmer
  • 1976 – Ana Roces, Filipino actress
  • 1977 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1977 – Libor Sionko, Czech footballer
  • 1978 – Adam Christopher, New Zealand writer
  • 1978 – Eden Espinosa, American actress and singer
  • 1978 – Annabel Ellwood, Australian tennis player
  • 1978 – Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1978 – Rich Sommer, American actor
  • 1978 – Faye White, English footballer
  • 1979 – Urmo Aava, Estonian race car driver
  • 1979 – Fani Chalkia, Greek hurdler and sprinter
  • 1979 – Christine Lampard, Irish television host
  • 1979 – Klaus Mainzer, German rugby player
  • 1979 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
  • 1979 – Irini Terzoglou, Greek shot putter
  • 1980 – Angela Finger-Erben, German journalist
  • 1980 – Teddy Hart, Canadian wrestler
  • 1980 – Oleguer Presas, Spanish footballer
  • 1981 – Emre Aydın, Turkish singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Michelle Bass, English model and singer
  • 1981 – Salem al-Hazmi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 77 (d. 2001)
  • 1982 – Sergio Castaño Ortega, Spanish footballer
  • 1982 – Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Kan Mi-youn, South Korean singer, model, and host
  • 1983 – Ronny Cedeño, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1983 – Carolina Klüft, Swedish heptathlete and jumper
  • 1983 – Jordin Tootoo, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Vladimir Voskoboinikov, Estonian footballer
  • 1983 – Alex Westaway, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1984 – Brian Cage, American wrestler
  • 1984 – Mao Miyaji, Japanese actress
  • 1984 – Rudi Wulf, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1985 – Masoud Azizi, Afghan sprinter
  • 1985 – Renn Kiriyama, Japanese actor
  • 1985 – Kristo Saage, Estonian basketball player
  • 1985 – Silvestre Varela, Portuguese footballer
  • 1986 – Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer
  • 1986 – Miwa Asao, Japanese volleyball player
  • 1987 – Anthony Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
  • 1987 – Saia Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
  • 1987 – Faydee, Australian singer
  • 1987 – Athena Imperial, Filipino journalist, Miss Earth-Water 2011
  • 1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
  • 1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
  • 1987 – Jill Scott, English footballer
  • 1987 – Victoria Song, Chinese singer and actress
  • 1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor and producer
  • 1988 – Zosia Mamet, American actress
  • 1989 – Harrison Smith, American football player
  • 1989 – Southside, American record producer
  • 1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
  • 1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
  • 1991 – Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor
  • 1992 – Lammtarra, American race horse (d. 2014)
  • 1992 – Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer
  • 1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
  • 1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid, English born Jamaican international footballer, forward
  • 1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
  • 1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
  • 1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakstani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
  • 1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer, midfielder

Deaths on February 2

  • 619 – Laurence of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint
  • 880 – Bruno, duke of Saxony
  • 1124 – Bořivoj II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1064)
  • 1218 – Konstantin of Rostov (b. 1186)
  • 1237 – Joan, Lady of Wales
  • 1250 – Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
  • 1294 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1229)
  • 1347 – Thomas Bek, Bishop of Lincoln, was the bishop of Lincoln (b. 1282)
  • 1348 – Narymunt, Prince of Pinsk
  • 1435 – Joan II of Naples, Queen of Naples (b. 1371)
  • 1446 – Vittorino da Feltre, Italian humanist (b. 1378)
  • 1448 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (b. 1372)
  • 1461 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (b. c. 1400)
  • 1512 – Hatuey, Caribbean tribal chief
  • 1529 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian soldier and diplomat (b. 1478)
  • 1580 – Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1558)
  • 1594 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer and educator (b. 1525)
  • 1648 – George Abbot, English author and politician (b. 1603)
  • 1660 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans (b. 1608)
  • 1660 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
  • 1661 – Lucas Holstenius, German geographer and historian (b. 1596)
  • 1675 – Ivan Belostenec, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1594)
  • 1688 – Abraham Duquesne, French admiral (b. 1610)
  • 1704 – Guillaume de l’Hôpital, French mathematician and academic (b. 1661)
  • 1712 – Martin Lister, English physician and geologist (b. 1639)
  • 1714 – John Sharp, English archbishop (b. 1643)
  • 1723 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (b. 1666)
  • 1768 – Robert Smith, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1689)
  • 1769 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
  • 1802 – Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1713)
  • 1804 – George Walton, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1749)
  • 1831 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (b. 1768)
  • 1836 – Letizia Ramolino, Italian noblewoman (b. 1750)
  • 1861 – Théophane Vénard, French Catholic missionary (b. 1829)
  • 1881 – Henry Parker, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1808)
  • 1904 – Ernest Cashel, American-Canadian criminal (b. 1882)
  • 1904 – William Collins Whitney, American financier and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1841)
  • 1905 – Henri Germain, French banker and politician, founded Le Crédit Lyonnais (b. 1824)
  • 1907 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (b. 1834)
  • 1909 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
  • 1913 – Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer (b. 1845)
  • 1918 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (b. 1858)
  • 1919 – Julius Kuperjanov, Estonian lieutenant (b. 1894)
  • 1925 – Antti Aarne, Finnish historian and academic (b. 1867)
  • 1925 – Jaap Eden, Dutch speed skater and cyclist (b. 1873)
  • 1926 – Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general and politician (b. 1848)
  • 1932 – Agha Petros, Assyrian general and politician (b. 1880)
  • 1939 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (b. 1879)
  • 1942 – Ado Birk, Estonian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1883)
  • 1942 – Daniil Kharms, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1905)
  • 1942 – Hugh D. McIntosh, Australian businessman (b. 1876)
  • 1945 – Alfred Delp, German priest and philosopher (b. 1907)
  • 1945 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German economist and politician (b. 1884)
  • 1945 – Johannes Popitz, German lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
  • 1948 – Thomas W. Lamont, American banker and philanthropist (b. 1870)
  • 1948 – Bevil Rudd, South African runner and journalist (b. 1894)
  • 1950 – Constantin Carathéodory, Greek mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
  • 1952 – Callistratus of Georgia, Georgian patriarch (b. 1866)
  • 1954 – Hella Wuolijoki, Estonian-Finnish author and politician (b. 1886)
  • 1956 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (b. 1869)
  • 1956 – Truxtun Hare, American football player and hammer thrower (b. 1878)
  • 1956 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (b. 1876)
  • 1957 – Grigory Landsberg, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1890)
  • 1962 – Shlomo Hestrin, Canadian-Israeli biochemist and academic (b. 1914)
  • 1966 – Hacı Ömer Sabancı, Turkish businessman (b. 1906)
  • 1968 – Tullio Serafin, Italian conductor and director (b. 1878)
  • 1969 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
  • 1970 – Lawrence Gray, American actor (b. 1898)
  • 1970 – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1872)
  • 1972 – Natalie Clifford Barney, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1876)
  • 1973 – Hendrik Elias, Belgian academic and politician, 9th Mayor of Ghent (b. 1902)
  • 1974 – Imre Lakatos, Hungarian-English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1922)
  • 1975 – Gustave Lanctot, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1883)
  • 1979 – Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (b. 1930)
  • 1979 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (b. 1957)
  • 1980 – William Howard Stein, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • 1982 – Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
  • 1983 – Sam Chatmon, American singer and guitarist (b. 1897)
  • 1986 – Anita Cobby, Australian murder victim (b. 1959)
  • 1986 – Gino Hernandez, American wrestler (b. 1957)
  • 1987 – Carlos José Castilho, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1927)
  • 1987 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
  • 1988 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 1989 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater and coach (b. 1951)
  • 1989 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (b. 1901)
  • 1990 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (b. 1905)
  • 1990 – Joe Erskine, Welsh boxer (b. 1934)
  • 1992 – Bert Parks, American actor, singer, television personality; Miss America telecast presenter (b. 1914)
  • 1993 – François Reichenbach, French director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 1994 – Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist (b. 1921)
  • 1995 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor and actor (b. 1917)
  • 1995 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player (b. 1909)
  • 1995 – Donald Pleasence, English-French actor (b. 1919)
  • 1996 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (b. 1912)
  • 1997 – Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (b. 1913)
  • 1997 – Sanford Meisner, American actor and coach (b. 1904)
  • 1998 – Haroun Tazieff, German-French geologist and cinematographer (b. 1914)
  • 1999 – David McComb, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
  • 2002 – Paul Baloff, American singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
  • 2002 – Claude Brown, American author (b. 1937)
  • 2003 – Lou Harrison, American composer and educator (b. 1917)
  • 2004 – Bernard McEveety, American director and producer (b. 1924)
  • 2005 – Birgitte Federspiel, Danish actress (b. 1925)
  • 2005 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)
  • 2007 – Vijay Arora, Indian actor (b. 1944)
  • 2007 – Billy Henderson, American singer (b. 1939)
  • 2007 – Joe Hunter, American pianist (b. 1927)
  • 2007 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (b. 1967)
  • 2007 – Eric Von Schmidt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
  • 2007 – Masao Takemoto, Japanese gymnast (b. 1919)
  • 2008 – Barry Morse, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
  • 2008 – Katoucha Niane, Guinean model and author (b. 1960)
  • 2011 – Edward Amy, Canadian general (b. 1918)
  • 2011 – Defne Joy Foster, Turkish actress (b. 1975)
  • 2011 – Margaret John, Welsh actress (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Joyce Barkhouse, Canadian author (b. 1913)
  • 2012 – Frederick William Danker, American lexicographer and scholar (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – George Esper, American journalist and academic (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – James F. Lloyd, American pilot and politician (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (b. 1961)
  • 2013 – John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Chris Kyle, American soldier and sniper (b. 1974)
  • 2013 – Lino Oviedo, Paraguayan general and politician (b. 1943)
  • 2013 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Walt Sweeney, American football player (b. 1941)
  • 2013 – Guy F. Tozzoli, American architect (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Gerd Albrecht, German conductor (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Tommy Aquino, American motorcycle racer (b. 1992)
  • 2014 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (b. 1941)
  • 2014 – Eduardo Coutinho, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)
  • 2014 – Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (b. 1962)
  • 2014 – Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Nigel Walker, English footballer (b. 1959)
  • 2015 – Joseph Alfidi, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1949)
  • 2015 – Dave Bergman, American baseball player (b. 1953)
  • 2015 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1968)
  • 2015 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – The Jacka, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
  • 2016 – Bob Elliott, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on February 2

  • Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu (Estonia)
  • Christian Feast Day:
    • Adalbard
    • Cornelius the Centurion
    • Martyrs of Ebsdorf
    • February 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Philippines)
  • Day of Youth (Azerbaijan)
  • Earliest day on which Shrove Monday can fall, while March 8 is the latest; celebrated on Monday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity), and its related observances:
    • Bun Day (Iceland)
    • Fastelavn (Denmark/Norway)
    • Nickanan Night (Cornwall)
    • Rosenmontag (Germany)
  • Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances:
    • A quarter day in the Christian calendar (due to Candlemas). (Scotland)
    • Celebration of Yemanja or Our Lady of Navigators (Candomblé)
    • Le Jour des Crêpes (France)
    • Our Lady of the Candles (Filipino Catholics)
    • Virgin of Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain)
  • Groundhog Day (United States and Canada), and its related observances:
    • Marmot Day (Alaska)
  • Inventor’s Day (Thailand)
  • Trader’s Day (Poland)
  • Victory of the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia)
  • World Wetlands Day

February 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 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)

February 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as a successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
  • 1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X of Sweden.
  • 1504 – The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.
  • 1578 – Eighty Years’ War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.
  • 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.
  • 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
  • 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).
  • 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.
  • 1848 – John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
  • 1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
  • 1891 – History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
  • 1897 – Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.
  • 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.
  • 1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
  • 1917 – World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
  • 1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
  • 1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.
  • 1928 – Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.
  • 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
  • 1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.
  • 1943 – World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war’s fiercest battles.
  • 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
  • 1944 – World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
  • 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
  • 1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
  • 1945 – World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.
  • 1946 – Cold War: Yugoslavia’s new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
  • 1946 – The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.
  • 1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
  • 1950 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
  • 1951 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to Korean War is adopted.
  • 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.
  • 1957 – Eight people (5 total crew from 2 aircraft and 3 on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
  • 1958 – Cold War: Space Race: The first successful American satellite detects the Van Allen radiation belt.
  • 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
  • 1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
  • 1968 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
  • 1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
  • 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
  • 1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
  • 1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
  • 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.
  • 2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
  • 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
  • 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
  • 2018 – Both a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse occur.
  • 2019 – Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
  • 2020 – The United Kingdom’s membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.

Births on January 31

  • 1512 – Henry, King of Portugal (d. 1580)
  • 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1616)
  • 1583 – Peter Bulkley, English and later American Puritan (d. 1659)
  • 1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and saint (d. 1640)
  • 1607 – James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (d. 1651)
  • 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher and academic (d. 1669)
  • 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (d. 1716)
  • 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian missionary and explorer (d. 1758)
  • 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1816)
  • 1759 – François Devienne, French flute player and composer (d. 1803)
  • 1769 – André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (d. 1823)
  • 1785 – Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, Czech cook book author (d. 1845)
  • 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1828)
  • 1799 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (d. 1846)
  • 1820 – William B. Washburn, American politician, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
  • 1835 – Lunalilo of Hawaii (d. 1874)
  • 1854 – David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
  • 1865 – Henri Desgrange, French cyclist and journalist (d. 1940)
  • 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader, founded BAPS (d. 1951)
  • 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
  • 1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
  • 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
  • 1884 – Theodor Heuss, German journalist and politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963)
  • 1884 – Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani scholar and politician, 1st President of The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (d. 1955)
  • 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
  • 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (d. 1964)
  • 1894 – Isham Jones, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1956)
  • 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1966)
  • 1900 – Betty Parsons, American artist, art dealer and collector (d. 1982)
  • 1902 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded White Spot (d. 1978)
  • 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
  • 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
  • 1902 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (d. 1972)
  • 1905 – John O’Hara, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
  • 1909 – Miron Grindea, Romanian-English journalist (d. 1995)
  • 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
  • 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer and police officer (d. 1994)
  • 1915 – Bobby Hackett, American trumpet player and cornet player (d. 1976)
  • 1915 – Alan Lomax, American historian, author, and scholar (d. 2002)
  • 1915 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (d. 1968)
  • 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian and game show host (d. 1993)
  • 1916 – Frank Parker, American tennis player (d. 1997)
  • 1917 – Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (d. 2013)
  • 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1972)
  • 1920 – Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010)
  • 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer (d. 2004)
  • 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2019)
  • 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect, designed the Thorncrown Chapel (d. 2004)
  • 1921 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
  • 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
  • 1923 – Norman Mailer, American journalist and author (d. 2007)
  • 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American minister, lawyer, and activist (d. 2010)
  • 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
  • 1926 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (d. 1958)
  • 1927 – Norm Prescott, American animator, producer, and composer, co-founded Filmation Studios (d. 2005)
  • 1928 – Irma Wyman, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
  • 1929 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (d. 2010)
  • 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972)
  • 1930 – Al De Lory, American composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2012)
  • 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1932 – Miron Babiak, Polish sea captain (d. 2013)
  • 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1997)
  • 1933 – Morton Mower, American cardiologist and inventor
  • 1934 – Ernesto Brambilla, Italian motorcycle racer and race car driver
  • 1934 – Gene DeWeese, American author (d. 2012)
  • 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor and producer (d. 1991)
  • 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
  • 1935 – Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1936 – Can Bartu, Turkish former basketball and football player
  • 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
  • 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian educator and politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 2007)
  • 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
  • 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
  • 1938 – Beatrix of the Netherlands
  • 1938 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
  • 1938 – James G. Watt, American lawyer and politician, 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior
  • 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby player and coach (d. 1998)
  • 1940 – Stuart Margolin, American actor and director
  • 1941 – Dick Gephardt, American lawyer and politician
  • 1941 – Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
  • 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
  • 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
  • 1942 – Derek Jarman, English director, stage designer, and author (d. 1994)
  • 1944 – John Inverarity, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1945 – Rynn Berry, American historian and author (d. 2014)
  • 1945 – Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, English lawyer, judge, and academic
  • 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American sculptor and theorist
  • 1946 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and singer-songwriter (Chicago) (d. 1978)
  • 1946 – Medin Zhega, Albanian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
  • 1947 – Matt Minglewood, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1947 – Glynn Turman, American actor
  • 1948 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer (d. 2014)
  • 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
  • 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and journalist
  • 1949 – Norris Church Mailer, American model and educator (d. 2010)
  • 1949 – Ken Wilber, American sociologist, philosopher, and author
  • 1950 – Denise Fleming, American author and illustrator
  • 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Russian general and bodyguard
  • 1950 – Janice Rebibo, American-Israeli author and poet (d. 2015)
  • 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1954 – Faoud Bacchus, Guyanese cricketer
  • 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch guitarist and songwriter
  • 1955 – Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player and manager
  • 1956 – Guido van Rossum, Dutch programmer, creator of the Python programming language
  • 1956 – John Lydon, English singer-songwriter
  • 1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
  • 1958 – Armin Reichel, German footballer and manager
  • 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor and producer
  • 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American model and actress
  • 1960 – Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist and author
  • 1960 – Grant Morrison, Scottish author and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (d. 2014)
  • 1961 – Elizabeth Barker, Baroness Barker, English politician
  • 1961 – Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer and judge
  • 1961 – Lloyd Cole, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1963 – Craig Coleman, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1963 – Gwen Graham, American lawyer and politician
  • 1964 – Martha MacCallum, American journalist
  • 1964 – Dawn Prince-Hughes, American scientist
  • 1965 – Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1965 – Ofra Harnoy, Israeli-Canadian cellist
  • 1965 – Peter Sagal, American author and radio host
  • 1966 – Umar Alisha, Indian journalist and philanthropist
  • 1966 – Thant Myint-U, Myanmar historian, diplomat, conservationist, and former presidential advisor.
  • 1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor and director
  • 1967 – Fat Mike, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
  • 1968 – John Collins, Scottish footballer, midfielder and manager
  • 1968 – Matt King, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician, 2nd Swedish Minister for Infrastructure
  • 1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian sprinter
  • 1969 – Dov Charney, Canadian-American fashion designer and businessman, founded American Apparel
  • 1969 – Daniel Moder, American cinematographer
  • 1970 – Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan model and actress
  • 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress
  • 1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player and coach
  • 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
  • 1975 – Fred Coleman, American football player and coach
  • 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress, producer, and television host
  • 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
  • 1976 – Paul Scheer, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1977 – Suchitra Singh, Indian cricketer
  • 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
  • 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentinian footballer and manager
  • 1979 – Daniel Tammet, English author and educator
  • 1980 – James Adomian, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
  • 1980 – Gary Doherty, Irish footballer, centre forward
  • 1980 – Shim Yi-young, South Korean actress
  • 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian footballer
  • 1981 – Mark Cameron, Australian cricketer
  • 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
  • 1982 – Maret Ani, Estonian tennis player
  • 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
  • 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
  • 1982 – Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
  • 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
  • 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Yukimi Nagano, Swedish singer-songwriter
  • 1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
  • 1983 – James Sutton, English actor
  • 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
  • 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
  • 1984 – Josh Johnson, Canadian-American baseball player
  • 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American runner
  • 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
  • 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
  • 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
  • 1986 – Walter Dix, American sprinter
  • 1986 – Megan Ellison, American film producer, founded Annapurna Pictures
  • 1986 – George Elokobi, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer
  • 1986 – Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player
  • 1987 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter
  • 1988 – Brett Pitman, English footballer
  • 1988 – Taijo Teniste, Estonian footballer
  • 1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
  • 1990 – Jacob Markström, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, model, actor

