27 BC - Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian receives the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
550 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
1707 - The Scottish Parliament, ratified the Act of Union, paving way for the creation of the Great Britain.
1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
1878 - Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from the Ottoman rule.
1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
1896 - Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
1919 - Temperance movement: The United States of America ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.
1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
1968 - Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.
1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
1969 - Metroliner train starts running.
1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
1986 - First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
1995 - UPN begins broadcasting.
2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.
2006 - Liu Xinjuan is committed by the Chinese government to a psychiatric hospital, allegedly for political activism.

Births
1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)
1409 - René I of Naples (d. 1480)
1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)
1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)
1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
1728 - Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)
1821 - John C. Breckenridge, Confederate general (d. 1875)
1834 - Robert R. Hitt, American politician (d. 1906)
1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
1853 - Andre Michelin, French industrialist (d. 1931)
1874 - Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)
1885 - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)
1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)
1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
1906 - Diana Wynyard, British actress (d. 1964.
1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress/singer (d. 1984)
1910 - Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)
1911 - Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
1911 - Eduardo Frei Montalva, president of Chile (d.1982)
1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)
1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer (d. 1996)
1921 - Francesco Scavullo, American fashion photographer (d. 2004)
1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
1928 - William Kennedy, American author
1930 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (d. 2006)
1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany (d. 2006)
1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)
1933 - Susan Sontag, American writer (d. 2004)
1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
1942 - René Angélil, Canadian singer (Baronets), husband and manager of Céline Dion
1942 - Barbara Lynn, American singer and guitarist
1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
1943 - Ronnie Milsap, American singer/songwriter
1944 - Jim Stafford, Singer, songwriter and guitarist
1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host
1948 - John Carpenter, American film director
1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
1948 - Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet
1950 - Debbie Allen, American dancer/choreographer
1951 - Glenn Ordway, American radio talk show host
1952 - King Fuad II of Egypt
1953 - Robert Jay Mathews, White Nationalist (d. 1984)
1956 - Martin Jol, Tottenham football manager
1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
1962 - Paul Webb, British musician (Talk Talk)
1963 - James May, Top Gear presenter
1966 - Maxine Jones, American singer (En Vogue)
1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
1970 - Ron Villone, Major League Baseball Player
1970 - Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author
1973 - Josie Davis, American actress
1974 - Kate Moss, English model
1974 - Marlon Anderson, Baseball player
1975 - Greg Strause, American director in special effects
1976 - Viktor Maslov, Russian racing driver
1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player
1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
1979 - Brenden Morrow, Canadian hockey player
1979 - Jason Ward, National Hockey League player
1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player
1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)
1982 - Samuel Preston, British singer (The Ordinary Boys)
1983 - Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
1988 - Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
1991 - Julie Dubela, American singer




Deaths
1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)
1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)
1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
1711 - Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)
1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)
1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)
1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)
1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
1809 - John Moore, British general (b. 1761)
1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman (b. 1759)
1834 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (b. 1769)
1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
1865 - Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (b. 1828)
1879 - Octave Crémazie, French Canadian poet (b. 1827)
1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
1898 - Charles Pelham Villiers (b. 1802), longest-serving MP in the British House of Commons
1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
1924 - Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald, philanthropist (b. 1859)
1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (b. 1870)
1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)
1967 - Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b. 1901)
1969 - Jan Palach, Czech Freedom Fighter (b. 1948)
1969 - Vernon Duke, American composer and songwriter (b . 1903)
1971 - Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor and creator of The Chipmunks (b. 1919)
1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
1979 - August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (b. 1897)
1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)
1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)
1988 - Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (b. 1899)
1993 - Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strength athlete (b. 1960)
1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)
1997 - Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby (murdered)
2000 - John Rankin, musical entertainer (b. 1959)
2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)
2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

January 16th
 

1605 ~ The first edition of “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.

1794 ~ Death of Edward Gibbon, Historian.

1909 ~ Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.

1920 ~ Prohibition began in the U.S. as the 18th Amendment to the Constitution took effect.

1957 ~ Death of Arturo Toscanini, Conductor.

1970 ~ Muammar al-Qaddafi was proclaimed premier of Libya.

1977 ~ The Marx Brothers were inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame.

1979 ~ The Shah of Iran went into exile in Egypt.

1991 ~ The White House announced the start of Operation Desert Storm.

2003 ~ The Space Shuttle Columbia took off on its final mission, STS-107.

January 17th
 

1893 ~ Hawaii's monarchy was overthrown when Queen Liliuokalani was forced to abdicate.

1899 ~ Birthday of Nevil Shute, Author.

1942 ~ Birthday of Muhammad Ali, the world's greatest heavyweight Boxer.

1964 ~ Death of T.H. White, author.

1977 ~ Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed at Utah State Prison in the first U.S. execution in a decade.

1991 ~ Operation Desert Storm began.

1994 ~ A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck Southern California; at least 61 people were killed with $20 billion worth of damage.

1995 ~ A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the city of Kobe, Japan; more than 6,000 people were killed.

1997 ~ Death of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto.

2001 ~ Faced with an electricity crisis, California used rolling blackouts to cut off power to hundreds of thousands of people.

336 - Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope.
350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
474 - Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor
532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
1126 - Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne to his son Emperor Qinzong
1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.
1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Åsunden.
1535 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.
1562 - Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.
1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
1777 - representatives of the New Hampshire Grants declare the independence of the Vermont Republic from Britain.
1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands."
1788 - The first 736 convicts banished from England to Australia landed in Botany Bay creating the first Australian Penal Colony
1827 - Joseph Smith, Jr. marries Emma Hale.
1861 - American Civil War - Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in secession from the United States.
1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
1884 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
1886 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
1896 - The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
1903 - Theodore Roosevelt, the President of the United States, sends a message of greetings from a Marconi station built near Wellfleet, Massachusetts to King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, marking the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.
1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
1912 - British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole only to find that Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, had preceded them by just over a month.
1913 - A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos during the First Balkan War, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
1916 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.
1918 - World War I : Woodrow Wilson delivers his Fourteen Points speech in front of Congress.
1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France. Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.
1919 - Bentley Motors Limited is founded.
1939 - Louis Armstrong records Jeepers Creepers.
1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
1944 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
1944 - Soviet forces liberate Leningrad, effectively ending a three year Nazi siege, known as the Siege of Leningrad.
1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army
1955 - Battle of Yijiangshan occurred.
1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
1964 - Plans are revealed for the World Trade Center in New York City.
1964 - The Beatles appear on the Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
1969 - A United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay resulting in the loss of all 32 passengers and six crewmembers.
1974 - A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
1974 - The Six Million Dollar Man debuts on ABC.
1975 - The Jeffersons debuts on CBS.
1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.
1977 - Australia's worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
1978 - The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
1983 - The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe Olympic medals to his family.
1990 - Former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a Los Angeles, California court of 52 child molestation charges.
1990 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
1991 - Eastern Air Lines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.
1993 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 United States states.
1994 - The Cando event, a possible bolide impact in Cando, Spain. Witnesses claim to have seen a fireball in the sky lasting for almost one minute.
1995 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
1997 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
1997 - Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.
2000 - The strange Tagish Lake meteorite impacted the Earth.
2001 - The British digital television channel e4 (TV) was launched.
2002 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of CP track and the policy of voice-tracking used by Clear Channel Communications.
2003 - A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
2005 - A U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins.

