Events

• 871 – Battle of Ashdown – Ethelred of Wessex defeats an invading army of Danes.

• 1297 – Monaco gains its independence.

• 1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany.

• 1734 – Premiere of George Frideric Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

• 1746 – Second Jacobite Rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.

• 1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union Address in New York City.

• 1806 – Cape Colony becomes a British colony.

• 1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslandes in St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.

• 1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans – Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.

• 1835 – The United States national debt is 0 for the only time.

• 1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).

• 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield

• 1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.

• 1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain (Montana Territory).

• 1900 – President William McKinley places Alaska under military rule.

• 1906 – A landslide in Haverstraw, New York, caused by the excavation of clay along the Hudson River, kills 20 people.

• 1912 – The African National Congress is founded.

• 1918 – President Woodrow Wilson announces his "Fourteen Points" for the aftermath of World War I.

• 1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.

• 1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.

• 1941 – First flight of the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

• 1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.

• 1959 – Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution is completed with the take over of Santiago de Cuba.

• 1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle's policies in Algeria.

• 1962 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

• 1962 – The Harmelen train disaster kills 93 people in The Netherlands.

• 1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.

• 1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.

• 1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

• 1975 – Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, becoming the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.

• 1979 – The tanker Betelgeuse explodes in Bantry Bay, Ireland (The Betelgeuse incident).

• 1982 – The break up of AT&T: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.

• 1989 – The Kegworth air disaster. British Midland flight 92 crashes into the M1 motorway killing 47 people out of 127 on board.

• 1989 – Beginning of Japanese Heisei era.

• 1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.

• 1996 – An Antonov 32 cargo turboprop powered plane crashes into the central market in Kinshasa, Zaire killing more than 350 people.

• 2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.

• 2004 – The , the largest passenger ship ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

• 2005 – The nuclear sub collides with an undersea mountain at full speed south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.

• 2006 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake with its epicenter just off the Greek island of Kythira hits much of the country and is felt throughout the entire eastern Mediterranean Sea.

• 2009 – A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit Costa Rica´s region of Volcan Poás, with an epicenter near Cinchona. It was caused by Varablanca-Angel fault.

Births

• 1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1623)

• 1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (d. 1643)

• 1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer (d. 1616)

• 1601 – Baltasar Gracián y Morales, Spanish writer (d. 1658)

• 1628 – François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)

• 1632 – Samuel Pufendorf, German jurist (d. 1694)

• 1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish Archbishop (d. 1709)

• 1735 – John Carroll, American Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1815)

• 1763 – Edmond Charles Genêt, French diplomat (d. 1834)

• 1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banking executive (d. 1844)

• 1788 – Archduke Rudolph of Austria (d. 1831)

• 1788 – Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)

• 1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer (d. 1872)

• 1805 – John Bigler, American politician (d. 1871)

• 1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader (d. 1878)

• 1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, French pianist and composer (d. 1871)

• 1817 – Sir Theophilus Shepstone, South African statesman (d. 1893)

• 1821 – James Longstreet, American Confederate general (d. 1904)

• 1821 – W.H.L. Wallace, American Union general (d. 1862)

• 1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, British naturalist and biologist (d. 1913)

• 1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet (d. 1861)

• 1824 – Wilkie Collins, British novelist (d. 1889)

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

• 1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)

• 1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch artist (d. 1912)

• 1843 – Frederick Abberline, British police investigator (d. 1929)

• 1843 – John H. Moffitt, American politician (d. 1926)

• 1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)

• 1860 – Emma Booth, daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1903)

• 1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher (d. 1934)

• 1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)

• 1866 – William G. Conley, American politician (d. 1940)

• 1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American writer and pacifist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1961)

• 1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (d. 1930)

• 1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish politician (d. 1940)

• 1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian politician (d. 1953)

• 1873 – Elena of Montenegro, queen of Italy (d. 1956)

• 1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American politician (d. 1960)

• 1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter (d. 1941)

• 1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)

• 1885 – John Curtin, Australian politician (d. 1945)

• 1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch pacifist and activist (d. 1967)

