January 18
January 18 is the
18th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 347 days remaining (348 in
leap years)
*
336 -
Saint Mark elected Catholic
Pope.
*
350 - General
Magnentius deposes
Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
*
474 -
Leo II briefly becomes
Byzantine emperor*
532 -
Nika riots in
Constantinople fail.
*
1486 -
King Henry VII of England marries
Elizabeth, daughter of
Edward IV.
*
1520 - King
Christian II of
Denmark and
Norway defeats the
Swedes at
Lake Asunde.
*
1535 -
Lima,
Peru founded by
Francisco Pizarro.
*
1670 -
Henry Morgan captures
Panama.
*
1701 -
Frederick I becomes King of
Prussia.
*
1778 -
James Cook is the first known
European to discover the
Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "
Sandwich Islands".
*
1788 - The first 736 convicts banished from
England to
Australia landed in
Botany Bay creating the first
Australian Penal Colony
*
1861 -
American Civil War -
Georgia joins
South Carolina,
Florida,
Mississippi, and
Alabama in
secession from the
United States.
*
1871 -
Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first
German Emperor.
*
1884 -
Dr William Price attempts to
cremate the body of his infant son,
Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the
UK.
*
1886 - Modern
field hockey is born with the formation of
The Hockey Association in
England.
*
1896 - The
X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
*
1911 -
Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the
USS Pennsylvania stationed in
San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
*
1912 -
British explorer
Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the
South Pole only to find that
Roald Amundsen, the
Norwegian explorer, had preceded them by just over a month.
*
1915 -
Japan issues the "
Twenty-One Demands" to
China in a bid to increase its power in
East Asia.
*
1916 - A 611
gram chondrite type
meteorite struck a house near the village of
Baxter in
Stone County, Missouri.
*
1919 -
World War I: The
Paris Peace Conference opens in
Versailles,
France.
* 1919 -
Bentley Motors Limited is founded.
*
1939 -
Louis Armstrong records
Jeepers Creepers.
* 1943 -
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of
Jews in the
Warsaw Ghetto.
*
1944 - The
Metropolitan Opera House in
New York City for the first time hosts a
jazz concert; the performers are
Louis Armstrong,
Benny Goodman,
Lionel Hampton,
Artie Shaw,
Roy Eldridge and
Jack Teagarden.
*
1944 -
Soviet forces liberate
Leningrad, effectively ending a three year
Nazi siege, known as the
Siege of Leningrad.
*
1945 - Liberation of the
Budapest ghetto by the
Red Army*
1958 -
Willie O'Ree, the first
African American National Hockey League player, make his
NHL debut with the
Boston Bruins.
*
1964 - Plans are revealed for the
World Trade Center in
New York City.
* 1964 -
The Beatles appear on the
Billboard magazine charts for the first time.
*
1967 -
Albert DeSalvo, the "
Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
*
1975 -
The Jeffersons debuts on
CBS.
*
1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown
bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "
legionnaire's disease."
* 1977 -
Australia's worst
rail disaster occurs at Granville,
Sydney killing 83.
*
1978 - The
European Court of Human Rights finds the
United Kingdom government guilty of mistreating prisoners in
Northern Ireland, but not guilty of
torture.
*
1983 - The
International Olympic Committee restores
Jim Thorpe Olympic medals to his family.
*
1990 - Former
preschool operators
Raymond Buckey and his mother
Peggy McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a
Los Angeles, California court of 52 child molestation charges.
* 1990 -
Washington, DC, Mayor
Marion Barry is arrested for
drug possession in an
FBI sting.
*
1991 -
Eastern Air Lines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.
*
1993 - For the first time,
Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50
United States states.
*
1995 -In southern
France near
Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
*
1997 - In north west
Rwanda,
Hutu militia members kill 3
Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
* 1997 -
Boerge Ousland of
Norway becomes the first person to cross
Antarctica alone and unaided.
*
1998 -
Lewinsky scandal:
Matt Drudge breaks the
Bill Clinton -
Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website
The Drudge Report.
*
2001 -
NASCAR legend
Dale Earnhardt dies during a crash on the last lap of the
Daytona 500 at the
Daytona International Speedway.
*
2002 - A
Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous
ammonia derails outside of
Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of
CP track and the policy of
voice-tracking used by
Clear Channel Communications.
*
2005 - A
U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in
Kobe, Japan begins.
*
885 -
Daigo,
Emperor of Japan (d.
930)
*
1543 -
Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d.
1588)
*
1641 -
François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d.
1691)
*
1672 -
Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d.
1731)
*
1688 -
Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d.
1765)
*
1689 -
Montesquieu, French writer (d.
1755)
*
1779 -
Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d.
1869)
*
1782 -
Daniel Webster, American statesman (d.
1852)
*
1813 -
Joseph Glidden, American farmer who patented barbed wire (d.
1906)
*
1840 -
Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d.
1921)
*
1842 -
Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d.
