Historical Events
- Jan 1 David Dinkins sworn in as 1st African American mayor of New York City
- Jan 1 Mitsuko Nishiwaki beats Nakano to become Japan Women wrestling champ
- Jan 1 NYC MTA stops token redemption at subway stations
- Jan 1 Sports News Network begins operation on cable TV
- Jan 1 FCC implements "SYNDEX" giving independent stations more rights over cable TV outlets for exclusive syndicated programs
- Jan 1 76th Rose Bowl: #12 Southern California beats #3 Michigan, 17-10
- Jan 1 56th Sugar Bowl: #2 Miami beats #7 Alabama, 33-25
- Jan 1 19th Fiesta Bowl: #5 Florida State beats #6 Nebraska, 41-17
- Jan 1 56th Orange Bowl: #4 Notre Dame beats #1 Colorado, 21-6
- Jan 2 Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15)
- Jan 2 Sting joins wrestlings 4 Horsemen (Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson)
Event of Interest
Jan 3 Panama's leader General Manuel Noriega surrenders to US authorities
Manuel Noriega
- Jan 4 307 dead and 700 injured after overloaded passenger train collides with empty freight train in Pakistan
- Jan 5 J Donald Crump appointed 8th Commissioner of CFL
- Jan 6 NY Lotto pays $35 million to one winner (#s are 18-25-26-32-42-44)
- Jan 7 Lynn Jennings runs world record indoor 5km indoor at 15:22.64
- Jan 7 Tower of Pisa closed to the public after leaning too far
- Jan 9 64th US manned space mission STS 32 (Columbia 10) launches into orbit
- Jan 9 Boston Celtics worst ever (6 pts in 2nd vs NJ Nets) & lose 87-78
- Jan 9 Jim Palmer & Joe Morgan elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- Jan 9 US Supreme Court strikes down Dallas' ordinance imposing strict zoning on sexually oriented businesses
- Jan 10 "Les Miserables" opens at Mechanic Theatre, Baltimore
- Jan 10 China lifts martial law (imposed after Tiananmen Square massacre)
- Jan 10 NCAA approves random drug testing for college football players
- Jan 11 200,000 demand return of Lithuania's independence
- Jan 11 Actor Joseph Cotton undergoes vocal cancer operation at 84
- Jan 11 Bobby Knight becomes basketball's Big 10 winningest coach (229)
Event of Interest
Jan 11 Pat LaFontaine sets NY Islander record of scoring goals in 11 straight
Pat LaFontaine
Event of Interest
Jan 12 Civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton is stabbed in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Al Sharpton
- Jan 12 Romania bans Communist party (1st Warsaw Pact member to do so)
- Jan 13 1st elected African American Governor inaugurated (Douglas Wilder-Virginia)
- Jan 14 11th ACE Cable Awards: CNN wins the Golden CableACE for the coverage of the events in Beijing, China
- Jan 14 Un Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar says he has lost all hope for peace in Gulf
Event of Interest
Jan 14 AFC Championship Game: Denver Broncos beat Cleveland Browns 37-21
John Elway
- Jan 14 NFC Championship Game: San Francisco 49ers beat Los Angeles Rams 30-3
Boxing Title Fight
Jan 15 42 year old George Foreman KOs Gerry Cooney in 2 rounds in Atlantic City
George Foreman
- Jan 15 6th Soap Opera Digest Awards - Santa Barbara wins
- Jan 15 AT&T experiences long distance problems due to a computer glitch
- Jan 15 Blue Jay Cecil Fielder signs with Detroit as a free agent
- Jan 15 NY Knicks Trent Tucker scores with 1/10 sec, beats Bulls, 109-106
- Jan 16 2 Bank of Credit & Commerce members plea guilty to money laundering
- Jan 17 5th Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards: Bobby Darin
- Jan 17 Dave Stewart signs record $3,500,000 per year Oak A's contract
- Jan 17 Who, Simon & Garfunkel, 4 Seasons, 4 Tops, Hank Ballard, Platters & The Kinks inducted into Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- Jan 18 South Africa says it is reconsidering ban on African National Congress
- Jan 18 Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry arrested in drug enforcement sting
- Jan 19 Test debut of Mushtaq Ahmed, v Australia at Adelaide
- Jan 19 Police break up protests in Johannesburg against the cricket players defying a boycott on playing in apartheid South Africa
Film and TV Awards
Jan 20 47th Golden Globes: "Born on the Fouth of July", Tom Cruise, & Michelle Pfeiffer win