• 1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (d. 1972)

• 1888 – Matthew Moore, Irish-American actor (d. 1960)

• 1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (d. 1957)

• 1891 – Storm Jameson, English writer (d. 1986)

• 1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian choreographer (d. 1972)

• 1894 – St Maximilian Kolbe, Polish martyr (d. 1941)

• 1896 – Arthur Ford, American medium (d. 1971)

• 1896 – Jaromir Weinberger, Czech-American composer (d. 1967)

• 1897 – Dennis Wheatley, British author (d. 1977)

• 1899 – Solomon Bandaranaike, Ceylonese Prime Minister (d. 1959)

• 1900 – Dame Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)

• 1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Soviet politician (d. 1988)

• 1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist (d. 1987)

• 1903 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist (d. 1960)

• 1904 – Karl Brandt, Alsatian Nazi war criminal (d. 1948)

• 1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer (d. 1988)

• 1905 – Franjo Cardinal Seper, Croatian Catholic cardinal (d. 1981)

• 1908 – William Hartnell, British actor (d. 1975)

• 1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor (d. 1999)

• 1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer, Wisden COY 1936 (d.1995)

• 1909 – Evelyn Wood, American educator (d. 1995)

• 1910 – Galina Sergeyevna Ulanova, Russian ballerina (d. 1988)

• 1911 – Tom Delaney, British racing driver (d. 2006)

• 1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress and entertainer (d. 1970)

• 1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1992)

• 1912 – Lawrence E. Walsh, American jurist

• 1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player (d. 1991)

• 1921 – Herta Bothe, Nazi concentration camp guard

• 1922 – Abbey Simon, U.S. pianist

• 1923 – Larry Storch, American actor

• 1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American bass

• 1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)

• 1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American author and computer scientist (d. 2008)

• 1924 – Benjamin Lees, American composer

• 1924 – Ron Moody, English actor

• 1925 – Helmuth Hubener, German activist (d. 1942)

• 1926 – Evelyn Lear, American soprano

• 1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian Odissi dancer (d. 2004)

• 1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer

• 1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian (d. 2009)

• 1927 – Charles Tomlinson, British poet and translator

• 1928 – Gaston Miron, Quebec poet and editor (d. 1996)

• 1928 – Slade Gorton, American politician

• 1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian actor

• 1931 – Bill Graham, German-born American music promoter (d. 1991)

• 1933 – Charles Osgood, American journalist and commentator

• 1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French film director

• 1933 – Ko Un, Korean poet

• 1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)

• 1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player

• 1934 – Roy Kinnear, English actor (d. 1988)

• 1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American writer (d. 2004)

• 1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer (d. 1977)

• 1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech conductor

• 1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-born British scientist

• 1937 – Dame Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer

• 1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host

• 1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan fashion designer

• 1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian bass-baritone

• 1941 – Graham Chapman, British comedian (d. 1989)

• 1941 – Boris Vallejo, Peruvian illustrator

• 1942 – Valya Balkanska, Bulgarian folk singer

• 1942 – Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist and author

• 1942 – Junichiro Koizumi, Japanese politician

• 1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress

• 1944 – Terry Brooks, American writer

• 1945 – Jeannie Lewis, Australian actress and singer

• 1945 – Kojo Nnamdi, Guyanese-born American radio host

• 1945 – Kathleen Noone, American actress

• 1946 – Robby Krieger, American musician (The Doors)

• 1947 – Don Bendell, American author & karate master

• 1947 – David Bowie, English musician

• 1947 – Samuel Schmid, Swiss politician

• 1947 – Terry Sylvester, British singer and musician

• 1948 – Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish film director

• 1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician

• 1951 – John McTiernan, American film director

• 1952 – Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist

• 1953 – Bruce Sutter, American baseball player

• 1955 – Spiros Livathinos, Greek footballer

• 1955 – Mike Reno, Canadian musician

• 1957 – Nacho Duato, Spanish classical dancer and choreographer

• 1958 – Rey Misterio, Sr., Mexican wrestler

• 1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Crowded House) (d. 2005)

