- 474 Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire together with his son Leo II (age 6 or 7)
- 661 Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with the death of its leader, Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate.
- 904 Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher
Napier Predicts the Apocalypse
1594 Mathematician John Napier dedicates his "Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John" to King James VI, predicts end of the world in 1688 or 1700
"Romeo and Juliet"
1595 William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" is thought to have been first performed. Officially published early 1597.
"The Fair of Venice"
1772 "La Fiera di Venezia (The Fair of Venice)", a commedia per musica by Antonio Salieri first performed at Carnival in Venice
Governor of Massachusetts Resigns
1785 In a surprising announcement, John Hancock resigns as Governor of Massachusetts, allegedly due to his failing health
First Burns Night
1802 First celebration of Burns Night, in honor of poet Robert Burns's birthday by The Mother Club in Greenock (later realized his actual birthday 25th January)
Hobson Arrives in NZ
1840 First Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi Captain William Hobson arrives in the Bay of Islands, NZ
"The Raven"
1845 American writer Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" 1st published in The Evening Mirror newspaper (New York City)
- 1848 Sicily accepts new Constitution (choose parliament/freedom of press)
Compromise of 1850
1850 Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850 to defuse tensions between slave states and free states over territories won during the Mexican–American War
- 1856 Victoria Cross established to acknowledge valour in the face of the enemy (United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries)
- 1860 American College established in Rome by Pope Pius IX
- 1861 US state of Kansas admitted to the Union as the 34th state
- 1863 Bear River Massacre: American soldiers slaughter hundreds of Native Americans at the confluence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek in present day Idaho
- 1872 Francis L Cardoza elected State Treasurer of South Carolina
Custer Battlefield Monument
1879 Custer Battlefield National Monument established in Montana
- 1891 Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch
- 1892 The Coca-Cola Company is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia
- 1895 King Koko's Kopermannen assault on Akassa Niger, 100's killed
- 1896 American Emile Grubbe is the first doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
- 1900 American League organized in Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Minneapolis
- 1903 Dutch railroad workers strike
- 1904 1st athletic letters given (University of Chicago football team)
Nicolas II's Worker Reforms
1905 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia, unsettled by the rising violence and protest, enacts reforms to improve the conditions of workers; these changes will do little to stop disorder throughout Russia in ensuing months
- 1906 Dutch speed skater Coen de King skates a world record 32,370m in one hour
First Native American Senator
1907 Republican Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the 1st Native American US Senator
- 1908 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, at Cornell University, incorporates
- 1912 Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts
- 1913 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, at Howard University, incorporates
- 1916 1st bombing of Paris by German Zeppelins takes place
- 1917 British submarine K13 sank in Gaire Loch, Scotland; killing 32 of her crew
- 1918 Ukrainian-Soviet War: Battle of Kruty
Disney Starts Work
1920 Walt Disney starts work as an artist with KC Slide Co for $40 a week
- 1921 Great Olympic Blowdown: Hurricane force winds hit US Pacific Northwest states of Washington and Oregon [1]
- 1922 Union of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador dissolved
- 1923 1st flight of autogiro (Juan de la Cierva, Madrid Spain)
- 1924 Ice cream cone rolling machine patented by Carl Taylor, Cleveland
1st Winter Olympics
1924 Swiss team of Denis Vaucher (C), Alfred Aufdenblatten, Antoine Julen & Alfons Julen win the military patrol gold medal at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; first version of the biathlon
Lloyd George Liberal Leader
1925 British Liberal Party chooses David Lloyd George as leader
First Baseball Hall of Fame
1936 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson
- 1941 Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece
- 1942 1st broadcast of Roy Plomley's "Desert Island Discs" on BBC radio
- 1942 German & Italian troops occupy Benghazi, Libya
- 1942 Peru and Ecuador sign Protocol of Rio (boundary determination)
- 1943 New Zealand cruiser Kiwi collides with Japanese submarine I-1 at Guadalcanal
- 1943 Sidney Kingsley's play "Patriots" premieres in NYC
- 1943 U.S. cruiser "Chicago" is heavily damaged by Japanese bombers on the first day of the Battle of Rennell Island
- 1944 USS Missouri, the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, is launched
- 1944 World War II: 285 German bombers attack London
- 1944 World War II: About 38 men, women, and children die in the Koniuchy massacre in Poland
- 1944 World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy
"All My Sons"
1947 Arthur Miller's play "All My Sons" premieres in NYC
- 1948 Commissioner Happy Chandler fines the Yankees, Cubs and Phillies $500 each for signing high school players
- 1948 Pakistan Socialist Party is founded
- 1949 Great Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland recognize Israel
- 1951 Baseball signs 6 year All-Star pact for TV-radio rights for $6 million
- 1954 Arnold Schoenberg's last musical work "De Profundis" premieres in Cologne, Germany
- 1955 John Williams Cox buys Yankee Stadium, sells grounds to Knights of Columbus, later leaves structure to Rice University (1962)
Event of Interest
1956 Friedrich Durrenmatt's "Der Besuch der Alten Dame" premieres in Zurich
"The Potting Shed"
1957 Graham Greene's play "The Potting Shed" premieres at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway in NYC
- 1958 Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming
- 1959 Smog pollution with readings higher than the 1952 'Great Smog of London' hits London, with many suffering chest and lung-related illnesses
- 1959 Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released
- 1960 Baseball's new Continental League awards its 8th, and last, franchise to Buffalo, New York
NFL Hall of Hall
1963 Jim Thorpe, Red Grange & George Halas elected to football Hall of Fame
"Dr Strangelove"
1964 "Dr Strangelove", directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, premieres
- 1964 IX Winter Olympic Games open in Innsbruck, Austria
- 1964 Most lopsided high-school basketball score 211-29 (Louisiana)
- 1964 NBC purchases AFL 5 year (1965-69) TV rights for $36 million
- 1964 The Beatles record in German language versions of their hits "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" ("I Want to Hold Your Hand") and "Sie Liebt Dich" (She Loves You") at EMI's Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris, France
- 1964 Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn launcher test attains Earth orbit
"Sweet Charity"
1966 Neil Simon, Cy Coleman, and Dorothy Fields' musical "Sweet Charity", starring Gwen Verdon, and directed by Bob Fosse, opens at the Palace Theater, NYC for 608 performances, winning a Tony Award for choreogrphy
- 1966 Snow storm in north east US kills 165
Baseball Hall of Fame
1967 Branch Rickey and Lloyd Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1967 Kees Verkerk becomes European skating champ
- 1967 The Arusha Declaration written by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere is issued, clarifying Tanzania's path towards Ujamaa (African socialism)
- 1967 WDAZ TV channel 8 in Devils Lake, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1968 Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) adopts constitution
- 1969 Sheahan & Connolly hang on for exciting draw Australia v West Indies
- 1970 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1971 Test debut of Dennis Keith Lillee, v England at Adelaide
- 1973 International agreement to pay for and conserve 9th century Borobudur Temple in Indonesia, world's largest Buddhist temple (completed 1982). Beginnings of the World Heritage Convention. [1]
- 1974 1974 NFL Draft: Ed Jones from Tennessee State first pick by Dallas Cowboys
- 1974 Kuwait announces 60 percent government participation in BP-Gulf concession
- 1975 First American Annual Comedy Awards, hosted by Alan King
- 1975 West Indies win fifth test against India to win an exciting series 3-2
- 1976 Bombs set off in London's West End by the IRA; 1 person is injured
- 1976 Zeiss planetarium in the Hague destroyed by fire
Carner Wins Colgate Triple Crown
1978 Joanne Carner wins Colgate Triple Crown Match-Play Golf Championship