Deaths on January 31

  • 632 – Máedóc of Ferns, Irish bishop and saint (b. 550)
  • 876 – Hemma of Altdorf, Frankish queen
  • 985 – Ryōgen, Japanese monk and abbot (b. 912)
  • 1030 – William V, duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
  • 1216 – Theodore II, patriarch of Constantinople
  • 1398 – Sukō, emperor of Japan (b. 1334)
  • 1418 – Mircea I, prince of Wallachia (b. 1355)
  • 1435 – Xuande, emperor of China (b. 1398)
  • 1561 – Bairam Khan, Mughalan general (b. 1501)
  • 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch minister and theologian (b. 1496)
  • 1580 – Henry, king of Portugal (b. 1512)
  • 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
  • 1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1578)
  • 1606 – Thomas Wintour, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1571)
  • 1615 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian priest, 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1543)
  • 1632 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
  • 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1622)
  • 1686 – Jean Mairet, French playwright (b. 1604)
  • 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1654)
  • 1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
  • 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect and set designer, designed the Basilica of Superga (b. 1678)
  • 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American lawyer and surveyor (b. 1718)
  • 1794 – Mariot Arbuthnot, English admiral and politician, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (b. 1711)
  • 1811 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (b. 1763)
  • 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan soldier (b. 1775)
  • 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek general (b. 1792)
  • 1836 – John Cheyne, English physician and author (b. 1777)
  • 1844 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
  • 1856 – 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
  • 1870 – Cilibi Moise, Moldavian-Romanian journalist and author (b. 1812)
  • 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator, founded the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
  • 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (b. 1834)
  • 1900 – John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman (b. 1844)
  • 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian businessman, founded Eaton’s (b. 1834)
  • 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (b. 1869)
  • 1933 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
  • 1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860)
  • 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French author and playwright (b. 1882)
  • 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (b. 1890)
  • 1954 – Vivian Woodward, English captain and footballer (b. 1879)
  • 1955 – John Mott, American activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
  • 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright, created Winnie-the-Pooh (b. 1882)
  • 1958 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1898)
  • 1960 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (b. 1882)
  • 1961 – Krishna Singh, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1887)
  • 1966 – Arthur Percival, English general (b. 1887)
  • 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American sprinter and educator (b. 1908)
  • 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
  • 1971 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian historian and linguist (b. 1891)
  • 1973 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
  • 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American film producer, co-founded Goldwyn Pictures (b. 1882)
  • 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal (b. 1941)
  • 1976 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890)
  • 1985 – Reginald Baker, English-Australian film producer (b. 1896)
  • 1985 – Tatsuzō Ishikawa, Japanese author (b. 1905)
  • 1987 – Yves Allégret, French director and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 1989 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (b. 1896)
  • 1990 – Eveline Du Bois-Reymond Marcus, German zoologist and academic (b. 1901)
  • 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1935)
  • 1995 – George Abbott, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1887)
  • 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish-American bishop (b. 1930)
  • 1999 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and trainer, co-founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (b. 1938)
  • 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
  • 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (b. 1926)
  • 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American author (b. 1923)
  • 2002 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (b. 1919)
  • 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer and actress (b. 1913)
  • 2004 – Suraiya, Indian actress and playback singer (b. 1929)
  • 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and ballerina (b. 1926)
  • 2007 – Molly Ivins, American journalist and author (b. 1944)
  • 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist and politician (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – František Čapek, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1914)
  • 2011 – Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian bishop and poet (b. 1921)
  • 2011 – Mark Ryan, English guitarist and playwright (b. 1959)
  • 2012 – Mani Ram Bagri, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Tristram Potter Coffin, American author, scholar, and academic (b. 1922)
  • 2012 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter and sculptor (b. 1910)
  • 2013 – Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (b. 1937)
  • 2014 – Francis M. Fesmire, American cardiologist and physician (b. 1959)
  • 2014 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Abdirizak Haji Hussein, Somalian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Somalia (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Joseph Willcox Jenkins, American composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Christopher Jones, American actor (b. 1941)
  • 2015 – Vic Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
  • 2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, coach, and journalist (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Lizabeth Scott, American actress (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German captain and politician, 6th President of Germany (b. 1920)
  • 2016 – Gil Carmichael, American businessman and politician (b. 1927)
  • 2016 – Terry Wogan, Irish-British radio and television host (b. 1938)
  • 2017 – Rob Stewart, Canadian filmmaker (b. 1979)
  • 2018 – Rasual Butler, American professional basketball player (b. 1979)
  • 2018 – Leah LaBelle, American singer (b. 1986)

Holidays and observances on January 31

  • Christian feast day:
    • Domitius (Domice) of Amiens
    • Francis Xavier Bianchi
    • Geminianus
    • John Bosco
    • Julius of Novara
    • Blessed Ludovica
    • Máedóc (Mogue, Aiden)
    • Marcella
    • Samuel Shoemaker (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Tysul
    • Ulphia
    • Wilgils
    • January 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Amartithi (Meherabad, India, followers of Meher Baba)
  • Independence Day (Nauru), celebrates independence from Australia in 1968.
  • Street Children’s Day (Austria)

January 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 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

January 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 904 – Sergius III is consecrated pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
  • 946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu’izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by Al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.
  • 1258 – First Mongol invasion of Đại Việt: Đại Việt defeats the Mongols at the battle of Đông Bộ Đầu, forcing the Mongols to withdraw from the country.
  • 1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
  • 1819 – Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.
  • 1845 – “The Raven” is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.
  • 1850 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
  • 1856 – Queen Victoria issues a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual that establishes the Victoria Cross to recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the Crimean War.
  • 1861 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
  • 1863 – The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men, women and children.
  • 1886 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
  • 1891 – Liliuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
  • 1907 – Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.
  • 1911 – Mexican Revolution: Mexicali is captured by the Mexican Liberal Party, igniting the Magonista rebellion of 1911.
  • 1916 – World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.
  • 1918 – Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kiev, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.
  • 1918 – Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.
  • 1936 – The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.
  • 1940 – Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One hundred and eighty-one people are killed.
  • 1941 – Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece upon the sudden death of his predecessor, dictator Ioannis Metaxas.
  • 1943 – World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.
  • 1944 – World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.
  • 1944 – In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is completely destroyed in an air-raid, during the Second World War.
  • 1948 – The Pakistan Socialist Party is founded in Karachi.
  • 1959 – The first Melodifestivalen is held in Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • 1963 – The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.
  • 1967 – The “ultimate high” of the hippie era, the Mantra-Rock Dance, takes place in San Francisco and features Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.
  • 1980 – The Rubik’s Cube makes its international debut at the Ideal Toy Corp. in Earl’s Court, London.
  • 1989 – Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.
  • 1991 – Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins.
  • 1996 – President Jacques Chirac announces a “definitive end” to French nuclear weapons testing.
  • 2001 – Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
  • 2002 – In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes “regimes that sponsor terror” as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
  • 2005 – The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.
  • 2009 – The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.
  • 2009 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.
  • 2013 – SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people.
  • 2013 – Alabama bunker hostage crisis: After shooting and killing of school bus driver, 66 years old Charles Albert Poland, Jr, by 65 year old Vietnam War era veteran, Jimmy Lee Dykes.
  • 2017 – Quebec City mosque shooting: Alexandre Bissonnette opens fire at mosque in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, killing six and wounding 19 others in a spree shooting.