• 1959 – Duk Koo Kim, Korean boxer (d. 1982)

• 1961 – Calvin Smith, American athlete

• 1961 – Kazuki Takahashi, Japanese comic book writer and artist

• 1962 – Chris Marion, American musician

• 1965 – Michelle Forbes, American actress

• 1965 – Maria Pitillo, American actress

• 1966 – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player

• 1967 – R. Kelly, American singer

• 1968 – Keith Mullings, American boxer

• 1969 – Jeff Abercrombie, American musician

• 1969 – Ami Dolenz, American actress

• 1970 – Rachel Friend, Australian actress

• 1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player

• 1971 – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer

• 1972 – Sean McKeever, American writer

• 1973 – Mark Knight, English sound designer

• 1973 – Sean Paul, Jamaican singer

• 1973 – Jason Stevens, Australian rugby league footballer

• 1973 – Henning Solberg, Norwegian rally driver

• 1974 – Maria Matsouka, Greek politician

• 1975 – DJ Clue, American DJ and producer

• 1975 – Harris Jayaraj, Indian music composer

• 1976 – Jenny Lewis, American actress and musician

• 1976 – Josh Meyers, American actor

• 1976 – Carl Pavano, American baseball player

• 1976 – Brad Snyder, Canadian shot putter

• 1977 – Amber Benson, American actress

• 1977 – Ron Pederson, Canadian actor

• 1977 – Lee Yoo-jin, Korean actress

• 1978 – Boris Avrukh, Israeli chess grandmaster

• 1978 – Marco Fu, Hong Kong snooker player

• 1979 – Torry Castellano, American musician The Donnas

• 1979 – Seol Ki-Hyeon, South Korean footballer

• 1979 – Mirella van Melis, Dutch track and road cyclist

• 1979 – Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer

• 1979 – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress

• 1979 – Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer

• 1980 – Rachel Nichols, American actress

• 1981 – Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player

• 1981 – Xie Xingfang, Chinese badminton player

• 1982 – Emanuele Calaiò, Italian footballer

• 1982 – wiL Francis, American singer

• 1982 – Gaby Hoffmann, American actress

• 1982 – John Utaka, Nigerian footballer

• 1983 – Chris Mordetzky, American wrestler

• 1983 – Felipe Colombo, Argentine/Mexican actor and singer

• 1984 – Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player

• 1985 – Rachael Lampa, American singer

• 1986 – Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian actress (d. 2003)

• 1986 – Maria Ozawa, Japanese/French Canadian Pornstar

• 1986 – David Silva, Spanish footballer

• 1988 – Allison Harvard, American artist and fashion model

• 1991 – Asuka Hinoi, Japanese singer

Deaths

• 482 – Saint Severinus of Noricum

• 1100 – Antipope Clement III (b. c.1029)

• 1107 – Edgar of Scotland (b. 1074)

• 1198 – Pope Celestine III (b. c.1106)

• 1324 – Marco Polo, Italian explorer (b. 1254)

• 1337 – Giotto di Bondone, Italian artist (b. 1267)

• 1456 – St Lawrence Justinian, Italian bishop and first Patriarch of Venice (b. 1381)

• 1464 – Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian (b. 1385)

• 1557 – Albert the Warlike, Prince of Bayreuth (b. 1522)

• 1570 – Philibert de l'Orme, French architect (b. c.1510)

• 1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)

• 1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and scientist (b. 1564)

• 1707 – John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish politician (b. 1648)

• 1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer (b. 1653)

• 1775 – John Baskerville, English printer (b. 1706)

• 1789 – Jack Broughton, English boxer (b. c.1703)

• 1794 – Justus Möser, German statesman (b. 1720)

• 1815 – Edward Pakenham, British general (b. 1778)

• 1825 – Eli Whitney, American inventor (b. 1765)

• 1854 – William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, British general and politician (b. 1768)

• 1865 – Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general (b. 1779)

• 1874 – Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French writer and historian (b. 1814)

• 1878 – Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)

• 1880 – Joshua A. Norton, Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico (b. 1811)

• 1896 – William Rainey Marshall, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)

