250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the “Houses of Parliament”.
1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
1356 – Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
1567 – Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.
1576 – The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
1649 – The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.
1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signed preliminary articles of peace with France, setting the stage to the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year.
1785 – Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony.
1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.
1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
1877 – The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1921 – The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.
1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
1929 – The first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, In Old Arizona, is released.
1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom dies. His eldest son succeeds to the throne, becoming Edward VIII. The title Prince of Wales is not used for another 22 years.
1937 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner are sworn in for their second terms as U.S. President and U.S. Vice President; it is the first time a Presidential Inauguration takes place on January 20 since the 20th Amendment changed the dates of presidential terms.
1941 – A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish question”.
1945 – World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
1949 – Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
1953 – Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States of America.
1954 – In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
1961 – John F. Kennedy is inaugurated the 35th President of the United States of America, becoming the second youngest man to take the office, and the first Catholic.
1969 – Richard Nixon is inaugurated the 37th President of the United States of America.
1972 – Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
1977 – Jimmy Carter is inaugurated the 39th President of the United States of America.
1981 – Ronald Reagan is inaugurated the 40th President of the United States of America. Twenty minutes later, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
1989 – George H. W. Bush is inaugurated the 41st President of the United States of America.
1990 – Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
1991 – Sudan’s government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.
1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France killing 87 of the 96 people on board.
1993 – Bill Clinton is inaugurated the 42nd President of the United States of America.
2001 – George W. Bush is inaugurated the 43rd President of the United States of America.
2001 – President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
2009 – Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becoming the first African-American President of the United States.
2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.
2017 – Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America, becoming the oldest person to assume the office.
2018 – A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.
Births on January 20
225 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (d. 244)
1029 – Alp Arslan, Seljuk sultan (probable; d. 1072)
1292 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (d. 1330)
1436 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (d. 1490)
1488 – John George, Marquess of Montferrat, Italian noble (d. 1533)
1488 – Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (d. 1552)
1499 – Sebastian Franck, German humanist (probable; d. 1543)
1502 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish-Mexican rancher and missionary (d. 1600)
1526 – Rafael Bombelli, Italian mathematician (d. 1572)
1554 – Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
1569 – Heribert Rosweyde, Jesuit hagiographer (d. 1629)
1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1624)
1586 – Johann Hermann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
1664 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (d. 1718)
1703 – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (d. 1741)
1716 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and numismatist (d. 1795)
1716 – Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress (d. 1794)
1741 – Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Swedish botanist and author (d. 1783)
1755 – Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1824)
1762 – Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, Belgian-French composer and theorist (d. 1842)
1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1836)
1781 – Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, Austrian-German historian and politician (d. 1848)
1783 – Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
1799 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician, 5th President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1858)
1804 – Eugène Sue, French author and politician (d. 1857)
1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
1814 – David Wilmot, American politician, sponsor of Wilmot Proviso (d. 1868)
1834 – George D. Robinson, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
1856 – Harriot Stanton Blatch, U.S. suffragist and organizer (d. 1940)
1865 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
1870 – Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1873 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
1874 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and coach (d. 1938)
1876 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1957)
1878 – Finlay Currie, Scottish-English actor (d. 1968)
1879 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and educator (d. 1968)
1880 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
1882 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1957)
1883 – Enoch L. Johnson, American mob boss (d. 1968)
1883 – Forrest Wilson, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
1888 – Lead Belly, American folk/blues musician and songwriter (d. 1949)
1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer and businessman, founded the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company (d. 1969)
1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (d. 1967)
1893 – Georg Åberg, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1946)
1894 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist, created Little Orphan Annie (d. 1968)
1894 – Walter Piston, American composer, theorist, and academic (d. 1976)
1895 – Gábor Szegő, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1985)
1896 – George Burns, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1996)
1898 – U Razak, Burmese educator and politician (d. 1947)
1899 – Clarice Cliff, English potter (d. 1972)
1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (d. 1990)
1900 – Dorothy Annan, English painter, potter, and muralist (d. 1983)
1900 – Colin Clive, English actor (d. 1937)
1902 – Leon Ames, American actor (d. 1993)
1902 – Kevin Barry, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 1920)
1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
1907 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (d. 2000)
1908 – Fleur Cowles, American author and illustrator (d. 2009)
1909 – Gōgen Yamaguchi, Japanese martial artist (d. 1989)
1910 – Joy Adamson, Austria-born Kenyan painter and author (d. 1980)
1913 – W. Cleon Skousen, American author and academic (d. 2006)
1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani businessman and politician, 7th President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
1918 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2002)
1918 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (d. 2013)
1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1993)
1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (d. 2006)
1921 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (d. 2006)
1922 – Ray Anthony, American trumpet player, composer, bandleader, and actor
1922 – Don Mankiewicz, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1923 – Slim Whitman, American country and western singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2013)
1924 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and composer (d. 2010)
1925 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2015)
1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician (d. 2020)
1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)
1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
1927 – Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist and academic (d. 2007)
1928 – Antonio de Almeida, French conductor and musicologist (d. 1997)
1929 – Arte Johnson, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
1929 – Masaharu Kawakatsu, Japanese biologist
1929 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1931 – David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese pianist and composer (d. 1992)
1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2016)
1934 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (d. 2014)
1934 – Tom Baker, English actor
1935 – Dorothy Provine, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2010)
1937 – Bailey Howell, American basketball player
1938 – Derek Dougan, Irish-English footballer and journalist (d. 2007)
1939 – Paul Coverdell, American captain and politician (d. 2000)
1939 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist
1940 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater and actress
1940 – Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician
1940 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (d. 2009)
1942 – Linda Moulton Howe, American journalist and producer
1944 – José Luis Garci, Spanish director and producer
1944 – Farhad Mehrad, Iranian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1944 – Pat Parker, African American poet
1945 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist and sportscaster (d. 2013)
1945 – Eric Stewart, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1946 – David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Vladimír Merta, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist
1947 – Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and sportscaster
1948 – Nancy Kress, American author and academic
1948 – Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
1949 – Göran Persson, Swedish lawyer and politician, 31st Prime Minister of Sweden
1950 – Daniel Benzali, Brazilian-American actor
1950 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2014)
1950 – Mahamane Ousmane, Nigerien politician, President of Niger
1951 – Iván Fischer, Hungarian conductor and composer
1952 – Nikos Sideris, Greek psychiatrist and poet
1952 – Paul Stanley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1952 – John Witherow, South African-English journalist and author
1953 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and convicted sex offender (d. 2019)
1954 – Alison Seabeck, English lawyer and politician
1955 – McKeeva Bush, Caymanian politician, Premier of the Cayman Islands
1956 – Maria Larsson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs
1956 – Bill Maher, American comedian, political commentator, media critic, television host, and producer
1956 – John Naber, American swimmer
1957 – Andy Sheppard, English saxophonist and composer
1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, director, and producer
1959 – Tami Hoag, American author
1959 – R. A. Salvatore, American author
1960 – Apa Sherpa, Nepalese-American mountaineer
1960 – Scott Thunes, American bass player
1960 – Will Wright, American video game designer, co-founded Maxis
1963 – James Denton, American actor
1963 – Mark Ryden, American painter and illustrator
1964 – Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
1964 – Ron Harper, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Jack Lewis, American soldier and author
1964 – Kazushige Nojima, Japanese screenwriter and songwriter
1964 – Aquilino Pimentel III, Filipino lawyer and politician
1964 – Fareed Zakaria, Indian-American journalist and author
1965 – Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer defender and manager
1965 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
1965 – Warren Joyce, English footballer and manager
1965 – John Michael Montgomery, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Anton Weissenbacher, Romanian footballer
1966 – Rainn Wilson, American actor
1967 – Stacey Dash, American actress and television journalist
1967 – Kellyanne Conway, American political strategist and pundit
1968 – Nick Anderson, American basketball player and sportscaster
1968 – Junior Murray, Grenadian cricketer
1969 – Patrick K. Kroupa, American computer hacker and activist, co-founded MindVox
1969 – Nicky Wire, Welsh singer-songwriter and bass player
1970 – Edwin McCain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
1971 – Derrick Green, American singer
1971 – Gary Barlow, English singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1971 – Ger McDonnell, Irish mountaineer and engineer (d. 2008)
1971 – Jung Woong-in, South Korean actor
1971 – Questlove, American drummer, DJ, and producer
1971 – Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 66th Yokozuna
1972 – Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
1973 – Stephen Crabb, Scottish-Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales
1973 – Queen Mathilde of Belgium
1974 – David Dei, Italian footballer and coach
1975 – Norberto Fontana, Argentinian racing driver
1975 – Zac Goldsmith, English journalist and politician
1976 – Kirsty Gallacher, Scottish journalist and sportscaster
1976 – Michael Myers, American football player
1976 – Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
1977 – Paul Adams, South African cricketer and coach
1978 – Salvatore Aronica, Italian footballer
1978 – Sonja Kesselschläger, German heptathlete
1978 – Allan Søgaard, Danish footballer
1979 – Choo Ja-hyun, South Korean actress
1979 – Will Young, English singer-songwriter and actor
1980 – Karl Anderson, American wrestler
1980 – Philippe Cousteau, Jr., American-French oceanographer and journalist
1980 – Philippe Gagnon, Canadian swimmer
1980 – Kim Jeong-hoon, South Korean singer and actor
1980 – Petra Rampre, Slovenian tennis player
1980 – Matthew Tuck, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
1981 – Jason Richardson, American basketball player
1982 – Ruchi Sanghvi, Indian computer engineer
1982 – Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer
1983 – Geovany Soto, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1983 – Mari Yaguchi, Japanese singer and actress
1984 – Malek Jaziri, Tunisian tennis player
1985 – Marina Inoue, Japanese voice actress and singer
1985 – Tanel Sokk, Estonian basketball player
1987 – Janin Lindenberg, German sprinter
1987 – Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2011)
1988 – Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian footballer
1988 – Jeffrén Suárez, Spanish footballer
1989 – Nick Foles, American football player
1989 – Washington Santana da Silva, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Ray Thompson, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Ciara Hanna, American actress and model
1991 – Tom Cairney, Scottish footballer, midfielder
1991 – Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player
1991 – Jolyon Palmer, English racing driver
1992 – Jorge Zárate, Mexican footballer
1993 – Lorenzo Crisetig, Italian footballer
1994 – Seán Kavanagh, Irish footballer, defender
1994 – Lucas Piazon, Brazilian footballer
1995 – Joey Badass, American rapper and actor
1995 – Calum Chambers, English footballer, defender
Deaths on January 20
820 – Al-Shafi‘i, Arab scholar and jurist (b. 767)
842 – Theophilos, Byzantine emperor (b. 813)
882 – Louis the Younger, king of the East Frankish Kingdom
924 – Li Jitao, Chinese general of Later Tang
928 – Zhao Guangfeng, Chinese official and chancellor
1029 – Heonae, Korean queen and regent (b. 964)
1095 – Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester
1156 – Henry, English bishop and saint
1189 – Shi Zong, Chinese emperor of Jin (b. 1123)
1191 – Frederick VI, duke of Swabia (b. 1167)
1191 – Theobald V, count of Blois (b. 1130)
1265 – John Maunsell, English Lord Chancellor
1336 – John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (b. 1306)
1343 – Robert, king of Naples (b. 1275)
1479 – John II, king of Sicily (b. 1398)
1568 – Myles Coverdale, English bishop and translator (b. 1488)
1612 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
1663 – Isaac Ambrose, English minister and author (b. 1604)
1666 – Anne of Austria, Queen and regent of France (b. 1601)
1707 – Humphrey Hody, English scholar and theologian (b. 1659)
1709 – François de la Chaise, French priest (b. 1624)
1751 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
1770 – Charles Yorke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
1779 – David Garrick, English actor, producer, playwright, and manager (b. 1717)
1810 – Benjamin Chew, American lawyer and judge (b. 1721)
1819 – Charles IV, Spanish king (b. 1748)
1837 – John Soane, English architect, designed the Bank of England (b. 1753)
1841 – Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish explorer (b. 1780)
1841 – Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1791)
1848 – Christian VIII, Danish king (b. 1786)
1850 – Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1779)
1852 – Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 6th Yokozuna (b. 1794)
1873 – Basil Moreau, French priest, founded the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
1875 – Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (b. 1814)
1891 – Kalākaua, king of Hawaii (b. 1836)
1900 – John Ruskin, English painter and critic (b. 1819)
1901 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (b. 1826)
1907 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (b. 1842)
1908 – John Ordronaux, American surgeon and academic (b. 1830)
1913 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (b. 1852)
1915 – Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, Irish businessman, philanthropist, and politician (b. 1840)
1920 – Georg Lurich, Estonian-Russian wrestler and strongman (b. 1876)
1921 – Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer and academic (b. 1847)
1924 – Henry “Ivo” Crapp, Australian footballer and umpire (b. 1872)
1936 – George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
1940 – Omar Bundy, American general (b. 1861)
1944 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (b. 1860)
1947 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (b. 1911)
1947 – Andrew Volstead, American member of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1860)
1954 – Warren Bardsley, Australian cricketer (b. 1882)
1954 – Fred Root, English cricketer and umpire (b. 1890)
1955 – Robert P. T. Coffin, American author and poet (b. 1892)
1962 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (b. 1887)
1965 – Alan Freed, American radio host (b. 1922)
1971 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
1971 – Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (b. 1903)
1973 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and surgeon (b. 1885)
1990 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
1993 – Audrey Hepburn, British actress and humanitarian activist (b. 1929)
1994 – Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1909)
1994 – Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, first Kenyan Vice-President (b. 1911)
1996 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1927)
2002 – Carrie Hamilton, American actress and singer (b. 1963)
2003 – Al Hirschfeld, American painter and illustrator (b. 1903)
2003 – Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
2004 – Alan Brown, English racing driver (b. 1919)
2004 – T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (b. 1917)
2005 – Per Borten, Norwegian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
2005 – Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist and politician (b. 1913)
2005 – Miriam Rothschild, English zoologist, entomologist, and author (b. 1908)
2009 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian patriarch (b. 1920)
2012 – Etta James, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
2012 – John Levy, American bassist and manager (b. 1912)
2012 – Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior (b. 1933)
2012 – Alejandro Rodriguez, Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist (b. 1918)
2013 – Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (b. 1933)
2013 – Toyo Shibata, Japanese poet and author (b. 1911)
2014 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (b. 1933)
2014 – Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (b. 1921)
2014 – Jonas Trinkūnas, Lithuanian ethnologist and academic (b. 1939)
2015 – Edgar Froese, Russian-German keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1944)
2016 – Mykolas Burokevičius, Lithuanian carpenter and politician (b. 1927)
2016 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (b. 1920)
2018 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (b. 1926)
2018 – Naomi Parker Fraley, American naval machiner (b. 1921)
2020 – Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (b. 1947)
2020 – Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives
Holidays and observances on January 20
Armed Forces Day (Mali)
Army Day (Laos)
Christian feast day:
Abadios
Blessed Basil Moreau
Eustochia Smeralda Calafato
Euthymius the Great
Fabian
Manchán of Lemanaghan
Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando
Richard Rolle (Church of England)
Sebastian
Stephen Min Kuk-ka (one of The Korean Martyrs)
January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Heroes’ Day (Cape Verde)
Inauguration Day, held every four years in odd-numbered years immediately following years divisible by 4, except for the public ceremony when January 20 falls on Sunday (the public ceremony is held the following day; however, the terms of offices still begin on the 20th) (United States of America, not a federal holiday for all government employees but only for those working in the Capital region)
379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She’er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.
