Ann. |
Date |
Event |
500 |
1
Jan 1511 |
Birth
of Henry, Duke of Cornwall,
first child of King Henry VIII
of England and Catherine of Aragon.
Survived for only 2 months |
400 |
3
Jan 1611
or 7th? |
Birth of James
Harrington, English political
philosopher best known for
his controversial work 'The
Commonwealth of Oceana' |
400 |
28
Jan 1611 |
Birth of Johannes
Hevelius, Polish councillor
and astronomer who
compiled detailed atlases of
the Moon and stars and described
10 new constellations |
350 |
3
Jan 1661 |
Death of Mary
of Orange, Princess Royal,
eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, wife of William
II of Orange |
350 |
6
Jan 1661 |
Thomas Venner
led a Fifth Monarchy uprising
in London. Venner and his
men were captured and sentenced
to death. (See 19th January
below) |
350 |
19
Jan 1661 |
Death of Thomas
Venner, English cooper and
Puritan, last leader of the
Fifth Monarchy Men who led
armed uprisings against Oliver
Cromwell and Charles II. (Executed) |
350 |
30
Jan 1661 |
Oliver Cromwell,
former Lord Protector of England,
was formally
executed, more than two years
after his death |
250 |
4
Jan 1761 |
Death of Stephen
Hales, English physiologist,
botanist, chemist and
inventor. Conducted pioneering
experiments on the roles of
air and water in plants and
animals, and invented a ventilator |
250 |
10
Jan 1761 |
Death of Edward
Boscawen, 'Old Dreadnought',
British admiral and
politician |
250 |
15
Jan 1761 |
Third Carnatic
War: the siege of Pondicherry,
India ended when the
French surrendered. The British
took over the colony the following
day |
250 |
17
Jan 1761 |
Birth of Sir
James Hall, 4th Baronet of
Dunglass, Scottish geologist,
geophysicist and politician.
Founder of experimental geology |
200 |
2
Jan 1811 |
Timothy Pickering
became the first U.S. senator
to be censured, after revealing confidential information
during an open session |
200 |
6
Jan 1811 |
Birth of Charles
Sumner, American statesman
who campaigned for
equality and the abolition
of slavery during the American
Civil War period |
200 |
10
Jan 1811 |
Death of Marie-Joseph
de Chénier, Turkish-born
French poet, dramatist, and politician |
200 |
24
Jan 1811 |
Birth of Henry
Barnard, the first U.S. Commissioner
of Education |
150 |
2
Jan 1861 |
Death of King
Frederick William IV of Prussia |
150 |
6
Jan 1861 |
Birth of Victor
Horta, Belgian architect and
designer, one of the key
exponents of European Art Nouveau
architecture |
150 |
9
Jan 1861 |
American Civil
War: the following states seceded
from the Union this
month: Mississippi (9th Jan),
Florida (10th Jan), Alabama
(11th Jan), Georgia (19th Jan), Louisiana (26th
Jan) |
150 |
9
Jan 1861 |
American Civil
War: the Union ship 'Star
of the West' attempted
to deliver troops and supplies
to Fort Sumter, Charleston
Harbor,
South Carolina, and
was fired upon, forcing it
to return to New York. This
was the first time
that shots were exchanged between
Union and Confederate
forces |
150 |
14
Jan 1861 |
Birth of Mehmed
VI, the last sultan of the
Ottoman Empire |
150 |
17
Jan 1861 |
Death of Lola
Montez, Irish dancer who achieved
international notoriety as the mistress of King Ludwig
I of Bavaria |
150 |
18
Jan 1861 |
Birth of Hans
Goldschmidt, German chemist,
inventor of thermite and the Goldschmidt reduction process,
used to produce metals such
as
chromium, manganese and cobalt
from oxide ores |
150 |
21
Jan 1861 |
American Civil
War: Jefferson Davis resigned
from the U.S. Senate. (He was
inaugurated as President of
the Confederacy on 18th
February) |
150 |
29
Jan 1861 |
Kansas became
a U.S. state |
150 |
30
Jan 1861 |
Birth of Charles
Martin Loeffler, German-born
American composer |
125 |
18
Jan 1886 |
The Hockey
Association was founded in
London
|
125 |
20
Jan 1886 |
The Mersey
Railway Tunnel was officially
opened by the Prince of Wales |
125 |
29
Jan 1886 |
The first
practical car to be powered
by an internal combustion engine was patented by Karl Benz |
100 |
1
Jan 1911 |
Northern Territory
was transferred to the Commonwealth
of Australia
from South Australia |
100 |
1
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Hank
Greenberg, 'Hammerin' Hank',
American baseball player
who became the sport's
first Jewish superstar |
100 |
3
Jan 1911
Or 1910? |
