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February 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1112 – Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona, and Douce I, Countess of Provence, marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states.
1451 – Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire.
1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.
1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.
1661 – Maratha forces under Chattrapati Shivaji defeat the Mughals in the Battle of Umberkhind.
1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt Swedish forces defeat a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.
1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
1807 – A British military force, under Brigadier-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty captures the Spanish Empire city of Montevideo, now the capital of Uruguay.
1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
1813 – José de San Martín defeats a Spanish royalist army at the Battle of San Lorenzo, part of the Argentine War of Independence.
1830 – The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.
1834 – Wake Forest University is established (as Wake Forest Institute) in North Carolina, United States.
1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.
1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
1916 – The Centre Block of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada burns down with the loss of 7 lives.
1917 – First World War: The American entry into World War I begins when diplomatic relations with Germany are severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.
1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.
1930 – Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a “Unification Conference” held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.
1931 – The Hawke’s Bay earthquake, New Zealand’s worst natural disaster, kills 258.
1933 – Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.
1943 – The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive.
1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 and 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
1953 – The Batepá massacre occurred in São Tomé when the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners unleashed a wave of violence against the native creoles known as forros.
1958 – Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.
1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of “a wind of change”, signalling that his Government was likely to support decolonisation.
1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.
1966 – The Soviet Union’s Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moon, and the first spacecraft to take pictures from the surface of the Moon.
1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.
1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
1984 – John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.
1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
1989 – After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
1989 – A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
1994 – Space Shuttle program: STS-60 is launched, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.
1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
2007 – A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
2014 – Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.

Births on February 3

1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)
1392 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English nobleman and military commander (d. 1455)
1428 – Helena Palaiologina, Queen of Cyprus (d. 1458)
1478 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (d. 1521)
1504 – Scipione Rebiba, Italian cardinal (d. 1577)
1677 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect, designed the Karlova Koruna Chateau (d. 1723)
1689 – Blas de Lezo, Spanish admiral (d. 1741)
1690 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (d. 1755)
1721 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (d. 1773)
1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)
1747 – Samuel Osgood, American soldier and politician, 1st United States Postmaster General (d. 1813)
1757 – Joseph Forlenze, Italian ophthalmologist and surgeon (d. 1833)
1763 – Caroline von Wolzogen, German author (d. 1847)
1777 – John Cheyne, Scottish physician and author (d. 1836)
1790 – Gideon Mantell, English scientist (d. 1852)
1795 – Antonio José de Sucre, Venezuelan general and politician, 2nd President of Bolivia (d. 1830)
1807 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general and politician (d. 1891)
1809 – Felix Mendelssohn, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1847)
1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)
1816 – Ram Singh Kuka, Indian credited with starting the Non-cooperation movement
1817 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (d. 1881)
1817 – Émile Prudent, French pianist and composer (d. 1863)
1821 – Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician and educator (d. 1910)
1824 – Ranald MacDonald, American explorer and educator (d. 1894)
1826 – Walter Bagehot, English journalist and businessman (d. 1877)
1830 – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1903)
1842 – Sidney Lanier, American composer and poet (d. 1881)
1843 – William Cornelius Van Horne, American-Canadian businessman (d. 1915)
1857 – Giuseppe Moretti, Italian sculptor, designed the Vulcan statue (d. 1935)
1859 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (d. 1935)
1862 – James Clark McReynolds, American lawyer and judge (d. 1946)
1867 – Charles Henry Turner, American biologist, educator and zoologist (d. 1923)
1872 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1874 – Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, (d. 1946)
1878 – Gordon Coates, New Zealand soldier and politician, 21st Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1943)
1887 – Georg Trakl, Austrian pharmacist and poet (d. 1914)
1889 – Artur Adson, Estonian poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1977)
1889 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (d. 1968)
1892 – Juan Negrín, Spanish physician and politician, 67th Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1956)
1893 – Gaston Julia, Algerian-French mathematician and academic (d. 1978)
1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)
1898 – Alvar Aalto, Finnish architect, designed the Finlandia Hall and Aalto Theatre (d. 1976)
1899 – Café Filho, Brazilian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 18th President of Brazil (d. 1970)
1900 – Mabel Mercer, English-American singer (d. 1984)
1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 1973)
1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)
1905 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (d. 1990)
1905 – Arne Beurling, Swedish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
1906 – George Adamson, Indian-English author and activist (d. 1989)
1907 – James A. Michener, American author and philanthropist (d. 1997)
1909 – André Cayatte, French lawyer and director (d. 1989)
1909 – Simone Weil, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1943)
1911 – Jehan Alain, French organist and composer (d. 1940)
1912 – Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist and politician (d. 1990)
1914 – Mary Carlisle, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2018)
1915 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler and hammer thrower (d. 1998)
1917 – Shlomo Goren, Polish-Israeli rabbi and general (d. 1994)
1918 – Joey Bishop, American actor and producer (d. 2007)
1918 – Helen Stephens, American runner, baseball player, and manager (d. 1994)
1920 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
1920 – Tony Gaze, Australian race car driver and pilot (d. 2013)
1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician and author (d. 2016)
1924 – E. P. Thompson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
1924 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
1925 – Shelley Berman, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
1925 – John Fiedler, American actor (d. 2005)
1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German soldier and politician, 8th Mayor of Berlin
1927 – Kenneth Anger, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1927 – Blas Ople, Filipino journalist and politician, 21st President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2003)
1933 – Paul Sarbanes, American lawyer and politician
1934 – Juan Carlos Calabró, Argentinian actor and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1935 – Johnny “Guitar” Watson, American blues, soul, and funk singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
1936 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (d. 1984)
1936 – Bob Simpson, Australian cricketer and coach
1937 – Billy Meier, Swiss author and photographer
1938 – Victor Buono, American actor (d. 1982)
1938 – Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (d. 2013)
1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1940 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player and sportscaster
1941 – Dory Funk, Jr., American wrestler and trainer
1941 – Howard Phillips, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
1943 – Dennis Edwards, American soul/R&B singer (d. 2018)
1943 – Eric Haydock, English bass player (d. 2019)
1943 – Shawn Phillips, American-South African singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Johnny Cymbal, Scottish-American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1993)
1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster
1947 – Paul Auster, American novelist, essayist, and poet
1947 – Stephen McHattie, Canadian actor and director
1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish author and playwright (d. 2015)
1949 – Jim Thorpe, American golfer
1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress
1950 – Grant Goldman, Australian radio and television host (d. 2020)
1951 – Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian footballer and manager
1951 – Michael Ruppert, American journalist and author (d. 2014)
1952 – Fred Lynn, American baseball player and sportscaster
1954 – Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1956 – John Jefferson, American football player and coach
1956 – Nathan Lane, American actor and comedian
1957 – Eric Lander, American mathematician, geneticist, and academic
1958 – Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American commander, pilot, and astronaut
1958 – Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American economist
1958 – Greg Mankiw, American economist and academic
1959 – Óscar Iván Zuluaga, Colombian economist and politician, 67th Colombian Minister of Finance
1960 – Tim Chandler, American bass player (d. 2018)
1960 – Marty Jannetty, American wrestler and trainer
1960 – Joachim Löw, German footballer and manager
1960 – Kerry Von Erich, American wrestler (d. 1993)
1961 – Linda Eder, American singer and actress
1963 – Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and academic
1964 – Indrek Tarand, Estonian historian, journalist, and politician
1965 – Maura Tierney, American actress and producer
1966 – Frank Coraci, American director and screenwriter
1966 – Danny Morrison, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
1967 – Tim Flowers, English footballer and coach
1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
1968 – Vlade Divac, Serbian-American basketball player and sportscaster
1968 – Marwan Khoury, Lebanese singer, songwriter, and composer
1969 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (d. 2015)
1969 – Retief Goosen, South African golfer
1970 – Óscar Córdoba, Colombian footballer
1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Hong Seok-cheon, South Korean actor
1972 – Jesper Kyd, Danish pianist and composer
1973 – Ilana Sod, Mexican journalist and producer
1976 – Isla Fisher, Omani-Australian actress
1977 – Daddy Yankee, American-Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
1977 – Marek Židlický, Czech ice hockey player
1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
1979 – Paul Franks, English cricketer and coach
1982 – Becky Bayless, American wrestler
1982 – Marie-Ève Drolet, Canadian speed skater
1984 – Elizabeth Holmes, American fraudster, founder of Theranos
1985 – Angela Fong, Canadian wrestler and actress
1985 – Andrei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
1986 – Lucas Duda, American baseball player
1986 – Mathieu Giroux, Canadian speed skater
1986 – Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress
1988 – Cho Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
1989 – Slobodan Rajković, Serbian footballer
1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter
1990 – Martin Taupau, New Zealand rugby league player
1991 – Corey Norman, Australian rugby league player
1992 – Olli Aitola, Finnish ice hockey player

Deaths on February 3

AD 6 – Ping, emperor of the Han Dynasty (b. 9 BC)
456 – Sihyaj Chan K’awiil II, ruler of Tikal
639 – K’inich Yo’nal Ahk I, ruler of Piedras Negras
699 – Werburgh, English nun and saint
865 – Ansgar, Frankish archbishop (b. 801)
929 – Guy, margrave of Tuscany
938 – Zhou Ben, Chinese general (b. 862)
994 – William IV, duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
1014 – Sweyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark and England (b. 960)
1116 – Coloman, king of Hungary
1161 – Inge I, king of Norway (b. 1135)
1252 – Sviatoslav III, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1196)
1399 – John of Gaunt, Belgian-English politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1340)
1428 – Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shōgun (b. 1386)
1451 – Murad II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1404)
1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher, invented the Printing press (b. 1398)
1537 – Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare (b. 1513)
1566 – George Cassander, Flemish theologian and author (b. 1513)
1618 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania (b. 1573)
1619 – Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1564)
1737 – Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1648)
1802 – Pedro Rodríguez, Spanish statesman and economist (b. 1723)
1813 – Juan Bautista Cabral, Argentinian sergeant (b. 1789)
1820 – Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1762)
1832 – George Crabbe, English surgeon and poet (b. 1754)
1862 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (b. 1774)
1866 – François-Xavier Garneau, Canadian poet, author, and historian (b. 1809)
1873 – Isaac Baker Brown, English gynecologist and surgeon (b. 1811)
1922 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1839)
1924 – Woodrow Wilson, American historian, academic, and politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
1929 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician and engineer (b. 1878)
1935 – Hugo Junkers, German engineer, designed the Junkers J 1 (b. 1859)
1944 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (b. 1865)
1945 – Roland Freisler, German lawyer and judge (b. 1893)
1947 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (b. 1887)
1952 – Harold L. Ickes, American journalist and politician, 32nd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)
1955 – Vasily Blokhin, Russian general (b. 1895)
1956 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and academic (b. 1871)
1956 – Johnny Claes, English-Belgian race car driver and trumpet player (b. 1916)
1959 – The Day the Music Died
- The Big Bopper, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
- Buddy Holly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
- Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
1961 – William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Scottish-Australian captain and politician, 14th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
1963 – Benjamin R. Jacobs (b. 1879)
1967 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (b. 1929)
1969 – C. N. Annadurai, Indian journalist and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambican activist and academic (b. 1920)
1975 – William D. Coolidge, American physicist and engineer (b. 1873)
1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1904)
1985 – Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1912)
1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
1989 – Lionel Newman, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1916)
1991 – Nancy Kulp, American actress (b. 1921)
1993 – Françoys Bernier, Canadian pianist and conductor (b. 1927)
1996 – Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (b. 1922)
1999 – Gwen Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1950)
2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian biologist and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1963)
2005 – Ernst Mayr, German-American biologist and ornithologist (b. 1904)
2006 – Al Lewis, American actor and activist (b. 1923)
2009 – Sheng-yen, Chinese monk and scholar, founded the Dharma Drum Mountain (b. 1930)
2010 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
2010 – Frances Reid, American actress (b. 1914)
2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
2012 – Toh Chin Chye, Singaporean academic and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1921)
2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor and director (b. 1930)
2012 – Terence Hildner, American general (b. 1962)
2012 – Raj Kanwar, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1961)
2012 – Zalman King, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1942)
2012 – Andrzej Szczeklik, Polish physician and academic (b. 1938)
2013 – Cardiss Collins, American politician (b. 1931)
2013 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian composer and producer (b. 1921)
2013 – James Muri, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
2013 – Jam Mohammad Yousaf, Pakistani politician, Chief Minister of Balochistan (b. 1954)
2015 – Martin Gilbert, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1936)
2015 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (b. 1918)
2015 – Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
2015 – Nasim Hasan Shah, Pakistani lawyer and judge, 12th Chief Justice of Pakistan (b. 1929)
2016 – Balram Jakhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 23rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh (b. 1923)
2016 – József Kasza, Serbian politician and economist (b. 1945)
2016 – Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
2017 – Dritëro Agolli, Albanian poet, writer and politician (b. 1931)
2019 – Julie Adams, American actress (b. 1926)
2019 – Kristoff St. John, American actor (b. 1966)
2020 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on February 3

Christian feast day:
- Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Ansgar
- Berlinda of Meerbeke
- Blaise
- Celsa and Nona
- Claudine Thévenet
- Dom Justo Takayama (Philippines and Japan)
- Hadelin
- Margaret of England
- Werburgh
- February 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Virgin of Suyapa (Honduras)
Earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can fall, while March 9 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity)
Four Chaplains Day (United States, also considered a Feast Day by the Episcopal Church)
Communist Party of Vietnam Foundation Anniversary (Vietnam)
Heroes’ Day (Mozambique)
Martyrs’ Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
Setsubun (Japan)
Veterans’ Day (Thailand)

February 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates the Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum), a collection of “Roman law”.
880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which Stephen, King of England is defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda.
1207 – Terra Mariana, eventually comprising present-day Latvia and Estonia, is established.
1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt are executed at Torda.
1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.
1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1899 – The Australian Premiers’ Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia’s capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria.
1909 – The Paris Film Congress opens. An attempt by European producers to form an equivalent to the MPCC cartel in the United States.
1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
1935 – Leonarde Keeler administers polygraph tests to two murder suspects, the first time polygraph evidence was admitted in U.S. courts.
1942 – The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.
1959 – Nine experienced ski hikers in the northern Ural Mountains in the Soviet Union die under mysterious circumstances.
1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
2002 – Wedding of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men’s singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
2005 – The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
2007 – Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.
2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146-165 dead.

