- 661 The 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, Ali ibn Abu Talib is struck on the head while praying at the Great Mosque of Kufa, Mesopotamia by a poison-coated sword wielded by Ibn Muljam a Kharijite, dies two days later
- 672 St Vitalian ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 847 Sergius II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1142 Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei
- 1302 Dante becomes a Florentine political exile
- 1343 Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus
- 1538 States of Gelderland accepts Willem van Kleef as viceroy
- 1556 Willem of Orange becomes a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Event of Interest
1591 Scottish schoolmaster Dr. John Fian burned for witchcraft at Castle Hill, Edinburgh by order King James VI. Part of the Berwick witch trials.
James I and VI
Pirate Attack
1671 Pirate Henry Morgan lands at the gates of Panama City
Henry Morgan
- 1695 Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his death in 1703.
Event of Interest
1710 Tsar Peter the Great sets first Russian state budget
Peter the Great
Russian Antarctic Expedition
1820 Russian Antarctic expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev discover the continent of Antarctica
Learn More >>
- 1823 President Monroe appoints first US ambassadors to South America
Trail of Tears
1825 US Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for the forced relocation of the Eastern Indian tribes via the "Trail of Tears"
Learn More >>
Historic Invention
1880 Thomas Edison patents electric incandescent lamp
Thomas Edison
- 1886 First British government of Salisbury resigns
- 1888 The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. for "the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge"
- 1891 Mine explosion kills 109 at Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania
- 1894 1st college basketball game, University of Chicago beats Chicago YMCA 19-11
- 1894 Midwinter Fair opens in Golden Gate Park
- 1896 Tasmania bowl out Victoria for 65 for their 1st ever innings victory
- 1897 British troops occupy Bida Gold Coast (Ghana)
- 1900 Social Democrat Party of America (Debs' party) holds 1st convention
- 1900 Foreign diplomats in Peking, China, write formal notes of protest demanding that the Chinese Government stop the Boxes and other groups leading attacks on Westerners and Christians.
- 1902 5 workers killed on explosion during IRT subway construction (NYC)
- 1905 Maurice Rouvier forms government in France
- 1906 Rudolf Gundersen skates world record 500m at 44.8 sec
- 1908 Pasiphaë, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Melotte
- 1909 The Young Left is founded in Norway
- 1914 A petition is written and submitted by the black and coloured women of the Orange Free State, an independent Boer sovereign republic in southern Africa, against the carrying of passes by women
- 1915 US Marines occupy Haiti
- 1916 Communist party "Spartacus Letters" 1st published in Berlin
- 1917 Coen de Koning wins 2nd official 11 cities race (9:53) (record)
- 1918 "Tarzan of the Apes", 1st Tarzan film, premieres at Broadway Theater
- 1918 The first hostilities occurred in the Finnish Civil War.
- 1924 Egyptian king Foead nominates Saad Zaghloel Pasja premier
Vladimir Lenin
- 1924 The Natal Indian Congress and the Natal Indian Association jointly organise a mass meeting in Durban, South Africa in opposition to the Class Areas Bill
1st Winter Olympics
1924 Clas Thunberg of Finland claims 3 gold medals in one day when he wins the 1,500m, 10,000m and all-round speed skating events at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; won 5,000m the day before
Learn More >>
- 1926 US Senate agrees to join World Court
Historic Publication
1926 Physicist Erwin Schrödinger publishes his theory of wave mechanics and presents what becomes known as the Schrödinger equation in quantum mechanics
Erwin Schrödinger
- 1927 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Melbourne: Esna Boyd wins title after 5 consecutive runner-up finishes; beats Sylvia Lance Harper 5-7, 6-1, 6-2