Birth of John
Sturges, American film director
('Bad Day at Black Rock',
'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral', 'The
Magnificent Seven', 'The
Great Escape') |
100 |
5
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Jean-Pierre
Aumont, French actor |
100 |
7
Jan 1911
Or 8th? |
Birth of Thelma
'Butterfly' McQueen,
American actress |
100 |
11
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Zenko
Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan
(1980-82) |
100 |
13
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Sir
Joh(annes) Bjelke-Petersen,
New Zealand-born Australian
politician, Premier of Queensland
(1968-87), involved in
an infamous
corruption scandal |
100 |
16
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Eduardo
Frei Montalva, President of
Chile (1964-70) |
100 |
17
Jan 1911 |
Birth of George
Stigler, American economist,
winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Economics |
100 |
17
Jan 1911 |
Death of Sir
Francis Galton, British anthropologist,
explorer, eugenicist,
statistician, and meteorologist,
known for his pioneering studies
of
human intelligence, for devising
the concept of correlation,
and for
creating the first weather
map |
100 |
18
Jan 1911 |
The first
landing of an aircraft on the
deck of a ship. American pilot
Eugene Ely landed on a specially
built platform on the battleship
'Pennsylvania' in
San Francisco Bay |
100 |
21
Jan 1911 |
The first
Monte Carlo rally was held |
100 |
22
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Bruno
Kreisky, Chancellor of Austria
(1970-83) |
100 |
23
Jan 1911
Or 24th? |
Death of David
Graham Phillips, American journalist
and novelist, a
noted 'muckraker' who
attempted to expose abuse and
corruption in
business and politics |
100 |
26
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Polykarp
Kusch, German-born American
physicist, joint winner of the
1955 Nobel Prize for Physics
for determining the magnetic
moment of the electron |
100 |
30
Jan 1911 |
The first
time a pilot was rescued after
ditching his plane in the sea.
The American destroyer 'USS
Terry' saved pilot James
McCurdy after his plane was
downed near Havana, Cuba |
100 |
30
Jan 1911 |
The Naval
Service of Canada was renamed
the Royal Canadian Navy |
100 |
30
Jan 1911 |
Birth of Roy
Eldridge, 'Little Jazz',
American jazz trumpet player |
90 |
2
Jan 1921 |
The first
regularly scheduled religious
radio broadcast - KDKA,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA |
90 |
3
Jan 1921 |
The first
radio broadcast of a weather
forecast - 9XM, University
of
Wisconsin, USA |
90 |
8
Jan 1921 |
Chequers Court
in Buckinghamshire was given
to England by Lord and
Lady Lee of Fareham. Since
then it has been the country
residence of the serving Prime
Minister. David Lloyd George
was the first
tenant |
90 |
20
Jan 1921 |
The first
Constitution of Turkey was
adopted |
90 |
21
Jan 1921 |
The Italian
Communist Party was founded |
90 |
28
Jan 1921 |
The Tomb of
the Unknown Soldier was installed
beneath the Arc de
Triomphe in Paris, honouring
unidentified soldiers who fell
in WWI |
80 |
6
Jan 1931 |
American inventor
Thomas Edison submitted the
last of his 1,093 U.S. patent
applications, for a holder
that allowed an item
to be electroplated |
80 |
22
Jan 1931 |
Sir Isaac
Isaacs was sworn in as Governor-General
of Australia. He was the first Australian-born holder
of this post |
80 |
22
Jan 1931 |
Birth of Sam
Cooke, American soul, pop,
gospel and R&B singer,
songwriter, producer and entrepreneur |
80 |
23
Jan 1931 |
Death of Anna
Pavlova, Russian ballerina |
75 |
2
Jan 1936 |
Birth of Roger
Miller, American singer, songwriter
and musician, best
known for his novelty and country
songs |
75 |
4
Jan 1936 |
America's 'Billboard'
magazine published its first
music hit
parade |
75 |
9
Jan 1936 |
Death of John
Gilbert, 'The Great Lover',
American actor, one of the
major stars of the silent film
era |
75 |
10
Jan 1936 |
Birth of Stephen
Ambrose, American biographer
and historian, best known for
his biographies of U.S. Presidents
Eisenhower and Nixon |
75 |
15
Jan 1936 |
The first
building to be built entirely
from glass blocks was completed -
the Owens-Illinois Glass Company's
Research Laboratory in Toledo,
Ohio, USA.
