660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
AD 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.
1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of “gerrymandering” for the first time.
1823 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a stampede at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.
1826 – University College London is founded as University of London.
1840 – Gaetano Donizetti’s opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.
1843 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.
1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.
1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed.
1858 – Bernadette Soubirous’s first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.
1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
1873 – King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates.
1889 – Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.
1903 – Anton Bruckner’s 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria.
1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.
1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
1929 – Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
1937 – The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.
1938 – BBC Television produces the world’s first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term “robot”.
1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.
1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
1953 – The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
1959 – The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.
1970 – Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
1971 – Cold War: the Seabed Arms Control Treaty opened for signature outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing’s world Heavyweight title.
1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
1999 – Pluto crosses Neptune’s orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune’s orbit again until 2231.
2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.
2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
2011 – Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.
2013 – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age.
2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.
2015 – A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.
2016 – A man shoots six people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.
2017 – North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.
2018 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors.
Births on February 11
1380 – Poggio Bracciolini, Italian scholar and translator (d. 1459)
1466 – Elizabeth of York (d. 1503)
1535 – Pope Gregory XIV (d. 1591)
1568 – Honoré d’Urfé, French author and playwright (d. 1625)
1649 – William Carstares, Scottish minister and academic (d. 1715)
1657 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French poet and playwright (d. 1757)
1708 – Egidio Duni, Italian composer (d. 1775)
1764 – Joseph Chénier, French poet and playwright (d. 1811)
1776 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek politician, 1st Governor of Greece (d. 1831)
1800 – Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer and politician, invented the calotype (d. 1877)
1802 – Lydia Maria Child, American journalist, author, and activist (d. 1880)
1805 – Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Native American-French Canadian explorer (d. 1866)
1812 – Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1883)
1813 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (d. 1865)
1821 – Auguste Mariette, French archaeologist and scholar (d. 1881)
1830 – Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian pianist and composer (d. 1913)
1833 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1910)
1839 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist (d. 1903)
1845 – Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1936)
1847 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (d. 1931)
1855 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (b. 1855)
1860 – Rachilde, French author and playwright (d. 1953)
1863 – John F. Fitzgerald, American politician; Mayor of Boston (d. 1950)
1864 – Louis Bouveault, French chemist (d. 1909)
1869 – Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (d. 1939)
1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and author (d. 1945)
1874 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (d. 1953)
1881 – Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (d. 1966)
1897 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (d.1954)
1898 – Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (d. 1964)
1900 – Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (d. 1994)
1900 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (d. 2002)
1900 – Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (d. 1958)
1902 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (d. 1971)
1904 – Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)
1904 – Lucile Randon, French Supercentenarian
1908 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter (d. 1992)
1908 – Vivian Fuchs, English explorer (d. 1999)
1909 – Max Baer, American boxer and actor (d. 1959)
1909 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
1912 – Rudolf Firkušný, Czech-American pianist and educator (d. 1994)
1914 – Matt Dennis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2002)
1914 – Josh White, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1969)
1915 – Patrick Leigh Fermor, English soldier, author, and scholar (d. 2011)
1915 – Richard Hamming, American mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
1917 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1920 – Farouk I, King of Egypt (d. 1965)
1920 – Daniel F. Galouye, American author (d. 1976)
1920 – Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
1920 – Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (d. 1978)
1921 – Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 2006)
1921 – Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founded Missoni (d. 2013)
1923 – Antony Flew, English philosopher and academic (d. 2010)
1924 – Budge Patty, American tennis player
1925 – Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
1925 – Kim Stanley, American actress (d. 2001)
1926 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (d. 2018)
1926 – Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer (d. 2010)
1930 – Roy De Forest, American painter and academic (d. 2007).
1932 – Dennis Skinner, English miner and politician
1934 – Mel Carnahan, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, Governor of Missouri (d. 2000)
1934 – Tina Louise, American actress and singer
1934 – Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and politician, Military leader of Panama (d. 2017)
1934 – Mary Quant, British fashion designer
1934 – David Taylor, English veterinarian and television host (d. 2013)
1935 – Gene Vincent, American singer and guitarist (d. 1971)
1936 – Burt Reynolds, American actor and director (d. 2018)
1937 – Ian Gow, British Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the IRA (d. 1990)
1937 – Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1937 – Eddie Shack, Canadian ice hockey player
1937 – Phillip Walker, American singer and guitarist (d. 2010)
1938 – Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2018)
1939 – Gerry Goffin, American songwriter (d. 2014)
1940 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
1941 – Sérgio Mendes, Brazilian pianist and composer
1942 – Otis Clay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1943 – Joselito, Spanish singer and actor
1943 – Alan Rubin, American trumpet player (d. 2011)
1944 – Mike Oxley, American lawyer and politician (d. 2016)
1944 – Joy Williams, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
1946 – Ian Porterfield, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2007)
1947 – Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese engineer and politician and Prime Minister of Japan
1947 – Derek Shulman, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer
1951 – Mike Leavitt, American politician, 14th Governor of Utah
1953 – Philip Anglim, American actor
1953 – Jeb Bush, American banker, politician and Governor of Florida
1953 – Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1954 – Wesley Strick, American director and screenwriter
1956 – Didier Lockwood, French violinist (d. 2018)
1959 – Roberto Moreno, Brazilian race car driver
1960 – Richard Mastracchio, American engineer and astronaut
1962 – Tammy Baldwin, American lawyer and politician
1962 – Sheryl Crow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Sarah Palin, American journalist, politician and Governor of Alaska
1964 – Ken Shamrock, American martial artist and wrestler
1965 – Vicki Wilson, Australian netball player
1968 – Mo Willems, American author and illustrator
1969 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress and producer
1969 – Andreas Hilfiker, Swiss footballer
1969 – John Salako, Nigerian-English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
1971 – Damian Lewis, English actor
1972 – Steve McManaman, English footballer
1973 – Varg Vikernes, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter
1974 – Nick Barmby, English international footballer, midfielder and manager
1974 – D’Angelo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1974 – Jaroslav Špaček, Czech ice hockey player and coach
1975 – Andy Lally, American race car driver
1975 – Callum Thorp, Australian cricketer
1975 – Jacque Vaughn, American basketball player and coach
1976 – Tony Battie, American basketball player and sportscaster
1979 – Brandy Norwood, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1982 – Ľubomíra Kalinová, Slovak biathlete
1982 – Neil Robertson, Australian snooker player
1983 – Rafael van der Vaart, Dutch international footballer, midfielder
1984 – Maarten Heisen, Dutch sprinter
1984 – Marco Marcato, Italian cyclist
1984 – Maxime Talbot, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Šárka Strachová, Czech skier
1987 – Luca Antonelli, Italian footballer
1987 – Juanmi Callejón, Spanish footballer
1987 – Ellen van Dijk, Dutch cyclist
1987 – Brian Matusz, American baseball player
1987 – Jan Smeekens, Dutch speed skater
1988 – Vlad Moldoveanu, Romanian basketball player
1990 – Javier Aquino, Mexican footballer
1991 – Nikola Mirotic, Spanish basketball player
1992 – Lasse Norman Hansen, Danish track and road cyclist
1993 – Ben McLemore, American basketball player
1994 – Dansby Swanson, American baseball player
1996 – Jonathan Tah, German footballer
Deaths on February 11
AD 55 – Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (b. 41)
244 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (b. 225)
641 – Heraclius, Byzantine emperor (b. 575)
731 – Pope Gregory II (b. 669)
824 – Pope Paschal I
1141 – Hugh of Saint Victor, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1096)
1503 – Elizabeth of York (b. 1466)
1626 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1548)
1650 – René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1596)
1755 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist, playwright, and critic (b. 1675)
1763 – William Shenstone, English poet and gardener (b. 1714)
1795 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (b. 1740)
1829 – Alexander Griboyedov, Russian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1795)
1862 – Elizabeth Siddal, English poet and artist’s model (b. 1829)
1868 – Léon Foucault, French physicist and academic (b. 1819)
1898 – Félix María Zuloaga, Mexican general and unconstitutional interim president (1858 and 1860-1862) (b. 1813)
1901 – Milan I of Serbia (b. 1855)
1917 – Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician and epidemiologist (b. 1872)
1918 – Alexey Kaledin, Russian general (b. 1861)
1931 – Charles Algernon Parsons, English-Irish engineer, invented the steam turbine (b. 1854)
1940 – John Buchan, Scottish-Canadian historian and politician, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
1940 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (b. 1855)
1942 – Jamnalal Bajaj, Indian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1884)
1947 – Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler and coach (b. 1884)
1948 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
1949 – Axel Munthe, Swedish doctor (b. 1857)
1958 – Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1879)
1963 – John Olof Dahlgren, Swedish-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1872)
1963 – Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1932)
1967 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American minister and activist (b. 1885)
1968 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1889)
1973 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
1975 – Richard Ratsimandrava, Malagasy colonel and politician, President of Madagascar (b. 1931)
1976 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
1976 – Alexander Lippisch, German pilot and engineer (b. 1894)
1977 – Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, President of India (b. 1905)
1977 – Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1902)
1978 – James Bryant Conant, American chemist and academic (b. 1893)
1978 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
1982 – Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (b. 1912)
1985 – Henry Hathaway, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1898)
1986 – Frank Herbert, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
1989 – George O’Hanlon, American actor and voice artist (b. 1912)
1993 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
1994 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (b. 1946)
1994 – Sorrell Booke, American lieutenant, actor, and director (b. 1930)
1994 – William Conrad, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)
1994 – Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (b. 1924)
1996 – Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet and author (b. 1930)
2000 – Lord Kitchner, Trinidadian singer (b. 1922)
2000 – Roger Vadim, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
2002 – Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
2002 – Barry Foster, English actor (b. 1931)
2004 – Shirley Strickland, Australian runner (b. 1925)
2005 – Jack L. Chalker, American author (b. 1944)
2006 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (b. 1940)
2006 – Ken Fletcher, Australian tennis player (b. 1940)
2006 – Jackie Pallo, English wrestler and actor (b. 1926)
2008 – Tom Lantos, American lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
2008 – Frank Piasecki, American engineer (b. 1919)
2009 – Estelle Bennett, American singer (b. 1941)
2009 – Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch-American physician and academic (b. 1911)
2010 – Heward Grafftey, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1928)
2010 – Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founder of his eponymous brand (b. 1969)
2011 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
2012 – Siri Bjerke, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of the Environment (b. 1958)
2012 – Aharon Davidi, Israeli general (b. 1927)
2012 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (b. 1963)
2013 – Rick Huxley, English bass player (b. 1940)
2014 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
457 – Leo I the Thracian becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
987 – Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
1301 – Edward of Caernarvon (later king Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.
