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Chile

February 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
  • 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
  • 1014 – Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry of Bavaria, King of Germany and of Italy, as Holy Roman Emperor.
  • 1076 – Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor.
  • 1130 – Pope Innocent II is elected.
  • 1349 – Several hundred Jews are burned to death by mobs while the remaining Jews are forcibly removed from Strasbourg.
  • 1400 – Richard II of England dies, most probably from starvation, in Pontefract Castle, on the orders of Henry Bolingbroke.
  • 1530 – Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.
  • 1556 – Thomas Cranmer is declared a heretic.
  • 1556 – Coronation of Akbar.
  • 1655 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
  • 1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
  • 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
  • 1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
  • 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
  • 1804 – Karađorđe leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
  • 1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
  • 1835 – The original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the Latter Day Saint movement, is formed in Kirtland, Ohio.
  • 1849 – In New York City, James Knox Polk becomes the first serving President of the United States to have his photograph taken.
  • 1852 – Great Ormond St Hospital for Sick Children, the first hospital in England to provide in-patient beds specifically for children, is founded in London.
  • 1855 – Texas is linked by telegraph to the rest of the United States, with the completion of a connection between New Orleans and Marshall, Texas.
  • 1859 – Oregon is admitted as the 33rd U.S. state.
  • 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
  • 1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
  • 1899 – Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
  • 1900 – British forces begin the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
  • 1903 – The United States Department of Commerce and Labor is established (later split into the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor).
  • 1912 – Arizona is admitted as the 48th and the last contiguous U.S. state.
  • 1912 – The U.S. Navy commissions its first class of diesel-powered submarines.
  • 1919 – The Polish–Soviet War begins.
  • 1920 – The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago.
  • 1924 – The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company changes its name to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
  • 1929 – Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre: Seven people, six of them gangster rivals of Al Capone’s gang, are murdered in Chicago.
  • 1942 – Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
  • 1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
  • 1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim’s Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
  • 1944 – World War II: In the Action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian submarine in the Strait of Malacca.
  • 1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
  • 1945 – World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by an American squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet’s Vistula–Oder Offensive.
  • 1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans
  • 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relations.
  • 1946 – The Bank of England is nationalized.
  • 1949 – The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.
  • 1949 – The Asbestos Strike begins in Canada. The strike marks the beginning of the Quiet Revolution in Quebec.
  • 1961 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Element 103, Lawrencium, is first synthesized at the University of California.
  • 1966 – Australian currency is decimalized.
  • 1979 – In Kabul, Setami Milli militants kidnap the American ambassador to Afghanistan, Adolph Dubs who is later killed during a gunfight between his kidnappers and police.
  • 1983 – United American Bank of Knoxville, Tennessee collapses. Its president, Jake Butcher, is later convicted of fraud.
  • 1989 – Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
  • 1989 – Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses.
  • 1990 – Ninety-two people are killed when Indian Airlines Flight 605 crashes in Bangalore, India.
  • 1990 – The Voyager 1 spacecraft takes the photograph of planet Earth that later become famous as Pale Blue Dot.
  • 1998 – An oil tanker train collides with a freight train in Yaoundé, Cameroon, spilling fuel oil. One person scavenging the oil created a massive explosion which killed 120.
  • 2000 – The spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker enters orbit around asteroid 433 Eros, the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid.
  • 2004 – In a suburb of Moscow, Russia, the roof of the Transvaal water park collapses, killing more than 25 people, and wounding more than 100 others.
  • 2005 – In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri’s motorcade drives through the city.
  • 2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos City, all in the Philippines.
  • 2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
  • 2008 – Northern Illinois University shooting: A gunman opens fire in a lecture hall of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb County, Illinois, resulting in six fatalities (including the gunman) and 21 injuries.
  • 2011 – As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a ‘Day of Rage’.
  • 2018 – Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.
  • 2018 – A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is one of the deadliest school massacres with 17 fatalities and 15 injuries.
  • 2019 – Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.

Births on February 14

  • 1404 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian painter, poet, and philosopher (d. 1472)
  • 1408 – John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel (d. 1435)
  • 1452 – Pandolfo Petrucci, tyrant of Siena (d. 1512)
  • 1468 – Johannes Werner, German priest and mathematician (d. 1522)
  • 1483 – Babur, Moghul emperor (d. 1530)
  • 1490 – Valentin Friedland, German scholar and educationist of the Reformation (d. 1556)
  • 1513 – Domenico Ferrabosco, Italian composer (d. 1573)
  • 1545 – Lucrezia de’ Medici, Duchess of Ferrara (d. 1561)
  • 1602 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
  • 1614 – John Wilkins, English bishop, academic and natural philosopher (d. 1672)
  • 1625 – Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken, Swedish princess (d. 1687)
  • 1628 – Valentine Greatrakes, Irish faith healer (d. 1683)
  • 1640 – Countess Palatine Anna Magdalena of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (d. 1693)
  • 1670 – Rajaram Raj Bhonsle, third Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1700)
  • 1679 – Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, German organist and composer (d. 1735)
  • 1692 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French author and playwright (d. 1754)
  • 1701 – Enrique Flórez, Spanish historian and author (d. 1773)
  • 1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
  • 1782 – Eleanora Atherton, English philanthropist (d. 1870)
  • 1784 – Heinrich Baermann, German clarinetist (d. 1847)
  • 1799 – Walenty Wańkowicz, Polish painter and illustrator (d. 1842)
  • 1800 – Emory Washburn, American historian, lawyer, and politician, 22nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1877)
  • 1808 – Michael Costa, Italian-English conductor and composer (d. 1884)
  • 1813 – Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (d. 1884)
  • 1819 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American journalist and politician, invented the typewriter (d. 1890)
  • 1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American general and politician (d. 1886)
  • 1828 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (d. 1885)
  • 1835 – Piet Paaltjens, Dutch minister and poet (d. 1894)
  • 1838 – Margaret E. Knight, American inventor (d. 1914)
  • 1846 – Julian Scott, American soldier and drummer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1901)
  • 1847 – Anna Howard Shaw, American physician, minister, and activist (d. 1919)
  • 1848 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic (d. 1934)
  • 1855 – Frank Harris, Irish author and journalist (d. 1931)
  • 1859 – George Washington Gale Ferris Jr., American engineer, inventor of the Ferris wheel (d. 1896)
  • 1860 – Eugen Schiffer, German lawyer and politician, Vice-Chancellor of Germany (d. 1954)
  • 1869 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist and meteorologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
  • 1878 – Julius Nieuwland, Belgian priest, chemist and academic (d. 1936)
  • 1882 – John Barrymore, American actor (d. 1942)
  • 1884 – Nils Olaf Chrisander, Swedish actor and director (d. 1947)
  • 1884 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1974)
  • 1890 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh-English painter and author (d. 1956)
  • 1890 – Dick Richards Welsh international footballer, forward
  • 1891 – Katherine Stinson, American aviator (d. 1977)
  • 1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech commander and politician (d. 1948)
  • 1894 – Jack Benny, American actor and producer (d. 1974)
  • 1895 – Wilhelm Burgdorf, German general (d. 1945)
  • 1895 – Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (d. 1973)
  • 1898 – Bill Tilman, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
  • 1898 – Fritz Zwicky, Swiss-American physicist and astronomer (d. 1974)
  • 1900 – Jessica Dragonette, American singer (d. 1980)
  • 1903 – Stuart Erwin, American actor (d. 1967)
  • 1905 – Thelma Ritter, American actress and singer (d. 1969)
  • 1907 – Johnny Longden, English-American jockey and trainer (d. 2003)
  • 1911 – Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch physician and inventor (d. 2009)
  • 1912 – Tibor Sekelj, Hungarian lawyer, explorer, and author (d. 1988)
  • 1913 – Mel Allen, American sportscaster (d. 1996)
  • 1913 – Woody Hayes, American football player and coach (d. 1987)
  • 1913 – Jimmy Hoffa, American trade union leader (d. 1975)
  • 1913 – James Pike, American bishop (d. 1969)
  • 1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French general (d. 2010)
  • 1916 – Sally Gray, English actress and singer (d. 2006)
  • 1916 – Masaki Kobayashi, Japanese director and producer (d. 1996)
  • 1916 – Edward Platt, American actor (d. 1974)
  • 1917 – Herbert A. Hauptman, American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
  • 1921 – Hugh Downs, American journalist, game show host, and producer
  • 1921 – Hazel McCallion, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 3rd Mayor of Mississauga
  • 1923 – Jay Hebert, American golfer (d. 1997)
  • 1924 – Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma (d. 2017)
  • 1927 – Lois Maxwell, Canadian-Australian model and actress (d. 2007)
  • 1928 – William Allain, American soldier and politician, 58th Governor of Mississippi (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – Vic Morrow, American actor and director (d. 1982)
  • 1931 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2006)
  • 1931 – Brian Kelly, American actor and director (d. 2005)
  • 1932 – Harriet Andersson, Swedish actress
  • 1934 – Florence Henderson, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
  • 1935 – David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, Scottish academic and diplomat, 27th Governor of Hong Kong
  • 1936 – Anna German, Polish singer (d. 1982)
  • 1937 – John MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, English politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1937 – Magic Sam, American singer and guitarist (d. 1969)
  • 1939 – Razzy Bailey, American country music singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1939 – Blowfly, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – Eugene Fama, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1940 – James Maynard, American businessman, co-founded Golden Corral
  • 1941 – Donna Shalala, American academic and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
  • 1941 – Paul Tsongas, American lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
  • 1942 – Michael Bloomberg, American businessman and politician, 108th Mayor of New York City
  • 1942 – Andrew Robinson, American actor and director
  • 1942 – Ricardo Rodríguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1962)
  • 1943 – Eric Andersen, American singer-songwriter
  • 1943 – Maceo Parker, American saxophonist
  • 1943 – Aaron Russo, American director and producer (d. 2007)
  • 1944 – Carl Bernstein, American journalist and author
  • 1944 – Alan Parker, English director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1944 – Ronnie Peterson, Swedish race car driver (d. 1978)
  • 1945 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein
  • 1945 – Rod Masterson, American lieutenant and actor (d. 2013)
  • 1946 – Bernard Dowiyogo, Nauru politician, President of Nauru (d. 2003)
  • 1946 – Gregory Hines, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 2003)
  • 1947 – Tim Buckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
  • 1947 – Judd Gregg, American lawyer and politician, 76th Governor of New Hampshire
  • 1948 – Kitten Natividad, Mexican-American actress and dancer
  • 1948 – Pat O’Brien, American journalist and author
  • 1948 – Wally Tax, Dutch singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
  • 1948 – Teller, American magician and actor
  • 1950 – Roger Fisher, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1951 – Terry Gross, American radio host and producer
  • 1951 – Kevin Keegan, English footballer and manager
  • 1952 – Sushma Swaraj, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (d. 2019)
  • 1954 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (d. 2013)
  • 1955 – Carol Kalish, American publisher (d. 1991)
  • 1956 – Howard Davis Jr., American boxer and trainer (d. 2015)
  • 1956 – Dave Dravecky, American baseball player
  • 1956 – Katharina Fritsch, German sculptor and academic
  • 1957 – Alan Hunter, American television host and actor
  • 1957 – Soile Isokoski, Finnish soprano and actress
  • 1957 – Alan Smith, English bishop
  • 1958 – Grant Thomas, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1959 – Renée Fleming, American soprano and actress
  • 1960 – Philip Jones, English admiral
  • 1960 – Jim Kelly, American football player and businessman
  • 1960 – Meg Tilly, American actress and author
  • 1963 – Enrico Colantoni, Canadian actor, director, and producer
  • 1963 – John Marzano, American baseball player (d. 2008)
  • 1964 – Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist and sportscaster
  • 1966 – Petr Svoboda, Czech ice hockey player and agent
  • 1967 – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Greek-English businessman, founded easyJet
  • 1967 – Manuela Maleeva, Bulgarian-Swiss tennis player
  • 1967 – Mark Rutte, Dutch businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
  • 1968 – Jules Asner, American model and television host
  • 1968 – Chris Lewis, Guyanese-English cricketer
  • 1968 – Scott McClellan, American civil servant and author, 25th White House Press Secretary
  • 1969 – Meg Hillier, English journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
  • 1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
  • 1970 – Sean Hill, American ice hockey player
  • 1970 – Simon Pegg, English actor, director, and producer
  • 1971 – Kris Aquino, Filipino talk show host, actress, and producer
  • 1971 – Gheorghe Mureșan, Romanian basketball player
  • 1972 – Drew Bledsoe, American football player and coach
  • 1972 – Musōyama Masashi, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • 1972 – Najwa Nimri, Spanish actress and singer
  • 1972 – Jaan Tallinn, Estonian computer programmer, co-developed Skype
  • 1972 – Rob Thomas, American singer-songwriter
  • 1973 – H. D. Ackerman, South African cricketer
  • 1973 – Tyus Edney, American basketball player and coach
  • 1973 – Steve McNair, American football player (d. 2009)
  • 1973 – Annalisa Buffa, Italian mathematician
  • 1974 – Valentina Vezzali, Italian fencer and politician
  • 1976 – Liv Kristine, Norwegian singer-songwriter
  • 1976 – Rie Rasmussen, Danish model, film director, writer, photographer, and actress
  • 1977 – Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist
  • 1977 – Jim Jefferies, Australian comedian and actor
  • 1977 – Darren Purse, English footballer
  • 1977 – Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (d. 2007)
  • 1977 – Anna Erschler, Russian mathematician
  • 1977 – Robert J. Jackson Jr., American law professor
  • 1978 – Richard Hamilton, American basketball player
  • 1978 – Darius Songaila, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
  • 1980 – Josh Senter, American screenwriter and producer
  • 1980 – Michelle Ye, Hong Kong actress and producer
  • 1981 – Matteo Brighi, Italian footballer
  • 1981 – Randy de Puniet, French motorcycle racer
  • 1981 – Brad Halsey, American baseball player (d. 2014)
  • 1982 – Marián Gáborík, Slovak ice hockey player
  • 1982 – John Halls, English footballer and model
  • 1982 – Lenka Tvarošková, Slovak tennis player
  • 1983 – Callix Crabbe, Virgin Islander baseball player
  • 1983 – Rocky Elsom, Australian rugby player
  • 1983 – Bacary Sagna, French footballer
  • 1985 – Karima Adebibe, English model and actress
  • 1985 – Tyler Clippard, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Heart Evangelista, Filipino singer and actress
  • 1985 – Philippe Senderos, Swiss international footballer, centre back
  • 1985 – Miki Yeung, Hong Kong singer and actress
  • 1986 – Michael Ammermüller, German race car driver
  • 1986 – Oliver Lee, English actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1986 – Gao Lin, Chinese footballer
  • 1987 – Edinson Cavani, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1987 – Tom Pyatt, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – David Wheater, English footballer
  • 1988 – Katie Boland, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1988 – Ángel Di María, Argentinian footballer
  • 1988 – Siim Liivik, Estonian ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Asia Nitollano, American singer and dancer
  • 1989 – Néstor Calderón, Mexican footballer
  • 1989 – Adam Matuszczyk, Polish footballer
  • 1989 – Emma Miskew, Canadian curler
  • 1989 – Brandon Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1989 – Jurij Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
  • 1989 – Kristian Thomas, English gymnast
  • 1990 – Sefa Yılmaz, German-Turkish footballer
  • 1991 – Daniela Mona Lambin, Estonian footballer
  • 1991 – Chris Rowney, English footballer
  • 1992 – Christian Eriksen, Danish footballer
  • 1992 – Freddie Highmore, English actor
  • 1996 – Lucas Hernandez, French footballer

Deaths on February 14

  • 869 – Cyril, Greek missionary bishop (b. 827)
  • 945 – Lian Chongyu, Chinese general
  • 945 – Zhu Wenjin, Chinese emperor
  • 1009 – Bruno of Querfurt, German missionary bishop
  • 1010 – Fujiwara no Korechika, Japanese nobleman (b. 974)
  • 1140 – Leo I, Armenian prince
  • 1140 – Sobĕslav I, duke of Bohemia
  • 1164 – Sviatoslav Olgovich, Kievan prince
  • 1229 – Rǫgnvaldr Guðrøðarson, king of the Isles
  • 1317 – Margaret of France, queen of England
  • 1400 – Richard II, king of England (b. 1367)
  • 1440 – Dietrich of Oldenburg, German nobleman
  • 1489 – Nicolaus von Tüngen, prince-bishop of Warmia
  • 1528 – Edzard I, German nobleman (b. 1462)
  • 1549 – Il Sodoma, Italian painter (b. 1477)
  • 1571 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal (b. 1517)
  • 1676 – Abraham Bosse, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1602)
  • 1714 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, queen of Spain (b. 1688)
  • 1737 – Charles Talbot, 1st Baron Talbot, English lawyer and politician Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1685)
  • 1744 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (b. 1682)
  • 1779 – James Cook, English captain, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1728)
  • 1780 – William Blackstone, English jurist and politician (b. 1723)
  • 1782 – Singu Min, Burmese king (b. 1756)
  • 1808 – John Dickinson, American lawyer and politician 5th Governor of Delaware (b. 1732)
  • 1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican general and politician, 2nd President of Mexico (b. 1782)
  • 1831 – Henry Maudslay, English engineer (b. 1771)
  • 1870 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American general (b. 1815)
  • 1881 – Fernando Wood, American merchant and politician, 73rd Mayor of New York City (b. 1812)
  • 1884 – Lydia Hamilton Smith, African-American businesswoman (b. 1813)
  • 1885 – Jules Vallès, French journalist and author (b. 1832)
  • 1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (b. 1820)
  • 1894 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (b. 1814)
  • 1901 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1819)
  • 1910 – Giovanni Passannante, Italian anarchist (b. 1849)
  • 1922 – Heikki Ritavuori, Finnish lawyer and politician (b. 1880)
  • 1929 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and lawyer (b. 1875)
  • 1930 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1853)
  • 1933 – Carl Correns, German botanist and geneticist (b. 1864)
  • 1942 – Adnan Saidi, Malayan lieutenant (b. 1915)
  • 1943 – Dora Gerson, German actress and singer (b. 1899)
  • 1943 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (b. 1862)
  • 1948 – Mordecai Brown, American baseball player and manager (b. 1876)
  • 1949 – Yusuf Salman Yusuf, Iraqi politician (b. 1901)
  • 1950 – Karl Guthe Jansky, American physicist and engineer (b. 1905)
  • 1952 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (b. 1896)
  • 1958 – Abdur Rab Nishtar, Pakistani politician, 2nd Governor of Punjab (b. 1899)
  • 1959 – Baby Dodds, American drummer (b. 1898)
  • 1967 – Sig Ruman, German-American actor (b. 1884)
  • 1969 – Vito Genovese, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897)
  • 1970 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (b. 1880)
  • 1974 – Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer and coach (b. 1903)
  • 1975 – Julian Huxley, English biologist and eugenicist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1887)
  • 1975 – P. G. Wodehouse, English novelist and playwright (b. 1881)
  • 1979 – Adolph Dubs, American lieutenant and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (b. 1920)
  • 1983 – Lina Radke, German runner and coach (b. 1903)
  • 1986 – Edmund Rubbra, English composer and conductor (b. 1901)
  • 1987 – Dmitry Kabalevsky, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1904)
  • 1988 – Frederick Loewe, German-American composer (b. 1901)
  • 1989 – James Bond, American ornithologist and zoologist (b. 1900)
  • 1989 – Vincent Crane, English pianist (b. 1943)
  • 1994 – Andrei Chikatilo, Soviet serial killer (b. 1936)
  • 1994 – Christopher Lasch, American historian and critic (b. 1932)
  • 1995 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor and playwright (b. 1923)
  • 1995 – U Nu, Burmese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1907)
  • 1996 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (b. 1919)
  • 1999 – John Ehrlichman, American lawyer and politician, 12th White House Counsel (b. 1925)
  • 1999 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1933)
  • 2002 – Nándor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1922)
  • 2002 – Mick Tucker, English drummer (b. 1947)
  • 2003 – Johnny Longden, English jockey and trainer (b. 1907)
  • 2004 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
  • 2005 – Rafic Hariri, Lebanese businessman and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1944; assassinated)
  • 2006 – Lynden David Hall, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1974)
  • 2007 – Ryan Larkin, Canadian animator and director (b. 1943)
  • 2007 – Gareth Morris, English flute player and educator (b. 1920)
  • 2009 – Bernard Ashley, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Laura Ashley plc (b. 1926)
  • 2009 – Louie Bellson, American drummer and composer (b. 1924)
  • 2010 – Doug Fieger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
  • 2010 – Dick Francis, Welsh jockey and author (b. 1920)
  • 2010 – Linnart Mäll, Estonian historian, orientalist, and translator (b. 1938)
  • 2011 – George Shearing, English-American pianist and composer (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Mike Bernardo, South African boxer and martial artist (b. 1969)
  • 2012 – Tonmi Lillman, Finnish drummer and producer (b. 1973)
  • 2012 – Dory Previn, American singer-songwriter (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Péter Rusorán, Hungarian swimmer, water polo player, and coach (b. 1940)
  • 2013 – Glenn Boyer, American historian and author (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher and scholar (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Tom Finney, English footballer (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Chris Pearson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Mike Stepovich, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Alaska Territory (b. 1919)
  • 2015 – Louis Jourdan, French-American actor and singer (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Philip Levine, American poet and academic (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – Franjo Mihalić, Croatian-Serbian runner and coach (b. 1920)
  • 2016 – Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, English lieutenant, engineer, and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2016 – Steven Stucky, American composer and academic (b. 1949)
  • 2018 – Ruud Lubbers, Dutch politician and diplomat, Prime Minister and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (b. 1939)
  • 2018 – Morgan Tsvangirai, 2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (b. 1952).

