January 3rd
1777 - USA: The Battle of Princeton, New Jersey, was fought and won by the Continental Army. General Washington again attacked in the early morning, as he had at Trenton, the previous week.
1848 - USA: Girard College in Philadelphia, opened it's doors. Founded by Stephen Girard, it consisted of a free home, secondary school, and junior school for fatherless white boys. In 1968 the school accepted black pupils for the first time.
1914 - USA: A direct wireless connection was established between the U.S and Germany.
1920 - France: The last remaining U.S troops leave the country.
1921 - USA: In a significant decision for labor unions, the Supreme Court ruled that they could be prosecuted for restraining interstate trade.
1922 - USA: The classic film Orphans of the Storm by D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian and Dorothy Gish, opened at the Apollo Theatre in New York City.
1924 - Egypt: Tutankhamun's stone sarcophagus is discovered in his tomb at Luxor.
1925 - Rome: Benito Mussolini assumes full dictatorial powers.
1929 - London: Conductor Sir Thomas Beecham and the BBC agree to form a permanent symphony orchestra.
1936 - Warsaw: The Polish government frees 27,000 prisoners under a general amnesty.
1938 - London: The government announces all schoolchildren are to be issued with gas masks.
1940 - Finland: The Finnish government claims to have destroyed 400 Russian tanks. and brought down 150 planes, since the fighting began.
1941 - Mediterranean: Prince Philip of Greece joins the battleship HMS Valiant.
1943 - USSR: The Red Army recaptures Mozdok, in the Caucasus.
1944 - USA: Time Magazine declares General George Marshall, the U.S Chief of Staff, its man of the year for 1943.
1945 - Canada: The first Canadian draftees to be sent to Europe sail from Halifax; many objectors drop their rifles into the sea as they walk up the gangplank.
1949 - USA: Tornados sweep through Arkansas, leaving 41 people dead.
1956 - UK: The headmaster of Eton, states that "comprehensives are a real threat to education."
1958 - USA: Formation of two missile squadrons armed with intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBM's) was announced by the U.S Air Force. The squadrons were to be part of the Strategic Air Command.
1961 - USA: The U.S broke diplomatic relations with Cuba after a series of mutually hostile actions, the last being Cuba's demand that the U.S reduce its Havana embassy staff to 11 members.
1962 - Rome: Fidel Castro is excommunicated by the Pope for his anti-clerical policies.
1963 - USA: "Relay 1", a communication satellite launched on Dec 13 1962, but silent since Dec 15 owing to malfunction, was reactivated by radio signals from the ground. It began transmission between North and South America and Europe.
1967 - Australia: The Bee Gees were No.1 on the Australian singles chart with "Spickes and Speckes."
1971 - USA: B.J. Thomas began a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."
1974 - USA: Bob Dylan and The Band began a 39 date US tour. It Was Dylan's first live appearance for over seven years.
1979 - Dublin: The Hype appeared at McGonagils in Dublin. The band was later to be known as U2.
1980 - Kenya: Naturalist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free" is killed in an apparent lion attack.
1981 - London: Anti-vivisection protesters attack the homes of Oxford and Cambridge scientists.
1985 - USA: Leontyne Price gave her farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, 24 years after she first sang there. She was the first black American to become a worldwide star of grand opera.
1990 - UK: Norman Fowler, the Employment Secretary, resigns from the cabinet.
1991 - London: Eight Iraqi diplomats are expelled after a "We'll hit British targets" threat by Baghdad.
1993 - London: Princess Margaret is admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia.
2002 - UK: Liam and Noel Gallagher topped a poll of celebrities you would least like to live next to, getting 40% of the vote. The brothers from Oasis were voted as "Neighbours from Hell" by readers of Your Home magazine.
2006 - Iraq: Six members of the same family of 14 are confirmed killed following a US airstrike in Northern Iraq.
2008 - Pakistan: President Pervez Musharraf denies any role in Benazir Bhutto's death.
2010 - Columbia: The Columbian volcano "Galeras" erupts, forcing the evacuation of around 8,000 people.
2012 - UK: After 18 years of investigations and inquests, Gary Dobson and David Norris are convicted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in the London suburb of Eltham on 22 April 1993. Dobson was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment and Norris 14 years.
January 4th
1896 - USA: Utah was admitted to the Union, becoming the 45th state.
1901 - South Africa: Sir Alfred Milner is appointed Governor of Transvaal and the Orange River Colony.
1904 - Washington: The U.S Supreme Court States that Puerto Ricans can enter the U.S freely, but stops short on granting them citizenship.
1912 - UK: The Boy Scouts are granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation.
1916 - London: Home Secretary Sir John Simon resigns over the proposal to conscript single men.
1922 - Belfast: Two people are killed and six are wounded after the army opens fire on demonstrators.
1931 - Vienna: Thousands of Nazis demonstrate outside a cinema showing "All Quiet on the Western Front."
1936 - New York: "Billboard" Magazine introduced the first-ever pop music chart that ranked records on national sales.