1313 – King Thihathu founds the Pinya Kingdom as the de jure successor state of the Pagan Kingdom
1497 – In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a “Bonfire of the vanities”.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1807 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon finds Bennigsen’s Russian forces taking a stand at Eylau. After bitter fighting, the French take the town, but the Russians resume the battle the next day.
1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
1813 – In the action of 7 February 1813 near the Îles de Los, the frigates Aréthuse and Amelia batter each other, but neither can gain the upper hand.
1819 – Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
1842 – Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
1854 – A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.
1863 – HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
1894 – The Cripple Creek miner’s strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.
1898 – Dreyfus affair: Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J’Accuse…!.
1900 – Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.
1904 – A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
1940 – The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
1943 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
1944 – World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.
1951 – Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.
1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
1974 – Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
1979 – Pluto moves inside Neptune’s orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
1986 – Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
1990 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
1991 – Haiti’s first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
1991 – The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launched a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.
1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
1997 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
1999 – Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
2009 – Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history.
2012 – President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.
2013 – The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.
2014 – Scientists announce that the Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, date back to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.
2016 – North Korea launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.
Births on February 7
574 – Prince Shōtoku of Japan (d. 622)
1102 – Empress Matilda, Holy Roman Empress, and claimant to the English throne (probable; d. 1167)
1478 – Thomas More, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1535)
1487 – Queen Dangyeong, Korean royal consort (d. 1557)
1500 – João de Castro, viceroy of Portuguese India (d. 1548)
1612 – Thomas Killigrew, English playwright and manager (d. 1683)
1622 – Vittoria della Rovere, Italian noble (d. 1694)
1693 – Empress Anna of Russia (d. 1740)
1722 – Azar Bigdeli, Iranian anthologist and poet (d. 1781)
1726 – Margaret Fownes-Luttrell, English painter (d. 1766)
1741 – Henry Fuseli, Swiss-English painter and academic (d. 1825)
1758 – Benedikt Schack, Czech tenor and composer (d. 1826)
1796 – Thomas Gregson, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (baptism date; d. 1874)
1802 – Louisa Jane Hall, American poet, essayist, and literary critic (d. 1892)
1804 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded Deere & Company (d. 1886)
1812 – Charles Dickens, English novelist and critic (d. 1870)
1825 – Karl Möbius, German zoologist and ecologist (d. 1908)
1834 – Alfred-Philibert Aldrophe, French architect (d. 1895)
1837 – James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (d. 1915)
1864 – Arthur Collins, American baritone singer (d. 1933)
1867 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (d. 1957)
1870 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish psychologist and therapist (d. 1937)
1871 – Wilhelm Stenhammar, Swedish pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1927)
1873 – Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder and businessman, designed the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
1877 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and geneticist (d. 1947)
1878 – Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Russian-American pianist and conductor (d. 1936)
1885 – Sinclair Lewis, American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
1885 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (d. 1953)
1887 – Eubie Blake, American pianist and composer (d. 1983)
1889 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish-American engineer and theorist (d. 1976)
1893 – Joseph Algernon Pearce, Canadian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1988)
1893 – Nicanor Abelardo, Filipino pianist, composer and teacher (d. 1934)
1895 – Anita Stewart, American actress (d. 1961)
1901 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (d. 1989)
1904 – Ernest E. Debs, American politician, California State Assembly member, Los Angeles city councilman, and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (d. 2002)
1905 – Paul Nizan, French philosopher and author (d. 1940)
1905 – Ulf von Euler, Swedish physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1983)
1906 – Puyi, Chinese emperor (d. 1967)
1906 – Oleg Konstantinovich Antonov, Russian engineer, founded the Antonov Aircraft Company (d. 1984)
1908 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (d. 1983)
1908 – Manmath Nath Gupta, Indian journalist and author (d. 2000)
1909 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian archbishop (d. 1999)
1909 – Amedeo Guillet, Italian soldier (d. 2010)
1912 – Russell Drysdale, English-Australian painter (d. 1981)
1915 – Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (d. 2007)
1915 – Eddie Bracken, American actor and singer (d. 2002)
1916 – Frank Hyde, Australian rugby player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2007)
1919 – Jock Mahoney, American actor and stuntman (d. 1989)
1919 – Desmond Doss, American army corporal and combat medic, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
1920 – Oscar Brand, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2016)
1920 – An Wang, Chinese-American engineer and businessman, founded Wang Laboratories (d. 1990)
1921 – Athol Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
1922 – Hattie Jacques, English actress (d. 1980)
1923 – Dora Bryan, English actress and restaurateur (d. 2014)
1925 – Hans Schmidt, Canadian wrestler (d. 2012)
1926 – Konstantin Feoktistov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2009)
1926 – Bill Hoest, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
1927 – Juliette Gréco, French singer and actress
1927 – Vladimir Kuts, Ukrainian-Russian runner and coach (d. 1975)
1927 – Lalo Ríos, Mexican actor (d. 1973)
1928 – Lincoln D. Faurer, American general (d. 2014)
1929 – Jim Langley, English international footballer, full back and manager (d. 2007)
1932 – Gay Talese, American journalist and memoirist
1932 – Alfred Worden, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2020)
1933 – K. N. Choksy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, Sri Lankan Minister of Finance (d. 2015)
1934 – Eddie Fenech Adami, Maltese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Malta
1934 – King Curtis, American saxophonist and producer (d. 1971)
1934 – Earl King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2003)
1935 – Cliff Jones, Welsh international footballer, winger
1935 – Herb Kohl, American businessman and politician
1935 – Jörg Schneider, Swiss actor and author (d. 2015)
1936 – Jas Gawronski, Italian journalist and politician
1937 – Peter Jay, English economist, journalist, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
1937 – Juan Pizarro, Puerto Rican baseball player
1940 – Tony Tan, Singaporean academic and politician, 7th President of Singapore
1941 – Kevin Crossley-Holland, English author and poet
1943 – Eric Foner, American historian, author, and academic
1943 – Gareth Hunt, English actor (d. 2007)
1945 – Gerald Davies, Welsh rugby player and journalist
1946 – Héctor Babenco, Argentinian-Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1946 – Sammy Johns, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1946 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (d. 2011)
1946 – Gérard Jean-Juste, Haitian priest and activist (d. 2009)
1949 – Jacques Duchesneau, Canadian police officer and politician
1949 – Joe English, American drummer and songwriter
1950 – Karen Joy Fowler, American author
1953 – Dan Quisenberry, American baseball player and poet (d. 1998)
1954 – Dieter Bohlen, German singer-songwriter and producer
1955 – Rolf Benirschke, American football player and game show host
1955 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor and director (d. 2017)
1956 – John Nielsen, Danish racing driver
1956 – Mark St. John, American guitarist (d. 2007)
1957 – Carney Lansford, American baseball player and coach
1958 – Giuseppe Baresi, Italian footballer and manager
1958 – Terry Marsh, English boxer and politician
1958 – Matt Ridley, English journalist, author, and politician
1959 – Mick McCarthy, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
1960 – Robert Smigel, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1960 – James Spader, American actor and producer
1962 – Garth Brooks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – David Bryan, American keyboard player and songwriter
1962 – Eddie Izzard, English comedian, actor, and producer
1963 – Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, American Naval officer and astronaut
1964 – Ashok Banker, Indian journalist, author, and screenwriter
1965 – Chris Rock, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Kristin Otto, German swimmer
1968 – Peter Bondra, Ukrainian-Slovak ice hockey player and manager
1968 – Sully Erna, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Mark Tewksbury, Canadian swimmer and sportscaster
1969 – Andrew Micallef, Maltese painter and musician
1971 – Anita Tsoy, Russian singer-songwriter
1972 – Robyn Lively, American actress
1973 – Juwan Howard, American basketball player and coach
1974 – J Dilla, American rapper and producer (d. 2006)
1974 – Nujabes, Japanese record producer, DJ, composer and arranger (d. 2010)
1974 – Steve Nash, South African-Canadian basketball player
1975 – Wes Borland, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1975 – Alexandre Daigle, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Rémi Gaillard, French comedian and actor
1976 – Chito Miranda, Filipino singer-songwriter
1977 – Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Japanese footballer
1978 – David Aebischer, Swiss ice hockey player
1978 – Endy Chávez, Venezuelan baseball player
1978 – Ashton Kutcher, American model, actor, producer, and entrepreneur
1978 – Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian football player
1979 – Daniel Bierofka, German footballer and coach
1979 – Tawakkol Karman, Yemeni journalist and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
1979 – Sam J. Miller, American author
1981 – Darcy Dolce Neto, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Lee Ok-sung, South Korean boxer
1982 – Osamu Mukai, Japanese actor
1982 – Mickaël Piétrus, French basketball player
1983 – Sho Kamogawa, Japanese footballer
1983 – Christian Klien, Austrian race car driver
1983 – Federico Marchetti, Italian footballer
1984 – Trey Hardee, American decathlete
1985 – Tina Majorino, American actress
1988 – Ai Kago, Japanese singer and actress
1989 – Nick Calathes, Greek basketball player
1989 – Elia Viviani, Italian cyclist
1989 – Isaiah Thomas, American basketball player
1990 – Gianluca Lapadula, Italian footballer
1990 – Dalilah Muhammad, American hurdler
1990 – Steven Stamkos, Canadian ice hockey player
1991 – Ryan O’Reilly, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 – Sergi Roberto, Spanish footballer
1992 – Ksenia Stolbova, Russian figure skater
1992 – Maimi Yajima, Japanese singer and actress
1993 – Chris Mears, English diver
1994 – Riley Barber, American ice hockey player
1995 – Roberto Osuna, Mexican baseball player
1996 – Pierre Gasly, French racing driver
1997 – Nicolò Barella, Italian footballer
Deaths on February 7
199 – Lü Bu, Chinese warlord
318 – Jin Mindi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 300)
999 – Boleslaus II the Pious, Duke of Bohemia (b. 932)
1045 – Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (b. 1009)
1065 – Siegfried I, Count of Sponheim (b. c. 1010)
1127 – Ava, German poet (b. 1060)
1165 – Marshal Stephen of Armenia
1259 – Thomas, Count of Flanders
1317 – Robert, Count of Clermont (b. 1256)
1320 – Jan Muskata, Bishop of Kraków (b. 1250)
1333 – Nikko, Japanese priest, founder of Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism (b. 1246)
1520 – Alfonsina de’ Medici, Regent of Florence (b. 1472)
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.