Holidays and observances on February 14

  • Christian feast day:
    • Cyril and Methodius, patron saints of Europe (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Manchan
    • Valentine (Valentine’s Day)
    • February 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Statehood Day (Arizona, United States)
  • Statehood Day (Oregon, United States)
  • Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (Armenian Apostolic Church)
  • Parents’ Worship Day (parts of India)

February 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

February 13 in History

  • 951 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou.
  • 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
  • 1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
  • 1462 – The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
  • 1503 – Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
  • 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
  • 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
  • 1660 – With the accession of young Charles XI of Sweden, his regents begin negotiations to end the Second Northern War.
  • 1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
  • 1692 – Massacre of Glencoe: Almost 80 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
  • 1726 – Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile bring an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26.
  • 1755 – Treaty of Giyanti signed by VOC, Pakubuwono III and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into 2: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.
  • 1849 – The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna hands out to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized.
  • 1861 – Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
  • 1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels’s primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
  • 1880 – Thomas Edison observes Thermionic emission.
  • 1913 – The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence.
  • 1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
  • 1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
  • 1931 – The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.
  • 1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
  • 1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
  • 1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
  • 1951 – Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the “high-water mark” of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
  • 1954 – Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.
  • 1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
  • 1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed “Gerboise Bleue”, France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
  • 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • 1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
  • 1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
  • 1975 – Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.
  • 1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
  • 1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a ​12-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
  • 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
  • 1983 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
  • 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
  • 1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
  • 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided “smart bombs” destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
  • 1996 – The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).
  • 1999 – The last hockey game is played in Maple Leaf Gardens: the Toronto Maple Leafs lose 6–2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
  • 2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 944.
  • 2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe’s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star “Lucy” after The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
  • 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
  • 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
  • 2010 – A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.
  • 2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
  • 2012 – The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
  • 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Births on February 13

  • 1440 – Hartmann Schedel, German physician (d. 1514)
  • 1457 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
  • 1469 – Elia Levita, Renaissance Hebrew grammarian (d. 1549)
  • 1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (d. 1542)
  • 1523 – Valentin Naboth, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1593)
  • 1539 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine (d. 1582)
  • 1569 – Johann Reinhard I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1625)
  • 1599 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
  • 1602 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1637)
  • 1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (d. 1731)
  • 1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
  • 1719 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician (d. 1792)
  • 1721 – John Reid, Scottish general (d. 1807)
  • 1728 – John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist (d. 1793)
  • 1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and scholar (d. 1834)
  • 1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (d. 1835)
  • 1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1844)
  • 1805 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (d. 1859)
  • 1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French general (d. 1888)
  • 1815 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American anthologist, editor, poet and critic (d. 1857)
  • 1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, American general and politician, 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
  • 1834 – Heinrich Caro, Sephardic Jewish Polish-German chemist and academic (d. 1910)
  • 1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader (d. 1908)
  • 1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1895)
  • 1855 – Paul Deschanel, Belgian-French politician, 11th President of France (d. 1922)
  • 1863 – Hugo Becker, German cellist and composer (d. 1941)
  • 1867 – Harold Mahony, Scottish-Irish tennis player (d. 1905)
  • 1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
  • 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (d. 1938)
  • 1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-American baseball player and umpire (d. 1933)
  • 1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and activist (d. 1949)
  • 1880 – Dimitrie Gusti, Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1955)
  • 1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, Jewish-English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1965)
  • 1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
  • 1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian actor and director (d. 1922)
  • 1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (d. 1961)
  • 1885 – Bess Truman, American wife of Harry S. Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)
  • 1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian playwright and critic (d. 1919)
  • 1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek lawyer, economist, and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
  • 1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and director (d. 1974)
  • 1891 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (d. 1985)
  • 1891 – Grant Wood, American painter and academic (d. 1942)
  • 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 57th United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
  • 1898 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (d. 1979)
  • 1900 – Barbara von Annenkoff, Russian-born German film and stage actress (d. 1979)
  • 1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, Austrian-American sociologist and academic (d. 1976)
  • 1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist and theorist (d. 1978)
  • 1903 – Georgy Beriev, Georgian-Russian engineer, founded the Beriev Aircraft Company (d. 1979)
  • 1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (d. 1989)
  • 1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher and author (d. 1994)
  • 1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino-American singer and actress (d. 2004)
  • 1910 – William Shockley, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
  • 1911 – Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Indian-Pakistani poet and journalist (d. 1984)
  • 1911 – Jean Muir, American actress and educator (d. 1996)
  • 1912 – Harald Riipalu, Russian-Estonian commander (d. 1961)
  • 1912 – Margaretta Scott, English actress (d. 2005)
  • 1913 – Khalid of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
  • 1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
  • 1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician, 5th Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma (d. 1947)
  • 1916 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist (d. 1987)
  • 1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991)
  • 1919 – Eddie Robinson, American football player and coach (d. 2007)
  • 1920 – Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
  • 1920 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French pianist and composer (d. 1968)
  • 1921 – Aung Khin, Burmese painter (d. 1996)
  • 1922 – Francis Pym, Baron Pym, Welsh soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2008)
  • 1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American soldier, judge, and politician, 49th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2002)
  • 1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier
  • 1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist and politician (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, American nuclear physicist (d. 2012)
  • 1928 – Gerald Regan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
  • 1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian commander and politician, Military Leader of Panama (d. 1981)
  • 1930 – Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Israel Kirzner, English-American economist, author, and academic
  • 1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
  • 1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician, 2nd President of Cameroon
  • 1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
  • 1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer (d. 2019)
  • 1934 – George Segal, American actor
  • 1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese author and academic (d. 1992)
  • 1937 – Angelo Mosca, American-Canadian football player and wrestler
  • 1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
  • 1940 – Bram Peper, Dutch sociologist and politician, Mayor of Rotterdam
  • 1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter and photographer (d. 2010)
  • 1941 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor, director, and producer
  • 1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (d. 2019)
  • 1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (d. 2019)
  • 1942 – Donald E. Williams, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2016)
  • 1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian and academic
  • 1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
  • 1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati
  • 1945 – Marian Dawkins, English biologist and academic
  • 1945 – King Floyd, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1945 – Simon Schama, English historian and author
  • 1945 – William Sleator, American author and composer (d. 2011)
  • 1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American sergeant and politician, 23rd Attorney General of Connecticut
  • 1946 – Janet Finch, English sociologist and academic
  • 1946 – Colin Matthews, English composer and educator
  • 1947 – Stephen Hadley, American soldier and diplomat, 21st United States National Security Advisor
  • 1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
  • 1947 – Bogdan Tanjević, Montenegrin-Bosnian professional basketball coach
  • 1947 – Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian comedian, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
  • 1949 – Peter Kern, Austrian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1950 – Vera Baird, English lawyer and politician
  • 1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1952 – Ed Gagliardi, American bass player (d. 2014)
  • 1953 – Akio Sato, Japanese wrestler and manager
  • 1954 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
  • 1955 – Joe Birkett, American lawyer, judge, and politician
  • 1956 – Peter Hook, English singer, songwriter, bass player, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
  • 1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness trainer and author
  • 1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
  • 1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian publisher and activist
  • 1958 – Jean-François Lisée, Canadian journalist and politician
  • 1958 – Derek Riggs, English painter and illustrator
  • 1958 – Øivind Elgenes, Norwegian vocalist, guitarist and composer
  • 1959 – Gaston Gingras, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian footballer and referee
  • 1960 – John Healey, English journalist and politician
  • 1960 – Gary Patterson, American football player and coach
  • 1960 – Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player and author
  • 1961 – Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1961 – cEvin Key, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboard player, and producer
  • 1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
  • 1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rican lawyer and politician
  • 1962 – Baby Doll, American wrestler and manager
  • 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress
  • 1964 – Stephen Bowen, American engineer, captain, and astronaut
  • 1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Employment
  • 1965 – Peter O’Neill, Papua New Guinean accountant and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
  • 1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor and producer
  • 1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1966 – Freedom Williams, American rapper and singer
  • 1967 – Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
  • 1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
  • 1969 – Joyce DiDonato, American soprano and actress
  • 1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1971 – Sonia Evans, English singer-songwriter
  • 1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player
  • 1972 – Virgilijus Alekna, Lithuanian discus thrower
  • 1972 – Charlie Garner, American football player
  • 1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American rapper and actor
  • 1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Ben Collins, English race car driver
  • 1975 – Katie Hopkins, English media personality and columnist
  • 1976 – Jörg Bergmeister, German race car driver
  • 1976 – Shannon Nevin, Australian rugby league player
  • 1977 – Randy Moss, American football player and coach
  • 1978 – Niklas Bäckström, Finnish ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French countertenor
  • 1979 – Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian murderer
  • 1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
  • 1979 – Rachel Reeves, English economist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  • 1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress and fashion designer
  • 1980 – Carlos Cotto, Puerto Rican-American wrestler and boxer
  • 1981 – Luisão, Brazilian footballer
  • 1982 – Even Helte Hermansen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
  • 1982 – Michael Turner, American football player
  • 1983 – Mike Nickeas, Canadian baseball player
  • 1983 – Anna Watkins, English rower
  • 1984 – Hinkelien Schreuder, Dutch swimmer
  • 1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
  • 1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer
  • 1986 – Aqib Talib, American football player
  • 1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
  • 1988 – Ryan Goins, American baseball player
  • 1988 – Eddy Pettybourne, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
  • 1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer
  • 1991 – Eliaquim Mangala, French footballer
  • 1991 – Junior Roqica, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
  • 1991 – Vianney, French singer
  • 1994 – Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer

Deaths on February 13

  • 106 – Emperor He of Han (Han Hedi) of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty (b. AD 79)
  • 721 – Chilperic II, Frankish king (b. 672)
  • 858 – Kenneth MacAlpin, Scottish king (probable; b. 810)
  • 921 – Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia
  • 936 – Xiao Wen, empress of the Liao Dynasty
  • 942 – Muhammad ibn Ra’iq, Abbasid emir and regent
  • 988 – Adalbert Atto, Lombard nobleman
  • 1021 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 985)
  • 1130 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1060
  • 1141 – Béla II, king of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1110)
  • 1199 – Stefan Nemanja, Serbian grand prince (b. 1113)
  • 1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1192)
  • 1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1259)
  • 1351 – Kō no Morofuyu, Japanese general
  • 1539 – Isabella d’Este, Italian noblewoman (b. 1474)
  • 1542 – Catherine Howard, English wife of Henry VIII of England (executed;b. 1521)
  • 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1500)
  • 1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish priest and scholar (b. 1515)
  • 1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman and theologian (b. 1507)
  • 1660 – Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden (b. 1622)
  • 1662 – Elizabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia (b. 1596)
  • 1693 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (b. 1627)
  • 1727 – William Wotton, English linguist and scholar (b. 1666)
  • 1728 – Cotton Mather, American minister and author (b. 1663)
  • 1732 – Charles-René d’Hozier, French historian and author (b. 1640)
  • 1741 – Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer and theorist (b. 1660)
  • 1787 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1711)
  • 1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French lawyer and politician, Foreign Minister of France (b. 1717)
  • 1813 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
  • 1818 – George Rogers Clark, American general (b. 1752)
  • 1826 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (b. 1745)
  • 1831 – Edward Berry, English admiral (b. 1768)
  • 1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1809)
  • 1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher and poet (b. 1773)
  • 1877 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor and manager (b. 1815)
  • 1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
  • 1888 – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, French-American archbishop (b. 1814)
  • 1892 – Provo Wallis, Canadian-English admiral (b. 1791)
  • 1893 – Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican intellectual and journalist (b. 1834)
  • 1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
  • 1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
  • 1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (b. 1864)
  • 1942 – Otakar Batlička, Czech journalist (b. 1895)
  • 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian lawyer, judge, and politician, 11th President of Brazil (b. 1865)
  • 1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (b. 1875)
  • 1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American minister and author (b. 1877)
  • 1952 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (b. 1896)
  • 1954 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1890)
  • 1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician and philosopher (b. 1878)
  • 1958 – Christabel Pankhurst, English activist, co-founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (b. 1880)
  • 1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (b. 1871)
  • 1964 – Paulino Alcántara, Filipino-Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1896)
  • 1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (b. 1902)
  • 1967 – Yoshisuke Aikawa, entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, founded Nissan Motor Company (b. 1880)
  • 1967 – Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (1932-1934) (b. 1889)
  • 1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
  • 1968 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (b. 1911)
  • 1973 – Marinus Jan Granpré Molière, Dutch architect and educator (b. 1883)
  • 1975 – André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
  • 1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian general and politician, 4th President of Nigeria (b. 1938)
  • 1976 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (b. 1904)
  • 1980 – David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
  • 1984 – Cheong Eak Chong, Singaporean entrepreneur (b. 1888)
  • 1986 – Yuri Ivask, Russian-American poet and critic (b. 1907)
  • 1989 – Wayne Hays, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1911)
  • 1991 – Arno Breker, German sculptor and illustrator (b. 1900)
  • 1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1909)
  • 1996 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
  • 1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman (b. 1906)
  • 1997 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
  • 2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1914)
  • 2000 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (b. 1921)
  • 2000 – John Leake, English soldier (b. 1949)
  • 2002 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
  • 2003 – Kid Gavilán, Cuban-American boxer (b. 1926)
  • 2003 – Walt Whitman Rostow, American economist; 7th United States National Security Advisor (b. 1916)
  • 2004 – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (b. 1942)
  • 2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen politician, 2nd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (b. 1952)
  • 2005 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
  • 2005 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun (b. 1907)
  • 2006 – P. F. Strawson, English philosopher and author (b. 1919)
  • 2007 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2007 – Charlie Norwood, American captain and politician (b. 1941)
  • 2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, English air marshal (b. 1922)
  • 2008 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
  • 2009 – Edward Upward, English author and educator (b. 1903)
  • 2010 – Lucille Clifton, American poet and academic (b. 1936)
  • 2010 – Dale Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Louise Cochrane, American-English screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – Daniel C. Gerould, American playwright and academic (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Gerry Day, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Miles J. Jones, American pathologist and physician (b. 1952)
  • 2013 – Pieter Kooijmans, Dutch judge and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Netherlands (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Andrée Malebranche, Haitian artist (b. 1916)
  • 2013 – Yuko Tojo, Japanese activist and politician (b. 1939)
  • 2014 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
  • 2014 – Richard Møller Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (b. 1937)
  • 2014 – Ralph Waite, American actor and activist (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – Faith Bandler, Australian activist and author (b. 1918)
  • 2015 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (b. 1923)
  • 2016 – O. N. V. Kurup, Indian poet and academic (b. 1931)
  • 2016 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1936)
  • 2017 – Ricardo Arias Calderón, Panamanian politician, Vice President (1990–1992) (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Aileen Hernandez, American union organizer and activist (b. 1926)
  • 2017 – Seijun Suzuki, Japanese filmmaker (b. 1923)
  • 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, North Korean politician (b. 1971)
  • 2017 – E-Dubble, American rapper (b. 1982)
  • 2018 – Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, French-born Danish royal (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances on February 13

  • Children’s Day (Myanmar)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Absalom Jones (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Beatrice of Ornacieux
    • Castor of Karden
    • Catherine of Ricci
    • Ermenilda of Ely
    • Fulcran
    • Jordan of Saxony
    • Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church)
    • February 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • World Radio Day

February 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1429 – English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orléans in the Battle of the Herrings.
  • 1502 – Isabella I issues an edict outlawing Islam in the Crown of Castile, forcing virtually all her Muslim subjects to convert to Christianity.
  • 1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
  • 1593 – Japanese invasion of Korea: Approximately 3,000 Joseon defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repel more than 30,000 Japanese forces in the Siege of Haengju.
  • 1689 – The Convention Parliament declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
  • 1733 – Georgia Day: Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, by settling at Savannah.
  • 1771 – Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
  • 1817 – An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Chacabuco.
  • 1818 – Bernardo O’Higgins formally approves the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
  • 1825 – The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government by the Treaty of Indian Springs, and migrate west.
  • 1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
  • 1855 – Michigan State University is established.
  • 1894 – Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into the Cafe Terminus in Paris, killing one person and wounding 20.
  • 1909 – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
  • 1909 – New Zealand’s worst maritime disaster of the 20th century happens when the SS Penguin, an inter-island ferry, sinks and explodes at the entrance to Wellington Harbour.
  • 1912 – The Xuantong Emperor, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
  • 1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
  • 1921 – Bolsheviks launch a revolt in Georgia as a preliminary to the Red Army invasion of Georgia.
  • 1924 – George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue received its premiere in a concert titled “An Experiment in Modern Music”, in Aeolian Hall, New York, by Paul Whiteman and his band, with Gershwin playing the piano.
  • 1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium-filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks.
  • 1946 – World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
  • 1946 – African American United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard is severely beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point where he loses his vision in both eyes. The incident later galvanizes the civil rights movement and partially inspires Orson Welles’ film Touch of Evil.
  • 1947 – The largest observed iron meteorite until that time creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
  • 1947 – Christian Dior unveils a “New Look”, helping Paris regain its position as the capital of the fashion world.
  • 1961 – The Soviet Union launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
  • 1963 – Construction begins on the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • 1965 – Malcolm X visits Smethwick in Birmingham following the racially-charged 1964 United Kingdom general election.
  • 1968 – Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre.
  • 1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
  • 1983 – One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq’s proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
  • 1988 – Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
  • 1990 – Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
  • 1992 – The current Constitution of Mongolia comes into effect.
  • 1993 – Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.
  • 1994 – Four thieves break into the National Gallery of Norway and steal Edvard Munch’s iconic painting The Scream.
  • 1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
  • 2001 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
  • 2002 – The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
  • 2002 – An Iran Airtour Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
  • 2004 – The city of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
  • 2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
  • 2016 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their split in 1054.
  • 2019 – The country known as the Republic of Macedonia renames itself the Republic of North Macedonia in accordance with the Prespa agreement, settling a long-standing naming dispute with Greece.

