Today January 7th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
1558 – France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England.
1598 – Boris Godunov becomes Tsar of Russia.
1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
1610 – Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.
1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
1797 – The modern Italian flag is first used.
1835 – HMS BeagleTemplate:WP Ships HMS instances drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
1894 – W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.
1904 – The distress signal CQD is established only to be replaced two years later by SOS.
1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64-57 vote.
1927 – The first transatlantic telephone call is made – from New York City to London.
1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand s west coast.
1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco–Italian Agreement.
1942 – World War II: The siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
1945 – World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.
1950 – A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa, kills 41 people.
1953 – President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed the hydrogen bomb.
1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: the first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the final spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.
1972 – Iberia Airlines Caravelle 6-R crashes into Mont San Jose on approach to Ibiza Airport killing all 104 on board.
1973 – Mark Essex fatally shoots 10 people and wounds 13 others at Howard Johnson s Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana before being shot to death by police officers.
1979 – Third Indochina War – Cambodian-Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
1990 – The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public because of safety concerns.
1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.
1999 – The impeachment of President Bill Clinton begins.
Births
1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III of England (d. 1397)
1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
1528 – Jeanne d Albret, Queen of Navarre (d. 1572)
1647 – Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)
1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (d. 1761)
1706 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)
1718 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1790)
1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples (d. 1844)
1786 – John Catron, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1865)
1796 – Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (d. 1817)
1800 – Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
1827 – Sir Sandford Fleming, Canadian engineer; introduced Universal Standard Time (d. 1915)
1830 – Albert Bierstadt, German-American painter (d. 1902)
1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, German labor organizer (d. 1897)
1832 – James Munro, Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)
1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor (d. 1874)
1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French saint (d. 1879)
1845 – King Ludwig III of Bavaria (d. 1921)
1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, key figure in the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language (d. 1922)
1860 – Emanuil Manolov, Bulgarian composer (d. 1902)
1870 – Lord Gordon Hewart, British judge (d. 1943)
1871 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)
1873 – Charles Péguy, French poet and essayist (d. 1914)
1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian producer (d. 1976)
1875 – Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)
1875 – Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1963)
1876 – William Hurlstone, English composer (d. 1906)
1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American writer (d. 1960)
1895 – Clara Haskil, Romanian pianist (d. 1960)
1895 – Sir Hudson Fysh, Australian aviator and co-founder of QANTAS (d. 1974)
1896 – Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (d. 1984)
1899 – Al Bowlly, British jazz singer (d. 1941)
1899 – Francis Poulenc, French composer (d. 1963)
1900 – John Brownlee, Australian tenor (d. 1969)
1903 – Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974)
1903 – Alan Napier, English actor (d. 1988)
1907 – Nicanor Zabaleta, Spanish harpist (d. 1993)
1908 – Red Allen, American musician (d. 1967)
1910 – Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (d. 1984)
1910 – Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
1911 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress (d. 1995)
1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
1912 – Günter Wand, German conductor, composer (d. 2002)
1913 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1916 – Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (d. 1975)
1917 – Ulysses Kay, American composer (d. 1995)
1922 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-born actor (d. 1992)
1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (d. 2000)
1922 – Eric Jupp, British-born Australian composer, arranger, conductor (d. 2003)
1922 – Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager
1923 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (d. 2003)
1924 – Pablo Birger, Argentine racing driver (d. 1966)
1925 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist (d. 1995)
1928 – William Peter Blatty, American screenwriter
1929 – Terry Moore, American actress
1932 – Joe Berinson, Australian politician
1933 – Elliott Kastner, U.S. film producer
1934 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician (d. 2002)
1934 – Charlie Jenkins, American runner
1935 – Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist (d. 2006)
1935 – Tommy Johnson, American tubist (d. 2006)
1935 – Valeri Kubasov, Soviet cosmonaut
1936 – Ben Cropp, Australian shark hunter and photographer
1936 – G. Robert Blakey, American attorney
1938 – Rory Storm, British singer (d. 1972)
1938 – Roland Topor, French illustrator (d. 1997)
1938 – Lou Graham, American golfer
1939 – Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
1941 – Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
1941 – Manfred Schellscheidt, German American soccer coach
1941 – John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – Frederick D. Gregory, NASA astronaut
1942 – Danny Williams, South African singer (d. 2005)
1942 – Vasily Alexeev, Russian weightlifter
1942 – Jim Lefebvre, American baseball player and manager
1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese child victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb (d. 1955)
1943 – Sir Richard Armstrong, British conductor
1944 – Arne Scheie, Norwegian sports commentator
1944 – Tony Whitlam, Australian judge
1945 – Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (d. 1990)
1945 – Gilles Marotte, French Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1945 – Dick Marty, Swiss politician
1945 – Raila Odinga, Prime Minister of Kenya
1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher
1947 – Shobha De, Indian writer
1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer
1949 – Marshall Chapman, American singer/songwriter
1949 – Anne Schedeen, American actress
1949 – Steven Williams, American actor
1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer and songwriter
1950 – Erin Gray, American actress
1950 – Ross Grimsley, American baseball player
1950 – Johnny Lever, Indian actor
1951 – Helen Worth, British actress
1952 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor
1953 – Morris Titanic, Canidian ice hockey player
1954 – José María Vitier, Cuban music composer and pianist.
