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Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

Religious observances

References

External links

Events

★ 38 BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla.

★ 1287 - King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.

★ 1377 - Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back from Avignon to Rome.

★ 1524 - Beginning of Giovanni da Verrazzano's voyage to find a passage to China.

★ 1562 - France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.

★ 1595 - Henry IV of France declares war to Spain.

★ 1605 - First publication of ''Don Quixote''.

★ 1648 - England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Address, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

★ 1781 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens - Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.

★ 1819 - Simón Bolívar proclaims the Republic of Colombia.

★ 1852 - United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.

★ 1873 - First Battle of the Stronghold in the US Modoc War.

★ 1885 - A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.

★ 1893 - The Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

★ 1899 - The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.

★ 1904 - Anton Chekov's ''The Cherry Orchard'' premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre.

★ 1912 - Sir Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.

★ 1913 - Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.

★ 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed.

★ 1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.

★ 1929 - Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appears in the Comic Strip Thimble Theatre.

★ 1941 - Kuomintang forces under the order of Chiang Kai-Shek opened fire at communist force, Chinese Civil War resumes after WWII.

★ 1945 - Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.

★ 1945 - The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.

★ 1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

★ 1946 - The UN Security Council holds its first session.

★ 1949 - ''The Goldbergs'', the first sitcom on American television, first airs.

★ 1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.

★ 1956 - Allen Ginsberg writes his poem "America".

★ 1961 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military-industrial complex."

★ 1966 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping four 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

★ 1969 - Led Zeppelin's debut album is released.

★ 1973 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes "President for Life" of the Philippines.

★ 1977 - Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.

★ 1978 - The Sex Pistols, famous britain punk rock band, considered as the punk creators, disband.

★ 1982 - "Cold Sunday" in the United States sees temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.

★ 1985 - British Telecom announces the retirement of the United Kingdom's famous red telephone boxes.

★ 1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm began early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.

★ 1991 - Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.

★ 1994 - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California; see 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

★ 1995 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake (known as "the Great Hanshin earthquake") hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,433 people.

★ 1996 - The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.

★ 1997 - A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad. [1]

★ 1998 - Paula Jones accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

★ 2001 - President Bill Clinton posthumously raises Captain Meriwether Lewis' rank from Lieutenant to Captain.

★ 2002 - Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

★ 2005 - Major accident of collision of two trains in Bangkok.

★ 2005 - A first century mosaic is found on Colle Oppio in Rome.

★ 2007 - Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to N. Korea nuclear testing

Births

★ 1463 - Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)

★ 1484 - George Spalatin, German reformer (d. 1545)

★ 1501 - Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)

★ 1504 - Pope Pius V (d. 1572)

★ 1560 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1624)

★ 1600 - Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)

★ 1612 - Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English Civil War general (d. 1671)

★ 1686 - Archibald Bower, Scottish historian (d. 1766)

★ 1706 - Benjamin Franklin American statesman (d. 1790)

★ 1712 - John Stanley, English composer (d. 1786)

★ 1719 - William Vernon, American merchant (d. 1806)

★ 1761 - James Hall, Scottish geologist (d. 1832)

★ 1763 - John Jacob Astor, American entrepreneur (d. 1848)

★ 1789 - August Neander, German theologian (d. 1850)

★ 1820 - Anne Brontë, British author (d. 1849)

★ 1828 - Lewis A. Grant, American Civil War General (d. 1918)

★ 1832 - Henry Martyn Baird, American educationalist (d. 1906)

★ 1851 - A. B. Frost, American illustrator (d. 1928)

★ 1853 - Alva Belmont, American socialite (d. 1933)

★ 1858 - Tomás Carrasquilla, Colombian writer(d. 1940)

★ 1860 - Douglas Hyde, President of Ireland (d. 1949)

★ 1863 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1945)

★ 1863 - Konstantin Stanislavsky, Russian theatre director (d. 1938)

★ 1867 - Carl Laemmle, German-born film executive (d. 1939)

★ 1871 - David Earl Beatty British admiral (d. 1936)

★ 1871 - Nicolae Iorga, Romanian writer (d. 1940)

★ 1875 - Florencio Sánchez, Uruguayan dramatist (d. 1910)

★ 1880 - Mack Sennett, Canadian film director (d. 1960)

★ 1881 - Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician (d. 1941)

★ 1882 - Noah Beery, American actor (d. 1946)

★ 1886 - Glenn L. Martin, American aviation pioneer (d. 1955)

★ 1899 - Al Capone, American gangster (d. 1947)

★ 1899 - Nevil Shute, English author (d. 1960)

★ 1903 - Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Assamese poet, playwright, film maker (d. 1953)

★ 1905 - Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (d. 1966)

★ 1905 - Peggy Gilbert, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2007)

