January 4

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.

Events

• 871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights 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.
• 1850 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
• 1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.
• 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.
• 1967 - Donald Campbell dies as his jet-powered Bluebird K7 crashes during an attempt to break the water speed record.
• 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.
• 1989 - A pair of Lybian MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.
• 1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.
• 1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.
• 2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of Georgia.
• 2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

Births

1077 to 1899

• 1077 - Emperor Zhezong of China (d. 1100)
• 1334 - Amadeus VI of Savoy (d. 1383)
• 1581 - James Ussher, Irish Catholic archbishop (d. 1656)
• 1643 - Isaac Newton, English scientist and 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 (d. 1852)
• 1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)
• 1838 - Charles Stratton, American circus performer (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 to 1999

• 1900 - James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)
• 1901 - C. L. R. James, writer and journalist (d. 1989)
• 1905 - Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)
• 1914 - Jane Wyman, American actress
• 1920 - William Colby, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1996)
• 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
• 1953 - Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer
• 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 - Julia Ormond, English actress
• 1966 - Deana Carter, American singer
• 1978 - Dwight Freeney, American football player
• 1978 - Dominik Hrbatý, Slovakian tennis player
• 1979 - Jeph Howard, American musician (The Used)
• 1986 - James Milner, English footballer

Deaths

1248 to 1899

• 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)
• 1831 - James Monroe, President of the United States (b. 1758)
• 1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)
• 1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)

1900 to 1999

• 1903 - Gulstan Ropert, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1839)
• 1940 - Flora Finch, English-born comedienne and actress (b. 1869)
• 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 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-Etienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)
• 1985 - Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)
• 1986 - Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
• 1986 - Phil Lynott, Irish musician (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)

2000 onwards

• 2003 - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)
• 2003 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b. 1923)
• 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)

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton
• The tenth day and eleventh night of Christmas in Western Christianity

 

External links

• BBC: On This Day

---

January 3 - January 5 - December 4 - February 4 -- listing of all days