- Jan 1 Ernest Blochs "Suite Hebraique," premieres
- Jan 1 WBRE TV channel 28 in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA (NBC) 1st broadcast
- Jan 1 The Bantu Education Act (later renamed the Black Education Act) commenced, providing the legal underpinning of several aspects of the apartheid system, most importantly in education
- Jan 1 The first TV detector van, used to track down users of unlicensed television sets, begins operation in the UK
- Jan 1 39th Rose Bowl: #5 Southern California beats #11 Wisconsin, 7-0
- Jan 1 19th Sugar Bowl: #2 Georgia Tech beats #7 Mississippi, 24-7
- Jan 1 19th Orange Bowl: #9 Alabama beats #14 Syracuse, 61-6
- Jan 2 NBA Baltimore Bullets begin a record 32 game road losing streak (12 games in 1952-53; 20 games in 1953-54) with a 73-66 defeat at the Indianapolis Olympians
- Jan 3 Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress.
- Jan 4 KTSM TV channel 9 in El Paso, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Jan 5 -6] Passenger ships Willem Ruys & Orange collide in the Red Sea
Event of Interest
Jan 5 Samuel Beckett's "En Attendant Godot" premieres in Paris
Samuel Beckett
Event of Interest
Jan 7 US President Harry Truman announces American development of the hydrogen bomb
Harry Truman
- Jan 8 Indians bar night games with Browns (who refuse to share TV receipts)
- Jan 8 René Mayer forms French government
- Jan 9 Bevo Francis, Rio Grande College, scores 116 pts in basketball game
- Jan 9 Korean ferryboat "Chang Tyong-Ho" sank off Pusan killing 249
- Jan 10 "My Darlin' Aida" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 89 performances
- Jan 10 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Archibald MacLeish
- Jan 10 3rd NFL Pro Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: National Conference beats American Conference, 27-7; MVP: Don Doll, Detroit Lions, DB
Event of Interest
Jan 11 J. Edgar Hoover declines 6 figure offer to become president of International Boxing Club
J. Edgar Hoover
Josip Broz Tito
NBA All-Star Game
Jan 13 3rd NBA All-Star Game, Allen County Coliseum, Fort Wayne, Indiana: West beats East, 79-75; MVP: George Mikan, Minneapolis Lakers, C
George Mikan
- Jan 14 Vaughan William's "Sinfonia Antartica" premieres in Manchester
- Jan 14 WALA TV channel 10 in Mobile, AL (NBC) begins broadcasting
- Jan 14 Yugoslavia elects its 1st president (Marshal Tito)
- Jan 15 16 car Federal Express train loses brakes & crashes in Washington, D.C. station
- Jan 15 East Germany's first Minister of Foreign Affairs, Georg Dertingen arrested for "espionage", beginning a purge of senior officials, accused of spying for 'imperialistic powers' and plotting against the state
- Jan 16 Egyptian Premier General Naguib disbands all political parties
- Jan 16 KXLY TV channel 4 in Spokane, WA (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 17 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Maureen Connolly wins 1st leg of her Grand Slam; beats Julia Sampson 6-3, 6-2
Australian Men's Tennis Open
Jan 17 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Ken Rosewall wins his first Grand Slam title; beats Mervyn Rose 6-0, 6-3, 6-4
Ken Rosewall
Event of Interest
Jan 19 Jesse Owens named Illinois Athletic Commission secretary
Jesse Owens
- Jan 20 1st US telecast transmitted to Canada from Buffalo, New York
Event of Interest
Jan 20 1st live US coast-to-coast inauguration address (Eisenhower)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Event of Interest
Jan 21 John Foster Dulles appointed as US Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles
Theater Premiere
Jan 22 Arthur Miller's play "Crucible" premieres in NYC
Arthur Miller
- Jan 22 1953 NFL Draft: Harry Babcock from University of Georgia first pick by San Francisco 49ers
- Jan 23 Future Australian cricket captain and coach Bobby Simpson makes his 1st-class debut for NSW at 16 years and 357 days
- Jan 23 NFL Dallas Texans become Baltimore Colts (now Indianapolis Colts)
- Jan 23 NFL's National & American conference become Eastern & Western conference
- Jan 25 WABI TV channel 5 in Bangor, ME (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 25 Yuri Sergejev skates world record 500m in 40.9 sec
- Jan 27 Netherlands end Marshall aid
- Jan 28 WJTV TV channel 12 in Jackson, MS (CBS) begins broadcasting
- Jan 28 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.
- Jan 31 "Princess Victoria" capsized off Stanraer Scotland; 133 die
- Jan 31 Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands drowning 1,835
Event of Interest
Jan 31 New York, Cleveland, & Boston retaliate at Bill Veeck, forcing the Browns to play afternoon games to avoid sharing TV revenues
Bill Veeck