January 21

## Events
### Up to 1900 
* 1189 &ndash; Philip II of France and Richard I of England begin to assemble troops to wage the Third Crusade.
* 1276 &ndash; Innocent V becomes Pope.
* 1525 &ndash; The Swiss Anabaptist Movement was born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz's mother on Neustadt-Gasse, Zürich, breaking a thousand–year tradition of church–state union.
* 1643 &ndash; Abel Tasman discovers Tonga.
* 1720 &ndash; Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
* 1749 &ndash; The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, northern Italy, is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754.
* 1789 &ndash; The first American novel, *The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth*, is printed in Boston, Massachusetts.
* 1793 &ndash; After being found guilty for treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is guillotined.
* 1793 &ndash; Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
* 1840 &ndash; Adelie Land in Antarctica is discovered.
* 1853 &ndash; Russell L. Hawes patents the envelope–folding machine.
* 1854 &ndash; Iron clipper RMS *Tayleur* of the White Star Line sinks in the Irish Sea during its first voyage, killing 362 people.
* 1861 &ndash; American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
* 1864 &ndash; The Tauranga Campaign starts during the Maori Wars.
* 1887 &ndash; The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed.
* 1899 &ndash; Opel Motors opens for business.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1904 &ndash; Oprera *Jenůfa* by Leoš Janáček first performed. 
* 1908 &ndash; New York City passes a law, the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public only to be vetoed by the mayor.
* 1911 &ndash; The first Monte Carlo Rally.
* 1915 &ndash; Kiwanis International founded in Detroit, Michigan.
* 1917 &ndash; An earthquake in Bali kills 15,000 people.
* 1919 &ndash; Meeting in the Mansion House Dublin, the Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution.
* 1924 &ndash; Vladimir Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin begins to purge his rivals to clear way for his leadership.
* 1925 &ndash; Albania declares itself a republic.
* 1931 &ndash; Isaac Isaacs becomes the first Governor-General of Australia who was born in Australia.
* 1940 &ndash; Off the Mediterranean Sea coast of France, an explosion occurs on Italian passenger ship *Orazio*, causing a fire on board, before the ship sinks, killing 106 people.
* 1941 &ndash; World War II: Australian and British forces attack Tobruk, Libya.
* 1948 &ndash; The Flag of Quebec is flown over the National Assembly of Quebec for the first time.
* 1950 &ndash; Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury.
* 1951 &ndash; The Lamington volcano erupts on the island of New Guinea, killing 3,000 people.
* 1954 &ndash; The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS *Nautilus*, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, then the First Lady of the United States.
* 1960 &ndash; Avianca Flight 671 crashes and burns while landing in Montego Bay, Jamaica, killing 37 people.
* 1961 &ndash; 435 workers are buried alive when a mine in Coalbrook, South Africa, collapses.
* 1968 &ndash; Simon & Garfunkel release the Original Soundtrack to *The Graduate*. It quickly goes to #1 on the pop charts and which will bring Simon a Grammy Award for Best Original Score.
* 1969 &ndash; An experimental underground nuclear reactor at Lucens Vad, Switzerland, released radiation into a cavern, which was then sealed.
* 1976 &ndash; The first commercial service *Concorde* flights take off from London and Paris.
* 1977 &ndash; President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all Vietnam War draft evaders.
* 1980 &ndash; The Great Wall of China is placed under protection.
* 1980 &ndash; A plane crash during a snowstorm in Tehran kills 128 people.
* 1985 &ndash; After being moved to this date because January 20 was a Sunday, Ronald Reagan's second inauguration as President of the United States is held indoors, because of cold and windy weather.
* 1994 &ndash; Lorena Bobbitt is found not–guilty by reason of temporary insanity for severing the penis of her husband John Bobbitt.
* 1997 &ndash; Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct.
* 1998 &ndash; Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit Cuba.
* 1999 &ndash; War on Drugs: In one of the one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard stops a ship with over 9,500 pounds (4,300&nbsp;kg) of cocaine on board.
* 2000 &ndash; Jamil Mahuad is removed as President of Ecuador in a coup led by Lucio Gutiérrez.

### From 2001 
* 2003 &ndash; A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes the state of Colima, Mexico.
* 2004 &ndash; Canada: The residence of reporter, Juliet O'Neill was searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigating leaks concerning the deportation of Maher Arar.
* 2004 &ndash; NASA's MER-A (the Mars Rover *Spirit*) ceased communication with mission control. The problem was with Flash Memory management and fixed remotely from Earth on February 6.
* 2005 &ndash; In Belize's capital city, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
* 2008 &ndash; Black Monday on the world's stock markets, the worst day for financial markets since September 11, 2001.
* 2008 &ndash; Marie Smith Jones, the last–surviving speaker of the Eyak language, dies, rendering the language extinct.
* 2012 &ndash; 16–year–old Laura Dekker becomes the youngest person to sail around the world on her own, though this category is no longer included in the Guinness Book of Records.
* 2013 &ndash; Barack Obama's second public inauguration as President of the United States takes place. A private inauguration took place the previous day, which was a Sunday.

