January 10

Events

49 BC -- Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.

1072 - Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo.

1776 - Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.

1806 - Netherlands|Dutch in Cape Town surrender to the United Kingdom|British.

1810 - Marriage of Napoleon I of France|Napoleon and Josephine de Beauharnais|Josephine is annulled.

1861 - American Civil War: Florida secedes from the United States.

1863 - The first section of the London Underground Railway opens, between Paddington station|Paddington and Farringdon station|Farringdon Street.

1870 - John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

1901 - The first great Texas gusher, petroleum|oil discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.

1920 - League of Nations holds its first meeting and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I.

1922 - Arthur Griffith is elected President of the Irish Free State.

1923 - Lithuania seizes and annexes Memel.

1927 - The film ''Metropolis (1927 movie)|Metropolis'' by Fritz Lang premiers.

1929 - Tintin, a comic book fictional character| character created by Hergé, makes his debut. He went on to be published in over 200 million comic books in 40 languages.

1941 - Lend-Lease is introduced into the Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress.

1946 - First United Nations General Assembly|General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented.

1957 - Harold Macmillan becomes the prime minister of the United Kingdom.

1969 - After 147 years, the last issue of the ''Saturday Evening Post'' is published.

1971 - Masterpiece Theatre debuts on PBS.

1982 - The lowest ever United Kingdom|UK temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire (traditional)|Aberdeenshire. This equalled the record set in the same place on February 11, 1895.

1984 - The United States and the Vatican City|Vatican establish full diplomatic relations.

1989 - Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola.

1990 - Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.

2000 - America Online announces an agreement to buy Time Warner for $162 billion, the largest corporate merger in history.

2001 - Wikipedia starts as part of Nupedia. It becomes a separate site five days later.

Births

1480 to 1899

1480 - Margaret of Austria (1480-1530)|Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (d. 1530)

1538 - Louis of Nassau, Dutch general (d. 1574)

1573 - Simon Marius, German astronomer (d. 1624)

1607 - Isaac Jogues, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1646)

1628 - George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)

1644 - Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French marshal (d. 1711)

1654 - Joshua Barnes, English scholar (d. 1712)

1715 - Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1775)

1721 - Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar (d. 1740)

1729 - Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist (d. 1799)

1738 - Ethan Allen, American Revolution military leader (d. 1789)

1769 - Michel Ney, French marshal (d. 1815)

1797 - Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (d. 1848)

1828 - Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (d. 1892)

1843 - Frank James, American outlaw (d. 1915)

1849 - Francisco Ferrer Guardia, Spanish free-thinker (d. 1909)

1858 - Heinrich Zille, German illustrator and photographer (d. 1929)

1869 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (d. 1916)

1873 - George Orton, Canadian athlete (d. 1958)

1883 - Francis X. Bushman, American actor (d. 1966)

1883 - Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi, Russian writer (d. 1945)

1887 - Robinson Jeffers, American poet (d. 1962)

1900 to 1999

1904 - Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, dancer (d. 1987)

1908 - Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (d. 1993)

1908 - Bernard Lee, British actor (d. 1981)

1913 - Gustáv Husák, President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1991)

1913 - Mehmet Shehu, Albanian politician (d. 1981)

1916 - Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 2004)

1917 - Jerry Wexler, American record producer

1918 - Arthur Chung, President of Guyana

1920 - Max Patkin, baseball player (d. 1999)

1921 - Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)

1925 - Max Roach, American drummer and composer

1927 - Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian singer (d. 2003)

1927 - Johnnie Ray, American singer (d. 1990)

1927 - Otto Stich, Swiss politician

1930 - Roy Edward Disney, American film executive

1931 - Peter Barnes, English writer (d. 2004)

1934 - Leonid Kravchuk, Ukrainian politician

1935 - Ronnie Hawkins, American musician

1935 - Sherrill Milnes, American baritone

1936 - Stephen Ambrose, American historian (d. 2002)

1936 - Robert Woodrow Wilson|Robert Wilson, American physicist and radio astronomer, Nobel Prize in Physics|Nobel Prize laureate

1937 - Thomas Penfield Jackson, American judge

1938 - Donald Knuth, American mathematician and computer scientist

1938 - Willie McCovey, baseball player

1939 - William Levy, Dutch writer

1939 - Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)