Births on January 29

  • 919 – Shi Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 951)
  • 1455 – Johann Reuchlin, German-born humanist and scholar (d. 1522)
  • 1475 – Giuliano Bugiardini, Italian painter (d. 1555)
  • 1499 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther; formerly a Roman Catholic nun (d. 1552)
  • 1525 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian humanist and reformer (d. 1562)
  • 1584 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)
  • 1591 – Franciscus Junius, pioneer of Germanic philology (d. 1677)
  • 1602 – Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg (d. 1651)
  • 1632 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (d. 1703)
  • 1650 – Juan de Galavís, Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop of Santo Domingo and Bogotá (d. 1739)
  • 1688 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish astronomer, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1772)
  • 1711 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)
  • 1715 – Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1777)
  • 1717 – Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, English field marshal and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1797)
  • 1718 – Paul Rabaut, French pastor (d. 1794)
  • 1737 – Thomas Paine, prominent for publishing Common Sense (1776), which established him as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States (d. 1809)
  • 1749 – Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
  • 1754 – Moses Cleaveland, American general, lawyer, and politician, founded Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1806)
  • 1756 – Henry Lee III, American general and politician, 9th Governor of Virginia (d. 1818)
  • 1761 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, and politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1849)
  • 1782 – Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)
  • 1801 – Johannes Bernardus van Bree, Dutch violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1857)
  • 1810 – Ernst Kummer, Polish-German mathematician and academic (d. 1893)
  • 1810 – Mary Whitwell Hale, American teacher, school founder, and hymnwriter (d. 1862)
  • 1843 – William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
  • 1846 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1915)
  • 1852 – Frederic Hymen Cowen, Jamaican-English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1935)
  • 1858 – Henry Ward Ranger, American painter and academic (d. 1916)
  • 1860 – Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (d. 1904)
  • 1861 – Florida Ruffin Ridley, African-American civil rights activist, teacher, editor, and writer (d. 1943)
  • 1862 – Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)
  • 1866 – Julio Peris Brell, Spanish painter (d. 1944)
  • 1866 – Romain Rolland, French historian, author, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
  • 1867 – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1928)
  • 1870 – Süleyman Nazif, Turkish poet and civil servant (d. 1927)
  • 1874 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1960)
  • 1876 – Havergal Brian, English composer (d. 1972)
  • 1877 – Georges Catroux, French general and diplomat (d. 1969)
  • 1880 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 1946)
  • 1881 – Alice Catherine Evans, American microbiologist (d. 1975)
  • 1884 – Juhan Aavik, Estonian-Swedish composer and conductor (d. 1982)
  • 1888 – Sydney Chapman, English mathematician and geophysicist (d. 1970)
  • 1888 – Wellington Koo, Chinese statesman (d. 1985)
  • 1891 – Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina and educator (d. 1975)
  • 1891 – R. Norris Williams, Swiss-American tennis player and banker (d. 1968)
  • 1892 – Ernst Lubitsch, German American film director, producer, writer, and actor (d. 1947)
  • 1895 – Muna Lee, American poet and author (d. 1965)
  • 1901 – Allen B. DuMont, American engineer and broadcaster, founded the DuMont Television Network (d. 1965)
  • 1901 – E. P. Taylor, Canadian businessman and horse breeder (d. 1989)
  • 1903 – Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Russian-Israeli biochemist and philosopher (d. 1994)
  • 1905 – Barnett Newman, American painter and etcher (d. 1970)
  • 1906 – Joe Primeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1989)
  • 1913 – Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
  • 1915 – Bill Peet, American author and illustrator (d. 2002)
  • 1915 – John Serry Sr., Italian-American concert accordionist and composer (d.2003)
  • 1917 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
  • 1918 – John Forsythe, American actor (d. 2010)
  • 1921 – Geraldine Pittman Woods, American science administrator and embryologist (d. 1999)
  • 1923 – Jack Burke Jr., American golfer
  • 1923 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author and screenwriter (d. 1981)
  • 1926 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani-British physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
  • 1926 – Amelita Ramos, 11th First Lady of the Philippines
  • 1927 – Edward Abbey, American environmentalist and author (d. 1989)
  • 1929 – Elio Petri, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
  • 1929 – Joseph Kruskal, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2010)
  • 1931 – Leslie Bricusse, English playwright and composer
  • 1931 – Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian academic and politician, 2nd President of Hungary (d. 2011)
  • 1932 – Raman Subba Row, English cricketer and referee
  • 1932 – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)
  • 1933 – Sacha Distel, French singer and guitarist (d. 2004)
  • 1934 – Branko Miljković, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1961)
  • 1936 – Veturi Sundararama Murthy, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1937 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – Bobby Scott, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1990)
  • 1939 – Germaine Greer, Australian journalist and author
  • 1940 – Katharine Ross, American actress and author
  • 1940 – Kunimitsu Takahashi, Japanese motorcycle racer and race car driver
  • 1941 – Robin Morgan, American actress, journalist, and author
  • 1943 – Tony Blackburn, English radio and television host
  • 1943 – Pat Quinn, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Andrew Loog Oldham, English record producer and manager
  • 1944 – Patrick Lipton Robinson, Jamaican lawyer and judge
  • 1944 – Pauline van der Wildt, Dutch swimmer
  • 1945 – Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Malian academic and politician, Prime Minister of Mali
  • 1945 – Jim Nicholson, Northern Irish politician
  • 1945 – Tom Selleck, American actor and businessman
  • 1946 – Bettye LaVette, American singer-songwriter
  • 1947 – Linda B. Buck, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1947 – David Byron, English singer-songwriter (d. 1985)
  • 1947 – Marián Varga, Slovak organist and composer
  • 1948 – Raymond Keene, English chess player and author
  • 1949 – doris davenport, American poet and teacher
  • 1949 – Evgeny Lovchev, Russian footballer and manager
  • 1949 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-American drummer and producer (d. 2014)
  • 1950 – Ann Jillian, American actress and singer
  • 1950 – Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1951 – Fereydoon Forooghi, Iranian singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1951 – Andy Roberts, Caribbean cricketer
  • 1953 – Peter Baumann, German keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1953 – Charlie Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1953 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
  • 1954 – Christian Bjelland IV, Norwegian businessman and art collector
  • 1954 – Terry Kinney, American actor and director
  • 1954 – Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer, founded Harpo Productions
  • 1956 – Jan Jakub Kolski, Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
  • 1957 – Philippe Dintrans, French rugby player
  • 1957 – Ron Franscell, American author and journalist
  • 1957 – Grażyna Miller, Italian journalist and poet
  • 1959 – Mike Foligno, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – Gia Carangi, American supermodel (d. 1986)
  • 1960 – Greg Louganis, American diver and author
  • 1961 – Petra Thümer, German swimmer and photographer
  • 1962 – Nicholas Turturro, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1964 – John Anthony Gallagher, English-New Zealand rugby player
  • 1965 – Dominik Hašek, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1965 – Peter Lundgren, Swedish tennis player and coach
  • 1966 – Romário, Brazilian footballer, manager, and politician
  • 1967 – Stacey King, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Edward Burns, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1968 – Susi Erdmann, German luger and bobsledder
  • 1970 – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian colonel and politician
  • 1970 – Heather Graham, American actress
  • 1970 – Jörg Hoffmann, German swimmer
  • 1970 – Paul Ryan, American economist and politician, 62nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
  • 1970 – Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian Islamist leader, founded Boko Haram (d. 2009)
  • 1975 – Sara Gilbert, American actress, producer, and talk show host
  • 1980 – Ivan Klasnic, German-Croatian footballer
  • 1982 – Adam Lambert, American singer, songwriter and actor
  • 1984 – Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer
  • 1984 – Nuno Morais, Portuguese footballer
  • 1985 – Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player
  • 1987 – José Abreu, Cuban baseball player
  • 1988 – Tatyana Chernova, Russian heptathlete
  • 1988 – Shay Logan, English footballer
  • 1988 – Aydın Yılmaz, Turkish footballer
  • 1989 – Kevin Shattenkirk, American ice hockey player
  • 1993 – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japanese singer