Births
885 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)
1543 - Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)
1641 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
1672 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)
1688 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
1689 - Montesquieu, French writer (d. 1755)
1779 - Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)
1782 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
1813 - Joseph Glidden, American farmer who patented barbed wire (d. 1906)
1815 - Constantin von Tischendorf, German biblical scholar (d. 1874)
1840 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)
1841 - Emmanuel Chabrier, French composer (d. 1894)
1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
1848 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
1849 - Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
1850 - Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
1854 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
1877 - Samuel Zemurray, U.S. businessman (d.1961)
1879 - Henri Giraud, French general (d. 1949)
1881 - Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (d. 1975)
1882 - A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)
1886 - Clara Nordström, German writer and translator (d. 1962)
1888 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)
1892 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
1892 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
1901 - Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1973)
1904 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
1905 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)
1908 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)
1913 - Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)
1914 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
1914 - William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)
1917 - Wang Yung-ching , Taiwanese businessman
1918 - Gustave Gingras, French Canadian physician (d. 1996)
1922 - Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)
1925 - Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher (d. 1995)
1931 - Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea
1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, American author
1933 - John Boorman, Irish film director
1933 - Ray Dolby, American inventor (Dolby noise reduction system)
1934 - Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
1935 - Albert Millaire, Quebec actor and theatre director
1937 - John Hume, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
1938 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
1940 - Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican racing driver (d. 1971)
1941 - David Ruffin, American singer (d. 1991)
1941 - Bobby Goldsboro, American country/pop singer
1943 - Kay Granger, American politician
1944 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
1944 - Carl Morton, Major League baseball pitcher (d. 1983)
1946 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
1947 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
1949 - Bill Keller, American newspaper editor
1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
1951 - Bob Latchford, English footballer
1951 - Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist (d. 1982)
1952 - R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
1953 - Brett Hudson, American actor
1955 - Kevin Costner, American actor
1955 - Fergus Martin, Irish artist
1956 - Sharon Mitchell, American porn actress
1956 - Tom Bailey, British singer (Thompson Twins)
1961 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
1961 - Jeff Yagher, American actor
1963 - Martin O'Malley, Governor of Maryland
1964 - Jane Horrocks, British actress
1965 - Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
1967 - Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d. 1999)
1967 - Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
1968 - Frank Quitely, Scottish comic book artist
1969 - Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
1969 - David Bautista, American professional wrestler
1969 - Jim O'Rourke, American musician and producer (Loose Fur and Wilco)
1970 - DJ Quik, American rapper
1970 - Peter van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
1971 - Jonathan Davis, American musician (KoЯn)
1971 - Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
1972 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
1973 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
1974 - Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
1974 - Maulik Pancholy, American actor
1974 - Christian Burns, English musician (BBMak)
1976 - Damien Leith, Australian Idol 2006
1977 - Curtis Cregan, American actor
1977 - Alina Jidkova, Russian tennis player
1978 - Brian Falkenborg, American baseball player
1979 - Jay Chou, Taiwanese singer and producer
1979 - Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
1979 - Brian Gionta, professional hockey player
1980 - Robert Green, English footballer
1980 - Julius Peppers, American football player
1981 - Kang Dong-won, South Korean model and actor
1981 - Khari Stephenson, Jamaican soccer player
1982 - Quinn Allman, American musician (The Used)
1983 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
1984 - Benji Schwimmer, American dancer
1987 - Johan Djourou, Swiss footballer

Deaths
52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)
350 - Constans, Roman Emperor, (b. 320)
474 - Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)
1367 - King Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
1425 - Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
1471 - Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
1583 - Margaret of Austria, regent of The Netherlands (b. 1522)
1664 - Moses Amyraut, French theologian (b. 1596)
1677 - Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b. 1619)
1803 - Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (b. 1743)
1862 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (b. 1790)
1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)
1878 - Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1788)
1892 - Anton Anderledy, Swiss Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1819)
1896 - Charles Floquet, French statesman (b. 1828)
1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)
1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1940 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)
1952 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
1963 - Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the British Labour Party (b. 1906)
1966 - Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)
1967 - Goose Tatum, American basketball player (b. 1921)
1969 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b. 1887)
1970 - David O. McKay, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
1978 - Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher, critic and writer (b. 1919)
1978 - Carl Betz, English musician (b. 1921)
1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
1984 - Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
1985 - Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (b. 1912)
1995 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1995 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b. 1937)
1997 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1941)
2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
2001 - Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b. 1935)
2003 - Edward Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
2005 - Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)
2006 - Jan Twardowski, Polish poet (b. 1915)

January 18th
 

1535 ~ Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.

1779 ~ Birthday of Peter Roget, Lexicographer.

1882 ~ Birthday of A. A. Milne, Author.

1892 ~ Birthday of Oliver Hardy, Comedian & Actor.

1936 ~ Death of Rudyard Kipling, Writer & Poet

1943 ~ The siege of Leningrad was broken by the Red Army.

1944 ~ Birthday of Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia.

1967 ~ The “Boston Strangler” was convicted in Cambridge, Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses.

1990 ~ Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession.

1991 ~ Iraq attacked Tel Aviv and Haifa with Scud missiles.

January 19th
 

1807 ~ Birthday of Robert E. Lee, General, Army of Northern Virginia, CSA.

1809 ~ Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, Poet & short story Author.

1839 ~ Birthday of Paul Cézanne, Painter.

1853 ~ Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premiered.

1931 ~ Birthday of Robert MacNeil, newscaster, journalist (PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Report).

1937 ~ Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in just under 7 ½ hours.

1943 ~ Birthday of Janis Joplin, Blues/Rock Singer.

1966 ~ Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India.

1983 ~ The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, was announced..

2004 ~ Death of David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach.

