Events in History
- Jan 1 International Youth Year begins
- Jan 1 The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone
- Jan 1 The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
- Jan 1 US's 1st mandatory seat belt law goes into effect (NY)
- Jan 1 VH-1 made its broadcasting debut
Event of Interest
Jan 2 Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reappoints Coptic pope Shenuda III
- Jan 2 Leg-spin bowler Bob "Dutchy" Holland takes 4/90 for match figures of 10/144 as Australia beats the West Indies by innings in 5th Test in Sydney; Windies take series, 3-1
- Jan 3 Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
Event of Interest
Jan 3 Mitch McConnell becomes Senator of Kentucky
- Jan 5 Discovery moves to launch pad for STS 51-C mission
- Jan 5 Thousands of Jewish refugees are airlifted from Sudan to Israel
- Jan 7 Japanese space probe Sakigake launched to Halley's comet
- Jan 7 KHQ-AM in Spokane, Washington, changes call letters to KLSN (now KAQQ)
- Jan 8 Japan launches Sakigake space probe to Halley's Comet
Event of Interest
Jan 10 Daniel Ortega inaugurated as President of Nicaragua for the first time
- Jan 11 CDC MMWR publishes guidelines for screening U.S. blood supply for AIDS antibodies with ELISA test that would be available later that year
- Jan 13 Cerebral Palsy telethon raises $17.1 million
- Jan 13 Express train derails in Ethiopia, killing at least 428
- Jan 14 16 indicted by US for granting sanctuary to Central American refugees
- Jan 14 British pound sinks to record low $US1.11
- Jan 15 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery & Fred Chapell
- Jan 15 Tancredo Neves becomes 1st elected President of Brazil in 21 years, but dies before taking office
- Jan 16 "Playboy" announces end of stapling centerfolds
- Jan 17 Azharuddin scores second Test century in second Test (v England)
- Jan 18 US renounces jurisdiction of World Court despite previous promise
- Jan 19 4 die in a car & train crash in Buda Ill
- Jan 20 Cold front strikes US, at least 40 die (-27°F (-33°C) in Chicago)
- Jan 21 -19°F (-28°C), Caesar's Head, South Carolina (state record)
- Jan 21 -34°F (-37°C), Mt Mitchell, North Carolina (state record)
- Jan 21 Bomb attack on Borobudur temple in Java
- Jan 22 -30°F (-34°C), Mountain Lake Bio Station, Virginia (state record)
- Jan 22 Cold wave damages 90% of Florida's citrus crop
- Jan 24 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 is launched
- Jan 25 "Black & Blue" premieres in Paris
- Jan 27 15th Space Shuttle (51-C) Mission-Discovery 3 returns to Earth
Event of Interest
Jan 29 Oxford University refuses to award Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an honorary degree
Event of Interest
Jan 31 South African President P. W. Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
Birthdays in History
Weddings in History
- Jan 22 Zak Starkey (Ringo's son) marries Sarah Menikides
Deaths in History
- Jan 2 Moses Josiah Madiba, South African author & first African chancellor of the University of the North, dies at 76
- Jan 6 Robert W. Welch Jr., American businessman who founded the conservative John Birch Society, dies at 85
- Jan 9 Robert Mayer, German-born businessman and philanthropist, dies at 105
- Jan 11 Sir William McKell, Premier of New South Wales, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891)
- Jan 13 Carol Wayne, Johnny Carson's teatime movie hostess, dies at 42
- Jan 16 Robert Fitzgerald, American poet and translator, dies at 74
- Jan 18 Mahmoud Taha, Sudanese Muslim leader, hanged at 76
- Jan 21 James Beard, American culinary expert and author (Delights & Prejudices), dies at 81
- Jan 22 Arthur Bryant, English historian (biography of Samuel Pepys), dies at 85
- Jan 26 James Cameron, journalist, dies
Authors
Civil Rights Activists
Inventors
Kings
Revolutionaries
Scientists