January 4
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January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 361 days remaining (362 in leap years).
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Events
- 871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights a Danish invasion army .
- 1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey .
- 1642 - English Civil War: King Charles I of England attacks Parliament .
- 1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire.
- 1717 - The Netherlands, England and France sign the Triple Alliance.
- 1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples .
- 1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
- 1850 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
- 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
- 1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London
- 1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by Dr. William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.
- 1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
- 1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
- 1936 - Mickey's Polo Team, a short animated film featuring Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel and Harpo Marx in a polo match against various Disney characters, is first released.
- 1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music charts.
- 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
- 1948 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
- 1957 - After 69 years the last issue of Colliers magazine is published.
- 1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957).
- 1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
- 1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.
- 1965 - United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.
- 1967 - Donald Campbell dies as his jet-powered Bluebird K7 crashes during an attempt to break the water speed record.
- 1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.
- 1974 - United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
- 1987 - An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, DC collides with Conrail engines, killing 16.
- 1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
- 1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.
- 2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of the Georgia.
- 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
Births
- 1334 - Amadeus VI of Savoy (d. 1383)
- 1643 (Old Style) - Isaac Newton, English scientist and philosopher (d. 1727)
- 1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (d. 1736)
- 1720 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer (d. 1774)
- 1785 - Jakob Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1863)
- 1809 - Louis Braille, French teacher of the blind (d. 1852)
- 1822 - Georg Büchmann, philologist (d. 1884)
- 1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)
- 1838 - Charles Stratton ("General Tom Thumb"), American circus performer, entertainer (d. 1883)
- 1869 - Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (d. 1960)
- 1874 - Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (d. 1935)
- 1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)
- 1883 - Max Eastman, American writer (d. 1969)
- 1896 - Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)
- 1896 - André Masson, French artist (d. 1987)
- 1900 - James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
- 1901 - C. L. R. James, writer and journalist (d. 1989)
- 1905 - Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1914 - Jane Wyman, American actress
- 1915 - Kanagawa Kusotaro, inventor of the revolutionary system for growing large strawberries in pre-war Japan, involving planting on the banks of rivers when the trees above are colored golden, and using human feces as fertilizer.
- 1917 - Jesse White (actor), American actor (d. 1997)
- 1920 - William Colby, director of the CIA (d. 1996)
- 1927 - Barbara Rush, American actress
- 1930 - Don Shula, American football coach
- 1930 - Sorrell Booke, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1931 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, Fijian chieftainess and First Lady; wife of Prime Minister and President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
- 1932 - Carlos Saura, director
- 1935 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer
- 1937 - Dyan Cannon, American actress
- 1937 - Grace Bumbry, American opera singer
- 1940 - Helmut Jahn, German architect
- 1941 - Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)
- 1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, writer
- 1956 - Bernard Sumner, English rock musician, New Order
- 1957 - Patty Loveless, American singer
- 1958 - Gary Jones, Welsh-born actor (Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis)
- 1958 - Matt Frewer, American actor (Max Headroom, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Star Trek: The Next Generation)
- 1960 - Michael Stipe, American vocalist for R.E.M.
- 1963 - Till Lindemann, German vocalist for Rammstein
- 1963 - Dave Foley, Canadian comedian, actor
- 1965 - Julia Ormond, English actress
- 1966 - Deana Carter, American singer
- 1971 - Garrison Hearst, American football player
- 1978 - Dwight Freeney, American football player
Deaths
- 1066 - Edward the Confessor, King of England (or January 5)
- 1248 - King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)
- 1695 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (b. 1628)
- 1782 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b. 1698)
- 1804 - Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet
- 1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)
- 1831 - James Monroe, President of the United States (b. 1758)
- 1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)
- 1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
- 1903 - Gulstan Ropert, ss.cc., Roman Catholic prelate
- 1940 - Flora Finch, English born film comedienne and actress
- 1941 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher (b. 1859)
- 1960 - Albert Camus, Algerian-born French philosopher and writer (car crash) (b. 1913)
- 1961 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist (b. 1887)
- 1965 - T. S. Eliot, American poet (b. 1888)
- 1967 - Donald Campbell, English water speed record setter (b. 1921)
- 1969 - Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses
- 1970 - Jean-Etienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)
- 1985 - Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
- 1986 - Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
- 1986 - Phil Lynott, Irish musician (b. 1949)
- 1990 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineering (b. 1903)
- 1998 - Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
- 1999 - Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)
- 2000 - Tom Fears, American football star
- 2002 - Esquivel, musician (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)
- 2003 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born Jewish Palestinian violinist (b. 1923)
- 2004 - Brian Gibson, English film director (b. 1944)
- 2004 - Jake Hess, American Gospel singer (b. 1927)
- 2004 - Jeff Nuttall, English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, social commentator, and author (b. 1933)
- 2004 - Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)
- 2004 - John Toland, American author and historian (b. 1912)
- 2005 - Humphrey Carpenter, English author and biographer (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Ali al-Haidri, Iraqi governor of Baghdad (assassinated)
- 2005 - Frank Harary, mathematician (b. 1921)
- 2005 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (b. 1919)
- 2005 - Bud Poile, Canadian hockey player (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Alton Tobey, American artist (b. 1914)
Holidays and observances
- Feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton
- The tenth day and eleventh night of Christmas in Western Christianity
External links
- BBC: On This Day (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/4)
January 3 - January 5 - December 4 - February 4 -- listing of all days
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