- Jan 1 17th Rose Bowl: Alabama beats Washington State, 24-0
- Jan 3 Montreal Maroons centre Nels Stewart scores fastest 2 goals in NHL history with a pair 4 seconds apart in a 5-3 win over Boston Bruins at Montreal Arena
- Jan 5 1st woman to purchase a baseball team Lucille Thomas purchases Topeka franchise in the Western League
Historic Invention
Jan 6 Thomas Edison submits his last patent application
Thomas Edison
- Jan 7 Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast.
Event of Interest
Jan 16 Australian cricket batting prodigy Don Bradman scores 223 v West Indies in 3rd Test in Brisbane; most runs scored by a player in a Test match in Australia in one day
Donald Bradman
- Jan 22 French government of Steeg falls
- Jan 22 VARA begins experimental TV broadcast in Diamantbeurs Amsterdam
- Jan 22 Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia
- Jan 26 Hungary-Austria sign peace treaty
- Jan 26 Lynn Riggs' "Green Grow the Lilacs" premieres in NYC
- Jan 26 "Cimarron" directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne premieres in New York. 1st western to win Best Outstanding Production/Picture (1931)
Film Premier
Jan 30 "City Lights", American silent romantic comedy film directed by Charlie Chaplin, starring himself and Virginia Cherrill, premieres at Los Angeles Theater
Charlie Chaplin
- Jan 31 Philip Barry's "Tomorrow & Tomorrow" premieres in NYC