1956 – David Caruso, American actor
1956 – Mike Liut, Canadian ice hockey player
1956 – Uwe Ochsenknecht, German actor and singer
1957 – Nicholson Baker, American novelist
1957 – Katie Couric, American television host
1957 – Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer
1957 – Reena Roy, Indian actress
1958 – Linda Kozlowski, American actress
1958 – Donna Rice, American sex scandal figure
1959 – Kathy Valentine, American musician (The Go-Gos)
1960 – David Marciano, American actor
1960 – Loretta Sanchez, American politician
1961 – Andrew Thomson, Australian politician
1961 – Supriya Pathak, Indian actress
1961 – John Thune, American politician, junior senator of South Dakota
1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian politician
1962 – Hallie Todd, American actress
1963 – Clint Mansell, English musician and composer
1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
1966 – Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American publicist (d. 1999)
1966 – Ehab Tawfik, Egyptian singer
1967 – Guy Hebert, American ice hockey player
1967 – Mark Lamarr, British comedian and broadcaster
1967 – Nick Clegg, British Liberal Democrat
1969 – David Yost, American actor
1970 – Doug E. Doug, American actor
1970 – Joao Ricardo, Angolan footballer
1971 – C.W. Anderson, American professional wrestler
1971 – Tina Anderson, American comic book writer
1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor
1972 – Donald Brashear, American ice hockey player
1973 – Jonna Tervomaa, Finnish singer
1974 – John Rich, American musician (Big & Rich)
1976 – Éric Gagné, Canadian baseball player
1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player
1977 – Michelle Behennah, British model
1977 – Dustin Diamond, American actor
1977 – John Gidding, American architect and TV host (Designed to Sell)
1978 – Kevin Mench, American baseball player
1979 – Bipasha Basu, Indian model
1979 – Mariangel Ruiz, Venezuelan actress and model
1981 – Alex Auld, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Marquis Daniels, American basketball player
1982 – Francisco Rodriguez, Venezuelan baseball player
1982 – Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer
1982 – Ianina Zanazzi, Argentine racing driver
1983 – Natalie Gulbis, American golfer
1983 – Liesbeth Mouha, Belgian beach volleyball player
1984 – Jon Lester, American baseball player
1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English F1 racing driver
1986 – Grant Leadbitter, English footballer
1987 – Haley Bennett, American Singer and Actress
1987 – Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
1988 – Scott Pendlebury, Australian rules footballer
1988 – Robert Sheehan, Irish actor
1989 – Emiliano Insúa, Argentine footballer
1990 – Liam Aiken, American actor
1990 – Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater
1990 – Camryn Grimes, American actress
1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian skijumper
1991 – Max Morrow, Canadian actor
Deaths
1285 – King Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)
1325 – King Dinis of Portugal (b. 1261)
1400 – Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, English politician (b. 1374)
1451 – Count Amadeus VIII of Savoy (b. 1383)
1536 – Catherine of Aragon, consort of Henry VIII of England (b. 1485)
1566 – Louis de Blois, Flemish mystic (b. 1506)
1619 – Nicholas Hilliard, English painter (b. c.1547)
1625 – Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer (b. c.1560)
1655 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
1658 – Theophilus Eaton, American colonist (b. 1590)
1694 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general (b. c.1618)
1700 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian antiquarian (b. 1618)
1715 – François Fénelon, French-Catholic theologian and writer (b. 1651)
1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet (b. 1686)
1767 – Thomas Clap, 1st president of Yale University (b. 1703)
1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician (b. 1695)
1783 – William Tans ur, English hymnist (b. 1700)