1911)
*
1848 -
Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d.
1925)
*
1849 -
Edmund Barton, 1st
Prime Minister of Australia (d.
1920)
*
1850 -
Seth Low, American politician (d.
1916)
*
1854 -
Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d.
1934)
*
1877 -
Samuel Zemurray,
U.S. businessman (d.
1961)
*
1879 -
Henri Giraud, French general (d.
1949)
*
1882 -
A. A. Milne, English author (d.
1956)
*
1888 -
Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d.
1989)
*
1892 -
Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d.
1957)
* 1892 -
Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d.
1956)
*
1904 -
Cary Grant, English actor (d.
1986)
*
1905 -
Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d.
2002)
*
1908 -
Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d.
1974)
*
1913 -
Danny Kaye, American actor (d.
1987)
*
1914 -
Arno Schmidt, German author (d.
1979)
* 1914 -
William Stafford, American poet (d.
1993)
*
1922 -
Bob Bell, American clown (d.
1997)
*
1931 -
Chun Doo-hwan,
President of South Korea*
1932 -
Robert Anton Wilson, American author
*
1933 -
John Boorman, Irish film director
*
1934 -
Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
*
1937 -
John Hume, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize in
1998*
1938 -
Curt Flood, baseball player (d.
1997)
*
1941 -
David Ruffin, American singer (d.
1991)
*
1943 -
Kay Granger, American politician
*
1944 -
Paul Keating, twenty-fourth
Prime Minister of Australia*
1946 -
Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
*
1947 -
Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
*
1949 -
Philippe Starck, French designer
* 1949 -
Bill Keller, American newspaper editor
*
1950 -
Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d.
1982)
*
1951 -
Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist (d.
1982)
*
1952 -
R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
*
1953 -
Brett Hudson, American actor
*
1955 -
Kevin Costner, American actor
*
1956 -
Sharon Mitchell, American porn actress
* 1956 -
Tom Bailey, British singer (
Thompson Twins)
*
1961 -
Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
*
1962 -
Jeff Yagher, American actor
*
1964 -
Jane Horrocks, British actress
*
1965 -
Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
*
1967 -
Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d.
1999)
* 1967 -
Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
*
1968 -
Frank Quitely, Scottish comic book artist
*
1969 -
Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
* 1969 -
David Bautista, American professional wrestler
*
1970 -
DJ Quik, American rapper
* 1970 -
Peter van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
*
1971 -
Jonathan Davis, American musician (
KoЯn)
* 1971 -
Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
*
1972 -
Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
*
1973 -
Crispian Mills, British musician (
The Jeevas and
Kula Shaker)
*
1974 -
Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
*
1977 -
Curtis Cregan, American actor
*
1979 -
Brian Gionta, professional hockey player
* 1979 -
Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
* 1979 -
Jay Chou, Taiwanese singer and producer
*
1980 -
Julius Peppers, American football player
*
1982 -
Quinn Allman, American musician (
The Used)
*
1983 -
Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
*
1987 -
Johan Djourou, Swiss footballer
*
52 BC -
Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)
*
474 -
Leo I,
Byzantine Emperor (b.
401)
*
1367 - King
Peter I of Portugal (b.
1320)
*
1425 -
Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b.
1391)
*
1471 -
Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b.
1419)
*
1547 -
Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b.
1470)
*
1583 -
Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b.
1522)
*
1677 -
Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b.
1619)
*
1803 -
Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (b.
1743)
*
1862 -
John Tyler, 10th
President of the United States (b.
1790)
*
1873 -
Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b.
1803)
*
1878 -
Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist (b.
1788)
*
1896 -
Charles Floquet, French statesman (b.
1828)
*
1927 - Empress
Carlotta of Mexico (b.
1840)
*
1936 -
Rudyard Kipling, British writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1865)
*
1940 -
Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b.
1865)
*
1952 -
Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b.
1903)
*
1954 -
Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b.
1879)
*
1963 -
Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the
British Labour Party (b.
1906)
*
1966 -
Kathleen Norris, American writer (b.
1880)
*
1967 -
Goose Tatum, American basketball player (b.
1921)
*
1969 -
Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b.
1887)
*
1970 -
David O. McKay, president of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b.
1873)
*
1980 - Sir
Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b.
1904)
*
1984 -
Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (b.
1915)
*
1985 -
Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (b.
1912)
*
1995 -
Adolf Butenandt, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1903)
* 1995 -
Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b.
1937)
*
1997 -
Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b.
1941)
*
2000 -
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b.
1897)
*
2001 -
Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b.
1935)
*
2003 -
Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b.
1924)
*
2005 -
Lamont Bentley, American actor (b.
1973)
*
2006 -
Jan Twardowski, Polish poet (b.
1915)
*
Christian ecumenism -
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins
*
Winnie The Pooh Day (In observance of the birthday of Alan Alexander Milne, 1882.)
*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This DayJanuary 17 -
January 19 -
December 18 -
February 18 -
listing of all days
