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

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

Births on January 26

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

Deaths on January 26

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

Holidays and observances on January 26

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

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

On This Day

January 21- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
  • 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
  • 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
  • 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
  • 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.
  • 1774 – Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
  • 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.
  • 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
  • 1854 – The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
  • 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana.
  • 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor.
  • 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place.
  • 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit.
  • 1919 – A revolutionary Irish parliament is founded and declares the independence of the Irish Republic. One of the first engagements of the Irish War of Independence takes place.
  • 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic.
  • 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
  • 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews.
  • 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day.
  • 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
  • 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
  • 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board.
  • 1960 – Avianca Flight 671 crashes at Montego Bay, Jamaica airport, killing 37 people.
  • 1960 – A coal mine collapses at Holly Country, South Africa, killing 435 miners.
  • 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh: One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
  • 1968 – A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
  • 1971 – The current Emley Moor transmitting station, the tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, begins transmitting UHF broadcasts.
  • 1976 – Commercial service of Concorde begins with the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes.
  • 1980 – Iran Air Flight 291 crashes in the Alborz Mountains while on approach to Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran, killing 128 people.
  • 1981 – Production of the iconic DeLorean sports car begins in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
  • 1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 crashes near Reno–Tahoe International Airport in Reno, Nevada, killing 70 people.
  • 1997 – The U.S. House of Representatives votes 395–28 to reprimand Newt Gingrich for ethics violations, making him the first Speaker of the House to be so disciplined.
  • 1999 – War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
  • 2000 – Ecuador: After the Ecuadorian Congress is seized by indigenous organizations, Col. Lucio Gutiérrez, Carlos Solorzano and Antonio Vargas depose President Jamil Mahuad. Gutierrez is later replaced by Gen. Carlos Mendoza, who resigns and allows Vice-President Gustavo Noboa to succeed Mahuad.
  • 2003 – A 7.6 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican state of Colima, killing 29 and leaving approximately 10,000 people homeless.
  • 2004 – NASA’s MER-A (the Mars Rover Spirit) ceases communication with mission control. The problem lies in the management of its flash memory and is fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
  • 2005 – In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government’s new taxes erupts into riots.
  • 2009 – Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.
  • 2011 – Anti government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Five people lose their lives from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister’s office. To date, no one has been held accountable for the deaths.
  • 2017 – Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women’s march, on Donald Trump’s first full day as President of the United States.
  • 2018 – Rocket Lab’s Electron becomes the first rocket to reach orbit using an electric pump-fed engine and deploys three CubeSats.

