January 6
Since 2021, the terms January 6, January 6th, and 1/6 have been used in the media as a shorthand for the 2021 United States Capitol riots, which occurred on that day
Events
Up to 1900
1066 - Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England.
1118 - Reconquista: Alfonso the Battler conquers Zaragoza.
1311 - Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Italy.
1355 - Charles I of Bohemia is crowned King of Italy in Milan.
1389 - The University of Cologne is opened, with a celebratory church service in Cologne Cathedral on the Feast day of the Three Kings, the city's patron saints.
1492 - The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada, completing the Reconquista.
1540 - King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1612 - Axel Oxenstierna becomes Lord High Chancellor of Sweden.
1661 - English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London.
1759 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge.
1781 - Battle of Jersey: Great Britain defeats the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes.
1839 - Ireland is hit by its most damaging storm in 300 years.
1853 - US President-elect Franklin Pierce's family are involved in a train accident in Andover, Massachusetts, killing Pierce's 11-year-old son Benjamin. Pierce and his wife suffer from depression after this incident, and Franklin Pierce turns to alcoholism.
1870 - Vienna's Musikverein is inaugurated.
1893 - Washington National Cathedral is chartered by the United States Congress.
1900 - It is reported that millions are starving in India.
1900 - Boers attack Ladysmith, South Africa - over 1000 people killed.
1901 2000
1907 - Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.
1912 - New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
1912 - Alfred Wegener presents his theory of Continental drift.
1921 - Formation of Iraq's Army.
1926 - Lufthansa, currently Germany's biggest airline, is created.
1929 - Alexander I of Yugoslavia suspends his country's constitution.
1929 - Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta.
1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip is completed (Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City).
1931 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
1939 - Al Capone is released early from prison.
1940 - Mass execution of Polish people by Germans in the city of Poznan, Warthegau.
1941 - Franklin D. Roosevelt makes his "Four Freedoms" speech during his State of the Union Address.
1947 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
1950 - The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China ends diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
1951 - Korean War: Ganghwa massacre.
1960 - National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb between New York City and Miami.
1967 - United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
1978 - The United States returns the Crown of St. Stephen to Hungary.
1991 - Jorge Antonio Serrano Elias is elected President of Guatemala, becoming the first Protestant Head of State in Latin America.
1992 - The United Nations Security Council condemns Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
1992 - President Zviad Gamsakhurdia leaves Georgia, after a military coup.
1993 - The Indian Border Security Force kills 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir.
1994 - Nancy Kerrigan is attacked during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit.
1998 - Unidentified perpetrators saw off the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen; this is the second time that the statue has been damaged by this kind of vandalism; it previously happened in 1964.
From 2001
2001 - Al Gore, as President of the United States Senate, names George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 United States presidential election.
2005 - Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights activists.
2016 - North Korea declares that nuclear weapons testing of hydrogen atom has been done.
2018 - The "MV Sanchi" oil tanker collides with a Hong Kong-flagged ship near Shanghai, causing an explosion and leaving 32 sailors missing.
2021 - The 2021 United States Capitol attack, an attack on the United States capitol.
Births
Up to 1850
1256 - Gertrude the Great, German mystic and theologian (d. 1302)
1367 - Richard II of England (d. 1400)
1412 - Joan of Arc, Roman Catholic Saint and national heroine of France (legendary date) (d. 1431)
1486 - Martin Agricola, German composer (d. 1556)
1525 - Caspar Peucer, German reformer and physician (d. 1602)
1561 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physician (d. 1656)
1587 - Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish statesman (d. 1645)
1617 - Kristoffer Gabel, Danish statesman (d. 1673)
1655 - Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1720)
