Events

• 1419 – Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England completing his reconquest of Normandy.

• 1511 – Mirandola surrenders to the French.

• 1520 – Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund.

• 1607 – San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is currently the oldest church in the Philippines

• 1764 – John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.

• 1788 – Second group of ships of the First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay.

• 1795 – Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands. End of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.

• 1806 – The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope.

• 1812 – Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.

• 1817 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.

• 1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust Part 1 premieres.

• 1839 – The British East India Company captures Aden.

• 1840 – Captain Charles Wilkes circumnavigates Antarctica, claiming what became known as Wilkes Land for the United States.

• 1853 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore premieres in Rome.

• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs – The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.

• 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of St. Quentin is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.

• 1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.

• 1893 – Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder premieres in Berlin.

• 1899 – Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.

• 1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.

• 1915 – World War I: German zeppelins bomb the cities of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.

• 1917 – German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States.

• 1917 – Silvertown explosion: 73 are killed and 400 injured in an explosion in a munitions plant in London.

• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles between the Red Guards and the White Guard.

• 1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.

• 1935 – Coopers Inc. sells the world's first briefs.

• 1937 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles, California to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.

• 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces invade Burma

• 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź ghetto. Out more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.

• 1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.

• 1949 – Cuba recognises Israel.

• 1953 – 68% of all television sets in the United States are tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.

• 1966 – Indira Gandhi is elected Prime Minister of India.

• 1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire 3 days earlier in Prague's Wenceslas Square to protest the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turned into another major protest.

• 1971 – The revival of No, No, Nanette premieres at the 46th Street Theatre, in New York City.

• 1975 – Triple J begins broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Earthquake strikes Himachal Pradesh, India

• 1977 – President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").

• 1977 – Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen. It also fell in the Bahamas.

• 1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW's plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America would continue until 2003.

• 1981 – Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.

• 1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.

• 1983 – The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.

• 1991 – Gulf War: SCUD attack from Iraq causes 15 injuries in Israel.

• 1993 – IBM announces a $4.97 billion loss for 1992, the largest single-year corporate loss in United States history.

• 1993 – On *Jeopardy!*, Air Force Lt. Colonel Darryl Scott wins $1 *US Dollar in Final Jeopardy beating Storyteller Kate Marciniad and Reigning Champion Therapist Nancy Mellucci which host Alex Trebek claims "OUR SMALLEST TOTAL EVER!"

• 1993 – Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.

• 1996 – The barge North Cape oil spill occurred as an engine fire forced the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.

• 1997 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

• 1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.

• 2006 – A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24 crashes in Hungary.

• 2006 – The New Horizons probe is launched by NASA on the first mission to Pluto.

• 2007 – Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper's office by 17 year old Turkish ultranationalist Ogün Samast.

Births

• 399 – Pulcheria, Byzantine empress (d. 453)

• 1544 – King Francis II of France (d. 1560)

• 1736 – James Watt, Scottish inventor (d. 1819)

• 1739 – Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect (d. 1808)

• 1752 – James Morris III, American army officer (d. 1820)

• 1757 – Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf, German Princess (d. 1831)

• 1807 – Robert E. Lee, American Confederate general (d. 1870)

• 1808 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher (d. 1887)

• 1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and poet (d. 1849)

• 1813 – Sir Henry Bessemer, English inventor (d. 1898)

• 1832 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist (d. 1875)

• 1833 – Alfred Clebsch, German mathematician (d. 1872)

• 1839 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)

• 1848 – John F. Stairs, Canadian businessman (d. 1904)

• 1848 – Matthew Webb, English swimmer/diver (d. 1883)

• 1851 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer (d. 1922)

• 1863 – Werner Sombart, German sociologist (d. 1941)

• 1876 – Dragotin Kette, Slovenian poet (d. 1899)

• 1878 – Herbert Chapman, English football player and manager (d. 1934)

• 1879 – Boris Savinkov, Russian writer (d. 1925)

• 1887 – Alexander Woollcott, American intellectual (d. 1943)