Births on January 21

  • 1264 – Alexander, Prince of Scotland (d. 1284)
  • 1277 – Galeazzo I Visconti, lord of Milan
  • 1338 – Charles V of France (d. 1380)
  • 1493 – Giovanni Poggio, Italian cardinal and diplomat (d. 1556)
  • 1598 – Matsudaira Tadamasa, Japanese samurai and daimyō (d. 1645)
  • 1612 – Henry Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz, count of Nassau-Dietz (d. 1640)
  • 1636 – Melchiorre Cafà, Maltese Baroque sculptor (baptised; d. 1667)
  • 1655 – Antonio Molinari, Italian painter (d. 1704)
  • 1659 – Adriaen van der Werff, Dutch painter (d. 1722)
  • 1675 – Duchess Sibylle of Saxe-Lauenburg, Margravine of Baden-Baden (d. 1733)
  • 1714 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Spanish anatomist (d. 1774)
  • 1717 – Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, Spanish military officer and governor of Cuba (d. 1779)
  • 1721 – James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, Governor of Minorca (d. 1794)
  • 1724 – Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French rococo painter (d. 1805)
  • 1732 – Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (d. 1797)
  • 1738 – Ethan Allen, American general (d. 1789)
  • 1741 – Chaim of Volozhin, Orthodox rabbi (d. 1821)
  • 1763 – Augustin Robespierre, younger brother of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre (d. 1794)
  • 1775 – Manuel Garcia, Spanish opera singer and composer (d. 1832)
  • 1784 – Peter De Wint, English painter (d. 1849)
  • 1788 – William Henry Smyth, Royal Navy officer, hydrographer, astronomer and numismatist
  • 1796 – Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, consort of George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1880)
  • 1797 – Joseph Méry, French author and journalist (d. 1866)
  • 1800 – Theodor Fliedner, German Lutheran minister (d. 1864)
  • 1801 – John Batman, Australian entrepreneur and explorer (d. 1839)
  • 1804 – Moritz von Schwind, Austrian painter (d. 1871)
  • 1808 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, 16th President of Peru (d. 1875)
  • 1810 – Pierre Louis Charles de Failly, French general (d. 1892)
  • 1811 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, British statesman (d. 1885)
  • 1813 – John C. Frémont, American general, explorer, and politician, 5th Territorial Governor of Arizona (d. 1890)
  • 1813 – Giuseppe Montanelli, Italian statesman and author (d. 1862)
  • 1814 – Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, German bibliographer and historian (d. 1885)
  • 1815 – Horace Wells, American dentist (d. 1848)
  • 1820 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (d. 1899)
  • 1820 – Egide Walschaerts, Belgian mechanical engineer (d. 1901)
  • 1824 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (d. 1863)
  • 1827 – Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1900)
  • 1829 – Oscar II of Sweden (d. 1907)
  • 1839 – Caterina Volpicelli, Italian Roman Catholic nun (d. 1894)
  • 1840 – Sophia Jex-Blake, English physician and feminist (d. 1912)
  • 1841 – Édouard Schuré, French philosopher and author (d. 1929)
  • 1843 – Émile Levassor, French engineer (d. 1897)
  • 1845 – Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
  • 1846 – Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
  • 1846 – Albert Lavignac, French music scholar (d. 1916)
  • 1847 – Joseph Achille Le Bel, French chemist (d. 1930)
  • 1848 – Henri Duparc, French soldier and composer (d. 1933)
  • 1851 – Giuseppe Allamano, Italian Roman Catholic priest (d. 1926)
  • 1854 – Karl Julius Beloch, German classical and economic historian (d. 1929)
  • 1854 – Eusapia Palladino, Italian Spiritualist (d. 1918)
  • 1855 – Princess Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1874)
  • 1860 – Karl Staaff, Swedish lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
  • 1864 – Israel Zangwill, British author (d. 1926)
  • 1865 – Heinrich Albers-Schonberg, German gynecologist and radiologist (d. 1921)
  • 1867 – Ludwig Thoma, German paramedic and author (d. 1921)
  • 1867 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (d. 1965)
  • 1868 – Felix Hoffmann, German chemist (d. 1946)
  • 1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian Mystic (d. 1916)
  • 1871 – Olga Preobrajenska, Russian ballerina (d. 1962)
  • 1873 – Arturo Labriola, Italian revolutionary syndicalist (d. 1959)
  • 1874 – René-Louis Baire, French mathematician (d. 1932)
  • 1875 – Paul E. Kahle, German orientalist (d. 1964)
  • 1877 – Baldassarre Negroni, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1948)
  • 1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1948)
  • 1879 – Joseph Roffo, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1933)
  • 1880 – George Van Biesbroeck, Belgian–American astronomer (d. 1974)
  • 1881 – Ernst Fast, Swedish runner (d. 1959)
  • 1881 – André Godard, French archaeologist, architect and historian (d. 1965)
  • 1881 – Ivan Ribar, Yugoslav politician (d. 1968)
  • 1882 – Pavel Florensky, Russian mathematician and theologian (d. 1937)
  • 1882 – Francis Gailey, Australian-American swimmer (d. 1972)
  • 1883 – Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet and educator (d. 1929)
  • 1883 – Mathias Hynes, British tug of war competitor (d. 1926)
  • 1885 – Duncan Grant, British painter and designer (d. 1978)
  • 1885 – Umberto Nobile, Italian engineer and explorer (d. 1978)
  • 1885 – Harold A. Wilson, English runner (d. 1932)
  • 1886 – John M. Stahl, American director and producer (d. 1950)
  • 1887 – Wolfgang Köhler, German psychologist and phenomenologist (d. 1967)
  • 1887 – Ernest Holmes, American New Thought writer (d. 1960)
  • 1887 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
  • 1889 – Pitirim Sorokin, American sociologist and political activist (d. 1968)
  • 1891 – Albert Battel, German Army lieutenant and lawyer (d. 1952)
  • 1891 – Francisco Lázaro, Portuguese marathon runner (d. 1912)
  • 1895 – Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer, founded Balenciaga (d. 1972)
  • 1895 – Daniel Chalonge, French astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1977)
  • 1895 – Noe Itō, Japanese anarchist, author and feminist (d. 1923)
  • 1896 – Guy Gilpatric, American pilot and journalist (d. 1950)
  • 1896 – Paula Hitler, younger sister of Adolf Hitler (d. 1960)
  • 1896 – J. Carrol Naish, American actor (d. 1973)
  • 1896 – Masa Perttilä, Finnish wrestler (d. 1968)
  • 1897 – René Iché, French sculptor (d. 1954)
  • 1898 – Rudolph Maté, Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, producer and director (d. 1964)
  • 1898 – Ahmad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia (d. 1930)
  • 1898 – Eduard Zintl, German chemist (d. 1941)
  • 1899 – John Bodkin Adams, British general practitioner and convict (d. 1983)
  • 1899 – Gyula Mándi, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1969)
  • 1899 – Edith Tolkien, wife and muse of J. R. R. Tolkien (d. 1971)
  • 1899 – Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian-American pianist and composer (d. 1977)
  • 1900 – Elof Ahrle, Swedish actor and director (d. 1965)
  • 1900 – Anselm Franz, Austrian engineer (d. 1994)
  • 1900 – Bernhard Rensch, German evolutionary biologist (d. 1990)
  • 1900 – Fernando Quiroga Palacios, Spanish Cardinal (d. 1971)
  • 1901 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
  • 1903 – William Lyon, American film editor (d. 1974)
  • 1903 – Raymond Suvigny, French weightlifter (d. 1945)
  • 1904 – Puck van Heel, Dutch footballer (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – John Porter, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
  • 1905 – Christian Dior, French fashion designer, founded Christian Dior S.A. (d. 1957)
  • 1905 – Karl Wallenda, German-American acrobat and tightrope walker, founded The Flying Wallendas (d. 1978)
  • 1906 – Leo Halle, Dutch footballer (d. 1992)
  • 1906 – Igor Moiseyev, Russian choreographer (d. 2007)
  • 1907 – Carlo Cavagnoli, Italian boxer (d. 1991)
  • 1907 – Jānis Mendriks, Latvian Catholic priest (d. 1953)
  • 1909 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1909 – Teofilo Spasojević, Serbian footballer (d. 1970)
  • 1910 – Hideo Shinojima, Japanese footballer (d. 1975)
  • 1910 – Albert Rosellini, American lawyer and politician, 15th Governor of Washington (d. 2011)
  • 1910 – Rosa Kellner, German athlete (d. 1984)
  • 1910 – Károly Takács, Hungarian shooter (d. 1976)
  • 1911 – Dick Garrard, Australian wrestler (d. 2003)
  • 1911 – Lee Yoo-hyung, Korean footballer and manager (d. 2003)
  • 1912 – Konrad Emil Bloch, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – André Lichnerowicz, French mathematician (d. 1998)
  • 1915 – Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
  • 1916 – Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
  • 1916 – Zypora Spaisman, Polish midwife; American and Yiddish-language actress; producer of the Yiddish stage (d. 2002)
  • 1917 – Erling Persson, H&M founder (d. 2002)
  • 1918 – Jimmy Hagan, English footballer (d. 1998)
  • 1918 – Richard Winters, American soldier (d. 2011)
  • 1918 – Antonio Janigro, Italian cellist and conductor (d. 1989)
  • 1919 – Eric Brown, Scottish-English captain and pilot (d. 2016)
  • 1920 – Errol Barrow, first Prime Minister of Barbados (d. 1987)
  • 1921 – Lincoln Alexander, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2012)
  • 1922 – Telly Savalas, American actor (d. 1994)
  • 1922 – Paul Scofield, English actor (d. 2008)
  • 1922 – Predrag Vranicki, Croatian Marxist Humanist, and member of the Praxis school in the 1960s in Yugoslavia (d. 2002)
  • 1923 – Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer, and actress (d. 1995)
  • 1923 – Alberto de Mendoza, Argentine actor (d. 2011)
  • 1923 – Pahiño, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Benny Hill, English actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
  • 1925 – Charles Aidman, American actor (d. 1993)
  • 1925 – Alex Forbes, Scottish footballer (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Eva Ibbotson, Austrian-English author (d. 2010)
  • 1925 – Arnold Skaaland, American wrestler and manager (d. 2007)
  • 1926 – Clive Donner, British director (d. 2010)
  • 1926 – Franco Evangelisti, Italian composer (d. 1980)
  • 1926 – Steve Reeves, American bodybuilder (d. 2000)
  • 1926 – Roger Taillibert, French architect (d. 2019)
  • 1926 – Robert J. White, American neurosurgeon (d. 2010)
  • 1927 – Rudolf Kraus, German footballer (d. 2003)
  • 1928 – Gene Sharp, American political scientist and academic, founded the Albert Einstein Institution (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Reynaldo Bignone, Argentinian general and politician, 41st President of Argentina (d. 2018)
  • 1929 – Radley Metzger, American filmmaker (d. 2017)
  • 1930 – Mainza Chona, Zambian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zambia (d. 2001)
  • 1931 – Yoshiko Kuga, Japanese actress
  • 1933 – Habib Thiam, Senegalese politician (d. 2017)
  • 1933 – Tony Marchi, English footballer, wing half
  • 1934 – Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
  • 1934 – Antonio Karmany, Spanish cyclist
  • 1934 – Alfonso Portugal, Mexican footballer (d. 2016)
  • 1934 – Ann Wedgeworth, American actress (d. 2017)
  • 1936 – Dick Davies, American basketball player (d. 2012)
  • 1937 – Judit Ágoston-Mendelényi, Hungarian fencer (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – Prince Max, Duke in Bavaria, the youngest son of Albrecht, Duke of Bavaria
  • 1938 – Sandy Barr, American wrestler and referee (d. 2007)
  • 1938 – Romano Fogli, Italian footballer
  • 1938 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (d. 1995)
  • 1938 – Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
  • 1939 – Paul Genevay, French sprinter
  • 1939 – Friedel Lutz, German footballer
  • 1939 – Steve Paxton, American dancer and choreographer
  • 1939 – Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2005)
  • 1940 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer and sportscaster
  • 1940 – Patrick Robinson, British novelist
  • 1941 – Sattam bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian prince (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Plácido Domingo, Spanish tenor and conductor
  • 1941 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Mike Medavoy, Chinese-American film producer, co-founded Orion Pictures
  • 1941 – Ivan Putski, Polish-American wrestler and bodybuilder
  • 1941 – Elaine Showalter, American author and critic
  • 1942 – Freddy Breck, German singer, producer, and news anchor (d. 2008)
  • 1942 – Eugène Camara, Prime Minister of Guinea (d. 2019)
  • 1942 – Han Pil-hwa, North Korean speed skater
  • 1942 – Mac Davis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
  • 1942 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
  • 1942 – Michael G. Wilson, American producer and screenwriter
  • 1943 – Zdravko Hebel, Croatian water polo player (d. 2017)
  • 1943 – Arnar Jónsson, Icelandic actor
  • 1943 – Alfons Peeters, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
  • 1943 – Kenzo Yokoyama, Japanese footballer
  • 1944 – Uto Ughi, Italian violinist
  • 1945 – Pete Kircher, English drummer
  • 1945 – Martin Shaw, English actor and producer
  • 1946 – Ichiro Hosotani, Japanese footballer
  • 1946 – Nella Martinetti, Swiss singer (d. 2011)
  • 1946 – Tomás Pineda, El Salvadoran footballer
  • 1946 – Miguel Reina, Spanish footballer
  • 1947 – Jill Eikenberry, American actress
  • 1947 – Andrzej Bachleda, Polish former alpine skier
  • 1947 – Dorian M. Goldfeld, American mathematician
  • 1947 – Pye Hastings, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1947 – Michel Jonasz, French singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1947 – Joseph Nicolosi, American clinical psychologist (d. 2017)
  • 1947 – Giuseppe Savoldi, Italian footballer
  • 1947 – Roberto Zywica, Argentine footballer
  • 1948 – Zygmunt Kukla, Polish footballer (d. 2016)
  • 1948 – Hugo Tocalli, Argentine footballer
  • 1949 – Trương Tấn Sang, Vietnamese politician and 7th President of Vietnam
  • 1949 – Clifford Ray, American basketball coach and player
  • 1950 – Marion Becker, German javelin thrower
  • 1950 – Gary Locke, American politician and diplomat, 36th United States Secretary of Commerce
  • 1950 – José Marín, Spanish racewalker
  • 1950 – Billy Ocean, Trinidadian-English singer-songwriter
  • 1950 – Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch politician and diplomat, Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation
  • 1951 – Eric Holder, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 82nd United States Attorney General
  • 1952 – Marco Camenisch, Swiss activist and murderer
  • 1952 – Werner Grissmann, Austrian alpine skier
  • 1952 – Mikhail Umansky, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
  • 1953 – Paul Allen, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Microsoft (d. 2018)
  • 1953 – Felipe Yáñez, Spanish cyclist
  • 1954 – Thomas de Maizière, German politician of the Christian Democratic Union
  • 1954 – Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkinabé director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • 1954 – Phil Thompson, English footballer and coach
  • 1955 – Peter Fleming, American tennis player
  • 1955 – Jeff Koons, American painter and sculptor
  • 1955 – Nello Musumeci, Italian politician and President of Sicily
  • 1956 – Robby Benson, American actor and director
  • 1956 – Geena Davis, American actress and producer
  • 1958 – Matt Salmon, American politician
  • 1958 – Hussein Saeed, Iraqi footballer
  • 1958 – Sergei Walter, Ukrainian politician (d. 2015)
  • 1958 – Michael Wincott, Canadian actor
  • 1959 – Sergei Alifirenko, Russian pistol shooter
  • 1959 – Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1960 – Sidney Lowe, American basketball player
  • 1960 – Mike Terrana, American hard rock and heavy metal drummer
  • 1961 – Kevin Cramer, American politician
  • 1961 – Cornelia Pröll, Austrian alpine skier
  • 1961 – Ivo Pukanić Croatian journalist (d. 2008)
  • 1961 – Gary Shaw, English footballer
  • 1961 – Piotr Ugrumov, Russian cyclist
  • 1962 – Tyler Cowen, American economist and academic
  • 1962 – Isabelle Nanty, French actress, director and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Gabriele Pin, Italian footballer and coach
  • 1962 – Zoran Thaler, Slovenian politician
  • 1962 – Erik Verlinde, Dutch theoretical physicist
  • 1962 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
  • 1963 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian-American basketball player
  • 1963 – Detlef Schrempf, German basketball player and coach
  • 1964 – Andreas Bauer, German ski jumper
  • 1964 – Tony Dolan, English musician and actor
  • 1964 – Gérald Passi, French footballer
  • 1964 – Ricardo Serna, Spanish footballer
  • 1964 – Aleksandar Šoštar, Serbian water polo player
  • 1964 – Danny Wallace, English footballer
  • 1965 – Robert Del Naja, British artist, musician and singer
  • 1965 – Jam Master Jay, American DJ, rapper, and producer (d. 2002)
  • 1965 – Masahiro Wada, Japanese footballer
  • 1967 – Artashes Minasian, Armenian chess player
  • 1967 – Alfred Jermaniš, Slovenian footballer
  • 1967 – Gorō Miyazaki, Japanese film director and landscaper
  • 1968 – Dmitry Fomin, Soviet and Russian volleyball player
  • 1968 – Ilya Smirin, Israeli chess Grandmaster
  • 1968 – Artur Dmitriev, Soviet and Russian ice skater
  • 1968 – Sébastien Lifshitz, French director
  • 1968 – Charlotte Ross, American actress
  • 1969 – John Ducey, American actor
  • 1969 – Eduard Hämäläinen, Finnish-Belarusian decathlete
  • 1969 – Karina Lombard, French-American actress and singer
  • 1969 – Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese comic artist
  • 1970 – Alen Bokšić, former Croatian footballer
  • 1970 – Marina Foïs, French actress
  • 1970 – Ken Leung, American actor
  • 1970 – Oren Peli, Israeli-American director, producer and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Uni Arge, Faroese footballer and entertainer
  • 1971 – Rafael Berges, Spanish footballer
  • 1971 – Doug Edwards, American basketball player
  • 1971 – Dmitri Khlestov, Russian footballer
  • 1971 – Dylan Kussman, American actor
  • 1971 – Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
  • 1971 – Doug Weight, American ice hockey player and coach
  • 1972 – Billel Dziri, Algerian footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Rick Falkvinge, Swedish businessman and politician
  • 1972 – Sead Kapetanović, Bosnian footballer
  • 1972 – Yasunori Mitsuda, Japanese composer and producer
  • 1972 – Cat Power, American singer, musician and actress
  • 1972 – Shawn Rojeski, American curler
  • 1972 – Sabina Valbusa, Italian cross-country skier
  • 1973 – Rob Hayles, English cyclist
  • 1973 – Chris Kilmore, American musician and DJ
  • 1973 – Edvinas Krungolcas, Lithuanian modern pentathlete
  • 1973 – Flavio Maestri, Peruvian footballer
  • 1974 – Malena Alterio, Spanish actress
  • 1974 – Maxwell Atoms, American animator, screenwriter and voice actor
  • 1974 – Kim Dotcom, German-Finnish Internet entrepreneur and political activist
  • 1974 – Arthémon Hatungimana, Burundian middle distance runner
  • 1974 – Vincent Laresca, American actor
  • 1974 – Ulrich Le Pen, French footballer
  • 1974 – Marco Zanotti, Italian cyclist
  • 1975 – Nicky Butt, English footballer and coach
  • 1975 – Casey FitzRandolph, American speedskater
  • 1975 – Yuji Ide, Japanese race car driver
  • 1975 – Ito, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1975 – Willem Korsten, Dutch footballer, left winger
  • 1975 – Jason Moran, American jazz pianist, composer and educator
  • 1975 – Florin Șerban, Romanian director
  • 1975 – Alyaksandr Yermakovich, Belarusian footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Aivaras Abromavičius, Lithuanian-Ukrainian banker and politician; 15th Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development
  • 1976 – Raivis Belohvoščiks, Latvian cyclist
  • 1976 – Emma Bunton, English singer
  • 1976 – Lars Eidinger, German actor
  • 1976 – Giorgio Frezzolini, Italian footballer
  • 1976 – Igors Stepanovs, Latvian footballer
  • 1977 – Hussein Abdulghani, Saudi Arabian footballer
  • 1977 – Bradley Carnell, South African footballer
  • 1977 – John DeSantis, Canadian actor
  • 1977 – Kirsten Klose, German hammer thrower
  • 1977 – Denis Lunghi, Italian cyclist
  • 1977 – Ulrike Maisch, German runner
  • 1977 – Phil Neville, English footballer and manager
  • 1977 – Michael Ruffin, American basketball player
  • 1977 – Jerry Trainor, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1978 – Faris Al-Sultan, German triathlete
  • 1978 – Peter von Allmen, Swiss cross-country skier
  • 1978 – Hernán Rodrigo López, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1978 – Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Quinton Jacobs, Namibian footballer
  • 1979 – Byung-hyun Kim, South Korean baseball player
  • 1979 – Spider Loc, American rapper and actor
  • 1979 – Melendi, Spanish singer
  • 1979 – Brian O’Driscoll, Irish rugby player
  • 1979 – Sebastian Schindzielorz, German footballer
  • 1980 – Troy Dumais, American diver
  • 1980 – Karsten Forsterling, Australian rower
  • 1980 – Dave Kitson, English footballer and manager
  • 1980 – Lee Kyung-won, South Korean badminton player
  • 1980 – Kevin McKenna, Canadian soccer player
  • 1980 – Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
  • 1980 – Alexander Os, former Norwegian biathlete
  • 1980 – Xavier Pons, Spanish rally diver
  • 1980 – Mari Possa, El Salvadoran pornographic actress
  • 1980 – Bratislav Ristić, Serbian footballer
  • 1981 – Gillian Chung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1981 – Ivan Ergić, Serbian footballer
  • 1981 – Roberto Guana Italian footballer
  • 1981 – Wu Hanxiong, Chinese fencer
  • 1981 – Dany Heatley, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Andy Lee, South Korean singer and actor
  • 1981 – Izabella Miko, Polish actress, dancer, and producer
  • 1981 – Shawn Redhage, American-Australian basketball player
  • 1981 – Michel Teló, Brazilian singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Jung Ryeo-won, South Korean actress
  • 1981 – David F. Sandberg, Swedish filmmaker
  • 1982 – Richard José Blanco, Venezuelan footballer
  • 1982 – Adriano Ferreira Martins, Brazilian footballer
  • 1982 – Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
  • 1982 – Sarah Ourahmoune, French boxer
  • 1982 – Simon Rolfes, German footballer
  • 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
  • 1983 – Alex Acker, American basketball player
  • 1983 – Monique Adamczak, Australian tennis player
  • 1983 – Victor Leandro Bagy, Brazilian footballer
  • 1983 – Ranko Despotović, Serbian footballer
  • 1983 – Svetlana Khodchenkova, Russian actress
  • 1983 – Marieke van den Ham, Dutch water polo player
  • 1983 – Billy Mwanza, Zambian footballer
  • 1983 – Maryse Ouellet, French-Canadian wrestler
  • 1983 – Álvaro Quirós, Spanish golfer
  • 1983 – Francesca Segat, Italian swimmer
  • 1983 – Moritz Volz, German footballer, right back, football pundit and scout
  • 1983 – Kelly VanderBeek, Canadian alpine skier
  • 1984 – Leonardo Burián, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1984 – Luke Grimes, American actor
  • 1984 – Amy Hastings, American track and fielder
  • 1984 – Alex Koslov, Moldovan-American wrestler
  • 1984 – Dejan Milovanović, Serbian footballer
  • 1984 – Wes Morgan, Jamaican footballer
  • 1984 – Haloti Ngata, American footballer
  • 1985 – Markus Berger, Austrian footballer
  • 1985 – Artur Beterbiev, Russian boxer
  • 1985 – Aura Dione, Danish singer and songwriter
  • 1985 – Nick Gehlfuss, American actor
  • 1985 – Salvatore Giunta, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient
  • 1985 – Yumi Hara, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • 1985 – Sasha Pivovarova, Russian model and actress
  • 1985 – Rodrigo San Miguel, Spanish basketball player
  • 1985 – Ri Se-gwang, North Korean artistic gymnast
  • 1985 – Dmitri Sokolov, Russian basketball player
  • 1985 – Ryan Suter, American ice hockey player
  • 1986 – César Arzo, Spanish footballer
  • 1986 – Edson Barboza, Brazilian mixed martial artist
  • 1986 – João Gomes Júnior, Brazilian swimmer
  • 1986 – Javi López, Spanish footballer
  • 1986 – Gina Mambrú, volleyball player from Dominican Republic
  • 1986 – Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Mike Taylor, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Óscar Vílchez, Peruvian footballer
  • 1986 – Sushant Singh Rajput, Indian actor
  • 1987 – Ioannis Athanasoulas, Greek basketball player
  • 1987 – Andrei Cojocari, Moldovan footballer
  • 1987 – Alexander Dercho, German footballer
  • 1987 – Aida Hadzialic, Swedish politician
  • 1987 – Shaun Keeling, South African rower
  • 1987 – Augustine Kiprono Choge, Kenyan runner
  • 1987 – Kevin Kratz, German footballer
  • 1987 – Danny Munyao, Zambian footballer
  • 1987 – Henrico Drost, Dutch footballer
  • 1987 – Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Will Johnson, Canadian footballer
  • 1987 – Mulopo Kudimbana, Congolese footballer
  • 1987 – Nyasha Mushekwi, Zimbabwean footballer
  • 1987 – Dominik Roels, German cyclist
  • 1987 – Maša Zec Peškirič, Slovenian tennis player
  • 1987 – Ikumi Yoshimatsu, Japanese actress
  • 1988 – Glaiza de Castro, Filipino actress and singer
  • 1988 – Ashton Eaton, American decathlete
  • 1988 – Rolands Freimanis, Latvian basketball player
  • 1988 – Vanessa Hessler, Italian-American model and actress
  • 1988 – Aleksandar Lazevski, Macedonian footballer
  • 1988 – Ángel Mena, Ecuadorian footballer
  • 1988 – Valérie Tétreault, Canadian tennis player
  • 1988 – Pieter Timmers, Belgian swimmer
  • 1988 – Nemanja Tomić, Serbian footballer
  • 1988 – Ben Turner, English footballer
  • 1989 – Doğuş Balbay, Turkish basketball player
  • 1989 – Kayla Banwarth, American indoor volleyball player
  • 1989 – Férébory Doré, Congolese footballer
  • 1989 – Sergey Fesikov, Russian swimmer
  • 1989 – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Armenian footballer
  • 1989 – Matteo Pelucchi, Italian cyclist
  • 1989 – Zhang Shuai, Chinese tennis player
  • 1990 – Arash Afshin, Iranian footballer
  • 1990 – Diogo Amado, Portuguese footballer
  • 1990 – Andriy Bohdanov, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1990 – Kelly Rohrbach, American model and actress
  • 1990 – André Martins, Portuguese footballer
  • 1990 – Knowledge Musona, Zimbabwean footballer
  • 1990 – Jacob Smith, American actor
  • 1990 – Doni Tata Pradita, Indonesian motorcycle racer
  • 1991 – Ali Al-Busaidi, Omani footballer
  • 1991 – Javier Calvo, Spanish actor and director
  • 1991 – Mohammad Ghadir, Arab-Israeli footballer
  • 1991 – Jan Hirt, Czech cyclist
  • 1991 – Mateusz Mika, Polish volleyball player
  • 1991 – Alfredo Ortuño, Spanish footballer
  • 1991 – Marta Pagnini, Italian gymnast
  • 1991 – Craig Roberts, Welsh actor and director
  • 1991 – Luis Alfonso Rodríguez, Mexican footballer
  • 1992 – Verónica Cepede Royg, Paraguayan tennis player
  • 1992 – Sven Erik Bystrøm, Norwegian cyclist
  • 1992 – James Duckworth, Australian tennis player
  • 1992 – Kwame Karikari, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1992 – Nicolás Mezquida, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1992 – Roland Szolnoki, Hungarian footballer
  • 1993 – Clément Mignon, French swimmer
  • 1993 – Muralha, Brazilian footballer
  • 1993 – Chiara Pierobon, Italian cyclist (d. 2015)
  • 1994 – Amin Affane, Swedish footballer
  • 1994 – Laura Robson, Australian-English tennis player
  • 1994 – Kang Seung-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1994 – Nils Allen “Booboo” Stewart Jr., American actor
  • 1994 – Lim Kim, South Korean singer and actress
  • 1995 – Yulia Belorukova, Russian cross-country skier
  • 1995 – Nguyễn Công Phượng, Vietnamese footballer
  • 1995 – Marine Johannes, French basketball player
  • 1995 – Alanna Kennedy, Australian footballer player
  • 1996 – Marco Asensio, Spanish footballer
  • 1996 – Aldo Kalulu, French footballer
  • 1996 – Cristian Pavón, Argentine footballer
  • 1997 – Jeremy Shada, American actor, musician and singer
  • 1998 – Borna Sosa, Croatian footballer
  • 1999 – Rubina Ali, Indian actress
  • 2003 – Natalie Garcia, rhythmic gymnast
  • 2004 – Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, 2nd in line for the Norwegian throne

