Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting our website.

South Korea

January 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
  • 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
  • 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
  • 1486 – King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
  • 1562 – Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
  • 1591 – King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Mingyi Swa of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.
  • 1670 – Henry Morgan captures Panama.
  • 1701 – Frederick I crowns himself King of Prussia in Königsberg.
  • 1778 – James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the “Sandwich Islands”.
  • 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
  • 1806 – Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British.
  • 1866 – Wesley College is established in Melbourne, Australia.
  • 1871 – Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title.
  • 1886 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
  • 1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
  • 1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
  • 1913 – First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
  • 1915 – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
  • 1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
  • 1919 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.
  • 1941 – World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
  • 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
  • 1945 – World War II: Liberation of Kraków, Poland by the Red Army.
  • 1958 – Willie O’Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
  • 1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years.
  • 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
  • 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.
  • 1974 – A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
  • 1976 – Lebanese Christian militias kill at least 1,000 in Karantina, Beirut.
  • 1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease.
  • 1977 – Australia’s worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
  • 1977 – SFR Yugoslavia’s Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
  • 1978 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom’s government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
  • 1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
  • 1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family.
  • 1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
  • 1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.
  • 2002 – The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over.
  • 2003 – A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
  • 2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France
  • 2007 – The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Cyclone Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.
  • 2008 – The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  • 2018 – A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.