## Births
### Up to 1900 
* 1277 &ndash; Galeazzo I Visconti, ruler of Milan (d. 1328)
* 1338 &ndash; King Charles V of France (d. 1380)
* 1721 &ndash; James Murray, British Governor of Quebec (d. 1794)
* 1735 &ndash; Johann Gottfried Eckard, German pianist and composer (d. 1809)
* 1738 &ndash; Ethan Allen, American freedom fighter (d. 1789)
* 1763 &ndash; Augustin Robespierre, French politician (d. 1794)
* 1784 &ndash; Andrew Stevenson, American politician (d. 1857)
* 1813 &ndash; John C. Frémont, American army officer, explorer and politician (d. 1890)
* 1815 &ndash; John Bingham, American lawyer, judge and politician (d. 1900)
* 1824 &ndash; Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate General (d. 1870)
* 1825 &ndash; Imre Madach, Hungarian writer (d. 1864)
* 1827 &ndash; Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, Russian mathematician (d. 1900)
* 1829 &ndash; King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway (d. 1907)
* 1846 &ndash; Pieter Hendrik Schoute, Dutch mathematician (d. 1923)
* 1846 &ndash; Nathaniel Edwin Harris, Governor of Georgia (d. 1929)
* 1848 &ndash; Henri Duparc, French composer (d. 1933)
* 1855 &ndash; John Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
* 1860 &ndash; Karl Staaff, Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1915)
* 1864 &ndash; Paul Troje, German politician (d. 1942)
* 1867 &ndash; Maxime Weygand, French general (d. 1965)
* 1867 &ndash; Ludwig Thoma, German writer (d. 1921)
* 1869 &ndash; Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk, mystic and spiritual healer (d. 1916)
* 1881 &ndash; Ernst Fast, Swedish long–distance runner (d. 1959)
* 1882 &ndash; Pavel Florensky, Russian theologian, philosopher and mathematician (d. 1937)
* 1883 &ndash; Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (d. 1929)
* 1883 &ndash; James H. Duff, 36th Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1969)
* 1885 &ndash; Umberto Nobile, Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer (d. 1978)
* 1887 &ndash; Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1926)
* 1895 &ndash; Cristobal Balenciaga, Spanish fashion designer (d. 1972)
* 1899 &ndash; Alexander Tcherepnin, Russian–born American composer (d. 1977)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer (d. 1978)
* 1905 &ndash; Christian Dior, French fashion designer (d. 1957)
* 1905 &ndash; Karl Wallenda, German–born acrobat (d. 1978)
* 1908 &ndash; Raymond D. Gary, Governor of Oklahoma (d. 1993)
* 1910 &ndash; Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai composer and bandleader (d. 1981)
* 1910 &ndash; Albert Rosellini, American politician (d. 2011)
* 1911 &ndash; Bill Graber, American pole vaulter (d. 1996)
* 1912 &ndash; Konrad Emil Bloch, German biochemist (d. 2000)
* 1915 &ndash; Orazio Mariani, Italian sprinter (d. 1981)
* 1915 &ndash; Bill Sefton, American pole vaulter (d. 1982)
* 1916 &ndash; Pietro Rava, Italian footballer (d. 2006)
* 1918 &ndash; Richard Winters, American paratrooper (d. 2011)
* 1919 &ndash; Lennie Bluett, American actor (d. 2016)
* 1919 &ndash; Eric Brown, Scottish test pilot (d. 2016)
* 1921 &ndash; Howard Unruh, American murderer (d. 2009)
* 1922 &ndash; Paul Scofield, British actor (d. 2008)
* 1922 &ndash; Telly Savalas, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
* 1923 &ndash; Lola Flores, Spanish singer, dancer and actress (d. 1995)
* 1924 &ndash; Benny Hill, British comedian (d. 1992)
* 1926 &ndash; Steve Reeves, American actor (d. 2000)
* 1928 &ndash; Reynaldo Bignone, Argentine general and former military leader
* 1929 &ndash; Denis Sanders, American movie director, producer and screenwriter
* 1930 &ndash; Mainza Chona, 3rd Vice President of Zambia (d. 2001)
* 1932 &ndash; John Chaney, American basketball coach
* 1933 &ndash; Joseph W. Eschbach, American physician (d. 2007)
* 1934 &ndash; Audrey Dalton, Irish actress
* 1936 &ndash; Koji Hashimoto, Japanese movie director (d. 2005)
* 1937 &ndash; Prince Max, Duke of Bavaria
* 1938 &ndash; Wolfman Jack, American DJ and actor (d. 1995)
* 1938 &ndash; Ken Maginnis, Northern Irish soldier, educator and politician
* 1939 &ndash; Friedel Lutz, German footballer
* 1940 &ndash; Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
* 1941 &ndash; Plácido Domingo, Spanish opera singer and conductor
* 1941 &ndash; Richie Havens, American musician (d. 2013)
* 1942 &ndash; Mac Davis, American musician
* 1945 &ndash; Martin Shaw, English actor
* 1947 &ndash; Jonathan Meades, English journalist and writer
* 1949 &ndash; Gennaro Contaldo, Italian chef
* 1950 &ndash; Billy Ocean, Trinidadian musician
* 1950 &ndash; Zelimkhan Yaqub, Azerbaijani poet (d. 2016)
* 1950 &ndash; Gary Locke, American politician

