This Day in History - Jan. 6

• 0548 - This was the last year the Church in Jerusalem observed the birth of Jesus on this date. (Celebrating Christmas on 25 December began in the late 300s in the Western Church).
• 0664 - Amr ibn al-A'as dies (b. c 0583). Muslim general.
• 1066 - Harold Godwinson crowned King of England.
• 1088 - Berengar of Tours dies (b. c. 0999). French theologian.
• 1099 - Henry V, second son of Henry IV and his first wife, Bertha of Turin, is crowned king of Germany.
• 1119 - Alfonso I, el Batallador, rey de Aragón, conquista Zaragoza.
• 1205 - Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.
• 1275 - St Raymond of Peñafort dies (b. c. 1175).
• 1367 - Richard II was born. King of England was an ambitious ruler who reigned from 1377 to 1399. He was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) because of his arbitrary and factional rule.
• 1412 - Joan of Arc was born (d. 1431). French warrior and Catholic saint.
• 1448 - Christopher of Bavaria dies (b. 1418). King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
• 1449 - Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI is crowned at Mistra.
• 1481 - Akhmat Khan was born. Khan of the Golden Horde.
  
• 1486 - Martin Agricola was born (d. 1556). German composer.
• 1488 - Helius Eobanus Hessus was born (d. 1540). German poet.
• 1494 - The first Mass in the New World is celebrated at La Isabela, Hispaniola.
• 1525 - Caspar Peucer was born (d. 1602). German reformer.
• 1537 - Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence dies (b. 1510).
• 1537 - Baldassare Peruzzi dies (b. 1481). Italian architect and painter.
• 1540 - Henry VIII of England married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage lasted about six months.
• 1561 - Thomas Fincke was born (d. 1656). Danish mathematician and physicist.
• 1579 - The Union of Atrecht was signed.
• 1580 - John Smith of Jamestown is baptised (d. 1631).
• 1587 - Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares was born (d. 1645). Spanish statesman.
• 1592 - Johann Casimir of Simmern dies (b. 1543). Elector Palatine.
  
• 1595 - Claude Favre de Vaugelas was born (d. 1650). French man of letters.
• 1616 - Philip Henslowe dies. English theatrical entrepreneur.
• 1617 - Kristoffer Gabel was born (d. 1673). Danish statesman.
• 1646 - Elias Holl dies (b. 1573). German architect.
  
• 1649 - The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.
• 1655 - Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg was born (d. 1720). Holy Roman Empire Empress.
  
• 1661 - The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London.
• 1673 - 1st Duke of Chandos was born (d. 1744). English aristocrat, eponym of Handel's Chandos Anthems.
  
• 1689 - Bishop Seth Ward dies (b. 1671). English mathematician and astronomer.
• 1690 - Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I becomes King of the Romans.
• 1693 - Mehmed IV dies (b. 1642). Ex-Ottoman Sultan.
  
• 1706 (O.S.) - Benjamin Franklin was born (d. 1790). American statesman.
• 1711 - Philipp van Almonde dies (b. 1646). Dutch admiral.
• 1714 - Percivall Pott was born (d. 1788). English physician and surgeon.
• 1718 - Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina dies (b. 1664). Italian writer and jurist.
• 1718 - Richard Hoare dies (b. 1648). English goldsmith and banker.
• 1720 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings.
• 1725 - Chikamatsu Monzaemon dies (b. 1653). Japanese dramatist.
• 1728 - Domingos dos Reis Quita was born in Lisbon (d. 26 Aug 1770). Portuguese poet.
• 1731 - Étienne François Geoffroy dies (b. 1672). French chemist.
• 1734 - John Dennis dies (b. 1657). English critic and dramatist.
• 1745 - Étienne Montgolfier was born (d. 1799). French inventor.
• 1759 - George Washington married Martha Dandridge in Virginia.
• 1781 - In the Battle of Jersey on 6 January the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey.
• 1793 - James Madison Porter was born (d. 1862). American politician.
• 1795 - Anselme Payen was born (d. 1871). French chemist.
• 1799 - Jedediah Strong Smith was born (d. 1831). U.S. hunter, explorer.
  