1511 – The Italian city-fortress of Mirandola surrenders to the French.
1520 – Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund and dies on February 3.
1607 – San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
1764 – John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
1764 – Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world’s first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Børglum Abbey.
1788 – The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
1795 – The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
1806 – Britain occupies the Dutch Cape Colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1817 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance.
1839 – The British East India Company captures Aden.
1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
1861 – American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
1871 – Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.
1899 – Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
1915 – German strategic bombing during World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United Kingdom killing at least 20 people, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
1917 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
1937 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
1940 – You Nazty Spy!, the first Hollywood film of any kind to satirize Adolf Hitler and the Nazis premieres, starring The Three Stooges, with Moe Howard as the character “Moe Hailstone” satirizing Hitler.
1941 – World War II: HMS Greyhound and other escorts of convoy AS-12 sink Italian submarine Neghelli with all hands 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Falkonera.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese conquest of Burma begins.
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.
1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
1953 – Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
1960 – Japan and the United States sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty
1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.
1974 – China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam
1977 – President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (a.k.a. “Tokyo Rose”).
1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.
1981 – Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
1983 – The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
1986 – The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter unauthorized copying of the software they had written.
1991 – Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
1993 – Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
1995 – After being struck by lightning the crew of Bristow Flight 56C are forced to ditch. All 18 aboard are later rescued.
1996 – The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
1997 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
2007 – Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper’s Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast.
2007 – Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.
2012 – The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI.
2014 – A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.
Births on January 19
399 – Pulcheria, Byzantine empress and saint (d. 453)
1200 – Dōgen Zenji, founder of Sōtō Zen (d. 1253)
1544 – Francis II of France (d. 1560)
1617 – Lucas Faydherbe, Flemish sculptor and architect (d. 1697)
1628 – Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, English noble (d. 1672)
1676 – John Weldon, English organist and composer (d. 1736)
1721 – Jean-Philippe Baratier, German scholar and author (d. 1740)
1736 – James Watt, Scottish-English chemist and engineer (d. 1819)
1737 – Giuseppe Millico, Italian soprano, composer, and educator (d. 1802)
1739 – Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect, designed Longford Hall and Barrells Hall (d. 1808)
1752 – James Morris III, American captain (d. 1820)
1757 – Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (d. 1831)
1788 – Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
1790 – Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet and academic (d. 1855)
1798 – Auguste Comte, French economist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1857)
1807 – Robert E. Lee, American general and academic (d. 1870)
1808 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and author (d. 1887)
1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, American short story writer, poet, and critic (d. 1849)
1810 – Talhaiarn, Welsh poet and architect (d.1869)
1813 – Henry Bessemer, English engineer and businessman (d. 1898)
1832 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1875)
1833 – Alfred Clebsch, German mathematician and academic (d. 1872)
1839 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)
1848 – Arturo Graf, Italian poet, of German ancestry (d. 1913).
1848 – John Fitzwilliam Stairs, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1904)
1848 – Matthew Webb, English swimmer and diver (d. 1883)
1851 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1922)
1852 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (d. 1909)
1863 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (d. 1941)
1866 – Harry Davenport, American stage and film actor (d. 1949)
1871 – Dame Gruev, Bulgarian educator and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1906)
1874 – Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (d. 1922)
1876 – Wakashima Gonshirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 21st Yokozuna (d. 1943)
1876 – Dragotin Kette, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1899)
1878 – Herbert Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1934)
1879 – Boris Savinkov, Russian soldier and author (d. 1925)
1882 – John Cain Sr., Australian politician, 34th Premier of Victoria (d. 1957)
1883 – Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (d. 1956)
1887 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (d. 1943)
1889 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1943)
1892 – Ólafur Thors, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1964)
1893 – Magda Tagliaferro, Brazilian pianist and educator (d. 1986)
1903 – Boris Blacher, German composer and playwright (d. 1975)
1905 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (d. 1991)
1907 – Briggs Cunningham, American race car driver, sailor, and businessman (d. 2003)
1908 – Ish Kabibble, American comedian and cornet player (d. 1994)
1908 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1971)
1911 – Choor Singh, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and judge (d. 2009)
1912 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1913 – Rex Ingamells, Australian author and poet (d. 1955)
1913 – Rudolf Wanderone, American professional pocket billiards player (d. 1996)
1918 – John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (d. 2005)
1920 – Bernard Dunstan, English painter and educator (d. 2017)
1920 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian politician and diplomat, 135th Prime Minister of Peru (d. 2020)
1921 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1995)
1922 – Arthur Morris, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 2015)
1922 – Miguel Muñoz, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1990)
1923 – Jean Stapleton, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1924 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor and director (d. 1985)
1924 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (d. 2006)
1925 – Nina Bawden, English author (d. 2012)
1926 – Hans Massaquoi, German-American journalist and author (d. 2013)
1926 – Fritz Weaver, American actor (d. 2016)
1930 – Tippi Hedren, American model, actress, and animal rights-welfare activist
1930 – John Waite, South African cricketer (d. 2011)
1931 – Robert MacNeil, Canadian-American journalist and author
1932 – Russ Hamilton, English singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
1932 – Richard Lester, American-English director, producer, and screenwriter
1932 – Harry Lonsdale, American chemist, businessman, and politician (d. 2014)
1933 – George Coyne, American priest, astronomer, and theologian
1935 – Johnny O’Keefe, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1978)
1936 – Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (d. 1981)
1936 – Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, American singer, harmonica player, and drummer (d. 2011)
1936 – Fred J. Lincoln, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1937 – John Lions, Australian computer scientist and academic (d. 1998)
1939 – Phil Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
1940 – Paolo Borsellino, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
1940 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (d. 2007)
1941 – Colin Gunton, English theologian and academic (d. 2003)
1941 – Pat Patterson, Canadian wrestler, trainer, and referee
1942 – Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
1942 – Paul-Eerik Rummo, Estonian poet and politician
1943 – Larry Clark, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1943 – Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
1944 – Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer
1944 – Thom Mayne, American architect and academic, designed the San Francisco Federal Building and Phare Tower
1944 – Dan Reeves, American football player and coach
1945 – Trevor Williams, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1946 – Julian Barnes, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic
1946 – Dolly Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
1947 – Frank Aarebrot, Norwegian political scientist and academic (d. 2017)
1947 – Paula Deen, American chef and author
1947 – Rod Evans, English singer-songwriter
1948 – Nancy Lynch, American computer scientist and academic
1948 – Frank McKenna, Canadian politician and diplomat, 27th Premier of New Brunswick
1948 – Mal Reilly, English rugby league player and coach
1949 – Arend Langenberg, Dutch voice actor and radio host (d. 2012)
1949 – Robert Palmer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1950 – Sébastien Dhavernas, Canadian actor
1951 – Martha Davis, American singer
1952 – Dewey Bunnell, British-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Nadiuska, German television actress
1952 – Bruce Jay Nelson, American computer scientist (d. 1999)
1953 – Desi Arnaz, Jr., American actor and singer
1953 – Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player and politician
1953 – Wayne Schimmelbusch, Australian footballer and coach
1954 – Katey Sagal, American actress and singer
1954 – Cindy Sherman, American photographer and director
1954 – Esther Shkalim, Israeli poet and Mizrahi feminist
1955 – Paul Rodriguez, Mexican-American comedian and actor
1956 – Carman, American singer-songwriter, actor, and television host
1956 – Susan Solomon, American atmospheric chemist
1957 – Ottis Anderson, American football player and sportscaster
1957 – Roger Ashton-Griffiths, English actor, screenwriter and film director
1957 – Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rican public servant and politician, 22nd Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
1958 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter (d. 2012)
1959 – Danese Cooper, American computer scientist and programmer
1959 – Jeff Pilson, American bass player, songwriter, and actor
1961 – William Ragsdale, American actor
1961 – Wayne Hemingway, English fashion designer, co-founded Red or Dead
1962 – Hans Daams, Dutch cyclist
1962 – Chris Sabo, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Jeff Van Gundy, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Michael Adams, American basketball player and coach
1963 – Martin Bashir, English journalist
1963 – John Bercow, English politician, Speaker of the House of Commons
1964 – Janine Antoni, Bahamian sculptor and photographer
1964 – Ricardo Arjona, Guatemalan singer-songwriter and basketball player
1966 – Sylvain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
1966 – Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player and coach
1966 – Lena Philipsson, Swedish singer-songwriter
1968 – David Bartlett, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of Tasmania
1968 – Whitfield Crane, American singer-songwriter
1969 – Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist and short story writer
1969 – Luc Longley, Australian basketball player and coach
1969 – Predrag Mijatović, Montenegrin footballer and manager
1969 – Junior Seau, American football player (d. 2012)
1969 – Steve Staunton, Irish footballer and manager
1970 – Steffen Freund, German footballer defensive midfielder and manager
1970 – Kathleen Smet, Belgian triathlete
1970 – Udo Suzuki, Japanese comedian and singer
1971 – Phil Nevin, American baseball player
1971 – Shawn Wayans, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – John Wozniak, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Ron Killings, American wrestler and rapper
1972 – Troy Wilson, Australian footballer and race car driver
1972 – Sergei Zjukin, Estonian chess player and coach
1972 – Yoon Hae-young, South Korean actress
1973 – Antero Manninen, Finnish cellist
1973 – Yevgeny Sadovyi, Russian swimmer and coach
1974 – Dainius Adomaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1974 – Frank Caliendo, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1974 – Ian Laperrière, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer and manager
1975 – Natalie Cook, Australian volleyball player
1975 – Zdeňka Málková, Czech tennis player
1976 – Natale Gonnella, Italian footballer
1976 – Tarso Marques, Brazilian race car driver
1977 – Benjamin Ayres, Canadian actor, director, and photographer
1979 – Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast and sportscaster
1979 – Josu Sarriegi, Spanish footballer
1979 – Wiley, English rapper and producer
1980 – Jenson Button, English race car driver
1980 – Pasha Kovalev, Russian-American dancer and choreographer
1980 – Luke Macfarlane, Canadian-American actor and singer
1980 – Arvydas Macijauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
1980 – Michael Vandort, Sri Lankan cricketer
1981 – Paolo Bugia, Filipino basketball player
1981 – Asier del Horno, Spanish footballer
1981 – Lucho González, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Pete Buttigieg, American politician
1982 – Mike Komisarek, American ice hockey player
1982 – Jodie Sweetin, American actress and singer
1982 – Shane Tronc, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Kim Yoo-suk, South Korean pole vaulter
1982 – Robin tom Rink, German singer-songwriter
1983 – Hikaru Utada, American-Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
1984 – Fabio Catacchini, Italian footballer
1984 – Karun Chandhok, Indian race car driver
1984 – Jimmy Kébé, Malian footballer
1984 – Thomas Vanek, Austrian ice hockey player
1985 – Jake Allen, American football player
1985 – Pascal Behrenbruch, German decathlete
1985 – Benny Feilhaber, American soccer player
1985 – Esteban Guerrieri, Argentinian race car driver
1985 – Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer and actress
1985 – Elliott Ward, English footballer
1985 – Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Nikulin, Russian footballer
2006 – Geoff Rabone, New Zealand cricketer and pilot (b. 1921)
2007 – Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist (b. 1954)
2007 – Denny Doherty, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
2007 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer-songwriter (b. 1969)
2008 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (b. 1937)
2008 – John Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
2008 – Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1936)
2010 – Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
2012 – Peter Åslin, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1962)
2012 – Sarah Burke, Canadian skier (b. 1982)
2012 – Winston Riley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1943)
2012 – Rudi van Dantzig, Dutch ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1933)
2013 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th Yokozuna (b. 1940)
2013 – Stan Musial, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
2013 – Frank Pooler, American conductor and composer (b. 1926)
2013 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (b. 1930)
2013 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (b. 1944)