It was built using the company's
own 'Insulux' blocks |
75 |
18
Jan 1936 |
Death of Rudyard
Kipling, British writer and
poet ('The Jungle Book',
'Kim', 'If-' and
many others), winner of the
1907 Nobel Prize for Literature |
75 |
19
Jan 1936 |
Birth of Ziaur
Rahman, President of Bangladesh
(1976-1981) |
75 |
20
Jan 1936 |
Death of King
George V of the United Kingdom.
Succeeded by Edward VIII |
75 |
27
Jan 1936 |
Birth of Troy
Donahue, American actor, a
teen idol of the 1950s and
60s |
75 |
29
Jan 1936 |
The first
inductees in the Baseball Hall
of Fame were announced:
Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy
Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus
Wagner. (Note: The hall of
fame did not open until 1939) |
75 |
29
Jan 1936 |
Birth of James
Jamerson, influential American
bass guitarist who played on most of the Motown hits
of the 1960s and early 70s |
75 |
30
Jan 1936
Or 29th? |
Birth of Patrick
Caulfield, British Pop Art
artist and printmaker |
75 |
31
Jan 1936 |
'The
Green Hornet' radio
show was first broadcast on
WXYZ,
Detroit, USA |
70 |
2
Jan 1941 |
World War
II: Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff,
Wales was severely damaged by German bombing |
70 |
3
Jan 1941 |
World War
II: The U.S. government announced
its Liberty ship-building programme.
Hundreds of cargo ships would
be built to support
the war effort and replace those that
had been lost |
70 |
5
Jan 1941 |
Death of Amy
Johnson, pioneering British
aviator |
70 |
6
Jan 1941 |
U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt gave
his famous 'Four Freedoms'
speech in the State of the
Union Address |
70 |
8
Jan 1941 |
Death of Sir
Robert Baden-Powell, British
army officer, founder of the
Scouts and Guides movements |
70 |
13
Jan 1941 |
Death of James
Joyce, Irish novelist ('Ulysses',
'Finnegans Wake', 'A
Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man', 'Dubliners') |
70 |
21
Jan 1941 |
World War
II: The British communist newspaper,
the 'Daily Worker'
(now the 'Morning Star'),
was banned because of its support
for the USSR. (Ban
lifted September 1942) |
65 |
1
Jan 1946 |
The first
civilian flight took off from
London's Heathrow Airport,
heading for
Buenos Aires, Argentina |
65 |
2
Jan 1946 |
King Zog I
of Albania formally abdicated.