★ 1905 - Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (d. 2005)

★ 1908 - Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager (d. 1985)

★ 1911 - George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)

★ 1914 - William Stafford, American poet and essayist (d. 1993)

★ 1917 - M. G. Ramachandran, Indian politician, actor (d. 1987)

★ 1918 - Keith Joseph, British politician (d. 1994)

★ 1921 - Antonio Prohias, Cuban cartoonist (d. 1998)

★ 1922 - Luis Echeverría Álvarez, President of Mexico

★ 1922 - Nicholas Katzenbach, American politician

★ 1922 - Betty White, American actress

★ 1925 - Robert Cormier, American author (d. 2000)

★ 1925 - Abdul Kardar, Pakistani cricketer

★ 1926 - Newton N. Minow, American lawyer and statesman

★ 1926 - Moira Shearer, Scottish actress (d. 2006)

★ 1927 - Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer

★ 1928 - Jean Barraqué, French composer (d. 1973)

★ 1928 - Vidal Sassoon, English cosmetologist

★ 1929 - Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)

★ 1930 - Eddie LeBaron, American football player

★ 1931 - James Earl Jones, American actor

★ 1931 - L. Douglas Wilder, 66th Governor of Virginia

★ 1931 - Don Zimmer, American baseball coach

★ 1932 - Sheree North, American actress (d. 2005)

★ 1933 - Dalida, French singer (d. 1987)

★ 1933 - Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, French UN High Commissioner for Refugees (d. 2003)

★ 1933 - Shari Lewis, American ventriloquist (d. 1998)

★ 1935 - Ruth Ann Minner, Governor of Delaware

★ 1939 - Maury Povich, American talk show host

★ 1940 - Kipchoge Keino, Kenyan runner

★ 1942 - Muhammad Ali, American boxer

★ 1942 - Ulf Hoelscher, German violinist

★ 1942 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (d. 2001)

★ 1943 - René Préval, President of Haiti

★ 1943 - Chris Montez, American singer

★ 1944 - Françoise Hardy, French singer

★ 1945 - Javed Akhtar, Indian lyricist, poet and scriptwriter

★ 1948 - Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland

★ 1948 - Jim Ladd, American freeform (radio format) Disc Jockey (KLOS)

★ 1949 - Andy Kaufman, American comedian (d. 1984)

★ 1949 - Mick Taylor, British musician (The Rolling Stones)

★ 1952 - Darrell Porter, American baseball player (d. 2002)

★ 1952 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician

★ 1955 - Steve Earle, American musician

★ 1956 - Paul Young, English musician

★ 1957 - Keith Chegwin, English television presenter

★ 1957 - Steve Harvey, American actor, comedian and radio personality

★ 1959 - Susanna Hoffs, American musician

★ 1959 - Momoe Yamaguchi, Japanese singer and actress

★ 1960 - John Crawford, American musician

★ 1960 - Chatchai Plengpanich, Thai actor

★ 1961 - Brian Helgeland, American writer and film director

★ 1962 - Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian

★ 1962 - Sebastian Junger, American journalist and author

★ 1963 - Kai Hansen, German musician/singer

★ 1964 - Andy Rourke, English bass guitarist (The Smiths)

★ 1965 - Sylvain Turgeon, Canadian ice hockey player

★ 1965 - Nikos Nioplias, Greek footballer

★ 1966 - Shabba Ranks, Jamaican singer

★ 1967 - Filippo Raciti, Italian police officer (d. 2007)

★ 1967 - Song Kang-ho, South Korean actor

★ 1968 - Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer, Dutch writer

★ 1968 - Svetlana Masterkova, Russian athlete

★ 1969 - Lukas Moodysson, Swedish film writer and director

★ 1969 - Naveen Andrews, British actor

★ 1969 - Tijs Verwest Dutch DJ

★ 1970 - Jeremy Roenick, American ice hockey player

★ 1970 - Genndy Tartakovsky, Russian-born animator

★ 1970 - James Wattana, Thai snooker player

★ 1971 - Kid Rock, American singer

★ 1971 - Richard Burns, English rally driver (d. 2005)

★ 1971 - Youki Kudoh, Japanese actress

★ 1971 - Ann Wolfe, female boxer

★ 1971 - Leonardo Ciampa, Italian-American musician

★ 1972 - Ken Hirai, Japanese singer and songwriter

★ 1973 - Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Mexican footballer

★ 1974 - Yang Chen, Chinese footballer

★ 1974 - Derrick Mason, American football player

★ 1975 - Freddy Rodriguez, Puerto Rican-American actor

★ 1977 - Kevin Fertig, American professional wrestler

★ 1977 - Leigh Whannell, Australian screenwriter/actor

★ 1980 - Zooey Deschanel, American actress

★ 1980 - Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Russian ballroom dancer

