January 3


January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
362 days remaining (363 in leap years).

Events

   * 1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
   * 1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.
   * 1777 - Battle of Princeton. American general George Washington defeats
     British general Charles Cornwallis.
   * 1815 - Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance
     treaty against Prussia and Russia.
   * 1823 - Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the
     government of Mexico
   * 1833 - Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands in the South
     Atlantic.
   * 1834 - The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico
     City
   * 1840 - One of the Herald-Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor
     papers The Port Phillip Herald is founded by George Cavanaugh.
   * 1847 - California town of Yerba Buena is renamed San Francisco
   * 1861 - American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United
     States
   * 1868 - The Japanese Meiji dynasty is restored and the Shogunate is
     abolished.
   * 1899 - The first known use of the word "automobile", in an editorial in
     the New York Times
   * 1920 - Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sells Babe Ruth to the New
     York Yankees for $125,000 and a $350,000 loan. The loan was to finance
     Frazee's Broadway production of the musical No, No, Nanette.
   * 1925 - Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over
     Italy.
   * 1926 - General Theodorus P‡ngulos names himself dictator of Greece
   * 1938 - The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
   * 1947 - Proceedings of the United States Congress are televised for the
     first time.
   * 1951 - Dragnet airs on television for the first time (NBC).
   * 1957 - Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
   * 1959 - Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
   * 1961 - The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
   * 1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
   * 1966 - First Acid Test at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco,
     California.
   * 1973 - Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees
     for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
   * 1987 - Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock
     and Roll Hall of Fame.
   * 1990 - Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American
     forces.
   * 1993 - In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second
     Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
   * 1997 - NBC's Today show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
   * 2000 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published

Births

   * 106 BC - Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (+ 43 BC)
   * 1793 - Lucretia Mott, women's rights activist and abolitionist
   * 1829 - Konrad Duden, philologist (+ 1911)
   * 1879 - Grace Coolidge, First Lady
   * 1883 - Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (+ 1967)
   * 1887 - August Macke, painter (+ 1914)
   * 1892 - J. R. R. Tolkien, writer and philologist (+ 1973)
   * 1897 - Pola Negri, actress (+ 1987)
   * 1897 - Marion Davies, actress (+ 1961)
   * 1901 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (+ 1963)
   * 1905 - Anna May Wong, actress (+ 1961)
   * 1907 - Ray Milland, actor (+ 1986)
   * 1909 - Victor Borge, entertainer and humorist (+ 2000)
   * 1911 - John Sturges, director
   * 1916 - Betty Furness, actress, consumer activist
   * 1924 - Hank Stram, American football coach, broadcaster
   * 1926 - George Martin, "5th Beatle": producer of The Beatles' records
   * 1929 - Sergio Leone, director (+ 1989)
   * 1930 - Robert Loggia, actor
   * 1932 - Dabney Coleman, actor
   * 1936 - Georgina Spelvin, pornographic film actress
   * 1939 - Bobby Hull, ice hockey player
   * 1941 - Van Dyke Parks, musician, composer
   * 1942 - John Thaw, actor (+ 2002)
   * 1945 - Stephen Stills, singer, songwriter, and guitarist
   * 1945 - Victoria Principal, actress
   * 1946 - John Paul Jones, bassist from Led Zeppelin
   * 1956 - Mel Gibson, actor and director
   * 1960 - Joan Chen, actress
   * 1969 - Michael Schumacher, Formula One driver
   * 1975 - Danica McKellar, actress
   * 1976 - Jason Marsden, actor
   * 1989 - Alex D. Linz, actor

Deaths

   * 1322 - Philip V, king of France
   * 1795 - Josiah Wedgwood, potter
   * 1933 - Jack Pickford, actor, Hollywood's first "bad boy"
   * 1945 - Edgar Cayce, psychic
   * 1950 - Emil Jannings, actor
   * 1967 - Jack Ruby, convicted killer of Lee Harvey Oswald
   * 1979 - Conrad Hilton, hotelier
   * 1980 - Joy Adamson, conservationist and author of Born Free
   * 1992 - Dame Judith Anderson, actress
   * 2002 - Freddy Heineken, CEO of the beer brewery

Holidays and observances

   * Roman Empire - Festival in honor of Pax