- 1979 Brenda Spencer (16) kills 2 adults and injures 8 children and a police officer in a San Diego, California schoolyard shooting; incident inspires Irish rockers Boomtown Rats' song "I Don't Like Mondays"
Deng Visits Washington
1979 Chinese Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping visits Washington, D.C., the highest ranking Chinese Communist Party official to do so
- 1979 English progressive rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer disband after 10 years together
Hearst's Sentence Commuted
1979 US President Jimmy Carter commutes Patty Hearst's 7 year jail sentence to time served (22 months)
- 1980 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
- 1980 Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT
- 1981 AL approves sale of White Sox to Jerry Reinsdorf & Eddie Einhorn for $20 million, & 80% of Mariners to George Argyros for $104 million
- 1982 Old Dominion ends Louisiana Tech's women's basketball record 54-game winning streak
- 1982 Wayne Garland, baseball 1st millionaire free agent, waived by Indians
- 1983 "Down Under" by Men At Work hits #1 on UK pop chart
Reagan Second Term
1984 President Reagan formally announces he will seek a 2nd term
Kurri's 100th Point
1985 Jari Kurri of Edmonton Oilers scores 100th pt of season in game 39
Oxford Refuses Thatcher
1985 Oxford University refuses to award Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree
Casey's CIA Term Ends
1987 William J. Casey term as 13th director of the CIA ends
- 1988 Canadian Ben Johnson breaks own 50-yard dash world record at 5.15
- 1988 Detroit Pistons draw a then record NBA regular season crowd of 61,983 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome for a 125-108 win over the Boston Celtics
- 1988 Detroit's Kirk Gibson signs a 3-year contract with Dodgers
- 1988 United Airlines Boeing 747SP, circles world in 36h54m15s
- 1989 Cleveland's Chris Dudley misses 5 free throws during 1 foul attempt
- 1989 Dow jumps 38.06 recoups 508-pt loss since Oct 1987; index at 2,256.43
- 1989 Episcopal Church of the United States, Diocese of Massachusetts elects Barbara Harris as its first female bishop
RBI Dropped
1989 Game-winning RBI, official statistic dropped after 9 years of use NY Mets Keith Hernandez is the all-time leader with 129
- 1989 L I preacher Gene Profeta pleads guilty to tax-evasion
- 1989 Orlando Arena opens in Orlando, Florida
- 1989 USSR's Phobos II enters Martian orbit
- 1990 Exxon Valdez capt Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial due to oil spill
Mandela, Buthelezi Meet
1991 Nelson Mandela and anti-Apartheid leader and Zulu prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi meet after 28 years
- 1991 The Battle of Khafji begins, the first major ground engagement of the Gulf War
Percy Lavon Julian Stamp
1993 US postal service issues a stamp commemorating chemist Percy Lavon Julian
Super Bowl XXIX
1995 Super Bowl XXIX, Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, FL: San Francisco 49ers beat San Diego Chargers, 49-26; MVP: Steve Young, SF, QB
- 1996 6,138th performance of "Cats" is held in London, surpassing record of Broadway's longest-running musical, "A Chorus Line"
End of Nuclear Testing
1996 France will no longer test nuclear weapons, its president Jacques Chirac says, following international outcry over tests in the Pacific
- 1996 La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire
Boon's Last Day
1996 Last day of Test cricket for Australian cricketer David Boon
- 1998 Singer Bobby Brown found guilty of DWI in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- 1998 Soyuz TM-27 launches to MIR
- 1998 Thick Fog causes highway carnage in Belgium and Netherlands, 6 die
- 1998 Woman's Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama bombed, 1 killed
Malone 3rd to Score 30,000
2000 Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz becomes the 3rd player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points; finishes with 35 in a 96-94 loss to Minnesota; behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419)
Chargers Hire Schottenheimer
2002 The San Diego Chargers hire Marty Schottenheimer as their 13th head coach
Bush's "Axis of Evil"
2002 US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address describes "regimes that sponsor terror" an "Axis of Evil", which includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea
- 2003 Sally Clark cleared of murdering her 2 sons after more than 3 years of prison in what was a life sentence
- 2005 The first direct commercial flights from the mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrives in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier lands in Beijing.
