January 7
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
[change] Events
- 1325 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
- 1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England.
- 1566 - Pius V becomes Pope.
- 1598 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia.
- 1601 - Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex leads revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth
- 1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.
- 1782 - The first American commercial bank opens (Bank of North America).
- 1785 - Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England to Calais, France in a gas balloon, becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air.
- 1797 - The parliament of the Repubblica Cisalpina adopts the Italian green-white-red tricolour as official flag. It is the birthday of the flag of Italy.
- 1835 - HMS Beagle anchors off the Chonos Archipelago.
- 1894 - W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.
- 1896 - Fannie Farmer publishes her first cookbook.
- 1901 - Alferd Packer is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism.
- 1904 - The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS."
- 1911 - Mary Pickford marries Owen Moore.
- 1922 - Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64-57 votes.
- 1924 - George Gershwin completes Rhapsody in Blue.
- 1926 - George Burns marries Gracie Allen.
- 1927 - First international telephone call - New York City to London.
- 1927 - The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game.
- 1935 - World War II: Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Italo-French agreements.
- 1942 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
- 1945 - British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.
- 1950 - A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa kills 41 people.
- 1953 - President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
- 1954 - The first public demonstration of a machine translation system was held in New York at the head office of IBM.
- 1959 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro
- 1975 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
- 1979 - Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are overthrown by Vietnamese troops.
- 1980 - US President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation.
- 1984 - Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
- 1989 - Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan.
- 1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
- 1996 - One of the worst blizzards in American history hits eastern states killing more than 100.
- 1997 - A team of programmers at the University of Regensburg, Germany releases Tibia, one of the earliest graphical MMORPGs.
- 1999 - The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins.
[change] Births
- 1796 - Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales
- 1957 - Katie Couric, American newscaster
- 1962 - Abigail Johnson, American businesswoman
- 1977 - Dustin Diamond, American actor
[change] Deaths
- 312 - Lucianus of Antioch, theologist/saint
- 1325 - King Dinis of Portugal (b. 1261)
- 1536 - Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (b. 1485)
- 1830 - Thomas Lawrence, English painter (b. 1769)
- 1864 - Caleb Blood Smith, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
- 1872 - James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)
- 1893 - Jožef Stefan, Slovene physicist, mathematician and poet (b. 1835)
- 1920 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
- 1943 - Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor, electrical engineer (b. 1856)
- 1951 - René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (b. 1886)
- 1964 - Cyril Davies, blues musician (b. 1932)
- 1972 - John Berryman, American poet (b. 1914)
- 1975 - Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish statesman Éamon de Valera (b. 1878)
- 1987 - Katherine Mcloughlin, dunno (b. 1913)
- 1988 - Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
- 1989 - Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
- 1990 - Bronko Nagurski, American football star (b. 1908)
- 1995 - Murray Rothbard, American economist (b. 1926)
- 1996 - Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician
- 1998 - Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist (b.1906)
- 2000 - Don Martin, illustrator
- 2002 - Avery Schreiber, actor (b. 1935)
- 2002 - Jon Lee, drummer from Feeder
- 2005 - Pierre Daninos, French novelist (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Rosemary Kennedy, third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy (b. 1918)
- 2005 - Eileen Desmond, former Minister for Health & Social Welfare (b. 1932)
- 2005 - Ivar Medaas, Norwegian musician