Scientific Discovery
1594 Mathematician John Napier dedicates his "Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John" to King James VI, predicts end of the world in 1688 or 1700
John Napier
James I and VI
Theater Premiere
1595 William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" is thought to have been first performed. Officially published early 1597.
William Shakespeare
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Event of Interest
1785 In a surprising announcement, John Hancock resigns as Governor of Massachusetts, allegedly due to his failing health
John Hancock
- 1802 John Beckley of Virginia appointed first Librarian of Congress
Event of Interest
1802 First celebration of Burns night, in honor of poet Robert Burns's birthday by The Mother Club in Greenock (later realized his actual birthday 25th January)
Robert Burns
Treaty of Waitangi
1840 First Governor of New Zealand and co-author of the Treaty of Waitangi Captain William Hobson arrives in the Bay of Islands, NZ
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Historic Publication
1845 Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Raven" 1st published (NYC)
Edgar Allan Poe
- 1848 Sicily accepts new Constitution (choose parliament/freedom of press)
Compromise of 1850
1850 Senator Henry Clay drafts the Compromise of 1850 to defuse tensions between slave states and free states over territories won during the Mexican–American War
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- 1856 Victoria Cross established to acknowledge valour in the face of the enemy (United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries)
- 1860 American College established in Rome by Pope Pius IX
- 1861 US state of Kansas admitted to the Union as the 34th state
- 1863 Bear River Massacre: American soldiers slaughter hundreds of Native Americans at the confluence of the Bear River and Beaver Creek in present day Idaho
- 1872 Francis L Cardoza elected State Treasurer of South Carolina
Battle of Interest
1879 Custer Battlefield National Monument established in Montana
George Armstrong Custer
- 1891 Liliuokalani is proclaimed Queen of Hawaii, its last monarch
- 1892 The Coca-Cola Company is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia
- 1895 King Koko's Kopermannen assault on Akassa Niger, 100's killed
- 1896 Emile Grubbe is the first doctor to use radiation treatment for breast cancer
- 1900 Boers under Joubert beat British at Spionkop Natal, 2,000 killed
- 1900 American League organized in Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Minneapolis
- 1903 Dutch railroad workers strike
- 1904 1st athletic letters given (University of Chicago football team)
Event of Interest
1905 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia, unsettled by the rising violence and protest, enacts reforms to improve the conditions of workers; these changes will do little to stop disorder throughout Russia in ensuing months
Nicholas II
- 1906 Coen de King skates a world record 32,370m in one hour
- 1907 Charles Curtis becomes U.S. Senator from Kansas, first Native American to become a Senator
- 1908 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, at Cornell University, incorporates
- 1912 Martial law declared in textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts
- 1913 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, at Howard University, incorporates
- 1916 1st bombing of Paris by German Zeppelins takes place
- 1917 British submarine K13 sank in Gaire Loch, Scotland; 32 of her crew died
- 1918 Ukrainian-Soviet War: Battle of Kruty
Event of Interest
1920 Walt Disney starts work as an artist with KC Slide Co for $40 a week
Walt Disney
1st Winter Olympics
1924 Swiss team of Denis Vaucher (C), Alfred Aufdenblatten, Antoine Julen & Alfons Julen win the military patrol gold medal at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; first version of the biathlon
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Event of Interest
1925 British Liberal Party chooses David Lloyd George as leader
David Lloyd George
Hall of Fame
1936 1st players elected to Baseball Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson
- 1940 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton wins her 2nd Australian singles titles; beats Thelma Coyne 5-7, 6-4, 6-0
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1940 Australian Championships men's Tennis: Australian Adrian Quist beats countryman Jack Crawford 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 for his 2nd Australian title
Adrian Quist
- 1941 Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece
- 1942 1st broadcast of Roy Plomley's "Desert Island Discs" on BBC radio
- 1942 German & Italian troops occupy Benghazi, Libya
- 1942 Peru and Ecuador sign Protocol of Rio (boundary determination)
- 1943 New Zealand cruiser Kiwi collides with Japanese submarine I-1 at Guadalcanal
- 1943 Sidney Kingsley's "Patriots" premieres in NYC
- 1943 U.S. cruiser "Chicago" is heavily damaged by Japanese bombers on the first day of the Battle of Rennell Island
- 1944 285 German bombers attack London
- 1944 USS Missouri, the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, is launched
- 1944 World War II: The Battle of Cisterna takes place in central Italy.
