January 12......

January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 353 (354 in leap years) days remaining in the year on this date.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 475 - Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople.

● 1493 - Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily.

● 1519 - Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died.

● 1528 - Gustav I of Sweden crowned king of Sweden.

● 1552 - Dutch west coast hit by heavy storm, 100s killed

● 1583 - Holland begins use of Gregorian calendar (yesterday was 1/1/1583)

● 1592 - Titus Andronicus first staged at the Rose Theatre.

● 1598 - Pope Clement VIII seizes duchy of Ferrara on death of Alfonso

● 1641 - James City, Virginia, passes law that if any Indian commits a crime, the first Indian apprehended must pay penalty, with life if necessary.

● 1684 - French king Louis XIV marries Madame Maintenon

● 1701 - Parts of the Netherlands (Frisia & Groningen) adopt the Gregorian calendar (others 1 year later)

● 1755 - Tsarina Elisabeth establishes 1st Russian University

● 1773 - The first public Colonial American museum opens in Charleston, South Carolina.

● 1777 - Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California. It was one of nine missions founded by Spanish Franciscan missionary, Father Junipero Serra, between 1769-1784.

● 1779 - Pioneer American Methodist bishop Francis Asbury recorded in his journal: 'If the Lord is pleased to work, who or what can hinder?'

● 1806 - French evacuate Vienna

● 1807 - Gunpowder-ship explodes in Leiden Netherlands, 150 die

● 1809 - British take Cayenne (French Guiana) from the French (until 1814)

● 1812 - 1st cargo arrives in New Orleans by steam, from Natchez

● 1816 - France decrees Bonaparte family excluded from the country forever

● 1820 - Royal Astronomical Society founded in England

● 1825 - Birth of Brooke Foss Westcott, British N.T. scholar. In 1881, he and F. J. A. Hort co-edited a famous critical text of the Greek New Testament -- one which is still used today.

● 1833 - Act passed making it unlawful for any Indian to remain within the boundaries of the state of Florida.

● 1836 - Battle of Wetumka FL

● 1836 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin reach Sydney Australia

● 1839 - Anthracite coal 1st used to smelt iron, Mauch Chunk PA

● 1839 - Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'It is not the tempest, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but the still small voice of the Spirit that carries on the glorious work of saving souls.'

● 1842 - Franciscan nuns begin missionary work on Netherlands Antilles

● 1848 - The Palermo rising in Sicily rises against the Bourbon kingdom of the Two Sicilies

● 1861 - FL state troops demand surrender of Fort Pickens

● 1863 - President Davis delivers his "State of the Confederacy" address

● 1864 - Kit Carson's patrol kills 11 Navajo in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona Territory.

● 1865 - Union fleet bombs Fort Fisher NC

● 1866 - Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.

● 1872 - Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.

● 1875 - Kwang-su becomes emperor of China.

● 1876 - Jack London, novelist and socialist, born.

● 1879 - The British-Zulu War begins as British troops under Lieutenant General Frederic Augustus invade Zululand from the southern African republic of Natal. In 1843, Britain succeeded the Boers as the rulers of Natal, which controlled Zululand, the neighboring kingdom of the Zulu people. Boers, also known as Afrikaaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers who came to South Africa in the 17th century. Zulus, a migrant people from the north, also came to southern Africa during the same century, settling around the Tugela River region. In 1838, the Boers, migrating north to elude the new British dominions in the south, first came into armed conflict with the Zulus, who were under the rule of King Dingane at the time. The European migrants succeeded in overthrowing Dingane in 1840, replacing him with his son Mpande, who became a vassal of the new Boer republic of Natal. In 1843, the British took over Natal and Zululand. In 1872, King Mpande died and was succeeded by his son Cetshwayo, who was determined to resist European domination in his territory. In December of 1878, Cetshwayo rejected the British demand that he disband his troops, and in January of the next year, British forces invaded Zululand to suppress Cetshwayo. The British suffered grave defeats at Isandlwana, where 1,200 British soldiers were killed, and at Hlobane Mountain, but on March 29, the tide turned in favor of the British at the Battle of Khambula.

● 1882 - Thomas Edison's central station on Holborn Viaduct in London began operation.

● 1882 - Christian Christiansen, antimilitarist activist, born, Cornwall, Denmark.