Events
250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland.
1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament".
1320 - Dante - Quaestio de Aqua et Terra.
1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
1356 - Edward Balliol resigns as King of Scotland.
1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almansa.
1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes"
1667 - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusovo.
1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
1841 - Hong Kong Island occupied by the British Empire.
1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
1920 - American Civil Liberties Union founded.
1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey was adopted, which made fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released.
1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
1945 - Hungary drops out of the Second World War, agreeing an armistice with the Allies.
1952 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France.
1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announced a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
1964 - Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released.
1968 - Game of the Century, which allowed the NCAA to gradually have influence over college sports broadcasting and introduce NCAA higher education opportunities; also a game that influenced the enactment of Title IX.
1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula.
1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President.
1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
1986 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped.
1990 - Black January - bloody crackdown of Azerbaijani peaceful pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
1996 - Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet bars.
2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in the EDSA II Revolution, succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
2001 - George W Bush is sworn in as President of the United States.
2005 - Ireland completes metrication.

Births
225 - Gordian III, Roman Emperor (d. 244)
1358 - Eleanor of Aragon, wife of John I of Castile (d. 1382)
1435 - Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (d. 1490)
1554 - King Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
1586 - Johann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
1664 - Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian writer and jurist (d. 1718)
1716 - King Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
1716 - Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French writer and numismatist (d. 1795)
1775 - Andre Marie Ampere, French physicist (d. 1836)
1783 - Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
1798 - Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (d. 1858)
1804 - Eugène Sue, French novelist (d. 1857)
1812 - Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
1837 - David Josiah Brewer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1910)
1855 - Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
1867 - Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
1873 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize in Literature laureate (d. 1950)
1876 - Józef Hofmann, Polish pianist (d. 1967)
1878 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
1878 - Finlay Currie, British actor (d. 1968)
1880 - Walter W. Bacon, Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
1891 - Mischa Elman, Ukrainian born violinist (d. 1967)
1894 - Walter Piston, American composer (d. 1976)
1896 - George Burns, American actor, comedian (d. 1996)
1898 - U Razak, Burmese politician (d. 1947)
1900 - Colin Clive, British actor (d. 1937)
1902 - Leon Ames, American actor (d. 1993)
1906 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek industrialist (d. 1975)
1910 - Joy Adamson, Austrian naturalist and writer (d. 1980)
1915 - Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
1918 - Juan Garcia Esquivel, Mexican musician (d. 2002)
1920 - Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
1920 - DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
1920 - Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (d. 2006)
1922 - Ray Anthony, American trumpeter, bandleader, songwriter and actor
1923 - Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer
1924 - Slim Whitman, American singer
1925 - Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan theologian and author and politician
1926 - Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, essayist and columnist
1926 - Patricia Neal, American actress
1926 - David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
1929 - Jimmy Cobb, American jazz drummer
1929 - Bob Denard, French mercenary
1929 - Arte Johnson, American actor
1929 - Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
1930 - Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., astronaut
1931 - David Lee, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
1932 - Lou Fontinato, National Hockey League defenceman
1934 - Tom Baker, British actor
1937 - Dorothy Provine, American singer, dancer and actress
1938 - William Berger, Austrian actor (d. 1993)
1938 - Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer
1939 - Paul Coverdell, American politician (d. 2000)
1940 - Carol Heiss, American figure skater
1941 - Pierre Lalonde, Quebec singer and television host
1941 - Ron Townson, American singer (The Fifth Dimension) (d. 2001)
1945 - Christopher Martin-Jenkins, cricket commentator and chief cricket correspondent of The Times
1945 - Eric Stewart, English musician and songwriter (10cc)
1946 - David Lynch, American film director
1947 - Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and directeur sportif
1948 - Natan Sharansky, Russian-born physicist and politician
1949 - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
1950 - Mahamane Ousmane, President of Niger
1950 - Liza Goddard, actress
1950 - Chuck Lefley, National Hockey League player
1951 - Ian Hill, British musician (Judas Priest)
1951 - Ivan Fischer, Hungarian conductor
1952 - Paul Stanley, American musician (KISS)
1955 - Wyatt Knight, American actor
1956 - Bill Maher, American actor, comedian, and political analyst
1958 - Lorenzo Lamas, American actor
1960 - Will Wright, American computer game designer
1960 - Scott Thunes, American musician (Frank Zappa)
1963 - James Denton, American actor
1965 - Greg Kriesel, American bassist (The Offspring)
1965 - Sophie, The Countess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
1965 - John Michael Montgomery, American singer
1968 - Melissa Rivers, American reporter and actress
1968 - Rainn Wilson, American actor
1969 - Patrick K. Kroupa, American writer, hacker
1970 - Mitch Benn, UK comedian, songwriter, actor
1970 - Skeet Ulrich, American actor
1971 - Derrick Green, American singer (Sepultura)
1971 - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, American drummer (The Roots)
1975 - David Eckstein, baseball player
1976 - Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
1979 - Rob Bourdon, American musician (Linkin Park)
1979 - Will Young, British singer
1981 - Owen Hargreaves, English international footballer
1981 - Crystal Lowe, Canadian actress
1989 - Nadia Di Cello, Argentine actress

Deaths
1156 - Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
1479 - King John II of Aragon (b. 1397)
1568 - Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator
1612 - Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
1666 - Anna of Austria, wife of Louis XIII of France and regent (b. 1601)
1707 - Humphrey Hody, English theologian (b. 1659)
1709 - François de la Chaise, French confessor of Louis XIV of France (b. 1624)
1739 - Francesco Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (b. 1659)
1745 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1697)
1751 - John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
1770 - Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
1779 - David Garrick, English actor (b. 1717)
1810 - Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (b. 1722)
1819 - King Charles IV of Spain (b. 1748)
1848 - Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
1850 - Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet (b. 1779)
1873 - The Venerable Father Basil Anthony Marie Moreau, Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
1891 - David Kalakaua, King of Hawaii (b. 1836)
1900 - John Ruskin, art critic (b. 1819)
1901 - Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (b. 1826)
1907 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist (b. 1834)
1920 - Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler (b. 1876)
1936 - King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
1944 - James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (b. 1860)
1947 - Josh Gibson, African-American baseball player (b. 1911)
1954 - Fred Root, English cricketer (b. 1890)
1962 - Robinson Jeffers, American poet (b. 1887)
1965 - Alan Freed, American disk jockey (b. 1922)
1979 - Gustav Winckler, Danish singer (b. 1925)
1971 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, American actor, director, writer, and producer (b. 1880)
1973 - Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (b. 1885)
1983 - Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
1984 - Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
1988 - Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pashtun Nationalist & non-violent freedom fighter (b. 1890)
1990 - Hayedeh, Persian singer (b. 1942)
1990 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
1993 - Audrey Hepburn, Anglo-Dutch actress (b. 1929)
1994 - Matt Busby, Scottish football manager (b. 1909)
1996 - Gerry Mulligan, American musician (b. 1927)
1997 - Curt Flood, baseball player (b. 1938)
1998 - Bobo Brazil, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
2003 - Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (b. 1903)
2003 - Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
2003 - Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b. 1947)
2004 - Guinn Smith, American athlete (b. 1920)
2005 - Per Borten, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
2005 - Roland Frye, American literary critic and theologian
2005 - Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist, writer, and politician (b. 1913)
2005 - Miriam Louisa Rothschild, British zoologist, entomologist, and author (b. 1908)

January 20th
 

1801 ~ John Marshall was appointed chief justice of the United States.