Deaths on January 21

  • 420 – Yazdegerd I, king of the Sassanid Empire
  • 496 – Epiphanius of Pavia, Italian bishop and saint (b. 438)
  • 917 – Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
  • 918 – Liu Zhijun, Chinese general
  • 939 – Yang Pu, Chinese emperor (b. 900)
  • 942 – An Chongrong, Chinese general (Five Dynasties)
  • 945 – Yang Tan, Chinese general and governor
  • 1118 – Pope Paschal II (b. 1050)
  • 1203 – Agnes II, Abbess of Quedlinburg (b. 1139)
  • 1320 – Árni Helgason, Icelandic bishop (b. c. 1260)
  • 1527 – Juan de Grijalva, Spanish explorer (b. 1489)
  • 1546 – Azai Sukemasa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1491)
  • 1609 – Joseph Justus Scaliger, French historian and scholar (b. 1540)
  • 1638 – Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
  • 1670 – Claude Duval, French highwayman (b. 1643)
  • 1683 – Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1621)
  • 1699 – Obadiah Walker, English historian and academic (b. 1616)
  • 1706 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (b. 1649)
  • 1710 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic and critic (b. 1638)
  • 1722 – Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1661)
  • 1731 – Ignjat Đurđević, Croatian poet and translator (b. 1675)
  • 1773 – Alexis Piron, French playwright and author (b. 1689)
  • 1774 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1717)
  • 1775 – Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
  • 1789 – Baron d’Holbach, French-German philosopher and author (b. 1723)
  • 1793 – Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
  • 1795 – Samuel Wallis, English navigator and explorer (b. 1728)
  • 1809 – Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
  • 1814 – Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, French botanist and author (b. 1737)
  • 1823 – Cayetano José Rodríguez, Argentinian cleric, journalist, and poet (b. 1761)
  • 1831 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (b. 1781)
  • 1851 – Albert Lortzing, German actor and composer (b. 1801)
  • 1862 – Božena Němcová, Austrian-Czech author and poet (b. 1820)
  • 1870 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (b. 1812)
  • 1872 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian playwright and poet (b. 1791)
  • 1881 – Wilhelm Matthias Naeff, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
  • 1891 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian-American lieutenant and composer (b. 1842)
  • 1901 – Elisha Gray, American engineer, co-founded Western Electric (b. 1835)
  • 1914 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (b. 1857)
  • 1918 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (b. 1857)
  • 1919 – Gojong of Korea (b. 1852)
  • 1919 – Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 277th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1839)
  • 1924 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian lawyer and politician (b. 1870)
  • 1926 – Camillo Golgi, Italian physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)
  • 1928 – George Washington Goethals, American general and engineer (b. 1858)
  • 1931 – Felix Blumenfeld, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1863)
  • 1932 – Lytton Strachey, English writer and critic (b. 1880)
  • 1933 – George Moore, Irish author, poet, and critic (b. 1852)
  • 1937 – Marie Prevost, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1898)
  • 1938 – Georges Méliès, French actor, director, and producer (b. 1861)
  • 1945 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian soldier and engineer (b. 1886)
  • 1948 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (b. 1876)
  • 1950 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (b. 1903)
  • 1955 – Archie Hahn, German-American runner and coach (b. 1880)
  • 1956 – Sam Langford, Canadian-American boxer (b. 1883)
  • 1959 – Cecil B. DeMille, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881)
  • 1959 – Frances Gertrude McGill, pioneering Canadian forensic pathologist (b. 1882)
  • 1959 – Carl Switzer, American child actor and hunting guide (b. 1927)
  • 1960 – Matt Moore, Irish-American actor and director (b. 1888)
  • 1961 – Blaise Cendrars, Swiss author and poet (b. 1887)
  • 1963 – Acharya Shivpujan Sahay, Indian author, poet, and academic (b. 1893)
  • 1963 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (b. 1881)
  • 1965 – Gwynne Evans, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1880)
  • 1967 – Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
  • 1968 – Will Lang, Jr., American journalist (b. 1914)
  • 1977 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet and journalist (b. 1906)
  • 1978 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (b. 1898)
  • 1983 – Lamar Williams, American bass player (b. 1949)
  • 1984 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek playwright and poet (b. 1893)
  • 1984 – Jackie Wilson, American singer (b. 1934)
  • 1985 – James Beard, American chef and author (b. 1903)
  • 1985 – Eddie Graham, American wrestler and promoter (b. 1930)
  • 1987 – Charles Goodell, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1926)
  • 1988 – Vincent Lingiari, Australian Aboriginal rights activist (b. 1919)
  • 1989 – Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
  • 1989 – Billy Tipton, American pianist and saxophonist (b. 1914)
  • 1993 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (b. 1903)
  • 1994 – Bassel al-Assad, Son of the former President of the Syrian Arab Republic Hafez al-Assad (b. 1962)
  • 1998 – Jack Lord, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)
  • 1999 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)
  • 2002 – Peggy Lee, American singer (b. 1920)
  • 2003 – Paul Haines, American-Canadian poet and songwriter (b. 1933)
  • 2003 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (b. 1916)
  • 2004 – Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian author and playwright (b. 1929)
  • 2005 – Theun de Vries, Dutch author and poet (b. 1907)
  • 2005 – John L. Hess, American journalist and critic (b. 1917)
  • 2005 – Kaljo Raid, Estonian cellist, composer, and pastor (b. 1921)
  • 2006 – Ibrahim Rugova, Kosovo journalist and politician, 1st President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
  • 2009 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician and diplomat (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – Paul Quarrington, Canadian author, playwright, guitarist, and composer (b. 1953)
  • 2011 – Theoni V. Aldredge, Greek-American costume designer (b. 1922)
  • 2011 – Dennis Oppenheim, American sculptor and photographer (b. 1938)
  • 2011 – E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1958)
  • 2013 – Ahmet Mete Işıkara, Turkish geophysicist and academic (b. 1941)
  • 2013 – Chumpol Silpa-archa, Thai academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1940)
  • 2013 – Michael Winner, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Marcus Borg, American scholar, theologian, and author (b. 1942)
  • 2015 – Leon Brittan, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Johnnie Lewis, Liberian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Justice of Liberia (b. 1946)
  • 2016 – Bill Johnson, American skier (b. 1960)
  • 2016 – Mrinalini Sarabhai, a 1992-Padma Bhushan award winner Indian classical dancer, choreographer and instructor. (b. 1918)
  • 2019 – Kaye Ballard, American actress (b. 1925)
  • 2019 – Henri, Count of Paris, Head of the House of Orléans (b. 1933)
  • 2019 – Emiliano Sala, Argentine footballer (b. 1990)
  • 2019 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (b. 1926)
  • 2020 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
  • 2020 – Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances on January 21

  • Babinden (Bulgaria, Serbia)
  • Birthday of Princess Ingrid Alexandra (Norway)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Agnes
    • Demiana (Coptic Church)
    • Fructuosus
    • John Yi Yun-il (one of The Korean Martyrs)
    • Meinrad of Einsiedeln
    • January 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Errol Barrow Day (Barbados)
  • Flag Day (Quebec)
  • Grandmother’s Day (Poland)
  • Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)
  • Lincoln Alexander Day (Canada)

January 21- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned since his election in June 1523.
  • 1554 – Bayinnaung, who would go on to assemble the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia, is crowned King of Burma.
  • 1616 – The city of Belém, Brazil is founded on the Amazon River delta, by Portuguese captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco.
  • 1808 – John Rennie’s scheme to defend St Mary’s Church, Reculver, founded in 669, from coastal erosion is abandoned in favour of demolition, despite the church being an exemplar of Anglo-Saxon architecture and sculpture.
  • 1808 – The organizational meeting leading to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
  • 1848 – The Palermo rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
  • 1866 – The Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.
  • 1872 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.
  • 1895 – The National Trust is founded in the United Kingdom.
  • 1911 – The University of the Philippines College of Law is formally established; three future Philippine presidents are among the first enrollees.
  • 1915 – The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposal to require states to give women the right to vote.
  • 1916 – Both Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann, for achieving eight aerial victories each over Allied aircraft, receive the German Empire’s highest military award, the Pour le Mérite as the first German aviators to earn it.
  • 1918 – The Minnie Pit Disaster coal mining accident occurs in Halmer End, Staffordshire, in which 155 men and boys die.
  • 1921 – Acting to restore confidence in baseball after the Black Sox Scandal, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is elected as Major League Baseball’s first commissioner.
  • 1932 – Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.
  • 1942 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive.
  • 1962 – Vietnam War: Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission in the war, takes place.
  • 1964 – Rebels in Zanzibar begin a revolt known as the Zanzibar Revolution and proclaim a republic.
  • 1966 – Lyndon B. Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.
  • 1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
  • 1969 – The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
  • 1970 – Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
  • 1971 – The Harrisburg Seven: Rev. Philip Berrigan and five other activists are indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels of federal buildings in Washington, D.C.
  • 1976 – The United Nations Security Council votes 11–1 to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights).
  • 1986 – Space Shuttle program: Congressman Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Columbia on mission STS-61-C as a payload specialist.
  • 1990 – A seven-day pogrom breaks out against the Armenian civilian population of Baku, Azerbaijan, during which Armenians were beaten, tortured, murdered, and expelled from the city.
  • 1991 – Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of American military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
  • 1998 – Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
  • 2001 – Downtown Disney opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
  • 2004 – The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
  • 2005 – Deep Impact launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket.
  • 2006 – A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.
  • 2010 – An earthquake in Haiti occurs, killing between 220,000 and 300,000 people and destroying much of the capital Port-au-Prince.
  • 2012 – Violent protests occur in Bucharest, Romania, as two-day-old demonstrations continue against President Traian Băsescu’s economic austerity measures. Clashes are reported in numerous Romanian cities between protesters and law enforcement officers.
  • 2015 – Government raids kill 143 Boko Haram fighters in Kolofata, Cameroon.
  • 2016 – Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
  • 2020 – Taal Volcano in the Philippines erupts, and kills 39 people.

Births on January 12

  • 1483 – Henry III of Nassau-Breda (d. 1538)
  • 1562 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1630)
  • 1576 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (d. 1660)
  • 1577 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist and physician (d. 1644)
  • 1588 – John Winthrop, English lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1649)
  • 1591 – Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish painter (d. 1652)
  • 1597 – François Duquesnoy, Flemish sculptor and educator (d. 1643)
  • 1598 – Jijabai Shahaji Bhosale, venerated mother of Indian king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (d. 1674)
  • 1628 – Charles Perrault, French author and academic (d. 1703)
  • 1673 – Rosalba Carriera, Italian painter (d. 1757)
  • 1711 – Gaetano Latilla, Italian composer (d. 1788)
  • 1715 – Jacques Duphly, French organist and composer (d. 1789)
  • 1716 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and politician, 1st Spanish Governor of Louisiana (d. 1795)
  • 1721 – Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1792)
  • 1723 – Samuel Langdon, American minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1797)
  • 1724 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (d. 1789)
  • 1729 – Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1797)
  • 1746 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss philosopher and educator (d. 1827)
  • 1751 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1825)
  • 1772 – Mikhail Speransky, Russian academic and politician (d. 1839)
  • 1786 – Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1855)
  • 1792 – Johan August Arfwedson, Swedish chemist and academic (d. 1841)
  • 1797 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (d. 1873)
  • 1799 – Priscilla Susan Bury, British botanist (d. 1872)
  • 1822 – Étienne Lenoir, Belgian engineer, designed the internal combustion engine (d. 1900)
  • 1837 – Adolf Jensen, German pianist and composer (d. 1879)
  • 1849 – Jean Béraud, Russian-French painter and academic (d. 1935)
  • 1853 – Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician (d. 1925)
  • 1856 – John Singer Sargent, American painter and academic (d. 1925)
  • 1863 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian monk and philosopher (d. 1902)
  • 1869 – Bhagwan Das, Indian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1958)
  • 1873 – Spyridon Louis, Greek runner (d. 1940)
  • 1874 – Laura Adams Armer, American author and photographer (d. 1963)
  • 1876 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the Turkish Provisional Government (d. 1950)
  • 1876 – Jack London, American novelist and journalist (d. 1916)
  • 1876 – Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer and educator (d. 1948)
  • 1877 – Frank J. Corr, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1934)
  • 1878 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian-American author and playwright (d. 1952)
  • 1879 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver and engineer (d. 1968)
  • 1879 – Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician, 17th Mayor of Tallinn (d. 1942)
  • 1882 – Milton Sills, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1930)
  • 1884 – Texas Guinan, American entertainer and bootlegger (d. 1933)
  • 1889 – Mirza Basheer-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, Indian-Pakistani spiritual leader (d. 1965)
  • 1890 – Johannes Vares, Estonian poet, physician, and politician (d. 1946)
  • 1892 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian engineer and businessman, co-founded the Russian Aircraft Corporation (d. 1976)
  • 1893 – Hermann Göring, German commander, pilot, and politician, Minister President of Prussia (d. 1946)
  • 1893 – Alfred Rosenberg, Estonian-German architect and politician, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories (d. 1946)
  • 1894 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer and actor (d. 1975)
  • 1895 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (d. 1959)
  • 1896 – David Wechsler, Romanian-American psychologist and author (d. 1981)
  • 1899 – Pierre Bernac, French opera singer and educator (d. 1979)
  • 1899 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
  • 1901 – Karl Künstler, German SS officer (d. 1945)
  • 1903 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1960)
  • 1903 – Andrew J. Transue, American politician and attorney (Morissette v. United States) (d. 1995)
  • 1904 – Mississippi Fred McDowell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972)
  • 1905 – Nihal Atsız, Turkish author, poet, and philosopher (d. 1975)
  • 1905 – James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist and academic (d. 1997)
  • 1905 – Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
  • 1906 – Emmanuel Levinas, Lithuanian-French historian, philosopher, and academic (d. 1995)
  • 1907 – Sergei Korolev, Russian colonel and engineer (d. 1966)
  • 1908 – Jean Delannoy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
  • 1908 – Clement Hurd, American illustrator (d. 1988)
  • 1910 – Patsy Kelly, American actress and comedian (d. 1981)
  • 1910 – Luise Rainer, German-English actress (d. 2014)
  • 1912 – Richard Kuremaa, Estonian footballer (d. 1991)
  • 1914 – Mieko Kamiya, Japanese psychiatrist and psychologist (d. 1979)
  • 1915 – Paul Jarrico, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
  • 1915 – Joseph-Aurèle Plourde, Canadian archbishop and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1916 – Ruth R. Benerito, American chemist and inventor (d. 2013)
  • 1916 – Mary Wilson, Baroness Wilson of Rievaulx, British poet and Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2018)
  • 1916 – P. W. Botha, South African politician, 8th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 2006)
  • 1917 – Walter Hendl, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2007)
  • 1917 – Jimmy Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2007)
  • 1920 – James Farmer, American activist, and politician, co-founded Congress of Racial Equality (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – Jerzy Zubrzycki, Polish-Australian sociologist and academic (d. 2009)
  • 1922 – Tadeusz Żychiewicz, Polish journalist and historian (d. 1994)
  • 1923 – Ira Hayes, American marine who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima (d. 1955)
  • 1924 – Olivier Gendebien, Belgian racing driver and businessman (d. 1998)
  • 1925 – Bill Burrud, American television host, producer, and actor (d. 1990)
  • 1926 – Morton Feldman, American composer and academic (d. 1987)
  • 1926 – Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Ruth Brown, American R&B singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2006)
  • 1929 – Alasdair MacIntyre, Scottish-American philosopher and academic
  • 1929 – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher and logician (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Tim Horton, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman, founded Tim Hortons (d. 1974)
  • 1930 – Jennifer Johnston, Irish author and playwright
  • 1930 – Glenn Yarbrough, American singer and actor (d. 2016)
  • 1933 – Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Alan Sharp, Scottish-American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Mick Sullivan, English rugby player and coach (d. 2016)
  • 1935 – Teresa del Conde, Mexican historian and critic (d. 2017)
  • 1935 – Kreskin, American mentalist
  • 1936 – Jennifer Hilton, Baroness Hilton of Eggardon, English police officer and politician
  • 1936 – Raimonds Pauls, Latvian pianist and composer
  • 1936 – Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet and activist (d. 2014)
  • 1936 – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (d. 2016)
  • 1937 – Shirley Eaton, English actress
  • 1938 – Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Pakistani scholar and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1940 – Bob Hewitt, Australian-South African tennis player
  • 1940 – Ronald Shannon Jackson, American drummer and composer (d. 2013)
  • 1940 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2007)
  • 1941 – Long John Baldry, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and voice actor (d. 2005)
  • 1941 – Fiona Caldicott, English psychiatrist and psychotherapist
  • 1941 – Chet Jastremski, American swimmer and physician (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Bernardine Dohrn, American domestic terrorist, political activist and academic
  • 1944 – Hans Henning Atrott, German author and theorist
  • 1944 – Joe Frazier, American boxer (d. 2011)
  • 1944 – Cynthia Robinson, American R&B trumpet player and singer (d 2015)
  • 1945 – Maggie Bell, Scottish singer-songwriter
  • 1946 – Hazel Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove, Scottish lawyer and judge
  • 1946 – George Duke, American keyboard player, composer, and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1947 – Richard Carwardine, English historian and academic
  • 1947 – Tom Dempsey, American football player and educator
  • 1947 – Sally Hamwee, Baroness Hamwee, English politician
  • 1948 – Kenny Allen, English footballer
  • 1948 – Anthony Andrews, English actor and producer
  • 1948 – Gordon Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 34th Premier of British Columbia
  • 1948 – Brendan Foster, English runner and sportscaster
  • 1948 – William Nicholson, English author and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Kentarō Haneda, Japanese pianist and composer (d. 2007)
  • 1949 – Ottmar Hitzfeld, German footballer and manager
  • 1949 – Hamadi Jebali, Tunisian engineer, journalist, and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Tunisia
  • 1949 – Haruki Murakami, Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and essayist
  • 1950 – Sheila Jackson Lee, American lawyer, judge, and politician
  • 1950 – Göran Lindblad, Swedish dentist and politician
  • 1950 – Bob McEwen, American businessman and politician
  • 1950 – Dorrit Moussaieff, Israeli-Icelandic jewelry designer and businesswoman, 5th First Lady of Iceland
  • 1951 – Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer
  • 1951 – Chris Bell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1978)
  • 1951 – Rush Limbaugh, American talk show host and author
  • 1951 – Drew Pearson, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1952 – Phil Perry, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1952 – Ricky Van Shelton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1952 – John Walker, New Zealand runner and politician
  • 1952 – Walter Mosley, American novelist
  • 1953 – Mary Harron, Canadian director and screenwriter
  • 1954 – Howard Stern, American radio host, actor, and author
  • 1954 – Martin Kylhammar, Swedish professor of culture and society
  • 1955 – Tom Ardolino, American rock drummer (NRBQ) (d. 2012)
  • 1956 – Nikolai Noskov, Russian rock singer and singer-songwriter
  • 1957 – John Lasseter, American animator, director, and producer
  • 1957 – Jeremy Sams, English director, playwright, and composer
  • 1958 – Christiane Amanpour, English-born Iranian-American journalist
  • 1958 – Curt Fraser, American-Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1959 – B. Brian Blair, American wrestler and politician
  • 1959 – Per Gessle, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1960 – Oliver Platt, Canadian-American actor
  • 1960 – Dominique Wilkins, French-American basketball player and manager
  • 1961 – Simon Russell Beale, Malaysia-born English actor and historian
  • 1962 – Joe Quesada, American author and illustrator
  • 1962 – Richie Richardson, Antiguan cricketer
  • 1962 – Luna Vachon, American-Canadian wrestler and manager (d. 2010)
  • 1963 – François Girard, Canadian director and screenwriter
  • 1963 – Nando Reis, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1964 – Jeff Bezos, American computer scientist and businessman, founded Amazon.com
  • 1965 – Raekwon, American rapper
  • 1965 – Rob Zombie, American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director
  • 1966 – Olivier Martinez, French actor
  • 1966 – Craig Parry, Australian golfer
  • 1967 – Vendela Kirsebom, Norwegian-Swedish model and actress
  • 1968 – Junichi Masuda, Japanese director, producer, and composer
  • 1968 – Heather Mills, English businesswoman, activist and model
  • 1968 – Mauro Silva, Brazilian footballer
  • 1969 – David Mitchell, English novelist
  • 1969 – Margaret Nagle, American screenwriter and producer
  • 1970 – Zack de la Rocha, American singer-songwriter
  • 1971 – Scott Burrell, American basketball player and coach
  • 1972 – Priyanka Gandhi, Indian politician
  • 1972 – Espen Knutsen, Norwegian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1972 – Paul Wilson, Australian cricketer and umpire
  • 1973 – Brian Culbertson, American pianist and producer
  • 1973 – Hande Yener, Turkish singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1974 – Melanie C, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1974 – Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian skier
  • 1975 – Jason Freese, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1975 – Jocelyn Thibault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1977 – Yoandy Garlobo, Cuban baseball player
  • 1978 – Luis Ayala, Mexican baseball player
  • 1978 – Maurizio Zaffiri, Italian rugby player
  • 1979 – Marián Hossa, Slovak ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Lee Bo-young, South Korean actress and model
  • 1979 – Grzegorz Rasiak, Polish footballer
  • 1979 – David Zabriskie, American cyclist
  • 1980 – Bobby Crosby, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Amerie, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1981 – João Paulo Daniel, Brazilian footballer
  • 1981 – Dan Klecko, American football player
  • 1981 – Angus Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1981 – Luis Ernesto Pérez, Mexican footballer
  • 1982 – Paul-Henri Mathieu, French tennis player
  • 1982 – Hans Van Alphen, Belgian decathlete
  • 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
  • 1982 – Dontrelle Willis, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Daniel Sepulveda, American football player
  • 1984 – Jonathan Zydko, French footballer
  • 1985 – Artem Milevskiy, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1985 – Issa Rae, American actress, writer, director, producer and web series creator
  • 1985 – Borja Valero, Spanish footballer
  • 1986 – Kehoma Brenner, German rugby player
  • 1986 – Miguel Ángel Nieto, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Naya Rivera, American actress and singer
  • 1987 – Salvatore Sirigu, Italian footballer
  • 1988 – Claude Giroux, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1989 – Thiemo-Jérôme Kialka, German footballer
  • 1989 – Axel Witsel, Belgian footballer
  • 1991 – Pixie Lott, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
  • 1991 – Matt Srama, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Ishak Belfodil, Algerian footballer
  • 1992 – Samuele Longo, Italian footballer
  • 1993 – Zayn Malik, English singer-songwriter
  • 1993 – Simone Pecorini, Italian footballer
  • 1993 – Do Kyungsoo, South Korean singer and member of boy band EXO
  • 1995 – Sarah Mehain, Canadian Paralympic swimmer
  • 1995 – Alessio Romagnoli, Italian footballer