● 1893 - Birth of Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi race theorist, Reval, Estonia. Joins the Nazi Party before Hitler, administers occupied Russia during World War II, and is executed at Nuremberg for war crimes.

● 1893 - Representatives of 21 mission boards met in NY City to discuss common concerns. Soon becoming an annual event, by 1911 the convention was known as the Foreign Missions Conference. In 1950 it became a constituting member of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, serving as its Division of Foreign Missions.

● 1896 - At Davidson College, several students took x-ray photographs. They created the first X-ray photographs to be made in America.

● 1898 - Ito Hirobumi begins his third term as Prime Minister of Japan.

● 1900 - Freeland utopian colony founded at Holmes Harbor, Whidby Island, Island County, north of Seattle, Washington.

● 1903 - Rhodes Opera House burns in Boyertown PA, killing 170

● 1904 - Southwest-Africa uprising under Samuel Maherero against German garison

● 1906 - 1st time Dow Jones closes above 100 (100.26)

● 1906 - Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's cabinet (which included amongst its members H.H. Asquith, David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill) embarks on sweeping social reforms after a Liberal landslide in the British general election.

● 1907 - Britain grants responsible government to former colony of Transvaal

● 1908 - A long-distance radio message is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.

● 1912 - -47ºF (-44ºC), Washta IA (state record)

● 1915 - The Rocky Mountain National Park is formed by an act of U.S. Congress.

● 1915 - United States House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote.

● 1916 - Britain proclaims Gilbert & Ellice Island colony in the Pacific

● 1920 - Birth of James Farmer, founder of CORE (Congress of Racial Equality).

● 1922 - China - Three-year strike wave begins.

● 1924 - History of Science Society organized at Boston

● 1926 - Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll premiere their radio program Sam 'n' Henry, a precursor to Amos 'n' Andy; possibly the first situation comedy.

● 1928 - Police raid IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) Hall, Walsenburg, Colorado.

● 1928 - Police seize 800 copies of the lesbian novel "The Well of Loneliness" by Radcliffe Hall.

● 1928 - Ruth Snyder first woman to die in electric chair.

● 1929 - Seatrain (RR cars on ships) service begins, New Orleans-Havana

● 1932 - Ophelia Wyatt Caraway, a Democrat from Arkansas, becomes the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Caraway, born near Bakerville, Tennessee, was appointed to the Senate two months before to fill the vacancy left by her late husband, Thaddeus Horatio Caraway. With the support of Huey Long, a powerful senator from Louisiana, Caraway was popularly elected to the seat.

● 1932 - France's Laval government falls

● 1933 - Spain - The anarchist uprisings which began on Jan. 8 are brutally suppressed. Their greatest successes were in Andalusia. Police and army buildings were attacked, and the anarcho-trade unionists seized public buildings and proclaimed libertarian Communism there. In the small village of Casas Viejas, the "Gardes d'assaut" (created by the Republic), demonstrate their cruelty by assassinating many of the villagers, burning alive others gathered in a thatched cottage.

● 1933 - US Congress recognize independence Philippines

● 1937 - Plow for laying submarine cable patented

● 1938 - Austria recognized the Franco government in Spain.

● 1940 - World War II: Russia bombs cities in Finland.

● 1942 - Birth of Bernadine Rae Doehm, SOS and Weatherman activist in Vietnam era.

● 1942 - President Franklin Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.

● 1942 - British troops reconquer Sollum

● 1942 - Dutch troops on Tarakan surrender

● 1943 - The Office of Price Administration announced that standard frankfurters/hot dogs/wieners would be replaced by 'Victory Sausages.'

● 1944 - Churchill & de Gaulle begin a 2-day wartime conference in Marrakesh

● 1944 - Failed resistance raid on distribution office of Borgerstraat Amsterdam

● 1945 - World War II: The Soviets begin a large offensive in Eastern Europe against the Nazis.

● 1945 - German forces in Belgium retreat in Battle of the Bulge

● 1945 - US Task Force 38 destroys 41 Japanese ships in Battle of South China Sea

● 1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law-school applicants because of race. (Sipuel vs Oklahoma State Board of Regents)

● 1948 - 1st Supermarket in UK opens

● 1948 - Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi begins his final fast.