1938 - Bucharest: All Jews in Romania are banned from employing women under the age of 40.
1940 - Germany: Herman Goering takes control of the national war economy and all German war industries.
1941 - USA: The German-born actress Marlene Dietrich becomes a naturalized U.S Citizen.
1942 - Malaya: Indian forces on the River Slim come under heavy attack and bombardment from Japanese planes.
1944 - Europe: Allied aircraft begin "Operation Carpetbagger" making regular supply missions to partisans in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy.
1945 - Philippines: A Kamikaze aircraft sinks the U.S carrier Ommaney Bay, killing 93 crewmen.
1946 - France: Riots break out over bread shortages in Paris and Rouen.
1951 - Korea: Seoul is captured by Communist troops.
1956 - UK: Dr Arthur Michael Ramsey is named Archbishop of York.
1958 - USSR: Sputnik 1 disintegrates as it enters the earth's atmosphere.
1960 - USA: The longest steel strike in the nation's history was settled when the steel companies and the United Steel Workers agreed on a wage increase. The strike had began on July 15, 1959.
1962 - UK: Liverpool's "Mersey Beat" published its first popularity poll, with The Beatles in first place, and Gerry and the Pacemakers in second position.
1967 - UK: The BBC's "Ken Dodd Show" topped the list of the most popular Christmas TV programmes.
1969 - UK: Up to 50 people are killed when an airliner crashes into houses near Gatwick.
1975 - USA: Elton John began a two-week stint at No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of the Beatles "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The song featured John Lennon on guitar.
1976 - USA: Former Beatles roadie Mal Evans was shot dead by police at his LA apartment. His girlfriend called the police when she found Evans upset with a rifle in his hands. When they arrived, he pointed the rifle at the police - who opened fire.
1979 - London: The Sex Pistols appalled passengers and airline staff at Heathrow Airport when they spat and vomited boarding a plane to Amsterdam.
1980 - Tehran: UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim cuts short a mission to Iran when the Ayatollah Khomeini refuses his request to see U.S hostages.
1982 - USA: Richard V. Allen resigned as President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser. Allen had been accused of taking $I,000 from Japanese journalists to arrange an interview with Nancy Reagan.The Justice Department cleared him of any misconduct
1985 - UK: P&O sells its Channel car ferry fleet to European Ferries (Townsend Thoreson).
1989 - UK: The BMA backs a campaign to cut the working week for junior doctors by 14 hours.
1990 - Miami: Panamanian dictator Manual Noriega is charged with drug trafficking.
1994 - London: Torrential rain following the wettest December since 1979, causes havoc in southern England.
1995 - Washington: The mother of Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich reveals in a TV interview that her son once called Hillary Clinton "a bitch."
2004 - USA: Britney Spears had her surprise marriage annulled less than 55 hours after tying the knot in Las Vegas with childhood friend Jason Alexander.
2006 - Turkey: Turkey announces two confirmed human cases of avian influenza.
2010 - Egypt: Egyptian archaeologists uncover the largest tomb yet discovered in the ancient Saqqara necropolis.
2012 - China: At least 160 are killed after a bus runs off a bridge in China's Guizhou province.
January 5th
1778 - USA: In a mine attack against British shipping in the Delaware River at Philadelphia, four people were killed aboard a barge after one of the floating mines was hauled aboard. The attack put British troops and Philadelphians alike into a complete panic.
1900 - Ireland: Nationalist leader John Redmond calls for an uprising against the British.
1904 - Korea: British, U.S, and Russian marines land to protect legations in Seoul.
1914 - USA: Henry Ford announces his workers will share $10 million of company profits, and will be paid $5 for an eight-hour day.
1920 - USA: Red Sox baseball player Babe Ruth is bought by the New York Yankees for a record $125,000.
1925 - USA: The first woman governor in U.S history, Mrs William B. Ross, was inaugurated governor of Wyoming.
1926 - UK: The first widows pensions are paid out at post offices.
1929 - Melbourne: England win the third test against Australia by 332 runs.
1936 - Abyssinia: Italian bombers raze Daggha Bur.
1940 - Finland: The Soviet 18th division is encircled north of Lake Ladoga.
1941 - Maolin, China: A large Kuomintang force attacks troops of the Communist New Fourth Army.
1942 - Mediterranean: The British submarine Upholder sinks an Italian submarine off the Lipari Islands.
1943 - USSR: Soviet forces capture Tsimlyansk and Morozovsk, the main airfield used by the Luftwaffe to supply Stalingrad.
1945 - Greenwich, London: Construction begins on Britain's first prefabricated houses.
1956 - Monaco: Prince Rainier III announces his engagement to actress Grace Kelly.
1957 - USA: The Eisenhower Doctrine was proposed by President Eisenhower before a joint session of Congress. The Plan offered protection to any Middle East nation seeking aid against communist aggression.
1966 - UK: The Who appeared on the new BBC TV programme "The Whole Scene Going."
1968 - Sweden: Jimi Hendrix was jailed for one day in Stockholm on drink charges after destroying everything in his room at the Goteberg Hotel.