Births on February 12

  • AD 41 – Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (d. 55)
  • 528 – Daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, nominal empress regnant of Northern Wei
  • 661 – Princess Ōku of Japan (d. 702)
  • 1074 – Conrad II of Italy (d. 1101)
  • 1218 – Kujo Yoritsune, Japanese shōgun (d. 1256)
  • 1322 – John Henry, Margrave of Moravia (d. 1375)
  • 1443 – Giovanni II Bentivoglio, Italian noble (d. 1508)
  • 1480 – Frederick II of Legnica, Duke of Legnica (d. 1547)
  • 1540 – Won Gyun, Korean general and admiral (d. 1597)
  • 1567 – Thomas Campion, English composer, poet, and physician (d. 1620)
  • 1584 – Caspar Barlaeus, Dutch historian, poet, and theologian (d. 1648)
  • 1602 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (d. 1660)
  • 1606 – John Winthrop the Younger, English-American lawyer and politician, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1676)
  • 1608 – Daniello Bartoli, Italian Jesuit priest (d. 1685)
  • 1637 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and zoologist (d. 1680)
  • 1663 – Cotton Mather, English-American minister and author (d. 1728)
  • 1665 – Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
  • 1704 – Charles Pinot Duclos, French author (d. 1772)
  • 1706 – Johann Joseph Christian, German Baroque sculptor and woodcarver (d. 1777)
  • 1728 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect (d. 1799)
  • 1753 – François-Paul Brueys d’Aigalliers, French admiral (d. 1798)
  • 1761 – Jan Ladislav Dussek, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1812)
  • 1768 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1835)
  • 1775 – Louisa Adams, English-American wife of John Quincy Adams, 6th First Lady of the United States (d. 1852)
  • 1777 – Bernard Courtois, French chemist and academic (d. 1838)
  • 1777 – Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, German author and poet (d. 1843)
  • 1785 – Pierre Louis Dulong, French physicist and chemist (d. 1838)
  • 1787 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1853)
  • 1788 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (d. 1869)
  • 1791 – Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (d. 1883)
  • 1794 – Alexander Petrov, Russian chess player and composer (d. 1867)
  • 1794 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843-1844) (d. 1850)
  • 1804 – Heinrich Lenz, German-Italian physicist and academic (d. 1865)
  • 1809 – Charles Darwin, English geologist and theorist (d. 1882)
  • 1809 – Abraham Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 16th President of the United States (d. 1865)
  • 1819 – William Wetmore Story, American sculptor, architect, poet and editor
  • 1824 – Dayananda Saraswati, Indian monk and philosopher, founded Arya Samaj (d. 1883)
  • 1828 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (d. 1909)
  • 1837 – Thomas Moran, British-American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School (d. 1926)
  • 1857 – Eugène Atget, French photographer (d. 1927)
  • 1857 – Bobby Peel, English cricketer and coach (d. 1943)
  • 1861 – Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1937)
  • 1866 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
  • 1869 – Kiến Phúc, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1884)
  • 1870 – Marie Lloyd, English actress and singer (d. 1922)
  • 1876 – 13th Dalai Lama (d. 1933)
  • 1877 – Louis Renault, French engineer and businessman, co-founded Renault (d. 1944)
  • 1880 – George Preca, Maltese priest and saint (d. 1962)
  • 1880 – John L. Lewis, American miner and union leader (d. 1969)
  • 1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina and actress (d. 1931)
  • 1882 – Walter Nash, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1968)
  • 1884 – Max Beckmann, German painter and sculptor (d. 1950)
  • 1884 – Johan Laidoner, Estonian-Russian general (d. 1953)
  • 1884 – Alice Roosevelt Longworth, American author (d. 1980)
  • 1884 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (d. 1957)
  • 1885 – Julius Streicher, German publisher, founded Der Stürmer (d. 1946)
  • 1889 – Bhante Dharmawara, Cambodian monk, lawyer, and judge (d. 1999)
  • 1893 – Omar Bradley, American general (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – Kristian Djurhuus, Faroese lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1984)
  • 1897 – Charles Groves Wright Anderson, South African-Australian colonel and politician (d. 1988)
  • 1897 – Lincoln LaPaz, American astronomer and academic (d. 1985)
  • 1898 – Wallace Ford, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
  • 1900 – Roger J. Traynor, American lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (d. 1983)
  • 1902 – William Collier, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1987)
  • 1903 – Jorge Basadre, Peruvian historian (d. 1980)
  • 1903 – Chick Hafey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1973)
  • 1904 – Ted Mack, American radio and television host (d. 1976)
  • 1907 – Joseph Kearns, American actor (d. 1962)
  • 1908 – Jean Effel, French painter, caricaturist, illustrator and journalist (d. 1982)
  • 1908 – Jacques Herbrand, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1931)
  • 1909 – Zoran Mušič, Slovene painter and illustrator (d. 2005)
  • 1909 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (d. 1945)
  • 1911 – Charles Mathiesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – R. F. Delderfield, English author and playwright (d. 1972)
  • 1914 – Tex Beneke, American singer, saxophonist, and bandleader (d. 2000)
  • 1914 – Johanna von Caemmerer, German mathematician (d. 1971)
  • 1915 – Lorne Greene, Canadian-American actor (d. 1987)
  • 1915 – Olivia Hooker, African-American sailor (d. 2018)
  • 1916 – Joseph Alioto, American lawyer and politician, 36th Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1998)
  • 1917 – Al Cervi, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
  • 1917 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (d. 2009)
  • 1918 – Norman Farberow, American psychologist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1918 – Julian Schwinger, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
  • 1919 – Forrest Tucker, American actor (d. 1986)
  • 1920 – Raymond Mhlaba, South African anti-apartheid and ANC activist (d. 2005)
  • 1922 – Hussein Onn, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
  • 1923 – Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director, producer, and politician (d. 2019)
  • 1925 – Sir Anthony Berry, British Conservative politician (d. 1984)
  • 1925 – Joan Mitchell, American-French painter (d. 1992)
  • 1926 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Joe Garagiola, Sr., American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2016)
  • 1926 – Charles Van Doren, American academic (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Vincent Montana, Jr., American drummer and composer (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – John Doyle, Irish hurler and politician (d. 2010)
  • 1930 – Arlen Specter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1931 – Janwillem van de Wetering, Dutch-American author and translator (d. 2008)
  • 1932 – Axel Jensen, Norwegian author and poet (d. 2003)
  • 1932 – Julian Simon, American economist, author, and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1933 – Costa-Gavras, Greek-French director and producer
  • 1933 – Brian Carlson, Australian rugby league player (d. 1987)
  • 1934 – Annette Crosbie, Scottish actress
  • 1934 – Anne Osborn Krueger, American economist and academic
  • 1934 – Bill Russell, American basketball player and coach
  • 1935 – Gene McDaniels, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1936 – Alan Ebringer, Australian immunologist, professor at King’s College in the University of London
  • 1938 – Judy Blume, Jewish-American author and educator
  • 1939 – Leon Kass, American physician, scientist, and educator
  • 1939 – Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Hubert Marcoux, Canadian solo sailor and author (d. 2009)
  • 1941 – Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Naomi Uemura, Japanese mountaineer and explorer (d. 1984)
  • 1942 – Ehud Barak, Israeli general and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Israel
  • 1942 – Pat Dobson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2006)
  • 1945 – Maud Adams, Swedish model and actress
  • 1945 – David D. Friedman, American economist, physicist, and scholar
  • 1946 – Jean Eyeghé Ndong, Gabonese politician, Prime Minister of Gabon
  • 1946 – Ajda Pekkan, Turkish singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1948 – Ray Kurzweil, American computer scientist and engineer
  • 1948 – Nicholas Soames, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
  • 1950 – Angelo Branduardi, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1950 – Steve Hackett, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1950 – Michael Ironside, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1952 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2010)
  • 1952 – Michael McDonald, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1953 – Joanna Kerns, American actress and director
  • 1954 – Joseph Jordania, Georgian-Australian musicologist and academic
  • 1954 – Tzimis Panousis, Greek comedian, singer, and author (d. 2018)
  • 1954 – Phil Zimmermann, American cryptographer and programmer
  • 1955 – Bill Laswell, American bass player and producer
  • 1955 – Chet Lemon, American baseball player and coach
  • 1956 – Arsenio Hall, American actor and talk show host
  • 1956 – Ad Melkert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Social Affairs and Employment
  • 1956 – Brian Robertson, Scottish rock guitarist and songwriter
  • 1958 – Outback Jack, Australian-American wrestler
  • 1961 – Jim Harris, Canadian environmentalist and politician
  • 1961 – Michel Martelly, Haitian singer and politician, 56th President of Haiti
  • 1961 – Di Farmer, Queensland Member of Parliament
  • 1964 – Omar Hakim, American drummer, producer, arranger, and composer
  • 1965 – Rubén Amaro, Jr., American baseball player and manager
  • 1965 – Christine Elise, American actress and producer
  • 1965 – David Westlake, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1966 – Paul Crook, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1968 – Josh Brolin, American actor
  • 1968 – Chynna Phillips, American singer and actress
  • 1969 – Darren Aronofsky, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1969 – Alemayehu Atomsa, Ethiopian educator and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1969 – Steve Backley, English javelin thrower
  • 1969 – Anneli Drecker, Norwegian singer and actress
  • 1969 – Hong Myung-bo, South Korean footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Jim Creeggan, Canadian singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1970 – Bryan Roy, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Judd Winick, American author and illustrator
  • 1971 – Scott Menville, American voice actor, singer, actor and musician
  • 1973 – Gianni Romme, Dutch speed skater
  • 1973 – Tara Strong, Canadian voice actress and singer
  • 1974 – Naseem Hamed, English boxer
  • 1976 – Christian Cullen, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1977 – Jimmy Conrad, American soccer player and manager
  • 1978 – Paul Anderson, English actor
  • 1978 – Brett Hodgson, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1979 – Antonio Chatman, American football player
  • 1979 – Jesse Spencer, Australian actor and violinist
  • 1980 – Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spanish tennis player
  • 1980 – Sarah Lancaster, American actress
  • 1980 – Christina Ricci, American actress and producer
  • 1980 – Gucci Mane, American rapper
  • 1981 – Wade McKinnon, Australian rugby league player
  • 1982 – Jonas Hiller, Swiss ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Louis Tsatoumas, Greek long jumper
  • 1982 – Anthony Tuitavake, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1983 – Carlton Brewster, American football player and coach
  • 1984 – Brad Keselowski, American race car driver
  • 1984 – Andrei Sidorenkov, Estonian footballer
  • 1984 – Peter Vanderkaay, American swimmer
  • 1988 – DeMarco Murray, American football player
  • 1988 – Nicolás Otamendi, Argentine footballer
  • 1988 – Mike Posner, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1990 – Robert Griffin III, American football player
  • 1991 – Patrick Herrmann, German footballer
  • 1994 – Arman Hall, American sprinter
  • 1999 – Maggie Coles-Lyster, Canadian cyclist
  • 2000 – Kim Ji-min, South Korean actress

Deaths on February 12

  • 821 – Benedict of Aniane, French monk and saint (b. 747)
  • 890 – Henjō, Japanese priest and poet (b. 816)
  • 981 – Ælfstan, bishop of Ramsbury
  • 901 – Antony II, patriarch of Constantinople
  • 914 – Li, empress of Yan
  • 941 – Wulfhelm, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • 1247 – Ermesinde, Countess of Luxembourg, ruler (b. 1185)
  • 1266 – Amadeus of the Amidei, Italian saint
  • 1517 – Catherine of Navarre (b. 1468)
  • 1538 – Albrecht Altdorfer, German painter, engraver, and architect (b. 1480)
  • 1554 – Lord Guildford Dudley, English son of Jane Dudley, Duchess of Northumberland (b. 1536; executed)
  • 1554 – Lady Jane Grey, de facto monarch of England and Ireland for nine days (b. 1537; executed)
  • 1571 – Nicholas Throckmorton, English politician and diplomat (b. 1515)
  • 1590 – François Hotman, French lawyer and author (b. 1524)
  • 1600 – Edward Denny, Knight Banneret of Bishop’s Stortford, English soldier, privateer and adventurer (b. 1547)
  • 1612 – Jodocus Hondius, Flemish cartographer (b. 1563)
  • 1624 – George Heriot, Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist, founded George Heriot’s School (b. 1563)
  • 1713 – Jahandar Shah, Mughal emperor (b. 1664)
  • 1728 – Agostino Steffani, Italian priest and composer (b. 1653)
  • 1763 – Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (b. 1688)
  • 1771 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (b. 1710)
  • 1789 – Ethan Allen, American farmer, general, and politician (b. 1738)
  • 1799 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist and physiologist (b. 1729)
  • 1804 – Immanuel Kant, German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (b. 1724)
  • 1834 – Friedrich Schleiermacher, German philosopher and scholar (b. 1768)
  • 1886 – Randolph Caldecott, English-American painter and illustrator (b. 1846)
  • 1894 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1830)
  • 1896 – Ambroise Thomas, French composer and academic (b. 1811)
  • 1912 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician (b. 1841)
  • 1915 – Émile Waldteufel, French pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1837)
  • 1916 – Richard Dedekind, German mathematician, philosopher, and academic (b. 1831)
  • 1929 – Lillie Langtry, English singer and actress (b. 1853)
  • 1931 – Samad bey Mehmandarov, Azerbaijani-Russian general and politician, 3rd Azerbaijani Minister of Defense (b. 1855)
  • 1935 – Auguste Escoffier, French chef and author (b. 1846)
  • 1942 – Eugene Esmonde, Irish-English lieutenant and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1909)
  • 1942 – Avraham Stern, Polish-Israeli militant leader (b. 1907)
  • 1942 – Grant Wood, American painter and academic (b. 1891)
  • 1947 – Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (b. 1866)
  • 1949 – Hassan al-Banna, Egyptian educator, founded the Muslim Brotherhood (b. 1906)
  • 1954 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
  • 1958 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist (b. 1897)
  • 1960 – Oskar Anderson, Bulgarian-German mathematician and academic (b. 1887)
  • 1970 – Clare Turlay Newberry, American author and illustrator (b. 1903)
  • 1971 – James Cash Penney, American businessman and philanthropist, founded J. C. Penney (b. 1875)
  • 1975 – Carl Lutz, Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (b. 1895)
  • 1976 – Sal Mineo, American actor (b. 1939)
  • 1977 – Herman Dooyeweerd, Dutch philosopher and scholar (b. 1894)
  • 1979 – Jean Renoir, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
  • 1980 – Muriel Rukeyser, American poet and activist (b. 1913)
  • 1982 – Victor Jory, Canadian-American actor (b. 1902)
  • 1983 – Eubie Blake, American pianist and composer (b. 1887)
  • 1984 – Anna Anderson, Polish-American woman, who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1896)
  • 1984 – Julio Cortázar, Belgian-Argentinian author and poet (b. 1914)
  • 1985 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor and director (b. 1924)
  • 1989 – Thomas Bernhard, Austrian playwright and author (b. 1931)
  • 1991 – Roger Patterson, American bass player (b. 1968)
  • 1992 – Bep van Klaveren, Dutch boxer (b. 1907)
  • 1994 – Donald Judd, American painter and sculptor (b. 1928)
  • 1995 – Philip Taylor Kramer, American bass player (b. 1952)
  • 1998 – Gardner Ackley, American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (b. 1915)
  • 2000 – Tom Landry, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
  • 2000 – Charles M. Schulz, American cartoonist, created Peanuts (b. 1922)
  • 2001 – Kristina Söderbaum, Swedish-German actress and producer (b. 1912)
  • 2002 – John Eriksen, Danish footballer (b. 1957)
  • 2005 – Dorothy Stang, American-Brazilian nun and missionary (b. 1931)
  • 2007 – Ann Barzel, American writer and dance critic (b. 1905)
  • 2007 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1905)
  • 2008 – David Groh, American actor (b. 1939)
  • 2009 – victims of Colgan Air Flight 3407:
    • Alison Des Forges, American historian and activist (b. 1942)
    • Beverly Eckert, American activist (b. 1951)
    • Mat Mathews, Dutch accordion player (b. 1924)
    • Coleman Mellett, American guitarist (b. 1974)
    • Gerry Niewood, American saxophonist (b. 1943)
  • 2010 – Nodar Kumaritashvili, Georgian luger (b. 1988)
  • 2011 – Peter Alexander, Austrian singer and actor (b. 1926)
  • 2011 – Betty Garrett, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1919)
  • 2011 – Kenneth Mars, American actor and comedian (b. 1935)
  • 2012 – Zina Bethune, American actress, dancer, and choreographer (b. 1945)
  • 2012 – Denis Flannery, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – David Kelly, Irish actor (b. 1929)
  • 2012 – John Severin, American illustrator (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (b. 1941)
  • 2013 – Reginald Turnill, English journalist and author (b. 1915)
  • 2013 – Hennadiy Udovenko, Ukrainian politician and diplomat, 2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ukraine (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Sid Caesar, American actor and comedian (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – John Pickstone, English historian and author (b. 1944)
  • 2015 – Movita Castaneda, American actress and singer (b. 1916)
  • 2015 – Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Malaysian cleric and politician, 12th Menteri Besar of Kelantan (b. 1931)
  • 2015 – Gary Owens, American radio host and voice actor (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Steve Strange, Welsh singer (b. 1959)
  • 2016 – Dominique D’Onofrio, Italian-Belgian footballer and coach (b. 1953)
  • 2016 – Yannis Kalaitzis, Greek cartoonist (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – Yan Su, Chinese general and composer (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Al Jarreau, American singer (b. 1940)
  • 2017 – Anna Marguerite McCann, first female American underwater archaeologist (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Ren Xinmin, Chinese rocket scientist (b. 1915)
  • 2019 – Gordon Banks, English footballer (b. 1937)
  • 2019 – Lyndon LaRouche, American political activist (b. 1922)
  • 2019 – Pedro Morales, Puerto Rican professional wrestler and commentator (b. 1942)
  • 2020 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (b. 1951)

