King Absolved by Pope
1077 German King Henry IV is absolved by Holy Roman Emperor Pope Gregory VII and invited back to the Church after his penitent Walk to Canossa
- 1099 1st Crusaders begins siege of Hosn-el-Akrad Syria
- 1262 Flemish Dutch coast ravaged by north westerly storm
- 1393 Bal des Ardents - fire during a royal court ball in Paris kills four dancers dressed as wild men, with King Charles VI narrowly escaping
Pope's Son A Hostage
1495 Pope Alexander VI (Roderic Llançol i de Borgia) gives his son Cesare as hostage to Charles VIII of France
Diet of Worms
1521 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V opens the Diet of Worms in Worms, Germany which lasts until May 25. Produced the "Edict of Worms" which denounced Martin Luther.
- 1561 By Edict of Orleans French persecution of Huguenots is suspended
- 1573 Articles of Warsaw Confederation are signed, sanctioning freedom of religion in Poland.
2nd Confession of Faith
1581 Scottish King James VI signs 2nd Confession of Faith (Kings Confession), promising to adhere to the protestant faith
- 1624 Sir Thomas Warner founds the first English colony in the Caribbean, on Saint Kitts.
Morgan Captures Panama City
1671 Welsh pirate Henry Morgan captures Panama City from its Spanish defenders
- 1689 English parliament resolves that the throne is vacant
Russian Academy of Sciences
1724 The Russian Academy of Sciences founded in St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, and implemented in a Senate decree. Called St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences until 1917.
- 1754 Horace Walpole, in a letter to Horace Mann, coins the word serendipity
- 1760 Pownal, Vermont created by Benning Wentworth as one of the New Hampshire Grants
- 1787 Philadelphia's Free Africa Society organizes
- 1788 Lord Gordon found guilty of libel of Queen of France
- 1807 London's Pall Mall becomes the first street lit by gaslight
"Pride and Prejudice"
1813 Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is published by Thomas Egerton in the United Kingdom
- 1814 Stendahl's 1st book is published
- 1824 William Kneass becomes 3rd US chief engraver (1824-40)
- 1830 Opera "Fra Diavolo" by Daniel Auber, premieres in Paris
- 1846 Battle of Allwal, British beat Sikhs in Punjab
- 1848 King of Naples grants his subjects a constitution
- 1851 Northwestern University (Chicago) chartered
- 1855 The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway
- 1860 Britain formally returns Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua
- 1864 Battle of New Bern, North Carolina
Confederate Peace Commissioners
1865 Confederate President Jefferson Davis names his three commissioners to negotiate for peace with the Union
- 1871 Paris surrenders to Prussians
- 1878 George Coy, Herrick Frost, and Walter Lewis open first commercial telephone exchange, in New Haven, Connecticut [1]
- 1878 Yale Daily News published, 1st college daily newspaper
- 1881 Battle at Laing's Neck Natal: Boers beat superior powered British
"The Burghers of Calais"
1885 Commission for Auguste Rodin's sculpture 'The Burghers of Calais' signed by the Municipal Council of Calais.
- 1887 England all out for 45 v Aust SCG, their lowest total ever
- 1887 In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick
- 1893 Edward Mcdowell's "Hamlet & Ophelia" premieres in Boston
- 1899 American Social Science Association incorporated by Congress
- 1902 Carnegie Institute founded in Washington, D.C.