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
474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
1486 – King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
1562 – Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
1591 – King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Mingyi Swa of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.
1670 – Henry Morgan captures Panama.
1701 – Frederick I crowns himself King of Prussia in Königsberg.
1778 – James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the “Sandwich Islands”.
1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
1806 – Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British.
1866 – Wesley College is established in Melbourne, Australia.
1871 – Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title.
1886 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
1913 – First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
1915 – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
1919 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.
1941 – World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
1945 – World War II: Liberation of Kraków, Poland by the Red Army.
1958 – Willie O’Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years.
1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.
1974 – A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
1976 – Lebanese Christian militias kill at least 1,000 in Karantina, Beirut.
1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease.
1977 – Australia’s worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
1977 – SFR Yugoslavia’s Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1978 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom’s government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family.
1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.
2002 – The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over.
2003 – A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France
2007 – The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Cyclone Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.
2008 – The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2018 – A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.
Births on January 18
1404 – Sir Philip Courtenay, British noble (d. 1463)
1457 – Antonio Trivulzio, seniore, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1508)
1519 – Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary (d. 1559)
1540 – Catherine, Duchess of Braganza (d. 1614)
1641 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 1691)
1659 – Damaris Cudworth Masham, English philosopher and theologian (d. 1708)
1672 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (d. 1731)
1688 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
1689 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (d. 1755)
1701 – Johann Jakob Moser, German jurist (d. 1785)
1743 – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1803)
1751 – Ferdinand Kauer, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1831)
1752 – John Nash, English architect (d. 1835)
1764 – Samuel Whitbread, English politician (d. 1815)
1779 – Peter Mark Roget, English physician, lexicographer, and theologian (d. 1869)
1782 – Daniel Webster, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
1793 – Pratap Singh Bhosle, Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1847)
1815 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German theologian and scholar (d. 1874)
1835 – César Cui, Russian general, composer, and critic (d. 1918)
1840 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet and author (d. 1921)
1841 – Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1842 – A. A. Ames, American physician and politician, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
1848 – Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1925)
1849 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
1850 – Seth Low, American academic and politician, 92nd Mayor of New York City (d. 1916)
1853 – Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker (d. 1900)
1854 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (d. 1934)
1856 – Daniel Hale Williams, American surgeon and cardiologist (d. 1931)
1867 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (d. 1916)
1868 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
1877 – Sam Zemurray, Russian-American businessman, founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company (d. 1961)
1879 – Henri Giraud, French general and politician (d. 1949)
1880 – Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian-Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1933)
1880 – Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
1881 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (d. 1975)
1882 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956)
1886 – Clara Nordström, Swedish-German author and translator (d. 1962)
1888 – Thomas Sopwith, English ice hockey player, sailor, and pilot (d. 1989)
1892 – Oliver Hardy, American actor and comedian (d. 1957)
1892 – Bill Meanix, American hurdler and coach (d. 1957)
1892 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon and academic (d. 1956)
1893 – Jorge Guillén, Spanish poet, critic, and academic (d. 1984)
1894 – Toots Mondt, American wrestler and promoter (d. 1976)
1896 – C. M. Eddy Jr., American author (d. 1967)
1896 – Ville Ritola, Finnish-American runner (d. 1982)
1898 – Albert Kivikas, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1978)
1901 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1973)
1903 – Berthold Goldschmidt, German pianist and composer (d. 1996)
1904 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (d. 2006)
1904 – Cary Grant, English-American actor (d. 1986)
1905 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American mob boss (d. 2002)
1907 – János Ferencsik, Hungarian conductor (d. 1984)
1908 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-English mathematician, historian, and television host (d. 1974)
1910 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English economist and academic (d. 1993)
1911 – José María Arguedas, Peruvian anthropologist, author, and poet (d. 1969)
1911 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
1913 – Carroll Cloar, American artist (d. 1993)
1913 – Giannis Papaioannou, Greek composer (d. 1972)
1914 – Arno Schmidt, German author and translator (d. 1979)
1914 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovene author, poet, and playwright (d. 1987)
1915 – Syl Apps, Canadian pole vaulter, ice hockey player, and politician (d. 1998)
1915 – Santiago Carrillo, Spanish soldier and politician (d. 2012)
1915 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1984)
1917 – Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
1917 – Wang Yung-ching, Taiwanese-American businessman (d. 2008)
1918 – Gustave Gingras, Canadian-English physician and educator (d. 1996)
1919 – Toni Turek, German footballer (d. 1984)
1921 – Yoichiro Nambu, Japanese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1923 – John Graham, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Wales (d. 2012)
1923 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (d. 2015)
1925 – Gilles Deleuze, French metaphysician and philosopher (d. 1995)
1925 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (d. 2014)
1925 – Sol Yurick, American soldier and author (d. 2013)
1926 – Randolph Bromery, American geologist and academic (d. 2013)
1927 – Sundaram Balachander, Indian actor, singer, and veena player (d. 1990)
1928 – Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet and Russian professional basketball coach (d. 2005)
1931 – Chun Doo-hwan, South Korean general and politician, 5th President of South Korea
1932 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (d. 2007)
1933 – Emeka Anyaoku, Nigerian politician, 8th Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1933 – David Bellamy, English botanist, author and academic (d. 2019)
1933 – John Boorman, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1933 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and businessman, founded Dolby Laboratories (d. 2013)
1933 – William Goodhart, Baron Goodhart, English lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1933 – Frank McMullen, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2004)
1933 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (d. 2017)
1934 – Raymond Briggs, English author and illustrator
1935 – Albert Millaire, Canadian actor and director (d. 2018)
1935 – Jon Stallworthy, English poet, critic, and academic (d. 2014)
1935 – Gad Yaacobi, Israeli academic and diplomat, 10th Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2007)
1936 – David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
1937 – John Hume, Northern Irish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
1938 – Curt Flood, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
1938 – Anthony Giddens, English sociologist and academic
1938 – Werner Olk, German footballer and manager
1938 – Hargus “Pig” Robbins, American Country Music Hall of Fame session keyboard and piano player
1940 – Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1971)
1941 – Denise Bombardier, Canadian journalist and author
1941 – Bobby Goldsboro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1941 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
1943 – Paul Freeman, English actor
1943 – Kay Granger, American educator and politician
1943 – Dave Greenslade, English keyboard player and composer
1943 – Charlie Wilson, American businessman and politician (d. 2013)
1944 – Paul Keating, Australian economist and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
1944 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (d. 1983)
1944 – Kei Ogura, Japanese singer-songwriter and composer
1944 – Alexander Van der Bellen, President of Austria
1945 – Rocco Forte, English businessman and philanthropist
1946 – Perro Aguayo, Mexican wrestler (d. 2019)
1946 – Joseph Deiss, Swiss economist and politician, 156th President of the Swiss Confederation
1946 – Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2013)
1947 – Sachio Kinugasa, Japanese baseball player and journalist (d. 2018)
1947 – Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
1949 – Bill Keller, American journalist
1949 – Philippe Starck, French interior designer
1950 – Gianfranco Brancatelli, Italian race car driver
1950 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
1951 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist and activist (d. 1982)
1951 – Bob Latchford, English footballer
1952 – Michael Behe, American biochemist, author, and academic
1952 – R. Stevie Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Brett Hudson, American singer-songwriter and producer
1953 – Peter Moon, Australian comedian and actor
1955 – Kevin Costner, American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Paul Deighton, Baron Deighton, English banker and politician
1960 – Mark Rylance, English actor, director, and playwright
1961 – Peter Beardsley, English footballer and manager
1961 – Bob Hansen, American basketball player and sportscaster
1961 – Mark Messier, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
1961 – Jeff Yagher, American actor and sculptor
1962 – Alison Arngrim, Canadian-American actress
1963 – Maxime Bernier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada
1963 – Ian Crook, English footballer, central midfielder and manager
1963 – Carl McCoy, English singer-songwriter
1963 – Martin O’Malley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 61st Governor of Maryland
1964 – Brady Anderson, American baseball player
1964 – Richard Dunwoody, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
1964 – Virgil Hill, American boxer
1964 – Jane Horrocks, English actress and singer
1966 – Alexander Khalifman, Russian chess player and author
1966 – Kazufumi Miyazawa, Japanese singer
1966 – André Ribeiro, Brazilian race car driver
1967 – Dean Bailey, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
1967 – Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
1969 – Dave Bautista, American wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor
1969 – Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
1969 – Jim O’Rourke, American guitarist and producer
1970 – Peter Van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
1971 – Amy Barger, American astronomer
1971 – Jonathan Davis, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
1971 – Pep Guardiola, Spanish footballer and manager
1971 – Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (d. 2019)
1972 – Vinod Kambli, Indian cricketer, sportscaster, and actor
1972 – Mike Lieberthal, American baseball player
1972 – Kjersti Plätzer, Norwegian race walker
