January 10th

Events

• 49 BC - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon which signaled civil war.
• 1072 - Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo.
• 1776 - Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.
• 1806 - Dutch in Cape Town surrender to the British.
• 1810 - Marriage of Napoleon and Josephine is annulled.
• 1861 - Florida secedes from the United States.
• 1863 - The first section of the London Underground Railway opens (Paddington to Farringdon Street).
• 1870 - John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.
• 1901 - The first great Texas gusher, oil discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
• 1911 - Major Jimmie Erickson takes the first aerial photograph (over San Diego, California).
• 1920 - League of Nations holds its first meeting and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I.
• 1922 - Arthur Griffith is elected President of the Irish Free State.
• 1923 - Lithuania seizes and annexes Memel.
• 1927 - The film Metropolis by Fritz Lang premiers.
• 1929 - Tintin, a comic book character created by Hergé makes his debute. He went on to be published in over 200 million comic books in 40 languages and loved across the world.
• 1941 - Lend-Lease is introduced into the United States Congress.
• 1946 - First General Assembly of the United Nations.
• 1957 - Harold Macmillan becomes the prime minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1969 - After 147 years, the last issue of the Saturday Evening Post is published.
• 1971 - Masterpiece Theatre debuts on PBS.
• 1984 - The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.
• 1989 - Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola.
• 1990 - Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.
• 1994 - Lorena Bobbitt goes on trial for severing the penis of her husband John (Manassas, Virginia).
• 2000 - America Online announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion, the largest corporate merger in history.

Births

• 1769 - Michel Ney, a marshal of the French army, (d. 1815)
• 1843 - Frank James, outlaw, (d. 1915)
• 1858 - Heinrich Zille, illustrator and photographer, (d. 1929)
• 1873 - George Orton, Canadian athlete
• 1883 - Francis X. Bushman, actor, (d. 1966)
• 1883 - Aleksei Tolstoy, writer, (d. 1945)
• 1887 - Robinson Jeffers, poet, (d. 1962)
• 1899 - Axel Eggelbrecht, journalist, (d. 1991)
• 1904 - Ray Bolger, actor, singer, dancer, (d. 1987)
• 1917 - Hilde Krahl, actress, (d. 1999)
• 1917 - Jerry Wexler, record producer
• 1923 - Ingeborg Drewitz, writer, (d. 1986)
• 1925 - Max Roach, drummer, composer
• 1927 - Gisele MacKenzie, singer, (d. 2003)
• 1927 - Johnnie Ray, singer, (d. 1990)
• 1927 - Otto Stich, Swiss politician
• 1930 - Roy Edward Disney, film executive
• 1931 - Viktor Liebermann, violinist, (d. 1999)
• 1936 - Stephen Ambrose, historian, (d. 2002)
• 1936 - Robert Wilson, physicist, radio astronomer
• 1938 - Donald Knuth, mathematician, computer scientist
• 1938 - Willie McCovey, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1939 - Bill Toomey, track and field athlete
• 1939 - Sal Mineo, actor, (d. 1976)
• 1943 - Jim Croce, singer, (d. 1973)
• 1945 - Rod Stewart, singer
• 1948 - Donald Fagen, keyboardist
• 1949 - George Foreman, boxer
• 1949 - James Lapine, stage director
• 1949 - Linda Lovelace, pornographic film actress, (d. 2002)
• 1953 - Pat Benatar, singer
• 1953 - Bobby Rahal, automobile racer
• 1955 - Michael Schenker, guitar player of UFO and solo career
• 1956 - Shawn Colvin, singer
• 1976 - Emma Bunton, singer

Deaths

• 681 - Pope Agatho
• 1778 - Carolus Linnaeus, botanist, (b. 1707)
• 1862 - Samuel Colt, inventor, (b. 1814)
• 1917 - William F. Cody, frontiersman, (b. 1846)
• 1941 - Joe Penner, comedian, actor
• 1951 - Sinclair Lewis, writer, (b. 1885)
• 1961 - Dashiell Hammett, writer, (b. 1894)
• 1970 - Pavel Belyayev, cosmonaut, (b. 1925)
• 1971 - Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, fashion designer, (b. 1883)
• 1976 - Howlin' Wolf, musician
• 1980 - George Meany, labor leader
• 1981 - Richard Boone, actor
• 1997 - Sheldon Leonard, producer, actor, director
• 2000 - Sam Jaffe, actor

Holidays and observances

January 9 - January 11 - December 10 - February 10 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December