2014 – Azaria Alon, Ukrainian-Israeli environmentalist, co-founded the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (b. 1918)
2014 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (b. 1931)
2015 – Justin Capră, Romanian engineer and academic (b. 1933)
2015 – Michel Guimond, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1953)
2015 – Ward Swingle, American-French singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1927)
2016 – Richard Levins, American ecologist and geneticist (b. 1930)
2016 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2016 – Sheila Sim, English actress (b. 1922)
2017 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1955)
Holidays and observances on January 19
Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (commemorated by the Poe Toaster at his grave in Baltimore)
Christian feast day:
Bassianus of Lodi
Henry of Uppsala
Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
Mark of Ephesus (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Pontianus of Spoleto
Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester
January 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Confederate Heroes Day (Texas), and its related observance:
Robert E. Lee Day (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi)
Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty), first day of the 17th month of the Bahá’í calendar (Bahá’í Faith) (only if Nowruz falls on March 21, otherwise the dates shifts)
Husband’s Day (Iceland)
Kokborok Day (Tripura, India)
Theophany / Epiphany (Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy), and its related observances:
Timkat, or 20 during Leap Year (Ethiopian Orthodox)
532 – The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I.
1435 – Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.
1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered his arms to make them similar to those of the King, Henry VIII of England.
1793 – Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, lynched by a mob in Rome
1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths.
1815 – War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
1822 – The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
1833 – United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina’s defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
1840 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
1842 – Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
1847 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California.
1849 – Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War – Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs.
1879 – In Mozart Gardens Brooklyn Ada Anderson completed a great feat of pedestrianism – 2700 quarter miles in 2700 quarter hours, earning her $8000.
1888 – The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
1893 – The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting.
1893 – U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
1895 – First Italo-Ethiopian War: the war’s opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.
1898 – Émile Zola’s J’accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
1908 – The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people.
1910 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci are sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
1915 – The 6.7 Mw Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L’Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 29,978–32,610.
1920 – The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.
1935 – A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Nazi Germany.
1939 – The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometers of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
1942 – Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
1942 – World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
1950 – British submarine HMS Truculent collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.
1950 – Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
1951 – First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.
1953 – An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.
1958 – The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
1963 – Coup d’état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.
1964 – Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, resulting in 100 deaths.
1964 – In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire (1971).
1966 – Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
1968 – Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.
1972 – Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
1978 – United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled “paid” or “volunteer” donors.
1982 – Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists.
1985 – A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
1986 – A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
1988 – Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
1990 – Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.
1991 – Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1000 others.
1993 – Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
1993 – The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is signed.
1998 – Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter’s Square, protesting against homophobia.
2001 – An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800.
2012 – The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino’s negligence and irresponsibility. There are 32 confirmed deaths.
2018 – A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii caused widespread panic in the state.
2020 – Taal Volcano in the Philippines spews lava fountains while erupting in the crater.
Births on January 13
5 BC – Guangwu of Han, Chinese emperor (d. 57)
101 – Lucius Aelius, Roman adopted son of Hadrian (d. 138)
915 – Al-Hakam II, Umayyad caliph (d. 976)
1334 – Henry II, king of Castile and León (d. 1379)
1338 – Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (d. 1392)
1400 – Infante John, Constable of Portugal (d. 1442)
1477 – Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1527)
1505 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1571)
1562 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet and soldier (d. 1601)
1596 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (d. 1656)
1610 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria (d. 1665)
1616 – Antoinette Bourignon, French-Flemish mystic and author (d. 1680)
1651 – Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1694)
1683 – Christoph Graupner, German harpsichord player and composer (d. 1760)
1720 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (d. 1808)
1749 – Maler Müller, German poet, painter, and playwright (d. 1825)
1787 – John Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1854)
1804 – Paul Gavarni, French illustrator (d. 1866)
1805 – Thomas Dyer, American lawyer and politician, 18th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1862)
1808 – Salmon P. Chase, American jurist and politician, 6th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1873)
1810 – Ernestine Rose, American suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker (d. 1892)
1812 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (d. 1883)
1832 – Horatio Alger, Jr., American novelist and journalist (d. 1899)
1845 – Félix Tisserand, French astronomer and academic (d. 1896)
1858 – Oskar Minkowski, Lithuanian-German biologist and academic (d. 1931)
1859 – Kostis Palamas, Greek poet and playwright (d. 1943)
1861 – Max Nonne, German neurologist and academic (d. 1959)
1864 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
1865 – Princess Marie of Orléans (d. 1908)
1866 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian bassoon player and composer (d. 1901)
1866 – George Gurdjieff, Russian-French mystic and philosopher (d. 1949)
1869 – Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta (d. 1931)
1870 – Ross Granville Harrison, American biologist and anatomist (d. 1959)
1878 – Lionel Groulx, Canadian priest and historian (d. 1967)
1881 – Essington Lewis, Australian engineer and businessman (d. 1961)
1883 – Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach (d. 1967)
1885 – Alfred Fuller, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Fuller Brush Company (d. 1973)
1886 – Art Ross, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1964)
1887 – Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer and actress (d. 1966)
1890 – Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1945)
1892 – Ermanno Aebi, Italian-Swiss footballer (d. 1976)
1893 – Charles Arnison, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 1974)
1893 – Roy Cazaly, Australian footballer and coach (d. 1963)
1893 – Clark Ashton Smith, American poet, sculptor, painter, and author (d. 1961)
1893 – Chaim Soutine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1943)
1900 – Shimizugawa Motokichi, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1967)
1900 – Gertrude Mary Cox, American mathematician (d. 1978)
1901 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist, screenwriter, historian (d. 1991)
1901 – Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish priest and historian (d. 1978)
1902 – Karl Menger, Austrian-American mathematician from the Vienna Circle (d. 1985)
1904 – Richard Addinsell, English composer (d. 1977)
1904 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-American violinist and composer (d. 1992)
1904 – Dick Rowley, Irish footballer, centre forward (d. 1984)
1905 – Kay Francis, American actress (d. 1968)
1905 – Jack London, English sprinter and pianist (d. 1966)
1906 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist, sinologist, and academic (d. 2017)
1909 – Helm Glöckler, German race car driver (d. 1993)
1910 – Yannis Tsarouchis, Greek painter and illustrator (d. 1989)
1911 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (d. 2005)
1914 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (d. 2006)
1914 – Ted Willis, Baron Willis, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1919 – Robert Stack, American actor (d. 2003)
1921 – Necati Cumalı, Greek-Turkish author and poet (d. 2001)
1921 – Dachine Rainer, American-English author and poet (d. 2000)
1921 – Arthur Stevens, English footballer, outside right (d. 2007}
1922 – Albert Lamorisse, French director and producer (d. 1970)
1923 – Daniil Shafran, Russian cellist (d. 1997)
1923 – Willem Slijkhuis, Dutch runner (d. 2003)
1924 – Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (d. 1994)
1924 – Roland Petit, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2011)
1925 – Rosemary Murphy, American actress (d. 2014)
1925 – Vanita Smythe, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
1925 – Ron Tauranac, Australian engineer and businessman
1925 – Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer (d. 2000)
1926 – Michael Bond, English soldier and author, created Paddington Bear (d. 2017)
1926 – Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, American author and academic (d. 2003)
1926 – Melba Liston, American trombonist and composer (d. 1999)
1927 – Brock Adams, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Transportation (d. 2004)
1927 – Liz Anderson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
1927 – Sydney Brenner, South African biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
1929 – Joe Pass, American guitarist and composer (d. 1994)
1930 – Frances Sternhagen, American actress
1931 – Ian Hendry, English actor (d. 1984)
1931 – Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor, comedian, director, game show panelist, and television personality (d. 2007)
1932 – Barry Bishop, American mountaineer, photographer, and scholar (d. 1994)
1933 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (d. 2014)
1935 – Rip Taylor, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
1936 – Renato Bruson, Italian opera singer
1937 – Guy Dodson, New Zealand-English biochemist and academic (d. 2012)
1938 – Cabu, French cartoonist (d. 2015)
1938 – Daevid Allen, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
1938 – Richard Anthony, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1938 – Dave Edwards, American captain and politician (d. 2013)
1938 – Tord Grip, Swedish footballer and manager
1938 – Anna Home, English screenwriter and producer
1939 – Edgardo Cozarinsky, Argentinian author, screenwriter, and director
1939 – Jacek Gmoch, Polish footballer and coach
1939 – Cesare Maniago, Canadian ice hockey player
1940 – Edmund White, American novelist, memoirist, and essayist
1941 – Pasqual Maragall, Spanish academic and politician, 127th President of the Generalitat de Catalunya
1941 – Meinhard Nehmer, German bobsledder
1943 – William Duckworth, American composer and author (d. 2012)
1943 – Richard Moll, American actor
1945 – Gordon McVie, English oncologist and author
1945 – Peter Simpson, English footballer
1946 – Ordal Demokan, Turkish physicist and academic (d. 2004)
1946 – Eero Koivistoinen, Finnish saxophonist, composer, and conductor
1947 – John Lees, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Jacek Majchrowski, Polish historian, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Carles Rexach, Spanish footballer and coach
1948 – Gaj Singh, Indian lawyer and politician
1949 – Rakesh Sharma, Indian commander, pilot, and astronaut
1949 – Brandon Tartikoff, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
1950 – Clive Betts, English economist and politician
1950 – Bob Forsch, American baseball player (d. 2011)
1950 – Gholam Hossein Mazloumi, Iranian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1952 – Stephen Glover, English journalist, co-founded The Independent
1953 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (d. 2012)
1954 – Richard Blackford, English composer
1954 – Trevor Rabin, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1955 – Paul Kelly, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1955 – Jay McInerney, American novelist and critic
1955 – Anne Pringle, English diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia
1957 – Claudia Emerson, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
1957 – Mary Glindon, English lawyer and politician
1957 – Mark O’Meara, American golfer
1957 – Lorrie Moore, American short story writer
1958 – Francisco Buyo, Spanish footballer and manager
1958 – Juan Pedro de Miguel, Spanish handball player (d. 2016)
1959 – Winnie Byanyima, Ugandan engineer, politician, and diplomat
1960 – Eric Betzig, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1960 – Matthew Bourne, English choreographer and director
1961 – Wayne Coyne, American singer-songwriter and musician
1961 – Kelly Hrudey, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1961 – Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress, comedian, and producer
1962 – Trace Adkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Paul Higgins, Canadian ice hockey player
1964 – Penelope Ann Miller, American actress
1966 – Patrick Dempsey, American actor and race car driver
1966 – Leo Visser, Dutch speed skater and pilot
1968 – Mike Whitlow, English footballer and coach
1969 – Stefania Belmondo, Italian skier
1969 – Stephen Hendry, Scottish snooker player and journalist
1970 – Frank Kooiman, Dutch footballer
1970 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
1970 – Shonda Rhimes, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1972 – Mark Bosnich, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1972 – Nicole Eggert, American actress
1972 – Vitaly Scherbo, Belarusian gymnast
1973 – Nikolai Khabibulin, Russian ice hockey player
1973 – Gigi Galli, Italian race driver
1974 – Sergei Brylin, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1975 – Rune Eriksen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
1975 – Mailis Reps, Estonian academic and politician, 31st Estonian Minister of Education and Research
1975 – Andrew Yang, American entrepreneur, founder of Venture for America, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate
1976 – Mario Yepes, Colombian footballer
1977 – Orlando Bloom, English actor and producer
1977 – Mi-Hyun Kim, South Korean golfer
1977 – Elliot Mason, English trombonist and keyboard player
1977 – James Posey, American basketball player and coach
1978 – Nate Silver, American journalist and statistician, developed PECOTA
1979 – Katy Brand, English actress and screenwriter
1980 – Krzysztof Czerwiński, Polish organist and conductor
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
49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.