- 1944 World War II: About 38 men, women, and children die in the Koniuchy massacre in Poland
- 1946 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton beats Joyce Fitch 6-4, 6-4 for her 3rd Australian singles crown
- 1946 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: John Bromwich wins his 2nd Australian title; beats fellow Australian Dinny Pails 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Theater Premiere
1947 Arthur Miller's play "All My Sons" premieres in NYC
Arthur Miller
- 1947 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: Nancye Wynne Bolton wins 3rd consecutive Australian singles crown; beats Nell Hall Hopman 6-3, 6-2
- 1947 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Dinny Pails beats fellow Australian John Bromwich 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 8-6 for his only Grand Slam title
- 1948 "Look Ma, I'm Dancin'" opens at Adelphi Theater NYC for 188 performances
- 1948 Commissioner Happy Chandler fines the Yankees, Cubs and Phillies $500 each for signing high school players
- 1948 Pakistan Socialist Party is founded
- 1949 Great Britain, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland recognize Israel
- 1951 "Where's Charley?" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 56 performances
- 1951 Baseball signs 6 year All-Star pact for TV-radio rights for $6 million
Event of Interest
1954 Arnold Schoenberg's "De Profundis" premieres in Cologne
Arnold Schoenberg
Event of Interest
1957 Graham Greene's "Potting Shed" premieres in NYC
Graham Greene
- 1958 Murderer, Charles Starkweather, captured by police in Wyoming
- 1959 Walt Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" released
- 1959 Smog pollution with readings higher than the 1952 'Great Smog of London' hits London, with many suffering chest and lung-related illnesses
- 1961 US female Figure Skating championship won by Laurence Owen
- 1961 US male Figure Skating championship won by Bradley Lord
Hall of Fame
1963 Jim Thorpe, Red Grange & George Halas elected to football Hall of Fame
Film Premier
1964 "Dr Strangelove", directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, premieres
- 1964 Unmanned Apollo 1 Saturn launcher test attains Earth orbit
Music Premiere
1966 Neil Simons, Coleman & Fields' musical "Sweet Charity" premieres at Palace Theater in NYC for 608 performances
Neil Simon
- 1966 Lawry & Simpson complete 244 opening stand v England, Adelaide
- 1966 Snow storm in north east US kills 165
- 1966 US female Figure Skating championship won by Peggy Fleming
- 1966 US male Figure Skating championship won by Scott Allen
- 1967 "Let's Sing Yiddish" closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 107 performances
Hall of Fame
1967 Branch Rickey & Lloyd Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Branch Rickey
- 1967 Kees Verkerk becomes European skating champ
- 1967 WDAZ TV channel 8 in Devils Lake, ND (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1967 The Arusha Declaration written by Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere is issued, clarifying Tanzania's path towards Ujamaa (African socialism)
- 1968 Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) adopts constitution
Australian Open Women's Tennis
1968 Australian Championships Women's Tennis: American Billie Jean King beats home favourite Margaret Court 6-1, 6-2 for her 13th Grand Slam singles title
Billie Jean King
- 1968 Australian Championships Men's Tennis: Australian Bill Bowrey wins his first and only Grand Slam title; beats Juan Gisbert Sr. of Spain 7-5, 2-6, 9-7, 6-4
Event of Interest
1969 Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend wage a battle of guitars
Jimi Hendrix
- 1969 Sheahan & Connolly hang on for exciting draw Australia v West Indies
- 1970 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1971 Test debut of Dennis Keith Lillee, v England at Adelaide
- 1972 5th ABA All-Star Game: East 142 beats West 115 at Louisville
- 1974 27th NHL All-Star Game, Chicago Stadium: Western Division beats Eastern Division, 6-4; MVP: Garry Unger, St. Louis, C
- 1974 Kuwait announces 60 percent government participation in BP-Gulf concession
- 1974 1974 NFL Draft: Ed Jones from Tennessee State first pick by Dallas Cowboys
- 1975 "Men on the Moon" opens at Little Theater NYC for 5 performances
- 1975 First American Annual Comedy Awards, hosted by Alan King
- 1975 West Indies win fifth test against India to win an exciting series 3-2
- 1976 Zeiss planetarium in Hague destroyed by fire
- 1976 Bombs set off in London's West End by the IRA; 1 person is injured
Golden Globes
1977 34th Golden Globes: Rocky, Peter Finch, & Faye Dunaway win
Faye Dunaway
Peter Finch
- 1978 JoAnne Carner wins Colgate Triple Crown Match-Play Golf Championship
- 1978 Sweden outlaws aerosol sprays due to their harmful effect on the ozone layer, becoming the first nation to enact such a ban.