• 1803 - Henri Herz was born (d. 1888). Austrian pianist, composer.
  
• 1806 - Horatio Nelson is laid to rest in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London.
  
• 1807 - Jozef Maximilián Petzval was born (d. 1891). Slovak inventor.
• 1808 - Joseph Pitty Couthouy was born (d. 1864). American naval officer.
• 1811 - Charles Sumner was born in Boston. American Civil War statesman.
• 1812 - Melchora Aquino was born (d. 1919). Filipino revolutionary hero.
• 1813 - Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers dies (b. 1764). French general.
• 1819 - Baldassare Verazzi was born (d. 1886). Italian painter.
  
• 1822 - Heinrich Schliemann was born (d. 1890). German-born Greek archaeologist.
• 1831 - Rodolphe Kreutzer dies (b. 1766). French violinist, composer and conductor.
• 1832 - Gustave Doré was born in Strasbourg (d. 1883). French painter and sculptor.
• 1838 - Samuel Morse first successfully tested the electrical telegraph.
• 1838 - Max Bruch was born in Cologne, Prussia. German composer.
• 1840 - Fanny Burney dies (b. 1752). English novelist and diarist.
• 1848 - Hristo Botev was born (d. 1876). Bulgarian poet.
• 1850 - Franz Xaver Scharwenka was born (d. 1924). Polish-German pianist and composer.
• 1852 - Louis Braille dies (b. 1819). He developed a system of printing and writing that is extensively used by the blind and that was named for him. French inventor of Braille system. Ver biografia em português de Louis Braille in Wikipedia.
• 1853 - President-elect of the United States Franklin Pierce and his family are involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts. Franklin and Jane survive but eleven-year-old Ben is killed.
• 1855 - Giacomo Beltrami dies (b. 1779). Italian explorer.
• 1856 - Giuseppe Martucci was born (d. 1909). Italian composer.
  
• 1857 - Hugh Mahon was born (d. 1931). Irish-born Australian politician.
  
• 1857 - William E. Russell was born (d. 1896). 37^th Governor of Massachusetts.
• 1858 - Samuel Morse first successfully tested the electrical telegraph.
• 1858 - Sébastien Faure was born in Saint-Etienne. Studied to be a Jesuit priest, was a candidate for the Marxist Workers Party, but under the influence of Peter Kropotkin, Élisée Reclus and Joseph Tortelier he moved towards anarchism.
• 1859 - Samuel Alexander was born (d. 1938). Australian-born British philosopher.
• 1861 - George Exton Lloyd was born (d. 1940). Anglican bishop and theologian.
• 1861 - Victor, Baron Horta was born (d. 8 Sep 1947). Belgian architect.
• 1864 - U.S. Army captures 11,000 Navajos, Arizona.
• 1868 - Vittorio Monti was born (d. 1922). Italian composer (Csardas).
  
• 1870 - The inauguration of the Musikverein (Vienna).
• 1870 - Gustav Bauer was born (d. 1944). Chancellor of Germany.
  
• 1872 - Alexander Scriabin was born (d. 1915). Russian composer, enigmatic figure sometimes considered the first of the modern composers.
• 1874 - Fred Niblo was born (d. 1948). American film actor, director, producer.
• 1876 - Bernardo de Sá Nogueira de Figueiredo dies (b. 26 Sep 1795). Portuguese noble (Marquês de Sá da Bandeira), field marshal and politician.
• 1878 - Carl Sandburg was born in Galesburg, Illinois (d. 22 Jul 1967). American poet, historian, novelist and folklorist, whose work Abraham Lincoln: The War Years won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1940.
• 1878 - Carl Sandburg was born (d. 1967). American poet and historian.
  
• 1878 - Dame Adeline Genée was born (d. 1970). Danish-British ballerina.
  
• 1879 - Joseph Medill Patterson was born (d. 26 May 1946). American journalist and publisher
• 1880 - Tom Mix was born (d. 1940). American silent screen actor.
• 1880 - Criciúma (Sta. Catarina, Brazil) is founded.
• 1882 - Aleksandra Ekster was born (d. 1949). Russian painter.
• 1882 - Fan S. Noli was born (d. 1965). Albanian bishop, poet, and political figure.
• 1882 - Sam Rayburn was born (d. 1961). Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1913-61).
• 1882 - Richard Henry Dana, Jr. dies (b. 1815). U.S. novelist (Two Years Before the Mast).
  