• 1892 – Ólafur Thors, Icelandic politician (d. 1964)

• 1905 – Stanley Hawes, British-born Australian film producer, director and administrator (d. 1991)

• 1908 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician (d. 1971)

• 1909 – Hans Hotter, German bass-baritone (d. 2003)

• 1911 – Choor Singh, Singaporean judge (d. 2009)

• 1912 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)

• 1913 – Rex Ingamells, Australian poet (d. 1955)

• 1913 – "Minnesota Fats", American billiards player (d. 1996)

• 1914 – Bob Gerard, British racing driver (d. 1990)

• 1917 – John Raitt, American singer and actor (d. 2005)

• 1918 – John H. Johnson, American publisher (d. 2005)

• 1920 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian United Nations Secretary General

• 1921 – ‘Billy Batts’ Devino, American gangster (d. 1970)

• 1921 – Patricia Highsmith, American author (d. 1995)

• 1922 – Guy Madison, American actor (d. 1996)

• 1923 – Markus Wolf, German spy (d. 2006)

• 1923 – Jean Stapleton, American actress

• 1924 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor (d. 1985)

• 1924 – Jean-François Revel, French author (d. 2006)

• 1925 – Nina Bawden, English author

• 1926 – Fritz Weaver, American actor

• 1930 – Tippi Hedren, American actress

• 1931 – Robert MacNeil, Canadian journalist

• 1932 – Richard Lester, British director

• 1932 – Russ Hamilton, British singer (d. 2008)

• 1933 – George Coyne – American theologian

• 1935 – Johnny O'Keefe, Australian singer (d. 1978)

• 1936 – Ziaur Rahman, Eighth President of Bangladesh (d. 1981)

• 1937 – Giovanna Marini, Italian singer-songwriter

• 1939 – Phil Everly, American musician

• 1940 – Paolo Borsellino, Italian magistrate (d. 1992)

• 1940 – Mike Reid, English comedian (d. 2007)

• 1941 – Tony Anholt, British actor (d. 2002)

• 1941 – Colin Gunton, British theologian (d. 2003)

• 1941 – Pat Patterson, Canadian wrestler

• 1942 – Michael Crawford, British singer and actor

• 1942 – Thom Mayne, American Architect

• 1943 – Janis Joplin, American singer (d. 1970)

• 1943 – Petchara Chaowarat, Thai film actress

• 1943 – Princess Margriet of the Netherlands

• 1944 – Shelley Fabares, American actress

• 1944 – Laurie London, English singer

• 1944 – Peter Lynch, American investor

• 1944 – Dan Reeves, American football coach

• 1945 – Trevor Williams, English Bass Guitarist

• 1946 – Julian Barnes, English author

• 1946 – Dolly Parton, American singer and actress

• 1947 – Ann Compton, American news reporter

• 1947 – Paula Deen, American chef and restaurateur

• 1947 – Rod Evans, British musician (Deep Purple)

• 1948 – Frank McKenna, Canadian politician

• 1949 – Robert Palmer, English singer and guitarist (d. 2003)

• 1949 – Dennis Taylor, Northern Irish snooker player

• 1950 – Sébastien Dhavernas, Canadian actor

• 1950 – Grant Nordman, Canadian politician

• 1951 – Dewey Bunnell, American singer and songwriter (America)

• 1953 – Desi Arnaz, Jr., American actor

• 1953 – Linda Hayden, English actress

• 1953 – Richard Legendre, Canadian politician

• 1954 – Katey Sagal, American actress

• 1954 – Cindy Sherman, American artist

• 1954 – Katharina Thalbach, German actress and film director

• 1955 – Simon Rattle, English conductor

• 1955 – Paul Rodriguez, Mexican/American actor and comedian

• 1956 – Carman Licciardello, American singer

• 1957 – Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rican politician

• 1957 – Ottis Anderson, former American football player

• 1962 – Hans Daams, Dutch cyclist

• 1962 – Jeff Van Gundy, American basketball coach

• 1963 – Michael Adams, American basketball player

• 1963 – Martin Bashir, Pakistani-born reporter

• 1963 – Caron Wheeler, British singer (Soul II Soul)

