January 4

Events

• 871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights a Danish invasion army .
• 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.
• 1850 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
• 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
• 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 Colliers 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.
• 1967 - Donald Campbell dies as his jet-powered Bluebird K7 crashes during an attempt to break the water speed record.
• 1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge in the United Kingdom (Old Bailey, 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.
• 1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
• 1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.
• 2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of the Georgia.
• 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
  

  Births

• 1643 (Old Style) - Isaac Newton, English scientist and philosopher (d. 1727)
• 1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (d. 1736)
• 1720 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer (d. 1774)
• 1785 - Jakob Grimm, German philologist, one half of the Brothers Grimm (d. 1863)
• 1809 - Louis Braille, French teacher, inventor of a writing system for the blind (d. 1852)
• 1822 - Georg Büchmann, philologist (d. 1884)
• 1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)
• 1838 - Charles Stratton ("General Tom Thumb"), American circus performer, entertainer (d. 1883)
• 1874 - Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (d. 1935)
• 1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)
• 1883 - Max Eastman, American writer (d. 1969)
• 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)
• 1914 - Jane Wyman, American actress
• 1917 - Jesse White, American actor (d. 1997)
• 1920 - William Colby, director of the CIA (d. 1996)
• 1927 - Barbara Rush, American actress
• 1930 - Don Shula, American football coach
• 1930 - Sorrell Booke, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1931 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, Fijian chieftainess and First Lady; wife of Prime Minister and President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
• 1932 - Carlos Saura, director
• 1935 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer
• 1937 - Dyan Cannon, American actress
• 1937 - Grace Bumbry, American opera singer
• 1940 - Helmut Jahn, German architect
• 1941 - Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)
• 1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, writer
• 1956 - Bernard Sumner, English rock musician
• 1957 - Patty Loveless, American singer
• 1960 - Michael Stipe, American vocalist for R.E.M
• 1963 - Till Lindemann, German vocalist for Rammstein
• 1963 - Dave Foley, Canadian comedian, actor
• 1965 - Julia Ormond, English actress
• 1966 - Deana Carter, American singer
• 1971 - Garrison Hearst, American football player
• 1978 - Dwight Freeney, American football player
  

  Deaths

• 1066 - Edward the Confessor, King of England (or January 5)
• 1248 - King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)
• 1782 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b. 1698)
• 1804 - Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet
• 1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)
• 1831 - James Monroe, President of the United States (b. 1758)
• 1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)
• 1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
• 1941 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher (b. 1859)
• 1960 - Albert Camus, Algerian-born French philosopher and writer (car crash) (b. 1913)
• 1961 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist (b. 1887)
• 1965 - T. S. Eliot, American poet (b. 1888)
• 1967 - Donald Campbell, English water speed record setter (b. 1921)
• 1969 - Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses
• 1970 - Jean Etienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)
• 1986 - Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
• 1986 - Phil Lynott, Irish musician (b. 1949)
• 1998 - Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
• 1999 - Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)
• 2000 - Tom Fears, American football star
• 2002 - Esquivel, musician (b. 1918)
• 2003 - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)
• 2004 - Brian Gibson, English film director (b. 1944)
• 2004 - Jake Hess, American Gospel singer (b. 1927)
• 2004 - Jeff Nuttall, English poet, publisher, actor, painter, sculptor, jazz trumpeter, social commentator, and author (b. 1933)
• 2004 - Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)
• 2004 - John Toland, American author and historian (b. 1912)
• 2005 - Humphrey Carpenter, English author and biographer (b. 1946)
• 2005 - Ali al-Haidri, Iraqi governor of Baghdad (assassinated)
• 2005 - Frank Harary, 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)
  

  Holidays and observances

• Feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton
• The tenth day and eleventh night of Christmas in Western Christianity
   

  External links

• BBC: On This Day