Births on February 2

1208 – James I of Aragon (d. 1276)
1282 – Maud Chaworth, Countess of Leicester (d. 1322).
1425 (or 1426) – Eleanor of Navarre, Queen regnant of Navarre (d. 1479)
1443 – Elisabeth of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony (d. 1486)
1455 – John, King of Denmark (d. 1513)
1457 – Peter Martyr d’Anghiera, Italian-Spanish historian and author (d. 1526)
1467 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican sister (d. 1501)
1494 – Bona Sforza, queen of Sigismund I of Poland (d. 1557)
1502 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher and historian (d. 1574)
1506 – René de Birague, Italian-French cardinal and politician (d. 1583)
1509 – John of Leiden, Dutch Anabaptist leader (d. 1536)
1522 – Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1565)
1536 – Piotr Skarga, Polish writer (d. 1612)
1551 – Nicolaus Reimers, German astronomer (d. 1600)
1576 – Alix Le Clerc, French Canoness Regular and foundress (d. 1622)
1585 – Judith Quiney, William Shakespeare’s youngest daughter (d. 1662)
1585 – Hamnet Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’s only son (baptised; d. 1596)
1588 – Georg II of Fleckenstein-Dagstuhl, German nobleman (d. 1644)
1600 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)
1611 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (d. 1633)
1613 – Noël Chabanel, French missionary and saint (d. 1649)
1621 – Johannes Schefferus, Swedish author and hymn-writer (d. 1679)
1650 – Pope Benedict XIII (d. 1730)
1650 – Nell Gwyn, English actress, mistress of King Charles II of England (d. 1687)
1651 – William Phips, Royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (d. 1695)
1669 – Louis Marchand, French organist and composer (d. 1732)
1677 – Jean-Baptiste Morin, French composer (d. 1745)
1695 – William Borlase, English geologist and archaeologist (d. 1772)
1695 – François de Chevert, French general (d. 1769)
1700 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German author and critic (d. 1766)
1711 – Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg (d. 1794)
1714 – Gottfried August Homilius, German organist and composer (d. 1785)
1717 – Ernst Gideon von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (d. 1790)
1754 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1838)
1782 – Henri de Rigny, French admiral and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1835)
1786 – Jacques Philippe Marie Binet, French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1856)
1802 – Jean-Baptiste Boussingault, French chemist and academic (d. 1887)
1803 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (d. 1862)
1829 – Alfred Brehm, German zoologist and illustrator (d. 1884)
1829 – William Stanley, English engineer and philanthropist (d. 1909)
1841 – François-Alphonse Forel, Swiss limnologist and hydrologist (d. 1912)
1842 – Julian Sochocki, Polish-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1927)
1849 – Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav, Slovak poet and playwright (d. 1921)
1851 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican illustrator and engraver (d. 1913)
1856 – Frederick William Vanderbilt, American railway magnate (d. 1938)
1856 – Makar Yekmalyan, Armenian composer (d. 1905)
1857 – Jan Drozdowski, Polish pianist and music teacher (d. 1918)
1860 – Curtis Guild, Jr., American journalist and politician, 43rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1915)
1861 – Solomon R. Guggenheim, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (d. 1949)
1862 – Émile Coste, French fencer (d. 1927)
1862 – Cornelius McKane, American physician, educator, and hospital founder (d. 1912)
1866 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and academic (d. 1927)
1873 – Leo Fall, Austrian composer (d. 1925)
1873 – Konstantin von Neurath, German politician and diplomat, 13th German Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1956)
1875 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (d. 1962)
1877 – Frank L. Packard, Canadian author (d. 1942)
1878 – Joe Lydon, American boxer (d. 1937)
1880 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
1881 – Orval Overall, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
1882 – Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (d. 1944)
1882 – James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1941)
1883 – Johnston McCulley, American author and screenwriter, created Zorro (d. 1958)
1883 – Julia Nava de Ruisánchez, Mexican activist and writer (d. 1964)
1886 – William Rose Benét, American poet and author (d. 1950)
1887 – Ernst Hanfstaengl, German businessman (d. 1975)
1889 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (d. 1952)
1890 – Charles Correll, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1972)
1892 – Tochigiyama Moriya, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 27th Yokozuna (d. 1959)
1893 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (d. 1974)
1893 – Raoul Riganti, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1970)
1893 – Damdin Sükhbaatar, Mongolian soldier and politician (d. 1924)
1895 – George Halas, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
1895 – Robert Philipp, American painter (d. 1981)
1895 – George Sutcliffe, Australian public servant (d. 1964)
1896 – Kazimierz Kuratowski, Polish mathematician and logician (d. 1980)
1897 – Howard Deering Johnson, American businessman, founded Howard Johnson’s (d. 1972)
1897 – Gertrude Blanch, Russian-American mathematician (d. 1996)
1900 – Anni Frind, German lyric soprano (d. 1987)
1900 – Willie Kamm, American baseball player and manager (d. 1988)
1901 – Jascha Heifetz, Lithuanian-born American violinist and educator (d. 1987)
1902 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (d. 1966)
1902 – John Tonkin, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1995)
1904 – Bozorg Alavi, Iranian author and activist (d. 1997)
1905 – Ayn Rand, Russian-born American novelist and philosopher (d. 1982)
1908 – Wes Ferrell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
1909 – Frank Albertson, American actor (d. 1964)
1911 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (d. 1968)
1912 – Millvina Dean, English civil servant and cartographer (d. 2009)
1912 – Burton Lane, American songwriter and composer (d. 1997)
1913 – Poul Reichhardt, Danish actor and singer (d. 1985)
1914 – Eric Kierans, Canadian economist and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2004)
1915 – Abba Eban, South African-Israeli politician and diplomat, 1st Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2002)
1915 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (d. 2005)
1915 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (d. 2014)
1916 – Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1985)
1917 – Mary Ellis, British World War II ferry pilot (d. 2018)
1917 – Đỗ Mười, Vietnamese politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2018)
1918 – Hella Haasse, Indonesian-Dutch author (d. 2011)
1919 – Lisa Della Casa, Swiss soprano and actress (d. 2012)
1919 – Georg Gawliczek, German footballer and manager (d. 1999)
1920 – George Hardwick, English footballer and coach (d. 2004)
1920 – John Russell, American Olympic equestrian
1920 – Arthur Willis, English footballer, full-back, player-manager (d. 1987)
1922 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey player (d. 1978)
1922 – Robert Chef d’Hôtel, French athlete (d. 2019)
1922 – James L. Usry, American politician, first African-American mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2002)
1922 – Stoyanka Mutafova, Bulgarian actress (d. 2019)
1923 – Jean Babilée, French dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
1923 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (d. 1997)
1923 – Svetozar Gligorić, Serbian and Yugoslav chess grandmaster (d.2012)
1923 – Bonita Granville, American actress and producer (d. 1988)
1923 – Red Schoendienst, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
1923 – Liz Smith, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
1923 – Clem Windsor, Australian rugby player and surgeon (d. 2007)
1924 – Elfi von Dassanowsky, Austrian-American singer, pianist, producer (d. 2007)
1924 – Sonny Stitt, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1982)
1925 – Elaine Stritch, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1926 – Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, French academic and politician, 20th President of France
1927 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist (d. 1991)
1927 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (d. 2012)
1928 – Ciriaco De Mita, 47th Prime minister of Italy
1928 – Jay Handlan, American basketball player and engineer (d. 2013)
1928 – Tommy Harmer, English footballer, inside forward, youth team coach (d. 2007)
1929 – Sheila Matthews Allen, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
1929 – George Band, English engineer and mountaineer (d. 2011)
1929 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1929 – John Henry Holland, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015)
1929 – Waldemar Kmentt, Austrian operatic tenor (d. 2015)
1931 – Dries van Agt, Dutch politician, diplomat and jurist, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1931 – Les Dawson, English comedian and author (d. 1993)
1931 – Glynn Edwards, Malaysian-English actor (d. 2018)
1931 – John Paul Harney, Canadian educator and politician
1931 – Judith Viorst, American journalist and author
1932 – Arthur Lyman, American jazz vibraphone and marimba player (d. 2002)
1932 – Robert Mandan, American actor (d. 2018)
1933 – M’el Dowd, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1933 – Tony Jay, English-American actor (d. 2006)
1933 – Orlando “Cachaíto” López, Cuban bassist and composer (d. 2009)
1933 – Than Shwe, Burmese general and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma
1935 – Pete Brown, American golfer (d. 2015)
1935 – Evgeny Velikhov, Russian physicist and academic
1936 – Duane Jones, American actor (d. 1988)
1936 – Metin Oktay, Turkish footballer and manager (d. 1991)
1937 – Don Buford, American baseball player and coach
1937 – Eric Arturo Delvalle, Panamanian lawyer and politician, President of Panama (d. 2015)
1937 – Anthony Haden-Guest, British journalist, poet, and critic
1937 – Remak Ramsay, American actor
1937 – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist
1937 – Alexandra Strelchenko, Russian Singer (d. 2019)
1938 – Norman Fowler, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
1938 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
1939 – Jackie Burroughs, English-born Canadian actress (d. 2010)
1939 – Mary-Dell Chilton, American chemist and inventor and one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology
1939 – Dale T. Mortensen, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
1940 – Alan Caddy, English guitarist and producer (d. 2000)
1940 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (d. 2008)
1940 – Wayne Fontes, American football player and coach
1940 – David Jason, English actor, director, and producer
1941 – Terry Biddlecombe, English jockey (d. 2014)
1942 – Bo Hopkins, American actor
1942 – Graham Nash, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1944 – Andrew Davis, English organist and conductor
1944 – Geoffrey Hughes, English actor (d. 2012)
1944 – Ursula Oppens, American pianist and educator
1945 – John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, English economist and academic
1946 – John Armitt, English engineer and businessman
1946 – Alpha Oumar Konaré, Malian academic and politician, 3rd President of Mali
1946 – Constantine Papadakis, Greek-American businessman and academic (d. 2009)
1947 – Greg Antonacci, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1947 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (d. 2009)
1948 – Ina Garten, American chef and author
1948 – Al McKay, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1948 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (d. 1973)
1949 – Duncan Bannatyne, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
1949 – Yasuko Namba, Japanese mountaineer (d. 1996)
1949 – Brent Spiner, American actor and singer
1949 – Ross Valory, American rock bass player and songwriter
1950 – Osamu Kido, Japanese wrestler
1950 – Libby Purves, British journalist and author
1950 – Barbara Sukowa, German actress
1950 – Genichiro Tenryu, Japanese wrestler
1951 – Vangelis Alexandris, Greek basketball player and coach
1951 – Ken Bruce, Scottish radio host
1952 – John Cornyn, American lawyer and politician, 49th Attorney General of Texas
1952 – Rick Dufay, French-American guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Park Geun-hye, South Korean politician, 11th President of South Korea
1952 – Ralph Merkle, American computer scientist and academic
1952 – Carol Ann Susi, American actress (d. 2014)
1953 – Duane Chapman, American bounty hunter
1953 – Jerry Sisk, Jr., American gemologist, co-founded Jewelry Television (d. 2013)
1954 – Christie Brinkley, American actress, model, and businesswoman
1954 – Hansi Hinterseer, Austrian skier and actor
1954 – Nelson Ne’e, Solomon Islander politician (d. 2013)
1954 – John Tudor, American baseball player
1955 – Leszek Engelking, Polish poet and author
1955 – Bob Schreck, American author
1955 – Michael Talbott, American actor
1955 – Kim Zimmer, American actress
1956 – Adnan Oktar, Turkish theorist and author
1957 – Phil Barney, Algerian-French singer-songwriter
1958 – Michel Marc Bouchard, Canadian playwright
1961 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (d. 2013)
1961 – Lauren Lane, American actress and academic
1962 – Philippe Claudel, French author, director, and screenwriter
1962 – Andy Fordham, English darts player
1962 – Paul Kilgus, American baseball player
1962 – Kate Raison, Australian actress
1962 – Michael T. Weiss, American actor
1963 – Eva Cassidy, American singer and guitarist (d. 1996)
1963 – Kjell Dahlin, Swedish ice hockey player
1963 – Andrej Kiska, Slovak entrepreneur and philanthropist, President of Slovakia
1963 – Philip Laats, Belgian martial artist
1963 – Vigleik Storaas, Norwegian pianist
1965 – Carl Airey, English footballer
1965 – Naoki Sano, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1966 – Andrei Chesnokov, Russian tennis player and coach
1966 – Robert DeLeo, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Adam Ferrara, American actor and comedian
1966 – Michael Misick, Caicos Islander politician, Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
1967 – Artūrs Irbe, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
1967 – Laurent Nkunda, Congolese general
1968 – Sean Elliott, American basketball player and sportscaster
1968 – Scott Erickson, American baseball player and coach
1969 – Dana International, Israeli singer-songwriter
1969 – Valeri Karpin, Estonian-Russian footballer and manager
1970 – Roar Strand, Norwegian footballer
1970 – Jennifer Westfeldt, American actress and singer
1971 – Michelle Gayle, English singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Arly Jover, Spanish actress
1971 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer and sportscaster (d. 2014)
1971 – Jason Taylor, Australian rugby league player and coach
1971 – Hwang Seok-jeong, South Korean actress
1972 – Melvin Mora, Venezuelan baseball player
1972 – Aleksey Naumov, Russian footballer
1973 – Andrei Luzgin, Estonian tennis player and coach
1973 – Aleksander Tammert, Estonian discus thrower
1973 – Marissa Jaret Winokur, American actress and singer
1975 – Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Donald Driver, American football player
1975 – Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer
1976 – Ryan Farquhar, Northern Irish motorcycle racer
1976 – James Hickman, English swimmer
1976 – Ana Roces, Filipino actress
1977 – Shakira, Colombian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1977 – Libor Sionko, Czech footballer
1978 – Adam Christopher, New Zealand writer
1978 – Eden Espinosa, American actress and singer
1978 – Annabel Ellwood, Australian tennis player
1978 – Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
1978 – Rich Sommer, American actor
1978 – Faye White, English footballer
1979 – Urmo Aava, Estonian race car driver
1979 – Fani Chalkia, Greek hurdler and sprinter
1979 – Christine Lampard, Irish television host
1979 – Klaus Mainzer, German rugby player
1979 – Shamita Shetty, Indian actress
1979 – Irini Terzoglou, Greek shot putter
1980 – Angela Finger-Erben, German journalist
1980 – Teddy Hart, Canadian wrestler
1980 – Oleguer Presas, Spanish footballer
1981 – Emre Aydın, Turkish singer-songwriter
1981 – Michelle Bass, English model and singer
1981 – Salem al-Hazmi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 77 (d. 2001)
1982 – Sergio Castaño Ortega, Spanish footballer
1982 – Kelly Mazzante, American basketball player
1982 – Kan Mi-youn, South Korean singer, model, and host
1983 – Ronny Cedeño, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Carolina Klüft, Swedish heptathlete and jumper
1983 – Jordin Tootoo, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Vladimir Voskoboinikov, Estonian footballer
1983 – Alex Westaway, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1984 – Brian Cage, American wrestler
1984 – Mao Miyaji, Japanese actress
1984 – Rudi Wulf, New Zealand rugby player
1985 – Masoud Azizi, Afghan sprinter
1985 – Renn Kiriyama, Japanese actor
1985 – Kristo Saage, Estonian basketball player
1985 – Silvestre Varela, Portuguese footballer
1986 – Gemma Arterton, English actress and singer
1986 – Miwa Asao, Japanese volleyball player
1987 – Anthony Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
1987 – Saia Fainga’a, Australian rugby player
1987 – Faydee, Australian singer
1987 – Athena Imperial, Filipino journalist, Miss Earth-Water 2011
1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
1987 – Jill Scott, English footballer
1987 – Victoria Song, Chinese singer and actress
1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor and producer
1988 – Zosia Mamet, American actress
1989 – Harrison Smith, American football player
1989 – Southside, American record producer
1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
1991 – Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor
1992 – Lammtarra, American race horse (d. 2014)
1992 – Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer
1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid, English born Jamaican international footballer, forward
1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakstani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer, midfielder

Deaths on February 2

619 – Laurence of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint
880 – Bruno, duke of Saxony
1124 – Bořivoj II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1064)
1218 – Konstantin of Rostov (b. 1186)
1237 – Joan, Lady of Wales
1250 – Eric XI of Sweden (b. 1216)
1294 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1229)
1347 – Thomas Bek, Bishop of Lincoln, was the bishop of Lincoln (b. 1282)
1348 – Narymunt, Prince of Pinsk
1435 – Joan II of Naples, Queen of Naples (b. 1371)
1446 – Vittorino da Feltre, Italian humanist (b. 1378)
1448 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (b. 1372)
1461 – Owen Tudor, Welsh founder of the Tudor dynasty (b. c. 1400)
1512 – Hatuey, Caribbean tribal chief
1529 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian soldier and diplomat (b. 1478)
1580 – Bessho Nagaharu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1558)
1594 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer and educator (b. 1525)
1648 – George Abbot, English author and politician (b. 1603)
1660 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans (b. 1608)
1660 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (b. 1615)
1661 – Lucas Holstenius, German geographer and historian (b. 1596)
1675 – Ivan Belostenec, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (b. 1594)
1688 – Abraham Duquesne, French admiral (b. 1610)
1704 – Guillaume de l’Hôpital, French mathematician and academic (b. 1661)
1712 – Martin Lister, English physician and geologist (b. 1639)
1714 – John Sharp, English archbishop (b. 1643)
1723 – Antonio Maria Valsalva, Italian anatomist and physician (b. 1666)
1768 – Robert Smith, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1689)
1769 – Pope Clement XIII (b. 1693)
1802 – Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1713)
1804 – George Walton, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1749)
1831 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (b. 1768)
1836 – Letizia Ramolino, Italian noblewoman (b. 1750)
1861 – Théophane Vénard, French Catholic missionary (b. 1829)
1881 – Henry Parker, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1808)
1904 – Ernest Cashel, American-Canadian criminal (b. 1882)
1904 – William Collins Whitney, American financier and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1841)
1905 – Henri Germain, French banker and politician, founded Le Crédit Lyonnais (b. 1824)
1907 – Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (b. 1834)
1909 – Carlo Acton, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
1913 – Gustaf de Laval, Swedish engineer (b. 1845)
1918 – John L. Sullivan, American boxer (b. 1858)
1919 – Julius Kuperjanov, Estonian lieutenant (b. 1894)
1925 – Antti Aarne, Finnish historian and academic (b. 1867)
1925 – Jaap Eden, Dutch speed skater and cyclist (b. 1873)
1926 – Vladimir Sukhomlinov, Russian general and politician (b. 1848)
1932 – Agha Petros, Assyrian general and politician (b. 1880)
1939 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (b. 1879)
1942 – Ado Birk, Estonian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1883)
1942 – Daniil Kharms, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1905)
1942 – Hugh D. McIntosh, Australian businessman (b. 1876)
1945 – Alfred Delp, German priest and philosopher (b. 1907)
1945 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, German economist and politician (b. 1884)
1945 – Johannes Popitz, German lawyer and politician (b. 1884)
1948 – Thomas W. Lamont, American banker and philanthropist (b. 1870)
1948 – Bevil Rudd, South African runner and journalist (b. 1894)
1950 – Constantin Carathéodory, Greek mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
1952 – Callistratus of Georgia, Georgian patriarch (b. 1866)
1954 – Hella Wuolijoki, Estonian-Finnish author and politician (b. 1886)
1956 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (b. 1869)
1956 – Truxtun Hare, American football player and hammer thrower (b. 1878)
1956 – Pyotr Konchalovsky, Russian painter (b. 1876)
1957 – Grigory Landsberg, Russian physicist and academic (b. 1890)
1962 – Shlomo Hestrin, Canadian-Israeli biochemist and academic (b. 1914)
1966 – Hacı Ömer Sabancı, Turkish businessman (b. 1906)
1968 – Tullio Serafin, Italian conductor and director (b. 1878)
1969 – Boris Karloff, English actor (b. 1887)
1970 – Lawrence Gray, American actor (b. 1898)
1970 – Bertrand Russell, English mathematician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1872)
1972 – Natalie Clifford Barney, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1876)
1973 – Hendrik Elias, Belgian academic and politician, 9th Mayor of Ghent (b. 1902)
1974 – Imre Lakatos, Hungarian-English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1922)
1975 – Gustave Lanctot, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1883)
1979 – Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (b. 1930)
1979 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (b. 1957)
1980 – William Howard Stein, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
1982 – Paul Desruisseaux, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
1983 – Sam Chatmon, American singer and guitarist (b. 1897)
1986 – Anita Cobby, Australian murder victim (b. 1959)
1986 – Gino Hernandez, American wrestler (b. 1957)
1987 – Carlos José Castilho, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1927)
1987 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
1988 – Marcel Bozzuffi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
1989 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater and coach (b. 1951)
1989 – Arnold Nordmeyer, New Zealand minister and politician, 30th New Zealand Minister of Finance (b. 1901)
1990 – Paul Ariste, Estonian linguist and academic (b. 1905)
1990 – Joe Erskine, Welsh boxer (b. 1934)
1992 – Bert Parks, American actor, singer, television personality; Miss America telecast presenter (b. 1914)
1993 – François Reichenbach, French director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1994 – Marija Gimbutas, Lithuanian-American archeologist (b. 1921)
1995 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor and actor (b. 1917)
1995 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player (b. 1909)
1995 – Donald Pleasence, English-French actor (b. 1919)
1996 – Gene Kelly, American actor, singer, dancer, and director (b. 1912)
1997 – Erich Eliskases, Austrian chess player (b. 1913)
1997 – Sanford Meisner, American actor and coach (b. 1904)
1998 – Haroun Tazieff, German-French geologist and cinematographer (b. 1914)
1999 – David McComb, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
2002 – Paul Baloff, American singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
2002 – Claude Brown, American author (b. 1937)
2003 – Lou Harrison, American composer and educator (b. 1917)
2004 – Bernard McEveety, American director and producer (b. 1924)
2005 – Birgitte Federspiel, Danish actress (b. 1925)
2005 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (b. 1905)
2007 – Vijay Arora, Indian actor (b. 1944)
2007 – Billy Henderson, American singer (b. 1939)
2007 – Joe Hunter, American pianist (b. 1927)
2007 – Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (b. 1967)
2007 – Eric Von Schmidt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
2007 – Masao Takemoto, Japanese gymnast (b. 1919)
2008 – Barry Morse, Canadian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
2008 – Katoucha Niane, Guinean model and author (b. 1960)
2011 – Edward Amy, Canadian general (b. 1918)
2011 – Defne Joy Foster, Turkish actress (b. 1975)
2011 – Margaret John, Welsh actress (b. 1926)
2012 – Joyce Barkhouse, Canadian author (b. 1913)
2012 – Frederick William Danker, American lexicographer and scholar (b. 1920)
2012 – George Esper, American journalist and academic (b. 1932)
2012 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (b. 1923)
2012 – James F. Lloyd, American pilot and politician (b. 1922)
2013 – Abraham Iyambo, Namibian politician (b. 1961)
2013 – John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (b. 1931)
2013 – Chris Kyle, American soldier and sniper (b. 1974)
2013 – Lino Oviedo, Paraguayan general and politician (b. 1943)
2013 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (b. 1924)
2013 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (b. 1927)
2013 – Walt Sweeney, American football player (b. 1941)
2013 – Guy F. Tozzoli, American architect (b. 1922)
2014 – Gerd Albrecht, German conductor (b. 1935)
2014 – Tommy Aquino, American motorcycle racer (b. 1992)
2014 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (b. 1941)
2014 – Eduardo Coutinho, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1933)
2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)
2014 – Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (b. 1962)
2014 – Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (b. 1948)
2014 – Nigel Walker, English footballer (b. 1959)
2015 – Joseph Alfidi, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1949)
2015 – Dave Bergman, American baseball player (b. 1953)
2015 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1968)
2015 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
2015 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
2015 – The Jacka, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
2016 – Bob Elliott, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on February 2

Anniversary of Treaty of Tartu (Estonia)
Christian Feast Day:
- Adalbard
- Cornelius the Centurion
- Martyrs of Ebsdorf
- February 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Philippines)
Day of Youth (Azerbaijan)
Earliest day on which Shrove Monday can fall, while March 8 is the latest; celebrated on Monday before Ash Wednesday (Christianity), and its related observances:
- Bun Day (Iceland)
- Fastelavn (Denmark/Norway)
- Nickanan Night (Cornwall)
- Rosenmontag (Germany)
Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple or Candlemas (Western Christianity), and its related observances:
- A quarter day in the Christian calendar (due to Candlemas). (Scotland)
- Celebration of Yemanja or Our Lady of Navigators (Candomblé)
- Le Jour des Crêpes (France)
- Our Lady of the Candles (Filipino Catholics)
- Virgin of Candelaria (Tenerife, Spain)
Groundhog Day (United States and Canada), and its related observances:
- Marmot Day (Alaska)
Inventor’s Day (Thailand)
Trader’s Day (Poland)
Victory of the Battle of Stalingrad (Russia)
World Wetlands Day

February 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
1662 – The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.
1713 – The Kalabalik or Skirmish at Bender results from the Ottoman sultan’s order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized.
1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York.
1814 – Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, the most devastating eruption of the volcano.
1835 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.
1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States.
1864 – Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war.
1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.
1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.
1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini.
1897 – Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul.
1908 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon.
1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1924 – Russia–United Kingdom relations are restored, over six years after the Communist revolution.
1942 – World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.
1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.
1942 – Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.
1942 – Mao Zedong makes a speech on “Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature”, which puts into motion the Yan’an Rectification Movement.
1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.
1946 – The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.
1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.
1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
1968 – Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.
1968 – Canada’s three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.
1968 – The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation.
1972 – Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293.
1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile.
1989 – The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie–Boulder.
1991 – A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others.
1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case.
1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.
2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.
2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
2004 – Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured.
2005 – King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d’état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
2009 – The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government.
2012 – Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said.
2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, is opened to the public.

