American architect Archives

February 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

For superstitious reasons, when the Romans began to intercalate to bring their calendar into line with the solar year, they chose not to place their extra month of Mercedonius after February but within it. February 24 — known in the Roman calendar as “the sixth day before the Kalends of March” — was replaced by the first day of this month since it followed Terminalia, the festival of the Roman god of boundaries. After the end of Mercedonius, the rest of the days of February were observed and the new year began with the first day of March. The overlaid religious festivals of February were so complicated that Julius Caesar opted not to change it at all during his 46 bc calendar reform. The extra day of his system’s leap years was located in the same place as the old intercalary month but he opted to ignore it as a date. Instead, the sixth day before the Kalends of March was simply said to last for 48 hours and all the other days continued to bear their original names. (The Roman practice of inclusive counting initially caused the priests in charge of the calendar to add the extra hours every three years instead of every four and Augustus was obliged to omit them for a span of decades until the system was back to where it should have been.) When the extra hours finally began to be reckoned as two separate days instead of a doubled sixth (“bissextile”) one, the leap day was still taken to be the one following hard on the February 23 Terminalia. Although February 29 has been popularly understood as the leap day of leap years since the beginning of sequential reckoning of the days of months in the late Middle Ages, in Britain and most other countries, no formal replacement of February 24 as the leap day of the Julian and Gregorian calendars has occurred. The exceptions include Sweden and Finland, who enacted legislation to move the day to February 29. This custom still has some effect around the world, for example with respect to name days in Hungary.

February 24 in History

484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica.
1303 – Battle of Roslin, of the First War of Scottish Independence.
1386 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
1525 – A Spanish-Austrian army defeats a French army at the Battle of Pavia.
1538 – Treaty of Nagyvárad between Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and King John Zápolya of Hungary and Croatia.
1582 – With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
1607 – L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
1711 – The London première of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
1739 – Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.
1809 – London’s Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
1821 – Final stage of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain with Plan of Iguala.
1822 – The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.
1826 – The signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marks the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.
1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
1854 – A Penny Red with perforations was the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.
1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.
1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.
1881 – China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
1895 – Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence, that ends with the Spanish–American War in 1898.
1916 – The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen’s disease patients.
1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador Walter Hines Page to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence.
1920 – Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.
1920 – The Nazi Party (NSDAP) was founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany
1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25.
1942 – An order-in-council passed under the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act gives the Canadian federal government the power to intern all “persons of Japanese racial origin”.
1944 – Merrill’s Marauders: The Marauders begin their 1,000-mile journey through Japanese-occupied Burma.
1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
1946 – Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.
1949 – The Armistice Agreements are signed, to formally end the hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
1971 – The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed three days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.
1976 – The current constitution of Cuba is formally proclaimed.
1978 – The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later.
1980 – The United States Olympic hockey team completes its Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4–2 to win the gold medal.
1981 – The 6.7 M_s Gulf of Corinth earthquake affected Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people were killed, 400 were injured, and damage totaled $812 million.
1983 – A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.
1984 – Tyrone Mitchell perpetrates the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles, killing two children and injuring 12 more.
1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.
1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
1996 – Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.
1999 – China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes on approach to Wenzhou Longwan International Airport in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.
2004 – The 6.3 M_w Al Hoceima earthquake strikes northern Morocco with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 628 people are killed, 926 are injured, and up to 15,000 are displaced.
2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He remains as head of the Communist Party for another three years.
2015 – A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.
2016 – Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashed, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport.

Births on February 24

1103 – Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)
1304 – Ibn Battuta, Moroccan jurist
1413 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (d. 1465)
1463 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (d. 1494)
1494 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (d. 1570)
1500 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558)
1536 – Pope Clement VIII (d. 1605)
1545 – John of Austria (d. 1578)
1553 – Cherubino Alberti, Italian engraver and painter (d. 1615)
1557 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)
1593 – Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and courtier (d. 1625)
1595 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (d. 1640)
1604 – Arcangela Tarabotti, Venetian nun and feminist (d. 1652)
1619 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (d. 1690)
1622 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (d. 1665)
1709 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French engineer (d. 1782)
1721 – John McKinly, Irish-American physician and politician, 1st Governor of Delaware (d. 1796)
1723 – John Burgoyne, English general and politician (d. 1792)
1736 – Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1806)
1743 – Joseph Banks, English botanist and explorer (d. 1820)
1762 – Charles Frederick Horn, German-English composer and educator (d. 1830)
1767 – Rama II of Siam (d. 1824)
1774 – Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (d. 1850)
1786 – Martin W. Bates, American lawyer and politician (d. 1869)
1786 – Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist, author, and academic (d. 1859)
1788 – Johan Christian Dahl, Norwegian-German painter (d. 1857)
1827 – Lydia Becker, English-French activist (d. 1890)
1831 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1899)
1835 – Julius Vogel, English-New Zealand journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1899)
1836 – Winslow Homer, American painter and illustrator (d. 1910)
1837 – Rosalía de Castro, Spanish poet (d. 1885)
1842 – Arrigo Boito, Italian journalist, author, and composer (d. 1918)
1848 – Andrew Inglis Clark, Australian engineer, lawyer, and politician (d. 1907)
1852 – George Moore, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
1868 – Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (d. 1949)
1869 – Zara DuPont, American suffragist (d. 1946)
1874 – Honus Wagner, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1955)
1877 – Rudolph Ganz, Swiss pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1972)
1877 – Ettie Rout, Australian-New Zealand educator and activist (d. 1936)
1885 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (d. 1966)
1885 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish author, poet, and painter (d. 1939)
1890 – Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
1896 – Richard Thorpe, American director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
1898 – Kurt Tank, German pilot and engineer (d. 1983)
1900 – Irmgard Bartenieff, German-American dancer and physical therapist, leading pioneer of dance therapy (d. 1981)
1903 – Vladimir Bartol, Italian-Slovene author and playwright (d. 1967)
1908 – Telford Taylor, American general, lawyer, and historian (d. 1998)
1909 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (d. 1971)
1914 – Ralph Erskine, English-Swedish architect, designed The Ark and Byker Wall (d. 2005)
1914 – Weldon Kees, American author, poet, painter, and pianist (d. 1955)
1915 – Jim Ferrier, Australian golfer (d. 1986)
1919 – John Carl Warnecke, American architect (d. 2010)
1921 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (d. 2016)
1922 – Richard Hamilton, English painter and academic (d. 2011)
1922 – Steven Hill, American actor (d. 2016)
1924 – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1924 – Erik Nielsen, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2008)
1925 – Bud Day, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
1927 – Emmanuelle Riva, French actress (d. 2017)
1929 – Kintaro Ohki, South Korean wrestler (d. 2006)
1930 – Barbara Lawrence, American model and actress (d. 2013)
1931 – Dominic Chianese, American actor and singer
1931 – Brian Close, English cricketer and coach (d. 2015)
1932 – Michel Legrand, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
1932 – Zell Miller, American sergeant and politician, 79th Governor of Georgia (d. 2018)
1932 – John Vernon, Canadian-American actor (d. 2005)
1933 – Judah Folkman, American physician and biologist (d. 2008)
1933 – Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (d. 2014)
1933 – David “Fathead” Newman, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2009)
1934 – Bettino Craxi, Italian lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2000)
1934 – Johnny Hills, English footballer, full-back
1934 – Renata Scotto, Italian soprano
1935 – Ryhor Baradulin, Belarusian poet, essayist, and translator (d. 2014)
1936 – Guillermo O’Donnell, Argentine political scientist (d. 2011)
1938 – James Farentino, American actor (d. 2012)
1938 – Phil Knight, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Nike, Inc.
1939 – Jamal Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi physicist and cosmologist (d. 2013)
1940 – Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)
1940 – Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (d. 2014)
1940 – Denis Law, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
1941 – Joanie Sommers, American singer and actress
1942 – Colin Bond, Australian race car driver
1942 – Paul Jones, English singer, harmonica player, and actor
1942 – Joe Lieberman, American lawyer and politician
1942 – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Indian philosopher, theorist, and academic
1943 – Kent Haruf, American novelist (d. 2014)
1943 – Gigi Meroni, Italian footballer (d. 1967)
1943 – Pablo Milanés, Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Terry Semel, American businessman
1944 – Nicky Hopkins, English keyboard player (d. 1994)
1944 – Ivica Račan, Croatian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (d. 2007)
1945 – Barry Bostwick, American actor and singer
1946 – Grigory Margulis, Russian mathematician and academic
1947 – Mike Fratello, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1947 – Rupert Holmes, English-American singer-songwriter and playwright
1947 – Edward James Olmos, American actor and director
1948 – Jayalalithaa, Indian actress and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2016)
1948 – Walter Smith, Scottish footballer and manager
1948 – Tim Staffell, English singer and guitarist
1948 – Dennis Waterman, English actor
1950 – Steve McCurry, American photographer and journalist
1951 – David Ford, Northern Irish social worker and politician
1951 – Derek Randall, English cricketer
1951 – Debra Jo Rupp, American actress
1951 – Helen Shaver, Canadian actress and director
1951 – Laimdota Straujuma, Latvian economist and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Latvia
1953 – Anatoli Kozhemyakin, Soviet footballer (d. 1974)
1954 – Plastic Bertrand, Belgian singer-songwriter and producer
1954 – Judith Ortiz Cofer, Puerto Rican American award-winning author (d. 2016)
1954 – Aurora Levins Morales, Puerto Rican Jewish writer and activist
1954 – Sid Meier, Canadian-American game designer and programmer, created the Civilization series
1954 – Mike Pickering, English DJ and saxophonist
1955 – Steve Jobs, American businessman, co-founded Apple Inc. and Pixar (d. 2011)
1955 – Eddie Johnson, American basketball player
1955 – Alain Prost, French race car driver
1956 – Judith Butler, American philosopher, theorist, and author
1956 – Eddie Murray, American baseball player and coach
1956 – Paula Zahn, American journalist and producer
1958 – Sammy Kershaw, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Mark Moses, American actor
1959 – Beth Broderick, American actress and director
1959 – Mike Whitney, Australian cricketer and television host
1963 – Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro
1963 – Mike Vernon, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 – Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Gujarati family, most versatile filmmaker of Hindi cinema.
1964 – Russell Ingall, British-Australian race car driver and sportscaster
1965 – Paul Gruber, American football player
1965 – Jane Swift, American businesswoman and politician, Governor of Massachusetts
1966 – Billy Zane, American actor and producer
1967 – Brian Schmidt, Australian astrophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1968 – Mitch Hedberg, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
1969 – Kim Seung-woo, South Korean actor
1970 – Jeff Garcia, American football player and coach
1970 – Neil Sullivan, English born Scottish international footballer, goalkeeper and coach
1970 – Jonathan Ward, American actor
1971 – Josh Bernstein, American anthropologist, explorer, and author
1971 – Pedro de la Rosa, Spanish race car driver
1971 – Brian Savage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1972 – Teodor Currentzis, Greek conductor and composer
1972 – Manon Rhéaume, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1973 – Stubby Clapp, Canadian baseball player and coach
1973 – Chris Fehn, American drummer
1973 – Alexei Kovalev, Russian ice hockey player and pilot
1974 – Chad Hugo, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1974 – Mike Lowell, American baseball player and sportscaster
1974 – Bonnie Somerville, American actress
1975 – Ashley MacIsaac, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler
1976 – Crista Flanagan, American actress and screenwriter
1976 – Zach Johnson, American golfer
1976 – Bradley McGee, Australian cyclist and coach
1976 – Matt Skiba, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Marco Campos, Brazilian Formula 3000 race car driver (d. 1995)
1977 – Jason Akermanis, Australian footballer and coach
1977 – Bronson Arroyo, American baseball player and singer
1977 – Floyd Mayweather, Jr., American boxer
1978 – Gary, South Korean rapper and producer
1978 – Shinya, Japanese drummer and songwriter
1978 – John Nolan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – DeWayne Wise, American baseball player
1978 – Leon Constantine, English footballer
1980 – Shinsuke Nakamura, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1981 – Felipe Baloy, Panamanian footballer
1981 – Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
1981 – Mauro Rosales, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Mohammad Sami, Pakistani cricketer
1982 – Nick Blackburn, American baseball player
1982 – Emanuel Villa, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Klára Koukalová, Czech tennis player
1982 – Fala Chen, Chinese actress and singer
1984 – Corey Graves, American wrestler and sportscaster
1985 – Nakash Aziz, Indian playback singer and music composer
1987 – Kim Kyu-jong, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor
1988 – Mathieu Baudry, French footballer
1989 – Trace Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1991 – Madison Hubbell, American ice dancer
1991 – Semih Kaya, Turkish footballer
1996 – Royce Freeman, American football player

Deaths on February 24

616 – Æthelberht of Kent (b. 560)
951 – Liu Yun, Chinese governor (jiedushi)
1018 – Borrell, bishop of Vic
1114 – Thomas, archbishop of York
1386 – Charles III of Naples (b. 1345)
1496 – Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1445)
1525 – Jacques de La Palice, French nobleman and military officer (b. 1470)
1525 – Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier (b. c. 1488)
1525 – Richard de la Pole, last Yorkist claimant to the English throne (b. 1480)
1563 – Francis, Duke of Guise (b. 1519)
1580 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (b. 1511)
1588 – Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist (b. 1515)
1666 – Nicholas Lanier, English composer and painter (b. 1588)
1685 – Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland (b. 1629)
1704 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (b. 1643)
1714 – Edmund Andros, English courtier and politician, 4th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1637)
1721 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1648)
1732 – Francis Charteris, Scottish soldier (b. 1675)
1777 – Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)
1785 – Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican lawyer and politician (b. 1746)
1799 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and academic (b. 1742)
1810 – Henry Cavendish, French-English physicist and chemist (b. 1731)
1812 – Étienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775)
1815 – Robert Fulton, American engineer (b. 1765)
1825 – Thomas Bowdler, English physician and philanthropist (b. 1754)
1856 – Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1792)
1876 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, American-Liberian politician, 1st President of Liberia (b. 1809)
1879 – Shiranui Kōemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 11th Yokozuna (b. 1825)
1910 – Osman Hamdi Bey, Greek archaeologist and painter (b. 1842)
1914 – Joshua Chamberlain, American general and politician, 32nd Governor of Maine (b. 1828)
1925 – Hjalmar Branting, Swedish journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Sweden, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
1927 – Edward Marshall Hall, English lawyer and politician (b. 1858)
1929 – André Messager, French pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1853)
1930 – Hermann von Ihering, German-Brazilian zoologist (b. 1850)
1953 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician, senator of Wisconsin (b. 1895)
1953 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (b. 1875)
1967 – Mir Osman Ali Khan, Last Nizam of Hyderabad State (b. 1886)
1970 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)
1974 – Margaret Leech, American historian and author (b. 1895)
1975 – Hans Bellmer, German artist (b. 1902)
1975 – Nikolai Bulganin, Russian marshal and politician, 6th Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
1978 – Alma Thomas, American painter and educator (b.1891)
1982 – Virginia Bruce, American actress (b. 1910)
1986 – Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian Bharatnatyam dancer (b. 1904)
1986 – Tommy Douglas, Scottish-Canadian minister and politician, 7th Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1904)
1990 – Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (b. 1945)
1990 – Malcolm Forbes, American sergeant and publisher (b. 1917)
1990 – Sandro Pertini, Italian journalist and politician, 7th President of Italy (b. 1896)
1990 – Johnnie Ray, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1927)
1991 – John Daly, American journalist and game show host (b. 1914)
1991 – George Gobel, American actor (b. 1919)
1991 – Webb Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1921)
1993 – Danny Gallivan, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1917)
1993 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)
1994 – Jean Sablon, French singer and actor (b. 1906)
1994 – Dinah Shore, American actress and singer (b. 1916)
1998 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban-American cartoonist (b. 1921)
1998 – Henny Youngman, English-American comedian and violinist (b. 1906)
1999 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (b. 1936)
2001 – Theodore Marier, American composer and educator, founded the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School (b. 1912)
2001 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician, cryptographer, and engineer (b. 1916)
2002 – Leo Ornstein, Ukrainian-American pianist and composer (b. 1893)
2004 – John Randolph, American actor (b. 1915)
2005 – Coşkun Kırca, Turkish diplomat, journalist and politician (b. 1927)
2006 – Octavia E. Butler, American author and educator (b. 1947)
2006 – Don Knotts, American actor and comedian (b. 1924)
2006 – John Martin, Canadian broadcaster, co-founded MuchMusic (b. 1947)
2006 – Dennis Weaver, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1924)
2007 – Bruce Bennett, American shot putter and actor (b. 1906)
2007 – Damien Nash, American football player (b. 1982)
2008 – Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
2010 – Dawn Brancheau, senior animal trainer at SeaWorld (b. 1969)
2011 – Anant Pai, Indian author and illustrator (b. 1929)
2012 – Agnes Allen, American baseball player and therapist (b. 1930)
2012 – Oliver Wrong, English nephrologist and academic (b. 1925)
2013 – Virgil Johnson, American singer (b. 1935)
2013 – Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1923)
2014 – Franny Beecher, American guitarist (b. 1921)
2014 – Alexis Hunter, New Zealand-English painter and photographer (b. 1948)
2014 – Carlos Páez Vilaró, Uruguayan painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
2014 – Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
2015 – Mefodiy, Ukrainian metropolitan (b. 1949)
2015 – Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh politician and diplomat (b. 1962)
2016 – Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (b. 1943)
2016 – Nabil Maleh, Syrian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
2016 – George C. Nichopoulos, American soldier and physician (b. 1927)
2018 – Sridevi, Indian actress (b. 1963)
2020 – Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances on February 24