- 2006 Irfan Pathan becomes first bowler to take a Test cricket hat-trick in the opening over of a match
Hattie McDaniel Stamp
2006 US Postal Service releases 39-cent stamp featuring Hattie McDaniel in the dress she wore in 1940 when she became the 1st African-American actress to accept an Academy Award
Canadiens Retire Dryden's #29
2007 Ken Dryden's #29 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens
- 2009 Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illinois, is removed from office after being convicted of corruption charges
1st SuperPipe Perfect Score
2012 American snowboarder Shaun White achieves the first ever SuperPipe perfect score (100) in Winter X Games history
- 2014 Archaeologists discover the oldest Roman Temple (6th C BC) at Sant’Omobono
- 2014 Bohuslav Sobotka becomes Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Ronaldo Captains Real Madrid
2014 Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the 1st non-Spanish player to captain Real Madrid, making his 500th appearance for the club
Hall of Fame
2014 Dale Jarrett is inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame
- 2014 Scientists discover how to convert normal cells into stem cells in mice
Flight MH370 Disappears
2015 Malaysia officially declares the disappearance of missing flight MH370 an accident
Beckham Launches Inter Miami
2018 David Beckham launches a Major League Soccer team in Florida; Inter Miami CF
- 2018 F.B.I deputy director Andrew G. McCabe steps down from office
"Black Panther"
2018 Marvel film "Black Panther" directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Chadwick Boseman premieres in Los Angeles
- 2018 Toronto police arrest landscaper Bruce McArthur for murder after remains of at least 5 people found in potted plants
- 2019 "Empire" star Jussie Smollett suffers suspected racist and homophobic attack in Chicago; later determined to be a self-perpetrated hoax
- 2019 Approaching polar vortex prompts state of emergency to be declared in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Alabama and Mississippi. US Postal Service suspends deliveries to ten states.
Nurmagomedov, McGregor Fined, Suspended
2019 In the aftermath to a wild ending to UFC 229, Khabib Nurmagomedov ($500k & 9 months) and Conor McGregor ($50k & 6 months) are issued fines and suspensions; bans retroactive to October 6, 2018
- 2019 Norwegian government proposes building a floating road tunnel as part of a new roadway between Kristiansand and Trondheim [1]
- 2019 Tehran, Iran bans dog walking in public, and driving with dogs
- 2019 Toronto landscaper Bruce McArthur admits in court to the murder of eight gay men
- 2020 Number of COVID-19 cases passes those of SARS with over 7,700 cases in China confirmed, with 170 deaths
- 2021 "Proposal to Prevent the Feminisation of Male Adolescents" published by China's Education Ministry asks schools to use sports to cultivate masculinity [1]
- 2021 Johnson & Johnson's Janssen single-dose vaccine shown to be 66% effective in trials, with complete protection against hospitalization and death [1]
- 2021 Nigerian farmers win landmark case against Shell at Court of Appeal of the Hague - held accountable for oil spills and ordered to carry out a clean-up in Delta region [1]
- 2021 Novavax vaccine shows 89% efficacy in UK trials, including against UK variant [1]
- 2023 AFC Championship, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri: Kansas City Chiefs beat Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20
- 2023 Brock Purdy suffers a complete tear of his ulnar collateral ligament in the NFC Championship Game
- 2023 NFC Championship, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Eagles beat SF 49ers, 31-7
- 2024 "Suits" was the most-streamed show in 2023 withu 57.7 billion minutes, followed by "Bluey" then "NCIS" according to Nielsen [1]
- 2024 Chinese property giant Evergrande with more than $300 billion in debt is ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court [1]
- 2024 Elmo the Muppet posts "Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?" on X - receives thousands of brutally honest replies [1]