Tom Cruise
- Jan 20 US 64th manned space mission STS 32 (Columbia 10) returns from space
- Jan 20 Black January - crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku
- Jan 21 41st NHL All-Star Game: Wales beat Campbell 12-7 at Pittsburgh
- Jan 21 Bob Goodenow succeeds Alan Eagleson as NHL players association executive director
Event of Interest
Jan 21 John McEnroe becomes 1st ever player to be expelled from the Australian Open
John McEnroe
Music Awards
Jan 22 17th American Music Awards: Paula Abdul & Bobby Brown win
Paula Abdul
Event of Interest
Jan 22 President Mikhail Gorbachev sends Red Troops into the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan
Mikhail Gorbachev
- Jan 23 Australian cricketer Dean Jones scores twin test tons vs. Pakistan at Adelaide Oval
- Jan 24 Japanese MUSES-A (Hiten) launched towards moon
- Jan 24 14th Commonwealth Games open in Auckland, New Zealand
- Jan 25 Avianca Flight 52, runs out of fuel & crashes in Cove Neck NY, 73 die
- Jan 25 Former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is transferred to a Miami jail
- Jan 25 The Burns' Day windstorm storm hits northwestern Europe
- Jan 25 Honduras becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty
- Jan 26 Annular eclipse visible over Antarctica & South Atlantic
- Jan 26 Boston Red Sox hires Elaine Weddington as asst GM (highest-ranking African American female in a major-league front office)
- Jan 27 6th Sundance Film Festival: "Chameleon Street" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- Jan 28 "Independent on Sunday" begins publishing in London
Event of Interest
Jan 28 Super Bowl XXIV: SF 49ers beat Denver Broncos, 55-10 in New Orleans Super Bowl MVP: Joe Montana, San Francisco, QB
Joe Montana
John Elway
- Jan 28 Romanian protest against Ion Iliescu government
Tennis Open
Jan 28 78th Men's Australian Open: Ivan Lendl beats Stefan Edberg (4-6, 7-6, 5-2)
Ivan Lendl
- Jan 28 78th Women's Australian Open: Steffi Graf beats Mary Joe Fernandez (6-3, 6-4)
- Jan 29 Exxon Valdez capt Joseph Hazelwood goes on trial due to oil spill
- Jan 31 1st McDonalds in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow
- Jan 31 1st ever all-sports daily "National" begins publishing
- Jan 31 Jushin "Thunder" Liger beats Naoki Sano to become New Japan IWGP champ
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 4 Toni Kroos, German football player (Real Madrid, German national team), born in Greifswald, East Germany
- Jan 7 Liam Aiken, American actor
- Jan 7 Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater
- Jan 7 Camryn Grimes, American actress, born in Van Nuys, California
- Jan 7 Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
- Jan 8 Maci Wainwright, American singer
- Jan 10 Tao Li, Singaporean Olympic swimmer
- Jan 12 Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian chess player
- Jan 13 Liam Hemsworth, Australian actor (Hunger Games films), born in Melbourne
- Jan 14 Grant Gustin, American actor (The Flash), born in Norfolk, Virginia
- Jan 15 Fernando Forestieri, Italian footballer
- Jan 15 Chris Warren Jr., American actor
- Jan 18 Gift Ngoepe, South African-born baseball player, 1st black African to play in Major League Baseball, born in Pietersburg, South Africa
- Jan 21 Jacob Smith, American actor
- Jan 26 Christopher Massey, American actor
- Jan 26 Peter Sagan, Slovakian professional cyclist (World Road Champion 2016), born in Žilina, Slovakia
- Jan 30 Jake Thomas, American actor (A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Lizzie McGuire), born in Knoxville, Tennessee
- Jan 30 Eiza Gonzalez, Mexican actress/singer
Famous Divorces
Divorce of Interest
Jan 3 Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (41) divorces singer/dancer Sarah Brightman (29) after almost 7 years of marriage
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Divorce of Interest
Jan 17 NFL coach Jimmy Johnson (46) divorces Linda Kay Cooper after 26 years of marriage
Jimmy Johnson
Divorce of Interest
Jan 29 Actor Michael Keaton (38) divorces actress Caroline McWilliams (44) after 7 years of marriage
Michael Keaton