- 1979 Brenda Spencer kills 2, inspires Boomtown Rats "I Don't Like Mondays"
Event of Interest
1979 Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping visits Washington, D.C.
Deng Xiaoping
Event of Interest
1979 US President Jimmy Carter commuted Patricia Hearst's 7 year sentence to 2 years
Jimmy Carter
- 1980 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
- 1980 Cleveland Cavaliers beat LA Lakers 154-153 in quadruple OT
- 1981 AL approves sale of White Sox to Jerry Reinsdorf & Eddie Einhorn for $20 million, & 80% of Mariners to George Argyros for $104 million
- 1982 Old Dominion ends Louisiana Tech's women's basketball record 54-game winning streak
- 1982 Wayne Garland, baseball 1st millionaire free agent, waived by Indians
- 1983 "Down Under" by Men At Work hits #1 on UK pop chart
Golden Globes
1983 40th Golden Globes: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Ben Kingsley & Meryl Streep win
Meryl Streep
Ben Kingsley
NBA All-Star Game
1984 34th NBA All-Star Game, Denver: East beats West, 154-145 (OT); MVP: Isiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons, G; first All-Star Saturday; Legends Classic, West wins, 64-63; first Slam-Dunk winner, Larry Nance
Isiah Thomas
- 1984 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 45-3; MVP: Joe Theismann, Washington Redskins, QB
Event of Interest
1984 President Reagan formally announces he will seek a 2nd term
Ronald Reagan
Event of Interest
1985 Jari Kurri of Edmonton Oilers scores 100th pt of season in game 39
Jari Kurri
Event of Interest
1985 Oxford University refuses to award Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree
Margaret Thatcher
Event of Interest
1987 William J. Casey term as 13th director of the CIA ends
William J. Casey
- 1987 The president of the Philippines puts down a rebellion against their government in Manila
- 1988 Canadian Ben Johnson breaks own 50-yard dash world record at 5.15
- 1988 Detroit's Kirk Gibson signs a 3-year contract with Dodgers
- 1988 United Airlines Boeing 747SP, circles world in 36h54m15s
- 1988 Detroit Pistons draw a then record NBA regular season crowd of 61,983 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome for a 125-108 win over the Boston Celtics
- 1989 Cleveland's Chris Dudley misses 5 free throws during 1 foul attempt
- 1989 Dow jumps 38.06 recoups 508-pt loss since Oct 1987; index at 2,256.43
- 1989 Episcopal Church of the United States appoints Barbara Harris as its first female bishop
- 1989 L I preacher Gene Profeta pleads guilty to tax-evasion
- 1989 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: NFC beats AFC, 34-3; MVP: Randall Cunningham, Philadelphia Eagles, QB
- 1989 Orlando Arena opens in Orlando, Florida
- 1989 USSR's Phobos II enters Martian orbit
Event of Interest
1989 Game-winning RBI, official statistic dropped after 9 years of use NY Mets Keith Hernandez is the all-time leader with 129
Keith Hernandez
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1989 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Ivan Lendl wins his first Australian title; beats fellow Czech Miloslav Mecii 6-2, 6-2, 6-2
Ivan Lendl
Event of Interest
1991 Nelson Mandela and Mangosuthu Buthelezi meet after 28 years
Nelson Mandela
Event of Interest
1993 US postal service issues a stamp commemorating chemist Percy Lavon Julian
Percy Lavon Julian
- 1994 Frankie Randall beats Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez by split decision to win WBC super lightweight title at MGM Grand, Las Vegas; Chavez's 1st knockdown of career in 11th and 1st loss in 91 pro fights
- 1995 Greg Blewett scores century on Test debut vs England, Adelaide
- 1995 Super Bowl XXIX, Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, FL: San Francisco 49ers beat San Diego Chargers, 49-26; MVP: Steve Young, SF, QB
Australian Men's Tennis Open
