This Day in History for 4th January

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 158

46 BC - Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.
274 - St Eutychian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
871 - Battle at Reading: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army
1357 - Flemish earl Louis & Luxembourg Duke Wenceslaus sign peace treaty
1490 - Anna of Brittany announces that all those who would ally with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of lese-majesty.
1519 - -6] 1st Altenburger sermon (Luther & Karl von Miltitz)
1570 - Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew"
1642 - King Charles I with 400 soldiers attacks the English parliament
1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire.
1717 - Netherlands, England & France sign Triple Alliance
1725 - Benjamin Franklin arrives in London [OS=Dec 24 1724]
1754 - Columbia University founded, as Kings College (NYC)
1762 - England declares war on Spain & Naples
1780 - Snowstorm hit Washington's army at Morristown, NJ
1781 - Andre Méchain discovers M80 (globular cluster in Scorpio)
1832 - Insurrection of Trinidad negroes
1843 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Don Pasquale," premieres in Paris
1843 - Royal Academy (Technical Hague court) Delft opens
1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
Inventor/Industrialist Samuel Colt 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
1861 - Pres Buchanan appoints a fast on account of threatened succession
1861 - US Ft Morgan, Mobile, seized by Alabama
1862 - Romney Campaign-Stonewall Jackson occupies Bath
1863 - 4 wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton of NY
1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.
1878 - Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.
1881 - Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" premieres, Breslau
1883 - Ontario Rugby Football Union (forerunner of CFL) forms
1884 - Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario)
1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
1885 - Dr W W Grant of Iowa, performs 1st appendectomy (on Mary Gartside, 22)
1887 - Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world (SF-SF)
1893 - US pres Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy
1894 - France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
1896 - AFL charters Actors' National Protective Union, NYC
1896 - Following Mormon abandonment of polygamy, Utah admitted as 45th state
1898 - 1st installment of William Dean Howell's "Life & Letters" appears
1902 - Hugh Trumble takes a hat-trick v England at the MCG
Inventor Thomas Edison 1903 - Topsy, an elephant, was electrocuted by Thomas Edison during the War of Currents campaign.
1904 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 beat Winnipeg Rowing Club, 2 games to 1
1904 - Supreme Court rules Puerto Ricans cannot be denied admission to US
1906 - South Africa beat England by one wicket, their 1st Test win
1907 - George Bernard Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell," premieres in London
1912 - Smallest earth-moon distance this century, 356,375 km center-to-ctr
1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
1915 - 1st elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho
1915 - Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops
1920 - 1st Black baseball league, National Negro Baseball League, organizes
1920 - Amsterdam actors decide to strike for retirement benefits
1921 - Eugene O'Neill's "Diff'rent," premieres in NYC
1923 - 1st broadcast of "Barn Dance Show" (WBAP - Fort Worth Texas)
1923 - Lenin's "Political Testament" calls for removal of Stalin
1925 - French psychologist Emil Coué brings his self-esteem therapy to US "Every day in every way I am getting better & better"
Marxist Revolutionary Vladimir Lenin 1926 - Theodorus Pangalos resigns as Greek dictator
1932 - Bradman scores 167 for Australia v South Africa at the MCG
1932 - British East Indies Viceroy Willingdon arrests Gandhi & Nehru
1932 - State of siege proclaimed in Honduras
1934 - 1st Dutch talkie movie, Jan Teunissen's "Willem of Orange," premieres
1935 - Bob Hope 1st heard on network radio as part of "The Intimate Revue"
1935 - Ft Jefferson National Monument, Fla established
1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its 1st music hit parade
1936 - Grimmett becomes world record wicket taker with no 190 v South Africa
1939 - Frieda Wunderlich elected 1st woman dean of a US graduate school
1939 - Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration
1941 - Resistance fighters counter d'Estienne d'Orves/Jan Doornik, 1st meet
1942 - NFL Pro Bowl: Chi Bears beats NFL All-Stars 35-24
1942 - Premier Churchill & General Marshall fly to Florida
1942 - Rogers Hornsby is 14th player selected to the Hall of Fame
Novelist Thomas Mann 1943 - Thomas Mann completes his tetralogy, "Joseph & His Brothers"
1944 - Ralph Bunche appointed 1st Negro official in US State Department
1945 - Germans execute resistance fighters in Amsterdam
1945 - US jeep-aircraft carrier Ommaney Bay sinks after kamikaze attack
1947 - "Park Avenue" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 72 performances
1947 - "Show Boat" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 417 performances
1948 - Burma declares independence from UK
1951 - During Korean conflict, Chinese forces capture Seoul
1953 - KTSM TV channel 9 in El Paso, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1954 - Elvis Presley records a 10 minute demo in Nashville
1954 - Soap Opera "The Brighter Day" premieres
1957 - "Blondie" situation comedy premieres on NBC TV (later on CBS)
1957 - Dodgers buy 44 passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000
1958 - Sputnik 1 reenters atmosphere & burns up
1959 - Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes 1st craft to leave Earth's gravity
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley 1960 - European Free Trade Association forms in Stockholm
1961 - Longest recorded strike ends-33 yrs-Danish barbers' assistants
1962 - 1st automated (unmanned) subway train (NYC)
1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.
1963 - Soviet Luna (4) reaches Earth orbit but fails to reach Moon
1965 - LBJ's "Great Society" State of the Union Address
1966 - Doug Walters scores second Test century in his second Test
1966 - WFLD TV channel 32 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins broadcasting
1968 - Duck hunter accidentally shoots endangered whooping crane in Texas
1968 - Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars for $13 million
1969 - "Fig Leaves Are Falling" closes at Broadhurst NYC after 4 perfs
1969 - France begins arms embargo against Israel
1970 - Beatles last recording session at EMI studios
1970 - KC Chiefs beat Oakland Raiders 17-7 in AFC championship game
1970 - Minnesota Vikings beat Cleveland Browns 27-7 in NFC championship game
1970 - NYC transit fare rises from 20 cents to 30 cents, new larger tokens used
1970 - Walter Cronkite ends hosting weekly documentary