Deaths of January 12

  • 690 – Benedict Biscop, English scholar and saint, founded the Monkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey (b. 628)
  • 914 – Ahmad Samani, Samanid emir
  • 947 – Sang Weihan, Chinese chief of staff (b. 898)
  • 1140 – Louis I, Landgrave of Thuringia
  • 1167 – Aelred of Rievaulx, English monk and saint (b. 1110)
  • 1320 – John Dalderby, bishop of Lincoln
  • 1321 – Marie of Brabant, Queen of France (b. 1256)
  • 1405 – Eleanor Maltravers, English noblewoman (b. 1345)
  • 1519 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1459)
  • 1665 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician and lawyer (b. 1601)
  • 1674 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (b. 1605)
  • 1700 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (b. 1620)
  • 1720 – William Ashhurst, English banker and politician, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1647)
  • 1732 – John Horsley, English-Scottish historian and author (b. 1685)
  • 1735 – John Eccles, English composer (b. 1668)
  • 1759 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1709)
  • 1765 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (b. 1696)
  • 1777 – Hugh Mercer, Scottish-American general and physician (b. 1726)
  • 1778 – François Bigot, French politician (b. 1703)
  • 1781 – Richard Challoner, English bishop (b. 1691)
  • 1829 – Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1772)
  • 1833 – Marie-Antoine Carême, French chef (b. 1784)
  • 1834 – William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
  • 1856 – Ľudovít Štúr, Slovak philologist and politician (b. 1815)
  • 1861 – Václav Hanka, Czech philologist and author (b. 1791)
  • 1892 – James Caulfeild, 3rd Earl of Charlemont, Irish politician, Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone (b. 1820)
  • 1892 – William Reeves, Irish bishop and historian (b. 1815)
  • 1899 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club (b. 1816)
  • 1909 – Hermann Minkowski, Lithuanian-German mathematician and academic (b. 1864)
  • 1911 – Andreas Papagiannakopoulos, Greek journalist, judge, and politician (b. 1845)
  • 1916 – Georgios Theotokis, Greek lawyer and politician, 80th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1844)
  • 1921 – Gervase Elwes, English tenor and actor (b. 1866)
  • 1926 – Austin Chapman, Australian businessman and politician, 4th Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1864)
  • 1934 – Paul Kochanski, Polish violinist and composer (b. 1887)
  • 1938 – Oscar Florianus Bluemner, German-American painter and illustrator (b. 1867)
  • 1940 – Ralph Hitz, Austrian-American hotelier (b. 1891)
  • 1940 – Edward Smith, English lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1898)
  • 1943 – Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and critic (b. 1902)
  • 1944 – Lance C. Wade, American commander and pilot (b. 1915)
  • 1958 – Charles Hatfield, American meteorologist (b. 1875)
  • 1960 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (b. 1899)
  • 1962 – Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian journalist and activist (b. 1869)
  • 1965 – Lorraine Hansberry, American author, playwright, and director (b. 1936)
  • 1967 – Burhan Asaf Belge, Turkish diplomat (b. 1887)
  • 1971 – John Tovey, 1st Baron Tovey, English admiral (b. 1885)
  • 1973 – Roy Franklin Nichols, American historian and academic (b. 1896)
  • 1974 – Princess Patricia of Connaught (b. 1886)
  • 1976 – Agatha Christie, English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1890)
  • 1977 – Henri-Georges Clouzot, French director and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 1983 – Nikolai Podgorny, Ukrainian engineer and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1988 – Connie Mulder, South African politician (b. 1925)
  • 1988 – Piero Taruffi, Italian racing driver and motorcycle racer (b. 1906)
  • 1990 – Laurence J. Peter, Canadian-American author and educator (b. 1919)
  • 1991 – Robert Jackson, Australian public servant and diplomat (b. 1911)
  • 1992 – Kumar Gandharva, a Hindustani classical singer (b. 1924)
  • 1994 – Gustav Naan, Estonian physicist and philosopher (b. 1919)
  • 1996 – Joachim Nitsche, German mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
  • 1997 – Jean-Edern Hallier, French author (b. 1936)
  • 1997 – Charles Brenton Huggins, Canadian-American physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
  • 1998 – Roger Clark, English racing driver (b. 1939)
  • 1999 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1961)
  • 2000 – Marc Davis, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1913)
  • 2000 – Bobby Phills, American basketball player (b. 1969)
  • 2001 – Luiz Bonfá, Brazilian guitarist and composer (b. 1922)
  • 2001 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1917)
  • 2003 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist and author (b. 1912)
  • 2003 – Kinji Fukasaku, Japanese actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
  • 2003 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine general and politician, 44th President of Argentina (b. 1926)
  • 2003 – Maurice Gibb, Manx-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1949)
  • 2003 – Alan Nunn May, English physicist and spy (b. 1911)
  • 2004 – Olga Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2005 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (b. 1932)
  • 2006 – Pablita Velarde, Santa Clara Pueblo (Native American) painter (b. 1918)
  • 2007 – Alice Coltrane, American pianist and composer (b. 1937)
  • 2007 – James Killen, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1925)
  • 2008 – Max Beck, American intersex advocate (b. 1966)
  • 2009 – Claude Berri, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
  • 2010 – Daniel Bensaïd, French philosopher and author (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – Hasib Sabbagh, Palestinian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Consolidated Contractors Company (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Bjørn G. Andersen, Norwegian geologist and academic (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Glenda Dickerson, American director, choreographer, and educator (b. 1945)
  • 2012 – Bill Janklow, American lawyer and politician, 27th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1939)
  • 2012 – Charles H. Price II, American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1931)
  • 2012 – Jim Stanley, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Precious Bryant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
  • 2013 – Eugene Patterson, American journalist and activist (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Alexandra Bastedo, English actress (b. 1946)
  • 2014 – Connie Binsfeld, American educator and politician, 58th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – George Dement, American soldier, businessman, and politician (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Trevor Colbourn, American historian and academic (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Robert Gover, American journalist and author (b. 1929)
  • 2015 – Carl Long, American baseball player (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian soprano and actress (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Inge Vermeulen, Brazilian-Dutch field hockey player (b. 1985)
  • 2017 – William Peter Blatty, American writer and filmmaker (b. 1928)
  • 2017 – Graham Taylor, former Grimsby Town player and former manager of the England football team. (b. 1944)
  • 2018 – Keith Jackson, American sports commentator and journalist (b. 1928)
  • 2020 – Sir Roger Scruton, English philosopher, and writer (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances on January 12

  • Christian feast day:
    • Aelred of Rievaulx
    • Benedict Biscop
    • Bernard of Corleone
    • Marguerite Bourgeoys
    • Tatiana
    • January 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Lee–Jackson Day can fall while January 18 is the latest, celebrated on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day. (Commonwealth of Virginia)
  • Memorial Day (Turkmenistan)
  • National Youth Day (India)
  • Prosecutor General’s Day (Russia)
  • Zanzibar Revolution Day (Tanzania)

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

On This Day

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

On This Day /

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

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

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

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

Julian calendar:

  • 1544 Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
  • 1556 Spain, Portugal
  • 1559 Prussia, Sweden
  • 1564 France
  • 1576 Southern Netherlands
  • 1579 Duchy of Lorraine
  • 1583 Northern Netherlands
  • 1600 Scotland
  • 1700 Russia
  • 1752 Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies
  • 1804 Serbia

Gregorian calendar:

  • 1750 Tuscany
  • 1797 Republic of Venice
  • 1918 Ottoman Empire
  • 1941 Thailand

Events on January 1

Pre-Julian Roman calendar

  • 153 BC – For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.

Early Julian calendar (before Augustus’ leap year correction)

  • 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.
  • 42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.

Julian calendar

  • 193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emper]or.
  • 404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights.
  • 417 – Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable).
  • 1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable).
  • 1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
  • 1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
  • 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
  • 1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is first explored by the Portuguese.
  • 1515 – Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII.
  • 1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
  • 1583 to 1700 – see January 11
  • 1600 – Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25.
  • 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.
  • 1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
  • 1701 to 1800 – see January 12
  • 1801 to 1900 – see January 13
  • 1901 to 2100 – see January 14

Gregorian calendar

  • 1707 – John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.
  • 1739 – Bouvet Island, the world’s remotest island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
  • 1772 – The first traveler’s cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, were issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
  • 1773 – The hymn that became known as “Amazing Grace”, then titled “1 Chronicles 17:16–17” is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
  • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
  • 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag; the Grand Union Flag at Prospect Hill.
  • 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne’s command rebel against the Continental Army’s winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
  • 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
  • 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
  • 1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
  • 1803 – Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
  • 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States.
  • 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.
  • 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.
  • 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.
  • 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
  • 1847 – The world’s first “Mercy” Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.
  • 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use.
  • 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
  • 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
  • 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming’s proposal for standard time (and also, time zones).
  • 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government
  • 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.
  • 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
  • 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
  • 1901 – Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
  • 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister
  • 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
  • 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson.
  • 1912 – The Republic of China is established.
  • 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world’s first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
  • 1923 – Britain’s Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
  • 1927 – New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War.
  • 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin’s secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
  • 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
  • 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
  • 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.
  • 1934 – A “Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring” comes into effect in Nazi Germany.
  • 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
  • 1945 – World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops kill 60 German POWs at Chenogne.
  • 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
  • 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.
  • 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens.Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
  • 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
  • 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
  • 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
  • 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
  • 1958 – European Economic Community is established.
  • 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces.
  • 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
  • 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
  • 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
  • 1965 – The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.
  • 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00.
  • 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
  • 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community.
  • 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board.
  • 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing all 213 people on board.
  • 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.
  • 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community.
  • 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
  • 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet.
  • 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.
  • 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
  • 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
  • 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor.
  • 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
  • 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
  • 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.
  • 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
  • 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
  • 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.
  • 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being.
  • 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
  • 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU.
  • 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
  • 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece later adopts the euro).
  • 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is “deemed to be elected” to the office of President until October 2007.
  • 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.
  • 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia killing all 102 people on board.
  • 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
  • 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.
  • 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.
  • 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.
  • 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
  • 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
  • 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year’s celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others