1907 ~ Death of Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian Chemist and inventor of the Periodic table.

1930 ~ Birthday of Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut.

1942 ~ Nazi officials arrived at a ''final solution'' to Europe's Jewry, during a conference at Lake Wannsee in Berlin.

1961 ~ John F. Kennedy sworn in as U.S. President.

1967 ~ The first pulsar was discovered.

1981 ~ The American hostages held by Iran were released following Ronald Reagan’s inauguration.

1984 ~ Death of Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming gold medalist & Actor (Tarzan).

1986 ~ Britain and France announced plans to build the Channel Tunnel.

1993 ~ Death of Audrey Hepburn, actress.

January 21st
 

1643 ~ Abel Tasman discovered Tonga.

1793 ~ France's King Louis XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.

1924 ~ Death of Vladimir Lenin, first leader of the U.S.S.R.

1941 ~ Birthday of Plácido Domingo, Opera Singer.

1950 ~ Death of George Orwell, Writer.

1950 ~ A federal jury in New York City found former State Department official Alger Hiss guilty of perjury.

1954 ~ The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear powered submarine, was launched.

1959 ~ Death of Cecil B. DeMille, Movie Director.

1998 ~ Pope John Paul II began his first visit to Cuba.

2003 ~ The U.S. Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America's largest minority group.

January 22nd
 

1788 ~ Birthday of Lord Byron, Poet.

1840 ~ British colonists reached New Zealand.

1879 ~ Zulu troops defeated British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana.

1901 ~ Death of Queen Victoria I of the United Kingdom.

1953 ~ "The Crucible", a drama by Arthur Miller, opened on Broadway.

1970 ~ The Boeing 747 went on its first regularly scheduled commercial flight, from New York to London.

1973 ~ The U.S. Supreme Court, in the Roe vs. Wade decision, legalized abortions, using a trimester approach.

1984 ~ The Apple Macintosh was introduced with the famous television commercial "1984" (requires QuickTime and patience [but is generally considered among the better commercials in history]).

1992 ~ Dr. Roberta Bondar becomes the first Canadian woman astronaut.

1997 ~ The U.S. Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation's first female secretary of state.

Events
393 - Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his nine years old son Honorius co-emperor.
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, mistress of Henry VIII of England, discovers herself pregnant.
1546 - Having published nothing for eleven years, Francois Rabelais brings out his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel: the Tiers Livre.
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.
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 (Washington, DC).
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 woman 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 Indians, most women and children, in the Marias Massacre.
1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.
1897 - Elva Zona Heaster found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband was perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
1899 - Emilio Aguinaldo was sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic.
1904 - Ålesund Fire: 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 architecture.
1907 - Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American US 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.
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.
1960 - The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to the deepest point in the Pacific Ocean. The depth was measured to be 35,813 feet (10,916 m) but later measurements show it to be 35,798 feet (10,911 m).
1964 - The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
1967 - Milton Keynes (England) founded by Order in Council. (See History of Milton Keynes)
1968 - North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship violated their territorial waters while spying.
1973 - President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
1973 - A volcanic eruption devastates Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar chain of islands off the south coast of Iceland.
1977 - The first segment of the Roots mini-series airs on ABC.
1978 - Sweden becomes the first nation in the world to ban aerosol sprays, believed to be damaging to earth's protective ozone layer.
1983 - The Television Show The A-Team Starts its first season on the NBC network.
1984 - "Hulkamania" is born when Hulk Hogan defeats The Iron Sheik to win the WWF Championship
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, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
1996 - The first version of the Java programming language is released.
1997 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
1999 - Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons are burned alive by radical Hindus while sleeping in their car in Eastern India.
2002 - "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States under FBI custody.
2002 - Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped -- and subsequently murdered -- in Karachi, Pakistan.
2005 - Viktor Yushchenko is sworn in as the third President of Ukraine in Kiev, Ukraine.
2006 - Stephen Harper's Conservative Party wins the most seats in the Canadian federal election. Harper becomes the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada with a minority government.


Births
1350 - Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
1719 - John Landen, English mathematician (d. 1790)
1737 - John Hancock, American Revolutionist (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)
1857 - Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian seismologist (d. 1936)
1862 - David Hilbert, German mathematician (d. 1943)
1872 - Gotse Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary (d. 1903)
1872 - Paul Langevin, French physicist (d. 1946)
1872 - Joze Plečnik, Slovenian architect (d. 1957)
1876 - Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
1884 - Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (d. 1956)
1888 - Leadbelly, American blues and folk musician (d. 1949)
1896 - Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1985)
1897 - Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian independence fighter (d. 1897)
1897 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
1898 - Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director (d. 1948)
1898 - Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
1900 - William Ifor Jones, Welsh Conductor & Organist (d. 1988)
1903 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
1907 - Dan Duryea, American actor (d. 1968)
1907 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1910 - Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist (d. 1953)
1915 - Arthur Lewis, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1915 - Potter Stewart, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1985)
1918 - Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1919 - Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist and underwater scientist
1919 - Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (d. 1962)
1923 - Walter M. Miller, Jr., American writer (d. 1996)
1928 - Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
1928 - Jeanne Moreau, French actress
1929 - John Charles Polanyi, Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 - Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko) of Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate
1930 - Derek Walcott, West Indian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
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
1940 - Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (d. 2001)
1943 - Gil Gerard, American actor
1943 - Millie Jackson, American singer
1943 - Gary Burton, American jazz vibraphonist
1944 - Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
1945 - Mike Harris, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario
1947 - Thomas R. Carper, U.S. Senator from Delaware.
1947 - Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia
1948 - Anita Pointer, American singer
1950 - Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
1950 - Danny Federici, American musician (Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band)
1952 - Robin Zander, American singer (Cheap Trick)
1953 - Antonio Villaragoisa, American 52nd Mayor of Los Angeles
1954 - Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
1957 - Princess Caroline of Monaco
1959 - Clive Bull, radio talk show host
1963 - Gail O'Grady, American actress
1964 - Mariska Hargitay, American actress
1964 - Mario Roberge, National Hockey League player
1967 - Naim Suleymanoglu, Bulgarian-born, Turkish weightlifter
1968 - Petr Korda, Czech tennis player
1969 - Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer
1969 - Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 - Marcel Wouda, Dutch swimmer
1972 - Mark Curry, African American rapper
1973 - Lanei Chapman, American actress
1974 - Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
1974 - Richard T. Slone, British artist
1975 - Tito Ortiz, American UFC fighter
1979 - Larry Hughes, American basketball player
1979 - Sampsa Astala, Finnish musician (Lordi)
1981 - Sarah Rehman, An artist, sculpturer and visionary for 'Sarah's Children'
1983 - David Firth, British animator/musician
1983 - George Foreman III, American reality series star; son of George Foreman
1984 - Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
1985 - Doutzen Kroes, Dutch supermodel
1986 - Felicia Brandström, Swedish singer