Christian feast day:
- Blessed Ascensión Nicol y Goñi
- Lindel Tsen and Paul Sasaki (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Modest (bishop of Trier)
- Sergius of Cappadocia
- February 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Dragobete (Romania)
Engineer’s Day (Iran)
Flag Day in Mexico
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Estonia from the Russian Empire in 1918; the Soviet period is considered to have been an illegal annexation.
National Artist Day (Thailand)

February 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George’s (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France’s claim to Texas.
1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.
1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
1816 – Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
1835 – The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.
1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
1877 – Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
1913 – King O’Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
1920 – An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.
1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
1933 – The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.
1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s upcoming election campaign.
1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
1942 – Lieutenant Edward O’Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace.
1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
1944 – World War II: The “Big Week” began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
1979 – An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H₂S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.
1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
1991 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania’s long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.
1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.
2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.
2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, many reportedly killed by snipers.
2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.
2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

Births on February 20

1358 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (d. 1382)
1469 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (d. 1534)
1523 – Jan Blahoslav, Czech writer (d. 1571)
1549 – Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, last Duke of Urbino (d. 1631)
1552 – Sengoku Hidehisa, Daimyō (d. 1614)
1608 – Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (d. 1649)
1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)
1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch painter (d. 1702)
1705 – Nicolas Chédeville, French musette player and composer (d. 1782)
1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (d. 1795)
1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (d. 1813)
1751 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet, translator, and academic (d. 1826)
1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)
1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, physiologist, and anatomist (d. 1813)
1774 – Vicente Sebastián Pintado, Spanish cartographer, engineer, military officer and land surveyor of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish West Florida (d. 1829)
1784 – Judith Montefiore, British linguist, travel writer, philanthropist (d. 1862)
1792 – Eliza Courtney, French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)
1794 – William Carleton, Irish author (d. 1869)
1802 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1870)
1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss businessman and politician (d. 1882)
1839 – Benjamin Waugh, English activist, founded the NSPCC (d. 1908)
1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1906)
1844 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian sailor and adventurer (d. 1909)
1848 – E. H. Harriman, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1909)
1857 – A. P. Lucas, English cricketer (d. 1923)
1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect, designed the Stockholm Court House and Röhsska Museum (d. 1936)
1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)
1870 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (d. 1937)
1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
1879 – Hod Stuart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1907)
1880 – Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen, French author and poet (d. 1923)
1882 – Elie Nadelman, Polish-American sculptor (d. 1946)
1887 – Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
1888 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (d. 1948)
1889 – Hulusi Behçet, Turkish dermatologist and physician (d. 1948)
1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1993)
1895 – Louis Zborowski, English race car driver and engineer (d. 1924)
1897 – Ivan Albright, American painter (d. 1983)
1898 – Ante Ciliga, Croatian politician, writer and publisher (d. 1992)
1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1992)
1901 – René Dubos, French-American biologist and author (d. 1982)
1901 – Louis Kahn, American architect, designed the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Bangladesh Parliament Building (d. 1974)
1901 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
1901 – Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (d. 1978)
1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)
1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Russian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)
1912 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (d. 1994)
1912 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War (d. 2006)
1913 – Tommy Henrich, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)
1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer
1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)
1919 – James O’Meara, English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)
1920 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014)
1921 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 1992)
1923 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)
1923 – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
1923 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress (d. 2004)
1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, and socialite (d. 2019)
1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1925 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (d. 2013)
1926 – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2018)
1926 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1926 – Bob Richards, American Olympic track and field athlete
1926 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)
1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (d. 1986)
1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer and musician (d. 2005)
1927 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat
1928 – Roy Face, American baseball player and carpenter
1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland
1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
1931 – John Milnor, American mathematician and academic
1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)
1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver
1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress (d. 2020)
1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
1936 – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
1937 – David Ackles, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
1937 – Robert Huber, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Roger Penske, American race car driver and businessman
1937 – Robert Evans, Australian minister and amateur astronomer
1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
1938 – Richard Beymer, American actor, director, and cinematographer
1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English international footballer, forward and TV pundit
1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian lawyer and politician
1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1942 – Mitch McConnell, American lawyer, and politician
1942 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician
1943 – Mike Leigh, English director and screenwriter
1944 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian economist and politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1999)
1944 – Lew Soloff, American trumpet player, composer, and actor (d. 2015)
1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
1945 – Alan Hull, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
1946 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer
1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
1947 – Peter Strauss, American actor and producer
1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1948 – Jennifer O’Neill, American model and actress
1949 – Eddie Hemmings, English cricketer
1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model
1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)
1950 – Peter Marinello, Scottish footballer, forward
1950 – Tony Wilson, English journalist and businessman (d. 2007)
1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
1951 – Gordon Brown, Scottish historian and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1951 – Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
1951 – Phil Neal, English footballer and manager
1953 – Poison Ivy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1954 – Jon Brant, American bass player
1954 – Anthony Head, English actor
1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author
1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Scott Brayton, American race car driver (d. 1996)
1959 – David Corn, American journalist and author
1959 – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1960 – Cándido Muatetema Rivas, Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)
1961 – Steve Lundquist, American swimmer
1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)
1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
1963 – Ian Brown, English singer-songwriter and musician
1963 – Joakim Nystrom, Swedish tennis player
1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health
1963 – Cui Yongyuan, Chinese former anchor
1964 – Willie Garson, American actor and director
1964 – Tom Harris, Scottish journalist and politician
1964 – Jeff Maggert, American golfer
1964 – French Stewart, American actor
1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman
1967 – Paul Accola, Swiss alpine skier
1967 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
1967 – David Herman, American comedian and actor
1967 – Andrew Shue, American actor and activist, founded Do Something
1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress
1967 – Tom Waddle, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Kjell Ove Hauge, Norwegian school principal and track and field athlete
1969 – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer and manager
1969 – Danis Tanović, Bosnian director and screenwriter
1971 – Calpernia Addams, American actress, author, and activist
1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
1971 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby player (d. 2017)
1972 – Neil Primrose, Scottish drummer
1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer and manager
1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player
1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter and actor
1975 – Niclas Wallin, Swedish ice hockey player
1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
1977 – Gail Kim, Canadian professional wrestler
1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress and producer
1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
1980 – Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer
1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
1981 – Fred Jackson, American football player
1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player
1984 – Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor, and television host
1984 – Ramzee Robinson, American football player
1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress
1985 – TJ Kirk, American YouTube personality and podcast host
1987 – Luke Burgess, English rugby league player
1987 – Miles Teller, American actor
1988 – Kealoha Pilares, American football player
1988 – Ki Bo-bae, South Korean archer
1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian-American singer-songwriter and actress
1988 – Jiah Khan, Indian singer and actress (d. 2013)
1989 – Daly Cherry-Evans, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer
1991 – Hidilyn Diaz, Filipino weightlifter
1991 – Giovanni Kyeremateng, Italian footballer
1991 – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player
1991 – Antonio Pedroza, English-Mexican footballer
1991 – Jocelyn Rae, English-Scottish tennis player
1992 – Kyle Turner, Australian rugby league player
1994 – Elseid Hysaj, Albanian footballer

Deaths on February 20

789 – Leo of Catania, saint and bishop of Catania (b. 709)
922 – Theodora, Byzantine empress
1054 – Yaroslav the Wise, grand prince of Veliky Novgorod and Kiev (b. 978)
1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury (b. c. 1080)
1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily (b. 1138)
1258 – Al-Musta’sim, Iraqi caliph (b. 1213)
1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)
1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
1458 – Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia
1513 – King John of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1455)
1524 – Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler (b. 1500)
1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
1626 – John Dowland, English lute player and composer (b. 1563)
1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)
1771 – Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist and astronomer (b. 1678)
1773 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and scholar (b. 1711)
1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)
1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean rebel leader (b. 1767)
1850 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843–1844) (b. 1794)
1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)
1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter (b. 1810)
1893 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
1895 – Frederick Douglass, American author and activist (b. 1818)
1900 – Washakie, American tribal leader (b. 1798)
1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
1910 – Boutros Ghali, Egyptian educator and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1846)
1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1910)
1920 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
1933 – Takiji Kobayashi, Japanese writer (b. 1903)
1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
1957 – Sadri Maksudi Arsal, Turkish scholar and politician (b. 1878)
1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (b. 1882)
1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish violinist and composer(b. 1879)
1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
1968 – Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and actor (b. 1897)
1976 – René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, healing evangelist, known for belief in Holy Spirit (b. 1907)
1981 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-American banker and publisher (b. 1904)
1987 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (b. 1905)
1992 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (b. 1898)
1992 – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916)
1993 – Ernest L. Massad, American general (b. 1908)
1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist and academic (b. 1907)
1996 – Audrey Munson, American model (b. 1891)
1996 – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese pianist, guitarist, and composer (b. 1930)
1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
1999 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and critic (b. 1946)
2000 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1937)
2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
2001 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (b. 1941)
2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)
2003 – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and author (b. 1907)
2003 – Orville Freeman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1942)
2005 – Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1921)2005 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (b. 1917)
2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (b. 1920)
2008 – Emily Perry, English actress and dancer (b. 1907)
2009 – Larry H. Miller, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)
2010 – Alexander Haig, American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)
2012 – Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Norwegian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
2012 – Katie Hall, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
2013 – Kenji Eno, Japanese game designer and composer (b. 1970)
2013 – David S. McKay, American biochemist and geologist (b. 1936)
2013 – Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer (b. 1932)
2014 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1923)
2014 – Walter D. Ehlers, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1921)
2014 – Garrick Utley, American journalist (b. 1939)
2015 – Govind Pansare, Indian author and activist (b. 1933)
2015 – Henry Segerstrom, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
2015 – John C. Willke, American physician, author, and activist (b. 1925)
2016 – Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest and politician (b. 1934)
2017 – Vitaly Churkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (b. 1952)
2017 – Mildred Dresselhaus, American physicist (b. 1930)
2017 – Steve Hewlett, British journalist (b. 1958)
2020 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP

Holidays and observances on February 20

Christian feast day:
- Eleutherius of Tournai
- Eucherius of Orléans
- Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
- Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Wulfric of Haselbury
- February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)
World Day of Social Justice

February 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 6 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

February 6 in History

AD 60 – The earliest date for which the day of the week is known. A graffito in Pompeii identifies this day as a dies Solis (Sunday). In modern reckoning, this date would have been a Wednesday.
1579 – The Archdiocese of Manila is made a diocese by a papal bull with Domingo de Salazar being its first bishop.
1685 – James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.
1694 – The warrior queen Dandara, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
1778 –New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
1788 – Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1806 – Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.
1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founds Singapore.
1820 – The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.
1833 – Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.
1840 – Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.
1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).
1851 – The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.
1899 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
1918 – British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.
1919 – The American Legion is founded.
1919 – The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.
1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
1934 – Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.
1951 – The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
1951 – The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.
1952 – Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.
1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.
1959 – At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
1976 – In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor’easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.
1981 – The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
1988 – Michael Jordan makes his signature slam dunk from the free throw line inspiring Air Jordan and the Jumpman logo.
1989 – The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.
1996 – Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
1996 – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.
1998 – Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
2000 – Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
2006 – Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
2018 – SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.