1968 - USA: Indictments for conspiracy to aid and abet draft evasion were handed down against DR. Benjamin Spock, the eminent paediatrician, the Rev. Wilson Sloane Coffin of Yale, and three other anti-war activists.
1972 - USA: An order to begin work on a reusable space shuttle was issued to NASA by President Richard Nixon.
1972 - USA: A Russian art and artefact collection, comprising nearly 1,500 objects, arrived at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C on the first stop of a six city tour.
1975 - USA: A commission on CIA activities was appointed by President Gerald Ford to investigate whether the agency had violated its charter by engaging in domestic intelligence operations. Headed by Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, the commission reported on June 10 that the CIA had undertaken unlawful surveillance of some 300,000 persons or organisations and had supplied President Richard Nixon with information to use against political foes.
1976 - Northern Ireland: Ten Protestant workman are shot dead in a bus ambush.
1979 - UK: A Lorry drivers strike causes heating oil and fresh food shortages,
1981 - London: Margaret Thatcher sacks Norman St. John Stevas as Leader of the Commons; Francis Pym takes over.
1982 - UK: The families of the victims of the Penlee lifeboat disaster share appeal proceeds of £2 million.
1984 - USA: "The Real Thing" by Tom Stoppard, starring Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close opened at the Plymouth Theatre in New York City.
1987 - UK: Young Welsh chorister Aled Jones announced his retirement from pop music at the age of 16, in order to study for his O'level exams.
1991 - UK: Thirteen people are killed as 100mph winds bring havoc and power cuts.
1997 - USA: Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident at a resort near Lake Tahoe, aged 62.
2004 - USA: Ray Davies of the Kinks was shot in the leg while on holiday in New Orleans. He was running after two men who stole his girlfriends purse at gunpoint.
2010 - UK: The UK is deluged by heavy snowfall, as the country endures its worst cold snap since 1979.
2011 - UK: Clarence House confirms that Prince William and Catherine Middleton will be married by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.
2013 - Tasmania: Thousands of people are stranded by four major fires out of control in the Australian state of Tasmania.
January 6th
1906 - USA: The U.S boost their forces in the Philippines in anticipation of unrest in China.
1908 - UK: 2,000 cotton mill workers go on strike in Oldham.
1910 - Germany: The German Society of Geography honours Explorer Ernest Shackleton over his South Pole expedition.
1912 - USA: New Mexico is admitted to the Union, becoming the 47th state.
1921 - Berlin: Released statistics showed that a quarter of the city's 485,000 children were diseased or malnourished.
1923 - Washington: The Senate votes to withdraw U.S troops stationed in Germany.
1930 - Germany: Ex-Chief of Staff Max von Hoffman is implicated in a plot to overthrow the Soviet regime.
1931 - Iraq: A royal palace dating from 550 BC is discovered at the site of the ancient city of Ur.
1940 - London: Sir John Reith, the founder of the BBC and its first director general takes over as minister of information.
1941 - USA: The term Four Freedoms was introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his annual speech before Congress. These freedoms, which he envisaged as the cornerstone of a new world, were freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from fear, and freedom from want.
1943 - Germany: Grand Admiral Erich Raeder resigns as navy commander-in-chief following his disastrous handling of the Battle of the Barents Sea.
1945 - Japan: USAAF bombers begin raids on Tokyo.
1948 - Paris: 15 are killed when a DC-4 airliner crashes on a flight from Brussels.
1954 - Sudan: Ismail Azhari is elected the first prime minister of the Sudan.
1961 - Belgium: 60 people are injured in Liege in violent protests against government austerity measures.
1963 - Peru: 800 communists are arrested by the military junta.
1969 - UK: Belfast: The Northern Ireland government uses "B Specials" to aid the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
1970 - USA: A heroin-control agreement with France was announced. It was aimed at halting the illegal production of the drug in France. The diplomatic agreement was part of an effort to halt heroin smuggling into the U.S.
1977 - London: EMI sack the Sex Pistols over their outrageous behaviour.
1978 - USA: The Crown of St Stephen, prime symbol of the Hungarian nation, was returned to Hungary by the U.S, which had taken custody of it in July 1945 at the end of World War II.
1981 - New York: Mark Chapman pleads insanity to the charge of murdering John Lennon.
1983 - London: Michael Heseltine is appointed Defence Secretary in succession to Sir John Knott.
1984 -UK: The anti-smoking group ASH announce over a million people have given up the habit in the last two years.
1986 - USA: The launch of the space shuttle "Columbia" is delayed owing to a faulty valve.
1987 - UK: Eric Clapton started what became an annual event by playing six shows at the London's Royal Albert Hall.
1991 - UK: Prime minister John Major announces that the "Poll Tax" will not be abolished.
1993 - Buenos Aires: Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd becomes the first British cabinet minister to visit Argentina since the 1982 Falklands War.
1994 - USA: American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan is attacked at an ice rink by a man wielding a crowbar.
1997 - UK: Thieves steal two bronze busts worth £50,000 from a garden at George Harrison's estate in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.