AD 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the beginning of his own, the Xin dynasty.
AD 69 – Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus is appointed by Galba as deputy Roman Emperor.
236 – Pope Fabian succeeds Anterus to become the twentieth pope of Rome.
1072 – Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo in Sicily for the Normans.
1430 – Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, establishes the Order of the Golden Fleece, the most prestigious, exclusive, and expensive order of chivalry in the world.
1475 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui.
1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded for treason at the Tower of London.
1776 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense.
1791 – The Siege of Dunlap’s Station begins near Cincinnati during the Northwest Indian War.
1806 – Two British brigades occupy Cape Town after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1812 – The first steamboat on the Ohio River or the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans, 82 days after departing from Pittsburgh.
1861 – American Civil War: Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union.
1863 – The Metropolitan Railway, the world’s oldest underground railway, opens between Paddington and Farringdon, marking the beginning of the London Underground.
1870 – John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.
1901 – The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
1916 – World War I: In the Erzurum Offensive, Russia defeats the Ottoman Empire.
1920 – The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I.
1920 – League of Nations Covenant enters into force. On January 16 the organization holds its first council meeting, in Paris.
1927 – Fritz Lang’s futuristic film Metropolis is released in Germany.
1941 – World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.
1946 – The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented.
1946 – The United States Army Signal Corps successfully conducts Project Diana, bouncing radio waves off the Moon and receiving the reflected signals.
1954 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1, explodes and falls into the Tyrrhenian Sea killing 35 people.
1962 – Apollo program: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket launch vehicle, which became known as the Saturn V Moon rocket, which launched every Apollo Moon mission.
1966 – Tashkent Declaration, a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
1972 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.
1981 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments
1984 – Holy See–United States relations: The United States and Holy See (Vatican City) re-establish full diplomatic relations after almost 117 years, overturning the United States Congress’s 1867 ban on public funding for such a diplomatic envoy.
1985 – Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.
1990 – Time Warner is formed by the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications.
2007 – A general strike begins in Guinea in an attempt to get President Lansana Conté to resign.
2012 – A bombing in Khyber Agency, Pakistan, kills at least 30 people and 78 others injured.
2013 – More than 100 people are killed and 270 injured in several bomb blasts in Pakistan.
2015 – A traffic accident between an oil tanker truck and passenger coach en route to Shikarpur from Karachi on the Pakistan National Highway Link Road near Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Karachi, killing at least 62 people.
Births on January 10
626 – Husayn ibn Ali the third Shia Imam (d. 680)
1392 – Johanna van Polanen, Dutch noblewoman (d. 1445)
1480 – Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1530)
1538 – Louis of Nassau (d. 1574)
1607 – Isaac Jogues, French priest and missionary (d. 1646)
1644 – Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French general (d. 1711)
1654 – Joshua Barnes, English historian and scholar (d. 1712)
1702 – Johannes Zick, German painter (d. 1762)
1715 – Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1775)
1729 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian priest, biologist, and physiologist (d. 1799)
1745 – Isaac Titsingh, Dutch surgeon, scholar, and diplomat (d. 1812)
1750 – Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, Scottish-English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1823)
1760 – Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, German composer and conductor (d. 1802)
1769 – Michel Ney, French general (d. 1815)
1776 – George Birkbeck, English physician and academic, founded Birkbeck, University of London (d. 1841)
1780 – Martin Lichtenstein, German physician and explorer (d. 1857)
1802 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian-Austrian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (d. 1860)
1810 – Ferdinand Barbedienne, French engineer (d. 1892)
1810 – Jeremiah S. Black, American jurist and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of State (d. 1883)
1810 – William Haines, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Victoria (d. 1866)
1812 – Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect and academic (d. 1881)
1828 – Herman Koeckemann, German bishop and missionary (d. 1892)
1829 – Epameinondas Deligeorgis, Greek lawyer, journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1879)
1834 – John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, Italian-English historian and politician (d. 1902)
1836 – Charles Ingalls, American farmer and carpenter (d. 1902)
1840 – Louis-Nazaire Bégin, Canadian cardinal (d. 1925)
1842 – Luigi Pigorini, Italian paleontologist, archaeologist, and ethnographer (d. 1925)
1843 – Frank James, American soldier and criminal (d. 1915)
1848 – Reinhold Sadler, American merchant and politician, 9th Governor of Nevada (d. 1906)
1849 – Robert Crosbie, Canadian theosophist, founded the United Lodge of Theosophists (d. 1919)
1850 – John Wellborn Root, American architect, designed the Rookery Building and Monadnock Building (d. 1891)
1854 – Ramón Corral, Mexican general and politician, 6th Vice President of Mexico (d. 1912)
1858 – Heinrich Zille, German illustrator and photographer (d. 1929)
1859 – Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, Spanish philosopher and academic (d. 1909)
1860 – Charles G. D. Roberts, Canadian poet and author (d. 1943)
1864 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia (d. 1931)
1873 – Algernon Maudslay, English sailor (d. 1948)
1873 – Jack O’Neill, Irish-American baseball player (d. 1935)
1873 – George Orton, Canadian runner and hurdler (d. 1958)
1875 – Issai Schur, German mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
1877 – Frederick Gardner Cottrell, American physical chemist, inventor and philanthropist (d. 1948)
1878 – John McLean, American hurdler, football player, and coach (d. 1955)
1880 – Manuel Azaña, Spanish jurist and politician, 7th President of Spain (d. 1940)
1883 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1966)
1883 – Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1945)
1887 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (d. 1962)
1890 – Pina Menichelli, Italian actress (d. 1984)
1891 – Heinrich Behmann, German mathematician and academic (d. 1970)
1891 – Ann Shoemaker, American actress (d. 1978)
1892 – Dumas Malone, American historian and author (d. 1986)
1892 – Melchior Wańkowicz, Polish soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1974)
1893 – Albert Jacka, Australian captain, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1932)
1894 – Pingali Lakshmikantam, Indian poet and author (d. 1972)
1895 – Percy Cerutty, Australian athletics coach (d. 1975)
1896 – Yong Mun Sen, Malaysian watercolour painter (d. 1962)
1898 – Katharine Burr Blodgett, American physicist and engineer (d. 1979)
1900 – Violette Cordery, English racing driver (d. 1983)
1902 – Dobriša Cesarić, Croatian poet and translator (d. 1980)
1903 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (d. 1975)
1903 – Pud Thurlow, Australian cricketer (d. 1975)
1903 – Voldemar Väli, Estonian wrestler (d. 1997)
1904 – Ray Bolger, American actor and dancer (d. 1987)
1905 – Albert Arlen, Australian pianist, composer, actor, and playwright (d. 1993)
1907 – Gordon Kidd Teal, American engineer and inventor (d. 2003)
1908 – Paul Henreid, Italian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1910 – Jean Martinon, French conductor and composer (d. 1976)
1911 – Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Bangladeshi activist (d. 2013)
1911 – Norman Heatley, English biologist and chemist (d. 2004)
1912 – Maria Mandl, Austrian SS guard (d. 1948)
1913 – Franco Bordoni, Italian racing driver and pilot (d. 1975)
1913 – Gustáv Husák, Slovak politician, 9th President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1991)
1913 – Mehmet Shehu, Albanian soldier and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1981)
1914 – Pierre Cogan, French cyclist (d. 2013)
1914 – Yu Kuo-hwa, Chinese politician, 23rd Premier of the Republic of China (d. 2000)
1915 – Dean Dixon, American-Swiss conductor (d. 1976)
1915 – Cynthia Freeman, American author (d. 1988)
1916 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1916 – Eldzier Cortor, American painter (d. 2015)
1916 – Don Metz, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
1917 – Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (d. 2008)
1918 – Les Bennett, English footballer and manager (d. 1999)
1918 – Arthur Chung, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 1st President of Guyana (d. 2008)
1918 – Harry Merkel, German racing driver (d. 1995)
1919 – Terukuni Manzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (d. 1977)
1919 – Milton Parker, American businessman, co-founded the Carnegie Deli (d. 2009)
1920 – Rosella Hightower, American ballerina (d. 2008)
1920 – Roberto M. Levingston, Argentinian general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (d. 2015)
1920 – Max Patkin, American baseball player and clown (d. 1999)
1921 – Rodger Ward, American aviator, race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2004)
1922 – Billy Liddell, Scottish-English footballer (d. 2001)
1924 – Earl Bakken, American inventor (d. 2018)
1924 – Ludmilla Chiriaeff, Canadian ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 1996)
1925 – Billie Sol Estes, American financier and businessman (d. 2013)
1926 – Musallam Bseiso, Palestinian journalist and politician (d. 2017)
1927 – Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian-American singer and actress (d. 2003)
1927 – Johnnie Ray, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1990)
1927 – Otto Stich, Swiss lawyer and politician, 140th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2012)
1928 – Philip Levine, American poet and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Peter Mathias, English historian and academic (d. 2016)
1929 – Tony Soper, English ornithologist and author
1930 – Roy E. Disney, American businessman (d. 2009)
1931 – Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1931 – Rosalind Howells, Baroness Howells of St Davids, Grenadian-English academic and politician
1931 – Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, Malaysian cleric and politician, 12th Menteri Besar of Kelantan (d. 2015)
1931 – John Zizioulas, Greek metropolitan
1934 – Leonid Kravchuk, Ukrainian politician, 1st President of Ukraine
1935 – Ronnie Hawkins, American rockabilly singer-songwriter and guitarist
1935 – Sherrill Milnes, American opera singer and educator
1936 – Stephen E. Ambrose, American historian and author (d. 2002)
1936 – Walter Bodmer, German-English geneticist and academic
1936 – Robert Woodrow Wilson, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Daniel Walker Howe, American historian and academic
1937 – Thomas Penfield Jackson, American soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
1938 – Donald Knuth, American computer scientist and mathematician
1938 – Frank Mahovlich, Canadian ice hockey player and politician
1938 – Willie McCovey, American baseball player (d. 2018)
1939 – Jared Carter, American poet and author
1939 – David Horowitz, American activist and author
1939 – William Levy, American-Dutch journalist, author, and poet
1939 – Scott McKenzie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
1939 – Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
1940 – K. J. Yesudas, Indian singer and music director
1940 – Godfrey Hewitt, English geneticist and academic (d. 2013)
1941 – Tom Clarke, Scottish politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
1942 – Graeme Gahan, Australian footballer and coach
1943 – Jim Croce, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973)
1944 – Jeffrey Catherine Jones, American comics and fantasy artist (d. 2011)
1944 – Frank Sinatra, Jr., American singer and actor (d. 2016)
1945 – John Fahey, New Zealand-Australian lawyer and politician, 38th Premier of New South Wales
1945 – Rod Stewart, British singer-songwriter
1945 – Gunther von Hagens, German anatomist, invented plastination
1946 – Aynsley Dunbar, English drummer and songwriter
1947 – George Alec Effinger, American author (d. 2002)
1947 – James Morris, American opera singer
1947 – Peer Steinbrück, German politician, German Minister of Finance
1947 – Tiit Vähi, Estonian engineer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Estonia
1948 – Donald Fagen, American singer-songwriter and musician
1948 – Bernard Thévenet, French cyclist and sportscaster
1949 – Kemal Derviş, Turkish economist and politician, Turkish Minister of Economy
1949 – George Foreman, American boxer, actor, and businessman
1949 – Linda Lovelace, American porn actress and activist (d. 2002)
1950 – Roy Blunt, American academic and politician
1952 – Scott Thurston, American guitarist and songwriter
1953 – Pat Benatar, American singer-songwriter
1953 – Bobby Rahal, American race car driver