Births on January 18

  • 1404 – Sir Philip Courtenay, British noble (d. 1463)
  • 1457 – Antonio Trivulzio, seniore, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1508)
  • 1519 – Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary (d. 1559)
  • 1540 – Catherine, Duchess of Braganza (d. 1614)
  • 1641 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 1691)
  • 1659 – Damaris Cudworth Masham, English philosopher and theologian (d. 1708)
  • 1672 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (d. 1731)
  • 1688 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
  • 1689 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (d. 1755)
  • 1701 – Johann Jakob Moser, German jurist (d. 1785)
  • 1743 – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1803)
  • 1751 – Ferdinand Kauer, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1831)
  • 1752 – John Nash, English architect (d. 1835)
  • 1764 – Samuel Whitbread, English politician (d. 1815)
  • 1779 – Peter Mark Roget, English physician, lexicographer, and theologian (d. 1869)
  • 1782 – Daniel Webster, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
  • 1793 – Pratap Singh Bhosle, Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1847)
  • 1815 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German theologian and scholar (d. 1874)
  • 1835 – César Cui, Russian general, composer, and critic (d. 1918)
  • 1840 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet and author (d. 1921)
  • 1841 – Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (d. 1894)
  • 1842 – A. A. Ames, American physician and politician, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
  • 1848 – Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1925)
  • 1849 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
  • 1850 – Seth Low, American academic and politician, 92nd Mayor of New York City (d. 1916)
  • 1853 – Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker (d. 1900)
  • 1854 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (d. 1934)
  • 1856 – Daniel Hale Williams, American surgeon and cardiologist (d. 1931)
  • 1867 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (d. 1916)
  • 1868 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
  • 1877 – Sam Zemurray, Russian-American businessman, founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company (d. 1961)
  • 1879 – Henri Giraud, French general and politician (d. 1949)
  • 1880 – Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian-Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1933)
  • 1880 – Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
  • 1881 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (d. 1975)
  • 1882 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956)
  • 1886 – Clara Nordström, Swedish-German author and translator (d. 1962)
  • 1888 – Thomas Sopwith, English ice hockey player, sailor, and pilot (d. 1989)
  • 1892 – Oliver Hardy, American actor and comedian (d. 1957)
  • 1892 – Bill Meanix, American hurdler and coach (d. 1957)
  • 1892 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon and academic (d. 1956)
  • 1893 – Jorge Guillén, Spanish poet, critic, and academic (d. 1984)
  • 1894 – Toots Mondt, American wrestler and promoter (d. 1976)
  • 1896 – C. M. Eddy Jr., American author (d. 1967)
  • 1896 – Ville Ritola, Finnish-American runner (d. 1982)
  • 1898 – Albert Kivikas, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1978)
  • 1901 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1973)
  • 1903 – Berthold Goldschmidt, German pianist and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1904 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (d. 2006)
  • 1904 – Cary Grant, English-American actor (d. 1986)
  • 1905 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American mob boss (d. 2002)
  • 1907 – János Ferencsik, Hungarian conductor (d. 1984)
  • 1908 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-English mathematician, historian, and television host (d. 1974)
  • 1910 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English economist and academic (d. 1993)
  • 1911 – José María Arguedas, Peruvian anthropologist, author, and poet (d. 1969)
  • 1911 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
  • 1913 – Carroll Cloar, American artist (d. 1993)
  • 1913 – Giannis Papaioannou, Greek composer (d. 1972)
  • 1914 – Arno Schmidt, German author and translator (d. 1979)
  • 1914 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovene author, poet, and playwright (d. 1987)
  • 1915 – Syl Apps, Canadian pole vaulter, ice hockey player, and politician (d. 1998)
  • 1915 – Santiago Carrillo, Spanish soldier and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1915 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1984)
  • 1917 – Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
  • 1917 – Wang Yung-ching, Taiwanese-American businessman (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Gustave Gingras, Canadian-English physician and educator (d. 1996)
  • 1919 – Toni Turek, German footballer (d. 1984)
  • 1921 – Yoichiro Nambu, Japanese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
  • 1923 – John Graham, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Wales (d. 2012)
  • 1923 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (d. 2015)
  • 1925 – Gilles Deleuze, French metaphysician and philosopher (d. 1995)
  • 1925 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Sol Yurick, American soldier and author (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Randolph Bromery, American geologist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1927 – Sundaram Balachander, Indian actor, singer, and veena player (d. 1990)
  • 1928 – Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet and Russian professional basketball coach (d. 2005)
  • 1931 – Chun Doo-hwan, South Korean general and politician, 5th President of South Korea
  • 1932 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (d. 2007)
  • 1933 – Emeka Anyaoku, Nigerian politician, 8th Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1933 – David Bellamy, English botanist, author and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1933 – John Boorman, English director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1933 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and businessman, founded Dolby Laboratories (d. 2013)
  • 1933 – William Goodhart, Baron Goodhart, English lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
  • 1933 – Frank McMullen, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2004)
  • 1933 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (d. 2017)
  • 1934 – Raymond Briggs, English author and illustrator
  • 1935 – Albert Millaire, Canadian actor and director (d. 2018)
  • 1935 – Jon Stallworthy, English poet, critic, and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1935 – Gad Yaacobi, Israeli academic and diplomat, 10th Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2007)
  • 1936 – David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1937 – John Hume, Northern Irish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1938 – Curt Flood, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
  • 1938 – Anthony Giddens, English sociologist and academic
  • 1938 – Werner Olk, German footballer and manager
  • 1938 – Hargus “Pig” Robbins, American Country Music Hall of Fame session keyboard and piano player
  • 1940 – Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1971)