Births on January 1

  • 766 – Ali al-Ridha (d. 818) 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam
  • 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
  • 1449 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492)
  • 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548)
  • 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531)
  • 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511)
  • 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
  • 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649)
  • 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692)
  • 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728)
  • 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748)
  • 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787)
  • 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
  • 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800)
  • 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780)
  • 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818)
  • 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796)
  • 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, credited with designing the Flag of the United States (d. 1836)
  • 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849)
  • 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821)
  • 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860)
  • 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847)
  • 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874)
  • 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853)
  • 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880)
  • 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868)
  • 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864)
  • 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866)
  • 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861)
  • 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878)
  • 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849)
  • 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys’ High School and Knox Church (d. 1902)
  • 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908)
  • 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908)
  • 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
  • 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904)
  • 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941)
  • 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
  • 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933)
  • 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923)
  • 1859 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916)
  • 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935)
  • 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian, and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937)
  • 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer, and curator (d. 1946)
  • 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957)
  • 1867 – Mary Ackworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949)
  • 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher, and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
  • 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927)
  • 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937)
  • 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929)
  • 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970)
  • 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952)
  • 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959)
  • 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949)
  • 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
  • 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965)
  • 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974)
  • 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967)
  • 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966)
  • 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969)
  • 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942)
  • 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948)
  • 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940)
  • 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, and mathematician (d. 1974)
  • 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970)
  • 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972)
  • 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986)
  • 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990)
  • 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977)
  • 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945)
  • 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982)
  • 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
  • 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker, and actor (d. 1988)
  • 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931)
  • 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
  • 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959)
  • 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960)
  • 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971)
  • 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
  • 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
  • 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995)
  • 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
  • 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991)
  • 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944)
  • 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
  • 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
  • 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997)
  • 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948)
  • 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010)
  • 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990)
  • 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007)
  • 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986)
  • 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Ernest Hollings, American soldier, and politician, 106th Governor of South Carolina (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist and composer (d. 1999)
  • 1924 – Francisco Macías Nguema, Equatorial Guinean politician, 1st President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (d. 1979)
  • 1925 – Matthew Beard, American child actor (d. 1981)
  • 1925 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2005)
  • 1926 – Kazys Petkevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1927 – Doak Walker, American football player and businessman (d. 1998)
  • 1927 – James Reeb, American clergyman and political activist (d. 1965)
  • 1927 – Maurice Béjart, French-Swiss dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 2007)
  • 1927 – Vernon L. Smith, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1928 – Ernest Tidyman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984)
  • 1928 – Gerhard Weinberg, German-American historian, author, and academic
  • 1929 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Frederick Wiseman, American director and producer
  • 1930 – Gaafar Nimeiry, Egyptian-Sudanese politician, 4th President of the Sudan (d. 2009)
  • 1932 – Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (d. 1989)
  • 1933 – James Hormel, American philanthropist and diplomat.
  • 1933 – Joe Orton, English dramatist (d. 1967)
  • 1934 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (d. 1984
  • 1934 – Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian politician, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1935 – Om Prakash Chautala, Indian politician
  • 1936 – James Sinegal, American businessman, co-founded Costco
  • 1939 – Michèle Mercier, French actress
  • 1939 – Phil Read, English motorcycle racer and businessman
  • 1939 – Senfronia Thompson, American politician
  • 1941 – Younoussi Touré, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali
  • 1942 – Alassane Ouattara, Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast (doubtful)
  • 1942 – Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn, English dentist and politician
  • 1942 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1942 – Dennis Archer, American lawyer and politician, 67th Mayor of Detroit
  • 1942 – Gennadi Sarafanov, Russian pilot and cosmonaut (d. 2005)
  • 1943 – Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer.
  • 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska.
  • 1943 – Vladimir Šeks, Croatian lawyer and politician, 16th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
  • 1944 – Mati Unt, Estonian author, playwright, and director (d. 2005)
  • 1944 – Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese field marshal and politician, 7th President of Sudan
  • 1944 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani field hockey player and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan
  • 1945 – Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver
  • 1945 – Victor Ashe, American politician and former United States Ambassador to Poland
  • 1946 – Claude Steele, American social psychologist and academic
  • 1946 – Rivellino, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey
  • 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
  • 1948 – Dick Quax, New Zealand runner and politician (d. 2018)
  • 1948 – Pavel Grachev, Russian general and politician, 1st Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
  • 1949 – Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician and diplomat
  • 1952 – Shaji N. Karun, Indian director and cinematographer
  • 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico
  • 1954 – Bob Menendez, American lawyer and politician
  • 1954 – Dennis O’Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (d. 2012)
  • 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
  • 1955 – LaMarr Hoyt, American baseball player
  • 1955 – Mary Beard, English classicist, academic and presenter
  • 1956 – Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and astronaut
  • 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
  • 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
  • 1958 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian rapper and DJ
  • 1959 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros
  • 1959 – Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1962 – Anton Muscatelli, Italian-Scottish economist and academic
  • 1963 – Jean-Marc Gounon, French racing driver
  • 1964 – Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
  • 1966 – Anna Burke, Australian businesswoman and politician, 28th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
  • 1966 – Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia
  • 1966 – Tihomir Orešković, Croatian–Canadian businessman, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia
  • 1968 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
  • 1971 – Bobby Holík, Czech-American ice hockey player and coach
  • 1971 – Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Indian politician
  • 1971 – Sammie Henson, American wrestler and coach
  • 1972 – Lilian Thuram, French footballer
  • 1974 – Christian Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Industry
  • 1975 – Becky Kellar-Duke, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Chris Anstey, Australian basketball player and coach
  • 1975 – Fernando Tatís, Dominican baseball player
  • 1975 – Joe Cannon, American soccer player and sportscaster
  • 1979 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
  • 1981 – Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian racing driver
  • 1981 – Mladen Petrić, Croatian footballer
  • 1982 – David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
  • 1982 – Egidio Arévalo Ríos, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1983 – Melaine Walker, Jamaican hurdler
  • 1983 – Park Sung-hyun, South Korean archer
  • 1983 – Calum Davenport, English footballer
  • 1984 – Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
  • 1985 – Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
  • 1985 – Tiago Splitter, Brazilian basketball player
  • 1986 – Pablo Cuevas, Uruguayan tennis player
  • 1986 – Ramses Barden, American football player
  • 1987 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer1987 – Patric Hörnqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Marcel Gecov, Czech footballer
  • 1989 – Jason Pierre-Paul, American football player
  • 1991 – Darius Slay, American football player

Deaths on January 1

  • 138 – Lucius Aelius, adopted son and intended successor of Hadrian (b. 101)
  • 404 – Telemachus, Christian monk and martyr
  • 466 – Qianfei, Chinese emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty (b. 449)
  • 898 – Odo I, Frankish king (b. 860)
  • 951 – Ramiro II, king of León and Galicia1031 – William of Volpiano, Italian abbot (b. 962)
  • 1189 – Henry of Marcy, Cistercian abbot (b. c. 1136)
  • 1204 – Haakon III, king of Norway (b. 1182)
  • 1387 – Charles II, king of Navarre (b. 1332)
  • 1496 – Charles d’Orléans, count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
  • 1515 – Louis XII, king of France (b. 1462)
  • 1559 – Christian III, king of Denmark (b. 1503)
  • 1560 – Joachim du Bellay, French poet and critic (b. 1522)
  • 1617 – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1558)
  • 1697 – Filippo Baldinucci, Florentine historian and author (b. 1625)
  • 1716 – William Wycherley, English playwright and poet (b. 1641)
  • 1748 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and academic (b. 1667)
  • 1780 – Johann Ludwig Krebs, German organist and composer (b. 1713)
  • 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
  • 1789 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, British Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1716)
  • 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Italian painter and educator (b. 1712)
  • 1817 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (b. 1743)
  • 1846 – John Torrington, English sailor and explorer (b. 1825)
  • 1853 – Gregory Blaxland, Australian farmer and explorer (b. 1778)
  • 1862 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
  • 1881 – Louis Auguste Blanqui, French activist (b. 1805)
  • 1892 – Roswell B. Mason, American lawyer and politician, 25th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
  • 1894 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857)
  • 1896 – Alfred Ely Beach, American publisher and lawyer, created the Beach Pneumatic Transit (b. 1826)
  • 1906 – Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian farmer and politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (b. 1833)
  • 1918 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet and author (b. 1858)
  • 1921 – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German lawyer and politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
  • 1929 – Mustafa Necati, Turkish civil servant and politician, Turkish Minister of Environment and Urban Planning (b. 1894)
  • 1931 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
  • 1937 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (b. 1874)
  • 1940 – Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian author and educator (b. 1865)
  • 1944 – Edwin Lutyens, English architect, designed the Castle Drogo and Thiepval Memorial (b. 1869)
  • 1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
  • 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
  • 1954 – Duff Cooper, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1890)
  • 1954 – Leonard Bacon, American poet and critic (b. 1887)
  • 1955 – Arthur C. Parker, American archaeologist and historian (b. 1881)
  • 1960 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
  • 1966 – Vincent Auriol, French journalist and politician, 16th President of the French Republic (b. 1884)
  • 1969 – Barton MacLane, American actor, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
  • 1971 – Amphilochius of Pochayiv, Ukrainian saint (b. 1894)
  • 1972 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
  • 1978 – Carle Hessay, German-Canadian painter (b. 1911)
  • 1980 – Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1891)
  • 1981 – Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist (b. 1920)
  • 1982 – Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
  • 1984 – Alexis Korner, French-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
  • 1992 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and admiral, co-developed COBOL (b. 1906)
  • 1994 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
  • 1994 – Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
  • 1994 – Edward Arthur Thompson, Irish historian and academic (b. 1914)
  • 1995 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
  • 1996 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
  • 1996 – Arthur Rudolph, German-American engineer (b. 1906)
  • 1997 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
  • 1998 – Helen Wills, American tennis player and coach (b. 1905)
  • 2000 – Betty Archdale, English-Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1907)
  • 2001 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
  • 2002 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (b. 1944)
  • 2003 – Joe Foss, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1915)
  • 2005 – Shirley Chisholm, American educator and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Harry Magdoff, American economist and journalist (b. 1913)
  • 2007 – Roland Levinsky, South African-English biochemist and academic (b. 1943)
  • 2007 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (b. 1912)
  • 2008 – Pratap Chandra Chunder, Indian educator and politician (b. 1919)
  • 2009 – Claiborne Pell, American politician (b. 1918)
  • 2010 – Lhasa de Sela, American-Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1972)
  • 2012 – Kiro Gligorov, Bulgarian-Macedonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1917)
  • 2012 – Nay Win Maung, Burmese physician, businessman, and activist (b. 1962)
  • 2012 – Tommy Mont, American football player and coach (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist (b. 1945)
  • 2013 – Patti Page, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (b. 1910)
  • 2014 – Juanita Moore, American actress (b. 1914)
  • 2014 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b. 1950)
  • 2015 – Boris Morukov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1950)
  • 2015 – Donna Douglas, American actress (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Omar Karami, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 58th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – Dale Bumpers, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1925)
  • 2016 – Fazu Aliyeva, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1932)
  • 2016 – Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer and producer (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Derek Parfit, British philosopher (b. 1942)
  • 2017 – Tony Atkinson, British economist (b. 1944)
  • 2017 – Yvon Dupuis, Canadian politician (b. 1926)
  • 2018 – Robert Mann, American violinist (b. 1920)
  • 2019 – Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist (b. 1952)
  • 2019 – Paul Neville, Australian politician (b. 1940)
  • 2020 – David Stern, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1942)
  • 2020 – Alexander Frater, British travel writer and journalist (b. 1937)
  • 2020 – Barry McDonald, Australian rugby union player (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances on January 1

  • Christian feast day:
    • Adalard of Corbie
    • Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
      • Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
      • Feast of Fools (Medieval Europe)
    • Fulgentius of Ruspe
    • Giuseppe Maria Tomasi
    • Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Octave Day of Christmas, considered a holy day of obligation in some countries (Catholic Church); and its related observances:
      • World Day of Peace
    • Telemachus
    • Zygmunt Gorazdowski
    • January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)
  • The second day of Hogmanay (Scotland) December 31-January 1, in some cases until January 2.
  • The last day of Kwanzaa (African-Americans)
  • The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
  • Constitution Day (Italy)
  • Dissolution of Czechoslovakia-related observances:
    • Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
    • Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State (Czech Republic)
  • Emancipation Day (United States)
  • Euro Day (European Union)
  • Flag Day (Lithuania) commemorates raising of the Lithuanian flag on Gediminas’ Tower in 1919
  • Founding Day (Taiwan) commemorates the establishment of the Provisional Government in Nanjing
  • Global Family Day
  • Independence Day (Brunei, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan)
  • International Nepali Dhoti and Nepali Topi Day
  • Jump-up Day (Montserrat)
  • Kalpataru Day (Ramakrishna Movement)
  • Kamakura Ebisu, January 1–3 (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)
  • National Bloody Mary Day (United States)
  • National Tree Planting Day (Tanzania)
  • New Year’s Day (Gregorian calendar)
    • Japanese New Year
    • Novy God Day (Russia)
    • Sjoogwachi (Okinawa Islands)
  • Polar Bear Swim Day (Canada and United States)
  • Public Domain Day (multiple countries)
  • Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)

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

On This Day

General Science & Ability MCQs (Natural Hazards and Disasters, Set-II)

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A /

Click HERE for previous questions.

An example of a shield volcano is
(a) Mount Fuji
(b) Mount Pinatubo
(c) Puy de Dome
(d) Mauna Loa
Answer: (d)
Mauna Loa is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean.Mauna Loa is a shield volcano that has erupted some three dozen times since its first well-documented eruption in 1843

Volcanoes that have erupted in historic times and are still likely to erupt, are known as
(a) Active volcanoes
(b) Dormant volcanoes
(c) Extinct volcanoes
(d) Instinct volcanoes
Answer: (b)

Top of magma is forced onto Earth’s surface is known as
(a) Vent
(b) Cone
(c) Pipe
(d) Crater
Answer: (d)
A volcanic crater is a roughly circular depression in the ground caused by volcanic activity. It is typically a bowl-shaped feature within which occurs a vent or vents

Volcano that forms from column of magma is called a/an
(a) underwater volcano
(b) convergent volcano
(c) divergent volcano
(d) hot spot volcano
Answer: (d)

Reference to how thick a liquid is known as
(a) density
(b) conductivity
(c) viscosity
(d) volatility
Answer: (c)

Fluidity of lava is determined by amount of
(a) copper
(b) iron
(c) nickel
(d) silica
Answer: (d)

A flash flood is a flood that:
(a) is caused by heavy rain rather than from the flooding of a river
(b) occurs in urban areas
(c) occurs suddenly and unexpectedly and for a short duration
(d) is caused by the blocking of drains.
Answer: (c)
Flash floods are defined by the speed of flooding, not the source or location of flooding. While flash floods are often caused by heavy rainfall, they can also result from other events, such as drain blockages and bursts or the flooding of a river.

Monsoon is caused by: (CSS-2009)
(a) Seasonal reversal of winds
(b) Revolution of earth
(c) Movement of clouds
(d) Rise in temperature
(e) Rain forests
Answer: (a)
The monsoon, which is essentially the seasonal reversal in wind direction, causes most of the rainfall received in Pakistan and some other parts of the world. The primary cause of monsoons is the difference between annual temperature trends over land and sea. The apparent position of the Sun with reference to the Earth oscillates from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn. Thus the low pressure region created by solar heating also changes latitude. The northeast and southeast trade winds converge in this low pressure zone, which is also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone or ITCZ. This low pressure regions sees continuous rise of moist wind from the sea surface to the upper layers of the atmosphere, where the cooling means the air can no longer hold so much moisture resulting in precipitation. The rainy seasons of East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Australia and the southern parts of North America coincide with the shift of ITCZ towards these regions.

A flood can vary in:
(a) size
(b) speed of water flow
(c) duration
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
The size, duration and water flow speed of floods can vary. The volume, rate of rise and areal extent (i.e. the total area under flood waters) of flooding can also vary.

When a river’s water level reaches 10 meters, this means that:
(a) the water level is 10 meters above an arbitrary ‘zero’ level
(b) the water level is 10 meters above mean sea level
(c) the water level is 10 meters above mean sea level or an arbitrary ‘zero’ level
(d) it will flood.
Answer: (c)
River height is the level of water in a river as measured by a river gauging station and is expressed in meters above either the Australian Height Datum (i.e. mean sea level) or an alternative arbitrary ‘zero’ level, depending on the location.

The size of a flood is measured by:
(a) the rate of flow of water in a waterway or river
(b) the level of water in a waterway or river
(c) a river gauging station
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
The size of a flood can be measured by the highest level that water in a waterway reaches, referred to as the ‘peak water level’ or ‘flood peak’. It can also be measured by the maximum water flow rate in a waterway, referred to as the ‘peak flow rate’ or ‘peak water flow’. Each of these variables can be measured using a river gauging station.

Which of the following is associated with a La Niña event?
(a) The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) is strongly negative.
(b) The ocean surface off the coast of South America is warmer than usual.
(c) There is an increased chance of above average rainfall in eastern Australia.
(d) All of the above.
Answer: (c)
In a La Niña event, the equatorial ocean surface off the coast of South America is abnormally cool, and the SOI is strongly positive. Trade winds blow strongly across the warm Pacific, picking up plenty of moisture and increasing the likelihood of above average rainfall in eastern Australia.

Which of the following potentially affects the size of a flood?
(a) bridges and other structures in waterways
(b) the size and windiness of a river
(c) vegetation in and around a river
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
Many factors can affect the size of a flood, including rainfall intensity, weather conditions prior to a rainfall event, tidal and storm surges, dams and other man-made and natural water storages, catchment size and shape, soil types in a catchment, vegetation in and around a waterway, the size and windiness of a waterway, levees, bridges and other structures in waterways and catchments, and urbanization.

Seasons are generated by (CSS-2012)
(a) The movement of sun around the Milky Way
(b) The movement of the earth around the sun
(c) Relativistic Quantum
(d) None of these
Answer: (b)

The 2010 floods had cost the Pakistan’s economy around
(a) $17b
(b) $11b
(c) $10b
(d) $13b
Answer: (c)
It estimates that just a little less than 1pc of Pakistan’s GDP is exposed to river floods every year. It is ranked 16th by the WRI on the list of the top 20 countries with the highest GDP exposure to river floods.
The World Resources Institute (WRI) says Pakistan falls 5th on the list of top 15 countries that account for 80pc of the population exposed to river-flood risk worldwide.

In Pakistan, the most expensive natural disaster is:
(a) Drought
(b) Floods
(c) Bushfires
(d) Cyclones.
Answer: (b)
Pakistan faces a major financing challenge arising from natural catastrophes, with flooding causing an estimated annual economic impact of between three and four per cent of the federal budget,” adds the report. It estimates the annual economic impact of flooding at between $1.2bn and $1.8bn, or 0.5-0.8pc of GDP.