1995 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Andre Agassi wins his 1st of 4 Australian titles; beats fellow American Pete Sampras 4-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4
Andre Agassi
Pete Sampras
- 1995 11th Sundance Film Festival: "The Brothers McMullen" and "The Young Poisoner's Handbook" (tie) win Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Music Awards
1996 23rd American Music Awards: Garth Brooks wins
Garth Brooks
- 1996 Last day of Test cricket for David Boon
- 1996 6,138th performance of "Cats" is held in London, surpassing record of Broadway's longest-running musical, "A Chorus Line"
- 1996 La Fenice, Venice's opera house, is destroyed by fire
Event of Interest
1996 France will no longer test nuclear weapons, its president Jacques Chirac says, following international outcry over tests in the Pacific
Jacques Chirac
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2000 Australian Open Women's Tennis: American Lindsay Davenport claims her 3rd and final career Grand Slam title; beats Martina Hingis 6-1, 7-5
Martina Hingis
Event of Interest
2000 Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz becomes the 3rd player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points; finishes with 35 in a 96-94 loss to Minnesota; behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (38,387) and Wilt Chamberlain (31,419)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- 2001 Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.
Event of Interest
2002 US President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address describes "regimes that sponsor terror" an "Axis of Evil", which includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea
George W. Bush
Event of Interest
2002 The San Diego Chargers hire Marty Schottenheimer as their 13th head coach
Marty Schottenheimer
- 2002 "Foolish" single released by Ashanti (Billboard Song of the Year 2002)
- 2003 Sally Clark cleared of murdering her 2 sons after more than 3 years of prison in what was a life sentence
- 2005 The first direct commercial flights from the mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines carrier landed in Beijing.
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2005 Australian Open Women's Tennis: In an all-American final Serena Williams wins her 2nd Australian title; beats Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
Serena Williams
Australian Men's Tennis Open
2006 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Roger Federer beats Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 for his 2nd Australian title
Roger Federer
- 2006 22nd Sundance Film Festival: "Quinceanera", directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
Event of Interest
2006 US 39-cent stamp is released featuring Hattie McDaniel in the dress she wore in 1940 when she became the 1st African-American actress to accept an Academy Award
Hattie McDaniel
- 2006 Irfan Pathan becomes first bowler to take a Test cricket hat-trick in the opening over of a match
Event of Interest
2007 Ken Dryden's #29 jersey is retired by the Montreal Canadiens
Ken Dryden
- 2009 Rod Blagojevich, the Governor of Illinois, is removed from office after being convicted of corruption charges
Australian Open Women's Tennis
2011 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Kim Clijsters wins her 4th and final Grand Slam title; beats Li Na of China 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Li Na
Kim Clijsters
- 2012 NFL Pro Bowl, Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, HI: AFC beats NFC, 59-41; MVP: Brandon Marshall, Miami Dolphins, WR
Australian Men's Tennis Open
2012 100th Australian Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković beats Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5; longest Grand Slam singles final in duration in the Open Era, 5 hours 53 minutes
Novak Đoković
Rafael Nadal
- 2012 59th NHL All-Star Game, Scotiabank Place, Ottawa: Team Chara beats Team Alfredsson, 12-9; Marián Gáborík, NY Rangers, LW