Deaths on January 29

  • 661 – Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad (b. 601)
  • 702 – Princess Ōku of Japan (b. 661)
  • 757 – An Lushan, Chinese general (b. 703)
  • 870 – Salih ibn Wasif, Muslim general
  • 1119 – Pope Gelasius II (b. 1060)
  • 1327 – Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1300)
  • 1465 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (b. 1413)
  • 1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist and composer (b. 1530)
  • 1608 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
  • 1647 – Francis Meres, English priest and author (b. 1565)
  • 1678 – Jerónimo Lobo, Portuguese missionary and author (b. 1593)
  • 1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)
  • 1737 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish-English field marshal and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1666)
  • 1743 – André-Hercule de Fleury, French cardinal (b. 1653)
  • 1763 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)
  • 1820 – George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
  • 1829 – Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, French captain and politician (b. 1755)
  • 1829 – István Pauli, Hungarian-Slovenian priest and poet (b. 1760)
  • 1870 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)
  • 1871 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, Canadian author (b. 1786)
  • 1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (b. 1812)
  • 1899 – Alfred Sisley, French-English painter (b. 1839)
  • 1906 – Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
  • 1928 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish field marshal (b. 1861)
  • 1931 – Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (b. 1861)
  • 1933 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)
  • 1934 – Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
  • 1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1871)
  • 1944 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (b. 1868)
  • 1946 – Harry Hopkins, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890)
  • 1948 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta (b. 1900)
  • 1950 – Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1885)
  • 1951 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1880)
  • 1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (b. 1880)
  • 1959 – Winifred Brunton, South African painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
  • 1962 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (b. 1875)
  • 1963 – Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (b. 1874)
  • 1964 – Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
  • 1969 – Allen Welsh Dulles, American banker, lawyer, and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1893)
  • 1970 – B. H. Liddell Hart, French-English soldier, historian, and journalist (b. 1895)
  • 1977 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (b. 1954)
  • 1978 – Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (b. 1895)
  • 1980 – Jimmy Durante, American entertainer (b. 1893)
  • 1991 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese author and poet (b. 1907)
  • 1992 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1915)
  • 1993 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (b. 1906)
  • 1994 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian skier (b. 1967)
  • 1999 – Lili St. Cyr, American model and dancer (b. 1918)
  • 2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (b. 1914)
  • 2003 – Frank Moss, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911)
  • 2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author and poet (b. 1924)
  • 2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Nam June Paik, South Korean-American artist, (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
  • 2008 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (b. 1924)
  • 2009 – Hélio Gracie, Brazilian martial artist (b. 1913)
  • 2011 – Milton Babbitt, American composer, educator, and theorist (b. 1916)
  • 2012 – Ranjit Singh Dyal, Indian general and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – Camilla Williams, American soprano and educator (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – François Cavanna, French journalist and author (b. 1923)
  • 2015 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist, author, and academic (b. 1937)
  • 2015 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1933)
  • 2015 – Alexander Vraciu, American commander and pilot (b. 1918)
  • 2016 – Jean-Marie Doré, Guinean lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Guinea (b. 1938)
  • 2016 – Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1928)
  • 2019 – George Fernandes, Indian politician (b. 1930)
  • 2019 – James Ingram, American musician (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances on January 29

  • Christian feast day:
    • Andrei Rublev (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Aquilinus of Milan
    • Constantius of Perugia
    • Dallán Forgaill
    • Gildas
    • Juniper
    • Sabinian of Troyes
    • Sulpitius I of Bourges
    • Valerius of Trèves
    • January 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Fat Thursday can fall, while March 4 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Ash Wednesday. (Christianity)
  • Kansas Day (Kansas, United States)

January 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.
  • 1069 – Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated and killed by rebels. This incident leads to the Harrying of the North.
  • 1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, is lifted after he humbles himself before Pope Gregory VII at Canossa in Italy.
  • 1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
  • 1547 – Edward VI, the nine-year-old son of Henry VIII, becomes King of England on his father’s death.
  • 1568 – The Edict of Torda prohibited the persecution of individuals on the religious ground in John Sigismund Zápolya’s Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.
  • 1573 – Articles of the Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
  • 1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts.
  • 1671 – Original city of Panama (founded in 1519) was destroyed by a fire when privateer Henry Morgan sacked and set fire to it. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins (see Panama Viejo).
  • 1724 – The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented by Senate decree. It is called the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
  • 1754 – Sir Horace Walpole coins the word serendipity in a letter to a friend.
  • 1813 – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
  • 1846 – The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
  • 1851 – Northwestern University becomes the first chartered university in Illinois.
  • 1855 – A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
  • 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.
  • 1878 – Yale Daily News becomes the first independent daily college newspaper in the United States.
  • 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding. He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).
  • 1902 – The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
  • 1908 – Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d’état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
  • 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.
  • 1915 – An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.
  • 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
  • 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
  • 1922 – Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.’s biggest snowfall, causes the city’s greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses.
  • 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
  • 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
  • 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
  • 1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).
  • 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
  • 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
  • 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.
  • 1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
  • 1960 – The National Football League announced expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for 1961 NFL season.
  • 1964 – An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.
  • 1965 – The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament.
  • 1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 which dumps 10 feet (3.0 m) of snow in one day in Upstate New York, with Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected.
  • 1980 – USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
  • 1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
  • 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
  • 1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region.
  • 1985 – Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.
  • 1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
  • 1988 – In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.
  • 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94.
  • 2006 – The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others.

Births on January 28

  • 1312 – Joan II, queen of Navarre (d. 1349)
  • 1368 – Razadarit, king of Hanthawaddy (d. 1421)
  • 1457 – Henry VII, king of England (d. 1509)
  • 1533 – Paul Luther, German scientist (d. 1593)
  • 1540 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German-Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1610)
  • 1582 – John Barclay, French-Scottish poet and author (d. 1621)
  • 1600 – Clement IX, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1669)
  • 1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
  • 1611 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (d. 1687)
  • 1622 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (d. 1691)
  • 1693 – Gregor Werner, Austrian composer (d. 1766)
  • 1701 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (d. 1774)
  • 1706 – John Baskerville, English printer and typographer (d. 1775)
  • 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shōgun (d. 1761)
  • 1717 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1774)
  • 1719 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1749)
  • 1726 – Christian Felix Weiße, German poet and playwright (d. 1802)
  • 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, Polish-German physician, anthropologist, and paleontologist (d. 1830)
  • 1784 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
  • 1797 – Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (d. 1867)
  • 1818 – George S. Boutwell, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1905)
  • 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian soldier, journalist, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1892)
  • 1833 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (d. 1885)
  • 1841 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-American explorer and journalist (d. 1904)
  • 1843 – Mihkel Veske, Estonian poet and linguist (d. 1890)
  • 1853 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and theorist (d. 1895)
  • 1853 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic (d. 1900)
  • 1855 – William Seward Burroughs I, American businessman, founded the Burroughs Corporation (d. 1898)
  • 1858 – Tannatt William Edgeworth David, Welsh-Australian geologist and explorer (d. 1934)
  • 1861 – Julián Felipe, Filipino composer and educator (d. 1944)
  • 1863 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (d. 1918)
  • 1864 – Charles Williams Nash, American businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948)
  • 1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author and politician (d. 1928)
  • 1865 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 1st President of Finland (d. 1952)
  • 1873 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (d. 1954)
  • 1873 – Monty Noble, Australian cricketer (d. 1940)
  • 1874 – Alex Smith, Scottish golfer (d. 1930)
  • 1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965)
  • 1878 – Walter Kollo, German composer and conductor (d. 1940)
  • 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (d. 1970)
  • 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (d. 1962)
  • 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920)
  • 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author and poet (d. 1973)
  • 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (d. 1976)
  • 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (d. 1982)
  • 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986)
  • 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984)
  • 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978)
  • 1903 – Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and 1st female FRS (d. 1971)
  • 1906 – Pat O’Callaghan, Irish athlete (d. 1991)
  • 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992)
  • 1908 – Paul Misraki, Turkish-French composer and historian (d. 1998)
  • 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931)
  • 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973)
  • 1911 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch politician, academic and author, Yad Vashem recipient (d. 2018)
  • 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
  • 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
  • 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004)
  • 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Vytautas Norkus, Lithuanian–American basketball player (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
  • 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (d. 1976)
  • 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist and politician (d. 2004)
  • 1926 – Jimmy Bryan, American race car driver (d. 1960)
  • 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (d. 1996)
  • 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1927 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – Nikolai Parshin, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator
  • 1929 – Edith M. Flanigen, American chemist
  • 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German academic and politician, 54th President of the German Bundesrat
  • 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter, comedian and soldier
  • 1933 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter
  • 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990)
  • 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic
  • 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and writer
  • 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter and coach (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso
  • 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater
  • 1942 – Erkki Pohjanheimo, Finnish director and producer
  • 1943 – Dick Taylor, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1944 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013)
  • 1945 – Frank Doubleday, American actor (d. 2018)
  • 1945 – Maxwell Fuller, Australian chess player (d. 2013)
  • 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress and director
  • 1945 – John Perkins, American author and activist
  • 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American educator and politician, 78th Governor of New Hampshire
  • 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer
  • 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia
  • 1949 – Mike Moore, New Zealand union leader and politician, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • 1949 – Gregg Popovich, American basketball player and coach
  • 1950 – Barbi Benton, American actress, singer and model
  • 1950 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king
  • 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut
  • 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic
  • 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician
  • 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1951 – Billy Bass Nelson, American R&B/funk bass player
  • 1952 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1954 – Peter Lampe, German theologian and historian
  • 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
  • 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman, co-founded Sun Microsystems
  • 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France
  • 1956 – Richard Danielpour, American composer and educator
  • 1956 – Peter Schilling, German singer-songwriter
  • 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1957 – Nick Price, Zimbabwean-South African golfer
  • 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author
  • 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer
  • 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist and politician
  • 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1964 – David Lawrence, English cricketer
  • 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese director and producer
  • 1967 – Billy Brownless, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1968 – Rakim, American rapper
  • 1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian swimmer
  • 1969 – Mo Rocca, American comedian and television journalist
  • 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American lawyer and politician
  • 1972 – Mark Regan, English rugby player
  • 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist
  • 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player and coach
  • 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player
  • 1974 – Ramsey Nasr, Dutch author and poet
  • 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player and politician
  • 1975 – Pedro Pinto, Portuguese-American journalist
  • 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball player and coach
  • 1976 – Sireli Bobo, Fijian rugby player
  • 1976 – Mark Madsen, American basketball player and coach
  • 1976 – Rick Ross, American rapper and producer
  • 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
  • 1977 – Sandis Buškevics, Latvian basketball player and coach
  • 1977 – Daunte Culpepper, American football player
  • 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer, dancer, and television personality
  • 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese race car driver
  • 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
  • 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer and sportscaster
  • 1978 – Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer
  • 1978 – Stephen Farrelly, Irish professional wrestler
  • 1978 – Big Freedia, New Orleans musician, “Queen of Bounce”
  • 1980 – Nick Carter, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1980 – Yasuhito Endō, Japanese footballer
  • 1980 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1980 – Brian Fallon, American singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor and producer
  • 1984 – Ben Clucas, English race car driver
  • 1984 – Stephen Gostkowski, American football player
  • 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player
  • 1984 – Anne Panter, English field hockey player
  • 1985 – J. Cole, American singer
  • 1985 – Daniel Carcillo, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Lauris Dārziņš, Latvian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer
  • 1985 – Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer
  • 1986 – Jessica Ennis-Hill, English heptathlete and hurdler
  • 1986 – Nathan Outteridge, Australian sailor
  • 1986 – Asad Shafiq, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1988 – Paul Henry, English footballer
  • 1988 – Seiya Sanada, Japanese wrestler
  • 1989 – Siem de Jong, Dutch footballer
  • 1991 – Carl Klingberg, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Sergio Araujo, Argentinian footballer
  • 1998 – Ariel Winter, American actress

