Events

• 1055 – Theodora is crowned Empress of the Byzantine Empire.

• 1158 – Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.

• 1569 – First recorded lottery in England.

• 1571 – Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.

• 1693 – Mt. Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy. A powerful earthquake destroys parts of Sicily and Malta.

• 1759 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.

• 1779 – Ching-Thang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur.

• 1787 – William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

• 1794 – Robert Forsythe, a U.S. Marshal is killed in Augusta, Georgia when trying to serve court papers, the first US marshal to die while carrying out his duties.

• 1805 – The Michigan Territory is created.

• 1861 – Alabama secedes from the United States.

• 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post – General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.

• 1878 – Milk is first delivered in bottles.

• 1879 – The Anglo-Zulu War begins.

• 1908 – Grand Canyon National Monument is created.

• 1912 – The Lawrence textile strike begins in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

• 1917 – The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs as a result of sabotage.

• 1919 – Romania annexes Transylvania.

• 1922 – First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.

• 1923 – Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.

• 1935 – Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

• 1942 – World War II: Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.

• 1942 – World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.

• 1943 – World War II: The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.

• 1943 – Italian-American Anarchist Carlo Tresca assassinated in New York

• 1946 – Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.

• 1949 – First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.

• 1957 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar.

• 1957 – Mass-murderer Jack Gilbert Graham is executed in Colorado using the gas chamber.

• 1962 – An avalanche on Huascaran in Peru causes 4,000 deaths.

• 1964 – United States Surgeon General Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D., publishes a report saying that smoking may be hazardous to health. It is the first such statement ever made by the U.S. government.

• 1972 – East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.

• 1986 – The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia is officially opened.

• 1990 – 300,000 march in favor of Lithuanian independence.

• 1994 – The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.

• 1996 – Haiti becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

• 1996 – Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.

• 1998 – Sidi-Hamed massacre takes place in Algeria, over 100 people are killed.

Births

• 347 – Emperor Theodosius I "The Great" of Rome (d. 395)

• 889 – Abd-ar-Rahman III, Emir and Caliph of Cordoba (d. 961)

• 1322 – Emperor Komyo of Japan (d. 1380)

• 1359 – Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (d. 1393)

• 1395 – Michelle of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy (d. 1422)

• 1503 – Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)

• 1591 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)

• 1630 – John Rogers, American President of Harvard in the US (d. 1684)

• 1671 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (d. 1745)

• 1755 – Alexander Hamilton, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)

• 1757 – Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)

• 1786 – Joseph Jackson Lister, English opticist and physicist (d. 1869)

• 1788 – William Thomas Brande, English chemist (d. 1866)

• 1800 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (d. 1895)

• 1807 – Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder (d. 1874)

• 1814 – James Paget, British surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)

• 1815 – John A. Macdonald, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)

• 1825 – Bayard Taylor, U.S. poet and writer (d. 1878)

• 1839 – Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator, philosopher and nationalist (d. 1903)

• 1842 – William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)

• 1843 – Charles Yelverton O'Connor, Irish-Australian engineer (d. 1902)

• 1845 – Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (d. 1912)

• 1850 – Joseph Charles Arthur, American botanist (d. 1942)

• 1852 – Konstantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1926)

• 1853 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (d. 1926)

• 1856 – Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1932)

• 1857 – Fred Archer, English jockey (d. 1886)

• 1858 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)

• 1859 – Lord George Nathaniel Curzon, British statesman, Viceroy of India (d. 1925)

• 1864 – Thomas Dixon, American playwright, lecturer, North Carolina state legislator, lawyer, and author (d. 1946)

• 1867 – Edward B. Titchener, British psychologist. (d. 1927)

• 1868 – Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (d. 1940)

• 1870 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (d. 1945)

• 1872 – George Washington Pierce, American physicist (d. 1956)

• 1873 – John Callan O'Laughlin, American political and military figure and journalist (d. 1949)

• 1875 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (d. 1956)

• 1876 – Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)

• 1878 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general who briefly ruled the country (d. 1952)

• 1885 – Jack Hoxie, American actor, rodeo performer (d. 1965)

• 1885 – Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (d. 1977)

• 1887 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist (d. 1948)

• 1888 – Chester Conklin, American comedian and actor (d. 1971)

• 1888 – Joseph B. Keenan, American political figure (d. 1954)

• 1889 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist (d. 1938)

• 1890 – Oswald de Andrade, Brazilian author (d. 1954)

• 1890 – Max Carey, American baseball player (d. 1976)

• 1895 – Laurens Hammond, American inventor (d. 1973)

• 1897 – August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)

• 1899 – Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress (d. 1991)

• 1901 – Kwon Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)

• 1902 – Maurice Duruflé, French composer (d. 1986)

• 1903 – Alan Paton, South African writer (d. 1988)

• 1905 – Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologist (d. 1960)

• 1905 – Manfred B Lee, American author (d. 1971)

• 1906 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)

• 1907 – Pierre Mendès-France, French politician (d. 1982)

• 1908 – Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)

• 1910 – Sir Shane Paltridge, Australian politician (d. 1966)

• 1910 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (d. 1975)