- 1927 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Gerald Patterson wins his only home title; beats countryman John Hawkes 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16, 6-3
- 1933 Otto Meisnner (Head of the German President's Office) dines with British ambassador Sir Horace Rumbold
- 1934 French government of Chautemps falls (Stavisky Affair)
- 1934 VARA refuses to hire after commemoration of Marinus Van de Lubbe
- 1934 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Sydney: Joan Hartigan Bathurst retains title; beats Margaret Molesworth 6-1, 6-4
- 1934 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Englishman Fred Perry wins his only Australian title; beats Jack Crawford of Australia 6-3, 7-5, 6-1
- 1936 Australian Championships Women's Tennis, Adelaide: Joan Hartigan Bathurst wins her 3rd Australian singles title; beats Nancye Wynne Bolton 6-4, 6-4
- 1936 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Adrian Quist wins his first Grand Slam event; beats fellow Australian Jack Crawford 6-2, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 9-7
- 1939 First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning
- 1940 -17°F (-27°C), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia (state record)
Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941 Peruvian ambassador Ricardo Rivera-Schreiber warns American Ambassador of Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor
Learn More >>
Siege of Leningrad
1944 Siege of Leningrad lifted by the Soviets after 880 days and more than 2 million Russians killed
Learn More >>
- 1944 Casey Stengel, manager of the Boston Braves since 1938, resigns Lou Perini, Guido Rugo, & Joseph Maney buy control of Boston Braves
- 1945 Nazi occupiers forbid food transport to West (The Netherlands)
- 1945 Soviet troops liberate Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps in Poland
- 1945 S Romberg, H&D Fields' musical premieres in NYC
- 1945 Wally van Hall, Dutch banker and resistance leader, arrested
- 1948 1st locomotive to carry 1,000,000 pounds (450,000 kg) operates
- 1948 1st tape recorder sold
- 1949 Chinese liner "Taiping" collides with a collier off south China
- 1950 2nd Emmy Awards: Ed Wynn Show & Texaco Star Theater win
- 1951 "Peter Pan" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 320 performances
- 1951 US begins 126 nuclear tests at Nevada Test Site
- 1953 Netherlands end Marshall aid
Boxing Title Fight
1954 Archie Moore beats Joey Maxim in 15-round unanimous decision to retain his world light heavyweight boxing title at the Orange Bowl, Miami; last of famous trilogy of fights, all won by Moore
Archie Moore
Music Single
1956 "Heartbreak Hotel" single released by Elvis Presley, his first million-selling single
Elvis Presley
- 1956 Veikko Hakulinen of Finland wins Olympic 30k cross country gold medal at Cortina d'Ampezzo; second career Olympic title after taking out the 15k event in Oslo (1952)
- 1958 Ferenc Munnich succeeds Kadar as premier of Hungary
- 1958 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Angela Mortimer Barrett of England beats Lorraine Coghlan of Australia 6-3, 6-4
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1958 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Ashley Cooper wins 2nd straight Australian title; beats fellow Australian Malcolm Anderson 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
Ashley Cooper
- 1961 "Sing Along with Mitch" [Miller] premieres on NBC TV
Event of Interest
1961 Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli make their debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in "Il trovatore", final curtain call lasts 35 mins
Leontyne Price
- 1961 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Margaret Court retains title; repeat of previous year's final beating Jan Lehane O'Neill 6-1, 6-4
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1961 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Roy Emerson beats fellow Australian Rod Laver 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 for his first Grand Slam title
Roy Emerson
Rod Laver