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 227

1077 - Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty in China (d. 1100)
1334 - Amadeus VI, [Green Count], Count of Savoy (d. 1383)
1567 - Franciscus Aguilon, physicist/mathematician/jesuit/architect
1579 - Willem Teellinck, Dutch theologist/vicar
1581 - James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh (claimed world began 4004 BC).
1604 - Jacob Balde, German jesuit/barok conductor (Jephthe)
1664 - Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (d. 1742)
1672 - Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (d. 1742)
1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (Il Prigioniero Superbo)
1717 - Antonio Maria Mazzoni, composer
1720 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German (court)composer/organist
1726 - Cornelis Ploos van Amstel, Dutch engraver/art collector
1739 - Henrik C Cras, Dutch lawyer (Laudatio Hugonis Grotii)
1756 - Anne Nagell van Ampsen, Dutch politician
1759 - Maria Rosa Coccia, composer
1772 - Paul-Louis Courier, (de Mere), French writer/interpreter
1773 - Johann Peter Heuschkel, composer
1785 - Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm, Germany, philologist and folklorist and editor of "Grimm's Fairy Tales" (d. 1863)
1789 - Benjamin Lundy, philanthropist/abolitionist
1797 - Wilhelm Beer, Germany, amateur astronomer (constructed 1st Moon map)
1805 - Stephan Hale Alonzo Marsh, composer
1807 - Baltasar Saldoni, composer
Braille Inventor Louis Braille (1809) 1809 - Louis Braille, Coupvray France, developer (reading system for blind)
1813 - Alexander Freiherr von Bach, Austria attorney/premier (1852-59)
1813 - Isaac Pitman, Britain, inventor (stenographic shorthand)
1813 - Louis L Bonaparte, English/French linguist/senator
1821 - John James Peck, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1878
1822 - Joseph Jones Reynolds, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1899
1823 - Otto van Rees, gov-gen of Dutch-Indies (1884-88)
1823 - Peter Joseph Osterhaus, Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1917
1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)
1837 - Casimiro de Abreu, Brazil, poet (Camoes e o jau)
1838 - Charles Stratton, [General Tom Thumb] (famous short person)
1839 - Carl Humann, German engineer (d. 1896)
1842 - Frederic T. Greenhalge, 38th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1844 - Thomas H Rollinson, composer
1847 - Hendrik Goeman Borgesius, Dutch politician
1848 - Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913)
1869 - Percy Pitt, composer
1869 - Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player (d. 1960)
1872 - Edmund Rumpler, Austria, auto/airplane builder
1874 - Josef Suk, Czech violinist/composer (Asrael)
1874 - Sven Fleuron, writer
1877 - Gibson Gowland, England, actor (Blind Husbands, Phantom of the Opera)
1878 - Alfred Edgar Coppard, England, writer (Black Dogs & Other Stories)
1878 - Augustus John, Welsh painter (d. 1961)
1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German painter/poet/sculptor (Seated Youth)
1882 - Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist (d. 1943)