Births on February 1

1261 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop and politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1326)
1435 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (d. 1472)
1447 – Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1504)
1459 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (d. 1508)
1462 – Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer (d. 1516)
1552 – Edward Coke, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1634)
1561 – Henry Briggs, British mathematician (d. 1630)
1635 – Marquard Gude, German archaeologist and scholar (d. 1689)
1648 – Elkanah Settle, English poet and playwright (d. 1724)
1659 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (d. 1729)
1663 – Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, Filipino nun, founded the Religious of the Virgin Mary (d. 1748)
1666 – Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (d.1732)
1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German violinist and composer (d. 1733)
1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1768)
1701 – Johan Agrell, Swedish-German pianist and composer (d. 1765)
1761 – Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, South African-French mycologist and academic (d. 1836)
1763 – Thomas Campbell, Irish minister and theologian (d. 1854)
1796 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss minister, poet, and educator (d. 1865)
1801 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (d. 1881)
1820 – George Hendric Houghton, American clergyman and theologian (d. 1897)
1836 – Emil Hartmann, Danish organist and composer (d. 1898)
1844 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (d. 1924)
1851 – Durham Stevens, American lawyer and diplomat (d. 1908)
1858 – Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican diplomat (d. 1942)
1859 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
1866 – Agda Meyerson, Swedish nurse and healthcare activist (d. 1924)
1868 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
1870 – Erik Adolf von Willebrand, Finnish physician (d. 1949)
1872 – Clara Butt, English opera singer (d. 1936)
1872 – Jerome F. Donovan, American lawyer and politician (d. 1949)
1873 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1901)
1874 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1929)
1878 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika (d. 1955)
1878 – Milan Hodža, Slovak journalist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (d. 1944)
1881 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (d. 1966)
1882 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973)
1884 – Bradbury Robinson, American football player and physician (d. 1949)
1884 – Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (d. 1937)
1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant, pilot, and author (d. 1947)
1890 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1942)
1894 – John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973)
1894 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (d. 1955)
1895 – Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman (d. 1980)
1897 – Denise Robins, English journalist and author (d. 1985)
1898 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician and author (d. 2012)
1901 – Frank Buckles, American soldier (d. 2011)
1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960)
1902 – Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard (d. 1947)
1902 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (d. 1967)
1904 – S.J. Perelman, American humorist and screenwriter (d. 1979)
1905 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
1906 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (d. 1993)
1907 – Günter Eich, German author and songwriter (d. 1972)
1907 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian pianist and composer (d. 1993)
1908 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (d. 1980)
1908 – Louis Rasminsky, Canadian economist and banker (d. 1998)
1909 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Chinese general and politician (d. 2009)
1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
1917 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (d. 2013)
1917 – Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player and soldier (d. 1944)
1918 – Muriel Spark, Scottish playwright and poet (d. 2006)
1918 – Ignacy Tokarczuk, Polish archbishop (d. 2012)
1920 – Mike Scarry, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
1920 – Zao Wou-Ki, Chinese-French painter (d. 2013)
1921 – Teresa Mattei, Italian feminist partisan and politician (d. 2013)
1921 – Peter Sallis, English actor (d. 2017)
1921 – Patricia Robins, British writer and WAAF officer (d. 2016).
1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano and actress (d. 2004)
1923 – Ben Weider, Canadian businessman, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (d. 2008)
1924 – Richard Hooker, American novelist (d. 1997)
1924 – Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2012)
1927 – Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (d. 2014)
1928 – Sam Edwards, Welsh physicist and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Tom Lantos, Hungarian-American academic and politician (d. 2008)
1930 – Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi judge and politician, 12th President of Bangladesh
1930 – Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Indian-Bangladeshi general and politician, 10th President of Bangladesh (d. 2019)
1931 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (d. 2007)
1932 – Hassan Al-Turabi, Sudanese activist and politician (d. 2016)
1934 – Nicolae Breban, Romanian author, poet, and playwright
1936 – Tuncel Kurtiz, Turkish actor, playwright, and director (d. 2013)
1936 – Azie Taylor Morton, American educator and politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003)
1937 – Don Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1937 – Garrett Morris, American actor and comedian
1938 – Jimmy Carl Black, American drummer and singer (d. 2008)
1938 – Jacky Cupit, American golfer
1938 – Sherman Hemsley, American actor and singer (d. 2012)
1939 – Fritjof Capra, Austrian physicist, author, and academic
1939 – Claude François, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 1978)
1939 – Paul Gillmor, American lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
1939 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (d. 2009)
1939 – Joe Sample, American pianist and composer (d. 2014)
1941 – Jerry Spinelli, American author
1942 – Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996)
1942 – Terry Jones, Welsh actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1942 – David Sincock, Australian cricketer
1944 – Petru Popescu, Romanian-American director, producer, and author
1944 – Burkhard Ziese, German footballer and manager (d. 2010)
1945 – Serge Joyal, Canadian lawyer and politician, 50th Secretary of State for Canada
1945 – Ferruccio Mazzola, Italian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1945 – Mary Jane Reoch, American cyclist (d. 1993)
1946 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (d. 2011)
1946 – Karen Krantzcke, Australian tennis player (d. 1977)
1947 – Adam Ingram, Scottish computer programmer and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
1947 – Normie Rowe, Australian singer-songwriter and actor
1947 – Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983)
1948 – Rick James, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
1950 – Mike Campbell, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1950 – Ali Haydar Konca, Turkish politician, 4th Turkish Minister of European Union Affairs
1950 – Rich Williams, American guitarist and songwriter
1951 – Sonny Landreth, American guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (d. 2012)
1954 – Chuck Dukowski, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1956 – Exene Cervenka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi Arabian businessman (d. 2007)
1957 – Gilbert Hernandez, American author and illustrator
1958 – Luther Blissett, Jamaican-English footballer and manager
1958 – Eleanor Laing, Scottish lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
1961 – Volker Fried, German field hockey player and coach
1961 – Daniel M. Tani, American engineer and astronaut
1961 – Kaduvetti Guru, Indian politician (d. 2018)
1962 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2004)
1962 – Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Takashi Murakami, Japanese painter and sculptor
1964 – Jani Lane, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1964 – Mario Pelchat, Canadian singer-songwriter
1964 – Linus Roache, English actor
1965 – Stéphanie of Monaco, designer, singer and princess
1965 – Brandon Lee, American actor and martial artist (d. 1993)
1965 – Sherilyn Fenn, American actress
1966 – Michelle Akers, American soccer player
1967 – Meg Cabot, American author and screenwriter
1968 – Lisa Marie Presley, American singer-songwriter and actress
1968 – Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1969 – Gabriel Batistuta, Argentinian footballer
1969 – Andrew Breitbart, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 2012)
1969 – Brian Krause, American actor and screenwriter
1969 – Franklyn Rose, Jamaican cricketer
1969 – Patrick Wilson, American drummer
1970 – Yasuyuki Kazama, Japanese racing driver
1970 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (d. 2000)
1971 – Harald Brattbakk, Norwegian footballer and pilot
1971 – Michael C. Hall, American actor and producer
1972 – Christian Ziege, German footballer
1973 – Andrew DeClercq, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Óscar Pérez Rojas, Mexican footballer
1974 – Walter McCarty, American basketball player and coach
1975 – Martijn Reuser, Dutch footballer
1976 – Phil Ivey, American poker player
1976 – Mat Rogers, Australian rugby player
1977 – Lari Ketner, American basketball player (d. 2014)
1977 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (d. 2011)
1978 – Tim Harding, Australian singer and actor
1978 – K’naan, Somali-Canadian hip-hop artist
1979 – Valentín Elizalde, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
1979 – Jason Isbell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Héctor Luna, Dominican baseball player
1980 – Moisés Muñoz, Mexican footballer
1980 – Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2005)
1981 – Hins Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter
1981 – Christian Giménez, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Graeme Smith, South African cricketer
1982 – Gavin Henson, Welsh rugby player
1982 – Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer
1983 – Heather DeLoach, American actress
1983 – Kevin Martin, American basketball player
1983 – Jurgen Van den Broeck, Belgian cyclist
1984 – Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer
1985 – Dean Shiels, Irish footballer
1986 – Jorrit Bergsma, Dutch speed skater
1986 – Lauren Conrad, American fashion designer and author
1987 – Sebastian Boenisch, Polish footballer
1987 – Moises Henriques, Portuguese-Australian cricketer
1987 – Austin Jackson, American baseball player
1987 – Ronda Rousey, American mixed martial artist and actress
1987 – Giuseppe Rossi, Italian footballer
1988 – Brett Anderson, American baseball player
1989 – Ricky Pinheiro, Portuguese footballer
1991 – Kyle Palmieri, American hockey player
1993 – Diego Mella, Italian footballer
1994 – Joe Boyce, Australian rugby league player
1994 – Harry Styles, English singer-songwriter

Deaths on February 1

583 – Kan B’alam I, ruler of Palenque (b. 524)
772 – Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
850 – Ramiro I, king of Asturias
992 – Jawhar as-Siqilli, Fatimid statesman
1222 – Alexios Megas Komnenos, first Emperor of Trebizond
1248 – Henry II, Duke of Brabant (b. 1207)
1328 – Charles IV of France (b. 1294)
1501 – Sigismund of Bavaria (b. 1439)
1542 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (b. 1480)
1563 – Menas of Ethiopia
1590 – Lawrence Humphrey, English theologian and academic (b. 1527)
1691 – Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610)
1718 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1660)
1733 – Augustus II the Strong, Polish king (b. 1670)
1734 – John Floyer, English physician and author (b. 1649)
1743 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian organist and composer (b. 1657)
1750 – Bakar of Georgia (b. 1699)
1761 – Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French priest and historian (b. 1682)
1768 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (b. 1685)
1793 – William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1717)
1832 – Archibald Murphey, American judge and politician (b. 1777)
1851 – Mary Shelley, English novelist and playwright (b. 1797)
1871 – Alexander Serov, Russian composer and critic (b. 1820)
1893 – George Henry Sanderson, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824)
1897 – Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist and botanist (b. 1826)
1903 – Sir George Stokes, Anglo-Irish physicist, mathematician, and politician (b. 1819)
1907 – Léon Serpollet, French businessman (b. 1858)
1908 – Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863)
1922 – William Desmond Taylor, American actor and director (b. 1872)
1924 – Maurice Prendergast, American painter (b. 1858)
1928 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
1936 – Georgios Kondylis, Greek general and politician, 128th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878)
1940 – Philip Francis Nowlan, American author, created Buck Rogers (b. 1888)
1940 – Zacharias Papantoniou, Greek journalist and critic (b. 1877)
1944 – Piet Mondrian, Dutch-American painter (b. 1872)
1949 – Nicolae Dumitru Cocea, Romanian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1880)
1949 – Herbert Stothart, American conductor and composer (b. 1885)
1957 – Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890)
1958 – Clinton Davisson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1959 – Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (b. 1873)
1966 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and journalist (b. 1885)
1966 – Buster Keaton, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1895)
1968 – Echol Cole and Robert Walker – sparking the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike
1970 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1921)
1976 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
1976 – George Whipple, American physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1878)
1979 – Abdi İpekçi, Turkish journalist and activist (b. 1929)
1981 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American engineer and businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (b. 1892)
1981 – Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian pianist and composer (b. 1908)
1986 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1987 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
1989 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (b. 1918)
1992 – Jean Hamburger, French physician and surgeon (b. 1909)
1996 – Ray Crawford, American race car driver, pilot, and businessman (b. 1915)
1997 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (b. 1916)
1999 – Paul Mellon, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1907)
2001 – André D’Allemagne, Canadian political scientist and academic (b. 1929)
2002 – Aykut Barka, Turkish geologist and academic (b. 1951)
2002 – Hildegard Knef, German actress and singer (b. 1925)
2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia crew
- Michael P. Anderson, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1959)
- David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1956)
- Kalpana Chawla, Indian-American engineer and astronaut (b. 1961)
- Laurel Clark, American captain, surgeon, and astronaut (b. 1961)
- Rick Husband, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1957)
- William C. McCool, American commander, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
- Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1954)
2003 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer and bandleader (b. 1922)
2004 – Suha Arın, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
2005 – John Vernon, Canadian-American actor (b. 1932)
2007 – Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-American playwright and composer (b. 1911)
2008 – Beto Carrero, Brazilian actor and businessman (b. 1937)
2012 – Don Cornelius, American television host and producer (b. 1936)
2012 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
2013 – Helene Hale, American politician (b. 1918)
2013 – Ed Koch, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 105th Mayor of New York City (b. 1924)
2013 – Shanu Lahiri, Indian painter and educator (b. 1928)
2013 – Cecil Womack, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
2014 – Luis Aragonés, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
2014 – Vasily Petrov, Russian marshal (b. 1917)
2014 – Rene Ricard, American poet, painter, and critic (b. 1946)
2014 – Maximilian Schell, Austrian-Swiss actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2015 – Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist (b. 1925)
2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1935)
2015 – Monty Oum, American animator, director, and screenwriter (b. 1981)
2016 – Óscar Humberto Mejía Victores, Guatemalan general and politician, 27th President of Guatemala (b. 1930)
2017 – Desmond Carrington, British actor and broadcaster (b. 1926)
2018 – Barys Kit, Belarusian rocket scientist (b. 1910)
2018 – Mowzey Radio, Ugandan singer and songwriter (b. 1985)
2019 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian, radio host and panelist (b. 1961)
2019 – Clive Swift, English actor (b. 1936)
2019 – Wade Wilson, American football player and coach (b. 1959)

Holidays and observances on February 1

Abolition of Slavery Day (Mauritius)
Air Force Day (Nicaragua)
Christian feast day:
- Astina (Syrian Church)
- Blessed Candelaria of San José
- Brigid, patron saint of Ireland (Saint Brigid’s Day)
- Verdiana
- February 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while February 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in February. (Mexico)
Federal Territory Day (Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya, Malaysia)
Heroes Day (Rwanda)
Imbolc (Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man, and some Neopagan groups in the Northern hemisphere)
Memorial Day of the Republic (Hungary)
National Freedom Day (United States)
The start of Black History Month (United States and Canada)

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

On This Day

January 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

314 – Pope Sylvester I is consecrated, as a successor to the late Pope Miltiades.
1208 – The Battle of Lena takes place between King Sverker II of Sweden and his rival, Prince Eric, whose victory puts him on the throne as King Eric X of Sweden.
1504 – The Treaty of Lyon ends the Italian War, confirming French domination of northern Italy, while Spain receives the Kingdom of Naples.
1578 – Eighty Years’ War and Anglo-Spanish War: The Battle of Gembloux is a victory for Spanish forces led by Don John of Austria over a rebel army of Dutch, Flemish, English, Scottish, German, French and Walloons.
1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Four of the conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, are executed for treason by hanging, drawing and quartering, for plotting against Parliament and King James.
1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).
1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, the United States towns of Juneautown and Kilbourntown unify to create the City of Milwaukee.
1848 – John C. Frémont is court-martialed for mutiny and disobeying orders.
1862 – Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.
1865 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery and submits it to the states for ratification.
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
1891 – History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.
1897 – Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.
1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is killed in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.
1915 – World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.
1917 – World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.
1918 – A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
1919 – The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, during a campaign for shorter working hours.
1928 – Leon Trotsky is exiled to Alma-Ata.
1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
1942 – World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to Singapore.
1943 – World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war’s fiercest battles.
1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
1944 – World War II: During the Anzio campaign, the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.
1945 – World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.
1945 – World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.
1946 – Cold War: Yugoslavia’s new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
1946 – The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.
1949 – These Are My Children, the first television daytime soap opera, is broadcast by the NBC station in Chicago.
1950 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
1951 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 90 relating to Korean War is adopted.
1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom.
1957 – Eight people (5 total crew from 2 aircraft and 3 on the ground) in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
1958 – Cold War: Space Race: The first successful American satellite detects the Van Allen radiation belt.
1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
1966 – The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.
1968 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong guerrillas attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.
1968 – Nauru gains independence from Australia.
1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.
1971 – The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.
2000 – Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash: An MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard.
2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
2018 – Both a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse occur.
2019 – Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
2020 – The United Kingdom’s membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state.

Births on January 31

1512 – Henry, King of Portugal (d. 1580)
1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1616)
1583 – Peter Bulkley, English and later American Puritan (d. 1659)
1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and saint (d. 1640)
1607 – James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (d. 1651)
1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher and academic (d. 1669)
1673 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (d. 1716)
1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian missionary and explorer (d. 1758)
1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1816)
1759 – François Devienne, French flute player and composer (d. 1803)
1769 – André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (d. 1823)
1785 – Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, Czech cook book author (d. 1845)
1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1828)
1799 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (d. 1846)
1820 – William B. Washburn, American politician, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
1835 – Lunalilo of Hawaii (d. 1874)
1854 – David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
1865 – Henri Desgrange, French cyclist and journalist (d. 1940)
1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader, founded BAPS (d. 1951)
1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939)
1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1884 – Theodor Heuss, German journalist and politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963)
1884 – Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani scholar and politician, 1st President of The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (d. 1955)
1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
1892 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (d. 1964)
1894 – Isham Jones, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1956)
1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1966)
1900 – Betty Parsons, American artist, art dealer and collector (d. 1982)
1902 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded White Spot (d. 1978)
1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1902 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (d. 1972)
1905 – John O’Hara, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
1909 – Miron Grindea, Romanian-English journalist (d. 1995)
1913 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer and police officer (d. 1994)
1915 – Bobby Hackett, American trumpet player and cornet player (d. 1976)
1915 – Alan Lomax, American historian, author, and scholar (d. 2002)
1915 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (d. 1968)
1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian and game show host (d. 1993)
1916 – Frank Parker, American tennis player (d. 1997)
1917 – Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (d. 2013)
1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1972)
1920 – Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010)
1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer (d. 2004)
1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
1921 – Carol Channing, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2019)
1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect, designed the Thorncrown Chapel (d. 2004)
1921 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959)
1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
1923 – Norman Mailer, American journalist and author (d. 2007)
1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American minister, lawyer, and activist (d. 2010)
1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1926 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (d. 1958)
1927 – Norm Prescott, American animator, producer, and composer, co-founded Filmation Studios (d. 2005)
1928 – Irma Wyman, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2015)
1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1929 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (d. 2010)
1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972)
1930 – Al De Lory, American composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2012)
1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015)
1931 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (d. 2014)
1932 – Miron Babiak, Polish sea captain (d. 2013)
1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1997)
1933 – Morton Mower, American cardiologist and inventor
1934 – Ernesto Brambilla, Italian motorcycle racer and race car driver
1934 – Gene DeWeese, American author (d. 2012)
1934 – James Franciscus, American actor and producer (d. 1991)
1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
1935 – Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1936 – Can Bartu, Turkish former basketball and football player
1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian educator and politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 2007)
1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
1938 – Beatrix of the Netherlands
1938 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
1938 – James G. Watt, American lawyer and politician, 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior
1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby player and coach (d. 1998)
1940 – Stuart Margolin, American actor and director
1941 – Dick Gephardt, American lawyer and politician
1941 – Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
1942 – Derek Jarman, English director, stage designer, and author (d. 1994)
1944 – John Inverarity, Australian cricketer and coach
1945 – Rynn Berry, American historian and author (d. 2014)
1945 – Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, English lawyer, judge, and academic
1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American sculptor and theorist
1946 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and singer-songwriter (Chicago) (d. 1978)
1946 – Medin Zhega, Albanian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
1947 – Matt Minglewood, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Glynn Turman, American actor
1948 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer (d. 2014)
1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and journalist
1949 – Norris Church Mailer, American model and educator (d. 2010)
1949 – Ken Wilber, American sociologist, philosopher, and author
1950 – Denise Fleming, American author and illustrator
1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Russian general and bodyguard
1950 – Janice Rebibo, American-Israeli author and poet (d. 2015)
1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1954 – Faoud Bacchus, Guyanese cricketer
1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch guitarist and songwriter
1955 – Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player and manager
1956 – Guido van Rossum, Dutch programmer, creator of the Python programming language
1956 – John Lydon, English singer-songwriter
1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer
1958 – Armin Reichel, German footballer and manager
1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor and producer
1959 – Kelly Lynch, American model and actress
1960 – Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist and author
1960 – Grant Morrison, Scottish author and screenwriter
1960 – Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (d. 2014)
1961 – Elizabeth Barker, Baroness Barker, English politician
1961 – Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer and judge
1961 – Lloyd Cole, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Craig Coleman, Australian rugby league player and coach
1963 – Gwen Graham, American lawyer and politician
1964 – Martha MacCallum, American journalist
1964 – Dawn Prince-Hughes, American scientist
1965 – Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player and coach
1965 – Ofra Harnoy, Israeli-Canadian cellist
1965 – Peter Sagal, American author and radio host
1966 – Umar Alisha, Indian journalist and philanthropist
1966 – Thant Myint-U, Myanmar historian, diplomat, conservationist, and former presidential advisor.
1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor and director
1967 – Fat Mike, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1968 – John Collins, Scottish footballer, midfielder and manager
1968 – Matt King, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician, 2nd Swedish Minister for Infrastructure
1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian sprinter
1969 – Dov Charney, Canadian-American fashion designer and businessman, founded American Apparel
1969 – Daniel Moder, American cinematographer
1970 – Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress
1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan model and actress
1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress
1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player and coach
1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
1975 – Fred Coleman, American football player and coach
1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress, producer, and television host
1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer and manager
1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
1976 – Paul Scheer, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – Suchitra Singh, Indian cricketer
1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentinian footballer and manager
1979 – Daniel Tammet, English author and educator
1980 – James Adomian, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1980 – Gary Doherty, Irish footballer, centre forward
1980 – Shim Yi-young, South Korean actress
1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Mark Cameron, Australian cricketer
1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
1982 – Maret Ani, Estonian tennis player
1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Cuban baseball player
1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German footballer
1982 – Salvatore Masiello, Italian footballer
1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish footballer
1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player
1982 – Yukimi Nagano, Swedish singer-songwriter
1982 – Brad Thompson, American baseball player
1983 – James Sutton, English actor
1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer
1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player
1984 – Josh Johnson, Canadian-American baseball player
1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American runner
1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player
1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer
1985 – Mario Williams, American football player
1986 – Walter Dix, American sprinter
1986 – Megan Ellison, American film producer, founded Annapurna Pictures
1986 – George Elokobi, Cameroonian footballer
1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer
1986 – Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player
1987 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter
1988 – Brett Pitman, English footballer
1988 – Taijo Teniste, Estonian footballer
1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer
1990 – Jacob Markström, Swedish ice hockey player
1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, model, actor

