January 4
January 4 is the
4th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. 361 days (362 in
leap years) remain in the year after this day.
*
46 BC -
Titus Labienus bloodily defeats
Julius Caesar in the
Battle of Ruspina.
*
871 -
Battle of Reading -
Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a
Danish invasion army.
*
1066 -
Battle of Hastings (1066)
*
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.
*
1854 - The
McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the
Samarang.
*
1865 - The
New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near
Wall Street in
New York City.
*
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
Collier's Weekly 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.
*
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 (
Chase, Maryland rail wreck).
*
1989 - A pair of Libyan
MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of
US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
*
1990 - A crowded passenger train collides with a standing freight train in
Pakistan's
Sindh province, killing 300 people.
*
1998 -
Wilaya of Relizane massacres in
Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
*
1999 - Former professional wrestler
Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of
Minnesota.
*
1999 - Cartoon
Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy appears on
Cartoon Network.
* 1999 - Gunmen open fire on
Shiite Muslims worshipping in an
Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.
* 1999 - A proposal emailed out across the world led to the
International Firefighters' Day institution.
*
2001 -
RuneScape (Now known as RuneScape Classic) was released.
*
2004 - Dr.
Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the
President of
Georgia.
* 2004 -
Spirit, a
NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on
Mars at 04:35 UTC.
*
2006 -
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of
Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to Acting
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
* 2006 - Serious media mixup when media organisations mistakenly reported that 12 miners were found alive in the
Sago Mine Disaster. Several USA newspapers had frontpage headlines such as "ALIVE!", when in fact 12 miners had perished.
*
1077 -
Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty in China (d.
1100)
*
1334 -
Amadeus VI of Savoy (d.
1383)
*
1581 -
James Ussher, Irish Anglican archbishop (d.
1656)
*
1643 -
Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher (d.
1727)
*
1664 -
Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (d.
1742)
*
1672 -
Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (d.
1742)
*
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 inventor of Braille (d.
1852)
*
1832 -
George Tryon, British admiral (d.
1893)
*
1838 -
Charles Sherwood Stratton, American circus performer as "General Tom Thumb" (d.
1883)
*
1839 -
Carl Humann, German engineer (d.
1896)
*
1848 -
Katsura Taro,
Prime Minister of Japan (d.
1913)
*
1869 -
Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (d.
1960)
*
1874 -
Josef Suk, Czech composer (d.
1935)
*
1881 -
Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d.
1919)
*
1882 -
Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist (d.
1943)
*
1883 -
Max Eastman, American writer (d.
1969)
*
1894 -
Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (d.
1962)
*
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)
*
1913 -
Malietoa Tanumafili II, Sovereign Ruler of Samoa
*
1914 -
Jane Wyman, American actress
* 1914 -
Herman Franks, baseball player
*
1920 -
William Colby, American CIA director (d.
1996)
*
1924 -
Sebastian Kappen, Indian theologian (d.
1993)
*
1925 -
Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (d.
2003)
*
1930 -
Sorrell Booke, American actor (d.
1994)
* 1930 -
Don Shula, American football coach
*
1931 -
Adi Lady Lala Mara, First Lady of Fiji
*
1935 -
Floyd Patterson, American boxer (d.
2006)
*
1937 -
Grace Bumbry, American singer
* 1937 -
Dyan Cannon, American actress
*
1940 -
Helmut Jahn, German architect
* 1940 -
Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist,
Nobel laureate* 1940 -
Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born writer,
Nobel laureate*
1941 -
Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d.
2001)
*
1943 -
Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
*
1945 -
Richard R. Schrock, American chemist,
Nobel laureate* 1945 -
Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish entertainer
*
1950 -
John Louis Evans, convicted murderer (d.
1983)
*
1953 -
Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer
* 1953 -
George Tenet, American CIA director
*
1956 -
Bernard Sumner, English musician (
New Order)
*
1957 -
Patty Loveless, American singer
*
1958 -
Matt Frewer, American actor
* 1958 -
Gary Jones, Welsh-born actor
*
1960 -
Michael Stipe, American singer (
R.E.M.)
