On This Day in History January 31

January 31 – Events:

• 1504 – France cedes Naples to Aragon.
• 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes is executed for his plotting against Parliament and James I of England.
• 1747 – The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital.
• 1814 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1846 – After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 1849 – Corn Laws are abolished in the United Kingdom (following legislation in 1846).
• 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee becomes general-in-chief.
•  1867 – Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria.
• 1876 – The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations.
• 1891 – The first attempt of a Portuguese republican revolution brakes out in the northern city of Porto.
• 1895 – José Martí & others leave New York City NY for invasion of Spanish Cuba.
• 1900 – Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambuan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.
• 1901 – Chekhov’s “Three Sisters” opens at the Moscow Art Theater.
• 1905 – First auto to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), A G MacDonald, Daytona Beach.
• 1905 – Carroll Wright appointed first US Commissioner of Labor.
• 1906 – Strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake, Colombia, 8.6 Richter scale.
• 1911 – Congress names San Francisco as Panama Canal opening celebration site
• 1915 – World War I: Germany uses poison gas against Russia
• 1917 – World War I: Germany announces its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.
• 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.
• 1929 – The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky to Turkey.
• 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.
• 1936 – The Green Hornet radio show debuts.
• 1941 – Layforce set sail.
• 1944 – World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.
• 1944 – World War II: During Anzio campaign 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) was destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.
• 1945 – US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed, the first American soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion.
• 1946 – Yugoslavia’s new constitution, modeling the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
• 1948 – J. D. Salinger’s “A Perfect Day for Banana Fish” appears in NY.
• 1948 – Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway.
• 1949 – First daytime soap on TV “These Are My Children” (NBC in Chicago).
• 1950 – President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.
• 1953 – A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands.
• 1956 – Juscelino Kubitschek becomes President of Brazil.
• 1956 – Guy Mollet becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1957 – Eight people 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 – Explorer program: Explorer 1 – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.
• 1958 – James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.
• 1961 – Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2 – Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.
• 1968 – Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon.
• 1968 – Nauru declares independence from Australia.
• 1970 – A Saskatchewan Court convicts 17-year-old hippie David Milgaard of murder; he is sentenced to life in prison. He spent 23 years in jail until April 14, 1992 when DNA evidence proves him innocent of all charges.
• 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 14 Mission – 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, begin in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1974 – MacDonald’s founder Ray Kroc buys San Diego Padres.
• 1975 – Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” goes gold.
• 1975 – UCLA wins NCAA basketball championship.
• 1976 – “Love Rollercoaster” by Ohio Players hits #1.
• 1980 – Thirty-nine people burn to death in the occupation of the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala.
• 1981 – “The Tide Is High” by Blondie hits #1.
• 1984 – Edwin Newman retires from NBC News after 35 years with the network.
• 1986 – Mary Lund, of Minnesota, is first female recipient of an artificial heart.
• 1988 – Barge sinks near Anacortes WA, spills 70,000 gallons of oil.
• 1990 – First McDonalds in Russia opens in Moscow, world’s biggest McDonalds.
• 1992 – Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires.
• 1994 – Dow Jones hits a record 3,978.36
• 1995 – President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.
• 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
• 2000 – Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.
• 2001 – In the Netherlands a Scottish court convicts a Libyan and acquits another for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
• 2003 – The Waterfall train disaster occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia.
• 2007 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq.
• 2008 – The MS Riverdance is beached at Blackpool after its cargo shifts. The ship had been hit broadside by a wave in the Irish Sea.

January 31 – Birthdays:

• 877 – Taejo of Goryeo, ruler of Korea (d. 943)
• 1512 – King Henry of Portugal (d. 1580)
• 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shogun of Japan (d. 1616)
• 1550 – Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (d. 1588)
• 1597 – John Francis Regis, French saint (d. 1640)
• 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher (d. 1669)
• 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French catholic priest and saint (d. 1716)
• 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian Lutheran missionary (d. 1758)
• 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawmaker and diplomat (d. 1816)
• 1759 – François Devienne, French composer (d. 1803)
• 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian composer (d. 1828)
• 1820 – William B. Washburn, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887)
• 1857 – George Jackson Churchward, Great Western Railway Chief mechanical engineer. (d. 1933)
• 1865 – Henri Desgrange, Founder of the Tour-de-France (d. 1940)
• 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader (d. 1951)
• 1866 – Lev Shestov, Russian philosopher (d. 1938)
• 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1928)
• 1872 – Zane Grey, American Western writer (d. 1939)
• 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
• 1881 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (d. 1931)
• 1884 – Theodor Heuss, 1st President of Germany (Bundespräsident) (d. 1963)
• 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958)
• 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
• 1894 – Isham Jones, American musician (d. 1956)
• 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1966)
• 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968)
• 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
• 1905 – John O’Hara, American writer (d. 1970)
• 1911 – Eddie Byrne, British actor (d. 1981)
• 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Carey Loftin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1997)
• 1914 – Sri Daya Mata, Hindu religious figure
• 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer (d. 1994)
• 1915 – Alan Lomax, American musicologist (d. 2002)
• 1915 – Thomas Merton, American author and monk (d. 1968)
• 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian (d. 1993)
• 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player, and the first black player in Major League Baseball (d. 1972)
• 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress and singer
• 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect (d. 2004)
• 1921 – Mario Lanza, American singer (d. 1959)
• 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1923 – Norman Mailer, American writer and journalist (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American civil rights leader
• 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993)
• 1928 – Chuck Willis, American singer and songwriter (d. 1958)
• 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1929 – Jean Simmons, English actress
• 1930 – Lynn Carlin, American actress
• 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish racecar driver (d. 1972)
• 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player
• 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English athlete, newscaster and politician
• 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1997)
• 1933 – Bernardo Provenzano , Mafia Boss
• 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor (d. 1991)
• 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
• 1935 – Kenzaburo Oe, Japanese writer, Nobel laureate
• 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor
• 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
• 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer
• 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008)
• 1938 – Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
• 1938 – James G. Watt, American politician
• 1939 – Claude Gauthier, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby union coach (d. 1998)
• 1941 – Richard A. Gephardt, American politician
• 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress
• 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress
• 1942 – Derek Jarman, British director and writer (d. 1994)
• 1944 – Charlie Musselwhite, American musician
• 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American conceptual artist
• 1946 – Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (d. 1978)
• 1947 – Jonathan Banks, American actor
• 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player
• 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician
• 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and sports journalist
• 1949 – Ken Wilber, American philosopher
• 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Boris Yeltsin’s bodyguard
• 1951 – Dave Benton, Aruban-born singer
• 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer and musician (KC and the Sunshine Band)
• 1951 – Phil Manzanera, English guitarist (Roxy Music, Quiet Sun, 801)
• 1952 – Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (d. 1969)
• 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch musician (Whitesnake)
• 1956 – John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten, English singer (Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd.)
• 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor
• 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American actress
• 1959 – Kelly Moore, American stock car driver
• 1960 – Grant Morrison, British comic book author
• 1961 – Lloyd Cole, British singer
• 1964 – Sylvie Bernier, Quebec diver
• 1964 – Jeff Hanneman, American musician (Slayer)
• 1964 – Billey Shamrock, Swedish singer
• 1966 – Dr Umar Alisha, A Sufi Master was Born at Pithapuram.
• 1967 – Fat Mike, American musician
• 1967 – Irene Wan, Hong Kong actress
• 1967 – Joey Wong, Taiwanese actress
• 1970 – Minnie Driver, British actress
• 1971 – Lee Young Ae, South Korean actress
• 1971 – Patrick Kielty, Northern Irish comedian
• 1971 – Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer
• 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian actress
• 1974 – Wil Anderson, Australian comedian
• 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player
• 1975 – Fred Coleman, former National Football League wide receiver
• 1975 – Jackie O, Australian radio host
• 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress
• 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer
• 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver
• 1977 – Mark Dutiaume, National Hockey League player
• 1977 – Shingo Katori, Japanese actor and singer (SMAP)
• 1977 – Jim Kleinsasser, National Football League tight end
• 1977 – Kate Shindle, American actress
• 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress
• 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentine footballer
• 1978 – Brad Rutter, Jeopardy! Champion
• 1978 – Ray Shah, Irish DJ, TV, radio presenter
• 1979 – Daniel Tammet, British autistic savant
• 1980 – Ryan Kienle, American musician
• 1980 – Tiffany Limos, American actress
• 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian football player
• 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer
• 1982 – Yuniesky Betancourt, Major League Baseball shortstop
• 1982 – Andreas Görlitz, German football player
• 1982 – Bruno Nogueira, Portuguese actor, comedian and TV host
• 1982 – Elena Paparizou, Greek singer
• 1982 – Janis Sprukts, National Hockey League player
• 1982 – Brad Thompson, Major League Baseball player
• 1983 – James Sutton, British television actor
• 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American 400m runner
• 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer

January 31 – Deaths:

• 743 – Muhammad al-Baqir, Shia Imam (b. 676)
• 1398 – Emperor Suko (b. 1334)
• 1435 – Xuande, Emperor of China (b. 1398)
• 1561 – Bairam Khan, Great Mughal General, regent for Akbar
• 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch Mennonite leader (b. 1496)
• 1580 – Henry of Portugal (b. 1512)
• 1606 – Gunpowder Plot conspirators:
  • Guy Fawkes (b. 1570)
  • Ambrose Rokewood (b. c. 1578)
  • Thomas Wintour (b. 1571)
• 1615 – Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (b. 1543)
• 1632 – Joost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552)
• 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
• 1686 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (b. 1604)
• 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English privy councillor (c. 1654)
• 1729 – Jakob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659)
• 1736 – Filippo Juvara, Italian architect (b. 1678)
• 1788 – Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (b. 1720)
• 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born Virginia settler (b. 1718)
• 1794 – Marriott Arbuthnot, British admiral (b. 1711)
• 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
• 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Phanariot Greek military commander and national hero of the Greek War of Independence (b.1792
• 1844 – Henri Gratien, Comte Bertrand, French general (b. 1773)
• 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest, youth worker, educator, founder of the Salesian Society (b. 1815)
• 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English preacher and evangelist (b. 1834)
• 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian department store founder (b. 1834)
• 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (b. 1869)
• 1933 – John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
• 1942 – Henry Larkin, Baseball player (b. 1860)
• 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French writer (b. 1882)
• 1945 – Eddie Slovik, American soldier (b. 1920)
• 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer and inventor of the FM radio (b. 1890)
• 1955 – John Mott, American YMCA leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1865)
• 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author (b. 1882)
• 1966 – General Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army Officer (b. 1887)
• 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American athlete (b. 1908)
• 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian guru (b. 1894)
• 1970 – Slim Harpo, American singer (b. 1924)
• 1971 – Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky, Russian literary historian, linguist (b. 1891)
• 1973 – Ragnar Anton Kittil Frisch, Norwegian economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1895)
• 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive (b. 1882)
• 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American litigant (b. 1941)
• 1981 – Cozy Cole, American jazz drummer (b. 1909)
• 1987 – Yves Allégret, French film director (b. 1907)
• 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)
• 1995 – George Abbott, American stage director and producer (b. 1887)
• 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)
• 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929)
• 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-born comic book writer (b. 1926)
• 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian writer (b. 1923)
• 2002 – Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot (b. 1919)
• 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (The Red Shoes) and ballerina (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Kirka Babitzin, Finnish singer (b. 1950)
• 2007 – Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author (b. 1944)
• 2007 – Lee Bergere, American actor (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist and wife of Oliver Tambo (b. 1929)

January 31 – Holidays:

• Catholicism – Feast day of St. John Bosco, patron saint of Christian apprentices, editors, and publishers
• Saint Pedro Nolasco
• Saint Marcella
• Saint Geminianus
• Blessed Ludovica

On This Day in History January 30

January 30 – Events:

• 1648 – Eighty Years’ War: The Treaty of Münster is signed, ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain.
• 1649 – King Charles I of England is beheaded.
• 1661 – Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years.
• 1790 – The first boat specializing as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne.
• 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.
• 1841 – A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
• 1847 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.
• 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 Mayerling.
• 1894 – Pneumatic hammer patented by Charles King of Detroit
• 1911 – The destroyer USS Terry (DD-25) makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of James McCurdy 10 miles from Havana, Cuba.
• 1911 – The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.
• 1913 – The United Kingdom’s House of Lords rejects the Irish Home Rule Bill.
• 1925 – The Government of Turkey throws Patriarch Constantine VI out of Istanbul.
• 1930 – The world’s first radiosonde is launched in Pavlovsk, USSR.
• 1933 “The Lone Ranger” premiers on ABC radio
• 1933 – Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.
• 1943 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. TheUSS Chicago (CA- 29) is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.
• 1943 – Holocaust in Letychiv, Ukraine: The Nazi Gestapo commences mass shootings of Jews from Letychiv Ghetto. 200 surviving Jews from Letychiv slave labor camp are ordered to undress and are shot with a machine-gun into a ravine. Some 7,000 Jews were murdered in Letychiv.
• 1944 – World War II: United States troops land on Majuro.
• 1945 – The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, leading to the deadliest maritime disaster in known history, killing roughly 9,000 people.
• 1945 – World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: 126 American Rangers and Filipino resistance liberate 500 prisoners from the Cabanatuan POW camp.
• 1945 – World War II: Hitler gives his last ever public address, a radio address on the 12^th anniversary of his coming to power.
• 1948 – Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.
• 1948 – 5th Winter Olympic games open in St Moritz, Switzerland.
• 1956 – American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
• 1958 – House of Lords passes bill allowing women
• 1962 – Two of the high-wire Flying Wallendas are killed when their seven-person pyramid collapses during a performance in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1964 – Ranger program: Ranger 6 is launched.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive begins when Viet Cong forces launch a series of surprise attacks in South Vietnam.
• 1969 – The Beatles’ last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police.
• 1972 – Bloody Sunday: United Kingdom British Paratroopers kill fourteen civil rights/anti internment marchers in Northern Ireland.
• 1972 – Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1973 – Jury finds Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all count.
• 1975 – The first faroese stamp is issued.
• 1976 – George H. W. Bush becomes the 11th director of the CIA.
• 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner.”
• 1983 – Super Bowl XVII-Washington Redskins-27, Miami Dolphins-17
• 1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan closes.
• 1994 – Péter Lékó becomes the youngest chess grand master.
• 1995 – Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.
• 1996 – Gino Gallagher, the suspected leader of the Irish National Liberation Army, is killed while waiting in line for his unemployment benefit.
• 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.
• 2000 – Off the coast of Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
• 2003 – Belgium legally recognizes same-sex marriage.