Deaths
1002 - Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
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 (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1764)
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 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1898)
1937 - Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist (b. 1876)
1943 - Alexander Woollcott, American actor, author, and bon vivant (b. 1887)
1944 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863)
1956 - Alexander Korda, Hungarian/British film director (b. 1893)
1971 - Fritz Feigl, Austria-born chemist (b. 1871)
1973 - Kid Ory, American jazz trombonist (b. 1886)
1976 - Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and social activist (b. 1898)
1976 - Paul Dupuis, French Canadian film and television actor (b. 1913)
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 signer (Ames Brothers) (b. 1925)
1981 - Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
1983 - Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (b. 1908)
1989 - Salvador Dalí, Catalan artist (b. 1904)
1992 - Freddie Bartholomew, Irish actor (b. 1924)
1993 - Thomas A. Dorsey, American singer (b. 1899)
1994 - Nikolai Vasilievich 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 - 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 legend (b. 1925)
2005 - Douglas Knight, American university president (b. 1921)
2006 - Ernie Baron, Philippine newscaster (b. 1940)
2006 - Chris McKinstry, Canadian scientist (b. 1967)

January 23rd
 

1789 ~ Georgetown College, founded by Archbishop John Carroll, became the first Catholic, Jesuit college in the U.S.

1832 ~ Birthday of Edouard Manet, Impressionist artist.

1849 ~ Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to receive a medical degree, from the Medical Institution of Geneva, N.Y.

1857 ~ Birthday of Andrija Mohorovičić, Croatian seismologist.

1862 ~ Birthday of David Hilbert, Mathematician.

1968 ~ North Korea seized the USS Pueblo, charging it had intruded into the communist nation's territorial waters on a spying mission. The crew was held for 11 months.

1973 ~ President Nixon appeared on national television to announce "peace with honor" in Vietnam.

1989 ~ Death of Salvador Dalí, Artist.

2002 ~ Daniel Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan.

2004 ~ Death of Bob Keeshan, TV's “Captain Kangaroo”.

Just a footnote to Jseal's above post.

The USS Pueblo is still held in Korean captivity, to this day. After the crew was released the Korean's, the ship was examined and remained in Korean hands. The Pueblo is still listed by the United States Navy as an active serving ship.

Events
41 - Roman Emperor 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.
1458 - Matthias I Corvinus becomes king of Hungary.
1624 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
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.
1878 - The revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, the Governor of Saint Petersburg.
1908 - Robert Baden-Powell begins 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 - A decree of the Council of People's Commissars, introducing the Gregorian calendar in Russia since February 1, issued.
1924 - St. Petersburg, Russia is renamed Leningrad.
1927 - Director Alfred Hitchcock releases his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in England.
1936 - Albert Sarraut becomes Prime Minister of France
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.
1972 - Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been in hiding since 1944, when U.S. forces liberated the island during World War II.
1977 - Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
1984 - The first Apple Macintosh goes on sale.
1986 - Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus.
1986 - Wapping dispute. Newspaper workers in London launch ultimately unsuccessful strike against Rupert Murdoch's News International.
1993 - Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara
1996 - Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges he spied for Moscow.
2003 - The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
2006 - Disney agrees to purchase Pixar in an all-cash deal, making Steve Jobs the largest shareholder in Disney.


Births
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)
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)
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)
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, baseball player (d. 1939)
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
1922 - Charles Socarides, American psychiatrist (d. 2005)
1925 - Maria Tallchief, American ballerina
1928 - Desmond Morris, British anthropologist
1928 - Michel Serrault, French actor
1934 - Stanisław 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 - Sharon Tate, American actress and Manson murder victim (d. 1969)
1944 - Klaus Nomi, German singer (d. 1983)
1946 - Michael Ontkean, Canadian actor
1947 - Warren Zevon, American musician (d. 2003)
1949 - John Belushi, American actor (d. 1982)
1950 - Gerald Brisco, American wrestler
1950 - Benjamin Urrutia, American scholar
1950 - Daniel Auteuil, French actor
1951 - Yakov Smirnoff, Russian comedian
1956 - Hanne Krogh, Norwegian singer (Bobbysocks)
1957 - Adrian Edmondson, British comedian
1958 - Neil Allen, American baseball player
1958 - Jools Holland, British musician
1959 - Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress
1959 - Vic Reeves, English comedian
1961 - Vince Russo, American writer
1963 - Martyn Grimley, British hockey player
1963 - Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
1965 - Mike Awesome, American wrestler
1966 - Jimeoin, Northern Irish comedian
1967 - John Myung, American musician (Dream Theater)
1967 - Phil LaMarr, American voice actor
1968 - Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
1970 - Matthew Lillard, American actor
1971 - Cory Bailey, American baseball player
1974 - Shii Ann Huang, American game show contestant
1975 - Rónald Gómez, Costa Rican footballer
1976 - Shae-Lynn Bourne, Canadian ice dancer with Victor Kraatz
1979 - Tatyana Ali, American actress
1980 - Nicole Marie Lenz, American actress
1981 - Travis Hanson, American baseball player
1982 - Jan Fila, Czech composer
1983 - Scott Speed, American racecar driver
1984 - Scott Kazmir, American baseball player
1986 - Mischa Barton, English-born American actress
1986 - Ricky Ullman, American actor
1989 - Calvin Goldspink, English singer (S Club 8)


[edit] Deaths
41 - Caligula, Emperor of Rome (b. 12)
772 - Pope Stephen III (b. 720)
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)
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)
1965 - Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (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, Nazi doctor (b. 1911)
1983 - George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
1986 - L. Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
1986 - Flo Hyman, American volleyball player (b. 1954)
1986 - Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
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 - Ricky Ray Rector, American murderer (b. 1950)
1993 - Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1908)
1998 - Walter D. Edmonds, American author (b. 1903)
2000 - Bobby Duncum, Jr., wrestler (b. 1965)
2002 - Peter Gzowski, Canadian broadcaster, writer and reporter (b. 1934)
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 coach (b. 1929)
2006 - Chris Penn, American actor (b. 1965)

January 24th
 

1776 ~ Birthday of E.T.A. Hoffmann, Poet & Composer.

