- Jan 1 62nd Orange Bowl: #6 Florida State beats #8 Notre Dame, 31-26
- Jan 1 82nd Rose Bowl: #17 Southern California beats #3 Northwestern, 41-32
- Jan 1 After 27 years, Betty Rubble debuts as a Flintstone vitamin
- Jan 1 Curacao gains limited form of self rule (Status Aparte)
- Jan 2 25th Fiesta Bowl: #1 Nebraska beats #2 Florida, 62-24
- Jan 2 The US deploys troops in Northern Bosnia with the intention of maintaining order and peace between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims
- Jan 3 1st clamshell flip mobile phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale. Eventually 60 million are sold.
- Jan 4 "Father" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 52 performances
- Jan 5 Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone
- Jan 5 Muralitharan no-balled for throwing in ODI v WI at the Gabba
Croatia Win 1st Title
Jan 6 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Goran Ivanišević & Iva Majoli win Croatia's first title; at 1 rubber apiece Switzerland's Marc Rosset & Martina Hingis forced to retire at 3-6, 7-6, 4-5 in the deciding doubles rubber
- Jan 6 Record £42 million ($65.2 million) British lottery won by 3 people (2-3-4-13-42-44)
- Jan 7 "Fool Moon", starring Bill Irwin, closes at Ambassador Theater, NYC, after 81 performances
- Jan 7 16th United Negro College Fund raises $12,600,000
"Crazy For You"
Jan 7 Musical featuring works of George and Ira Gershwin "Crazy For You" closes at Shubert Theater, NYC, after 1622 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards
- Jan 8 Blizzard buries eastern US causing at least 50 deaths
- Jan 8 For 1st time in 25 years no one is elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
"3rd Rock from the Sun"
Jan 9 1st episode of TV sitcom "3rd Rock from the Sun" by Bonnie and Terry Turner and starring John Lithgow and Kristen Johnston screens on NBC
- Jan 10 Boston guard Dana Barros sinks a 3-point field goal in his 89th straight game, during the Celtics' 113-104 win over Sacramento Kings; NBA record streak ends in next game when he goes 0 from 9
- Jan 10 Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Coach Johnson
Jan 10 Jimmy Johnson announced as new coach of Miami Dolphins
- Jan 10 King Hussein of Jordan visits Israel
- Jan 11 Haiti becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty
- Jan 11 Space Shuttle STS 72 (Endeavour 10), launches into space
- Jan 12 Russian troops arrive in Bosnia as part of a joint operation with the US
- Jan 14 "Holiday" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 49 performances
- Jan 14 "Swinging On a Star" closes at Music Box Theater NYC after 97 performances
- Jan 14 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Indianapolis Colts, 20-16
- Jan 14 NFC Championship, Texas Stadium: Dallas Cowboys beat Green Bay Packers, 38-27
11th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Jan 17 11th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: David Bowie; Jefferson Airplane; Little Willie John; Gladys Knight and the Pips; Pink Floyd; The Shirelles; The Velvet Underground; Pete Seeger; and Tom Donahue
Yzerman Scores 500
Jan 17 Detroit center Steve Yzerman scores his 500th career NHL goal as the Red Wings beat Colorado, 3-2 at Joe Louis Arena and joins Gordie Howe as the only players to score 500 goals for Detroit
- Jan 17 Iraq agrees to talks concerning a UN plan to allow for the Iraqi sale of $1 billion of oil; proceeds from the sale would be used for humanitarian purposes
- Jan 17 The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
- Jan 18 Baseball owners unanimously approve interleague play in 1997
- Jan 19 NHL Board of Governors approves sale of Winnipeg Jets, officially clearing the way for the team to move to Phoenix, Arizona in time for 1996-97 season
46th NHL All-Star Game
Jan 20 46th NHL All-Star Game, FleetCenter, Boston, MA: East beats West, 5-4; MVP: Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins, D
- Jan 20 Australia defeat Sri Lanka 2-0 to win cricket's World Series Cup
- Jan 20 US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Michelle Kwan
- Jan 20 WPAT FM NYC radio station switches to English-Spanish format
53rd Golden Globes
Jan 21 53rd Golden Globes: "Sense and Sensibility", Nicolas Cage, & Sharon Stone win
- Jan 21 US male Figure Skating championship won by Rudy Galindo
- Jan 23 Chris Cairns scores 120, 96 balls, 10x4, 9x6 in Test NZ v Zimbabwe
- Jan 23 The first version of the Java programming language released
- Jan 25 Ottawa Senators set an NHL record with 16th consecutive home game without a win (0-15-1) in a 4-2 loss to Detroit at the Palladium; old record (15) shared by 1928 Black Hawks & 1939 Canadiens
- Jan 27 15 day old conjoined twins separated: Sarah Morales survives, Sarahi dies
Seles Defeats Huber
Jan 27 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Monica Seles beats Anke Huber of Germany 6-4, 6-1 for her first and only Grand Slam victory after her stabbing
- Jan 27 Catherine Roskam becomes the 1st NY female Episcopal bishop
- Jan 27 Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected President of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup
- Jan 27 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- Jan 27 Germany celebrates its 1st Holocaust Remembrance Day
- Jan 27 Shiv Chanderpaul scores 303* for Guyana v Jamaica at Kingston
- Jan 28 12th Sundance Film Festival: "Welcome to the Dollhouse" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Becker's Last Grand Slam Title
Jan 28 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Boris Becker of Germany wins his 6th and last career Grand Slam title; beats American Michael Chang 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
- Jan 28 Revival of Jerry Herman's musical "Hello Dolly!", starring Carol Channing, closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater, NYC, after 118 performances
- Jan 28 Super Bowl XXX, Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ: Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17; MVP: Larry Brown, Dallas, CB
23rd American Music Awards
Jan 29 23rd American Music Awards: Garth Brooks wins
- Jan 29 6,138th performance of "Cats" is held in London, surpassing record of Broadway's longest-running musical, "A Chorus Line"
End of Nuclear Testing
Jan 29 France will no longer test nuclear weapons, its president Jacques Chirac says, following international outcry over tests in the Pacific
- Jan 29 La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire
Boon's Last Day
Jan 29 Last day of Test cricket for Australian cricketer David Boon
- Jan 30 Commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet Scott Redd states that Iran test-fired a new anti-ship missile near the Strait of Hormuz
- Jan 30 Future Basketball Hall of Famer Magic Johnson comes out of a 5 year retirement; helps LA Lakers to 128-118 win over Golden State at the Great Western Forum with 19 points, 8 rebounds & 10 assists
- Jan 30 Gino Gallagher, the suspected leader of the Irish National Liberation Army, is killed while waiting in line for his unemployment benefit.
- Jan 31 50 people die and many more injured in a suicide bombing in Sri Lanka by separatist Tamil Tigers
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