- 1962 "Family Affair" opens at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 65 performances
- 1963 Yevgeni Grishin skates world record 500m in 39.6 sec
- 1963 Sam Rice, Eppa Rixey, Elmer Flick, & John Clarkson elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
- 1964 Barlow & Graeme Pollock complete 341 stand at Adelaide Oval
- 1964 Margaret Chase Smith (Sen-R-Maine) tries for Republican President bid
- 1965 1st ground station-to-aircraft radio communication via satellite
- 1965 Groundbreaking for "Dragon Gateway" at Grant Avenue
- 1966 Wisconsin State Circuit Court Judge Elmer W Roller rules either the Braves stay in Milwaukee or NL must promise Wisconsin an expansion team for 1966
Apollo 1 Fire
1967 A fire in the Apollo 1 Command Module kills astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger B. Chaffee during a launch rehearsal
Learn More >>
- 1967 The Beatles sign a 9 year worldwide contract with EMI records
- 1967 New Orleans Saints sign their 1st player (Paige Cothren-kicker)
- 1967 Treaty signed banning military use of nuclear weapons in space
- 1968 "Darling of the Day" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 31 performances
- 1968 French submarine Minerve dissappears in the Mediterranean with the loss of 52 crew
- 1969 14 spies hanged in Baghdad
- 1969 9 Jews publicly executed in Damascus, Syria
- 1969 Actress Thelma Ritter suffers a heart attack (she dies Feb 5th)
Event of Interest
1969 Ian Paisley sentenced to 3 years
Ian Paisley
Appointment of Interest
1969 Chuck Noll is named head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers (the youngest coach in NFL history at the time)
Chuck Noll
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1969 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Rod Laver takes 1st leg of his successful second Grand Slam; beats Andrés Gimeno of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
Rod Laver
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1970 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Arthur Ashe beats big serving local Dick Crealy 6-4, 9-7, 6-2
Arthur Ashe
- 1971 Montgomery St Station, last link in Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco, 'holed thru'
- 1971 The body of a man who had been shot dead is found in Belfast
- 1972 Two Royal Ulster Constabulary officers shot dead by IRA in an attack on their patrol car in the Creggan Road, Derry
- 1972 The British Army and the Irish Republican Army engage in gun battles near County Armagh; British troops fire over 1,000 rounds of ammunition
Music Premiere
1972 World premiere of Scott Joplin's rediscovered opera "Treemonisha" at Morehouse College in Atlanta
Scott Joplin
- 1973 UCLA's basketball team wins 61st consecutive game (NCAA record)
- 1973 US & North Vietnam's William Rogers & Nguyen Duy Trinh sign cease-fire, ending longest US war and military draft
- 1973 US female Figure Skating championship won by Janet Lynn
- 1973 US male Figure Skating championship won by Gordon McKellen Jr
- 1974 "Lorelei" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 320 performances
Television Premiere
1976 "Laverne & Shirley" TV spinoff from "Happy Days" starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams premieres on ABC TV
Penny Marshall
Golden Globes
1979 36th Golden Globes: Midnight Express, Jon Voight & Jane Fonda win
Jane Fonda
Jon Voight
Event of Interest
1980 Robert Mugabe returns to Rhodesia after 5 years in exile
Robert Mugabe
- 1982 "Joseph & the Amazing Dreamcoat" opens at Royale NYC for 747 performances
- 1982 Mauno Koivisto installed as President of Finland
- 1982 Philadelphia trades Larry Bowa & Ryne Sandberg to Cubs for Ivan DeJesus
- 1982 Roberto S. Cordova installed as President of Honduras
- 1982 West Indies beat Australia 3-1 to win cricket's World Series Cup
- 1982 Los Angeles Kings set an NHL record with their 6th consecutive tied game, a 4-4 deadlock against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers
- 1983 Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest tunnel with an underwater segment (53.90 km in total) opens connecting Honshu-Hokkaido. The Channel Tunnel remains the longest underwater tunnel.