• 1910 – Izler Solomon, American conductor (d. 1987)

• 1911 – Nora Heysen, Australian artist (d. 2003)

• 1911 – Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)

• 1915 – Robert Blair Mayne, British soldier, co-founder Special Air Service (d. 1955)

• 1916 – Bernard Blier, French actor (d. 1989)

• 1917 – John Robarts, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario (d. 1982)

• 1921 – Gory Guerrero, professional wrestler (d. 1990)

• 1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce

• 1922 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and writer (d. 1986)

• 1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, automobile designer and businessman

• 1923 – Jerome Bixby, American writer (d. 1998)

• 1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian

• 1924 – Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)

• 1924 – Sam B. Hall, American politician (d. 1994)

• 1924 – Don Cherry, American singer and golfer

• 1924 – Roger Guillemin, French neuroendocrinologist, Nobel laureate

• 1925 – Grant Tinker, American television executive

• 1926 – Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1998)

• 1928 – David L. Wolper, American television producer

• 1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian politician

• 1930 – Mitchell Ryan, American actor

• 1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-born American actor

• 1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian museum director and curator

• 1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican film director

• 1934 – Jean Chrétien, 20th Prime Minister of Canada

• 1934 – Sir Charles Antony Richard Hoare, British computer scientist

• 1935 – Ghita Nørby, Danish actress

• 1935 – Melvyn Hayes, British actor

• 1938 – Fischer Black, American economist (d. 1995)

• 1938 – Arthur Scargill, British politician

• 1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier

• 1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer

• 1942 – Clarence Clemons, American musician (E Street Band)

• 1943 – Jim Hightower, American radio host, author, and activist

• 1944 – Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese writer and academic (d. 1989)

• 1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician

• 1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German-Austrian actress

• 1945 – Samdech Preah Sanghareach Bour Kry, Supreme Patriarch of the Cambodian Dhammayutt Order

• 1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer

• 1946 – Tony Kaye, British piano and organ player (Yes)

• 1946 – John Piper, American theologian

• 1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian rock singer

• 1949 – Chris Ford, American basketball player and coach

• 1951 – Willie Maddren, English former footballer (d. 2000)

• 1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright

• 1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer

• 1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian politician

• 1952 – Lee Ritenour, American musician and composer

• 1953 – John Sessions, Scottish actor

• 1956 – Robert Earl Keen, American singer

• 1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager

• 1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player

• 1958 – Vicki Peterson, American musician (The Bangles)

• 1958 – Diego León Montoya Sánchez, Colombian crime boss

• 1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1961 – Jasper Fforde, British author

• 1961 – Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, Prince of Austria and Prince Royal of Hungary

• 1962 – Kim Coles, American actress

• 1962 – Susan Lindauer, American peace activist and accused spy

• 1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American Olympic swimmer

• 1963 – Dean Reynolds, English snooker player

• 1965 – Roland Scholten, Dutch Darts Player

• 1966 – Marc Acito, American novelist and humorist

• 1966 – Kelley Law, Canadian curler

• 1967 – Derek Riddell, Scottish actor

• 1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish politician

• 1968 – Tom Dumont, American musician

• 1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican baseball player

• 1969 – Kyle Richards, American actress

• 1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach

• 1970 – Joy Nilo, Filipino Composer

• 1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American actor, film director, and screenwriter.

• 1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian visual artist.

• 1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer

• 1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter, drummer, writer and performer

• 1972 – Marc Blucas, American actor

• 1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress

• 1972 – Christian Jacobs, Lead singer of The Aquabats

• 1973 – Joanna Brodzik, Polish actress

• 1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer

• 1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor

• 1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player

• 1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer

• 1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player

• 1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player

• 1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player

• 1977 – Shomari Buchanan, American football player

• 1977 – Nadia Turner, American singer

• 1978 – Michael Duff, Northern Irish footballer

• 1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer

• 1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress

• 1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American film director

• 1979 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer

• 1980 – Lovieanne Jung, American softball player

• 1980 – Mike Williams, American football player

• 1980 – Deanna Wright, American actress

• 1981 – Jamelia, English singer

• 1981 – Tom Meighan, British singer (Kasabian)

• 1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player

• 1982 – Ashley Taylor Dawson, British actor and singer

• 1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress

• 1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer

• 1983 – Matthew Palleschi, Canadian soccer player

• 1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver

• 1985 – Rie fu, Japanese singer

• 1985 – Kazuki Nakajima, Japanese racing driver

• 1985 – Newton Faulkner, British singer

• 1986 – Rachel Riley, British television presenter

• 1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American professional BMX rider

• 1988 – Daniel Dzufer, Australian rules footballer

• 1989 – Sammy Carlson, Professional Freeskier

• 1993 – Flora Cross, American actress

Deaths

• 314 – St. Miltiades

• 705 – Pope John VI

• 802 – St. Paulinus II of Aquileia

• 812 – Staurakios, Byzantine Emperor

• 844 – Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor

• 1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1000)

• 1083 – Otto of Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria (b. c. 1020)

• 1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)

• 1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (b. 1428)

• 1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian author, literary theorist, and Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)