Births on February 6

885 – Emperor Daigo of Japan (d. 930)
1402 – Louis I, Landgrave of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1458)
1452 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal (d. 1490)
1453 – Girolamo Benivieni, Florentine poet (d. 1542)
1465 – Scipione del Ferro, Italian mathematician and theorist (d. 1526)
1536 – Sassa Narimasa, Japanese samurai (d. 1588)
1577 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian murderer (d. 1599)
1582 – Mario Bettinus, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1657)
1608 – António Vieira, Portuguese priest and philosopher (d. 1697)
1611 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (d. 1644)
1612 – Antoine Arnauld, French mathematician, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1694)
1643 – Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg, Prussian politician, 1st Minister President of Prussia (d. 1712)
1649 – Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp, German noblewoman (d. 1728)
1664 – Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1703)
1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland (d. 1714)
1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (d. 1714)
1695 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss-Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1726)
1719 – Alberto Pullicino, Maltese painter (d. 1759)
1726 – Patrick Russell, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (d. 1805)
1732 – Charles Lee, English-American general (d. 1782)
1736 – Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, German-Austrian sculptor (d. 1783)
1744 – Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon (d. 1795)
1748 – Adam Weishaupt, German philosopher and academic, founded the Illuminati (d. 1830)
1753 – Évariste de Parny, French poet and author (d. 1814)
1756 – Aaron Burr, American colonel and politician, 3rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1836)
1758 – Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Belarusian-Polish poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1841)
1769 – Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, Austrian general (d. 1862)
1772 – George Murray, Scottish general and politician, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (d. 1830)
1778 – Ugo Foscolo, Italian author and poet (d. 1827)
1781 – John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, Irish general and politician, Governor of Saint Lucia (d. 1844)
1796 – John Stevens Henslow, English botanist and geologist (d. 1861)
1797 – Joseph von Radowitz, Prussian general and politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (d. 1853)
1799 – Imre Frivaldszky, Hungarian botanist and entomologist (d. 1870)
1800 – Achille Devéria, French painter and lithographer (d. 1857)
1802 – Charles Wheatstone, English-French physicist and cryptographer (d. 1875)
1811 – Henry Liddell, English priest, author, and academic (d. 1898)
1814 – Auguste Chapdelaine, French missionary and saint (d. 1856)
1818 – William M. Evarts, American lawyer and politician, 27th United States Secretary of State (d. 1901)
1820 – Thomas C. Durant, American railroad tycoon (d. 1885)
1829 – Joseph Auguste Émile Vaudremer, French architect, designed the La Santé Prison and Saint-Pierre-de-Montrouge (d. 1914)
1832 – John Brown Gordon, American general and politician, 53rd Governor of Georgia (d. 1904)
1833 – José María de Pereda, Spanish author and academic (d. 1906)
1833 – J. E. B. Stuart, American general (d. 1864)
1834 – Edwin Klebs, German-Swiss pathologist and academic (d. 1913)
1834 – Ema Pukšec, Croatian-German soprano (d. 1889)
1834 – Wilhelm von Scherff, German general and author (d. 1911)
1838 – Henry Irving, English actor and manager (d. 1905)
1838 – Israel Meir Kagan, Lithuanian-Polish rabbi and author (d. 1933)
1839 – Eduard Hitzig, German neurologist and psychiatrist (d. 1907)
1842 – Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1923)
1843 – Inoue Kowashi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 1895)
1843 – Frederic William Henry Myers, English poet and philologist, co-founded the Society for Psychical Research (d. 1901)
1845 – Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (d. 1912)
1847 – Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, American architect, designed the Plaza Hotel (d. 1918)
1852 – C. Lloyd Morgan, English zoologist and psychologist (d. 1936)
1852 – Vasily Safonov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1918)
1861 – Nikolay Zelinsky, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1953)
1864 – John Henry Mackay, Scottish-German philosopher and author (d. 1933)
1866 – Karl Sapper, German linguist and explorer (d. 1945)
1872 – Robert Maillart, Swiss engineer, designed the Salginatobel Bridge and Schwandbach Bridge (d. 1940)
1874 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (d. 1937)
1875 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general (d. 1915)
1876 – Henry Blogg, English fisherman and sailor (d. 1954)
1879 – Othon Friesz, French painter (d. 1949)
1879 – Magnús Guðmundsson, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1937)
1879 – Edwin Samuel Montagu, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1924)
1879 – Carl Ramsauer, German physicist and author (d. 1955)
1880 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (d. 1931)
1884 – Marcel Cohen, French linguist and scholar (d. 1974)
1887 – Josef Frings, German cardinal (d. 1978)
1890 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (d. 1988)
1890 – James McGirr, Australian politician, 28th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1957)
1892 – Maximilian Fretter-Pico, German general (d. 1984)
1892 – William P. Murphy, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
1893 – Muhammad Zafarullah Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs for Pakistan (d. 1985)
1894 – Eric Partridge, New Zealand-English lexicographer and academic (d. 1979)
1894 – Kirpal Singh, Indian spiritual master (d. 1974)
1895 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician (d. 1953)
1895 – María Teresa Vera, Cuban singer, guitarist and composer (d. 1965)
1895 – Babe Ruth, American baseball player and coach (d. 1948)
1898 – Harry Haywood, American soldier and politician (d. 1985)
1899 – Ramon Novarro, Mexican-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1968)
1901 – Ben Lyon, American actor (d. 1979)
1902 – George Brunies, American trombonist (d. 1974)
1903 – Claudio Arrau, Chilean pianist and composer (d. 1991)
1905 – Władysław Gomułka, Polish politician (d. 1982)
1905 – Jan Werich, Czech actor and playwright (d. 1980)
1906 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (d. 1980)
1908 – Amintore Fanfani, Italian journalist and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1999)
1908 – Edward Lansdale, American general and CIA agent (d. 1987)
1908 – Geo Bogza, Romanian poet and journalist (d. 1993)
1908 – Michael Maltese, American actor, screenwriter, and composer (d. 1981)
1910 – Roman Czerniawski, Polish air force officer and spy (d. 1985)
1910 – Irmgard Keun, German author (d. 1982)
1910 – Carlos Marcello, Tunisian-American gangster (d. 1993)
1911 – Ronald Reagan, American actor and politician, 40th President of the United States (d. 2004)
1912 – Eva Braun, German wife of Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
1912 – Christopher Hill, English historian and author (d. 2003)
1913 – Mary Leakey, English-Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist (d. 1996)
1914 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (d. 2005)
1915 – Kavi Pradeep, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1998)
1916 – John Crank, English mathematician and physicist (d. 2006)
1917 – Louis-Philippe de Grandpré, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and socialite (d. 2016)
1918 – Lothar-Günther Buchheim, German author and painter (d. 2007)
1919 – Takashi Yanase, Japanese poet and illustrator, created Anpanman (d. 2013)
1921 – Carl Neumann Degler, American historian and author (d. 2014)
1921 – Bob Scott, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2012)
1922 – Patrick Macnee, English-American actor and costume designer (d. 2015)
1922 – Denis Norden, English actor, screenwriter, and television host (d. 2018)
1922 – Haskell Wexler, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2015)
1923 – Gyula Lóránt, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1981)
1924 – Billy Wright, English footballer and manager (d. 1994)
1924 – Jin Yong, Hong Kong author and publisher, founded Ming Pao (d. 2018)
1925 – Walker Edmiston, American actor and puppeteer (d. 2007)
1927 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1992)
1928 – Allan H. Meltzer, American economist and academic (d. 2017)
1929 – Colin Murdoch, New Zealand pharmacist and veterinarian, invented the tranquilliser gun (d. 2008)
1929 – Oscar Sambrano Urdaneta, Venezuelan author and critic (d. 2011)
1929 – Valentin Yanin, Russian historian and author (d. 2020)
1930 – Jun Kondo, Japanese physicist and academic
1931 – Rip Torn, American actor (d. 2019)
1931 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer (d. 2006)
1931 – Mamie Van Doren, American actress and model
1931 – Ricardo Vidal, Filipino cardinal (d. 2017)
1932 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier and anarchist (d. 1959)
1932 – François Truffaut, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
1933 – Leslie Crowther, English comedian, actor, and game show host (d. 1996)
1936 – Kent Douglas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2009)
1938 – Fred Mifflin, Canadian admiral and politician, 19th Minister of Veterans Affairs (d. 2013)
1939 – Jean Beaudin, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2019)
1939 – Mike Farrell, American actor, director, producer, activist and public speaker
1939 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (d. 2014)
1940 – Tom Brokaw, American journalist and author
1940 – Petr Hájek, Czech mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
1940 – Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian and actor
1941 – Stephen Albert, American pianist and composer (d. 1992)
1941 – Dave Berry, English pop singer
1941 – Gigi Perreau, American actress and director
1942 – Sarah Brady, American activist and author (d. 2015)
1942 – Charlie Coles, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1942 – Ahmad-Jabir Ahmadov Ismail oghlu, Azerbaijani philosopher and academic
1942 – James Loewen, American sociologist and historian
1942 – Tommy Roberts, English fashion designer (d. 2012)
1943 – Fabian Forte, American pop singer and actor
1943 – Gayle Hunnicutt, American actress
1944 – Christine Boutin, French politician, French Minister of Housing and Urban Development
1944 – Willie Tee, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2007)
1944 – Michael Tucker, American actor and producer
1945 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
1946 – Richie Hayward, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2010)
1946 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
1946 – Jim Turner, American captain and politician
1947 – Bill Staines, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Charlie Hickcox, American swimmer (d .2010)
1949 – Mike Batt, English singer-songwriter and producer
1949 – Manuel Orantes, Spanish tennis player
1949 – Jim Sheridan, Irish director, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Natalie Cole, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2015)
1950 – Timothy M. Dolan, American cardinal
1950 – Punky Meadows, American rock guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Ric Charlesworth, Australian cricketer, coach, and politician
1952 – Viktor Giacobbo, Swiss actor, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Ricardo La Volpe, Argentinian footballer, manager, and coach
1955 – Avram Grant, Israeli football manager
1955 – Michael Pollan, American journalist, author, and academic
1955 – Bruno Stolorz, French rugby player and coach
1956 – Jerry Marotta, American drummer
1957 – Andres Lipstok, Estonian economist and politician, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs
1957 – Kathy Najimy, American actress and comedian
1957 – Simon Phillips, English drummer and producer
1957 – Robert Townsend, American actor and director
1958 – Cecily Adams, American actress and casting director (d. 2004)
1960 – Jeremy Bowen, Welsh journalist
1960 – Megan Gallagher, American actress
1961 – Michael Bolt, Australian rugby league player
1961 – Cam Cameron, American football player and coach
1961 – Bill Lester, American race car driver
1961 – Yury Onufriyenko, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1962 – Stavros Lambrinidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Greece
1962 – Axl Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
1963 – David Capel, English cricketer
1963 – Scott Gordon, American ice hockey player and coach
1963 – Quentin Letts, English journalist and critic
1964 – Laurent Cabannes, French rugby player
1964 – Gordon Downie, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
1964 – Colin Miller, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1964 – Andrey Zvyagintsev, Russian actor and director
1965 – Jan Svěrák, Czech actor, director, and screenwriter
1966 – Rick Astley, English singer-songwriter
1967 – Anita Cochran, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1967 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1968 – Adolfo Valencia, Colombian footballer
1968 – Akira Yamaoka, Japanese composer and producer
1969 – David Hayter, American actor and screenwriter
1969 – Masaharu Fukuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1969 – Tim Sherwood, English international footballer midfielder and manager
1969 – Bob Wickman, American baseball player
1970 – Per Frandsen, Danish footballer and manager
1970 – Tim Herron, American golfer
1971 – Brad Hogg, Australian cricketer
1971 – Carlos Rogers, American basketball player
1972 – Stefano Bettarini, Italian footballer
1972 – David Binn, American football player
1974 – Aljo Bendijo, Filipino journalist
1975 – Chad Allen, American baseball player and coach
1975 – Orkut Büyükkökten, Turkish computer scientist and engineer, created Orkut
1975 – Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1976 – Tanja Frieden, Swiss snowboarder and educator
1976 – Kim Zmeskal, American gymnast and coach
1977 – Josh Stewart, American actor
1978 – Yael Naim, French-Israeli singer-songwriter
1979 – Dan Bălan, Moldovan singer-songwriter and producer
1980 – Kerry Jeremy, Antiguan cricketer
1980 – Kim Poirier, Canadian actress, singer, and producer
1980 – Luke Ravenstahl, American politician, 58th Mayor of Pittsburgh
1981 – Ricky Barnes, American golfer
1981 – Calum Best, American-English model and actor
1981 – Shim Eun-jin, South Korean singer and actress
1981 – Alison Haislip, American actress and producer
1981 – Jens Lekman, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Ty Warren, American football player
1982 – Tank, Taiwanese singer-songwriter
1982 – Alice Eve, English actress
1982 – Elise Ray, American gymnast
1983 – Melrose Bickerstaff, American model and fashion designer
1983 – Brodie Croyle, American football player
1983 – Dimas Delgado, Spanish footballer
1983 – S. Sreesanth, Indian cricketer
1983 – Jamie Whincup, Australian race car driver
1984 – Darren Bent, English international footballer, forward
1984 – Piret Järvis, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1984 – Antoine Wright, American basketball player
1985 – Ben Creagh, Australian rugby league player
1985 – Kris Humphries, American basketball player
1986 – Dane DeHaan, American actor
1986 – Yunho, South Korean singer and actor
1988 – Bailey Hanks, American actress, singer, and dancer
1989 – Craig Cathcart, Northern Irish footballer
1989 – Jonny Flynn, American basketball player
1990 – Adam Henrique, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Jermaine Kearse, American football player
1990 – Aida Rybalko, Lithuanian figure skater
1991 – Tobias Eisenbauer, Austrian ice dancer
1991 – Ida Njåtun, Norwegian speed skater
1991 – Eva Wacanno, Dutch tennis player
1991 – Fei Yu, Chinese footballer
1992 – Víctor Mañón, Mexican footballer
1993 – Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011
1993 – Tinashe, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1994 – Charlie Heaton, British actor and musician
1995 – Leon Goretzka, German footballer
1995 – Sam McQueen, English footballer

Deaths on February 6

743 – Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, Umayyad caliph (b. 691)
797 – Donnchad Midi, Irish king (b. 733)
891 – Photios I of Constantinople (b. 810)
1140 – Thurstan, Archbishop of York
1155 – King Sigurd II of Norway (b. 1133)
1215 – Hōjō Tokimasa, Japanese shikken of the Kamakura bakufu (b. 1138)
1378 – Joanna of Bourbon (b. 1338)
1411 – Esau de’ Buondelmonti, ruler of Epirus
1497 – Johannes Ockeghem, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1410)
1515 – Aldus Manutius, Italian publisher, founded the Aldine Press (b. 1449)
1519 – Lorenz von Bibra, Prince-Bishop of the Bishopric of Würzburg (b. 1459)
1539 – John III, Duke of Cleves (b. 1491)
1585 – Edmund Plowden, English lawyer and scholar (b. 1518)
1593 – Jacques Amyot, French author and translator (b. 1513)
1593 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (b. 1517)
1597 – Franciscus Patricius, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1529)
1612 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1538)
1617 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1553)
1625 – Philipp Julius, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1584)
1685 – Charles II of England (b. 1630)
1695 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1643)
1740 – Pope Clement XII (b. 1652)
1775 – William Dowdeswell, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1721)
1783 – Capability Brown, English gardener and architect (b. 1716)
1793 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian-French playwright (b. 1707)
1804 – Joseph Priestley, English chemist and theologian (b. 1733)
1807 – John Reid, Scottish general (b. 1721)
1833 – Pierre André Latreille, French zoologist and entomologist (b. 1762)
1834 – Richard Lemon Lander, English explorer (b. 1804)
1865 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (b. 1836)
1899 – Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1874)
1899 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1831)
1902 – John Colton, English-Australian politician, 13th Premier of South Australia (b. 1823)
1916 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (b. 1867)
1918 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (b. 1862)
1929 – Maria Christina of Austria (b. 1858)
1931 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (b. 1861)
1932 – John Earle, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1865)
1938 – Marianne von Werefkin, Russian-Swiss painter (b. 1860)
1942 – Jaan Soots, Estonian general and politician, 7th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1880)
1951 – Gabby Street, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1882)
1952 – George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)
1958 – victims of the Munich air disaster
- – Geoff Bent, English footballer (b. 1932)
- – Roger Byrne, English footballer (b. 1929)
- – Eddie Colman, English footballer (b. 1936)
- – Walter Crickmer, English footballer and manager (b. 1900)
- – Mark Jones, English footballer (b. 1933)
- – David Pegg, English footballer (b. 1935)
- – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (b. 1913)
- – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (b. 1932)
1963 – Piero Manzoni, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1933)
1964 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (b. 1869)
1967 – Martine Carol, French actress (b. 1920)
1972 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (b. 1902)
1976 – Ritwik Ghatak, Bangladeshi-Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
1976 – Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1928)
1981 – Hugo Montenegro, American composer and conductor (b. 1925)
1982 – Ben Nicholson, British painter (b. 1894)
1985 – James Hadley Chase, English-Swiss soldier and author (b. 1906)
1986 – Frederick Coutts, Scottish 8th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1899)
1986 – Dandy Nichols, English actress (b. 1907)
1986 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (b. 1912)
1987 – Julien Chouinard, Canadian lawyer and jurist (b. 1929)
1989 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (b. 1912)
1990 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (b. 1913)
1991 – Salvador Luria, Italian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
1991 – Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1914)
1993 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
1994 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (b. 1905)
1994 – Jack Kirby, American author and illustrator (b. 1917)
1995 – James Merrill, American poet and playwright (b. 1926)
1998 – Falco, Austrian pop-rock musician (b. 1957)
1999 – Don Dunstan, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of South Australia (b. 1926)
1999 – Jimmy Roberts, American tenor (b. 1924)
2000 – Phil Walters, American race car driver (b. 1916)
2001 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino theoretician and activist (b. 1953)
2002 – Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
2004 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and economist (b. 1920)
2005 – Karl Haas, German-American pianist, conductor, and radio host (b. 1913)
2007 – Lew Burdette, American baseball player and coach (b. 1926)
2007 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1913)
2007 – Willye White, American runner and long jumper (b. 1939)
2008 – Tony Rolt, English race car driver and engineer (b. 1918)
2009 – Philip Carey, American actor (b. 1925)
2009 – James Whitmore, American actor (b. 1921)
2011 – Gary Moore, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1952)
2012 – David Rosenhan, American psychologist and academic (b. 1929)
2012 – Antoni Tàpies, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
2012 – Janice E. Voss, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1956)
2013 – Chokri Belaid, Tunisian lawyer and politician (b. 1964)
2013 – Menachem Elon, German-Israeli academic and jurist (b. 1923)
2014 – Vasiľ Biľak, Slovak politician (b. 1917)
2014 – Ralph Kiner, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
2014 – Maxine Kumin, American author and poet (b. 1925)
2014 – Vaçe Zela, Albanian-Swiss singer and guitarist (b. 1939)
2015 – André Brink, South African author and playwright (b. 1935)
2015 – Alan Nunnelee, American lawyer and politician (b. 1958)
2015 – Pedro León Zapata, Venezuelan cartoonist (b. 1929)
2016 – Dan Gerson, American screenwriter (b. 1966)
2016 – Dan Hicks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
2017 – Irwin Corey, American comedian and actor (b. 1914)
2017 – Inge Keller, German actress (b. 1923)
2017 – Alec McCowen, English actor (b. 1925)
2017 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby union footballer (b. 1971)

Holidays and observances on February 6

Christian feast day:
- Amand
- Dorothea of Caesarea
- Hildegund, O.Praem.
- Jacut
- Mateo Correa Magallanes (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Mél of Ardagh
- Paul Miki and Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan
- Relindis (Renule) of Maaseik
- Vedastus
- February 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (United Nations)
Ronald Reagan Day (California, United States)
Sami National Day (Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden)
Waitangi Day, celebrates the founding of New Zealand in 1840.