• 1883 - Khalil Gibran (The Prophet) was born in Bisharri. Lebanese-born American novelist, poet and painter.
• 1884 - Gregor Johann Mendel dies (b. 1822). Austrian geneticist.
• 1885 - Peter Christian Asbjørnsen dies (b. 1812). Norwegian writer and scientist.
• 1887 - `Abd-allah II of Harar opens the Battle of Chelenqo with an attack on the camp of the Shewan army of Negus Menelik II early in the morning; prepared for the assault, the Negus orders a counter-attack which routs the enemy, resulting with the capture of Harar a few days later.
• 1893 - Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
• 1896 - Thomas W. Knox dies (b. 1835). American writer and journalist.
  
• 1898 - Charles E. Pont was born (d. 1971). American artist.
  
• 1898 - James Fitzmaurice was born (d. 1965). Irish aviation pioneer.
• 1899 - Heinrich Nordhoff was born (d. 1968). German automobile engineer.
• 1899 - Phyllis Haver was born (d. 1960). American actress.
• 1900 - Boers attack Ladysmith, South Africa - over 1,000 people killed.
• 1900 - Kathryn Hulme was born (d. 1981). American novelist.
  
• 1902 - Helmut Poppendick was born (d. 1994). Nazi physician.
• 1903 - Francis L. Sullivan was born (d. 1956). English actor.
  
• 1903 - Maurice Abravanel was born (d. 1993). Greek-born conductor.
• 1905 - Idris Davies was born (d. 1953). Welsh poet.
• 1906 - Benedict Wallet Vilakazi was born, near Stanger, Natal. Zulu poet, novelist and educator, he devoted his academic career to the teaching of Zulu & to the study of Bantu languages.
• 1907 - Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center "Casa dei bambini," for working class children in Rome.
• 1907 - David Fleay was born (d. 1993). Australian naturalist.
  
• 1910 - Morris Wright was born (d. 1998). American writer.
• 1912 - New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
• 1912 - Jacques Ellul was born in Bordeaux. French Christian anarchist.
• 1912 - Danny Thomas was born (d. 1991). American actor.
  
• 1913 - Edward Gierek was born (d. 2001). Polish politician.
• 1913 - Loretta Young was born (d. 2000). American actress.
• 1913 - Frederick Hitch dies (b. 1856). English Victoria Cross Winner.
• 1914 - Danny Thomas was born (d. 1991). American singer, actor, and comedian.
• 1915 - Alan Watts was born (d. 1973). English writer, philosopher.
• 1915 - John C. Lilly was born (d. 2001). American psychoanalyst.
  
• 1916 - Vincent Serventy was born (d. 2007). Australian writer and conservationist.
• 1917 - Koo Chen-fu was born (d. 2005). Chinese negotiator.
• 1918 - Georg Cantor dies (b. 1845). German mathematician.
• 1919 - Max Heindel dies (b. 1865). Danish astrologer and mystic.
• 1919 - Theodore Roosevelt dies (b. 1858). 26th President of the United States, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
  
• 1920 - José Lluis Facerias, the ‘implacable fighter,’ was born. Spanish anarchist guerilla.
• 1920 - Doris Stokes was born (d. 1987). British psychic medium.
• 1920 - Early Wynn was born (d. 1999). American baseball player.
  
• 1920 - John Maynard Smith was born (d. 2004). English biologist.
  
• 1920 - Sun Myung Moon was born. Korean evangelist.
• 1921 - Cary Middlecoff was born (d. 1998). American golfer.
• 1921 - Louis Harris was born. Pollster.
• 1922 - Jakob Rosanes dies (b. 1842). German mathematician.
• 1923 - Jacobo Timerman was born (d. 1999). Argentine writer.
• 1923 - Norman Kirk was born (d. 1974). New Zealander politician.
  
