January 11

Events
Up to 1900
314 - Pope Miltiades ends his reign as the Catholic Pope.
532 - Nika riots in Constantinople.
1158 - Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.
1569 - First recorded lottery in England.
1571 - Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
1693 - Mount Etna erupts in Sicily, Italy.
1759 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
1779 - Ching-Tang Khomba is crowned King of Manipur in present-day northeastern India.
1787 - William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
1805 - Michigan Territory is created.
1861 - Alabama secedes from the United States.
1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post - General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
1866 - British passenger ship London sinks in a storm in the Bay of Biscay, killing 220 out of the 239 people on board.
1867 - Benito Juarez becomes Mexican president again.
1879 - Anglo-Zulu War begins.
1880 - Total solar eclipse blackens the sky of San Francisco one day after the funeral of Emperor Norton.
1901 1950
1902 - Popular Mechanics magazine was published for the first time.
1908 - The Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
1917 - The Kingsland Munitions Factory explosion occurs in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
1919 - Romania annexes Transylvania.
1922 - First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
1923 - Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments.
1927 - Louis B. Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
1935 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
1938 - Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
1942 - Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Netherlands East Indies.
1942 - The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
1943 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
1946 - Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.
1946 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob's ashes go back to Colombia.
1949 - First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
From 1951
1954 - A series of avalanches in the state of Vorarlberg in Austria kills 135 people.
1957 - The African Convention is founded in Dakar.
1960 - Chad declares its independence.
1962 - An avalanche occurs in the Huascaran region in Peru; 4,000 deaths.
1962 - Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.
1963 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the US, is opened.
1964 - United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports smoking may be hazardous to health. First such statement from US government.
1972 - East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh.
1973 - Beginning of the Watergate burglars trial.
1974 - The world's first surviving set of sextuplets are born to Susan Rosenkowitz in Cape Town, South Africa.
1976 - In Ecuador, Guillermo Rodriguez Lara is removed from power by the military.
1980 - Nigel Short, 14, is the youngest chess player to be given the degree of International Master.
1981 - In Spain, Cantabria becomes an autonomous community.
1982 - A cold snap sends temperatures to record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
1986 - The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane in Queensland, Australia was officially opened.
1990 - 300,000 march in favor of Lithuanian independence.
1992 - Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott.
1994 - Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Fein
1996 - Haiti becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
1996 - Ryutaro Hashimoto becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
1998 - Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria; over 100 people killed.
2001 - The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger of AOL and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner.
2002 - The first prisoners arrive at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, on the island of Cuba.
2003 - Illinois governor George H. Ryan announces decision to grant clemency to all inmates of death row.
2005 - Black Tuesday bushfires swept across the southern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
2013 - President of France Francois Hollande authorizes military intervention in the conflict in Mali.
2015 - Over a million people march in Paris for freedom of speech after the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine a few days earlier.
2015 - Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic is elected to become the first female President of Croatia.
2018 - US President Donald Trump is involved in a racism controversy over words he is said to have used to describe Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.