- 1904 1st college sports letters given to Seniors who played on University of Chicago's football team are awarded blankets with letter "C" on them
- 1909 US military forces leave Cuba for 2nd time
- 1911 Frenchman Henri Rougier wins 1st Rally of Monte Carlo
- 1914 Beverly Hills, California, is incorporated
- 1915 1st US ship lost in WW I, William P Frye (carrying wheat to UK)
- 1915 The United States Coast Guard is created by merging the US Life Saving Service & the US Revenue Cutter Service
Immigration of Illiterates
1915 US President Woodrow Wilson refuses to prohibit immigration of illiterates
- 1916 German colony of Cameroon surrenders to Britain & France
- 1916 Manitoba women are the first in Canada to win the right to vote and to hold provincial office [1]
- 1916 Opera "Goyescas" premieres in New York City
- 1916 US President Woodrow Wilson nominates Louis Brandeis for the Supreme Court of the United States
- 1917 Municipally owned streetcars take to the streets of San Francisco, California
- 1918 Finnish Civil War: Rebels seized control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground
- 1918 Strike on Berlin ammunition factory
- 1922 J E Clair turns Green Bay franchise back to NFL
- 1922 Knickerbocker Storm, Washington, D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes the city's greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theater collapses, killing 98 patrons
- 1923 Demonstration against a Dutch University in Ghent
- 1925 -46°F (-43°C), Pittsburgh, New Hampshire (state record)
- 1927 Serbian-Croatian-Slavic government of Oezonowitsj falls
- 1928 Christopher Hornsrud chosen Prime Minister of Norway
- 1932 1st US state unemployment insurance act enacted (Wisconsin)
- 1932 Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
- 1933 French government of Paul Boncour falls
- 1933 German government of Von Schleicher falls
- 1933 The name "Pakistan" is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali and gradually accepted by Muslims in the Indian sub-continent who use it to push for a separate Muslim homeland in South Asia
- 1934 1st US ski tow (rope) begins operation (Woodstock, Vermont)
- 1935 Iceland becomes 1st western country to legalize abortion
Shostakovich Opera Criticized
1936 Pravda criticizes Dmitri Shostakovich's opera "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District"
- 1940 Chicago's Les Cunningham scores 5 points in one period to set an NHL record that stands until 1978; records 2 goals & 3 assists in a 10:04 span during the 3d period of an 8-1 win over Montreal
- 1941 French-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
- 1942 Revival of George Gershwin's "Porgy & Bess" opens on The Majestic Theatre, NYC, with Anne Brown & Todd Duncan
- 1942 Soviet troops under General Semyon Timoshenko's troops move into Ukraine
- 1942 WW II Navy flier Don Mason sends message "Sighted sub sank same"
- 1943 Chic Blackhawks beats NY Rangers 10-1, Max Bentley scores 4 goals
- 1944 683 British bombers attack Berlin
- 1944 U-271 & U-571 sunk off Ireland
- 1945 Dutch airplanes dump pamphlets on Java
- 1945 General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell and truck convoy reopen Burma Road to China
- 1945 Swedish ships bring food to starving Netherlands
- 1947 "Bay Psalm" book auctioned for a record $151,000
- 1948 A plane crash in the Diablo mountains kills 28 bracero farm workers being sent back to Mexico, inspiring Woodie Guthrie's song "Deportee"
- 1948 David Diamond's 4th Symphony, dedicated to Natalie Koussevitzky, premieres with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein
Roxas Grants Amnesty
1948 President Manuel Roxas granted full amnesty to all so-called Philippine collaborators
- 1949 NY Giants sign their 1st black players, Monte Irvin & Ford Smith
- 1949 UN Security council convicts Dutch aggression in Indonesia
- 1950 Preston Tucker, auto maker, found not guilty of mail fraud
- 1951 "La Vie Commence Demain" the 1st X-rated movie, depicting artificial insemination, opens in London
- 1951 American and Bermudan naturalist discover nesting site of Bermuda petrel, a sea bird also known as cahow; the species was thought extinct since 1615, but sporadic sightings spawned an expedition to some remote rocky crags off of Bermuda
- 1951 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1953 19-year old Derek Bentley is hanged in Wandsworth Prison, London, controversially convicted of the murder of a police officer. He was pardoned on 30th July 1998.
- 1953 WJTV TV channel 12 in Jackson, MS (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1954 1954 NFL Draft: Bobby Garrett from University of Stanford first pick by Cleveland Browns
- 1956 Austrian skier Toni Sailer wins the giant slalom at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics on his way to a sweep of the 3 alpine skiing events at the Games
Elvis's 1st TV Appearance
1956 Elvis Presley's 1st appearance on national TV on the Dorsey Brothers's "Stage Show"
- 1956 Italy goes 1-2 in the 2-man bobsleigh at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; along with silver in 4-man event, the only medals for the home nation at the Games
"Tonight! America After Dark"
1957 "Tonight! America After Dark" premieres, with Jack Lescoulie & Al (Jazzbo) Collins on NBC (between Steve Allen & Jack Paar)
1957 Australian Championship Men's Tennis: Ashley Cooper wins 1st of 2 straight Australian titles; beats fellow Australian Neale Fraser 6-3, 9-11, 6-4, 6-2
- 1958 Construction began on 1st private thorium-uranium nuclear reactor
Campanella Paralyzed
1958 Dodger catcher Roy Campanella is paralyzed in an automobile wreck
- 1958 The Lego Group patents their design of interlocking Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today
- 1959 Soviet Union wins 62-37 for 1st international basketball loss by US
"The Goon Show" Ends
1960 "The Goon Show"'s final episode on BBC radio
- 1960 1st photograph bounced off Moon, Washington, D.C.