February 6 – 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 / admin

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

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

On This Day / admin

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

On This Day / admin

661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph.
945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes the sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
1531 – The 6.4–7.1 M_w Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people.
1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War.
1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers.
1700 – The 8.7–9.2 M_w Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day.
1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales.
1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States.
1841 – James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong.
1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.
1856 – First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia rejoins the Union.
1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.
1905 – The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.
1911 – Glenn Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.
1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers’ Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.
1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird.
1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (“Complete Independence”) which occurred 17 years later.
1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later.
1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.
1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).
1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.
1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
1956 – the Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland.
1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be the first woman Physician to the President.
1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
1972 – JAT Fight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries.
1980 – Egypt–Israel relations are formally established.
1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2001 – The 7.7 M_w Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.
2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.
2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.
2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board including former five time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant.

Births on January 26

183 – Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (d. 221)
1436 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Lancastrian military commander (d. 1464)
1467 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (d. 1540)
1495 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
1541 – Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (d. 1596)
1549 – Jakob Ebert, German theologian (d. 1614)
1582 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (d. 1647)
1595 – Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679)
1624 – George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1705)
1657 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737)
1708 – William Hayes, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1777)
1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (d. 1785)
1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1785)
1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (d. 1805)
1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1844)
1781 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (d. 1831)
1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet (d. 1876)
1824 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (d. 1888)
1832 – George Shiras, Jr., American lawyer and jurist (d. 1924)
1842 – François Coppée, French poet and author (d. 1908)
1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (d. 1905)
1857 – 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
1861 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (d. 1932)
1864 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (d. 1934)
1866 – John Cady, American golfer (d. 1933)
1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (d. 1968)
1878 – Dave Nourse, English-South African cricketer and coach (d. 1948)
1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
1885 – Michael Considine, Irish-Australian politician (d. 1959)
1885 – Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (d. 1974)
1885 – Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (d. 1962)
1887 – François Faber, French-Luxembourgian cyclist (d. 1915)
1887 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (d. 1947)
1887 – Dimitris Pikionis, Greek architect and academic (d. 1968)
1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1973)
1891 – August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (d. 1942)
1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (d. 1976)
1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (d. 1926)
1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (d. 1976)
1899 – Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (d. 1974)
1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (d. 1940)
1904 – Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (d. 2004)
1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
1905 – Charles Lane, American actor and singer (d. 2007)
1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 1987)
1907 – Henry Cotton, English golfer (d. 1987)
1907 – Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (d. 2001)
1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (d. 2009)
1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (d. 1997)
1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (d. 2002)
1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
1914 – Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (d. 2006)
1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
1917 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (d. 2014)
1918 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian dictator, 1st President of Romania (d. 1989)
1918 – Philip José Farmer, American author (d. 2009)
1919 – Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
1919 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
1919 – Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2020)
1920 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (d. 2009)
1921 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (d. 2005)
1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1999)
1922 – Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1922 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (d. 1993)
1922 – Gil Merrick, English footballer (d. 2010)
1923 – Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (d. 2014)
1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1998)
1925 – David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress (d. 2015)
1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman’s Own (d. 2008)
1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
1925 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
1926 – Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani linguist and scholar (d. 2013)
1926 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American architect and businessman, co-founded the Sea Pines Company (d. 2014)
1927 – José Azcona del Hoyo, Honduran businessman and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
1927 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (d. 1985)
1927 – Hubert Schieth, German footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1928 – Roger Vadim, French actor and director (d. 2000)
1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and educator
1934 – Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and publisher (d. 2020)
1934 – Charles Marowitz, American director, playwright, and critic (d. 2014)
1934 – Huey “Piano” Smith, American pianist and songwriter
1934 – Bob Uecker, American baseball player, sportscaster and actor
1935 – Corrado Augias, Italian journalist and politician
1935 – Henry Jordan, American football player (d. 1977)
1935 – Paula Rego, Portuguese-born British visual artist
1936 – Sal Buscema, American illustrator
1937 – Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leonean soldier and politician, 2nd President of Sierra Leone (d. 2003)
1937 – Francisco Gonzales, former 1960 Summer Olympics yachting team member and murderer
1938 – Henry Jaglom, English-American director and screenwriter
1940 – Séamus Hegarty, Irish bishop
1940 – Frank Large, English footballer, centre forward and cricketer (d. 2003)
1943 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
1943 – Jack Warner, Trinidadian businessman and politician
1944 – Angela Davis, American activist, academic, and author
1944 – Jerry Sandusky, American football coach and criminal
1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
1945 – David Purley, English race car driver (d. 1985)
1946 – Christopher Hampton, Portuguese-English director, screenwriter, and playwright
1946 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and film critic (d. 1999)
1946 – Susan Friedlander, American mathematician
1947 – Patrick Dewaere, French actor and composer (d. 1982)
1947 – Les Ebdon, English chemist and academic
1947 – Redmond Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, Irish director, producer, and production manager
1947 – Michel Sardou, French singer-songwriter and actor
1948 – Alda Facio, Costa Rican jurist, writer and teacher
1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author
1949 – David Strathairn, American actor
1950 – Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (d. 2008)
1951 – David Briggs, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1951 – Andy Hummel, American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2010)
1951 – Anne Mills, English economist and academic
1953 – Alik L. Alik, Micronesian politician, 7th Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia
1953 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician and diplomat, 39th Prime Minister of Denmark
1953 – Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Kim Hughes, Australian cricketer
1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1957 – Road Warrior Hawk, American wrestler (d. 2003)
1958 – Anita Baker, American singer-songwriter
1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, American comedian, actress, and talk show host
1961 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Tom Keifer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian painter, sculptor, and photographer
1962 – Tim May, Australian cricketer
1962 – Oscar Ruggeri, Argentinian footballer and manager
1963 – José Mourinho, Portuguese footballer and manager
1963 – Simon O’Donnell, Australian footballer, cricketer, and sportscaster
1963 – Tony Parks, English footballer and manager
1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Adam Crozier, Scottish businessman
1965 – Thomas Östros, Swedish businessman and politician
1965 – Natalia Yurchenko, Russian gymnast and coach
1966 – Kazushige Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
1967 – Anatoly Komm, Russian chef and businessman
1967 – Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database
1968 – Jupiter Apple, Brazilian singer-songwriter, film director, and actor (d. 2015)
1969 – George Dikeoulakos, Greek-Romanian basketball player and coach
1970 – Kirk Franklin, American singer-songwriter and producer
1973 – Larissa Lowing, Canadian artistic gymnast
1973 – Melvil Poupaud, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1973 – Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1973 – Mayu Shinjo, Japanese author and illustrator
1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball player
1977 – Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player and coach
1978 – Corina Morariu, American tennis player and sportscaster
1981 – José de Jesús Corona, Mexican footballer
1981 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor
1981 – Juan José Haedo, Argentinian cyclist
1981 – Colin O’Donoghue, Irish actor
1982 – Reggie Hodges, American football player
1983 – Petri Oravainen, Finnish footballer
1983 – Eric Werner, American ice hockey player
1984 – Ryan Hoffman, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Iain Turner, Scottish footballer
1984 – Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer
1985 – Heather Stanning, English rower
1986 – Gerald Green, American basketball player
1986 – Kim Jae-joong, South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, director and designer.
1986 – Mustapha Yatabaré, French-Malian footballer
1987 – Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer
1988 – Dimitrios Chondrokoukis, Greek high jumper
1989 – MarShon Brooks, American basketball player
1989 – Emily Hughes, American figure skater
1990 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican race car driver
1990 – Peter Sagan, Slovak professional cyclist
1990 – Nina Zander, German tennis player
1991 – Tom Meechan, English footballer
1992 – Sasha Banks, American professional wrestler
1993 – Lana Clelland, Scottish footballer
1993 – Florian Thauvin, French footballer
1995 – Sione Katoa, New Zealand rugby league player
1997 – Gedion Zelalem, German-born American soccer player
2001 – Latalia Bevan, Welsh artistic gymnast

Deaths on January 26

724 – Yazid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 687)
738 – John of Dailam, Syrian monk and saint (b. 660)
910 – Luo Yin, Chinese statesman and poet
946 – Eadgyth, Queen consort of Germany (b.c 910)
1186 – Ismat ad-Din Khatun, wife of Saladin
1390 – Adolph IX, Count of Holstein-Kiel (b.c 1327)
1567 – Nicholas Wotton, English courtier and diplomat (b. 1497)
1568 – Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (b. 1540)
1620 – Amar Singh I, ruler of Mewar (b. 1559)
1630 – Henry Briggs, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1556)
1636 – Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552)
1641 – Lawrence Hyde, English lawyer (b. 1562)
1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and theorist (b. 1640)
1744 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683)
1750 – Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1686)
1779 – Thomas Hudson, English painter (b. 1701)
1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German harpsichord player and composer (b. 1732)
1799 – Gabriel Christie, Scottish general (b. 1722)
1823 – Edward Jenner, English physician and immunologist (b. 1749)
1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer (b. 1791)
1831 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian soldier (b. 1798)
1831 – Anton Delvig, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1798)
1849 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (b. 1803)
1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (b. 1808)
1860 – Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, opera singer (b. 1804)
1869 – Duncan Gordon Boyes, English soldier; Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1846)
1870 – Victor de Broglie, French politician, 9th Prime Minister of France (b. 1785)
1885 – Edward Davy, English-Australian physician and engineer (b. 1806)
1885 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (b. 1833)
1886 – David Rice Atchison, American general and politician (b. 1807)
1887 – Anandi Gopal Joshi, One of the first female Indian physicians (b. 1865)
1891 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer, invented the Internal combustion engine (b. 1833)
1893 – Abner Doubleday, American general (b. 1819)
1895 – Arthur Cayley, English mathematician and academic (b. 1825)
1904 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman (b. 1846)
1926 – John Flannagan, American priest and academic (b. 1860)
1932 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded the Wrigley Company (b. 1861)
1942 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1868)
1943 – Harry H. Laughlin, American sociologist and eugenicist (b. 1880)
1943 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist and geneticist (b. 1887)
1946 – Oskar Kallas, Estonian linguist and diplomat (b. 1868)
1946 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer and academic (b. 1884)
1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (b. 1898)
1948 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1882)
1948 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1876)
1948 – John Lomax, American musicologist and academic (b. 1867)
1952 – Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Mongolian general and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1895)
1953 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
1957 – Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)
1962 – Lucky Luciano, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897)
1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American publisher (b. 1883)
1973 – Edward G. Robinson, Romanian-American actor (b. 1893)
1975 – Donald Sheldon, American bush pilot (b. 1921)
1976 – João Branco Núncio, Portuguese bullfighter (b. 1901)
1977 – Filopimin Finos, Greek production manager and producer, founded Finos Film (b. 1908)
1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
1980 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (b. 1922)
1983 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
1985 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1914)
1990 – Bob Gerard, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1914)
1990 – Lewis Mumford, American sociologist and historian (b. 1895)
1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor (b. 1912)
1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch businessman and humanitarian (b. 1905)
1993 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (b. 1912)
1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (b. 1922)
1996 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1921)
1996 – Harold Brodkey, American author and academic (b. 1930)
1996 – Frank Howard, American football player and coach (b. 1909)
1996 – Henry Lewis, American bassist and conductor (b. 1932)
1997 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer and psychic (b. 1904)
2000 – Don Budge, American tennis player and coach (b. 1915)
2000 – Kathleen Hale, English author and illustrator (b. 1898)
2000 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (b. 1912)
2001 – Al McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (b. 1942)
2003 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian and academic (b. 1917)
2003 – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Scottish banker and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1931)
2004 – Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
2006 – Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani politician (b. 1917)
2007 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
2008 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and designer (b. 1906)
2010 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist and essayist (b. 1917)
2011 – David Kato Kisule, Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda’s gay rights movement (b. 1964)
2011 – Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1927)
2012 – Roberto Mieres, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1924)
2013 – Christine M. Jones, American educator and politician (b. 1929)
2013 – Stefan Kudelski, Polish-Swiss engineer, invented the Nagra (b. 1929)
2013 – Padma Kant Shukla, Indian physicist and academic (b. 1950)
2013 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, Japanese author (b. 1920)
2014 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (b. 1933)
2014 – Paula Gruden, Slovenian-Australian poet and translator (b. 1921)
2014 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (b. 1939)
2014 – Ralph T. Troy, American banker and politician (b. 1935)
2015 – Cleven “Goodie” Goudeau, American art director and cartoonist (b. 1932)
2015 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier and politician (b. 1921)
2016 – Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 14th Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
2016 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (b. 1921)
2017 – Mike Connors, American actor (b. 1925)
2017 – Tam Dalyell, Scottish politician (b. 1932)
2017 – Lindy Delapenha, Jamaican footballer and sports journalist (b. 1927)
2017 – Barbara Hale, American actress (b. 1922)
2020 – John Altobelli, American college baseball coach (b. 1963)
2020 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (b. 1978)

Holidays and observances on January 26

Christian feast day:
- Alberic
- Founders of Cîteaux (Alberic of Cîteaux, Robert of Molesme, Stephen Harding)
- Blessed Gabriele Allegra
- Paula
- Timothy and Titus
- January 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Australia Day (Australia)
Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)
Engineer’s Day (Panama)
International Customs Day
Liberation Day (Uganda)
Republic Day (India)

January 26 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

AD 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to overthrow of the dynasty.
1348 – A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.
1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
1515 – Coronation of Francis I of France takes place at Reims Cathedral, where the new monarch is anointed with the oil of Clovis and girt with the sword of Charlemagne.
1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
1554 – São Paulo, Brazil, is founded by Jesuit priests.
1573 – Battle of Mikatagahara: In Japan, Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
1575 – Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.
1704 – The Battle of Ayubale results in the destruction of most of the Spanish missions in Florida.
1755 – Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.
1765 – Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands near the southern tip of South America, is founded.
1787 – Shays’s Rebellion: The rebellion’s largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.
1791 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.
1792 – The London Corresponding Society is founded.
1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional.
1879 – The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
1909 – Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.
1918 – The Ukrainian People’s Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia.
1924 – The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins the defense of Harbin.
1937 – The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until September 18, 2009.
1941 – Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
1942 – World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.
1946 – The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
1946 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 1 relating to Military Staff Committee is adopted.
1947 – Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a “Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device”, the first ever electronic game.
1949 – The first Emmy Awards are presented; the venue is the Hollywood Athletic Club.
1960 – The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the “payola” scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.
1961 – In Washington, D.C., President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
1961 – 101 Dalmatians premiered from Walt Disney Productions.
1964 – Blue Ribbon Sports, which would later become Nike, is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes.
1969 – Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.
1971 – Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders.
1971 – Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda’s president.
1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.
1980 – Mother Teresa is honored with India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
1986 – The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
1993 – Five people are shot outside the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.
1994 – The spacecraft Clementine by BMDO and NASA is launched.
1995 – The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the U.S.A.
1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
1998 – A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka’s Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.
1999 – A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.
2005 – A stampede at the Mandhradevi temple in Maharashtra, India kills at least 258.
2006 – Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.
2010 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Na’ameh, Lebanon, killing 90.
2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes.
2013 – At least 50 people are killed and 120 people are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
2015 – A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines killing 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
2019 – A mining company’s dam collapses in Brumadinho, Brazil, a south-eastern city, killing at least 7 people and leaving 200 missing.