2004 - USA: US CD sales rose for the first time in four years, despite the increasing popularity of legal digital music downloads.
2007 - USA: The United States enjoyed record high temperatures, including 72 degrees Fahrenheit in New York City.
2010 - China: China becomes the largest exporting country, ousting Gemany from first place.
2012 - Nigeria: 8 people are killed and 10 are wounded in Kano in a series of attacks on churches in Northern Nigeria.
January 7th
1800 - USA: Millard Fillmore, the 13th President of the United States was born in Locke, now Summerhill, in north-western New York.
1839 - USA: Almost 700 Cherokee Indians who left the Tennessee Agency on October 11 1838, reached their new lands in the Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma). This group of Cherokees were supporters of the new Echota Treaty. Since they were not removed from their lands by force, they were well provisioned, and would not be destitute upon their arrival. Only 654 made it to their destination.
1913 - London: The government introduces proportional representation into Home Rule regulations to safeguard interests of Protestant minority.
1916 - Washington: A German note sent to Washington D,C, concerning submarine warfare declared that a strict adherence to international law would henceforth be followed.
1923 - Russia: Rumours circulate that Lenin is close to death.
1925 - Germany: "Emden" the first German warship built since the Great War is launched.
1928 - London: Telephone lines are cut off by floodwaters from the River Thames.
1935 - USA: "The Petrified Forest" by Robert E. Sherwood, starring Humphrey Bogart, Leslie Howard, and Peggy Conklin, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.
1939 - USA: Gangster Al Capone is moved from Alcatraz to San Pedro's Terminal Island prison.
1940 - North Sea: The British submarines Seahorse and Undine are scuttled after depth charge attacks by a German minesweeper in the Heligoland Bight.
1941 - Libya: British forces capture Tobruk airport.
1944 - South Eastern France: Allied advisors parachute in to train Resistance fighters for guerrilla warfare after the invasion of Europe.
1945 - France: Bernard Montgomery enrages his American colleagues by giving a press conference in which he plays down US achievements in the Battle of the Bulge.
1946 - Berlin: 2,000 Jews leave the Soviet sector.
1955 - UK: "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley and the Comets entered the UK charts for the first time reaching No. 17.
1958 - Washington: Texas senator Lyndon Johnson calls for the US to overtake the USSR in the space race.
1965 - London: Ronnie and Reggie Kray are remanded in custody on a charge of demanding money with menaces.
1966 - London: Britain, Canada, and Australia announce they are to mount drought relief operations in central Africa and Rhodesia.
1967 - UK: The acclaimed adaption of John Galsworthy's epic "The Forsythe Saga begins on BBC1.
1973 - USA: A sniper attack at a New Orleans motel ended when police shot the sniper, Mark Essex, who had killed 6 people and wounded 15 others.
1975 - USA: "Shenandoah", a musical by Gary Geld, Peter Udell, James R. Barrett, and Philip Rose, opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York. Based on the 1965 movie starring Jimmy Stewart, it related the struggle of a Virginia farmer to keep his family together and safe during the Civil War.
1976 - Atlantic: The frigate HMS Andromeda is rammed by an Icelandic gunboat.
1984 - USA: Madonna was at No.1 on the US singles charts with "Like A Virgin."
1986 - USA: Economic sanctions against Libya were ordered by President Ronald Reagan in retaliation for alleged Libyan involvement in terrorist attacks on December 27 1985, at the Rome and Vienna airports. Five U.S citizens had been among the victims. All Libyan assets in the U.S were frozen, and all U.S citizens in Libya were ordered home.
1987 - UK: The Army urges 600 troops to take AIDS tests after a tour of Kenya.
1990 - USSR: Soviet troops intervene in clashes between Georgians and Ossetians.
1991 - USA: Cancellation of the largest weapons program ever terminated was announced by the Defence Department. Involved was the A-12 Avenger, a navy plane of the radar-evading stealth type. The planes were to have cost $57,000,000,000 but the program was already 16 months behind schedule and more than $2,700,000,000 over budget.
1994 - Wales: Oasis began recording their debut album "Definitely Maybe" at Monrow studios in South Wales.
1997 - London: The People vote 2 to 1 in favour of retaining the monarchy after a television phone-in.
1998 - Canada: The Canadian government makes an unprecedented apology for its former racism against the Native American population.
2003 - UK: "The Beatles Book Monthly" closed down after 40 years. Author Sean O' Mahony, who set up the magazine in 1963, said there was nothing more to say, as the number of things the former Beatles are doing gets less as the years go on.
2006 - Iraq: A UH-60 "Blackhawk" US military helicopter crashes in Talafar , northern Iraq, killing all 12 people on board.
2009 - Gaza: Israel and Hamas resume their hostilities after a 3 hour respite to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.
2011 - UK: British Labour MP David Chaytor is sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraudulently claiming more than £20,000 in expenses.
(05-01-2014 13:51 )4evadionne Wrote: [ -> ]1981 - London: Margaret Thatcher sacks Norman St. John Stevas as Leader of the Commons; Francis Pym takes over.
