309 – Pamphilus van Caesarea, Palestinian scholar/martyr, beheaded
374 – 9th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
600 – Pope Gregory the Great decree saying “God bless You” is the correct response to a sneeze
1222 – Nichiren, Japan, Buddhist priest/saint, Born
1559 – Pope Paul IV calls for deposition of sovereigns supporting heresy
1646 – Battle of Torrington, Devon – the last major battle of the first English Civil War.
1804 – Lt Stephen Decatur raids Tripoli Harbor & burns Navy frigate “Philadelphia” after pirates seized it
1838 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (d. 1918) was born.
1838 – Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
1852 – Studebaker Brothers wagon company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.
1852 – Charles Taze Russell, religion founder (Jehovah’s Witnesses) Born
1854 – Franz Liszt’s symphony “Orpheus” premieres
1859 – The French Government passes a law to set the A-note above middle C to a frequency of 435 Hz, in an attempt to standardize the pitch.
1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee.
1868 – Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks forms (NY)
1874 – Silver Dollar becomes legal US tender.
1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1).
1884 – Robert Flaherty, Mich, father of documentary film (Nanook of North) Born
1909 – Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald’s (d. 1998) was born.
1912 – Machito “Frank Grillo”, Florida, bandleader (created salsa music) Born
1916 – Russian troops conquer the Ottoman Empire city of Erzurum during WWI
1916 – The US rejects the right of Germany and Austria-Hungary to sink armed merchant ships
1916 – The German ambassador in Washington announces that Germany will pay an indemnity for American lives lost on the Lusitania
1917 – 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid
1923 – Howard Carter opens the inner burial chamber of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb and finds the sarcophagus
1925 – John Schlesinger, director (Midnight Cowboy, Darling), born in London, England
1933 – Catholic newspaper Germania warns against nazis/communists
1935 – Sonny Bono, vocalist (Sonny & Cher)/(Rep-R-Ca, 1995-98), born in Detroit, Michigan
1935 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (d. 2014) was born.
1935 – Kenneth Price, ceramic artist and print maker (Hot Bottoms, Tamed), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2012)
1936 – Carl Icahn, American businessman, Corporate Raider (Icahn Enterprises), birthed in NYC, New York
1937 – Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon.
1938 – US Federal Crop Insurance program authorized
1941 – Kim Jong-il, North Korean politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 2011) was birthed.
1945 – Venezuela declares war on Nazi Germany
1948 – Miranda, famous moon of Uranus, photographed for 1st time
1950 – Writers fail to elect anyone to Baseball’s Hall of Fame
1951 – NYC passes bill prohibiting racism in city-assisted housing
1953 – Ted Williams safely crash-lands his damaged Panther jet, later awarded the Air medal
1954 – Margaux Hemingway, Portland Or, actress (Lipstick, They Call Me Bruce) Born
1957 – The “Toddlers’ Truce”, a controversial television close down between 6.00 pm and 7.00 pm is abolished in the United Kingdom.
1957 – LeVar Burton, Landstuhl Germany, (Roots, Star Trek Next Generation) Born
1958 – Ice-T [Tracy Marrow], Newark, New Jersey, American rapper and actor (New Jack City, Tank Girl, Crazy Six) Born
1959 – Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1.
1959 – John McEnroe, Wiesbaden, Germany, American tennis great (US Open 1979-81, 84 Wimb 1981, 83, 84) Born
1960 – Pete Willis, English guitarist (Def Leppard, Atomic Mass, Gogmagog, and Roadhouse) was born.
1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – 1st all-solid-propellant rocket put in orbit, Wallops Island, Va
1961 – China uses its 1st nuclear reactor
1961 – Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Duran Duran and The Power Station) was born.
1962 – John Balance, English musician (Coil, Psychic TV) (d. 2004) Born
1963 – Beatles top British rock charts with “Please, Please Me”
1964 – Christopher Eccleston, English actor, 9th Doctor Who, was born.
1965 – Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American drummer (Slayer, Grip Inc., Fantômas, Voodoocult, and Testament) was born.
1965 – Pegasus 1 launched to detect micro-meteors
1967 – John Valentin, Mineola NY, infielder (Boston Red Sox) Born
1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service.
1968 – Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wifes fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
1968 – Warren Ellis, British comic book writer, musician – Born
1969 – Gangrel, American wrestler was born.
1972 – Jerome Bettis, running back (Pittsburgh Steelers) Born
1978 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier, Skull & Bones (b. 1895) DIES
1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created (CBBS in Chicago, Illinois).
1980 – Continuous traffic jam extends 176 km north of Lyons, France
1984 – Bill Johnson becomes 1st American to win Olympic downhill skiing gold
1985 – Hezbollah is “founded”.
1987 – The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of being a Nazi guard dubbed “Ivan the Terrible” in Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
1988 – 1st documented combat action by US military advisors in El Salvador
1989 – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan & North Yemen form common market
1990 – Keith Haring, American graffiti artist (brilliant baby), dies of AIDS at 31
1992 – Abbas Musawi, leader of Hezbollah, assassinated
1996 – MacLean Stevenson, actor (M*A*S*H), dies of heart attack at 66
1996 – Walter Brown “Brownie” McGhee, American blues singer/guitarist, dies at 80
1998 – Mr Jefferson, Virginia, 1st cloned calf, Birthed
1999 – O.J. Simpson’s 1968 Heisman Trophy is sold for $230,000 to help settle a $33.5 million civil judgement against Simpson for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend
1999 – Across Europe, Kurdish rebels take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrested one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.
2005 – 2004-05 NHL season is canceled by league commissioner Gary Bettman. This was the first time that a North American professional sports league had to cancel a season due to a labor dispute
2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia.
2005 – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004-2005 regular season and playoffs.
2006 – The last Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
2014 – Michael Shea, American sci-fi author, dies at 67