• 1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (b. 1583)

• 1696 – Charles Albanel, French missionary explorer in Canada (b. 1616)

• 1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (b. 1632)

• 1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French Protestant leader (b. 1637)

• 1735 – Danilo I , Vladika of Montenegro (b. c.1670)

• 1753 – Sir Hans Sloane, Ulster-Scot physician and collector (b. 1660)

• 1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French sculptor (b. 1695)

• 1763 – Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian, and poet (b. 1676)

• 1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French writer (b. 1704)

• 1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh hymnist (b. 1717)

• 1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (b. 1749)

• 1836 – John Molson, Canadian brewer (b. 1763)

• 1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and writer of the American national anthem (b. 1779)

• 1867 – Sir Stuart Donaldson, first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales (b. 1812)

• 1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (b. 1810)

• 1891 – Baron Georges Haussmann, French civic planner whose name is associated with the rebuilding of Paris (b. 1809)

• 1901 – Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)

• 1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer (b. 1862)

• 1905 – Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Hasidic rabbi (b. 1847)

• 1914 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and patron of the arts after whom the Carlsberg brewery is named (b. 1842)

• 1923 – King Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)

• 1928 – Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)

• 1931 – James Milton Carroll, American Baptist pastor, leader, historian, and author (b. 1852)

• 1941 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)

• 1944 – Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Benito Mussolini's son-in-law (b. 1903)

• 1947 – Eva Tanguay, Canadian-born singer and entertainer (b. 1879)

• 1952 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)

• 1952 – Aureliano Pertile, Italian tenor (b. 1885)

• 1954 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)

• 1957 – Sir Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and early leading expert in Australian constitutional law (b. 1867)

• 1958 – Alec Rowley, English composer (b. 1892)

• 1958 – Edna Purviance, American actress (b. 1895)

• 1961 – Elena Gerhardt, German mezzo-soprano singer (b. 1883)

• 1965 – Wally Pipp, American Major League Baseball player (b. 1893)

• 1966 – Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)

• 1966 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)

• 1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, third Prime Minister of independent India (b. 1904)

• 1968 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)

• 1969 – Richmal Crompton, British author (b. 1890)

• 1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer and collector of folklore (b. 1881)

• 1975 – Max Lorenz, German heldentenor famous for Wagner roles (b. 1901)

• 1978 – Ibn-e-Insha, Pakistani humorist and Urdu poet (b. 1927)

• 1979 – Jack Soo, American actor (b. 1917)

• 1980 – Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)

• 1981 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)

• 1983 – Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator (b. 1894)

• 1985 – Sir William McKell, Premier of New South Wales, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)

• 1986 – Sid Chaplin, UK novelist (b. 1916)

• 1987 – Albert Ferber, Swiss-English pianist (b. 1911)

• 1988 – Florence Knapp, American, one-time oldest person in the world (b. 1873)

• 1988 – Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, American World War II Marine aviator (b. 1912)

• 1991 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1905)

• 1994 – Helmut Poppendick, Nazi physician (b. 1902)

• 1995 – Josef Gingold, Russian-American violinist (b. 1909)

• 1995 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army officer (b. 1918)

• 1998 – Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)

• 1999 – Fabrizio de André, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)

• 1999 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish novelist and poet (b. 1897)

• 1999 – Brian Moore, Irish-born writer (b. 1921)

• 2000 – Betty Archdale, Anglo-Australian educationalist and cricketer (b. 1907)

• 2000 – Ivan Combe, American inventor (b. 1911)

• 2000 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player (b. 1920)

• 2001 – Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect (b. 1914)

• 2001 – Michael Williams, British actor, husband of Judi Dench (b. 1935)

• 2002 – Henri Verneuil, French playwright and film director (b. 1920)

• 2002 – Struan Sutherland, Australian medical researcher (b. 1936)

• 2003 – Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)

• 2003 – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (b. 1925)

• 2003 – Mickey Finn, English drummer (T.Rex) (b. 1947)

• 2005 – Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (b. 1913)

• 2005 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane) (b. 1938)

• 2005 – James Griffin, American musician (Bread) (b. 1943)

• 2005 – Fabrizio Meoni, Italian motorcyclist (b. 1957)

• 2006 – Markus Löffel (Mark Spoon), German DJ (b. 1966)

• 2006 – Nixzmary Brown, American child abuse victim (b. 1998)

• 2007 – Puchi Balseiro, Puerto Rican singer & songwriter (b. 1926)

• 2007 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author (b. 1932)

• 2007 – Solveig Dommartin, French-German actress (b. 1961)

• 2008 – Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (b. 1917)

• 2008 – Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, the 1st person to climb Mount Everest in 1953 (b. 1919)

• 2009 – David Vine, British sports broadcaster (b. 1936)

Holidays and observances

• Albania – Republic Day (1946)

• Morocco – Independence Resistance Day

• Nepal – Unity Day

• Puerto Rico – Eugenio Maria de Hostos Day

• Roman Empire – First day of Carmentalia in honor of Carmenta

• Feast Day of Leucius of Brindisi

• Paulinus of Aquileia

• Theodosius the Cenobiarch

• January 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)