1939 - Bill Toomey, American athlete

1943 - Jim Croce, American singer (d. 1973)

1944 - Frank Sinatra, Jr., American singer

1945 - Rod Stewart, English singer

1946 - Aynsley Dunbar, British drummer

1948 - Donald Fagen, American keyboardist

1948 - Teresa Graves, American actress and singer (d. 2002)

1948 - Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist

1948 - William Sanderson, American actor

1949 - George Foreman, American boxer

1949 - James Lapine, American stage director

1949 - Linda Lovelace, American actress (d. 2002)

1953 - Pat Benatar, American singer

1953 - Bobby Rahal, American race car driver

1955 - Michael Schenker, German guitarist (UFO (band)|UFO)

1956 - Shawn Colvin, American singer

1956 - Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spanish writer

1961 - Evan Handler, American actor

1964 - Brad Roberts, Canadian singer (Crash Test Dummies)

1973 - Ryan Drummond, American voice actor and comedian

1975 - Jake Delhomme, American football player

1978 - Gavin McCann, English footballer

1980 - Janelle Pierzina, American reality tevision star (Big Brother 6)

1982 - Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (d. 2004)

Deaths

681 to 1899

681 - Pope Agatho

1094 - Caliph Al-Mustansir of Cairo (b. 1029)

1276 - Pope Gregory X

1645 - William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1573)

1698 - Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French historian (b. 1637)

1707 - Philibert, comte de Gramont, French writer (b. 1621)

1754 - Edward Cave, English editor and publisher (b. 1691)

1761 - Edward Boscawen, British admiral (b. 1711)

1777 - Spranger Barry, Irish actor (b. 1719)

1778 - Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (b. 1707)

1811 - Marie-Joseph Chénier, French poet (b. 1764)

1833 - Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician (b. 1752)

1851 - Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (b. 1775)

1862 - Samuel Colt, American inventor (b. 1814)

1866 - Pyotr Pletnyov, Russian poet (b. 1792)

1895 - Benjamin Godard, French composer (b. 1849)

1900 to 1999

1917 - Buffalo Bill|William F. Cody, American frontiersman (b. 1846)

1934 - Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist accused of setting the Reichstag fire (b. 1909)

1941 - Frank Bridge, English composer (b. 1879)

1941 - Joe Penner, Hungarian-born comedian and actor (b. 1904)

1951 - Sinclair Lewis, American writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885)

1957 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)

1961 - Dashiell Hammett, American writer (b. 1894)

1970 - Pavel Belyayev, cosmonaut (b. 1925)

1971 - Gabrielle Chanel|Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, French fashion designer (b. 1883)

1976 - Howlin Wolf|Howlin' Wolf, American musician (b. 1910)

1978 - Pedro Chamorro, Nicaraguan journalist (b. 1924)

1980 - George Meany, American labor leader (b. 1894)

1981 - Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)

1981 - Richard Boone, American actor (b. 1917)

1981 - Fawn M. Brodie, American historian (b. 1915)

1982 - Paul Lynde, American comedian (b. 1926)

1986 - Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)

1987 - Sir Sir David Robinson|David Robinson, British philanthropist and entrepreneur (b. 1904)

1997 - Elspeth Huxley, British journalist and writer (b. 1907)

1997 - Sheldon Leonard, American producer, actor, and director (b. 1907)

1997 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)

2000 onwards

2000 - Sam Jaffe (producer)|Sam Jaffe, American producer (b. 1901)

2004 - Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)

2004 - Alexandra Ripley, American author (b. 1934)

2005 - Gene Baylos, American comedian (b. 1906)

2005 - Margherita Carosio, Italian soprano (b. 1908)

2005 - James Forman, American civil rights leader (b. 1928)

2005 - Erwin Hillier, British cinematographer (b. 1911)

2005 - Jack Horner (journalist)|Gordon John "Jack" Horner, American sports journalist

2005 - Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium|Joséphine-Charlotte, Grandduchess of Luxembourg (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/10 ---- January 9 - January 11 - December 10 - February 10 — Historical anniversaries|listing of all days