★ 1980 - Kimberly Spicer, American model

★ 1980 - Gareth McLearnon, Northern Irish flautist

★ 1981 - Warren Feeney, Northern Irish footballer

★ 1981 - Scott Mechlowicz, American actor

★ 1981 - Ray J, American R&B singer

★ 1982 - Alex Varkatzas, American singer

★ 1982 - Dwyane Wade, American basketball player

★ 1982 - Amanda Wilkinson, Canadian singer

★ 1983 - Johannes Herber, German basketball player

★ 1983 - Rick Kelly, Australian racing driver

★ 1985 - Simone Simons, Dutch singer (Epica)

★ 1985 - Riyu Kosaka, Japanese singer BeForU

★ 1986 - Chloe Rose Lattanzi, Australian actress and singer

Deaths

★ 395 - Theodosius I, Roman Emperor

★ 1229 - Albert of Buxhoeveden, German soldier

★ 1369 - King Peter I of Cyprus (murdered) (b. 1328)

★ 1468 - Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)

★ 1617 - Faust Vrančić, Croatian inventor (b. 1551)

★ 1654 - Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (b. 1625)

★ 1705 - John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)

★ 1718 - Captain Benjamin Church, Plymouth Colony settler

★ 1737 - Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect (b. 1662)

★ 1751 - Tomaso Albinoni, Italian composer (b. 1671)

★ 1826 - Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (b. 1806)

★ 1834 - Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist (b. 1762)

★ 1861 - Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)

★ 1863 - Horace Vernet, French painter (b. 1789)

★ 1884 - Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist (b. 1804)

★ 1886 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (b. 1834)

★ 1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822)

★ 1903 - Ignaz Wechselmann, Hungarian architect and philanthropist (b. 1828)

★ 1931 - Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (b. 1864)

★ 1933 - Louis Comfort Tiffany, American artist and designer (b. 1848)

★ 1942 - Walther von Reichenau, German field marshal (b. 1884)

★ 1947 - Pyotr Krasnov, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1869)

★ 1947 - Jean-Marie-Rodrigue Villeneuve, French Archbishop of Quebec (b. 1883)

★ 1961 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1925)

★ 1964 - T.H. White, English author (b. 1906)

★ 1967 - Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (b. 1884)

★ 1970 - Simon Kovar, Russian-American bassoonist (b. 1890)

★ 1970 - Billy Stewart, American singer (b. 1937)

★ 1972 - Betty Smith, American writer and singer (b. 1896)

★ 1977 - Gary Gilmore, American murderer (b. 1940)

★ 1983 - Doodles Weaver, American actor (b. 1911)

★ 1987 - Hugo Fregonese, Argentine film director (b. 1908)

★ 1991 - King Olav V of Norway (b. 1903)

★ 1993 - Albert Hourani, English historian (b. 1915)

★ 1994 - Helen Stephens, American runner (b. 1918)

★ 1996 - Amber Hagerman, American namesake of the Amber Alert system (b. 1986)

★ 1996 - Barbara Jordan, American politician (b. 1936)

★ 1996 - Mostafa Sid Ahmed, Sudanese singer (b. 1953)

★ 1997 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)

★ 1998 - Junior Kimbrough, American bluesman (b. 1930)

★ 1999 - Robert Eads, American transexual (b. 1945)

★ 2001 - Gregory Corso, American poet (b. 1930)

★ 2002 - Bishop Karas, First Coptic Bishop of St. Antony Monastery (b. 1955)

★ 2002 - Camilo Jose Cela, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)

★ 2003 - Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926)

★ 2004 - Czeslaw Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)

★ 2004 - Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)

★ 2004 - Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931)

★ 2004 - Harry Brecheen, American baseball player (b. 1914)

★ 2005 - Charlie Bell, Australian fast food executive (b. 1960)

★ 2005 - Virginia Mayo, American actress (b. 1920)

★ 2005 - Albert Schatz, American microbiologist (b. 1920)

★ 2005 - Zhao Ziyang, Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1919)

★ 2006 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (b. 1930)

★ 2006 - Pierre Grondin, French Canadian cardiac surgeon (b. 1925)

★ 2007 - Art Buchwald, American humorist (b. 1925)

★ 2007 - Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)

Holidays and observances

★ Ancient Latvia - Zirgu Diena observed

Religious observances

★ Catholicism - Feast day of the following saints:

★
★ St. Anthony^[1]

★
★ Amelbert

★
★ Sulpitius the Pious

★ Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church: Venerable Anthony the Great

★ January 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

References

1. Attwater, Donald and Catherine Rachel John. ''The Penguin Dictionary of Saints''. 3rd edition. New York: Penguin Books, 1993. ISBN 0-140-51312-4.

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On this day in Canada
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