1888 ~ Birthday of Ernst Heinkel, aircraft designer.

1908 ~ The first Boy Scout troop was organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.

1927 ~ Alfred Hitchcock released his first film, “The Pleasure Garden”.

1945 ~ Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz.

1961 ~ Marilyn Monroe divorced Arthur Miller.

1962 ~ Brian Epstein signed to manage The Beatles.

1965 ~ Death of Winston Churchill, Englishman.

1993 ~ Death of Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court justice.

2003 ~ The U.S. Department of Homeland Security officially began operation.

January 25th
 

1533 ~ England's King Henry VIII secretly married Anne Boleyn, his second wife.

1627 ~ Birthday of Robert Boyle, Chemist.

1759 ~ Birthday of Robert Burns, Poet.

1882 ~ Birthday of Virginia Woolf, Writer.

1890 ~ Nellie Bly completed her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

1919 ~ The League of Nations was founded.

1947 ~ Death of Al Capone, Gangster.

1971 ~ General Idi Amin becomes Ugandan President Idi Amin after a coup.

1977 ~ Rene Levesque told a Wall Street audience at the Economic Club of New York that “separation is inevitable”.

2004 ~ Opportunity landed on Mars.

January 26th
 

1785 ~ Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to his daughter expressing disappointment over the selection of the eagle as the symbol of the United States; he wanted the turkey.

1885 ~ Troops loyal to the Mahdi conquered Khartoum.

1905 ~ Birthday of Maria von Trapp, Singer.

1925 ~ Birthday of Paul Newman, Actor.

1961 ~ Birthday of Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey Player, Coach, Owner.

1972 ~ Death of Mahalia Jackson, Gospel Music singer.

1988 ~ The musical "Phantom of the Opera", by Andrew Lloyd Webber opened at Broadway's Majestic Theater.

1996 ~ First lady Hillary Clinton testified before a grand jury connected to the Whitewater probe.

1998 ~ U.S. President Clinton denied on television he had "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky.

2005 ~ Following her confirmation by the Senate, Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, the first African American woman to hold the post.

Feastdays & Holidays

Australia~ Australia Day

January 27th
 

1606 ~ The trial of Guy Fawkes and other Gunpowder Plot conspirators began.

1756 ~ Birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer.

1832 ~ Birthday of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

1901 ~ Death of Giuseppe Verdi, Composer.

1967 ~ More than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.

1967 ~ Astronauts Grissom, White and Chaffee were killed in a fire during a test of the Apollo 1 spacecraft.

1977 ~ The Vatican reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church's ban on female priests.

1992 ~ Mike Tyson went on trial charged with raping a Miss Black America contestant.

1997 ~ It was revealed that French museums had retained nearly 2,000 pieces of art stolen by Nazis.

1998 ~ U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton called the attacks against her husband part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy" on the “Today Show”.

January 28th
 

1521 ~ The Diet of Worms began.

1574 ~ Death of Henry VIII, King of England.

1596 ~ Death of Sir Francis Drake, Explorer & Soldier.

1788 ~ The first penal colony was established at Botany Bay, Australia.

1822 ~ Birthday of Alexander Mackenzie, Prime Minister of Canada.

1887 ~ Birthday of Artur Rubinstein, Polish Pianist.

1935 ~ Iceland became the first country to legalize abortion.

1939 ~ Death of William Butler Yeats, Writer.

1986 ~ Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff killing all seven astronauts onboard.

2004 ~ Lord Hutton published his report into the death of Dr. David Kelly.

Feastdays & Holidays

Catholicism ~ Feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas.

January 29th
 

1845 ~ Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published, in the New York Evening Mirror.

1856 ~ Queen Victoria instituted the Victoria Cross.

1880 ~ Birthday of W.C. Fields, Actor.

1933 ~ Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany by President Paul von Hindenburg.

1936 ~ The first members of baseball's Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.

1944 ~ The USS Missouri, a 45,000 ton Iowa class battleship was launched.

1956 ~ Death of H. L. Mencken, Journalist.

1962 ~ Death of Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist.

1963 ~ Death of Robert Frost, Poet.

2002 ~ In his State of the Union Address, President Bush coined the term "Axis of Evil".

January 30th
 

1649 ~ King Charles I of England was beheaded.

1862 ~ The first Union ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched.

1933 ~ The first episode of the ''Lone Ranger'' radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit.

1937 ~ Birthday of Boris Spassky, World Chess Champion.

1948 ~ Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated.

1968 ~ Viet Cong guerillas and North Vietnamese soldiers launched the Tet offensive.

1969 ~ Last public performance by The Beatles.

1972 ~ Thirteen Roman Catholic civil rights marchers were shot to death by British soldiers in Northern Ireland on what became known as "Bloody Sunday”.

1991 ~ The first major ground battle of the Gulf War was fought at the frontier port of Al Khafji in Saudi Arabia.

2003 ~ Richard Reid, the "Shoe bomber" jailed for life.

January 31st
 

1606 ~ Guy Fawkes was executed for his part in the Gunpowder Plot.

1797 ~ Birthday of Franz Schubert, Composer.

1917 ~ Germany announced that its U-boats will engage in unrestricted submarine warfare.

1929 ~ The Soviet Union exiled Leon Trotsky.

1950 ~ President Harry S. Truman announced a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.

1956 ~ Death of A. A. Milne, Author (Winnie the Pooh).

1958 ~ James Van Allen discovered the Van Allen radiation belt.

1990 ~ A Canadian, George Cohon, opened McDonald's Corp. first Moscow restaurant in Pushkin Square.

1996 ~ An explosives-filled truck rammed into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing 91 and injuring 1,400.