• 1924 - Earl Scruggs was born. American bluegrass musician.
• 1925 - John De Lorean was born (d. 2005). American auto maker.
• 1926 - Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud becomes the King of Hejaz and renames it Saudi Arabia.
• 1926 - Ralph Branca was born. American baseball player.
• 1926 - Pat Flaherty was born (d. 2002). American racecar driver.
• 1926 - Kid Gavilan was born (d. 2003). Cuban boxer.
• 1926 - Mickey Hargitay was born (d. 2006). Hungarian-born actor and bodybuilder.
• 1926 - Kim Dae-jung was born. President of South Korea and Nobel laureate.
• 1928 - Alvin Kraenzlein dies (b. 1876). American athlete.
• 1928 - Capucine was born (d. 1990). French actress.
  
• 1928 - George H. Ross was born. American businessman.
• 1929 - King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution (the so-called January 6th Dictatorship, Šestojanuarska diktatura).
• 1929 - Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta to begin a her work amongst India's poorest and diseased people
• 1929 - Anne Rogers Clark was born (d. 2006). American dog breeder and trainer.
  
• 1929 - Babrak Karmal was born (d. 1996). Afghani politician.
• 1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip is completed (from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City).
• 1930 - Vic Tayback was born. American actor.
• 1931 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
• 1931 - E. L. Doctorow was born. American author.
• 1931 - Dickie Moore was born. Canadian hockey player.
• 1932 - Costa Pinheiro was born in Moura. Portuguese painter and artist (some sources say 6 Jun).
• 1932 - Stuart A. Rice was born. American chemist.
• 1933 - Oleg Makarov was born (d. 2003). Cosmonaut.
• 1933 - Emil Steinberger was born. Swiss comedian.
• 1933 - Vladimir de Pachmann dies (b. 1848). Russian-German pianist.
  
• 1934 - Harry M. Miller was born. Australian entrepreneur.
• 1934 - Sylvia Sims was born. English actress.
• 1934 - Tassos Papadopoulos was born. President of the Republic of Cyprus.
  
• 1934 - Herbert Chapman dies (b. 1878). Legendary Manager of Arsenal and Huddersfield Town.
• 1935 - Margarita Gomez-Acebo y Cejuela was born. Tsaritsa of Bulgaria.
• 1935 - Nino Tempo was born. American singer and actor.
• 1936 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional in the case United States v. Butler et al..
  
• 1936 - Porky Pig premieres.
• 1936 - Darlene Hard was born. American tennis player.
• 1936 - Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo was born. President of Uruguay.
• 1936 - Rubén Amaro, Sr. was born. Mexican baseball player.
• 1937 - Lou Holtz was born. American football coach.
• 1937 - Paolo Conte was born. Italian singer.
• 1937 - Doris Troy was born (d. 2004). American singer.
• 1937 - André Besette dies (b. 1845). Canadian religious figure.
• 1938 - Adriano Celentano was born. Italian singer and actor.
• 1938 - Adrienne Clarke was born. Australian botanist and politician.
• 1938 - Mario Rodríguez Cobos "Silo" was born. Argentine writer and spiritual leader.
• 1939 - Murray Rose was born. Australian Olympic swimmer.
• 1940 - Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the city of Poznan, Warthegau.
• 1940 - Penny Lernoux was born (d. 1989). American journalist and author.
• 1940 - Van McCoy was born (d. 1979). American musician.
• 1941 - U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined his Four Freedoms in his State of the Union message to Congress.
• 1941 - Keel of USS Missouri (BB-63) is laid at New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn.
• 1941 - Charley O'Leary dies (b. 1882). American baseball player.
• 1942 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
• 1942 - Henri de Baillet-Latour dies (b. 1876). Belgian International Olympic Committee president.
• 1942 - Emma Calvé dies (b. 1858). French soprano.
  
• 1942 - Henri de Baillet-Latour dies (b. 1876). Belgian International Olympic Committee president.
  
• 1943 - Terry Venables was born. English football manager.
• 1944 - Bonnie Franklin was born. American actress (''One Day At A Time'').
• 1944 - Rolf M. Zinkernagel was born. Swiss immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
  
• 1944 - Ida Tarbell dies (b. 1857). American journalist.
• 1945 - Future president George H.W. Bush married Barbara Pierce in Rye, N.Y..
  