Births
Up to 1900
347 - Theodosius I, Roman Emperor (d. 395)
1209 - Mongke Khan, Mongol Emperor (d. 1259)
1322 - Emperor Komyo of Japan (d. 1380)
1359 - Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan (d. 1393)
1395 - Michelle of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy (d. 1422)
1503 - Parmigianino, Italian artist (d. 1540)
1591 - Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)
1638 - Nicolaus Steno, Danish physician, scientist and bishop (d. 1686)
1642 - Johann Friedrich Alberti, German composer and organist (d. 1710)
1671 - Francois-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French military leader (d. 1745)
1695 - Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish nobleman (d. 1751)
1755 or 1757 - Alexander Hamilton, American politician (d. 1804)
1757 - Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)
1760 - Oliver Wolcott, Jr., American politician (d. 1833)
1786 - Joseph Jackson Lister, English optician and physicist (d. 1869)
1788 - William Thomas Brande, English chemist (d. 1866)
1793 - Cave Johnson, American politician (d. 1866)
1805 - Johann Nepomuk Geiger, Austrian painter (d. 1880)
1807 - Ezra Cornell, American businessman and university founder (d. 1874)
1814 - James Paget, English surgeon and pathologist (d. 1899)
1814 - William Bigler, 12th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1880)
1815 - John A. Macdonald, Scottish-born first Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
1838 - Giovanni Cagliero, Italian diplomat (d. 1926)
1839 - Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican educator and nationalist (d. 1903)
1842 - William James, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 1910)
1852 - Constantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1926)
1853 - Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (d. 1926)
1858 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)
1859 - George Nathaniel Curzon, British Viceroy of India (d. 1925)
1862 - Joseph Nelson Rose, American botanist (d. 1928)
1865 - Johannes Franz Hartmann, German astronomer (d. 1936)
1868 - Cai Yuanpei, Chinese philosopher, academic and politician (d. 1940)
1870 - Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (d. 1945)
1872 - Herbert Baddeley, British tennis player (d. 1931)
1872 - Wilfred Baddeley, British tennis player (d. 1929)
1872 - George Joseph Smith, British serial killer (d. 1915)
1878 - Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general (d. 1952)
1885 - Alice Paul, American suffragette and women's rights activist (d. 1977)
1890 - Harold Bride, British wireless officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1956)
1895 - Laurens Hammond, American inventor (d. 1973)
1897 - August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (d. 1979)
1899 - Eva Le Gallienne, English-American actress (d. 1991)
1901 1950
1901 - Kwak Ki-ok, Korean pilot (d. 1988)
1902 - Maurice Durufle, French composer (d. 1986)
1903 - Alan Paton, South African writer and activist (d. 1988)
1906 - Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist (d. 2008)
1907 - Pierre Mendes France, Prime Minister of France (d. 1982)
1908 - Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
1910 - Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (d. 1975)
1911 - Nora Heysen, Australian artist (d. 2003)
1911 - Brunhilde Pomsel, German broadcaster (d. 2017)
1911 - Zenko Suzuki, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2004)
1917 - John Robarts, 17th Premier of Ontario (d. 1982)
1918 - Gunnar Sonsteby, Norwegian Resistance activist (d. 2012)
1923 - Carroll Shelby, American racing driver, automobile designer and businessman (d. 2012)
1923 - Jerome Bixby, American author and scriptwriter (d. 1998)
1923 - Ernst Nolte, German historian and philosopher (d. 2016)
1924 - Don Cherry, American singer and golfer (d. 2018)
1924 - Roger Guillemin, French Nobel Prize laureate
1924 - Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)
1926 - Lev Dyomin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1998)
1926 - Grant Tinker, American television executive (d. 2016)
1928 - Mitchell Ryan, American actor
1929 - Rafael Eitan, Israeli general and politician (d. 2004)
1930 - Ron Mulock, Australian politician (d. 2014)
1930 - Rod Taylor, Australian actor (d. 2015)
1932 - Alfonso Arau, Mexican movie director
1934 - Charles Antony Richard Hoare, British computer scientist
1934 - Jean Chretien, 20th Prime Minister of Canada
1936 - Eva Hesse, German sculptor (d. 1970)
1938 - Arthur Scargill, British politician and activist
1938 - Frankie Randall, American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer (d. 2014)
1938 - Gavin Millar, Scottish movie director