He had been living in exile
since 1939 |
65 |
3
Jan 1946 |
Death of William
Joyce, 'Lord Haw-Haw',
British fascist politician
who
broadcast Nazi propaganda from
Germany during WWII. (Executed) |
65 |
10
Jan 1946 |
The first
United Nations General Assembly
was held in London |
65 |
17
Jan 1946 |
The United
Nations Security Council met
for the first time, in London |
65 |
31
Jan 1946 |
Yugoslavia
adopted a new constitution
and established 6 constituent
republics: Croatia, Serbia,
Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Montenegro and
Macedonia |
60 |
4
Jan 1951 |
Korean War:
North Korean and Chinese forces
captured Seoul, the South Korean capital |
60 |
9
Jan 1951 |
The United
Nations headquarters in New
York City, USA was officially
opened |
60 |
10
Jan 1951 |
Death of Sinclair
Lewis, American novelist, short
story writer and
playwright, winner of the 1930
Nobel Prize for Literature |
60 |
30
Jan 1951 |
Death of Ferdinand
Porsche, Austrian automotive
engineer who designed the
Volkswagen Beetle and Tiger
tank, and founded the Porsche
sports car company |
50 |
3
Jan 1961 |
The United
States broke off diplomatic
relations with Cuba |
50 |
4
Jan 1961 |
Death of Erwin
Schrödinger, Austrian
theoretical physicist, joint
winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics
for his work on quantum mechanics |
50 |
9
Jan 1961 |
Death of Emily
Greene Balch, American sociologist,
political scientist,
economist, and pacifist, joint
winner of the 1946 Nobel Peace
Prize for her work with the
Women’s
International League for Peace
and Freedom |
50 |
10
Jan 1961 |
Death of Dashiell
Hammett, American author of
hard-boiled detective
novels and short stories ('The
Maltese Falcon', 'The
Thin Man', etc) |
50 |
17
Jan 1961
Or 18th? |
Death of Patrice
Lumumba, African nationalist
leader, the first Prime
Minister of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo |
50 |
20
Jan 1961 |
John F. Kennedy
was inaugurated as the 35th
President of the United States |
50 |
21
Jan 1961 |
Death of Blaise
Cendrars, Swiss-born French
poet and writer |
50 |
25
Jan 1961 |
U.S. President
John F. Kennedy held the first
presidential news conference to be broadcast live on television |
50 |
31
Jan 1961 |
NASA - Project
Mercury: The USA sent a chimpanzee
named Ham into
space. He returned to earth
safely |
40 |
1
Jan 1971 |
The USA banned
cigarette advertisements on
television |
40 |
2
Jan 1971 |
A barrier
collapsed at the Ibrox Park
football stadium in Glasgow,
Scotland, killing 66 fans |
40 |
10
Jan 1971 |
Death of Gabrielle
'Coco' Chanel, French fashion
designer |
40 |
15
Jan 1971 |
The Aswan
High Dam in Egypt was officially
opened |
40 |
24
Jan 1971 |
Death of 'Bill
W.' (William Griffith
Wilson), American co-founder
of
Alcoholics Anonymous |
40 |
25
Jan 1971 |
Idi Amin deposed
the President of Uganda, Milton
Obote, in a military
coup. He declared himself President
on 2nd February |
40 |
25
Jan 1971 |
American cult
leader Charles Manson and three
of his followers were
found guilty of first-degree
murder. (Sentenced to death
29th March) |
40 |
31
Jan 1971 |
NASA launched
Apollo 14 on a manned mission
to the Moon |
40 |
31
Jan 1971 |
A limited
telephone service was re-established
between East and West Berlin
after more than 19 years. Only
10 lines were available
out of the 4,000 that had been in service
when the lines were cut in
1952 |
30 |
4
Jan 1981 |
The Broadway
show 'Frankenstein'
opened and then closed after
just
one performance,
losing approximately $2 million |
30 |
5
Jan 1981 |
British truck
driver Peter Sutcliffe ('The
Yorkshire Ripper') was
charged with the murders of
13 women |
30 |
6
Jan 1981 |
Death of A.
J. Cronin, Scottish novelist,
dramatist and physician
('Dr
Finlay's Casebook' and
many others) |
30 |
15
Jan 1981 |
The police
drama series 'Hill Street
Blues' was first shown
on NBC TV in the USA. (22nd
January 1981 in the UK) |
30 |
16
Jan 1981 |
Bernadette
McAliskey, the N. Ireland civil
rights campaigner and politician,
was shot by gunmen at her home
in a failed assassination attempt |
30 |
16
Jan 1981 |
Death of Bernard
Lee, British actor, best known
for playing 'M' in
the
James Bond films |
30 |
20
Jan 1981 |
Ronald Reagan
was inaugurated as the 40th
President of the United States |
30 |
20
Jan 1981 |
52 American
hostages were released from
the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, after being held for
444 days by followers of Ayatollah
Khomeini |
30 |
25
Jan 1981 |
Jiang Qing,
widow of Chinese Communist
leader Mao Zedong, and a
member of the Gang of Four,
was sentenced to death for
being a counterrevolutionary.