• 1945 - Allen Appel was born. American novelist.
• 1945 - Edith Frank dies (b. 1900). Mother of Anne Frank.
  
• 1945 - Kojo Nnamdi was born. Host on NPR station WAMU.
  
• 1945 - Vladimir Vernadsky dies (b. 1863). Russian mineralogist.
• 1946 - Syd Barrett was born. English guitarist and singer (Pink Floyd).
• 1947 - Sandy Denny was born (d. 1978). English vocalist.
• 1948 - Guy Gardner was born. NASA astronaut.
• 1949 - Victor Fleming dies (b. 1883). American director.
• 1949 - José Pacheco Pereira was born. Portuguese politician and historian. Also Abrupto webmaster.
• 1950 - The United Kingdom Great Britain announced its recognition of the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs relations with Britain in response.
• 1950 - Louis Freeh was born. Former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
  
• 1951 - Don Gullett was born. American baseball player.
• 1951 - Kim Wilson was born. American musician (The Fabulous Thunderbirds).
• 1952 - Frank Sivero was born. Italian-American actor.
• 1952 - Moondog Spot was born (d. 2003). American professional wrestler.
• 1953 - Jett Williams was born. Singer.
• 1953 - Malcolm Young was born. Scottish guitarist (AC/DC).
• 1954 - Anthony Minghella was born (d. 2008). British film director (English Patient).
• 1954 - Hans Robert Hiegel was born. German architect.
• 1954 - Karen Moras was born. Australian swimmer.
• 1954 - Trudie Styler was born. English actress.
• 1954 - Yuji Horii was born. Japanese video game designer (Dragon Quest).
• 1955 - Rowan Atkinson was born. English comedian and actor.
• 1955 - Richard Corbett was born. Labour Member of the European Parliament.
• 1956 - Angus Deayton was born. English comedian, actor and television presenter.
• 1957 - C. Michael Foale was born. NASA astronaut.
• 1957 - Nancy Lopez was born. American golfer.
• 1958 - E. E. Cummings wins the Bollingen Prize for Poetry.
• 1958 - Cássia Kiss was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1958 - Scott Bryce was born. American actor.
• 1958 - Themos Anastasiadis was born. Greek journalist, television presenter and newspaper editor.
• 1959 - Kapil Dev was born. Indian cricketer.
• 1959 - Kathy Sledge was born. American singer.
• 1960 - Andrea Thompson was born. American actress.
• 1960 - Howie Long was born. American football star, sportscaster.
• 1960 - Kari Jalonen was born. Finnish ice hockey player.
• 1960 - Nigella Lawson was born. English chef and writer.
• 1960 - Paul Azinger was born. American golfer.
• 1960 - Eric Williams was born. R&B singer (BLACKstreet).
• 1961 - A fire at the Thomas Hotel in San Francisco kills 20 people.
• 1962 - Michael Houser was born (d. 2002). American musician (Widespread Panic).
• 1963 - Jazzie B was born. American musician.
• 1964 - Charles Haley was born. American football player.
• 1964 - David Wall was born. Programmer, Public Servant.
• 1964 - Henry Maske was born. German boxer.
• 1964 - Jacqueline Moore was born. American wrestler.
• 1964 - Mark O'Toole was born. English bass guitarist (Frankie Goes to Hollywood).
• 1964 - Rafael Vidal was born (d. 2005). Venezuelan athlete.
• 1964 - Yuri was born. Mexican actress and singer.
• 1965 - Bjorn Lomborg was born. Danish mathematician.
• 1965 - Konnan was born. Cuban-born professional wrestler.
• 1965 - Muhammed al-Ahari was born. American Muslim writer.
• 1966 - A. R. Rahman was born. Indian Music Composer.
• 1966 - Andrew Wood was born (d. 1990). American singer (Mother Love Bone).
• 1966 - Fernando Carrillo was born. Venezuelan actor.
• 1966 - Jean Lurçat dies (b. 1892). French painter and tapestry designer.
• 1967 - United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
• 1967 - Dave Matthews was born. Musician and bandleader (Dave Matthews Band).
• 1968 - José María San Juan wins the Nadal Prize with his novel Réquiem por todos nosotros.
• 1968 - John Singleton was born. American film director and writer.
• 1969 - Norman Reedus was born. American model and actor.
• 1970 - Gabrielle Reece was born. American volleyball player.
• 1970 - Julie Chen was born. American television host (''The Early Show,'' ''Big Brother'').
• 1971 - Gary Wiseman was born. American punk-rock drummer.
• 1971 - Irwin Thomas was born. Australian singer (ex-Southern Sons).
• 1971 - Jorge Barbosa dies in Portugal (b. 1902, Praia). Cape Verdean poet (Arquipélago).
• 1972 - Nek was born. Italian singer.
• 1972 - Chen Yi dies (b. 1901). Chinese military commander and politician.
• 1973 - Portugal : Início da publicação do jornal semanário Expresso.
• 1973 - Scott Ferguson was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1974 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
• 1974 - Daniel Cordone was born. Argentine footballer.
• 1974 - Marlon Anderson was born. American baseball player.
• 1974 - Nicole DeHuff was born (d. 2005). American actress.
  
