January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 347 days remaining until the end of the year (348 in leap years).
- 350 – Generallus Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor.
- 474 – Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor.
- 532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
- 1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
- 1486 – King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV.
- 1520 – King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Åsunden.
- 1535 – Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, the capital of Peru.
- 1562 – Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
- 1591 – King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed marked as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.
- 1670 – Henry Morgan captures Panama.
- 1701 – Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
- 1777 – Representatives of the New Hampshire Grants declare the independence of the Vermont Republic from Britain.
- 1778 – James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
- 1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay.
- 1861 – American Civil War – Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in seceding from the United States.
- 1871 – Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed the first German Emperor in the 'Hall of Mirrors' of the Palace of Versailles towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The empire was known as the Second Reich to Germans.
- 1884 – Dr. William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the United Kingdom.
- 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.
- 1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt sends a radio message to King Edward VII: the first transatlantic radio transmission originating in the United States.
- 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.
- 1913 – A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos during the First Balkan War, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
- 1915 – Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
- 1916 – A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite strikes a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.
- 1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
- 1919 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.
- 1919 – Bentley Motors Limited is founded.
- 1941 – World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
- 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
- 1944 – The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. 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.
- 1955 – Battle of Yijiangshan occurred.
- 1958 – Willie O'Ree, the first African Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut.
- 1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.
- 1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay resulting in the loss of all 32 passengers and six crew members.
- 1974 – A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
- 1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' 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's Olympic medals to his family.
- 1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
- 1991 – Eastern Air Lines goes out of business after 62 years, citing financial problems.
- 1993 – For the first time, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed in all 50 states.
- 1994 – The Cando event, a possible bolide impact in Cando, Spain. Witnesses claim to have seen a fireball in the sky lasting for almost one minute.
- 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.
- 2000 – The Tagish Lake meteorite impacts the Earth.
- 2002 – Sierra Leone Civil War is finally declared over.
- 2003 – A bushfire kills 4 people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
- 2003 – The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France
- 2007 – The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people, Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Hurricane Kyrill, causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe. Other losses include the Container Ship MSC Napoli destroyed by the storm off the coast of Devon, England.
[edit] Births - 885 – Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)
- 1519 – Isabella Jagiełło, queen of Hungary (d. 1559)
- 1543 – (baptised) Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)
- 1641 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
- 1659 – Damaris Cudworth Masham, English philosopher (d. 1708)
- 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)
- 1743 – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin French philosopher, known as le philosophe inconnu. (d. 1803)
- 1779 – Peter Mark Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)
- 1782 – Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
- 1795 – Anna Pavlovna of Russia, queen of The Netherlands (d. 1865)
- 1813 – Joseph Glidden, American farmer who patented barbed wire (d. 1906)
- 1815 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German biblical scholar (d. 1874)
- 1840 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)
- 1841 – Emmanuel Chabrier, French composer (d. 1894)
- 1842 – Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