Which of the following is an environmental consequence of floods?
(a) dispersal of weed species
(b) erosion of soil
(c) release of pollutants into waterways
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
Floods can have negative environmental consequences, such as soil erosion, release of pollutants and excess sediments and nutrients into waterways and the ocean, dispersal of weed species, and negative impacts on fish and other aquatic life. Floods can also have positive environmental consequences, such as recharging groundwater systems, filling wetlands, moving useful nutrients around the landscape, and triggering breeding events (for example, of water birds).

Which of the following is used to estimate which areas will be inundated during a flood, based on river height information?
(a) satellite and radar images
(b) flood maps / floodplain hydraulic models
(c) river gauging stations
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (b)
Floodplain hydraulic models and flood maps are used to estimate which areas will be inundated based on river height information. Satellite and radar images, rain gauges and river gauging stations are used to estimate river heights.

Which of the following statements is false?
(a) Weather forecasts for a small region are more accurate than those for a large region.
(b) Weather forecasts are more accurate in Melbourne than in Darwin.
(c) Forecasts of temperature are more accurate than forecasts of rainfall.
(d) All of the above.
Answer: (a)
The accuracy of weather forecasts varies depending on lead time, the size of the region of interest, the weather variable being forecast, and the latitude of the region. Generally, temperature forecasts are more accurate than rainfall forecasts; the mid-latitudes are easier to forecast than the tropics; and it is generally easier to forecast rainfall over a large area (for example, a large catchment) than local rainfall (for example, a reservoir).

Which of the following is true? Flood warnings:
(a) should not be released until the information is certain
(b) should indicate what the threat is, what
(c) action should be taken, by whom and when
(d) are best if they come from a single source
(e) all of the above.
Answer: (b)
Flood warnings should provide information on what the threat is, what action should be taken, by whom and when. While it is desirable for flood warnings to be accurate, warnings are predictions about the future, so there is inevitably some uncertainty. Accuracy needs to be balanced with timeliness, to allow enough time for appropriate action. Warnings are most likely to reach different audiences and to be heeded if they come from multiple trusted sources.

Flood risk refers to:
(a) the chance of a flood occurring
(b) the number of people and properties exposed to floodwaters if a flood occurs
(c) the vulnerability of people and properties that are exposed to floodwaters
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
Flood risk includes both the chance (or probability) of a flood occurring, and the consequences if a flood occurs. The consequences of a flood are in turn affected by the number of people and properties exposed to floodwaters for a flood of a particular size, and the vulnerability of those people and properties. For example, a river might burst its banks regularly, but if this flooding occurs in an isolated area where there are no people or infrastructure, then the risk is low. Similarly, a river might flood very rarely, but if many people and properties are located near this river and they live in dwellings that are vulnerable to water damage, then the flood risk will be greater.

Which of the following can reduce the risk of flooding?
(a) zonings and building regulations for new developments
(b) dams, detention basins and levees
(c) flood awareness and education programs
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
Flood risk in new developments can be reduced by restricting the location of development (zonings) and placing controls (regulations) on development. In existing developed areas, risk can be reduced by modifying flood behaviour (for example, through dams, detention basins, levees, waterway modifications), property modification measures (for example, land filling, flood proofing, house raising, removing developments), and response modification measures (for example, upgrading flood evacuation routes, flood warnings, flood evacuation planning, flood education programs).

The Probable Maximum Flood is:
(a) an estimation of the largest possible flood that could occur at a particular location
(b) the maximum flood experienced in the last 100 years
(c) the maximum flood experienced in the last 200 years
(d) the maximum flood experienced since flood records have existed.
Answer: (d)
The Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) is an estimate of the largest possible flood that could occur at a particular location, under the most severe meteorological and hydrological conditions as they are currently understood.

In the future, which of the following is expected to increase the risk of flooding?
(a) population growth
(b) urbanization
(c) climate change
(d) all of the above.
Answer: (d)
In the future, climate change is likely to result in an increased chance of flash floods and coastal inundation. Australia’s growing population and urbanization are likely to place increased pressure on our waterways and to increase the chance of flooding in cities and the number of properties and people exposed to floodwaters.

In the future, which of the following is unlikely?
(a) There will be an increased chance of flash flooding and coastal inundation.
(b) Flood risk will increase due to population growth and urbanization.
(c) Improvements in flood forecasting and warning technologies will reduce the impacts of floods.
(d) We will be able to eliminate the risk of flooding.
Answer: (d)
It is not possible to eliminate the risk of flooding. Indeed, it is likely that flood risk will increase in the future due to climate change, population growth and urbanization. However, we can better manage flood risk through improvements in flood forecasting and warning technologies, as well as improved land use planning, floodplain management and integrated water management.

Higher level of floods and droughts are led by
(a) sand storms
(b) lower precipitation
(c) higher precipitation
(d) none of the above
Answer: (c)

Approximately how fast do tsunami waves travel in the open ocean?
(a) 100 km/hour
(b) 1600 km/hour
(c) 200 km/hour
(d) 400 km/hour
(e) 800 km/hour
Answer: (e)

Tsunami waves travel between 500 and 950 km/hour.
What can cause a tsunami?
(a) Landslide
(b) Underwater earthquake
(c) Volcanic eruption
(d) All of the above
Tsunamis are usually generated by undersea earthquakes at tectonic plate boundaries, but they can also be triggered by underwater landslides, volcanic eruptions, or even a giant meteor impact with the ocean.

Do all undersea earthquakes trigger a tsunami?
(a) Yes
(b) No
Answer: (b)
An undersea earthquake creates a tsunami only if it is of sufficient force and there is a violent enough movement of the seafloor to displace a massive amount of water.

What does the word “tsunami” mean in Japanese?
(a) Tidal wave
(b) Harbor wave
(c) Killer wave
(d) Century wave
Answer: (b)
English word “tsunami” comes from the Japanese term for “harbor wave.” Tsunamis are not the same things as tidal waves and actually consist of a series of waves.

Witnesses have said that an approaching tsunami sounds like what?
(a) Firecrackers exploding
(b) A freight train
(c) Ice cracking
(d) Nothing—there is absolute silence
Answer: (b)
Many witnesses have described the sound of an approaching tsunami as being similar to a freight train’s.

What is the most active tsunami area?
(a) Pacific Ocean
(b) Caribbean Sea
(c) Indian Ocean
(d) North Atlantic Ocean
Answer: (a)
Most tsunamis, about 80 percent, happen within the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, a geologically active area where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common.

What is the deadliest tsunami ever recorded?
(a) The 1782 South China Sea tsunami
(b) The 1868 northern Chile tsunami
(c) The 1883 South Java Sea tsunami
(d) The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
Answer: (d)
In 2004 more than 200,000 people—the most ever recorded—died in an Indian Ocean tsunami that was triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia.

How fast can a tsunami travel?
(a) Up to 100 miles an hour (160 kilometers an hour)
(b) Up to 200 miles an hour (320 kilometers an hour)
(c) Up to 500 miles an hour (800 kilometers an hour
(d.) Up to 1,000 miles an hour (1,600 kilometers an hour)
Answer: (c)
Tsunamis race across the sea at up to 500 miles (805 kilometers) an hour—about as fast as a jet airplane. At that pace they can cross the entire expanse of the Pacific Ocean in less than a day.

Can you detect a tsunami in the open ocean?
(a) Yes
(b) No
Answer: (b)
No. In the open ocean, the wave length of a tsunami is hundreds of miles long and only a few feet high. Boaters are safer out at sea during a tsunami than close to shore or tied up at port.

Where was the largest tsunami in history recorded?
(a) India
(b) Philippines
(c) Chile
(d) Japan
Answer: (d)
In 1971 a wall of water 278 feet (84.7 meters) high surged past Ishigaki Island, Japan. It moved a 750-block of coral 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) closer to shore but did little other damage.

What is frequently a warning sign of an impending tsunami?
(a) Winds suddenly change direction
(b) The sky suddenly clears
(c) Seawater suddenly retreats from the shore
(d) All of the above
Answer: (c)
If the tsunami’s trough reaches shore first, it sucks the water seaward, exposing the seafloor suddenly. The wave’s crest usually hits shore about five minutes later. Recognizing this phenomenon—and getting to higher ground immediately—can save lives.

Which one of the following is an example of non-renewable resources?
(a) Wind
(b) Water
(c) Vegetation
(d) Coal and minerals
Answer: (d)

Which of the following is a renewable resource?
(a) Soil
(b) Water
(c) Flora and fauna
(d) All the above
Answer: (d)

_____ of stratosphere provides protection to our life.
(a) Nitrogen
(b) Hydrogen
(c) Ozone
(d) Argon
Answer: 3

The life supporting gases such as O2, CO2 and N2 are chiefly concentrated in the_______.
(a) Troposphere
(b) Exosphere
(c) Homosphere
(d) Stratosphere
Answer: (a)

Which of the following soil is the best for plant growth?
(a) Sandy soil
(b) Clay
(c) Gravel
(d) Loamy soil
Answer: (d)

Both power and manure are provided by _______.
(a) Thermal plants
(b) Nuclear plants
(c) Biogas plants
(d) Hydroelectric plants
Answer: (c)

In the atmosphere, the layer above the troposphere is _____.
(a) Stratosphere
(b) Exosphere
(c) Mesosphere
(d) Thermosphere
Answer: (a)

______ is the major raw material for biogas.
(a) Plant leaves
(b) Cow dung
(c) Mud
(d) Grass
Answer: (b)

A biosphere reserve conserves and preserves_______.
(a) Wild animals
(b) Wild land
(c) Natural vegetation
(d) All the above
Answer: (d)

Atomic energy is obtained by using ores of_______.
(a) Copper
(b) Uranium
Answer: (b)

Sanctuaries are established to_______.
(a) Rear animals for milk
(b) Entrap animals
(c) Protect animals
(d) None of the above
Answer: (c)
An animal sanctuary is a facility where animals are brought to live and be protected for the rest of their lives. Unlike animal shelters, sanctuaries do not seek to place animals with individuals or groups, instead maintaining each animal until his or her natural death. At present there are 99 Wildlife Sanctuaries in Pakistan

The death of the last individual of a species is called_______.
(a) Extinction
(b) Clad
(c) Neither (a) nor (b)
(d) Species diversity
Answer: (a)
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms (taxon), normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point.

Which one of the following is not a fossil fuel?
(a) Natural gas
(b) Petrol
(c) Coal
(d) Uranium
Answer: (d)
Fossil fuels are sources of energy that have developed within the earth over millions of years. Because fossil fuels – oil, natural gas, and coal – take so long to form, they are considered nonrenewable

Biogas generation is mainly based on the principle of_______.
(a) Fermentation
(b) Degradation
(c) Putrification
(d) Both (a) and (b)
Answer: (a)
The biogas plant operating on the principle of a wet anaerobic fermentation process was selected for the determination of the composition of in-put raw material which is determinative for the final biogas quality. The biogas plant is designed as an accumulation through-flow device. The biogas production takes place during the wet fermentation process in the mesophile operation (average temperature 40°C). The produced biogas is used in a cogeneration unit. The biogas plant operates in automatic mode.

Floods can be prevented by_______.
(a) Afforestation
(b) Cutting the forests
(c) Tilling the land
(d) Removing the top soil
Answer: (a)
Afforestation is the establishment of a forest or stand of trees in an area where there was no forest. Reforestation is the reestablishment of forest cover, either naturally (by natural seeding, coppice, or root suckers) or artificially (by direct seeding or planting).
Afforestation Trees are planted near to the river. This means greater interception of rainwater and lower river discharge. This is a relatively low cost option, which enhances the environmental quality of the drainage basin.

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General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A

Environmental Science MCQs | Sustainable Development Issues

MCQs / Q&A, Test, World /

1) The expansion on PQLI is
(a) Physical Quality of Life index
(b) Physical Quantity of Life Index
(c) Product Quality Lifecycle Implementation
(d) None of these
Answer: (a)

2) Birth rate is called
(a) Mortality
(b) Vital index
(c) Natality
(d) Viability
Answer: (c)

3) Death rate of the population
(a) Mortality
(b) Viability
(c) Natality
(d) Vitality
Answer: (a)

4) The Anthrax disease is caused by
(a) Virus
(b) Bacteria
(c) Protozoa
(d) Helminthes
Answer: (b)

5) Superbugs are
(a) Synthetic bug
(b) Bacteria
(c) Radio nucleotide
(d) Industries
Answer: (b)

6) Salmonellosis is a disease related to consumption of
(a) Chicken
(b) Eggs
(c) Mutton
(d) Fish
Answer: (d)

7) Causative organisms of Malaria
(a) Bacteria
(b) Fungus
(c) Plasmodium
(d) Virus
Answer: (c)

8) What is ‘Black Lung?”
(a) Occupational Hazard to the miners
(b) Occupational Hazard to navigators
(c) Occupational Hazard to pesticide applicators.
(d) None of these
Answer: (a)

9) What is Carcinogen?
(a) Drugs for curing infectious disease
(b) Drugs used for curing cancer
(c) Cancer causing agent
(d) Food colorants
Answer: (c)

10) Infection of HIV is usually detected by which test
(a) Elisa test
(b) Hybridization
(c) Gram staining
(d) None
Answer: (a)

11) The destruction of habitat of plants and animals is called
(a) Endemism
(b) Endangered species
(c) Habitat loss
(d) Flood
Answer: (c)

12) Zoos are examples for
(a) In-situ conservation
(b) in-vivo conservation
(c) ex-situ conservation
(d) ex vivo conservation
Answer: (c)

13) The first national park of Pakistan
(a) Lulusar-Dudipatsar National Park
(b) Shandure-Phander National Park
(c) Lal Suhanra National Park
(d) Pir Lasura National Park
Answer: (c)

14) Earth summit of Rio de Janeiro (1992) resulted in
(a) Compilation of Red list
(b) Establishment of biosphere reserves
(c) Conservation of biodiversity
(d) IUCN
Answer: (c)

15) Some species of plants and animals are extremely rare and may occur only at a few locations are called
(a) Endemic
(b) Endangered
(c) Vulnerable
(d) Threatened
Answer: (b)

16) The drug morphine is extracted from …………… plant
(a) Cocoa
(b) Belladonna
(c) Opium Poppy
(d) Tannin
Answer: (c)

17) …………….. species is known as Azadirachta Indica
(a) Neem
(b) Mango
(c) Jackfruit
(d) Banana
Answer: (a)

18) ……………….. tree is known as ‘flame of the forest’?
(a) Ziziphus
(b) Butea monosperma
(c) Jackfruit
(d) Pongamia
Answer: (b)

19) Which tree is known as Coral tree?
(a) Quercus
(b) Dipterocarps
(c) Erythrina
(d) Ziziphus
Answer: (c)

20) Which plants die after flowering?
(a) Lotus
(b) Bamboo
(c) Chrysanthemum
(d) Butea
Answer: (b)

21) Out of 4,100 mammal species in the world, Pakistan is home to
(a) 209
(b) 188
(c) 319
(d) 566
Answer: (b)

22) The four mammals known to have so far disappeared from Pakistan are the tiger (Panthera Tigris), swamp deer (Cervus duvaucelii), lion (Panthera Leo) and the.
(a) White Rhinoceros
(b) One-horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis)
(c) Elephant
(d) Hog deer
Answer: (b)

23) ……………….. is a marine tortoise which shows the unique phenomenon ‘Arribada’
(a) Olive Ridley
(b) Star Tortoise
(c) Travancore Tortoise
(d) b & c
Answer: (a)

24) Largest reptile in the world
(a) Dragon
(b) Anaconda
(c) Crocodile
(d) Python
Answer: (b)

25) In which year Broghil Valley (KPK) was declared as National Park?
(a) 1988
(b) 1996
(c) 2010
(d) 2011
Answer: (c)

26) The total population of Snow Leopard in Pakistan is estimated around
(a) 400
(b) 500
(c) 300
(d) 188
Answer: (c)

27) In Pakistan, mangroves forests covered 600,000 hectares but now that has been reduced to
(a) 185,000 hectares
(b) 75,000 hectares
(c) 85,000 hectares
(d) 115,000 hectares
Answer: (b)

28) In which year Kala Chitta was declared as National Park?
(a) 2008
(b) 2009
(c) 2010
(d) 2012
Answer: (b)

29) The Red Data book which lists endangered species is maintained by
(a) UNO
(b) WHO
(c) IUCN
(d) WWF
Answer: (c)

30) The largest national park in the world meeting the IUCN definition is the Northeast Greenland National Park, which was established in
(a) 1973
(b) 1974.
(c) 1976
(d) 1999
Answer: (b)

31) In which year Lal Suhanra was declared as National Park?
(a) 1972
(b) 1988
(c) 1995
(d) 2008
Answer: (a)

32) Flag ship species of Deosai National Park (Skardu) sanctuary
(a) Tiger
(b) Peacock
(c) Brown Bears
(d) Rhino
Answer: (c)