• 1974 - David Alfaro Siqueiros dies (b. 1896). Mexican painter.
• 1975 - South Africa: 12,000 workers strike at Vaal Reefs gold mine.
• 1975 - James Farrior was born. American football player.
• 1975 - Jason King was born. English radio DJ (Radio 1).
• 1975 - Yukana was born. Japanese seiyū.
  
• 1976 - Danny Pintauro was born. American actor.
• 1976 - Johnny Yong Bosch was born. American actor, voice actor, and musician.
• 1976 - Richard Zedník was born. Slovak ice hockey player.
• 1977 - The music publisher EMI ends its contract with the notorious punk rock group the Sex Pistols after reports of abusive behaviour at Heathrow Airport, London.
• 1978 - The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after the Second World War.
• 1978 - Bubba Franks was born. American football player.
• 1978 - Casey Fossum was born. American baseball player.
• 1978 - Nikki Einfeld was born. Canadian opera singer.
• 1978 - Tara Spencer-Nairn was born. Canadian actress.
• 1978 - Burt Munro dies (b. 1899). New Zealand motorcycle racer.
• 1980 - The beginning of the first GPS epoch.
• 1980 - Hiromi Oshima was born. Japanese adult model.
• 1980 - Steed Malbranque was born. French footballer.
• 1981 - Asante Samuel was born. National Football League Defensive Back.
• 1981 - Jérémie Renier was born. Belgian actor.
• 1981 - Mike Jones was born. American rapper.
• 1981 - Rinko Kikuchi was born. Japanese actress.
• 1981 - A.J. Cronin dies (b. 1896). Scottish writer.
• 1981 - Mark David Chapman pleads not guilty, by reason of insanity, to murdering John Lennon.
• 1982 - Brian Bass was born. American baseball player.
• 1982 - Gilbert Arenas was born. American basketball player.
• 1982 - Tiffany Pollard was born. American reality television personality.
• 1982 - Albert Meister (1927-1982) dies in Kyoto. Swiss author, and anarchist sociologist. Founder of the international review "Community Development." In a totally unrelated "field" Meister & Jacques Vallet, founded, in 1977, "Le Fou parle" ("The Insane One Speaks"), a magazine of art & humor.
• 1984 - A. J. Hawk was born. American football player.
• 1984 - Sean O'Brien was born. Australian professional windsurfer.
• 1984 - Ernest Laszlo dies (b. 1898). Hungarian-U.S. cinematographer.
  
• 1985 - RP Singh was born. Indian cricketer.
• 1986 - Alex Turner was born. English musician (Arctic Monkeys).
• 1986 - Paul McShane was born. Irish footballer.
• 1989 - Andy Carroll was born. English footballer.
• 1990 - Ian Charleson dies (b. 1949). Scottish actor.
• 1990 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov dies (b. 1904). Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1991 - Nikola Saric was born. Danish footballer.
• 1992 - President Zviad Gamsakhurdia fled Georgia after a bloody two-week power struggle, leaving his parliament burning and in the hands of jubilant rebel gunmen.
• 1993 - Dizzy Gillespie dies in Englewood, New Jersey (b. 1917). American jazz trumpeter.
• He has been credited with being a co-founder (w/Charlie Parker) of ‘bebop’ music and wrote many jazz numbers ("Salt Peanuts", "Night in Tunisia").
• 1993 - Richard Mortensen dies (b. 1910). Danish painter.
  