2001 ~ A Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands convicted one Libyan and acquitted a second in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

February 1st
 

1851 ~ Death of Mary Shelley, English Author (Frankenstein).

1896 ~ Puccini’s opera La Bohème premiered in Turin.

1920 ~ The Royal Canadian Mounted Police was established.

1929 ~ Frenchman Charles Rigoulet became the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method.

1931 ~ Birthday of Boris Yeltsin, Russian President.

1960 ~ Four black college students began a sit-in protest against racial segregation at a lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they'd been refused service.

1979 ~ Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran.

1979 ~ Patty Hearst, whose prison sentence for bank robbery had been commuted by President Jimmy Carter, left a federal prison near San Francisco.

2003 ~ Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas upon reentry killing all seven astronauts.

2004 ~ Super Bowl XXXVIII: One team defeated the other team, 32-29. During the half-time show Janet Jackson's right breast was bared.

February 2nd
 

1709 ~ Alexander Selkirk was rescued from a desert island, inspiring the book “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe.

1870 ~ The Cardiff Giant - supposedly the petrified remains of a human discovered in Cardiff, N.Y. - was revealed to be nothing more than carved gypsum.

1875 ~ Birthday of Fritz Kreisler, Austrian violinist.

1887 ~ In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day was observed.

1897 ~ Birthday of Howard Johnson, American Hotelier.

1905 ~ Birthday of Ayn Rand, Writer, Philosopher.

1943 ~ The German 6th Army surrendered at Stalingrad.

1970 ~ Death of Bertrand Russell, Mathematician & Philosopher.

1990 ~ At the opening of Parliament in Cape Town, President FW de Klerk announced the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa..

Feastdays & Holidays

U.S. & Canada – Groundhog Day

February 3rd
 

1468 ~ Death of Johannes Gutenberg, German Publisher.

1809 ~ Birthday of Felix Mendelssohn, Composer.

1870 ~ The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

1874 ~ Birthday of Gertrude Stein, Writer.

1894 ~ Birthday of Norman Rockwell, Illustrator.

1917 ~ The U.S. broke off diplomatic relations with Germany after Germany announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1947 ~ Snag, Yukon recorded a temperature of -62.8°C, the lowest official temperature ever measured in Canada.

1947 ~ Birthday of Melanie Safka, Singer.

1959 ~ A plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, claimed the lives of rock 'n' roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. ''The Big Bopper'' Richardson.

1966 ~ The Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft made the first controlled landing on the Moon.

February 4th
 

1789 ~ George Washington was unanimously elected by the Electoral College to be the first President of the United States.

1861 ~ In Montgomery, Alabama the Confederate States of America was formed by delegates from six break-away United States.

1894 ~ Death of Adolphe Sax, instrument maker, inventor of the saxophone.

1902 ~ Birthday of Charles Lindbergh, U.S. aviator.

1913 ~ Birthday of Rosa Parks, U.S. civil rights activist.

1928 ~ Death of Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate.

1974 ~ The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnapped Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

1987 ~ Death of Liberace, "Mr. Showmanship".

1997 ~ O. J. Simpson was found to be civilly liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

1998 ~ A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit northeast Afghanistan, killing an estimated 5,000 people.

February 5th
 

1878 ~ Birthday of André Citroën, automobile pioneer.

1885 ~ The king of Belgium established the Congo as a personal possession.

1897 ~ The Indiana House of Representatives passed a measure redefining the area of a circle and the value of π. The bill died in the state Senate.

1919 ~ Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith created United Artists.

1924 ~ The Royal Greenwich Observatory began to broadcast hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the "BBC pips".

1934 ~ Birthday of Hank Aaron, Athlete.

1958 ~ A hydrogen bomb was lost by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

1962 ~ French President Charles De Gaulle called for Algerian independence.

1982 ~ Laker Airways collapsed owing £270 million to banks and other creditors.

1988 ~ Two indictments were unsealed in Florida, accusing Panama's military leader, Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, of bribery and drug trafficking.

February 6th
 

1564 ~ Birthday of Christopher Marlowe, Playwright.

1819 ~ Sir Thomas Raffles founded Singapore.

1840 ~ Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, founding document of New Zealand.

1895 ~ Birthday of Babe Ruth, Athlete.

1913 ~ Birthday of Mary Leakey, Anthropologist.

1952 ~ The UK’s King George VI died; he was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.

1959 ~ Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit.

1971 ~ Alan Shepard becomes the first man to hit a golf ball on the Moon.

1993 ~ Death of Arthur Ashe, Athlete.

2004 ~ An explosion in a Moscow subway car during rush hour killed 41 people in a terrorist attack blamed on Chechen separatists.

February 7th
 

1812 ~ Birthday of Charles Dickens, Novelist.

1834 ~ Birthday of Dmitri Mendeleev, chemist and inventor of the Periodic table of the chemical elements.

1883 ~ Birthday of Eubie Blake, Musician, Composer.

1885 ~ Birthday of Sinclair Lewis, Author.

1905 ~ The Great Baltimore Fire destroyed more than 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

1964 ~ The Beatles arrived in New York for their first American tour, touching off rock 'n' roll's “British invasion”.

1971 ~ Women became entitled to vote in Switzerland.

1984 ~ Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart went on the first untethered spacewalk.

1990 ~ The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union agreed to let other political parties compete for control of the country, thereby giving up its monopoly on power.

1992 ~ The European Union was formed.

February 8th
 

1587 ~ Mary, Queen of Scots was executed.

1828 ~ Birthday of Jules Verne, Author.

1855 ~ The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appeared in southern Devon.

1910 ~ The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated by William D. Boyce.

1925 ~ Birthday of Jack Lemmon, Actor.

1932 ~ Birthday of John Williams, Composer & Conductor.

1952 ~ Princess Elizabeth proclaimed herself Queen.

1957 ~ Death of John von Neumann, Mathematician.

1993 ~ General Motors sued NBC, alleging that the program "Dateline NBC" had rigged two crashes to show that GM pickups were prone to fires. NBC settled the lawsuit the following day.

1996 ~ President Clinton signed the Communications Decency Act at the Library of Congress.

February 9th
 

1825 ~ After no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes, the U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy Adams President.

1878 ~ Proposed U.S. Federal Income Tax lampooned.

1881 ~ Death of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Author.

1900 ~ Davis Cup competition established.

1906 ~ Death of Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poet.

1910 ~ Birthday of Jacques Monod, biochemist, winner of 1965 Nobel Prize in Medicine.

1943 ~ American authorities declared Guadalcanal secure.