Famous Deaths
- Jan 1 Charles Boost, Dutch film critic, dies at 82
- Jan 1 Joe Hardstaff Jr., English cricketer (23 Tests for England, 1636 runs), dies at 78
- Jan 1 Suzuki Sochu, Zen teacher (Rinzai line)/abbot of Ryutakuji, dies
- Jan 1 James W. Wood, American astronaut (Dynasoar), dies at 65
- Jan 2 Alan Hale Jr., American actor (Skipper-Gilligan's Island), dies of cancer at 68
- Jan 2 Vladimir Alexis Ussachevsky, Manchuria composer (Creation), dies at 78
- Jan 3 Ken Hill, actor (Cobra, Protocol), dies
- Jan 3 Arthur Gold, American pianist, half of Gold and Fizdale duo (b. 1917)
- Jan 4 Alberto Lleras Camargo, president of Colombia (1945-46, 58-62), dies
- Jan 4 Robert F Adams, American sci-fi author (Castaways in Time), dies at 57
- Jan 4 Harold Edgerton, American electrical engineer (b. 1903)
- Jan 4 Sir Henry Bolte, Premier of Victoria 1955-1972 (b. 1908)
- Jan 5 Arthur Kennedy, American actor (Fantastic Voyage, Peyton Place), dies of a brain tumor at 76
- Jan 5 Bart LaRue, entertainer, dies
- Jan 6 Hans Jaray, actor (Lydia, Fedora), dies
- Jan 6 Ian Charleson, actor (Gandhi, Chariots of Fire), dies of AIDS at 40
Bronko Nagurski
Jan 7 Bronislau "Bronko" Nagurski, football hall of famer, dies at 81
Bronko Nagurski
- Jan 7 Gail Lucas, entertainer, dies
- Jan 7 Horace Stoneham, baseball owner (Giants), dies at 86
- Jan 7 Joseph Robbie, lawyer/NFL owner (Miami Dolphins), dies at 73
- Jan 8 Terry-Thomas [Thomas Terry Stevens], British actor (It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), dies of Parkinson's disease at 78
- Jan 9 Sir Edward McTiernan, Australian jurist, lawyer and politician (b. 1892)
- Jan 9 Spud Chandler, American baseball player (AL MVP 1943), dies at 82
- Jan 10 Juliet Berto, screenwriter/actress (Bastienne Bastien), dies at 42
- Jan 10 Yvonne Peattie Marquard, actress (Donovan's Reef), dies
- Jan 11 Mary Jane Carr, actress (Forbidden Trail, Second Wife), dies
- Jan 11 Kittens Reichert [Catherine Alma Reichert], American silent screen child actor [House of Cards, Les Misérables], dies at 79
- Jan 12 Laurence J Peter, author (Peter Princible), dies of a stroke at 70
- Jan 12 Paul Amadeus Pisk, composer, dies at 96
- Jan 14 David Arkin, actor (I Love You Alice B Toklas), dies
- Jan 14 Mani Madhava Chakyar, Koodiyattam artist and Sanskrit scholar (b. 1899)
- Jan 15 Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor (Upstairs, Downstairs, The Professionals, The Great Escape), dies after a short illness at 66
- Jan 17 Charles Hernu, French minister of Defense (1981-85), dies
- Jan 17 Anna Arnold Hedgeman, African-American social activist (NYC cabinet), dies at 90
- Jan 18 Melanie Appleby, rocker (Mel & Kim), dies of liver cancer at 23
- Jan 18 Rusty Hamer, American actor (b. 1947)
- Jan 19 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian leader of the Rajneesh movement, dies at 58
- Jan 19 Herbert Wehner, German ex-communist/chairman (1958-73), dies at 83
- Jan 19 Semprini, English musician (b. 1908)
- Jan 19 Myles Horton, American educator and Civil Rights Movement teacher, dies at 84
- Jan 20 Barbara Stanwyck, [Ruby Stevens], actress (Big Valley), dies at 82
- Jan 20 Miloslav Istvan, composer, dies at 61
- Jan 20 Naruhito Higashi-Kuni, Japanese PM (1945), dies
- Jan 20 Hayedeh, Persian singer (b. 1942)
- Jan 23 Allen Collins [Larkin Allen Collins Jr.], American rock guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd), dies of pneumonia at 37
- Jan 23 Mariano Rumor, Italian politician (PM, 1968-70; 73-1974), dies
- Jan 24 Madge Bellamy, American actress, dies of heart failure at 90
- Jan 25 Alexander Lockwood, actor (Duel), dies
Ava Gardner
Jan 25 Ava Gardner, American actress (Barefoot Contessa, On the Beach), dies of pneumonia at 67
Ava Gardner
- Jan 25 Ian Dudley Hardy, entertainer, dies
- Jan 26 Boy Trip, Dutch minister, dies at 68
- Jan 26 Lewis Mumford, American historian (b. 1895)
- Jan 26 Bob Gerard, British racing driver (b. 1914)
- Jan 27 Helen Jerome Eddy, actress (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm), dies at 92
- Jan 31 Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-born imam (b. 1935)