1670 - Alexander Gordon, Scottish-Russian general (d. 1752)
1695 - Giuseppe Sammartini, Italian composer (d. 1750)
1714 - Percival Pott, English physician (d. 1788)
1730 - Thomas Crittenden, 1st Governor of Vermont (d. 1797)
1745 - Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, French inventor (d. 1799)
1787 - Gaspard Theodore-Ignace de la Fontaine, 1st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1871)
1793 - James Madison Porter, American politician (d. 1862)
1798 - Melchior von Diepenbrock, Prince-Bishop of Breslau (d. 1853)
1799 - Jedediah Smith, American hunter, explorer and author (d. 1831)
1801 - Daniel Haines, two-time Governor of New Jersey (d. 1877)
1803 - Henri Herz, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1888)
1805 - Charles J. Jenkins, American politician and Governor of Georgia (d. 1883)
1807 - Joseph Petzval, Slovakian inventor (d. 1891)
1811 - Charles Sumner, American politician (d. 1874)
1812 - Melchora Aquino, Filipino revolutionary figure (d. 1919)
1819 - Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (d. 1886)
1822 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (d. 1890)
1826 - Adolf Kirchhoff, German philologist (d. 1908)
1827 - John C. Brown, American Confederate general and politician, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1889)
1832 - Gustave Dore, French painter and sculptor (d. 1883)
1837 - Juan Lindolfo Cuestas, President of Uruguay (d. 1905)
1838 - Max Bruch, German composer (d. 1920)
1842 - Clarence King, American geologist, mountaineer and critic (d. 1901)
1848 - Hristo Botev, Bulgarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1876)
1850 - Eduard Bernstein, German politician and political theorist (d. 1932)
1850 - Franz Xaver Scharwenka, Polish-German pianist and composer (d. 1924)
1851 1900
1856 - Giuseppe Martucci, Italian composer (d. 1909)
1857 - William E. Russell, 37th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1857 - Hugh Mahon, Australian politician (d. 1931)
1859 - Samuel Alexander, Australian-English philosopher (d. 1938)
1861 - Victor Horta, Belgian architect and designer (d. 1947)
1862 - August Oetker, German businessman (d. 1918)
1868 - Stefan Luchian, Romanian painter (d. 1937)
1868 - Vittorio Monti, Italian composer, conductor and violinist (d. 1922)
1870 - Gustav Bauer, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1944)
1872 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (d. 1915)
1874 - Fred Niblo, American actor, director and producer (d. 1948)
1878 - Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
1880 - Tom Mix, American actor, director and producer (d. 1940)
1882 - Sam Rayburn, American politician (d. 1961)
1882 - Fan S. Noli, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1965)
1883 - Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese writer (d. 1931)
1899 - Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile pioneer (d. 1968)
1900 - Maria of Yugoslavia (d. 1961)
1901 1950
1902 - Helmut Poppendick, German physician (d. 1994)
1913 - Edward Gierek, Polish politician (d. 2001)
1913 - Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)
1915 - Don Edwards, American politician (d. 2015)
1915 - Alan Watts, English philosopher (d. 1973)
1920 - John Maynard Smith, English biologist (d. 2004)
1920 - Early Wynn, American baseball player
1922 - George Carroll, American lawyer and politician (d. 2016)
1923 - Norman Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1974)
1924 - Earl Scruggs, American musician (d. 2012)
1925 - John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman (d. 2005)
1925 - Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen (d. 2010)
1925 - Ari Rath, Austrian-Israeli journalist (d. 2017)
1926 - Ralph Branca, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1926 - Pat Flaherty, American racing driver (d. 2002)
1926 - Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian actor and bodybuilder (d. 2006)
1927 - Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, American physician, 11th Surgeon General of the United States (d. 2014)
1928 - Capucine, American actress (d. 1990)
1928 - Derek Saunders, English footballer (d. 2018)
1929 - Babrak Karmal, Afghan politician (d. 1996)
1931 - E. L. Doctorow, American writer (d. 2015)
1931 - Dickie Moore, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1932 - Jose Saraiva Martins, Portuguese cardinal
1932 - Max Streibl, German politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (d. 1998)
1933 - Oleg Makarov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2003)
1933 - Leszek Drogosz, Polish boxer (d. 2012)
1933 - Emil Steinberger, Swiss actor, director and screenwriter
1934 - Sylvia Sims, English actress
1935 - Margarita of Bulgaria
1935 - Claude Steiner, French-born American psychologist and writer (d. 2017)
1935 - Gerald R. Molen, American film producer