Despite his quintessentially English double-barrelled name (technically triple, as his mother was already double-barrelled herself!), his public school and Oxbridge University education and upper-class accent, Norman St. John Stevas was in fact the product of a Greek hotelier father and an Irish mother.
Born in 1929 he was a brilliant scholar, obtaining degrees at both Cambridge and Oxford. At his age of just 23 he was lecturing in law at Southampton University, by the age of 26 he was a tutor at Christ's (and later Merton) College Oxford and at just 28 was a visiting professor at the University of California.
He had been President of the Cambridge Union as an undergraduate and had unsuccessfully stood for Parliament in the 1951 General Election when just 22. In 1964 he was elected as MP for Chelmsford which he represented for the next 23 years. In 1973 he had his first post as a junior minister at the DES for the last few months of Ted Heath's regime and was shadow education minister after the Conservatives lost power in 1974.
When Mrs Thatcher came to power Stevas entered the cabinet as Leader of the House whilst serving simultaneously as Arts Minister. His constitutional knowledge was colossal and he was largely responsible for the setting up of Select Committees so that ministers could be called to account. However, Stevas had the misfortune to underestimate her ruthlessness: he was the one who had first described Thatcher as "the Blessed Margaret" or "the Leaderene" and the aged Lord Thorneycroft, brought back from retirement as party chairman, as "a public monument on whom the prime minister has slapped a preservation order" and this antagonised a woman not known for a sense of humour, leading to him being the first of the Tory "wets" to be purged.
In 1987, with Thatcher set to win a third term, he realised that he had no chance of returning to office and accepted a peerage as Lord St-John of Fawsley.
He devoted much of his time to the Arts. He served as Chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission from 1985 to 1999 but his tenure was wracked by controversy. It was hoped that his appointment would revitalise and popularise the Commission, which had not even produced an annual report for many years. Stevas succeeded in "inject[ing] a bit of panache and excitement" into the Commission. However it also became a mouthpiece for Lord St John's own views and preferences (most prominently in the annual Building of the Year award). Lord St John adorned his office with paintings from national collections, documents were presented in red boxes and he was served by a chauffeur and ex-civil servants, in accommodation more lavish than that of most secretaries of state: prompting one commentator to comment that "...if he cannot have power, he must have the trappings". This was all criticised in a savage government review by Sir Geoffrey Chipperfield.
The Commission strongly criticised the plans for the Millennium Wheel on London's South Bank even though three of the Commissioners were enthusiastic about it. After an ill-tempered meeting in which Stevas was allegedly rude to the Wheel's architects, Sherban Cantacuzino, the Commission's secretary, wrote to the architects saying: "I am sure that he enjoys putting people down, all of us have suffered from his bullying".
Despite all predictions, in 1995 Stevas was reappointed for a third term as chairman.
His tenure as Master of Emmanuel College at Cambridge University (1991 to 1996) was equally controversial. He built a new conference centre (the Queen's Building) at the cost of some £8 million, the costs of which were pushed upwards by Lord St John's insistence on re-opening the quarry in Ketton, Rutland, to obtain limestone from the same source from which the college's Wren chapel was built. The dons apparently first had doubts about the wisdom of appointing Stevas when several of his friends were caught naked one night in the Fellows Garden swimming pool.
He had a reputation as a social liberal but his Roman Catholic background meant he voted against reforms on abortion and divorce. However, in 1956 he had written a pamphlet called "Obscenity and the Law". This became a key work of reference during subsequent reforms and also "reflected an intellectual shift toward the law's retreat from the pulpit".
Stevas never married or had children. Although never admitted, talked about or referred to in the media, he was in a same-sex relationship with Adrian Stanford for more than 50 years.
Stevas died in March 2012 at the age of 82. One of his last acts was to enter into a civil partnership with Stanford, thereby saving 40% Inheritance Tax on his £3.3 million estate.
January 8th
1776 - USA: During a production in Boston of "The Blockade" by General John Burgoyne, a sergeant of the British Army jumped on stage and announced "The Yankees are attacking our work on Bunker Hill."
1853 - USA: The first equestrian bronze casting made in the U.S, that of General Andrew Jackson, was dedicated in New Orleans on the 38th anniversary of Jackson's greatest military triumph. The artist was the resourceful Clark Mills, who solved the problem of balancing the largest bronze casting yet attempted with the horse standing on his rear legs, and the general raising his cap.
1894 - USA: A fire at the site of the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition destroyed virtually all the buildings, with property damage estimated at $2,000,000.
1901 - UK: 12 retailers in Manchester are prosecuted for selling beer containing arsenic.
1908 - Paris: An exhibition of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh opens at the Bernheim Gallery.
1914 - UK: Doctors at Middlesex Hospital claim they have successfully treated cancer with radium.
1918 - USA: President Woodrow Wilson listed his 14 points for a just and lasting peace in an address to Congress stating the "war aims and peace terms of the United States." It was translated and distributed to German soldiers and civilians throughout middle Europe by the Office of Public Information.
