Title: January 15 Content: ==Events== === Up to 1900 === * 69 - Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide. * 1362 – A North Sea flood kills many thousands of people. * 1541 - King Francis I of France gives Jean-Francois Roberval a commission to settle the Province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the Roman Catholic Faith. * 1559 – Queen Elizabeth I of England is officially crowned Queen of England. * 1582 - Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to the Polish- Lithuanian Commonwealth. * 1759 – The British Museum is opened. * 1777 - American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont) declares its independence. * 1790 – The Bounty mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, arrive on Pitcairn Island. * 1815 - War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates. * 1822 - Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected President of the Legislative Assembly. * 1844 - The University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana. * 1865 - American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to Union forces. * 1870 - A political cartoon (by Thomas Nast) for the first time uses a donkey as a symbol of the Democratic Party in the United States. * 1876 - The first newspaper in Afrikaans, De Afrikaans Patriot, is published. * 1885 – American Wilson Bentley takes the first photographs of snowflakes. * 1889 - The Coca-Cola Company, then-known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia, US. * 1892 – James Naismith publishes the rules of basketball. === 1901 2000 === * 1910 - Building work begins ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, at 99 meters. * 1919 – German socialist activists Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht are tortured and executed by the Freikorps. * 1919 – The Boston Molasses Disaster, killing 21 and injuring 150 others. * 1933 - A 12-year-old girl is said to have experienced the first Marian Apparition of Our Lady of Banneux in Banneux, Belgium. * 1934 – A magnitude 8.1 earthquake on the India-Nepal border kills around 10,700 people. * 1936 - The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company is completed in Toledo, Ohio, United States. * 1937 - Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republicans both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road. * 1943 – The Pentagon is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia. * 1943 - World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive in Voronezh begins. * 1944 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake in San Juan, Argentina, kills around 5,000 people. * 1949 - Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the National Government. * 1962 - The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest-surviving manuscript dating back to 340 BC, is found in Northern Greece. * 1966 - Nigeria's First Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in military coup d'état. * 1967 – The first-ever Super Bowl takes place in Los Angeles, as the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10. * 1969 – The Soyuz 5 spacecraft is launched by the Soviet Union. * 1970 - Nigerian Civil War: Biafra surrenders. * 1970 - Muammar al-Gaddafi is proclaimed Premier of Libya. * 1971 – The Aswan Dam in Egypt is officially opened. * 1973 - Vietnam War: Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam, citing the progress of peace negotiations. * 1975 - The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence. * 1976 - Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life in prison for attempting to kill President Gerald Ford. * 1981 - Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from the Polish Solidarity Trade Union, led by Lech Walesa. * 1991 – The United Nations deadline for Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait expires. * 1992 - The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from Yugoslavia. * 1993 – Mafia boss Salvatore Riina is arrested by police. * 1996 – Lesotho's King, Moshoeshoe II dies in a car crash. He is succeeded by his son, Letsie III. === From 2001 === * 2001 – Wikipedia goes online. * 2004 – The South Korean Foreign Minister, Yoon Young-kwan resigns following his support for American policy towards North Korea. * 2005 - The European Space Agency's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminium, silicon, iron and other elements on the Moon. * 2006 – Michelle Bachelet is elected President of Chile. She becomes Chile's first female president when she takes office on March 11. * 2009 – Chesley Sullenberger, pilot of US Airways Flight 1549, steers the plane to a safe emergency landing on the Hudson River after experiencing trouble shortly after take off from New York's LaGuardia Airport. * 2015 - Two suspected Jihadists are killed in an anti-terror raid in Verviers, Belgium. * 2018 - British newspaper The Guardian changes to a tabloid format. * 2018 - Mihai Tudose announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Romania after losing support within his own party. * 2018 - A bomb attack in Baghdad kills 38 people. * 2019 - A terrorist attack on a hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya, results in 21 people being