1940 - Andres Tarand, Estonian geographer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Estonia
1941 - Gerson, Brazilian footballer
1942 - Clarence Clemons, American musician (d. 2011)
1942 - Bud Acton, American basketball player
1943 - Eduardo Mendoza, Spanish writer
1944 - Mohammed Abed Elhai, Sudanese writer and academic (d. 1989)
1944 - Shibu Soren, Indian politician
1945 - Christine Kaufmann, Austrian-German actress (d. 2017)
1946 - Naomi Judd, American singer
1946 - Tony Kaye, British pianist and organist
1946 - John Piper, American theologian
1948 - Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler
1948 - Terry Williams, Welsh rock drummer (Dire Straits)
1949 - Daryl Braithwaite, Australian rock music singer
1949 - Bogdan Borusewicz, Polish historian and politician
1949 - Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Mexican writer
1949 - Chris Ford, American basketball player
1949 - David Rotem, Israeli politician (d. 2015)
1949 - Mohammad Reza Rahimi, 2nd Vice President of Iran
1951 1975
1951 - Philip Tartaglia, Scottish Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow
1952 - Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright (d. 2013)
1952 - Ben Crenshaw, American golfer
1952 - Lee Ritenour, American guitarist, composer and producer
1952 - Diana Gabaldon, American author
1953 - John Sessions, Scottish actor
1954 - Vicky Pena, Spanish actress
1954 - Kailash Satyarthi, Indian children's rights activist, joint-winner of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize
1954 - Barbara Prammer, Austrian politician (d. 2014)
1956 - Israel Yinon, Israeli conductor (d. 2015)
1957 - Claude Criquielion, Belgian cyclist (d. 2015)
1957 - Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player (d. 2015)
1957 - Bryan Robson, English footballer
1958 - Vicki Peterson, American musician
1961 - Jasper Fforde, British writer
1961 - Karl Habsburg-Lothringen, Austro-Hungarian nobleman, son of Otto von Habsburg
1961 - Eva O, American musician and singer-songwriter
1962 - Kim Coles, American actress
1962 - Chris Bryant, British politician
1963 - Jason Connery, British actor
1964 - Yolanda Hadid, Dutch-American television personality and model
1965 - Edyta Bartosiewicz, Polish singer, songwriter and composer
1968 - Tom Dumont, American musician
1969 - Manny Acta, Dominican baseball player
1970 - Manfredi Beninati, Italian painter and sculptor
1970 - Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach
1970 - Malcolm D. Lee, American actor, director and screenwriter
1970 - Mustafa Sandal, Turkish pop singer, producer, dancer and actor
1971 - Tom Ward, British actor
1971 - Mary J. Blige, American singer
1972 - Amanda Peet, American actress
1972 - Konstantin Khabensky, Russian entertainer and actor
1973 - Rockmond Dunbar, American actor
1973 - Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer
1974 - Jens Nowotny, German footballer
1975 - Matteo Renzi, Italian politician, former Mayor of Florence and Prime Minister of Italy from 2014 to 2016
1975 - Timbuktu, Swedish rapper
From 1976
1977 - Jerome Kerviel, French bank employee
1978 - Emile Heskey, English footballer
1980 - Geovanni, Brazilian footballer
1980 - Gokdeniz Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
1981 - Jamelia, English singer
1981 - Tom Meighan, English singer (Kasabian)
1981 - Jaime Valdes, Chilean footballer
1982 - Ashley Taylor Dawson, English actor
1983 - Adrian Sutil, German racing driver
1984 - Vagner Love, Brazilian footballer
1985 - Kazuki Nakajima, Japanese racing driver
1986 - Rachel Riley, English television host
1987 - Jamie Vardy, English footballer
1988 - LunchMoney Lewis, American hip hop singer
1988 - Junjun, Chinese singer
1991 - Hyolyn, South Korean actress
1992 - Lee Seung-hoon, South Korean rapper, choreographer and songwriter
1996 - Leroy Sane, German footballer
1997 - Cody Simpson, Australian singer
1998 - Louisa Johnson, English singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
705 - Pope John VI
782 - Emperor Konin of Japan (b. 709)
812 - Staurakios, Byzantine Emperor
844 - Michael I Rhangabes, Byzantine Emperor
1055 - Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1000)
1083 - Otto Nordheim, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1020)
1494 - Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian artist (b. 1449)
1495 - Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal and statesman (b. 1428)
1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal, scholar and theorist (b. 1470)
1696 - Charles Albanel, French priest, missionary and scholar (b. 1616)
1713 - Pierre Jurieu, French Protestant leader (b. 1637)
1753 - Hans Sloane, Ulster-Scottish physician and collector (b. 1660)
1762 - Louis-Francois Roubiliac, French sculptor (b. 1695)