  • 1941 – Denise Bombardier, Canadian journalist and author
  • 1941 – Bobby Goldsboro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1941 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
  • 1943 – Paul Freeman, English actor
  • 1943 – Kay Granger, American educator and politician
  • 1943 – Dave Greenslade, English keyboard player and composer
  • 1943 – Charlie Wilson, American businessman and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Paul Keating, Australian economist and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
  • 1944 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (d. 1983)
  • 1944 – Kei Ogura, Japanese singer-songwriter and composer
  • 1944 – Alexander Van der Bellen, President of Austria
  • 1945 – Rocco Forte, English businessman and philanthropist
  • 1946 – Perro Aguayo, Mexican wrestler (d. 2019)
  • 1946 – Joseph Deiss, Swiss economist and politician, 156th President of the Swiss Confederation
  • 1946 – Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2013)
  • 1947 – Sachio Kinugasa, Japanese baseball player and journalist (d. 2018)
  • 1947 – Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
  • 1949 – Bill Keller, American journalist
  • 1949 – Philippe Starck, French interior designer
  • 1950 – Gianfranco Brancatelli, Italian race car driver
  • 1950 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
  • 1951 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist and activist (d. 1982)
  • 1951 – Bob Latchford, English footballer
  • 1952 – Michael Behe, American biochemist, author, and academic
  • 1952 – R. Stevie Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1953 – Brett Hudson, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1953 – Peter Moon, Australian comedian and actor
  • 1955 – Kevin Costner, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1956 – Paul Deighton, Baron Deighton, English banker and politician
  • 1960 – Mark Rylance, English actor, director, and playwright
  • 1961 – Peter Beardsley, English footballer and manager
  • 1961 – Bob Hansen, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1961 – Mark Messier, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1961 – Jeff Yagher, American actor and sculptor
  • 1962 – Alison Arngrim, Canadian-American actress
  • 1963 – Maxime Bernier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada
  • 1963 – Ian Crook, English footballer, central midfielder and manager
  • 1963 – Carl McCoy, English singer-songwriter
  • 1963 – Martin O’Malley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 61st Governor of Maryland
  • 1964 – Brady Anderson, American baseball player
  • 1964 – Richard Dunwoody, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
  • 1964 – Virgil Hill, American boxer
  • 1964 – Jane Horrocks, English actress and singer
  • 1966 – Alexander Khalifman, Russian chess player and author
  • 1966 – Kazufumi Miyazawa, Japanese singer
  • 1966 – André Ribeiro, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1967 – Dean Bailey, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1967 – Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
  • 1969 – Dave Bautista, American wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor
  • 1969 – Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
  • 1969 – Jim O’Rourke, American guitarist and producer
  • 1970 – Peter Van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
  • 1971 – Amy Barger, American astronomer
  • 1971 – Jonathan Davis, American singer-songwriter
  • 1971 – Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1971 – Pep Guardiola, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (d. 2019)
  • 1972 – Vinod Kambli, Indian cricketer, sportscaster, and actor
  • 1972 – Mike Lieberthal, American baseball player
  • 1972 – Kjersti Plätzer, Norwegian race walker
  • 1973 – Burnie Burns, American actor, director, and producer, co-founded Rooster Teeth Productions
  • 1973 – Luke Goodwin, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1973 – Benjamin Jealous, American civic leader and activist
  • 1973 – Anthony Koutoufides, Australian footballer
  • 1973 – Crispian Mills, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director
  • 1973 – Rolando Schiavi, Argentinian footballer and coach
  • 1974 – Christian Burns, English singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Leslie Knope, Protagonist of Parks and Recreation (fictional)
  • 1976 – Laurence Courtois, Belgian tennis player
  • 1976 – Marcelo Gallardo, Argentinian footballer and coach
  • 1976 – Damien Leith, Irish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1977 – Richard Archer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1978 – Brian Falkenborg, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Thor Hushovd, Norwegian cyclist
  • 1978 – Bogdan Lobonț, Romanian footballer
  • 1979 – Ruslan Fedotenko, Ukrainian ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
  • 1979 – Brian Gionta, American ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Kenyatta Jones, American football player (d. 2018)
  • 1980 – Estelle, English singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1980 – Robert Green, English footballer
  • 1980 – Kert Haavistu, Estonian footballer and manager
  • 1980 – Julius Peppers, American football player
  • 1980 – Jason Segel, American actor and screenwriter
  • 1981 – Otgonbayar Ershuu, Mongolian painter and illustrator
  • 1981 – Olivier Rochus, Belgian tennis player
  • 1981 – Khari Stephenson, Jamaican footballer
  • 1981 – Kang Dong-won, South Korean actor
  • 1982 – Quinn Allman, American guitarist and producer
  • 1982 – Mary Jepkosgei Keitany, Kenyan runner
  • 1983 – Amir Blumenfeld, Israeli-American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1983 – Samantha Mumba, Irish singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1984 – Kristy Lee Cook, American singer-songwriter
  • 1984 – Ioannis Drymonakos, Greek swimmer
  • 1984 – Makoto Hasebe, Japanese footballer
  • 1984 – Michael Kearney, American biochemist and academic
  • 1984 – Seung-Hui Cho, South Korean student who perpetrated the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech (d. 2007)
  • 1984 – Benji Schwimmer, American dancer and choreographer
  • 1984 – Viktoria Shklover, Estonian figure skater
  • 1985 – Dale Begg-Smith, Canadian-Australian skier
  • 1985 – Mark Briscoe, American wrestler
  • 1985 – Riccardo Montolivo, Italian footballer
  • 1985 – Hyun Woo, South Korean actor
  • 1986 – Marya Roxx, Estonian-American singer-songwriter
  • 1986 – Ikusaburo Yamazaki, Japanese actor and singer
  • 1987 – Johan Djourou, Swiss footballer
  • 1987 – Christopher Liebig, German rugby player
  • 1987 – Grigoris Makos, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Ronnie Day, American singer-songwriter
  • 1988 – Angelique Kerber, German tennis player
  • 1988 – Anastasios Kissas, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Boy van Poppel, Dutch cyclist
  • 1989 – Rubén Miño, Spanish footballer
  • 1990 – Nacho, Spanish footballer
  • 1990 – Hayle Ibrahimov, Ethiopian-Azerbaijani runner
  • 1990 – Gift Ngoepe, South African baseball player
  • 1991 – Diego Simões, Brazilian footballer
  • 1992 – Francesco Bardi, Italian footballer
  • 1993 – Sean Keenan, Australian actor
  • 1994 – Kang Ji-young, South Korean singer
  • 1994 – Ilona Kremen, Belarusian tennis player
  • 1995 – Bryce Alford, American basketball player
  • 1998 – Aitana Bonmatí, Spanish footballer