(Commuted to life imprisonment
in 1983) |
25 |
2
Jan 1986 |
Death of Bill
Veeck, American baseball executive
and promoter,
particularly noted for his
publicity stunts |
25 |
4
Jan 1986 |
Death of Phil
Lynott, British-born Irish
rock singer and musician (Thin
Lizzy) |
25 |
4
Jan 1986 |
Death of Christopher
Isherwood, British-born American
novelist |
25 |
7
Jan 1986 |
Death of Juan
Rulfo, Mexican novelist, short
story writer and
photographer. Considered one
of Latin America’s finest
authors |
25 |
9
Jan 1986 |
Britain's
Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine
resigned from the Cabinet after
a row with Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher over the
Westland helicopter affair |
25 |
10
Jan 1986 |
Death of Jaroslav
Seifert, Czech poet, writer
and journalist, winner of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Literature |
25 |
11
Jan 1986 |
The Gateway
Bridge in Brisbane, Australia
was officially opened |
25 |
14
Jan 1986 |
Death of Donna
Reed, award-winning American
film and TV actress |
25 |
16
Jan 1986 |
Death of Herbert
W. Armstrong, American evangelist,
author and
publisher, a pioneer of radio
and tele-evangelism, founder
of the Radio Church of God
- later renamed the Worldwide
Church
of God |
25 |
20
Jan 1986 |
The USA celebrated
its first Martin Luther King
Day federal holiday |
25 |
23
Jan 1986 |
The first
members were inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray
Charles, Fats Domino, The Everly
Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry
Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley |
25 |
24
Jan 1986 |
Wapping Dispute:
Newspaper workers in London
began a year-long
strike against News International.
The strike ultimately failed,
ending
restrictive trade union practices
in the newspaper publishing
industry |
25 |
24
Jan 1986 |
British Trade
and Industry Secretary Leon
Brittan became the second
cabinet minister to resign
over the Westland helicopter
affair |
25 |
24
Jan 1986 |
The American
space probe Voyager 2 made
its closest approach to Uranus |
25 |
24
Jan 1986 |
Death of L.
Ron Hubbard, American science
fiction writer, developed the Dianetics self-help system
and founded the Scientology
religion |
25 |
24
Jan 1986 |
Death of Gordon
MacRae, American actor and
singer, best known for his
roles in the Rodgers and Hammerstein
musicals 'Oklahoma!'
and
'Carousel' |
25 |
26
Jan 1986 |
Yoweri Museveni
declared himself President
of Uganda after his National Resistance
Movement toppled Tito Okello's
government. (Sworn in on 29th) |
25 |
28
Jan 1986 |
Challenger
disaster: the American space
shuttle Challenger exploded
shortly after lift-off from
Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing
all 7 astronauts |
25 |
29
Jan 1986 |
Death of Leif
Erickson, American actor, best
known for playing Big John Cannon in 'The High Chaparral' |
20 |
8
Jan 1991 |
Cannon Street
station rail crash, London.