Deaths on January 31

632 – Máedóc of Ferns, Irish bishop and saint (b. 550)
876 – Hemma of Altdorf, Frankish queen
985 – Ryōgen, Japanese monk and abbot (b. 912)
1030 – William V, duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
1216 – Theodore II, patriarch of Constantinople
1398 – Sukō, emperor of Japan (b. 1334)
1418 – Mircea I, prince of Wallachia (b. 1355)
1435 – Xuande, emperor of China (b. 1398)
1561 – Bairam Khan, Mughalan general (b. 1501)
1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch minister and theologian (b. 1496)
1580 – Henry, king of Portugal (b. 1512)
1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570)
1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1578)
1606 – Thomas Wintour, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1571)
1615 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian priest, 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1543)
1632 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1622)
1686 – Jean Mairet, French playwright (b. 1604)
1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1654)
1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect and set designer, designed the Basilica of Superga (b. 1678)
1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American lawyer and surveyor (b. 1718)
1794 – Mariot Arbuthnot, English admiral and politician, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (b. 1711)
1811 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (b. 1763)
1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan soldier (b. 1775)
1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek general (b. 1792)
1836 – John Cheyne, English physician and author (b. 1777)
1844 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
1856 – 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838)
1870 – Cilibi Moise, Moldavian-Romanian journalist and author (b. 1812)
1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator, founded the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (b. 1834)
1900 – John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman (b. 1844)
1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian businessman, founded Eaton’s (b. 1834)
1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (b. 1869)
1933 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860)
1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French author and playwright (b. 1882)
1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (b. 1890)
1954 – Vivian Woodward, English captain and footballer (b. 1879)
1955 – John Mott, American activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1956 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright, created Winnie-the-Pooh (b. 1882)
1958 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1898)
1960 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (b. 1882)
1961 – Krishna Singh, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1887)
1966 – Arthur Percival, English general (b. 1887)
1967 – Eddie Tolan, American sprinter and educator (b. 1908)
1969 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894)
1971 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian historian and linguist (b. 1891)
1973 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American film producer, co-founded Goldwyn Pictures (b. 1882)
1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal (b. 1941)
1976 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890)
1985 – Reginald Baker, English-Australian film producer (b. 1896)
1985 – Tatsuzō Ishikawa, Japanese author (b. 1905)
1987 – Yves Allégret, French director and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1989 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (b. 1896)
1990 – Eveline Du Bois-Reymond Marcus, German zoologist and academic (b. 1901)
1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1935)
1995 – George Abbott, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1887)
1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish-American bishop (b. 1930)
1999 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and trainer, co-founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (b. 1938)
1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (b. 1926)
2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American author (b. 1923)
2002 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (b. 1919)
2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer and actress (b. 1913)
2004 – Suraiya, Indian actress and playback singer (b. 1929)
2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and ballerina (b. 1926)
2007 – Molly Ivins, American journalist and author (b. 1944)
2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist and politician (b. 1929)
2008 – František Čapek, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1914)
2011 – Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian bishop and poet (b. 1921)
2011 – Mark Ryan, English guitarist and playwright (b. 1959)
2012 – Mani Ram Bagri, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1920)
2012 – Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal (b. 1923)
2012 – Tristram Potter Coffin, American author, scholar, and academic (b. 1922)
2012 – Dorothea Tanning, American painter and sculptor (b. 1910)
2013 – Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1923)
2013 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (b. 1937)
2014 – Francis M. Fesmire, American cardiologist and physician (b. 1959)
2014 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (b. 1922)
2014 – Abdirizak Haji Hussein, Somalian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Somalia (b. 1924)
2014 – Miklós Jancsó, Hungarian director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2014 – Joseph Willcox Jenkins, American composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1928)
2014 – Christopher Jones, American actor (b. 1941)
2015 – Vic Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
2015 – Udo Lattek, German footballer, coach, and journalist (b. 1935)
2015 – Lizabeth Scott, American actress (b. 1922)
2015 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German captain and politician, 6th President of Germany (b. 1920)
2016 – Gil Carmichael, American businessman and politician (b. 1927)
2016 – Terry Wogan, Irish-British radio and television host (b. 1938)
2017 – Rob Stewart, Canadian filmmaker (b. 1979)
2018 – Rasual Butler, American professional basketball player (b. 1979)
2018 – Leah LaBelle, American singer (b. 1986)

Holidays and observances on January 31

Christian feast day:
- Domitius (Domice) of Amiens
- Francis Xavier Bianchi
- Geminianus
- John Bosco
- Julius of Novara
- Blessed Ludovica
- Máedóc (Mogue, Aiden)
- Marcella
- Samuel Shoemaker (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Tysul
- Ulphia
- Wilgils
- January 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Amartithi (Meherabad, India, followers of Meher Baba)
Independence Day (Nauru), celebrates independence from Australia in 1968.
Street Children’s Day (Austria)

January 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1018 – Poland and the Holy Roman Empire conclude the Peace of Bautzen.
1287 – King Wareru founds the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, and proclaims independence from the Pagan Kingdom.
1607 – An estimated 200 square miles (51,800 ha) along the coasts of the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary in England are destroyed by massive flooding, resulting in an estimated 2,000 deaths.
1648 – Eighty Years’ War: The Treaty of Münster and Osnabrück is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, is ritually executed more than two years after his death, on the 12th anniversary of the execution of the monarch he himself deposed.
1703 – The Forty-seven rōnin, under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master, by killing Kira Yoshinaka.
1789 – Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.
1806 – The original Lower Trenton Bridge (also called the Trenton Makes the World Takes Bridge), which spans the Delaware River between Morrisville, Pennsylvania and Trenton, New Jersey, is opened.
1820 – Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.
1826 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.
1835 – In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.
1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco, California.
1858 – The first Hallé concert is given in Manchester, England, marking the official founding of The Hallé orchestra as a full-time, professional orchestra.
1862 – The first American ironclad warship, the USS Monitor is launched.
1889 – Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.
1902 – The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.
1908 – Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.
1911 – The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.
1925 – The Government of Turkey expels Patriarch Constantine VI from Istanbul.
1930 – The Politburo of the Soviet Union orders the extermination of the Kulaks.
1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
1942 – World War II: Battle of Ambon. Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies. Some 300 captured Allied troops are massacred at Laha airfield. Three-fourths of remaining POWs will not have survived by the end of the war, including 250 men who will be shipped to Hainan Island in South China Sea and never returned.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.
1945 – World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people.
1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.
1948 – British South American Airways’ Tudor IV Star Tiger disappears over the Bermuda Triangle.
1956 – African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1959 – The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
1959 – MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.
1960 – The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
1964 – In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh’s military junta in South Vietnam.
1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained.
1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh.
1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.
1979 – A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.
1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.
1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed.
1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169.
2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

Births on January 30

58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29)
133 – Didius Julianus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 193)
1410 – William Calthorpe, English knight (d. 1494)
1520 – William More, English courtier (d. 1600)
1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641)
1573 – Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1638)
1580 – Gundakar, Prince of Liechtenstein, court official in Vienna (d. 1658)
1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676)
1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)
1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741)
1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773)
1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778)
1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778)
1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829)
1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864)
1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838)
1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899)
1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899)
1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922)
1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932)
1859 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935)
1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950)
1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951)
1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)
1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937)
1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969)
1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983)
1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000)
1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989)
1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988)
1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989)
1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000)
1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992)
1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976)
1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006)
1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian race car driver and journalist (d. 2008)
1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005)
1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018)
1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999)
1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007)
1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008)
1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013)
1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013)
1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013)
1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019)
1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005)
1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996)
1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author
1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011)
1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020)
1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016)
1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007)
1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984)
1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973)
1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998)
1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician
1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016)
1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author
1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense
1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager
1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic
1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge
1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016)
1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997)
1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue
1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author
1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991)
1948 – Nick Broomfield, English director and producer
1948 – Miles Reid, English mathematician and academic
1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer
1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director
1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995)
1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer
1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator
1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine
1955 – Tom Izzo, American basketball player and coach
1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster
1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
1958 – Derek White, Scottish rugby player
1959 – Cynthia Carter, Welsh journalist, author, and academic
1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018)
1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer
1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan
1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager
1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach
1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Felipe VI of Spain
1969 – Justin Skinner, English footballer, midfielder and manager
1971 – Kimo von Oelhoffen, American football player
1972 – Jill McGill, American golfer
1972 – Chris Simon, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
1974 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress
1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
1975 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese musician and singer
1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer
1977 – Dan Hinote, American ice hockey player and coach
1978 – Carmen Küng, Swiss curler
1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
1979 – Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – João Soares de Almeida Neto, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Georgios Vakouftsis, Greek footballer
1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer
1981 – Jonathan Bender, American basketball player
1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
1981 – Afonso Alves, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
1981 – Mathias Lauda, Austrian race car driver
1982 – Jorge Cantú, Mexican baseball player
1984 – Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro, Japanese sumo wrestler
1984 – Arthur Chu, Asian-American columnist and former Jeopardy! contestant
1984 – Kid Cudi, American entertainer
1985 – Gisela Dulko, Argentinian tennis player
1985 – Torrey Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Trae Williams, American football player
1986 – Nick Evans, American baseball player
1987 – Ben Cutting, Australian cricketer
1987 – Lance Franklin, Australian footballer
1987 – Phil Lester, English Internet celebrity
1987 – Becky Lynch, Irish wrestler
1987 – Renato Santos, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Arda Turan, Turkish footballer
1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor and director
1989 – Tomás Mejías, Spanish footballer
1989 – Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
1990 – Yoon Bo-ra, South Korean singer
1990 – Joe Colborne, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Andrew McCullough, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Nils Miatke, German footballer
1990 – Luca Sbisa, Swiss ice hockey player
1990 – Mitchell Starc, Australian cricketer
1990 – Phillip Supernaw, American football player
1991 – Stefan Elliott, Canadian ice hockey player
1993 – Katy Marchant, English track cyclist
1995 – Jack Laugher, English diver
1995 – Víctor Sánchez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2015)

Deaths on January 30

680 – Balthild, Frankish queen (b. 626)
970 – Peter I of Bulgaria
1030 – William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
1240 – Pelagio Galvani, Leonese lawyer and cardinal (b. 1165)
1314 – Nicholas III of Saint Omer
1344 – William Montacute, 1st Earl of Salisbury (b. 1301)
1384 – Louis II, Count of Flanders (b. 1330)
1497 – Lê Thánh Tông, King of Vietnam (b. 1442)
1574 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese historian and philosopher (b. 1502)
1606 – Everard Digby, English criminal (b. 1578)
1606 – John Grant, English conspirator (b. 1570)
1606 – Robert Wintour, English conspirator (b. 1565)
1649 – Charles I of England (b. 1600)
1664 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor (b. 1599)
1730 – Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
1770 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (b. 1712)
1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, said to have designed the American Flag (b. 1752)
1838 – Osceola, American tribal leader (b. 1804)
1858 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist and ornithologist (b. 1778)
1867 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan (b. 1831)
1869 – William Carleton, Irish author (b. 1794)
1881 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (b. 1844)
1889 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary (b. 1858)
1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
1928 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866)
1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (b. 1862)
1947 – Frederick Blackman, English botanist and physiologist (b. 1866)
1948 – Arthur Coningham, Australian air marshal (b. 1895)
1948 – Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement against British rule (b. 1869)
1948 – Orville Wright, American pilot and engineer, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1871)
1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian-German engineer and businessman, founded Porsche (b. 1875)
1958 – Jean Crotti, Swiss painter (b. 1878)
1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman; founded the Heinkel Aircraft Company (b. 1888)
1962 – Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician and engineer (b. 1894)
1963 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (b. 1899)
1966 – Jaan Hargel, Estonian flute player, conductor, and educator (b. 1912)
1968 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian poet, playwright, and journalist (b. 1889)
1969 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
1973 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (b. 1885)
1974 – Olav Roots, Estonian pianist and composer (b. 1910)
1977 – Paul Marais de Beauchamp, French zoologist (b. 1883)
1980 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1918)
1982 – Lightnin’ Hopkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1912)
1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1991 – Clifton C. Edom, American photographer and educator (b. 1907)
1994 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (b. 1912)
1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
1999 – Ed Herlihy, American journalist (b. 1909)
2001 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French soldier and actor (b. 1911)
2001 – Johnnie Johnson, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1915)
2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, American surgeon and educator (b. 1915)
2005 – Martyn Bennett, Canadian-Scottish violinist (b. 1971)
2006 – Coretta Scott King, American author and activist (b. 1927)
2006 – Wendy Wasserstein, American playwright and academic (b. 1950)
2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
2008 – Marcial Maciel, Mexican-American priest, founded the Legion of Christ and Regnum Christi (b. 1920)
2009 – H. Guy Hunt, American soldier, pastor, and politician, 49th Governor of Alabama (b. 1933)
2010 – Fadil Ferati, Kosovar accountant and politician (b. 1960)
2011 – John Barry, English composer and conductor (b. 1933)
2012 – Frank Aschenbrenner, American football player and soldier (b. 1925)
2012 – Doeschka Meijsing, Dutch author (b. 1947)
2013 – Gamal al-Banna, Egyptian author and scholar (b. 1920)
2013 – Patty Andrews, American singer (b. 1918)
2013 – George Witt, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
2014 – Stefan Bałuk, Polish general and photographer (b. 1914)
2014 – The Mighty Hannibal, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
2014 – William Motzing, American composer and conductor (b. 1937)
2014 – Arthur Rankin, Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
2015 – Carl Djerassi, Austrian-American chemist, author, and playwright (b. 1923)
2015 – Ülo Kaevats, Estonian academic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1947)
2015 – Geraldine McEwan, English actress (b. 1932)
2015 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (b. 1923)
2015 – Zhelyu Zhelev, Bulgarian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of Bulgaria (b. 1935)
2016 – Frank Finlay, English actor (b. 1926)
2016 – Francisco Flores Pérez, Salvadorian politician, President of El Salvador (b. 1959)
2016 – Georgia Davis Powers, American activist and politician (b. 1923)
2018 – Mark Salling, American actor and musician (b. 1982)
2019 – Dick Miller, American actor (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on January 30

Christian Feast Day:
- Adelelmus of Burgos
- Aldegonde
- Anthony the Great (Coptic Church)
- Armentarius of Pavia
- Balthild
- Charles, King and Martyr (various provinces of the Anglican Communion)
- Hippolytus of Rome
- Hyacintha Mariscotti
- Martina
- Matthias of Jerusalem
- Mutien-Marie Wiaux
- Savina
- Three Holy Hierarchs (Eastern Orthodox), and its related observances:
  - Teacher’s Day (Greece)
- January 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Azerbaijani customs (Azerbaijan)
Day of Saudade (Brazil)
Fred Korematsu Day (California, Florida, Hawaii, Virginia)
Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, and its related observances:
- Martyrs’ Day (India)
- School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)
- Start of the Season for Nonviolence January 30 – April 4

January 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

904 – Sergius III is consecrated pope, after coming out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu’izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by Al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.
1258 – First Mongol invasion of Đại Việt: Đại Việt defeats the Mongols at the battle of Đông Bộ Đầu, forcing the Mongols to withdraw from the country.
1814 – War of the Sixth Coalition: France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
1819 – Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.
1845 – “The Raven” is published in The Evening Mirror in New York, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.
1850 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
1856 – Queen Victoria issues a Warrant under the Royal sign-manual that establishes the Victoria Cross to recognise acts of valour by British military personnel during the Crimean War.
1861 – Kansas is admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
1863 – The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men, women and children.
1886 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
1891 – Liliuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
1907 – Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.
1911 – Mexican Revolution: Mexicali is captured by the Mexican Liberal Party, igniting the Magonista rebellion of 1911.
1916 – World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.
1918 – Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kiev, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.
1918 – Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.
1936 – The first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame are announced.
1940 – Three trains on the Nishinari Line; present Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. One hundred and eighty-one people are killed.
1941 – Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece upon the sudden death of his predecessor, dictator Ioannis Metaxas.
1943 – World War II: The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, USS Chicago (CA-29) is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.
1944 – World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.
1944 – In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is completely destroyed in an air-raid, during the Second World War.
1948 – The Pakistan Socialist Party is founded in Karachi.
1959 – The first Melodifestivalen is held in Cirkus, Stockholm, Sweden.
1963 – The first inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced.
1967 – The “ultimate high” of the hippie era, the Mantra-Rock Dance, takes place in San Francisco and features Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.
1980 – The Rubik’s Cube makes its international debut at the Ideal Toy Corp. in Earl’s Court, London.
1989 – Cold War: Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.
1991 – Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins.
1996 – President Jacques Chirac announces a “definitive end” to French nuclear weapons testing.
2001 – Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
2002 – In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes “regimes that sponsor terror” as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
2005 – The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.
2009 – The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.
2009 – Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including the alleged solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.
2013 – SCAT Airlines Flight 760 crashes near the Kazakh city of Almaty, killing 21 people.
2013 – Alabama bunker hostage crisis: After shooting and killing of school bus driver, 66 years old Charles Albert Poland, Jr, by 65 year old Vietnam War era veteran, Jimmy Lee Dykes.
2017 – Quebec City mosque shooting: Alexandre Bissonnette opens fire at mosque in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, killing six and wounding 19 others in a spree shooting.

Births on January 29

919 – Shi Zong, emperor of the Liao Dynasty (d. 951)
1455 – Johann Reuchlin, German-born humanist and scholar (d. 1522)
1475 – Giuliano Bugiardini, Italian painter (d. 1555)
1499 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther; formerly a Roman Catholic nun (d. 1552)
1525 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian humanist and reformer (d. 1562)
1584 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)
1591 – Franciscus Junius, pioneer of Germanic philology (d. 1677)
1602 – Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg (d. 1651)
1632 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (d. 1703)
1650 – Juan de Galavís, Spanish Roman Catholic archbishop of Santo Domingo and Bogotá (d. 1739)
1688 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish astronomer, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1772)
1711 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)
1715 – Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1777)
1717 – Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, English field marshal and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1797)
1718 – Paul Rabaut, French pastor (d. 1794)
1737 – Thomas Paine, prominent for publishing Common Sense (1776), which established him as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States (d. 1809)
1749 – Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
1754 – Moses Cleaveland, American general, lawyer, and politician, founded Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1806)
1756 – Henry Lee III, American general and politician, 9th Governor of Virginia (d. 1818)
1761 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, and politician, 4th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1849)
1782 – Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)
1801 – Johannes Bernardus van Bree, Dutch violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1857)
1810 – Ernst Kummer, Polish-German mathematician and academic (d. 1893)
1810 – Mary Whitwell Hale, American teacher, school founder, and hymnwriter (d. 1862)
1843 – William McKinley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
1846 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1915)
1852 – Frederic Hymen Cowen, Jamaican-English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1935)
1858 – Henry Ward Ranger, American painter and academic (d. 1916)
1860 – Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (d. 1904)
1861 – Florida Ruffin Ridley, African-American civil rights activist, teacher, editor, and writer (d. 1943)
1862 – Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)
1866 – Julio Peris Brell, Spanish painter (d. 1944)
1866 – Romain Rolland, French historian, author, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944)
1867 – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1928)
1870 – Süleyman Nazif, Turkish poet and civil servant (d. 1927)
1874 – John D. Rockefeller, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1960)
1876 – Havergal Brian, English composer (d. 1972)
1877 – Georges Catroux, French general and diplomat (d. 1969)
1880 – W. C. Fields, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (d. 1946)
1881 – Alice Catherine Evans, American microbiologist (d. 1975)
1884 – Juhan Aavik, Estonian-Swedish composer and conductor (d. 1982)
1888 – Sydney Chapman, English mathematician and geophysicist (d. 1970)
1888 – Wellington Koo, Chinese statesman (d. 1985)
1891 – Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina and educator (d. 1975)
1891 – R. Norris Williams, Swiss-American tennis player and banker (d. 1968)
1892 – Ernst Lubitsch, German American film director, producer, writer, and actor (d. 1947)
1895 – Muna Lee, American poet and author (d. 1965)
1901 – Allen B. DuMont, American engineer and broadcaster, founded the DuMont Television Network (d. 1965)
1901 – E. P. Taylor, Canadian businessman and horse breeder (d. 1989)
1903 – Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Russian-Israeli biochemist and philosopher (d. 1994)
1905 – Barnett Newman, American painter and etcher (d. 1970)
1906 – Joe Primeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1989)
1913 – Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
1915 – Bill Peet, American author and illustrator (d. 2002)
1915 – John Serry Sr., Italian-American concert accordionist and composer (d.2003)
1917 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (d. 2005)
1918 – John Forsythe, American actor (d. 2010)
1921 – Geraldine Pittman Woods, American science administrator and embryologist (d. 1999)
1923 – Jack Burke Jr., American golfer
1923 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1926 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani-British physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1926 – Amelita Ramos, 11th First Lady of the Philippines
1927 – Edward Abbey, American environmentalist and author (d. 1989)
1929 – Elio Petri, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1929 – Joseph Kruskal, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2010)
1931 – Leslie Bricusse, English playwright and composer
1931 – Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian academic and politician, 2nd President of Hungary (d. 2011)
1932 – Raman Subba Row, English cricketer and referee
1932 – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)
1933 – Sacha Distel, French singer and guitarist (d. 2004)
1934 – Branko Miljković, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1961)
1936 – Veturi Sundararama Murthy, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 2010)
1937 – Hassan Habibi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 1st Vice President of Iran (d. 2013)
1937 – Bobby Scott, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1990)
1939 – Germaine Greer, Australian journalist and author
1940 – Katharine Ross, American actress and author
1940 – Kunimitsu Takahashi, Japanese motorcycle racer and race car driver
1941 – Robin Morgan, American actress, journalist, and author
1943 – Tony Blackburn, English radio and television host
1943 – Pat Quinn, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
1944 – Andrew Loog Oldham, English record producer and manager
1944 – Patrick Lipton Robinson, Jamaican lawyer and judge
1944 – Pauline van der Wildt, Dutch swimmer
1945 – Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, Malian academic and politician, Prime Minister of Mali
1945 – Jim Nicholson, Northern Irish politician
1945 – Tom Selleck, American actor and businessman
1946 – Bettye LaVette, American singer-songwriter
1947 – Linda B. Buck, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1947 – David Byron, English singer-songwriter (d. 1985)
1947 – Marián Varga, Slovak organist and composer
1948 – Raymond Keene, English chess player and author
1949 – doris davenport, American poet and teacher
1949 – Evgeny Lovchev, Russian footballer and manager
1949 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-American drummer and producer (d. 2014)
1950 – Ann Jillian, American actress and singer
1950 – Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver and sportscaster
1951 – Fereydoon Forooghi, Iranian singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
1951 – Andy Roberts, Caribbean cricketer
1953 – Peter Baumann, German keyboard player and songwriter
1953 – Charlie Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer
1953 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
1954 – Christian Bjelland IV, Norwegian businessman and art collector
1954 – Terry Kinney, American actor and director
1954 – Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer, founded Harpo Productions
1956 – Jan Jakub Kolski, Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
1957 – Philippe Dintrans, French rugby player
1957 – Ron Franscell, American author and journalist
1957 – Grażyna Miller, Italian journalist and poet
1959 – Mike Foligno, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1960 – Gia Carangi, American supermodel (d. 1986)
1960 – Greg Louganis, American diver and author
1961 – Petra Thümer, German swimmer and photographer
1962 – Nicholas Turturro, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – John Anthony Gallagher, English-New Zealand rugby player
1965 – Dominik Hašek, Czech ice hockey player
1965 – Peter Lundgren, Swedish tennis player and coach
1966 – Romário, Brazilian footballer, manager, and politician
1967 – Stacey King, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1968 – Edward Burns, American actor, director, and producer
1968 – Susi Erdmann, German luger and bobsledder
1970 – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian colonel and politician
1970 – Heather Graham, American actress
1970 – Jörg Hoffmann, German swimmer
1970 – Paul Ryan, American economist and politician, 62nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
1970 – Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian Islamist leader, founded Boko Haram (d. 2009)
1975 – Sara Gilbert, American actress, producer, and talk show host
1980 – Ivan Klasnic, German-Croatian footballer
1982 – Adam Lambert, American singer, songwriter and actor
1984 – Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer
1984 – Nuno Morais, Portuguese footballer
1985 – Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player
1987 – José Abreu, Cuban baseball player
1988 – Tatyana Chernova, Russian heptathlete
1988 – Shay Logan, English footballer
1988 – Aydın Yılmaz, Turkish footballer
1989 – Kevin Shattenkirk, American ice hockey player
1993 – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japanese singer

