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Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Notes

References

External links

Events

★ 46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.

★ 871 - Battle of Reading: Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.

★ 1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey.

★ 1642 - King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England's slide into civil war.

★ 1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire.

★ 1717 - The Netherlands, England, and France sign the Triple Alliance.

★ 1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples.

★ 1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

★ 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''.

★ 1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

★ 1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.

★ 1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by Dr. William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.

★ 1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

★ 1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.

★ 1936 - ''Mickey's Polo Team'', a short animated film featuring Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, and Harpo Marx in a polo match against various Disney characters, is first released.

★ 1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music charts.

★ 1941 - The animated short Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released: it marks the second appearance of Bugs Bunny and the first to have his name on a title card.

★ 1944 - Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.

★ 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.

★ 1948 - Burma regains its independence from the United Kingdom.

★ 1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.

★ 1957 - After 69 years the last issue of ''Collier's Weekly'' magazine is published.

★ 1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957).

★ 1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

★ 1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.

★ 1965 - United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.

★ 1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.

★ 1974 - United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

★ 1974 - An Irving Oil gas station explodes in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, killing six.

★ 1975 - Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint.

★ 1987 - An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, DC, collides with Conrail engines, killing 16 people (Chase, Maryland rail wreck).

★ 1989 - Second Gulf of Sidra incident: a pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.

★ 1990 - A crowded passenger train collides with a standing freight train in Pakistan's Sindh province, killing 300 people.

★ 1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.

★ 1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

★ 1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.

★ 2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of Georgia.

★ 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

★ 2006 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

★ 2006 - Many American media outlets erroneously report that 12 miners have been found alive in the Sago Mine Disaster.

★ 2007 - The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

Births

★ 1077 - Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty in China (d. 1100)

★ 1334 - Amadeus VI of Savoy (d. 1383)

★ 1581 - James Ussher, Irish Anglican archbishop (d. 1656)

★ 1643 - Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and natural philosopher (d. 1727)

★ 1664 - Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (d. 1742)

★ 1672 - Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (d. 1742)

★ 1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (d. 1736)

★ 1720 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer (d. 1774)

★ 1785 - Jakob Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1863)

★ 1809 - Louis Braille, French inventor of braille^[1] (d. 1852)

★ 1813 - Isaac Pitman, British inventor (Pitman shorthand) (d. 1897)

★ 1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)

★ 1838 - Charles Sherwood Stratton, American circus performer (d. 1883)

★ 1839 - Carl Humann, German engineer (d. 1896)

★ 1848 - Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913)

★ 1869 - Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (d. 1960)

★ 1874 - Josef Suk, Czech composer (d. 1935)

★ 1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)

★ 1882 - Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist (d. 1943)

★ 1883 - Max Eastman, American writer (d. 1969)

★ 1893 - Yone Minagawa, Japanese, became worlds Oldest living person January 29, 2007. (d. Aug. 13, 2007)

★ 1894 - Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (d. 1962)

★ 1896 - Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)

★ 1896 - André Masson, French artist (d. 1987)

★ 1900 - James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)

★ 1901 - C. L. R. James, writer and journalist (d. 1989)

★ 1905 - Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)

★ 1913 - Malietoa Tanumafili II, Sovereign Ruler of Samoa (d.2007)

★ 1914 - Herman Franks, baseball player

★ 1916 - Lionel Newman, American film music composer (d. 1989)

★ 1920 - William Colby, American CIA director (d. 1996)

★ 1924 - Sebastian Kappen, Indian theologian (d. 1993)

★ 1925 - Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (d. 2003)

★ 1927 - Paul Desmarais, Canadian businessman

★ 1927 - Barbara Rush, American actress

★ 1929 - Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist, sculptor

★ 1930 - Sorrell Booke, American actor (d. 1994)

★ 1930 - Don Shula, American football coach

★ 1931 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, First Lady of Fiji (d. 2004)

★ 1932 - Carlos Saura, Spanish director

★ 1933 - Ilia II Catholicos-Patriarch of all Georgia.

★ 1934 - Rudolf Schuster, Slovakian president

★ 1935 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer (d. 2006)

★ 1937 - Grace Bumbry, American singer

★ 1937 - Dyan Cannon, American actress

★ 1940 - Helmut Jahn, German architect

★ 1940 - Brian David Josephson, Nobel laureate

★ 1940 - Gao Xingjian, Nobel laureate

★ 1941 - George Pan Cosmatos, Greek film director (d. 2005)

★ 1941 - John Bennett Perry, American actor

★ 1941 - Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)

★ 1942 - John McLaughlin, English jazz guitarist

★ 1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer

★ 1945 - Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish entertainer

★ 1945 - Richard R. Schrock, Nobel laureate

★ 1946 - Arthur Conley, American singer (d. 2003)

★ 1948 - Eugeniusz Wycisło, Polish politician

★ 1950 - John Louis Evans, convicted murderer (d. 1983)

★ 1951 - Barbara Cochran, American alpine skier

★ 1953 - Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer

★ 1953 - George Tenet, American CIA director

★ 1956 - Bernard Sumner, English musician (New Order)

★ 1957 - Patty Loveless, American singer

★ 1958 - Matt Frewer, American actor

★ 1958 - Gary Jones, Welsh-born actor

★ 1958 - Julian Sands, British actor

★ 1959 - Yoshitomo Nara, Japanese pop artist

★ 1960 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)

★ 1961 - Lee Curreri, American actor

★ 1962 - Laila Eloui, Egyptian actress

★ 1962 - Robin Guthrie, Scottish guitarist

★ 1962 - Peter Steele, American musician (Type O Negative)

★ 1963 - Dave Foley, Canadian comedian and actor

★ 1963 - Till Lindemann, German singer (Rammstein)