A commuter train ran into
buffers at the end of a platform,
killing 2 people and injuring
over 500 |
20 |
8
Jan 1991 |
Death of Steve
Clark, British rock guitarist
(Def Leppard) |
20 |
13
Jan 1991 |
Soviet troops
attacked pro-independence supporters
in Vilnius, Lithuania, killing 14 people and injuring
over 100 |
20 |
16
Jan 1991 |
Gulf War -
Operation Desert Storm. US-led
forces
began bombing Iraq after
a UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw
from Kuwait expired |
20 |
17
Jan 1991 |
Death of King
Olav V of Norway, succeeded
by his son Harald V |
20 |
18
Jan 1991 |
America's
Eastern Air Lines closed down
due to financial problems |
20 |
29
Jan 1991 |
Gulf War -
the Battle of Khafji, Saudi
Arabia:
the first major ground battle of
the war. Iraqi troops attacked
the city but were quickly driven
back by Saudi
and Qatari forces aided by
U.S. Marines and U.S. air
support |
15 |
2
Jan 1996 |
The first
convoy of American peacekeeping
troops arrived in Northern
Bosnia following the end of
the Bosnian War. This was the
USA's first
military involvement in Europe
since WWII |
15 |
8
Jan 1996 |
Death of François
Mitterrand, President of France
(1981-95) |
15 |
20
Jan 1996 |
Yasser Arafat
was elected President of the
Palestinian National Council -
the first democratically elected
leader of the Palestinian people |
15 |
24
Jan 1996 |
Polish Prime
Minister Jozef Oleksy resigned
over alleged connections with the KGB |
15 |
29
Jan 1996 |
Venice's
opera house, La Fenice, was
destroyed by fire |
10 |
1
Jan 2001 |
Death of Ray
Walston, American stage, television
and film actor, best known
for his roles in the TV series
'My Favourite Martian' and 'Picket Fences' |
10 |
4
Jan 2001 |
Death of Les
Brown, American bandleader
and composer |
10 |
5
Jan 2001 |
Death of Nancy
Parsons, American actress,
best known for her role as Beulah
Balbricker in the film 'Porky's'
and its sequels |
10 |
11
Jan 2001 |
AOL and Time
Warner completed their merger
to form AOL Time
Warner, after the Federal Communications
Commission approved the deal |
10 |
11
Jan 2001 |
Death of Sir
Denys Lasdun, British 'Brutalist'
architect, noted for his use
of vast
concrete-slab exteriors, including
the National Theatre
in London |
10 |
12
Jan 2001 |
Sven-Göran
Eriksson from Sweden was appointed
as the first foreigner to coach the England football
team |
10 |
12
Jan 2001 |
Death of William
Hewlett, American engineer
and businessman,
co-founder of Hewlett-Packard |
10 |
13
Jan 2001 |
El Salvador
was hit by an earthquake, causing
a landslide that killed more than 800 people. A second earthquake
struck a month later |
10 |
15
Jan 2001 |
Wikipedia,
the online, collaborative encyclopaedia,
was officially launched |
10 |
17
Jan 2001
and 18th |
Due to a shortage
of electricity, California
suffered rolling blackouts
affecting hundreds of thousands
of people |
10 |
17
Jan 2001 |
Death of Gregory
Corso, American poet, a leading
member of the 1950s Beat movement |
10 |
18
Jan 2001 |
The British
digital television channel
E4 was launched |
10 |
18
Jan 2001 |
Death of Laurent
Kabila, President of the Democratic
Republic of the
Congo (1997–2001). (Assassinated) |
10 |
18
Jan 2001 |
Death of Al
Waxman, Canadian actor and
director, best known for his
roles in the TV series 'King
of Kensington' and 'Cagney
and Lacey' |
10 |
19
Jan 2001 |
Two 6-month-old
American twin girls were seized
from a hotel in north Wales
and taken into care after being
bought over the internet
for £8,200 by British couple Alan and
Judith Kilshaw |
10 |
20
Jan 2001 |
George W.
Bush was inaugurated as the
43rd President of the United
States |
10 |
20
Jan 2001 |
President
of the Philippines, Joseph
Estrada, was ousted amid mass
protests of corruption. Vice
President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo was
sworn in as the new president |
10 |
24
Jan 2001 |
Britain's
Northern Ireland Secretary,
Peter Mandelson, resigned from
the Cabinet
(for a second time) in a passports-for-cash
scandal |
10 |
26
Jan 2001 |
Bhuj earthquake:
a massive earthquake struck
the Indian state of Gujarat, killing
more than 20,000 people and
injuring over 150,000.
More than a million buildings were damaged
or destroyed |
10 |
31
Jan 2001 |
A Scottish
court sitting in the Netherlands
convicted Abdelbaset Ali
al-Megrahi from Libya of carrying
out the 1988 bombing of Pan
Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
A second Libyan was acquitted |