Deaths on January 29

661 – Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad (b. 601)
702 – Princess Ōku of Japan (b. 661)
757 – An Lushan, Chinese general (b. 703)
870 – Salih ibn Wasif, Muslim general
1119 – Pope Gelasius II (b. 1060)
1327 – Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1300)
1465 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (b. 1413)
1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist and composer (b. 1530)
1608 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
1647 – Francis Meres, English priest and author (b. 1565)
1678 – Jerónimo Lobo, Portuguese missionary and author (b. 1593)
1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)
1737 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish-English field marshal and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1666)
1743 – André-Hercule de Fleury, French cardinal (b. 1653)
1763 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)
1820 – George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
1829 – Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, French captain and politician (b. 1755)
1829 – István Pauli, Hungarian-Slovenian priest and poet (b. 1760)
1870 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)
1871 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, Canadian author (b. 1786)
1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (b. 1812)
1899 – Alfred Sisley, French-English painter (b. 1839)
1906 – Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
1928 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish field marshal (b. 1861)
1931 – Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (b. 1861)
1933 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)
1934 – Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1871)
1944 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (b. 1868)
1946 – Harry Hopkins, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890)
1948 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta (b. 1900)
1950 – Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1885)
1951 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1880)
1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (b. 1880)
1959 – Winifred Brunton, South African painter and illustrator (b. 1880)
1962 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (b. 1875)
1963 – Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (b. 1874)
1964 – Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
1969 – Allen Welsh Dulles, American banker, lawyer, and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1893)
1970 – B. H. Liddell Hart, French-English soldier, historian, and journalist (b. 1895)
1977 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (b. 1954)
1978 – Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (b. 1895)
1980 – Jimmy Durante, American entertainer (b. 1893)
1991 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese author and poet (b. 1907)
1992 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1915)
1993 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (b. 1906)
1994 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian skier (b. 1967)
1999 – Lili St. Cyr, American model and dancer (b. 1918)
2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (b. 1914)
2003 – Frank Moss, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911)
2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author and poet (b. 1924)
2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (b. 1924)
2006 – Nam June Paik, South Korean-American artist, (b. 1932)
2008 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish painter and sculptor (b. 1925)
2008 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (b. 1924)
2009 – Hélio Gracie, Brazilian martial artist (b. 1913)
2011 – Milton Babbitt, American composer, educator, and theorist (b. 1916)
2012 – Ranjit Singh Dyal, Indian general and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (b. 1928)
2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (b. 1918)
2012 – Camilla Williams, American soprano and educator (b. 1919)
2014 – François Cavanna, French journalist and author (b. 1923)
2015 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist, author, and academic (b. 1937)
2015 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1933)
2015 – Alexander Vraciu, American commander and pilot (b. 1918)
2016 – Jean-Marie Doré, Guinean lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Guinea (b. 1938)
2016 – Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1928)
2019 – George Fernandes, Indian politician (b. 1930)
2019 – James Ingram, American musician (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances on January 29

Christian feast day:
- Andrei Rublev (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Aquilinus of Milan
- Constantius of Perugia
- Dallán Forgaill
- Gildas
- Juniper
- Sabinian of Troyes
- Sulpitius I of Bourges
- Valerius of Trèves
- January 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Fat Thursday can fall, while March 4 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Ash Wednesday. (Christianity)
Kansas Day (Kansas, United States)

January 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

AD 98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule, the Roman Empire will reach its maximum extent.
1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance of Sicily.
1302 – Dante Alighieri is exiled from Florence.
1343 – Pope Clement VI issues the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. Nearly 200 years later, Martin Luther would protest this.
1606 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31.
1695 – Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan and Caliph of Islam in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his abdication in 1703.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Henry Knox’s “noble train of artillery” arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1785 – The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
1820 – A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast.
1825 – The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the “Trail of Tears”.
1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Toba–Fushimi begins, between forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and pro-Imperial factions; it will end in defeat for the shogunate, and is a pivotal point in the Meiji Restoration.
1869 – Boshin War: Tokugawa rebels establish the Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō.
1880 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his incandescent lamp.
1916 – World War I: The British government passed a legislation that introduced conscription in the United Kingdom.
1918 – Beginning of the Finnish Civil War.
1927 – Ibn Saud takes the title of King of Nejd.
1939 – First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1943 – World War II: The Eighth Air Force sorties ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany.
1944 – World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
1945 – World War II: The Soviet 322nd Rifle Division liberates the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1951 – Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with Operation Ranger.
1961 – The Soviet submarine S-80 sinks when its snorkel malfunctions, flooding the boat.
1967 – Apollo program: Astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
1967 – Cold War: The Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.
1973 – The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.
1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper.
1983 – The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world’s longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through.
1996 – In a military coup, Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.
1996 – Germany first observes the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
2002 – An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.
2003 – The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.
2010 – The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.
2011 – Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana’a.
2013 – Two hundred and forty-two people die in a nightclub fire in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul.

Births on January 27

1365 – Edward of Angoulême, English noble (d. 1370)
1443 – Albert III, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
1546 – Joachim III Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1608)
1571 – Abbas I of Persia (d. 1629)
1585 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
1603 – Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet, English lawyer and politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (d. 1685)
1603 – Humphrey Mackworth, English politician, lawyer and judge (d. 1654)
1621 – Thomas Willis, English physician and anatomist (d. 1675)
1662 – Richard Bentley, English scholar and theologian (d. 1742)
1663 – George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1733)
1687 – Johann Balthasar Neumann, German engineer and architect, designed Würzburg Residence and Basilica of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (d. 1753)
1701 – Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (d. 1790)
1708 – Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (d. 1728)
1741 – Hester Thrale, Welsh author (d. 1821)
1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1791)
1775 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German-Swiss philosopher and academic (d. 1854)
1790 – Juan Álvarez, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1867)
1795 – Eli Whitney Blake, American engineer, invented the Mortise lock (d. 1886)
1803 – Eunice Hale Waite Cobb, American writer, public speaker, and activist (d. 1880)
1805 – Maria Anna of Bavaria (d. 1877)
1805 – Samuel Palmer, English painter and etcher (d. 1881)
1806 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer and educator (d. 1826)
1808 – David Strauss, German theologian and author (d. 1874)
1814 – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect, designed the Lausanne Cathedral (d. 1879)
1821 – John Chivington, American colonel and pastor (d. 1892)
1823 – Édouard Lalo, French violinist and composer (d. 1892)
1824 – Urbain Johnson, Canadian farmer and political figure (d. 1917)
1826 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist and author (d. 1889)
1826 – Richard Taylor, American general, historian, and politician (d. 1879)
1832 – Lewis Carroll, English novelist, poet, and mathematician (d. 1898)
1832 – Carl Friedrich Schmidt, Estonian-Russian geologist and botanist (d. 1908)
1836 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1895)
1842 – Arkhip Kuindzhi, Ukrainian-Russian painter (d. 1910)
1848 – Tōgō Heihachirō, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
1850 – John Collier, English painter and author (d. 1934)
1850 – Samuel Gompers, English-American labor leader (d. 1924)
1850 – Edward Smith, English captain (d. 1912)
1858 – Neel Doff, Dutch-Belgian author (d. 1942)
1859 – Wilhelm II, German Emperor (d. 1941)
1869 – Will Marion Cook, American violinist and composer (d. 1944)
1878 – Dorothy Scarborough, American author (d. 1935)
1885 – Jerome Kern, American composer and songwriter (d. 1945)
1885 – Seison Maeda, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
1886 – Radhabinod Pal, Indian academic and jurist (d. 1967)
1889 – Balthasar van der Pol, Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1959)
1891 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian journalist and author (d. 1967)
1893 – Soong Ching-ling, Chinese politician, Honorary President of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1981)
1895 – Joseph Rosenstock, Polish-American conductor and manager (d. 1985)
1895 – Harry Ruby, American composer and screenwriter (d. 1974)
1900 – Hyman G. Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
1901 – Willy Fritsch, German actor (d. 1973)
1901 – Art Rooney, American football player and coach, founded the Pittsburgh Steelers (d. 1988)
1903 – John Eccles, Australian-Swiss neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1903 – Otto P. Weyland, American general (d. 1979)
1904 – James J. Gibson, American psychologist and academic (d. 1979)
1905 – Howard McNear, American actor (d. 1969)
1908 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (d. 1993)
1910 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general, economist, and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 1979)
1912 – Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher and environmentalist (d. 2009)
1912 – Francis Rogallo, American engineer, invented the Rogallo wing (d. 2009)
1915 – Jules Archer, American historian and author (d. 2008)
1915 – Jacques Hnizdovsky, Ukrainian-American painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 1985)
1918 – Skitch Henderson, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
1918 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1963)
1918 – William Seawell, American general (d. 2005)
1919 – Tom Addington, English captain (d. 2011)
1919 – Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor, created Alvin and the Chipmunks (d. 1972)
1920 – Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japanese lieutenant and pilot (d. 1944)
1920 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist and composer (d. 2002)
1921 – Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
1924 – Rauf Denktaş, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (d. 2012)
1924 – Brian Rix, English actor, producer, and politician (d. 2016)
1924 – Harvey Shapiro, American poet (d. 2013)
1926 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian flute player and journalist (d. 2003)
1926 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)
1928 – Michael Craig, Indian-English actor and screenwriter
1928 – Hans Modrow, Polish-German lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of East Germany
1929 – Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian-Swiss businessman
1929 – Gastón Suárez, Bolivian author and playwright (d. 1984)
1930 – Bobby “Blue” Bland, American blues singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1931 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1931 – Nigel Vinson, Baron Vinson, English lieutenant and businessman
1932 – Boris Shakhlin, Russian-Ukrainian gymnast (d. 2008)
1933 – Jerry Buss, American chemist and businessman (d. 2013)
1934 – Édith Cresson, French politician and diplomat, 160th Prime Minister of France
1934 – George Follmer, American race car driver
1935 – Steve Demeter, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2013)
1936 – Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
1936 – Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Fred Åkerström, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1985)
1940 – Ahmet Kurtcebe Alptemoçin, Turkish engineer and politician, 35th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs
1940 – James Cromwell, American actor
1940 – Terry Harper, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1940 – Petru Lucinschi, Romanian activist and politician, 2nd President of Moldova
1940 – Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1941 – Beatrice Tinsley, New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1981)
1942 – Maki Asakawa, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010)
1942 – Tasuku Honjo, Japanese immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine
1942 – John Witherspoon, American actor and comedian (d. 2019)
1942 – Kate Wolf, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1986)
1943 – Julia Cumberlege, Baroness Cumberlege, English businesswoman and politician
1944 – Peter Akinola, Nigerian archbishop
1944 – Mairead Maguire, Northern Irish activist, Nobel Prize laureate
1944 – Nick Mason, English drummer, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Harold Cardinal, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2005)
1946 – Christopher Hum, English academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to China
1946 – Nedra Talley, American singer
1947 – Björn Afzelius, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
1947 – Vyron Polydoras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for Public Order
1947 – Cal Schenkel, American painter and illustrator
1947 – Philip Sugden, English historian and author (d. 2014)
1947 – Perfecto Yasay Jr., Filipino lawyer and Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines
1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor
1948 – Jean-Philippe Collard, French pianist
1951 – Seth Justman, American keyboard player and songwriter
1951 – Cees van der Knaap, Dutch soldier and politician
1952 – Brian Gottfried, American tennis player
1952 – Billy Johnson, American football player and coach
1952 – Tam O’Shaughnessy, American tennis player, psychologist, and academic
1952 – G. E. Smith, American guitarist and songwriter
1954 – Peter Laird, American author and illustrator
1954 – Ed Schultz, American talk show host and sportscaster (d. 2018)
1955 – Brian Engblom, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1955 – John Roberts, American lawyer and judge, 17th Chief Justice of the United States
1956 – Mimi Rogers, American actress
1957 – Janick Gers, English guitarist and songwriter
1957 – Frank Miller, American illustrator, director, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – James Grippando, American lawyer and author
1958 – Alan Milburn, English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1959 – Cris Collinsworth, American football player and sportscaster
1959 – Göran Hägglund, Swedish lawyer and politician, 28th Swedish Minister for Social Affairs
1959 – Keith Olbermann, American journalist and author
1960 – Fiona O’Donnell, Canadian-Scottish politician
1961 – Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer
1961 – Margo Timmins, Canadian singer-songwriter
1962 – Roberto Paci Dalò, Italian director and composer
1963 – George Monbiot, English-Welsh author and activist
1964 – Patrick van Deurzen, Dutch composer and academic
1964 – Bridget Fonda, American actress
1964 – Shahin Shahablou, Iranian photographer (d. 2020)
1965 – Alan Cumming, Scottish-American actor
1965 – Mike Newell, English footballer and manager
1965 – Ignacio Noé, Argentinian author and illustrator
1965 – Attila Sekerlioglu, Austrian footballer and manager
1966 – Tamlyn Tomita, Japanese-American actress and singer
1967 – Dave Manson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Tracy Lawrence, American country singer
1968 – Mike Patton, American singer, composer, and voice artist
1968 – Matt Stover, American football player
1969 – Michael Kulas, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1969 – Patton Oswalt, American comedian and actor
1969 – Shane Thomson, New Zealand cricketer
1970 – Bradley Clyde, Australian rugby league player
1970 – Dean Headley, English cricketer and coach
1971 – Patrice Brisebois, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1972 – Bibi Gaytán, Mexican singer and actress
1973 – Valyantsin Byalkevich, Belarusian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1974 – Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Norwegian skier and biathlete
1974 – Andrei Pavel, Romanian tennis player and coach
1974 – Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer and coach
1976 – Ahn Jung-hwan, South Korean footballer
1976 – Clint Ford, American actor, voice actor and novelist
1976 – Danielle George MBE FIET, Professor of Radio frequency engineering at the University of Manchester
1976 – Fred Taylor, American football player
1976 – Michael K. Winder, American businessman and politician
1978 – Pete Laforest, Canadian-American baseball player and manager
1979 – Rosamund Pike, English actress
1979 – Daniel Vettori, New Zealand cricketer and coach
1980 – Chanda Gunn, American ice hockey player and coach
1980 – Marat Safin, Russian tennis player and politician
1981 – Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
1981 – Tony Woodcock, New Zealand rugby player
1982 – Eva Asderaki, Greek tennis umpire
1983 – Carlo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Paulo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Gavin Floyd, American baseball player
1987 – Katy Rose, American singer-songwriter and producer
1987 – Anton Shunin, Russian footballer
1987 – Ashley Grace, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Kerlon, Brazilian footballer
1989 – Alberto Botía, Spanish footballer
1991 – Christian Bickel, German footballer
1991 – Sebastine Ikahihifo, New Zealand rugby league player
1992 – Stefano Pettinari, Italian footballer
1995 – Harrison Reed, English footballer midfielder

Deaths on January 27

AD 98 – Nerva, Roman emperor (b. 35)
457 – Marcian, Byzantine emperor (b. 392)
555 – Yuan Di, emperor of the Liang Dynasty (b. 508)
672 – Pope Vitalian
847 – Pope Sergius II (b. 790)
906 – Liu Can, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
931 – Ruotger, archbishop of Trier
947 – Zhang Yanze, Chinese general and governor
1062 – Adelaide of Hungary, (b. c. 1040)
1311 – Külüg Khan, Emperor Wuzong of Yuan
1377 – Frederick the Simple, King of Sicily
1490 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1435)
1504 – Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo (b. 1438)
1540 – Angela Merici, Italian educator and saint, founded the Company of St. Ursula (b. 1474)
1592 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)
1596 – Francis Drake, English captain and explorer (b. 1540)
1629 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German organist and composer (b. 1560)
1638 – Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish author and poet (b. 1585)
1651 – Abraham Bloemaert, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1566)
1689 – Robert Aske, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1619)
1731 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the Piano (b. 1655)
1733 – Thomas Woolston, English theologian and author (b. 1669)
1740 – Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1692)
1770 – Philippe Macquer, French historian (b. 1720)
1794 – Antoine Philippe de La Trémoille, French general (b. 1765)
1812 – John Perkins, Anglo-Jamaican captain
1814 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (b. 1762)
1816 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, English admiral and politician (b. 1724)
1851 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (b. 1789)
1860 – János Bolyai, Romanian-Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1802)
1880 – Edward Middleton Barry, English architect and academic, co-designed the Halifax Town Hall and the Royal Opera House (b. 1830)
1901 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
1910 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber and businessman (b. 1836)
1919 – Endre Ady, Hungarian poet and journalist (b. 1877)
1921 – Maurice Buckley, Australian sergeant (b. 1891)
1922 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (b. 1864)
1927 – Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius, Lithuanian bishop (b. 1871)
1931 – Nishinoumi Kajirō II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 25th Yokozuna (b. 1880)
1940 – Isaac Babel, Russian short story writer, journalist, and playwright (b. 1894)
1942 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Estonia (b. 1888)
1951 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish field marshal and politician, 6th President of Finland (b. 1867)
1956 – Erich Kleiber, Austrian conductor and director (b. 1890)
1961 – Bernard Friedberg, Austrian scholar and author (b. 1876)
1963 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1904)
1965 – Abraham Walkowitz, American painter (b. 1878)
1967 – crew of Apollo 1
- Roger B. Chaffee, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1935)
- Gus Grissom, American pilot and astronaut (b. 1926)
- Ed White, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
1967 – Alphonse Juin, Algerian-French general (b. 1888)
1970 – Rocco D’Assunta, Italian actor, comedian and playwright (b. 1904)
1971 – Jacobo Árbenz, Guatemalan captain and politician, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
1972 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
1973 – William Nolde, American colonel (b. 1929)
1974 – Georgios Grivas, Cypriot general (b. 1898)
1975 – Bill Walsh, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1913)
1983 – Louis de Funès, French actor and screenwriter (b. 1914)
1986 – Lilli Palmer, German-American actress (b. 1914)
1987 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian animator and director (b. 1914)
1988 – Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian historian, author, and playwright (b. 1938)
1989 – Thomas Sopwith, English ice hockey player and pilot (b. 1888)
1993 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
1994 – Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
1996 – Ralph Yarborough, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1903)
2000 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist and composer (b. 1930)
2003 – Henryk Jabłoński, Polish historian and politician, President of Poland (b. 1909)
2004 – Salvador Laurel, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
2004 – Jack Paar, American talk show host and author (b. 1918)
2006 – Gene McFadden, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1948)
2006 – Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
2007 – Yang Chuan-kwang, Taiwanese decathlete, long jumper, and hurdler (b. 1933)
2008 – Suharto, Indonesian general and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
2008 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader and author, 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1910)
2008 – Louie Welch, American businessman and politician, 54th Mayor of Houston (b. 1918)
2009 – John Updike, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (b. 1932)
2009 – R. Venkataraman, Indian lawyer and politician, 8th President of India (b. 1910)
2010 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress (b. 1933)
2010 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (b. 1919)
2010 – Howard Zinn, American historian, author, and activist (b. 1922)
2011 – Charlie Callas, American comedian and musician (b. 1927)
2012 – Greg Cook, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1946)
2012 – Ted Dicks, English composer and screenwriter (b. 1928)
2012 – Jeannette Hamby, American nurse and politician (b. 1933)
2012 – Kevin White, American politician, 51st Mayor of Boston (b. 1929)
2013 – Ivan Bodiul, Ukrainian-Russian politician (b. 1918)
2013 – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (b. 1925)
2014 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist (b. 1919)
2014 – Epimaco Velasco, Filipino lawyer and politician, Governor of Cavite (b. 1935)
2014 – Paul Zorner, German soldier and pilot (b. 1920)
2015 – Rocky Bridges, American baseball player and coach (b. 1927)
2015 – David Landau, English-Israeli journalist (b. 1947)
2015 – Joseph Rotman, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
2015 – Charles Hard Townes, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
2015 – Larry Winters, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1956)
2016 – Carlos Loyzaga, Filipino basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
2017 – Emmanuelle Riva, French actress (b. 1927)
2017 – Arthur H. Rosenfeld, American physicist (b. 1926)
2018 – Ingvar Kamprad, Founder of IKEA (b. 1926)
2018 – Mort Walker, American cartoonist (b. 1923)
2019 – Countess Maya von Schönburg-Glauchau, German socialite (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances on January 27