• 1993 - Rudolf Nureyev dies (b. 1938). Russian ballet dancer.
• 1994 - La novela Azul, de la escritora española Rosa Regás (1934), gana el Premio Nadal de Novela.
• 1994 - Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an assailant under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding.
• 1994 - Cláudia Magno dies (b. 1958). Brazilian actress.
• 1994 - Ilse Losa dies (b. 1913). German-born Portuguese writer.
• 1994 - Virginia Dell Cassidy dies (b. 1923). Bill Clinton's mother.
  
• 1995 - A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
• 1995 - Joe Slovo (b. 1926), head of the South African Communist party, dies of leukaemia at the age of 68.
• 1996 - Gaithersburg Metrorail Accident on the Washington Metro system kills one in Montgomery County, Maryland, during the Blizzard of 1996.
• 1996 - Yahya Ayyash dies (b. 1966). Palestinian leader.
• 1997 - Catherine Scorsese dies (b. 1912). Italian-American actress.
• 1998 - The Lunar Prospector spacecraft is launched into orbit around the moon and later found evidence for frozen water on the moon's surface.
• 1999 - Bob Newhart receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• 1999 - Michel Petrucciani dies (b. 1962). French jazz pianist.
• 2000 - Don Martin dies (b. 1931). American cartoonist.
• 2001 - With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress certified Republican George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.
• 2002 - La novelista Angela Vallvey recibe el Premio Nadal, en su edición número 58, con la obra "Los estados carenciales".
• 2004 - Mijailo Mijailovic confessed to the fatal stabbing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in September 2003.
• 2004 - Costas Simitis announces his resignation as president of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement in Greece.
• 2004 - Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate is declared the official anthem of Karnataka.
  
• 2004 - Rosa Mena Valenzuela dies in El Salvador (b. 2004). Impressionist artist.
• 2004 - Charles Dumas dies (b. 1937). American athlete.
• 2004 - Francesco Scavullo dies (b. 1921). American photographer.
• 2004 - Pierre Charles dies (b. 1954). Prime Minister of Dominica.
  
• 2005 - Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect for the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.
• 2005 - Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders: Former Ku Klçux Kan leader Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect for the 1964 murders of three Civil Rights workers.
• 2005 - Andrea Yates' murder conviction for drowning her children in the bathtub was overturned by a Texas appeals court.
• 2005 - First World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace begins in Brussels, Belgium.
• 2005 - Lois Hole dies (b. 1933). Lt. Governor of Alberta.
• 2005 - Louis Robichaud dies (b. 1925). Premier of New Brunswick.
• 2006 - Tropical Storm Zeta (2005) dissipates, ending the notorious 2005 hurricane season.
• 2006 - Lou Rawls dies (b. 1933). American singer.
• 2006 - Hugh Thompson, Jr. dies (b. 1943). Vietnam War helicopter pilot.
• 2007 - Mario Danelo dies (b. 1985). American football player.
• 2007 - Roberta Wohlstetter dies (b. 1912). Military historian and strategist.
  
• 2007 - Sneaky Pete Kleinow dies (b. 1934). American musician and special-effects artist.
• Feast Day of St. Balthasar.
• Celebrated annually this day, Epiphany commemorates the first manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles (represented by the coming of the Magi) and is, with Christmas and Easter, one of Christianity's three main festival days.
• Public holiday in Spain, Italy, Sweden and Puerto Rico to mark Epiphany.
  
• In the Irish Calendar - Little Christmas (Nollaig na mBan, "Women's Christmas").
• Theophany (Revelation of the Trinity at Christ's baptism in the Jordan).
• Rastafari movement - Celebration of the ceremonial birthday of Haile Selassie.
• Befana day in Italy.