● 1949 - Dutch court affirms death sentence against SS chief Hanns Rauter

● 1950 - Swedish tanker rams British submarine Truculent in Thames, 64 die

● 1950 - USSR re-introduces death penalty for treason, espionage & sabotage

● 1951 - International Convention on Genocide comes into force.

● 1952 - University of Tennessee admits its 1st black student

● 1953 - 9 "Jewish" physicians arrested for "terrorist activities" in Moscow

● 1954 - Austria's worst avalanche-kills 200; 9hours later 2nd one-kills 115

● 1954 - Queen Elizabeth II opens New Zealand parliament

● 1954 - Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces U.S. abandonment of President Truman's doctrine of "containing Communism" for a new policy of "massive retaliation" - deterring "red aggression" by threatening to respond with a rain of nuclear bombs.

● 1957 - Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) founded

● 1961 - UN genocide pact goes into effect

● 1962 - President Kennedy signs Executive Order 10988, guaranteeing federal workers the right to join unions and bargain collectively.

● 1964 - Black rebels overthrow the predominantly Arab government of Zanzibar after heavy fighting. Zanzibar became a British colony in the 19th century. The British established a protectorate in 1890, treating Zanzibar as an Arab state even though Arabs constituted only one-sixth of the population. In today's fighting, the black majority is led by John Okello, whose small army attacks the Zanzibar armory and seizes the radio station. The Sultan flees on his yacht. Independence will not dramatically change the country's social relations. Arabs own the large plantations and run the government. Eventually Zanzibar forms a union with Tanganyika. The new nation will be called Tanzania.

● 1965 - Playwright Lorraine Hansberry dies in New York, her promising career cut short by cancer. Her popular play, "A Raisin in the Sun," is the first drama by a black woman produced on Broadway.

● 1965 - At 10:58 AM PST burn up a nuclear rocket in Nevada

● 1966 - UK politicians assaulted in Rhodesia; Three visiting MPs are attacked by 400 supporters of Prime Minister Ian Smith at a rowdy meeting in Salisbury.

● 1966 - 12 day New York City NY transit strike ends

● 1966 - Lyndon B. Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.

● 1966 - Batman the TV series debuts on ABC.

● 1967 - Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryogenically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.

● 1967 - Louisville KY, draft board refuses exemption for boxer Muhammad Ali

● 1968 - U.S. and Cambodia announce an agreement designed to insulate Cambodia from the war in Vietnam.

● 1969 - Some 5,000 anti-racism marchers clash with London Bobbies during an immigration protest.

● 1969 - Led Zeppelin's debut album released.

● 1969 - Joe Namath and the New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16-7 in Super Bowl III, becoming the first team from the American Football League to win American Football's top championship.

● 1970 - Boeing 747 makes its maiden voyage

● 1970 - Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war.

● 1970 - Badger Bomb Plant in Wisconsin is bombed with stolen airplane.

● 1971 - Rev. Philip F. Berrigan, founder of the Catholic Peace Fellowship anti-Vietnam War organization, is indicted along with five others on charges of conspiring to kidnap national security advisor and future Nobel Peace Prize recipient Henry Kissinger and to bomb the heating systems of federal buildings in Washington, D.C. At the time, Berrigan was serving a six-year sentence at a federal prison in Connecticut with his brother Daniel for their destruction of military draft records in Maryland during 1967/68. Given Berrigan's strict ethic of nonviolence toward human beings, the charges are seen by many as preposterous; the six are eventually not convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and bomb federal buildings, but Berrigan and Elizabeth McAllister (later to become his wife) were convicted of smuggling mail out of a federal penitentiary.

● 1971 - "All in the Family" premiere on CBS featured first toilet flush on TV. Its depiction of a working class family would never be approved on modern network TV; wrong advertising demographics.

● 1971 - British minister's home bombed; Two bombs explode at the Hertfordshire home of Employment Secretary Robert Carr causing serious damage.

● 1971 - Congressional Black Caucus organizes

● 1973 - Yassar Arafat was re-elected as head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

● 1974 - Libya & Tunisia announces they are merging as "Islamic Arab Republic"

● 1975 - Chrysler Corp offers 1st car rebates

● 1976 - Crime writer Agatha Christie dies; The most popular novelist in the world, Dame Agatha Christie, 85, dies leaving a rumoured multi-million pound fortune and a final book waiting to be published.