1763 - Caspar Abel, German theologian, historian and poet (b. 1676)
1798 - Erekle II, King of Kartli and Kakheti in present-day Georgia (b. 1720)
1801 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (b. 1749)
1812 - Henry Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish nobleman (b. 1746)
1843 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (b. 1779)
1867 - Stuart Donaldson, colonial governor of New South Wales (b. 1812)
1882 - Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (b. 1810)
1901 2000
1901 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
1914 - Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer (b. 1842)
1923 - King Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868)
1928 - Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
1941 - Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)
1944 - Galeazzo Ciano, Italian politician (b. 1903)
1947 - Eva Tanguay, Canadian-born singer and entertainer (b. 1879)
1953 - Noe Zhordania, Georgian politician (b. 1868)
1958 - Edna Purviance, Canadian-born singer and entertainer (b. 1895)
1965 - Wally Pipp, American baseball player (b. 1893)
1966 - Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor (b. 1901)
1966 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (b. 1889)
1966 - Lal Bahadur Shastri, Prime Minister of India (b. 1904)
1968 - Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and scholar (b. 1876)
1972 - Padraic Colum, Irish poet, novelist, dramatist and biographer (b. 1881)
1975 - Max Lorenz, German tenor (b. 1901)
1980 - Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)
1985 - William McKell, Premier of New South Wales and Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
1985 - Edward Buzzell, American actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1895)
1988 - Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist (b. 1898)
1991 - Carl David Anderson, American physicist (b. 1905)
1994 - Helmut Poppendick, German physician (b. 1902)
1996 - Roger Crozier, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach and manager (b. 1942)
1998 - Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
From 2001
2003 - Mickey Finn, English drummer (T.Rex) (b. 1947)
2008 - Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (b. 1919)
2009 - Pio Laghi, Italian cardinal (b. 1922)
2010 - Eric Rohmer, French movie director (b. 1920)
2010 - Miep Gies, Dutch humanitarian, helper of Anne Frank (b. 1909)
2013 - Mariangela Melato, Italian actress (b. 1941)
2013 - Aaron Swartz, American computer programmer, writer and internet activist (b. 1986)
2013 - Nguyen Khanh, South Vietnamese politician (b. 1927)
2014 - Vugar Gashimov, Azerbaijani chess player (b. 1986)
2014 - Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, former Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1928)
2014 - Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (b. 1933)
2014 - Arnoldo Foa, Italian actor (b. 1916)
2014 - Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Bangladeshi jurist and politician (b. 1929)
2015 - Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress (b. 1931)
2015 - Chic Littlewood, New Zealand television personality (b. 1930)
2015 - Brian Clemens, British screenwriter (b. 1931)
2015 - Jeno Buzansky, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
2016 - Berge Furre, Norwegian historian, theologian and politician (b. 1937)
2016 - Brian Johnson, Australian rugby league player (b. 1956)
2016 - Gunnel Vallquist, Swedish writer and translator (b. 1918)
2016 - Monte Irvin, American baseball player (b. 1919)
2016 - David Margulies, American actor (b. 1937)
2016 - William Del Monte, American centenarian (b. 1906)
2017 - Tommy Allsup, American musician (b. 1931)
2017 - Tony Booth, English artist (b. 1933)
2017 - Adenan Satem, Malaysian politician, 5th Chief Minister of Sarawak (b. 1944)
2017 - Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani politician, Governor of Sindh (b. 1938)
2017 - Francois Van der Elst, Belgian footballer (b. 1954)
2017 - Brian Fletcher, English jockey (b. 1947)
2017 - Nikolay Neprimerov, Russian physicist (b. 1921)
2017 - Newman Hoar, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1920)
2018 - Doug Barnard, Jr., American politician (b. 1922)
2018 - Stephane Gauger, Vietnamese-American film director (b. 1969)
2018 - Edgar Ray Killen, American convicted murderer (b. 1925)
2018 - Takis Loukanidis, Greek footballer (b. 1937)
2019 - Michael Atiyah, British-Lebanese mathematician (b. 1929)
2019 - Steffan Lewis, Welsh politician (b. 1984)
2019 - Dimitris Sioufas, Greek politician (b. 1944)
Observances
Kagami Biraki (Japan)
Republic Day (Albania)
Day of National Unity (Nepal)
Burning the Clavie (Old Scottish New Year tradition)
Days of the year