Births on January 25

750 – Leo IV the Khazar, Byzantine emperor (d. 780)
1408 – Katharina of Hanau, German countess regent (d. 1460)
1459 – Paul Hofhaimer, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1537)
1477 – Anne of Brittany (probable;d. 1514)
1509 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (d. 1580)
1526 – Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1586)
1615 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (d. 1660)
1618 – Nicolaes Visscher I, Dutch engraver and cartographer (d. 1679)
1627 – Robert Boyle, Irish-English chemist and physicist (d. 1691)
1634 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch politician and diplomat (d. 1688)
1635 – Daniel Casper von Lohenstein, German writer, diplomat and lawyer (d. 1683)
1640 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and politician, Lord Steward of the Household (d. 1707)
1736 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian-French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1813)
1739 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1823)
1743 – Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, German philosopher and author (d. 1819)
1750 – Johann Gottfried Vierling, German organist and composer (d. 1813)
1755 – Paolo Mascagni, Italian physician and anatomist (probable;d. 1815)
1759 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet and songwriter (d. 1796)
1783 – William Colgate, English-American businessman and philanthropist, founded Colgate-Palmolive (d. 1857)
1794 – François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist, physician, physiologist, and lawyer (d. 1878)
1796 – William MacGillivray, Scottish ornithologist and biologist (d. 1852)
1813 – J. Marion Sims, American gynecologist and physician (d. 1883)
1816 – Anna Gardner, American abolitionist and teacher (d. 1901)
1822 – Charles Reed Bishop, American businessman, philanthropist, and politician, founded the Bishop Museum (d. 1915)
1822 – William McDougall, Canadian lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories (d. 1905)
1823 – José María Iglesias, Mexican politician and interim President (1876–1877) (d. 1891)
1824 – Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1873)
1841 – John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher, English admiral (d. 1920)
1858 – Mikimoto Kōkichi, Japanese businessman (d. 1954)
1860 – Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States (d. 1936)
1864 – Julije Kempf, Croatian historian and author (d. 1934)
1868 – Juventino Rosas, Mexican violinist and composer (d. 1894)
1874 – W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist, and short story writer (d. 1965)
1878 – Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-American engineer (d. 1975)
1882 – Virginia Woolf, English novelist, essayist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1941)
1885 – Kitahara Hakushū, Japanese poet and author (d. 1942)
1886 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor and composer (d. 1954)
1895 – Florence Mills, American singer, dancer, and actress (d. 1927)
1899 – Sleepy John Estes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1977)
1899 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian lawyer and politician, 46th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1972)
1900 – István Fekete, Hungarian author (d. 1970)
1900 – Yōjirō Ishizaka, Japanese author and educator (d. 1986)
1900 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist and pioneer of evolutionary biology (d. 1975)
1901 – Martín de Álzaga, Argentinian race car driver and pilot (d. 1982)
1901 – Mildred Dunnock, American actress (d. 1991)
1905 – Maurice Roy, Canadian cardinal (d. 1985)
1905 – Margery Sharp, English author and educator (d. 1991)
1906 – Toni Ulmen, German race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 1976)
1908 – Hsieh Tung-min, Taiwanese politicians and Vice President of the Republic of China (d. 2001)
1910 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian, author, and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (d. 1984)
1913 – Huang Hua, Chinese translator and politician, 5th Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China (d. 2010)
1913 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer and conductor (d. 1994)
1913 – Luis Marden, American photographer and journalist (d. 2003)
1914 – William Strickland, American conductor and organist (d. 1991)
1915 – Ewan MacColl, English singer-songwriter, actor and producer (d. 1989)
1916 – Pop Ivy, American football player and coach (d. 2003)
1917 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
1917 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 22nd President of Brazil (d. 1992)
1919 – Edwin Newman, American journalist and author (d. 2010)
1921 – Samuel T. Cohen, American physicist and academic (d. 2010)
1921 – Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (d. 2005)
1922 – Raymond Baxter, English television host and pilot (d. 2006)
1923 – Arvid Carlsson, Swedish pharmacologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
1923 – Shirley Ardell Mason, American psychiatric patient (d. 1998)
1923 – Sally Starr, American actress and television host (d. 2013)
1923 – Jean Taittinger, French politician, French Minister of Justice (d. 2012)
1924 – Lou Groza, American football player and coach (d. 2000)
1924 – Husein Mehmedov, Bulgarian-Turkish wrestler and coach (d. 2014)
1924 – Speedy West, American guitarist and producer (d. 2003)
1925 – Gordy Soltau, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2014)
1925 – Giorgos Zampetas, Greek bouzouki player and songwriter (d. 1992)
1926 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010)
1927 – Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1994)
1928 – Jérôme Choquette, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1928 – Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian general and politician, 2nd President of Georgia (d. 2014)
1928 – Cor van der Hart, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2006)
1929 – Elizabeth Allen, American actress and singer (d. 2006)
1929 – Robert Faurisson, English-French author and academic (d. 2018)
1929 – Benny Golson, American saxophonist and composer
1930 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian child diarist (d. 1944)
1931 – Dean Jones, American actor and singer (d. 2015)
1933 – Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines (d. 2009)
1935 – Conrad Burns, American soldier, journalist, and politician (d. 2016)
1935 – António Ramalho Eanes, Portuguese general and politician, 16th President of Portugal
1936 – Diana Hyland, American actress (d. 1977)
1936 – Onat Kutlar, Turkish author and poet (d. 1995)
1937 – Ange-Félix Patassé, Central African engineer and politician, President of the Central African Republic (d. 2011)
1938 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 1998)
1938 – Etta James, American singer (d. 2012)
1938 – Leiji Matsumoto, Japanese author, illustrator, and animator
1938 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (d. 1980)
1941 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1942 – Carl Eller, American football player and sportscaster
1942 – Eusébio, Mozambican-Portuguese footballer (d. 2014)
1943 – Tobe Hooper, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1945 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
1945 – Dave Walker, English singer and guitarist
1946 – Doc Bundy, American race car driver and technician
1947 – Ángel Nieto, Spanish motorcycle racer (d. 2017)
1947 – Tostão, Brazilian footballer, journalist, and physician
1948 – Ros Kelly, Australian educator and politician, 1st Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel
1948 – Georgy Shishkin, Russian painter and illustrator
1949 – John Cooper Clarke, English poet and critic
1949 – Paul Nurse, English geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Gloria Naylor, American novelist (d. 2016)
1951 – Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975)
1952 – Peter Tatchell, Australian-English journalist and activist
1952 – Timothy White, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2002)
1954 – Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer and manager
1954 – Kay Cottee, Australian sailor
1954 – Renate Dorrestein, Dutch journalist and author (d. 2018)
1956 – Andy Cox, English guitarist
1956 – Dinah Manoff, American actress
1957 – Eskil Erlandsson, Swedish technologist and politician, Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs
1957 – Andrew Harris, American politician
1957 – Jenifer Lewis, American actress and singer
1958 – Franco Pancheri, Italian footballer and manager
1961 – Vivian Balakrishnan, Singaporean ophthalmologist and politician, Singaporean Ministry of National Development
1962 – Chris Chelios, American ice hockey player and manager
1963 – Fernando Haddad, Brazilian academic and politician, 61st Mayor of São Paulo
1963 – Molly Holzschlag, American computer scientist and author
1964 – Billy Andrade, American golfer
1964 – Stephen Pate, Australian cyclist
1965 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
1966 – Chet Culver, American educator and politician, 41st Governor of Iowa
1966 – Yiannos Ioannou, Cypriot footballer and manager
1967 – Nelson Asaytono, Filipino basketball player
1967 – David Ginola, French footballer, forward
1967 – Randy McKay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Eric Orie, Dutch footballer and manager
1969 – Sergei Ovchinnikov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2012)
1970 – Stephen Chbosky, American author, screenwriter, and director
1970 – Chris Mills, American basketball player
1970 – Milt Stegall, American football player and sportscaster
1971 – Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
1971 – Philip Coppens, Belgian journalist and author (d. 2012)
1971 – Ana Ortiz, American actress
1972 – Shinji Takehara, Japanese boxer
1973 – Geoff Johns, American author, screenwriter, and producer
1974 – Robert Budreau, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Emily Haines, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1974 – Attilio Nicodemo, Italian footballer
1975 – Duncan Jupp, Anglo-Scottish footballer, defender
1975 – Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress
1976 – Stephanie Bellars, American wrestler and manager
1976 – Mário Haberfeld, Brazilian race car driver
1976 – Dimitris Nalitzis, Greek footballer
1977 – Michael Brown, English footballer, midfielder, manager and pundit
1978 – Ahmet Dursun, Turkish footballer
1978 – Denis Menchov, Russian cyclist
1978 – Derrick Turnbow, American baseball player
1979 – Rodrigo Ribeiro, Brazilian race car driver
1980 – Alayna Burns, Australian track cyclist
1980 – Xavi, Spanish footballer
1981 – Francis Jeffers, English footballer
1981 – Alicia Keys, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress
1981 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007)
1984 – Stefan Kießling, German footballer
1984 – Robinho, Brazilian footballer
1984 – Fara Williams, English footballer
1985 – Brent Celek, American football player
1985 – Patrick Willis, American football player
1985 – Hwang Jung-eum, South Korean actress
1986 – Chris O’Grady, English footballer
1987 – Maria Kirilenko, Russian tennis player
1988 – Tatiana Golovin, French tennis player
1988 – Ryota Ozawa, Japanese actor
1990 – Apostolos Giannou, Greek-Australian footballer
1990 – Lee Jun-ho, South Korean singer and actor (2PM)
1991 – Nigel Melker, Dutch race car driver

Deaths onJanuary 25

390 – Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 329)
477 – Gaiseric, king of the Vandals (b. 389)
750 – Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, Umayyad caliph
844 – Pope Gregory IV (b. 795)
863 – Charles of Provence, Frankish king (b. 845)
951 – Ma Xiguang, ruler of Chu (Ten Kingdoms)
1003 – Lothair I, Margrave of the Nordmark
1067 – Emperor Yingzong of Song (b. 1032)
1138 – Antipope Anacletus II
1139 – Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VI)
1366 – Henry Suso, German priest and mystic (b. 1300)
1413 – Maud de Ufford, Countess of Oxford (b. 1345)
1431 – Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364)
1492 – Ygo Gales Galama, Frisian warlord and rebel (b. 1443)
1494 – Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
1559 – Christian II of Denmark (b. 1481)
1578 – Mihrimah Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1522)
1586 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515)
1640 – Robert Burton, English physician and scholar (b. 1577)
1670 – Nicholas Francis, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612)
1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
1733 – Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1652)
1751 – Paul Dudley, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1675)
1852 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1778)
1872 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (b. 1817)
1881 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect, designed the Grand Kremlin Palace and Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (b. 1794)
1884 – Périclès Pantazis, Greek-Belgian painter (b. 1849)
1891 – Theo van Gogh, Art dealer, the brother of Vincent van Gogh (b. 1857)
1900 – Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, German Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1835)
1907 – René Pottier, French cyclist (b. 1879)
1908 – Ouida, English-Italian author (b. 1839)
1908 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player and theoretician (b. 1850)
1910 – W. G. Read Mullan, American Jesuit and academic (1860)
1912 – Dmitry Milyutin, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1816)
1925 – Juan Vucetich, Croatian-Argentinian anthropologist and police officer (b. 1858)
1939 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, Scottish soldier and bagpipe player (b. 1870)
1947 – Al Capone, American gangster and mob boss (b. 1899)
1949 – Makino Nobuaki, Japanese politician, 15th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1861)
1957 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman, founded Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (b. 1873)
1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871)
1958 – Cemil Topuzlu, Turkish surgeon and politician, Mayor of Istanbul (b. 1866)
1958 – Robert R. Young, American businessman and financier (b. 1897)
1960 – Diana Barrymore, American actress (b. 1921)
1966 – Saul Adler, Belarusian-English microbiologist and parasitologist (b. 1895)
1968 – Louie Myfanwy Thomas, Welsh writer (b. 1908)
1970 – Jane Bathori, French soprano (b. 1877)
1970 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese director and producer (b. 1901)
1971 – Barry III, Guinean lawyer and politician (b. 1923)
1972 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (b. 1892)
1975 – Charlotte Whitton, Canadian journalist and politician, 46th Mayor of Ottawa (b. 1896)
1978 – Skender Kulenović, Bosnian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1910)
1981 – Adele Astaire, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1896)
1982 – Mikhail Suslov, Russian economist and politician (b. 1902)
1985 – Ilias Iliou, Greek jurist and politician (b. 1904)
1987 – Frank J. Lynch, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1922)
1988 – Colleen Moore, American actress (b. 1899)
1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
1991 – Frank Soo, English footballer and manager (b. 1914)
1992 – Mir Khalil ur Rehman, Founder and editor of the Jang Group of Newspapers (b. 1927)
1994 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician, computer scientist, and academic (b. 1909)
1996 – Jonathan Larson, American playwright and composer (b. 1960)
1997 – Dan Barry, American author and illustrator (b. 1923)
1999 – Sarah Louise Delany, American author and educator (b. 1889)
1999 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
2001 – Alice Ambrose, American philosopher and logician (b. 1906)
2002 – Cliff Baxter, employee at Enron (b. 1958)
2003 – Sheldon Reynolds, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
2003 – Samuel Weems, American lawyer and author (b. 1936)
2004 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch runner and hurdler (b. 1918)
2004 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
2005 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923)
2005 – William Augustus Bootle, American lawyer and judge (b. 1902)
2005 – Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the PPG Place and Crystal Cathedral (b. 1906)
2005 – Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean author and poet (b. 1907)
2005 – Netti Witziers-Timmer, Dutch runner (b. 1923)
2009 – Eleanor F. Helin, American astronomer (b. 1932)
2009 – Ewald Kooiman, Dutch organist and educator (b. 1938)
2009 – Kim Manners, American director and producer (b. 1951)
2010 – Ali Hassan al-Majid, Iraqi general and politician, Iraqi Minister of Defence (b. 1941)
2011 – Vassilis C. Constantakopoulos Greek captain and businessman (b. 1935)
2011 – Vincent Cronin, Welsh historian and author (b. 1924)
2012 – Paavo Berglund, Finnish violinist and conductor (b. 1929)
2012 – Jacques Maisonrouge, French businessman (b. 1924)
2012 – Franco Pacini, Italian astrophysicist and academic (b. 1939)
2012 – Robert Sheran, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916)
2013 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1924)
2013 – Kevin Heffernan, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1929)
2013 – Aase Nordmo Løvberg, Norwegian soprano and actress (b. 1923)
2014 – Arthur Doyle, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and flute player (b. 1944)
2014 – Heini Halberstam, Czech-English mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
2014 – Dave Strack, American basketball player and coach (b. 1923)
2015 – John Leggett, American author and academic (b. 1917)
2015 – Richard McBrien, American priest, theologian, and academic (b. 1936)
2015 – Bill Monbouquette, American baseball player and coach (b. 1936)
2015 – Demis Roussos, Egyptian-Greek singer (b. 1946)
2017 – Stephen P. Cohen, Canadian academic (b. 1945)
2017 – Robert Garcia, American politician (b. 1933)
2017 – John Hurt, English actor (b. 1940)
2017 – Harry Mathews, American novelist and poet (b. 1930)
2017 – Marcel Prud’homme, Canadian politician (b. 1934)
2017 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress, dancer, and producer (b. 1936)
2018 – Neagu Djuvara, Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist and diplomat (b. 1916)

Holidays and observances on January 25

Burns Night (Scotland and Scottish community)
Christian feast day:
- Dydd Santes Dwynwen (Wales)
- Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, which concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)
- Gregory the Theologian (Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church)
- The last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (Christian ecumenism)
- January 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which the first day of Carnival of Cádiz can fall, while February 28 is the latest; celebrated two Sundays before Ash Wednesday until Ash Wednesday (Cádiz)
Earliest day on which the Liberation of Auschwitz Memorial can fall, while January 31 is the latest; observed on the last Sunday in January (Netherlands)
National Nutrition Day (Indonesia)
National Police Day (Egypt)
National Voters’ Day (India)
Revolution Day 2011 (Egypt)
Tatiana Day or Russian Students Day (Russia, Eastern Orthodox)

January 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (Caesar) by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing.
1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.
1517 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Egypt at the Battle of Ridaniya.
1555 – The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now Myanmar.
1689 – The Convention Parliament convenes to determine whether James II and VII, the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland, had vacated the thrones of England and Ireland when he fled to France in 1688.
1808 – The Portuguese royal family arrives in Brazil after fleeing the French army’s invasion of Portugal two months earlier.
1824 – The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.
1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.
1863 – The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.
1879 – The Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War results in a British defeat.
1879 – The Battle of Rorke’s Drift, also during the Anglo-Zulu War and just some 15 km away from Isandlwana, results in a British victory.
1889 – Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, D.C.
1890 – The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1901 – Edward VII is proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
1905 – Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg, beginning of the 1905 revolution.
1906 – SS Valencia runs aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing more than 130.
1915 – Over 600 people are killed in Guadalajara, Mexico, when a train plunges off the tracks into a deep canyon.
1917 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for “peace without victory” in Europe.
1919 – Act Zluky is signed, unifying the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic.
1924 – Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1927 – Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.
1941 – World War II: British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during Operation Compass.
1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna–Gona.
1944 – World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy.
1946 – In Iran, Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people’s Republic of Mahabad at Chahar Cheragh Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad; he becomes the new president and Haji Baba Sheikh becomes the prime minister.
1946 – Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
1947 – KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood.
1957 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.
1957 – The New York City “Mad Bomber”, George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
1963 – The Élysée Treaty of cooperation between France and Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.
1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.
1968 – Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.
1970 – The Boeing 747, the world’s first “jumbo jet”, enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.
1971 – The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.
1973 – The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.
1973 – The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo moon landing mission.
1973 – A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.
1973 – In a bout for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before the fight is stopped by referee Arthur Mercante.
1984 – The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during a Super Bowl XVIII television commercial.
1987 – Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000–15,000 demonstrators at Malacañang Palace, Manila, killing 13.
1992 – Rebel forces occupy Zaire’s national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government’s resignation.
1992 – Space Shuttle program: the space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space.
1995 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid massacre: In central Israel, near Netanya, two Gazans blow themselves up at a military transit point, killing 19 Israelis.
1998 – Space Shuttle program: space shuttle Endeavor launches on STS-89 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
1999 – Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.
2002 – Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
2006 – Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country’s first indigenous president.
2007 – At least 88 people are killed when two car bombs explode in the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, Iraq.
2015 – An explosion near a civilian trolley-bus in Donetsk kills at least thirteen people.