● 1976 - UN Security Council votes 11-1 to allow the Palestinian Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights).

● 1977 - Anti-French demonstrations takes place in Israel after Paris released Abu Daoud, responsible 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes

● 1979 - Los Angeles's Hillside Strangler, Kenneth Bianchi, arrested in Bellingham

● 1979 - Record blizzard struck midwest killing over 100

● 1981 - -35ºF (-37ºC), Chester, Massachusetts (state record)

● 1981 - American soap opera Dynasty debuts on ABC.

● 1986 - Space Shuttle program: STS-61-C mission - Space Shuttle Columbia takes-off with the first Hispanic-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz. It was the last successful mission before STS-51-L.

● 1987 - Twenty West German judges arrested for blockading the U.S. Air Force base at Mutlangen, West Germany.

● 1987 - Britain's Prince Edward resigns from his Royal Marines training

● 1989 - 6 claim to survive in rubble, 35 days after Armenian quake (hoax)

● 1989 - Idi Amin expelled from Zaire

● 1990 - Civil Rights activist Reverand Al Sharpton is stabbed in Bensonhurst Brooklyn

● 1990 - Romania bans Communist party (1st Warsaw Pact member to do so)

● 1991 - Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.

● 1992 - A new constitution, providing for freedom to form political parties, is approved by referendum in Mali.

● 1992 - Algeria's General elections canceled after strong gains by Islamic Salvation Front in the 1st round

● 1994 - Malcolm X's daughter arrested for plotting Louis Farrakhan's murder

● 1994 - Tens of thousands march in Mexico City; government declares ceasefire with Zapatistas in Chiapas.

● 1995 - Northern Ireland Secretary Patrick Mayhew announced that as of January 16 British troops would no longer carry out daylight street patrols in Belfast.

● 1995 - Malcolm X's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz, is arrested for conspiring to kill Louis Farrakhan.

● 1995 - Murder trial against OJ Simpson, begins in Los Angeles

● 1995 - Pope John Paul II begins visit to Southeast Asia

● 1996 - Russian troops arrived in Bosnia (joint operation with US)

● 1996 - Police SWAT team raids Florida Anarchist Black Cross house in Jacksonville, Fla.

● 1997 - Space Shuttle STS 81 (Atlantis 18), launches into space

● 1998 - Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.

● 1998 - Tyson Foods Inc. plead guilty to giving $12,000 to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. Tyson was fined $6 million.

● 1998 - Linda Tripp provided Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's office with taped conversations between herself and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

● 1999 - Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder.

● 2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, gave police broad authority to stop and question people who run at the sight of an officer.

● 2001 - Climbie carers guilty of murder; The carers of an eight-year-old girl who died after being tortured and fed scraps of food like a dog are found guilty of her murder.

● 2002 - "Refusenik" movement begins when 53 Israeli soldiers sign ad refusing to serve in West Bank or Gaza Strip.

● 2003 - AOL Time Warner chairman Steve Case announced his resignation.

● 2003 - Maurice Gibb dies after stomach op; Bee Gee Maurice Gibb dies aged 53 following a stomach operation at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.

● 2005 - Britain's Prince Harry apologized after a newspaper published a photograph of the young royal wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party.

● 2005 - Deep Impact (space mission) launches from Cape Canaveral by a Delta 2 rocket.

● 2006 - The foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany declare that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have reached a dead end and recommend that Iran be referred to the United Nations Security Council. (ABC)

● 2006 - The U.S. Mint began shipping new 5-cent coins to the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. The coin has an image of Thomas Jefferson taken from a 1800 Rembrandt Peale portrait in which the president is looking forward. Since 1909, when presidents were first depicted on circulating coins, all presidents had been shown in profile.

● 2006 - A stampede during the Stoning the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims.

● 2006 - Turkey releases Mehmet Ali Ağca from jail after he served 25 years for shooting Pope John Paul II.

