Events

• 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.

• 1558 – France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England.

• 1598 – Boris Godunov becomes Tsar of Russia.

• 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.

• 1610 – Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.

• 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.

• 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.

• 1797 – The modern Italian flag is first used.

• 1835 – drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.

• 1894 – W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.

• 1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".

• 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64-57 vote.

• 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone call is made – from New York City to London.

• 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.

• 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco–Italian Agreement.

• 1942 – World War II: The siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.

• 1945 – World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.

• 1950 – A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, kills 41 people.

• 1953 – President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed the hydrogen bomb.

• 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: the first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM.

• 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

• 1960 – The Polaris missile is test launched.

• 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the final spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.

• 1972 – Iberia Airlines Caravelle 6-R crashes into Mont San Jose on approach to Ibiza Airport killing all 104 on board.

• 1973 – Mark Essex fatally shoots 10 people and wounds 13 others at Howard Johnson's Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana before being shot to death by police officers.

• 1979 – Third Indochina War – Cambodian-Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

• 1980 – President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.

• 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

• 1990 – The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public because of safety concerns.

• 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.

• 1999 – The impeachment of President Bill Clinton begins.

Births

• 1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III of England (d. 1397)

• 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)

• 1528 – Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (d. 1572)

• 1647 – Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)

• 1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (d. 1761)

• 1706 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)

• 1718 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1790)

• 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples (d. 1844)

• 1786 – John Catron, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1865)

• 1796 – Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (d. 1817)

• 1800 – Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)

• 1827 – Sir Sandford Fleming, Canadian engineer; introduced Universal Standard Time (d. 1915)

• 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, German-American painter (d. 1902)

• 1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, German labor organizer (d. 1897)

• 1832 – James Munro, Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)

• 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor (d. 1874)

• 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French saint (d. 1879)

• 1845 – King Ludwig III of Bavaria (d. 1921)

• 1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, key figure in the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language (d. 1922)

• 1860 – Emanuil Manolov, Bulgarian composer (d. 1902)

• 1870 – Lord Gordon Hewart, British judge (d. 1943)

• 1871 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)

• 1873 – Charles Péguy, French poet and essayist (d. 1914)

• 1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian producer (d. 1976)

• 1875 – Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)

• 1875 – Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1963)

• 1876 – William Hurlstone, English composer (d. 1906)

• 1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American writer (d. 1960)

• 1895 – Clara Haskil, Romanian pianist (d. 1960)

• 1895 – Sir Hudson Fysh, Australian aviator and co-founder of QANTAS (d. 1974)

• 1896 – Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (d. 1984)

• 1899 – Al Bowlly, British jazz singer (d. 1941)

• 1899 – Francis Poulenc, French composer (d. 1963)

• 1900 – John Brownlee, Australian tenor (d. 1969)

• 1903 – Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)

• 1903 – Alan Napier, English actor (d. 1988)

• 1907 – Nicanor Zabaleta, Spanish harpist (d. 1993)

• 1908 – Red Allen, American musician (d. 1967)

• 1910 – Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (d. 1984)

• 1910 – Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)

• 1911 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress (d. 1995)

• 1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist (d. 1988)

• 1912 – Günter Wand, German conductor, composer (d. 2002)

• 1913 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player (d. 1993)

• 1916 – Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (d. 1975)

• 1917 – Ulysses Kay, American composer (d. 1995)

• 1922 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-born actor (d. 1992)

• 1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (d. 2000)

• 1922 – Eric Jupp, British-born Australian composer, arranger, conductor (d. 2003)

• 1922 – Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager

• 1923 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (d. 2003)

• 1924 – Pablo Birger, Argentine racing driver (d. 1966)

• 1925 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist (d. 1995)

• 1928 – William Peter Blatty, American screenwriter

• 1929 – Terry Moore, American actress

• 1932 – Joe Berinson, Australian politician

• 1933 – Elliott Kastner, U.S. film producer

• 1934 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician (d. 2002)

• 1934 – Charlie Jenkins, American runner

• 1935 – Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist (d. 2006)

• 1935 – Tommy Johnson, American tubist (d. 2006)

• 1935 – Valeri Kubasov, Soviet cosmonaut

• 1936 – Ben Cropp, Australian shark hunter and photographer

• 1936 – G. Robert Blakey, American attorney

• 1938 – Roland Topor, French illustrator (d. 1997)

• 1938 – Lou Graham, American golfer

• 1939 – Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark

• 1941 – Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)

• 1941 – Manfred Schellscheidt, German American soccer coach

• 1941 – John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

• 1941 – Frederick D. Gregory, NASA astronaut

• 1942 – Danny Williams, South African singer (d. 2005)

