2 January
January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 363 days remaining (364 in leap years).
Events
- 366 - Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman
Empire.
- 533 - Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1492 - Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
- 1757 - The United Kingdom
captures Calcutta, India.
- 1788 - Georgia becomes the 4th state to ratify the United
States Constitution.
- 1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
- 1815 - Lord Byron marries Anna
Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County
Durham.
- 1818 - British Institution of Civil Engineers formed
- 1859 - Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
- 1870 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
- 1871 - Amadeus I
becomes King of Spain.
- 1872 - Brigham Young is
arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
- 1879 - Fred Spofforth claims
the first Hat-trick in test
cricket on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.
- 1882 - John D.
Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
- 1890 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White
House.
- 1893 - Introduction by Webb C.
Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers.
- 1900 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- 1900 - Chicago Canal opens.
- 1905 - Russo-Japanese
War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
- 1917 - The Royal Bank
of Canada takes over Quebec
Bank.
- 1921 - The first religious radio broadcast
(KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) .
- 1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San
Francisco opens.
- 1923 - U.S. Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigns due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
- 1935 - Bruno Hauptmann goes
on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
- 1941 - WWII: German bombing severely damaged
the Llandaff Cathedral, built in 1290 on the bank of the River Taff in Cardiff, Wales.
- 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
- 1942 - The United States
Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
- 1946 - Unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II, King Zog abdicated but retained his claim to the
throne.
- 1949 - Luis Muñoz
Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is
assassinated.
- 1957 - San Francisco and Los
Angeles stock exchanges merge.
- 1959 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and
This is Nora
Drake.
- 1967 - Dr. Christiaan
Barnard performs the second successful heart transplant.
- 1971 - 66 die in stairway crush at Rangers v Celtic football match, Glasgow, Scotland. See Ibrox disaster.
- 1974 - Richard Nixon signs a
bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
- 1979 - Sid Vicious goes on trial
for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
- 1981 - Peter Sutcliffe, the
Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested.
- 1983 - The musical Annie is performed
for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre on Broadway.
- 1991 - Sharon Pratt
Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first
African American woman to lead a city of that size and
importance.
- 1992 - Paraguay becomes a member of the
Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1993 - Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
- 1998 - Russia begins to circulate new
rubles to stem inflation
and promote confidence.
- 1999 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into
the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359mm) of
snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487mm) at
Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- 2002 - Levy Mwanawasa took
office as the third President of Zambia.
- 2004 - Stardust successfully flew past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.
Births
- 1727 - James Wolfe, British general
in French and Indian War (d. 1759)
- 1777 - Christian
Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
- 1816 - Benjamin Hobson, medical missionary to China
- 1822 - Rudolf Clausius,
German physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (d. 1888)
- 1836 - Mendele
Moykher Sforim, Russian writer (d. 1917)
- 1859 - Anna Sacher, Austrian hotelier, Sacher cake (d. 1930)
- 1870 - Ernst Barlach, German
sculptor, graphic artist, and poet (d. 1938)
- 1877 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian
painter (d.1906)
- 1886 - Florence
Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)
- 1896 - Dziga Vertov, Russian
filmmaker (d. 1954)
- 1904 - Sally Rand, American fan
dancer (d. 1979)
- 1905 - Michael Tippett,
English composer (d. 1998)
- 1912 - Renato Guttuso, painter (d. 1987)
- 1913 - Anna Lee, English actress (d.
2004)
- 1917 - Vera Zorina, dancer, actress
- 1920 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born
American science fiction author (d. 1992)
- 1930 - Julius LaRosa, singer
- 1936 - Roger Miller, American
country music singer (d. 1992)
- 1938 - Ian Brady, British serial
killer
- 1939 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- 1939 - Konstanze Vernon, dancer
- 1942 - Hugh Shelton, American
soldier
- 1944 - Prince Norodom
Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
- 1947 - Jack Hanna, American
zoologist
- 1949 - Christopher
Durang, American playwright
- 1954 - Henry Bonilla, American
politician
- 1954 - Dawn Silva, singer (The Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk)
- 1955 - Tex Brashear, American
voice actor
- 1959 - Kirti Azad, Indian cricketer
- 1961 - Gabrielle
Carteris, American actress
- 1961 - Todd Haynes, American film director
- 1963 - David Cone, American baseball pitcher
- 1964 - Pernell Whitaker,
American boxer
- 1965 - Diane Lane, American
actress
- 1967 - Tia Carrere, American
actress
- 1968 - Cuba Gooding Jr.,
American actor
- 1969 - Christy
Turlington, American fashion model
- 1969 - Tommy Morrison,
American boxer
- 1972 - Taye Diggs, American
actor
- 1974 - Tricia Helfer, Canadian actress and model
- 1975 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- 1976 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- 1983 - Kate Bosworth, American
actress
Deaths
- 1893 - John Obadiah
Westwood, British entomologist (b. 1805)
- 1904 - James Longstreet,
Confederate general (b. 1821)
- 1913 - Léon
Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
- 1917 - Edward Burnett
Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
- 1924 - Sabine
Baring-Gould, English composer, novelist (b. 1834)
- 1939 - Roman Dmowski, Polish
politician (b. 1864)
- 1963 - Dick Powell, American actor
(b. 1904)
- 1963 - Jack Carson, American actor
- 1974 - Tex Ritter, American actor,
singer (b. 1905)
- 1977 - Errol Garner, American
jazz musician (b. 1921)
- 1986 - Una Merkel, American
actress
- 1986 - Bill Veeck, baseball
executive
- 1990 - Alan Hale Jr., American
actor (b. 1918)
- 1995 - Siad Barre, President of
Somalia
- 1996 - Karl Targownik,
Jewish psychiatrist and Holocaust
survivor (b. 1915)
- 2000 - Patrick O'Brian,
novelist (b. 1914)
- 2000 - Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., American admiral
- 2000 - Nat Adderley, American musician and composer
Holidays and observances
January 1 - January 3 -
December 2 - February 2 --
listing of all days
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