33) Herpetology is a branch of Science which deals with
(a) Aves
(b) Mammals
(c) Reptiles
(d) Fishes
Answer: (c)

34) “Silent Spring” is a well-known book written by
(a) John Miller
(b) Charles Darwin
(c) Rachel Carson
(d) None of these
Answer: (c)

35) First Biosphere reserve in Pakistan
(a) Lal Suhanra National Park
(b) Kirthar National Park
(c) Chitral Gol National Park
(d) Chiltan Hazarganji, National Park
Answer: (a)

36) Bears are usually hunted and killed for their
(a) Teeth
(b) Skin
(c) Gall bladder
(d) Nails
Answer: (b)

37) Coral reefs in Pakistan can be seen in
(a) Atcola Island
(b) Churna (near Karachi coast)
(c) Pasni and near Jevani
(d) All of the above
Answer: (d)

38) Which of the following is an extinct species?
(a) Tiger
(b) Lion
(c) Dodo
(d) Ostrich
Answer: (c)

39) Black Buck is a
(a) Goat
(b) Deer
(c) Butterfly
(d) Bird
Answer: (b)

40) Gharial is a
(a) Crocodile
(b) Cobra
(c) Tortoise
(d) Frog
Answer: (a)

41) ——— is one of the most endangered species of Pakistani birds
(a) Bee eater
(b) Chakoor
(c) Owl
(d) Houbara bustard
Answer: (d)

42) Pangolins feed on
(a) Ants
(b) Fruits
(c) Leaves
(d) Roots
Answer: (a)

43) Many wild plant and animals are on the verge of extinction due to
(a) Habitat destruction
(b) Climatic changes
(c) Non availability of food
(d) None of the above
Answer: (a)

44) The first global environmental protection treaty “The Montreal Protocol” was signed on Sept. 26.
(a) 1985
(b) 1990
(c) 1981
(d) 1987
Answer: (d)

45) Animals and plants are best protected in
(a) Zoos
(b) Botanical Gardens
(c) National Parks
(d) Sanctuaries
Answer: (c)

46) The Native Place of Redwood trees?
(a) Australia
(b) Amazon
(c) California
(d) Thailand
Answer: (c)

47) Which of the following pulls people to urban areas?
(a) Declining agricultural jobs
(b) Lack of land to grow food
(c) Better health care
(d) None of these
Answer: (c)

48) Due to the urban population exploding in developing countries, they will need to build the equivalent of a city with more than 1 million people every __ for the next 25 years.
(a) Day
(b) Week
(c) Month
(d) Three months
(e) Year
Answer: (b)

49) Which of the following statements is false?
(a) The shift in poverty is moving rapidly from the city to the country.
(b) Developing countries are currently urbanizing faster than developed countries.
(c) Urbanization varies throughout the world but is increasing everywhere
(d) The general population growth also contributes to urban growth
(e) The shift in poverty is moving rapidly from the country to the city
Answer: (a)

50) Those who migrate and find jobs in cities can expect all of the following, except
(a) Long hours and low wages
(b) Dangerous machinery
(c) Health and retirement benefits
(d) Noise pollution
(e) High crime rate
Answer: (c)

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MCQs / Q&A, Test, World

World General Knowledge MCQs (Solved) Geographical Epithets (Countries and Cities)

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A, World /

Geographical MCQs (Countries)

1. Which country is called the ‘Buffer state of Asia’?
(a) Afghanistan
(b) Pakistan
(c) India
(d) China
Answer: a

2. Which country is called ‘Land of fertile fields’?
(a) Algeria
(b) Sri Lanka
(c) Pakistan
(d) England
Answer: a

3. Which country is called ‘Island continent’?
(a) Austria
(b) Australia
(c) US
(d) England
Answer: b

4. Which country is called ‘Land of golden fleece’?
(a) US
(b) England
(c) Australia
(d) Germany
Answer: c

5. Which country is called ‘Remnant of a mighty empire’?
(a) Australia
(b) Austria
(c) India
(d) Iraq
Answer: b

6. Which country is called ‘Isle of June’?
(a) Bahamas
(b) Bahrain
(c) Belgium
(d) Cuba
Answer: a

7. Which country is called ‘Isle of pearls’?
(a) Egypt
(b) Iraq
(c) Iran
(d) Bahrain
Answer: d

8. Which country is called the ‘Land of Golden Fibre’?
(a) Sri Lanka
(b) Bangladesh
(c) Iran
(d) Pakistan
Answer: b

9. Which country is called ‘Cockpit of Europe’?
(a) Belgium
(b) Canada
(c) Colombia
(d) England
Answer: a

10. Which country is called ‘Crossroads of Europe’?
(a) Belgium
(b) Canada
(c) France
(d) Egypt
Answer: a

11. Which country is called ‘Land of lilies’?
(a) Canada
(b) Belgium
(c) Norway
(d) Sweden
Answer: a

12. Which country is called ‘Land of contrasts’?
(a) Canada
(b) Cuba
(c) Colombia
(d) England
Answer:. c

13. Which country is called ‘Pearl of Antilles’?
(a) England
(b) Cuba
(c) Egypt
(d) Denmark
Answer: b

14. Which country is called ‘Homeland of the Viking Empire’?
(a) Cuba
(b) England
(c) Denmark
(d) US
Answer: c

15. Which country is called ‘Gift of the Nile’?
(a) Iran
(b) Egypt
(c) Finland
(d) Iraq
Answer: b

16. Which country is called ‘Land of the Queen of Sheba’?
(a) Egypt
(b) Yemen
(c) Ghana
(d) Austria
Answer: b

17. Which country is called ‘Land of thousand lakes’?
(a) France
(b) Finland
(c) China
(d) Iraq
Answer: b

18. Which country is called ‘Key to the Mediterranean?
(a) Gibraltar
(b) Egypt
(c) Indonesia
(d) Iraq
Answer: a

19. Which country is called ‘Pillars of Hercules’?
(a) Gibraltar
(b) China
(c) Egypt
(d) Afghanistan
Answer: a

20. Which country is called ‘Whiteman’s grave’?
(a) Guinea
(b) Haiti
(c) Iraq
(d) Afghanistan
Answer: a

21. Which country is called ‘Island of Hispaniola?
(a) Hong Kong
(b) Haiti
(c) Iceland
(d) Malta
Answer: b

22. Which is called ‘The sorrow of China’?
(a) Hwang Hoo
(b) Beijing
(c) Peking
(d) Shangai
Answer: a

23. Which country is called ‘Land of thousand islands’?
(a) China
(b) Nepal
(c) Indonesia
(d) Cyprus
Answer: c

24. Which country is called ‘Site of ancient civilisations’?
(a) Iraq
(b) Iran
(c) Egypt
(d) India
Answer: a

25. Which country is called ‘Emerald Island’?
(a) Japan
(b) Ireland
(c) Iraq
(d) Iran
Answer: b

26. Which country is called ‘Great Britain of the Pacific’?
(a) Ireland
(b) Japan
(c) Korea
(d) China
Answer: b

27. Which country is called the ‘Land of rising sun’?
(a) Japan
(b) China
(c) Norway
(d) Sweden
Answer:. a

28. Which country is called the ‘Land of morning calm’?
(a) China
(b) South Korea
(c) Pakistan
(d) Nepal
Answer: b

29. Which country is called the ‘Land of milk and honey’?
(a) Iran
(b) Iraq
(c) Lebanon
(d) Nepal
Answer: c

30. Which country is called the ‘Land of amber’?
(a) Korea
(b) Lithuania
(c) Lebanon
(d) Nepal
Answer: b

31. Which country is called ‘George Cross Island’?
(a) Korea
(b) Malta
(c) China
(d) Nepal
Answer: b

32. Which country is called ‘Land of rice and teak’?
(a) Myanmar
(b) Korea
(c) China
(d) Nepal
Answer: a

33. Which country is called the ‘Land of mountains’?
(a) US
(b) Nepal
(c) China
(d) Korea
Answer: b

34. Which country is called ‘Land of Druk-yul’?
(a) Korea
(b) China
(c) Bhutan
(d) Malta
Answer: c

35. Which country is called the ‘Flower garden of Europe’?
(a) Netherlands
(b) Switzerland
(c) US
(d) England
Answer: a

36. Which country is called the ‘Britain of the South’?
(a) Norway
(b) New Zealand
(c) Canada
(d) Austria
Answer: b

37. Which country is called the ‘Land of Cakes’?
(a) Scotland
(b) England
(c) Netherlands
(d) None of these
Answer: a

38. Which country is called ‘Land of the midnight sun’?
(a) Sweden
(b) Norway
(c) Denmark
(d) Canada
Answer: b

39. Which country is called the ‘Land of pure people’?
(a) Norway
(b) Pakistan
(c) China
(d) Korea
Answer: b

40. Which country is called ‘Horn of Africa’?
(a) Norway
(b) China
(c) Ghana
(d) Somalia
Answer: d

41. Which country is called ‘Switzerland of Africa’?
(a) Swaziland
(b) Mozambique
(c) South Africa
(d) Somalia
Answer: a

42. Which country is called the ‘Playground of Europe’?
(a) Switzerland
(b) Thailand
(c) Egypt
(d) China
Answer: a

43. Which country is called the ‘Land of white elephants’?
(a) Korea
(b) Thailand
(c) US
(d) Russia
Answer: b

44. Which country is called the ‘Land of free people’?
(a) Thailand
(b) Korea
(c) China
(d) Japan
Answer: a

45. Which country is called the ‘Land of Smiles’?
(a) Thailand
(b) US
(c) India
(d) South Africa
Answer: a

Geographical MCQs (Cities)

46. Which city is called the ‘Granite city’?
(a) Aberdeen (Scotland)
(b) London
(c) Tehran
(d) Baghdad
Answer: a

47. Which city is called the ‘City of Eagles’?
(a) Sialkot
(b) Lahore
(c) Karachi
(d) None of these
Answer: a

48. Which city is called the ‘City of Golden Temple’?
(a) Amritsar
(b) Lahore
(c) Delhi
(d) Hassanabdal
Answer: a

49. Which city is called the ‘City of Water’?
(a) Venice
(b) Tehran
(c) Cairo
(d) Dhaka
Answer: a

50. Which city is called the ‘City of Angels’?
(a) Los Angeles
(b) London
(c) Delhi
(d) Baghdad
Answer: a

51. Which city is called the ‘Gateway to the East’?
(a) Beirut
(b) Bangkok
(c) Amritsar
(d) Cairo
Answer: a

52. Which city is called the ‘Little Pakistan’?
(a) Jeddah
(b) Bradford
(c) Chicago
(d) Dhaka
Answer: b

53. Which city is called the ‘City of bazaars’?
(a) Cairo
(b) Chicago
(c) Dhaka
(d) Amritsar
Answer: a

54. Which city is called the ‘Pyramid city’?
(a) Chicago
(b) Cairo
(c) London
(d) New York
Answer: b

55. Which city is called ‘City of space flights’?
(a) Cairo
(b) Lahore
(c) Cape Kennedy
(d) London
Answer: c

56. Which city is called the ‘Manchester of Pakistan’?
(a) Lahore
(b) Karachi
(c) Faisalabad
(d) Peshawar
Answer: c

57. Which city is called the ‘City of Conferences’?
(a) Mumbai
(b) Geneva
(c) Moscow
(d) London
Answer: b

58. Which city is called ‘City of Rams’?
(a) Guangzhou
(b) Multan
(c) Amritsar
(d) Colombo
Answer: a

59. Which city is called ‘Brasilia of Pakistan’?
(a) Karachi
(b) Islamabad
(c) Faisalabad
(d) Quetta
Answer: b

60. Which city is called the ‘Gateway of Pakistan’?
(a) Islamabad
(b) Karachi
(c) Multan
(d) Lahore
Answer: b

61. Which city is called the ‘City of Canals’?
(a) Venice
(b) Paris
(c) London
(d) None of these
Answer: a

62. Which city is called the ‘City of Palaces’?
(a) Lahore
(b) Mexico City
(c) Kiev
(d) Paris
Answer: b

63. Which city is called ‘Forbidden city’?
(a) Lhasa
(b) Moscow
(c) Rome
(d) Beruit
Answer: a

64. Which city is called the ‘Gateway of India’?
(a) Mumbai
(b) Agra
(c) Kolkata
(d) Hyderabad
64. a

65. Which city is called the ‘City of Cosmonauts’?
(a) New York
(b) Moscow
(c) Lahore
(d) Karachi
Answer: b

66. Which city is called the ‘City of skyscrapers’?
(a) Washington
(b) New York
(c) London
(d) Rome
Answer: b

67. Which city is called the ‘City of eternal spring’?
(a) New York
(b) Quito
(c) Rome
(d) Paris
Answer: b

68. Which city is called the ‘City of Popes’?
(a) Rome
(b) Vatican City
(c) London
(d) Cairo
Answer: b

69. Which city is called the ‘Land of seven hills’?
(a) Rome
(b) Venice
(c) Shiraz
(d) Baghdad
Answer: a

70. Which city is called the ‘The Golden Gate City’?
(a) San Francisco
(b) New York
(c) London
(d) Venice
Answer: a

71. Which city is called the ‘City of roses and nightingales’?
(a) Shiraz
(b) Rome
(c) Mumbai
(d) New York
Answer: a

72. Which city is called the ‘Queen of the Baltic’?
(a) Rome
(b) Stockholm
(c) Paris
(d) Karachi
Answer: b

73. Which city is called the ‘City of Gondolas’?
(a) Venice
(b) Rome
(c) Shiraz
(d) Lahore
Answer: A

 

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General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A, World

General Knowledge about Cities Famous Second Names

General Knowledge /

• Brasilia of Pakistan is called to *Islamabad.*
• City of angles is called to *Bangkok.*
• City of bazaars is called to *Cairo.*
• City of colleges is called to *Lahore.*
• City of conference is called to *Geneva.*
• City of cosmonauts is called to *Moscow.*
• City of eternal spring is called to *Quito.*
• City of golden temple is called to *Amritsar.*
• City of Golden Gate is called to *San Francisco.*
• City of mosques is called to *Dhaka.*
• City of parks is called to *Kiev.*
• City of pope is called to *Rome.*
• City of space flights is called to *Cape Kennedy.*
• Forbidden City is called to *Lahaska.*
• Gateway to the east is called to *Beirut.*
• Gateway to the gulf is called to *Abu Dhabi.*
• Gateway to India is called to *Bombay.*
• Gateway to Pakistan is called to *Karachi.*
• Little Pakistan is called to *Bradford.*
• *Manchester of Pakistan is called to *Faisalabad.*
• Rose pink city is called to *Jaipur.*
• Windy city is called to *Chicago.*
• Lusitanian is the alternative name of *Portugal.*
• Emerald Island is called to *Ireland.*
• Land of Prophets is called to *Palestine.*
• *Yellow River* is known as China’s Sorrow because of devastating floods.
• Gibraltar of the west is said to *Quebec.*
• Zambia is known as *”country of Copper”*
• Albania means *the “Land of Eagles”.*
• Argentian means *“Like Silver”.*
• Bahrain means *two seas*.
• Brazil means
*“Red wood”.*
• Costa Rica means
*“Rich coast”.*
• Cyprus means
*“Land of copper”.*
• Guuatnemala mean
*“Land of Eagles”.*
• Jamaica means
*“Good water”.*
• Kuwait means
*“Fort”.*
• Liberia means
*“Land of free people”.*
• Netherlands means
*“low land”.*
• Nigeria means
*“A great river”.*
• Sierra Leone means
*“Lion Mountains”.*
• Singapore means
*”city of lions”.*
• Sudan means
*“Land of black people”.*
• Which country is popularly called ‘The Land of the Maple Leaf’?
*Canada*
• Mistress of the Eastern Seas is epithet referred to *Sri Lanka.*
• Hong Kong is called as *Pearl

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General Knowledge

100 Questions & Answers About Asia

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A, World /

100 Questions & Answers About Asia

1. Highest mountain of world ‘Mount Everest’ is located in continent – Asia

2. Out of seven continents, continent Asia shares its East border with – Ural Mountains

3. Longest river in Asia Continent is – Yangtze of China

4. Country in Asia continent which is known as ‘Land of golden fiber’ is – Bangladesh

5. Out of seven continents, continent Asia shares its West border with – Pacific Ocean

6. What is the capital of the Republic of the Philippines? – Manila

7. Where can you find Mayon Volcano? – Albay

8. What is the main religion in Malaysia? – Islam

9. What is the national sport in Thailand? – Thai Boxing

10. What country is in south of Malaysia? – Singapore

11. In a country of over 1,900 islands, but with a land area of only one percent of its total
territory, which of these is one of the Maldives’ most important industries? – Tourism