Christian feast day:
- Angela Merici
- Blessed Paul Joseph Nardini
- Devota (Monaco)
- Enrique de Ossó y Cercelló
- John Chrysostom (translation of relics) (Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox)
- Sava (Serbia)
- January 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the lifting of the siege of Leningrad (Russia)
Liberation of the remaining inmates of Auschwitz-related observances:
- Holocaust Memorial Day (UK)
- International Holocaust Remembrance Day
- Memorial Day (Italy)
- Other Holocaust Memorial Days observances

January 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

AD 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.
914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.
1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV.
1458 – Matthias Corvinus is elected King of Hungary.
1536 – King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later erratic behaviour and possible impotence.
1679 – King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.
1742 – Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
1758 – During the Seven Years’ War the leading burghers of Königsberg submit to Elizabeth of Russia, thus forming Russian Prussia (until 1763).
1817 – Crossing of the Andes: Many soldiers of Juan Gregorio de las Heras are captured during the Action of Picheuta.
1835 – Slaves in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, stage a revolt, which is instrumental in ending slavery there 50 years later.
1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.
1857 – The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia.
1859 – The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (later named Romania) is formed as a personal union under the rule of Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza.
1900 – Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.
1908 – The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.
1915 – World War I: British Grand Fleet battle cruisers under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty engage Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper’s battle cruisers in the Battle of Dogger Bank.
1916 – In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.
1918 – The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars effective February 14 (New Style).
1933 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.
1939 – The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.
1942 – World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.
1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
1946 – The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.
1960 – Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the “barricades week”, during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.
1961 – Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.
1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
1977 – The Atocha massacre occurs in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy.
1978 – Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
1984 – Apple Computer places the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the United States.
1989 – Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, with over 30 known victims, is executed by the electric chair at the Florida State Prison.
1990 – Japan launches Hiten, the country’s first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.
2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
2009 – Cyclone Klaus makes landfall near Bordeaux, France, causing 26 deaths as well as extensive disruptions to public transport and power supplies.
2011 – At least 35 are killed and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.

Births on January 24

AD 76 – Hadrian, Roman emperor (d. 138)
1287 – Richard de Bury, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1345)
1444 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1476)
1540 – Edmund Campion, English priest and martyr (d. 1581)
1547 – Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Austrian Archduchess (d. 1578)
1602 – Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, English politician (d. 1666)
1619 – Yamazaki Ansai, Japanese philosopher (d. 1682)
1643 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and politician, Lord Chamberlain of Great Britain (d. 1706)
1664 – John Vanbrugh, English architect and dramatist (d. 1726)
1670 – William Congreve, English playwright and poet (d. 1729)
1672 – Margrave Albert Frederick of Brandenburg-Schwedt, German Lieutenant General (d. 1731)
1674 – Thomas Tanner, English bishop (d. 1735)
1679 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (d. 1754)
1684 – Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, German noble (d. 1737)
1705 – Farinelli, Italian castrato singer (d. 1782)
1709 – Dom Bédos de Celles, French monk and organist (d. 1779)
1712 – Frederick the Great, Prussian king (d. 1786)
1732 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and financier (d. 1799)
1739 – Jean Nicolas Houchard, French General of the French Revolution (d. 1793)
1746 – Gustav III of Sweden (d. 1792)
1749 – Charles James Fox, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1806)
1754 – Andrew Ellicott, American soldier and surveyor (d. 1820)
1761 – Louis Klein, French general (d. 1845)
1763 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, French-Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1831)
1776 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German jurist, author, and composer (d. 1822)
1787 – Christian Ludwig Brehm, German pastor and ornithologist (d. 1864)
1804 – Delphine de Girardin, French author (d. 1855)
1814 – Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, French Crown Princess (d. 1858)
1814 – John Colenso, British mathematician (d. 1883)
1816 – Wilhelm Henzen, German philologist and epigraphist (d. 1887)
1828 – Ferdinand Cohn, German biologist (d. 1898)
1829 – Yechiel Michel Epstein, Rabbi and posek (d. 1908)
1836 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (d. 1909)
1843 – Josip Stadler, Croatian archbishop (d. 1918)
1848 – Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
1850 – Hermann Ebbinghaus, German psychologist (d. 1909)
1853 – Sigbert Josef Maria Ganser, German psychiatrist (d. 1931)
1856 – Friedrich Grünanger, Transylvanian Hungarian-German architect (d. 1929)
1858 – Constance Naden, English poet and philosopher (d. 1889)
1862 – Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1937)
1863 – August Adler, Czech and Austrian mathematician (d. 1923)
1864 – Marguerite Durand, French actress, journalist, and activist (d. 1936)
1864 – Gaetano Giardino, Italian soldier and Marshal of Italy (d. 1935)
1866 – Jaan Poska, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1920)
1870 – Herbert Kilpin, English footballer (d. 1916)
1871 – Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic, Czech poet, writer and literary critic (d. 1951)
1871 – Thomas Jaggar, American volcanologist (d. 1953)
1872 – Yuly Aykhenvald, Russian literary critic (d. 1928)
1872 – Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (d. 1943)
1872 – Morris Travers, English chemist and academic (d. 1961)
1873 – Dmitry Ushakov, Russian philologist and lexicographer (d. 1942)
1882 – Harold D. Babcock, American astronomer (d. 1968)
1882 – Ödön Bodor, Hungarian athlete (d. 1927)
1886 – Henry King, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1887 – Jean-Henri Humbert, French botanist (d. 1967)
1888 – Vicki Baum, Austrian author and screenwriter (d. 1960)
1888 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman, founded the Heinkel Aircraft Manufacturing Company (d. 1958)
1889 – Victor Eftimiu, Romanian poet and playwright (d. 1972)
1889 – Charles Hawes, American historian and author (d. 1923)
1889 – Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, German general of paratroop forces during World War II (d. 1968)
1891 – Walter Model, German field marshal (d. 1945)
1892 – Franz Aigner, Austrian weightlifter (d. 1970)
1895 – Eugen Roth, German poet and songwriter (d. 1976)
1897 – Paul Fejos, Hungarian-born American director (d. 1963)
1899 – Hoyt Vandenberg, U.S. Air Force general (d. 1954)
1900 – René Guillot, French writer (d. 1969)
1901 – Harry Calder, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1901 – Cassandre, French painter (d. 1968)
1901 – Edward Turner, English engineer (d. 1973)
1905 – J. Howard Marshall, American lawyer and businessman (d. 1995)
1906 – Wilfred Jackson, American animator and composer (d. 1988)
1907 – Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengganu, fourth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 1979)
1907 – Maurice Couve de Murville, French soldier and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1999)
1907 – Jean Daetwyler, Swiss composer and musician (d. 1994)
1909 – Martin Lings, English author and scholar (d. 2005)
1910 – Doris Haddock, American political activist (d. 2010)
1912 – Frederick Ashworth, American admiral (d. 2005)
1913 – Norman Dello Joio, American organist and composer (d. 2008)
1913 – Ray Stehr, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1983)
1915 – Vítězslava Kaprálová, Czech composer and conductor (d. 1940)
1915 – Robert Motherwell, American painter and academic (d. 1991)
1916 – Rafael Caldera, Venezuelan lawyer and politician, 65th President of Venezuela (d. 2009)
1916 – Gene Mako, Hungarian-American tennis player and actor (d. 2013)
1917 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (d. 2012)
1917 – Wilhelmus Demarteau, Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church (d. 2012)
1918 – Gottfried von Einem, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1996)
1918 – Oral Roberts, American evangelist, founded Oral Roberts University and Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (d. 2009)
1919 – Coleman Francis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1973)
1919 – Leon Kirchner, American composer and educator (d. 2009)
1920 – Jimmy Forrest, American saxophonist (d. 1980)
1920 – Jerry Maren, American actor (d. 2018)
1922 – Daniel Boulanger, French actor and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1922 – Neil Franklin, English footballer (d. 1996)
1923 – Geneviève Asse, French painter
1925 – Gus Mortson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
1925 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina and actress (d. 2013)
1926 – Ruth Asawa, American sculptor (d. 2013)
1926 – Georges Lautner, French director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1927 – Sir Patrick Macnaghten, 11th Baronet, Scottish lieutenant (d. 2007)
1927 – Paula Hawkins, American politician (d. 2009)
1928 – Desmond Morris, English zoologist, ethologist, and painter
1928 – Michel Serrault, French actor (d. 2007)
1930 – Terence Bayler, New Zealand actor (d. 2016)
1930 – Mahmoud Farshchian, Iranian-Persian painter and academic
1930 – John Romita Sr., American comic book artist
1931 – Lars Hörmander, Swedish mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
1931 – Ib Nørholm, Danish composer and organist
1932 – Éliane Radigue, French electronic music composer
1933 – Kamran Baghirov, the 12th First Secretary of Azerbaijan Communist Party (d. 2000)
1933 – Asim Ferhatović, Bosnian footballer (d. 1987)
1934 – Leonard Goldberg, American producer (d. 2019)
1934 – Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish poet and dramatist (d. 1976)
1935 – Eric Ashton, English rugby player and coach (d. 2008)
1935 – Shivabalayogi, Indian religious leader (d. 1994)
1936 – Doug Kershaw, American fiddle player and singer
1937 – Trevor Edwards, Welsh footballer
1938 – Julius Hemphill, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1995)
1939 – Renate Garisch-Culmberger, German shot putter
1939 – Ray Stevens, American singer-songwriter and actor
1940 – Vito Acconci, American designer (d. 2017)
1940 – Joachim Gauck, German pastor and politician, 11th President of Germany
1941 – Neil Diamond, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1941 – Aaron Neville, American singer
1941 – Dan Shechtman, Israeli chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 – Ingo Friedrich, German Member of the European Parliament
1942 – Gary Hart, American wrestler and manager (d. 2008)
1943 – Peter Struck, German lawyer and politician, 13th German Federal Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
1943 – Barry Mealand, English footballer, right back (d. 2013)
1943 – Sharon Tate, American model and actress (d. 1969)
1943 – Tony Trimmer, English race car driver
1943 – Manuel Velázquez, Spanish footballer (d. 2016)
1944 – David Gerrold, American science fiction screenwriter and author
1944 – Gian-Franco Kasper, Swiss ski official
1945 – John Garamendi, American football player and politician, 1st United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior
1945 – Subhash Ghai, Indian director, producer and screenwriter
1945 – Eva Janko, Austrian javelin thrower
1946 – Michael Ontkean, Canadian actor
1947 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian footballer (d. 2012)
1947 – Michio Kaku, American physicist and academic
1947 – Masashi Ozaki, Japanese baseball player and golfer
1947 – Warren Zevon, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
1948 – Elliott Abrams, American diplomat, lawyer and political scientist
1948 – Michael Des Barres, English singer-songwriter and actor
1949 – John Belushi, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1949 – Bart Gordon, American lawyer
1949 – Nadezhda Ilyina, Russian athlete and mother of Russian tennis player Nadia Petrova (d. 2013)
1949 – Rihoko Yoshida, Japanese voice actress
1950 – Daniel Auteuil, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1951 – Yakov Smirnoff, Ukrainian-American comedian and actor
1953 – Yuri Bashmet, Russian violinist, viola player, and conductor
1953 – Moon Jae-in, 19th President of South Korea
1954 – Jo Gartner, Austrian race car driver (d. 1986)
1955 – Jim Montgomery, American swimmer
1955 – Alan Sokal, American physicist and author
1955 – Lynda Weinman, American businesswoman and author
1956 – Agus Martowardojo, governor of Bank Indonesia
1957 – Mark Eaton, American basketball player and sportscaster
1957 – Ade Edmondson, English comedian and musician
1958 – Kim Eui-kon, Korean wrestler
1958 – Jools Holland, English singer-songwriter and pianist
1958 – Frank Ullrich, German biathlete
1959 – Akira Maeda, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor
1959 – Michel Preud’homme, Belgian footballer and manager
1961 – Jorge Barrios, Uruguayan footballer
1961 – Guido Buchwald, German footballer and manager
1961 – Christa Kinshofer, German ski racer
1961 – Nastassja Kinski, German-American actress and producer
1961 – William Van Dijck, Belgian runner
1963 – Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
1964 – Annika Dahlman, Swedish cross country skier
1965 – Robin Dutt, German footballer
1965 – Carlos Saldanha, Brazilian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Margaret Urlich, New Zealand singer-songwriter
1965 – Pagonis Vakalopoulos, Greek footballer and manager
1965 – Kim Sung-moon, South Korean wrestler
1966 – Julie Dreyfus, French actress
1966 – Karin Viard, French actress
1967 – Michael Kiske, German singer
1967 – Mark Kozelek, American singer and musician
1967 – Phil LaMarr, American actor, singer, and screenwriter
1967 – John Myung, American bass player and songwriter
1968 – Fernando Escartín, Spanish cyclist
1968 – Antony Garrett Lisi, American theoretical physicist
1968 – Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
1968 – Tymerlan Huseynov, Ukrainian footballer
1969 – Yoo Ho-jeong, South Korean actress
1969 – Carlos Rômulo Gonçalves e Silva, bishop of Montenegro
1970 – Roberto Bonano, Argentine footballer
1970 – Neil Johnson, Zimbabwean cricketer
1970 – Matthew Lillard, American actor
1971 – José Carlos Fernandez, Bolivian footballer
1972 – Beth Hart, American blues-rock singer and piano player
1974 – Cyril Despres, French rally racer
1974 – Ed Helms, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Melissa Tkautz, Australian actress and singer
1974 – Rokia Traoré, Malian singer
1975 – Gianluca Basile, Italian former professional basketball player
1975 – Rónald Gómez, Costa Rican footballer and manager
1975 – Reto Hug, Swiss triathlonist
1975 – Henna Raita, Finnish alpine skier
1976 – Shae-Lynn Bourne, Canadian ice dancer, coach, and choreographer
1976 – Cindy Pieters, Belgian cyclist
1977 – Andrija Gerić, Serbian volleyball player
1977 – Michelle Hunziker, Swiss-Dutch actress, model and singer
1978 – Veerle Baetens, Belgian actress and singer
1978 – Mark Hildreth, Canadian actor and musician
1978 – Kristen Schaal, American actress, voice artist, comedian and writer
1979 – Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
1979 – Leandro Desábato, Argentinian footballer
1979 – Busy Signal, Jamaican dancehall reggae artist
1979 – Nik Wallenda, American acrobat
1980 – Jofre Mateu, Spanish footballer
1980 – Suzy, Portuguese singer
1981 – Mario Eggimann, Swiss footballer
1981 – Zaur Hashimov, Azerbaijani footballer and manager
1981 – Elena Kolomina, Kazakhstani cross country skier
1982 – Céline Deville, French footballer
1982 – Daveed Diggs, American actor, rapper and singer
1982 – Claudia Heill, Austrian judoka
1982 – Aitor Hernández, Spanish racing cyclist
1983 – Davide Biondini, Italian footballer
1983 – Wyatt Crockett, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Evgeny Drattsev, Russian swimmer
1983 – Craig Horner, Australian actor and musician
1983 – Shaun Maloney, Scottish footballer
1983 – Scott Speed, American race car driver
1984 – Emerse Faé, French-born Ivorian footballer
1984 – Yotam Halperin, Israeli basketball player
1984 – Jung Jin-sun, South Korean fencer
1984 – Scott Kazmir, American baseball player
1984 – Paulo Sérgio Moreira Gonçalves, Portuguese footballer
1985 – Fabiana Claudino, Brazilian volleyball player
1985 – Trey Gilder, American basketball player
1986 – Cristiano Araújo, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1986 – Mohammad Bagheri Motamed, Iranian taekwondo practitioner
1986 – Mischa Barton, English-American actress
1986 – Vladislav Ivanov, Russian footballer
1986 – Michael Kightly, English footballer
1986 – Ricky Ullman, Israeli-American actor
1987 – Wayne Hennessey, Welsh footballer
1987 – Luis Suárez, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Davide Valsecchi, Italian racing driver
1987 – Kia Vaughn, American born Czech basketball player
1987 – Guan Xin, Chinese basketball player
1988 – Selina Jörg, German snowboarder
1989 – Serdar Kesimal, Turkish footballer
1989 – Gong Lijiao, Chinese shot putter
1989 – Ki Sung-yueng, South Korean footballer
1990 – Mao Abe, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
1991 – Zhan Beleniuk, Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler
1991 – Tatiana Kashirina, Russian weightlifter
1991 – Zé Luís, Cape Verdean footballer
1991 – Li Xuerui, Chinese badminton player
1992 – Becky Downie, English gymnast
1992 – Phiwa Nkambule, South African entrepreneur
1992 – Felitciano Zschusschen, Curaçao footballer
1994 – Tommie Hoban, English footballer
1995 – Dylan Everett, Canadian actor
1997 – Nirei Fukuzumi, Japanese racer
1999 – Vitalie Damașcan, Moldovan footballer
2012 – Princess Athena of Denmark, younger child of Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark

Deaths onJanuary 24

AD 41 – Caligula, Roman emperor (b. 12)
817 – Pope Stephen IV (b. 770)
901 – Liu Jishu, general of the Tang Dynasty
1046 – Eckard II, Margrave of Meissen (b. c. 985)
1125 – David IV of Georgia (b. 1073)
1336 – Alfonso IV of Aragon (b. 1299)
1376 – Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English commander (b. 1306)
1473 – Conrad Paumann, German organist and composer (b. 1410)
1525 – Franciabigio, Florentine painter (b. 1482)
1595 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (b. 1529)
1626 – Samuel Argall, English captain and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1572)
1639 – Jörg Jenatsch, Swiss pastor and politician (b. 1596)
1666 – Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer and theorist (b. 1588)
1709 – George Rooke, English admiral and politician (b. 1650)
1877 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist and journalist (b. 1796)
1881 – James Collinson, English painter (b. 1825)
1883 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (b. 1812)
1895 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1849)
1920 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1884)
1939 – Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician, created Muesli (b. 1867)
1943 – John Burns, English trade union leader and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1858)
1960 – Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
1961 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (b. 1884)
1962 – André Lhote, French sculptor and painter (b. 1885)
1962 – Stanley Lord, English naval captain (b. 1877)
1962 – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish author, poet, and scholar (b. 1901)
1965 – Winston Churchill, English colonel and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
1966 – Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist and academic (b. 1909)
1970 – Caresse Crosby, American fashion designer and publisher, co-founded the Black Sun Press (b. 1891)
1971 – Bill W., American activist, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (b. 1895)
1973 – J. Carrol Naish, American actor (b. 1896)
1975 – Larry Fine, American comedian (b. 1902)
1982 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (b. 1918)
1983 – George Cukor, American director and producer (b. 1899)
1986 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (b. 1911)
1986 – Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
1988 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (b. 1905)
1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
1990 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (b. 1899)
1991 – Jack Schaefer, American journalist and author (b. 1907)
1992 – Ken Darby, American composer and conductor (b. 1909)
1993 – Gustav Ernesaks, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1908)
1993 – Thurgood Marshall, American lawyer and jurist, 32nd United States Solicitor General (b. 1908)
2002 – Elie Hobeika, Lebanese commander and politician (b. 1956)
2003 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian businessman (b. 1921)
2004 – Leônidas, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1913)
2006 – Schafik Handal, Salvadoran politician (b. 1930)
2007 – Krystyna Feldman, Polish actress (b. 1916)
2007 – İsmail Cem İpekçi, Turkish journalist and politician, 45th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1940)
2007 – Guadalupe Larriva, Ecuadorian academic and politician (b. 1956)
2007 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Puerto Rican-American soldier (b. 1891)
2010 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (b. 1928)
2011 – Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (b. 1949)
2014 – Shulamit Aloni, Israeli lawyer and politician, 11th Israeli Minister of Education (b. 1928)
2014 – Rafael Pineda Ponce, Honduran academic and politician (b. 1930)
2015 – Otto Carius, German lieutenant and pharmacist (b. 1922)
2016 – Fredrik Barth, German-Norwegian anthropologist and academic (b. 1928)
2016 – Marvin Minsky, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1927)
2016 – Henry Worsley, English colonel and explorer (b. 1960)
2017 – Butch Trucks, American drummer (b. 1947)
2018 – Mark E. Smith, British singer-songwriter (b. 1957)
2019 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, American United States Naval Aviator (b. 1953)

Holidays and observances on January 24

Christian feast day:
- Babylas of Antioch
- Cadoc (Wales)
- Exuperantius of Cingoli
- Felician of Foligno
- Francis de Sales
- Pratulin Martyrs (Greek Catholic Church)
- January 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Saturday of Souls can fall, while February 27 (or 28 during Leap Year) is the latest; observed 57 days before Easter. (Eastern Orthodox)
Feast of Our Lady of Peace (Roman Catholic Church), and its related observances:
- Feria de Alasitas (La Paz)
Unification Day (Romania)
Uttar Pradesh Day (Uttar Pradesh, India)

January 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 23 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
971 – Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
1264 – In the conflict between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, King Louis IX of France issues the Mise of Amiens, a one-sided decision in favour of Henry that later leads to the Second Barons’ War.
1368 – In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.
1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.
1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.
1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic university in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.).
1793 – Second Partition of Poland.
1795 – After an extraordinary charge across the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry captured 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of a battle between ships and cavalry.
1846 – Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.
1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States’ first female doctor.
1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.
1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ends.
1899 – The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first President.
1900 – Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.
1904 – Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
1909 – RMS Republic, a passenger ship of the White Star Line, becomes the first ship to use the CQD distress signal after colliding with another ship, the SS Florida, off the Massachusetts coastline, an event that kills six people. The Republic sinks the next day.
1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
1937 – The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin’s regime.
1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Rabaul commences Japan’s invasion of Australia’s Territory of New Guinea.
1943 – World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.
1945 – World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
1950 – The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, which later renames it the “Frisbee”.
1958 – After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.
1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 metres (35,797 ft) in the Pacific Ocean.
1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by opponents of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar is overthrown.
1963 – The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese army stationed in Tite.
1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
1967 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
1967 – Milton Keynes (England) is founded as a new town by Order in Council, with a planning brief to become a city of 250,000 people. Its initial designated area enclosed three existing towns and twenty one villages. The area to be developed was largely farmland, with evidence of continuous settlement dating back to the Bronze Age.
1968 – USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is attacked and seized by naval forces of North Korea.
1973 – United States President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
1998 – Netscape announced Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.
2001 – Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Communist Party of China to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.
2002 – U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered.
2003 – A very weak signal from Pioneer 10 is detected for the last time, but no usable data can be extracted.
2018 – A 7.9 M_w  earthquake occurs in the Gulf of Alaska. It is tied as the sixth-largest earthquake ever recorded in the United States, but there are no reports of significant damage or fatalities.
2018 – A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds “dozens” of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.

Births on January 23

599 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 649)
1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
1378 – Louis III, Elector Palatine (d. 1436)
1514 – Hai Rui, Chinese politician (d. 1587)
1585 – Mary Ward, English Catholic Religious Sister (d. 1645)
1622 – Abraham Diepraam, Dutch painter (d. 1670)
1719 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1790)
1737 – John Hancock, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1793)
1745 – William Jessop, English engineer, built the Cromford Canal (d. 1814)
1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1832)
1780 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (d. 1827)
1783 – Stendhal, French novelist (d. 1842)
1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French-Russian architect, designed Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and Alexander Column (d. 1858)
1799 – Alois Negrelli, Tyrolean engineer and railroad pioneer active in the Austrian Empire (d. 1858)
1809 – Surendra Sai, Indian activist (d. 1884)
1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian novelist and activist (d. 1895)
1828 – Saigō Takamori, Japanese samurai (d. 1877)
1832 – Édouard Manet, French painter (d. 1883)
1833 – Muthu Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1879)
1838 – Marianne Cope, German-American nun and saint (d. 1918)
1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist and engineer (d. 1905)
1846 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist and mathematician (d. 1915)
1855 – John Browning, American weapons designer, founded the Browning Arms Company (d. 1926)
1857 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian meteorologist and seismologist (d. 1936)
1862 – David Hilbert, Russian-German mathematician and academic (d. 1943)
1862 – Frank Shuman, American inventor and engineer (d. 1918)
1872 – Paul Langevin, French physicist and academic (d. 1946)
1872 – Jože Plečnik, Slovenian architect, designed Plečnik Parliament (d. 1957)
1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
1878 – Rutland Boughton, English composer (d. 1960)
1880 – Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama, Mexican politician (d. 1967)
1889 – Claribel Kendall, American mathematician (d.1965)
1894 – Jyotirmoyee Devi, Indian author (d. 1988)
1896 – Alf Blair, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1944)
1896 – Alf Hall, English-South African cricketer (d. 1964)
1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian activist and politician (d. 1945)
1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
1897 – Ieva Simonaitytė, Lithuanian author (d. 1978)
1897 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (d. 1989)
1898 – Georg Kulenkampff, German violinist (d. 1948)
1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
1898 – Freda Utley, English scholar and author (d. 1978)
1899 – Glen Kidston, English race car driver and pilot (d. 1931)
1900 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh organist and conductor (d. 1988)
1901 – Arthur Wirtz, American businessman (d. 1983)
1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Minister of National Education of Colombia (d. 1948)
1905 – Erich Borchmeyer, German sprinter (d. 2000)
1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor and singer (d. 1968)
1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (d. 1953)
1912 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian director and manager (d. 2009)
1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, Algerian-French painter (d. 1960)
1913 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (d. 2007)
1915 – Herma Bauma, Austrian javelin thrower and handball player (d. 2003)
1915 – W. Arthur Lewis, Saint Lucian-Barbadian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1915 – Potter Stewart, American lawyer and judge (d. 1985)
1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photographer and journalist (d. 2018)
1916 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (d. 1979)
1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American biochemist and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1918 – Florence Rush, American social worker and theorist (d. 2008)
1919 – Frances Bay, Canadian-American actress (d. 2011)
1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian biologist and diver (d. 2013)
1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host (d. 1962)
1919 – Bob Paisley, English footballer and manager (d. 1996)
1920 – Gottfried Böhm, German architect
1920 – Henry Eriksson, Swedish runner (d. 2000)
1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American businessman, invented the Frisbee (d. 2010)
1922 – Leon Golub, American painter and academic (d. 2004)
1922 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 2016)
1923 – Horace Ashenfelter, American runner (d. 2018)
1923 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
1923 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American soldier and author (d. 1996)
1924 – Frank Lautenberg, American soldier, businessman, and politician (d. 2013)
1925 – Marty Paich, American pianist, composer, producer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1926 – Bal Thackeray, Indian journalist, cartoonist, and politician (d. 2012)
1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (d. 1994)
1927 – Fred Williams, Australian painter (d. 1982)
1928 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (d. 2017)
1929 – Myron Cope, American journalist and sportscaster (d. 2008)
1929 – Phillip Knightley, Australian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2016)
1929 – John Polanyi, German-Canadian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 – Filaret, Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan
1930 – Mervyn Rose, Australian tennis player (d. 2017)
1930 – Derek Walcott, Saint Lucian poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1932 – George Allen, English footballer (d. 2016)
1932 – Larri Thomas, American actress and dancer (d. 2013)
1933 – Bill Hayden, Australian politician, 21st Governor General of Australia
1933 – Chita Rivera, American actress, singer, and dancer
1934 – Pierre Bourgault, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2003)
1935 – Mike Agostini, Trinidadian sprinter (d. 2016)
1935 – Tom Reamy, American author (d. 1977)
1935 – Teresa Żylis-Gara, Polish operatic soprano
1936 – Brian Howe, Australian minister and politician, 8th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player and sportscaster
1936 – Cécile Ousset, French pianist
1938 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and promoter, founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (d. 1999)
1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
1939 – Ed Roberts, American disability rights activist (d. 1995)
1940 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (d. 2015)
1940 – Joe Dowell, American pop singer (d. 2016)
1941 – Jock R. Anderson, Australian economist and academic
1941 – João Ubaldo Ribeiro, Brazilian journalist, author, and academic (d. 2014)
1942 – Laurie Mayne, Australian cricketer
1942 – Herman Tjeenk Willink, Dutch judge and politician
1942 – Phil Clarke, New Zealand rugby union player
1943 – Gary Burton, American vibraphone player and composer
1943 – Özhan Canaydın, Turkish basketball player and businessman (d. 2010)
1943 – Gil Gerard, American actor and producer
1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor, director, and producer (d. 2019)
1945 – Mike Harris, Canadian politician, 22nd Premier of Ontario
1946 – Arnoldo Alemán, Nicaraguan lawyer and politician, President of Nicaragua
1946 – Boris Berezovsky, Russian-English businessman and mathematician (d. 2013)
1946 – Zvonko Bušić, Croatian terrorist, hijacker of TWA Flight 355 (d. 2013)
1946 – Don Whittington, American race car driver
1947 – Tom Carper, American captain and politician, 71st Governor of Delaware
1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesian politician, 5th President of Indonesia
1948 – Anita Pointer, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor, producer, and composer
1950 – Bill Cunningham, American bass and keyboard player
1950 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (d. 2018)
1950 – Suzanne Scotchmer, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
1950 – Luis Alberto Spinetta, Argentinian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet (d. 2012)
1951 – Margaret Bailes, American sprinter
1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, American captain and pilot
1952 – Omar Henry, South African cricketer
1953 – John Luther Adams, American composer
1953 – Alister McGrath, Irish priest, historian, and theologian
1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, American politician, 41st Mayor of Los Angeles
1953 – Robin Zander, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Trevor Hohns, Australian cricketer
1957 – Caroline, Princess of Hanover
1958 – Sergey Litvinov, Russian hammer thrower (d. 2018)
1959 – Clive Bull, English radio host
1960 – Jean-François Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Greg Ritchie, Australian cricketer
1961 – Neil Henry, Australian rugby league player and coach
1961 – Yelena Sinchukova, Russian long jumper
1962 – David Arnold, English composer
1962 – Aivar Lillevere, Estonian footballer and coach
1962 – Elvira Lindo, Spanish journalist and author
1964 – Jonatha Brooke, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress and producer
1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, Guyanese economist and politician, 7th President of Guyana
1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Louie Clemente, American drummer
1966 – Damien Hardman, Australian surfer
1966 – Haywoode Workman, American basketball player and referee
1967 – Owen Cunningham, Australian rugby league player
1968 – Taro Hakase, Japanese violinist and composer
1968 – Petr Korda, Czech-Monacan tennis player
1969 – Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager
1969 – Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player and actor
1969 – Susen Tiedtke, German long jumper
1970 – Spyridon Vasdekis, Greek long jumper
1971 – Scott Gibbs, Welsh-South African rugby player and sportscaster
1971 – Kevin Mawae, American football player and coach
1971 – Marc Nelson, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Adam Parore, New Zealand cricketer and mountaineer
1971 – Claire Rankin, Canadian actress
1971 – Lisa Snowdon, English television and radio presenter and fashion model
1972 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
1973 – Tomas Holmström, Swedish ice hockey player
1974 – Glen Chapple, English cricketer
1974 – Rebekah Elmaloglou, Australian actress
1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player
1974 – Richard T. Slone, English painter
1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
1975 – Nick Harmer, German musician
1975 – Phil Dawson, American football player
1976 – Brandon Duckworth, American baseball player and scout
1976 – Anne Margrethe Hausken, Norwegian orienteering competitor
1976 – Alex Shaffer, American skier
1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
1979 – Dawn O’Porter, Scottish-English fashion designer and journalist
1979 – Juan Rincón, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
1981 – Rob Friend, Canadian soccer player
1982 – Wily Mo Peña, Dominican baseball player
1982 – Oceana Mahlmann, German singer and songwriter
1982 – Andrew Rock, American sprinter
1983 – Irving Saladino, Panamanian long jumper
1984 – Robbie Farah, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch model and actress
1985 – Yevgeny Lukyanenko, Russian pole vaulter
1985 – Aselefech Mergia, Ethiopian runner
1985 – Jeff Samardzija, American baseball player
1985 – San E, South Korean rapper
1986 – Gelete Burka, Ethiopian runner
1986 – Marc Laird, Scottish footballer
1986 – José Enrique, Spanish footballer
1986 – Michael Stevens, American YouTuber and educator
1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
1986 – Sandro Viletta, Swiss skier
1987 – Leo Komarov, Finnish ice hockey player
1988 – Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Şener Özbayraklı, Turkish footballer
1990 – Alex Silva, Canadian wrestler
1990 – Martyn Waghorn, English footballer
1992 – Reina Triendl, Japanese model and actress
1994 – Addison Russell, American baseball player
1995 – Luke Bateman, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Tuimoala Lolohea, New Zealand rugby league player
1998 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (d. 2018)

Deaths on January 23

667 – Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo
989 – Adalbero, archbishop of Reims
1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
1199 – Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, Moroccan caliph (b. 1160)
1252 – Isabella, Queen of Armenia
1297 – Florent of Hainaut, Prince of Achaea (b. c. 1255)
1423 – Margaret of Bavaria, Burgundian regent (b. 1363)
1516 – Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian priest, scholar, and composer (b. 1490)
1549 – Johannes Honter, Romanian-Hungarian cartographer and theologian (b. 1498)
1567 – Jiajing Emperor of China (b. 1507)
1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, Scottish politician (b. 1531)
1620 – John Croke, English politician and judge (b. 1553)
1622 – William Baffin, English explorer and navigator (b. 1584)
1650 – Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke (b. 1584)
1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian historian and philosopher (b. 1668)
1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician and academic (b. 1717)
1789 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (b. 1724)
1789 – John Cleland, English author (b. 1709)
1800 – Edward Rutledge, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1749)
1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer, founded Guinness (b. 1725)
1805 – Claude Chappe, French engineer (b. 1763)
1806 – William Pitt the Younger, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (b. 1776)
1812 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (b. 1764)
1820 – Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (b. 1767)
1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (b. 1757)
1837 – John Field, Irish pianist and composer (b. 1782)
1866 – Thomas Love Peacock, English author and poet (b. 1785)
1875 – Charles Kingsley English priest and author (b. 1819)
1883 – Gustave Doré, French engraver and illustrator (b. 1832)
1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, American lawyer and politician, 16th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1825)
1893 – José Zorrilla, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1817)
1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer and conductor (b. 1877)
1922 – René Beeh, Alsatian painter and draughtsman (b. 1886)
1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor and academic (b. 1855)
1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian physician and author (b. 1849)
1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian-English ballerina (b. 1881)
1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (b. 1876)
1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (b. 1903)
1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (b. 1887)
1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and illustrator (b. 1863)
1947 – Pierre Bonnard, French painter (b. 1867)
1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian-English director and producer (b. 1893)
1963 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (b. 1908)
1966 – T. M. Sabaratnam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1895)
1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (b. 1871)
1973 – Alexander Onassis, American-Greek businessman (b. 1948)
1973 – Kid Ory, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1886)
1976 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and activist (b. 1898)
1977 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (b. 1903)
1978 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1946)
1978 – Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
1980 – Giovanni Michelotti, Italian engineer (b. 1921)
1981 – Samuel Barber, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
1984 – Muin Bseiso, Palestinian-Egyptian poet and critic (b. 1926)
1985 – James Beard, American chef and cookbook author for whom the James Beard Foundation Awards are named (b.1905)
1986 – Joseph Beuys, German sculptor and painter (b. 1921)
1988 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist and academic (b. 1896)
1989 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1904)
1989 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish race car driver (b. 1961)
1990 – Allen Collins, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1952)
1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian author and critic (b. 1912)
1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, American actor (b. 1924)
1993 – Keith Laumer, American soldier, author, and diplomat (b. 1925)
1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Russian field marshal (b. 1917)
1994 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and author (b. 1929)
1999 – Joe D’Amato, Italian director and cinematographer (b. 1936)
1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman, co-founded the Hyatt Corporation (b. 1922)
2002 – Paul Aars, American race car driver (b. 1934)
2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (b. 1930)
2002 – Robert Nozick, American philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1938)
2003 – Nell Carter, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
2004 – Bob Keeshan, American television personality and producer (b. 1927)
2004 – Helmut Newton, German-Australian photographer (b. 1920)
2005 – Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1921)
2005 – Johnny Carson, American talk show host, television personality, and producer (b. 1925)
2007 – Syed Hussein Alatas, Malaysian sociologist and politician (b. 1928)
2007 – E. Howard Hunt, American CIA officer (b. 1918)
2007 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1932)
2009 – Robert W. Scott, American farmer and politician, 67th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1929)
2010 – Kermit Tyler, American colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
2010 – Earl Wild, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
2011 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness instructor, author, and television host (b. 1914)
2012 – Wesley E. Brown, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1907)
2012 – Maurice Meisner, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1931)
2012 – Bingham Ray, American businessman, co-founded October Films (b. 1954)
2013 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal (b. 1929)
2013 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (b. 1937)
2013 – Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet, French bishop (b. 1922)
2014 – Yuri Izrael, Russian meteorologist and journalist (b. 1930)
2014 – Riz Ortolani, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1926)
2015 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
2015 – Prosper Ego, Dutch activist, founded the Oud-Strijders Legioen (b. 1927)
2015 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (b. 1924)
2016 – Jimmy Bain, Scottish bassist (b. 1947)
2016 – Bobby Wanzer, American basketball player and coach (b. 1921)
2017 – Bobby Freeman, American singer, songwriter and record producer (b. 1940)
2017 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (b. 1941)
2018 – Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, composer and singer (b. 1939)
2018 – Nicanor Parra, Chilean poet (b. 1914)
2018 – Wyatt Tee Walker, American civil rights activist and pastor (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on January 23

Bounty Day (Pitcairn Islands)
Christian feast day:
- Abakuh
- Marianne of Molokai
- Emerentiana
- Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Ildefonsus of Toledo
- Phillips Brooks (Episcopal Church (USA))
- January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Jayanti (Orissa, Tripura, and West Bengal, India)
World Freedom Day (Taiwan and South Korea)

January 23 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

613 – Eight-month-old Constantine is crowned as co-emperor (Caesar) by his father Heraclius at Constantinople.
871 – Battle of Basing: The West Saxons led by King Æthelred I are defeated by the Danelaw Vikings at Basing.
1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrives at the Vatican.
1517 – The Ottoman Empire under Selim I defeats the Mamluk Sultanate and captures present-day Egypt at the Battle of Ridaniya.
1555 – The Ava Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in what is now Myanmar.
1689 – The Convention Parliament convenes to determine whether James II and VII, the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, Ireland and Scotland, had vacated the thrones of England and Ireland when he fled to France in 1688.
1808 – The Portuguese royal family arrives in Brazil after fleeing the French army’s invasion of Portugal two months earlier.
1824 – The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.
1849 – Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.
1863 – The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.
1879 – The Battle of Isandlwana during the Anglo-Zulu War results in a British defeat.
1879 – The Battle of Rorke’s Drift, also during the Anglo-Zulu War and just some 15 km away from Isandlwana, results in a British victory.
1889 – Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, D.C.
1890 – The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1901 – Edward VII is proclaimed King after the death of his mother, Queen Victoria.
1905 – Bloody Sunday in Saint Petersburg, beginning of the 1905 revolution.
1906 – SS Valencia runs aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing more than 130.
1915 – Over 600 people are killed in Guadalajara, Mexico, when a train plunges off the tracks into a deep canyon.
1917 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for “peace without victory” in Europe.
1919 – Act Zluky is signed, unifying the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic.
1924 – Ramsay MacDonald becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1927 – Teddy Wakelam gives the first live radio commentary of a football match, between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.
1941 – World War II: British and Commonwealth troops capture Tobruk from Italian forces during Operation Compass.
1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna–Gona.
1944 – World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy.
1946 – In Iran, Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people’s Republic of Mahabad at Chahar Cheragh Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad; he becomes the new president and Haji Baba Sheikh becomes the prime minister.
1946 – Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
1947 – KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, begins operation in Hollywood.
1957 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.
1957 – The New York City “Mad Bomber”, George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
1963 – The Élysée Treaty of cooperation between France and Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.
1968 – Apollo 5 lifts off carrying the first Lunar module into space.
1968 – Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.
1970 – The Boeing 747, the world’s first “jumbo jet”, enters commercial service for launch customer Pan American Airways with its maiden voyage from John F. Kennedy International Airport to London Heathrow Airport.
1971 – The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.
1973 – The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.
1973 – The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo moon landing mission.
1973 – A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.
1973 – In a bout for the world heavyweight boxing championship in Kingston, Jamaica, challenger George Foreman knocks down champion Joe Frazier six times in the first two rounds before the fight is stopped by referee Arthur Mercante.
1984 – The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, is introduced during a Super Bowl XVIII television commercial.
1987 – Philippine security forces open fire on a crowd of 10,000–15,000 demonstrators at Malacañang Palace, Manila, killing 13.
1992 – Rebel forces occupy Zaire’s national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government’s resignation.
1992 – Space Shuttle program: the space shuttle Discovery launches on STS-42 carrying Dr. Roberta Bondar, who becomes the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space.
1995 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid massacre: In central Israel, near Netanya, two Gazans blow themselves up at a military transit point, killing 19 Israelis.
1998 – Space Shuttle program: space shuttle Endeavor launches on STS-89 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
1999 – Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.
2002 – Kmart becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
2006 – Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country’s first indigenous president.
2007 – At least 88 people are killed when two car bombs explode in the Bab Al-Sharqi market in central Baghdad, Iraq.
2015 – An explosion near a civilian trolley-bus in Donetsk kills at least thirteen people.