1973 – Burnie Burns, American actor, director, and producer, co-founded Rooster Teeth Productions
1973 – Luke Goodwin, Australian rugby league player and coach
1973 – Benjamin Jealous, American civic leader and activist
1973 – Anthony Koutoufides, Australian footballer
1973 – Crispian Mills, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director
1973 – Rolando Schiavi, Argentinian footballer and coach
1974 – Christian Burns, English singer-songwriter
1975 – Leslie Knope, Protagonist of Parks and Recreation (fictional)
1976 – Laurence Courtois, Belgian tennis player
1976 – Marcelo Gallardo, Argentinian footballer and coach
1976 – Damien Leith, Irish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Richard Archer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Brian Falkenborg, American baseball player
1978 – Thor Hushovd, Norwegian cyclist
1978 – Bogdan Lobonț, Romanian footballer
1979 – Ruslan Fedotenko, Ukrainian ice hockey player
1979 – Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
1979 – Brian Gionta, American ice hockey player
1979 – Kenyatta Jones, American football player (d. 2018)
1980 – Estelle, English singer-songwriter and producer
1980 – Robert Green, English footballer
1980 – Kert Haavistu, Estonian footballer and manager
1980 – Julius Peppers, American football player
1980 – Jason Segel, American actor and screenwriter
1981 – Otgonbayar Ershuu, Mongolian painter and illustrator
1981 – Olivier Rochus, Belgian tennis player
1981 – Khari Stephenson, Jamaican footballer
1981 – Kang Dong-won, South Korean actor
1982 – Quinn Allman, American guitarist and producer
1982 – Mary Jepkosgei Keitany, Kenyan runner
1983 – Amir Blumenfeld, Israeli-American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter
1983 – Samantha Mumba, Irish singer-songwriter and actress
1984 – Kristy Lee Cook, American singer-songwriter
1984 – Ioannis Drymonakos, Greek swimmer
1984 – Makoto Hasebe, Japanese footballer
1984 – Michael Kearney, American biochemist and academic
1984 – Seung-Hui Cho, South Korean student who perpetrated the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech (d. 2007)
1984 – Benji Schwimmer, American dancer and choreographer
38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
1362 – Saint Marcellus’ flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
1377 – Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
1562 – France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.
1595 – During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
1608 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
1648 – England’s Long Parliament passes the “Vote of No Addresses”, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
1773 – Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
1799 – Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
1811 – Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
1852 – The United Kingdom signs the Sand River Convention with the South African Republic.
1873 – A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
1885 – A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens’ Committee of Public Safety, led the Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
1899 – The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
1903 – El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
1904 – Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
1912 – British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
1915 – Russia defeats Ottoman Turkey in the Battle of Sarikamish during the Caucasus Campaign of World War I.
1917 – The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
1920 – Alcohol Prohibition begins in the United States as the Volstead Act goes into effect.
1929 – Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
1941 – Franco-Thai War: Vichy French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
1943 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis captures the 200-ton sailing vessel Agios Stefanos and mans her with part of her crew.
1944 – World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
1945 – World War II: The Vistula–Oder Offensive forces German troops out of Warsaw.
1945 – The SS-Totenkopfverbände begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
1946 – The UN Security Council holds its first session.
1948 – The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesia is ratified.
1950 – The Great Brink’s Robbery: Eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston.
1950 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 79 relating to arms control is adopted.
1961 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military–industrial complex” as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
1966 – Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, killing seven airmen, and dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
1969 – Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
1977 – Capital punishment in the United States resumes after a ten-year hiatus, as convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by firing squad in Utah.
1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
1991 – Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher’s F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
1991 – Crown prince Harald V of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
1992 – During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
1994 – The 6.7 Mw Northridge earthquake shakes the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 57 people dead and more than 8,700 injured.
1995 – The 6.9 Mw Great Hanshin earthquake shakes the southern Hyōgo Prefecture with a maximum Shindo of VII, leaving 5,502–6,434 people dead, and 251,301–310,000 displaced.
1996 – The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
1997 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station: A Delta II carrying the GPS IIR-1 satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
1998 – Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his Drudge Report website.
2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
2007 – The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea’s nuclear testing.
2010 – Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, results in at least 200 deaths.
Births on January 17
1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
1429 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (d.c. 1498)
1463 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)
1463 – Antoine Duprat, French cardinal (d. 1535)
1472 – Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Italian captain (d. 1508)
1484 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (d. 1545)
1501 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
1504 – Pope Pius V (d. 1572)
1517 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English Duke (d. 1554)
1560 – Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist, physician, and academic (d. 1624)
1574 – Robert Fludd, English physician, astrologer, and mathematician (d. 1637)
1593 – William Backhouse, English alchemist and astrologer (d. 1662)
1600 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright and poet (d. 1681)
1612 – Thomas Fairfax, English general and politician (d. 1671)
1640 – Jonathan Singletary Dunham, American settler (d. 1724)
1659 – Antonio Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1745)
1666 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (d. 1723)
1686 – Archibald Bower, Scottish historian and author (d. 1766)
1706 – Benjamin Franklin, American publisher, inventor, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (d. 1790)
1712 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (d. 1786)
1719 – William Vernon, American businessman (d. 1806)
1728 – Johann Gottfried Müthel, German pianist and composer (d. 1788)
1732 – Stanisław August Poniatowski, Polish-Lithuanian king (d. 1798)
1734 – François-Joseph Gossec, French composer and conductor (d. 1829)
1761 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (d. 1832)
1789 – August Neander, German historian and theologian (d. 1850)
1793 – Antonio José Martínez, Spanish-American priest, rancher and politician (d. 1867)
1814 – Ellen Wood, English author (d. 1887)
1820 – Anne Brontë, English author and poet (d. 1849)
1828 – Lewis A. Grant, American lawyer and general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
1828 – Ede Reményi, Hungarian violinist and composer (d. 1898)
1832 – Henry Martyn Baird, American historian and academic (d. 1906)
1834 – August Weismann, German biologist, zoologist, and geneticist (d. 1914)
1850 – Joaquim Arcoverde de Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Brazilian cardinal (d. 1930)
1850 – Alexander Taneyev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1918)
1851 – A. B. Frost, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
1853 – Alva Belmont, American suffragist (d. 1933)
1852 – T. Alexander Harrison, American painter and academic (d. 1930)
1857 – Wilhelm Kienzl, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1941)
1857 – Eugene Augustin Lauste, French-American engineer (d. 1935)
1858 – Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian author (d. 1940)
1860 – Douglas Hyde, Irish academic and politician, 1st President of Ireland (d. 1949)
1863 – David Lloyd George, Welsh lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)
1863 – Konstantin Stanislavski, Russian actor and director (d. 1938)
1865 – Sir Charles Fergusson, 7th Baronet, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1951)
1867 – Carl Laemmle, German-born American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1939)
1867 – Sir Alfred Rawlinson, 3rd Baronet, English colonel, pilot, and polo player (d. 1934)
1871 – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, English admiral (d. 1936)
1871 – Nicolae Iorga, Romanian historian and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1940)
1875 – Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan journalist and playwright (d. 1910)
1876 – Frank Hague, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Jersey City (d. 1956)
1877 – Marie Zdeňka Baborová-Čiháková, Czech botanist and zoologist (d. 1937)
1877 – May Gibbs, English-Australian author and illustrator (d. 1969)
1880 – Mack Sennett, Canadian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1960)
1881 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
1881 – Harry Price, English psychologist and author (d. 1948)
1882 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (d. 1946)
1883 – Compton Mackenzie, English-Scottish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1972)
1886 – Glenn L. Martin, American pilot and businessman, founded the Glenn L. Martin Company (d. 1955)
1887 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (d. 1975)
1888 – Babu Gulabrai, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1963)
1897 – Marcel Petiot, French physician and serial killer (d. 1946)
1898 – Lela Mevorah, Serbian librarian (d. 1972)
1899 – Al Capone, American mob boss (d. 1947)
1899 – Robert Maynard Hutchins, American philosopher and academic (d. 1977)
1899 – Nevil Shute, English engineer and author (d. 1960)
1901 – Aron Gurwitsch, Lithuanian-American philosopher and author (d. 1973)
1904 – Hem Vejakorn, Thai painter and illustrator (d. 1969)
1905 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1905 – Peggy Gilbert, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)
1905 – Eduard Oja, Estonian composer, conductor, educator, and critic (d. 1950)
1905 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1966)
1905 – Jan Zahradníček, Czech poet and translator (d. 1960)
1907 – Henk Badings, Indonesian-Dutch composer and engineer (d. 1987)
1907 – Alfred Wainwright, British fellwalker, guidebook author and illustrator (d. 1991)
1908 – Cus D’Amato, American boxing manager and trainer (d. 1985)
1911 – Busher Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1966)
1911 – John S. McCain Jr., American admiral (d. 1981)
1911 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1914 – Anacleto Angelini, Italian-Chilean businessman (d. 2007)
1914 – Irving Brecher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1914 – Paul Royle, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
1914 – William Stafford, American poet and author (d. 1993)
1916 – Peter Frelinghuysen Jr., American lieutenant and politician (d. 2011)
1917 – M. G. Ramachandran, Indian actor, director, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 1987)
1918 – Keith Joseph, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Education (d. 1994)
1918 – George M. Leader, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
1920 – Georges Pichard, French author and illustrator (d. 2003)
1921 – Asghar Khan, Pakistani general and politician (d. 2018)