1927 - India: The first scheduled London-Delhi flight arrives after taking 63 hours. Air Minister Sir Samuel Hoare was on board.
1931 - London: The Royal Commission on Transport recommends faster trains and cheaper fares.
1939 - Berlin: Church leaders are punished for condemning anti-Semitic excesses.
1940 - North Sea: A converted Wellington bomber fitted with an energised metal hoop to explode magnetic mines, completes its first successful trials.
1943 - Madagascar: General Sir William Platt formally hands over the running of the island to the Free French.
1944 - USSR: The Red Army captures Kirovograd.
1945 - Strasburg: The U.S Seventh Army fend off a strong German attack at Rimling.
1947 - UK: Steel works close down through to a lack of coal.
1949 - USA: A transcontinental flight was made by an Air Force XB-47 jet bomber in 3 hours, 46 minutes, averaging 607.2 mph.
1955 - USA: The New York State Department of Mental Hygiene announce that two new drugs "Thorazine" and "Reserpine" have showed some success in the treatment of mental patients.
1958 - USA: "The Daily Worker" the last Communist newspaper in the U.S, closes down.
1962 - Holland: 93 people are killed in a collision between two electric trams.
1965 - Johannesburg: Singer Adam Faith cancels concerts after being refused permission to play to multi-racial audiences.
1966 - USA: The Beatles began a six-week stint at No.1 on the U.S Album chart with "Rubber Soul", and a three-week run at No.1 on the U.S singles chart with "We Can Work It Out."
1977 - Moscow: Several people are killed after a bomb explodes on the Moscow underground.
1982 - USA: Olivia Newton John was at No.1 on the US singles charts with "Physical."
1984 - Falklands: Margaret Thatcher arrives on a four-day visit.
1984 - USA: In the largest corporate merger to date, Texaco Inc, the third-largest U.S oil company, agreed to take over the Getty Oil Company in a deal valued at $10,000,000,000.
1986 - London: Permanently armed police begin patrolling Heathrow Airport.
1993 - USA: Elvis Presley became the first rock n roll artist to be honoured by the US Postal Service when they featured him on a commemorative stamp.
1995 - Sri Lanka: A truce between government forces and Tamil rebels comes into effect.
1996 - USA: A Los Angeles Court found Robert Hoskins guilty of five counts of stalking, assault, and making terrorist threats to singer Madonna. He had twice scaled the walls of the singers estate and had threatened to slash her throat from ear to ear.
1998 - North Korea: The UN announces a campaign to raise funds to provide relief for the starving population of North Korea.
2004 - USA: The estate of George Harrison began a $10 million legal action against Dr Gilbert Lederman of Staten Island University Hospital. The main allegations of the legal action was that Dr Lederman got an extremely sick Harrison to sign his son's guitar and autographs for his two daughters.
2007 - Russia: Russian oil supplies to Poland, Germany, and the Ukraine were cut as the Russia-Belarus energy dispute escalated.
2009 - UK: The Bank of England cuts Interest rates to 1.5%, its lowest level in its 315 year history.
2010 - China: China becomes the No.1 automobile market in the world.
2013 - USA: The USA records its hottest year on record in 2012.
January 9th
1788 - USA: Connecticut ratified the Constitution, and became the fourth state of the Union.
1873 - USA: President Ulysses S. Grant, by executive order established the Tule River Preserve. At its height, it housed Kawia, Kings River, Monache, Tehon, Tule, and Wichumni Indian tribes from the Mission Tule Agency. It stretched for 76 square miles.
1908 - Berlin: Count von Zeppelin announces the building of an airship capable of carrying 100 passengers.
1915 - Mexico: Pancho Villa signs a treaty at Ciudad Juarez ending border conflict with the U.S.
1922 - South Africa: A strike begins across mines in the Transvaal region.
1923 - France: French troops prepare to occupy Essen, as Germany is again declared in default on reparations.
1927 - Montreal: 77 children are killed in a frenzied panic trying to escape from a burning theatre.
1934 - UK: Butter in the UK costs tenpence a pound, the cheapest in living memory.
1937 - Rome: The government bans iner-racial marriages in the African Italian colonies.
1939 - Germany: Adolf Hitler opens the Refurbished Reichstag building, destroyed by fire in 1933.
1941 - Mediterranean: Three squadrons of Hurricanes and Two squadrons of Blenheims are sent to Greece to boost air cover.
1944 - Italy: US troops launch a final assault on the German winter line, striking at Cervano and Monte Trocchio.
1945 - Philippines: US troops land on Luzon Island, 107 miles from Manila.
1951 - Korea: The UN retreat continues as Wonju falls to the Chinese and North Koreans.
1956 - USA: In what was interpreted as a vote for segregation, Virginia amended a state prohibition against the use of public funds for private schools. The amendment helped support private education in a state where public schools had been shut down because of the 1954 Supreme Court ruling against segregation in public schools.
1957 - UK: The Post Office introduces TV detector vans in a crackdown on licence-dodging.
