Historical Events
- Jan 1 Netherlands begins taxing wages
Event of Interest
Jan 1 Russian general Georgy Zhukov appointed chief of general staff
Georgy Zhukov
- Jan 1 27th Rose Bowl: #2 Stanford beats #7 Nebraska, 21-13
- Jan 1 7th Sugar Bowl: #4 Boston College beats #6 Tennessee, 19-13
- Jan 1 7th Orange Bowl: #9 Mississippi State beats #13 Georgetown, 14-7
- Jan 2 World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales
- Jan 2 World War II: The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program to build freighters in support of the war effort.
- Jan 3 Canada & US acquire air bases in Newfoundland (99 yr lease)
- Jan 3 Italian counter offensive in Albania
- Jan 3 Sergei Rachmaninov's "Symphonic Dances" premieres in Philadelphia
- Jan 4 Resistance fighters counter d'Estienne d'Orves/Jan Doornik, 1st meet
- Jan 5 British Australian troops conquer Bardia, Libya
Event of Interest
Jan 6 President Franklin Roosevelt's "4 Freedoms" speech (freedom of speech and worship; freedom from want and fear) during US State of Union address
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Jan 9 6,000 Jews exterminated in pogrom in Bucharest, Romania
- Jan 9 Maiden flight by Canada's British-built Avro Lancaster military plane
- Jan 10 Joseph Kesselring's "Arsenic & Old Lace" premieres in NYC
- Jan 10 Seyss-Inquart begins registration of Jews
- Jan 10 World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.
- Jan 11 Princess Irene Brigade established in Congleton
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Jan 16 US vice admiral Bellinger warns of an assault on Pearl Harbor
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- Jan 16 War Department forms first Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets
Event of Interest
Jan 17 Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang Kai-shek open fire at communist forces, resuming the Chinese Civil War after World War II
Chiang Kai-shek
- Jan 18 World War II: A counter-offensive is launched by the British against the Italians in East Africa
- Jan 19 British offensive in Eritrea
- Jan 19 British troops occupies Kassalaf, Sudan
- Jan 20 Bela Bartok's 6th string quartet, premieres in NYC
- Jan 21 1st anti-Jewish measures in Bulgaria
- Jan 21 1st commercial extraction of magnesium from seawater, Freeport, Texas
- Jan 21 Australian and British troops attack Tobruk, Libya
- Jan 21 British communist newspaper "Daily Worker" banned
- Jan 22 1st mass killing of Jews in Romania
- Jan 22 British and Australian troops capture Tobruk from Italians
- Jan 23 Groundbreaking for NACA (now NASA) Lewis Research Center
- Jan 23 WOR-AM in Newark NJ moves to NYC
- Jan 24 British troops march into Abyssinia
- Jan 25 Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.
- Jan 27 Peruvian ambassador Ricardo Rivera-Schreiber warns American Ambassador of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor
- Jan 28 French-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
- Jan 29 Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece
- Jan 30 Australian troops conquer Derna, Libya
- Jan 31 Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem, Netherlands
Boxing Title Fight
- Jan 31 British army Layforce commando units set sail
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 3 Shima Iwashita, actress (Red Lion, Hara-Kiri, Double Suicide)
- Jan 3 Van Dyke Parks, Alabama, actor/musician (Bonino, Billy Crystal Hour)
- Jan 4 John Bennett Perry, singer/actor (Falcon Crest), born in Williamstown, Massachusetts
- Jan 4 Maureen Reagan, 1st daughter of Ronald and Jane Wyman, born in Los Angeles, California
- Jan 5 Bob Cunis, cricketer (New Zealand pace bowler of the late 60's)
- Jan 5 Grady Thomas, US rock vocalist (Parliaments, Funkadelic, Maggot Brain)
- Jan 5 Mansur Ali Khan, cricketer (Nawab of Pataudi, Indian batsman & capt)
- Jan 5 Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese filmmaker (Spirited Away), born in Tokyo
Chuck McKinley
Jan 5 Chuck McKinley, American tennis player, born in St. Louis, Missouri
Chuck McKinley
- Jan 7 Ann Susan Hills, freelance journalist
- Jan 7 Frederick Drew Gregory, Col USAF/astro (STS 51-B, 33, 44), born in Washington, D.C.