1936 - Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre, 49th President of Guatemala
1936 - Julio Maria Sanguinetti, former President of Uruguay
1937 - Harri Holkeri, 57th Prime Minister of Finland (d. 2011)
1937 - Paolo Conte, Italian singer-songwriter, jazz musician and composer
1938 - Adriano Celentano, Italian singer-songwriter, actor and director
1939 - Murray Rose, British-born Australian swimmer (d. 2012)
1939 - Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer and coach (d. 2002)
1941 - Philippe Busquin, Belgian politician
1942 - Vicki Lansky, American author and publisher (d. 2017)
1943 - Hak Ja Han, South Korean church leader
1943 - Terry Venables, English football manager
1944 - Bonnie Franklin, American actress (d. 2013)
1944 - Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist
1945 - Barry John, Welsh rugby player
1946 - Syd Barrett, English guitarist, singer and songwriter (Pink Floyd) (d. 2006)
1948 - Guy Gardner, American air force officer and astronaut
1949 - Carolyn D. Wright, American poet (d. 2016)
1950 - Louis Freeh, 10th Director of the FBI
1951 1975
1951 - Kim Wilson, American musician
1953 - Malcolm Young, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter, actor and director (d. 2017)
1953 - Manfred Kaltz, German footballer
1954 - Yuji Horii, Japanese video game designer
1954 - Anthony Minghella, English movie director (d. 2008)
1954 - Trudie Styler, English actress
1955 - Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
1956 - Angus Deayton, English comedian, actor and television presenter
1956 - Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
1956 - Clive Woodward, English rugby player and coach
1957 - Michael Foale, British-American astronaut
1959 - Kathy Sledge, American actress
1960 - Nigella Lawson, English chef and writer
1960 - Paul Azinger, American golfer
1960 - Kari Jalonen, Finnish ice hockey player
1961 - Fergal Keane, Irish-British journalist and BBC News correspondent
1964 - Henry Maske, German boxer
1964 - Mark O'Toole, English musician
1964 - Anthony Scaramucci, American financier, entrepreneur and political figure
1964 - Yuri, Mexican singer
1965 - Christine Wachtel, German middle-distance runner
1966 - Attilio Lombardo, Italian footballer
1968 - John Singleton, American director (d. 2018)
1969 - Norman Reedus, American actor
1971 - Karin Slaughter, American crime fiction writer
1972 - Nek, Italian singer
1973 - Scott Ferguson, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 - Daniel Cordone, Argentine footballer
From 1976
1976 - Richard Zednik, Slovakian ice hockey player
1976 - Judith Rakers, German newsreader
1976 - David Di Michele, Italian footballer
1978 - Bubba Franks, American football player
1980 - Travis Dodd, Australian footballer
1980 - Steed Malbranque, French footballer
1981 - Rinko Kikuchi, Japanese actress
1981 - Asante Samuel, American football player
1982 - Eddie Redmayne, English actor
1983 - Adam Burish, American ice hockey player
1985 - Ben Haenow, English singer
1985 - Callum McCaig, Scottish politician
1985 - Inge Vermeulen, Brazilian-Dutch field hockey player (d. 2015)
1986 - Alex Turner, English musician (Arctic Monkeys)
1986 - Paul McShane, Irish footballer
1986 - Petter Northug, Norwegian skier
1986 - Irina Shayk, Russian model
1987 - Gemma Gibbons, English judoka
1987 - Zhang Lin, Chinese swimmer
1987 - Bongani Khumalo, South African footballer
1989 - Andy Carroll, English footballer
1989 - James Durbin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1990 - Sandro Cortese, German motorcycle racer
1996 - Courtney Eaton, Australian actress and model
2003 - Matty BRaps, American rapper
Deaths
Up to 1900
429 - Honoratus, French archbishop (b. 350)
768 - Abo of Tiflis, Christian saint
1088 - Berengar of Tours, French theologian (b. 999)
1537 - Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (b. 1510)
1537 - Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (b. 1481)
1646 - Elias Holl, German architect (b. 1573)
1689 - Seth Ward, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1617)
1693 - Mehmed IV, ex-Ottoman Sultan (b. 1642)
1829 - Josef Dobrovsky, Czech philologist and theologian (b. 1753)
1831 - Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1766)
1840 - Fanny Burney, English author (b. 1752)
1852 - Louis Braille, French teacher of the blind, inventor of Braille (b. 1809)
1855 - Giacomo Beltrami, Italian explorer (b. 1779)
1882 - Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1815)
1884 - Gregor Johann Mendel, Austrian geneticist (b. 1822)
1896 - Thomas W. Knox, American writer and journalist (b. 1835)
1901 2000
1918 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician (b. 1845)
1919 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858)
1934 - Herbert Chapman, English football manager (b. 1878)
1939 - Gustavs Zemgals, 2nd President of Latvia (b. 1871)