Deaths on January 18

  • 52 BC – Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman politician (b. 93 BC)
  • 474 – Leo I, Byzantine emperor (b. 401)
  • 748 – Odilo, duke of Bavaria
  • 896 – Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, ruler of the Tulunids, murdered (b. 864)
  • 1213 – Tamar of Georgia (b. 1160)
  • 1253 – King Henry I of Cyprus (b. 1217)
  • 1271 – Saint Margaret of Hungary (b. 1242)
  • 1326 – Robert FitzWalter, 1st Baron FitzWalter, English baron (b. 1247)
  • 1357 – Maria of Portugal, infanta (b. 1313)
  • 1367 – Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
  • 1411 – Jobst of Moravia, ruler of Moravia, King of the Romans
  • 1425 – Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
  • 1471 – Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
  • 1479 – Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1417)
  • 1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal and scholar (b. 1470)
  • 1586 – Margaret of Parma (b. 1522)
  • 1589 – Magnus Heinason, Faroese naval hero (b. 1545)
  • 1677 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch politician, founded Cape Town (b. 1619)
  • 1756 – Francis George of Schönborn-Buchheim, Archbishop-Elector of Trier (b. 1682)
  • 1783 – Jeanne Quinault, French actress and playwright (b. 1699)
  • 1803 – Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet and academic (b. 1743)
  • 1849 – Panoutsos Notaras, Greek politician (b. 1752)
  • 1862 – John Tyler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 10th President of the United States (b. 1790)
  • 1873 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English author, poet, playwright, and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1803)
  • 1878 – Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist and academic (b. 1788)
  • 1886 – Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (b. 1819)
  • 1892 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader, 23rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1819)
  • 1896 – Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, 55th Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
  • 1923 – Wallace Reid, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1891)
  • 1936 – Hermanus Brockmann, Dutch rower (b. 1871)
  • 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
  • 1940 – Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Polish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1865)
  • 1951 – Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian (b. 1867)
  • 1952 – Curly Howard, American actor (b. 1903)
  • 1954 – Sydney Greenstreet, English-American actor (b. 1879)
  • 1955 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani author and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 1956 – Makbule Atadan, Turkish lawyer and politician (b. 1885)
  • 1956 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 1st President of Estonia (b. 1874)
  • 1963 – Hugh Gaitskell, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1906)
  • 1966 – Kathleen Norris, American journalist and author (b. 1880)
  • 1967 – Goose Tatum, American basketball player and soldier (b. 1921)
  • 1969 – Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1887)
  • 1970 – David O. McKay, American religious leader, 9th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
  • 1971 – Virgil Finlay, American illustrator (b. 1914)
  • 1973 – Irina Nikolaevna Levchenko, Russian tank commander (b. 1924)
  • 1975 – Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (b. 1897)
  • 1978 – Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher and author (b. 1919)
  • 1980 – Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer and photographer (b. 1904)
  • 1984 – Panteleimon Ponomarenko, Belarusian general and politician (b. 1902)
  • 1984 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1915)
  • 1989 – Bruce Chatwin, English-French author (b. 1940)
  • 1990 – Melanie Appleby, English singer (b. 1966)
  • 1990 – Rusty Hamer, American actor (b. 1947)
  • 1993 – Dionysios Zakythinos, Greek historian, academic, and politician (b. 1905)
  • 1995 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
  • 1995 – Ron Luciano, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
  • 1996 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (b. 1923)
  • 1997 – Paul Tsongas, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
  • 1998 – Dan Georgiadis, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1922)
  • 2000 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
  • 2003 – Ed Farhat, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1924)
  • 2003 – Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Indian poet and author (b. 1907)
  • 2005 – Lamont Bentley, American actor and rapper (b. 1973)
  • 2006 – Jan Twardowski, Polish priest and poet (b. 1915)
  • 2007 – Brent Liles, American bass player (b. 1963)
  • 2008 – Georgia Frontiere, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1927)
  • 2008 – Frank Lewin, American composer and theorist (b. 1925)
  • 2008 – Lois Nettleton, American actress (b. 1927)
  • 2008 – John Stroger, American politician (b. 1929)
  • 2009 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (b. 1925)
  • 2009 – Nora Kovach, Hungarian-American ballerina (b. 1931)
  • 2009 – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1913)
  • 2009 – Grigore Vieru, Romanian poet and author (b. 1935)
  • 2010 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – Robert B. Parker, American author and academic (b. 1932)
  • 2011 – Sargent Shriver, American politician and diplomat, 21st United States Ambassador to France (b. 1915)
  • 2012 – Anthony Gonsalves, Indian composer and educator (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Georg Lassen, German captain (b. 1915)
  • 2012 – Yuri Rasovsky, American playwright and producer, founded The National Radio Theater of Chicago (b. 1944)
  • 2013 – Sean Fallon, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Jim Horning, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1942)
  • 2013 – Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (b. 1989)
  • 2013 – Lewis Marnell, Australian skateboarder (b. 1982)
  • 2013 – Ron Nachman, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1942)
  • 2014 – Kathryn Abbe, American photographer and author (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – Michael Botmang, Nigerian politician, 17th Governor of Plateau State (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Dennis Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
  • 2014 – Andy Graver, English footballer (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – Sarah Marshall, English actress (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Eugenio Cruz Vargas, Chilean poet and painter (b. 1923)
  • 2015 – Alberto Nisman, Argentinian lawyer and prosecutor (b. 1963)
  • 2015 – Christine Valmy, Romanian cosmetologist and author (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Piet van der Sanden, Dutch journalist and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – Tony Verna, American director and producer, invented instant replay (b. 1933)
  • 2016 – Johnny Bach, American basketball player and coach (b. 1924)
  • 2016 – Glenn Frey, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1948)
  • 2016 – T. S. Sinnathuray, Judge of the High Court of Singapore (b. 1930)
  • 2016 – Michel Tournier, French journalist and author (b. 1924)
  • 2017 – Peter Abrahams, South African-Jamaican writer (b. 1919)
  • 2017 – David P. Buckson, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Delaware (b. 1920)
  • 2017 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer, businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1939)
  • 2017 – Roberta Peters, American coloratura soprano (b. 1930)
  • 2019 – John Coughlin, American figure skater (b. 1985)