★ 1965 - Yvan Attal, French actor and director

★ 1965 - Beth Gibbons, English singer (Portishead)

★ 1965 - Julia Ormond, English actress

★ 1966 - Deana Carter, American singer

★ 1967 - Johnny Nelson, British former boxer

★ 1967 - Marina Orsini, Quebec actress

★ 1967 - David Toms, American professional golfer

★ 1971 - Junichi Kakizaki, Japanese artist, sculptor

★ 1973 - Frank Høj, Danish cyclist

★ 1974 - Ian Moor, English singer

★ 1976 - Benoît Joachim, professional cyclist

★ 1976 - Ted Lilly, American baseball player

★ 1977 - Irán Castillo, Mexican actress

★ 1977 - Tim Wheeler, Irish singer (Ash)

★ 1978 - Dwight Freeney, American football player

★ 1978 - Dominik Hrbatý, Slovakian tennis player

★ 1978 - Mai Meneses, Spanish singer

★ 1979 - Tristan Gommendy, French racing driver

★ 1979 - Jeph Howard, American musician (The Used)

★ 1980 - Miguel Monteiro, Portuguese footballer

★ 1981 - Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer

★ 1982 - Kang Hye-jeong, South Korean actress

★ 1982 - Richard Logan, English footballer

★ 1983 - Spencer Chamberlain, American vocalist (Underoath)

★ 1985 - Fernando Rees, Brazilian race car driver

★ 1986 - James Milner, English footballer

★ 1988 - Nabila Jamshed, Indian Writer

★ 1991 - Olivia Tennet, New Zealand actress

★ 1995 - María Isabel, Spanish singer

★ 2000 - Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, American actress

Deaths

★ 1066 - Edward the Confessor, pre-Norman conquest English king (b. ca. 1004) (disputed)

★ 1248 - King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)

★ 1564 - Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b. 1514)

★ 1584 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and drawer (b. 1539)

★ 1695 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (b. 1628)

★ 1752 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b. 1704)

★ 1761 - Stephen Hales, English physiologist (b. 1677)

★ 1773 - Anton Losenko, Russian painter (b. 1737)

★ 1782 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b. 1698)

★ 1804 - Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet (bc. 1730)

★ 1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)

★ 1825 - King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)

★ 1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)

★ 1883 - Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (b. 1823)

★ 1891 - Antoine Labelle, Quebec catholic priest (b. 1833)

★ 1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)

★ 1903 - Gulstan Ropert, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1839)

★ 1919 - Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1843)

★ 1920 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)

★ 1931 - Art Acord, American actor (b. 1890)

★ 1941 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher, Nobel laureate (b. 1859)

★ 1960 - Albert Camus, Algerian-born French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1913)

★ 1961 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1887)

★ 1962 - Hans Lammers, German SS officer (b. 1879)

★ 1965 - T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)

★ 1967 - Donald Campbell, British motorboat racer (b. 1921)

★ 1970 - Jean-Étienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)

★ 1971 - Arthur Ford, American clairaudient (b. 1896)

★ 1981 - Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and composer (I'll Never Smile Again) (b. 1914)

★ 1985 - Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)

★ 1986 - Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)

★ 1986 - Phil Lynott, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy) (b. 1949)

★ 1990 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (b. 1903)

★ 1994 - RD Burman, Indian musician (b. 1939)

★ 1995 - Eduardo Mata, Mexican conductor and composer (b. 1942)

★ 1995 - Sol Tax, American anthropologist (b. 1907)

★ 1997 - Harry Helmsley, American real estate mogul (b. 1909)

★ 1998 - Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)

★ 1999 - Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)

★ 2003 - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)

★ 2003 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b. 1923)

★ 2003 - Sabine Ulibarri, Mexican American writer (b. 1919)

★ 2004 - Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)

★ 2004 - Brian Gibson, English film director (b. 1944)

★ 2004 - Jake Hess, American singer (b. 1927)

★ 2004 - Jeff Nuttall, English writer (b. 1933)

★ 2004 - John Toland, American historian (b. 1912)

★ 2005 - Humphrey Carpenter, English author (b. 1946)

★ 2005 - Guy Davenport, American author, artist, and scholar (b. 1927)

★ 2005 - Ali al-Haidri, Iraqi governor of Baghdad (assassinated)

★ 2005 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (b. 1921)

★ 2005 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (b. 1919)

★ 2005 - Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)

★ 2005 - Alton Tobey, American artist (b. 1914)

★ 2006 - Irving Layton, Canadian poet (b. 1912)

★ 2006 - Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai (b. 1946)

★ 2007 - Ben Gannon, Australian theatre film and television producer (b. 1952)

★ 2007 - Helen Hill, American independent film-maker (b. 1970)

★ 2007 - Sir Lewis Hodges, British Air Chief Marshal (b. 1918)

★ 2007 - Grenfell (Gren) Jones, Welsh newspaper cartoonist (b. 1934)

★ 2007 - Steve Krantz, American film and TV producer (Fritz the Cat) (b. 1923)

★ 2007 - Gáspár Nagy, Hungarian poet and writer (b. 1949)

★ 2007 - Sandro Salvadore, Italian footballer (b. 1939)

★ 2007 - Jan Schröder, Dutch cyclist (b. 1941)

★ 2007 - Marais Viljoen, former State President of South Africa (b. 1915)

★ 2007 - Osman Waqialla, Sudanese artist and calligrapher (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances

★ Feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton^[2]

★ The eleventh night and tenth day of Christmas in Western Christianity

★ Ogoni Day

★ January 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Notes

1. To prevent confusion the proper noun "Braille" is written in lower case ("braille") when referring to the writing system.
2. Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

References

Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On This Day in Canada
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