1921 – Jackie Henderson, Scottish footballer, forward (d. 2005)
1921 – Charlie Mitten, English footballer, outside forward and manager (d. 2002)
1921 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)
1922 – Luis Echeverría, Mexican academic and politician, 50th President of Mexico
1922 – Nicholas Katzenbach, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 65th United States Attorney General (d. 2012)
1922 – Betty White, American actress, game show panelist, television personality, and animal rights activist
1923 – Rangeya Raghav, Indian author and playwright (d. 1962)
1924 – Rik De Saedeleer, Belgian footballer and journalist (d. 2013)
1924 – Jewel Plummer Cobb, American biologist, cancer researcher, and academic (d. 2017)
1925 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (d. 2017)
1925 – Robert Cormier, American author and journalist (d. 2000)
1925 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer and author (d. 1996)
1926 – Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and politician
1926 – Moira Shearer, Scottish-English ballerina and actress (d. 2006)
1926 – Clyde Walcott, Barbadian cricketer (d. 2006)
1927 – Thomas Anthony Dooley III, American physician and humanitarian (d. 1961)
1927 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (d. 2008)
1927 – Harlan Mathews, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1927 – E. W. Swackhamer, American director and producer (d. 1994)
1928 – Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)
1928 – Vidal Sassoon, English-American hairdresser and businessman (d. 2012)
1929 – Jacques Plante, Canadian-Swiss ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1986)
1929 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (d. 2012)
1931 – James Earl Jones, American actor
1931 – Douglas Wilder, American sergeant and politician, 66th Governor of Virginia
1931 – Don Zimmer, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1932 – Sheree North, American actress and dancer (d. 2005)
1933 – Dalida, Egyptian-French singer and actress (d. 1987)
1933 – Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French-Pakistani diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)
1933 – Shari Lewis, American actress, puppeteer/ventriloquist, and television host (d. 1998)
1934 – Donald Cammell, Scottish-American director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1935 – Ruth Ann Minner, American businesswoman and politician, 72nd Governor of Delaware
1936 – John Boyd, English academic and diplomat, British ambassador to Japan
1936 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1997)
1937 – Alain Badiou, French philosopher and academic
1938 – John Bellairs, American author and academic (d. 1991)
1938 – Toini Gustafsson, Swedish cross country skier
1939 – Christodoulos of Athens, Greek archbishop (d. 2008)
1939 – Maury Povich, American talk show host and producer
1940 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (d. 2015)
1940 – Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan athlete
1940 – Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguayan physician and politician, 39th President of Uruguay
1941 – István Horthy, Jr., Hungarian physicist and architect
1942 – Muhammad Ali, American boxer and activist (d. 2016)
1942 – Ita Buttrose, Australian journalist and author
1942 – Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist and educator
1942 – Nigel McCulloch, English bishop
1943 – Chris Montez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – René Préval, Haitian agronomist and politician, 52nd President of Haiti (d. 2017)
1944 – Ann Oakley, English sociologist, author, and academic
1945 – Javed Akhtar, Indian poet, playwright, and composer
1945 – Anne Cutler, Australian psychologist and academic
1948 – Davíð Oddsson, Icelandic politician, 21st Prime Minister of Iceland
1949 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2003)
1949 – Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (d. 2014)
1949 – Augustin Dumay, French violinist and conductor
1949 – Andy Kaufman, American actor and comedian (d. 1984)
1949 – Mick Taylor, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Luis López Nieves, Puerto Rican-American author and academic
1952 – Tom Deitz, American author (d. 2009)
1952 – Darrell Porter, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1952 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese pianist, composer, and producer
1953 – Jeff Berlin, American bass player and educator
1953 – Carlos Johnson, American singer and guitarist
1954 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., American lawyer, radio host, activist, and environmentalist
1955 – Steve Earle, American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, author and actor
1955 – Pietro Parolin, Italian cardinal
1955 – Steve Javie, American basketball player and referee
1956 – Damian Green, English journalist and politician
1956 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian, television personality and game show host
1957 – Ann Nocenti, American journalist and author
1958 – Tony Kouzarides, English biologist, cancer researcher
1959 – Susanna Hoffs, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1960 – John Crawford, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Chili Davis, Jamaican-American baseball player and coach
1961 – Brian Helgeland, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Jun Azumi, Japanese broadcaster and politician, 46th Japanese Minister of Finance
1962 – Jim Carrey, Canadian-American actor and producer
1962 – Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author
1963 – Kai Hansen, German singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1963 – Colin Gordon, English footballer, striker, agent, manager, chief executive
1964 – Michelle Obama, American lawyer and activist, 46th First Lady of the United States
1964 – John Schuster, Samoan-New Zealand rugby player
1965 – Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Trish Johnson, English golfer
1966 – Joshua Malina, American actor
1967 – Richard Hawley, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1968 – Rowan Pelling, English journalist and author
1968 – Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch author, poet, and scholar
1969 – Naveen Andrews, English actor
1969 – Lukas Moodysson, Swedish director, screenwriter, and author
1969 – Tiësto, Dutch DJ and producer
1970 – Cássio Alves de Barros, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player and actor
1970 – Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-American animator, director, and producer
1971 – Giorgos Balogiannis, Greek basketball player
1971 – Richard Burns, English race car driver (d. 2005)
1971 – Kid Rock, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1971 – Sylvie Testud, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1973 – Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer and actor
1973 – Chris Bowen, Australian politician, 37th Treasurer of Australia
1973 – Liz Ellis, Australian netball player and sportscaster
1973 – Aaron Ward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1974 – Yang Chen, Chinese footballer and manager
1974 – Vesko Kountchev, Bulgarian viola player, composer, and producer
1974 – Derrick Mason, American football player
1975 – Freddy Rodriguez, American actor
1978 – Lisa Llorens, Australian Paralympian
1978 – Ricky Wilson, English singer-songwriter
1980 – Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Ukrainian-American dancer and choreographer
1980 – Zooey Deschanel, American singer-songwriter and actress
1980 – Modestas Stonys, Lithuanian footballer
1981 – Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1982 – Dwyane Wade, American basketball player
1982 – Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer
1983 – Álvaro Arbeloa, Spanish footballer
1983 – Johannes Herber, German basketball player
1983 – Rick Kelly, Australian race car driver
1983 – Marcelo Garcia, Brazilian martial artist
1984 – Calvin Harris, Scottish singer-songwriter, DJ, and producer
1985 – Pablo Barrientos, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Betsy Ruth, American wrestler and manager
1985 – Simone Simons, Dutch singer-songwriter
1987 – Cody Decker, American baseball player
1988 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2013)
1988 – Will Genia, Australian rugby player
1988 – Héctor Moreno, Mexican footballer
1989 – Taylor Jordan, American baseball player
1989 – Kelly Marie Tran, American actress
1990 – Santiago Tréllez, Colombian footballer
1991 – Trevor Bauer, American baseball player
1991 – Esapekka Lappi, Finnish Rally Driver
1991 – Slade Griffin, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Alise Post, American BMX rider
1993 – Frankie Cocozza, British singer
1994 – Mark Steketee, Australian cricketer
1998 – Jeff Reine-Adelaide, French footballer
1998 – Sophie Molineux, Australian cricketer
2000 – Devlin DeFrancesco, Canadian race car driver
Deaths on January 17
395 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (b. 347)
644 – Sulpitius the Pious, French bishop and saint
764 – Joseph of Freising, German bishop
1040 – Mas’ud I of Ghazni, Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire (b. 998)
1156 – André de Montbard, fifth Grand Master of the Knights Templar
1168 – Thierry, Count of Flanders (b. 1099)
1229 – Albert of Riga, German bishop (b. 1165)
1329 – Saint Roseline, Carthusian nun (b. 1263)
1334 – John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond (b. 1266)
1345 – Henry of Asti, Greek patriarch
1345 – Martino Zaccaria, Genoese Lord of Chios
1369 – Peter I of Cyprus (b. 1328)
1456 – Elisabeth of Lorraine-Vaudémont, French translator (b. 1395)
1468 – Skanderbeg, Albanian soldier and politician (b. 1405)
1588 – Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)
1598 – Feodor I of Russia (b. 1557)
1617 – Fausto Veranzio, Croatian bishop and lexicographer (b. 1551)
1705 – John Ray, English botanist and historian (b. 1627)
1718 – Benjamin Church, American colonel (b. 1639)
1737 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)
1738 – Jean-François Dandrieu, French organist and composer (b. 1682)
1751 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1671)
1826 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish-French composer (b. 1806)
1834 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (b. 1762)
1861 – Lola Montez, Irish actress and dancer (b. 1821)
1863 – Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)
1869 – Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Russian composer (b. 1813)
1878 – Edward Shepherd Creasy, English historian and jurist (b. 1812)
1884 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (b. 1804)
1887 – William Giblin, Australian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1840)
1888 – Big Bear, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1825)
1891 – George Bancroft, American historian and politician, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1800)
1893 – Rutherford B. Hayes, American general, lawyer, and politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)
1903 – Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)
1908 – Ferdinand IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1835)
1909 – Francis Smith, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1819)
1911 – Francis Galton, English polymath, anthropologist, and geographer (b. 1822)
1927 – Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
1930 – Gauhar Jaan, One of the first performers to record music on 78 rpm records in India. (b. 1873)
1931 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (b. 1864)
1932 – Ahmet Derviş, Turkish general (b. 1881)
1932 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1893)
1933 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (b. 1848)
1936 – Mateiu Caragiale, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1885)
1942 – Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)
1947 – Pyotr Krasnov, Russian historian and general (b. 1869)
1947 – Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, Canadian cardinal (b. 1883)
1951 – Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Indian poet, playwright, and director (b. 1903)
1952 – Walter Briggs Sr., American businessman (b. 1877)
1961 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)
1970 – Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoon player and educator (b. 1890)
1972 – Betty Smith, American author and playwright (b. 1896)
27 BCE – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
378 – General Siyaj K’ak’ conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
550 – Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
929 – Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III established the Caliphate of Córdoba.