Holidays and observances on January 18

  • Christian feast day:
    • Amy Carmichael (Church of England)
    • Athanasius of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Confession of Peter (Eastern Orthodox, some Anglican and Lutheran Churches)
    • Cyril of Alexandria
    • Deicolus
    • Margaret of Hungary
    • Prisca
    • Volusianus of Tours
    • January 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Royal Thai Armed Forces Day (Thailand)
  • Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18–25) (Christianity)

January 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

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

Births on January 17

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

Deaths on January 17

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

Holidays and observances on January 17

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

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

On This Day

January 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
  • 1558 – French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England.
  • 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
  • 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day.
  • 1738 – A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal.
  • 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
  • 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
  • 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
  • 1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.
  • 1904 – The distress signal “CQD” is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS”.
  • 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.
  • 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
  • 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.
  • 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London.
  • 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
  • 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand’s west coast.
  • 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement.
  • 1940 – Winter War: Battle of Raate Road – The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
  • 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
  • 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
  • 1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.
  • 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
  • 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.
  • 1973 – In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers.
  • 1979 – Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
  • 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
  • 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
  • 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan’s first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
  • 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d’état, which ends in his arrest.
  • 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.
  • 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
  • 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
  • 2012 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.
  • 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.
  • 2015 – A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana’a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured.
  • 2020 – The 6.4Mw  2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.

Births on January 7

  • 889 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (d. 943)
  • 1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (d. 1397)
  • 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
  • 1634 – Adam Krieger, German organist and composer (d. 1666)
  • 1647 – William Louis, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)
  • 1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish agronomist and businessman (d. 1761)
  • 1706 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)
  • 1713 – Giovanni Battista Locatelli, Italian director and manager (d. 1785)
  • 1718 – Israel Putnam, American general (d. 1790)
  • 1746 – George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1823)
  • 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, Italian king (d. 1844)
  • 1797 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845-1846) (d. 1849)
  • 1800 – Millard Fillmore, American politician, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
  • 1814 – Robert Nicoll, Scottish poet (d.1837)
  • 1815 – Elizabeth Louisa Foster Mather, American writer (d.1882)
  • 1827 – Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian engineer, created Universal Standard Time (d. 1915)
  • 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, American painter (d. 1902)
  • 1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postman, founded the Universal Postal Union (d. 1897)
  • 1832 – James Munro, Scottish-Australian publisher and politician, 15th Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)
  • 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (d. 1874)
  • 1837 – Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman, founded the White Star Line Shipping Company (d. 1899)
  • 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (d. 1879)
  • 1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Belarusian lexicographer and journalist (d. 1922)
  • 1863 – Anna Murray Vail, American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden (d. 1955)
  • 1871 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)
  • 1873 – Charles Péguy, French poet and journalist (d. 1914)
  • 1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (d. 1976)
  • 1875 – Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)
  • 1876 – William Hurlstone, English pianist and composer (d. 1906)
  • 1877 – William Clarence Matthews, American baseball player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1928)
  • 1889 – Vera de Bosset, Russian-American ballerina (d. 1982)
  • 1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (d. 1960)
  • 1895 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (d. 1974)
  • 1899 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter (disputed; d. 1941)
  • 1899 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)
  • 1900 – John Brownlee, Australian actor and singer (d. 1969)
  • 1906 – Red Allen, American trumpet player (d. 1967)
  • 1910 – Orval Faubus, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist, created The Addams Family (d. 1988)
  • 1913 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1993)
  • 1916 – W. L. Jeyasingham, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (d. 1989)
  • 1916 – Babe Pratt, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1988)
  • 1920 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-American actor (d. 1992)
  • 1921 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (d. 1997)
  • 1921 – Chester Kallman, American poet and translator (d. 1975)
  • 1922 – Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (d. 2000)
  • 1923 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian scholar and critic (d. 2003)
  • 1925 – Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (d. 1995)
  • 1926 – Kim Jong-pil, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – William Peter Blatty, American author and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1929 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (d. 2012)
  • 1929 – Terry Moore, American actress
  • 1931 – Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (d. 2013)
  • 1933 – Elliott Kastner, American-English film producer (d. 2010)
  • 1934 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian lawyer and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2002)
  • 1934 – Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 5th President of Cyprus (d. 2008)
  • 1935 – Li Shengjiao, Chinese diplomat and international jurist (d. 2017)
  • 1935 – Kenny Davern, American clarinet player and saxophonist (d. 2006)
  • 1935 – Valeri Kubasov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2014)
  • 1941 – Iona Brown, English violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1941 – John E. Walker, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1942 – Vasily Alekseyev, Russian-German weightlifter and coach (d. 2011)
  • 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, known for one thousand origami cranes (d. 1955)
  • 1944 – Mike McGear, British performing artist and rock photographer
  • 1944 – Kotaro Suzumura, Japanese economist and academic (d. 2020)
  • 1945 – Raila Odinga, Kenyan engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Kenya
  • 1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher, co-founded Rolling Stone
  • 1947 – Tony Elliott, English publisher, founded Time Out
  • 1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer-songwriter
  • 1948 – Ichirou Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter
  • 1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1952 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
  • 1953 – Robert Longo, American painter and sculptor
  • 1954 – Alan Butcher, English cricketer and coach
  • 1955 – Mamata Shankar, Indian-Bengali actress
  • 1956 – David Caruso, American actor
  • 1957 – Katie Couric, American television journalist, anchor, and author
  • 1959 – Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon, English accountant and politician
  • 1959 – Kathy Valentine, American bass player and songwriter
  • 1960 – Loretta Sanchez, American politician
  • 1961 – John Thune, American lawyer and politician
  • 1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian political analyst and strategist known for his fascist views
  • 1962 – Ron Rivera, American football player and coach
  • 1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
  • 1965 – Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian runner
  • 1967 – Nick Clegg, English academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
  • 1969 – Marco Simone, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Andy Burnham, English politician
  • 1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor
  • 1972 – Donald Brashear, American-Canadian ice hockey player and mixed martial artist
  • 1974 – Alenka Bikar, Slovenian sprinter and politician
  • 1976 – Vic Darchinyan, Armenian-Australian boxer
  • 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player
  • 1977 – Sofi Oksanen, Finnish author and playwright
  • 1979 – Aloe Blacc, American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, businessman and philanthropist.
  • 1982 – Francisco Rodríguez, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1982 – Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer
  • 1983 – Edwin Encarnación, Dominican baseball player
  • 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English racing driver
  • 1986 – Wayne Routledge, English footballer winger
  • 1987 – Stefan Babović, Serbian footballer
  • 1987 – Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
  • 1987 – Davide Astori, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
  • 1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
  • 1991 – Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer
  • 1991 – Caster Semenya, South African sprinter

