January 5

Events

1463 - Poet François Villon is banned from Paris.

1477 - Battle of Nancy, Charles the Bold killed, Burgundy becomes part of France.

1500 - Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan.

1527 - Martyrdom of Felix Manz, a Swiss Anabaptist.

1554 - Great fire in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

1675 - Battle of Colmar, French army beats Brandenburg.

1757 - Louis XV of France survives the assassination attempt by Robert–François Damiens, the last person to be Execution (legal)|executed in France with the traditional and gruesome form of death penalty used for regicides.

1759 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.

1781 - American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.

1846 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.

1854 - The San Francisco steamer sinks, 300 dead.

1895 - Dreyfus Affair: France|French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

1896 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.

1900 - Ireland|Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against United Kingdom|British rule.

1909 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.

1912 - Prague Party Conference

1914 - Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.

1919 - ''Free Committee for a German Workers' Peace'' founded, which would become the Nazi party.

1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States.

1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.

1940 - FM radio is demonstrated to the Federal Communications Commission|FCC for the first time.

1944 - The ''Daily Mail'' becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.

1945 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.

1948 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl (game)|Rose Bowl).

1956 - Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel."

1957 - Major league baseballer Jackie Robinson retires.

1961 - Television: ''Mr. Ed'' debuts.

1964 - Pope Paul VI meets the Greek patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem, the first meeting of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity leaders since 1439.

1968 - Alexander Dubček comes to power, "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.

1970 - Soap opera: ''All My Children'' premieres.

1972 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.

1973 - Netherlands recognizes East Germany.

1974 - An earthquake in Lima, Peru kills six, and damages 100s of houses.

1975 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier ''Lake Illawarra'', killing twelve people.

1976 - Cambodia is renamed Democratic Campuchea.

1980 - Hewlett-Packard announces release of its first personal computer.

1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.

1987 - President of the United States Ronald Reagan undergoes prostate surgery causing worries about his health.

1993 - The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands spilling 84,700 tonnes of oil.

1993 - Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965).

1996 - Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone.

1997 - Withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya.

2000 - The 1st day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit.

2002 - Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks|9/11 terrorist attack.

2006 - Expected activation of Sober worm.

Births

1209 - Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1272)

1587 - Xu Xiake, Chinese writer and geographer (d. 1641)

1592 - Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1666)

1614 - Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (d. 1662)

1717 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (d. 1793)

1779 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (d. 1820)

1779 - Zebulon Pike, American explorer (d. 1813)

1846 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1926)

1855 - King Camp Gillette, American inventor (d. 1932)

1865 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (d. 1920)

1874 - Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)

1876 - Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1967)

1880 - Nikolay Medtner, Russian composer (d. 1951)

1893 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (d. 1952)

1900 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)

1902 - Stella Gibbons, English novelist (d. 1989)

1904 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)

1909 - Stephen Kleene, American mathematician (d. 1994)

1910 - Hugh Brannum, American actor (d. 1987)

1910 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (d. 1949)

1913 - Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor (d. 2001)

1914 - George Reeves, American actor (d. 1959)

1915 - Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian-born American cartographer (d. 2004)

1920 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)

1921 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)

1921 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

1923 - Sam Phillips, American country music producer (d. 2003)

1926 - Hosea Williams, American religious leader and civil rights activist (d. 2000)

1928 - Ali Bhutto, President of Pakistan (d. 1979)

1928 - Walter Mondale, U.S. Senator and Presidential candidate

1931 - Alvin Ailey, American choreographer (d. 1989)

1931 - Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist

1931 - Robert Duvall, American actor and director

1932 - Umberto Eco, Italian philologist and writer

1932 - Chuck Noll, American football coach

1938 - King Juan Carlos I|Juan Carlos I of Spain

1938 - Jim Otto, American football player

1938 - Ngugi wa Thiongo, Kenyan writer

1940 - Michael O'Donoghue, American writer (d. 1994)

1941 - Miyazaki Hayao, Japanese animated film maker

1942 - Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist

1942 - Charlie Rose, American talk show host

1946 - Diane Keaton, American actress

1948 - Ted Lange, American actor

1950 - Chris Stein, American guitarist (Blondie (band)|Blondie)

1953 - Pamela Sue Martin, American actress

1953 - George Tenet, American Central Intelligence Agency director

1954 - Alex English, American basketball player

1956 - Chen Kenichi, Japanese-born chef

1960 - Phil Thornalley, English bass guitarist (The Cure)

1961 - Suzy Amis, American actress

1962 - Joe Monzo, American composer

1968 - Ricky Paull Goldin, American actor

1969 - Marilyn Manson (person)|Marilyn Manson, American singer

1972 - Sakis Rouvas, Greek singer

1975 - Bradley Cooper, American actor

1982 - Janica Kostelic, Croatian skier

1985 - Richard Butler, English footballer

1985 - Michael Cuccione, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2001)

Deaths

842 - Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 794)

1400 - John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English politician (executed)

1465 - Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet (b. 1394)

1477 - Charles, Duke of Burgundy (killed in battle) (b. 1433)

1524 - Marko Marulić, Croatian poet (b. 1450)

1588 - Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)

1589 - Catherine de Medici, queen of Henry II of France (b. 1519)

1655 - Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)

1740 - Antonio Lotti, Italian composer (b. 1667)

1762 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (b. 1709)

1771 - John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)

1846 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (b. 1812)

1858 - Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (b. 1766)

1891 - Emma Abbott, American soprano (b. 1849)

1922 - Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (b. 1874)

1929 - Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich of Russia (b. 1856)

1933 - Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States (b. 1872)

1941 - Amy Johnson, English pilot (1903)

1943 - George Washington Carver, American educator, activist, and botanist (b. 1860)

1951 - Andrei Platonov, Russian writer (b. 1899)

1956 - Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)

1963 - Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (b. 1896)

1970 - Max Born, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)

1970 - Roberto Gerhard, Catalan composer (b. 1896)

1971 - Douglas Shearer, Canadian film sound engineer (b. 1899)

1979 - Charles Mingus, American musician (b. 1922)

1981 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1893)

1981 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher, poet, and activist (b. 1901)

1982 - Hans Conried, American actor (b. 1917)

1988 - Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947)

1990 - Arthur Kennedy (actor)|Arthur Kennedy, American actor (b. 1914)

1991 - Vasko Popa, Yugoslav poet (b. 1922)

1994 - Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1912)

1996 - Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian terrorist (b. 1966)

1998 - Sonny Bono, American singer, actor, U.S. Congressman (skiing accident) (b. 1935)

2001 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (b. 1942)

2003 - Roy Jenkins, British politician (b. 1920)

2003 - Jean Kerr, American author (b. 1923)

2004 - Tug McGraw, baseball player (b. 1944)

2005 - Danny Sugerman, American music group manager (The Doors) (b. 1954)

Holidays and observances

The eleventh day of Christmas in Western Christianity, and the Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night of Christmas in Western Christianity.

Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Neumann.

Mungday (Discordianism)

National Bird Day

External links

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/5

http://www.tnl.net/when/1/5

http://www.it-observer.com/articles.php?id=972---- January 4 - January 6 - December 5 - February 5 — Historical anniversaries|listing of all days