1st January
January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the first day of the Julian year by all Western European countries except England between about 1450 and 1600. The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in 1582 did not specify that January 1 was to be either New Year's Day or the first day of its numbered year. Although England began its numbered year on March 25 (Lady Day or Annunciation Day) between the 13th century and 1752, she called January 1 New Year's Day and regarded it as a holiday when gifts were exchanged during the same period. There are 364 days remaining (365 in leap years).
Events
- 153 BC - Roman consuls first began their year in office
- 45 BC - Julian calendar goes into effect
- 404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome
- 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Hungary
- 1502 - Rio de Janeiro discovered
- 1600 - Scotland first began the numbered year of its Julian calendar
- 1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland
- 1700 - Russia first adopted Western numbers for its Julian calendar
- 1707 - John V becomes King of Portugal
- 1738 - Bouvet Island was discovered
- 1752 - England and its colonies first began the numbered year of their calendar
- 1788 - First edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published
- 1801 - Legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland completed to form United Kingdom
- 1801 - Discovery of 1 Ceres, first known asteroid
- 1804 - End of French rule in Haiti.
- 1808 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned
- 1863 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War.
- 1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska
- 1874 - New York City annexes The Bronx
- 1880 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins
- 1885 - The Montgolfier brothers cross the English Channel
- 1887 - Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India at the first Imperial Assemblage (Durbar) in Delhi.
- 1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States
- 1893 - Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar
- 1897 - Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City
- 1899 - End of Spanish rule in Cuba.
- 1899 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City
- 1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
- 1901 - Establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia (Federation).
- 1902 - The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, California
- 1908 - A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for the first time
- 1911 - Northern Territory is separated from South Australia
- 1912 - Establishment of Republic of China
- 1934 - Alcatraz becomes a federal prison
- 1935 - Bucknell University wins the first Orange Bowl 26-0 over the University of Miami
- 1937 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua
- 1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas
- 1939 - Vienna New Year's Concert is first held.
- 1942 - World War II: The word "United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact.
- 1945 - Bahawalpur State issues its own stamps.
- 1948 - Nationalisation of UK railways to form British Railways.
- 1948 - Enrico De Nicola becomes President of the State of Italy
- 1956 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan.
- 1958 - European Community established
- 1959 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista overthrown by Fidel Castro
- 1960 - Cameroon becomes independent
- 1962 - Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand
- 1964 - Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved
- 1969 - Marien Ngouabi becomes President of the Republic of Congo
- 1970 - Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC.
- 1971 - Cigarette advertisements banned on United States television
- 1973 - United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark join the EEC
- 1978 - An Air India Boeing 747 exploded and crashed into the sea off the coast of Bombay killing 213
- 1979 - United States and the People's Republic of China establish formal diplomatic relations
- 1981 - Palau becomes self-governing
- 1981 - Greece enters the European Community
- 1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet
- 1984 - Brunei becomes a fully independent state.
- 1984 - AT&T is broken up into 22 independent units
- 1984 - Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
- 1986 - Aruba becomes independent of Curacao
- 1987 - Nunavut's capital changes it name to Iqaluit from Frobisher Bay.
- 1992 - George H. W. Bush is first President of the United States to address the Australian Parliament
- 1993 - Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of Slovakia and the Czech Republic
- 1993 - A single market within the European Community is introduced
- 1994 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect
- 1994 - The EZLN makes its presence known in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, initiating 12 days of armed conflict in that southeastern Mexican state.
- 1995 - World Trade Organization goes into effect
- 1995 - Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union
- 1996 - Curacao gains limited self-government
- 1998 - Smoking is banned in all California bars and restaurants
- 1999 - Euro currency introduced.
- 2000 - Bleen is no longer Blue and is now Green.
- 2002 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender.
- 2003 - Luís Inácio Lula da Silva becomes president of Brazil
- 2004 - Pervez Musharraf gets vote of confidence to continue as President of Pakistan from Parliament and provincial assemblies.