1955 – Michael Schenker, German guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1956 – Shawn Colvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spanish author
1958 – Eddie Cheever, American race car driver
1958 – Anatoly Pisarenko, Ukrainian weightlifter and trainer
1959 – Chandra Cheeseborough, American sprinter and coach
1959 – Chris Van Hollen, American lawyer and politician
1959 – Fran Walsh, New Zealand screenwriter and producer
1960 – Gurinder Chadha, Kenyan-English director, producer, and screenwriter
1960 – Brian Cowen, Irish lawyer and politician, 12th Taoiseach of Ireland
1960 – John Mann, English lawyer and politician
1960 – Benoît Pelletier, Canadian lawyer and politician
1961 – Janet Jones, American actress
1961 – Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Italian-American violinist, author, and educator
1962 – Michael Fortier, Canadian lawyer and politician
1962 – Kathryn S. McKinley, American computer scientist and academic
1963 – Malcolm Dunford, New Zealand-Australian footballer
1963 – Kira Ivanova, Russian figure skater (d. 2001)
1964 – Brad Roberts, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Maciej Śliwowski, Polish footballer
1969 – Simone Bagel-Trah, German businessperson
1970 – Buff Bagwell, American wrestler and actor
1970 – Alisa Marić, Serbian chess player and politician, Serbian Minister of Youth and Sports
1972 – Mohammed Benzakour, Moroccan-Dutch journalist, poet, and author
1973 – Glenn Robinson, American basketball player
1973 – Félix Trinidad, Puerto Rican-American boxer
1974 – Jemaine Clement, New Zealand comedian, actor, and musician
1974 – Davide Dionigi, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Steve Marlet, French footballer, forward and coach
1974 – Bob Peeters, Belgian footballer and manager
1974 – Hrithik Roshan, Indian actor
1975 – Jake Delhomme, American football player
1976 – Adam Kennedy, American baseball player
1976 – Ian Poulter, English golfer
1978 – Johan van der Wath, South African cricketer
1979 – Simone Cavalli, Italian footballer
1980 – Sarah Shahi, American actress
1980 – DeShaun Foster, American football player
1981 – James Coppinger, English footballer
1981 – Jared Kushner, American real estate investor and political figure
1982 – Julien Brellier, French footballer
1982 – Tomasz Brzyski, Polish footballer
1984 – Marouane Chamakh, Moroccan footballer
1984 – Trent Cutler, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Ariane Friedrich, German high jumper
1984 – Kalki Koechlin, Indian actress
1986 – Kirsten Flipkens, Belgian tennis player
1986 – Hideaki Ikematsu, Japanese footballer
1986 – Kenneth Vermeer, Dutch footballer
1987 – César Cielo, Brazilian swimmer
1988 – Leonard Patrick Komon, Kenyan runner
1988 – Vladimir Zharkov, Russian ice hockey player
1989 – Emily Meade, American actress
1989 – Kyle Reimers, Australian footballer
1990 – Mirko Bortolotti, Italian racing driver
1990 – Ishiura Masakatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler
1990 – Cody Walker, Australian rugby league player
1990 – John Carlson, American ice hockey player
1991 – Chad Townsend, Australian rugby league player
Deaths on January 10
259 – Polyeuctus, Roman saint
314 – Miltiades, pope of the Catholic Church
681 – Agatho, pope of the Catholic Church
976 – John I Tzimiskes, Byzantine emperor (b. 925)
475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain.
1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song dynasty.
1349 – The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
1431 – The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen.
1760 – Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.<refFrançois Xavier Wendel (1991). Wendel’s memoirs on the origin, growth and present state of Jat power in Hindustan (1768). Institut français de Pondichéry. p. 61.</ref>
1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the Constitution.
1792 – Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed.
1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain’s war effort in the Napoleonic Wars.
1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul’s Cathedral.
1816 – Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
1822 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process.
1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
1857 – The 7.9 Mw Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).
1858 – Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
1861 – American Civil War: “Star of the West” incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina.
1861 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
1894 – New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time.
1914 – The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
1918 – Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars.
1921 – Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia.
1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
1923 – Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations’ decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control.
1927 – A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children.
1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
1945 – World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf.
1957 – British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty.
1960 – President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.
1961 – British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland Spy Ring in London.
1964 – Martyrs’ Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
1965 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1991 – Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
1992 – The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia.
1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
2004 – An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalls near the Karaburun Peninsula en route to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements kills 28. This is the second deadliest marine disaster in Albanian history.
2005 – Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh.
2005 – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
2007 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco.
2011 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, killing 77 people.
2014 – An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.
2015 – The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes.
2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli leaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill.
Births on January 9
727 – Emperor Daizong of Tang (d. 779)
1418 – Juan Ramón Folch III de Cardona, Aragonese admiral (d. 1485)
1475 – Crinitus, Italian scholar and author (d. 1507)
1554 – Pope Gregory XV (d. 1623)
1571 – Charles Bonaventure de Longueval, Count of Bucquoy, French commander (d. 1621)
1590 – Simon Vouet, French painter (d. 1649)
1606 – William Dugard, English printer (d. 1662)
1624 – Empress Meishō of Japan (d. 1696)
1645 – Sir William Villiers, 3rd Baronet, English noble and politician (d. 1712)
1674 – Reinhard Keiser, German composer (d. 1739)
1685 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (d. 1766)
1728 – Thomas Warton, English poet, historian, and critic (d. 1790)
1735 – John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent, English admiral and politician (d. 1823)
1745 – Caleb Strong, American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)
1753 – Luísa Todi, Portuguese soprano and actress (d. 1833)
1773 – Cassandra Austen, English painter and illustrator (d. 1845)
1778 – Hammamizade İsmail Dede Efendi, Turkish Ney player and composer (d. 1846)
1811 – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English journalist and author (d. 1856)
1818 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (d. 1881)
1819 – James Francis, English-Australian businessman and politician, 9th Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)
1822 – Carol Benesch, Czech-Romanian architect, designed the Peleș Castle (d. 1896)
1823 – Friedrich von Esmarch, German surgeon and academic (d. 1908)
1829 – Thomas William Robertson, English director and playwright (d. 1871)
1829 – Adolf Schlagintweit, German botanist and explorer (d. 1857)
1832 – Félix-Gabriel Marchand, Canadian journalist and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec (d. 1900)
1839 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and academic (d. 1906)
1848 – Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)
1849 – John Hartley, English tennis player (d. 1935)
1854 – Lady Randolph Churchill, American-born wife of Lord Randolph Churchill, mother of Sir Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
1856 – Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet (d. 1912)
1859 – Carrie Chapman Catt, American activist, founded the League of Women Voters and International Alliance of Women (d. 1947)
1864 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1926)
1868 – S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1939)
1870 – Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co-designed the Golden Gate Bridge (d. 1938)
1873 – Hayim Nahman Bialik, Ukrainian-Austrian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1934)
1873 – Thomas Curtis, American sprinter and hurdler (d. 1944)
1873 – John Flanagan, Irish-American hammer thrower (d. 1938)
1875 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (d. 1942)
1879 – John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic (d. 1958)
1881 – Lascelles Abercrombie, English poet and critic (d. 1938)
1881 – Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1956)
1885 – Charles Bacon, American runner and hurdler (d. 1968)
1886 – Lloyd Loar, American sound engineer and instrument designer (d. 1943)
1889 – Vrindavan Lal Verma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1969)
1890 – Karel Čapek, Czech author and playwright (d. 1938)
1890 – Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (d. 1935)
1891 – August Gailit, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1960)
1892 – Eva Bowring, American lawyer and politician (d. 1985)
1893 – Edwin Baker, Canadian soldier and educator, co-founded the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (d. 1968)
1896 – Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-English conductor and director (d. 1971)
1897 – Karl Löwith, German philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1973)
1898 – Gracie Fields, English actress and singer (d. 1979)
1899 – Harald Tammer, Estonian journalist and weightlifter (d. 1942)
1900 – Richard Halliburton, American journalist and author (d. 1939)
1901 – Vilma Bánky, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1991)
1901 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
1902 – Rudolf Bing, American impresario and businessman (d. 1997)
1902 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint, founded Opus Dei (d. 1975)
1907 – Eldred G. Smith, American patriarch (d. 2013)
1907 – Earl W. Renfroe, African American orthodontist, educator, and activist (d. 2000)
1908 – Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher and author (d. 1986)
1909 – Anthony Mamo, Maltese lawyer and politician, 1st President of Malta (d. 2008)
1909 – Patrick Peyton, Irish-American priest, television personality, and activist (d. 1992)
1910 – Tom Evenson, English runner (d. 1997)
1912 – Ralph Tubbs, English architect, designed the Dome of Discovery (d. 1996)
1913 – Richard Nixon, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)
1914 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
1915 – Anita Louise, American actress (d. 1970)
1916 – Fernando Lamas, Argentinian-American actor, singer, and director (d. 1982)
1916 – Vic Mizzy, American soldier, pianist, and composer (d. 2009)
1918 – Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and golfer (d. 2005)
1919 – William Morris Meredith, Jr., American poet and academic (d. 2007)
1920 – Clive Dunn, English actor (d. 2012)
1920 – Hakim Said, Pakistani scholar and politician, 20th Governor of Sindh (d. 1998)
1921 – Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
1921 – Lister Sinclair, Indian-Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
1922 – Har Gobind Khorana, Indian-American biochemist and academic, Nobel laureate (d. 2011)
1922 – Ahmed Sékou Touré, Guinean politician, 1st President of Guinea (d. 1984)
1924 – Sergei Parajanov, Georgian-Armenian director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1925 – Len Quested, English footballer defender and manager (d. 2012)
1925 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (d. 1989)
1926 – Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian lawyer and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2002)
1928 – Judith Krantz, American novelist (d. 2019)
1928 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter, actor, and politician (d. 1994)
1929 – Brian Friel, Irish author, playwright, and director (d. 2015)
1929 – Heiner Müller, German poet, playwright, and director (d. 1995)
1931 – Algis Budrys, Lithuanian-American author and critic (d. 2008)
1933 – Robert García, American soldier and politician (d. 2017)
1933 – Roy Dwight, English footballer, outside forward
1933 – Wilbur Smith, Zambian-English journalist and author
1934 – Bart Starr, American football player and coach (d. 2019)
1935 – Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)
1935 – Dick Enberg, American sportscaster (d. 2017)
1935 – John Graham, New Zealand rugby player and educator (d. 2017)
1935 – Brian Harradine, Australian politician (d. 2014)
1936 – Anne Rivers Siddons, American author
1936 – Marko Veselica, Croatian academic and politician (d. 2017)
1938 – Claudette Boyer, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2013)
1939 – Susannah York, English actress and activist (d. 2011)
1940 – Barbara Buczek, Polish composer (d. 1993)
1940 – Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss journalist and politician, 86th President of the Swiss Confederation
1941 – Joan Baez, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
