18 January

Events

• 350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
• 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
• 1520 - King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde.
• 1535 - Lima, Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro.
• 1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.
• 1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
• 1778 - James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands."
• 1861 - Georgia joins the Confederacy.
• 1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
• 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 harbor, marking the first time an aircraft landed on a ship
• 1919 - World War I: A peace conference opens in Versailles, France.
• 1919 - Bentley Motors is founded.
• 1939 - Louis Armstrong records "Jeepers Creepers."
• 1943 - World War II: Soviet officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht's siege of Leningrad.
• 1943 - 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.
• 1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
• 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 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 the medals to the family of Jim Thorpe.
• 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 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 Jr. holiday is officially observed in all 50 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.

Births

• 1689 - Montesquieu, French writer, (d. 1755)
• 1779 - Peter Roget, lexicographer, (d. 1869)
• 1782 - Daniel Webster, statesman, (d. 1852)
• 1854 - Thomas Watson, telephone pioneer
• 1882 - A. A. Milne, author, (d. 1956)
• 1892 - Oliver Hardy, comedian, actor, (d. 1957)
• 1903 - Werner Hinz, actor, (d. 1985)
• 1904 - Cary Grant, actor, (d. 1986)
• 1905 - Joseph Bonanno, gangster, (d. 2002)
• 1913 - Danny Kaye, actor, (d. 1987)
• 1914 - Arno Schmidt, author, (d. 1979)
• 1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, author
• 1933 - John Boorman, director
• 1937 - John Hume, politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
• 1938 - Curt Flood, baseball star, (d. 1997)
• 1941 - David Ruffin, singer, (d. 1991)
• 1946 - Joseph Deiss, member of the Swiss Federal Council
• 1947 - Takeshi Kitano, actor and director
• 1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
• 1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian racing driver, (d. 1982)
• 1955 - Kevin Costner, actor

Deaths

• 52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher, murdered in the Via Appia, (b. c. 92 BC)
• 474 - Leo I, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, (b. 457)
• 1367 - King Peter I of Portugal
• 1862 - John Tyler, former President of the United States, member of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, (b. 1790)
• 1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, author, (b. 1803)
• 1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico, (b. 1840)
• 1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, (b. 1865)
• 1952 - Curly Howard, actor, comedian, member of the Three Stooges
• 1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, actor, (b. 1879)
• 1966 - Kathleen Norris, writer
• 1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, fashion designer, (b. 1904)
• 1991 - Leo Hurwitz, documentary film producer
• 2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect, (b. 1897)
• 2003 - Richard Crenna, actor, (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

January 17 - January 19 - December 18 - February 18 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By