Holidays and observances on February 12

  • Christian feast day:
    • Benedict of Aniane
    • Damian of Alexandria
    • Julian the Hospitaller
    • Martyrs of Abitinae
    • February 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Darwin Day (International)
  • Georgia Day (Georgia (U.S. state))
  • Lincoln’s Birthday (United States)
  • National Freedom to Marry Day (United States)
  • Red Hand Day (United Nations)
  • Union Day (Myanmar)
  • Youth Day (Venezuela)

February 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

February 8 in History

  • 421 – Constantius III becomes co-Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
  • 1238 – The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
  • 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces in the Battle of Al Mansurah.
  • 1347 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.
  • 1575 – Leiden University is founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis.
  • 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.
  • 1590 – Luis de Carvajal y de la Cueva is tortured by the Inquisition in Mexico, charged with concealing the practice Judaism of his sister and her children.
  • 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I and the revolt is quickly crushed.
  • 1693 – The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.
  • 1807 – After two days of bitter fighting, the Russians under Bennigsen and the Prussians under L’Estocq concede the Battle of Eylau to Napoleon.
  • 1817 – Las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.
  • 1837 – Richard Johnson becomes the first Vice President of the United States chosen by the United States Senate.
  • 1865 – Delaware refuses to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was outlawed in the United States, including Delaware, when the Amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states on December 6, 1865. Delaware ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on February 12, 1901, which was the ninety-second anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln.
  • 1879 – Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute.
  • 1879 – The England cricket team led by Lord Harris is attacked in a riot during a match in Sydney.
  • 1885 – The first government-approved Japanese immigrants arrived in Hawaii.
  • 1887 – The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.
  • 1904 – Battle of Port Arthur: A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.
  • 1904 – Aceh War: Dutch Colonial Army’s Marechaussee regiment led by General G.C.E. van Daalen launch military campaign to capture Gayo Highland, Alas Highland, and Batak Highland in Dutch East Indies’ Northern Sumatra region, which ends with genocide to Acehnese and Bataks people.
  • 1910 – The Boy Scouts of America is incorporated by William D. Boyce.
  • 1915 – D. W. Griffith’s controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.
  • 1922 – United States President Warren G. Harding introduces the first radio set in the White House.
  • 1924 – Capital punishment: The first state execution in the United States by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.
  • 1942 – World War II: Japan invades Singapore.
  • 1942 – World War II: Dutch Colonial Army General Destruction Unit (AVCAlgemene Vernielings Corps) burns Banjarmasin, South Borneo to avoid Japanese capture.
  • 1945 – World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada commence Operation Veritable to occupy the west bank of the Rhine.
  • 1945 – World War II: Mikhail Devyataev escapes with nine other Soviet inmates from a Nazi concentration camp in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom by hijacking the camp commandant’s Heinkel He 111.
  • 1946 – The first portion of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the first serious challenge to the popularity of the Authorized King James Version, is published.
  • 1946 – The People’s Republic of Korea is dissolved in the North, establishing the communist-controlled Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea.
  • 1950 – Cold War: The Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, is established.
  • 1955 – The Government of Sindh, Pakistan, abolishes the Jagirdari system in the province. One million acres (4000 km2) of land thus acquired is to be distributed among the landless peasants.
  • 1960 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom issues an Order-in-Council, stating that she and her family would be known as the House of Windsor, and that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
  • 1962 – Charonne massacre. Nine trade unionists are killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police.
  • 1963 – Travel, financial and commercial transactions by United States citizens to Cuba are made illegal by the John F. Kennedy administration.
  • 1963 – The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq, Brigadier General Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba’ath Party.
  • 1965 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean and explodes, killing everyone aboard.
  • 1968 – American civil rights movement: The Orangeburg massacre: An attack on black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation at the town’s only bowling alley, leaves three or four dead in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
  • 1971 – The NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.
  • 1971 – South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.
  • 1974 – After 84 days in space, the crew of Skylab 4, the last crew to visit American space station Skylab, returns to Earth.
  • 1978 – Proceedings of the United States Senate are broadcast on radio for the first time.
  • 1981 – Twenty-one association football spectators are trampled to death at Karaiskakis Stadium in Neo Faliro, Greece, after a football match between Olympiacos F.C. and AEK Athens F.C.
  • 1983 – The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia’s second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, a 320 metres (1,050 ft) deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.
  • 1986 – Hinton train collision: Twenty-three people are killed when a VIA Rail passenger train collides with a 118-car Canadian National freight train near the town of Hinton, Alberta, west of Edmonton. It is the worst rail accident in Canada until the Lac-Mégantic, Quebec derailment in 2013 which killed forty-seven people.
  • 1989 – Independent Air Flight 1851 strikes Pico Alto mountain while on approach to Santa Maria Airport (Azores) killing all 144 passengers on board.
  • 1993 – General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.
  • 1993 – An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 and an Iranian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 collide in mid-air near Qods, Iran, killing all 133 people on board both aircraft.
  • 1996 – The U.S. Congress passes the Communications Decency Act.
  • 2005 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP A. Chandranehru dies of injuries sustained in an ambush the previous day.
  • 2010 – A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan triggers a series of at least 36 avalanches, burying over two miles of road, killing at least 172 people and trapping over 2,000 travelers.
  • 2013 – A blizzard disrupts transportation and leaves hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in the Northeastern United States and parts of Canada.
  • 2014 – A hotel fire in Medina, Saudi Arabia kills 15 Egyptian pilgrims with 130 others injured.

Births on February 8

  • 120 – Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (probable; d. 175)
  • 412 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (probable; d. 485)
  • 882 – Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt (d. 946)
  • 1191 – Yaroslav II of Vladimir (d. 1246)
  • 1291 – Afonso IV of Portugal (d. 1357)
  • 1405 – Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1453)
  • 1487 – Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1550)
  • 1514 – Daniele Barbaro, Venetian churchman, diplomat and scholar (d. 1570)
  • 1552 – Agrippa d’Aubigné, French poet and soldier (d. 1630)
  • 1577 – Robert Burton, English priest, physician, and scholar (d. 1640)
  • 1591 – Guercino, Italian painter (d. 1666)
  • 1685 – Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian and author (d. 1770)
  • 1700 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1782)
  • 1720 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (d. 1750)
  • 1741 – André Grétry, Belgian-French organist and composer (d. 1813)
  • 1762 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (d. 1820)
  • 1764 – Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1846)
  • 1792 – Caroline Augusta of Bavaria (d. 1873)
  • 1798 – Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia (d. 1849)
  • 1807 – Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and zoologist (d. 1889)
  • 1817 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (d. 1872)
  • 1819 – John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic (d. 1900)
  • 1820 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (d. 1891)
  • 1822 – Maxime Du Camp, French photographer and journalist (d. 1894)
  • 1825 – Henry Walter Bates, English geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1892)
  • 1828 – Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1905)
  • 1829 – Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (d. 1902)
  • 1830 – Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1876)
  • 1834 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (d. 1907)
  • 1850 – Kate Chopin, American author (d. 1904)
  • 1860 – Adella Brown Bailey, American politician and suffragist (d. 1937)
  • 1866 – Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (d. 1947)
  • 1876 – Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter (d. 1907)
  • 1878 – Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic (d. 1965)
  • 1880 – Franz Marc, German soldier and painter (d. 1916)
  • 1880 – Viktor Schwanneke, German actor and director (d. 1931)
  • 1882 – Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1908)
  • 1883 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist (d. 1950)
  • 1884 – Snowy Baker, Australian boxer, rugby player, and actor (d. 1953)
  • 1886 – Charlie Ruggles, American actor (d. 1970)
  • 1888 – Edith Evans, English actress (d. 1976)
  • 1888 – Giuseppe Ungaretti, Egyptian-Italian soldier, journalist, and poet (d. 1970)
  • 1890 – Claro M. Recto, Filipino lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1960)
  • 1893 – Ba Maw, Burmese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Burma (d. 1977)
  • 1894 – King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
  • 1897 – Zakir Hussain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India (d. 1969)
  • 1899 – Lonnie Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
  • 1903 – Greta Keller, Austrian-American singer and actress (d. 1977)
  • 1903 – Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1990)
  • 1906 – Chester Carlson, American physicist and lawyer, invented Xerography (d. 1968)
  • 1909 – Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (d. 2012)
  • 1911 – Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and author (d. 1979)
  • 1913 – Betty Field, American actress (d. 1973)
  • 1913 – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1914 – Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman (d. 1974)
  • 1915 – Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor (d. 1997)
  • 1918 – Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (d. 2003)
  • 1921 – Barney Danson, Canadian colonel and politician, 21st Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2011)
  • 1921 – Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician (d. 2020)
  • 1921 – Lana Turner, American actress (d. 1995)
  • 1922 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (d. 1996)
  • 1925 – Jack Lemmon, American actor (d. 2001)
  • 1926 – Neal Cassady, American author and poet (d. 1968)
  • 1926 – Birgitte Reimer, Danish film actress
  • 1930 – Alejandro Rey, Argentinian-American actor and director (d. 1987)
  • 1931 – James Dean, American actor (d. 1955)
  • 1932 – Cliff Allison, English racing driver and businessman (d. 2005)
  • 1932 – John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
  • 1933 – Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
  • 1937 – Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
  • 1937 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – Jose Maria Sison, Filipino activist and theorist
  • 1940 – Sophie Lihau-Kanza, Congolese politician (d. 1999)
  • 1940 – Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
  • 1941 – Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
  • 1941 – Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1941 – Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1942 – Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
  • 1942 – Terry Melcher, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
  • 1944 – Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian photographer and journalist
  • 1947 – J. Richard Gott, American astronomer and academic
  • 1948 – Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
  • 1949 – Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Niels Arestrup, French actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1952 – Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1953 – Mary Steenburgen, American actress
  • 1954 – Joe Maddon, American baseball coach and manager
  • 1955 – John Grisham, American lawyer and author
  • 1955 – Jim Neidhart, American wrestler (d. 2018)
  • 1956 – Marques Johnson, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1957 – Karine Chemla, French historian of mathematics and sinologist
  • 1958 – Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
  • 1958 – Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician
  • 1959 – Heinz Gunthardt, Swiss tennis player
  • 1959 – Andrew Hoy, Australian equestrian rider
  • 1959 – Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina
  • 1960 – Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines
  • 1960 – Dino Ciccarelli, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1961 – Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1963 – Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian cricketer and politician
  • 1964 – Arlie Petters, Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic
  • 1964 – Santosh Sivan, Indian director, cinematographer, producer, and actor
  • 1964 – Trinny Woodall, English fashion designer and author
  • 1966 – Kirk Muller, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1966 – Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
  • 1968 – Gary Coleman, American actor (d. 2010)
  • 1969 – Pauly Fuemana, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
  • 1969 – Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author
  • 1969 – Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
  • 1970 – Stephanie Courtney, American actress and comedian
  • 1970 – John Filan, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1970 – Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player and executive
  • 1971 – Aidy Boothroyd, English footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Mika Karppinen, Swedish-Finnish drummer and songwriter
  • 1972 – Big Show, American wrestler and actor
  • 1974 – Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
  • 1976 – Khaled Mashud, Bangladeshi cricketer
  • 1976 – Nicolas Vouilloz, French rally driver and mountain biker
  • 1977 – Roman Kostomarov, Russian ice dancer
  • 1978 – Mick de Brenni, Australian politician
  • 1979 – Aaron Cook, American baseball player
  • 1980 – William Jackson Harper, American actor
  • 1981 – Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (d. 2015)
  • 1981 – Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer
  • 1983 – Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player
  • 1983 – Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1983 – Jim Verraros, American singer and actor
  • 1984 – Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canadian skier
  • 1984 – Cecily Strong, American actress
  • 1984 – Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
  • 1985 – Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player
  • 1985 – Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter
  • 1987 – Javi García, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater
  • 1988 – Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1989 – Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1989 – Julio Jones, American football player
  • 1989 – Courtney Vandersloot, American basketball player
  • 1990 – Emily Scarratt, English rugby union player
  • 1990 – Klay Thompson, American professional basketball player
  • 1991 – Aristidis Soiledis, Greek footballer
  • 1991 – Roberto Soriano, Italian footballer
  • 1991 – Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer and actor with the boy band Infinite.
  • 1992 – Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer
  • 1992 – Carl Jenkinson, English-Finnish footballer
  • 1994 – Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
  • 1994 – Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1995 – Joshua Kimmich, German footballer
  • 1996 – Kenedy, Brazilian footballer

Deaths on February 8

  • 538 – Severus of Antioch, patriarch of Antioch
  • 1135 – Elvira of Castile, Queen of Sicily (b.c. 1100)
  • 1204 – Alexios IV Angelos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1182)
  • 1229 – Ali ibn Hanzala, sixth Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma’ilism
  • 1250 – Robert I, Count of Artois (b. 1216)
  • 1250 – William II Longespée, English martyr (b. 1212)
  • 1265 – Hulagu Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1217)
  • 1285 – Theodoric of Landsberg (b. 1242)
  • 1296 – Przemysł II of Poland (b. 1257)
  • 1314 – Helen of Anjou, queen of Serbia (b. 1236)
  • 1382 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (b. 1328)
  • 1537 – Saint Gerolamo Emiliani, Italian humanitarian (b. 1481)
  • 1587 – Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542)
  • 1599 – Robert Rollock, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1555)
  • 1623 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (b. 1546)
  • 1676 – Alexis of Russia (b. 1629)
  • 1696 – Ivan V of Russia (b. 1666)
  • 1709 – Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1658)
  • 1725 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (b. 1672)
  • 1749 – Jan van Huysum, Dutch painter (b. 1682)
  • 1750 – Aaron Hill, English playwright and poet (b. 1685)
  • 1768 – George Dance the Elder, English architect, designed St Leonard’s and St Botolph’s Aldgate (b. 1695)
  • 1772 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (b. 1719)
  • 1849 – François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor (b. 1781)
  • 1849 – France Prešeren, Slovenian poet and lawyer (b. 1800)
  • 1856 – Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist and academic (b. 1773)
  • 1907 – Hendrik Willem Bakhuis Roozeboom, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1854)
  • 1910 – Hans Jæger, Norwegian philosopher and activist (b. 1854)
  • 1914 – Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer (b. 1828)
  • 1915 – François Langelier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1838)
  • 1921 – George Formby Sr, English actor and singer (b. 1876)
  • 1921 – Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, geographer, and philologist (b. 1842)
  • 1928 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (b. 1857)
  • 1932 – Yordan Milanov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Sveti Sedmochislenitsi Church (b. 1867)
  • 1935 – Eemil Nestor Setälä, Finnish linguist and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
  • 1936 – Charles Curtis, American lawyer and politician, 31st Vice President of the United States (b. 1860)
  • 1945 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer and coach (b. 1866)
  • 1956 – Connie Mack, American baseball player and manager (b. 1862)
  • 1957 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1891)
  • 1957 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist (b. 1903)
  • 1959 – William J. Donovan, American head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) (b. 1883)
  • 1960 – J. L. Austin, English philosopher and academic (b. 1911)
  • 1960 – Giles Gilbert Scott, English architect and engineer, designed the Red telephone box and Liverpool Cathedral (b. 1880)
  • 1963 – George Dolenz, Italian-American actor (b. 1908)
  • 1964 – Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist and author (b. 1888)
  • 1968 – Maurice Maillot, French actor (b. 1906)
  • 1972 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1905)
  • 1975 – Robert Robinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)
  • 1977 – Eivind Groven, Norwegian composer and theorist (b. 1901)
  • 1979 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
  • 1980 – Nikos Xilouris, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
  • 1982 – John Hay Whitney, American financier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1904)
  • 1985 – William Lyons, English businessman, co-founded Swallow Sidecar Company (b. 1901)
  • 1987 – Harriet E. MacGibbon, American actress (b. 1905)
  • 1990 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
  • 1992 – Stanley Armour Dunham, American sergeant (b. 1918)
  • 1992 – Denny Wright, British guitarist (b. 1924)
  • 1994 – Raymond Scott, American pianist and composer (b. 1908)
  • 1996 – Del Ennis, American baseball player (b. 1925)
  • 1997 – Corey Scott, American motorcycle stunt rider (b. 1968)
  • 1998 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
  • 1998 – Enoch Powell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health (b. 1912)
  • 1998 – Julian Simon, American economist and author (b. 1932)
  • 1999 – Iris Murdoch, Irish-born British novelist and philosopher (b. 1919)
  • 2000 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1918)
  • 2000 – Derrick Thomas, American football player (b. 1967)
  • 2001 – Ivo Caprino, Norwegian director and screenwriter (b. 1920)
  • 2002 – Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (b. 1936)
  • 2004 – Julius Schwartz, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
  • 2005 – A. Chandranehru, Sri Lankan sailor and politician (b. 1944)
  • 2006 – Elton Dean, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1945)
  • 2006 – Thierry Fortineau, French actor (b. 1953)
  • 2006 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (b. 1914)
  • 2007 – Anna Nicole Smith, American model and actress (b. 1967)
  • 2007 – Ian Stevenson, Canadian-American psychiatrist and academic (b. 1918)
  • 2008 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (b. 1931)
  • 2010 – John Murtha, American colonel and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2011 – Tony Malinosky, American baseball player and soldier (b. 1909)
  • 2012 – Wando, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
  • 2012 – Gunther Plaut, German-Canadian rabbi and author (b. 1912)
  • 2012 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
  • 2013 – Giovanni Cheli, Italian cardinal (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – James DePreist, American conductor and educator (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Maureen Dragone, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
  • 2013 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Els Borst, Dutch physician and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (b. 1988)
  • 2014 – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (b. 1938)
  • 2015 – Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (b. 1939)
  • 2016 – Amelia Bence, Argentine actress (b. 1914)
  • 2016 – Nida Fazli, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1938)
  • 2016 – Margaret Forster, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1938)
  • 2016 – Violette Verdy, French ballerina (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Peter Mansfield, English physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Rina Matsuno, Japanese idol singer (Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku) (b. 1998)
  • 2017 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, English socialite, television presenter, model, and charity patron (b. 1971)
  • 2017 – Alan Simpson, English scriptwriter (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on February 8

  • Christian feast day:
    • Cuthmann of Steyning
    • Elffled of Whitby
    • Gerolamo Emiliani
    • Josephine Bakhita
    • Juventius of Pavia
    • Meingold of Huy
    • Stephen of Muret
    • February 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Feast of Orthodoxy can fall, while March 14 is the latest; celebrated 42 days before Easter. (Orthodoxy)
  • Parinirvana Day (some Mahayana Buddhism traditions, most celebrate on February 15)
  • Prešeren Day (Slovenia)
  • Propose Day

February 8 – 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

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

  • 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
  • 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
  • 1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the “Houses of Parliament”.
  • 1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
  • 1356 – Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
  • 1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
  • 1567 – Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.
  • 1576 – The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
  • 1649 – The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.
  • 1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signed preliminary articles of peace with France, setting the stage to the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year.
  • 1785 – Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
  • 1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony.
  • 1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.
  • 1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
  • 1877 – The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
  • 1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
  • 1921 – The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.
  • 1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
  • 1929 – The first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, In Old Arizona, is released.
  • 1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom dies. His eldest son succeeds to the throne, becoming Edward VIII. The title Prince of Wales is not used for another 22 years.
  • 1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner are sworn in for their second terms as U.S. President and U.S. Vice President; it is the first time a Presidential Inauguration takes place on January 20 since the 20th Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms.
  • 1941 – A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
  • 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”.
  • 1945 – World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
  • 1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
  • 1949 – Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
  • 1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States of America.
  • 1954 – In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
  • 1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated the 35th President of the United States of America, becoming the second youngest man to take the office, and the first Catholic.
  • 1969 – Richard Nixon is inaugurated the 37th President of the United States of America.
  • 1972 – Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
  • 1977 – Jimmy Carter is inaugurated the 39th President of the United States of America.
  • 1981 – Ronald Reagan is inaugurated the 40th President of the United States of America. Twenty minutes later, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
  • 1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
  • 1989 – George H. W. Bush is inaugurated the 41st President of the United States of America.
  • 1990 – Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
  • 1991 – Sudan’s government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.
  • 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France killing 87 of the 96 people on board.
  • 1993 – Bill Clinton is inaugurated the 42nd President of the United States of America.
  • 2001 – George W. Bush is inaugurated the 43rd President of the United States of America.
  • 2001 – President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
  • 2009 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States.
  • 2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
  • 2017 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, becoming the oldest person to assume the office.
  • 2018 – A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.