12. The wildlife of Iran used to include an animal which is now extinct. Which of these used to
roam the northern regions of Iran? – Caspian tiger

13. The city of Rajshahi is an important center in the production of a natural fiber that comes
from a certain worm. What is the nickname of the city that comes from this association? – Silk City

14. India is bound on the north by a range of snow-capped mountains, which boast some of the
world’s highest peaks. What is the name of this mountain range, also considered to be the
world’s youngest? – The Himalayas

15. Which of these cities is in Vietnam? Pyonggang, Nam Dinh, Battambang or Alor Setar? – Nam Dinh

16. Which Asian city was awarded the honour of holding the 2014 winter Olympic games? – Sochi, Russia

17. Which of these IS an Asian city? Dushanbe, Moscow, Bucharest or Cairo? – Dushanbe

18. Which of these cities is in Sri Lanka? Thimpu, Islambad, Kabul or Colombo? – Colombo

19. Which city is just across the Bering Strait from Alaska, U.S.A.? – Uelen

20. Which Asian city is in a country that is in both Europe and Asia? – Novosibirsk

21. Mary (Mur-ree) is a city in – Turkmenistan

22. Which is the only city that is also a country in Asia? –

23. ________ city is the largest city (and former capital) of Kazakhstan – Almaty

24. Which city is capital of West Java province in Indonesia? – Bandung

25. _____________ city is principal port of Bangladesh, and is the country´s second largest city – Chittagong

26. Which city is the capital of Syria? – Damascus

27. Which city was capital of Persia 1598-1722? – Esfahan

28. ___________ city was known before 1980 as Lyallpur – Faisalabad

29. The city which is capital of Guangdong province, China – Guangzhou

30. Whart is the capital of Vietnam? – Hanoi

31. ________________is third largest city of Turkey and was formerly known as Smyrna – Izmir

32. What is the capital of Indonesia? – Jakarta

33. What is the capital of Afghanistan? – Kabul

34. Which city is capital of Punjab province in Pakistan? – Lahore

35. This city is capital of Khorasan province, Iran – Mashhad

36. Russian city which was formerly known as Novonikolaevsk – Novosibirsk

37. This Japanese city was formerly known as Naniwa. It is the center the Hanshin area, which is the most important industrial area in Japan – Osaka

38. _______ city is capital of North Korea – Pyongyang

39. The former name of Bishkek – Frunze

40. The former name of Gyumri – Leninakan

41. The city which is part of Kiaochow territory occupied by Germany in 1897 and leased to Germany for 99 years in 1898 – Qingdao

42. The capital of Saudi Arabia is – Riyadh

43. _____________city is capital of East Java province, Indonesia – Surabaya

44. What is the capital of Uzbekistan – Tashkent

45. Which city is also known as Benares? – Varanasi

46. Which Chinese city was formed in 1950 by the consolidation of Hankow, Hanyang and Wuchang – Wuhan

47. ___________ is the capital of Shaanxi province, China – Xian

48. The city which contains Japan´s major port and the country´s second largest is – Yokohama

49. What is the capital of Henan province, China – Zhengzhou

50. The people in this capital city in South Asia live in houses made of coral. The city is
located on an island – Male

51. The former name of the city Yangon is – Rangoon

52. Which Indian city is the capital of two Indian states but it itself is under the rule of the
Central Government – Chandigarh

53. What city was the capital of Pakistan from 1947 to 1959? – Karachi

54. In what city were 1000 British troops and their families killed by freedom fighters during the Indian revolt of 1857? – Kanpur

55. The former name of Banda Aceh – Kutaraja

56. The former name of Yekaterinburg – Sverdlovsk

57. Which was the second largest city in Sri Lanka? – Kotte

58. The name of the city which is also means ‘Canopy of Wood’ – Kathmandu

59. The headquarters of the fifth largest army in the world is in which of these cities? New
Delhi, Bangalore or Rawalpindi? – Rawalpindi

60. What is the only City in South-Asia which has French as an official language – Pondicherry

61. When King Charles II of Great Britain married a Portuguese princess, she brought this city
with her as dowry – Mumbai (Bombay)

62. The former name of the city Dalian is – Dairen

63. The former name of Xiamen – Amoy

64. The former name of Makassar – Ujung Pandang

65. The largest island in Iran? – Qeshm

66. The largest island in Oman? – Masirah

67. The former name of Jayapura – Hollandia

68. The former name of Kota Kinabalu – Jesselton

69. The former name of Jakarta – Batavia

70. The former name of Bandar Seri Begawan – Brunei Town

71. Which is the name of a city in both India and Pakistan? – Hyderabad

72. The former name of Astana – Tselinograd

73. Name the biggest island in Japan? – Honshu

74. The biggest island in India? – Middle Andaman

75. The former name of Bandar Khomeyni is – Bandar Shahpur

76. The former name of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is – Toyohara

77. What is the name of the former principality that was located between Nepal and Bhutan? – Sikkim

78. The mouth of the Ganges river can be found within what country? – Bangladesh

79. What is the largest island in Asia? – Borneo

80. How many of the top ten most populated countries of the world are located, at least partly,
in Asia? – 7

81. Which country shares the longest continuous border with China? – Mongolia

82. Which central Asian country, with the cities of Tashkent and Namangan, is one of the two
doubly landlocked countries in the world? – Uzbekistan

83. Which eastern/central Asian country, bordering China, is one of the least densely populated
countries in the world? – Mongolia

84. Which country, spanning two continents, has identified the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or
PKK, as a terrorist group? – Turkey

85. Which country, which has the city of Surabaya, also has land on the 2nd largest island on
the planet? – Indonesia

86. The former name of Shenyang is – Mukden

87. The former name of Guangzhou – Canton

88. What island country, south of Taiwan, has a major religion of Roman Catholicism, and is
prone to typhoons because of its location? – Philippines

89. What teardrop shaped island country has maritime borders with the Maldives, and another
country to its north? – Sri Lanka

90. What southeast Asian country is home to the Tonle Sap lake, a lake which floods to over
five times its size during the monsoon season? – Cambodia

91. Which extremely populated country has constituted a one-child policy in order to control
its population? – China
92. The former name of Vladikavkaz – Ordzhonikidze

93. The former name of Ganca, or Gandzha is – Kirovabad

94. Which very densely populated country separated from Pakistan in 1971? – Bangladesh

95. Which industrialized country has the largest metropolitan area in the world, and has more
than 6,000 islands? – Japan

96. Biggest island in China? (excluding Taiwan which is claimed by China) – Hainan

97. What is the largest island in South Korea? – Cheju

98. Which is the largest island in Philippines? – Luzon

99. The former name of Khudzhand – Leninabad

100. Name the largest island in Thailand – Phuket

100 Questions & Answers About Asia Read More »

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A, World

پاکستان کے بڑے شہروں کے نام کیسے پڑے، دلچسپ اور حیران کن معلومات*

General Knowledge /

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*پاکستان کے بڑے شہروں کے نام کیسے پڑے، دلچسپ اور حیران کن معلومات*
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*اســـلام آبــاد:-*
1959ءمیں مرکزی دارالحکومت کا علاقہ قرار پایا۔ اس کا نام مذہب اسلام کے نام پر اسلام آباد رکھا گیا۔

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*راولـپـنـــڈی:-*
یہ شہر راول قوم کا گھر تھا۔ چودھری جھنڈے خان راول نے پندرہویں صدی میں باقاعدہ اس کی بنیاد رکھی۔

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*کــــراچــــی:-*
تقریباً 220 سال پہلے یہ ماہی گیروں کی بستی تھی۔ کلاچو نامی بلوچ کے نام پر اس کا نام کلاچی پڑگیا۔ پھر آہستہ آہستہ کراچی بن گیا۔ 1925ءمیں اسے شہر کی حیثیت دی گئی۔1947ءسے 1959ءتک یہ پاکستان کا دارالحکومت رہا۔

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*لاھــــــــور:-*
ایک نظریےکے مطابق ہندﺅں کے دیوتا راما کے بیٹے لاوا کے بعد لاہور نام پڑا، لاوا کو لوہ سے پکارا جاتا تھا اور لوہ (لاوا) کیلئے تعمیر کیا جانیوالا قلعہ ’لوہ، آور‘ سے مشہور ہوا
جس کا واضح معنی ’لوہ کا قلعہ ‘ تھا۔ اسی طرح صدیاں گزرتی گئیں اور پھر ’لوہ آور‘ لفظ بالکل اسی طرح لاہور میں بدل گیا جس طرح سیوستان سبی اور شالکوٹ، کوٹیا اور پھر کوئٹہ میں بدل گیا۔
اسی طرح ایک اور نظریئے کے مطابق دو بھائی لاہور
ایک اور نظریئے کے مطابق دو بھائی لاہور اور قاصو دو مہاجر بھائی تھے جو اس سرزمین پرآئے جسے لوگ آج لاہور کے نام سے جانتے ہیں، ایک بھائی قاصو نے پھر قصور آباد کیا جس کی وجہ سے اس کا نام بھی قصور پڑا جبکہ دوسرے بھائی نے اندرون شہر سے تین میل دور اچھرہ لااور کو اپنا مسکن بنایا اور بعد میں اسی لاہو کی وجہ سے اس شہر کا نام لاہور پڑ گیا اور شاید یہی وجہ ہے کہ اچھرہ کی حدود میں کئی ہندﺅوں کی قبریں بھی ملیں۔

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*حــــــیدر آبــاد:-*
اس کا پرانا نام نیرون کوٹ تھا۔ کلہوڑوں نے اسے حضرت علیؓ کے نام سے منسوب کرکے اس کا نام حیدر آباد رکھ دیا۔ اس کی بنیاد غلام کلہوڑا نے 1768ءمیں رکھی۔

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*پـشــــاور:-*
پیشہ ور لوگوں کی نسبت سے اس کا نام پشاور پڑگیا۔ ایک اور روایت کے مطابق محمود غزنوی نے اسے یہ نام دیا۔

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*کــــوئٹــــہ:-*
لفظ کوئٹہ، کواٹا سے بنا ہے۔ جس کے معنی قلعے کے ہیں۔ بگڑتے بگڑتے یہ کواٹا سے کوئٹہ بن گیا۔

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*ٹــــوبہ ٹیک سنــــگھ:-*
اس شہر کا نام ایک سکھ “ٹیکو سنگھ” کے نام پہ ہے “ٹوبہ” تالاب کو کہتے ہیں یہ درویش صفت سکھ ٹیکو سنگھ شہر کے ریلوے اسٹیشن کے پاس ایک درخت کے نیچے بیٹھا رہتا تھا اور ٹوبہ یعنی تالاب سے پانی بھر کر اپنے پاس رکھتا تھا اور اسٹیشن آنے والے مسافروں کو پانی پلایا کرتا تھا سعادت حسن منٹو کا شہرہ آفاق افسانہ “ٹوبہ ٹیک سنگھ” بھی اسی شہر سے منسوب ہے.

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*ســــرگــــودھـا:-*
یہ سر اور گودھا سے مل کر بنا ہے۔ ہندی میں سر، تالاب کو کہتے ہیں، گودھا ایک فقیر کا نام تھا جو تالاب کے کنارے رہتا تھا۔ اسی لیے اس کا نام گودھے والا سر بن گیا۔ بعد میں سرگودھا کہلایا۔ 1930ءمیں باقاعدہ آباد ہوا۔

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*بہــــاولپــــور:-*
نواب بہاول خان کا آباد کردہ شہر جو انہی کے نام پر بہاولپور کہلایا۔ مدت تک یہ ریاست بہاولپور کا صدر مقام رہا۔ پاکستان کے ساتھ الحاق کرنے والی یہ پہلی رہاست تھی۔ ون یونٹ کے قیام تک یہاں عباسی خاندان کی حکومت تھی۔

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*ملــــتان:-*
کہا جاتا ہے کہ اس شہر کی تاریخ 4 ہزار سال قدیم ہے۔ البیرونی کے مطابق اسے ہزاروں سال پہلے آخری کرت سگیا کے زمانے میں آباد کیا گیا۔ اس کا ابتدائی نام ”کیساپور“ بتایا جاتا ہے۔

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*فیصــــل آبــاد:-*
اسے ایک انگریز سر جیمزلائل (گورنرپنجاب) نے آباد کیا۔ اس کے نام پر اس شہر کا نام لائل پور تھا۔ بعدازاں عظیم سعودی فرماں روا شاہ فیصل شہید کے نام سے موسوم کر دیا گیا۔

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*رحیــــم یار خــــاں:-*
بہاولپور کے عباسیہ خاندان کے ایک فرد نواب رحیم یار خاں عباسی کے نام پر یہ شہر آباد کیا گیا۔

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*عبدالحــــکیم:-*
جنوبی پنجاب کی ایک روحانی بزرگ ہستی کے نام پر یہ قصبہ آباد ہوا۔ جن کا مزار اسی قصبے میں ہے۔ یہ قصبہ دریائے راوی کے کنارے آباد ہے.

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*ســــاہیوال:-*
یہ شہر ساہی قوم کا مسکن تھا۔ اسی لیے ساہی وال کہلایا۔ انگریز دور میں پنجاب کے انگریز گورنر منٹگمری کے نام پر ”منٹگمری“ کہلایا۔ نومبر 1966ءصدر ایوب خاں نے عوام کے مطالبے پر اس شہر کا پرانا نام یعنی ساہیوال بحال کردیا۔

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*ســــیالکوٹ:-*
2 ہزار قبل مسیح میں راجہ سلکوٹ نے اس شہر کی بنیاد رکھی۔ برطانوی عہد میں اس کا نام سیالکوٹ رکھا گیا۔

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*گوجــــرانوالہ:-*
ایک جاٹ سانہی خاں نے اسے 1365ءمیں آباد کیا اور اس کا نام ”خان پور“ رکھا۔ بعدازاں امرتسر سے آ کر یہاں آباد ہونے والے گوجروں نے اس کا نام بدل کر گوجرانوالہ رکھ دیا۔

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*شیــــخوپـورہ:-*
مغل حکمران نورالدین سلیم جہانگیر کے حوالے سے آباد کیا جانے والا شہر۔ اکبر اپنے چہیتے بیٹے کو پیار سے ”شیخو“ کہہ کر پکارتا تھا اور اسی کے نام سے شیخوپورہ کہلایا۔

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*ھــــــــڑپہ:-*
یہ دنیا کے قدیم ترین شہر کا اعزاز رکھنے والا شہر ہے۔ ہڑپہ، ساہیوال سے 12 میل کے فاصلے پر واقع ہے۔ کہا جاتا ہے کہ یہ موہنجوداڑو کا ہم عصر شہر ہے۔ جو 5 ہزار سال قبل اچانک ختم ہوگیا۔رگِ وید کے قدیم منتروں میں اس کا نام ”ہری روپا“ لکھا گیا ہے۔ زمانے کے چال نے ”ہری روپا“ کو ہڑپہ بنا دیا۔

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*ٹیکســــلا:-*
گندھارا تہذیب کا مرکز۔ اس کا شمار بھی دنیا کے قدیم ترین شہروں میں ہوتا ہے۔ یہ راولپنڈی سے 22 میل کے فاصلے پر واقع ہے۔ 326 قبل مسیح میں یہاں سکندرِاعظم کا قبضہ ہوا.

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*بہاولــــنگـر:-*
ماضی میں ریاست بہاولپور کا ایک ضلع تھا۔ نواب سر صادق محمد خاں عباسی خامس پنجم کے مورثِ اعلیٰ کے نام پر بہاول نگر نام رکھا گیا۔

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*مظـفــر گــــڑھ:-*
والئی ملتان نواب مظفرخاں کا آباد کردہ شہر۔ 1880ءتک اس کا نام ”خان گڑھ“ رہا۔ انگریز حکومت نے اسے مظفرگڑھ کا نام دیا۔

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*مــــیانـوالـی:-*
ایک صوفی بزرگ میاں علی کے نام سے موسوم شہر ”میانوالی“ سولہویں صدی میں آباد کیا گیا تھا۔

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*ڈیرہ غــازی خــان:-*
پاکستان کا یہ شہر اس حوالے سے خصوصیت کا حامل ہے کہ اس کی سرحدیں چاروں صوبوں سے ملتی ہیں۔

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*جھــــنگ:-*
یہ شہر کبھی چند جھونپڑیوں پر مشتمل تھا۔ اس شہر کی ابتدا صدیوں پہلے راجا سرجا سیال نے رکھی تھی اور یوں یہ علاقہ ”جھگی سیالu“ کہلایا۔ جو وقت گزرنے کے ساتھ ساتھ جھنگ سیال بن گیا اور پھر صرف جھنگ رہ گیا۔

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پاکستان کے بڑے شہروں کے نام کیسے پڑے، دلچسپ اور حیران کن معلومات* Read More »

General Knowledge