1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1362 – Saint Marcellus’s flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
1547 – Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
1556 – Philip II becomes King of Spain.
1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
1605 – The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.
1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain.
1757 – Forces of the Maratha Empire defeat a 5,000-strong army of the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
1786 – Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson.
1809 – Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
1862 – Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
1883 – The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress.
1900 – The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton’s expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
1919 – Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later.
1920 – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated was founded on the campus of Howard University.
1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France.
1921 – The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa.
1942 – Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard.
1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
1964 – Hello, Dolly! opened on Broadway, beginning a run of 2,844 performances.
1969 – Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets’ crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
1969 – Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of manned spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.
1979 – The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt.
1991 – Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War.
1992 – El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives.
2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
2001 – US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War.
2002 – The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry.
2006 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia’s new president. She becomes Africa’s first female elected head of state.
2016 – Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant.
2018 – Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve.
2020 – The impeachment of Donald John Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
Births on January 16
972 – Sheng Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 1031)
1093 – Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (d. 1152)
1245 – Edmund Crouchback, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1296)
1362 – Robert de Vere, duke of Ireland (d. 1392)
1409 – René of Anjou, king of Naples (d. 1480)
1477 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
1501 – Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
1516 – Bayinnaung, king of Burma (d. 1581)
1558 – Jakobea of Baden, Margravine of Baden by birth, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg by marriage (d. 1597)
1616 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (d. 1669)
1626 – Lucas Achtschellinck, Belgian painter and educator (d. 1699)
1630 – Guru Har Rai, Sikh Guru (d. 1661)
1634 – Dorothe Engelbretsdatter, Norwegian author and poet (d. 1716)
1675 – Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1755)
1691 – Peter Scheemakers, Belgian sculptor and educator (d. 1781)
1728 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer and educator (d. 1800)
1749 – Vittorio Alfieri, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1803)
1757 – Richard Goodwin Keats, English admiral and politician, 3rd Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1834)
1807 – Charles Henry Davis, American admiral (d. 1877)
1815 – Henry Halleck, American lawyer, general, and scholar (d. 1872)
1821 – John C. Breckinridge, American general and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States (d. 1875)
1834 – Robert R. Hitt, American lawyer and politician, 13th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1906)
1836 – Francis II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1894)
1838 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
1851 – William Hall-Jones, English-New Zealand politician, 16th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1936)
1853 – Johnston Forbes-Robertson, English actor and manager (d. 1937)
1853 – Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, Greek-English general (d. 1947)
1853 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (d. 1931)
1870 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, State Elder of Estonia (d. 1942)
1872 – Henri Büsser, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1973)
1874 – Robert W. Service, English-Canadian poet and author (d. 1958)
1875 – Leonor Michaelis, German biochemist and physician (d. 1949)
1876 – Claude Buckenham, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1937)
1878 – Harry Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1947)
1880 – Samuel Jones, American high jumper (d. 1954)
1882 – Margaret Wilson, American author (d. 1973)
1885 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (d. 1967)
1888 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (d. 1945)
1892 – Homer Burton Adkins, American chemist (d. 1949)
1893 – Daisy Kennedy, Australian-English violinist (d. 1981)
1894 – Irving Mills, American publisher (d. 1985)
1895 – Evripidis Bakirtzis, Greek soldier and politician (d. 1947)
1895 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
1895 – Nat Schachner, American lawyer, chemist, and author (d. 1955)
1897 – Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet and academic (d. 1977)
1898 – Margaret Booth, American producer and editor (d. 2002)
1898 – Irving Rapper, American film director and producer (d. 1999)
1900 – Kiku Amino, Japanese author and translator (d. 1978)
1900 – Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (d. 1945)
1901 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (d. 1973)
1902 – Eric Liddell, Scottish runner, rugby player, and missionary (d. 1945)
1903 – William Grover-Williams, English-French race car driver (d. 1945)
1905 – Ernesto Halffter, Spanish composer and conductor (d. 1989)
1906 – Johannes Brenner, Estonian footballer and pilot (d. 1975)
1906 – Diana Wynyard, English actress (d. 1964)
1907 – Alexander Knox, Canadian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1907 – Paul Nitze, American banker and politician, 10th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2004)
1908 – Sammy Crooks, English footballer (d. 1981)
1908 – Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (d. 1984)
1908 – Günther Prien, German captain (d. 1941)
1909 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (d. 1994)
1910 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1974)
1911 – Ivan Barrow, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1979)
1911 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (d. 1982)
1911 – Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
1914 – Roger Wagner, French-American conductor and educator (d. 1992)
1915 – Leslie H. Martinson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1916 – Eddie Burns, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2004)
1916 – Philip Lucock, English-Australian minister and politician (d. 1996)
1917 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, founded Carl’s Jr. (d. 2008)
1918 – Nel Benschop, Dutch poet and educator (d. 2005)
1918 – Allan Ekelund, Swedish director, producer, and production manager (d. 2009)
1918 – Clem Jones, Australian surveyor and politician, 8th Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2007)
1918 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1996)
1919 – Jerome Horwitz, American chemist and academic (d. 2012)
1920 – Alberto Crespo, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1991)
1920 – Elliott Reid, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1921 – Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (d. 2004)
1923 – Gene Feist, American director and playwright, co-founded the Roundabout Theatre Company (d. 2014)
1923 – Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
1924 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
1925 – Peter Hirsch, German-English metallurgist and academic
1925 – James Robinson Risner, American general and pilot (d. 2013)
1928 – William Kennedy, American novelist and journalist
1928 – Pilar Lorengar, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 1996)
1929 – Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, Sri Lankan anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
1930 – Mary Ann McMorrow, American lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
1930 – Norman Podhoretz, American journalist and author
1931 – John Enderby, English physicist and academic
1931 – Robert L. Park, American physicist and academic
1931 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th Federal President of Germany (d. 2006)
1932 – Victor Ciocâltea, Romanian chess player (d. 1983)
1932 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist and anthropologist (d. 1985)
1933 – Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 2004)
1934 – Bob Bogle, American rock guitarist and bass player (d. 2009)
1934 – Marilyn Horne, American soprano and actress
1935 – A. J. Foyt, American race car driver
1935 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1936 – Michael White, Scottish actor and producer (d. 2016)
1937 – Luiz Bueno, Brazilian race car driver (d. 2011)
1937 – Francis George, American cardinal (d. 2015)
1938 – Marina Vaizey, American journalist and critic
1939 – Ralph Gibson, American photographer
1941 – Christine Truman, English tennis player and sportscaster
1942 – René Angélil, Canadian singer and manager (d. 2016)
1942 – Barbara Lynn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Gavin Bryars, English bassist and composer
1943 – Ronnie Milsap, American singer and pianist
1944 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (d. 2015)
1944 – Jim Stafford, American singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Jill Tarter, American astronomer and biologist
1944 – Judy Baar Topinka, American journalist and politician (d. 2014)
1945 – Wim Suurbier, Dutch footballer and manager
1946 – Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
1946 – Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano and actress
1947 – Elaine Murphy, Baroness Murphy, English academic and politician
1947 – Harvey Proctor, English politician
1947 – Laura Schlessinger, American physiologist, talk show host, and author
1948 – John Carpenter, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
1948 – Ants Laaneots, Estonian general
1948 – Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
1948 – Ruth Reichl, American journalist and critic
1949 – Anne F. Beiler, American businesswoman, founded Auntie Anne’s
1949 – R. F. Foster, Irish historian and academic
1949 – Andrew Refshauge, Australian physician and politician, 13th Deputy Premier of New South Wales
1950 – Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
1950 – Robert Schimmel, American comedian, actor, and producer (d. 2010)
1952 – Fuad II, King of Egypt
1952 – Piercarlo Ghinzani, Italian race car driver and manager