Album Release
1984 John Lennon and Yoko Ono release "Milk & Honey" album
John Lennon
Yoko Ono
Event of Interest
1984 Michael Jackson is burned during filming for Pepsi commercial
Michael Jackson
- 1985 "Doug Henning & His World..." closes at Lunt-Fontanne NY after 60 performances
- 1985 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
- 1985 Mark Mckoy cycles world record 50m hurdles indoor (5.25)
- 1985 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 22-14; MVP: Mark Gastineau, NY Jets, DE
Music Awards
1986 13th American Music Awards: Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis & C Gayle
Whitney Houston
- 1987 Midnight Rockers beat Buddy Rose & Doug Somers for AWA World Tag Team
- 1988 Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves nomination of Judge Anthony Kennedy to US Supreme Court
- 1989 German war criminals Fischer & Aus der Funten freed
- 1989 Kevin Johnson (Phoenix) begins NBA free throw streak of 57 games
- 1989 Okla linebacker Mark VanKeirsblilck assaults an Ok grad student
Event of Interest
1989 Detroit center Steve Yzerman becomes the 4th NHL player to record 100 points in 50 games or less with a goal and 2 assists as Red Wings beat Toronto, 8-1
Steve Yzerman
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1990 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Steffi Graf beats American Mary Joe Fernández 6-3, 6-4 for her 3rd consecutive Australian singles crown
Steffi Graf
- 1990 6th Sundance Film Festival: "Chameleon Street" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 1991 Dutch Pacifist Socialistic Party disbands
- 1991 Nadine Strossen is 1st female president of the ACLU
- 1991 Super Bowl XXV, Tampa Stadium, Tampa, FL: New York Giants beat Buffalo Bills, 20-19; MVP: Ottis Anderson, NY Giants, RB
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1991 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Boris Becker of Germany wins his 1st Australian title; beats Ivan Lendl 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
Boris Becker
Ivan Lendl
- 1991 7th Sundance Film Festival: "Poison" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 1992 "Crazy He Calls Me" opens at Walter Kerr Theater NYC for 7 performances
- 1992 19th American Music Awards: C & C Music Factory, Michael Bolton win
- 1992 Jane Fonda undergoes arthroscopic surgery on her right knee
Event of Interest
1992 Mike Tyson goes on trial for rape (he is found guilty)
Mike Tyson
Event of Interest
1992 Presidential candidate Bill Clinton (D) & Genifer Flowers accuse each other of lying over her assertion they had a 12-year affair
Bill Clinton
- 1993 DC-3 crashes in Kinshasa, killing 12
- 1994 "No Man's Land" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 61 performances
- 1994 Carlos Reina succeeds pres Callejas in Honduras
- 1994 Romanian social democrats form government with anti-Semites
- 1995 Eric Cantona of Manchester United fined and banned from playing football after attacking a fan
- 1996 15 day old conjoined twins separate:Sarah Morales survives, Sarahi dies
- 1996 Catherine Roskam becomes the 1st NY female Episcopal bishop
- 1996 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1996 Germany celebrates its 1st Holocaust Remembrance Day
- 1996 Shiv Chanderpaul scores 303* for Guyana v Jamaica at Kingston
- 1996 Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1996 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Monica Seles beats Anke Huber of Germany 6-4, 6-1 for her first and only Grand Slam victory after her stabbing
Monica Seles
Anke Huber
- 1997 "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" opens at Gershwin NYC
Music Awards
1997 24th American Music Awards: Toni Braxton & Alanis Morissette win
Alanis Morissette
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2001 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Jennifer Capriati wins her first Grand Slam title; beats Martina Hingis 6-4, 6-3
Martina Hingis
- 2002 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Thomas Johansson of Sweden wins his only Grand Slam title; beats Russian star Marat Safin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6
- 2002 AFC Championship, Heinz Field, Pittsburgh: New England Patriots beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-17
- 2002 NFC Championship, Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis: St. Louis Rams beat Philadelphia Eagles, 29-24
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2007 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams beats Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2; first time the tournament used Hawk-Eye system for official line-calls
Serena Williams
Maria Sharapova
Australian Men's Tennis Open
2008 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to become first Serbian player to win a Grand Slam title
Novak Đoković
- 2008 56th NHL All-Star Game, Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA: Eastern Conference beats Western Conference, 8-7; MVP: Eric Staal, Carolina, C
- 2008 24th Sundance Film Festival: "Frozen River", directed by Courtney Hunt, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- 2013 20 police officers have been killed in a series of bomb attacks in Kandahar, Afghanistan
- 2013 In Port Said, Egypt, protests result in 7 people being killed and 630 are injured
- 2013 11 people are killed and 32 are injured after a bus crashes down a ravine in Serta, Portugal
- 2013 7 people are killed and 3 are injured after a retaining wall collapses during a football match at the Ugur Sports Facility, Turkey
- 2013 Magnus Carlsen wins the 2013 Tata Steel Chess Tournament
- 2013 Spain defeats Denmark to win the 2013 World Men's Handball Championship
- 2013 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 62-35; MVP: Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings, TE
- 2013 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković wins Open era record 4th Australian crown; beats Andy Murray of Scotland 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-2
