January 4

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from 4 January)

January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 361 days (362 in leap years) remain in the year after this day.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

[edit]

Events

871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.
1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey.
1642 - English Civil War: King Charles I of England attacks Parliament.
1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire.
1717 - The Netherlands, England and France sign the Triple Alliance.
1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples.
1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.
1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.
1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by Dr. William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.
1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
1936 - Mickey's Polo Team, a short animated film featuring Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel and Harpo Marx in a polo match against various Disney characters, is first released.
1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music charts.
1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.
1948 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
1957 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published.
1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957).
1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.
1965 - United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.
1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.
1974 - United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1987 - An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, DC collides with Conrail engines, killing 16 (Chase, Maryland rail wreck).
1989 - A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
1990 - A crowded passenger train collides with a standing freight train in Pakistan's Sindh province, killing 300 people.
1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as governor of Minnesota.
1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.
1999 - A proposal emailed out across the world led to the International Firefighters' Day institution.
2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of Georgia.
2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
2006 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

[edit]

Births

1077 - Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty in China (d. 1100)
1334 - Amadeus VI of Savoy (d. 1383)
1581 - James Ussher, Irish Anglican archbishop (d. 1656)
1643 - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, inventor, and natural philosopher (d. 1727)
1664 - Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (d. 1742)
1672 - Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (d. 1742)
1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (d. 1736)
1720 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer (d. 1774)
1785 - Jakob Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1863)
1809 - Louis Braille, French teacher of the blind, the inventor of Braille (d. 1852)
1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)
1838 - Charles Sherwood Stratton, American circus performer as "General Tom Thumb" (d. 1883)
1848 - Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913)
1869 - Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (d. 1960)
1874 - Josef Suk, Czech composer and violinist (d. 1935)
1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)
1883 - Max Eastman, American writer (d. 1969)
1894 - Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (d. 1962)
1896 - Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)
1896 - André Masson, French artist (d. 1987)
1900 - James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
1901 - C. L. R. James, writer and journalist (d. 1989)
1905 - Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)
1913 - Malietoa Tanumafili II, Sovereign Ruler of Samoa
1914 - Jane Wyman, American actress
1920 - William Colby, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1996)
1924 - Sebastian Kappen, Indian theologian (d. 1993)
1925 - Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (d. 2003)
1930 - Sorrell Booke, American actor (d. 1994)
1930 - Don Shula, American football coach
1931 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, First Lady of Fiji
1935 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer
1937 - Grace Bumbry, American singer
1937 - Dyan Cannon, American actress
1940 - Helmut Jahn, German architect
1940 - Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 - Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 - Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)
1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer
1945 - Richard R. Schrock, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1945 - Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish entertainer
1953 - Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer
1953 - George Tenet, American Central Intelligence Agency director
1956 - Bernard Sumner, English musician (New Order)
1957 - Patty Loveless, American singer
1958 - Matt Frewer, American actor
1958 - Gary Jones, Welsh-born actor
1960 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)
1962 - Peter Steele, American singer and bassist (Type O Negative)
1962 - Robin Guthrie, Scottish guitarist
1963 - Dave Foley, Canadian comedian and actor
1963 - Till Lindemann, German singer (Rammstein)
1965 - Beth Gibbons, English singer (Portishead)
1965 - Julia Ormond, English actress
1966 - Deana Carter, American singer
1977 - Tim Wheeler, Irish singer (Ash)
1978 - Dwight Freeney, American football player
1978 - Dominik Hrbatý, Slovakian tennis player
1979 - Jeph Howard, American musician (The Used)
1985 - Fernando Rees, Brazilian race car driver

[edit]

Deaths

1066 - Edward the Confessor, pre-Norman conquest English king (b. ca. 1004) (disputed)
1248 - King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)
1564 - Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b. 1514)
1695 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (b. 1628)
1752 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b. 1704)
1761 - Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist, and inventor (b. 1677)
1782 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b. 1698)
1804 - Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet
1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)
1825 - King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)
1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)
1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)
1903 - Gulstan Ropert, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1839)
1919 - Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1843)
1941 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (b. 1859)
1960 - Albert Camus, Algerian-born French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (automobile accident) (b. 1913)
1961 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
1965 - T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1967 - Donald Campbell, English water speed record setter (b. 1921)
1969 - Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (b. 1908)
1970 - Jean-Étienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)
1985 - Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
1986 - Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
1986 - Phil Lynott, Irish singer and musician (Thin Lizzy) (b. 1949)
1990 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (b. 1903)
1998 - Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)
1999 - Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)
2003 - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)
2003 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b. 1923)
2003 - Sabine Ulibarri, Mexican American writer (b. 1919)
2004 - Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)
2004 - Brian Gibson, English film director (b. 1944)
2004 - Jake Hess, American singer (b. 1927)
2004 - Jeff Nuttall, English writer, publisher, actor, artist, and jazz trumpeter (b. 1933)
2004 - John Toland, American author and historian (b. 1912)
2005 - Humphrey Carpenter, English author and biographer (b. 1946)
2005 - Ali al-Haidri, Iraqi governor of Baghdad (assassinated)
2005 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (b. 1921)
2005 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (b. 1919)
2005 - Bud Poile, Canadian hockey player (b. 1924)
2005 - Alton Tobey, American artist
2006 - Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Republics and Ruler of Dubai (b. 1946)