1952 – L. Blaine Hammond, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1952 – Julie Anne Peters, American engineer and author
1953 – Robert Jay Mathews, American militant, founded The Order (d. 1984)
1954 – Wolfgang Schmidt, German discus thrower
1954 – Vasili Zhupikov, Russian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1955 – Jerry M. Linenger, American captain, physician, and astronaut
1956 – Wayne Daniel, Barbadian cricketer
1956 – Martin Jol, Dutch footballer and manager
1956 – Greedy Smith, Australian singer-songwriter and keyboardist (d. 2019)
1957 – Jurijs Andrejevs, Latvian footballer and manager
1957 – Ricardo Darín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
1957 – Mark Pawsey, English businessman and politician
1958 – Anatoli Boukreev, Russian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1997)
1958 – Lena Ek, Swedish lawyer and politician, 9th Swedish Minister for the Environment
1958 – Andris Šķēle, Latvian businessman and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Latvia
1959 – Lisa Milroy, Canadian painter and educator
1959 – Sade, Nigerian-English singer-songwriter and producer
1961 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian guitarist and composer (d. 2006)
1962 – Joel Fitzgibbon, Australian electrician and politician, 51st Australian Minister of Defence
1962 – Maxine Jones, American R&B singer–songwriter and actress
1963 – James May, British journalist/co-host of Top Gear
1964 – Gail Graham, Canadian golfer
1966 – Jack McDowell, American baseball player
1968 – Rebecca Stead, American author
1969 – Neil Back, English rugby player and coach
1969 – Marinus Bester, German footballer
1969 – Stevie Jackson, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
1969 – Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
1970 – Ron Villone, American baseball player and coach
1971 – Sergi Bruguera, Spanish tennis player and coach
1971 – Josh Evans, American film producer, screenwriter and actor
1971 – Jonathan Mangum, American actor
1972 – Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer
1972 – Ang Christou, Australian footballer
1972 – Yuri Alekseevich Drozdov, Russian footballer and manager
1972 – Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer and manager
1972 – Joe Horn, American football player and coach
1974 – Marlon Anderson, American baseball player and sportscaster
1974 – John Hopoate, Tongan-Australian rugby league player and boxer
1974 – Kate Moss, English model and fashion designer
1976 – Viktor Maslov, Russian race car driver
1976 – Martina Moravcová, Slovak swimmer
1977 – Jeff Foster, American basketball player
1978 – Alfredo Amézaga, Mexican baseball player
1979 – Aaliyah, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
1979 – Brenden Morrow, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Jason Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Lin-Manuel Miranda, American actor, playwright, and composer
1980 – Albert Pujols, Dominican-American baseball player
1981 – Jamie Lundmark, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Paul Rofe, Australian cricketer
1981 – Bobby Zamora, English footballer, striker
1982 – Preston, English singer-songwriter
1982 – Tuncay, Turkish footballer
1983 – Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
1983 – Andriy Rusol, Ukrainian footballer
1984 – Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer
1984 – Miroslav Radović, Serbian footballer
1985 – Joe Flacco, American football player
1985 – Jayde Herrick, Australian cricketer
1985 – Gintaras Januševičius, Russian-Lithuanian pianist
1985 – Twins Jonathan and Simon Richter, Danish-Gambian footballers
1985 – Sidharth Malhotra, Indian actor
1986 – Johannes Rahn, German footballer
1986 – Mark Trumbo, American baseball player
1986 – Reto Ziegler, Swiss footballer, left back
1987 – Jake Epstein, Canadian actor
1987 – Charlotte Henshaw, English swimmer
1988 – Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
1988 – Jorge Torres Nilo, Mexican footballer
1991 – Matt Duchene, Canadian ice hockey player
1993 – Hannes Anier, Estonian footballer
1993 – Amandine Hesse, French tennis player
1994 – Chris Smith, Australian rugby league player
1354 – Joanna of Châtillon, duchess of Athens (b. c.1285)
1373 – Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (b. 1342)
1391 – Muhammed V of Granada, Nasrid emir (b. 1338)
1400 – John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1352)
1443 – Erasmo of Narni, Italian mercenary (b. 1370)
1545 – George Spalatin, German priest and reformer (b. 1484)
1547 – Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
1554 – Christiern Pedersen, Danish publisher and scholar (b. 1480)
1585 – Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral and politician (b. 1512)
1595 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1546)
1659 – Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
1710 – Higashiyama, Japanese emperor (b. 1675)
1711 – Joseph Vaz, Indian-Sri Lankan priest and saint (b. 1651)
1747 – Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet and playwright (b. 1680)
1748 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch lawyer and scholar (b. 1684)
1750 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1667)
1752 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (b. 1705)
1794 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (b. 1737)
1809 – John Moore, Scottish general and politician (b. 1761)
1817 – Alexander J. Dallas, Jamaican-American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1759)
1834 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (b. 1769)
1856 – Thaddeus William Harris, American entomologist and botanist (b. 1795)
1864 – Anton Schindler, Austrian secretary and author (b. 1795)
1865 – Edmond François Valentin About, French journalist and author (b. 1828)
1879 – Octave Crémazie, Canadian-French poet and bookseller (b. 1827)
1886 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and academic (b. 1834)
1891 – Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (b. 1836)
1898 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (b. 1802)
1901 – Jules Barbier, French poet and playwright (b. 1825)
1901 – Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter and academic (b. 1827)
1901 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, American soldier, minister, and politician (b. 1822)
1906 – Marshall Field, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Marshall Field’s (b. 1834)
1917 – George Dewey, American admiral (b. 1837)
1919 – Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 5th President of Brazil (b. 1848)
1933 – Bekir Sami Kunduh, Turkish politician (b. 1867)
1936 – Albert Fish, American serial killer, rapist and cannibal (b. 1870)
1938 – Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Indian author and playwright (b. 1876)
1942 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (b. 1850)
1942 – Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (b. 1885)
1942 – Carole Lombard, American actress and comedian (b. 1908)
1942 – Ernst Scheller, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Marburg (b. 1899)
1957 – Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, English general and politician, 16th Governor General of Canada (b. 1874)
1957 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian cellist and conductor (b. 1867)
1959 – Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and author (b. 1887)
1960 – Arthur Darby, English rugby player (b. 1876)
1961 – Max Schöne, German swimmer (b. 1880)
1962 – Frank Hurley, Australian photographer, director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1885)
1962 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect, designed the Monument to the Unknown Hero (b. 1883)
1967 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic (b. 1901)
1968 – Bob Jones Sr., American evangelist, founded Bob Jones University (b. 1883)
1968 – Panagiotis Poulitsas, Greek archaeologist and judge (b. 1881)
1969 – Vernon Duke, Russian-American composer and songwriter (b. 1903)
1971 – Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
1972 – Teller Ammons, American soldier and politician, 28th Governor of Colorado (b. 1895)
1972 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (b. 1919)
1973 – Edgar Sampson, American musician and composer (b. 1907)
1975 – Israel Abramofsky, Russian-American painter (b. 1888)
1978 – A. V. Kulasingham, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1890)
1981 – Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
1983 – Virginia Mauret, American musician and dancer
1986 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
1987 – Bertram Wainer, Australian physician and activist (b. 1928)
1988 – Andrija Artuković, Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, 1st Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (b. 1899)
1995 – Eric Mottram, English poet and critic (b. 1924)
1996 – Marcia Davenport, American author and critic (b. 1903)
1996 – Kaye Webb, English journalist and publisher (b. 1914)
1999 – Jim McClelland, Australian lawyer, jurist, and politician, 12th Minister for Industry and Science (b. 1915)
2000 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist and academic (b. 1914)
2001 – Auberon Waugh, English author and journalist (b. 1939)
2002 – Robert Hanbury Brown, English astronomer and physicist (b. 1916)
2003 – Richard Wainwright, English politician (b. 1918)
2004 – Kalevi Sorsa, Finnish politician 34th Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
2005 – Marjorie Williams, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
2006 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (b. 1923)
2007 – Benny Parsons, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1941)
2009 – Joe Erskine, American boxer and runner (b. 1930)
2009 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (b. 1923)
2009 – Andrew Wyeth, American painter (b. 1917)
2010 – Glen Bell, American businessman, founded Taco Bell (b. 1923)
2010 – Jyoti Basu, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1914)
2010 – Takumi Shibano, Japanese author and translator (b. 1926)
2012 – Joe Bygraves, Jamaican-English boxer (b. 1931)
2012 – Jimmy Castor, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1940)
2012 – Sigursteinn Gíslason, Icelandic footballer and manager (b. 1968)
2012 – Lorna Kesterson, American journalist and politician (b. 1925)
2012 – Gustav Leonhardt, Dutch pianist, conductor, and musicologist (b. 1928)
2013 – Wayne D. Anderson, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
2013 – André Cassagnes, French technician and toy maker, created the Etch A Sketch (b. 1926)
2013 – Gussie Moran, American tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
2013 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (b. 1918)
2013 – Glen P. Robinson, American businessman, founded Scientific Atlanta (b. 1923)
2014 – Gary Arlington, American author and illustrator (b. 1938)
2014 – Ruth Duccini, American actress (b. 1918)
2014 – Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (b. 1931)
2014 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (b. 1922)
2015 – Miriam Akavia, Polish-Israeli author and translator (b. 1927)
532 – Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.