● 2006 - The French warship Clemenceau reaches Egypt and is barred access to the Suez Canal. Greenpeace activists board the ship. (BBC)

BIRTHS

● 1483 - Henry III of Nassau-Breda, German nobleman (d. 1538)

● 1562 - Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1630)

● 1576 - Petrus Scriverius, Dutch writer (d. 1660)

● 1588 - John Winthrop, Massachusetts Bay Colony founder (d. 1649)

● 1591 - José Ribera, Spanish painter (d. 1652)

● 1597 - François Duquesnoy, French sculptor (d. 1643)

● 1628 - Charles Perrault, French folklorist (d. 1703)

● 1715 - Jacques Duphly, French composer (d. 1789)

● 1716 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general (d. 1795)

● 1723 - Samuel Langdon, American President of Harvard University (d. 1797)

● 1729 - Edmund Burke, Irish statesman (d. 1797)

● 1737 - John Hancock, American statesman (d. 1793)

● 1746 - Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss pedagogue (d. 1827)

● 1751 - Jakob Michael Lenz, Russian-born German poet (d. 1792)

● 1751 - Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1825)

● 1786 - Sir Robert Inglis, Bt, English politician (d. 1855)

● 1797 - Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician (d. 1873)

● 1825 - Francis Henry Underwood, American lawyer/author (d. 1894)

● 1849 - Jean Béraud, French painter (d. 1935)

● 1852 - Joseph Joffre, French general (d. 1931)

● 1856 - John Singer Sargent, American artist (d. 1925)

● 1863 - Swami Vivekananda, Indian philosopher (d. 1902)

● 1873 - Spiridon Louis, Greek runner (d. 1940)

● 1876 - Jack London, American author (d. 1916)

● 1876 - Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Italian composer (d. 1948)

● 1877 - Frank J. Corr, American politican (d. 1934)

● 1878 - Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian writer (d. 1952)

● 1879 - Ray Harroun, American race car driver (d. 1968)

● 1882 - Milton Sills, American actor (d. 1930)

● 1884 - Max Eastman, American poet/editor (d. 1969)

● 1884 - Louis Horst, American pianist/composer (d. 1964)

● 1884 - Texas Guinan, American actress (d. 1933)

● 1892 - Mikhail Gurevich, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1976)

● 1893 - Hermann Göring, Nazi official (d. 1946)

● 1893 - Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi official (d. 1946)

● 1894 - Georges Carpentier, French boxer (d. 1975)

● 1896 - Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950)

● 1899 - Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)

● 1902 - Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)

● 1905 - Tex Ritter, American country singer and actor (d. 1974)

● 1905 - James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (d. 1997)

● 1906 - Daniil Kharms, Russian playwright (d. 1942)

● 1907 - Patsy Kelly, American actress (d. 1981)

● 1907 - Sergei Korolev, Russian rocket scientist (d. 1966)

● 1908 - Jean Delannoy, French film director

● 1908 - Clement Hurd, American illustrator (d. 1988)

● 1910 - Luise Rainer, German two-time Academy Award winning actress

● 1915 - Paul Jarrico, American writer (d. 1997)

● 1916 - Pieter Willem Botha, former President of South Africa (d. 2006)

● 1916 - Jay McShann, American musician (d. 2006)

● 1917 - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian spiritualist

● 1920 - James L. Farmer, Jr., American activist (d. 1999)

● 1923 - Ira Hayes, American soldier (d. 1955)

● 1925 - Scottie MacGregor, American actress

● 1926 - Ray Price, American singer

● 1928 - Ruth Brown, American singer (d. 2006)

● 1928 - Lloyd Ruby, American race car driver

● 1930 - Tim Horton, Canadian hockey player (d. 1974)

● 1930 - Glenn Yarborough, American singer

● 1932 - Des O'Connor, British television presenter

● 1935 - Kreskin, mentalist

● 1937 - Shirley Eaton, British actress

● 1939 - William Lee Golden, Country singer (The Oak Ridge Boys)

● 1941 - Long John Baldry, British blues singer (d. 2005)

● 1944 - Joe Frazier, American boxer

● 1944 - Vlastimil Hort, Czechoslovakian chess player

● 1946 - George Duke, American musician

● 1946 - Lady Cosgrove, Scottish judiciary figure

● 1946 - Cynthia Robinson, American musician (Sly & the Family Stone)

● 1948 - Khalid Abdul Muhammed, American Nation of Islam spokesman (d. 2001)