- Jan 7 Robert Hicks, rocker (Paul Butterfield Blues Band)
- Jan 7 Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
- Jan 7 John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- Jan 8 Little Anthony [Anthony Gourdine], American rhythm and blues singer (Little Anthony and the Imperials-Goin' Out of My Head), born in Brooklyn, New York
- Jan 8 Graham Chapman, English comedian (Monty Python's Flying Circus), born in Leicester, England (d. 1989)
- Jan 8 Boris Vallejo, Peruvian illustrator
- Jan 9 Joan Baez, folk singer/human rights advocate, born in Staten Island, New York
- Jan 9 Gilles Vaillancourt, Quebec politician
- Jan 11 Gérson, Brazilian footballer
- Jan 12 Jaime B Fuster, (Rep-D-PR, 1985- )
- Jan 12 Long John Baldry, England, blues vocalist (Don't try to Lay No Boogie)
- Jan 13 Meinhard Nehmer, German DR, 2 man bobsledder (Olympic gold 1976)
- Jan 13 Pasqual Maragall, Spanish politician
- Jan 14 C L "Gibby" Gilbert Jr, PGA golfer (1976 Danny Thomas), born in Chattanooga, Tennessee
- Jan 14 Marjoe Gortner, actor (Speak Up America, Falcon Crest), born in Long Beach, California
Faye Dunaway
Jan 14 Faye Dunaway, American actress (Chinatown, Bonnie & Clyde), born in Bascom, Florida
Faye Dunaway
- Jan 14 Milan Kučan, Slovenian statesman
- Jan 15 Captain Beefheart, [Don Van Vliet], rocker (Bongo Fury, Shiny Beast)
- Jan 16 Christine Janes, tennis player
- Jan 16 Richard Bohringer, actor (Diva, I Married a Shadow), born in Paris, France
- Jan 17 Dame Gillian Weir, New Zealand organist
- Jan 18 Bobby Goldsboro, Marianna Fla, singer (Honey)
- Jan 18 David Ruffin, American soul musician and early lead singer for The Temptations (My Girl, Ain't Too Proud to Beg), born in Whynot, Mississippi (d. 1991)
- Jan 18 Iva Zanicchi, actress (Ragazza Tutta d'Oro)
- Jan 18 Denise Bombardier, Quebec journalist, television host and novelist
- Jan 19 Tony Anholt, British actor (d. 2002)
- Jan 19 Colin Gunton, British theologian (d. 2003)
- Jan 19 Pat Patterson, Canadian wrestler
- Jan 20 Pierre Lalonde, Quebec singer and television host
- Jan 21 Placido Domingo, opera tenor (Pinkerton-Mme Butterfly), born in Madrid, Spain
- Jan 21 Richie Havens, American folk singer (Here Comes the Sun), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2013)
- Jan 21 Stathis Giallelis, Greek actor
- Jan 21 Ivan Putski, Polish-born American professional wrestler
- Jan 24 Aaron Neville, US singer/keyboardist (Neville Brothers)
- Jan 24 Michael Chapman, Leeds England, rocker (Looking for 11)
Neil Diamond
Jan 24 Neil Diamond, American singer-songwriter, born in Brooklyn, New York
Neil Diamond
- Jan 25 Elzie "Buddy" Baker, American NASCAR driver, born in Florence, South Carolina (d. 2015)
- Jan 25 Gregory Sierra, American actor
- Jan 26 Henry Jaglom, actor (Eating, Lucky Ducks, Always), born in London, England
- Jan 26 Scott Glenn, actor (Right Stuff, Personal Best, Backdraft), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Jan 28 Joel Crothers, actor (Edge of Night), born in Cincinnati, Ohio
Dick Cheney
Jan 30 Dick Cheney, American politician (Vice President: 2001-2009), born in Lincoln, Nebraska
Dick Cheney
- Jan 30 Joe Terranoua, rocker (Danny & The Juniors)
- Jan 30 Gregory Benford, American author and scientist
- Jan 30 Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer
- Jan 31 Jessica Walter, American actress (Play Misty For Me, Arrested Development), born in Brooklyn, New York
- Jan 31 George S Mickelson, (Gov-SD)
- Jan 31 Richard A Gephardt, (Rep-D-MO, 1977- )
- Jan 31 Sharon Miller, LPGA golfer
- Jan 31 Eugène Terre'Blanche, South African white supremacist and leader of the far-right Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, born in Ventersdorp, Transvaal Province, South Africa (d. 2010)
- Jan 31 Len Chappell, American NBA forward (All Star 1964), born in Portage, Pennsylvania (d. 2018)
Famous Weddings
Wedding of Interest
Jan 11 Comedian Stan Laurel and actress Virginia Ruth Rogers remarry for the 2nd time
Stan Laurel
Famous Deaths
Amy Johnson
Jan 5 Amy Johnson, British pilot who was the first female pilot to fly alone from Britain to Australia, dies during a ferry flight at 37
Amy Johnson
Robert Baden-Powell
Jan 8 Robert Baden-Powell, British founder of the Boy Scout movement, dies at 83
Robert Baden-Powell
- Jan 9 Ko Boezeman, Dutch resistance fighter, dies
- Jan 10 Frank Bridge, English violinist/composer (Sea), dies at 61
- Jan 10 Joseph Schmidlin, German church historian and antifascist, murdered at 67
- Jan 10 Sir John Lavery, Northern Irish artist (b. 1856)
- Jan 10 Joe Penner, Hungarian-born comedian and actor (b. 1904)
- Jan 11 Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (b. 1868)
James Joyce
Jan 13 James Joyce, novelist (Ulysses), dies in Zurich Switzerland, at 58
James Joyce