Births on January 22

826 – Emperor Montoku of Japan (d. 858)
1263 – Ibn Taymiyyah, Syrian scholar and theologian (d. 1328)
1440 – Ivan III of Russia (d. 1505)
1522 – Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans, (d. 1545)
1552 – Walter Raleigh, English poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer (d. 1618)
1561 – Francis Bacon, English philosopher and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1626)
1570 – Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English historian and politician, founded the Cotton library (d. 1631)
1573 – John Donne, English poet and cleric in the Church of England, wrote the Holy Sonnets (d. 1631)
1592 – Pierre Gassendi, French mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1655)
1645 – William Kidd, Scottish sailor and pirate hunter (probable; d. 1701)
1654 – Richard Blackmore, English physician and poet (d. 1729)
1690 – Nicolas Lancret, French painter (d. 1743)
1729 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher and author (d. 1781)
1733 – Philip Carteret, English admiral and explorer (d. 1796)
1740 – Noah Phelps, American soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 1809)
1781 – François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor (d. 1849)
1788 – Lord Byron, English poet and playwright (d. 1824)
1792 – Lady Lucy Whitmore, English noblewoman, hymn writer (d. 1840)
1796 – Karl Ernst Claus, Estonian-Russian chemist, botanist, and academic (d. 1864)
1797 – Maria Leopoldina of Austria (d. 1826)
1799 – Ludger Duvernay, Canadian journalist, publisher, and politician (d. 1852)
1802 – Richard Upjohn, English-American architect (d. 1878)
1828 – Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer (d. 1914)
1831 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1917)
1840 – Ernest Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
1849 – August Strindberg, Swedish novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 1912)
1858 – Beatrice Webb, English sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
1861 – George Fuller, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
1865 – Wilbur Scoville, American chemist and pharmacist (d. 1942)
1867 – Gisela Januszewska, Jewish-Austrian physician (d. 1943)
1869 – José Vicente de Freitas, Portuguese colonel and politician, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1952)
1874 – Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
1874 – Jay Hughes, American baseball player and coach (d. 1924)
1875 – D. W. Griffith, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1948)
1877 – Tom Jones, American baseball player and manager (d. 1923)
1879 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (d. 1953)
1880 – Bill O’Neill, Canadian-American baseball player (d. 1920)
1880 – Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1956)
1881 – Ira Thomas, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958)
1886 – John J. Becker, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1961)
1887 – Helen Hoyt, American poet and author (d. 1972)
1889 – Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (d. 1935)
1889 – Amos Strunk, American baseball player and manager (d. 1979)
1890 – Fred M. Vinson, American judge and politician, 13th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1953)
1891 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher and politician (d. 1937)
1892 – Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (d. 1986)
1893 – Conrad Veidt, German-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1943)
1897 – Rosa Ponselle, American operatic soprano (d. 1981)
1897 – Dilipkumar Roy, a Bengali Indian musician, musicologist, novelist, poet and essayist. (d. 1980)
1898 – Ross Barnett, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Mississippi (d. 1987)
1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1948)
1898 – Denise Legeay, French actress (d. 1968)
1899 – Martti Haavio, Finnish poet and mythologist (d. 1973)
1900 – Ernst Busch, German actor and singer (d. 1980)
1902 – Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler, coach, and academic (d. 1970)
1903 – Fritz Houtermans, Polish-German physicist and academic (d. 1966)
1904 – George Balanchine, Georgian-American dancer, choreographer, and director, co-founded the New York City Ballet (d. 1983)
1904 – Arkady Gaidar, Russian journalist and author (d. 1941)
1905 – Willy Hartner, German physicist, historian, and academic (d. 1981)
1906 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (d. 1936)
1907 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot and engineer (d. 1995)
1907 – Dixie Dean, English footballer (d. 1980)
1908 – Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
1908 – Prince Oana, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
1909 – Martha Norelius, Swedish-born American swimmer (d. 1955)
1909 – Porfirio Rubirosa, Dominican racing driver, polo player, and diplomat (d. 1965)
1909 – Ann Sothern, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1909 – U Thant, Burmese educator and diplomat, 3rd United Nations Secretary-General (d. 1974)
1911 – Bruno Kreisky, Austrian lawyer and politician, 22nd Chancellor of Austria (d. 1990)
1913 – Henry Bauchau, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (d. 2012)
1913 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (d. 1977)
1913 – Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (d. 2003)
1914 – Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek violinist and composer (d. 2001)
1915 – Heinrich Albertz, German theologian and politician, Mayor of Berlin (d. 1993)
1916 – Bill Durnan, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1972)
1916 – Henri Dutilleux, French pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2013)
1916 – Harilal Upadhyay, Indian author, poet, and astrologist (d. 1994)
1918 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
1919 – Diomedes Olivo, Dominican baseball player and scout (d. 1977)
1920 – Irving Kristol, American journalist, author, and academic, founded The National Interest (d. 2009)
1920 – Alf Ramsey, English footballer and coach (d. 1999)
1922 – Howard Moss, American poet, playwright and critic (d. 1987)
1923 – Diana Douglas, British-American actress (d. 2015)
1924 – J. J. Johnson, American trombonist and composer (d. 2001)
1924 – Ján Chryzostom Korec, Slovak cardinal (d. 2015)
1924 – Charles Lisanby, American production designer and art director (d. 2013)
1925 – Johnny Bucha, American baseball player (d. 1996)
1925 – Bobby Young, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1927 – Lou Creekmur, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1927 – Joe Perry, American footballer (d. 2011)
1928 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historian, author, and academic (d. 2004)
1929 – Petr Eben, Czech composer, organist and choirmaster (d. 2007)
1930 – Mariví Bilbao, Spanish actress (d. 2013)
1930 – Éamon de Buitléar, Irish accordion player and director (d. 2013)
1931 – Sam Cooke, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964)
1931 – Galina Zybina, Russian shot putter and javelin thrower
1932 – Berthold Grünfeld, Norwegian psychiatrist and academic (d. 2007)
1932 – Piper Laurie, American actress
1932 – Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives
1933 – Yuri Chesnokov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2010)
1934 – Vijay Anand, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1934 – Bill Bixby, American actor and director (d. 1993)
1934 – Graham Kerr, English chef and author
1935 – Alexander Men, Russian priest and scholar (d. 1990)
1936 – Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (d. 2002)
1936 – Alan J. Heeger, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Edén Pastora, Nicaraguan politician
1937 – Joseph Wambaugh, American police officer and author
1938 – Peter Beard, Australian photographer and author (d. 2020)
1938 – Joe Esposito, American author (d. 2016)
1938 – Altair Gomes de Figueiredo, Brazilian footballer
1939 – Jørgen Garde, Danish admiral (d. 1996)
1939 – Alfredo Palacio, Ecuadoran physician and politician, President of Ecuador
1939 – Luigi Simoni, Italian footballer and manager
1939 – J. C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player and scout (d. 1994)
1940 – John Hurt, English actor (d. 2017)
1940 – George Seifert, American football player and coach
1940 – Gillian Shephard, English educator and politician, Secretary of State for Education
1941 – Jaan Kaplinski, Estonian poet, philosopher, and critic
1942 – Mimis Domazos, Greek footballer
1943 – Michael Spicer, English journalist and politician (d. 2019)
1944 – Khosrow Golsorkhi, Iranian journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1974)
1944 – Uto Ughi, Italian violinist and conductor
1945 – Jophery Brown, American baseball player, actor, and stuntman (d. 2014)
1945 – Jean-Pierre Nicolas, French racing driver and manager
1945 – Christoph Schönborn, Austrian cardinal
1945 – Alojz Uran, Slovenian archbishop
1946 – Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter and manager (d. 2010)
1946 – Serge Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1947 – Vladimir Oravsky, Czech-Swedish author and director
1948 – Gilbert Levine, American conductor and academic
1949 – Mike Caldwell, American baseball player and coach
1949 – J.P. Pennington, American country-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Steve Perry, American singer-songwriter and producer
1950 – Paul Bew, Northern Irish historian and academic
1950 – Frank Schade, American basketball player and coach
1951 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater and coach (d. 1989)
1951 – Leon Roberts, American baseball player and manager
1952 – Ramón Avilés, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1953 – Winfried Berkemeier, German footballer and manager
1953 – Myung-whun Chung, South Korean pianist and conductor
1953 – Jim Jarmusch, American director and screenwriter
1955 – Thomas David Jones, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
1955 – Timothy R. Ferguson, American politician
1956 – Steve Riley, American drummer
1957 – Mike Bossy, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1957 – Brian Dayett, American baseball player and manager
1957 – Godfrey Thoma, Nauruan politician
1957 – Francis Wheen, English journalist and author
1958 – Nikos Anastopoulos, Greek footballer and manager
1958 – Filiz Koçali, Turkish journalist and politician
1959 – Linda Blair, American actress
1960 – Michael Hutchence, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
1961 – Quintin Dailey, American basketball player (d. 2010)
1961 – Daniel Johnston, American musician
1962 – Jimmy Herring, American guitarist
1962 – Huw Irranca-Davies, Welsh lawyer and politician
1962 – Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
1964 – Nigel Benn, English-Australian boxer
1964 – Stojko Vranković, Croatian basketball player
1965 – Steven Adler, American rock drummer
1965 – DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ and producer
1965 – Diane Lane, American actress
1965 – Andrew Roachford, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1966 – Craig Salvatori, Australian rugby league player and coach
1967 – Nick Gillingham, English swimmer
1968 – Guy Fieri, American chef, author, and television host
1968 – Heath, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
1968 – Frank Leboeuf, French footballer, sportscaster, and actor
1968 – Mauricio Serna, Colombian footballer
1969 – Olivia d’Abo, English-American singer-songwriter and actress
1969 – Keith Gordon, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Jason Lowrie, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
1970 – Abraham Olano, Spanish cyclist
1971 – Stan Collymore, English footballer and sportscaster
1972 – Terry Hill, Australian rugby league player and coach
1973 – Rogério Ceni, Brazilian footballer
1974 – Cameron McConville, Australian racing driver and sportscaster
1974 – Joseph Muscat, Maltese journalist and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Malta
1976 – Jimmy Anderson, American baseball player and coach
1976 – James Dearth, American football player
1977 – Mario Domm, Mexican singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1977 – Anna Linkova, Russian tennis player
1977 – Hidetoshi Nakata, Japanese footballer
1977 – Luciano Andrade Rissutt, Brazilian footballer
1978 – Chone Figgins, American baseball player
1979 – Aidan Burley, New Zealand-English politician
1979 – Carlos Ruiz, Panamanian baseball player
1979 – Chor Boogie, American artist
1980 – Jonathan Woodgate, English footballer
1981 – Willa Ford, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1981 – Beverley Mitchell, American actress
1981 – Ben Moody, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1981 – Ibrahima Sonko, French footballer
1981 – Guy Wilks, English racing driver
1982 – Fabricio Coloccini, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Shaun Cody, American football player
1984 – Ben Eager, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Ubaldo Jiménez, Dominican baseball player
1984 – Leon Powe, American basketball player
1984 – Maceo Rigters, Dutch footballer
1985 – Fotios Papoulis, Greek footballer
1985 – Yan Xu, Singaporean table tennis player
1986 – Maher Magri, Tunisian footballer
1986 – Matt Simon, Australian footballer
1987 – Astrid Jacobsen, Norwegian skier
1987 – Shane Long, Irish footballer
1988 – Asher Allen, American football player
1988 – Greg Oden, American basketball player
1988 – Marcel Schmelzer, German footballer
1989 – Theo Robinson, English-Jamaican footballer
1990 – Alizé Cornet, French tennis player
1990 – Dean Whare, New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Logic, American rapper
1990 – Phil Wang, British-Malaysian comedian
1991 – Stefan Kolb, German footballer
1996 – Joshua Ho-Sang, Canadian ice hockey player
1998 – Silento, American rapper, singer and songwriter