January 30 – Birthdays:

• 133 – Marcus Severus Didius Julianus, Roman Emperor (d. 193)
• 1505 – Thomas Tallis, English composer (d. 1585)
• 1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian (d. 1641)
• 1615 – Thomas Rolfe, American colonial settler and only child of Pocahontas and John Rolfe (d. 1675)
• 1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian (d. 1741)
• 1687 – Johann Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
• 1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flautist and composer (d. 1773)
• 1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (d. 1778)
• 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American statesman (d. 1829)
• 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German writer (d. 1838)
• 1816 – Nathaniel Prentice Banks, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894)
• 1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist (d. 1899)
• 1832 – Infanta Luisa Fernanda, Duchess of Montpensier (d. 1897)
• 1841 – Félix Faure, 6th President of the French Third Republic (d. 1899)
• 1859 – Tony Mullane, Irish-born American baseball player (d. 1944)
• 1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-born composer (d. 1935)
• 1873 – Georges Ricard-Cordingley, painter (d. 1939)
• 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940)
• 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945)
• 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Hindi poet, dramatist and novelist (d. 1937)
• 1894 – Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria (d. 1943)
• 1899 – Max Theiler, South African virologist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1972)
• 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (d. 1959)
• 1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-born art historian (d. 1983)
• 1910 – C Subramaniam, Indian politician (d. 2000)
• 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American musician (d. 1989)
• 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist (d. 1988)
• 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American Evangelical theologian and pastor (d. 1984)
• 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Percy Thrower, British Television Gardener (d. 1988)
• 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian actor (d. 1992)
• 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995)
• 1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976, by assassination)
• 1915 – John Profumo, British cabinet minister (d. 2006)
• 1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and motorsport journalist d. 2008)
• 1918 – David Opatoshu, American television actor (d. 1996)
• 1919 – Nikolay Glazkov, Russian poet (d. 1979)
• 1920 – Carwood Lipton, American WWII veteran (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Delbert Mann, American film director
• 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian
• 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American writer (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist
• 1925 – Dorothy Malone, American actress
• 1927 – Olof Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986)
• 1928 – Hal Prince, American stage producer and director
• 1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian surgeon and international aid worker (d. 1996)
• 1930 – Sandy Amorós, Cuban baseball player (d. 1992)
• 1930 – Samuel J. Byck, American attempted assassin of Richard Nixon (d. 1974)
• 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor
• 1930 – Magnus Malan, South African politician
• 1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian politician
• 1931 – Allan W. Eckert, American historian, naturalist, and author
• 1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-born author
• 1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician
• 1933 – Louis Rukeyser, American journalist (d. 2006)
• 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American writer and poet (d. 1984)
• 1936 – F. Vernon Boozer, American politician
• 1936 – Patrick Caulfield, British painter and printmaker (d. 2005)
• 1936 – Horst Jankowski, German popular pianist (d. 1998)
• 1937 – Ed Hansen, American film director and editor (d. 2005)
• 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress
• 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player
• 1938 – Islom Karimov, President of Uzbekistan
• 1941 – Gregory Benford, American author and scientist
• 1941 – Dick Cheney, 46th Vice President of the United States
• 1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
• 1942 – Marty Balin, American musician
• 1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager
• 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author (d. 1997)
• 1947 – Les Barker, English poet
• 1947 – Steve Marriott, English musician (The Small Faces) (d. 1991)
• 1948 – Nick Broomfield, English film- and documentary-maker
• 1948 – Paul Magee, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• 1949 – Peter Agre, American biologist, Nobel laureate
• 1950 – Trinidad Silva, American actor (d. 1988)
• 1951 – Phil Collins, English musician
• 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor
• 1951 – Bobby Stokes, English former footballer (d. 1995)
• 1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player
• 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer
• 1955 – Judith Tarr, American author
• 1956 – Jeremy Gittins, English actor
• 1956 – Keiichi Tsuchiya, Japanese racing driver
• 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999)
• 1958 – Brett Butler, American actress and comedian
• 1959 – Mark Eitzel, American singer and musician (American Music Club)
• 1959 – Jody Watley, American singer
• 1961 – Dexter Scott King, American actor and son of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King
• 1962 – King Abdullah II of Jordan
• 1962 – Mary Kay Letourneau, American convicted statutory rapist
• 1965 – Julie McCullough, American model and actress
• 1966 – Danielle Goyette, Quebec female ice hockey player
• 1968 – Trevor Dunn, American musician (Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Secret Chiefs 3)
• 1968 – Prince Felipe of Spain
• 1969 – Carolyn Kepcher, American businesswoman and reality TV show star
• 1971 – Darren Boyd, British actor
• 1971 – Kimo von Oelhoffen, American football player
• 1972 – Lupillo Rivera, Mexican singer
• 1972 – Chris Simon, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player
• 1974 – Christian Bale, Welsh actor
• 1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress
• 1974 – Jemima Khan, British socialite
• 1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer
• 1975 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese singer (Puffy Amiyumi)
• 1976 – Andy Milonakis, American comedian
• 1977 – Deltha O’Neal, American football player
• 1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player
• 1980 – Leilani Dowding, British glamour model
• 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor
• 1980 – Pavel Ponomaryov, Russian-Estonian actor
• 1981 – Dimitar Berbatov, Bulgarian footballer
• 1981 – Peter Crouch, English footballer
• 1981 – Josh Kelley, American musician
• 1981 – Mathias Lauda, Austrian racing driver
• 1982 – Jorge Cantu, Mexican baseball player
• 1984 – Jeremy Hermida, American baseball player
• 1984 – Josh Harris, American Videographer/Musician
• 1985 – Aaadietya Pandey, Indian astrologer
• 1986 – Sam Duckworth, British singer-songwriter
• 1987 – Rebecca Knox, Irish professional wrestler
• 1988 – Rob Pinkston, American actor
• 1989 – Khleo Thomas, American actor and rapper
• 1990 – Jake Thomas, American actor
• 1991 – Matthew Werkmeister, Australian actor
• 2005 – Prince Hashem bin Al Abdullah II, of Jordan

January 30 – Deaths:

• 1030 – William V, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 969)
• 1181 – Emperor Takakura of Japan (b. 1161)
• 1384 – Louis II of Flanders (b. 1330)
• 1574 – Damião de Góis, Portuguese philosopher (b. 1502)
• 1606 – Everard Digby, English conspirator (b. 1578)
• 1649 – King Charles I of England (executed) (b. 1600)
• 1730 – Tsar Peter II of Russia (b. 1715)
• 1836 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress (b. 1752)
• 1858 – Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (b. 1778)
• 1867 – Emperor Komei of Japan (b. 1831)
• 1869 – William Carleton, Irish novelist (b. 1794)
• 1889 – Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria (b. 1858)
• 1926 – Barbara La Marr, American actress (b. 1896)
• 1928 – Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
• 1929 – La Goulue, French Cancan dancer (b. 1866)
• 1934 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (b. 1862)
• 1948 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1869)
• 1948 – Orville Wright, American aviation pioneer (b. 1871)
• 1951 – Ferdinand Porsche, Austrian automotive engineer (b. 1875)
• 1958 – Jean Crotti, Swiss artist (b. 1878)
• 1958 – Ernst Heinkel, German aviation engineer (b. 1888)
• 1962 – Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (b. 1894)
• 1963 – Francis Poulenc, French composer (b. 1899)
• 1969 – Georges Pire, Belgian monk, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
• 1980 – Professor Longhair, American musician (b. 1918)
• 1982 – Lightnin’ Hopkins, American musician (b. 1912)
• 1991 – John Bardeen, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1908)
• 1991 – John McIntire, American actor (b. 1907)
• 1994 – Pierre Boulle, French author (b. 1912)
• 1995 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist, zookeeper, author, and television presenter (b. 1925)
• 1998 – Richard Cassilly, American tenor (b. 1927)
• 1999 – Huntz Hall, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1999 – Ed Herlihy, American broadcaster (b. 1909)
• 2001 – Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor (b. 1911)
• 2001 – Johnnie Johnson, British fighter pilot (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Joseph Ransohoff, the father of modern neurosurgery (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Martyn Bennet, Canadian musician (b. 1971)
• 2005 – Wes Wehmiller, American musician (b. 1971)
• 2006 – Coretta Scott King, American activist and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1927)
• 2007 – Nikos Kourkoulos, Greek actor, artistic director of the Greek National Theater (b. 1934)
• 2007 – Sidney Sheldon, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Jeremy Beadle, British Television Host, (b. 1948)
• 2008 – Roland Selmeczi, Hungarian actor (b. 1969)

January 30 – Holidays:

• St. Mutien-Marie Wiaux
• St. Hippolytus
• St. Hyacintha Mariscotti
• St. Aldegonde
• St. Bathild
• St. Martina, Virgin and Martyr
• St. Savina, martyred under Emperor Diocletian
• St. Anthony the Great’s feast in the Coptic Church
• King Charles the Martyr (Anglicanism)
• Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church: Feast of the Three Holy Hierarchs

On This Day in History January 29

January 29 – Events:

• 904 – Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
• 1595 – William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed.
• 1676 – Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1802 – John Beckley of Virginia appointed first Librarian of Congress.
• 1814 – France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.
• 1834 – US President Andrew Jackson orders first use of federal soldiers to suppress a labor dispute.
• 1845 – “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe is published in the New York Evening Mirror.
• 1850 – Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the U.S. Congress.
• 1856 – Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.
• 1861 – Kansas admitted as the 34th U.S. state.
• 1863 – Bear River Massacre.
• 1886 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
• 1891 – Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch.
• 1900 – The American League is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with 8 founding teams.
• 1908 – Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, at Cornell University, incorporates.
• 1916 – World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.
• 1919 – Secretary of state proclaims the 18th amendment (prohibition).
• 1920 – Walt Disney starts first job as an artist; $40 week with KC Slide Co.
• 1921 – Hurricane hits Washington & Oregon.
• 1922 – Union of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras & El Salvador dissolved.
• 1924 – Ice cream cone rolling machine patented by Carl Taylor, Cleveland.
• 1929 – Seeing Eye Guide Dog Organization forms.
• 1936 – First players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame-Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson.
• 1940 – Three gasoline multiple units carrying factory workers crash and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi station, Yumesaki Line (Nishinari Line), Osaka, Japan, killing at least 181 people and injuring at least 92.
• 1943 – The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, U.S. cruiser Chicago is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.
• 1944 – USS Missouri the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy is launched.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.
• 1944 – World War II: About 38 men, women, and children die in the Koniuchy massacre in Poland.
• 1944 – In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio is destroyed in an air-raid bombing.
• 1951 – Liz Taylor’s first divorce (Conrad Hilton, Jr.)
• 1959 – Sleeping Beauty, an animated feature produced by Walt Disney based upon a fairy tale, is released.
• 1963 – First inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame are announced: Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, and George Halas.
• 1966 – The first of 608 performances of Sweet Charity opens at the Palace Theatre, New York.
• 1978 – Sweden outlaws aerosol sprays due to their harmful effect on the ozone layer, becoming the first nation to enact such a ban.
• 1979 – Emerson, Lake & Palmer disband after 10 years together.
• 1979 – President Carter commuted Patricia Hearst’s 7 year sentence to 2 years.
• 1979 – Brenda Ann Spencer opens fire at the Cleveland Elementary School playground in San Diego, California, killing two adults and wounding eight children and one police officer.
• 1989 – Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making them the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.
• 1996 – President Jacques Chirac announces a “definitive end” to French nuclear testing.
• 1996 – La Fenice, Venice’s opera house, is destroyed by fire.
• 1998 – In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.
• 2001 – Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
• 2005 – The first direct commercial flights from the mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier landed in Beijing.

January 29 – Birthdays:

• 1584 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (d. 1647)
• 1632 – Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (d. 1703)
• 1688 – Emanuel Swedenborg, Swedish scientist and philosopher (d. 1772)
• 1711 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (d. 1788)
• 1715 – Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (d. 1777)
• 1717 – Jeffrey Amherst, British military leader (d. 1797)
• 1718 – Paul Rabaut, French Huguenot pastor (d. 1794)
• 1737 – Thomas Paine, English-born American patriot (d. 1809)
• 1749 – King Christian VII of Denmark (d. 1808)
• 1754 – Moses Cleaveland, founder of the city of Cleveland (d. 1806)
• 1756 – Henry Lee III, American General
• 1761 – Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American United States Secretary of the Treasury
• 1782 – Daniel Auber, French composer (d. 1871)
• 1801 – Horatia Nelson, the illegitimate daughter of Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson (d. 1881)
• 1810 – Ernst Kummer, German mathematician (d. 1893)
• 1843 – William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
• 1846 – Karol Olszewski, Polish scientist (d. 1915)
• 1860 – Anton Chekhov, Russian writer (d. 1904)
• 1862 – Frederick Delius, English composer (d. 1934)
• 1866 – Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel Laureate (d. 1944)
• 1867 – Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Spanish writer (d. 1928)
• 1874 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American entrepreneur (d. 1960)
• 1876 – Havergal Brian, British composer (d. 1972)
• 1877 – Georges Catroux, French general (d. 1969)
• 1880 – W.C. Fields, American actor (d. 1946)
• 1891 – Elizaveta Gerdt, Russian ballerina (d. 1975)
• 1891 – R. Norris Williams, American tennis player, also a survivor of the RMS Titanic Disaster d. 1968)
• 1895 – Muna Lee, American poet (d. 1965)
• 1901 – Allen B. DuMont, American scientist and inventor (d. 1965)
• 1905 – Barnett Newman, American painter (d. 1970)
• 1910 – Colin Middleton, Irish artist (d. 1983)
• 1911 – Peter von Siemens, German industrialist (d. 1986)
• 1913 – Victor Mature, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1913 – Daniel Taradash, American screenwriter (d. 2003)
• 1913 – Peter von Zahn, German journalist and writer (d. 2001)
• 1915 – John Serry, Sr., American musician, composer, arranger (d. 2003)
• 1918 – John Forsythe, American actor
• 1920 – José Luis de Villalonga, Spanish aristocrat, author, and actor (d. 2007)
• 1921 – Anthony George, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Gerda Steinhoff, Nazi concetration camp supervisor (d. 1946)
• 1923 – Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (d. 1981)
• 1923 – Ivo Robic, Croatian singer and songwriter (d. 2000)
• 1924 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer (d. 1990)
• 1924 – Marcelle Ferron, Quebec painter and stained glass artist (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Peter Voulkos, American artist (d. 2002)
• 1926 – Franco Cerri, Italian musician
• 1926 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Edward Abbey, American author and environmentalist (d. 1989)
• 1928 – Lee Shau Kee, Hong Kong property developer
• 1929 – Gordon Solie, American professional wrestling announcer (d. 2000)
• 1930 – Derek Bailey, English guitar virtuoso (d. 2005)
• 1930 – John Junkin, English radio, television and film performer and scriptwriter (d. 2006)
• 1932 – Tommy Taylor, English footballer (d. 1958)
• 1932 – George Allen, English footballer
• 1933 – Sacha Distel, French singer and guitarist (d. 2004)
• 1933 – Ron Townson, American singer (The 5th Dimension) (d. 2001)
• 1936 – James Jamerson, American bass guitarist for Motown Records (d. 1983)
• 1939 – Germaine Greer, Australian writer
• 1940 – Katharine Ross, American actress
• 1940 – Kunimitsu Takahashi, Japanese motorcycle racer and racing driver
• 1942 – Claudine Longet, French singer, dancer and convicted murderer
• 1944 – Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda
• 1945 – Jim Nicholson, Irish politician
• 1945 – Tom Selleck, American actor
• 1947 – Linda B. Buck, American scientist, Nobel laureate
• 1947 – David Byron, English singer (Uriah Heep) (d. 1985)
• 1947 – Marián Varga, Slovak musician
• 1948 – Cristina Saralegui, American talk-show host
• 1948 – Marc Singer, Canadian-born actor
• 1948 – Pat Kenny, Irish TV presenter & radio host
• 1950 – Ann Jillian, American actress
• 1950 – Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver and one-time F1 world champion
• 1951 – Andy Roberts, West Indian cricketer
• 1952 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-born musician and record producer (The Ramones)
• 1953 – Paulin Bordeleau, Quebec ice hockey player
• 1953 – Hwang Woo-Suk, South Korean biomedical scientist
• 1953 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
• 1953 – Lynne McGranger, Australian actress
• 1954 – Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba, American singer (The Dictators and MC5)
• 1954 – Terry Kinney, American actor
• 1954 – Oprah Winfrey, American producer, actress, talk show host, and publisher
• 1954 – Doug Risebrough, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and executive
• 1955 – Lynne McGranger, Australian actress
• 1957 – Grazyna Miller, Italian poet, translator, and journalist
• 1960 – Matthew Ashford, American actor
• 1960 – Gia Carangi, American model (d. 1986)
• 1960 – Sean Kerly, English field hockey player
• 1960 – Greg Louganis, American diver
• 1960 – Steve Sax, American baseball player
• 1960 – J. G. Thirlwell, Australian-born musician
• 1962 – Nicholas Turturro, American actor
• 1963 – Bob Holly, American professional wrestler
• 1964 – Andre Reed, American football player
• 1964 – John Habyan, American baseball player
• 1964 – Roddy Frame, lead singer of Scottish New Wave band Aztec Camera
• 1964 – Anna Ryder Richardson, British interior designer and television presenter.
• 1965 – Dominik Hašek, Czech ice hockey player
• 1965 – Peter Lundgren, Swedish tennis coach
• 1966 – Romário, Brazilian footballer
• 1967 – Cyril Suk, Czech tennis player
• 1967 – Stacey King, American basketball player
• 1968 – Edward Burns, American actor
• 1968 – Susi Erdmann, German bobsledder and luger
• 1968 – Sora Jung, Korean actress
• 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor
• 1969 – Hyde, Japanese singer1970 – Heather Graham, American actress
• 1970 – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian shooter
• 1970 – Jörg Hoffmann, German swimmer
• 1973 – Jason Schmidt, American baseball player
• 1975 – Sara Gilbert, American actress
• 1976 – Charles Divins, American model-turned-actor
• 1977 – Justin Hartley, American actor
• 1978 – Martin Schmitt, German ski jumper
• 1978 – Rob Bironas, American football player
• 1979 – April Scott, American actress and model
• 1979 – Joseph Todd, Arena Football League player
• 1979 – Sui Feifei, Chinese basketball player
• 1980 – Yael Bar-Zohar, Israeli actress and model
• 1980 – Ivan Klasnic, Croatian football player
• 1981 – Jonny Lang, American musician
• 1981 – Álex Ubago, Spanish musician
• 1982 – Heidi Mueller, American actress
• 1983 – Nedžad Sinanovic, Bosnian basketball player
• 1985 – Athina Onassis, French heiress
• 1985 – Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player
• 1986 – Drew Tyler Bell, American actor
• 1986 – Mark Howard, English football player
• 1986 – Simon Vukcevic, Montenegrin football player
• 1987 – Spencer Clark, American race car driver (d. 2006)
• 1987 – Matthew Wilson, English world rally driver
• 1988 – Stephanie Gilmore, Australian professional surfer
• 1993 – Michelle Larcher De Brito, Portuguese tennis player.
• 1996 – Megan Jossa, English actress