killed. * 2019 - British Prime Minister Theresa May loses a parliamentary vote in the House of Commons by the biggest margin ever for a sitting Prime Minister, losing a vote on her proposed Brexit deal by 432 votes to 202. ==Births== === Up to 1850 === * 5 BC – Emperor Guang Wu of Han in China (d. 57) * 1292 - Joan II, Countess of Burgundy (d. 1330) * 1342 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404) * 1432 – Afonso IV of Portugal (d. 1481) * 1481 - Ashikaga Yoshizuni, Japanese shogun (d. 1511) * 1538 - Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599) * 1622 – Molière, French writer and philosopher (d. 1673) * 1716 - Philip Livingston, American founding father (d. 1778) * 1780 - Cornelius P. Comegus, American politician, Governor of Delaware (d. 1850) * 1785 - William Prout, English chemist, physician and theologian (d. 1850) * 1791 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872) * 1795 - Alexander Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d. 1829) * 1803 - Marjorie Fleming, Scottish poet (d. 1811) * 1807 - Hermann Burmeister, German naturalist (d. 1892) * 1809 - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1865) * 1815 - William Bickerton, English-American religious leader (d. 1905) * 1824 – Marie Duplessis, French courtesan (d. 1847) * 1841 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (d. 1908) * 1842 – Mary MacKillop, Australian saint (d. 1909) * 1842 - Paul Lafargue, French journalist, literary critic and activist (d. 1911) * 1842 - Josef Breuer, Austrian physician (d. 1925) * 1844 - Cole Younger, American outlaw (d. 1916) * 1850 – Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d. 1889) * 1850 – Leonard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (d. 1943) * 1850 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891) === 1851 1900 === * 1858 - Giovanni Segantini, Italian painter (d. 1899) * 1859 - Archibald Peake, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (d. 1920) * 1859 - Nathaniel Lord Britton, American geologist and botanist (d. 1934) * 1862 - Loie Fuller, American dancer (d. 1928) * 1863 – Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946) * 1866 – Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop (d. 1931) * 1867 - Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (d. 1900) * 1869 - Ruby Laffoon, American politician, 43rd Governor of Kentucky (d. 1941) * 1869 - Stanislaw Wyspianski, Polish dramatist (d. 1907) * 1870 – Pierre S. du Pont, American industrialist (d. 1954) * 1875 - Thomas Burke, American athlete (d. 1929) * 1878 - Johanna Mueller-Hermann, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1941) * 1882 - Princess Margaret of Connaught (d. 1920) * 1885 - Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915) * 1891 - Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938) * 1892 - Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950) * 1893 – Ivor Novello, Welsh entertainer and composer (d. 1951) * 1893 - George, Crown Prince of Saxony (d. 1943) * 1894 - Ecaterina Teodoriu, Romanian World War I heroine (d. 1917) * 1895 – Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist (d. 1973) * 1897 – Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931) * 1898 - Erik Byléhn, Swedish runner (d. 1986) * 1900 – William Heinesen, Faroese writer, poet and artist (d. 1991) * 1900 – Stanley Lucas, British supercentenarian (d. 2010) === 1901 1950 === * 1902 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969) * 1903 - Paul A. Dever, American politician, 58th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958) * 1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975) * 1908 – Edward Teller, Hungarian physicist (d. 2003) * 1909 - Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d. 1939) * 1909 - Gene Krupa, American automobile designer (d. 1973) * 1912 – Michel Debré, Prime Minister of France (d. 1996) * 1913 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998) * 1913 - Alexander Marinesko, German submarine captain (d. 1963) * 1914 - Hugh Trevor- Roper, British historian (d. 2003) * 1916 - Maurice Bavaud, Swiss activist (d. 1941) * 1918 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970) * 1918 – Joao Figueiredo, President of Brazil (d. 1999) * 1918 - David George Kendall, English statistician and mathematician (d. 2007) * 1918 - Vicente de la Mata, Argentine footballer (d. 1980) * 1919 – George Cadle Price, 1st Prime Minister of Belize (d. 2011) * 1919 – Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer (d. 2012) * 1920 - Bob Davies, American basketball player (d. 1990) * 1920 - Pamela Cundell, English actress (d. 2015) * 1920 - John Joseph O'Connor, American cardinal and Archbishop of New York City (d. 2000) * 1921 - Babasaheb Bhasale, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2007) * 1923 - Lee Twng-hui, 4th President of the Republic of China * 1924 - George Lowe, New Zealand mountaineer (d. 2013) * 1924 – Georg Ratzinger, brother of Pope Benedict XVI * 1924 - Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, French philosopher, writer, editor and psychoanalyst (d. 2013) * 1925 – Ernst Benda, German politician (d. 2009) * 1926 – Maria Schell, Austrian actress (d. 2005) * 1926 - Karl-Alfred Jacobsson, Swedish