Deaths on January 28

  • 592 – Guntram, French king (b. 532)
  • 814 – Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (pleurisy; b. 742)
  • 919 – Zhou Dewei, Chinese general
  • 929 – Gao Jixing, founder of Chinese Jingnan (b. 858)
  • 947 – Jing Yanguang, Chinese general (b. 892)
  • 1061 – Spytihněv II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1031)
  • 1142 – Yue Fei, Chinese general (b. 1103)
  • 1256 – William II, Count of Holland, King of Germany (b. 1227)
  • 1271 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France (b. 1247)
  • 1290 – Dervorguilla of Galloway, Scottish noble, mother of king John Balliol of Scotland (b. c. 1210)
  • 1443 – Robert le Maçon, French diplomat (b. 1365)
  • 1501 – John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham, English baron and Lord High Treasurer (b. 1433)
  • 1547 – Henry VIII, king of England (b. 1491)
  • 1613 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (b. 1545)
  • 1621 – Pope Paul V (b. 1550)
  • 1666 – Tommaso Dingli, Maltese architect and sculptor (b. 1591)
  • 1672 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (b. 1588)
  • 1681 – Richard Allestree, English priest and academic (b. 1619)
  • 1687 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (b. 1611)
  • 1688 – Ferdinand Verbiest, Flemish Jesuit missionary in China (b. 1623)
  • 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English general and politician (b. 1645)
  • 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (b. 1684)
  • 1782 – Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, French geographer and cartographer (b. 1697)
  • 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769)
  • 1859 – F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1782)
  • 1864 – Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (b. 1799)
  • 1873 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (b. 1809)
  • 1903 – Augusta Holmès, French pianist and composer (b. 1847)
  • 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist and theorist (b. 1819)
  • 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, physician, and author (b. 1872)
  • 1921 – Mustafa Suphi, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1883)
  • 1930 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano and poet (b. 1878)
  • 1935 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1859)
  • 1937 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and target shooter (b. 1862)
  • 1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German race car driver (b. 1909)
  • 1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
  • 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1881)
  • 1945 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1924)
  • 1947 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1875)
  • 1948 – Hans Aumeier, German SS officer (b. 1906)
  • 1949 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
  • 1950 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1883)
  • 1953 – James Scullin, Australian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
  • 1953 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher and poet (b. 1879)
  • 1959 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899)
  • 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (b. 1891)
  • 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884)
  • 1965 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
  • 1965 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (b. 1867)
  • 1971 – Donald Winnicott, English paediatrician and psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
  • 1973 – John Banner, Austrian actor (b. 1910)
  • 1976 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (b. 1924)
  • 1978 – Ward Moore, American author (b. 1903)
  • 1983 – Billy Fury. English pop star (b. 1940)
  • 1983 – Frank Forde, Australian educator and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
  • 1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger crew
    • Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944)
    • Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948)
    • Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950)
    • Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946)
    • Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949)
    • Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939)
    • Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945)
  • 1988 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and politician (b. 1911)
  • 1989 – Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama (b. 1938)
  • 1993 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (b. 1905)
  • 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1940)
  • 1996 – Burne Hogarth, American cartoonist and author (b. 1911)
  • 1996 – Jerry Siegel, American author and illustrator, co-created Superman (b. 1914)
  • 1998 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (b. 1938)
  • 1999 – Valery Gavrilin, Russian composer (b. 1939)
  • 2001 – Ranko Marinković, Croatian author and playwright (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 2002 – Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, Turkish author and activist (b. 1946)
  • 2003 – Mieke Pullen, Dutch runner (b. 1957)
  • 2004 – Lloyd M. Bucher, American captain (b. 1927)
  • 2004 – Mel Pritchard, English drummer (b. 1948)
  • 2005 – Jim Capaldi, English singer-songwriter and drummer (b. 1944)
  • 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (b. 1929)
  • 2007 – Robert Drinan, American priest, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920)
  • 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (b. 1963)
  • 2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer (b. 1938)
  • 2009 – Billy Powell, American keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – Roman Juszkiewicz, Polish astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – Don Starkell, Canadian adventurer and author (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Florentino Fernández, Cuban-American boxer and coach (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Hattie N. Harrison, American educator and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter, illustrator, and stage designer (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – John Cacavas, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Nigel Jenkins, Welsh poet, journalist, and geographer (b. 1949)
  • 2014 – Jorge Obeid, Argentinian engineer and politician, Governor of Santa Fe (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Suraj Abdurrahman, Nigerian general, architect, and engineer (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Yves Chauvin, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Lionel Gilbert, Australian historian, author, and academic (b. 1924)
  • 2016 – Signe Toly Anderson, American singer (b. 1941)
  • 2016 – Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
  • 2016 – Franklin Gene Bissell, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
  • 2016 – Buddy Cianci, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Mayor of Providence (b. 1941)
  • 2016 – Bob Tizard, New Zealand lawyer and politician, 6th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1924)
  • 2017 – Alexander Chancellor, British journalist (b. 1940)
  • 2017 – Geoff Nicholls, British musician (b. 1948)
  • 2019 – Pepe Smith, Filipino rock musician (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances on January 28

  • Christian feast day:
    • Joseph Freinademetz
    • Julian of Cuenca
    • Thomas Aquinas
    • January 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Army Day (Armenia)
  • Data Privacy Day

January 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • AD 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule, the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
  • 1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.
  • 1302 – Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence.
  • 1343 – Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Nearly 200 years later, Martin Luther would protest this.
  • 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.
  • 1695 – Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan and Caliph of Islam in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his abdication in 1703.
  • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox’s “noble train of artillery” arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  • 1785 – The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
  • 1820 – A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast.
  • 1825 – The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the “Trail of Tears”.
  • 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Toba–Fushimi begins, between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and pro-Imperial factions; it will end in defeat for the shogunate, and is a pivotal point in the Meiji Restoration.
  • 1869 – Boshin War: Tokugawa rebels establish the Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō.
  • 1880 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his incandescent lamp.
  • 1916 – World War I: The British government passed a legislation that introduced conscription in the United Kingdom.
  • 1918 – Beginning of the Finnish Civil War.
  • 1927 – Ibn Saud takes the title of King of Nejd.
  • 1939 – First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Eighth Air Force sorties ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany.
  • 1944 – World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Soviet 322nd Rifle Division liberates the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
  • 1951 – Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger.
  • 1961 – The Soviet submarine S-80 sinks when its snorkel malfunctions, flooding the boat.
  • 1967 – Apollo program: Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
  • 1967 – Cold War: The Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
  • 1973 – The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.
  • 1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper.
  • 1983 – The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world’s longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through.
  • 1996 – In a military coup, Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.
  • 1996 – Germany first observes the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
  • 2002 – An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.
  • 2003 – The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.
  • 2010 – The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.
  • 2011 – Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana’a.
  • 2013 – Two hundred and forty-two people die in a nightclub fire in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.