1883 - Johanna Westerdijk, botanist/Neth 1st female prof (Utrecht, 1917-52)
1883 - Max Eastman, American critic/essayist and editor of The Masses (d. 1969)
1888 - Arthur Berry, England, soccer player (Olympic-gold-1908, 12)
1889 - Albertus W "Albert" van Dalsum, actor/director (Abandoned Child)
1890 - Alfred G Jodl, German Wehrmacht general/chief of staff
1890 - Mosa Pijade, Yugoslavia, MP (communist)
1891 - Edward Brooker, Premier of Tasmania (d. 1948)
1893 - Manuel Palau Boix, composer
1893 - Yone Minagawa, Japanese, became worlds oldest living person January 29, 2007. (d. Aug. 13, 2007)
1894 - Wesley La Violette, composer
1894 - Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (d. 1962)
1895 - Lourens G M Baas Becking, Dutch botanist/resistance fighter
1895 - Leroy Grumman, American industrialist (d. 1982)
1896 - Everett Dirksen, American politician (Sen-R-Ill) (d. 1969)
1898 - Roger Vuataz, composer
1900 - James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
1901 - C. L. R. James, writer and journalist (d. 1989)
1902 - John McCone, CIA Director (d. 1991)
1903 - Joris Diels, Flemish actor/director (Haagsche Comedy)
1905 - Sterling Holloway, Cedartown Ga, actor (Waldo-Life of Riley)
1908 - Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal, Austrian nude model/Hitler's lover
1908 - Walther Vanbeselaere, Flemish art historian
1910 - Arthur Villeneuve, Quebec painter (d. 1990)
1913 - Malietoa Tanumafili II, King of West-Samoa (1962- )
1914 - Mohammed Sahir, shah (Afghanistan)
1914 - Herman Franks, American baseball player
1916 - Catherina Elisabeth "Tootje" Vreede, portrait painter
1916 - Robert Parrish, Columbus Ga, director (Casino Royale)
1916 - Slim Gaillard [Bulee], Edinburgh, Scotland, American Jazz singer/songwriter (d. 1991)
1916 - Lionel Newman, American film music composer (d. 1989)
1917 - Maurice Wohl, English broker/multi-millionaire
1919 - Al "Jazbo" Collins, NYC, DJ (Tonight! America After Dark)
1919 - Havelock Henry Trevor Hudson, underwriter (Lloyd's of London)
1920 - Benito Perez Galdos, Spanish writer (Fortunata y Jacinta)
1920 - William Egan Colby, CIA director (Nixon)
1922 - Frank Wess, flutist/saxophonist/composer
1922 - Rosalie Crutchley, English actress (d. 1997)
1923 - Flavio Testi, composer
1924 - Sebastian Kappen, Indian theologian (d. 1993)
1925 - Veikko Hakulinen, Finland, 30K/50K cross country skier (Oly-gold-1956)
1927 - Barbara Rush, Denver Co, actress (Marsha-Peyton Place, Flamingo Road)
1927 - Paul Desmarais, Canadian businessman
1929 - Amitai W Etzioni, US sociologist (Active Society)
1929 - Bobby Tulloch, ornithologist
1929 - Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist, sculptor
1930 - Don Shula, winningest NFL coach (Miami Dolphins)
1930 - Iain Cuthbertson, British actor (Guilty, Scandal, Rep, Danger UXB)
1930 - Sorrell Booke, Buffalo NY, actor (Bye Bye Braverman, Black Like Me)
1931 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, First Lady of Fiji (d. 2004)
1931 - Sir William Deane, Governor-General of Australia 1996-2001
1932 - Richard Stahl, Detroit Mich, actor (Howard-It's a Living)
1932 - Carlos Saura, Spanish director