Deaths on January 22

239 – Cao Rui, Chinese emperor (b. 205)
628 – Anastasius of Persia, monk
906 – He, empress of the Tang Dynasty
935 – Ma, empress of Southern Han
1051 – Ælfric Puttoc, archbishop of York
1170 – Wang Chongyang, Chinese Daoist and co-founder of the Quanzhen School (b. 1113)
1188 – Ferdinand II of León (b. 1137)
1341 – Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)
1517 – Hadım Sinan Pasha, Ottoman politician, 32nd Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. ?)
1536 – Bernhard Knipperdolling, German religious leader (b. 1495)
1536 – John of Leiden, Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden (b. 1509)
1552 – Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, English general and politician, Lord High Treasurer of England (b. 1500)
1560 – Wang Zhi, Chinese pirate
1575 – James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault (b. 1516)
1599 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1547)
1666 – Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor (b. 1592)
1750 – Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (b. 1675)
1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1690)
1767 – Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German meteorologist and geologist (b. 1719)
1779 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (b. 1733)
1779 – Claudius Smith, American guerrilla leader (b. 1736)
1798 – Lewis Morris, American judge and politician (b. 1726)
1840 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (b. 1752)
1850 – Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary and saint (b. 1795)
1879 – Anthony Durnford, Irish colonel (b. 1830)
1879 – Henry Pulleine, English colonel (b. 1838)
1892 – Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1813)
1900 – David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-invented the microphone (b. 1831)
1901 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (b. 1819)
1901 – Emil Erlenmeyer, German chemist and academic (b. 1825)
1921 – George Streeter, American captain and businessman (b. 1837)
1922 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1837)
1922 – Pope Benedict XV (b. 1854)
1922 – Camille Jordan, French mathematician and academic (b. 1838)
1925 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American geographer and mountain climber (b. 1859)
1927 – James Ford Rhodes, American historian and author (b. 1848)
1929 – R. C. Lehmann, English journalist, author, and politician (b. 1856)
1930 – Stephen Mather, American businessman and conservationist, co-founded the Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company (b. 1867)
1931 – László Batthyány-Strattmann, Hungarian physician and ophthalmologist (b. 1870)
1945 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and playwright (b. 1869)
1949 – William Thomas Walsh, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1891)
1950 – Alan Hale, Sr., American actor and director (b. 1892)
1951 – Lawson Robertson, Scottish-American sprinter and high jumper (b. 1883)
1955 – Jonni Myyrä, Finnish-American athlete (b. 1892)
1957 – Ralph Barton Perry, American philosopher and academic (b. 1876)
1959 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
1964 – Marc Blitzstein, American pianist and composer (b. 1905)
1966 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (b. 1890)
1968 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1890)
1971 – Harry Frank Guggenheim, American businessman and publisher, co-founded Newsday (b. 1890)
1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson, American lieutenant and politician, 36th President of the United States (b. 1908)
1975 – Andrew George Burry, Swiss-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1873)
1977 – Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel, Saudi Arabian diplomat (b. 1916)
1978 – Oliver Leese, English general (b. 1894)
1978 – Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1894)
1979 – Ali Hassan Salameh, Palestinian rebel leader (b. 1940)
1980 – Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian and academic (b. 1888)
1981 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and academic (b. 1903)
1982 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (b. 1911)
1985 – Arthur Bryant, English historian and journalist (b. 1899)
1987 – R. Budd Dwyer, American educator and politician, 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania (b. 1939)
1989 – S. Vithiananthan, Sri Lankan author and academic (b. 1924)
1991 – Robert Choquette, Canadian author, poet and diplomat (b. 1905)
1993 – Kōbō Abe, Japanese playwright and photographer (b. 1924)
1994 – Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor and director (b. 1910)
1994 – Telly Savalas, American actor (b. 1924)
1996 – Israel Eldad, Polish-Israeli philosopher and author (b. 1910)
1997 – Billy Mackenzie, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1957)
1999 – Graham Staines, Australian-Indian missionary and translator (b. 1941)
2000 – Craig Claiborne, American journalist, author, and critic (b. 1920)
2000 – Anne Hébert, Canadian author and poet (b. 1916)
2001 – Tommie Agee, American baseball player (b. 1942)
2001 – Roy Brown, American clown and puppeteer (b. 1932)
2003 – Bill Mauldin, American soldier and cartoonist (b. 1921)
2004 – Billy May, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1916)
2004 – Tom Mead, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1918)
2004 – Ann Miller, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1923)
2005 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1943)
2005 – Carlo Orelli, Italian soldier (b. 1894)
2005 – Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican pianist and songwriter (b. 1924)
2006 – Aydın Güven Gürkan, Turkish academic and politician, Turkish Minister of Labor and Social Security (b. 1941)
2007 – Ngô Quang Trưởng, Vietnamese general (b. 1929)
2007 – Abbé Pierre, French priest and activist (b. 1912)
2007 – Liz Renay, American actress, author and performer (b. 1926)
2008 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor and director (b. 1979)
2008 – Miles Lerman, Polish Holocaust survivor and activist (b. 1920)
2009 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (b. 1908)
2010 – Louis R. Harlan, American historian and author (b. 1922)
2010 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (b. 1929)
2012 – Simon Marsden, English photographer and author (b. 1948)
2012 – Joe Paterno, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
2012 – Clarence Tillenius, Canadian painter and environmentalist (b. 1913)
2012 – Dick Tufeld, American actor, announcer, narrator and voice actor (b. 1926)
2013 – Robert Bonnaud, French historian and academic (b. 1929)
2013 – Hinton Mitchem, American businessman and politician (b. 1938)
2014 – Maziar Partow, Iranian cinematographer (b. 1933)
2015 – Fabrizio de Miranda, Italian engineer and academic, co-designed the Rande Bridge (b. 1926)
2015 – Wendell H. Ford, American lieutenant and politician, 53rd Governor of Kentucky (b. 1924)
2015 – Margaret Bloy Graham, Canadian author and illustrator (b. 1920)
2016 – Homayoun Behzadi, Iranian footballer and coach (b. 1942)
2016 – Cecil Parkinson, English politician (b. 1931)
2016 – Lois Ramsey, Australian actress (b. 1922)
2016 – Kamer Genç, Turkish politician (b. 1940)
2017 – Masaya Nakamura, Japanese businessman (b. 1925)
2017 – Yordano Ventura, Dominican baseball player (b. 1991)
2018 – Ursula K. Le Guin, American sci-fi and fantasy novelist (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on January 22

Christian feast day:
- Anastasius of Persia
- Gaudentius of Novara
- László Batthyány-Strattmann
- Laura Vicuna
- Vincent Pallotti
- Vincent of Saragossa
- Vincent, Orontius, and Victor
- Blessed William Joseph Chaminade
- January 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Unity of Ukraine (Ukraine)
Grandfather’s Day (Poland)

January 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She’er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.
1511 – The Italian city-fortress of Mirandola surrenders to the French.
1520 – Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund and dies on February 3.
1607 – San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
1764 – John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
1764 – Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world’s first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Børglum Abbey.
1788 – The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
1795 – The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
1806 – Britain occupies the Dutch Cape Colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1817 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance.
1839 – The British East India Company captures Aden.
1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
1861 – American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
1871 – Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.
1899 – Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
1915 – German strategic bombing during World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United Kingdom killing at least 20 people, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
1917 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
1937 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
1940 – You Nazty Spy!, the first Hollywood film of any kind to satirize Adolf Hitler and the Nazis premieres, starring The Three Stooges, with Moe Howard as the character “Moe Hailstone” satirizing Hitler.
1941 – World War II: HMS Greyhound and other escorts of convoy AS-12 sink Italian submarine Neghelli with all hands 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Falkonera.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese conquest of Burma begins.
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.
1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
1953 – Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
1960 – Japan and the United States sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty
1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.
1974 – China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam
1977 – President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (a.k.a. “Tokyo Rose”).
1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.
1981 – Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
1983 – The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
1986 – The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter unauthorized copying of the software they had written.
1991 – Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
1993 – Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
1995 – After being struck by lightning the crew of Bristow Flight 56C are forced to ditch. All 18 aboard are later rescued.
1996 – The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
1997 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
2007 – Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper’s Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast.
2007 – Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.
2012 – The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI.
2014 – A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.

Births on January 19

399 – Pulcheria, Byzantine empress and saint (d. 453)
1200 – Dōgen Zenji, founder of Sōtō Zen (d. 1253)
1544 – Francis II of France (d. 1560)
1617 – Lucas Faydherbe, Flemish sculptor and architect (d. 1697)
1628 – Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, English noble (d. 1672)
1676 – John Weldon, English organist and composer (d. 1736)
1721 – Jean-Philippe Baratier, German scholar and author (d. 1740)
1736 – James Watt, Scottish-English chemist and engineer (d. 1819)
1737 – Giuseppe Millico, Italian soprano, composer, and educator (d. 1802)
1739 – Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect, designed Longford Hall and Barrells Hall (d. 1808)
1752 – James Morris III, American captain (d. 1820)
1757 – Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (d. 1831)
1788 – Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
1790 – Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet and academic (d. 1855)
1798 – Auguste Comte, French economist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1857)
1807 – Robert E. Lee, American general and academic (d. 1870)
1808 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and author (d. 1887)
1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, American short story writer, poet, and critic (d. 1849)
1810 – Talhaiarn, Welsh poet and architect (d.1869)
1813 – Henry Bessemer, English engineer and businessman (d. 1898)
1832 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1875)
1833 – Alfred Clebsch, German mathematician and academic (d. 1872)
1839 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)
1848 – Arturo Graf, Italian poet, of German ancestry (d. 1913).
1848 – John Fitzwilliam Stairs, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1904)
1848 – Matthew Webb, English swimmer and diver (d. 1883)
1851 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1922)
1852 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (d. 1909)
1863 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (d. 1941)
1866 – Harry Davenport, American stage and film actor (d. 1949)
1871 – Dame Gruev, Bulgarian educator and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1906)
1874 – Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (d. 1922)
1876 – Wakashima Gonshirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 21st Yokozuna (d. 1943)
1876 – Dragotin Kette, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1899)
1878 – Herbert Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1934)
1879 – Boris Savinkov, Russian soldier and author (d. 1925)
1882 – John Cain Sr., Australian politician, 34th Premier of Victoria (d. 1957)
1883 – Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (d. 1956)
1887 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (d. 1943)
1889 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1943)
1892 – Ólafur Thors, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1964)
1893 – Magda Tagliaferro, Brazilian pianist and educator (d. 1986)
1903 – Boris Blacher, German composer and playwright (d. 1975)
1905 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (d. 1991)
1907 – Briggs Cunningham, American race car driver, sailor, and businessman (d. 2003)
1908 – Ish Kabibble, American comedian and cornet player (d. 1994)
1908 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1971)
1911 – Choor Singh, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and judge (d. 2009)
1912 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1913 – Rex Ingamells, Australian author and poet (d. 1955)
1913 – Rudolf Wanderone, American professional pocket billiards player (d. 1996)
1918 – John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (d. 2005)
1920 – Bernard Dunstan, English painter and educator (d. 2017)
1920 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian politician and diplomat, 135th Prime Minister of Peru (d. 2020)
1921 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1995)
1922 – Arthur Morris, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 2015)
1922 – Miguel Muñoz, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1990)
1923 – Jean Stapleton, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1924 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor and director (d. 1985)
1924 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (d. 2006)
1925 – Nina Bawden, English author (d. 2012)
1926 – Hans Massaquoi, German-American journalist and author (d. 2013)
1926 – Fritz Weaver, American actor (d. 2016)
1930 – Tippi Hedren, American model, actress, and animal rights-welfare activist
1930 – John Waite, South African cricketer (d. 2011)
1931 – Robert MacNeil, Canadian-American journalist and author
1932 – Russ Hamilton, English singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
1932 – Richard Lester, American-English director, producer, and screenwriter
1932 – Harry Lonsdale, American chemist, businessman, and politician (d. 2014)
1933 – George Coyne, American priest, astronomer, and theologian
1935 – Johnny O’Keefe, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1978)
1936 – Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (d. 1981)
1936 – Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, American singer, harmonica player, and drummer (d. 2011)
1936 – Fred J. Lincoln, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1937 – John Lions, Australian computer scientist and academic (d. 1998)
1939 – Phil Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
1940 – Paolo Borsellino, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
1940 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (d. 2007)
1941 – Colin Gunton, English theologian and academic (d. 2003)
1941 – Pat Patterson, Canadian wrestler, trainer, and referee
1942 – Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
1942 – Paul-Eerik Rummo, Estonian poet and politician
1943 – Larry Clark, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1943 – Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
1944 – Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer
1944 – Thom Mayne, American architect and academic, designed the San Francisco Federal Building and Phare Tower
1944 – Dan Reeves, American football player and coach
1945 – Trevor Williams, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1946 – Julian Barnes, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic
1946 – Dolly Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
1947 – Frank Aarebrot, Norwegian political scientist and academic (d. 2017)
1947 – Paula Deen, American chef and author
1947 – Rod Evans, English singer-songwriter
1948 – Nancy Lynch, American computer scientist and academic
1948 – Frank McKenna, Canadian politician and diplomat, 27th Premier of New Brunswick
1948 – Mal Reilly, English rugby league player and coach
1949 – Arend Langenberg, Dutch voice actor and radio host (d. 2012)
1949 – Robert Palmer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1950 – Sébastien Dhavernas, Canadian actor
1951 – Martha Davis, American singer
1952 – Dewey Bunnell, British-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Nadiuska, German television actress
1952 – Bruce Jay Nelson, American computer scientist (d. 1999)
1953 – Desi Arnaz, Jr., American actor and singer
1953 – Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player and politician
1953 – Wayne Schimmelbusch, Australian footballer and coach
1954 – Katey Sagal, American actress and singer
1954 – Cindy Sherman, American photographer and director
1954 – Esther Shkalim, Israeli poet and Mizrahi feminist
1955 – Paul Rodriguez, Mexican-American comedian and actor
1956 – Carman, American singer-songwriter, actor, and television host
1956 – Susan Solomon, American atmospheric chemist
1957 – Ottis Anderson, American football player and sportscaster
1957 – Roger Ashton-Griffiths, English actor, screenwriter and film director
1957 – Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rican public servant and politician, 22nd Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
1958 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter (d. 2012)
1959 – Danese Cooper, American computer scientist and programmer
1959 – Jeff Pilson, American bass player, songwriter, and actor
1961 – William Ragsdale, American actor
1961 – Wayne Hemingway, English fashion designer, co-founded Red or Dead
1962 – Hans Daams, Dutch cyclist
1962 – Chris Sabo, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Jeff Van Gundy, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Michael Adams, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Martin Bashir, English journalist
1963 – John Bercow, English politician, Speaker of the House of Commons
1964 – Janine Antoni, Bahamian sculptor and photographer
1964 – Ricardo Arjona, Guatemalan singer-songwriter and basketball player
1966 – Sylvain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player and coach
1966 – Lena Philipsson, Swedish singer-songwriter
1968 – David Bartlett, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of Tasmania
1968 – Whitfield Crane, American singer-songwriter
1969 – Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist and short story writer
1969 – Luc Longley, Australian basketball player and coach
1969 – Predrag Mijatović, Montenegrin footballer and manager
1969 – Junior Seau, American football player (d. 2012)
1969 – Steve Staunton, Irish footballer and manager
1970 – Steffen Freund, German footballer defensive midfielder and manager
1970 – Kathleen Smet, Belgian triathlete
1970 – Udo Suzuki, Japanese comedian and singer
1971 – Phil Nevin, American baseball player
1971 – Shawn Wayans, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – John Wozniak, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Ron Killings, American wrestler and rapper
1972 – Troy Wilson, Australian footballer and race car driver
1972 – Sergei Zjukin, Estonian chess player and coach
1972 – Yoon Hae-young, South Korean actress
1973 – Antero Manninen, Finnish cellist
1973 – Yevgeny Sadovyi, Russian swimmer and coach
1974 – Dainius Adomaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1974 – Frank Caliendo, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1974 – Ian Laperrière, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer and manager
1975 – Natalie Cook, Australian volleyball player
1975 – Zdeňka Málková, Czech tennis player
1976 – Natale Gonnella, Italian footballer
1976 – Tarso Marques, Brazilian race car driver
1977 – Benjamin Ayres, Canadian actor, director, and photographer
1979 – Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast and sportscaster
1979 – Josu Sarriegi, Spanish footballer
1979 – Wiley, English rapper and producer
1980 – Jenson Button, English race car driver
1980 – Pasha Kovalev, Russian-American dancer and choreographer
1980 – Luke Macfarlane, Canadian-American actor and singer
1980 – Arvydas Macijauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
1980 – Michael Vandort, Sri Lankan cricketer
1981 – Paolo Bugia, Filipino basketball player
1981 – Asier del Horno, Spanish footballer
1981 – Lucho González, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Pete Buttigieg, American politician
1982 – Mike Komisarek, American ice hockey player
1982 – Jodie Sweetin, American actress and singer
1982 – Shane Tronc, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Kim Yoo-suk, South Korean pole vaulter
1982 – Robin tom Rink, German singer-songwriter
1983 – Hikaru Utada, American-Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1984 – Fabio Catacchini, Italian footballer
1984 – Karun Chandhok, Indian race car driver
1984 – Jimmy Kébé, Malian footballer
1984 – Thomas Vanek, Austrian ice hockey player
1985 – Jake Allen, American football player
1985 – Pascal Behrenbruch, German decathlete
1985 – Benny Feilhaber, American soccer player
1985 – Esteban Guerrieri, Argentinian race car driver
1985 – Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer and actress
1985 – Elliott Ward, English footballer
1985 – Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Nikulin, Russian footballer
1986 – Claudio Marchisio, Italian footballer
1986 – Oleksandr Miroshnychenko, Ukrainian footballer
1986 – Moussa Sow, Senegalese footballer
1987 – Edgar Manucharyan, Armenian footballer
1988 – JaVale McGee, American basketball player
1988 – Tyler Breeze, Canadian wrestler
1990 – Tatiana Búa, Argentine tennis player
1991 – Petra Martić, Croatian tennis player
1991 – Erin Sanders, American actress
1992 – Shawn Johnson, American gymnast
1992 – Logan Lerman, American actor
1992 – Mac Miller, American rapper (d. 2018)
1993 – Erick Torres Padilla, Mexican footballer
1994 – Matthias Ginter, German footballer
1994 – Alfie Mawson, English footballer, centre back