*
1962 -
Peter Steele, American musician (
Type O Negative)
* 1962 -
Robin Guthrie, Scottish guitarist
*
1963 -
Dave Foley, Canadian comedian and actor
* 1963 -
Till Lindemann, German singer (
Rammstein)
*
1965 -
Beth Gibbons, English singer (
Portishead)
* 1965 -
Julia Ormond, English actress
*
1966 -
Deana Carter, American singer
*
1977 -
Tim Wheeler, Irish singer (
Ash)
*
1978 -
Dwight Freeney, American football player
* 1978 -
Dominik Hrbatý, Slovakian tennis player
*
1979 -
Jeph Howard, American musician (
The Used)
*
1982 -
Richard Logan English footballer
*
1985 -
Fernando Rees, Brazilian race car driver
*
1995 -
MarÃa Isabel, Spanish singer
*
1066 -
Edward the Confessor, pre-Norman conquest English king (b. ca.
1004) (disputed)
*
1248 - King
Sancho II of Portugal (b.
1207)
*
1564 -
Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b.
1514)
*
1584 -
Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and drawer (b.
1539)
*
1695 -
François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (b.
1628)
*
1752 -
Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b.
1704)
*
1761 -
Stephen Hales, English physiologist (b.
1677)
*
1773 -
Anton Losenko, Russian painter (b.
1737)
*
1782 -
Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b.
1698)
*
1804 -
Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet (bc.
1730)
*
1821 -
Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b.
1774)
*
1825 - King
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b.
1751)
*
1877 -
Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b.
1794)
*
1883 -
Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (b.
1823)
*
1896 -
Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b.
1821)
*
1903 -
Gulstan Ropert, Roman Catholic prelate (b.
1839)
*
1919 -
Georg von Hertling,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1843)
*
1931 -
Art Acord, American actor (b.
1890)
*
1941 -
Henri Bergson, French philosopher,
Nobel laureate (b.
1859)
*
1960 -
Albert Camus, Algerian-born French philosopher and writer,
Nobel laureate (b.
1913)
*
1961 -
Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1887)
*
1962 -
Hans Lammers, German SS officer (b.
1879)
*
1965 -
T. S. Eliot, American-born writer,
Nobel laureate (b.
1888)
*
1967 -
Donald Campbell, British motorboat racer (b.
1921)
*
1969 -
Violet and
Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (b.
1908)
*
1970 -
Jean-Étienne Valluy, French general (b.
1899)
*
1971 -
Arthur Ford, American clairaudient {b.
1896)
*
1985 -
Brian Horrocks, British general (b.
1895)
*
1986 -
Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b.
1904)
* 1986 -
Phil Lynott, Irish musician (
Thin Lizzy) (b.
1949)
*
1990 -
Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (b.
1903)
*
1998 -
Mae Questel, American actress (b.
1908)
*
1999 -
Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b.
1904)
*
2003 -
Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b.
1927)
* 2003 -
Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b.
1923)
* 2003 -
Sabine Ulibarri, Mexican American writer (b.
1919)
*
2004 -
Joan Aiken, English author (b.
1924)
* 2004 -
Brian Gibson, English film director (b.
1944)
* 2004 -
Jake Hess, American singer (b.
1927)
* 2004 -
Jeff Nuttall, English writer (b.
1933)
* 2004 -
John Toland, American historian (b.
1912)
*
2005 -
Humphrey Carpenter, English author (b.
1946)
* 2005 -
Ali al-Haidri, Iraqi governor of Baghdad (assassinated)
* 2005 -
Frank Harary, American 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)
*
2006 -
Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Republics and Ruler of Dubai (b.
1946)
*
Feast day of
St Elizabeth Ann Seton*The eleventh night and tenth
day of Christmas in Western
Christianity*
Ogoni Day
*
Spaghetti Day
*
BBC: On This Day*
NY Times: On this day*
Today in History: January 4January 3 -
January 5 -
December 4 -
February 4 â€"
listing of all days