"La fille mal gardée"
1960 New version of "La fille mal gardée" (1789) choreographed by Frederick Ashton debuts with the Royal Ballet with Nadia Nerina debuts at Covent Garden, London
- 1960 NFL announces Dallas Cowboys (1960) & Minnesota Vikings (1961) franchises
- 1961 Republic of Rwanda proclaimed
- 1962 Johanne Relleke gets stung by bees 2,443 times in Rhodesia & survives
- 1963 "Still" single released by Bill Anderson (Billboard No. 1 U.S. Hot Country Singles, 1963)
- 1963 -34°F (-37°C), Cynthiana, Kentucky (state record)
- 1965 "The Who" make their 1st appearance on British television programme "Ready Steady Go!"
- 1968 29th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Chandler Harper
- 1968 Goose Goslin & Kiki Cuyler elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1968 Radiation alert following B-52 crash in Arctic air base of Thule in Greenland
- 1968 Thai boxer Chartchai Chionoi retains his world flyweight title with a 13th-round TKO of home favourite Efren Torres in Mexico City; first of 3 meetings between the pair
O.J. Simpson First Pick
1969 1969 NFL Draft: O.J. Simpson from USC first pick by Buffalo Bills
- 1970 Lubomír Strougal succeeds Cernik as premier of Czechoslovakia
- 1971 1971 NFL Draft: Jim Plunkett from Stanford University first pick by New England Patriots
- 1972 Oral Roberts' Eddie Woods grabs 30 rebounds for 2nd consecutive game
- 1972 The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association place "special emphasis on the necessity for a peaceful incident-free day" at the next march on 30 January in an effort to avoid violence
- 1973 "Barnaby Jones" premieres on CBS TV
- 1973 In the run up to the first anniversary of 'Bloody Sunday' there is serious rioting in Derry, North Ireland
- 1973 Mickey Welch, George Kelly & Billy Evans elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1973 NHL Detroit Red Wings Henry Boucha scores 6 seconds into game in 4-2 win over Canadiens at The Forum in Montreal, Quebec
- 1973 Ron Howard appears on M*A*S*H in "Sometimes You Hear the Bullet"
1974 Sam Thompson, Jim Bottomley, & Jocko Conlan elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1975 1975 NFL Draft: Steve Bartkowski from University of California first pick by Atlanta Falcons
- 1976 E. A. S. Prasanna takes 8-76 to rip through NZ at Eden Park
- 1976 NBA Atlanta Hawks begin a 28 game road losing streak
Event of Interest
1976 New York drug lord Frank Lucas is sentenced to 40 years in prison and a $200,000 fine after being convicted on four drug charges
- 1978 Ranger's Don Murdoch failed on 4th penalty shot against Islanders
- 1978 Ted Nugent autographs a fan's arm with his knife
Pope Convenes Puebla Conference
1979 Pope John Paul II addresses the Third General Conference of Latin American Episcopate in Puebla, Mexico
- 1980 New York coach Red Holzman wins his 600th NBA game, only the second (after Red Auerbach) coach at the time to reach the plateau, as the Knicks beat Golden State, 107-103
- 1980 USCGC Blackthorn (WLB-391) collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa Florida and capsizes killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
- 1981 Olympic Glory tanker at Galveston Bay, Texas, spills 1 million gallons of oil in a ship collision
- 1982 Italian police rescue US Brigadier General James Dozier, held hostage for six weeks by the Red Brigade of Padua, Italy
- 1982 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Gretzky Scoring Streak Ends
1984 Edmonton center Wayne Gretzky's NHL record point scoring streak ends at 51 games when Oilers beaten 4-2 by LA Kings; Gretzky totals 61-92-153 during the period
- 1984 Record 295,000 dominoes toppled in Fuerth, West Germany
- 1985 Houston's Bill Fitch becomes the 6th coach in NBA history to post 600 wins as the Rockets beat the New Jersey Nets, 97-93
- 1986 Angolan revolutionary and leader of UNITA, Jonas Savimbi visits Washington, D.C.