Births on January 20

  • 225 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (d. 244)
  • 1029 – Alp Arslan, Seljuk sultan (probable; d. 1072)
  • 1292 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (d. 1330)
  • 1436 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (d. 1490)
  • 1488 – John George, Marquess of Montferrat, Italian noble (d. 1533)
  • 1488 – Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (d. 1552)
  • 1499 – Sebastian Franck, German humanist (probable; d. 1543)
  • 1502 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish-Mexican rancher and missionary (d. 1600)
  • 1526 – Rafael Bombelli, Italian mathematician (d. 1572)
  • 1554 – Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
  • 1569 – Heribert Rosweyde, Jesuit hagiographer (d. 1629)
  • 1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1624)
  • 1586 – Johann Hermann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
  • 1664 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (d. 1718)
  • 1703 – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (d. 1741)
  • 1716 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and numismatist (d. 1795)
  • 1716 – Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
  • 1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress (d. 1794)
  • 1741 – Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Swedish botanist and author (d. 1783)
  • 1755 – Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1824)
  • 1762 – Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, Belgian-French composer and theorist (d. 1842)
  • 1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1836)
  • 1781 – Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, Austrian-German historian and politician (d. 1848)
  • 1783 – Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
  • 1799 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician, 5th President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1858)
  • 1804 – Eugène Sue, French author and politician (d. 1857)
  • 1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
  • 1814 – David Wilmot, American politician, sponsor of Wilmot Proviso (d. 1868)
  • 1834 – George D. Robinson, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
  • 1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
  • 1856 – Harriot Stanton Blatch, U.S. suffragist and organizer (d. 1940)
  • 1865 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
  • 1870 – Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian pianist and composer (d. 1894)
  • 1873 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
  • 1874 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and coach (d. 1938)
  • 1876 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1957)
  • 1878 – Finlay Currie, Scottish-English actor (d. 1968)
  • 1879 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and educator (d. 1968)
  • 1880 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
  • 1882 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1957)
  • 1883 – Enoch L. Johnson, American mob boss (d. 1968)
  • 1883 – Forrest Wilson, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
  • 1888 – Lead Belly, American folk/blues musician and songwriter (d. 1949)
  • 1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer and businessman, founded the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company (d. 1969)
  • 1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (d. 1967)
  • 1893 – Georg Åberg, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1946)
  • 1894 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist, created Little Orphan Annie (d. 1968)
  • 1894 – Walter Piston, American composer, theorist, and academic (d. 1976)
  • 1895 – Gábor Szegő, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1985)
  • 1896 – George Burns, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1996)
  • 1898 – U Razak, Burmese educator and politician (d. 1947)
  • 1899 – Clarice Cliff, English potter (d. 1972)
  • 1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (d. 1990)
  • 1900 – Dorothy Annan, English painter, potter, and muralist (d. 1983)
  • 1900 – Colin Clive, English actor (d. 1937)
  • 1902 – Leon Ames, American actor (d. 1993)
  • 1902 – Kevin Barry, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 1920)
  • 1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
  • 1907 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (d. 2000)
  • 1908 – Fleur Cowles, American author and illustrator (d. 2009)
  • 1909 – Gōgen Yamaguchi, Japanese martial artist (d. 1989)
  • 1910 – Joy Adamson, Austria-born Kenyan painter and author (d. 1980)
  • 1913 – W. Cleon Skousen, American author and academic (d. 2006)
  • 1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani businessman and politician, 7th President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
  • 1918 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2002)
  • 1918 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1993)
  • 1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (d. 2006)
  • 1922 – Ray Anthony, American trumpet player, composer, bandleader, and actor
  • 1922 – Don Mankiewicz, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1923 – Slim Whitman, American country and western singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and composer (d. 2010)
  • 1925 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2015)
  • 1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician (d. 2020)
  • 1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)
  • 1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1927 – Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist and academic (d. 2007)
  • 1928 – Antonio de Almeida, French conductor and musicologist (d. 1997)
  • 1929 – Arte Johnson, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
  • 1929 – Masaharu Kawakatsu, Japanese biologist
  • 1929 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
  • 1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1931 – David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese pianist and composer (d. 1992)
  • 1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2016)
  • 1934 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1934 – Tom Baker, English actor
  • 1935 – Dorothy Provine, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2010)
  • 1937 – Bailey Howell, American basketball player
  • 1938 – Derek Dougan, Irish-English footballer and journalist (d. 2007)
  • 1939 – Paul Coverdell, American captain and politician (d. 2000)
  • 1939 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist
  • 1940 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater and actress
  • 1940 – Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician
  • 1940 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (d. 2009)
  • 1942 – Linda Moulton Howe, American journalist and producer
  • 1944 – José Luis Garci, Spanish director and producer
  • 1944 – Farhad Mehrad, Iranian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
  • 1944 – Pat Parker, African American poet
  • 1945 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist and sportscaster (d. 2013)
  • 1945 – Eric Stewart, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1946 – David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1946 – Vladimír Merta, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist
  • 1947 – Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and sportscaster
  • 1948 – Nancy Kress, American author and academic
  • 1948 – Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
  • 1949 – Göran Persson, Swedish lawyer and politician, 31st Prime Minister of Sweden
  • 1950 – Daniel Benzali, Brazilian-American actor
  • 1950 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2014)
  • 1950 – Mahamane Ousmane, Nigerien politician, President of Niger
  • 1951 – Iván Fischer, Hungarian conductor and composer
  • 1952 – Nikos Sideris, Greek psychiatrist and poet
  • 1952 – Paul Stanley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1952 – John Witherow, South African-English journalist and author
  • 1953 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and convicted sex offender (d. 2019)
  • 1954 – Alison Seabeck, English lawyer and politician
  • 1955 – McKeeva Bush, Caymanian politician, Premier of the Cayman Islands
  • 1956 – Maria Larsson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs
  • 1956 – Bill Maher, American comedian, political commentator, media critic, television host, and producer
  • 1956 – John Naber, American swimmer
  • 1957 – Andy Sheppard, English saxophonist and composer
  • 1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1959 – Tami Hoag, American author
  • 1959 – R. A. Salvatore, American author
  • 1960 – Apa Sherpa, Nepalese-American mountaineer
  • 1960 – Scott Thunes, American bass player
  • 1960 – Will Wright, American video game designer, co-founded Maxis
  • 1963 – James Denton, American actor
  • 1963 – Mark Ryden, American painter and illustrator
  • 1964 – Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
  • 1964 – Ron Harper, American basketball player and coach
  • 1964 – Jack Lewis, American soldier and author
  • 1964 – Kazushige Nojima, Japanese screenwriter and songwriter
  • 1964 – Aquilino Pimentel III, Filipino lawyer and politician
  • 1964 – Fareed Zakaria, Indian-American journalist and author
  • 1965 – Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer defender and manager
  • 1965 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
  • 1965 – Warren Joyce, English footballer and manager
  • 1965 – John Michael Montgomery, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Anton Weissenbacher, Romanian footballer
  • 1966 – Rainn Wilson, American actor
  • 1967 – Stacey Dash, American actress and television journalist
  • 1967 – Kellyanne Conway, American political strategist and pundit
  • 1968 – Nick Anderson, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Junior Murray, Grenadian cricketer
  • 1969 – Patrick K. Kroupa, American computer hacker and activist, co-founded MindVox
  • 1969 – Nicky Wire, Welsh singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1970 – Edwin McCain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1970 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
  • 1971 – Derrick Green, American singer
  • 1971 – Gary Barlow, English singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1971 – Ger McDonnell, Irish mountaineer and engineer (d. 2008)
  • 1971 – Jung Woong-in, South Korean actor
  • 1971 – Questlove, American drummer, DJ, and producer
  • 1971 – Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 66th Yokozuna
  • 1972 – Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
  • 1973 – Stephen Crabb, Scottish-Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
  • 1973 – Queen Mathilde of Belgium
  • 1974 – David Dei, Italian footballer and coach
  • 1975 – Norberto Fontana, Argentinian racing driver
  • 1975 – Zac Goldsmith, English journalist and politician
  • 1976 – Kirsty Gallacher, Scottish journalist and sportscaster
  • 1976 – Michael Myers, American football player
  • 1976 – Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
  • 1977 – Paul Adams, South African cricketer and coach
  • 1978 – Salvatore Aronica, Italian footballer
  • 1978 – Sonja Kesselschläger, German heptathlete
  • 1978 – Allan Søgaard, Danish footballer
  • 1979 – Choo Ja-hyun, South Korean actress
  • 1979 – Will Young, English singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1980 – Karl Anderson, American wrestler
  • 1980 – Philippe Cousteau, Jr., American-French oceanographer and journalist
  • 1980 – Philippe Gagnon, Canadian swimmer
  • 1980 – Kim Jeong-hoon, South Korean singer and actor
  • 1980 – Petra Rampre, Slovenian tennis player
  • 1980 – Matthew Tuck, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1981 – Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
  • 1981 – Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
  • 1981 – Jason Richardson, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Ruchi Sanghvi, Indian computer engineer
  • 1982 – Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer
  • 1983 – Geovany Soto, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
  • 1983 – Mari Yaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
  • 1984 – Malek Jaziri, Tunisian tennis player
  • 1985 – Marina Inoue, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • 1985 – Tanel Sokk, Estonian basketball player
  • 1987 – Janin Lindenberg, German sprinter
  • 1987 – Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2011)
  • 1988 – Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian footballer
  • 1988 – Jeffrén Suárez, Spanish footballer
  • 1989 – Nick Foles, American football player
  • 1989 – Washington Santana da Silva, Brazilian footballer
  • 1989 – Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1990 – Ray Thompson, Australian rugby league player
  • 1991 – Ciara Hanna, American actress and model
  • 1991 – Tom Cairney, Scottish footballer, midfielder
  • 1991 – Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player
  • 1991 – Jolyon Palmer, English racing driver
  • 1992 – Jorge Zárate, Mexican footballer
  • 1993 – Lorenzo Crisetig, Italian footballer
  • 1994 – Seán Kavanagh, Irish footballer, defender
  • 1994 – Lucas Piazon, Brazilian footballer
  • 1995 – Joey Badass, American rapper and actor
  • 1995 – Calum Chambers, English footballer, defender

Deaths on January 20

  • 820 – Al-Shafi‘i, Arab scholar and jurist (b. 767)
  • 842 – Theophilos, Byzantine emperor (b. 813)
  • 882 – Louis the Younger, king of the East Frankish Kingdom
  • 924 – Li Jitao, Chinese general of Later Tang
  • 928 – Zhao Guangfeng, Chinese official and chancellor
  • 1029 – Heonae, Korean queen and regent (b. 964)
  • 1095 – Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester
  • 1156 – Henry, English bishop and saint
  • 1189 – Shi Zong, Chinese emperor of Jin (b. 1123)
  • 1191 – Frederick VI, duke of Swabia (b. 1167)
  • 1191 – Theobald V, count of Blois (b. 1130)
  • 1265 – John Maunsell, English Lord Chancellor
  • 1336 – John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (b. 1306)
  • 1343 – Robert, king of Naples (b. 1275)
  • 1479 – John II, king of Sicily (b. 1398)
  • 1568 – Myles Coverdale, English bishop and translator (b. 1488)
  • 1612 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
  • 1663 – Isaac Ambrose, English minister and author (b. 1604)
  • 1666 – Anne of Austria, Queen and regent of France (b. 1601)
  • 1707 – Humphrey Hody, English scholar and theologian (b. 1659)
  • 1709 – François de la Chaise, French priest (b. 1624)
  • 1751 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
  • 1770 – Charles Yorke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
  • 1779 – David Garrick, English actor, producer, playwright, and manager (b. 1717)
  • 1810 – Benjamin Chew, American lawyer and judge (b. 1721)
  • 1819 – Charles IV, Spanish king (b. 1748)
  • 1837 – John Soane, English architect, designed the Bank of England (b. 1753)
  • 1841 – Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish explorer (b. 1780)
  • 1841 – Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1791)
  • 1848 – Christian VIII, Danish king (b. 1786)
  • 1850 – Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1779)
  • 1852 – Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 6th Yokozuna (b. 1794)
  • 1873 – Basil Moreau, French priest, founded the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
  • 1875 – Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (b. 1814)
  • 1891 – Kalākaua, king of Hawaii (b. 1836)
  • 1900 – John Ruskin, English painter and critic (b. 1819)
  • 1901 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (b. 1826)
  • 1907 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (b. 1842)
  • 1908 – John Ordronaux, American surgeon and academic (b. 1830)
  • 1913 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (b. 1852)
  • 1915 – Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, Irish businessman, philanthropist, and politician (b. 1840)
  • 1920 – Georg Lurich, Estonian-Russian wrestler and strongman (b. 1876)
  • 1921 – Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer and academic (b. 1847)
  • 1924 – Henry “Ivo” Crapp, Australian footballer and umpire (b. 1872)
  • 1936 – George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
  • 1940 – Omar Bundy, American general (b. 1861)
  • 1944 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (b. 1860)
  • 1947 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (b. 1911)
  • 1947 – Andrew Volstead, American member of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1860)
  • 1954 – Warren Bardsley, Australian cricketer (b. 1882)
  • 1954 – Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (b. 1890)
  • 1955 – Robert P. T. Coffin, American author and poet (b. 1892)
  • 1962 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (b. 1887)
  • 1965 – Alan Freed, American radio host (b. 1922)
  • 1971 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
  • 1971 – Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (b. 1903)
  • 1973 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and surgeon (b. 1885)
  • 1973 – Amílcar Cabral, Guinea Bissauan-Cape Verdian engineer and politician (b. 1924)
  • 1977 – Dimitrios Kiousopoulos, Greek jurist and politician, 151st Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1892)
  • 1980 – William Roberts, English soldier and painter (b. 1895)
  • 1983 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
  • 1984 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
  • 1988 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (b. 1890)
  • 1988 – Dora Stratou, Greek dancer and choreographer (b. 1903)
  • 1989 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
  • 1990 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
  • 1993 – Audrey Hepburn, British actress and humanitarian activist (b. 1929)
  • 1994 – Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1909)
  • 1994 – Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, first Kenyan Vice-President (b. 1911)
  • 1996 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1927)
  • 2002 – Carrie Hamilton, American actress and singer (b. 1963)
  • 2003 – Al Hirschfeld, American painter and illustrator (b. 1903)
  • 2003 – Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
  • 2004 – Alan Brown, English racing driver (b. 1919)
  • 2004 – T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (b. 1917)
  • 2005 – Per Borten, Norwegian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist and politician (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Miriam Rothschild, English zoologist, entomologist, and author (b. 1908)
  • 2009 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian patriarch (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Etta James, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
  • 2012 – John Levy, American bassist and manager (b. 1912)
  • 2012 – Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior (b. 1933)
  • 2012 – Alejandro Rodriguez, Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Toyo Shibata, Japanese poet and author (b. 1911)
  • 2014 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Jonas Trinkūnas, Lithuanian ethnologist and academic (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Edgar Froese, Russian-German keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1944)
  • 2016 – Mykolas Burokevičius, Lithuanian carpenter and politician (b. 1927)
  • 2016 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (b. 1920)
  • 2018 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (b. 1926)
  • 2018 – Naomi Parker Fraley, American naval machiner (b. 1921)
  • 2020 – Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (b. 1947)
  • 2020 – Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives

Holidays and observances on January 20

  • Armed Forces Day (Mali)
  • Army Day (Laos)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Abadios
    • Blessed Basil Moreau
    • Eustochia Smeralda Calafato
    • Euthymius the Great
    • Fabian
    • Manchán of Lemanaghan
    • Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando
    • Richard Rolle (Church of England)
    • Sebastian
    • Stephen Min Kuk-ka (one of The Korean Martyrs)
    • January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Heroes’ Day (Cape Verde)
  • Inauguration Day, held every four years in odd-numbered years immediately following years divisible by 4, except for the public ceremony when January 20 falls on Sunday (the public ceremony is held the following day; however, the terms of offices still begin on the 20th) (United States of America, not a federal holiday for all government employees but only for those working in the Capital region)
  • Martyrs’ Day (Azerbaijan)

January 20 – 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

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

  • 27 BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
  • 378 – General Siyaj K’ak’ conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
  • 550 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
  • 929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba.
  • 1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
  • 1362 – Saint Marcellus’s flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
  • 1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
  • 1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
  • 1547 – Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
  • 1556 – Philip II becomes King of Spain.
  • 1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
  • 1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.
  • 1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
  • 1757 – Forces of the Maratha Empire defeat a 5,000-strong army of the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.
  • 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
  • 1786 – Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
  • 1809 – Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
  • 1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
  • 1862 – Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
  • 1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
  • 1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.
  • 1900 – The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
  • 1909 – Ernest Shackleton’s expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
  • 1919 – Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.
  • 1920 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University.
  • 1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France.
  • 1921 – The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.
  • 1942 – Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
  • 1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
  • 1964 – Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.
  • 1969 – Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets’ crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
  • 1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.
  • 1979 – The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.
  • 1991 – Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.
  • 1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
  • 2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
  • 2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.
  • 2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
  • 2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
  • 2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She becomes Africa’s first female elected head of state.
  • 2016 – Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant.
  • 2018 – Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve.
  • 2020 – The impeachment of Donald John Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.