January 29 – Deaths:

• 1119 – Pope Gelasius II
• 1342 – Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)
• 1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist (b. 1530)
• 1608 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557)
• 1647 – Francis Meres, English writer (b. 1565)
• 1676 – Tsar Alexis I of Russia (b. 1629)
• 1678 – Jeronimo Lobo, Portuguese Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
• 1696 – Ivan V, Russian tsar (b. 1666)
• 1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638)
• 1737 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (b. 1666)
• 1743 – André-Hercule de Fleury, chief minister under Louis XV of France (b. 1653)
• 1763 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692)
• 1820 – King George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738)
• 1829 – Paul François Jean Nicolas Barras, French politician (b. 1755)
• 1870 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797)
• 1871 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, French Canadian writer and Seigneur (b. 1786)
• 1899 – Alfred Sisley, British impressionist painter (b. 1839)
• 1901 – Milan I, King of Serbia (b. 1855)
• 1906 – King Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818)
• 1918 – Aleksei Maksimovich Kaledin, Russian counter revolutionary (b. 1861)
• 1928 – Douglas Haig, British soldier (b. 1861)
• 1933 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884)
• 1934 – Fritz Haber, German chemist, Nobel Laureate (b. 1868)
• 1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and dictator (b. 1871)
• 1946 – Harry Hopkins, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890)
• 1948 – Tomislav II of Croatia, 4th Duke of Aosta, Italian aristocrat (b. 1900)
• 1950 – Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1885)
• 1951 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (b. 1880)
• 1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist (b. 1880)
• 1962 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist (b. 1875)
• 1963 – Robert Frost, American poet (b. 1874)
• 1964 – Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913)
• 1966 – Pierre Mercure, French Canadian composer (b. 1927)
• 1969 – Allen Dulles, American CIA director (b. 1893)
• 1970 – Basil Liddell Hart, British historian (b. 1895)
• 1977 – Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (b. 1902)
• 1977 – Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (b. 1954)
• 1980 – Jimmy Durante, American actor and comedian (b. 1893)
• 1986 – Leif Erickson, American actor (b. 1911)
• 1989 – Halina Konopacka, Polish athlete (b. 1900)
• 1991 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese historian (b. 1907)
• 1992 – Willie Dixon, American composer and musician (b. 1915)
• 1994 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian alpine skier (b. 1967)
• 1998 – Joseph Alioto, mayor of San Francisco (b. 1916)
• 1999 – Lili St. Cyr, American dancer (b. 1918)
• 2002 – Dick “Night Train” Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
• 2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-born actor (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Frank Moss, United States Senator from Utah (b. 1911)
• 2004 – M. M. Kaye, British writer (b. 1908)
• 2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand writer (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Eric Griffiths, Welsh guitarist (The Quarrymen) (b. 1940)
• 2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli satirst (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Barbaro, American thoroughbred racehorse (b. 2003)
• 2007 – Dia Abdul Zahra Kadim, leader of the Iraqi cult Soldiers of Heaven (b. 1970)
• 2008 – Raymond Jacobs, United States Marine Corps F Company Radioman (Iwo Jima) (b. 1925)
• 2008 – Philippe Khorsand, French actor (b. 1948)

January 29 – Holidays:

• Roman Catholic saints – Valerius of Trèves, Saint Juniper
• Gibraltar – Constitution Day

On This Day in History January 28

January 28 – Events:

• 1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted.
• 1521 – The Diet of Worms begins, lasting until May 25.
• 1547 – Henry VIII dies. His nine year old son, Edward VI becomes King, and the first Protestant ruler of England.
• 1573 – Articles of Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
• 1754 – Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity.
• 1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on Saint Kitts.
• 1724 – The Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the
• Great, and implemented in the Senate decree. It was called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
• 1760 – Pownal, Vermont created by Benning Wentworth as one of the New Hampshire Grants.
• 1807 – London’s Pall Mall is first street lit by gaslight.
• 1813 – Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
• 1820 – Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovered the Antarctic continent approaching the Antarctic coast.
• 1846 – Battle of Aliwal, India won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
• 1848 – King of Naples grants his subjects a constitution.
• 1851 – Northwestern University (Chicago) chartered.
• 1855 – The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway.
• 1860 – Britain formally returns Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua.
• 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.
• 1878 – Yale Daily News becomes the first daily, college newspaper in the United States.
• 1887 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
• 1902 – The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.
• 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish-American War.
• 1915 – An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard.
• 1916 – Louis D. Brandeis becomes the first Jew appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
• 1917 – Municipally owned streetcars take to the streets of San Francisco, California.
• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: Rebels seized control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
• 1921 – A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to honor the unknown dead of World War I.
• 1922 – American Pro Football Association renamed “National Football League.”
• 1922 – Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.’s biggest snowfall, causes the city’s greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapses.
• 1928 – Christopher Hornsrud chosen PM of Norway at age 101.
• 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
• 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhary Rehmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
• 1934 – The first ski tow in the United States begins operation in Vermont.
• 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.
• 1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by driver Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195.
• 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
• 1953 – Derek Bentley hanged for a murder carried out by Christopher Craig.
• 1958 – Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate begin their murder spree with the killings of her parents and infant sister.
• 1958 – The Lego company patented their design of Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.
• 1958 – Construction began on first private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor.
• 1959 – Soviet Union wins 62-37 for first international basketball loss by US.
• 1960 – NFL announces Dallas Cowboys (1960) & Minnesota Vikings (1961) franchises.
• 1961 – Republic of Rwanda proclaimed.
• 1962 – Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives.
• 1973 – “Barnaby Jones” premiers on CBS TV.
• 1978 – “Fantasy Island” starring Ricardo Montalban premiers on ABC TV.
• 1980 – USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
• 1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.
• 1981 – William J. Casey becomes director of the CIA.
• 1981 – Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision.
• 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity under the Red Brigades.
• 1984 – Los Angeles Kings stop Wayne Gretsky 51 game scoring streak.
• 1984 – Mr. Glynn Wolfe marries for non-bigamous record 26th time, Las Vegas.
• 1984 – Record 295,000 dominoes toppled, Fuerth, West Germany
• 1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission (Space Shuttle Challenger disaster) – Space Shuttle Challenger breaks apart after liftoff killing all seven astronauts onboard.
• 1990 – Defending champion Ivan Lendl beats Stefan Edberg for Australian Open.
• 1990 – East German agreement to form all-party government.
• 1994 – The first trial of accused murderer Lyle Menendez ends in a mistrial. He and his brother Erik are later found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
• 1998 – Gunmen hold at least 400 children and teachers hostage for several hours at an elementary school in Manila, Philippines.
• 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92.
• 2004 – Lord Hutton publishes his report into the death of U.N. weapons inspector Dr. David Kelly.

January 28 – Birthdays:

• 1225 – Saint Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)
• 1312 – Queen Joan II of Navarre (d. 1349)
• 1457 – King Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
• 1540 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (d. 1610)
• 1582 – John Barclay, Scottish writer (d. 1621)
• 1600 – Pope Clement IX (d. 1669)
• 1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679)
• 1611 – Johannes Hevelius, astronomer (d. 1687)
• 1622 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer (d. 1691)
• 1701 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (d. 1774)
• 1706 – John Baskerville, English printer (d. 1775)
• 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shogun (d. 1761)
• 1717 – Mustafa III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1774)
• 1719 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German critic and poet (d. 1749)
• 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmering, German physician (d. 1830)
• 1784 – George Hamilton Gordon Aberdeen, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860)
• 1818 – George S. Boutwell, 20th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1905)
• 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1892)
• 1833 – Charles George ‘Chinese’ Gordon, British soldier and administrator (d. 1885)
• 1841 – Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-born explorer and journalist (d. 1904)
• 1853 – José Martí, Cuban revolutionary (d. 1895)
• 1855 – William Seward Burroughs I, American inventor (d. 1898)
• 1863 – Ernst William Christmas, Australian painter (d. 1918)
• 1864 – Charles W. Nash, co-founder of Nash Motors, which would become American Motors as well as co-founder of Buick (d. 1948)
• 1864 – Herbert Akroyd Stuart, English engineer – inventor of the first compression ignition engine (d. 1927)
• 1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1928)
• 1865 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, first president of Finland (d. 1952)
• 1873 – Colette, French writer (d. 1954)
• 1874 – Vsevolod Meyerhold, Russian theatre director (d. 1940)
• 1879 – Francis Picabia, French-born painter and poet (d. 1953)
• 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer (d. 1970)
• 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist (d. 1962)
• 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian writer (d. 1973)
• 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish pianist and conductor (d. 1982)
• 1890 – Robert Stroud, American convict, the Birdman of Alcatraz (d. 1963)
• 1891 – Bill Doak, American baseball player (d. 1954)
• 1892 – Ernst Lubitsch, German-born film director (d. 1947)
• 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian writer (d. 1986)
• 1899 – Elias Simojoki, Finnish clergyman and politician (d. 1940)
• 1903 – Aleksander Kaminski, Polish writer (d. 1978)
• 1908 – Paul Misraki, French composer and songwriter (d. 1998)
• 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931)
• 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973)
• 1910 – Arnold Moss, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1910 – Verda Bryant, American author
• 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
• 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer (Sooty) (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-born British politician (d. 2004)
• 1919 – Francis Gabreski, American fighter pilot (d. 2002)
• 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1993)
• 1927 – Ronnie Scott, British jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director (d. 2001)
• 1929 – Acker Bilk, English jazz clarinetist
• 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-born artist
• 1933 – Jack Hill, American film director
• 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentine racing driver (d. 1990)
• 1934 – Mitr Chaibancha, Thai actor (d. 1970)
• 1935 – David Lodge, English author
• 1936 – Ismail Kadare, Albanian writer
• 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, writer, and director
• 1938 – Leonid Zhabotynsky, Ukrainian weightlifter
• 1940 – Carlos Slim Helú, Mexican businessman
• 1941 – Joel Crothers, American actor (d. 1985)
• 1943 – Paul Henderson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1943 – Dick Taylor, English musician (The Rolling Stones and The Pretty Things)
• 1944 – Susan Howard, American actress
• 1944 – John Tavener, English composer
• 1945 – Robert Wyatt, English musician
• 1948 – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian dancer
• 1948 – Charles Taylor, President of Liberia
• 1949 – Gregg Popovich, NBA Basketball Coach
• 1950 – Barbi Benton, American actress
• 1950 – Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah, King of Bahrain
• 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician
• 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian cosmonaut
• 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and executive
• 1953 – Chris Carter, English musician (Throbbing Gristle, Chris & Cosey)
• 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author
• 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France
• 1957 – Frank Skinner English comedian
• 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1959 – Frank Darabont, American filmmaker
• 1959 – Burkhard Dallwitz, German-born composer
• 1959 – Randi Rhodes, Air America radio personality
• 1959 – Dave Sharp, Welsh guitarist (The Alarm)
• 1960 – Robert von Dassanowsky, American cultural historian, writer, and producer
• 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1962 – Keith Hamilton Cobb, American actor
• 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer
• 1963 – Dan Spitz, American musician, guitarist for Anthrax
• 1965 – Lynda Boyd, American actress
• 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1968 – DJ Muggs, American musician (Cypress Hill)
• 1968 – Rakim, born William Michael Griffin Jr., American rapper
• 1969 – Kathryn Morris, American actress
• 1969 – Mo Rocca, American writer and comedian
• 1969 – Linda Sanchez, American politician
• 1971 – Anthony Hamilton, American soul singer
• 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer
• 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player
• 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player
• 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1975 – David Zingler, American writer
• 1975 – Anne Montminy, Canadian Olympic diver
• 1975 – Lee Latchford-Evans, English singer
• 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball player
• 1975 – Terri Colombino, American Actress
• 1976 – Mark Madsen, American basketball player
• 1976 – Jarrod Montague, American drummer (Taproot)
• 1976 – Lee Ingleby, British actor
• 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer
• 1976 – Emiko Kado, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 1999)
• 1977 – Daunte Culpepper, American football player
• 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer (*NSYNC)
• 1977 – Matt DeVries, American guitarist (Chimaira)
• 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese Formula One driver
• 1977 – Lyle Overbay, American baseball player
• 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer
• 1978 – Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer
• 1979 – Pixie, English model
• 1979 – Ali Boulala, Swedish skateboarder
• 1980 – Nick Carter, American singer (Backstreet Boys)
• 1980 – Jesse James Hollywood, American drug dealer and fugitive
• 1981 – Rick Razzano, American football player
• 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor
• 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player
• 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer
• 1986 – Jessica Ennis, English heptathlete
• 1986 – Shruti Haasan, Indian actress
• 1987 – Sophia Larkin, English artist
• 1988 – Henry Mortensen (actor), American actor

January 28 – Deaths:

• 814 – Charlemagne (b. 742)
• 1061 – Duke Spytihnev II of Bohemia (b. 1031)
• 1271 – Isabella of Aragon, queen of Philip III of France (b. 1247)
• 1443 – Robert le Maçon, Chancellor of France
• 1547 – King Henry VIII of England (b. 1491)
• 1596 – Sir Francis Drake, English explorer and soldier
• 1599 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian composer (b. 1547)
• 1613 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and library founder (b. 1545)
• 1621 – Pope Paul V (b. 1550)
• 1681 – Richard Allestree, English royalist churchman (b. 1619)
• 1672 – Pierre Séguier, Chancellor of France (b. 1588)
• 1687 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer (b. 1611)
• 1697 – John Fenwick, English conspirator
• 1725 – Tsar Peter I of Russia, (b. 1672)
• 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian and writer (b. 1684)
• 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769)
• 1859 – Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1782)
• 1864 – Émile Clapeyron, French engineer and physicist (b. 1799)
• 1903 – Augusta Holmès, French composer (b. 1847)
• 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (b. 1819)
• 1915 – Nikolay Umov, Russian physicist (b. 1846)
• 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian poet (b. 1872)
• 1935 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer (b. 1859)
• 1937 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and shooter (b. 1862)
• 1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German racecar driver (b. 1909)
• 1939 – William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1865)
• 1947 – Reynaldo Hahn, French composer (b. 1875)
• 1949 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908)
• 1950 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician (b. 1883)
• 1951 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, president of Finland (b.1867)
• 1953 – James Scullin, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876)
• 1953 – Derek Bentley (b. 1933) (executed)
• 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American author (b. 1891)
• 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884)
• 1965 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888)
• 1965 – Maxime Weygand, French soldier (b. 1867)
• 1971 – Donald Winnicott, British psychoanalyst (b. 1896)
• 1973 – John Banner, Austrian actor (b. 1910)
• 1983 – Billy Fury, British singer (b. 1940)
• 1983 – Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890)
• 1986 – Crew of Space Shuttle Challenger:
  • Greg Jarvis (b. 1944)
  • Christa McAuliffe (b. 1948)
  • Ronald McNair (b. 1950)
  • Ellison Onizuka (b. 1946)
  • Judith Resnik (b. 1949)
  • Francis R. Scobee (b. 1939)
  • Michael J. Smith (b. 1945)
• 1988 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist (b. 1911)
• 1991 – Red Grange, American football player (b. 1903)
• 1994 – Hal Smith, American actor (b. 1916)
• 1996 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet, Nobel Laureate (b. 1940)
• 1996 – Jerry Siegel, American cartoonist (b. 1914)
• 1996 – Burne Hogarth, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
• 1999 – Markey Robinson, Irish painter (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Torgny T:son Segerstedt, Swedish sociologist and philosopher (b. 1908)
• 2001 – Curt Blefary, American baseball player (b. 1943)
• 2002 – Astrid Lindgren, Swedish author (b. 1907)
• 2004 – Lloyd M. Bucher, U.S. Navy officer (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Don Cholito, Puerto Rican radio host (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Elroy Hirsch, American football player (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Don Stansauk, American professional wrestler (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Joe Viterelli, American actor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Jim Capaldi, English singer and songwriter (b. 1944)
• 2005 – Karen Lancaume, French actress (suicide) (b. 1973)
• 2005 – Jacques Villeret, French actor (b. 1951)
• 2006 – Yitzchak Kaduri, rabbi (b. around 1900)
• 2006 – Henry McGee, English comedian (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss professional road racing cyclist (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Father Robert Drinan, Roman Catholic Priest and American politician (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Karel Svoboda, Czech composer of popular music (b. 1938)
• 2007 – Hsu Wei Lun, Taiwanese actress (b. 1978)
• 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian athlete (b. 1963)
• 2007 – Emma Tillman, the world’s oldest living person from January 24-28, 2007 (b. 1892)
• 2008 – Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece (b. 1939)
• 2008 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish artist (b. 1925)

January 28 – Holidays:

• Catholicism – Feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas
• World Leprosy Day

On This Day in History January 27

January 27 – Events:

• 98 – Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
• 1142 – Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
• 1186 – Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily.
• 1343 – Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus.
• 1593 – Vatican opens 7 year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno.
• 1606 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, and ending in their execution on January 31.
• 1695 – Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his death in 1703.
• 1785 – The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
• 1825 – 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.”
• 1870 – The first women’s fraternity,Kappa Alpha Theta, is formed at DePauw University.
• 1888 – In Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Society is founded.
• 1909 – The Young Left is founded in Norway.
• 1918 – The first hostilities occurred in the Finnish Civil War.
• 1939 – First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
• 1944 – World War II: The two-year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
• 1945 – World War II: The Red Army arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
• 1951 – Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on the Frenchman Flats.
• 1951 – David Morrissey, Australian anthropologist, artist, and humanitarian activist is born.
• 1967 – Apollo program: Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center.
• 1967 – More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
• 1973 – Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde falls, becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.
• 1983 – Pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world’s longest subaqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido breaks through.
• 1996 – Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
• 1996 – Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

January 27 – Birthdays:

• 1443 – Albert, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
• 1546 – Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1608)
• 1585 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
• 1603 – Harbottle Grimston, English politician (d. 1685)
• 1621 – Thomas Willis, English physician (d. 1675)
• 1662 – Richard Bentley, English classical scholar (d. 1742)
• 1687 – Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
• 1701 – Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian (d. 1790)
• 1708 – Anna Petrovna of Russia (d. 1728)
• 1720 – Samuel Foote, English dramatist (d. 1777)
• 1741 – Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist (d. 1821)
• 1756 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
• 1805 – Samuel Palmer, English artist (d. 1881)
• 1805 – Sophie of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria (d. 1872)
• 1805 – Maria Anna of Bavaria, queen consort of Saxony (d. 1877)
• 1806 – Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (d. 1826)
• 1814 – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (d. 1879)
• 1823 – Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
• 1826 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (d. 1889)
• 1826 – Richard Taylor, American Confederate general (d. 1879)
• 1832 – Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
• 1836 – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (d. 1895)
• 1841 – Arkhip Kuindzhi, Russian painter (d. 1910)
• 1848 – Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
• 1850 – Samuel Gompers, American labor leader (d. 1924)
• 1850 – Edward J. Smith, English captain of the Titanic (d. 1912)
• 1859 – Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1941)
• 1885 – Jerome Kern, American composer (d. 1945)
• 1885 – Eduard Künneke, German composer (d. 1953)
• 1885 – Maeda Seison, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
• 1891 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer (d. 1967)
• 1893 – Soong Ching-ling, Chinese wife of Sun Yat-sen (d. 1981)
• 1895 – Harry Ruby, American composer (d. 1974)
• 1900 – Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
• 1901 – Art Rooney, American football team owner (d. 1988)
• 1901 – Willy Fritsch, German actor (d. 1973)
• 1903 – John Carew Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1997)
• 1905 – Howard McNear, American actor (d. 1969)
• 1908 – Oran Page, American musician (d. 1954)
• 1908 – William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (d. 1993)
• 1912 – Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher
• 1918 – Skitch Henderson, English bandleader (d. 2005)
• 1918 – Elmore James, American blues musician (d. 1963)
• 1918 – William Seawell, United States Army Brigadier General (d. 2005)
• 1919 – Ross Bagdasarian, American musician (d. 1972)
• 1920 – Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
• 1920 – John Box, British film production designer and art director (d. 2005)
• 1921 – Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
• 1924 – Sabu Dastagir, Indian actor (d. 1963)
• 1924 – Rauf Denktas, founder of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
• 1926 – Fritz Spiegl, Austrian journalist (d. 2003)
• 1926 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)
• 1928 – Michael Craig, British actor
• 1928 – Hans Modrow, a German politician, premier of East Germany
• 1929 – Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist (d. 1984)
• 1930 – Bobby Blue Bland, American singer
• 1931 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (d. 2001)
• 1932 – Boris Shakhlin, Soviet gymnast
• 1933 – Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian billionaire businessman
• 1934 – George Follmer, American race car driver
• 1936 – Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
• 1936 – Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist, Nobel Laureate
• 1937 – John Ogdon, English pianist (d. 1989)
• 1940 – James Cromwell, American actor
• 1940 – Terry Harper, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1942 – John Witherspoon, American actor
• 1942 – Kate Wolf, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 1986)
• 1944 – Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader
• 1944 – Mairéad Corrigan, Irish activist, Nobel Prize Laureate
• 1944 – Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
• 1945 – Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader (d. 2005)
• 1946 – Nedra Talley, American singer (Ronettes)
• 1947 – Björn Afzelius, Swedish singer (d. 1999)
• 1947 – Vyron Polydoras, Greek politician
• 1948 – Jean-Philippe Collard, French pianist
• 1949 – Ethan Mordden, American author
• 1950 – Amos Grunebaum, Israeli-born physician
• 1950 – Derek Acorah, English spirit medium
• 1951 – Brian Downey, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy)
• 1951 – David Morrissey Australian anthropologist, artist, and humanitarian
• involved in forwarding the cause of CSR
• 1952 – Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, American football player
• 1954 – Peter Laird, American comic-book artist
• 1954 – Joko Ninomiya, Japanese martial artist
• 1955 – Brian Engblom, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1955 – John G. Roberts, 17th Chief Justice of the United States
• 1955 – Alexander Stuart, British author
• 1955 – Koji Ushikubo, Japanese racing driver
• 1956 – Mimi Rogers, American actress
• 1957 – Janick Gers, British guitarist (Iron Maiden)
• 1957 – Frank Miller, American comic book artist and writer and film director
• 1958 – James Grippando, American novelist
• 1958 – Kadri Mälk, Estonian artist and jewelry designer
• 1959 – Keith Olbermann, American news presenter
• 1959 – Göran Hägglund, Swedish politician
• 1959 – Cris Collinsworth, American football player
• 1961 – Margo Timmins, Canadian singer (Cowboy Junkies)
• 1961 – Dina Bonnevie, Filipino actress
• 1961 – Gillian Gilbert, British musician (New Order)
• 1961 – Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer
• 1964 – Bridget Fonda, American actress
• 1965 – Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
• 1965 – Mike Newell, English football manager
• 1967 – Bobby Deol, Indian actor
• 1967 – Byron Mann, Hong Kong actor
• 1967 – Dave Manson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 – Patrick Blondeau, former French International footballer
• 1968 – Mike Patton, American singer (Faith No More)
• 1968 – Tricky, English rapper
• 1969 – Cornelius, Japanese musician and producer (Flipper’s Guitar)
• 1969 – Michael Kulas, Canadian singer (James)
• 1969 – Patton Oswalt, American actor and writer
• 1970 – Jon Douglas Rainey, American TV personality
• 1970 – Emmanuel Pahud, French-Swiss flautist
• 1971 – Fann Wong, Singapore entertainer (Shanghai Knights)
• 1971 – Lil Jon, American rapper and producer
• 1971 – Patrice Brisebois, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1972 – Guillermo, Mexican-born American TV personality
• 1972 – Keith Wood, Irish rugby player
• 1972 – Mark Owen, English pop singer
• 1972 – Janine Ilitch, Australian netballer
• 1974 – Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer
• 1974 – Andrei Pavel, Romanian tennis player
• 1976 – Clint Ford, American voice actor
• 1976 – Ahn Jung-Hwan, Korean football player
• 1976 – Ruby Lin, Taiwanese actress and singer
• 1978 – Pete Laforest, Canadian baseball player
• 1979 – Daniel Vettori, New Zealand cricketer
• 1979 – Rosamund Pike, British actress
• 1979 – Mario Fatafehi, American-born Canadian Football League player
• 1980 – Marat Safin, Russian tennis player
• 1980 – Chanda Gunn, ice hockey player
• 1981 – Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player
• 1983 – Carlo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1983 – Gavin Floyd, American baseball player
• 1983 – Mike Zagurski, American baseball player
• 1984 – Davetta Sherwood, American actress
• 1987 – Lily Donaldson, British model
• 1987 – Katy Rose, American pop singer
• 1987 – Zuleidy Spanish inventor, famous for inventing the tooth brush
• 1988 – Kerlon Moura Souza, Brazilian footballer

January 27 – Deaths:

• 98 – Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
• 1490 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (b. 1435)
• 1629 – Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
• 1638 – Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist
• 1731 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian musical instrument maker (b. 1655)
• 1740 – Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
• 1814 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1762)
• 1816 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (b. 1724)
• 1851 – John James Audubon, French-born naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1789)
• 1857 – Dorothea Lieven, Russian noblewoman (b. 1785)
• 1860 – János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1802)
•  1880 – Edward Middleton Barry, English architect (b. 1830)
• 1901 – Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
• 1910 – Thomas Crapper, English inventor (b. 1836)
• 1919 – Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b. 1877)
• 1921 – Maurice Vincent Buckley, Australian soldier (b. 1891)
• 1927 – Georgios Grivas, Cyprus-born general in the Greek Army
• 1927 – Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevicius (Matulewicz), Lithuanian bishop
• 1940 – Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
• 1956 – Erich Kleiber, Argentine conductor (b. 1890)
• 1967 – Crew of Apollo 1:
  • Roger Chaffee (b. 1935)
  • Virgil “Gus” Grissom (b. 1926)
  • Edward White (b. 1930)
  • 1967 – Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France (b. 1888)
  • 1970 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b. 1908)
  • 1971 – Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
  • 1972 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
  • 1972 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (b. 1888)
  • 1973 – William Nolde, last American combat casualty of Vietnam War (b. 1929)
  • 1975 – Bill Walsh, American producer and writer (b. 1913)
  • 1979 – Qalander Ba Ba Auliya, Sufi master (b. 1898)
  • 1983 – Louis de Funès, French actor (b. 1914)
  • 1986 – Lilli Palmer, German-born actress (b. 1914)
  • 1988 – Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian author (b. 1938)
  • 1989 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (b. 1888)
  • 1993 – André the Giant, French professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
  • 1994 – Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
  • 1996 – Ralph Yarborough, American politician (b. 1903)
  • 1997 – Gerald Marks, American songwriter (All of Me) (b. 1900)
  • 2000 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (b. 1930)
  • 2001 – Stavros Damianides, Greek musician (b. 1941)
  • 2003 – Henryk Jablonski, President of Poland (b. 1909)
  • 2003 – Louis Archambault, Quebec sculptor (b. 1915)
  • 2004 – Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)
  • 2004 – Salvador Laurel, Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
  • 2006 – Johannes Rau, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
  • 2006 – Gene McFadden, American singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
  • 2006 – Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (disappeared) (b. 1965)
  • 2007 – Tige Andrews, American actor (b. 1920)
  • 2007 – Yang Chuan-kwang, Taiwanese athlete (b. 1933) 
  • 2008 – Suharto, President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
  • 2008 – Louie Welch, mayor of Houston (b. 1918)

January 27 – Holidays:

• UN — International Holocaust Remembrance Day
• United Kingdom — Holocaust Memorial Day.
• Germany — Gedenktag für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism).
• Poland — Dzien Pamieci Ofiar Nazizmu (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism).
• Italy — Giorno della Memoria (Memorial Day).
• Catholicism — Catholic Schools Week.
• Serbia — St. Sava Day.
• Denmark — Auschwitzdag (Auschwitz Day; commemoration day for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocide).
• Monaco, day of Saint Devota, patron saint

On This Day in History January 26

January 26 – Events:

• 1340 – King Edward III of England is declared King of France.
• 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
• 1531 – Lisbon, Portugal hit by an earthquake–thousands die.
• 1564 – The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
• 1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
• 1589 – Job is elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
• 1699 – Treaty of Carlowitz signed.
• 1700 – The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the west coast of the North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
• 1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
• 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Sydney Harbour to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day.
• 1808 – Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.
• 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
• 1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
• 1841 – The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China later formally ceded.
• 1855 – Point No Point Treaty signed in Washington Territory. 
• 1856 – First Battle of Seattle (1856). Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
• 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
• 1870 – American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union.
• 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum.
• 1905 – The Cullinan Diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine.
• 1907 – The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle still in official use.
• 1911 – Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful seaplane.
• 1911 – Richard Strauss’ opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
• 1920 – Former Ford Motor Co. executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
• 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.
• 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
• 1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
• 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
• 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
• 1950 – India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president Republic Day.
• 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: riots burn Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
• 1958 – Japanese ferry Nankai Maru capsized off southern Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.
• 1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.
• 1962 – Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
• 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
• 1966 – The Beaumont Children go missing from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia.
• 1980 – Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
• 1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera has its first performance on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in New York.
• 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed in Somalia, ending centralized government
• 1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
• 2000 – Rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine plays in front of Wall Street, prompting an early closing of trading due to the crowds.
• 2001 – An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
• 2004 – President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.
• 2004 – A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing Sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.
• 2005 – Glendale train crash: Two trains derail killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California, near Los Angeles.
• 2005 – Condoleezza Rice is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post.
• 2006 – Western Union discontinues use of its telegram service.