Deaths on January 7

  • 312 – Lucian of Antioch, Christian martyr, saint, and theologian (b. 240)
  • 838 – Babak Khorramdin, Iranian leader of the Khurramite uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate
  • 856 – Aldric, bishop of Le Mans
  • 1131 – Canute Lavard, Danish prince and saint (b. 1096)
  • 1285 – Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)
  • 1325 – Denis of Portugal (b. 1261)
  • 1355 – Inês de Castro, Castilian noblewoman (b. 1325)
  • 1400 – John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English Earl (b. 1350)
  • 1451 – Amadeus VIII of Savoy a.k.a. Antipope Felix V (b. 1383)
  • 1529 – Peter Vischer the Elder, German sculptor (b. 1455)
  • 1536 – Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
  • 1566 – Louis de Blois, Flemish monk and author (b. 1506)
  • 1619 – Nicholas Hilliard, English painter and goldsmith (b. 1547)
  • 1625 – Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer and author (b. 1560)
  • 1655 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
  • 1658 – Theophilus Eaton, American farmer and politician, 1st Governor of the New Haven Colony (b. 1590)
  • 1694 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (b. 1618)
  • 1700 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian scholar and author (b. 1618)
  • 1715 – François Fénelon, French archbishop, theologian, and poet (b. 1651)
  • 1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1686)
  • 1767 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (b. 1703)
  • 1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician and diplomat (b. 1695)
  • 1812 – Joseph Dennie, American journalist and author (b. 1768)
  • 1830 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian public servant and politician (b. 1770)
  • 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (b. 1769)
  • 1858 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1800)
  • 1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
  • 1892 – Tewfik Pasha, Egyptian ruler (b. 1852)
  • 1893 – Josef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835)
  • 1919 – Henry Ware Eliot, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Washington University in St. Louis (b. 1843)
  • 1920 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
  • 1927 – Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Greek politician, 99th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1851)
  • 1931 – Edward Channing, American historian and author (b. 1856)
  • 1932 – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (b. 1877)
  • 1936 – Guy d’Hardelot, French pianist and composer (b. 1858)
  • 1941 – Charles Finger, English journalist and author (b. 1869)
  • 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1856)
  • 1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian philosopher and author (b. 1886)
  • 1960 – Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, English tennis player and coach (b. 1878)
  • 1963 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
  • 1964 – Reg Parnell, English racing driver and manager (b. 1911)
  • 1967 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
  • 1967 – Carl Schuricht, German-Swiss conductor (b. 1880)
  • 1968 – J. L. B. Smith, South African chemist and academic (b. 1897)
  • 1972 – John Berryman, American poet and scholar (b. 1914)
  • 1981 – Alvar Lidell, English journalist and radio announcer(b. 1908)
  • 1981 – Eric Robinson, Australian businessman and politician, 2nd Australian Minister for Finance (b. 1926)
  • 1984 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
  • 1986 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author, screenwriter, and photographer (b. 1917)
  • 1988 – Zara Cisco Brough, American Nipmuc Indian chief and fashion designer (b.1919)
  • 1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
  • 1989 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (b. 1901)
  • 1990 – Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American football player and wrestler (b. 1908)
  • 1992 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer and voice actor (b. 1951)
  • 1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist, historian, and theorist (b. 1926)
  • 1996 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1930)
  • 1998 – Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915)
  • 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
  • 2000 – Gary Albright, American wrestler (b. 1963)
  • 2001 – James Carr, American singer (b. 1942)
  • 2002 – Avery Schreiber, American comedian and actor (b. 1935)
  • 2004 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
  • 2005 – Pierre Daninos, French author (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, geographer, and author (b. 1912)
  • 2007 – Bobby Hamilton, American race car driver and businessman (b. 1957)
  • 2007 – Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist, author, and academic (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (b. 1917)
  • 2012 – Tony Blankley, British-born American child actor, journalist and pundit (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (b. 1907)
  • 2015 – Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (b. 1936)
  • 2015 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French cartoonist (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – John Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1947)
  • 2016 – Kitty Kallen, American singer (b. 1921)
  • 2016 – Judith Kaye, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1938)
  • 2016 – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (b. 1936)
  • 2017 – Mário Soares, Portuguese politician; 16th President of Portugal (b. 1924)
  • 2018 – Jim Anderton, Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1938)
  • 2018 – France Gall, French singer (b. 1947)

