January 4


January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are
361 days remaining (362 in leap years).

Events

   * 871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex defeats Danish invasion
     army
   * 1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first
     journey
   * 1642 - English Civil War: King Charles I of England attacks Parliament
   * 1717 - The Netherlands, England and France sign the Triple Alliance
   * 1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples
   * 1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States
     government
   * 1850 - The first American ice-skating club is formed (Philadelphia,
     Pennsylvania).
   * 1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London
   * 1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed (Dr. William
     Grant; patient was Mary Gartside).
   * 1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
   * 1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music charts
   * 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins
   * 1948 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom
   * 1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.
   * 1957 - After 69 years the last issue of Colliers magazine is published.
   * 1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4,
     1957)
   * 1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew
     on-board.
   * 1965 - United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his "Great
     Society" during his State of the Union address.
   * 1967 - Donald Campbell dies as his jet-powered Bluebird K7 crashes
     during an attempt to break the water speed record.
   * 1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge in the United
     Kingdom (Old Bailey, London).
   * 1974 - United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over
     materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
   * 1987 - An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, DC collides
     with Conrail engines killing 16.
   * 1991 - The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously condemning
     Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
   * 1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad
     mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.

Births

   * 1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, composer (+ 1736)
   * 1785 - Jakob Grimm, philologist, one half of the Brothers Grimm (+
     1863)
   * 1809 - Louis Braille, teacher, developed writing system for the blind
     (+ 1852)
   * 1822 - Georg BŸchmann, philologist (+ 1884)
   * 1838 - Charles Stratton ("General Tom Thumb"), circus performer,
     entertainer (+ 1883)
   * 1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, sculptor (+ 1919)
   * 1896 - Everett Dirksen, American politician (+ 1969)
   * 1914 - Jane Wyman, actress
   * 1930 - Don Shula, American football coach
   * 1932 - Carlos Saura, director
   * 1935 - Floyd Patterson, boxing champion
   * 1937 - Dyan Cannon, actress
   * 1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, writer
   * 1960 - Michael Stipe, singer for R.E.M.

Deaths

   * 1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint
   * 1831 - James Monroe, President of the United States
   * 1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, entrepreneur
   * 1941 - Henri Bergson, writer
   * 1960 - Albert Camus, philosopher and writer (car crash)
   * 1961 - Erwin Schršdinger, physicist
   * 1965 - T. S. Eliot, poet
   * 1967 - Donald Campbell, water speed record setter
   * 1969 - Violet and Daisy Hilton, conjoined twins, actresses
   * 1998 - Mae Questel, actress
   * 1999 - Iron Eyes Cody, actor
   * 2000 - Tom Fears, American football star
   * 2002 - Esquivel, musician
   * 2002 - Antonio Todde (112) - oldest man in the world at the time (from
     Thiana, Sardinia - Italy)

Holidays and observances

   * Catholicism - Feast Day of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.