1961 - Moscow: Britain and the USSR sign a technology, culture, and education agreement.
1964 - USA: Diplomatic relations with Panama were severed after riots broke out in the Canal Zone over the flying of U.S and Panamanian flags.
1968 - Outer Space: "Surveyor 7" made a soft landing on the moon and began sending back data, including photographs. This was the last flight of the Surveyor series.
1972 - Hong Kong: Fire destroys the liner Queen Elizabeth, the former symbol of Britain's maritime glory.
1974 - Cambodia: Government troops launch an offensive against the Khmer Rouge.
1975 - London: The Government announces pay rises of up to 74% for 14,000 hospital workers.
1978 - Iran: 60 people are killed in anti-Shah riots in the Moslem holy city of Qom.
1982 - UK: The Human League went back to No.1 on the UK album chart for three weeks with "Dare."
1987 - London: Ernest Saunders resigns as Guinness chief executive over the DTI probe into the Distillers takeover.
1990 - UK: The government gives £2.2 million for research into Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), known as "mad cow disease."
1992 - UK: Alison Halford, Britain's most senior policewoman is suspended for misconduct.
1997 - The Southern Ocean: Yachtsman Tony Bullimore is finally rescued by the Australian navy after surviving for five days in his capsized boat, with only a chocolate bar for company.
2007 - USA: Steve Jobs unveils the I-Phone and changes the company name to Apple Inc, at the annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
2008 - USA: NASA astronomers determine that asteroid 2007 WD5 now has a 0.01% chance of striking Mars on January 2008, effectively ruling out an impact.
2010 - Germany: Hundreds of flights are cancelled in Germany due to severe weather conditions.
2011 - Iran: Iran Air Flight 277 crashes with 100 people on board near Orumiyeh in the north east of the country, with 50 people surviving.
January 10th
1776 - USA: "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine was published. The pamphlet, which contained the first demand for complete independence for the American colonies, sold 100,000 copies in less than three months. The pamphlet was highly influential in swinging the tide of popular opinion toward a clean break with the mother country.
1883 - USA: Fire consumed the Newhall House Hotel in Milwaukee, causing the deaths of 71 people. This was the worst hotel fire in U.S history until December 7, 1946, when the Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta caused 121 deaths.
1901 - USA: The first great oil strike in Texas launched a fabulous era in the Southwest. The Spindletop claim near Beaumont, Texas, owned by Anthony F. Lucas opened the door for the international petroleum industry.
1905 - Germany: A Jewish newspaper complains over the rising tide of German anti-Semitism.
1911 - London: The Automobile Association and the Motor Union amalgamate.
1918 - London: The House of Lords approves the Representation of the People Bill, giving women over 30 the right to vote.
1919 - London: Winston Churchill is appointed Secretary of State for War.
1924 - UK: The submarine L-34 sinks off Weymouth; all 43 crew are feared dead.
1926 - Berlin: Fritz Lang's film "Metropolis" opens in the city.
1927 - Los Angeles: Charlie Chaplin's wife Lita Grey files for divorce.
1933 - Spain: Martial law is imposed as a Communist revolt spreads in the southern provinces.
1934 - Germany: Alleged Reichstag arsonist Marinus van der Lubbe is put to the guillotine.
1937 - London: Britain bans volunteers from fighting in Spain, imposing a two-year jail sentence for offenders.
1941 - London: Winston Churchill insists that assistance to Greece must be a top priority after the capture of Tobruk.
1942 - Philippines: Japanese planes drop leaflets calling on Filipino and U.S troops to surrender.
1943 - USSR: The Russians begin a major offensive all around Stalingrad where the German Sixth Army is trapped.
1945 - Germany: Adolf Hitler orders the death sentence for anyone found guilty of diverting supplies from the military.
1950 - New York: Soviet envoy Jacob Malik walks out of the UN Security Council meeting over the continued presence of Nationalist China.
1956 - Washington: The IMF authorises $1,300 million for Britain to bolster the economy.
1957 - UK: Tommy Steele and the Steelmen were at No.1 on the UK singles charts with "Singing The Blues."
1965 - UK: John Lennon appeared with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore on the TV Show "Not Only But Also."
1967 - USA: Lester Maddox, the Georgia restaurant owner who made headlines in 1964 by passing out axe handles to white customers to prevent desegregation of his eatery, was sworn in as governor of Georgia.
1969 - UK: In a report published by the Home Office Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence, headed by Lady Wootten of Arbinger it recommended that the penalty for smoking cannabis should be substantially reduced.
1975 - Portugal: The government agrees to give Angola its independence.
1977 - UK: Clive Sinclair introduces his £175 two-inch screen TV.
1978 - USA: The Sex Pistols made their U.S TV debut on the show "Variety."
1980 - USA: The Boston Pops Orchestra named John Williams to succeed the late Arthur Fiedler as conductor. Williams, an Academy Award winning composer, had been assistant conductor.
1984 - Karachi: Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, daughter of the late premier is freed from house arrest.