1950 ~ Senator Joseph McCarthy charged that the U.S. State Department was infested with Communists.

1971 ~ Satchel Paige became the first Negro League player to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1984 ~ Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov died at age 69, less than 15 months after succeeding Leonid Brezhnev.

February 10th
 

1763 ~ France ceded Canada to England under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War.

1837 ~ Death of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russian Poet & Novelist.

1840 ~ Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

1890 ~ Birthday of Boris Pasternak, Poet, winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize in literature.

1898 ~ Birthday of Bertolt Brecht, Author.

1927 ~ Birthday of Leontyne Price, Soprano.

1933 ~ The first singing telegram was introduced by the Postal Telegram Co. in New York. Sic transit gloria mundi.

1949 ~ Arthur Miller's play “Death of a Salesman” opened on Broadway.

1962 ~ Captured American spy pilot Francis Gary Powers was exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

1996 ~ Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov for the first time. :(

February 11th
 

1650 ~ Death of René Descartes, Philosopher.

1847 ~ Birthday of Thomas Alva Edison, Inventor.

1898 ~ Birthday of Leó Szilárd, Physicist & Peace Activist.

1938 ~ BBC Television produced the first science fiction television program, an adaptation of the Karel Capek play R.U.R. (This play coined the term 'robot.')

1945 ~ President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin signed the Yalta Agreement.

1961 ~ The trial of Adolf Eichmann began in Jerusalem.

1978 ~ China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, Shakespeare and Dickens.

1979 ~ Followers of Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in Iran, after the religious leader returned to his home after his exile.

1986 ~ Death of Frank Herbert, Science Fiction author.

1990 ~ South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity.

February 12th
 

1733 ~ James Oglethorpe founded Georgia, the 13th and last American colony.

1804 ~ Death of Immanuel Kant, German Philosopher.

1809 ~ Birthday of Charles Darwin, Naturalist.

1893 ~ Birthday of Omar Bradley, General.

1924 ~ George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue'' premiered in New York City.

1938 ~ Anschluss: German troops enter Austria.

1994 ~ Edvard Munch's "The Scream" is stolen from a museum in Norway.

1999 ~ The U.S. Senate voted to acquit President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

2000 ~ Death of Charles M. Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip.

2002 ~ The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic began in The Hague.

February 13th
 

1866 ~ Jesse James robbed his first bank.

1883 ~ Death of Richard Wagner, Composer.

1923 ~ Birthday of Chuck Yeager, pilot of first supersonic flight.

1935 ~ A jury found Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.

1945 ~ The RAF & USAAF created a firestorm in Dresden, Germany which killed tens of thousands of civilians.

1960 ~ France tested its first nuclear weapon.

1974 ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in literature, was exiled from the Soviet Union.

1988 ~ Winter Olympic Games opened in Calgary, Alberta.

1991 ~ Hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed when a pair of laser-guided bombs destroyed an underground facility in Baghdad identified by U.S. officials as a military installation, but which Iraqi officials said was a bomb shelter.

1997 ~ Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope performed by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery.

February 14th
 

1766 ~ Birthday of Thomas Malthus, Economist.

1779 ~ James Cook was killed by the natives of the Sandwich Islands.

1895 ~ First performance of Oscar Wilde's last play "The Importance of Being Earnest”.

1929 ~ The St. Valentine's Day Massacre took place in a Chicago garage.

1945 ~ U.S. President Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially starting the US-Saudi diplomatic relationship.

1966 ~ Australian currency was decimalized.

1989 ~ Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of ''The Satanic Verses,'' a novel Khomeini condemned as blasphemous.

2003 ~ Death of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal.

2005 ~ Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated.

Feastdays & Holidays

Catholicism ~ Feast day of Saint Valentine.

February 15th
 

1564 ~ Birthday of Galileo Galilei, Astronomer & Physicist.

1820 ~ Birthday of Susan B. Anthony, Activist & Suffragist.

1874 ~ Birthday of Sir Ernest Shackleton, British polar explorer.

1898 ~ The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260.

1942 ~ The British colony of Singapore surrendered to the Japanese during World War II. The fall of Singapore was the largest surrender of British military personnel in history.

1965 ~ Death of Nat “King” Cole, Singer.

1965 ~ A new red and white maple leaf design was adopted as the flag of Canada replacing the old Canadian Red Ensign banner.

1988 ~ Death of Richard Feynman, Physicist.

1995 ~ Kevin Mitnick was arrested by the FBI and charged with breaking into some of the more "secure" U.S. computer systems.

1989 ~ The Soviet Union announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan after more than nine years of military intervention.

February 16th
 

1923 ~ Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.

1935 ~ Birthday of Sonny Bono, Singer & Congressman.

1937 ~ Wallace Carothers received a patent for nylon.

1942 ~ Birthday of Kim Jong Il, North Korean leader.

1959 ~ Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

1978 ~ The first computer bulletin board system, CBBS, was created in Chicago, Illinois.

1986 ~ The Soviet liner Mikhail Lermontov ran aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.

1989 ~ Investigators announced that the cause of the crash of Pan Am flight 103 was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.

1999 ~ Kurdish rebels took over embassies and held hostages after Turkey arrested one of their leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.

2005 ~ The Kyoto Protocol came into effect.

February 17th
 

1653 ~ Birthday of Arcangelo Corelli, Composer.

1801 ~ An electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr was resolved when Jefferson was elected President and Burr Vice President by the House of Representatives.

1817 ~ The corner of Market and Lemon Streets in Baltimore became the first to be lighted with gas from America's first gas company.

1867 ~ The first ship passed through the Suez Canal.

1895 ~ Swan Lake, one of the most famous ballets, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, was first completely performed in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

1909 ~ Death of Geronimo, Apache leader.

1962 ~ Death of Bruno Walter, Conductor.

1972 ~ President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China.

1979 ~ China invaded Vietnam.

1992 ~ Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison.

February 18th
 

1546 ~ Death of Martin Luther, religious reformer.

1745 ~ Birthday of Alessandro Volta, Physicist, eponym for the unit of the electric potential.

1838 ~ Birthday of Ernst Mach, Austrian Physicist & Philosopher.

1861 ~ In Montgomery, Alabama Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America.

1885 ~ Mark Twain's “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was first published.

1930 ~ While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto.

1933 ~ Birthday of Yoko Ono, Singer, Artist, wife of John Lennon.

1969 ~ Lulu and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees marry.

1967 ~ Death of J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist.

2005 ~ The UK law banning fox hunting, hare coursing and other sports which kill wild mammals is enforced from this date.