Deaths on January 19

520 – John of Cappadocia, patriarch of Constantinople
639 – Dagobert I, Frankish king (b. 603)
914 – García I, king of León
1003 – Kilian of Cologne, Irish abbot
1302 – Al-Hakim I, caliph of Cairo
1401 – Robert Bealknap, British justice
1526 – Isabella of Austria, Danish queen (b. 1501)
1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English poet (b. 1516)
1565 – Diego Laynez, Spanish Jesuit theologian (b. 1512)
1571 – Paris Bordone, Venetian painter (b. 1495)
1576 – Hans Sachs, German poet and playwright (b. 1494)
1636 – Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Flemish painter (b.1561)
1661 – Thomas Venner, English rebel leader (b. 1599)
1729 – William Congreve, English playwright and poet (b. 1670)
1755 – Jean-Pierre Christin, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1683)
1757 – Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish scholar and academic (b. 1674)
1766 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French architect and painter (b. 1695)
1785 – Jonathan Toup, English scholar and critic (b. 1713)
1833 – Ferdinand Hérold, French pianist and composer (b. 1791)
1847 – Charles Bent, American soldier and politician, 1st Governor of New Mexico (b. 1799)
1847 – Athanasios Christopoulos, Greek poet (b. 1772)
1851 – Esteban Echeverría, Argentinian poet and author (b. 1805)
1853 – Karl Faber, German historian and academic (b. 1773)
1865 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and politician (b. 1809)
1869 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (b. 1788)
1874 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and scholar (b. 1798)
1878 – Henri Victor Regnault, French physicist and chemist (b. 1810)
1905 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author (b. 1817)
1906 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentinian historian and politician, 6th President of Argentina (b. 1821)
1908 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1821)
1929 – Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (b. 1873)
1930 – Frank P. Ramsey, British mathematician, philosopher and economist (b. 1903)
1938 – Branislav Nušić, Serbian author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1864)
1945 – Gustave Mesny, French general (b. 1886)
1948 – Tony Garnier, French architect and urban planner, designed the Stade de Gerland (b. 1869)
1954 – Theodor Kaluza, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1885)
1957 – József Dudás, Romanian-Hungarian activist and politician (b. 1912)
1963 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (b. 1884)
1964 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (b. 1886)
1965 – Arnold Luhaäär, Estonian weightlifter (b. 1905)
1968 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver and engineer (b. 1879)
1972 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (b. 1936)
1973 – Max Adrian, Irish-English actor (b. 1903)
1975 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (b. 1889)
1976 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (b. 1886)
1979 – Moritz Jahn, German novelist and poet (b. 1884)
1980 – William O. Douglas, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1898)
1981 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (b. 1958)
1982 – Elis Regina, Brazilian soprano (b. 1945)
1984 – Max Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1920)
1987 – Lawrence Kohlberg, American psychologist and academic (b. 1927)
1990 – Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian guru and mystic (b. 1931)
1990 – Alberto Semprini, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1908)
1990 – Herbert Wehner, German politician, 6th Minister of Intra-German Relations (b. 1906)
1991 – Marcel Chaput, Canadian biochemist and journalist (b. 1918)
1995 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
1996 – Don Simpson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1943)
1997 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b. 1923)
1998 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1932)
1999 – Ivan Francescato, Italian rugby player (b. 1967)
2000 – Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, Bahá’í Hand of the Cause of God and wife of Shoghi Effendi (b. 1910)
2000 – Bettino Craxi, Italian lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
2000 – Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-American actress, singer, and mathematician (b. 1913)
2001 – Dario Vittori, Italian-Argentinian actor and producer (b. 1921)
2002 – Vavá, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1934)
2003 – Milton Flores, Honduran footballer (b. 1974)
2003 – Françoise Giroud, French journalist, screenwriter, and politician, French Minister of Culture (b. 1916)
2004 – Harry E. Claiborne, American lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
2004 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1955)
2005 – K. Sello Duiker, South African author and screenwriter (b. 1974)
2006 – Anthony Franciosa, American actor (b. 1928)
2006 – Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
2006 – Awn Alsharif Qasim, Sudanese author and scholar (b. 1933)
2006 – Geoff Rabone, New Zealand cricketer and pilot (b. 1921)
2007 – Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist (b. 1954)
2007 – Denny Doherty, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
2007 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer-songwriter (b. 1969)
2008 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (b. 1937)
2008 – John Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
2008 – Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1936)
2010 – Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
2012 – Peter Åslin, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1962)
2012 – Sarah Burke, Canadian skier (b. 1982)
2012 – Winston Riley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1943)
2012 – Rudi van Dantzig, Dutch ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1933)
2013 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th Yokozuna (b. 1940)
2013 – Stan Musial, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
2013 – Frank Pooler, American conductor and composer (b. 1926)
2013 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (b. 1930)
2013 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (b. 1944)
2014 – Azaria Alon, Ukrainian-Israeli environmentalist, co-founded the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (b. 1918)
2014 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (b. 1931)
2015 – Justin Capră, Romanian engineer and academic (b. 1933)
2015 – Michel Guimond, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1953)
2015 – Ward Swingle, American-French singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1927)
2016 – Richard Levins, American ecologist and geneticist (b. 1930)
2016 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2016 – Sheila Sim, English actress (b. 1922)
2017 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1955)

Holidays and observances on January 19

Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (commemorated by the Poe Toaster at his grave in Baltimore)
Christian feast day:
- Bassianus of Lodi
- Henry of Uppsala
- Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
- Mark of Ephesus (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Pontianus of Spoleto
- Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester
- January 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Confederate Heroes Day (Texas), and its related observance:
- Robert E. Lee Day (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi)
Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty), first day of the 17th month of the Bahá’í calendar (Bahá’í Faith) (only if Nowruz falls on March 21, otherwise the dates shifts)
Husband’s Day (Iceland)
Kokborok Day (Tripura, India)
Theophany / Epiphany (Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy), and its related observances:
- Timkat, or 20 during Leap Year (Ethiopian Orthodox)
- Vodici or Baptism of Jesus (North Macedonia)

January 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
1362 – Saint Marcellus’ flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
1377 – Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
1562 – France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.
1595 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
1648 – England’s Long Parliament passes the “Vote of No Addresses”, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
1773 – Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
1852 – The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.
1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens’ Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
1904 – Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
1912 – British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.
1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
1941 – Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.
1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
1945 – World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.
1945 – The SS-Totenkopfverbände begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
1948 – The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.
1950 – The Great Brink’s Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston.
1950 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.
1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military–industrial complex” as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
1977 – Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.
1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher’s F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
1991 – Crown prince Harald V of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
1994 – The 6.7 M_w  Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
1995 – The 6.9 M_w  Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.
2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s nuclear testing.
2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.

Births on January 17

1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
1429 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (d.c. 1498)
1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
1463 – Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (d. 1535)
1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508)
1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545)
1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
1517 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English Duke (d. 1554)
1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624)
1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
1593 – William Backhouse, English alchemist and astrologer (d. 1662)
1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671)
1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745)
1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723)
1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766)
1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829)
1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832)
1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906)
1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914)
1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918)
1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
1853 – Alva Belmont, American suffragist (d. 1933)
1852 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930)
1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935)
1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
1863 – David Lloyd George, Welsh lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934)
1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, English admiral (d. 1936)
1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910)
1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
1877 – Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková, Czech botanist and zoologist (d. 1937)
1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969)
1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960)
1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948)
1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972)
1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963)
1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946)
1898 – Lela Mevorah, Serbian librarian (d. 1972)
1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947)
1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960)
1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960)
1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987)
1907 – Alfred Wainwright, British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator (d. 1991)
1908 – Cus D’Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1914 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
1914 – William Stafford, American poet and author (d. 1993)
1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2011)
1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
1918 – Keith Joseph, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Education (d. 1994)
1918 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
1920 – Georges Pichard, French author and illustrator (d. 2003)
1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani general and politician (d. 2018)
1921 – Jackie Henderson, Scottish footballer, forward (d. 2005)
1921 – Charlie Mitten, English footballer, outside forward and manager (d. 2002)
1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican academic and politician, 50th President of Mexico
1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
1922 – Betty White, American actress, game show panelist, television personality, and animal rights activist
1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (d. 1962)
1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
1924 – Jewel Plummer Cobb, American biologist, cancer researcher, and academic (d. 2017)
1925 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (d. 2017)
1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000)
1925 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer and author (d. 1996)
1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and politician
1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish-English ballerina and actress (d. 2006)
1926 – Clyde Walcott, Barbadian cricketer (d. 2006)
1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
1927 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1927 – E. W. Swackhamer, American director and producer (d. 1994)
1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012)
1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian-Swiss ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1986)
1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
1931 – Douglas Wilder, American sergeant and politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1932 – Sheree North, American actress and dancer (d. 2005)
1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer/ventriloquist, and television host (d. 1998)
1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
1936 – John Boyd, English academic and diplomat, British ambassador to Japan
1936 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and academic
1938 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (d. 1991)
1938 – Toini Gustafsson, Swedish cross country skier
1939 – Christodoulos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 2008)
1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host and producer
1940 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (d. 2015)
1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan athlete
1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan physician and politician, 39th President of Uruguay
1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect
1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer and activist (d. 2016)
1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and author
1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist and educator
1942 – Nigel McCulloch, English bishop
1943 – Chris Montez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – René Préval, Haitian agronomist and politician, 52nd President of Haiti (d. 2017)
1944 – Ann Oakley, English sociologist, author, and academic
1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian poet, playwright, and composer
1945 – Anne Cutler, Australian psychologist and academic
1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
1949 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2003)
1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014)
1949 – Augustin Dumay, French violinist and conductor
1949 – Andy Kaufman, American actor and comedian (d. 1984)
1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican-American author and academic
1952 – Tom Deitz, American author (d. 2009)
1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, and producer
1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player and educator
1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist
1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, activist, and environmentalist
1955 – Steve Earle, American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, author and actor
1955 – Pietro Parolin, Italian cardinal
1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball player and referee
1956 – Damian Green, English journalist and politician
1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian, television personality and game show host
1957 – Ann Nocenti, American journalist and author
1958 – Tony Kouzarides, English biologist, cancer researcher
1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player and coach
1961 – Brian Helgeland, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese broadcaster and politician, 46th Japanese Minister of Finance
1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer
1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1963 – Colin Gordon, English footballer, striker, agent, manager, chief executive
1964 – Michelle Obama, American lawyer and activist, 46th First Lady of the United States
1964 – John Schuster, Samoan-New Zealand rugby player
1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Trish Johnson, English golfer
1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1968 – Rowan Pelling, English journalist and author
1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar
1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor
1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish director, screenwriter, and author
1969 – Tiësto, Dutch DJ and producer
1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player and actor
1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer
1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player
1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005)
1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer and actor
1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician, 37th Treasurer of Australia
1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player and sportscaster
1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer and manager
1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian viola player, composer, and producer
1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor
1978 – Lisa Llorens, Australian Paralympian
1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter
1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress
1980 – Modestas Stonys, Lithuanian footballer
1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver
1983 – Marcelo Garcia, Brazilian martial artist
1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler and manager
1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter
1987 – Cody Decker, American baseball player
1988 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
1988 – Will Genia, Australian rugby player
1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer
1989 – Taylor Jordan, American baseball player
1989 – Kelly Marie Tran, American actress
1990 – Santiago Tréllez, Colombian footballer
1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
1991 – Esapekka Lappi, Finnish Rally Driver
1991 – Slade Griffin, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Alise Post, American BMX rider
1993 – Frankie Cocozza, British singer
1994 – Mark Steketee, Australian cricketer
1998 – Jeff Reine-Adelaide, French footballer
1998 – Sophie Molineux, Australian cricketer
2000 – Devlin DeFrancesco, Canadian race car driver

Deaths on January 17

395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347)
644 – Sulpitius the Pious, French bishop and saint
764 – Joseph of Freising, German bishop
1040 – Mas’ud I of Ghazni, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire (b. 998)
1156 – André de Montbard, fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1168 – Thierry, Count of Flanders (b. 1099)
1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165)
1329 – Saint Roseline, Carthusian nun (b. 1263)
1334 – John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (b. 1266)
1345 – Henry of Asti, Greek patriarch
1345 – Martino Zaccaria, Genoese Lord of Chios
1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328)
1456 – Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont, French translator (b. 1395)
1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian soldier and politician (b. 1405)
1588 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)
1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop and lexicographer (b. 1551)
1705 – John Ray, English botanist and historian (b. 1627)
1718 – Benjamin Church, American colonel (b. 1639)
1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and composer (b. 1682)
1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1671)
1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish-French composer (b. 1806)
1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1762)
1861 – Lola Montez, Irish actress and dancer (b. 1821)
1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812)
1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (b. 1804)
1887 – William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
1888 – Big Bear, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1825)
1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)
1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
1908 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
1909 – Francis Smith, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822)
1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
1930 – Gauhar Jaan, One of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India. (b. 1873)
1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864)
1932 – Ahmet Derviş, Turkish general (b. 1881)
1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893)
1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848)
1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1885)
1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian historian and general (b. 1869)
1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883)
1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903)
1952 – Walter Briggs Sr., American businessman (b. 1877)
1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player and educator (b. 1890)
1972 – Betty Smith, American author and playwright (b. 1896)
1977 – Dougal Haston, Scottish mountaineer (b. 1940)
1977 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)
1981 – Loukas Panourgias, Greek footballer and lawyer (b. 1899)
1984 – Kostas Giannidis, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1903)
1987 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
1988 – Percy Qoboza, South African journalist and author (b. 1938)
1991 – Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)
1992 – Frank Pullen, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915)
1993 – Albert Hourani, English-Lebanese historian and academic (b. 1915)
1994 – Yevgeni Ivanov, Russian spy (b. 1926)
1994 – Helen Stephens, American runner, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1918)
1996 – Barbara Jordan, American lawyer and politician (b. 1936)
1996 – Sylvia Lawler, English geneticist (b. 1922))
1997 – Bert Kelly, Australian farmer and politician, 20th Australian Minister for the Navy (b. 1912)
1997 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (b. 1906)
2000 – Philip Jones, English trumpet player and educator (b. 1928)
2000 – Ion Rațiu, Romanian journalist and politician (b. 1917)
2002 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
2002 – Roman Personov, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1932)
2003 – Richard Crenna, American actor and director (b. 1926)
2004 – Raymond Bonham Carter, English banker (b. 1929)
2004 – Harry Brecheen, American baseball player and coach (b. 1914)
2004 – Ray Stark, American film producer (b. 1915)
2004 – Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)
2005 – Charlie Bell, Australian businessman (b. 1960)
2005 – Virginia Mayo, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1920)
2005 – Albert Schatz, American microbiologist and academic (b. 1920)
2005 – Zhao Ziyang, Chinese politician, 3rd Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1919)
2006 – Pierre Grondin, Canadian surgeon (b. 1925)
2007 – Art Buchwald, American journalist and author (b. 1925)
2007 – Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
2008 – Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943)
2008 – Ernie Holmes, American football player, wrestler, and actor (b. 1948)
2009 – Anders Isaksson, Swedish journalist and historian (b. 1943)
2010 – Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician and CM of West Bengal for 23 years (b. 1914)
2010 – Michalis Papakonstantinou, Greek journalist and politician, Foreign Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
2010 – Erich Segal, American author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
2011 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (b. 1934)
2012 – Ernie Alexander, American educator and politician (b. 1933)
2012 – Julius Meimberg, German soldier and pilot (b. 1917)
2012 – Johnny Otis, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1921)
2012 – Marty Springstead, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
2013 – Mehmet Ali Birand, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1941)
2013 – Jakob Arjouni, German author (b. 1964)
2013 – Yves Debay, Belgian journalist (b. 1954)
2013 – John Nkomo, Zimbabwean politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (b. 1934)
2013 – Lizbeth Webb, English soprano and actress (b. 1926)
2014 – Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da’i al-Mutlaq (b. 1915)
2014 – Francine Lalonde, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1940)
2014 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (b. 1942)
2014 – John J. McGinty III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1940)
2014 – Sunanda Pushkar, Indian-Canadian businesswoman (b. 1962)
2014 – Suchitra Sen, Indian film actress (b. 1931)
2015 – Ken Furphy, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
2015 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (b. 1931)
2015 – Don Harron, Canadian actor and screenwriter (b. 1924)
2016 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
2016 – Melvin Day, New Zealand painter and historian (b. 1923)
2016 – V. Rama Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor of Sikkim (b. 1935)
2016 – Sudhindra Thirtha, Indian religious leader (b. 1926)
2017 – Tirrel Burton, American football player and coach (b. 1929)
2018 – Jessica Falkholt, Australian actress (b. 1988)
2019 – S. Balakrishnan, Malayalam movie composer (b. 1948)
2020 – Derek Fowlds, British actor (b.1937)

Holidays and observances on January 17

Christian feast day:
- Anthony the Great
- Blessed Angelo Paoli
- Blessed Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch
- Charles Gore (Church of England)
- Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (one of Saints of the Cristero War)
- Mildgyth
- Our Lady of Pontmain
- Sulpitius the Pious
- January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
National Day (Menorca, Spain)
The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)

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On This Day