Events in History
Il Duce
Jan 3 Benito Mussolini dissolves the Italian parliament and proclaims himself dictator of Italy, taking the title "Il Duce" (the Leader)
- Jan 4 French psychologist Emil Coué brings his self-esteem therapy to US "Every day in every way I am getting better & better"
- Jan 5 James Gleason & Richard Tabers "Is zat so?" premieres in NYC
- Jan 5 Nellie Tayloe Ross sworn in as Governor of Wyoming, 1st woman governor in USA
- Jan 5 Under Polish control, Danzig establishes Port Gdańsk post office
Event of Interest
Jan 6 Mikhail Frunze replaces Leon Trotsky as People's Commissioner of Military and Native Affairs (Minister of Defence) as Trotsky and Joseph Stalin battle for power in the aftermath of Vladimir Lenin's death
- Jan 6 Mussolini forms a cabinet composed entirely of Fascists in Italy
- Jan 8 1st all-female US state supreme court appointed, Texas
- Jan 9 German Postal Minister A Hofle resigns due to corruption
- Jan 10 Allies refuse to evacuate the Cologne area of Germany as agreed
- Jan 10 Miriam (Ma) Ferguson sworn in as Governor of Texasr, 2nd US woman governor, 1st ever elected
US Secretary of State
Jan 11 Frank Kellogg replaces Charles Hughes as US Secretary of State
- Jan 12 John Howard Lawson's "Processional" premieres in NYC
- Jan 15 Hans Luther forms German government, with DNVP
- Jan 19 -48°F (-44°C), Van Buren, Maine (state record)
- Jan 20 The Soviet and Japan sign a convention resuming relations: Russia agrees to limit revolutionary activity of the Third Communist International, while Japan agrees to leave the Sakhalin
- Jan 21 Albanian parliament announces itself a republic; Ahmed Zogoe president
- Jan 22 Albania Republic proclaimed under President Achmed Zogu
- Jan 24 Moving picture of a solar eclipse taken from dirigible over Long Island
- Jan 24 Sandler follows Branting as premier of Sweden
- Jan 28 -46°F (-43°C), Pittsburgh, New Hampshire (state record)
Event of Interest
Jan 29 British Liberal Party chooses David Lloyd George as leader
Birthdays in History
- Jan 2 William J Crowe Jr, Kentucky, chairman joint chief of staff
- Jan 6 John Z. DeLorean, American automaker (DeLorean), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2005)
- Jan 7 Gerald Durrell, British naturalist, zoologist and writer (My Family and other Animals), born in Jamshedpur, British India (d. 1995)
- Jan 8 Helmuth Hubener, German activist, born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1942)
- Jan 8 James Saunders, English playwright (Ark), born in Islington, London (d. 2004)
- Jan 9 Abdelhamid ben Hadouga, Algerian writer, born in Mansoura, Algeria (d. 1996)
- Jan 14 Jean-Claude Beton, Algerian-born French businessman, entrepreneur and soft-drink manufacturer (Orangina), born in Boufarik, French Algeria (d. 2013)
- Jan 14 Yukio Mishima, Japanese novelist (Temple of Golden Pavilion), born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1970)
- Jan 17 Duane Hanson, US sculptor
- Jan 17 Edgar Ray Killen, American convict, former preacher, K.K.K. member and murderer, born in Philadelphia, Mississippi (d. 2018)
- Jan 17 Robert Cormier, American author (d. 2000)
- Jan 18 Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher (Difference and Repetition), born in Paris, France (d. 1995)
- Jan 19 Nina [Mary] Bawden, English author (Afternoon of a Good Woman), (d. 2012)
- Jan 20 Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan Catholic priest, politician, poet, and writer, born in Granada, Nicaragua (d. 2020)
- Jan 20 Eugen Gomringer, Bolivian-born German poet, born in Cachuela Esperanza, Bolivia
- Jan 21 Oswald "Ossie" Stevens Nock, railway writer
- Jan 22 Leslie Silver, English paint manufacturer/multi-millionaire
- Jan 26 Claude Ryan, Quebec newspaper editor (d. 2004)
- Jan 26 David Jenkins, Bishop (Durham)
- Jan 26 Desmond Cassidi, British admiral
- Jan 27 Geoffrey Tucker, British political consultant
- Jan 27 John Bury, British stage designer who worked with Peter Hall (d. 2000)
- Jan 28 Henry Harris, British professor of medicine
Douglas Engelbart (1925-2013)
Jan 30 American computer scientist (computer mouse, Engelbart's Law), born in Portland, Oregon
- Jan 31 Benjamin Hooks, American lawyer, Baptist minister, and civil rights leader (NAACP executive director, 1977-92), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 2010)
- Jan 31 Fred Catherwood, British politician (Vice President of the European Parliament 1989-1992), born in Castledawson, County Londonderry (d. 2014)
Weddings in History
Seán MacBride
Jan 26 Politician Seán MacBride (21) weds Catalina Bulfin in Dublin, Ireland
Deaths in History
- Jan 12 Oskar Brefeld, German botanist and founder of modern mycology, dies at 85
- Jan 19 Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen consort of the Two Sicilies, dies at 83
- Jan 25 Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (b. 1858)
- Jan 30 John Mellaerts, Flemish social worker (Boerenbond), dies at 79
- Jan 31 George W. Cable, American writer (Northampton Years), dies at 80
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists