January 15
January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 350 days remaining (351 in
leap years).
*
588 BC -
Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon lays siege to
Jerusalem under
Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until
July 18,
586 BC.
*
69 -
Otho seizes power in
Rome, proclaiming himself
Emperor of Rome, but only survives for three months before committing suicide.
*
1559 -
Elizabeth I of England is
crowned in
Westminster Abbey by
Owen Oglethorpe, the
Bishop of Carlisle, instead of the
Archbishop of Canterbury.
*
1582 -
Russia cedes
Livonia and
Estonia to
Poland.
*
1759 - The
British Museum opens.
*
1777 -
American Revolutionary War:
New Connecticut (present day
Vermont) declares its independence.
*
1782 - Superintendent of Finance
Robert Morris goes before the
U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national
mint and decimal
coinage.
*
1844 -
University of Notre Dame receives its charter from
Indiana.
*
1870 - A political
cartoon for the first time symbolizes the
United States Democratic Party with a
donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by
Thomas Nast for
Harper's Weekly).
*
1885 -
Wilson Bentley takes the first
photograph of a
snowflake.
*
1892 -
James Naismith publishes the rules for
basketball.
*
1908 -
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the first Greek-letter organization by and for Black college women is established.
*
1919 -
The Boston Molasses Disaster kills 21 people.
* 1919 -
Ignace Paderewski becomes Premier of
Poland.
* 1919 -
Rosa Luxemburg and
Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent
socialists in
Germany, were tortured and murdered by the
Freikorps.
*
1936 - The first building to be completely covered in
glass is completed in
Toledo, Ohio (the building was for the
Owens-Illinois Glass Company).
*
1943 -
World War II:
Japanese driven off
Guadalcanal.
* 1943 - The world's largest office building,
The Pentagon, is dedicated (
Arlington, Virginia).
*
1947 - The brutalized corpse of
Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") is found in
Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California. Her murderer has never been found and it has become a notorious case in the history of
American crime.
*
1951 -
Ilse Koch, The "Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the
Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment in a court in
West Germany.
*
1966 - First Military Coup in
Nigeria, government of
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown.
*
1967 - In the first ever
Super Bowl, the
Green Bay Packers defeat the
Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.
*
1969 - The
Soviet Union launches
Soyuz 5.
*
1970 - After a 32-month fight for independence from
Nigeria,
Biafra surrenders.
* 1970 -
Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of
Libya.
*
1973 -
Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations,
President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in
North Vietnam.
*
1974 -
Happy Days premieres on
ABC.
*
1975 -
Portugal grants independence to
Angola.
*
1976 -
Gerald Ford's would-be assassin,
Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
*
1986 -
The Living Seas opens at
EPCOT Center in
Walt Disney World,
Florida.
*
1986 - The
HBO and
Cinemax pay cable television services initiate scrambling of their national satellite feeds on
Galaxy 1 with the
Videocipher II system.
*
1990 -
AT&T's long distance
telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.
*
1991 - The
United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of
Iraqi forces from occupied
Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of
Operation Desert Storm.
*
1992 - The international community recognizes the independence of
Slovenia and
Croatia from the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
*
1993 -
Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as 'The Beast', is arrested in
Sicily after three decades as a fugitive
*
1995 - The first episode of
Star Trek: Voyager airs.
*
1999 - The
Racak incident: 45
Albanians in the
Kosovo village of
Racak were killed by security forces.
*
2001 -
Wikipedia, a free
Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
*
2005 - Fishing boat "Big Valley" sinks in the Bering Sea. 5 people die.
*
1342 -
Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d.
1404)
*
1412 -
Saint Joan of Arc (d.
1431)
*
1432 - King
Afonso V of Portugal (d.
1481)
*
1481 -
Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (b.
1511)
*
1538 -
Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d.
1599)
*
1622 -
Molière, French playwright (d.
1673)
*
1671 -
Abraham de la Pryme, English antiquarian (d.
1704)
*
1674 -
Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French writer (d.
1762)
*
1716 -
Philip Livingston, American founding father (d.
1778)
*
1747 -
John Aikin, English doctor and writer (d.
1822)
*
1754 -
Richard Martin, Irish founder of the
SPCA (d.
1834)
*
1791 -
Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (
1872)
*
1795 -
Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d.
1829)
*
1809 -
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d.
1865)
*
1812 -
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian scientist (d.
1885)
*
1816 -
Marie LaFarge, French murderer (d.
1852)
*
1842 -
Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (d.
1925)
*
1850 -
Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d.
1889)
*
1863 -
Wilhelm Marx,
Chancellor of Germany (d.
1946)
*
1866 -
Nathan Söderblom, Swedish archbishop,
Nobel laureate (d.
1931)
*
1869 -
Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish dramatist (d.
1907)
*
1872 -
Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (d.
1944)
*
1875 -
Tom Burke, American runner (d.
1929)
*
1879 -
Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author (d.
1961)
*
1885 -
Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d.
1915)
*1885 -
Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (d.
1973)
* 1885 -
Grover Lowdermilk, baseball player (d.
1968)
*
1891 -
Ray Chapman, baseball player (d.
1920)
* 1891 -
Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d.
1938)
*
1892 -
Rex Ingram, Irish director (d.
1950)
*
1893 -
Ivor Novello, Welsh actor (d.
1951)
*
1895 -
Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1973)
*
1899 -
Goodman Ace, American actor (d.
1982)
*
1901 -
Luis Monti, Argentine-Italian footballer
*
1906 -
Aristotle Onassis, Greek businessman (d.
1975)
*
1908 -
Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d.
2003)
*
1909 -
Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d.
1939)
* 1909 -
Gene Krupa, American drummer (d.
1973)
*
1913 -
Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d.
1998)
*
1914 -
Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (d.
2003)
*
1917 -
Robert Byrd, American politician
*
1918 -
Gamal Abdal Nasser,
President of Egypt (d.
1970)
*
1920 -
John Cardinal O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d.
2000)
* 1920 -
Steve Gromek, Baseball player (d.
2002)
*
1923 -
Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese politician
* 1923 -
Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (d.
2006)
*
1926 -
Maria Schell, Swiss actress (d.
2005)
*
1927 -
Phyllis Coates, actress
* 1927 -
Norm Crosby, American comedian
*
1929 -
Martin Luther King Jr, American civil rights leader,
Nobel laureate (d.
1968)
*
1930 -
Eddie Graham, wrestler (d.
1985)
*
1933 -
Ernest J. Gaines, American author
*
1937 -
Margaret O'Brien, American actress
*
1941 -
Captain Beefheart, American singer
*
1942 -
Charo, Spanish-born singer
*
1945 -
Vince Foster, American lawyer (d.
1993)
*
1947 -
Andrea Martin, Canadian actress
*
1948 -
Ronnie VanZant, American singer (
Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d.
1977)
*
1949 -
Luis Alvarado, Baseball player (d.
2001)
*
1950 -
Marius Trésor, French footballer
*
1955 -
Nigel Benson, British author
*
1957 -
Julian Sands, English actor
*
1957 -
Mario Van Peebles, American actor
*
1957 -
Patrick Dixon, British entrepreneur
*
1958 -
Boris Tadić,
President of Serbia*
1959 -
Pete Trewavas, British bass guitarist (
Marillion)
*
1964 -
Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer
*
1965 -
Bernard Hopkins, American Boxer
* 1965 -
Adam Jones, American musician (
Tool)
* 1965 -
James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
* 1965 -
Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist
*
1968 -
Chad Lowe, American actor
*
1969 -
Delino DeShields, baseball player
*
1970 -
Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler
*
1971 -
Regina King, American actress
*
1972 -
Kobe Tai, American porn star
* 1972 -
Claudia Winkleman, British television presenter
*
1974 -
Ray King, baseball player
*
1975 -
Mary Pierce, American tennis player
* 1975 -
Edith Bowman, British television and radio presenter
*
1976 -
Corey Chavous, American football player
*
1978 -
Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
*
1979 -
Drew Brees, American football player
*
1980 -
Matt Holliday, American baseball player
*
1981 -
El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
* 1981 -
Howie Day, American pop singer
* 1981 -
Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
*
1982 -
Benjamin Agosto, American skater
* 1982 -
Megan Quann, American swimmer
*
1983 -
Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
*
1984 -
Victor Rasuk, American actor
*
1987 -
Michael Seater, Canadian actor
*
1988 -
Sonny Moore, American singer (
From First To Last)
*
41 -
Caligula,
Roman Emperor (b.
12)
*
570 -
Saint Ita, Irish nun
*
1595 -
Murat III,
Ottoman Sultan (b.
1546)
*
1672 -
John Cosin, English clergyman (b.
1594)
*
1683 -
Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b.
1609)
*
1781 -
Marianne Victoria of Borbón, queen regent of Portugal (b.
1718)
*
1790 -
John Landen, English mathematician (b.
1719)
*
1804 -
Dru Drury, English entomologist (b.
1725)
*
1915 -
Mary Slessor, Scottish missionary (b.
1848)
*
1919 -
Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (b.
1870)
*
1947 -
Elizabeth Short, the
Black Dahlia, (b.
1924)
*
1955 -
Yves Tanguy, French painter (b.
1900)
*
1964 -
Jack Teagarden, American musician (b.
1905)
*
1967 -
David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (b.
1882)
*
1983 -
Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b.
1902)
*
1987 -
Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b.
1904)
*
1988 -
Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1904)
*
1990 -
Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor (b.
1923)
*
1993 -
Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b.
1913)
*
1994 -
Harry Nilsson, American musician (b.
1941)
*
1996 -
Les Baxter, American musician and composer (b.
1922)
* 1996 - Paramount Chief
Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b.
1938)
*
1998 -
Junior Wells, American musician (b.
1934)
*
2000 -
Željko Ražnatović, Serbian leader (b.
1952)
* 2000 -
Fran Ryan, American actress (b.
1916)
*
2001 -
Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b.
1916)
*
2002 -
Steve Gromek, Baseball player (b.
1920)
*
2003 -
Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b.
1915)
*
2005 -
Deem Bristow, American video game voice actor (b.
1947)
* 2005 -
Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b.
1923)
* 2005 -
Walter Ernsting, German author (b.
1920)
* 2005 -
Elizabeth Janeway, American author (b.
1913)
* 2005 -
Dan Lee, Canadian animator (b.
1969)
* 2005 -
Ruth Warrick, American actress (b.
1915)
*
2006 -
Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah,
Emir of Kuwait (b.
1926)
*
Roman Empire - Second day of the
Carmentalia in honor of
Carmenta.
*
Roman Catholic Church -
Saint Ita,
virgin, died
January 15,
570.
*
Malawi -
John Chilembwe Day.
*
North Korea -
Korean Alphabet Day.
*
United States - Traditionally,
Martin Luther King Day.
*
Kerala in
India -
Makaravilakku or
Makara Sankranthy at
Sabarimala.
*
Jallikattu in
South India.
*
Wikipedia Day.
*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This DayJanuary 14 -
January 16 -
December 15 -
February 15 â€"
listing of all days
