January 18

Events

336 - Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope.

350 - General Magnentius deposes List of Roman Emperors|Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.

474 - Leo II (emperor)|Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor

532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.

1307 - German king Albrecht I makes his son Rudolf king of Bohemia.

1479 - Louis IX, the Rich, duke of Bayern (U of Ingolstadt), dies at 61.

1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.

1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Sweden|Swedes at Lake Asunde.

1535 - Lima, Peru|Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.

1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.

1701 - Friedrich I of Prussia|Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.

1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaii|Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".

1861 - Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia joins the Confederate States of America|Confederacy.

1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first List of German Kings and Emperors|German Emperor.

1884 - William Price (doctor)|Dr William Price attempts to cremation|cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.

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.

1911 - Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the ''USS Pennsylvania'' stationed in San Francisco, California|San Francisco harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship

1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to China in a bid to increase its power in east Asia.

1916 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near the village of Baxter, Missouri|Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.

1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference, 1919|Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.

1919 - Bentley Motors is founded.

1939 - Louis Armstrong records Jeepers Creepers.

1943 - World War II: Soviet Union|Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.

1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.

1944 - The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the first time hosts a jazz concert; the performers are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.

1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army

1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.

1964 - Plans are revealed for the World Trade Center in New York City.

1964 - The Beatles appear on the ''Billboard magazine'' charts for the first time.

1967 - Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler," is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life in prison.

1975 - ''The Jeffersons'' debuts on CBS.

1977 - Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious "legionnaire's disease."

1977 - Australia's worst Granville railway disaster|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 Olympic medals to his family.

1990 - Former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother Peggy McMartin Buckey are acquitted in a Los Angeles, California court of 52 child molestation charges.

1990 - Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for Psychoactive drug|drug possession in an FBI sting.

1991 - Eastern Airlines shuts down after 62 years citing financial problems.

1993 - For the first time, Martin Luther King Day|Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 U.S. state|United States states.

1995 - In southern France near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc a network of caves are discovered that contain paintings and engravings that are 17,000 to 20,000 years old.

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.

2002 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of CP track and the policy of voice-tracking used by Clear Channel Communications.

2003 - Canberra bushfires of 2003|Canberra firestorm, kills 4 and destroys 491 homes

2005 - A United Nations|U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins

Births

885 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)

1543 - Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)

1641 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)

1672 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)

1688 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)

1689 - Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu, French writer (d. 1755)

1779 - Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)

1782 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)

1840 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)

1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)

1848 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)

1849 - Edmund Barton, first Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)

1850 - Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)

1854 - Thomas Watson (inventor)|Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)

1882 - A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)

1888 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)

1892 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)

1892 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)

1904 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)

1905 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)

1908 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)

1913 - Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)

1914 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)

1914 - William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)

1922 - Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)

1931 - Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea

1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, American author

1933 - John Boorman, Irish film director

1934 - Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator

1937 - John Hume, Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998

1938 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)

1941 - David Ruffin, American singer (d. 1991)

1941 - Doodles Weaver, Amnerican singer

1943 - Kay Granger, American politician

1944 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia

1946 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor

1947 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director

1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer

1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)

1952 - R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer

1953 - Brett Hudson, American actor

1955 - Kevin Costner, American actor

1956 - Sharon Mitchell, American actress

1961 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player

1962 - Jeff Yagher, American actor

1964 - Jane Horrocks, British actress

1965 - Dave Attell, American writer and comedian

1966 - David Bautista, American professional wrestler

1967 - Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d. 1999)

1969 - Jesse L. Martin, American actor

1970 - DJ Quik, American rapper

1971 - Jonathan Davis, American musician (KoЯn)

1971 - Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver

1972 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player

1973 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)

1974 - Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio

1979 - Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer

1980 - Julius Peppers, American football player

1982 - Quinn Allman, American musician (The Used)

1982 - Bert McCracken, American vocalist (The Used)

1983 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress

Deaths

52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)

474 - Leo I of the Byzantine Empire|Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)

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)

1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)

1583 - Margaret of Austria (1522-1583)|Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b. 1522)

1677 - Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b. 1619)

1862 - John Tyler, President of the United States (b. 1790)

1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)

1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)

1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)

1940 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)

1952 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)

1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)

1966 - Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)

1967 - Goose Tatum, American basketball player

1969 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b. 1887)

1970 - David O. McKay, president of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)

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)

1995 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)

1995 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b. 1937)

1997 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1941)

2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)

2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)

2001 - Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b. 1935)

2003 - Edward Farhat|Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)

2005 - Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)

Holidays and observances

Christian ecumenism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/18 ---- January 17 - January 19 - December 18 - February 18 — Historical anniversaries|listing of all days