- 1848 – Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
- 1849 – Sir Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
- 1850 – Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
- 1854 – Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
- 1856 – Daniel Hale Williams, African-American surgeon (d. 1931)
- 1867 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan Journalist, Diplomat, Poet (d. 1916)
- 1877 – Samuel Zemurray, U.S. businessman (d. 1961)
- 1879 – Henri Giraud, French general (d. 1949)
- 1880 – Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian physicist (d. 1933)
- 1881 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (d. 1975)
- 1882 – A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)
- 1886 – Clara Nordström, German writer and translator (d. 1962)
- 1888 – Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)
- 1892 – Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
- 1892 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
- 1896 – C. M. Eddy, Jr., American writer (d. 1967)
- 1901 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1973)
- 1904 – Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
- 1904 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordionist (d. 2006)
- 1905 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)
- 1908 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)
- 1908 – Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1972)
- 1910 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English economist (d. 1993)
- 1913 – Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1914 – Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
- 1914 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovenian writer (d. 1987)
- 1915 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (d. 1984)
- 1917 – Wang Yung-ching, Taiwanese businessman (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Gustave Gingras, French Canadian physician (d. 1996)
- 1922 – Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)
- 1925 – Gilles Deleuze, French philosopher (d. 1995)
- 1927 – Sundaram Balachander, Indian veena player (d. 1990)
- 1931 – Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea
- 1932 – Robert Anton Wilson, American author (d. 2007)
- 1933 – John Boorman, Irish film director
- 1933 – Ray Dolby, American inventor (Dolby noise reduction system)
- 1934 – Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
- 1935 – Albert Millaire, Quebec actor and theatre director
- 1935 – Jon Stallworthy, English poet
- 1935 – Gad Yaacobi, Israeli minister (d. 2007)
- 1937 – John Hume, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
- 1938 – Curt Flood, American baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1938 – Anthony Giddens, British sociologist
- 1940 – Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican racing driver (d. 1971)
- 1941 – Denise Bombardier, Quebec journalist, television host and novelist
- 1941 – Bobby Goldsboro, American country/pop singer
- 1941 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
- 1943 – Kay Granger, American politician
- 1944 – Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
- 1944 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (d. 1983)
- 1945 – José Luis Perales, Spanish singer
- 1946 – Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1947 – Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
- 1947 – Sachio Kinugasa, Japanese baseball player
- 1949 – Philippe Starck, French designer
- 1949 – Bill Keller, American newspaper editor
- 1950 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
- 1951 – Bob Latchford, English footballer
- 1951 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist (d. 1982)
- 1952 – R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
- 1952 – Michael Angelis, British actor
- 1952 – Michael Behe, American advocate of Intelligent Design
- 1953 – Brett Hudson, American musician
- 1954 – Ted DiBiase, Retired Professional Wrestler
- 1953 – Tom Bailey, English singer & musician (Thompson Twins)
- 1955 – Kevin Costner, American actor
- 1955 – Fergus Martin, Irish artist
- 1956 – Sharon Mitchell, American porn actress
- 1961 – Mark Messier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1961 – Peter Beardsley, English footballer
- 1961 – Bobby Hansen, American basketball player
- 1961 – Jeff Yagher, American actor
- 1962 – Alison Arngrim, American actress
- 1962 – David O'Connor, American equestrian rider
- 1963 – Maxime Bernier, French Canadian politician
- 1963 – Martin O'Malley, Governor of Maryland
- 1963 – Yury Zakharevich, Soviet weightlifter
- 1964 – Jane Horrocks, British actress
- 1964 – Brady Anderson, American baseball player
- 1964 – Enrico Lo Verso, Italian actor
- 1964 – Andrea Leand, American tennis player
- 1965 – Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
- 1966 – Alexander Khalifman, Russian chess player
- 1966 – André Ribeiro, Brazilian racing driver
- 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 – John Eder, American politician
- 1969 – Dave Bautista, American professional wrestler
- 1969 – Jim O'Rourke, American musician and producer (Loose Fur and Wilco)
- 1970 – DJ Quik, American rapper