Births on January 16

  • 972 – Sheng Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 1031)
  • 1093 – Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (d. 1152)
  • 1245 – Edmund Crouchback, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1296)
  • 1362 – Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland (d. 1392)
  • 1409 – René of Anjou, king of Naples (d. 1480)
  • 1477 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
  • 1501 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
  • 1516 – Bayinnaung, king of Burma (d. 1581)
  • 1558 – Jakobea of Baden, Margravine of Baden by birth, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by marriage (d. 1597)
  • 1616 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (d. 1669)
  • 1626 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Belgian painter and educator (d. 1699)
  • 1630 – Guru Har Rai, Sikh Guru (d. 1661)
  • 1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, Norwegian author and poet (d. 1716)
  • 1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1755)
  • 1691 – Peter Scheemakers, Belgian sculptor and educator (d. 1781)
  • 1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer and educator (d. 1800)
  • 1749 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1803)
  • 1757 – Richard Goodwin Keats, English admiral and politician, 3rd Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)
  • 1807 – Charles Henry Davis, American admiral (d. 1877)
  • 1815 – Henry Halleck, American lawyer, general, and scholar (d. 1872)
  • 1821 – John C. Breckinridge, American general and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
  • 1834 – Robert R. Hitt, American lawyer and politician, 13th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1906)
  • 1836 – Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)
  • 1838 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
  • 1851 – William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
  • 1853 – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and manager (d. 1937)
  • 1853 – Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, Greek-English general (d. 1947)
  • 1853 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (d. 1931)
  • 1870 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, State Elder of Estonia (d. 1942)
  • 1872 – Henri Büsser, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1973)
  • 1874 – Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet and author (d. 1958)
  • 1875 – Leonor Michaelis, German biochemist and physician (d. 1949)
  • 1876 – Claude Buckenham, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1937)
  • 1878 – Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1947)
  • 1880 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (d. 1954)
  • 1882 – Margaret Wilson, American author (d. 1973)
  • 1885 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (d. 1967)
  • 1888 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (d. 1945)
  • 1892 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (d. 1949)
  • 1893 – Daisy Kennedy, Australian-English violinist (d. 1981)
  • 1894 – Irving Mills, American publisher (d. 1985)
  • 1895 – Evripidis Bakirtzis, Greek soldier and politician (d. 1947)
  • 1895 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
  • 1895 – Nat Schachner, American lawyer, chemist, and author (d. 1955)
  • 1897 – Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet and academic (d. 1977)
  • 1898 – Margaret Booth, American producer and editor (d. 2002)
  • 1898 – Irving Rapper, American film director and producer (d. 1999)
  • 1900 – Kiku Amino, Japanese author and translator (d. 1978)
  • 1900 – Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
  • 1901 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (d. 1973)
  • 1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner, rugby player, and missionary (d. 1945)
  • 1903 – William Grover-Williams, English-French race car driver (d. 1945)
  • 1905 – Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)
  • 1906 – Johannes Brenner, Estonian footballer and pilot (d. 1975)
  • 1906 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (d. 1964)
  • 1907 – Alexander Knox, Canadian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
  • 1907 – Paul Nitze, American banker and politician, 10th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2004)
  • 1908 – Sammy Crooks, English footballer (d. 1981)
  • 1908 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
  • 1908 – Günther Prien, German captain (d. 1941)
  • 1909 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (d. 1994)
  • 1910 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974)
  • 1911 – Ivan Barrow, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1979)
  • 1911 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (d. 1982)
  • 1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
  • 1914 – Roger Wagner, French-American conductor and educator (d. 1992)
  • 1915 – Leslie H. Martinson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1916 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2004)
  • 1916 – Philip Lucock, English-Australian minister and politician (d. 1996)
  • 1917 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, founded Carl’s Jr. (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Nel Benschop, Dutch poet and educator (d. 2005)
  • 1918 – Allan Ekelund, Swedish director, producer, and production manager (d. 2009)
  • 1918 – Clem Jones, Australian surveyor and politician, 8th Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2007)
  • 1918 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
  • 1919 – Jerome Horwitz, American chemist and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1991)
  • 1920 – Elliott Reid, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)
  • 1923 – Gene Feist, American director and playwright, co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
  • 1924 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
  • 1925 – Peter Hirsch, German-English metallurgist and academic
  • 1925 – James Robinson Risner, American general and pilot (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – William Kennedy, American novelist and journalist
  • 1928 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 1996)
  • 1929 – Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Sri Lankan anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1930 – Mary Ann McMorrow, American lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Norman Podhoretz, American journalist and author
  • 1931 – John Enderby, English physicist and academic
  • 1931 – Robert L. Park, American physicist and academic
  • 1931 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th Federal President of Germany (d. 2006)
  • 1932 – Victor Ciocâltea, Romanian chess player (d. 1983)
  • 1932 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist and anthropologist (d. 1985)
  • 1933 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004)
  • 1934 – Bob Bogle, American rock guitarist and bass player (d. 2009)
  • 1934 – Marilyn Horne, American soprano and actress
  • 1935 – A. J. Foyt, American race car driver
  • 1935 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015)
  • 1936 – Michael White, Scottish actor and producer (d. 2016)
  • 1937 – Luiz Bueno, Brazilian race car driver (d. 2011)
  • 1937 – Francis George, American cardinal (d. 2015)
  • 1938 – Marina Vaizey, American journalist and critic
  • 1939 – Ralph Gibson, American photographer
  • 1941 – Christine Truman, English tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1942 – René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager (d. 2016)
  • 1942 – Barbara Lynn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1943 – Gavin Bryars, English bassist and composer
  • 1943 – Ronnie Milsap, American singer and pianist
  • 1944 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (d. 2015)
  • 1944 – Jim Stafford, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1944 – Jill Tarter, American astronomer and biologist
  • 1944 – Judy Baar Topinka, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1945 – Wim Suurbier, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1946 – Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
  • 1946 – Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano and actress
  • 1947 – Elaine Murphy, Baroness Murphy, English academic and politician
  • 1947 – Harvey Proctor, English politician
  • 1947 – Laura Schlessinger, American physiologist, talk show host, and author
  • 1948 – John Carpenter, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
  • 1948 – Ants Laaneots, Estonian general
  • 1948 – Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
  • 1948 – Ruth Reichl, American journalist and critic
  • 1949 – Anne F. Beiler, American businesswoman, founded Auntie Anne’s
  • 1949 – R. F. Foster, Irish historian and academic
  • 1949 – Andrew Refshauge, Australian physician and politician, 13th Deputy Premier of New South Wales
  • 1950 – Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
  • 1950 – Robert Schimmel, American comedian, actor, and producer (d. 2010)
  • 1952 – Fuad II, King of Egypt
  • 1952 – Piercarlo Ghinzani, Italian race car driver and manager
  • 1952 – L. Blaine Hammond, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1952 – Julie Anne Peters, American engineer and author
  • 1953 – Robert Jay Mathews, American militant, founded The Order (d. 1984)
  • 1954 – Wolfgang Schmidt, German discus thrower
  • 1954 – Vasili Zhupikov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1955 – Jerry M. Linenger, American captain, physician, and astronaut
  • 1956 – Wayne Daniel, Barbadian cricketer
  • 1956 – Martin Jol, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1956 – Greedy Smith, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist (d. 2019)
  • 1957 – Jurijs Andrejevs, Latvian footballer and manager
  • 1957 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1957 – Mark Pawsey, English businessman and politician
  • 1958 – Anatoli Boukreev, Russian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1997)
  • 1958 – Lena Ek, Swedish lawyer and politician, 9th Swedish Minister for the Environment
  • 1958 – Andris Šķēle, Latvian businessman and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Latvia
  • 1959 – Lisa Milroy, Canadian painter and educator
  • 1959 – Sade, Nigerian-English singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1961 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian guitarist and composer (d. 2006)
  • 1962 – Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian electrician and politician, 51st Australian Minister of Defence
  • 1962 – Maxine Jones, American R&B singer–songwriter and actress
  • 1963 – James May, British journalist/co-host of Top Gear
  • 1964 – Gail Graham, Canadian golfer
  • 1966 – Jack McDowell, American baseball player
  • 1968 – Rebecca Stead, American author
  • 1969 – Neil Back, English rugby player and coach
  • 1969 – Marinus Bester, German footballer
  • 1969 – Stevie Jackson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
  • 1969 – Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
  • 1970 – Ron Villone, American baseball player and coach
  • 1971 – Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player and coach
  • 1971 – Josh Evans, American film producer, screenwriter and actor
  • 1971 – Jonathan Mangum, American actor
  • 1972 – Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer
  • 1972 – Ang Christou, Australian footballer
  • 1972 – Yuri Alekseevich Drozdov, Russian footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Joe Horn, American football player and coach
  • 1974 – Marlon Anderson, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1974 – John Hopoate, Tongan-Australian rugby league player and boxer
  • 1974 – Kate Moss, English model and fashion designer
  • 1976 – Viktor Maslov, Russian race car driver
  • 1976 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak swimmer
  • 1977 – Jeff Foster, American basketball player
  • 1978 – Alfredo Amézaga, Mexican baseball player
  • 1979 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
  • 1979 – Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, American actor, playwright, and composer
  • 1980 – Albert Pujols, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1981 – Jamie Lundmark, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Paul Rofe, Australian cricketer
  • 1981 – Bobby Zamora, English footballer, striker
  • 1982 – Preston, English singer-songwriter
  • 1982 – Tuncay, Turkish footballer
  • 1983 – Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
  • 1983 – Andriy Rusol, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1984 – Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer
  • 1984 – Miroslav Radović, Serbian footballer
  • 1985 – Joe Flacco, American football player
  • 1985 – Jayde Herrick, Australian cricketer
  • 1985 – Gintaras Januševičius, Russian-Lithuanian pianist
  • 1985 – Twins Jonathan and Simon Richter, Danish-Gambian footballers
  • 1985 – Sidharth Malhotra, Indian actor
  • 1986 – Johannes Rahn, German footballer
  • 1986 – Mark Trumbo, American baseball player
  • 1986 – Reto Ziegler, Swiss footballer, left back
  • 1987 – Jake Epstein, Canadian actor
  • 1987 – Charlotte Henshaw, English swimmer
  • 1988 – Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
  • 1988 – Jorge Torres Nilo, Mexican footballer
  • 1991 – Matt Duchene, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1993 – Hannes Anier, Estonian footballer
  • 1993 – Amandine Hesse, French tennis player
  • 1994 – Chris Smith, Australian rugby league player
  • 1995 – Mikaela Turik, Australian-Canadian cricketer
  • 1998 – Cameron Murray, Australian rugby league player
  • 2003 – Adriana Hernández, Mexican rhythmic gymnast

Deaths on January 16

  • 654 – Gao Jifu, Chinese politician and chancellor (b. 596)
  • 957 – Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ali al-Madhara’i, Tulunid vizier (b. 871)
  • 970 – Polyeuctus of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch (b. 956)
  • 1263 – Shinran Shonin, Japanese founder of the Jodo Shinshu branch of Pure Land Buddhism
  • 1289 – Buqa, Mongol minister
  • 1327 – Nikephoros Choumnos, Byzantine monk, scholar, and politician (b. 1250)
  • 1354 – Joanna of Châtillon, duchess of Athens (b. c.1285)
  • 1373 – Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (b. 1342)
  • 1391 – Muhammed V of Granada, Nasrid emir (b. 1338)
  • 1400 – John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1352)
  • 1443 – Erasmo of Narni, Italian mercenary (b. 1370)
  • 1545 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (b. 1484)
  • 1547 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
  • 1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish publisher and scholar (b. 1480)
  • 1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral and politician (b. 1512)
  • 1595 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1546)
  • 1659 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
  • 1710 – Higashiyama, Japanese emperor (b. 1675)
  • 1711 – Joseph Vaz, Indian-Sri Lankan priest and saint (b. 1651)
  • 1747 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet and playwright (b. 1680)
  • 1748 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch lawyer and scholar (b. 1684)
  • 1750 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1667)
  • 1752 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (b. 1705)
  • 1794 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (b. 1737)
  • 1809 – John Moore, Scottish general and politician (b. 1761)
  • 1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, Jamaican-American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1759)
  • 1834 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (b. 1769)
  • 1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (b. 1795)
  • 1864 – Anton Schindler, Austrian secretary and author (b. 1795)
  • 1865 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (b. 1828)
  • 1879 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian-French poet and bookseller (b. 1827)
  • 1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and academic (b. 1834)
  • 1891 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (b. 1836)
  • 1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
  • 1901 – Jules Barbier, French poet and playwright (b. 1825)
  • 1901 – Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter and academic (b. 1827)
  • 1901 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, American soldier, minister, and politician (b. 1822)
  • 1906 – Marshall Field, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Marshall Field’s (b. 1834)
  • 1917 – George Dewey, American admiral (b. 1837)
  • 1919 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 5th President of Brazil (b. 1848)
  • 1933 – Bekir Sami Kunduh, Turkish politician (b. 1867)
  • 1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer, rapist and cannibal (b. 1870)
  • 1938 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Indian author and playwright (b. 1876)
  • 1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (b. 1850)
  • 1942 – Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (b. 1885)
  • 1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
  • 1942 – Ernst Scheller, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Marburg (b. 1899)
  • 1957 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, English general and politician, 16th Governor General of Canada (b. 1874)
  • 1957 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian cellist and conductor (b. 1867)
  • 1959 – Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and author (b. 1887)
  • 1960 – Arthur Darby, English rugby player (b. 1876)
  • 1961 – Max Schöne, German swimmer (b. 1880)
  • 1962 – Frank Hurley, Australian photographer, director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1885)
  • 1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect, designed the Monument to the Unknown Hero (b. 1883)
  • 1967 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic (b. 1901)
  • 1968 – Bob Jones Sr., American evangelist, founded Bob Jones University (b. 1883)
  • 1968 – Panagiotis Poulitsas, Greek archaeologist and judge (b. 1881)
  • 1969 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)
  • 1971 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
  • 1972 – Teller Ammons, American soldier and politician, 28th Governor of Colorado (b. 1895)
  • 1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (b. 1919)
  • 1973 – Edgar Sampson, American musician and composer (b. 1907)
  • 1975 – Israel Abramofsky, Russian-American painter (b. 1888)
  • 1978 – A. V. Kulasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1890)
  • 1981 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
  • 1983 – Virginia Mauret, American musician and dancer
  • 1986 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
  • 1987 – Bertram Wainer, Australian physician and activist (b. 1928)
  • 1988 – Andrija Artuković, Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, 1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (b. 1899)
  • 1995 – Eric Mottram, English poet and critic (b. 1924)
  • 1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and critic (b. 1903)
  • 1996 – Kaye Webb, English journalist and publisher (b. 1914)
  • 1999 – Jim McClelland, Australian lawyer, jurist, and politician, 12th Minister for Industry and Science (b. 1915)
  • 2000 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist and academic (b. 1914)
  • 2001 – Auberon Waugh, English author and journalist (b. 1939)
  • 2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
  • 2003 – Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
  • 2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician 34th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
  • 2005 – Marjorie Williams, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
  • 2006 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (b. 1923)
  • 2007 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941)
  • 2009 – Joe Erskine, American boxer and runner (b. 1930)
  • 2009 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (b. 1923)
  • 2009 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
  • 2010 – Glen Bell, American businessman, founded Taco Bell (b. 1923)
  • 2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1914)
  • 2010 – Takumi Shibano, Japanese author and translator (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Joe Bygraves, Jamaican-English boxer (b. 1931)
  • 2012 – Jimmy Castor, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Sigursteinn Gíslason, Icelandic footballer and manager (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Lorna Kesterson, American journalist and politician (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch pianist, conductor, and musicologist (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – André Cassagnes, French technician and toy maker, created the Etch A Sketch (b. 1926)
  • 2013 – Gussie Moran, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Glen P. Robinson, American businessman, founded Scientific Atlanta (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Gary Arlington, American author and illustrator (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Ruth Duccini, American actress (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Miriam Akavia, Polish-Israeli author and translator (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Yao Beina, Chinese singer (b. 1981)
  • 2016 – Joannis Avramidis, Greek sculptor (b. 1922)
  • 2016 – Ted Marchibroda, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
  • 2017 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
  • 2018 – Ed Doolan, British radio presenter (b. 1941)
  • 2018 – Oliver Ivanović, Kosovo Serb politician (b. 1953)
  • 2019 – John C. Bogle, American businessman, investor, and philanthropist (b. 1929)
  • 2019 – Lorna Doom, American musician (b. 1958)
  • 2019 – Chris Wilson, Australian musician (b. 1956)
  • 2020 – Christopher Tolkien, British academic and editor (died 2020)

Holidays and observances on January 16

  • Christian feast day:
    • Pope Benjamin (Coptic)
    • Berard of Carbio
    • Blaise (Armenian Apostolic)
    • Fursey
    • Joseph Vaz
    • Honoratus of Arles
    • Pope Marcellus I
    • Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Coptic Church)
    • Titian of Oderzo
    • Eve of Saint Anthony observed with ritual bonfires in San Bartolomé de Pinares
    • January 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • National Religious Freedom Day (United States)
  • Teacher’s Day (Myanmar)
  • Teachers’ Day (Thailand)

January 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
  • 630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, Quraysh surrender.
  • 947 – Emperor Tai Zong of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty invades the Later Jin, resulting in the destruction of the Later Jin.
  • 1055 – Theodora is crowned empress of the Byzantine Empire.
  • 1158 – Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia becomes King of Bohemia.
  • 1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
  • 1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
  • 1654 – Arauco War: A Spanish army is defeated by local Mapuche-Huilliches as it tries to cross Bueno River in Southern Chile.
  • 1693 – A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.
  • 1759 – The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group), is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • 1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.
  • 1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
  • 1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post: General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: CSS Alabama encounters and sinks the USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.
  • 1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
  • 1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
  • 1912 – Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week.
  • 1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.
  • 1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
  • 1923 – Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.
  • 1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
  • 1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
  • 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States.
  • 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces attack Tarakan in Borneo, Netherlands Indies (Battle of Tarakan)
  • 1943 – The Republic of China agrees to the Sino-British New Equal Treaty and the Sino-American New Equal Treaty.
  • 1943 – Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City.
  • 1946 – Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People’s Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.
  • 1949 – The first “networked” television broadcasts took place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming.
  • 1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.
  • 1961 – Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City’s boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic.
  • 1962 – Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.
  • 1962 – An avalanche on Huascarán in Peru causes around 4,000 deaths.
  • 1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
  • 1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
  • 1973 – Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.
  • 1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
  • 1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
  • 1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.
  • 1998 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
  • 2003 – Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois’s death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.
  • 2013 – One French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia.