• 1964 – Janine Antoni, Bahamian artist

• 1964 – Ricardo Arjona, Guatemalan singer

• 1966 – Floris Jan Bovelander, Dutch field hockey player

• 1966 – Sylvain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1966 – Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player

• 1966 – Lena Philipsson, Swedish singer

• 1967 – Javier Cámara, Spanish actor

• 1969 – Edwidge Danticat, Haitian/American author

• 1969 – Luc Longley, Australian basketball player

• 1969 – Predrag Mijatović, Yugoslavian footballer

• 1969 – Junior Seau, American football player

• 1969 – Steve Staunton, Irish footballer

• 1970 – Kathleen Smet, Belgian triathlete

• 1970 – Udo Suzuki, Japanese comedian

• 1971 – Shawn Wayans, American actor

• 1971 – John Wozniak, American singer and songwriter (Marcy Playground)

• 1972 – Joana Benedek, Mexican actress

• 1972 – Elena Kaliská, Slovak slalom canoer

• 1972 – Ron Killings, American professional wrestler

• 1972 – Princess Kalina of Bulgaria

• 1972 – Troy Wilson, Australian racing driver and AFL player

• 1972 – Angham, Egyptian singer, record producer and actress

• 1972 – Drea de Matteo, American actress

• 1973 – Antero Manninen, Finnish cellist

• 1973 – Aaron Yonda, YouTube celebrity

• 1974 – Frank Caliendo, American comedian

• 1974 – Ian Laperrière, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1974 – Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer

• 1975 – Noah Georgeson, American musician

• 1976 – Tarso Marques, Brazilian racing driver

• 1977 – Lauren Etame Mayer, Cameroonian footballer

• 1977 – Nicole, Chilean singer

• 1977 – Cocco, Japanese singer

• 1979 – Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast

• 1979 – Josu Sarriegi, Spanish/Basque footballer

• 1979 – Wiley, English rapper

• 1980 – Luke Macfarlane, Canadian actor

• 1980 – Jenson Button, English Formula One driver

• 1980 – Kotoko, Japanese singer

• 1981 – Asier Del Horno, Spanish footballer

• 1981 – Lucho González, Argentine footballer

• 1981 – Dimosthenis Manousakis, Greek footballer

• 1982 – Angela Chang, Taiwanese singer and actress

• 1982 – Mike Komisarek, American ice hockey player

• 1982 – Jodie Sweetin, American actress

• 1983 – Hikaru Utada, American/Japanese singer and songwriter

• 1984 – Euan Blair, Eldest son of Tony Blair

• 1984 – Karun Chandhok, Indian racing driver

• 1984 – Thomas Vanek, Austrian ice hockey player

• 1985 – Benny Feilhaber, American soccer player

• 1985 – Esteban Guerrieri, Argentine racing driver

• 1985 – Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)

• 1986 – Loren Galler-Rabinowitz, American ice dancer

• 1987 – Edgar Manucharyan, Armenian footballer

• 1991 – Erin Sanders, American actress

• 1992 – Logan Lerman, American actor

• 1992 – Shawn Johnson, American gymnast

Deaths

• 639 – Dagobert I, King of the Franks (b. c. 603)

• 1526 – Isabella of Burgundy, wife of Christian II of Denmark (b. 1501)

• 1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English poet (b. 1517)

• 1576 – Hans Sachs, German Meistersinger (b. 1494)

• 1661 – Thomas Venner, Fifth Monarchist (executed) (b. 1599)

• 1729 – William Congreve, English playwright (b. 1670)

• 1757 – Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish classical scholar (b. 1674)

• 1766 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-born French architect and painter (b. 1695)

• 1785 – Jonathan Toup, English classical scholar and critic (b. 1713)

• 1833 – Louis Joseph Ferdinand Herold, French composer (b. 1791)

• 1847 – Charles Bent, New Mexico pioneer (assassinated) (b. 1799)