630 – Conquest of Mecca: The prophet Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, Quraysh surrender.
947 – Emperor Tai Zong of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty invades the Later Jin, resulting in the destruction of the Later Jin.
1055 – Theodora is crowned empress of the Byzantine Empire.
1158 – Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia becomes King of Bohemia.
1569 – First recorded lottery in England.
1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
1654 – Arauco War: A Spanish army is defeated by local Mapuche-Huilliches as it tries to cross Bueno River in Southern Chile.
1693 – A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.
1759 – The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group), is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.
1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.
1861 – American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post: General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
1863 – American Civil War: CSS Alabama encounters and sinks the USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.
1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.
1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
1912 – Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week.
1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.
1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
1923 – Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.
1927 – Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.
1935 – Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces attack Tarakan in Borneo, Netherlands Indies (Battle of Tarakan)
1943 – The Republic of China agrees to the Sino-British New Equal Treaty and the Sino-American New Equal Treaty.
1943 – Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City.
1946 – Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People’s Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.
1949 – The first “networked” television broadcasts took place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming.
1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.
1961 – Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City’s boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic.
1962 – Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.
1962 – An avalanche on Huascarán in Peru causes around 4,000 deaths.
1964 – Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.
1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.
1973 – Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.
1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is officially opened.
1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.
1998 – Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.
2003 – Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois’s death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.
2013 – One French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia.
Births on January 11
347 – Theodosius I, Roman emperor (d. 395)
889 – Abd-ar-Rahman III, first Caliph of Córdoba (d. 961)
1113 – Wang Chongyang, Chinese religious leader and poet (d. 1170)
1209 – Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (d. 1259)
1322 – Emperor Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1380)
1359 – Emperor Go-En’yū of Japan (d. 1393)
1395 – Michele of Valois, daughter of Charles VI of France (d. 1422)
1503 – Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
1589 – William Strode, English politician (d. 1666)
1591 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1646)
1624 – Bastiaan Govertsz van der Leeuw, Dutch painter (d. 1680)
1630 – John Rogers, English-American minister, physician, and academic (d. 1684)
1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish bishop and anatomist (d. 1686)
1642 – Johann Friedrich Alberti, German organist and composer (d. 1710)
1650 – Diana Glauber, Dutch-German painter (d. 1721)
1671 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general and diplomat (d. 1745)
1755 – Alexander Hamilton, Nevisian-American general, economist and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
1757 – Samuel Bentham, English engineer and architect (d. 1831)
1760 – Oliver Wolcott Jr., American lawyer and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of the Treasury, 24th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1833)
1777 – Vincenzo Borg, Maltese merchant and rebel leader (d. 1837)
1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English physicist (d. 1869)
1788 – William Thomas Brande, English chemist and academic (d. 1866)
1800 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist and engineer (d. 1895)
1807 – Ezra Cornell, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Western Union and Cornell University (d. 1874)
1814 – James Paget, English surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)
1815 – John A. Macdonald, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
1825 – Bayard Taylor, American poet, author, and critic (d. 1878)
1839 – Eugenio María de Hostos, Puerto Rican lawyer, philosopher, and sociologist (d. 1903)
1842 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)
1843 – Adolf Eberle, German painter (d. 1914)
1845 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish mathematician and physicist (d. 1912)
1850 – Joseph Charles Arthur, American pathologist and mycologist (d. 1942)
1852 – Constantin Fehrenbach, German lawyer and politician, 4th Chancellor of Weimar Germany (d. 1926)
1853 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter and sculptor (d. 1932)
1856 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian pianist and composer (d. 1941)
1857 – Fred Archer, English jockey (d. 1886)
1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (d. 1947)
1859 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (d. 1925)
1864 – Thomas Dixon, Jr., American minister, lawyer, and politician (d. 1946)
1867 – Edward B. Titchener, English psychologist and academic (d. 1927)
1868 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1940)
1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor and educator (d. 1945)
1872 – G. W. Pierce, American physicist and academic (d. 1956)
1873 – John Callan O’Laughlin, American soldier and journalist (d. 1949)
1875 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer and academic (d. 1956)
1876 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
1876 – Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1952)
1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (d. 1952)
1885 – Alice Paul, American activist and suffragist (d. 1977)
1887 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (d. 1948)
1888 – Joseph B. Keenan, American jurist and politician (d. 1954)
1889 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist and academic (d. 1938)
1890 – Max Carey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
1890 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian poet and critic (d. 1954)
1891 – Andrew Sockalexis, American runner (d. 1919)
1893 – Ellinor Aiki, Estonian painter (d. 1969)
1893 – Charles Fraser, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1981)
1893 – Anthony M. Rud, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
1895 – Laurens Hammond, American engineer and businessman, founded the Hammond Clock Company (d. 1973)
1897 – Bernard DeVoto, American historian and author (d. 1955)
1897 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
1899 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress, director, and producer (d. 1991)
1901 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)
1902 – Maurice Duruflé, French organist and composer (d. 1986)
1903 – Alan Paton, South African author and activist (d. 1988)
1905 – Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologist and theorist (d. 1960)
1906 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic, discoverer of LSD (d. 2008)
1907 – Pierre Mendès France, French lawyer and politician, 142nd Prime Minister of France (d. 1982)
1907 – Abraham Joshua Heschel, Polish-American rabbi, theologian, and philosopher (d. 1972)
1908 – Lionel Stander, American actor and activist (d. 1994)
1910 – Arthur Lambourn, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1999)
1910 – Shane Paltridge, Australian soldier and politician (d. 1966)
1911 – Tommy Duncan, American singer-songwriter (d. 1967)
1911 – Nora Heysen, Australian painter (d. 2003)
1911 – Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 70th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
1912 – Don “Red” Barry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1980)
1913 – Karl Stegger, Danish actor (d. 1980)
1915 – Luise Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2001)
1915 – Paddy Mayne, British colonel and lawyer (d. 1955)
1916 – Bernard Blier, Argentinian-French actor (d. 1989)
1917 – John Robarts, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Ontario (d. 1982)
1918 – Robert C. O’Brien, American author and journalist (d. 1973)
1920 – Mick McManus, English wrestler (d. 2013)
1921 – Gory Guerrero, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990)
1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, American economist and politician, 24th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
1923 – Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian and philosopher (d. 2016)
1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, engineer, and businessman, founded Carroll Shelby International (d. 2012)
1924 – Roger Guillemin, French-American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1924 – Sam B. Hall, Jr., American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1994)
1924 – Slim Harpo, American blues singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1970)
1925 – Grant Tinker, American television producer, co-founded MTM Enterprises (d. 2016)
1926 – Lev Dyomin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1998)
1928 – David L. Wolper, American director and producer (d. 2010)
1929 – Dmitri Bruns, Estonian architect and theorist (d. 2020)
1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian lawyer and politician, 10th Deputy Premier of New South Wales (d. 2014)
1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian painter, historian, and curator (d. 2015)
1931 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (d. 2014)
1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican actor and director
1933 – Goldie Hill, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1934 – Jean Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Canada
1936 – Eva Hesse, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1970)
1938 – Arthur Scargill, English miner, activist, and politician
1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier
1940 – Andres Tarand, Estonian geographer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Estonia
1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer
1942 – Bud Acton, American basketball player
1942 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist and actor (d. 2011)
1944 – Mohammed Abdul-Hayy, Sudanese poet and academic (d. 1989)
1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Jharkhand
1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German actress, author, and businesswoman (d. 2017)
1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer-songwriter and actress
1946 – Tony Kaye, English progressive rock keyboard player and songwriter (Yes)
1946 – John Piper, American theologian and author
1947 – Hamish Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player
1948 – Fritz Bohla, German footballer and manager
1948 – Joe Harper, Scottish footballer and manager
1948 – Madeline Manning, American runner and coach
1948 – Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 54th Yokozuna
1948 – Terry Williams, Welsh drummer
1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian singer-songwriter
1949 – Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 2nd Vice President of Iran
1951 – Charlie Huhn, American rock singer and guitarist
1951 – Willie Maddren, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
1951 – Philip Tartaglia, Scottish archbishop
1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright (d. 2013)
1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer and architect
1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian lawyer and politician
1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author
1952 – Lee Ritenour, American guitarist, composer, and producer
1953 – Graham Allen, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Agricultural Development and Food
1954 – Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian physicist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Defence
1954 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate
1956 – Big Bank Hank, American rapper (d. 2014)
1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1957 – Peter Moore, Australian rules footballer and coach
1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager
1958 – Vicki Peterson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1959 – Brett Bodine, American NASCAR driver
1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish racing driver (d. 1989)
1962 – Chris Bryant, Welsh politician, Minister of State for Europe
1962 – Susan Lindauer, American journalist and activist