• 1896 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (b. 1844)

• 1901 – John Barry, Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1873)

• 1916 – Ada Rehan, Irish-born American actress (b. 1860)

• 1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)

• 1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American politician (b. 1827)

• 1932 – Eurosia Fabris, Italian Catholic (b. 1866)

• 1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian writer (b. 1880)

• 1934 – Serge Stavisky, French financier and embezzler (b. 1886)

• 1938 – Johnny Gruelle, Creator of Raggedy Ann and Andy (b. 1880)

• 1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, English founder of scouting (b. 1857)

• 1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American religious publisher (b. 1869)

• 1943 – Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (b. 1919)

• 1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, member of the Vanderbilt family (b. 1878)

• 1945 – Karl Krafft, Swiss astrologer who was manipulated by the Nazi regime (b. 1900)

• 1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter (b. 1887)

• 1948 – Richard Tauber, Austrian tenor (b. 1891)

• 1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Austrian economist (b. 1883)

• 1953 – Admiral Sir Hugh Binney, British naval commander and Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)

• 1956 – Jim Elliot, American Christian missionary (b. 1928)

• 1958 – Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (b. 1883)

• 1963 – Kay Sage, American artist and poet (b. 1898)

• 1967 – Zbigniew Cybulski, Polish actor (b. 1927)

• 1969 – Albert Hill, British athlete (b. 1889)

• 1970 – Giannis Christou, Greek composer (b. 1926)

• 1970 – Georges Guibourg, French performer (b. 1891)

• 1972 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet (b. 1911)

• 1975 – John Gregson, English actor (b. 1919)

• 1975 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)

• 1976 – Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1898)

• 1976 – Robert Forgan, British fascist (b. 1891)

• 1979 – Sara Carter, American country musician (b. 1898)

• 1980 – John Mauchly, American physicist (b. 1907)

• 1981 – Matthew "Stymie" Beard, American actor (b. 1925)

• 1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Armenian actor (b. 1908)

• 1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter pilot (b. 1919)

• 1983 – Ron Frazer, Australian actor (b. 1924)

• 1983 – Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)

• 1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist (b. 1906)

• 1990 – Terry-Thomas, British actor, comedian (b. 1911)

• 1991 – Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (b. 1960)

• 1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor (b. 1915)

• 1994 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player (b. 1925)

• 1995 – Carlos Monzon, Argentinian boxer (b. 1942)

• 1996 – John Hargreaves, Australian actor (b. 1945)

• 1996 – François Mitterrand, President of France (b. 1916)

• 1996 – Howard Taubman, American music and theater critic (b. 1907)

• 1997 – Melvin Calvin, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)

• 1998 – Michael Tippett, English composer (b. 1905)

• 2000 – Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrianist (b. 1918)

• 2002 – Alexander Prochorow, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (b. 1916)

• 2002 – Dave Thomas, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1932)

• 2003 – Ron Goodwin, British composer and conductor (b. 1925)

• 2004 – John A. Gambling, American radio talk-show host (b. 1930)

• 2005 – Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster (b. 1952)

• 2005 – Warren Spears, American choreographer and dancer (b. 1954)

• 2005 – Michel Thomas, Polish linguist (b. 1914)

• 2006 – Tony Banks, British politician (b. 1943)

• 2007 – Jane Bolin, first African American female judge (b. 1908)

• 2007 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-born actress (b. 1922)

• 2007 – Francis Cockfield, British politician (b. 1916)

• 2007 – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician (b. 1953)

• 2007 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator (b. 1925)

• 2008 – George Moore, Australian champion jockey (b. 1923)

• 2009 – Richard John Neuhaus, Canadian-American Christian writer and editor (b. 1936)

Holidays and observances

• Commonwealth Day is celebrated in the Northern Mariana Islands.

• The feast day of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in the Roman Catholic Church.

• January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• St. Abo of Tiflis

• St. Apollinaris, Bishop of Hierapolis, 2nd Century.

• St. Gudula

• St. Lucian of Beauvais

• St. Pega

• St. Severinus

• St. Thorfinn