January 26 – Birthdays:

• 1497 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
• 1541 – Florent Chrestien, French writer (d. 1596)
• 1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (d. 1785)
• 1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (d. 1785)
• 1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader (d. 1805)
• 1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden, Napoleonic general (d. 1844)
• 1781 – Achim von Arnim, German poet (d. 1831)
• 1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican founding father (d. 1876
• 1826 – Julia Dent Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)
• 1832 – George Shiras Jr., U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1924)
• 1842 – François Coppée, French poet and novelist (d. 1908)
• 1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza (Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà), explorer (d. 1905)
• 1857 – the 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
• 1868 – Juventino Rosas, Mexican composer (d. 1894)
• 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general and Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
• 1887 – François Faber, Luxembourgian cyclist (d. 1915)
• 1887 – Marc Mitscher, American Navy Admiral (d. 1947)
• 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-born gangster (d. 1973)
• 1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-born Canadian neurosurgeon (d. 1976)
• 1892 – Zara Cully, American actress (d. 1978)
• 1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pioneer aviator (d. 1926)
• 1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Sicilian mafioso (d. 1976)
• 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
• 1901 – Stuart Symington, American politician (d. 1988)
• 1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author and polemicist (d. 1940)
• 1904 – Ancel Keys, American scientist (d. 2004)
• 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
• 1905 – Charles Lane, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-born singer (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (d. 1997)
• 1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
• 1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-born French animator (d. 1989)
• 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1993)
• 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and songwriter (d. 2002)
• 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American songwriter (d. 1990)
• 1914 – Princess Hadice Hayriye Ayshe Dürrühsehvar (d. 2006)
• 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1918 – Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American writer
• 1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman (d. 1999)
• 1921 – Eddie Barclay, French producer (Barclay Records) (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Michael Bentine, British comedian (d. 1996)
• 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress
• 1924 – Rauf Denktash, Cypriot politician
• 1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer
• 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress
• 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, philanthropist, race car driver and race team owner (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Claude Ryan, Quebec newspaper editor (d. 2004)
• 1926 – Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani scholar
• 1927 – José Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player (d. 1985)
• 1928 – Roger Vadim, French film director and actor (d. 2000)
• 1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist and writer
• 1929 – Gordon Solie, American wrestling commentator (d. 2000)
• 1931 – Mary Murphy, American film actress
• 1932 – Coxsone Dodd, Jamaican record producer
• 1933 – Ercole Baldini, Italian cyclist
• 1934 – Roger Landry, Quebec businessman and newspaper publisher
• 1935 – Bob Uecker, American baseball player and broadcaster
• 1937 – Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leone political leader (d. 2003)
• 1941 – Scott Glenn, American actor
• 1941 – Henry Jaglom, English director
• 1943 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1943 – Jean Knight, American singer
• 1943 – Austin “Jack” Warner,Trinidadian FIFA Vice-President and CONCACAF President
• 1944 – Angela Davis, American feminist and activist
• 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
• 1946 – Gene Siskel, American film critic (d. 1999)
• 1947 – Michel Sardou, French singer
• 1947 – Patrick Dewaere, French actor (d. 1982)
• 1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author
• 1949 – David Strathairn, American actor
• 1950 – Janet Lupo, American model
• 1953 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
• 1953 – Lucinda Williams, American singer
• 1954 – Kim Hughes, Australian cricketer
• 1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch musician
• 1958 – Anita Baker, American singer
• 1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedian
• 1958 – Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer
• 1960 – Road Warrior Animal, American professional wrestler
• 1960 – Charlie Gillingham, American musician (Counting Crows)
• 1961 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1962 – Oscar Ruggeri, Argentine footballer
• 1963 – José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
• 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English musician
• 1964 – Paul Johansson, American actor
• 1965 – Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet gymnast
• 1965 – Thomas Östros, Swedish politician
• 1967 – Pradip Somasundaran, Indian playback singer
• 1968 – Ravi Teja, Tollywood film actor
• 1970 – Kirk Franklin, American singer
• 1971 – Bryan Callen, American actor
• 1971 – Dorian Gregory, American actor
• 1973 – Mayu Shinjo, Japanese mangaka
• 1974 – Shannon Hale, American author
• 1976 – Frankie Rayder, American model
• 1976 – Willie Adler, American guitar player
• 1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball player
• 1977 – Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player
• 1978 – Estéban Germán, Dominican baseball player
• 1978 – Corina Morariu, American tennis player
• 1978 – Kelly Stables, American actress
• 1979 – Sara Rue, American actress
• 1981 – Juan Jose Haedo, Argentinian Cyclist
• 1984 – Layla Kayleigh, British television personality
• 1984 – Iain Turner, Scottish footballer
• 1984 – Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer
• 1986 – Gerald Green, American basketball player
• 1986 – Matt Heafy, American musician (Trivium)
• 1986 – Shantelle Taylor, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1987 – Vladimir Garin, Russian actor (d. 2003)
• 1988 – Mia Rose, British-Portuguese singer
• 1989 – Emily Hughes, American figure skater
• 1993 – Cameron Bright, Canadian actor

January 26 – Deaths:

• 946 – Eadgyth, German Queen
• 1567 – Nicholas Wotton, English diplomat
• 1630 – Henry Briggs, English mathematician (b. 1556)
• 1636 – Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552)
• 1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (b. 1640)
• 1744 – Ludwig Andreas Graf Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683)
• 1750 – Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist (b. 1686)
• 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (b. 1732)
• 1799 – Gabriel Christie, British general (b. 1722)
• 1823 – Edward Jenner, English physician (b. 1749)
• 1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter (b. 1791)
• 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer (b. 1808)
• 1869 – Duncan Gordon Boyes, English recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1846)
• 1870 – Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1785)
• 1885 – Edward Davy, English inventor (b. 1806)
• 1885 – Charles George Gordon, British general (b. 1833)
• 1886 – David Rice Atchison, American politician (b. 1807)
• 1891 – Nikolaus August Otto, German inventor (b. 1833)
• 1893 – Abner Doubleday, credited inventor of baseball (b. 1819)
• 1904 – Whitaker Wright, English mining tycoon (b. 1846)
• 1926 – John Flannagan, 2nd president of St. Ambrose University
• 1932 – William Wrigley Jr., American industrialist (b. 1861)
• 1933 – Alva Belmont, American socialite (b. 1853)
• 1942 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (b. 1868)
• 1943 – Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)
• 1943 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist (b. 1887)
• 1946 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer (b. 1884)
• 1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano (b. 1898)
• 1947 – Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, (b. 1906)
• 1952 – Khorloogiin Choibalsan, leader of Mongolia (b. 1895)
• 1953 – Athanase David, French Canadian politician and businessman (b. 1882)
• 1961 – Stan Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900)
• 1962 – Lucky Luciano, American mobster (b. 1897)
• 1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher (b. 1883)
• 1968 – Yvor Winters, American poet (b. 1900)
• 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (b. 1893)
• 1976 – João Branco Núncio, Portuguese Bullfighter (b. 1901)
• 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
• 1983 – Paul “Bear” Bryant, American football coach (b. 1913)
• 1990 – Lewis Mumford, American historian (b. 1895)
• 1990 – Bob Gerard, British racing driver (b. 1914)
• 1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1912)
• 1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader (b. 1905)
• 1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1922)
• 1996 – Harold Brodkey, American author (b. 1930)
• 1996 – Dave Schultz, American wrestler (b. 1959)
• 1997 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (b. 1904)
• 1998 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher (b. 1898)
• 2000 – Don Budge, American tennis player (b. 1915)
• 2000 – Kathleen Hale, British author (b. 1898)
• 2000 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-born author (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Al McGuire, American basketball coach (b. 1928)
• 2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet Olympic athlete (b. 1942)
• 2003 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
• 2003 – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani opposition leader and Pashtun nationalist (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Len Carlson, Canadian actor (b. 1937)
• 2007 – Hans J. Wegner, Danish furniture designer (b. 1914)
• 2007 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
• 2008 – Christian Brando, actor and son of Marlon Brando (b 1958)

January 26 – Holidays:

• Australia – Australia Day.
• Roman Empire – third day of the Sementivae in honor of Ceres and Terra.
• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
  • Timothy and Titus
  • Saint Paula
  • Saint Alberic
  • Saint Margaret of Hungary
  • India – Republic Day – One of only three national holidays in India, celebrated with pomp and a military parade in New Delhi & across Nation.
  • Uganda – Liberation Day.

On This Day in History January 25

January 25 – Events:

• 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate.
• 1327 – Edward III becomes King of England.
• 1494 – Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.
• 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.
• 1554 – Founding of São Paulo city, Brazil.
• 1573 – Battle of Mikatagahara, in Japan; Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.
• 1755 – Moscow University established on Tatiana Day.
• 1787 – American Daniel Shays leads rebellion to seize Federal arsenal to protest debtor’s prisons.
• 1791 – The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada.
• 1792 – The London Corresponding Society is founded.
• 1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria’s daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia.
• 1879 – The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.
• 1881 – Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.
• 1890 – Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.
• 1909 – Richard Strauss’ opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
• 1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service.
• 1917 – The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million.
• 1919 – The League of Nations is founded.
• 1924 – The 1924 Winter Olympics open in Chamonix, France (in the French Alps), inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.
• 1937 – The Guiding Light airs on radio for the first time. Also went to television making this show the longest running broadcast program in United States radio and television history.
• 1941 – Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
• 1942 – World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
• 1945 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge ends. 
• 1946 – The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.
• 1949 – At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented.
• 1949 – The first Israeli election — David Ben-Gurion becomes Prime Minister.
• 1955 – Soviet Union ends state of war with Germany.
• 1959 – Pope John XXIII proclaims upcoming Second Vatican Council.
• 1960 – The National Association of Broadcasters reacts to the Payola scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accepted money for playing particular records.
• 1961 – In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.
• 1971 – Charles Manson and three female “Family” members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders.
• 1971 – Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda’s president.
• 1971 – Himachal Pradesh becomes the 18th Indian state.
• 1981 – Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death.
• 1981 – 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrived back in US.
• 1981 – Super Bowl XV-Oakland Raiders-27, Philadelphia Eagles-10.
• 1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia.
• 1985 – “We are the World” is recorded.
• 1986 – The National Resistance Movement topple the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
• 1987 – NY Giants defeat Denver Broncos, 39-20, to win Super Bowl XXI.
• 1990 – The Burns’ Day storm hits northwestern Europe.
• 1990 – Honduras becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1990 – Avianca Flight 52 crashes, killing 73 passengers.
• 1993 – Five people were shot outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia resulting in two murders.
• 1994 – The Clementine space probe launches.
• 1995 – The Norwegian Rocket Incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
• 1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba Pope John Paul II demands the release of political prisoners and political reforms while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.
• 1998 – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide attack on Sri Lanka’s Temple of the Tooth, killing 8 people injuring 25 others.
• 1999 – A 6.0 Richter scale earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.
• 2001 – A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
• 2002 – Wikipedia switches to the new version of its software (“Phase II”) aka Magnus Manske Day.
• 2004 – Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.
• 2005 – A stampede at the Mandher Devi temple in Mandhradevi in India kills at least 258.
• 2006 – Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-
• BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.

January 25 – Birthdays:

• 750 – Leo IV the Khazar, Byzantine Emperor
• 1477 – Anna, Duchess of Brittany, wife of Charles VIII of France (d. 1514)
• 1509 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (d. 1580)
• 1615 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter (d. 1660)
• 1627 – Robert Boyle, Irish chemist (d. 1691)
• 1634 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (d. 1688)
• 1640 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
• 1688 – Juraj Jánošík, famous Slovak outlaw (d. 1713)
• 1736 – Joseph Louis Lagrange, Italian-born mathematician (d. 1813)
• 1741 – Benedict Arnold, American general notorious for treason (d. 1801)
• 1739 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general (d. 1823)
• 1759 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (d. 1796)
• 1794 – François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (d. 1878)
• 1796 – William MacGillivray, Scottish naturalist and ornithologist (d. 1852)
• 1825 – George Pickett, American Confederate General (d. 1875)
• 1841 – Jackie Fisher, British First Sea Lord (d. 1920)
• 1858 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (d. 1954)
• 1860 – Charles Curtis, 31st Vice President of the United States (d. 1936)
• 1864 – Julije Kempf, Croatian historian and writer (d. 1934)
• 1874 – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (d. 1965)
• 1878 – Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born television pioneer (d. 1975)
• 1882 – Virginia Woolf, English writer (d. 1941)
• 1885 – Kitahara Hakushu, Japanese poets and children’s writers (d. 1942)
• 1886 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (d. 1954)
• 1899 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian politician (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian-American geneticist and biologist (d. 1975)
• 1900 – Yojiro Ishizaka, Japanese writer (d. 1986)
• 1901 – Martin De Alzaga, Argentine racing driver (d. 1982)
• 1905 – Maurice Roy, French Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal, archbishop of Quebec (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Witold Lutoslawski, Polish composer (d. 1994)
• 1913 – Luis Marden, American photojournalist (d. 2003)
• 1916 – Frank “Pop” Ivy, American and Canadian football coach (d. 2003)
• 1917 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian scientist Nobel Laureate (d. 2003)
• 1917 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician (d. 1992)
• 1918 – Ernie Harwell, American baseball sportscaster
• 1919 – Edwin Newman, American journalist and writer
• 1923 – Rusty Draper, American country and pop singer (d. 2003)
• 1923 – Shirley Mason, American psychiatric patient (Commonly known as “Sybil”) (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Lou Groza, American football player (d. 2000)
• 1924 – Speedy West, Country Hall of Fame steel guitar player (d. 2003)
• 1925 – Giorgos Zampetas, Greek musician and songwriter (d. 1992)
• 1927 – Antonio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian musician (d. 1994)
• 1928 – Eduard Shevardnadze, President of Georgia
• 1928 – Jérôme Choquette, Quebec lawyer and politician
• 1929 – Benny Golson, American jazz musician
• 1930 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian diarist (d. 1944)
• 1931 – Dean Jones, American actor
• 1933 – Corazon Aquino, President of the Philippines
• 1935 – António Ramalho Eanes, 17 President of Portugal
• 1936 – Diana Hyland, American actress (d. 1977)
• 1937 – Ange-Félix Patassé, President of the Central African Republic
• 1937 – Judith Ann Mayotte, American humanitarian, author.
• 1938 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese manga author (d. 1998)
• 1938 – Leiji Matsumoto, sJapanese creator of anime.
• 1938 – Etta James, American singer
• 1938 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian poet (d. 1980)
• 1939 – Gabriel Romanus, Swedish politician
• 1941 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver
• 1941 – Gregory Sierra, American actor
• 1942 – Carl Eller, American football player
• 1942 – Eusébio, Portuguese footballer
• 1943 – Tobe Hooper, American film director
• 1944 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian model
• 1945 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress
• 1947 – Tostão, Brazilian footballer
• 1947 – Ángel Nieto, Spanish motorcycle racer
• 1948 – Ros Kelly, Australian politician
• 1949 – John Cooper Clarke, English punk-poet
• 1949 – Paul Nurse, English biochemist, Nobel Laureate
• 1951 – Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975)
• 1952 – Sara Mandiano, French singer and songwriter
• 1952 – Timothy White, American journalist (d. 2002)
• 1953 – The Honky Tonk Man, American professional wrestler
• 1953 – Mark Weil, Uzbek theatre director (d. 2007)
• 1954 – Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer
• 1954 – Richard Finch, American bass player (KC and the Sunshine Band)
• 1954 – Kim Gandy, American feminist
• 1955 – Terry Chimes, English musician (The Clash)
• 1956 – Andy Cox, English musician (The Beat, Fine Young Cannibals)
• 1957 – Jenifer Lewis, American actress
• 1957 – Eskil Erlandsson, Swedish politician
• 1957 – Andrew P. Harris, American politician
• 1958 – Dinah Manoff, American actress
• 1961 – Vivian Balakrishnan, Singaporean politician
• 1961 – Willie Revillame, Filipino game show host and comedian
• 1962 – Chris Chelios, American ice hockey player
• 1965 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1967 – Randy McKay, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 – Mark Bamford, American writer/director
• 1969 – Kina, American singer
• 1971 – Luca Badoer, Italian race car driver
• 1971 – China Kantner, American actress
• 1971 – Ana Ortiz, American actress and singer
• 1973 – Geoff Johns, American comic book writer
• 1973 – Chris Guy, American professional wrestler
• 1974 – Robert Budreau, Canadian film director
• 1975 – Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress
• 1975 – Tim Montgomery, American athlete
• 1975 – Dat Phan, Vietnamese stand-up comedian
• 1976 – Mario Haberfeld, Brazilian racing car driver
• 1978 – Denis Menchov, Russian cyclist
• 1978 – Jason Roberts, English-born footballer
• 1978 – Derrick Turnbow, Major League Baseball Player
• 1979 – Pi Hongyan, French badminton player
• 1979 – Gabe Jennings, American distance runner
• 1979 – Rodrigo Ribeiro, Brazilian racing driver
• 1979 – Christine Lakin, American actress
• 1980 – Michelle McCool, American professional wrestler
• 1980 – Xavi, Catalan Spanish footballer
• 1980 – Efstathios Tavlaridis, Greek footballer
• 1981 – Tose Proeski, Macedonian Singer (d. 2007)
• 1981 – Francis Jeffers, English footballer
• 1981 – Alicia Keys, American singer
• 1982 – Sho Sakurai, Japanese singer and actor
• 1982 – The-Dream, singer
• 1982 – Shawna Waldron, American actress
• 1983 – Andrée Watters, Canadian singer
• 1984 – Robinho, Brazilian footballer
• 1985 – Tina Karol, Ukrainian singer
• 1985 – Acie Law IV, National Basketball Association player
• 1986 – Chris O’Grady, English footballer
• 1986 – Shahriar Nafees, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1987 – Maria Kirilenko, Russian tennis player
• 1988 – Tatiana Golovin, French tennis player