footballer (d. 2015) * 1927 - Phyllis Coates, American actress * 1928 - M. V. Devan, Indian artist and writer (d. 2014) * 1928 - W. R. Mitchell, English writer (d. 2015) * 1929 – Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist (d. 1968) * 1929 - Earl Hooker, American blues guitarist (d. 1970) * 1934 - V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (d. 2013) * 1939 - Per Ahlmark, Swedish journalist and politician * 1940 - Arlie Russell Hochschild, American sociologist and academic * 1941 – Captain Beefheart, American singer (d. 2010) * 1943 - Ashraf Aman, Pakistani mountaineer * 1943 – Margaret Beckett, British politician * 1944 - Jenny Nimmo, British author * 1945 – Princess Michael of Kent * 1945 - David Pleat, English footballer * 1945 - Maria Antonia Iglesias, Spanish writer (d. 2014) * 1945 - Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director and politician (d. 2015) * 1947 - Martin Chalfie, American biologist and Nobel Prize winner * 1947 - Pete Waterman, English songwriter and producer * 1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977) * 1950 - Bebeto de Freitas, Brazilian volleyball coach and football manager (d. 2018) === 1951 1975 === * 1951 - Catherine Trautmann, French politician * 1954 - Nikos Sarganis, Greek footballer * 1955 - JoAnne Good, British radio presenter, television presenter, broadcast journalist and actress * 1955 - Khalid Islambouli, Egyptian assassin (d. 1982) * 1956 - Mayawati, Indian politician, 23rd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh * 1957 – Mario Van Peebles, American actor * 1957 - David Ige, American politician, 8th Governor of Hawaii * 1958 - Ken Judge, Australian rules footballer (d. 2016) * 1958 – Boris Tadic, former President of Serbia * 1959 - Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian climber (d. 2008) * 1962 - Margherita Buy, Italian actress * 1962 - Ken Macintosh, Scottish politician * 1964 - Jackie Baillie, Scottish politician * 1965 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer * 1965 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor * 1968 - Chad Lorre, American director, actor and producer * 1968 – Iñaki Urdangarin, Spanish former handball player and royal * 1970 – Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler, son of WWE President Vince McMahon * 1972 - Claudia Winkleman, English television presenter * 1973 – Essam El-Hadary, Egyptian footballer * 1974 - Edith Bowman, Scottish television and radio presenter * 1975 – Mary Pierce, French tennis player === From 1976 === * 1977 - Giorgia Meloni, Italian politician * 1978 - Eddie Cahill, American actor * 1978 – Ryan Sidebottom, English cricketer * 1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer * 1979 - Ken Chu, Taiwanese singer, actor and Tai-chi champion * 1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player * 1981 – El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer * 1981 – Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby player * 1981 - Pitbull, American rapper * 1982 - Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia * 1982 - Prince Philip of Yugoslavia * 1983 - Matic Kralj, Slovenian ice hockey player * 1983 - Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer * 1983 – Jermaine Pennant, English footballer * 1985 – René Adler, German footballer and goalkeeper * 1985 - Clara Lee, Swiss- born British-South Korean actress * 1985 - Enrico Patrizio, Italian rugby player * 1986 - Jessie Schram, American actress * 1987 - Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopian runner * 1987 - Kelly Kelly, American professional wrestler * 1987 - Michael Seater, Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter * 1988 - Jun. K, South Korean singer * 1988 - Skrillex, American musician and producer * 1989 - Ryan Corr, Australian actor * 1990 - Paul Blake, English Paralympic athlete * 1996 - Dove Cameron, American actress and singer ==Deaths== === Up to 1900 === * 41 – Caligula, Roman Emperor (b. 12) * 69 – Galba, Roman Emperor (b. 3 BC) * 570 – Saint Ides, Irish nun (b. ca. 475) * 936 - King Rudolph of France * 1519 - Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475) * 1595 – Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546) * 1623 - Fra Paolo Sarpi, Italian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer (b. 1552) * 1683 - Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b. 1609) * 1775 - Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian organist and composer (b. 1700) * 1781 - Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, Queen Regent of Portugal (b. 1718) * 1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765) * 1876 - Eliza Johnson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1810) * 1893 - Fanny Kemble, British actress and author (b. 1809) * 1896 - Mathew Brady, American photographer (b. 1822) * 1899 - Serafino Dubois, Italian chess player (b. 1817) === 1901 2000 === * 1915 – Mary Slessor, Scottish Christian missionary to West Africa (b. 1848) * 1916 - Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian playwright (b. 1850) * 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German politician and activist (b. 1870) * 1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician and activist (b. 1871) * 1926 - Enrico Toselli, Italian composer (b. 1883) * 1927 - David R. Francis, American politician, Governor of Missouri (b. 1850) * 1936 - Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866) * 1947 – Elizabeth Short, AKA The Black Dahlia, murder victim (b. 1924) * 1948 - Josephus Daniels, American publisher and diplomat (b. 1862) * 1952 - Ned Hanlon, Australian politician, Premier of Queensland (b. 1866) * 1955 – Yves Tanguy, French Surrealist painter (b. 1900) * 1964 – Jack Teagarden, musician (b. 1905) * 1968 - William Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938) * 1983 – Meyer Lansky, mobster (b. 1902) * 1987 – Ray Bolger, actor, singer, dancer (b. 1904) * 1988 - Sean MacBride, Irish politician (b. 1904) * 1990 – Gordon Jackson, Scottish movie and TV actor; best known as the butler "Hudson" on Upstairs Downstairs (b. 1923) * 1993 – Sammy Cahn, songwriter (b. 1913) * 1994 – Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941) * 1994 - Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist (b. 1921) * 1996 – King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938) * 1998 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (b. 1898) * 2000 – Zeljko Raznatovic, Serbian leader (b. 1952) === 2001 2015 === * 2003 – Doris Fisher, singer and songwriter (b. 1915) * 2005 – Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b. 1923) * 2005 – Walter Ernsting, German science fiction writer (Perry Rhodan) (b. 1920) * 2005 – Elizabeth Janeway, United States feminist writer (b. 1913) * 2005 – Dan Lee, animator for movie Finding Nemo (b. 1969) * 2005 – Ruth Warrick, United States actress best known for Citizen Kane and All My Children (b. 1915) * 2006 – Jaber Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926) * 2007 – James Hiller, Canadian inventor (b. 1915) * 2008 – Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982) * 2009 – Said Seyam, Palestinian military commander (b. 1959) * 2010 – Marshall Warren Nirenberg, American biochemist, won the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1927) * 2011 – Nat Lofthouse, English footballer (b. 1925) * 2011 – Susannah York, English actress (b. 1939) * 2012 – Manuel Fraga Iribarne, former Prime Minister of Spanish Galicia (b. 1922) * 2012 - Ed Derwinski, American politician (b. 1926) * 2013 - Nagisa Oshima, Japanese movie director and screenwriter (b. 1932) * 2013 - Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, French philosopher, writer, editor and psychoanalyst (b. 1924) * 2014 - Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (b. 1944) * 2014 - John Dobson, American astronomer (b. 1915) * 2015 - Ervin Drake, American songwriter (b. 1919) * 2015 - Kim Fowley, American record producer (b. 1939) * 2015 - Val Holten, Australian cricketer (b. 1927) * 2015 - Ethel Lang, British supercentenarian (b. 1900) * 2015 - Jean-Claude Baker, French-American restaurateur (b. 1943) * 2015 - Joseph Mukasa Zuza, Malawian bishop (b. 1955) * 2015 - Rameshwar Thakur, Indian politician (b. 1927) === From 2016 === * 2016 - Ken Judge, Australian rules footballer (b. 1958) * 2016 - Dan Haggerty, American actor (b. 1941) * 2016 - Oleksandr Shevchenko, Ukrainian scientist, jurist and politician (b. 1937) * 2016 - P. J. Mara, Irish public affairs consultant and senator (b. 1942) * 2016 - Noreen Corcoran, American actress (b. 1943) * 2016 - Aristide von Bienefeldt, Dutch writer (b. 1959) * 2017 - Ciel Bergman, American painter (b. 1938) * 2017 - Babette Cole, English children's author (b. 1949) * 2017 - Richard Divall, Australian conductor and musicologist (b. 1945) * 2017 - Aleksandr Ezhevsky, Russian engineer and statesman (b. 1915) * 2017 - Dermot Gallagher, Irish civil servant and diplomat (b. 1944) * 2017 - Han Peixin, Chinese politician (b. 1921) * 2017 - Kozo Kinomoto, Japanese footballer (b. 1949) * 2017 - Vicki Lansky, American author and publisher (b. 1942) * 2017 - Eddie Long, American pastor (b. 1953) * 2017 - David Poythress, American military officer and politician (b. 1943) * 2017 - Jimmy Snuka, Fijian- American professional wrestler (b. 1943) * 2017 - Greg Trooper, American singer-songwriter (b. 1956) * 2018 - Viktor Anpilov, Russian political activist and trade unionist (b. 1945) * 2018 - Joe Frank, American radio personality (b. 1938) * 2018 - Dolores O'Riordan, Irish singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1971) * 2018 - John Spellman, American politician, former Governor of Washington (b. 1926) * 2018 - Edwin Hawkins, American musician (b. 1943) * 2018 - Peter Wyngarde, British actor (b. 1927) * 2018 - Carl Emil Christiansen, Danish footballer (b. 1937) * 2018 - Romana Acosta Bañuelos, American public servant (b. 1925) * 2018 - Dick King, American politician (b. 1934) * 2018 - Mathilde Krim, Italian-American HIV researcher (b. 1926) * 2018 - Karl-Heinz Kunde, German racing cyclist (b. 1938) * 2018 - Roderick Rijnders, Dutch rower (b. 1941) * 2019 - Carol Channing, American actress and singer (b. 1921) ==Observances== * Earliest day that Martin Luther King, Jr. Day can fall, while January 21 is the latest, on the third Monday in January (United States) * Armed Forces Day (Nigeria) * Army Day (India) * Tree Planting Day (Egypt) Category:Days of the year