Births on January 22

826 – Emperor Montoku of Japan (d. 858)
1263 – Ibn Taymiyyah, Syrian scholar and theologian (d. 1328)
1440 – Ivan III of Russia (d. 1505)
1522 – Charles II de Valois, Duke of Orléans, (d. 1545)
1552 – Walter Raleigh, English poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer (d. 1618)
1561 – Francis Bacon, English philosopher and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1626)
1570 – Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English historian and politician, founded the Cotton library (d. 1631)
1573 – John Donne, English poet and cleric in the Church of England, wrote the Holy Sonnets (d. 1631)
1592 – Pierre Gassendi, French mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (d. 1655)
1645 – William Kidd, Scottish sailor and pirate hunter (probable; d. 1701)
1654 – Richard Blackmore, English physician and poet (d. 1729)
1690 – Nicolas Lancret, French painter (d. 1743)
1729 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German philosopher and author (d. 1781)
1733 – Philip Carteret, English admiral and explorer (d. 1796)
1740 – Noah Phelps, American soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 1809)
1781 – François Habeneck, French violinist and conductor (d. 1849)
1788 – Lord Byron, English poet and playwright (d. 1824)
1792 – Lady Lucy Whitmore, English noblewoman, hymn writer (d. 1840)
1796 – Karl Ernst Claus, Estonian-Russian chemist, botanist, and academic (d. 1864)
1797 – Maria Leopoldina of Austria (d. 1826)
1799 – Ludger Duvernay, Canadian journalist, publisher, and politician (d. 1852)
1802 – Richard Upjohn, English-American architect (d. 1878)
1828 – Dayrolles Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 4th Baron Ventry, Irish hereditary peer (d. 1914)
1831 – Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1917)
1840 – Ernest Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
1849 – August Strindberg, Swedish novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 1912)
1858 – Beatrice Webb, English sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
1861 – George Fuller, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
1865 – Wilbur Scoville, American chemist and pharmacist (d. 1942)
1867 – Gisela Januszewska, Jewish-Austrian physician (d. 1943)
1869 – José Vicente de Freitas, Portuguese colonel and politician, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1952)
1874 – Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
1874 – Jay Hughes, American baseball player and coach (d. 1924)
1875 – D. W. Griffith, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1948)
1877 – Tom Jones, American baseball player and manager (d. 1923)
1879 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (d. 1953)
1880 – Bill O’Neill, Canadian-American baseball player (d. 1920)
1880 – Frigyes Riesz, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1956)
1881 – Ira Thomas, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958)
1886 – John J. Becker, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1961)
1887 – Helen Hoyt, American poet and author (d. 1972)
1889 – Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (d. 1935)
1889 – Amos Strunk, American baseball player and manager (d. 1979)
1890 – Fred M. Vinson, American judge and politician, 13th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1953)
1891 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian philosopher and politician (d. 1937)
1892 – Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (d. 1986)
1893 – Conrad Veidt, German-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1943)
1897 – Rosa Ponselle, American operatic soprano (d. 1981)
1897 – Dilipkumar Roy, a Bengali Indian musician, musicologist, novelist, poet and essayist. (d. 1980)
1898 – Ross Barnett, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Mississippi (d. 1987)
1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (d. 1948)
1898 – Denise Legeay, French actress (d. 1968)
1899 – Martti Haavio, Finnish poet and mythologist (d. 1973)
1900 – Ernst Busch, German actor and singer (d. 1980)
1902 – Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler, coach, and academic (d. 1970)
1903 – Fritz Houtermans, Polish-German physicist and academic (d. 1966)
1904 – George Balanchine, Georgian-American dancer, choreographer, and director, co-founded the New York City Ballet (d. 1983)
1904 – Arkady Gaidar, Russian journalist and author (d. 1941)
1905 – Willy Hartner, German physicist, historian, and academic (d. 1981)
1906 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (d. 1936)
1907 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot and engineer (d. 1995)
1907 – Dixie Dean, English footballer (d. 1980)
1908 – Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
1908 – Prince Oana, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)
1909 – Martha Norelius, Swedish-born American swimmer (d. 1955)
1909 – Porfirio Rubirosa, Dominican racing driver, polo player, and diplomat (d. 1965)
1909 – Ann Sothern, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1909 – U Thant, Burmese educator and diplomat, 3rd United Nations Secretary-General (d. 1974)
1911 – Bruno Kreisky, Austrian lawyer and politician, 22nd Chancellor of Austria (d. 1990)
1913 – Henry Bauchau, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (d. 2012)
1913 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (d. 1977)
1913 – Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (d. 2003)
1914 – Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek violinist and composer (d. 2001)
1915 – Heinrich Albertz, German theologian and politician, Mayor of Berlin (d. 1993)
1916 – Bill Durnan, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1972)
1916 – Henri Dutilleux, French pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2013)
1916 – Harilal Upadhyay, Indian author, poet, and astrologist (d. 1994)
1918 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
1919 – Diomedes Olivo, Dominican baseball player and scout (d. 1977)
1920 – Irving Kristol, American journalist, author, and academic, founded The National Interest (d. 2009)
1920 – Alf Ramsey, English footballer and coach (d. 1999)
1922 – Howard Moss, American poet, playwright and critic (d. 1987)
1923 – Diana Douglas, British-American actress (d. 2015)
1924 – J. J. Johnson, American trombonist and composer (d. 2001)
1924 – Ján Chryzostom Korec, Slovak cardinal (d. 2015)
1924 – Charles Lisanby, American production designer and art director (d. 2013)
1925 – Johnny Bucha, American baseball player (d. 1996)
1925 – Bobby Young, American baseball player (d. 1985)
1927 – Lou Creekmur, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1927 – Joe Perry, American footballer (d. 2011)
1928 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historian, author, and academic (d. 2004)
1929 – Petr Eben, Czech composer, organist and choirmaster (d. 2007)
1930 – Mariví Bilbao, Spanish actress (d. 2013)
1930 – Éamon de Buitléar, Irish accordion player and director (d. 2013)
1931 – Sam Cooke, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964)
1931 – Galina Zybina, Russian shot putter and javelin thrower
1932 – Berthold Grünfeld, Norwegian psychiatrist and academic (d. 2007)
1932 – Piper Laurie, American actress
1932 – Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives
1933 – Yuri Chesnokov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2010)
1934 – Vijay Anand, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1934 – Bill Bixby, American actor and director (d. 1993)
1934 – Graham Kerr, English chef and author
1935 – Alexander Men, Russian priest and scholar (d. 1990)
1936 – Ong Teng Cheong, Singaporean architect and politician, 5th President of Singapore (d. 2002)
1936 – Alan J. Heeger, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1937 – Edén Pastora, Nicaraguan politician
1937 – Joseph Wambaugh, American police officer and author
1938 – Peter Beard, Australian photographer and author (d. 2020)
1938 – Joe Esposito, American author (d. 2016)
1938 – Altair Gomes de Figueiredo, Brazilian footballer
1939 – Jørgen Garde, Danish admiral (d. 1996)
1939 – Alfredo Palacio, Ecuadoran physician and politician, President of Ecuador
1939 – Luigi Simoni, Italian footballer and manager
1939 – J. C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player and scout (d. 1994)
1940 – John Hurt, English actor (d. 2017)
1940 – George Seifert, American football player and coach
1940 – Gillian Shephard, English educator and politician, Secretary of State for Education
1941 – Jaan Kaplinski, Estonian poet, philosopher, and critic
1942 – Mimis Domazos, Greek footballer
1943 – Michael Spicer, English journalist and politician (d. 2019)
1944 – Khosrow Golsorkhi, Iranian journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1974)
1944 – Uto Ughi, Italian violinist and conductor
1945 – Jophery Brown, American baseball player, actor, and stuntman (d. 2014)
1945 – Jean-Pierre Nicolas, French racing driver and manager
1945 – Christoph Schönborn, Austrian cardinal
1945 – Alojz Uran, Slovenian archbishop
1946 – Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter and manager (d. 2010)
1946 – Serge Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1947 – Vladimir Oravsky, Czech-Swedish author and director
1948 – Gilbert Levine, American conductor and academic
1949 – Mike Caldwell, American baseball player and coach
1949 – J.P. Pennington, American country-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
1949 – Steve Perry, American singer-songwriter and producer
1950 – Paul Bew, Northern Irish historian and academic
1950 – Frank Schade, American basketball player and coach
1951 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater and coach (d. 1989)
1951 – Leon Roberts, American baseball player and manager
1952 – Ramón Avilés, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1953 – Winfried Berkemeier, German footballer and manager
1953 – Myung-whun Chung, South Korean pianist and conductor
1953 – Jim Jarmusch, American director and screenwriter
1955 – Thomas David Jones, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
1955 – Timothy R. Ferguson, American politician
1956 – Steve Riley, American drummer
1957 – Mike Bossy, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1957 – Brian Dayett, American baseball player and manager
1957 – Godfrey Thoma, Nauruan politician
1957 – Francis Wheen, English journalist and author
1958 – Nikos Anastopoulos, Greek footballer and manager
1958 – Filiz Koçali, Turkish journalist and politician
1959 – Linda Blair, American actress
1960 – Michael Hutchence, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
1961 – Quintin Dailey, American basketball player (d. 2010)
1961 – Daniel Johnston, American musician
1962 – Jimmy Herring, American guitarist
1962 – Huw Irranca-Davies, Welsh lawyer and politician
1962 – Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
1964 – Nigel Benn, English-Australian boxer
1964 – Stojko Vranković, Croatian basketball player
1965 – Steven Adler, American rock drummer
1965 – DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ and producer
1965 – Diane Lane, American actress
1965 – Andrew Roachford, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1966 – Craig Salvatori, Australian rugby league player and coach
1967 – Nick Gillingham, English swimmer
1968 – Guy Fieri, American chef, author, and television host
1968 – Heath, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
1968 – Frank Leboeuf, French footballer, sportscaster, and actor
1968 – Mauricio Serna, Colombian footballer
1969 – Olivia d’Abo, English-American singer-songwriter and actress
1969 – Keith Gordon, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Jason Lowrie, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
1970 – Abraham Olano, Spanish cyclist
1971 – Stan Collymore, English footballer and sportscaster
1972 – Terry Hill, Australian rugby league player and coach
1973 – Rogério Ceni, Brazilian footballer
1974 – Cameron McConville, Australian racing driver and sportscaster
1974 – Joseph Muscat, Maltese journalist and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Malta
1976 – Jimmy Anderson, American baseball player and coach
1976 – James Dearth, American football player
1977 – Mario Domm, Mexican singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1977 – Anna Linkova, Russian tennis player
1977 – Hidetoshi Nakata, Japanese footballer
1977 – Luciano Andrade Rissutt, Brazilian footballer
1978 – Chone Figgins, American baseball player
1979 – Aidan Burley, New Zealand-English politician
1979 – Carlos Ruiz, Panamanian baseball player
1979 – Chor Boogie, American artist
1980 – Jonathan Woodgate, English footballer
1981 – Willa Ford, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1981 – Beverley Mitchell, American actress
1981 – Ben Moody, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1981 – Ibrahima Sonko, French footballer
1981 – Guy Wilks, English racing driver
1982 – Fabricio Coloccini, Argentinian footballer
1983 – Shaun Cody, American football player
1984 – Ben Eager, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Ubaldo Jiménez, Dominican baseball player
1984 – Leon Powe, American basketball player
1984 – Maceo Rigters, Dutch footballer
1985 – Fotios Papoulis, Greek footballer
1985 – Yan Xu, Singaporean table tennis player
1986 – Maher Magri, Tunisian footballer
1986 – Matt Simon, Australian footballer
1987 – Astrid Jacobsen, Norwegian skier
1987 – Shane Long, Irish footballer
1988 – Asher Allen, American football player
1988 – Greg Oden, American basketball player
1988 – Marcel Schmelzer, German footballer
1989 – Theo Robinson, English-Jamaican footballer
1990 – Alizé Cornet, French tennis player
1990 – Dean Whare, New Zealand rugby league player
1990 – Logic, American rapper
1990 – Phil Wang, British-Malaysian comedian
1991 – Stefan Kolb, German footballer
1996 – Joshua Ho-Sang, Canadian ice hockey player
1998 – Silento, American rapper, singer and songwriter

Deaths on January 22

239 – Cao Rui, Chinese emperor (b. 205)
628 – Anastasius of Persia, monk
906 – He, empress of the Tang Dynasty
935 – Ma, empress of Southern Han
1051 – Ælfric Puttoc, archbishop of York
1170 – Wang Chongyang, Chinese Daoist and co-founder of the Quanzhen School (b. 1113)
1188 – Ferdinand II of León (b. 1137)
1341 – Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)
1517 – Hadım Sinan Pasha, Ottoman politician, 32nd Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. ?)
1536 – Bernhard Knipperdolling, German religious leader (b. 1495)
1536 – John of Leiden, Anabaptist leader from the Dutch city of Leiden (b. 1509)
1552 – Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, English general and politician, Lord High Treasurer of England (b. 1500)
1560 – Wang Zhi, Chinese pirate
1575 – James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault (b. 1516)
1599 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1547)
1666 – Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor (b. 1592)
1750 – Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (b. 1675)
1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1690)
1767 – Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German meteorologist and geologist (b. 1719)
1779 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (b. 1733)
1779 – Claudius Smith, American guerrilla leader (b. 1736)
1798 – Lewis Morris, American judge and politician (b. 1726)
1840 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (b. 1752)
1850 – Vincent Pallotti, Italian missionary and saint (b. 1795)
1879 – Anthony Durnford, Irish colonel (b. 1830)
1879 – Henry Pulleine, English colonel (b. 1838)
1892 – Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1813)
1900 – David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-invented the microphone (b. 1831)
1901 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (b. 1819)
1901 – Emil Erlenmeyer, German chemist and academic (b. 1825)
1921 – George Streeter, American captain and businessman (b. 1837)
1922 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1837)
1922 – Pope Benedict XV (b. 1854)
1922 – Camille Jordan, French mathematician and academic (b. 1838)
1925 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American geographer and mountain climber (b. 1859)
1927 – James Ford Rhodes, American historian and author (b. 1848)
1929 – R. C. Lehmann, English journalist, author, and politician (b. 1856)
1930 – Stephen Mather, American businessman and conservationist, co-founded the Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company (b. 1867)
1931 – László Batthyány-Strattmann, Hungarian physician and ophthalmologist (b. 1870)
1945 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and playwright (b. 1869)
1949 – William Thomas Walsh, American author, poet, and playwright (b. 1891)
1950 – Alan Hale, Sr., American actor and director (b. 1892)
1951 – Lawson Robertson, Scottish-American sprinter and high jumper (b. 1883)
1955 – Jonni Myyrä, Finnish-American athlete (b. 1892)
1957 – Ralph Barton Perry, American philosopher and academic (b. 1876)
1959 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (b. 1929)
1964 – Marc Blitzstein, American pianist and composer (b. 1905)
1966 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (b. 1890)
1968 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer and water polo player (b. 1890)
1971 – Harry Frank Guggenheim, American businessman and publisher, co-founded Newsday (b. 1890)
1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson, American lieutenant and politician, 36th President of the United States (b. 1908)
1975 – Andrew George Burry, Swiss-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1873)
1977 – Ibrahim bin Abdullah Al Suwaiyel, Saudi Arabian diplomat (b. 1916)
1978 – Oliver Leese, English general (b. 1894)
1978 – Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1894)
1979 – Ali Hassan Salameh, Palestinian rebel leader (b. 1940)
1980 – Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian and academic (b. 1888)
1981 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and academic (b. 1903)
1982 – Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chilean lawyer and politician, 28th President of Chile (b. 1911)
1985 – Arthur Bryant, English historian and journalist (b. 1899)
1987 – R. Budd Dwyer, American educator and politician, 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania (b. 1939)
1989 – S. Vithiananthan, Sri Lankan author and academic (b. 1924)
1991 – Robert Choquette, Canadian author, poet and diplomat (b. 1905)
1993 – Kōbō Abe, Japanese playwright and photographer (b. 1924)
1994 – Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor and director (b. 1910)
1994 – Telly Savalas, American actor (b. 1924)
1996 – Israel Eldad, Polish-Israeli philosopher and author (b. 1910)
1997 – Billy Mackenzie, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1957)
1999 – Graham Staines, Australian-Indian missionary and translator (b. 1941)
2000 – Craig Claiborne, American journalist, author, and critic (b. 1920)
2000 – Anne Hébert, Canadian author and poet (b. 1916)
2001 – Tommie Agee, American baseball player (b. 1942)
2001 – Roy Brown, American clown and puppeteer (b. 1932)
2003 – Bill Mauldin, American soldier and cartoonist (b. 1921)
2004 – Billy May, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1916)
2004 – Tom Mead, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1918)
2004 – Ann Miller, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1923)
2005 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1943)
2005 – Carlo Orelli, Italian soldier (b. 1894)
2005 – Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican pianist and songwriter (b. 1924)
2006 – Aydın Güven Gürkan, Turkish academic and politician, Turkish Minister of Labor and Social Security (b. 1941)
2007 – Ngô Quang Trưởng, Vietnamese general (b. 1929)
2007 – Abbé Pierre, French priest and activist (b. 1912)
2007 – Liz Renay, American actress, author and performer (b. 1926)
2008 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor and director (b. 1979)
2008 – Miles Lerman, Polish Holocaust survivor and activist (b. 1920)
2009 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (b. 1908)
2010 – Louis R. Harlan, American historian and author (b. 1922)
2010 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (b. 1929)
2012 – Simon Marsden, English photographer and author (b. 1948)
2012 – Joe Paterno, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
2012 – Clarence Tillenius, Canadian painter and environmentalist (b. 1913)
2012 – Dick Tufeld, American actor, announcer, narrator and voice actor (b. 1926)
2013 – Robert Bonnaud, French historian and academic (b. 1929)
2013 – Hinton Mitchem, American businessman and politician (b. 1938)
2014 – Maziar Partow, Iranian cinematographer (b. 1933)
2015 – Fabrizio de Miranda, Italian engineer and academic, co-designed the Rande Bridge (b. 1926)
2015 – Wendell H. Ford, American lieutenant and politician, 53rd Governor of Kentucky (b. 1924)
2015 – Margaret Bloy Graham, Canadian author and illustrator (b. 1920)
2016 – Homayoun Behzadi, Iranian footballer and coach (b. 1942)
2016 – Cecil Parkinson, English politician (b. 1931)
2016 – Lois Ramsey, Australian actress (b. 1922)
2016 – Kamer Genç, Turkish politician (b. 1940)
2017 – Masaya Nakamura, Japanese businessman (b. 1925)
2017 – Yordano Ventura, Dominican baseball player (b. 1991)
2018 – Ursula K. Le Guin, American sci-fi and fantasy novelist (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on January 22

Christian feast day:
- Anastasius of Persia
- Gaudentius of Novara
- László Batthyány-Strattmann
- Laura Vicuna
- Vincent Pallotti
- Vincent of Saragossa
- Vincent, Orontius, and Victor
- Blessed William Joseph Chaminade
- January 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Unity of Ukraine (Ukraine)
Grandfather’s Day (Poland)

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On This Day