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Eric Holder, American jurist, United States Attorney General
* 1953 &ndash; Paul Allen, American entrepreneur and co–founder of Microsoft
* 1954 &ndash; Thomas de Maizière, German politician
* 1954 &ndash; Idrissa Ouedraogo, Burkina Faso movie maker
* 1955 &ndash; Jeff Koons, American artist
* 1955 &ndash; Peter Fleming, American tennis player
* 1956 &ndash; Geena Davis, American actress
* 1957 &ndash; Greg Ryan, American soccer coach
* 1958 &ndash; Frank Ticheli, American composer
* 1959 &ndash; Alex McLeish, Scottish footballer and manager
* 1962 &ndash; Marie Trintignant, French actress (d. 2003)
* 1962 &ndash; Tyler Cowen, American economist
* 1963 &ndash; Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigerian–American basketball player
* 1965 &ndash; Jam Master Jay, American DJ (d. 2002)
* 1968 &ndash; Charlotte Ross, American actress
* 1969 &ndash; Tsubaki Nekoi, Japanese manga artist
* 1969 &ndash; Karina Lombard, American actress
* 1969 &ndash; M. K. Hobson, American writer
* 1971 &ndash; Alan McManus, Scottish snooker player
* 1971 &ndash; Doug Weight, American ice hockey player
* 1971 &ndash; Sergey Klevchenya, Russian speed skater
* 1972 &ndash; Yasunori Matsuda, Japanese composer
* 1974 &ndash; Kim Dotcom, German–Finnish Internet entrepreneur and founder of Megaupload
* 1975 &ndash; Nicky Butt, English footballer
* 1975 &ndash; Ito, Spanish footballer

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Igors Stepanovs, Latvian footballer
* 1976 &ndash; Emma Bunton, English singer (Spice Girls)
* 1977 &ndash; Phil Neville, English footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Jerry Trainor, American actor
* 1977 &ndash; Bradley Carnell, South African footballer
* 1978 &ndash; Phil Stacey, American singer
* 1978 &ndash; Andrei Zyuzin, Russian ice hockey player
* 1979 &ndash; Brian O'Driscoll, Irish rugby player
* 1979 &ndash; Johann Hari, Scottish journalist
* 1980 &ndash; Dave Kitson, English footballer
* 1980 &ndash; Nana Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter and voice actress
* 1982 &ndash; Nicolas Mahut, French tennis player
* 1982 &ndash; Dean Whitehead, English footballer
* 1982 &ndash; Simon Rolfes, German footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Moritz Volz, German footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Maryse Ouellet, Canadian professional wrestler
* 1984 &ndash; Raymond Gutierrez, American–Filipino actor and television host
* 1984 &ndash; Richard Gutierrez, American–Filipino actor
* 1985 &ndash; Justin Ingram, American basketball player
* 1985 &ndash; Adrian Lewis, English darts player
* 1985 &ndash; Aura Dione, Danish singer and songwriter
* 1986 &ndash; Jonathan Quick, American ice hockey player
* 1987 &ndash; Joe Ledley, Welsh footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Darren Helm, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1990 &ndash; Jacob Smith, American actor
* 1993 &ndash; Chiara Pierobon, Italian cyclist (d. 2015)
* 1994 &ndash; Laura Robson, British tennis player
* 1994 &ndash; Kang Seung-yoon, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
* 1994 &ndash; Marny Kennedy, Australian actress, singer and model
* 1994 &ndash; Booboo Stewart, American actor, singer and sportsman
* 1997 &ndash; Jeremy Shada, American actor
* 2001 &ndash; Jackson Brundage, American actor
* 2004 &ndash; Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway

## Deaths
### Up to 1900 
* 304 &ndash; Saint Agnes, Christian martyr (b. 291)
* 917 &ndash; Erchanger, Duke of Swabia (b. 880)
* 1118 &ndash; Pope Paschal II
* 1519 &ndash; Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Spanish explorer (b. 1475)
* 1527 &ndash; Juan de Grijalva, Spanish conquistador (b. 1489)
* 1546 &ndash; Azai Sukemasa, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1491)
* 1609 &ndash; Joseph Justus Scaliger, French Protestant scholar (b. 1540)
* 1638 &ndash; Ignazio Donati, Italian composer (b. 1570)
* 1773 &ndash; Alexis Piron, French writer (b. 1689)
* 1774 &ndash; Mustafa III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1717)
* 1775 &ndash; Yemelyan Pugachev, Russian rebel (b. 1742)
* 1789 &ndash; Baron d'Holbach, French–German writer, philosopher and encyclopedist (b. 1723)
* 1793 &ndash; King Louis XVI of France (b. 1754)
* 1795 &ndash; Samuel Wallis, English navigator (b. 1728)
* 1809 &ndash; Josiah Hornblower, American engineer and politician (b. 1729)
* 1831 &ndash; Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (b. 1781)
* 1851 &ndash; Albert Lertzing, German composer (b. 1801)
* 1872 &ndash; Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (b. 1791)
* 1891 &ndash; Calixa Lavallée, Canadian composer (b. 1842)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1901 &ndash; Elisha Gray, American inventor (b. 1835)
* 1919 &ndash; Ahmed Muhtar Pasha, Ottoman general and Grand Vizier (b. 1839)
* 1919 &ndash; Gojong of the Korean Empire, Emperor of Korea (b. 1852)
* 1924 &ndash; Vladimir Lenin, Russian political leader (b. 1870)
* 1926 &ndash; Camillo Golgi, Italian doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1843)
* 1928 &ndash; George Goethals, American army engineer (b. 1858)
* 1932 &ndash; Giles Lytton Strachey, British writer (b. 1880)
* 1937 &ndash; Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (b. 1896)
* 1938 &ndash; Georges Méliès, French director (b. 1861)
* 1940 &ndash; Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (b. 1888)
* 1945 &ndash; Rash Behari Bose, Indian freedom fighter (b. 1886)
* 1950 &ndash; George Orwell, British writer (b. 1903)
* 1959 &ndash; Cecil B. DeMille, American director (b. 1881)
* 1961 &ndash; Blaise Cendrars, Swiss writer (b. 1903)
* 1967 &ndash; Ann Sheridan, American actress (b. 1915)
* 1977 &ndash; Sandro Penna, Italian poet (b. 1906)
* 1989 &ndash; Billy Tipton, American musician (b. 1914)
* 1989 &ndash; Carl Furillo, American baseball player (b. 1922)
* 1990 &ndash; Mariano Rumor, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1915)
* 1994 &ndash; Bassel al-Assad, brother of Bashar al-Assad (b. 1962)
* 1994 &ndash; Andrejs Kapmals, Latvian runner (b. 1889)
* 1997 &ndash; Colonel Tom Parker, American music manager (b. 1909)
* 1998 &ndash; Jack Lord, American actor (b. 1920)
* 1999 &ndash; Charles Brown, American blues singer and musician (b. 1920)
* 1999 &ndash; Susan Strasberg, American actress (b. 1938)

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; Byron De La Beckwith, American murderer (b. 1920)
* 2004 &ndash; Yordan Radichkov, Bulgarian writer (b. 1929)
* 2006 &ndash; Ibrahim Rugova, President of Kosovo (b. 1944)
* 2007 &ndash; Maria Cioncan, Romanian athlete (b. 1977)
* 2007 &ndash; U-Nee, South Korean singer, dancer and actress (b. 1981)
* 2008 &ndash; Marie Smith Jones, last speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
* 2011 &ndash; Dennis Oppenheim, American artist (b. 1938)
* 2013 &ndash; Michael Winner, British movie director, producer and food critic (b. 1935)
* 2013 &ndash; Alden W. Clausen, American banker and former World Bank President (b. 1923)
* 2014 &ndash; Manfred Bleskin, German journalist (b. 1949)
* 2015 &ndash; Kemal Monteno, Bosnian singer (b. 1948)
* 2015 &ndash; Leon Brittan, British politician (b. 1939)
* 2015 &ndash; Marcus Borg, American theologian (b. 1942)
* 2015 &ndash; Pauline Yates, English actress (b. 1929)
* 2016 &ndash; Bill Johnson, American skier (b. 1960)
* 2016 &ndash; Robert Sassone, French cyclist (b. 1978)
* 2016 &ndash; Derrick Todd Lee, American serial killer (b. 1968)
* 2016 &ndash; Mrinalini Sarabhai, Iranian classical dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
* 2020 &ndash; Terry Jones, English comedy writer (b. 1942)

## Observances 
* Flag Day (Quebec)
* Christian feast day of Saint Agnes
* Errol Barrow Day (Bahamas)
* National Hug Day (United States)
* Lady of Altagracia Day (Dominican Republic)