- 1970 – Peter van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
- 1971 – Jonathan Davis, American singer (KoЯn)
- 1971 – Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
- 1971 – Fabian Ribauw, Nauruan politician
- 1971 – Josep Guardiola, Spanish footballer
- 1971 – Seamus O'Regan, Canadian broadcast journalist
- 1972 – Mike Lieberthal, American baseball player
- 1973 – Anthony Koutoufides, Australian rules footballer and Gladiator
- 1973 – Ben Jealous, African-American leader, president of the NAACP
- 1973 – Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
- 1974 – Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
- 1974 – Christian Burns, English musician (BBMak)
- 1974 – Devon Odessa, American actress
- 1974 – Maulik Pancholy, American actor
- 1974 – Princess Claire of Belgium
- 1976 – Laurence Courtois, Belgian tennis player
- 1976 – Damien Leith, Irish-born Australian singer, winner of Australian Idol 2006
- 1976 – Subhrajit Mitra, Film Maker, India
- 1977 – Curtis Cregan, American actor
- 1977 – Alina Jidkova, Russian tennis player
- 1977 – Richard Archer, British singer (lead singer of Hard-Fi)
- 1978 – Brian Falkenborg, American baseball player
- 1978 – Bogdan Lobont, Romanian football player
- 1978 – Thor Hushovd, Norwegian cyclist
- 1979 – Jay Chou, Taiwanese singer, producer, actor and director
- 1979 – Ruslan Fedotenko, Ukrainian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
- 1979 – Brian Gionta, American ice hockey player
- 1979 – Kenyatta Jones, American football player
- 1980 – Robert Green, English footballer
- 1980 – Julius Peppers, American football player
- 1980 – Jason Segel, American actor
- 1980 – Estelle Swaray, English singer
- 1981 – Kang Dong-won, South Korean model and actor
- 1981 – Olivier Rochus, Belgian tennis player
- 1981 – Khari Stephenson, Jamaican footballer
- 1982 – Joanna Newsom, American harpist
- 1982 – Quinn Allman, American Guitarist, The Used
- 1983 – Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
- 1984 – Seung-Hui Cho, shooter at Virginia Tech (d. 2007)
- 1984 – Kristy Lee Cook, American Idol 7 cast member
- 1984 – Ioannis Drymonakos, Greek swimmer
- 1984 – Michael Kearney, American child prodigy
- 1984 – Maarja Kivi, Estonian singer
- 1984 – Benji Schwimmer, American dancer
- 1985 – Dale Begg-Smith, Australian freestyle skier
- 1985 – Riccardo Montolivo, Italian soccer player
- 1985 – Minissha Lamba, Indian Actress and Model
- 1986 – Grigoris Makos, Greek footballer
- 1987 – Johan Djourou, Swiss football player
- 1988 – Ronald Guglielmone Jr., American singer-songwriter
- 1988 – Anastasios Kissas, Greek footballer
- 1993 – Morgan York, American actress
[edit] Deaths - 52 BC – Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered) (b. 93 BC)
- 474 – Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)
- 1213 – Queen Regnant Tamar of Georgia (b. c. 1160)
- 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)
- 1586 – Margaret of Austria, regent of The Netherlands (b. 1522)
- 1664 – Moses Amyraut, French theologian (b. 1596)
- 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)
- 1886 – Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (b. 1819)
- 1892 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1819)
- 1896 – Charles Floquet, French statesman (b. 1828)
- 1923 – Wallace Reid, Actor (b. 1891)
- 1936 – Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1865)
- 1940 – Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)
- 1951 – Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary (b. 1867)
- 1952 – Curly Howard, American actor, comedian & Stooge (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)
- 1971 – Virgil Finlay, American horror illustrator (b. 1914)
- 1975 – Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (b. 1897)
- 1978 – Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher, critic and writer (b. 1919)
- 1978 – Carl Betz, American film and television actor (b. 1921)
- 1978 – Walter H. Thompson, English Scotland Yard detective, bodyguard of Winston Churchill (b. 1890)
- 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)
- 1989 – Bruce Chatwin, English novelist (b. 1940)
- 1990 – Rusty Hamer, American actor (b. 1947)
- 1993 – Eleanor Hibbert, English writer (d. 1993)
- 1995 – Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1903)
- 1995 – Ron Luciano, American baseball umpire (b. 1937)
- 1996 – Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Indian actor (b. 1923)
- 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. 1926)
- 2005 – Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)
- 2006 – Jan Twardowski, Polish poet (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Brent Liles, American musician (Agent Orange/Social Distortion) (b. 1963)
- 2008 – Georgia Frontiere, American football team owner (b. 1927)
- 2008 – Frank Lewin, American composer and music theorist (b. 1925)
- 2008 – John Stroger, first African-American Cook County Board President (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Tony Hart, British artist and TV presenter (b. 1925)
- 2009 – Grigore Vieru, Romanian poet (b. 1935)
- 2009 – Bob May, American actor (b. 1939)
[edit] Holidays and observances [edit] External links
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