• 1942 – Vasily Alexeev, Russian weightlifter

• 1942 – Jim Lefebvre, American baseball player and manager

• 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese child victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb (d. 1955)

• 1943 – Sir Richard Armstrong, British conductor

• 1944 – Arne Scheie, Norwegian sports commentator

• 1944 – Tony Whitlam, Australian judge

• 1945 – Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (d. 1990)

• 1945 – Gilles Marotte, French Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)

• 1945 – Dick Marty, Swiss politician

• 1945 – Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya

• 1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher

• 1947 – Shobha De, Indian writer

• 1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer

• 1949 – Marshall Chapman, American singer/songwriter

• 1949 – Anne Schedeen, American actress

• 1949 – Steven Williams, American actor

• 1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer and songwriter

• 1950 – Erin Gray, American actress

• 1950 – Ross Grimsley, American baseball player

• 1950 – Johnny Lever, Indian actor

• 1951 – Helen Worth, British actress

• 1952 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor

• 1953 – Morris Titanic, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1954 – José María Vitier, Cuban music composer and pianist.

• 1956 – David Caruso, American actor

• 1956 – Mike Liut, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1956 – Uwe Ochsenknecht, German actor and singer

• 1957 – Nicholson Baker, American novelist

• 1957 – Katie Couric, American television host

• 1957 – Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer

• 1957 – Reena Roy, Indian actress

• 1958 – Linda Kozlowski, American actress

• 1958 – Donna Rice, American sex scandal figure

• 1959 – Jon Larsen, Norwegian musician and composer

• 1959 – Kathy Valentine, American musician (The Go-Go's)

• 1960 – David Marciano, American actor

• 1960 – Loretta Sanchez, American politician

• 1961 – Andrew Thomson, Australian politician

• 1961 – Supriya Pathak, Indian actress

• 1961 – John Thune, American politician, junior senator of South Dakota

• 1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian politician

• 1962 – Hallie Todd, American actress

• 1963 – Clint Mansell, English musician and composer

• 1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor

• 1966 – Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American publicist (d. 1999)

• 1966 – Ehab Tawfik, Egyptian singer

• 1967 – Guy Hebert, American ice hockey player

• 1967 – Mark Lamarr, British comedian and broadcaster

• 1967 – Nick Clegg, British Liberal Democrat

• 1969 – David Yost, American actor

• 1970 – Doug E. Doug, American actor

• 1970 – Joao Ricardo, Angolan footballer

• 1971 – C.W. Anderson, American professional wrestler

• 1971 – Tina Anderson, American comic book writer

• 1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor

• 1972 – Donald Brashear, American ice hockey player

• 1973 – Jonna Tervomaa, Finnish singer

• 1974 – John Rich, American musician (Big & Rich)

• 1976 – Éric Gagné, Canadian baseball player

• 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player

• 1977 – Michelle Behennah, British model

• 1977 – Dustin Diamond, American actor

• 1977 – John Gidding, American architect and TV host (Designed to Sell)

• 1978 – Kevin Mench, American baseball player

• 1979 – Bipasha Basu, Indian model

• 1979 – Ricardo Maurício, Brazilian racing driver

• 1979 – Mariangel Ruiz, Venezuelan actress and model

• 1980 – Zoe Salmon,English Television Presenter

• 1981 – Alex Auld, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1981 – Rasaq, American rapper and brother of (Chamillionaire)

• 1981 – Marquis Daniels, American basketball player

• 1982 – Francisco Rodriguez, Venezuelan baseball player

• 1982 – Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer

• 1982 – Ianina Zanazzi, Argentine racing driver

• 1983 – Edwin Encarnación, Dominican baseball player (raised in Puerto Rico)

• 1983 – Natalie Gulbis, American golfer

• 1983 – Robert Ri'chard, American actor (Cousin Skeeter)

• 1983 – Liesbeth Mouha, Belgian beach volleyball player

• 1984 – Jon Lester, American baseball player

• 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English F1 racing driver

• 1986 – Grant Leadbitter, English footballer

• 1987 – Haley Bennett, American Singer and Actress

• 1987 – Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress

• 1988 – Scott Pendlebury, Australian rules footballer

• 1988 – Robert Sheehan, Irish actor

• 1989 – Emiliano Insúa, Argentine footballer

• 1990 – Liam Aiken, American actor

• 1990 – Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater

• 1990 – Camryn Grimes, American actress

• 1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian skijumper

• 1991 – Max Morrow, Canadian actor

Deaths

• 1285 – King Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)

• 1325 – King Dinis of Portugal (b. 1261)

• 1400 – Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, English politician (b. 1374)

• 1451 – Count Amadeus VIII of Savoy (b. 1383)

• 1536 – Catherine of Aragon, consort of Henry VIII of England (b. 1485)