1941 – Gilles Vaillancourt, Canadian politician
1942 – John Dunning, American author
1942 – Judy Malloy, American poet and author
1943 – Robert Drewe, Australian author and playwright
1943 – Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
1943 – Scott Walker, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (d. 2019)
1944 – Harun Farocki, German filmmaker (d. 2014)
1944 – Jimmy Page, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1944 – Mihalis Violaris, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actor
1945 – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Syrian-Armenian scholar and politician, 1st President of Armenia
1946 – Mohammad Ishaq Khan, Indian historian and academic (d. 2013)
1946 – Mogens Lykketoft, Danish politician, 45th Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
1947 – Ronnie Landfield, American painter and educator
1948 – Bill Cowsill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1948 – Jan Tomaszewski, Polish footballer, manager, and politician
1950 – Alec Jeffreys, English geneticist and academic
1950 – David Johansen, American musician and actor
1950 – Sandy Martin, American actress
1951 – Crystal Gayle, American singer-songwriter and producer
1952 – Kaushik Basu, Indian economist and academic
1952 – Hugh Bayley, English politician
1952 – Mike Capuano, American lawyer and politician
1953 – Javad Alizadeh, Iranian cartoonist and painter
1954 – Philippa Gregory, Kenyan-English author and academic
1955 – Michiko Kakutani, American journalist and critic
1955 – J.K. Simmons, American actor
1956 – Waltraud Meier, German soprano and actress
1956 – Imelda Staunton, English actress and singer
1958 – Stephen Neale, English philosopher and academic
1959 – Mark Martin, American race car driver and coach
1959 – Rigoberta Menchú, Guatemalan activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
1959 – Otis Nixon, American baseball player
1960 – Lisa Walters, Canadian golfer
1961 – Didier Camberabero, French rugby player
1961 – Oliver Goldstick, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Henry Omaga-Diaz, Filipino journalist
1962 – Ray Houghton, Scottish-born footballer
1963 – Irwin McLean, Northern Irish biologist and academic
1964 – Stan Javier, Dominican baseball player and manager
1965 – Iain Dowie, English-Northern Irish footballer and coach
1965 – Eric Erlandson, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1965 – Haddaway, Trinidadian-German singer and musician
1965 – Andrei Nazarov, Estonian decathlete and coach
1965 – Joely Richardson, English actress
1966 – Stephen Metcalfe, English politician
1967 – Matt Bevin, American politician, 62nd governor of Kentucky
1967 – Claudio Caniggia, Argentinian footballer
1967 – Dave Matthews, South African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1967 – Gary Teichmann, South African rugby player
1968 – Jimmy Adams, Jamaican cricketer and coach
1968 – Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
1968 – Mardi Lunn, Australian golfer
1968 – Giorgos Theofanous, Greek-Cypriot composer and producer
1970 – Lara Fabian, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Angie Martinez, American rapper, actress, and radio host
1971 – Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian author and critic
1971 – Scott Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 – Jay Powell, American baseball player
1972 – Rawson Stovall, American video game producer and author
1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor
1975 – James Beckford, Jamaican long jumper
1976 – Radek Bonk, Czech ice hockey player
1978 – Mathieu Garon, Canadian ice hockey player
1978 – Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer and manager
1978 – Chad Johnson, American football player and actor
1978 – AJ McLean, American singer
1980 – Édgar Álvarez, Honduran footballer
1980 – Sergio García, Spanish golfer
1980 – Luke Patten, Australian rugby league player and referee
1980 – Francisco Pavón, Spanish footballer
1980 – Wang Zulan, Hong Kong singer
1981 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager
1982 – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
1984 – Drew Brown, American musician and songwriter
1984 – Benjamin Danso, German rugby player
1985 – Juan Francisco Torres, Spanish footballer
1986 – Jéferson Gomes, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Uwe Hünemeier, German footballer
1986 – Amanda Mynhardt, South African netball player
1987 – Sam Bird, English race car driver
1987 – Lucas Leiva, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Jami Puustinen, Finnish footballer
1988 – Katherine Copely, American ice dancer
1988 – Marc Crosas, Spanish footballer
1988 – Lee Yeon-hee, South Korean actress
1989 – Michael Beasley, American basketball player
1989 – Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-Canadian actress
1989 – Michaëlla Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
1989 – Yana Maksimava, Belarusian heptathlete
1989 – Chris Sandow, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Jordan Turner, English rugby league player
1990 – Justin Blackmon, American football player
1991 – Edon Hasani, Albanian football player
1991 – Alvaro Soler, Spanish singer-songwriter
1993 – Katarina Johnson-Thompson, English long jumper and heptathlete
1993 – Marcus Peters, American football player
1993 – Kevin Korjus, Estonian race car driver
1995 – Braden Uele, New Zealand rugby league player
1999 – Shannon Tavarez, American actress (d. 2010)
Deaths on January 9
710 – Adrian of Canterbury, abbot and scholar
1150 – Emperor Xizong of Jin (b. 1119)
1202 – Birger Brosa, Jarl of Sweden
1282 – Abû ‘Uthmân Sa’îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi, Minorcan ruler (b. 1204)
1283 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese general and scholar (b. 1236)
1367 – Giulia della Rena, Italian saint (b. 1319)
1450 – Adam Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester
1463 – William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent, English soldier (b. 1405)
1499 – John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)
1511 – Demetrios Chalkokondyles, Greek scholar and academic (b. 1423)
1514 – Anne of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France and Louis XII of France (b. 1477)
1529 – Wang Yangming, Chinese Neo-Confucian scholar (b. 1472)
1534 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (b. 1477)
1543 – Guillaume du Bellay, French general and diplomat (b. 1491)
1561 – Amago Haruhisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1514)
1571 – Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French admiral (b. 1510)
1598 – Jasper Heywood, English poet and scholar (b. 1553)
1612 – Leonard Holliday, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1550)
1622 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (b. 1576)
1757 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1657)
1762 – Antonio de Benavides, colonial governor of Florida (b. 1678)
1766 – Thomas Birch, English historian and author (b. 1705)
1799 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1718)
1800 – Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)
1805 – Noble Wimberly Jones, American physician and politician (b. 1723)
307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying
871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco
1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador
1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.
1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
1806 – Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes a British colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in the north American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator.
1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.
1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ ascends the throne to become the last monarch of Vietnam.
1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran’s head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
1963 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.
1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time”.
1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.
2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.
Births on January 8
1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
1462 – Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch nobleman (d. 1531)
1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese daimyō (d. 1623)
1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629
1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
1843 – Karl Eduard Heusner, German admiral (d. 1891)
1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
1860 – Emma Booth, English author (d. 1903)
1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
1876 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
1879 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (d. 1948)
1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972) name=”Jöckle1995″>Clemens Jöckle (1995). Encyclopedia of Saints. Alpine Fine Arts Collection. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-88168-226-7.</ref>
1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
1900 – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician (d. 1988)
1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
1904 – Tampa Red, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and poet (d. 1988)
1906 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
1907 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese general and civil servant (d. 1991)
1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian
1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
1926 – Lazzaro Donati, Italian artist (d. 1977)
1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington
1928 – Gaston Miron, Canadian poet and author (d. 1996)
1928 – Luther Perkins, American country guitarist (d. 1968)
1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
1933 – Nolan Miller, American fashion and jewelry designer (d. 2012)
1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist
1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter
1933 – Willie Tasby, American baseball player
1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)
1935 – Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher, founded Lapham’s Quarterly
1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech-American conductor
1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer and educator
1477 – Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is defeated and killed in a conflict with René II, Duke of Lorraine; the Burgundy subsequently becomes part of France.
1675 – Battle of Colmar: The French army beats Brandenburg.
1757 – Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering, the traditional and gruesome form of capital punishment used for regicides.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.
1875 – The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated in Paris.
1895 – Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island.
1911 – Kappa Alpha Psi, the world’s third oldest and largest black fraternity, is founded at Indiana University.
1912 – The 6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Prague Party Conference) opens. In the course of the conference, Vladimir Lenin and his supporters break from the rest of the party to form the Bolshevik movement.
1913 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Lemnos begins; Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.
1914 – The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.
1919 – The German Workers’ Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich.
1925 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.
1933 – Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.
1941 – 37-year-old pilot Amy Johnson, the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia, disappears after bailing out of her plane over the River Thames, and is presumed dead.
1944 – The Daily Mail becomes the first major London newspaper to be published on both sides of the Atlantic.
1945 – The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland.
1949 – In his “State of the Union” address, United States President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.
1950 – In the Sverdlovsk air disaster, all 19 of those on board are killed, including almost the entire national ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) of the Soviet Air Force – 11 players, as well as a team doctor and a masseur.
1953 – The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.
1957 – In a speech given to the United States Congress, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine
1968 – Alexander Dubček comes to power in Czechoslovakia, effectively beginning the “Prague Spring”
1969 – The Venera 5 space probe is launched at 06:28:08 UTCfrom Baikonur.
1970 – The 7.1 Mw Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 10,000 and 15,000 people are known to have been killed and about another 26,000 are injured.
1974 – The warmest reliably measured temperature within the Antarctic Circle, of +59 °F (+15 °C), is recorded at Vanda Station.
1975 – The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.
1976 – The Khmer Rouge proclaim the Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea.
1976 – The Troubles: Gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK, allegedly as retaliation for a string of attacks on Catholic civilians in the area by Loyalists, particularly the killing of six Catholics the night before.
1991 – Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–92 South Ossetia War.
1991 – Somali Civil War: The United States Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu is evacuated by helicopter airlift days after the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu.
1993 – The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.
2014 – A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine.