● 1948 - Kenny Allen, English footballer

● 1948 - Anthony Andrews, Actor

● 1948 - William Nicholson, English writer

● 1949 - Haruki Murakami, Japanese novelist

● 1949 - Wayne Wang, Hong Kong-born film director

● 1950 - Sheila Jackson Lee, American politician

● 1950 - Bob McEwen, American politician

● 1950 - Ricky Ray Rector, American murderer (d. 1992)

● 1951 - Kirstie Alley, American actress (''Cheers'')

● 1951 - Ann Althouse, American law professor

● 1951 - Rush Limbaugh, American radio personality {and all around idiot}

● 1952 - Ricky Van Shelton, Country singer

● 1952 - Walter Mosley, American author

● 1954 - Howard Stern, American radio host

● 1955 - Rockne S. O'Bannon, screenwriter

● 1957 - John Lasseter, American director, founder of Pixar Animation Studios

● 1957 - Tom Ardolino, Rock musician (NRBQ)

● 1958 - Christiane Amanpour, Broadcast journalist

● 1959 - Blixa Bargeld, German singer (Einstürzende Neubauten)

● 1959 - Per Gessle, Swedish songwriter and musician (Roxette)

● 1960 - Charlie Gillingham, Rock musician (Counting Crows)

● 1960 - Oliver Platt, Canadian actor

● 1960 - Dominique Wilkins, American basketball player

● 1963 - François Girard, French Canadian film director and screenwriter

● 1964 - Jeff Bezos, American entrepreneur

● 1965 - Rob Zombie, American musician

● 1966 - Rob Zombie, Rock singer

● 1966 - Olivier Martinez, French actor

● 1967 - TBird, Rapper (B-Rock and the Bizz)

● 1967 - Vendela Kirsebom, Swedish supermodel

● 1968 - Farrah Forke, Actress

● 1968 - Heather Mills McCartney, British activist

● 1968 - Mauro Silva, Brazilian footballer

● 1969 - Robert Prosinečki, Croatian footballer

● 1970 - Zack de la Rocha, American musician (Rage Against the Machine)

● 1970 - Raekwon, American rapper (Wu Tang Clan)

● 1972 - Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Rajiv Gandhi

● 1972 - Espen Knutsen, Norwegian hockey player

● 1972 - Jason Sklar, American comedian

● 1972 - Randy Sklar, American comedian

● 1973 - Matt Wong, Rock musician (Reel Big Fish)

● 1973 - Dan Haseltine, singer, Jars of Clay

● 1974 - Melanie Chisholm, British singer (Spice Girls)

● 1974 - Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian cross-country skiier

● 1975 - Jason Freese, American musician

● 1975 - Jocelyn Thibault, National Hockey League goaltender

● 1977 - Dominic Etli, American footballer

● 1978 - Kris Roe, American musician (The Ataris)

● 1978 - Kim Sa Rang, Korean actress

● 1978 - Luis Ayala, baseball pitcher

● 1979 - Marián Hossa, Slovak ice hockey player

● 1979 - Grzegorz Rasiak, Polish footballer

● 1980 - Amerie, American singer and songwriter

● 1980 - Bobby Crosby, American baseball player

● 1982 - Dontrelle Willis, American baseball player

● 1982 - Sherzod Abdurahmonov, Uzbekistanian boxer

● 1984 - Scott Olsen, American baseball player

● 1986 - Miguel Ángel Nieto, Spanish footballer

● 1987 - Will Rothhaar, American actor

● 1988 - Andrew Lawrence, Actor

● 1988 - Chris Casement, Irish footballer

● 1990 - Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian chess player

● 1992 - Mao Kobayashi, Japanese gravure idol

DEATHS

● 1321 - Maria of Brabant, wife of Philip III of France (b. 1256)

● 1519 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1459)

● 1583 - Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (b. 1508)

● 1665 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician and lawyer (b. 1601)

● 1674 - Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (b. 1605)

● 1700 - Marguerite Bourgeoys, saint (b. 1620)

● 1705 - Luca Giordano, Italian artist (b. 1634)

● 1732 - John Horsley, British archaeologist

● 1735 - John Eccles, English composer (b. 1668)

● 1759 - Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1709)

● 1777 - Hugh Mercer, American Revolutionary War officer (mortally wounded in battle) (b.1726)