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 3 of 3

1997 - Czech Republic's first president Vaclav Havel (60) weds Czech actress Dagmar Havlova (43) in Prague, Czech Republic
1997 - "Smothers Brothers" actor-singer Dick Smothers (58) weds Denby Franklin (47) in Las Vegas
2012 - Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry (66) weds PR executive Amanda Sheppard (29) in Turks and Caicos Island

Famous Divorces

Divorces 1 - 1 of 1

2004 - Britney Spears has her surprise marriage annulled less than 55 hours after tying the knot with childhood friend Jason Alexander at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 173

838 - Babak, Persian social/religious reformer, martyred
1248 - King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)
1428 - Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 'The Warlike' (b. 1370)
1564 - Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b. 1514)
1584 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter/cartoonist/playwright, dies at 44
1612 - Henry L Spieghel, Dutch merchant/writer, dies at 62
1678 - Johan Maetsuyker, Dutch gov-general of Ceylon (1653-78), dies at 71
1695 - Duke of Luxembourg, Luxembourg/French marshal, dies
1701 - Ernst R Tarhemberg, Austria, field marshal, dies at 62
1707 - Louis Willem I, count of Baden-Baden, dies
1729 - Joseph de Montesquiou earl d'Artagnan, French lt-general, dies at 77
1729 - Meir Bacharach, Hebrew poet, dies
1745 - Willem I Kerricx, the Young, Flemish architect/painter, dies at 62
1752 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (paradox of Cramer), dies at 47
1761 - Stephen Hales, English vicar/inventor (ventilator), dies at 83
1765 - Joseph Franz Xaver Dominik Stalder, composer, dies at 39
1773 - Anton Losenko, Russian painter (b. 1737)
1778 - Charles D J Eisen, French engraver/painter, dies at 57
1782 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (Ecole Military), dies at 83
1786 - Mozes Mendelssohn, Jewish/German philosopher (Haksalah), dies at 56
1793 - Bengt Lidner, Swedish poet (Medea/Yttersa domen), dies at 35
1804 - Charlotte Lennox, English novelist (The Female Quixote), dies
1809 - Bartolomeo Giacometti, composer, dies at 67
1st American-born Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1821) 1821 - Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, 1st native-born American saint, dies in Maryland at 46
1825 - Ferdinand I, King of Sicily/Naples (Ferdinand IV), dies at 73
1831 - Nikola P Neofit Rilski, Bulgaria abbot/poet, dies at 37
1843 - Petronella Moens, Frisian author/poetess, dies at 80
1864 - Mateo Ferrer, composer, dies at 75
1874 - Thomas Gregson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1798)
1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, US robber baron, dies at 82
1880 - Anselm Feuerbach, German painter, dies
1882 - John William Draper, English scientist, photographer (b. 1811)
1883 - Nicolas Ledesma, composer, dies at 91
1883 - Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (b. 1823)
1885 - Eduard Yosif Kotek, composer, dies at 29
1886 - Ernest Panckoucke, French publisher (Horace), dies at 77
1891 - Joe Hunter, cricket wicket-keeper (England on 1884-85 Aust tour), dies
1891 - Antoine Labelle, Quebec catholic priest (b. 1833)
1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
1898 - Frantisek Pivoda, composer, dies at 73
1903 - Geo[rge J H] Poggenbeek, Dutch surrealist painter, dies at 49
1903 - W H M "Dicky" Richards, cricketer (score 4 & 0 in Test for S Af), dies
1903 - Gulstan Ropert, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1839)
1903 - Topsy the elephant (b. circa 1875)
1908 - Antony Winkler Prins, writer (Groiller Encyclopaedia), dies at 70