Births on January 5
1209 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English prince, nominal King of Germany (d. 1272)
1530 – Gaspar de Bono, monk of the Order of the Minims (d. 1571)
1548 – Francisco Suárez, Spanish priest, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1617)
1587 – Xu Xiake, Chinese geographer and explorer (d. 1641)
1592 – Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor (d. 1666)
1620 – Miklós Zrínyi, Croatian military commander (d. 1664)
1640 – Paolo Lorenzani, Italian composer (d. 1713)
1735 – Claude Martin, French-English general and explorer (d. 1800)
1767 – Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist and academic (d. 1832)
1779 – Stephen Decatur, American commander (d. 1820)
1779 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (d. 1813)
1781 – Gaspar Flores de Abrego, three terms mayor of San Antonio, in Spanish Texas (d. 1836)
1793 – Harvey Putnam, American lawyer and politician (d. 1855)
1808 – Anton Füster, Austrian priest and activist (d. 1881)
1834 – William John Wills, English surgeon and explorer (d. 1861)
1838 – Camille Jordan, French mathematician and academic (d. 1922)
1846 – Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)
1846 – Mariam Baouardy, Syrian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1878)
1855 – King Camp Gillette, American businessman, founded the Gillette Company (d. 1932)
1864 – Bob Caruthers, American baseball player and manager (d. 1911)
1867 – Dimitrios Gounaris, Greek lawyer and politician, 94th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1922)
1871 – Frederick Converse, American composer and academic (d. 1940)
1874 – Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
1876 – Konrad Adenauer, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1967)
1879 – Hans Eppinger, Austrian physician and academic (d. 1946)
1880 – Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1951)
1881 – Pablo Gargallo, Spanish sculptor and painter (d. 1934)
1882 – Herbert Bayard Swope, American journalist (d. 1958)
1885 – Humbert Wolfe, Italian-English poet and civil servant (d. 1940)
1886 – Markus Reiner, Israeli physicist and engineer (d. 1976)
1892 – Agnes von Kurowsky, American nurse (d. 1984)
1893 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian-American guru and philosopher (d. 1952)
1897 – Kiyoshi Miki, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1945)
1900 – Yves Tanguy, French-American painter (d. 1955)
1902 – Hubert Beuve-Méry, French journalist (d. 1989)
1902 – Stella Gibbons, English journalist and author (d. 1989)
1903 – Harold Gatty, Australian pilot and navigator (d. 1957)
1904 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer and psychic (d. 1997)
1904 – Erika Morini, Austrian violinist (d. 1995)
1906 – Kathleen Kenyon, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1978)
1907 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (d. 1969)
1908 – George Dolenz, Italian-American actor (d. 1963)
1909 – Lucienne Bloch, Swiss-American sculptor, painter, and photographer (d. 1995)
1909 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 1994)
1910 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand runner and journalist (d. 1949)
1911 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1914 – Nicolas de Staël, Russian-French painter and illustrator (d. 1955)
1914 – George Reeves, American actor and director (d. 1959)
1915 – Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian geographer and cartographer (d. 2004)
1917 – Francis L. Kellogg, American businessman and diplomat (d. 2006)
1917 – Wieland Wagner, German director and producer (d. 1966)
1917 – Jane Wyman, American actress (d. 2007)
1919 – Hector Abhayavardhana, Sri Lankan theorist and politician (d. 2012)
1919 – Severino Gazzelloni, Italian flute player (d. 1992)
1920 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist and educator (d. 1995)
1921 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss author and playwright (d. 1990)
1921 – Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Luxembourgish soldier and aristocrat (d. 2019)
1921 – John H. Reed, American politician and diplomat, 67th Governor of Maine (d. 2012)
1922 – Anthony Synnot, Australian admiral (d. 2001)
1923 – Sam Phillips, American radio host and producer, founded Sun Records (d. 2003)
1926 – Veikko Karvonen, Finnish runner (d. 2007)
1926 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (d. 2009)
1926 – Hosea Williams, American businessman and activist (d. 2000)
1927 – Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, American guru and author, founded Iraivan Temple (d. 2001)
1928 – Imtiaz Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
1928 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 4th President of Pakistan (d. 1979)
1928 – Walter Mondale, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 42nd Vice President of the United States
1929 – Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1931 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer, founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (d. 1989)
1931 – Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist, poet, and author
1931 – Robert Duvall, American actor and director
1932 – Umberto Eco, Italian novelist, literary critic, and philosopher (d. 2016)
1932 – Chuck Noll, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1934 – Phil Ramone, South African-American songwriter and producer, co-founded A & R Recording (d. 2013)
1934 – Murli Manohar Joshi, Indian politician
1936 – Florence King, American journalist and memoirist (d. 2016)
1938 – Juan Carlos I of Spain
1938 – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Kenyan author and playwright
1939 – M. E. H. Maharoof, Sri Lankan politician (d. 1997)
1940 – Athol Guy, Australian singer-songwriter and bassist
1941 – Bob Cunis, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2008)
1941 – Chuck McKinley, American tennis player (d. 1986)
1941 – Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
1941 – Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
1942 – Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist and conductor
1942 – Charlie Rose, American journalist and talk show host
1943 – Mary Gaudron, Australian lawyer and judge
1943 – Murtaz Khurtsilava, Georgian footballer and manager
1944 – Ed Rendell, American politician, 45th Governor of Pennsylvania
1946 – Diane Keaton, American actress, director, and businesswoman
1947 – Mike DeWine, American lawyer and politician, 70th Governor of Ohio
1950 – Ioan P. Culianu, Romanian historian, philosopher, and author (d. 1991)
1950 – Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales
1950 – John Manley, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
1950 – Chris Stein, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1952 – Uli Hoeneß, German footballer and manager
1953 – Pamela Sue Martin, American actress
1953 – Mike Rann, English-Australian journalist and politician, 44th Premier of South Australia
1953 – George Tenet, American civil servant and academic, 18th Director of Central Intelligence
1954 – Alex English, American basketball player and coach
1954 – László Krasznahorkai, Hungarian author and screenwriter
1955 – Mamata Banerjee, Indian lawyer and politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal
1956 – Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German academic and politician, 14th Vice-Chancellor of Germany
1958 – Ron Kittle, American baseball player and manager
1959 – Nancy Delahunt, Canadian curler
1960 – Glenn Strömberg, Swedish footballer and sportscaster
1961 – Iris DeMent, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Suzy Amis, American actress and model
1962 – Danny Jackson, American baseball player and manager
1963 – Jeff Fassero, American baseball player and coach
1965 – Vinnie Jones, English/Welsh footballer and actor
1965 – Patrik Sjöberg, Swedish high jumper
1968 – Carrie Ann Inaba, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
1968 – Joé Juneau, Canadian ice hockey player and engineer
1969 – Marilyn Manson, American singer-songwriter, actor, and director
1969 – Shaun Micheel, American golfer
1971 – Stian Carstensen, Norwegian multi-instrumentalist and composer
1972 – Sakis Rouvas, Greek singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1973 – Uday Chopra, Bollywood actor and filmmaker
1974 – Iwan Thomas, Welsh sprinter and coach
1975 – Bradley Cooper, American actor and producer
1975 – Warrick Dunn, American football player
1975 – Mike Grier, American ice hockey player and scout
1976 – Diego Tristán, Spanish footballer
1978 – January Jones, American actress
1979 – Kyle Calder, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Giuseppe Gibilisco, Italian pole vaulter
1981 – Deadmau5 (Joel Thomas Zimmerman), Canadian musician
1982 – Janica Kostelić, Croatian skier
1984 – Derrick Atkins, Bahamian sprinter
1985 – Diego Vera, Uruguayan footballer
1986 – Deepika Padukone, Indian actress
1988 – Azizulhasni Awang, Malaysian track cyclist
1988 – Luke Daniels, English footballer
1989 – Krisztián Németh, Hungarian footballer
1990 – Mark Nicholls, Australian rugby league player
Deaths on January 5
842 – Al-Mu’tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 796)
941 – Zhang Yanhan, Chinese chancellor (b. 884)
1066 – Edward the Confessor, English king (b. 1004)
1173 – Bolesław IV the Curly, High Duke of Poland (b. 1120)
1382 – Philippa Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster (b. 1355)
1400 – John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1350)
1430 – Philippa of England, Queen of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (b. 1394)
1477 – Charles, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1433)
1524 – Marko Marulić, Croatian poet (b. 1450)
1527 – Felix Manz, Swiss martyr (b. 1498)
1578 – Giulio Clovio, Dalmatian painter (b. 1498)
1580 – Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman (b. 1542)
1589 – Catherine de’ Medici, queen of Henry II of France (b. 1519)
1713 – Jean Chardin, French explorer and author (b. 1643)
1740 – Antonio Lotti, Italian composer and educator (b. 1667)
1762 – Empress Elizabeth of Russia (b. 1709)
1771 – John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1710)
1796 – Samuel Huntington, American jurist and politician, 18th Governor of Connecticut (b. 1731)
1823 – George Johnston, Scottish-Australian colonel and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales (b. 1764)
1845 – Robert Smirke, English painter and illustrator (b. 1753)
1846 – Alfred Thomas Agate, American painter and illustrator (b. 1812)
1858 – Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (b. 1766)
1860 – John Neumann, Czech-American bishop and saint (b. 1811)
1883 – Charles Tompson, Australian poet and public servant (b. 1806)
1885 – Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian author and scholar (b. 1812)
1888 – Henri Herz, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1803)
1899 – Ezra Otis Kendall, American professor, astronomer and mathematician (b. 1818)
1904 – Karl Alfred von Zittel, German paleontologist and geologist (b. 1839)
1910 – Léon Walras, French-Swiss economist and academic (b. 1834)
1917 – Isobel Lilian Gloag, English painter (b. 1865)
1922 – Ernest Shackleton, Anglo-Irish sailor and explorer (b. 1874)
1933 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (b. 1872)
1942 – Tina Modotti, Italian photographer, model, actress, and activist (b. 1896)
1943 – George Washington Carver, American botanist, educator, and inventor (b. 1864)
1951 – Soh Jaipil, South Korean-American journalist and activist (b. 1864)
1951 – Andrei Platonov, Russian journalist and author (b. 1899)
1952 – Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish colonel and politician, 46th Governor-General of India (b. 1887)
1952 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian-Italian physician and activist (b. 1869)
1954 – Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player and manager (b. 1891)
1956 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (b. 1875)
1963 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1896)
1970 – Max Born, German physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
1970 – Roberto Gerhard, Catalan composer and scholar (b. 1896)
1971 – Douglas Shearer, Canadian-American sound designer and engineer (b. 1899)
1972 – Tevfik Rüştü Aras, Turkish physician and politician, 6th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
1974 – Lev Oborin, Russian pianist and educator (b. 1907)
1976 – John A. Costello, Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1891)
1978 – Wyatt Emory Cooper, American author and screenwriter (b. 1927)
1979 – Billy Bletcher, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1894
1979 – Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, bandleader (b. 1922)
1981 – Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)
1981 – Lanza del Vasto, Italian poet and philosopher (b. 1901)
1982 – Hans Conried, American actor (b. 1917)
1982 – Edmund Herring, Australian general and politician, 7th Chief Justice of Victoria (b. 1892)1985 – Robert L. Surtees, American cinematographer (b. 1906)1987 – Margaret Laurence, Canadian author and academic (b. 1926)
1987 – Herman Smith-Johannsen, Norwegian-Canadian skier (b. 1875)
1990 – Arthur Kennedy, American actor (b. 1914)
1991 – Vasko Popa, Serbian poet and academic (b. 1922)
1994 – Tip O’Neill, American lawyer and politician, 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1912)
1997 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1924)
1997 – Burton Lane, American composer and songwriter (b. 1912)
1998 – Sonny Bono, American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and politician (b. 1935)
2000 – Kumar Ponnambalam, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
2003 – Roy Jenkins, Welsh politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1920)
2004 – Norman Heatley, English biologist and chemist, co-developed penicillin (b. 1911)
2006 – Merlyn Rees, Welsh educator and politician, Home Secretary (b. 1920)
46 BC – Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
871 – Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army.
1649 – English Civil War: The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.
1717 – The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance in an attempt to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht; Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with France on November 28 (November 17, 1716).
1762 – Great Britain declares war on Spain, thus entering the Seven Years’ War.
1798 – Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.
1853 – After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.
1854 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
1863 – The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.
1878 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule and designated the capital of Liberated Bulgaria.
1884 – The Fabian Society is founded in London, United Kingdom.
1885 – Sino-French War: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing force at Núi Bop in northern Vietnam.
1896 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
1903 – Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy’s death.
1912 – The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by the royal charter.
1918 – The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.
1944 – World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
1948 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom becoming an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister.
1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
1956 – The Greek National Radical Union is formed by Konstantinos Karamanlis.
1958 – Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.
1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK.
1976 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen would shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation.
1987 – The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.
1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 “Floggers” are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
1990 – In Pakistan’s deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries.
1998 – A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States.
2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
2004 – Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution.
2006 – Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke.
2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.
2010 – The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai.
2013 – A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.
2018 – Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash: A passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collides with a truck on a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad, Free State, South Africa. Twenty people are killed and 260 injured.