● 1781 - Richard Challoner, English Catholic prelate (b. 1691)

● 1817 - Juan Andres, Spanish Jesuit (b. 1740)

● 1834 - William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)

● 1899 - Hiram Walker, American distiller (b. 1816)

● 1909 - Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician (b. 1864)

● 1940 - Edward Smith, English soldier, recipient of the Victoria Cross (b. 1899)

● 1943 - Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and writer (b. 1902)

● 1944 - Lance C. Wade, American pilot (b. 1915)

● 1956 - Norman Kerry, American actor (b. 1894)

● 1960 - Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)

● 1962 - Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian writer and feminist (b. 1869)

● 1965 - Lorraine Hansberry, American writer (b. 1936)

● 1976 - Agatha Christie, English writer (b. 1890)

● 1977 - Henri-Georges Clouzot, French film director and screenwriter (b. 1907)

● 1983 - Nikolai Podgorny, President of the USSR (b. 1903)

● 1990 - Laurence J. Peter, Canadian-born educator et writer (b. 1919)

● 1991 - Keye Luke, Chinese-born actor (b. 1904)

● 1996 - Joachim Nitsche, German mathematician (b. 1926)

● 1997 - Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1901)

● 1997 - Jean-Edern Hallier, French author (b. 1936)

● 1999 - Betty Lou Gerson, American voice actress (b. 1914)

● 1999 - Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1961)

● 2000 - Marc Davis, American animator (b. 1913)

● 2000 - Bobby Phills, American basketball player (b. 1969)

● 2001 - Affirmed, American racehorse (b. 1975)

● 2001 - William Hewlett, American engineer and businessman (b. 1913)

● 2001 - Luiz Bonfá, Brazilian guitarist and composer (b. 1922)

● 2002 - Stanley Unwin, South African comedian (b. 1911)

● 2002 - Cyrus Vance, 57th U.S. Secretary of State (b. 1917)

● 2003 - Kinji Fukasaku, Japanese director (b. 1930)

● 2003 - Leopoldo Galtieri, dictator of Argentina (b. 1926)

● 2003 - Maurice Gibb, British singer, songwriter, and musician (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)

● 2004 - Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician (b. 1921)

● 2004 - Randy VanWarmer, American singer and songwriter (b. 1955)

● 2005 - Amrish Puri, Indian actor (b. 1932)

● 2005 - Edmund S. Valtman, Estonian-born cartoonist (b. 1914)

● 2007 - Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician (b. 1937)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Tatiana
● St. Arcadius
● St. Caesaria
● St. Martina
● St. Anthony Mary Pucci
● St. Bartholomew Alvarez
● St. Victorian of Asan
● St. Zoticus
● St. Tatiana
● St. Tigrius & Eutropius
● St. Salvius
● St. Satyrus
● St. John of Ravenna
● St. Martin of Leon
● Martyrs of Ephesus
● Bl. Vincent de Cunha
● Bl. John Gaspard Cratz

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 30 (Civil Date: January 12)
● Afterfeast of the Nativity of Christ.
● Virgin Martyr Anysia at Thessalonica.
● Martyr Zoticus, Keeper of Orphans.
● Martyr Philoterus of Nicomedia, and with him six soldiers and one Count.
● St. Theodora, nun of Caesarea in Cappadocia.
● St. Theodora, nun of Constantinople.
● Apostle Timon the Deacon.
● Martyrs Magistrianus, Paulinus, Umbrius, Verus, Severus, Callistratus, Florentius, Arianus, Anthimus, Ubricius, Isidore, Euculus, Sampson, Studius, and Thespesius.
● New Martyr Gideon of Mt. Athos.
● Opening of the Relics of St. Daniel of Pereyaslavl.

● Greek Calendar:
● St. Leo the Archimandrite.

● Anglican:
● St. Aelred

● India- National Youth Day Swami Vivekananda's birthday

● Tanzania - Zanzibar Revolution Day

● This Holiday is only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● Switzerland : Meitlisunntig Festival-Woman in Villmergen War (1712) - ( Sunday )

IN FICTION

● 1997 - HAL becomes operational (2001: A Space Odyssey); this date was given as January 12, 1992 on screen, but 1997 is the date used in both the novel and screenplay


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

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