1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all 7 crew members, including Christa McAuliffe who was to be the first teacher in space
- 1987 Wrestler Jim Neidhart indicted for assaulting a flight attendant
- 1988 Canada's Supreme court declares anti-abortion law unconstitutional
- 1988 Denver Nuggets point guard Michael Adams takes record streak to 79 consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal in 117-102 loss against Indiana at Market Square Arena; streak ends next game
Dionne Sets Record
1988 New York Rangers' Marcel Dionne scores a 2nd period power play goal in 5-2 win in Philadelphia; becomes 1st first player in NHL history to get 20 goals in each of his first 17 seasons
Boon Scores 149
1989 David Boon completes 7th Test century, 149 v WI at SCG
- 1990 "Independent on Sunday" begins publishing in London
- 1990 Romanian protest against Ion Iliescu government
1990 Super Bowl XXIV, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: San Francisco 49ers beat Denver Broncos, 55-10; MVP: Joe Montana, SF, QB
- 1991 "A Closer Look" with Faith Daniels premieres on NBC-TV
- 1991 David Boon completes ninth Test century, 121 v England at Adelaide
- 1991 Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia ending 22 year rule
- 1992 David Boon completes twelfth Test century, 135 v India at Adelaide
Hull Equals Gretzky
1992 St. Louis right wing Brett Hull becomes 2nd player (after Wayne Gretzky) in NHL history to record back-to-back seasons of 50 goals in 50 games; #50 comes in 3-3 Blues' tie in Los Angeles
- 1994 Helicopter crashes into office building in San Jose California, 1 dead
- 1994 Inna Lassovskaja jumps ladies world record (14.78m)
- 1995 Memphis Mad Dogs granted CFL's 13th franchise
- 1996 Super Bowl XXX, Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ: Dallas Cowboys beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 27-17; MVP: Larry Brown, Dallas, CB
Michelangelo's Record Price
1998 Michelangelo's drawing "Christ and the Woman of Samaria" sells for $7.4 million - a record prince for the artist [1]
2001 Super Bowl XXXV, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL: Baltimore Ravens beat New York Giants, 34-7; MVP: Ray Lewis, Baltimore, LB
- 2002 TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia killing 92
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
2003 In his State of the Union address US President George W. Bush announces President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) - plan will go on to save 25 million lives worldwide (as of Jan 2023) [1]
President's Murderers Hanged
2010 Five murderers of Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hanged: Lieutenant Colonel Syed Faruq Rahman, Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major Bazlul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed
"Friday of Anger"
2011 Hundreds of thousands of protesters fill the Egyptian's streets against the Hosni Mubarak's regime in demonstrations referred to as the "Friday of Anger"
- 2012 Death toll from coordinated bombing attacks in Kano, Nigeria, reaches 185
- 2013 10 people are killed and 11 are injured in after a freight train collides with a bus in Heihe City, China
- 2013 20 people are killed after a Bombardier CRJ200 airliner crashes outside Almaty, Kazakhstan
- 2013 Iran’s Pishgam rocket successfully completes a return trip of sending a monkey into space
- 2014 DNA analysis confirms that the 6th century Plague of Justinian was caused by a variant of Yersinia pestis (the same bacteria for the Black Death)
- 2014 Peter Cosgrove is named the next Governor-General of Australia
- 2016 Seventh Republican presidential candidates debate hosted by Fox, held in Des Moines, Iowa
2017 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams defeats older sister Venus Williams 6–4, 6–4 for her 7th Australian title and record 23rd Grand Slam event singles victory
Trump and Turnbull Phone Call
2017 US President Donald Trump and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull have a contentious phone call over deal for US to take 1,250 refugees
2018 60th Grammy Awards: Bruno Mars wins Best Song "That's What I Like," and Best Album "24K Magic"
- 2018 French drivers Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia win their 6th Monte Carlo Rally in an M-Sport Ford WRT
- 2018 Seven survivors from missing Kiribati ferry carrying 100 people rescued after week at sea
- 2019 Draft framework for peace agreement to end 17-year conflict in Afghanistan agreed by US and Afghan negotiators
- 2019 US Justice Department charges Chinese firm Huawei with bank and wire fraud
Sander's Mittens
2021 Bernie Sanders mittens worn to the inauguration raise $1.8 million for Vermont charities after images go viral
- 2021 Mexico's COVID-19 death toll becomes the world's third highest, overtaking India's at 155,145 [1]
- 2021 Share trading app Robinhood, favored by Reddit, suspends trading of Gamestop amid huge surge in share price of the previously short listed stock by Wall Street
- 2024 100 Ballads names "The Wandring Prince of Troy" the most popular ballad of the 17th century in project documenting “the earliest form of commercial pop music in England" [1]
- 2024 AFC Championship, M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, Maryland: Kansas City Chiefs beat Baltimore Ravens, 17-10
- 2024 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Jannik Sinner of Italy produces an epic comeback to beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam singles title
- 2024 Drone attack on US military base in Jordan kills three American soldiers and injures 40 [1]
- 2024 England cricket spin bowler Tom Hartley follows Ollie Pope's 196 with stunning debut figures of 7/62 as the tourists upset India by 28 runs in the 1st Test in Hyderabad
- 2024 Environmental protesters throw soup at Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" - protected by glass at the Louvre in Paris [1]
- 2024 NFC Championship, Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California: SF 49ers beat Detroit Lions, 34-31
- 2024 The West Indies win their first cricket Test match in Australia in 27 years in Brisbane; rookie fast bowler Shamar Joseph takes 7/68 to guide Windies to an 8 run victory and a 1-1 series tie
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