Births
- 766 - Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (d. 818)
- 1431 - Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
- 1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, statesman (d. 1492)
- 1484 - Huldreich Zwingli, protestant leader (d. 1531)
- 1516 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, former Queen of Sweden
- 1618 - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, painter (d. 1682)
- 1735 - Paul Revere, silversmith, United States patriot (d. 1818)
- 1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
- 1752 - Betsy Ross, seamstress (d. 1836)
- 1823 - Sándor Petöfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
- 1839 - Ouida, writer (d. 1908)
- 1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, former mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
- 1857 - Wojciech Kossak, painter
- 1860 - George Washington Carver, educator, inventor, botanist (d. 1943)
- 1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, historian and pedagogue, initiator of modern Olympic Games (d. 1937)
- 1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
- 1873 - Leon Czolgosz, assassin of William McKinley (d. 1901)
- 1874 - Gustave Whitehead, inventor (d. 1927)
- 1876 - Harriet Brooks, physicist (d. 1933)
- 1878 - Yau Yokose, writer?
- 1879 - E. M. Forster, novelist (d. 1970)
- 1887 - Wilhelm Canaris, admiral (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Anton Melik, Slovene geographer (d. 1966)
- 1894 - Satyendra Nath Bose, mathematician (d. 1974)
- 1895 - J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director (d. 1972)
- 1897 - Makoto Tomioka, writer
- 1900 - Xavier Cugat, musician, bandleader (d. 1990)
- 1904 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)
- 1909 - Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona Senator (d. 1998)
- 1909 - Dana Andrews, actor (d. 1992)
- 1911 - Hank Greenberg, baseball player (d. 1986)
- 1912 - Kim Philby, spy (d. 1988)
- 1917 - Jule Gregory Charney, meteorologist (d. 1981)
- 1917 - Albert Mol, actor (d. 2004)
- 1919 - J. D. Salinger, novelist
- 1922 - Rocky Graziano, boxer, born "Rocky Barbella" (d. 1990)
- 1925 - Stymie Beard, actor (d. 1981)
- 1927 - Doak Walker, American football star
- 1928 - Ernest Tidyman, writer (d. 1984)
- 1931 - Chun Doo Hwan, former president of South Korea
- 1933 - Joe Orton, writer (d. 1967)
- 1940 - Frank Langella actor
- 1940 - Helmut Jahn, architect
- 1942 - Country Joe McDonald, musician, (Country Joe and the Fish)
- 1942 - Gennadi Sarafanov, cosmonaut
- 1943 - Don Novello, actor, comedian, writer ("Father Guido Sarducci")
- 1945 - Jacky Ickx, automobile racer
- 1958 - Grandmaster Flash, singer
- 1966 - Michael Imperioli, actor
- 1970 - Paul Thomas Anderson, film director, writer, producer
- 1979 - Koichi Domoto, artist
- 1981 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian Formula One racing driver
- 1982 - David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
- 1987 - Marc-Andre Beaudry, pilot
Deaths
- 379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea
- 898 - Odo, Count of Paris
- 1515 - Louis XII of France
- 1716 - William Wycherley, English dramatist (b. c. 1640)
- 1782 - Johann Christian Bach, composer
- 1817 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth, chemist
- 1892 - Roswell B. Mason, mayor of Chicago, IL (b. 1805)
- 1894 - Heinrich Hertz, physicist (b. 1857)
- 1953 - Hank Williams, country music singer (b. 1923)
- 1958 - Edward Weston, photographer (b. 1886)
- 1960 - Margaret Sullavan, actress (b. 1911)
- 1972 - Maurice Chevalier, actor and singer (b. 1888)
- 1982 - Paul Belmondo, French sculptor
- 1986 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
- 1992 - Grace Hopper, computer pioneer (b. 1906)
- 1994 - Cesar Romero, actor (b. 1907)
- 1994 - Lord Arthur Espie Porritt, British athlete and physician; New Zealand Governor-General (b. 1900)
- 1996 - Arleigh Burke, admiral (b. 1901)
- 1997 - Townes Van Zandt, musician (b. 1944)
- 1998 - Helen Wills Moody, tennis player (b. 1905)
- 2001 - Ray Walston, actor (b. 1914)
Holidays and observances
Bank Holidays
Jewish Holidays
Christan Holidays
Islamic/Muslim Holidays
Hindu Holidays
December 31 - January 2 - December 1 - February 1 -- listing of all days