Births on January 27

  • 1365 – Edward of Angoulême, English noble (d. 1370)
  • 1443 – Albert III, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
  • 1546 – Joachim III Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1608)
  • 1571 – Abbas I of Persia (d. 1629)
  • 1585 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
  • 1603 – Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet, English lawyer and politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (d. 1685)
  • 1603 – Humphrey Mackworth, English politician, lawyer and judge (d. 1654)
  • 1621 – Thomas Willis, English physician and anatomist (d. 1675)
  • 1662 – Richard Bentley, English scholar and theologian (d. 1742)
  • 1663 – George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1733)
  • 1687 – Johann Balthasar Neumann, German engineer and architect, designed Würzburg Residence and Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (d. 1753)
  • 1701 – Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (d. 1790)
  • 1708 – Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (d. 1728)
  • 1741 – Hester Thrale, Welsh author (d. 1821)
  • 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1791)
  • 1775 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German-Swiss philosopher and academic (d. 1854)
  • 1790 – Juan Álvarez, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1867)
  • 1795 – Eli Whitney Blake, American engineer, invented the Mortise lock (d. 1886)
  • 1803 – Eunice Hale Waite Cobb, American writer, public speaker, and activist (d. 1880)
  • 1805 – Maria Anna of Bavaria (d. 1877)
  • 1805 – Samuel Palmer, English painter and etcher (d. 1881)
  • 1806 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer and educator (d. 1826)
  • 1808 – David Strauss, German theologian and author (d. 1874)
  • 1814 – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect, designed the Lausanne Cathedral (d. 1879)
  • 1821 – John Chivington, American colonel and pastor (d. 1892)
  • 1823 – Édouard Lalo, French violinist and composer (d. 1892)
  • 1824 – Urbain Johnson, Canadian farmer and political figure (d. 1917)
  • 1826 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist and author (d. 1889)
  • 1826 – Richard Taylor, American general, historian, and politician (d. 1879)
  • 1832 – Lewis Carroll, English novelist, poet, and mathematician (d. 1898)
  • 1832 – Carl Friedrich Schmidt, Estonian-Russian geologist and botanist (d. 1908)
  • 1836 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1895)
  • 1842 – Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ukrainian-Russian painter (d. 1910)
  • 1848 – Tōgō Heihachirō, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
  • 1850 – John Collier, English painter and author (d. 1934)
  • 1850 – Samuel Gompers, English-American labor leader (d. 1924)
  • 1850 – Edward Smith, English captain (d. 1912)
  • 1858 – Neel Doff, Dutch-Belgian author (d. 1942)
  • 1859 – Wilhelm II, German Emperor (d. 1941)
  • 1869 – Will Marion Cook, American violinist and composer (d. 1944)
  • 1878 – Dorothy Scarborough, American author (d. 1935)
  • 1885 – Jerome Kern, American composer and songwriter (d. 1945)
  • 1885 – Seison Maeda, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
  • 1886 – Radhabinod Pal, Indian academic and jurist (d. 1967)
  • 1889 – Balthasar van der Pol, Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1959)
  • 1891 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian journalist and author (d. 1967)
  • 1893 – Soong Ching-ling, Chinese politician, Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – Joseph Rosenstock, Polish-American conductor and manager (d. 1985)
  • 1895 – Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (d. 1974)
  • 1900 – Hyman G. Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
  • 1901 – Willy Fritsch, German actor (d. 1973)
  • 1901 – Art Rooney, American football player and coach, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers (d. 1988)
  • 1903 – John Eccles, Australian-Swiss neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
  • 1903 – Otto P. Weyland, American general (d. 1979)
  • 1904 – James J. Gibson, American psychologist and academic (d. 1979)
  • 1905 – Howard McNear, American actor (d. 1969)
  • 1908 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (d. 1993)
  • 1910 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general, economist, and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 1979)
  • 1912 – Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher and environmentalist (d. 2009)
  • 1912 – Francis Rogallo, American engineer, invented the Rogallo wing (d. 2009)
  • 1915 – Jules Archer, American historian and author (d. 2008)
  • 1915 – Jacques Hnizdovsky, Ukrainian-American painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 1985)
  • 1918 – Skitch Henderson, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
  • 1918 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1963)
  • 1918 – William Seawell, American general (d. 2005)
  • 1919 – Tom Addington, English captain (d. 2011)
  • 1919 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (d. 1972)
  • 1920 – Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japanese lieutenant and pilot (d. 1944)
  • 1920 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
  • 1924 – Rauf Denktaş, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Brian Rix, English actor, producer, and politician (d. 2016)
  • 1924 – Harvey Shapiro, American poet (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian flute player and journalist (d. 2003)
  • 1926 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)
  • 1928 – Michael Craig, Indian-English actor and screenwriter
  • 1928 – Hans Modrow, Polish-German lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of East Germany
  • 1929 – Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian-Swiss businessman
  • 1929 – Gastón Suárez, Bolivian author and playwright (d. 1984)
  • 1930 – Bobby “Blue” Bland, American blues singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1931 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1931 – Nigel Vinson, Baron Vinson, English lieutenant and businessman
  • 1932 – Boris Shakhlin, Russian-Ukrainian gymnast (d. 2008)
  • 1933 – Jerry Buss, American chemist and businessman (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Édith Cresson, French politician and diplomat, 160th Prime Minister of France
  • 1934 – George Follmer, American race car driver
  • 1935 – Steve Demeter, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1936 – Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
  • 1936 – Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1937 – Fred Åkerström, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1985)
  • 1940 – Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin, Turkish engineer and politician, 35th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1940 – James Cromwell, American actor
  • 1940 – Terry Harper, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1940 – Petru Lucinschi, Romanian activist and politician, 2nd President of Moldova
  • 1940 – Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1941 – Beatrice Tinsley, New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1981)
  • 1942 – Maki Asakawa, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010)
  • 1942 – Tasuku Honjo, Japanese immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine
  • 1942 – John Witherspoon, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
  • 1942 – Kate Wolf, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1986)
  • 1943 – Julia Cumberlege, Baroness Cumberlege, English businesswoman and politician
  • 1944 – Peter Akinola, Nigerian archbishop
  • 1944 – Mairead Maguire, Northern Irish activist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1944 – Nick Mason, English drummer, songwriter, and producer
  • 1945 – Harold Cardinal, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2005)
  • 1946 – Christopher Hum, English academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to China
  • 1946 – Nedra Talley, American singer
  • 1947 – Björn Afzelius, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
  • 1947 – Vyron Polydoras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for Public Order
  • 1947 – Cal Schenkel, American painter and illustrator
  • 1947 – Philip Sugden, English historian and author (d. 2014)
  • 1947 – Perfecto Yasay Jr., Filipino lawyer and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines
  • 1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor
  • 1948 – Jean-Philippe Collard, French pianist
  • 1951 – Seth Justman, American keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1951 – Cees van der Knaap, Dutch soldier and politician
  • 1952 – Brian Gottfried, American tennis player
  • 1952 – Billy Johnson, American football player and coach
  • 1952 – Tam O’Shaughnessy, American tennis player, psychologist, and academic
  • 1952 – G. E. Smith, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1954 – Peter Laird, American author and illustrator
  • 1954 – Ed Schultz, American talk show host and sportscaster (d. 2018)
  • 1955 – Brian Engblom, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1955 – John Roberts, American lawyer and judge, 17th Chief Justice of the United States
  • 1956 – Mimi Rogers, American actress
  • 1957 – Janick Gers, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1957 – Frank Miller, American illustrator, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1958 – James Grippando, American lawyer and author
  • 1958 – Alan Milburn, English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • 1959 – Cris Collinsworth, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1959 – Göran Hägglund, Swedish lawyer and politician, 28th Swedish Minister for Social Affairs
  • 1959 – Keith Olbermann, American journalist and author
  • 1960 – Fiona O’Donnell, Canadian-Scottish politician
  • 1961 – Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer
  • 1961 – Margo Timmins, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1962 – Roberto Paci Dalò, Italian director and composer
  • 1963 – George Monbiot, English-Welsh author and activist
  • 1964 – Patrick van Deurzen, Dutch composer and academic
  • 1964 – Bridget Fonda, American actress
  • 1964 – Shahin Shahablou, Iranian photographer (d. 2020)
  • 1965 – Alan Cumming, Scottish-American actor
  • 1965 – Mike Newell, English footballer and manager
  • 1965 – Ignacio Noé, Argentinian author and illustrator
  • 1965 – Attila Sekerlioglu, Austrian footballer and manager
  • 1966 – Tamlyn Tomita, Japanese-American actress and singer
  • 1967 – Dave Manson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1968 – Tracy Lawrence, American country singer
  • 1968 – Mike Patton, American singer, composer, and voice artist
  • 1968 – Matt Stover, American football player
  • 1969 – Michael Kulas, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1969 – Patton Oswalt, American comedian and actor
  • 1969 – Shane Thomson, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1970 – Bradley Clyde, Australian rugby league player
  • 1970 – Dean Headley, English cricketer and coach
  • 1971 – Patrice Brisebois, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1972 – Bibi Gaytán, Mexican singer and actress
  • 1973 – Valyantsin Byalkevich, Belarusian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1974 – Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Norwegian skier and biathlete
  • 1974 – Andrei Pavel, Romanian tennis player and coach
  • 1974 – Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer and coach
  • 1976 – Ahn Jung-hwan, South Korean footballer
  • 1976 – Clint Ford, American actor, voice actor and novelist
  • 1976 – Danielle George MBE FIET, Professor of Radio frequency engineering at the University of Manchester
  • 1976 – Fred Taylor, American football player
  • 1976 – Michael K. Winder, American businessman and politician
  • 1978 – Pete Laforest, Canadian-American baseball player and manager
  • 1979 – Rosamund Pike, English actress
  • 1979 – Daniel Vettori, New Zealand cricketer and coach
  • 1980 – Chanda Gunn, American ice hockey player and coach
  • 1980 – Marat Safin, Russian tennis player and politician
  • 1981 – Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1981 – Tony Woodcock, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1982 – Eva Asderaki, Greek tennis umpire
  • 1983 – Carlo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Paulo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Gavin Floyd, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Katy Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1987 – Anton Shunin, Russian footballer
  • 1987 – Ashley Grace, American singer-songwriter
  • 1988 – Kerlon, Brazilian footballer
  • 1989 – Alberto Botía, Spanish footballer
  • 1991 – Christian Bickel, German footballer
  • 1991 – Sebastine Ikahihifo, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1992 – Stefano Pettinari, Italian footballer
  • 1995 – Harrison Reed, English footballer midfielder