Holidays and observances on January 7

  • Christian Feast Day:
    • André Bessette (Canada)
    • Canute Lavard
    • Charles of Sezze
    • Felix and Januarius
    • Lucian of Antioch
    • Raymond of Penyafort
    • Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian Calendar)
    • January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar, Rastafari)
    • Christmas in Russia
    • Christmas in Ukraine
    • Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)
  • Distaff Day (medieval Europe)
  • Earliest day on which Plough Monday can fall, while January 13 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after Epiphany (Europe).
  • Nanakusa no sekku (Japan)
  • Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)
  • Tricolour day or Festa del Tricolore (Italy)
  • Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)

January 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

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

Births on January 6

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

Deaths on January 6

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

Holidays and observances on January 6

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

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

On This Day

January 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 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)
  • 1920 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (b. 1843)
  • 1924 – Alfred Grünfeld, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1852)
  • 1925 – Nellie Cashman, American nurse, restaurateur, entrepreneur, and gold prospector (b. 1845)
  • 1927 – Süleyman Nazif, Turkish poet and civil servant (b. 1870)
  • 1931 – Art Acord, American actor and stuntman (b. 1890)
  • 1931 – Louise, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
  • 1931 – Mohammad Ali Jouhar, Indian journalist, activist, and scholar (b. 1878)
  • 1940 – Flora Finch, English-American actress and producer (b. 1867)
  • 1941 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
  • 1943 – Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, Greek-Polish swimmer and water polo player (b. 1911)
  • 1944 – Kaj Munk, Danish playwright and pastor (b. 1898)
  • 1960 – Albert Camus, French novelist, philosopher, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
  • 1961 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
  • 1962 – Hans Lammers, German jurist and politician (b. 1879)
  • 1965 – T. S. Eliot, American-English poet, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
  • 1967 – Donald Campbell, English racing driver and world speed record holder (b. 1921)
  • 1969 – Paul Chambers, American bassist and composer (b. 1935)
  • 1975 – Carlo Levi, Italian painter, author, and activist (b. 1902)
  • 1985 – Brian Horrocks, Indian-English general (b. 1895)
  • 1986 – Christopher Isherwood, English-American author and academic (b. 1904)
  • 1986 – Phil Lynott, Irish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (b. 1949)
  • 1988 – Lily Laskine, French harp player (b. 1893)
  • 1990 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (b. 1903)
  • 1990 – Henry Bolte, Australian sergeant and politician, 38th Premier of Victoria (b. 1908)
  • 1994 – R. D. Burman, Indian film composer and music director (b. 1939
  • 1995 – Eduardo Mata, Mexican conductor and composer (b. 1942)
  • 1995 – Sol Tax, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1907)
  • 1997 – Harry Helmsley, American businessman (b. 1909)
  • 1998 – Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
  • 1999 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (b. 1904)
  • 2000 – Spyros Markezinis, Greek lawyer and politician, 170th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1909)
  • 2000 – Tom Fears, Mexican-American football player and coach (b. 1922)
  • 2001 – Les Brown, American bandleader and composer (b. 1912)
  • 2004 – Brian Gibson, English director and screenwriter (b. 1944)
  • 2004 – Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)
  • 2004 – John Toland, American historian and author (b. 1912)
  • 2005 – Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1924)
  • 2005 – Frank Harary, American mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2005 – Humphrey Carpenter, English radio host and author (b. 1946)
  • 2005 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist and historian (b. 1919)
  • 2006 – Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet and academic (b. 1912)
  • 2006 – Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emirati politician, 1st Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (b. 1946)
  • 2006 – Milton Himmelfarb, American sociographer, author, and academic (b. 1918)
  • 2007 – Helen Hill, American director and producer (b. 1970)
  • 2007 – Steve Krantz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
  • 2007 – Marais Viljoen, South African politician, 5th State President of South Africa (b. 1915)
  • 2008 – Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist (b. 1932)
  • 2009 – Gert Jonke, Austrian poet, playwright, and author (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – Johan Ferrier, Surinamese educator and politician, 1st President of Suriname (b. 1910)
  • 2010 – Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese engineer (b. 1916)
  • 2011 – Coen Moulijn, Dutch footballer (b. 1937)
  • 2011 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
  • 2011 – Salmaan Taseer, Pakistani businessman and politician, 26th Governor of Punjab, Pakistan (b. 1944)
  • 2012 – Eve Arnold, American photographer and journalist (b. 1912)
  • 2012 – Rod Robbie, English-Canadian architect, designed the Canadian Pavilion and Rogers Centre (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Anwar Shamim, Pakistani general (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Zoran Žižić, Montenegrin politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1951)
  • 2015 – Pino Daniele, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1955)
  • 2016 – S. H. Kapadia, Indian lawyer, judge, and politician, 38th Chief Justice of India (b. 1947)
  • 2016 – Stephen W. Bosworth, American academic and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Korea (b. 1939)
  • 2017 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and general manager (b. 1918)
  • 2017 – Georges Prêtre, French orchestral and opera conductor (b. 1924)
  • 2019 – Harold Brown, 14th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1927)
  • 2020 – Tom Long, Australian actor (b. 1968)

Holidays and observances on January 4

  • Christian feast day:
    • Angela of Foligno
    • Elizabeth Ann Seton
    • Ferréol of Uzès
    • Mavilus
    • Pharaildis of Ghent
    • Rigobert
    • January 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • The eleventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Western Christianity)
  • Independence Day (Myanmar), celebrates the independence of Myanmar from the United Kingdom in 1948.
  • Colonial Martyrs Repression Day (Angola)
  • Day of the Martyrs (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Ogoni Day (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People)
  • Tokyo Dome Show: The annual Wrestle Kingdom event run by New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • World Braille Day

January 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

List of APEC Member Countries – Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

1 Australia

2 Brunei

3 Canada

4 Chile

5 China

6 Hong Kong*

7 Indonesia

8 Japan

9 South Korea

10 Malaysia

11 Mexico

12 New Zealand

13 Papua New Guinea

14 Peru

15 Philippines

16 Russia

17 Singapore

18 Taiwan

19 Thailand

20 United States of America

21 Vietnam

* Not a country, part of China.