1942 - Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian head of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1876)
1944 - Ida Tarbell, American journalist (b. 1857)
1944 - Jacques Rosenbaum, Estonian-German architect (b. 1878)
1945 - Edith Frank, mother of Anne Frank (b. 1900)
1949 - Ivar Lykke, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1872)
1972 - Chen Yi, Chinese military commander (b. 1901)
1980 - Georgeanna Tillman, American singer (b. 1944)
1981 - A. J. Cronin, Scottish writer (b. 1896)
1990 - Pavel Cherenkov, Soviet-Russian physicist (b. 1904)
1990 - Ian Charleson, Scottish actor (b. 1949)
1993 - Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (b. 1917)
1993 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian dancer (b. 1938)
1994 - Virginia Dell Cassidy, mother of Bill Clinton (b. 1923)
1995 - Karl Guttmann, Dutch theatre director (n. 1913)
1995 - Joe Slovo, ANC activist and South African minister of Housing (b. 1926)
1997 - Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b. 1912)
1999 - Michel Petrucciani, French jazz pianist (b. 1962)
2000 - Don Martin, American cartoonist (b. 1931)
2001 2015
2002 - Sanya Dharmasakti, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1905)
2004 - Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1954)
2005 - Makgatho Mandela, South African lawyer, businessman and son of Nelson Mandela (b. 1950)
2005 - Louis Robichaud, 25th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1925)
2006 - Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter, producer and actor (b. 1933)
2009 - Ron Asheton, American musician (The Stooges) (b. 1948)
2011 - Gary Mason, British boxer (b. 1962)
2012 - Roger Boisjoly, American aeronautical engineer (b. 1938)
2012 - Bob Holness, South African-born British quiz show host (b. 1928)
2013 - Neil Adcock, South African cricketer (b. 1931)
2014 - Larry D. Mann, Canadian-American actor (b. 1922)
2014 - Lena Smedsaas, Swedish journalist (b. 1951)
2014 - Don Ward, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1935)
2015 - Vlastimil Bubnik, Czech ice hockey player and footballer (b. 1931)
2015 - Johannes de Villiers Graaff, South African economist (b. 1928)
2015 - Basil John Mason, British meteorologist (b. 1923)
2015 - Joseph Djida, Cameroonian bishop (b. 1945)
2015 - Ron Hovey, Australian football player (b. 1932)
2015 - George H. McKee, American air force lieutenant general (b. 1923)
2015 - Tim Roberts, American professional wrestler (b. 1976)
From 2016
2016 - Christy O'Connor Jnr, Irish golfer (b. 1948)
2016 - Silvana Pampanini, Italian actress (b. 1925)
2016 - Nivaria Tejera, Cuban poet and novelist (b. 1929)
2016 - Florence King, American writer (b. 1936)
2016 - Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor (b. 1929)
2016 - Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, Cuban trumpeter (b. 1928)
2016 - Ioannis Petridis, Greek politician (b. 1931)
2016 - Yves Vincent, French actor (b. 1921)
2017 - Om Puri, Indian actor (b. 1950)
2017 - Octavio Lepage, Venezuelan politician (b. 1923)
2017 - Ricardo Piglia, Argentine author (b. 1941)
2017 - Bayezid Osman, Turkish royalty (b. 1924)
2017 - Gavin Whittaker, Australian rugby league player (b. 1970)
2017 - Francine York, American actress (b. 1936)
2017 - Greg Jelks, American-Australian baseball player (b. 1961)
2017 - Yaron Ben-Dov, Israeli footballer (b. 1970)
2017 - Les Lazarowitz, American sound mixer (b. 1941)
2017 - Tilikum, American-held orca (b. 1981)
2018 - Horace Ashenfelter, American athlete (b. 1923)
2018 - Rita Crocker Clements, American political organizer, First Lady of Texas (b. 1931)
2018 - Thomas Bopp, American astronomer (b. 1949)
2018 - Marjorie Holt, American politician (b. 1920)
2018 - Peter Preston, British journalist, former editor of The Guardian (b. 1938)
2018 - Greta Thyssen, Danish-American actress (b. 1927)
2018 - Chris Tsangarides, British music producer (b. 1956)
2019 - Annalise Braakensiek, Australian model and actress (b. 1972)
2020 - Mike Fitzpatrick, American politician (b. 1963)
2021 - Maurice Wolin, American former oncologist and convicted sex offender (b. 1958)
2022 - Peter Bogdanovich, American movie director, actor, and writer (b. 1939)
2022 - F. Sionil Jose, Filipino writer (b. 1924)
2022 - Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, movie director and activist (b. 1927)
Holidays and observances
Epiphany, feast day of the Three Kings (except Eastern and Oriental Orthodox who follow the Julian Calendar) - Twelfth Day of Christmas
Public holiday in Spain, Italy and Puerto Rico to mark Epiphany
Ireland - Little Christmas
Rastafari - Celebration of the ceremonial birthday of Haile Selassie
Armenian Christmas (except in the Holy Land where it is on 18 January - old calendar)
End of Four Hills Ski jumping tournament (Germany, Austria)
January 06