1910 - Leon Delagrange, French aviation pioneer, dies
1913 - Alfred von Schlieffen, Prussian general-field marshal, dies at 79
1914 - Silas Weir Mitchell, US physician/author (Free Quaker), dies at 84
1919 - Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1843)
1920 - Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (b. 1843)
1924 - Alfred Grünfeld, Austrian pianist, composer (b. 1852)
1931 - Art Acord, western actor (Set Free, Spurs & Saddles), dies at 40
1933 - Lucas Lindeboom, Dutch evangelist (Vredebond), dies at 87
1940 - Conrad Weiss, German writer/poet (Heart of Words), dies at 59
1941 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher (Le Rire, Nobel 1928), dies at 81
1942 - Leon Jessel, composer, dies at 70
1944 - Henri "Hans" Flu, Indonesian/Dutch family doctor/antifascist, murder
1944 - Kaj Munk, [Harald Leininger], anti-fascist writer (Kaj Munk), dies
1946 - Barney Oldfield, daredevil, dies at 67
1947 - Forrest Reid, Irish author/critic (Young Tom, Apostate), dies at 71
1952 - Constantly Permeke, Flemish painter (Boerin), dies at 65
1953 - Arthur Hoyt, actor (Gold Rush Gertie, Lost World), dies at 78
1955 - Dominicus Johner, composer, dies at 80
1955 - Francois Rasse, composer, dies at 81
1955 - Jan D Domela Nieuwenhuis Nyegaard, Dutch preacher, dies at 84
1956 - Alexandr Tikhonovich Grechaninov, composer, dies at 91
1957 - Theodor Korner von Siegringen, Austrian pres (1951-57), dies at 84
1958 - Waverley John Anderson, Scot, viscount/governor of Bengal, dies at 75
Author Albert Camus (1960) 1960 - Albert Camus, French author (Stranger), dies in an auto accident at 46
1961 - Barry Fitzgerald, actor (Going My Way), dies at 72
1961 - Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian physicist and Nobel Laureate, dies at 73
1962 - Hans Lammers, German SS officer (b. 1879)
1964 - Ralph Dumke, actor (Movieland Quiz), dies at 64
1965 - T S Eliot, poet and Nobel laureate (Washed Country), dies in London at 76
1967 - Donald Campbell, boat racer, dies trying to break 300 mph on water
1968 - Joseph Pholien, Belgian PM (1950-52) communist fighter, dies at 83
1969 - Montague Fawcett Phillips, composer, dies at 83
1969 - Daisy and Violet Hilton, British conjoined twins (b. 1908)
1970 - Jean-Étienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)
1971 - Arthur Ford, American clairaudient (b. 1896)
1972 - Carl-Olof Anderberg, composer, dies at 57
1974 - Karel Janacek, composer, dies at 70
1975 - Carlo Levi, Italian writer (Parole Sono Pietre), dies at 72
Author and Nobel Laureate T S Eliot (1965) 1976 - Jan B Cammans, Flemish actor (Brothers Karamazov), dies at 84
1978 - Willem Bruynzeel, Dutch timber/lumber/wood manufacturer, dies at 76
1985 - Brian Gwynne Horrocks, English lt-general (A Full Life), dies at 89
1985 - Lovro von Matacic, Croatian conductor (b. 1899)
1986 - Christopher Isherwood, British writer (Lions & Shadows), dies at 81
1986 - Phil Lynott, rocker (Thin Lizzy), dies of overdose at 34
1987 - F van Heek, Dutch sociologist, dies at 79
1987 - Jack Martin, cricketer (Eng pace bowler, 1-111 & 0-18 in Test), dies
1987 - Peggy Bacon, author/illustrator (Off With Their Heads), dies at 91
1988 - Lily Laskine, French harpist (b. 1893)
1990 - Alberto Lleras Camargo, president of Colombia (1945-46, 58-62), dies
1990 - Robert F Adams, US, sci-fi author (Castaways in Time), dies at 57
1990 - Harold Edgerton, American electrical engineer (b. 1903)
1990 - Sir Henry Bolte, Premier of Victoria 1955-1972 (b. 1908)
1991 - Berry Kroeger, actor (Demon Seed), dies of kidney failure at 78
1991 - Harry Krimer, actor (Napoleon), committed suicide at 94
1991 - Leo N Wright, US saxophonist (I Left My Heart in SF), dies at 57