• 1851 – Esteban Echeverría, Argentine writer (b. 1805)

• 1865 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and anarchist (b. 1809)

• 1869 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (b. 1788)

• 1874 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet (b. 1798)

• 1878 – Henri Victor Regnault French physicist and chemist (b. 1810)

• 1905 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher (b. 1817)

• 1925 – Queen Maria Sophia of Two Sicilies (b.1841)

• 1927 – Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)

• 1929 – Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (b. 1873)

• 1939 – Cliff Heathcote, American baseball player (b. 1898)

• 1948 – Tony Garnier, French architect (b. 1869)

• 1954 – Theodor Kaluza, German scientist (b. 1885)

• 1957 – József Dudás, Romanian/Hungarian resistance fighter (b. 1912)

• 1964 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (b. 1886)

• 1965 – Arnold Luhaäär, Estonian weightlifter and Olympic medalist (b. 1905)

• 1968 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver (b. 1879)

• 1969 – Jan Palach, Czech student and political activist (suicide) (b. 1948)

• 1971 – Harry Shields, American musician (b. 1899)

• 1972 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (b. 1936)

• 1973 – Max Adrian, Northern Irish actor (b. 1903)

• 1975 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (b. 1889)

• 1976 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese electrical engineer (b. 1886)

• 1980 – William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1898)

• 1982 – Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (b. 1945)

• 1983 – Ham the Chimp, First hominid launched into outer space (b. 1956)

• 1984 – Max Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1920)

• 1990 – Rajneesh, Indian religious leader (b. 1931)

• 1990 – Semprini, English musician (b. 1908)

• 1990 – Herbert Wehner, German politician (b. 1906)

• 1991 – John Russell, American actor (b. 1921)

• 1991 – Marcel Chaput, Quebec politician (b. 1918)

• 1995 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian composer and singer (b. 1938)

• 1996 – Don Simpson, American film producer (b. 1943)

• 1997 – James Dickey, American writer (b. 1923)

• 1997 – Adriana Caselotti, American actress (b. 1916)

• 1998 – Carl Perkins, American guitarist (b. 1932)

• 1999 – Ivan Francescato, Italian rugby union footballer (b. 1967)

• 2000 – Bettino Craxi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)

• 2000 – Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-born actress and inventor (b. 1913)

• 2001 – Dario Vittori, Argentine actor (b. 1921)

• 2003 – Françoise Giroud, French writer and journalist (b. 1916)

• 2004 – Harry E. Claiborne, American judge (suicide) (b. 1917)

• 2004 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1955)

• 2005 – Anita Kulcsár, Hungarian handball player (b. 1976)

• 2005 – Bill Andersen, New Zealand communist and trade union leader (b. 1924)

• 2005 – K. Sello Duiker, South African novelist (b. 1974)

• 2006 – Anthony Franciosa, American actor (b. 1928)

• 2006 – Wilson Pickett, American singer (b. 1941)

• 2006 – Aoun Al-Sharif Qasim, Sudanese writer and Islamic scholar (b. 1933)

• 2006 – Geoff Rabone, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1921)

• 2007 – Scott "Bam Bam" Bigelow, American professional wrestler (b. 1961)

• 2007 – Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian newspaper editor (b. 1954)

• 2007 – Denny Doherty, Canadian singer (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1940)

• 2007 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer and composer (b. 1969)

• 2008 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (b. 1937)

• 2008 – John Stewart, American musician (The Kingston Trio) (b. 1939)

• 2008 – Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster for CBC (b. 1936)

Holidays and observances

• Kappa Alpha Order Convivium (Founders Day)

• Confederate Heroes Day in Texas.

• The Poe Toaster commemorates the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe at his grave in Baltimore.

• Maris, Martha, Abachum and Audifax

• Henry of Uppsala

• Feast Day of Saint Pontianus.

• Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester

• Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy — Julian Calendar Theophany (Epiphany).

• St. Mark of Ephesus feast day.

• Bahá'í Faith — Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty) — First day of the 17th month of the Bahá'í calendar.

• January 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)