January 3

Events

• 1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
• 1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.
• 1777 - Battle of Princeton. American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis.
• 1815 - Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
• 1823 - Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico
• 1833 - Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
• 1834 - The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City
• 1840 - One of the Herald-Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Port Phillip Herald is founded by George Cavanaugh.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States
• 1868 - The Japanese Meiji dynasty is restored and the Shogunate is abolished.
• 1888 - The 91 cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
• 1899 - The first known use of the word "automobile", in an editorial in the New York Times
• 1920 - Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan. The loan was to finance Frazee's Broadway production of the musical No, No, Nanette.
• 1925 - Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
• 1926 - General Theodorus Pángulos names himself dictator of Greece
• 1938 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
• 1947 - Proceedings of the United States Congress are televised for the first time.
• 1951 - Dragnet airs on television for the first time (NBC).
• 1957 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• 1959 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
• 1961 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
• 1961 - The SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho leaks radiation, killing three workers at the installation. The radiation is contained.
• 1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
• 1966 - First Acid Test at the Fillmore, San Francisco, California.
• 1973 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
• 1987 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1990 - Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
• 1993 - In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
• 1994 - An Aeroflot Tupolov TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkhutsk, Russia killing 125 including 1 on the ground
• 1997 - NBC's Today show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
• 2000 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published
• 2004 - Flight FSH604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 aboard.
• 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars.

Births

• 106 BC - Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher, (d. 43 BC)
• 1793 - Lucretia Mott, women's rights activist and abolitionist, (d. 1880)
• 1803 - Douglas Jerrold, British dramatic playwright and political satirist, (d. 1857)
• 1829 - Konrad Duden, philologist, (d. 1911)
• 1855 - Hubert Bland, socialist and co-founder of Fabian Society, (d. 1914)
• 1879 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States, (d. 1957)
• 1883 - Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, (d. 1967)
• 1887 - August Macke, painter, (d. 1914)
• 1892 - J. R. R. Tolkien, writer and philologist, (d. 1973)
• 1897 - Pola Negri, actress, (d. 1987)
• 1897 - Marion Davies, actress, (d. 1961)
• 1901 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam, (d. 1963)
• 1905 - Anna May Wong, actress, (d. 1961)
• 1907 - Ray Milland, actor, (d. 1986)
• 1909 - Victor Borge, entertainer and humorist, (d. 2000)
• 1911 - John Sturges, director
• 1916 - Betty Furness, actress, consumer activist
• 1924 - Hank Stram, American football coach, broadcaster
• 1926 - George Martin, "5th Beatle": producer of The Beatles' records
• 1929 - Sergio Leone, director (d. 1989)
• 1930 - Robert Loggia, actor
• 1932 - Dabney Coleman, actor
• 1936 - Georgina Spelvin, pornographic film actress
• 1939 - Bobby Hull, ice hockey player
• 1941 - Van Dyke Parks, musician, composer
• 1942 - John Thaw, actor (d. 2002)
• 1945 - Stephen Stills, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
• 1945 - Victoria Principal, actress
• 1946 - John Paul Jones, bassist from Led Zeppelin
• 1956 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
• 1960 - Joan Chen, actress
• 1969 - Michael Schumacher, Formula One driver
• 1975 - Danica McKellar, actress
• 1976 - Jason Marsden, actor
• 1981 - Polly Klaas, young victim of crime (d. 1993)
• 1989 - Alex D. Linz, actor

Deaths

• 1322 - Philip V, king of France, (b. 1293)
• 1543 - Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, first European to visit California
• 1641 - Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer, (b. c. 1619)
• 1785 - Baldassare Galuppi, composer, (b. 1706)
• 1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, potter, (b. 1730)
• 1875 - Pierre Larousse, French editor and encyclopedist, (b. 1817)
• 1923 - Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist, (b. 1883)
• 1933 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy", (b. 1896)
• 1945 - Edgar Cayce, psychic, (b. 1877)
• 1946 - William Joyce (executed), Nazi propagandist, (b. 1906)
• 1950 - Emil Jannings, actor, (b. 1884)
• 1967 - Jack Ruby, convicted killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, (b. 1911)
• 1979 - Conrad Hilton, hotelier, (b. 1887)
• 1980 - Joy Adamson, conservationist and author of Born Free, (b. 1910)
• 1981- Her Royal Highness Princess Alice of Albany, the last grandchild of Queen Victoria, (b. 1883)
• 1992 - Dame Judith Anderson, actress
• 2002 - Freddy Heineken, CEO of the beer brewery, (b. 1923)
• 2003 - José Maria Gironella, author and poet

Holidays and observances

• The tenth day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
• Roman Empire - Festival in honor of Pax

January 2 - January 4 - December 3 - February 3 - listing of all days

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

Referenced By