• 1566 – Louis de Blois, Flemish mystic (b. 1506)

• 1619 – Nicholas Hilliard, English painter (b. c.1547)

• 1625 – Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer (b. c.1560)

• 1655 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)

• 1658 – Theophilus Eaton, American colonist (b. 1590)

• 1694 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general (b. c.1618)

• 1700 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian antiquarian (b. 1618)

• 1715 – François Fénelon, French-Catholic theologian and writer (b. 1651)

• 1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet (b. 1686)

• 1767 – Thomas Clap, 1st president of Yale University (b. 1703)

• 1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician (b. 1695)

• 1783 – William Tans'ur, English hymnist (b. 1700)

• 1786 – Jean-Étienne Guettard, French physician and scientist (b. 1715)

• 1812 – Joseph Dennie, American writer (b. 1768)

• 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter (b. 1769)

• 1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)

• 1872 – James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)

• 1876 – Juste Olivier, Swiss poet (b. 1807)

• 1878 – François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (b. 1794)

• 1892 – Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt (b. 1852)

• 1893 – Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835)

• 1913 – Jack Boyle, American baseball player (b. 1866)

• 1919 – Henry Ware Eliot American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1843)

• 1920 – Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)

• 1932 – André Maginot, French eponym of the Maginot Line (b. 1877)

• 1936 – Guy d'Hardelot, French composer, best known for Because (b. 1858)

• 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor and electrical engineer (b. 1856)

• 1944 – Lou Hoover, U.S. First Lady (b. 1874)

• 1944 – Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek poet (b. 1888)

• 1946 – Adamo Didur, Polish tenor (b. 1874)

• 1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (b. 1886)

• 1953 – Osa Johnson, American explorer (b. 1894)

• 1960 – Dorothea Douglass Chambers (aka Katharine Lambert Chambers), UK tennis player (b. 1878)

• 1963 – Arthur Moore, Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)

• 1964 – Cyril Davies, American musician (b. 1932)

• 1966 – Allan Chapman, Scottish politician (b. 1897)

• 1967 – Carl Schuricht, German conductor (b. 1880)

• 1967 – David Goodis, American writer (b. 1917)

• 1968 – Prof James Smith, South African ichthyologist (b. 1897)

• 1972 – John Berryman, American poet (b. 1914)

• 1972 – Eftichia Papagianopoulos, Greek lyricist (b. 1893)

• 1980 – Larry Williams, American singer and songwriter (b. 1935)

• 1981 – Alvar Lidell, UK radio broadcaster (b. 1908)

• 1981 – Eric Robinson, Australian politician (b. 1926)

• 1984 – Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)

• 1985 – Mary Hardy, Australian radio and television presenter (b. 1931)

• 1986 – Philip D. Eastman, American children's book writer and illustrator (b. 1909)

• 1986 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (b. 1917)

• 1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)

• 1988 – Michel Auclair, French actor (b. 1922)

• 1989 – Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)

• 1990 – Horace Stoneham, American baseball executive (b. 1903)

• 1990 – Bronko Nagurski, American football player (b. 1908)

• 1992 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer (The Muppets) (b. 1951)

• 1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist (b. 1926)

• 1996 – Tarō Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (b. 1911)

• 1996 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician (b. 1930)

• 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

• 1998 – Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915)

• 2000 – Gary Albright, American professional wrestler (b. 1963)

• 2001 – James Carr, American Rhythm & Blues and soul musicians (b. 1942)

• 2002 – Avery Schreiber, American actor (b. 1935)

• 2002 – Jon Lee, Welsh musician (Feeder) (b. 1968)

• 2004 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)

• 2005 – Pierre Daninos, French novelist (b. 1913)

• 2005 – Eileen Desmond, Irish politician (b. 1932)

• 2006 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1912)

• 2007 – Magnús Magnússon, Icelandic-born television presenter (b. 1929)

• 2007 – Bobby Hamilton, NASCAR team owner (b. 1957)

• 2008 – Alwyn Schlebusch, South African vice state president (b. 1917)

• 2009 – Maria Dimitriadi, Greek singer (b. 1950)

Holidays and observances

• European traditional – Distaff day: women's traditional work begins again after Epiphany.

• Italy – Tricolour day (Festa del Tricolore)

• Japan – Nanakusa (Seven Herbs Festival).

• Roman Catholic Church

• *St. Canute Lavard

• *St. Charles of Sezze

• *St. Lucian of Antioch

• *St. Raymond of Peñafort

• *Bl. Widukind, Duke of Saxony, (d. 807)

• Coptic Orthodox Church – Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist

• Eastern Orthodox Church – St. John the Baptist

• Christmas Day in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar

• January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)