1786 – Jean-Étienne Guettard, French physician and scientist (b. 1715)
1812 – Joseph Dennie, American writer (b. 1768)
1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter (b. 1769)
1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
1872 – James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)
1876 – Juste Olivier, Swiss poet (b. 1807)
1878 – François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (b. 1794)
1892 – Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt (b. 1852)
1893 – Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835)
1913 – Jack Boyle, American baseball player (b. 1866)
1919 – Henry Ware Eliot American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1843)
1920 – Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
1932 – André Maginot, French eponym of the Maginot Line (b. 1877)
1936 – Guy d Hardelot, French composer, best known for Because (b. 1858)
1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor and electrical engineer (b. 1856)
1944 – Lou Hoover, U.S. First Lady (b. 1874)
1944 – Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek poet (b. 1888)
1946 – Adamo Didur, Polish tenor (b. 1874)
1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (b. 1886)
1953 – Osa Johnson, American explorer (b. 1894)
1960 – Dorothea Douglass Chambers (aka Katharine Lambert Chambers), UK tennis player (b. 1878)
1963 – Arthur Moore, Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
1964 – Cyril Davies, American musician (b. 1932)
1967 – Carl Schuricht, German conductor (b. 1880)
1967 – David Goodis, American writer (b. 1917)
1968 – Prof James Smith, South African ichthyologist (b. 1897)
1972 – John Berryman, American poet (b. 1914)
1972 – Eftichia Papagianopoulos, Greek lyricist (b. 1893)
1980 – Larry Williams, American singer and songwriter (b. 1935)
1981 – Alvar Lidell, UK radio broadcaster (b. 1908)
1981 – Eric Robinson, Australian politician (b. 1926)
1984 – Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
1985 – Mary Hardy, Australian radio and television presenter (b. 1931)
1986 – Philip D. Eastman, American children s book writer and illustrator (b. 1909)
1986 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (b. 1917)
1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
1988 – Michel Auclair, French actor (b. 1922)
1989 – Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
1990 – Horace Stoneham, American baseball executive (b. 1903)
1990 – Bronko Nagurski, American football player (b. 1908)
1992 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer (The Muppets) (b. 1951)
1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist (b. 1926)
1996 – Taro Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (b. 1911)
1996 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician (b. 1930)
1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1998 – Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915)
2000 – Gary Albright, American professional wrestler (b. 1963)
2002 – Avery Schreiber, American actor (b. 1935)
2002 – Jon Lee, Welsh musician (Feeder) (b. 1968)
2004 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
2005 – Pierre Daninos, French novelist (b. 1913)
2005 – Eileen Desmond, Irish politician (b. 1932)
2006 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1912)
2007 – Magnús Magnússon, Icelandic-born television presenter (b. 1929)
2007 – Bobby Hamilton, NASCAR team owner (b. 1957)
2008 – Alwyn Schlebusch, South African vice state president (b. 1917)
Holidays and observances
European traditional – Distaff day: women s traditional work begins again after Epiphany.
Italy – Tricolour day (Festa del Tricolore)
Japan – Nanakusa (Seven Herbs Festival).
Roman Catholic Church
St. Canute Lavard
St. Charles of Sezze
St. Lucian of Antioch
St. Raymond of Peñafort
Bl. Widukind, Duke of Saxony, (d. 807)
Coptic Orthodox Church – Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist
Eastern Orthodox Church – St. John the Baptist
Christmas Day in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar
January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