Births on January 11

  • 347 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (d. 395)
  • 889 – Abd-ar-Rahman III, first Caliph of Córdoba (d. 961)
  • 1113 – Wang Chongyang, Chinese religious leader and poet (d. 1170)
  • 1209 – Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (d. 1259)
  • 1322 – Emperor Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1380)
  • 1359 – Emperor Go-En’yū of Japan (d. 1393)
  • 1395 – Michele of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France (d. 1422)
  • 1503 – Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
  • 1589 – William Strode, English politician (d. 1666)
  • 1591 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1646)
  • 1624 – Bastiaan Govertsz van der Leeuw, Dutch painter (d. 1680)
  • 1630 – John Rogers, English-American minister, physician, and academic (d. 1684)
  • 1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish bishop and anatomist (d. 1686)
  • 1642 – Johann Friedrich Alberti, German organist and composer (d. 1710)
  • 1650 – Diana Glauber, Dutch-German painter (d. 1721)
  • 1671 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general and diplomat (d. 1745)
  • 1755 – Alexander Hamilton, Nevisian-American general, economist and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
  • 1757 – Samuel Bentham, English engineer and architect (d. 1831)
  • 1760 – Oliver Wolcott Jr., American lawyer and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of the Treasury, 24th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1833)
  • 1777 – Vincenzo Borg, Maltese merchant and rebel leader (d. 1837)
  • 1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English physicist (d. 1869)
  • 1788 – William Thomas Brande, English chemist and academic (d. 1866)
  • 1800 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist and engineer (d. 1895)
  • 1807 – Ezra Cornell, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Western Union and Cornell University (d. 1874)
  • 1814 – James Paget, English surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)
  • 1815 – John A. Macdonald, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
  • 1825 – Bayard Taylor, American poet, author, and critic (d. 1878)
  • 1839 – Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican lawyer, philosopher, and sociologist (d. 1903)
  • 1842 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)
  • 1843 – Adolf Eberle, German painter (d. 1914)
  • 1845 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish mathematician and physicist (d. 1912)
  • 1850 – Joseph Charles Arthur, American pathologist and mycologist (d. 1942)
  • 1852 – Constantin Fehrenbach, German lawyer and politician, 4th Chancellor of Weimar Germany (d. 1926)
  • 1853 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter and sculptor (d. 1932)
  • 1856 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1941)
  • 1857 – Fred Archer, English jockey (d. 1886)
  • 1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (d. 1947)
  • 1859 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (d. 1925)
  • 1864 – Thomas Dixon, Jr., American minister, lawyer, and politician (d. 1946)
  • 1867 – Edward B. Titchener, English psychologist and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1868 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1940)
  • 1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor and educator (d. 1945)
  • 1872 – G. W. Pierce, American physicist and academic (d. 1956)
  • 1873 – John Callan O’Laughlin, American soldier and journalist (d. 1949)
  • 1875 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer and academic (d. 1956)
  • 1876 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
  • 1876 – Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1952)
  • 1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (d. 1952)
  • 1885 – Alice Paul, American activist and suffragist (d. 1977)
  • 1887 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (d. 1948)
  • 1888 – Joseph B. Keenan, American jurist and politician (d. 1954)
  • 1889 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist and academic (d. 1938)
  • 1890 – Max Carey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
  • 1890 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian poet and critic (d. 1954)
  • 1891 – Andrew Sockalexis, American runner (d. 1919)
  • 1893 – Ellinor Aiki, Estonian painter (d. 1969)
  • 1893 – Charles Fraser, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1981)
  • 1893 – Anthony M. Rud, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
  • 1895 – Laurens Hammond, American engineer and businessman, founded the Hammond Clock Company (d. 1973)
  • 1897 – Bernard DeVoto, American historian and author (d. 1955)
  • 1897 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
  • 1899 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress, director, and producer (d. 1991)
  • 1901 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)
  • 1902 – Maurice Duruflé, French organist and composer (d. 1986)
  • 1903 – Alan Paton, South African author and activist (d. 1988)
  • 1905 – Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologist and theorist (d. 1960)
  • 1906 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic, discoverer of LSD (d. 2008)
  • 1907 – Pierre Mendès France, French lawyer and politician, 142nd Prime Minister of France (d. 1982)
  • 1907 – Abraham Joshua Heschel, Polish-American rabbi, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1972)
  • 1908 – Lionel Stander, American actor and activist (d. 1994)
  • 1910 – Arthur Lambourn, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1999)
  • 1910 – Shane Paltridge, Australian soldier and politician (d. 1966)
  • 1911 – Tommy Duncan, American singer-songwriter (d. 1967)
  • 1911 – Nora Heysen, Australian painter (d. 2003)
  • 1911 – Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 70th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
  • 1912 – Don “Red” Barry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1980)
  • 1913 – Karl Stegger, Danish actor (d. 1980)
  • 1915 – Luise Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2001)
  • 1915 – Paddy Mayne, British colonel and lawyer (d. 1955)
  • 1916 – Bernard Blier, Argentinian-French actor (d. 1989)
  • 1917 – John Robarts, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Ontario (d. 1982)
  • 1918 – Robert C. O’Brien, American author and journalist (d. 1973)
  • 1920 – Mick McManus, English wrestler (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – Gory Guerrero, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990)
  • 1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, American economist and politician, 24th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
  • 1923 – Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (d. 1998)
  • 1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian and philosopher (d. 2016)
  • 1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, engineer, and businessman, founded Carroll Shelby International (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Roger Guillemin, French-American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1924 – Sam B. Hall, Jr., American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1994)
  • 1924 – Slim Harpo, American blues singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1970)
  • 1925 – Grant Tinker, American television producer, co-founded MTM Enterprises (d. 2016)
  • 1926 – Lev Dyomin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1998)
  • 1928 – David L. Wolper, American director and producer (d. 2010)
  • 1929 – Dmitri Bruns, Estonian architect and theorist (d. 2020)
  • 1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian lawyer and politician, 10th Deputy Premier of New South Wales (d. 2014)
  • 1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian painter, historian, and curator (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (d. 2014)
  • 1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican actor and director
  • 1933 – Goldie Hill, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
  • 1934 – Jean Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Canada
  • 1936 – Eva Hesse, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1970)
  • 1938 – Arthur Scargill, English miner, activist, and politician
  • 1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier
  • 1940 – Andres Tarand, Estonian geographer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Estonia
  • 1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer
  • 1942 – Bud Acton, American basketball player
  • 1942 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist and actor (d. 2011)
  • 1944 – Mohammed Abdul-Hayy, Sudanese poet and academic (d. 1989)
  • 1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Jharkhand
  • 1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German actress, author, and businesswoman (d. 2017)
  • 1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1946 – Tony Kaye, English progressive rock keyboard player and songwriter (Yes)
  • 1946 – John Piper, American theologian and author
  • 1947 – Hamish Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1948 – Fritz Bohla, German footballer and manager
  • 1948 – Joe Harper, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1948 – Madeline Manning, American runner and coach
  • 1948 – Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 54th Yokozuna
  • 1948 – Terry Williams, Welsh drummer
  • 1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1949 – Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 2nd Vice President of Iran
  • 1951 – Charlie Huhn, American rock singer and guitarist
  • 1951 – Willie Maddren, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
  • 1951 – Philip Tartaglia, Scottish archbishop
  • 1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright (d. 2013)
  • 1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer and architect
  • 1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian lawyer and politician
  • 1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author
  • 1952 – Lee Ritenour, American guitarist, composer, and producer
  • 1953 – Graham Allen, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
  • 1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Agricultural Development and Food
  • 1954 – Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian physicist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Defence
  • 1954 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1956 – Big Bank Hank, American rapper (d. 2014)
  • 1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1957 – Peter Moore, Australian rules footballer and coach
  • 1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager
  • 1958 – Vicki Peterson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1959 – Brett Bodine, American NASCAR driver
  • 1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1961 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish racing driver (d. 1989)
  • 1962 – Chris Bryant, Welsh politician, Minister of State for Europe
  • 1962 – Susan Lindauer, American journalist and activist
  • 1962 – Brian Moore, English rugby player
  • 1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American-Australian swimmer
  • 1963 – Petra Schneider, German swimmer
  • 1964 – Ralph Recto, Filipino lawyer and politician
  • 1964 – Albert Dupontel, French actor and director
  • 1965 – Mascarita Sagrada, Mexican wrestler
  • 1965 – Aleksey Zhukov, Russian footballer and coach
  • 1966 – Marc Acito, American author and screenwriter
  • 1967 – Michael Healy-Rae, Irish politician
  • 1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Finance
  • 1968 – Tom Dumont, American guitarist and producer
  • 1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican-American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian painter and sculptor
  • 1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach
  • 1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor
  • 1970 – Ken Ueno, American composer
  • 1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1971 – Jeff Orford, Australian rugby league player
  • 1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
  • 1972 – Christian Jacobs, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
  • 1972 – Anthony Lledo, Danish composer
  • 1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress and playwright
  • 1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor
  • 1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer and captain
  • 1974 – Roman Görtz, German footballer
  • 1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player
  • 1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer
  • 1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player and coach
  • 1975 – Matteo Renzi, Italian politician, 56th Prime Minister of Italy
  • 1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player
  • 1977 – Shamari Buchanan, American football player
  • 1977 – Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater
  • 1977 – Olexiy Lukashevych, Ukrainian long jumper
  • 1978 – Vallo Allingu, Estonian basketball player
  • 1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress
  • 1978 – Michael Duff, Irish footballer
  • 1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer
  • 1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American director and screenwriter
  • 1979 – Michael Lorenz, German footballer
  • 1979 – Henry Shefflin, Irish hurler
  • 1980 – Josh Hannay, Australian rugby league player
  • 1980 – Mike Williams, American football player
  • 1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player
  • 1982 – Blake Heron, American actor (d. 2017)
  • 1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress
  • 1983 – Turner Battle, American basketball player
  • 1983 – André Myhrer, Swedish skier
  • 1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer
  • 1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver
  • 1984 – Kevin Boss, American football player
  • 1984 – Dario Krešić, Croatian footballer
  • 1984 – Matt Mullenweg, American web developer and businessman, co-created WordPress
  • 1984 – Stijn Schaars, Dutch footballer
  • 1985 – Newton Faulkner, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1985 – Lucy Knisley, American author and illustrator
  • 1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American Professional BMX rider
  • 1987 – Danuta Kozák, Hungarian sprint canoer
  • 1987 – Daniel Semenzato, Italian footballer
  • 1987 – Jamie Vardy, English footballer
  • 1987 – Kim Young-kwang, South Korean actor and model
  • 1988 – Rodrigo José Pereira, Brazilian footballer
  • 1989 – Kane Linnett, Australian rugby league player
  • 1990 – Ryan Griffin, American football player
  • 1991 – Andrea Bertolacci, Italian footballer
  • 1992 – Dani Carvajal, Spanish footballer
  • 1992 – Lee Seung-hoon, South Korean rapper and dancer
  • 1993 – Michael Keane, English footballer
  • 1993 – Will Keane, English footballer
  • 1996 – Leroy Sané, German footballer
  • 1997 – Cody Simpson, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor

Deaths on January 11

  • 140 – Pope Hyginus, Bishop of Rome (b. 74)
  • 705 – Pope John VI (b. 655)
  • 782 – Emperor Kōnin of Japan (b. 709)
  • 812 – Staurakios, Byzantine emperor
  • 844 – Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine emperor (b. 770)
  • 887 – Boso of Provence, Frankish nobleman
  • 937 – Cao, empress of Later Tang
  • 937 – Li Chongmei, prince of Later Tang
  • 937 – Li Congke, emperor of Later Tang (b. 885)
  • 937 – Liu, empress of Later Tang
  • 1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1000)
  • 1068 – Egbert I, Margrave of Meissen
  • 1083 – Otto of Nordheim (b. 1020)
  • 1266 – Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania
  • 1344 – Thomas Charlton, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of Ireland
  • 1372 – Eleanor of Lancaster, English noblewoman (b. 1318)
  • 1396 – Isidore Glabas, Metropolitan bishop of Thessalonica (b.c. 1341)
  • 1397 – Skirgaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania
  • 1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian painter (b. 1449)
  • 1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (b. 1428)
  • 1546 – Gaudenzio Ferrari, Italian painter and sculptor (b. c. 1471)
  • 1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian poet, scholar, and theorist (b. 1470)
  • 1554 – Min Bin, king of Arakan (b. 1493)
  • 1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet and painter (b. 1583)
  • 1696 – Charles Albanel, French priest, missionary, and explorer (b. 1616)
  • 1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (b. 1632)
  • 1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French priest and theologian (b. 1637)
  • 1735 – Danilo I, Metropolitan of Cetinje (b. 1670)
  • 1753 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (b. 1660)
  • 1757 – Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1688)
  • 1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French-English sculptor (b. 1695)
  • 1763 – Caspar Abel, German poet, historian, and theologian (b. 1676)
  • 1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens, French philosopher and author (b. 1704)
  • 1788 – François Joseph Paul de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722)
  • 1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh composer and poet (b. 1717)
  • 1798 – Heraclius II of Georgia (b. 1720)
  • 1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer and educator (b. 1749)
  • 1824 – Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry, Anglo-Irish politician and peer (b. 1736)
  • 1836 – John Molson, Canadian businessman, founded the Molson Brewing Company (b. 1763)
  • 1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and songwriter (b. 1779)
  • 1866 – Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, Irish actor (b. 1818)
  • 1866 – John Woolley, English minister and academic (b. 1816)
  • 1867 – Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian businessman and politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1812)
  • 1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist and biologist (b. 1810)
  • 1891 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French urban planner (b. 1809)
  • 1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer and rugby player (b. 1862)
  • 1904 – William Sawyer, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1815)
  • 1914 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and philanthropist (b. 1842)
  • 1920 – Steinar Schjøtt, Norwegian philologist and lexicographer (b. 1844)
  • 1923 – Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)
  • 1928 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (b. 1840)
  • 1931 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor, historian, and author (b. 1852)
  • 1937 – Nuri Conker, Turkish colonel and politician (b. 1882)
  • 1941 – Emanuel Lasker, German mathematician, philosopher, and chess player (b. 1868)
  • 1944 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1903)
  • 1947 – Eva Tanguay, Canadian singer (b. 1879)
  • 1952 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (b. 1889)
  • 1952 – Aureliano Pertile, Italian tenor and educator (b. 1885)
  • 1953 – Noe Zhordania, Georgian journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1868)
  • 1954 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
  • 1957 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and politician, Solicitor-General of Australia (b. 1867)
  • 1958 – Alec Rowley, English organist and composer (b. 1892)
  • 1958 – Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)
  • 1961 – Elena Gerhardt, German soprano and actress (b. 1883)
  • 1963 – Arthur Nock, English-American scholar, theologian, and academic (b. 1902)
  • 1965 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player (b. 1893)
  • 1966 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor and painter (b. 1901)
  • 1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian academic and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of India (b. 1904)
  • 1968 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and scholar (b. 1876)
  • 1969 – Richmal Crompton, English author and educator (b. 1890)
  • 1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet and playwright (b. 1881)
  • 1975 – Max Lorenz, German tenor and actor (b. 1901)
  • 1980 – Barbara Pym, English author (b. 1913)
  • 1981 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889)
  • 1982 – Paul Lynde, American Actor and comedian (b. 1926)
  • 1985 – Edward Buzzell, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1895)
  • 1985 – William McKell, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
  • 1986 – Sid Chaplin, English author and screenwriter (b. 1916)
  • 1986 – Andrzej Czok, Polish mountaineer (b. 1948)
  • 1987 – Albert Ferber, Swiss-English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1911)
  • 1988 – Pappy Boyington, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1912)
  • 1988 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, Polish-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
  • 1989 – Ray Moore, English radio host (b. 1942)
  • 1990 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (b. 1898)
  • 1991 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
  • 1994 – Helmut Poppendick, German physician (b. 1902)
  • 1995 – Josef Gingold, Belarusian-American violinist and educator (b. 1909)
  • 1995 – Onat Kutlar, Turkish author and poet (b. 1936)
  • 1995 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army captain (b. 1918)
  • 1995 – Theodor Wisch, German general (b. 1907)
  • 1996 – Roger Crozier, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1942)
  • 1999 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
  • 1999 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish author and poet (b. 1897)
  • 1999 – Brian Moore, Irish-Canadian author and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 2000 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, invented Clearasil (b. 1911)
  • 2000 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
  • 2001 – Denys Lasdun, English architect, co-designed the Royal National Theatre (b. 1914)
  • 2002 – Henri Verneuil, French-Armenian director and playwright (b. 1920)
  • 2003 – Jože Pučnik, Slovenian sociologist and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2007 – Solveig Dommartin, French-German actress (b. 1961)
  • 2007 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (b. 1919)
  • 2008 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, co-founded Carl’s Jr. (b. 1917)
  • 2010 – Miep Gies, Austrian-Dutch humanitarian (b. 1909)
  • 2010 – Éric Rohmer, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1920)
  • 2011 – David Nelson, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, Iranian physicist and academic (b. 1980)
  • 2012 – Gilles Jacquier, French journalist and photographer (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Edgar Kaiser, Jr, American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942)
  • 2012 – Wally Osterkorn, American basketball player (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Steven Rawlings, English astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1961)
  • 2012 – David Whitaker, English composer and conductor (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Aaron Swartz, American programmer (b. 1986)
  • 2013 – Guido Forti, Italian businessman, founded the Forti Racing Team (b. 1940)
  • 2013 – Nguyễn Khánh, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Mariangela Melato, Italian actress (b. 1941)
  • 2013 – Tom Parry Jones, Welsh chemist, invented the breathalyzer (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Alemayehu Shumye, Ethiopian runner (b. 1988)
  • 2014 – Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Indian-Bangladeshi jurist and politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Chai Trong-rong, Taiwanese educator and politician (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (b. 1925)
  • 2015 – Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (b. 1931)
  • 2015 – Chashi Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi director and producer (b. 1941)
  • 2015 – Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle, American neuroscientist and academic (b. 1918)
  • 2016 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player (b. 1919)
  • 2016 – David Margulies, American actor (b. 1937)
  • 2017 – Adenan Satem, Malaysian politician and Chief Minister of Sarawak, Malaysia (b. 1944)
  • 2018 – Edgar Ray Killen, American murderer (b.1925)
  • 2019 – Michael Atiyah, British-Lebanese mathematician (b.1929)

Holidays and observances on January 11

  • Children’s Day (Tunisia)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Anastasius of Suppentonia (Roman Catholic)
    • Leucius of Brindisi (Roman Catholic)
    • Mary Slessor (Church of England)
    • Paulinus II of Aquileia
    • Pope Hyginus
    • Theodosius the Cenobiarch
    • Thomas of Cori
    • Vitalis of Gaza (Roman Catholic)
    • January 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Triodion can fall, while February 14 is the latest; celebrated 70 days before Easter. (Eastern Orthodox)
  • Eugenio María de Hostos Day (Puerto Rico)
  • Independence Resistance Day (Morocco)
  • Kagami biraki (Japan)
  • National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (United States)
  • Republic Day (Albania)
  • Carmentalia (January 11th and January 15th), (Rome)

January 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

  • 1066 – Following the death of Edward the Confessor on the previous day, the Witan meets to confirm Harold Godwinson as the new King of England; Harold is crowned the same day, sparking a succession crisis that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
  • 1205 – Philip of Swabia undergoes a second coronation as King of the Romans.
  • 1322 – Stephen Uroš III is crowned King of Serbia, having defeated his half-brother Stefan Konstantin in battle. His son is crowned “young king” in the same ceremony.
  • 1355 – Charles IV of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan.
  • 1449 – Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Mystras.
  • 1492 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada at the conclusion of the Granada War.
  • 1536 – The first European school of higher learning in the Americas, Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, is founded by Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza and Bishop Juan de Zumárraga in Mexico City.
  • 1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
  • 1579 – The Union of Arras unites the southern Netherlands under the Duke of Parma (Ottavio Farnese), governor in the name of King Philip II of Spain.
  • 1641 – Arauco War: The first Parliament of Quillín is celebrated, putting a temporary hold on hostilities between Mapuches and Spanish in Chile.
  • 1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England. The revolt is suppressed after a few days.
  • 1721 – The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings, revealing details of fraud among company directors and corrupt politicians.
  • 1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
  • 1809 – Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne during the Napoleonic Wars.
  • 1838 – Alfred Vail and colleagues demonstrate a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
  • 1839 – The Night of the Big Wind, the most damaging storm in 300 years, sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
  • 1847 – Samuel Colt obtains his first contract for the sale of revolver pistols to the United States government.
  • 1870 – The inauguration of the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria.
  • 1893 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
  • 1900 – Second Boer War: Having already besieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
  • 1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working-class children in Rome, Italy.
  • 1912 – New Mexico is admitted to the Union as the 47th U.S. state.
  • 1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
  • 1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country’s constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship).
  • 1929 – Mother Teresa arrives by sea in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India’s poorest and sick people.
  • 1930 – The first diesel-powered automobile trip is completed, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York, New York.
  • 1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
  • 1946 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held.
  • 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket.
  • 1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People’s Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.
  • 1951 – Korean War: Beginning of the Ganghwa massacre, in the course of which an estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered.
  • 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami.
  • 1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties
  • 1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch “Operation Deckhouse Five” in the Mekong River delta.
  • 1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
  • 1989 – Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day.
  • 1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup.
  • 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.
  • 1994 – American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked and injured by an assailant hired by her rival Tonya Harding’s ex-husband during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that they were both taking part in.
  • 1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
  • 2005 – American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is indicted for the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
  • 2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, United States, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas.
  • 2012 – Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus.
  • 2017 – Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida.
  • 2019 – Forty people are killed in a gold mine collapse in northern Afghanistan.