1985 - London: Eight people are killed when a gas explosion wrecks a block of flats in Putney.
1991 - Geneva: Last-ditch talks between the U.S Secretary of State James Walker, and the Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to prevent war fail.
1995 - Madrid: Premier Filipe Gonzalez denies government involvement in the "dirty war" waged against Basque separatists in the 1980's.
1999 - Norman Cook scored his third UK No.1 single under the name of Fatboy Slim with "Praise You". His other No.1s were with the Housemartins and Beats International.
2007 - UK: Two Squirrel Helicopters collide at RAF Ternhill in Shropshire. One person is killed and two are injured.
2010 - Germany: Horrendous winter weather leaves over 160 people stranded in their vehicles, with Berlin and Leipzig buried under 30cm of snow.
2011 - Zurich: Argentina's Lionel Messi wins the world footballer FIFA Ballon D'or for the second successive year.
2013 - Switzerland: A collision between two trains in Neuhausen am Rhienfall, injures 17 people.
1886 - Mexico: The U.S First Infantry engaged a band of Apache Indians in the Sierra Madre Mountains near the Aros River in Senora, Mexico. For his action against the hostiles under Geronimo and Natchez, First Lieutenant Marion Maus was awarded the Medal of Honour.
1905 - London: Transatlantic liner ticket fares are increased, with a third class ticket to the U.S costing £6.
1911 - India: 18 people are killed and 11 are injured in riots in Bombay.
1917 - London: In a packed Guildhall and before the Lord Mayor of London, Prime Minister David Lloyd, and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Andrew Bonar Law, launched a patriotic appeal for the entire nation to subscribe to the new War Loan.
1925 - USA: "Symphony for Organ and Orchestra" by Aaron Copland was given its premiere performance by the New York Symphony.
1929 - USSR: The working day is reduced to seven hours.
1934 - Germany: Police raid the homes belonging to members of the clergy who oppose the Nazis.
1935 - USA: A handwriting expert at Bruno Hauptmann's trial, claims he wrote all the kidnap notes to the Lindberghs.
1936 - The first move against a sit-down strike of automobile workers at the Fisher Body Plant No.2 in Flint, Michigan, was taken by General Motors. Management ordered all heat in the plant buildings turned off. Police tried unsuccessfully to prevent union men on the outside from sending in food, and the strikers continued to control the plant.
1941 - UK: Portsmouth was attacked by 155 Luftwaffe planes, which dropped 140 tons of high explosive and over 40,000 incendiaries.
1942 - Borneo: Japanese troops land on Tarakan.
1943 - USSR: The Red Army launches an offensive against German forces in the Leningrad area.
1944 - Pacific: The British submarine Tally Ho sinks the Japanese cruiser Kuma.
1945 - Versailles: Commanders of the Allied air forces in Europe, agree to step up attacks on German fuel sources.
1951 - Vietnam: The Viet Minh launch an offensive against the French in the north of Tonkin.
1957 - London: Anthony Eden resigns from parliament.
1962 - Peru: Over 3,000 people are feared dead after a landslide.
1964 - USA: The surgeon general's report on cigarette smoking was released. A Commission headed by U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry found that the use of cigarettes "contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate."
1965 - UK: The Righteous Brothers arrived in Britain on a promotional visit, appearing on "Ready Steady Go!, Scene at 6.30, and "Discs A Go-Go.
1970 - Nigeria: The last Biafran airstrip is reported out of action, as federal troops launch a final attack on Biafran rebels.
1973 - UK: The Open University awards its first degrees to 867 students.
1977 - USA: Discriminatory zoning laws, enabling suburbs to block racially integrated housing for low and middle-income families, were upheld by the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the refusal of a suburb to change zoning laws was not inherently unconstitutional.
1978 - UK: Elvis Costello and the Attractions appeared at Newcastle City Hall.
1981 - UK: Blancmange, supported by Depeche Mode, appeared at the Hope & Anchor in London.
1986 - UK: The Pet Shop Boys gain their first UK No.1 single with "West End Girls."
1990 - UK: Released figures showed by the end of 1989, 1,612 people had died from AIDS.
1993 - London: British Airways agrees to settle a libel suit filed by Virgin Atlantic Airways for a "dirty tricks campaign."
1994 - Dublin: The Irish government lifts its long-standing broadcast ban on Sinn Fein.
1999 - UK: A part of Beachy Head, near Eastbourne in East Sussex, collapses into the sea.
2003 - UK: Girl's Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy was arrested after an alleged attack in a nightclub in Guildford. She was accused of punching a toilet attendant.
2006 - Iraq: U.S. military records stated that attacks against coalition soldiers decreased by 22% in the four weeks following the capture of Saddam Hussein.
2008 - New York: Former U.S. track and field athlete Marion Jones is sentenced to 6 months in prison for lying about performance enhancing drugs usage, and her role in a check fraud scheme.
2010 - New York: The New York City Health Department national reduction of salt in food.
2013 - UK: The first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge, painted by Paul Elmsly is unveiled to a mixed reception from critics.