Deaths on January 27

  • AD 98 – Nerva, Roman emperor (b. 35)
  • 457 – Marcian, Byzantine emperor (b. 392)
  • 555 – Yuan Di, emperor of the Liang Dynasty (b. 508)
  • 672 – Pope Vitalian
  • 847 – Pope Sergius II (b. 790)
  • 906 – Liu Can, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
  • 931 – Ruotger, archbishop of Trier
  • 947 – Zhang Yanze, Chinese general and governor
  • 1062 – Adelaide of Hungary, (b. c. 1040)
  • 1311 – Külüg Khan, Emperor Wuzong of Yuan
  • 1377 – Frederick the Simple, King of Sicily
  • 1490 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1435)
  • 1504 – Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo (b. 1438)
  • 1540 – Angela Merici, Italian educator and saint, founded the Company of St. Ursula (b. 1474)
  • 1592 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)
  • 1596 – Francis Drake, English captain and explorer (b. 1540)
  • 1629 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German organist and composer (b. 1560)
  • 1638 – Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish author and poet (b. 1585)
  • 1651 – Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1566)
  • 1689 – Robert Aske, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1619)
  • 1731 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the Piano (b. 1655)
  • 1733 – Thomas Woolston, English theologian and author (b. 1669)
  • 1740 – Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1692)
  • 1770 – Philippe Macquer, French historian (b. 1720)
  • 1794 – Antoine Philippe de La Trémoille, French general (b. 1765)
  • 1812 – John Perkins, Anglo-Jamaican captain
  • 1814 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (b. 1762)
  • 1816 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, English admiral and politician (b. 1724)
  • 1851 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (b. 1789)
  • 1860 – János Bolyai, Romanian-Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1802)
  • 1880 – Edward Middleton Barry, English architect and academic, co-designed the Halifax Town Hall and the Royal Opera House (b. 1830)
  • 1901 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
  • 1910 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber and businessman (b. 1836)
  • 1919 – Endre Ady, Hungarian poet and journalist (b. 1877)
  • 1921 – Maurice Buckley, Australian sergeant (b. 1891)
  • 1922 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (b. 1864)
  • 1927 – Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius, Lithuanian bishop (b. 1871)
  • 1931 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (b. 1880)
  • 1940 – Isaac Babel, Russian short story writer, journalist, and playwright (b. 1894)
  • 1942 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1888)
  • 1951 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish field marshal and politician, 6th President of Finland (b. 1867)
  • 1956 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor and director (b. 1890)
  • 1961 – Bernard Friedberg, Austrian scholar and author (b. 1876)
  • 1963 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1904)
  • 1965 – Abraham Walkowitz, American painter (b. 1878)
  • 1967 – crew of Apollo 1
    • Roger B. Chaffee, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1935)
    • Gus Grissom, American pilot and astronaut (b. 1926)
    • Ed White, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
  • 1967 – Alphonse Juin, Algerian-French general (b. 1888)
  • 1970 – Rocco D’Assunta, Italian actor, comedian and playwright (b. 1904)
  • 1971 – Jacobo Árbenz, Guatemalan captain and politician, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
  • 1972 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
  • 1973 – William Nolde, American colonel (b. 1929)
  • 1974 – Georgios Grivas, Cypriot general (b. 1898)
  • 1975 – Bill Walsh, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1913)
  • 1983 – Louis de Funès, French actor and screenwriter (b. 1914)
  • 1986 – Lilli Palmer, German-American actress (b. 1914)
  • 1987 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian animator and director (b. 1914)
  • 1988 – Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian historian, author, and playwright (b. 1938)
  • 1989 – Thomas Sopwith, English ice hockey player and pilot (b. 1888)
  • 1993 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
  • 1994 – Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
  • 1996 – Ralph Yarborough, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1903)
  • 2000 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1930)
  • 2003 – Henryk Jabłoński, Polish historian and politician, President of Poland (b. 1909)
  • 2004 – Salvador Laurel, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
  • 2004 – Jack Paar, American talk show host and author (b. 1918)
  • 2006 – Gene McFadden, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1948)
  • 2006 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
  • 2007 – Yang Chuan-kwang, Taiwanese decathlete, long jumper, and hurdler (b. 1933)
  • 2008 – Suharto, Indonesian general and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
  • 2008 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader and author, 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1910)
  • 2008 – Louie Welch, American businessman and politician, 54th Mayor of Houston (b. 1918)
  • 2009 – John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (b. 1932)
  • 2009 – R. Venkataraman, Indian lawyer and politician, 8th President of India (b. 1910)
  • 2010 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress (b. 1933)
  • 2010 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (b. 1919)
  • 2010 – Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (b. 1922)
  • 2011 – Charlie Callas, American comedian and musician (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Greg Cook, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1946)
  • 2012 – Ted Dicks, English composer and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Jeannette Hamby, American nurse and politician (b. 1933)
  • 2012 – Kevin White, American politician, 51st Mayor of Boston (b. 1929)
  • 2013 – Ivan Bodiul, Ukrainian-Russian politician (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – Epimaco Velasco, Filipino lawyer and politician, Governor of Cavite (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Paul Zorner, German soldier and pilot (b. 1920)
  • 2015 – Rocky Bridges, American baseball player and coach (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – David Landau, English-Israeli journalist (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Joseph Rotman, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Charles Hard Townes, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
  • 2015 – Larry Winters, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1956)
  • 2016 – Carlos Loyzaga, Filipino basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Emmanuelle Riva, French actress (b. 1927)
  • 2017 – Arthur H. Rosenfeld, American physicist (b. 1926)
  • 2018 – Ingvar Kamprad, Founder of IKEA (b. 1926)
  • 2018 – Mort Walker, American cartoonist (b. 1923)
  • 2019 – Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau, German socialite (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances on January 27

  • Christian feast day:
    • Angela Merici
    • Blessed Paul Joseph Nardini
    • Devota (Monaco)
    • Enrique de Ossó y Cercelló
    • John Chrysostom (translation of relics) (Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox)
    • Sava (Serbia)
    • January 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad (Russia)
  • Liberation of the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-related observances:
    • Holocaust Memorial Day (UK)
    • International Holocaust Remembrance Day
    • Memorial Day (Italy)
    • Other Holocaust Memorial Days observances

January 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

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