Births on January 6

  • 1256 – Gertrude the Great, German mystic (d. 1302)
  • 1367 – Richard II of England (d. 1400)
  • 1384 – Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent (d. 1408)
  • 1412 – Joan of Arc, French martyr and saint (d. 1431)
  • 1486 – Martin Agricola, German composer and theorist (d. 1556)
  • 1488 – Helius Eobanus Hessus, German poet (d. 1540)
  • 1493 – Olaus Petri, Swedish clergyman (d. 1552)
  • 1500 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (d. 1569)
  • 1525 – Caspar Peucer, German physician and scholar (d. 1602)
  • 1538 – Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria (d. 1612)
  • 1561 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (d. 1656)
  • 1587 – Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares (d. 1645)
  • 1595 – Claude Favre de Vaugelas, French educator and courtier (d. 1650)
  • 1617 – Christoffer Gabel, Danish politician (d. 1673)
  • 1632 – Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton, Scottish peeress (d. 1716)
  • 1655 – Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg (d. 1720)
  • 1673 – James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, English academic and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire (d. 1744)
  • 1695 – Giuseppe Sammartini, Italian oboe player and composer (d. 1750)
  • 1702 – José de Nebra, Spanish composer (d. 1768)
  • 1714 – Percivall Pott, English surgeon (d. 1788)
  • 1745 – Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier, French co-inventor of the hot air balloon (d. 1799)
  • 1766 – José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguayan lawyer and politician, first dictator of Paraguay (d. 1840)
  • 1785 – Andreas Moustoxydis, Greek historian and philologist (d. 1860)
  • 1793 – James Madison Porter, American lawyer and politician, 18th United States Secretary of War (d. 1862)
  • 1795 – Anselme Payen, French chemist and academic (d. 1871)
  • 1799 – Jedediah Smith, American hunter, explorer, and author (d. 1831)
  • 1803 – Henri Herz, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1888)
  • 1807 – Joseph Petzval, German-Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1891)
  • 1808 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American conchologist and paleontologist (d. 1864)
  • 1811 – Charles Sumner, American lawyer and politician (d. 1874)
  • 1822 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist and businessman (d. 1890)
  • 1832 – Gustave Doré, French painter and sculptor (d. 1883)
  • 1838 – Max Bruch, German composer and conductor (d. 1920)
  • 1842 – Clarence King, American geologist, mountaineer, and critic (d. 1901)
  • 1856 – Giuseppe Martucci, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1909)
  • 1857 – Hugh Mahon, Irish-Australian publisher and politician, 10th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1931)
  • 1857 – William Russell, American lawyer and politician, 37th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
  • 1859 – Samuel Alexander, Australian-English philosopher and academic (d. 1938)
  • 1861 – Victor Horta, Belgian architect, designed Hôtel van Eetvelde (d. 1947)
  • 1861 – George Lloyd, English-Canadian bishop and theologian (d. 1940)
  • 1870 – Gustav Bauer, German journalist and politician, 11th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1944)
  • 1872 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1915)
  • 1874 – Fred Niblo, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1948)
  • 1878 – Adeline Genée, Danish-born British ballerina (d. 1970)
  • 1878 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
  • 1880 – Tom Mix, American cowboy and actor (d. 1940)
  • 1881 – Ion Minulescu, Romanian author, poet, and critic (d. 1944)
  • 1882 – Fan S. Noli, Albanian-American bishop and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1965)
  • 1882 – Sam Rayburn, American lawyer and politician, 48th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)
  • 1883 – Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, painter, and philosopher (d. 1931)
  • 1898 – James Fitzmaurice, Irish soldier and pilot (d. 1965)
  • 1899 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German engineer (d. 1968)
  • 1900 – Maria of Yugoslavia, Queen of Yugoslavia from 1922 to 1934 (d. 1961)
  • 1903 – Maurice Abravanel, Greek-American pianist and conductor (d. 1993)
  • 1910 – Wright Morris, American author and photographer (d. 1998)
  • 1910 – Yiannis Papaioannou, Greek composer and educator (d. 1989)
  • 1912 – Jacques Ellul, French philosopher and critic (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Danny Thomas, American actor, comedian, producer and humanitarian (d. 1991)
  • 1913 – Edward Gierek, Polish lawyer and politician (d. 2001)
  • 1913 – Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)
  • 1914 – Godfrey Edward Arnold, Austrian-American physician and academic (d. 1989)
  • 1915 – Don Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1915 – John C. Lilly, American psychoanalyst, physician, and philosopher (d. 2001)
  • 1915 – Alan Watts, English-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
  • 1916 – Park Mok-wol, influential Korean poet and academic (d. 1978)
  • 1917 – Koo Chen-fu, Taiwanese businessman and diplomat (d. 2005)
  • 1920 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (d. 2004)
  • 1920 – Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader; founder of the Unification Church (d. 2012)
  • 1920 – Early Wynn, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1999)
  • 1921 – Marianne Grunberg-Manago, Russian-French biochemist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – Cary Middlecoff, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 1998)
  • 1923 – Vladimir Kazantsev, Russian runner (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – Norman Kirk, New Zealand engineer and politician, 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1974)
  • 1923 – Jacobo Timerman, Argentinian journalist and author (d. 1999)
  • 1924 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean soldier and politician, 8th President of South Korea, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
  • 1924 – Earl Scruggs, American banjo player (d. 2012)
  • 1925 – John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman, founded the DeLorean Motor Company (d. 2005)
  • 1926 – Ralph Branca, American baseball player (d. 2016)
  • 1926 – Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian-American actor and bodybuilder (d. 2006)
  • 1927 – Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, American physician and academic, 11th Surgeon General of the United States (d. 2014)
  • 1928 – Capucine, French actress and model (d. 1990)
  • 1931 – E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Graeme Hole, Australian cricketer (d. 1990)
  • 1931 – Dickie Moore, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Stuart A. Rice, American chemist and academic
  • 1933 – Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2003)
  • 1934 – Sylvia Syms, English actress
  • 1935 – Nino Tempo, American musician, singer, and actor
  • 1936 – Darlene Hard, American tennis player
  • 1936 – Julio María Sanguinetti, Uruguayan journalist, lawyer and politician, 29th President of Uruguay
  • 1937 – Ludvík Daněk, Czech discus thrower (d. 1998)
  • 1937 – Lou Holtz, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1937 – Doris Troy, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
  • 1938 – Adriano Celentano, Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and director
  • 1938 – Adrienne Clarke, Australian botanist and academic
  • 1938 – Larisa Shepitko, Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actress (d. 1979)
  • 1939 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2002)
  • 1939 – Murray Rose, English-Australian swimmer and sportscaster (d. 2012)
  • 1940 – Van McCoy, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1979)
  • 1943 – Terry Venables, English footballer and manager
  • 1944 – Bonnie Franklin, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Alan Stivell, French singer-songwriter and harp player
  • 1944 – Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1945 – Barry John, Welsh rugby player
  • 1946 – Syd Barrett, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
  • 1947 – Sandy Denny, English folk-rock singer-songwriter (d 1978)
  • 1948 – Guy Gardner, American colonel and astronaut
  • 1948 – Dayle Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1949 – Mike Boit, Kenyan runner and academic (estimated date)
  • 1949 – Carolyn D. Wright, American poet and academic (d. 2016)
  • 1950 – Louis Freeh, American lawyer and jurist, 10th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • 1951 – Don Gullett, American baseball player and coach
  • 1951 – Kim Wilson, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player
  • 1953 – Malcolm Young, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)
  • 1954 – Anthony Minghella, English director and screenwriter (d. 2008)
  • 1955 – Rowan Atkinson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Elizabeth Strout, American novelist and short story writer
  • 1956 – Justin Welby, English archbishop
  • 1956 – Clive Woodward, English rugby player and coach
  • 1957 – Michael Foale, British-American astrophysicist and astronaut
  • 1957 – Nancy Lopez, American golfer and sportscaster
  • 1959 – Kapil Dev, Indian cricketer
  • 1960 – Paul Azinger, American golfer and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Kari Jalonen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – Nigella Lawson, English chef and author
  • 1960 – Howie Long, American football player and sports commentator
  • 1961 – Georges Jobé, Belgian motocross racer (d. 2012)
  • 1961 – Peter Whittle, British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster
  • 1963 – Norm Charlton, American baseball player and coach
  • 1963 – Paul Kipkoech, Kenyan runner (d. 1995)
  • 1964 – Jacqueline Moore, American wrestler and manager
  • 1965 – Bjørn Lomborg, Danish author and academic
  • 1966 – Sharon Cuneta, Filipino singer and actress
  • 1966 – Attilio Lombardo, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1967 – A. R. Rahman, Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, musician and philanthropist
  • 1968 – John Singleton, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
  • 1969 – Norman Reedus, American actor and model
  • 1970 – Julie Chen, American television journalist, presenter, and producer
  • 1970 – Radoslav Látal, Czech footballer and manager
  • 1973 – Vasso Karantasiou, Greek beach volleyball player
  • 1976 – Richard Zedník, Slovak ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Asante Samuel, American football player
  • 1982 – Eddie Redmayne, English actor and model
  • 1984 – Kate McKinnon, American actress and comedian
  • 1986 – Paul McShane, Irish footballer
  • 1986 – Petter Northug, Norwegian skier
  • 1989 – Andy Carroll, English footballer
  • 1991 – Will Barton, American basketball player
  • 1994 – Lim Jae-beom, South Korean singer and actor (Got7)

Deaths on January 6

  • 786 – Abo of Tiflis, Iraqi martyr and saint (b. 756)
  • 1088 – Berengar of Tours, French scholar and theologian (b. 999)
  • 1148 – Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke (b. 1100)
  • 1233 – Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon, Anglo-Norman noblewoman (b. 1171)
  • 1275 – Raymond of Penyafort, Catalan archbishop and saint (b. 1175)
  • 1350 – Giovanni I di Murta, second doge of the Republic of Genoa
  • 1358 – Gertrude van der Oosten, Beguine mystic
  • 1406 – Roger Walden, English bishop
  • 1448 – Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (b. 1418)
  • 1477 – Jean VIII, Count of Vendôme
  • 1481 – Ahmed Khan bin Küchük, Mongolian ruler
  • 1537 – Alessandro de’ Medici, Duke of Florence (b. 1510)
  • 1537 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter, designed the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne (b. 1481)
  • 1616 – Philip Henslowe, English impresario (b. 1550)
  • 1646 – Elias Holl, German architect, designed the Augsburg Town Hall (b. 1573)
  • 1689 – Seth Ward, English bishop, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1617)
  • 1693 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (b. 1642)
  • 1711 – Philips van Almonde, Dutch admiral (b. 1646)
  • 1718 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (b. 1664)
  • 1725 – Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese actor and playwright (b. 1653)
  • 1731 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (b. 1672)
  • 1734 – John Dennis, English playwright and critic (b. 1657)
  • 1813 – Louis Baraguey d’Hilliers, French general (b. 1764)
  • 1829 – Josef Dobrovský, Czech philologist and historian (b. 1753)
  • 1831 – Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1766)
  • 1840 – Frances Burney, English author and playwright (b. 1752)
  • 1852 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (b. 1809)
  • 1855 – Giacomo Beltrami, Italian jurist, explorer, and author (b. 1779)
  • 1882 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1815)
  • 1884 – Gregor Mendel, Czech geneticist and botanist (b. 1822)
  • 1885 – Bharatendu Harishchandra, Indian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1850)
  • 1896 – Thomas W. Knox, American journalist and author (b. 1835)
  • 1902 – Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (b. 1830)
  • 1913 – Frederick Hitch, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1856)
  • 1917 – Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch economist and historian (b. 1834)
  • 1918 – Georg Cantor, German mathematician and philosopher (b. 1845)
  • 1919 – Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and politician, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858)
  • 1921 – Devil Anse Hatfield, American guerrilla leader (b. 1839)
  • 1922 – Jakob Rosanes, Ukrainian-German mathematician and chess player (b. 1842)
  • 1928 – Alvin Kraenzlein, American hurdler and long jumper (b. 1876)
  • 1933 – Vladimir de Pachmann, Ukrainian-German pianist (b. 1848)
  • 1934 – Herbert Chapman, English footballer and manager (b. 1878)
  • 1937 – André Bessette, Canadian saint (b. 1845)
  • 1939 – Gustavs Zemgals, Latvian journalist and politician, 2nd President of Latvia (b. 1871)
  • 1941 – Charley O’Leary, American baseball player and coach (b. 1882)
  • 1942 – Emma Calvé, French soprano and actress (b. 1858)
  • 1942 – Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian businessman, 3rd President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1876)
  • 1944 – Jacques Rosenbaum, Estonian-German architect (b. 1878)
  • 1944 – Ida Tarbell, American journalist, reformer, and educator (b. 1857)
  • 1945 – Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist and chemist (b. 1863)
  • 1949 – Victor Fleming, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1883)
  • 1966 – Jean Lurçat, French painter (b. 1892)
  • 1972 – Chen Yi, Chinese general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1901)
  • 1974 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (b. 1896)
  • 1978 – Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (b. 1899)
  • 1981 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish physician and author (b. 1896)
  • 1984 – Ernest Laszlo, Hungarian-American cinematographer (b. 1898)
  • 1990 – Ian Charleson, Scottish-English actor (b. 1949)
  • 1990 – Pavel Cherenkov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
  • 1993 – Dizzy Gillespie, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player (b. 1917)
  • 1993 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (b. 1938)
  • 1995 – Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
  • 1999 – Michel Petrucciani, French-American pianist (b. 1962)2000 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (b. 1931)
  • 2004 – Pierre Charles, Dominican educator and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1954)
  • 2004 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (b. 1921)
  • 2005 – Eileen Desmond, Irish civil servant and politician, 12th Irish Minister for Health (b. 1932)
  • 2005 – Lois Hole, Canadian academic and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (b. 1929)
  • 2005 – Tarquinio Provini, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1933)
  • 2005 – Louis Robichaud, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1925)
  • 2006 – Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
  • 2007 – Roberta Wohlstetter, American political scientist, historian, and academic (b. 1912)
  • 2008 – Shmuel Berenbaum, Rabbi of Mir Yeshiva (Brooklyn)
  • 2009 – Ron Asheton, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor (probable; b. 1948)
  • 2011 – Uche Okafor, Nigerian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1967)
  • 2012 – Bob Holness, South African-English radio and television host (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Spike Pola, Australian footballer and soldier (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Pakistani scholar and politician (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Ruth Carter Stevenson, American art collector, founded the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Gerard Helders, Dutch jurist and politician (b. 1905)
  • 2013 – Cho Sung-min, South Korean baseball player (b. 1973)
  • 2014 – Marina Ginestà, French Resistance soldier and photographer (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – Nelson Ned, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
  • 2014 – Julian Rotter, American psychologist and academic (b. 1916)
  • 2015 – Arthur Jackson, American lieutenant and target shooter (b. 1918)
  • 2015 – Basil John Mason, English meteorologist and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2016 – Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – Florence King, American journalist and author (b. 1936)
  • 2016 – Christy O’Connor Jnr, Irish golfer and architect (b. 1948)
  • 2016 – Silvana Pampanini, Italian model, actress, and director, Miss Italy 1946 (b. 1925)
  • 2017 – Octavio Lepage, Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1923)
  • 2017 – Om Puri, Indian actor (b. 1950)
  • 2019 – José Ramón Fernández, Cuban revolution leader (b. 1923)
  • 2019 – Lamin Sanneh, Gambian-born American professor (b. 1942)
  • 2019 – W. Morgan Sheppard, British actor (b. 1932)
  • 2019 – Paul Streeten, Austrian-born British economics professor (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances on January 6

  • Armed Forces Day (Iraq)
  • Christian Feast day:
    • André Bessette (Roman Catholic Church)
    • January 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Epiphany or Three Kings’ Day (Western Christianity) or Theophany (Eastern Christianity), and its related observances:
    • Befana Day (Italy)
    • Christmas (Armenian Apostolic Church)
    • Christmas Eve (Russia)
    • Christmas Eve (Ukraine)
    • Christmas Eve (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
    • Christmas Eve (North Macedonia)
    • Little Christmas (Ireland)
    • Þrettándinn (Iceland)
    • Three Wise Men Day
  • Pathet Lao Day (Laos)

January 6 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day