List of APEC Member Countries – Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Read More »

General Knowledge

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

Geographical MCQs (Countries)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Geographical MCQs (Cities)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A, World

100 Questions & Answers About Asia

100 Questions & Answers About Asia

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Where can you find Mayon Volcano? – Albay

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

30. Whart is the capital of Vietnam? – Hanoi

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

32. What is the capital of Indonesia? – Jakarta

33. What is the capital of Afghanistan? – Kabul

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

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

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

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

38. _______ city is capital of North Korea – Pyongyang

39. The former name of Bishkek – Frunze

40. The former name of Gyumri – Leninakan

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

42. The capital of Saudi Arabia is – Riyadh

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

44. What is the capital of Uzbekistan – Tashkent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

55. The former name of Banda Aceh – Kutaraja

56. The former name of Yekaterinburg – Sverdlovsk

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

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

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

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

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

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

63. The former name of Xiamen – Amoy

64. The former name of Makassar – Ujung Pandang

65. The largest island in Iran? – Qeshm

66. The largest island in Oman? – Masirah

67. The former name of Jayapura – Hollandia

68. The former name of Kota Kinabalu – Jesselton

69. The former name of Jakarta – Batavia

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

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

72. The former name of Astana – Tselinograd

73. Name the biggest island in Japan? – Honshu

74. The biggest island in India? – Middle Andaman

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

86. The former name of Shenyang is – Mukden

87. The former name of Guangzhou – Canton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

99. The former name of Khudzhand – Leninabad

100. Name the largest island in Thailand – Phuket

100 Questions & Answers About Asia Read More »

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A, World

PPSC JUNIOR PATROL OFFICER PAST PAPERS 2017

JUNIOR PATROL OFFICER PAST PAPERS PPSC 2017

 
Tarbela Dam is on ______ River.
Indus
Jhelum
Ravi
None of these
Who is Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtoon Khawah (KPK)?
Pavez Khatak
Imran Khan
Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti
None of these
Which personality represented Pakistan in UNO?
Patras Bukhari
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Perveen Shakar
Munir Niazi
Durand Line is between
Pakistan and Afghanistan
Pakistan and China
Pakistan and Iran
Pakistan and India
How many Round Table Conferences were held?
3
5
4
2
Who wrote “Friends, Not Masters”?
Ayub Khan
Zia-ul-Haq
Zulifqar Ali Bhutto
Quaid-e-Azam
Youm-e-Takbeer is celebrated on the 28th of May each year in commemoration of
Nuclear Test
Independence Day
Day of Deliverance
None of these
When first constitution of Pakistan was enacted?
1956
1962
1973
None of these
Indus Basin Treaty was held in the reign of
Ayub Khan
Zia-ul-Haq
Yahya Khan
Zulifqar Ali Bhutto
Dia Mir Bhasha Day is in
Gilgit
Chitral
Mansehra
Peshawar
Quran revealed in _________ years.
23
25
24
21
When Holy Prophet (PBUH) died?
632 AD
633 AD
635 AD
630 AD
Who founded Baghdad?
Al-Mansur
Haroon-ur-Rashid
Mamoon-ur-Rashid
None of these
Who wrote Spirit of Islam?
Syed Ameer Ali
Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
Ch. Rehmat Ali
Which province of Pakistan is least populated?
Balochistan
Punjab
Sindh
Khybar Pakhtoon Khawa
Who introduced “Basic Democracy” for the first time in Pakistan?
Ayub Khan
Yahya Khan
Zulifqar Ali Bhutto
Zia-ul-Haq
Which of the following was the Ottoman capital?
Constantinople
Baghdad
Cairo
None of these
The tribe of Hazrat Usman (R.A) was
Omayyad
Adi
Banu Tameem
None of these
Who was called Conqueror of Egypt (Fateh Misr)?
Hazrat Sa’ad Bin Abi Waqas (R.A)
Hazrat Ali (R.A)
Hazrat Khalid Bin Walid (R.A)
Hazrat Umar (R.A)
Najashi was the king of
Ethiopia
Iran
Syria
Yemen
Muhammad Bin Qasim is closely related to
Hajjaj Bin Yousaf
Haroon Rashid
Mamoon Rashid
Salah-ud-Din Ayubi
How many chapters (Parahs) in Quran?
30
25
114
28
Who was the first Muslim King of India?
Qutab-ud-Din Aibak
Muhammad bin Qasim
Babar
None of these
River Tigris is in
Iraq
Iran
Egypt
Syria
Ushr is
1/10th
1/20th
1/25th
1/40th
Who wrote Kitab-ul-Hind?
Al-Beroni
Ibn-ul-Haitham
Ibn-e-Batoota
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
Who was named as Saif-Ullah?
Hazrat Khalid Bin Waleed (R.A)
Hazrat Ali (R.A)
Hazrat Umar (R.A)
Hazrat Sa’ad Bin Abi Waqas (R.A)
Nature of Novels of Nasim Hijazi is
Historical
Political
Romantic
Social
Native country of Alexander is
Macedonia
Iraq
Abyssinia
Syria
Theory of Evolution is associated with
Darwin
Mandal
Robin
None of these
Sherlock Holmes is associated with
Arthur Conan Doyle
Jonathan Aims
Nancy Drew
Tom Swift
Taliban recently opened their office in
Doha
Abu Dhabi
Dubai
Muscat
American President Barrack Obama’s political party is
Democrates
Republican
Labour
None of these
Currently, GST in Pakistan is
17%
15%
16%
18%
Who has portfolio of Defense?
Nawaz Sharif
Sartaj Aziz
Zahid Hamid
Ch. Nisar Ali Khan
Who is president of Iran?
Hussan Rohani
Mahmoud Ahmdinejad
Ali Khameni
None of these
Al-Taqseem Square is in
Istanbul
Cairo
Islamabad
Tunis City
ICC Championship was played in
England
India
Sri Lank
West Indies
Titanic is
Ship
Aeroplan
Supersonic Fighter Jet
Bullet Train
Who was the president of America, during the American Civil War?
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
J.F Kennedy
George W. Bush Senior
Third Marshal Law in Pakistan was imposed on
5 July 1977
4 July 1977
6 July 1977
7 July 1977
Which of the following Muslims was Pan-Islamism during 19th Century?
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
Syed Ameer Ali
Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar
Sir Agha Kan
Who is president of Syria?
Bashar al-Assad
Abdul Halim Khaddam
Husni Mubarak
Muhammad Mursi
Which of the following American presidents was killed?
  1. F. Kennedy
Richard Nixon
George Washington
None of these
Aswan Dam is in
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Who gifted Statue of Liberity to the United States of America
France
Germany
Israel
Great Britain
Prague is capital of
Czech Republic
Poland
Hungry
Iceland
Which of following Islamic countries has 2500 islands?
Indonesia
Malaysia
Sudan
Saudi Arabia
Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated in
War of Waterloo
War of Buxor
War of Plassey
None of these
Who is incumbent British Prime Minister?
David Cameron
Tony Blair
Barack Obama
None of these
Who compiled Guru Granth?
Guru Nanak
Guru Amardas
Guru Ramdas
Guru Karishn
Who compiled Guru Granth?
Guru Nanak
Guru Amardas
Guru Ramdas
Guru Karishn
Mother Teresa was
Social Worker
Politician
Musician
President
Which of the following kings was assassinated?
Martin Luther King
Julius Caesar
Alexander
Napoleon Bonaparte
By profession, Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh is
Economist
Scientist
Doctor
Lawyer
Which was the capital of British Indian before Delhi?
Kolkata
Mumbai
Madras
Bangal
Torah is associated with
Hazrat Musa A.S
Hazrat Dawood A.S
Hazrat Musa A.S
None of these
Who is founder of All India Congress?
  1. O Hume
Nehro
Gandhi
None of these
Naqsh-e-Faryadi is written by
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Ahmad Sarfraz
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan
Allama Iqbal
Yen is currency of
Japan
China
Hong Kong
South Korea
Pelle was famous player of
Footbal
Hockey
Cricket
Tannis
Old name of Netherlands is
Holland
Iceland
Federland
Land of Republic
In Roman counting, XV is
15
20
5
10
Confucius is ancient philosopher of
China
Greek
Russia
America
UNO Head quarter is located in
New York
Washington
London
Paris
Mohanjo Daro is in
Sindh
Punjab
KPK
Balochistan
Who introduced the Law of Motion?
Newton
Feraday
Fleming
Einstein
Dermatology is disease of
Skin
Lungs
Heart
Brain
Who introduced Principle of Gravity?
Newton
Einstein
Mandal
Ashamedas
Solar eclipse occurs when
Moon comes between Earth and Sun
Earth comes between Moon and Sun
Earth, Moon and Sun are in same line
None of these
Who was the first man at moon?
Neil Armstrong
Yuri Gagarin
Buzz Aldrin
None of these
Rain fall in measured with
Rain Gauge
Rain Rode
Rain Meter
Hydro Meter
Who is inventor of computer operating system “Windows”?
Bill Gates
Malinda Gates
Steve Jobs
Larry Page
Bronchitis is associated with
Lungs
Heart
Brain
Respirator Cavity
A person or group made to bear the blame for others or to suffer in their place
Scapegoat
Sufferer
Victim
None of these
On doing it daily, the task soon became a leisurely.
Routine
Programme
Task
Work
Pick up the nearly associated word of “To be at arm’s length”
Distance
Work
Sight
Body
Turn on one’s heel mean to return
Quickly
Sharply
Instantly
None of these
Shortsightedness is
Myopia
Hydrophobia
Hyperopia
None of these
Calculate: 9999+8888+777-?=19700
36
30
35
34
Calculate: 0.8+0.05+0.369+0.7683=?
1.9873
1.9573
1.7398
1.9078
Calculate: 6.837+3.1469=?
9.9839
15
11
8.2445
Calculate: 15-6.837-3.1469=?
5.0161
5
4.0161
6.0161
Ali earns Rs. 20.56 on first day, Rs. 32.90 on second and Rs. 20.78 on third day of week. If he spend half of the amount he earned in first three days of week, find out the remaining amount.
Rs. 37.12
Rs. 37
Rs. 35.12
Rs.36.12
Solve: Under Root of 10 x Under Root of 250
50
100
25
10
Find out the highest ratio
7:15
9:15
25:29
18:24
If 314 men print 6594 papers in 10 minutes, then find out the average printing of each man in 1 minute.
2.1
2
3.1
4
Calculate: 4.56+3.82+5.06=?
13.44
14.44
12.44
11.44
Solve: 0.8/10=?
0.08
80
88
8
How many figures up to 100 can be divided by 7?
14
13
12
10
Water is _________ for life.
Indispensable
Inevitable
Needed
Required
Objective Resolution was passed in
1949
1940
1950
1947
First General Elections were held on in Pakistan in
1970
1985
1998
1957
Deficit Financing is
Printing new currency
Paying back loan
Brain drain
None of these
Alexander’s native land is
Macedonia
Germany
Italy
Britain
There are how many planets in universe?
8
9
10
11
Jabir Bin Hayan was a famous Muslim __________.
Chemist
Physicist
Discoverer
Teacher
I will not join Army as it is against my
Creed
Ethics
Beliefs
Taste
I will not be ________ to the mistakes made by him.
Answerable
Indispensable
Reliable
Accountable

PPSC JUNIOR PATROL OFFICER PAST PAPERS 2017 Read More »

MCQs / Q&A, Past Papers