Births on January 4
659 – Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin (d.680)
1077 – Emperor Zhezong of China (d. 1100)
1334 – Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy (d. 1383)
1467 – Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (d. 1538)
1581 – James Ussher, Irish archbishop and historian (d. 1656)
1643 – Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1727)
1654 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (d. 1742)
1672 – Hugh Boulter, English-Irish archbishop (d. 1742)
1710 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, violinist, and organist (d. 1736)
1720 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, German organist and composer (d. 1774)
1785 – Jacob Grimm, German philologist and mythologist (d. 1863)
1809 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (d. 1852)
1813 – Isaac Pitman, English linguist and educator (d. 1897)
1832 – George Tryon, English admiral (d. 1893)
1838 – General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (d. 1883)
1839 – Carl Humann, German archaeologist, architect, and engineer (d. 1896)
1848 – Katsura Tarō, Japanese general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913)
1858 – Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1946)
1864 – Clara Emilia Smitt, Swedish doctor and author (d. 1928)
1869 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1960)
1874 – Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1935)
1877 – Marsden Hartley, American painter and poet (d. 1943)
1878 – A. E. Coppard, English poet and short story writer (d. 1957)
1878 – Augustus John, Welsh painter and illustrator (d. 1961)
1881 – Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)
1883 – Max Eastman, American author and poet (d. 1969)
1883 – Johanna Westerdijk, Dutch pathologist and academic (d. 1961)
1884 – Guy Pène du Bois, American painter, critic, and educator (d. 1958)
1889 – M. Patanjali Sastri, Indian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of India (d. 1963)
1891 – Edward Brooker, English-Australian sergeant and politician, 31st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1948)
1895 – Leroy Grumman, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Co. (d. 1982)
1896 – Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)
1896 – André Masson, French painter and illustrator (d. 1987)
1897 – Chen Cheng, Chinese politician, Vice President of the Republic of China (d. 1965)
1900 – James Bond, American ornithologist and zoologist (d. 1989)
1901 – C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and theorist (d. 1989)
1902 – John A. McCone, American businessman and politician, 6th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1991)
1905 – Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)
1913 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (d. 2007)
1916 – Lionel Newman, American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
1916 – Robert Parrish, American actor and director (d. 1995)
1920 – William Colby, American intelligence officer, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1996)
1924 – Marianne Werner, German shot putter
1925 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish skier and technician (d. 2003)
1927 – Paul Desmarais, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1927 – Barbara Rush, American actress
1929 – Günter Schabowski, German journalist and politician (d. 2015)
1930 – Sorrell Booke, American actor and director (d. 1994)
1930 – Don Shula, American football player and coach (d. 2020)
1931 – William Deane, Australian judge and politician, 22nd Governor-General of Australia
1931 – Nora Iuga, Romanian poet, writer and translator
1931 – Coşkun Özarı, Turkish footballer and coach (d. 2011)
1932 – Clint Hill, American secret service agent and author
1932 – Carlos Saura, Spanish director and screenwriter
1934 – Rudolf Schuster, Slovak politician, 2nd President of Slovakia
1935 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer (d. 2006)
1937 – Grace Bumbry, American operatic soprano
1937 – Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1940 – Gao Xingjian, Chinese novelist, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Brian Josephson, Welsh physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – George P. Cosmatos, Italian-Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1941 – Kalpnath Rai, Indian politician (d. 1999)
1942 – Bolaji Akinyemi, Nigerian political scientist, academic, and politician
1942 – John McLaughlin, English guitarist and songwriter
1943 – Doris Kearns Goodwin, American historian and author
1943 – Hwang Sok-yong, South Korean author and educator
1945 – Richard R. Schrock, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1946 – Arthur Conley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
1947 – Marie-Thérèse Letablier, French sociologist and academic
1948 – Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer (d. 1992)
1948 – Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, Malian civil servant and politician, Prime Minister of Mali
1950 – Khondakar Ashraf Hossain, Bangladesh poet and academic (d. 2013)
1953 – Norberto Alonso, Argentinian footballer
1954 – Tina Knowles, American fashion designer, founded House of Deréon
1956 – Ann Magnuson, American actress and performance artist
1956 – Zehava Gal-On, Israeli politician
1956 – Bernard Sumner, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1957 – Patty Loveless, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Matt Frewer, American-Canadian actor
1960 – Michael Stipe, American singer-songwriter and producer
1963 – Dave Foley, Canadian comedian, actor, director, and producer
1963 – Martina Proeber, German diver
1964 – Susan Devoy, New Zealand squash player
1965 – Guy Forget, French tennis player
1965 – Craig Revel Horwood, Australian-English dancer, choreographer, and director
1965 – Julia Ormond, English actress and producer
1966 – Deana Carter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – David Toms, American golfer and philanthropist
1975 – Paul Watson, English footballer and physiotherapist
1978 – Dominik Hrbatý, Slovak tennis player
1980 – Miguel Monteiro, Portuguese footballer
1985 – Kari Aalvik Grimsbø, Norwegian handball player
1985 – Gökhan Gönül, Turkish footballer
1985 – Al Jefferson, American basketball player
1986 – James Milner, English footballer
1986 – Younès Kaboul, French footballer
1989 – Graham Rahal, American race car driver
1990 – Toni Kroos, German footballer
1992 – Kris Bryant, American baseball player
1994 – Derrick Henry, American football player
1997 – Ante Žižić, Croatian basketball player
1998 – Liza Soberano, Filipina actress
Deaths on January 4
871 – Æthelwulf, Saxon ealdorman
874 – Hasan al-Askari, eleventh of the Twelve Imams (probable; b. 846)
1248 – Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1209)
1344 – Robert de Lisle, 1st Baron Lisle, English peer (b. 1288)
1399 – Nicholas Eymerich, Catalan theologian and inquisitor
1424 – Muzio Sforza, Italian condottiero
1428 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (b. 1370)
1584 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (b. 1539)
1604 – Ferenc Nádasdy, Hungarian noble (b. 1555)
1695 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (b. 1628)
1752 – Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (b. 1704)
1761 – Stephen Hales, English clergyman and physiologist (b. 1677)
1782 – Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect, designed École Militaire (b. 1698)
1786 – Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher, and theologian (b. 1729)
1804 – Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet (b. 1730)
1821 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American nun and saint (b. 1774)
1825 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)
1863 – Roger Hanson, American general (b. 1827)
1874 – Thomas Gregson, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1798)
1877 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1794)
1880 – Anselm Feuerbach, German painter and educator (b. 1829)
1880 – Edward William Cooke, English painter and illustrator (b. 1811)
1882 – John William Draper, English-American physician, chemist, and photographer (b. 1811)
1883 – Antoine Chanzy, French general (b. 1823)
1891 – Antoine Labelle, Canadian priest (b. 1833)
1896 – Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German bishop and academic (b. 1821)
1900 – Stanisław Mieroszewski, Polish-born politician, writer, historian and member of the Imperial Council of Austria (b. 1827)
1901 – Nikolaos Gyzis, Greek painter and academic (b. 1842)
1904 – Anna Winlock, American astronomer and academic (b. 1857)
1910 – Léon Delagrange, French pilot and sculptor (b. 1873)
1912 – Clarence Dutton, American geologist and soldier (b. 1841)
1919 – Georg von Hertling, German academic and politician, 7th Chancellor of the German Empire (b. 1843)
AD 69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
366 – The Alemanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.
533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
1492 – Reconquista: The Emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
1680 – Trunajaya rebellion: Amangkurat II of Mataram and his bodyguards execute the rebel leader Trunajaya. a month after the rebel leader was captured by the Dutch East India Company.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey.
1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, North America, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War.
1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded by a group of six engineers; Thomas Telford would later become its first president.
1833 – Captain James Onslow, in the Clio, arrives at Port Egmont to reassert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
1865 – Uruguayan War: The Siege of Paysandú ends as the Brazilians and Coloradans capture Paysandú, Uruguay.
1900 – American statesman and diplomat John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
1920 – The second Palmer Raid, ordered by the US Department of Justice, results in 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists being arrested and held without trial.
1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring.
1942 – World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
1954 – India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
1955 – Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera’s death is discovered.
1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
1963 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
1967 – Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football (soccer) match.
1974 – United States President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
1975 – At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
1975 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.
1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
1978 – On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
1981 – One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper”, is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
1991 – Sharon Pratt Kelly becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
1993 – Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
Births on January 2
869 – Yōzei, Japanese emperor (d. 949)
1462 – Piero di Cosimo, Italian painter (d. 1522)
1509 – Henry of Stolberg, German nobleman (d. 1572)
1642 – Mehmed IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1693)
1647 – Nathaniel Bacon, English-American rebel leader (d. 1676)
1699 – Osman III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1757)
1713 – Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
1727 – James Wolfe, English general (d. 1759)
1732 – František Brixi, Czech organist and composer (d. 1771)
1777 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor and educator (d. 1857)
1803 – Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1869)
1822 – Rudolf Clausius, Polish-German physicist and mathematician (d. 1888)
1827 – Pyotr Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky, Russian geographer and statistician (d. 1914)
1833 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (d. 1893)
1836 – Mendele Mocher Sforim, Russian author (d. 1917)
1836 – Queen Emma of Hawaii (d. 1885)
1837 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1910)
1857 – M. Carey Thomas, American educator and activist (d. 1935)
1860 – Dugald Campbell Patterson, Canadian engineer (d. 1931)
1860 – William Corless Mills, American historian and curator (d. 1928)
1866 – Gilbert Murray, Australian-English playwright and scholar (d. 1957)
1870 – Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)
1870 – Tex Rickard, American boxing promoter and businessman (d. 1929)
1873 – Antonie Pannekoek, Dutch astronomer and theorist (d. 1960)
1873 – Thérèse of Lisieux, French nun and saint (d. 1897)
1878 – Mannathu Padmanabha Pillai, Indian activist, founded the Nair Service Society (d. 1970)
1884 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli historian and politician, 4th Israeli Minister of Education (d. 1973)
1885 – Gordon Flowerdew, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1886 – Apsley Cherry-Garrard, English explorer and author (d. 1959)
1889 – Bertram Stevens, Australian accountant and politician, 25th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1973)
1891 – Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect and urban planner, designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station (d. 1990)
1892 – Seiichiro Kashio, Japanese tennis player (d. 1962)
1892 – Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor (d. 1958)
1895 – Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat (d. 1948)
1896 – Dziga Vertov, Polish-Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1896 – Lawrence Wackett, Australian commander and engineer (d. 1982)
1897 – Theodore Plucknett, English legal historian (d. 1965)
1900 – Una Ledingham, British physician, known for research on diabetes in pregnancy (d. 1965)
1901 – Bob Marshall, American activist, co-founded The Wilderness Society (d. 1939)
1902 – Dan Keating, Irish Republican Army volunteer (d. 2007)
1903 – Kane Tanaka, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest verified living person
1904 – Walter Heitler, German physicist and chemist (d. 1981)
1905 – Luigi Zampa, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
1905 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (d. 1998)
1909 – Barry Goldwater, American politician, businessman, and author (d. 1998)
1909 – Riccardo Cassin, Italian mountaineer and author (d. 2009)[
1913 – Anna Lee, English-American actress (d. 2004)[79]
1913 – Juanita Jackson Mitchell, American lawyer and activist (d. 1992)
1917 – Vera Zorina, German-Norwegian actress and dancer (d. 2003)
1918 – Willi Graf, German physician and activist (d. 1943)
1919 – Beatrice Hicks, American engineer (d. 1979)
1920(probable) – Isaac Asimov, American writer and professor of biochemistry (d. 1992)
1921 – Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
1926 – Gino Marchetti, American football player (d. 2019)
1928 – Dan Rostenkowski, American politician (d. 2010)
1929 – Tellervo Koivisto, Finnish politician, former First Lady of Finland
1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan
1934 – John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper (d. 2007)
1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1992)
1938 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter
1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer
1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973)
1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist
1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat
1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004)
1944 – Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer
1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia
1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor
1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player
1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic
1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author
1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter
1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia
1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician
1954 – Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author
1959 – Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer and politician
1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
1961 – Paula Hamilton, English model
1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician
1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster
1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player
1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019)
1965 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player
1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavik City
1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress
1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer
1969 – Christy Turlington, American model
1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter
1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist
1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor
1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress
1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor and singer
1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia
1972 – Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist
1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner
1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer
1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player
1979 – Jonathan Greening English footballer
1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress
1987 – Robert Milsom, English footballe
1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player
1992 – Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
1992 – Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentinian footballer, goalkeeper
1998 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer
Deaths on January 2
951 – Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han
951 – Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor
1096 – William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England[
1169 – Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1109)1184 – Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos
1298 – Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom
1470 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460)
1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460)
1543 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497)
1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494)
1613 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1539)
1614 – Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr (b. 1566)
1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688)
1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690)
1850 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (b. 1789)
1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795)
1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801)
1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821)
1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830)
1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877)
1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862)
1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834)
1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864)
1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898)
1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870)
1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877)
1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870)
1953 – Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (b. 1881)
1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907)
1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904)
1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910)
2013 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (b. 1944)
2014 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924)
2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter (b. 1923)
2015 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (b. 1929)
2016 – Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
2016 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935)
2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader (b. 1959)
2016 – Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated (b. 1982)
2017 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (b. 1933)
2017 – John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter (b. 1926)
2018 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (b. 1950)
2018 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1927)
2019 – Daryl Dragon, American musician (b. 1942)
2019 – Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian (b. 1942)
2019 – Gene Okerlund, American wrestling announcer (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances on January 2
Ancestry Day (Haiti)
Berchtold’s Day (Switzerland and Liechtenstein)
Carnival Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
Christian feast day:
Basil the Great (Catholic Church and Church of England)
Defendens of Thebes
Earliest day on which the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is observed, while January 5 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday between January 2 and 5. (Roman Catholic Church, 1960 calendar)
Gregory of Nazianzus (Catholic Church)
Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe (Lutheran Church)
Macarius of Alexandria
Seraphim of Sarov (repose) (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (Episcopal Church)
January 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Nyinlong (Bhutan)
The first day of Blacks and Whites’ Carnival, celebrated until January 7. (southern Colombia)
The first day of the Carnival of Riosucio, celebrated until January 8 every 2 years. (Riosucio)
The ninth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
The second day of New Year (a holiday in Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Mauritius, Montenegro, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine):
New Year Holiday (Scotland), if it is a Sunday, the day moves to January 3