January 25 – Deaths:

• 389 – Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 329)
• 477 – Geiseric, King of the Vandals and Alans
• 844 – Pope Gregory IV
• 1067 – Emperor Yingzong of China (b. 1032)
• 1366 – Henry Suso, German mystic
• 1431 – Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364)
• 1494 – King Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423)
• 1559 – King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (b. 1481)
• 1573 – Hirate Hirohide, Japanese samurai (b. 1553)
• 1586 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515)
• 1640 – Robert Burton, English scholar (b. 1577)
• 1670 – Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612)
• 1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675)
• 1733 – Gilbert Heathcote, Mayor of London (b. 1652)
• 1751 – Paul Dudley, Attorney-General of Massachusetts (b. 1675)
• 1852 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian explorer (b. 1778)
• 1881 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (b. 1794)
• 1907 – René Pottier, French cyclist (b. 1879)
• 1908 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (b. 1850)
• 1908 – Ouida, English writer (b. 1839)
• 1912 – Dmitry Milyutin, Russian Field Marshal (b. 1816)
• 1925 – Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (b. 1858)
• 1940 – Elias Simojoki, Finnish clergyman and politician (b. 1899)
• 1947 – Al Capone, American gangster (b. 1899)
• 1949 – Makino Nobuaki, Japanese statesman (b. 1861)
• 1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871)
• 1957 – Ichizo Kobayashi, Japanese industrialist and Minister of Commerce and Industry (b. 1873)
• 1963 – Wilson Kettle, Guinness World Record holder for most living descendants (b. 1860)
• 1969 – Irene Castle, English dancer (b. 1887)
• 1970 – Jane Bathori, French mezzo-soprano (b. 1877)
• 1970 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese television writer and producer (Ultraman) (b. 1901)
• 1972 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (b. 1892)
• 1975 – Charlotte Whitton, Canadian politician, mayor of Ottawa (b. 1896)
• 1976 – Chris Kenner, American singer and songwriter (b. 1929)
• 1980 – Queenie Watts, English actress (b. 1926)
• 1981 – Adele Astaire, American dancer (b. 1897)
• 1982 – Mikhail Suslov, Soviet politician (b. 1902)
• 1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922)
• 1994 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician (b. 1909)
• 1995 – Cal Jammer, American actor (b. 1960)
• 1996 – Jonathan Larson, American composer (b. 1960)
• 1999 – Sarah “Sadie” Delany, American author (b. 1889)
• 1999 – Ted Mallie, American radio and television announcer (b. 1924)
• 1999 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916)
• 2003 – Samuel Weems, Arkansas judge (b. 1936)
• 2004 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)
• 2005 – Stanislaw Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923)
• 2005 – William Augustus Bootle, American judge (b. 1902)
• 2005 – Philip Johnson, American architect (b. 1906)
• 2005 – Ray Peterson, American singer (b. 1935)
• 2005 – Nettie Witziers-Timmer, Dutch athlete (b. 1923)
• 2006 – Anna Malle, adult film star (b. 1967)
• 2008 – Christopher Allport, American actor (b. 1947)
• 2008 – Evelyn Barbirolli,English musician (b. 1911)

January 25 – Holidays:

• Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches, which concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
• Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church: Feast of Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople.
• Christian ecumenism — Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ends.
• Burns Night – Burns suppers are held in many parts of the world around this date. (Originated in Scotland) 
• Roman Empire – second day of the Sementivae in honour of Ceres and Terra
• St. Dwynwen’s Day – Welsh celebration of love Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen.
• Tatiana Day, celebrated as the Day of Russian students since 1755, when the Moscow University was founded.

On This Day in History January 24

January 24 – Events:

• 41 – Gaius Caesar (Caligula), known for his eccentricity and cruel despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Claudius succeeds his nephew.
• 1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
• 1568 – In the Netherlands, Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw.
• 1634 – Emperor Ferdinand II declares Wallenstein a traitor.
• 1679 – King Charles II of England disbands Parliament.
• 1742 – Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1776 – Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
• 1826 – Mississippi College is founded in Clinton, becoming the first college in the state of Mississippi.
• 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 full-fledged university in south Asia.
• 1859 – Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler.
• 1862 – Bucharest proclaimed capital of Romania.
• 1878 – The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
• 1887 – Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat Italians.
• 1899 – Rubber heel patented by Humphrey O’Sullivan.
• 1900 – Newcastle Badminton Club, world’s oldest, formed in England.
• 1907 – Robert Baden-Powell founds the Boy Scout movement.
• 1916 – In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.
• 1918 – The Gregorian calendar introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars effective from February 14(NS)
• 1922 – Eskimo Pie patented by Christian K. Nelson of Iowa.
• 1923 – Aztec Ruins National Monument, NM established.
• 1924 – Petrograd, formerly St. Petersburg, Russia, is renamed Leningrad.
• 1927 – Director Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.
• 1935 – Beer first sold in cans, Richmond, VA.
• 1936 – Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1939 – 30,000 killed by earthquake in Concepcion Chile.
• 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
• 1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor-General of Canada.
• 1966 – An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117.
• 1964 – CBS purchases 1964 & 1965 NFL TV rights for $28.2 million.
• 1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
• 1977 – Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
• 1978 – Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories.
• 1978 – Rose Dugdale and Eddie Gallagher become the first convicted prisoners to marry in prison in the history of the Republic of Ireland.
• 1982 – San Francisco 49’ers win their first Super Bowl (XVI) beating Cincinnati, 26-21
• 1984 – The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
• 1986 – Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus, finds new moons.
• 1993 – Turkish journalist and writer Ugur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
• 1996 – Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
• 2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.

January 24 – Birthdays:

• 76 – Hadrian, Roman Emperor (d. 138)
• 1287 – Richard Aungerville, English bishop (d. 1345)
• 1444 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1476)
• 1540 – Edmund Campion, English Jesuit (d. 1581)
• 1638 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet (d. 1706)
• 1670 – William Congreve, English playwright (d. 1729)
• 1674 – Thomas Tanner, English bishop (d. 1735)
• 1679 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher (d. 1754)
• 1705 – Farinelli, Italian castrato (d. 1782)
• 1712 – King Frederick II of Prussia (d. 1786)
• 1724 – Frances Brooke, English writer (d. 1789)
• 1732 – Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, French playwright (d. 1799)
• 1742 – Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn (d. 1808)
• 1752 – Muzio Clementi, Italian composer (d. 1832)
• 1754 – Andrew Ellicott, American surveyor (d. 1820)
• 1763 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (d. 1831)
• 1776 – E.T.A. Hoffmann, German writer (d. 1822)
• 1779 – Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden), Russian tsarina (d. 1826)
• 1848 – Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
• 1862 – Edith Wharton, American writer (d. 1937)
• 1864 – Marguerite Durand, French feminist leader (d. 1936)
• 1872 – Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (d. 1943)
• 1873 – Leon Czolgosz, American anarchist, assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (d. 1901)
• 1886 – Henry King, American film director (d. 1982
• 1888 – Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (d. 1960)
• 1888 – Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer (d. 1958)
• 1891 – Walter Model, German field marshal (d. 1945)
• 1895 – Eugen Roth, German writer (d. 1976)
• 1898 – Cliff Heathcote, American baseball player (d. 1939)
• 1901 – Harry Calder, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
• 1902 – E. A. Speiser, American Bible scholar (d. 1965)
• 1905 – J. Howard Marshall, American billionaire (d. 1995)
• 1907 – Maurice Couve de Murville, French politician (d. 1999)
• 1909 – Martin Lings, English Islamic scholar (d. 2005)
• 1909 – Ann Todd, English actress (d. 1993)
• 1913 – Norman Dello Joio, American composer
• 1915 – Robert Motherwell, American painter (d. 1991)
• 1916 – Jack Brickhouse, American sports broadcaster (d. 1998)
• 1917 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor
• 1918 – Oral Roberts, American evangelist
• 1919 – Coleman Francis, American film director
• 1920 – Jerry Maren, American actor
• 1922 – Charles Socarides, American psychiatrist (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina
• 1926 – Georges Lautner, French director and screenwriter
• 1927 – Sir Patrick Macnaghten, 11th Baronet, British aristocrat (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Desmond Morris, British anthropologist
• 1928 – Michel Serrault, French actor (d. 2007)
• 1934 – Stanislaw Grochowiak, Polish poet (d. 1976)
• 1936 – Doug Kershaw, American musician
• 1939 – Ray Stevens, American musician
• 1941 – Neil Diamond, American singer
• 1941 – Aaron Neville, American singer
• 1943 – Subhash Ghai, Indian film director
• 1943 – Sharon Tate, American actress and Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
• 1944 – Klaus Nomi, German singer (d. 1983)
• 1945 – John Garamendi, American politician
• 1946 – Michael Ontkean, Canadian actor
• 1947 – Warren Zevon, American musician (d. 2003)
• 1947 – Masashi Ozaki, Japanese golfer
• 1948 – Michael Des Barres, British actor and rock singer
• 1949 – John Belushi, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1950 – Gerald Brisco, American professional wrestler
• 1950 – Benjamin Urrutia, Ecuadorian writer
• 1950 – Daniel Auteuil, French actor
• 1951 – Yakov Smirnoff, Ukrainian-born American comedian
• 1954 – Jo Gartner, Austrian racing driver (d. 1986)
• 1956 – Hanne Krogh, Norwegian singer (Bobbysocks)
• 1957 – Adrian Edmondson, British comedian
• 1958 – Neil Allen, American baseball player
• 1958 – Jools Holland, British musician
• 1959 – Vic Reeves, English comedian
• 1959 – David Mills, American author
• 1961 – Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress
• 1961 – Vince Russo, American writer
• 1963 – Martyn Grimley, English field hockey player
• 1963 – Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
• 1965 – Carlos Saldanha, Brazilian director
• 1965 – Mike Awesome, American professional wrestler (d. 2007)
• 1966 – Jimeoin, Northern Irish comedian
• 1967 – Mark Kozelek, American singer/songwriter (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon)
• 1967 – Phil LaMarr, American voice actor
• 1967 – John Myung, American musician (Dream Theater)
• 1968 – Michael Kiske, German musician
• 1968 – Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
• 1969 – Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Icelandic actor
• 1970 – Matthew Lillard, American actor
• 1971 – Cory Bailey, Major League Baseball Player
• 1971 – Andrea Mackris, American television producer
• 1972 – Naoshi Mizuta, Japanese composer
• 1974 – Shii Ann Huang, American game show contestant
• 1974 – Ed Helms, American actor
• 1975 – Rónald Gómez, Costa Rican soccer player
• 1976 – Shae-Lynn Bourne, Canadian ice dancer with Victor Kraatz
• 1979 – Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
• 1979 – Tom Kostopoulos, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Rocky Boiman, National Football League outside linebacker
• 1980 – Nicole Marie Lenz, American actress
• 1981 – Travis Hanson, Major League Baseball player
• 1983 – Shaun Maloney, Scottish soccer player
• 1983 – Scott Speed, American race car driver
• 1984 – Benoît Huot, Quebec paralympic swimmer
• 1984 – Scott Kazmir, Major League Baseball pitcher
• 1984 – Witold Kieltyka, Polish drummer (Decapitated) (d. 2007)
• 1986 – Mischa Barton, English-born American actress
• 1986 – Raviv Ullman, Israeli-born American actor

January 24 – Deaths:

• 41 – Caligula, Emperor of Rome (b. 12)
• 772 – Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
• 1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
• 1125 – David IV of Georgia (b. 1073)
• 1366 – Alfonso IV of Aragon (b. 1299)
• 1376 – Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English military leader
• 1473 – Conrad Paumann, German composer
• 1595 – Ferdinand II of Austria (b. 1529)
• 1626 – Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer (b. 1580)
• 1639 – Georg Jenatsch, Swiss politician (b. 1596)
• 1666 – Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer (b. 1588)
• 1709 – George Rooke, English admiral (b. 1650)
• 1769 – François de Chevert, French general (b. 1695)
• 1856 – Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir, Polish Hasidic leader (b. 1775)
• 1877 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (b. 1796)
• 1882 – Levi Boone, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1808)
• 1883 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (b. 1812)
• 1895 – Lord Randolph Churchill, British politician (b. 1849)
• 1911 – David Graham Phillips, American journalist and novelist (b. 1867)
• 1920 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1884)
• 1924 – Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1894)
• 1932 – Alfred Yarrow, English shipbuilder (b. 1842)
• 1939 – Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (b. 1867)
• 1943 – John Burns, English politician (b. 1858)
• 1948 – Maria Mandel, Camp Leader at Auschwitz (b. 1912)
• 1948 – Arthur Liebehenschel, Commandant at Auschwitz concentration camp (b. 1901)
• 1955 – Ira Hayes, American World War II hero (b. 1923)
• 1960 – Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
• 1961 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American swimmer and inventor (b. 1884)
• 1962 – Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (b. 1877)
• 1962 – André Lhote, french painter.
• 1965 – Winston Churchill, soldier, politician, historian, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Nobel laureate (b. 1874) 
• 1966 – Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist (b. 1909)
• 1970 – Caresse Crosby, American poet (b. 1891)
• 1971 – Bill W., American co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (b. 1895)
• 1973 – J. Carrol Naish, American actor (b. 1897)
• 1975 – Larry Fine, American actor and comedian (b. 1902)
• 1978 – Herta Oberheuser, German doctor (b. 1911)
• 1982 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian president and dictator (b. 1918)
• 1983 – George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
• 1986 – L. Ron Hubbard, American science fiction writer and founder of Scientology cult (b. 1911)
• 1986 – Flo Hyman, American volleyball player (b. 1954)
• 1986 – Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
• 1988 – Werner Fenchel, German mathematician (b. 1905)
• 1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
• 1989 – George Knudson, Canadian golfer (b. 1937)
• 1990 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (b. 1899)
• 1991 – John M. Kelly, Irish politician and academic (b. 1931)
• 1992 – Ken Darby, American composer, arranger and conductor (b. 1909)
• 1992 – Ricky Ray Rector, American murderer (b. 1950)
• 1993 – Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Ugur Mumcu, Turkish journalist and writer (b. 1942)
• 1994 – Yves Navarre, French writer (b. 1940)
• 1998 – Walter D. Edmonds, American author (b. 1903)
• 2000 – Bobby Duncum, Jr., American professional wrestler (b. 1965)
• 2002 – Peter Gzowski, Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter (b. 1934)
• 2002 – Elie Hobeika, Lebanese Forces militia commander (b. 1956)
• 2003 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian auto executive (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Leônidas da Silva, Brazilian footballer (b. 1913)
• 2005 – June Bronhill, Australian singer (b. 1929)
• 2005 – Vladimir Savchenko, Ukrainian writer (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Chalkie White, English rugby union coach (b. 1929)
• 2006 – Fayard Nicholas, American tap dancer, one-half of The Nicholas Brothers (b. 1914)
• 2006 – Schafik Handal, Salvadorean politician
• 2006 – Chris Penn, American actor (b. 1965)
• 2007 – Krystyna Feldman, Polish actress (b. 1916)
• 2007 – Guadalupe Larriva, Ecuadorian politician (b. 1956)
• 2007 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, World’s Oldest Military Veteran (b. 1891)
• 2008 – Randy Salerno, co-anchor of Chicago’s CBS 2 News (b. 1963)

January 24 – Holidays:

• Roman Empire – first day of the Sementivae in honor of Ceres and Terra
• Roman Catholic Church – Feasts of St. Francis de Sales and Our Lady of Peace
• Wales – Saint Cadoc

On This Day in History January 23

January 23 – Events:

• 393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius coemperor.
• 971 – In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops. The Southern Han state is forced to submit to the Song Dynasty, ending not only Southern Han rule, but also the first regular war elephant corps employed in a Chinese army that had gained the Southern Han victories throughout the 10th century.
• 1368 – In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
• 1492 – “Pentateuch” (Jewish holy book) first printed.
• 1510 – Henry VIII of England, then 18 years old, appears incognito in the lists at Richmond, and is applauded for his jousting before he reveals his identity.
• 1533 – Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England, discovers herself pregnant.
• 1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, Francois 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 – The assassination of regent James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war.
• 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 becomes the first Roman Catholic college in the United States in the city of Washington, D.C.
• 1793 – Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
• 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States’ first female doctor.
• 1855 – The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.
• 1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in the Marias Massacre.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ends.
• 1879 – National Archery Association formed, Crawfordsville IN.
• 1894 – G.W. Bunbury of Dublin sets shorthand record of 250 words per minute for 10 minutes.
• 1897 – Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
• 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic.
• 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.
• 1907 – Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator.
• 1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
• 1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
• 1924 – Ramsey MacDonald forms first Labour government in Britain.
• 1930 – George Washington Birthplace National Monument, Virginia established.
• 1937 – In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin’s regime and assassinate its leaders.
• 1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
• 1943 – World War II: British forces capture Tripoli in Libya from the Nazis.
• 1943 – Jewish-led Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
• 1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.
• 1943 – Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
• 1945 – World War II: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
• 1950 – The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
• 1953 – NFL Dallas Texans become Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts).
• 1958 – Overthrow in Venezuela of Marcos Pérez Jiménez
• 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 m (35,798 feet)in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
• 1967 – The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast were established.
• 1968 – North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship had violated their territorial waters while spying.
• 1973 – President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
• 1973 – A volcano eruption devastates Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar chain of islands off the south coast of Iceland.
• 1975 – “Barney Miller” premiers on ABC TV.
• 1975 – Ralph Kiner elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
• 1977 – Miniseries “Roots” premiers on ABC.
• 1978 – Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth’s ozone layer.
• 1983 – “A-Team” with Mr. T premiers on NBC.
• 1983 – Bjorn Borg announces his retirement from tennis.
• 1985 – O.J. Simpson becomes the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to the Football Hall of Fame.
• 1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
• 1996 – The first version of the Java programming language was released.
• 1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
• 2001 – The Chinese Communist Party stages a self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to frame Falun Gong and escalate the persecution.
• 2002 – “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in Federal Bureau of Investigation custody.
• 2002 – Reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan. He was subsequently murdered .
• 2003 – Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10

January 23 – Birthdays:

• 1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
• 1688 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
• 1719 – John Landen, English mathematician (d. 1790)
• 1737 – John Hancock, American statesman (d. 1793)
• 1745 – William Jessop, English canal engineer (d. 1814)
• 1783 – Stendhal, French writer (d. 1842)
• 1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French architect (d. 1858)
• 1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (d. 1895)
• 1827 – Takamori Saigo, Samurai, leader of Satsuma rebellion (d. 1877)
• 1832 – Edouard Manet, French artist (d. 1883)
• 1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)
• 1855 – John Moses Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
• 1857 – Andrija Mohorovicic, Croatian seismologist (d. 1936)
• 1862 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (d. 1943)
• 1872 – Goce Delchev, a revolutionary from the Balkans – leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1903)
• 1872 – Paul Langevin, French physicist (d. 1946)
• 1872 – Joze Plecnik, Slovenian architect (d. 1957)
• 1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1954)
• 1884 – Ralph DePalma, Italian-American race car driver (d. 1956)
• 1891 – Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. He is renowned for his concept of cultural hegemony as a means of maintaining the state in a capitalist society. (d. 1937)
• 1896 – Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1985)
• 1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian independence fighter (d. 1945)
• 1897 – Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond. (d. 1989)
• 1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
• 1897 – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Indian Leader and Freedom Fighter (d. Unknown, Disputed)
• 1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director (d. 1948)
• 1898 – Freda Utley, British scholar and author (d. 1978)
• 1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
• 1899 – Glen Kidston, British aviator and racing driver (d. 1931)
• 1900 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor and organist (d. 1988)
• 1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
• 1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor (d. 1968)
• 1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
• 1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist (d. 1953)
• 1915 – Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1985)
• 1915 – Arthur Lewis, British economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
• 1916 – Airey Neave, British Major, politician and indictment server at the Nuremberg Trials (d. 1979)
• 1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photo-journalist
• 1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1999)
• 1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (d. 1962)
• 1919 – Bob Paisley, English Football player and manager. (d. 1996)
• 1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist and underwater scientist
• 1923 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American writer (d. 1996)
• 1923 – Cot Deal, major league baseball player and coach
• 1924 – Bal Thackeray, founder and president of Indian political party Shiv Sena.
• 1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer (d. 1994)
• 1928 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress
• 1929 – Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko) of Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate
• 1929 – John Charles Polanyi, Canadian chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1930 – Derek Walcott, West Indian writer, Nobel laureate
• 1930 – Teresa Zylis-Gara, Polish singer
• 1933 – Chita Rivera, Puerto Rican actress and dancer
• 1934 – Pierre Bourgault, Quebec politician and essayist (d. 2003)
• 1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player
• 1938 – Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 1999)
• 1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
• 1939 – Sonny Chiba, Japanese actor and martial artist
• 1939 – Arlene Golonka, American actress
• 1940 – Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1940 – Ben Gallagher, prolific woodturner
• 1942 – Razzak, Bangladeshi actor and director
• 1943 – Gary Burton, American jazz vibraphonist
• 1943 – Gil Gerard, American actor
• 1943 – Millie Jackson, American singer
• 1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
• 1945 – Mike Harris, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario
• 1946 – Arnoldo Alemán, ex-president of Nicaragua
• 1946 – Don Whittington, American businessman, car & airplane racer and convicted felon
• 1947 – Thomas R. Carper, American politician.
• 1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia
• 1948 – Anita Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters)
• 1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
• 1950 – Danny Federici, American musician (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band)
• 1950 – John Greaves, English musician (Henry Cow, National Health)
• 1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, Hispanic-American 52nd Mayor of Los Angeles
• 1953 – Robin Zander, American singer (Cheap Trick)
• 1954 – Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
• 1954 – Edward Ka-Spel, English musician (Legendary Pink Dots)
• 1957 – Princess Caroline of Monaco
• 1957 – Lou Schuler, American fitness journalist
• 1959 – Clive Bull, English radio talk show host
• 1960 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (d. 1998)
• 1960 – Jean-Francois Sauve, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1962 – Elvira Lindo, Spanish writer and journalist1962 – Vasia Panayopoulou, Greek actress
• 1963 – Gail O’Grady, American actress
• 1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress
• 1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 – Naim Süleymanoglu, Bulgaria-born Turkish weightlifter
• 1968 – Petr Korda, Czech tennis player
• 1969 – Ariadna Gil, Spanish actress
• 1969 – Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer
• 1969 – Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Spiridon Vasdekis, Greek long jumper
• 1971 – Kevin Mawae, American football player
• 1972 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
• 1972 – Mark Curry, American rapper
• 1972 – Marcel Wouda, Dutch swimmer
• 1973 – Lanei Chapman, American actress
• 1974 – Joel Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Rebekah Elmaloglou, Australian actress
• 1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player
• 1974 – Richard T. Slone, British artist
• 1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
• 1975 – Tito Ortiz, American UFC fighter
• 1976 – Brandon Duckworth, American baseball player
• 1976 – Angelica Lee, Taiwanese actress and singer
• 1976 – Nigel McGuinness, English professional wrestler
• 1979 – Sampsa Astala, Finnish musician (Lordi)
• 1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
• 1979 – Juan Rincón, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1981 – Greg Smith, American UFC fighter
• 1982 – Wily Mo Peña, Dominican baseball player
• 1983 – David Firth, British animator
• 1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
• 1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
• 1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch supermodel
• 1986 – José Enrique Sánchez, Spanish footballer
• 1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
• 1987 – Felicia Brandström, Swedish singer

January 23 – Deaths:

• 1199 – Yaqub, Almohad Caliph (b. 1160)
• 1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (b. 1490)
• 1549 – Johannes Honter, Transylvanian Saxon humanist and theologian (b. 1498)
• 1567 – Jiajing, Emperor of China (b. 1507)
• 1570 – James Stewart, Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland (assassinated)
• 1622 – William Baffin, English explorer (b. 1584)
• 1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1668)
• 1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician (b. 1717)
• 1789 – Frances Brooke, English writer (b. 1724)
• 1789 – John Cleland, English novelist (b. 1709)
• 1800 – Edward Rutledge, American statesman (b. 1749)
• 1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (b. 1725)
• 1805 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (b. 1763)
• 1806 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
• 1812 – Robert Craufurd, British general (b. 1764)
• 1820 – Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
• 1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (b. 1757)
• 1837 – John Field, Irish composer (b. 1782)
• 1866 – Thomas Love Peacock, English satirist (b. 1785)
• 1875 – Charles Kingsley English writer (b. 1819)
• 1883 – Gustave Doré, French artist, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1832)
• 1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1825)
• 1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (b. 1855)
• 1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian author, philosopher, and Zionist leader (b. 1849)
• 1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (b. 1881)
• 1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist (b. 1876)
• 1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
• 1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, author, and bon vivant (b. 1887)
• 1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863)
• 1944 – Viktor Gusev, Russian poet (b. 1909)
• 1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian/British film director (b. 1893)
• 1958 – Nikolaos Georgantas, Greek discus thrower (b. 1880)
• 1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austria-born chemist (b. 1871)
• 1973 – Alexander Onassis, Greek heir of the Onassis family (b. 1948)
• 1973 – Kid Ory, American jazz trombonist (b. 1886)
• 1976 – Paul Dupuis, French Canadian film and television actor (b. 1913)
• 1976 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and social activist (b. 1898)
• 1977 – Toots Shor, New York restaurateur (b. 1903)
• 1978 – Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (b. 1946)
• 1978 – Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1978 – Vic Ames, American singer (Ames Brothers) (b. 1925)
• 1981 – Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
• 1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (b. 1908)
• 1984 – Mu’in Bseiso, Palestinian poet (b. 1926)
• 1986 – Joseph Beuys, German artist (b. 1921)
• 1986 – Yvonne Lefébure, French virtuoso pianist (b. 1898)
• 1988 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist (b. 1896)
• 1989 – Salvador Dalí, Catalan artist (b. 1904)
• 1990 – Allen Collins, American guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1952)
• 1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian writer and critic (b. 1912)
• 1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, Irish actor (b. 1924)
• 1993 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American singer (b. 1899)
• 1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Soviet field marshal (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and broadcaster (b. 1929)
• 1997 – Richard Berry, American composer and musician (b. 1935)
• 1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman (b. 1922)
• 1999 – Prince Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican musician (b. 1949)
• 2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Paul Aars, American racecar driver (b. 1934)
• 2002 – Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
• 2003 – Nell Carter, American singer and actress (b. 1948)
• 2004 – Bob Keeshan, American actor (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Helmut Newton, German-born photographer (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, British politician (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Johnny Carson, American television host (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Chris McKinstry, Canadian scientist (b. 1967)
• 2007 – E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate figure (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Ryszard Kapuscinski, Polish journalist and writer (b. 1932)

January 23 – Holidays:

• St. Abakuh, an Egyptian Christian martyr
• Bounty Day, celebrating the burning of HMAV Bounty in 1790, Pitcairn Island
• St. Raymond of Peñafort, confessor, d. 1275 (Roman Catholic calendar of saints)
• St. Emerentiana, virgin and martyr, d. 305 (Roman Catholic calendar of saints)
• Blessed Marianne of Molokai

On This Day in History January 22

January 22 – Events:

• 565 – Eutychius is deposed as Patriarch of Constantinople by John Scholasticus.
• 1506 – The first contingent of 150 Swiss Guards arrive at the Vatican.
• 1517 – Turks conquer Cairo.
• 1521 – Emperor Charles V opens the Diet of Worms.
• 1673 – Postal service between New York & Boston inaugurated.
• 1771 – Spain cedes Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands to England.
• 1824 – Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.
• 1840 – British colonists reach New Zealand.
• 1859 – Brahms’ first piano concerto (in D minor) premiers, Hanover.
• 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 of Russia.
• 1877 – Arthur Tooth, an Anglican clergyman is taken into custody after being prosecuted for using ritualist practices.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Isandlwana – Zulu troops defeat British troops.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Rorke’s Drift – 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an intense assault by four to five thousand Zulu warriors.
• 1889 – Columbia Phonograph was formed in Washington, D.C.
• 1890 – The United Mine Workers of America was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
• 1899 – Leaders of six Australian colonies meet in Melbourne to discuss confederation.
• 1901 – Edward VII becomes King after his mother, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, dies.
• 1905 – Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg, beginning of the 1905 revolution.
• 1906 – SS Valencia runs aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing more than 130.
• 1917 – World War I: President Woodrow Wilson 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.
• 1927 – First live radio commentary of a football match anywhere in the world with the Arsenal F.C. vs. the Sheffield United at Highbury.
• 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia.
• 1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom captures Tobruk from Nazi forces.
• 1944 – World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle which was an assault on Anzio, Italy.
• 1946 – Iran: Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people’s Republic of Mahabad at Chuwarchira Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad. He is the new president; Hadschi Baba Scheich is 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, California.
• 1952 – The first Jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, enters service for BOAC.
• 1957 – Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula.
• 1957 – The New York City “Mad Bomber,” George P. Metesky, was arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and was charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
• 1962 – The Organization of American States suspends Cuba’s membership.
• 1963 – The Elysée treaty of cooperation between France and Germany was signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.
• 1964 – World’s largest cheese (15,723 kg) manufactured, Wisconsin.
• 1968 – “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” premiers on NBC.
• 1968 – Apollo 5 launched to Moon; unmanned lunar module tests made.
• 1969 – Orbiting Solar Observatory 5 launched into earth orbit.
• 1970 – First commercial Boeing 747 flight, NY to London.
• 1972 – “Emergency” with Robert Fuller premiers on NBC TV.
  1973 – George Foreman beats Joe Frazier for world heavyweight boxing title.
• 1973 – The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decision in Roe v. Wade striking down state laws restricting abortion during the first six months of pregnancy.
• 1973 – A chartered Boeing 707 explodes in flames upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria killing 176.
• 1980 – Andrei Sakharov is arrested in Moscow.
• 1980 – PGA begins a senior golf tour.
• 1981 – O.A. “Bum” Phillips becomes head coach of the New Orleans Saints.
• 1984 – Annette Kennedy of SUNY sets women’s basketball record with 70 points.
• 1984 Oakland Raiders beat Washington Redskins, 38-9, in Super Bowl XVIII.
• 1984 – The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous “1984” television commercial.
• 1987 – Pennsylvania politician R. Budd Dwyer shoots and kills himself at a press conference on live national television, leading to debates on boundaries in journalism.
• 1988 – Heavyweight champ Mike Tyson KOs former champ Larry Holmes in 4.
• 1989 – Super Bowl XXIII-San Francisco 49ers-20, Cincinnati Bengels-16
• 1990 – Radio Borders[1] became the first station of the new decade to hit the UK airwaves. Robert Tappan Morris, Jr. is convicted of releasing the 1988 Internet worm.
• 1991 – Gulf War. Three SCUDs and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, injuring 96 people. Three elderly people die of heart attacks.
• 1992 – Rebel forces occupy Zaire’s national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government’s resignation.
• 1992 – Space Shuttle program: STS-42 Mission – Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman in space.
• 1995 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: In central Israel, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blow themselves up at a military transit point killing 19 Israelis.
• 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 Corp becomes the largest retailer in United States history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
• 2003 – Last successful contact with the spacecraft Pioneer 10, one of the most distant man-made objects.
• 2006 – Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country’s first indigenous president.
• 2007 – The jury portion of the trial against Robert Pickton, accused of being Canada’s worst serial killer, opens in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.

January 22 – Birthdays:

• 1263 – Ibn Taymiya, Islamic scholar (d. 1328)
• 1440 – Ivan III of Russia (d. 1505)
• 1553 – Mori Terumoto, Japanese warrior (d. 1625)
• 1561 – Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher (d. 1626)
• 1570 – Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, English politician (d. 1631)
• 1592 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (d. 1655)
• 1654 – Richard Blackmore, English physician and writer (d. 1729)
• 1690 – Nicolas Lancret, French painter (d. 1743)
• 1729 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German author and philosopher (d. 1781)
• 1733 – Philip Carteret, British Naval Officer
• 1781 – François Antoine Habeneck, French violinist (d. 1849)
• 1788 – George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (Lord Byron), English poet (d. 1824)
• 1796 – Karl Claus, Russian chemist (d. 1864)
• 1797 – Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil (d. 1826)
• 1799 – Ludger Duvernay, Canadian printer and publisher (d. 1852)
• 1820 – Joseph Wolf, German artist (d. 1899)
• 1840 – Ernest Roland Wilberforce, English bishop (d. 1907)
• 1849 – August Strindberg, Swedish writer (d. 1912)
• 1858 – Beatrice Webb, English economist (d. 1943)
• 1869 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (d. 1916)
• 1874 – Edward Harkness, American philanthropist (d. 1940)
• 1875 – D. W. Griffith, American film director (d. 1948)
• 1882 – Theodore Kosloff, Russian-born actor, ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1956)
• 1886 – Roman Ungern von Sternberg, Russian counter-revolutionary (d. 1921)
• 1887 – Helen Hoyt, American poet (d. 1972)
• 1889 – Henri Pélissier, French cyclist (d. 1935)
• 1890 – Fred M. Vinson, 13th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1953)
• 1890 – Vinko Zganec, Croatian ethnomusicologist (d. 1976)
• 1892 – Marcel Dassault, French industrialist (d. 1986)
• 1893 – Conrad Veidt, German actor (d. 1943)
• 1897 – Rosa Ponselle, American soprano (d. 1981)
• 1900 – Ernst Busch, German singer and actor (d. 1980)
• 1902 – Daniel Kinsey, American hurdler (d. 1970)
• 1903 – Fritz Houtermans, Polish physicist (d. 1966)
• 1904 – George Balanchine, Russian choreographer (d. 1983)
• 1904 – Arkady Gaidar, Russian children’s writer (d. 1941)
• 1906 – Joe Gladwin, English actor (d. 1987)
• 1906 – Robert E. Howard, American author (d. 1936)
• 1907 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot (d. 1995)
• 1907 – Dixie Dean, English footballer (d. 1980)
• 1907 – Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress (d. 2004)
• 1908 – Lev Landau, Soviet physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1968)
• 1909 – Porfirio Rubirosa, Dominican diplomat and international playboy (d. 1965)
• 1909 – Ann Sothern, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1909 – U Thant, Burmese 3rd United Nations Secretary General (d. 1974)
• 1911 – Bruno Kreisky, Chancellor of Austria (d. 1990)
• 1913 – William Cardinal Conway, Northern Irish clergyman (d. 1977)
• 1913 – Carl F. H. Henry, American theologian and publisher (d. 2003)
• 1914 – Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer (d. 2001)
• 1915 – Heinrich Albertz, German theologian and politician (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Bill Durnan, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1972)
• 1916 – Henri Dutilleux, French composer
• 1918 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1920 – Sir Alf Ramsey, English football manager (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Howard Moss, American poet, dramatist, and critic (d. 1987)
• 1924 – J. J. Johnson, American jazz trombonist and composer (d. 2001)
• 1927 – Lou Creekmur, American football player
• 1928 – Yoshihiko Amino, Japanese historian (d. 2004)
• 1931 – Sam Cooke, American singer (d. 1964)
• 1932 – Berthold Grünfeld, Norwegian psychiatrist and former sexologist
• 1932 – Piper Laurie, American actress
• 1934 – Bill Bixby, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1934 – Graham Kerr, British-born chef
• 1935 – Seymour Cassel, American actor
• 1936 – Alan J. Heeger, American chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1937 – Edén Pastora, Nicaraguan rebel leader
• 1937 – Joseph Wambaugh, American author
• 1938 – Altair, Brazilian footballer
• 1939 – Jeff Smith, American chef (d. 2004)
• 1939 – Jean-Claude Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1994)
• 1940 – Addie “Micki” Harris, singer (Shirelles) (d. 1982)
• 1940 – John Hurt, English actor
• 1940 – George Seifert, American football coach
• 1942 – Mimis Domazos, Greek footballer
• 1943 – Marília Pêra, Brazilian actress
• 1945 – Arthur Beetson, Australian rugby league footballer and coach
• 1946 – Malcolm McLaren, English impresario, musician and self-publicist
• 1946 – Serge Savard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1948 – Gilbert Levine, American conductor
• 1949 – Mike Caldwell, American baseball player
• 1949 – Phil Miller, English guitarist (National Health, In Cahoots, Matching Mole)
• 1949 – Steve Perry, American singer and musician (Journey)
• 1951 – Ondrej Nepela, Slovak figure skater (d. 1989)
• 1952 – Teddy Gentry, American musician (Alabama)
• 1952 – Ace Vergel, Filipino actor (d. 2007)
• 1953 – Jim Jarmusch, American director
• 1954 – Tully Blanchard, American professional wrestler
• 1954 – Chris Lemmon, American actor
• 1954 – Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
• 1955 – Timothy R. Ferguson, American politician
• 1956 – John Wesley Shipp, American actor
• 1957 – Mike Bossy, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1957 – Francis Wheen, English writer and journalist
• 1958 – Nikos Anastopoulos, Greek football player and manager
• 1959 – Linda Blair, American actress
• 1960 – Michael Hutchence, Australian singer (INXS) (d. 1997)
• 1961 – Daniel Johnston, American singer-songwriter and artist
• 1962 – Choi Min-sik, South Korean actor
• 1962 – Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
• 1963 – Andrei Tchmil, Ukrainian-Belgian cyclist
• 1965 – Steven Adler, American drummer (Guns N’ Roses)
• 1965 – DJ Jazzy Jeff, American rapper and actor
• 1965 – Diane Lane, American actress
• 1965 – Brian McCardie, Scottish actor
• 1965 – Andrew Roachford, English singer and songwriter
• 1965 – Chintara Sukapatana, Thai actress
• 1966 – Ecaterina Szabo, Romanian gymnast
• 1967 – Manabu Nakanishi, Japanese professional wrestler
• 1968 – Heath, Japanese bass guitarist (X Japan)
• 1968 – Frank Leboeuf, French footballer
• 1968 – Mauricio Serna, Colombian footballer
• 1969 – Olivia d’Abo, English actress
• 1969 – John Linton Roberson, American cartoonist
• 1970 – Abraham Olano, Spanish cyclist
• 1970 – Alex Ross, American comic book painter (Marvels, Kingdom Come)
• 1971 – Stan Collymore, English footballer
• 1972 – Gabriel Macht, American actor
• 1972 – Romi Paku, Japanese seiyu (voice actress)
• 1972 – Gonzalo Rodríguez, Uruguayan racing driver (d. 1999)
• 1973 – Rogerio Ceni, Brazilian footballer
• 1974 – Cameron McConville, Australian racing driver
• 1975 – Balthazar Getty, American actor
• 1975 – Felipe Giaffone, Brazilian racing driver
• 1975 – ZP Theart, South African singer
• 1975 – David Výborný, Czech ice hockey player
• 1976 – James Dearth, American football player
• 1976 – Mikko Luoma, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1977 – Jono Gibbes, New Zealand rugby union footballer
• 1977 – Hidetoshi Nakata, Japanese footballer
• 1978 – Chone Figgins, American baseball player
• 1980 – Jake Grove, American football player
• 1980 – Christopher Masterson, American actor
• 1980 – Ben Moody, American guitarist (Evanescence)
• 1980 – Jonathan Woodgate, English footballer
• 1981 – Willa Ford, American singer
• 1981 – Beverley Mitchell, American actress
• 1981 – Ibrahima Sonko, French footballer
• 1982 – Fabricio Coloccini, Argentine footballer
• 1982 – Jason Peters, American football player
• 1983 – Shaun Cody, American football player
• 1983 – Robert Steinhäuser, German perpetrator of the Erfurt massacre (d. 2002)
• 1984 – Ben Eager, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Raica Oliveira, Brazilian supermodel
• 1984 – Leon Powe, American basketball player
• 1984 – Maceo Rigters, Dutch footballer
• 1985 – Mohamed Sissoko, Malian footballer
• 1986 – Lee Pa-ni, South Korean model
• 1986 – Robert O’Connor, Irish singer-songwriter, actor and model
• 1986 – Rhys Barker, British Model, Musician
• 1987 – Astrid Jacobsen, Norwegian cross-country skier
• 1988 – Greg Oden, American basketball player

January 22 – Deaths:

• 1536 – Bernhard Knipperdolling, German religious leader (b. 1495)
• 1599 – Cristofano Malvezzi, Italian composer (b. 1547)
• 1666 – Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (b. 1592)
• 1750 – Franz Xaver Josef von Unertl, Bavarian politician (b. 1675)
• 1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690)
• 1767 – Johann Gottlob Lehmann, German minterologist and geologist (b. 1719)
• 1779 – Jeremiah Dixon, English surveyor and astronomer (b. 1733)
• 1779 – Claudius Smith, American Revolutionary War loyalist (b. 1736)
• 1840 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist (b. 1752)
• 1892 – Joseph Philo Bradley, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1813)
• 1900 – David E. Hughes, American musician (b. 1831)
• 1901 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (b. 1819)
• 1921 – Captain George Streeter, American riverboat captain and circus owner (b. 1837)
• 1922 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1837)
• 1922 – Pope Benedict XV (b. 1854)
• 1922 – Camille Jordan, French mathematician (b. 1838)
• 1931 – Alma Rubens, American actress (b. 1897)
• 1945 – Else Lasker-Schuler, German-born poet (b. 1869)
• 1949 – William Thomas Walsh, American author (b. 1891)
• 1950 – Alan Hale, Sr., American actor (b. 1892)
• 1951 – Karl Nessler, inventor of the perm (b. 1872)
• 1959 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver and one-time F1 world champion (b. 1929)
• 1966 – Herbert Marshall, English actor (b. 1890)
• 1967 – Robert Henriques, English writer (b. 1905)
• 1968 – Duke Kahanamoku, American swimmer (b. 1890)
• 1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (b. 1908)
• 1975 – Andrew George Burry, Swiss-born manufacturer and businessman (b. 1873)
• 1978 – Oliver Leese, British World War II general (b. 1894)
• 1978 – Herbert Sutcliffe, English cricketer (b. 1894)
• 1981 – Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist (b. 1903)
• 1982 – Tommy Tucker, American singer and pianist (b. 1933)
• 1987 – Budd Dwyer, American politician (b. 1939)
• 1988 – Parker Fennelly, American comedian and actor (b. 1891)
• 1991 – Robert Choquette, French Canadian novelist, poet and diplomat (b. 1905)
• 1993 – Abe Kobo, Japanese writer (b. 1924)
• 1994 – Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor and director (b. 1910)
• 1994 – Rhett Forrester, American singer (Riot) (b. 1956)
• 1994 – Telly Savalas, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1995 – Jerry Blackwell, American professional wrestler (b. 1949)
• 1995 – Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, matriarch of the Kennedy family (b. 1890)
• 1997 – Ron Holden, American singer (b. 1939)
• 1997 – Billy Mackenzie, Scottish musician (Associates) (b. 1957)
• 1997 – Wally Whyton, English musician (b. 1929)
• 1999 – Graham Staines, Australian missionary (b. 1941)
• 2000 – Craig Claiborne, American writer and editor (b. 1920)
• 2000 – Anne Hébert, French Canadian author and poet (Kamouraska) (b. 1916)
• 2001 – Tommie Agee, American baseball player (b. 1942)
• 2001 – Roy Brown, American clown (b. 1932)
• 2002 – Stanley Marcus, American business executive (b. 1905)
• 2003 – Bill Mauldin, American World War II cartoonist (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Billy May, American composer and musician (b. 1916)
• 2004 – Thomas Mead, Australian politician and journalist (b. 1918)
• 2004 – Ann Miller, American actress and dancer (b. 1923)
• 2005 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1943)
• 2005 – Carlo Orelli, Italian veteran of World War I (b. 1894)
• 2005 – Consuelo Velázquez, Mexican songwriter (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Rose Mary Woods, American Watergate scandal figure (b. 1917)
• 2007 – Doug Blasdell, American personal trainer
• 2007 – Disco D, American music producer (b. 1980)
• 2007 – Ngô Quang Tru?ng, South Vietnamese general (b. 1929)
• 2007 – Abbé Pierre, French priest (b. 1912)
• 2008 – Heath Ledger, Australian Hollywood actor (b. 1979)

January 22 – Holidays:

• Christianity – Feast day of St. Vincent, Anastasius of Persia.