Today January 10th 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
49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signaling the start of civil war.
1072 – Robert Guiscard conquers Palermo.
1475 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vaslui.
1645 – Archbishop William Laud is beheaded at the Tower of London.
1776 – Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.
1806 – Dutch settlers in Cape Town surrender to the British.
1810 – The marriage of Napoleon and Josephine is annulled.
1861 – American Civil War: Florida secedes from the Union.
1863 – The London Underground, the world s oldest underground railway, opens between London Paddington station and Farringdon station.
1870 – John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.
1901 – The first great Texas oil gusher is discovered at Spindletop in Beaumont, Texas.
1920 – The League of Nations holds its first meeting and ratifies the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I.
1922 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of the Irish Free State.
1923 – Lithuania seizes and annexes Memel.
1941 – Lend-Lease is introduced into the U.S. Congress.
1941 – World War II: The Greek army captures Kleisoura.
1946 – The first General Assembly of the United Nations opens in London. Fifty-one nations are represented.
1962 – Apollo Project: NASA announces plans to build the C-5 rocket booster. It became better known as the Saturn V moon rocket, which launched every Apollo moon mission.
1971 Masterpiece Theater premires on PBS
1972 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman returns to the newly independent Bangladesh as president after spending over nine months in prison in Pakistan.
1982 – The Freezer Bowl, the NFL s coldest game in terms of wind chill, at -37°F, is won by the Cincinnati Bengals who defeat the San Diego Chargers 27-7 and advance to Super Bowl XVI.
1984 – The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations after 117 years.
1989 – Cuban troops begin withdrawing from Angola.
1990 – Time Warner is formed from the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc.
2001 – A large piece of the chalk cliff at Beachy Head collapses into the sea.
2005 – A mudslide occurs in La Conchita, California, killing 10 people, injuring many more and closing the Highway 101, the main coastal corridor between San Francisco and Los Angeles, for 10 days.
Births
1480 – Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (d. 1530)
1538 – Louis of Nassau, Dutch general (d. 1574)
1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer (d. 1624)
1607 – Isaac Jogues, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1646)
1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687)
1638 – Nicolas Steno, Danish geologist (d. 1686)
1644 – Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French marshal (d. 1711)
1654 – Joshua Barnes, English scholar (d. 1712)
1702 – Johannes Zick, German fresco painter (d. 1762)
1715 – Christian August Crusius, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1775)
1721 – Johann Philipp Baratier, German scholar (d. 1740)
1729 – Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italian biologist (d. 1799)
1738 – Ethan Allen, American Revolution military leader (d. 1789)
1750 – Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, British Lord Chancellor (d. 1823)
1769 – Michel Ney, French marshal (d. 1815)
1797 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German writer (d. 1848)
1810 – Jeremiah S. Black, American statesman (d. 1883)
1812 – Georg Hermann Nicolai, German architect (d. 1881)
1815 – Sir John Alexander Macdonald, First Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
1828 – Herman Koeckemann, German Catholic prelate (d. 1892)
1834 – Lord Acton, British historian (d. 1902)
1840 – Louis Nazaire Bégin, French Canadian archbishop and cardinal (d. 1925)
1843 – Frank James, American outlaw (d. 1915)
1849 – Francisco Ferrer Guardia, Spanish free-thinker (d. 1909)
1836 – Charles Ingalls, father of Laura Ingalls Wilder (d. 1902)
1850 – John Wellborn Root, American architect (d. 1891)
1858 – Heinrich Zille, German illustrator and photographer (d. 1929)
1864 – Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (d. 1931)
1865 – Mary Ingalls, sister of Laura Ingalls Wilder (d. 1928)
1873 – Jack O Neill, Irish-born baseball player (d. 1935)
1873 – George Orton, Canadian athlete (d. 1958)
1880 – Manuel Azaña y Diaz, Spanish republican President (d. 1940)
1883 – Francis X. Bushman, American actor (d. 1966)
1883 – Aleksei Nikolaevich Tolstoi, Russian writer (d. 1945)
1887 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet (d. 1962)
1890 – Grigory Landsberg, Russian physicist (d. 1957)
1893 – Albert Jacka, Australian soldier, first Australian World War I Victoria Cross winner (d. 1932)
1898 – Katharine Blodgett, American Scientist and inventor (d. 1979)
1903 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor (d. 1975)
1903 – Voldemar Väli, Estonian wrestler (d. 1997)
1903 – Violet Wilkey, American actress (d. 1976)
1904 – Ray Bolger, American actor/dancer (d. 1987)
1908 – Paul Henreid, Austrian actor (d. 1993)
1908 – Bernard Lee, English actor (d. 1981)
1910 – Jean Martinon, French conductor, composer (d. 1976)
1912 – Maria Mandel, Camp leader at Auschwitz (d. 1948)
1913 – Gustáv Husák, President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1991)
1913 – Mehmet Shehu, Albanian politician (d. 1981)
1914 – Yu Kuo-hwa, former Premier of Taiwan (d. 2000)
1915 – Dean Dixon, U.S. conductor (d. 1976)
1916 – Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
1916 – Don Metz, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
1917 – Jerry Wexler, American record producer (d. 2008)
1918 – Arthur Chung, President of Guyana (d. 2008)
1920 – Georges Marchal, French actor (d. 1997)
1920 – Max Patkin, American baseball player (d. 1999)
1921 – Rodger Ward, American race car driver (d. 2004)
1924 – Ludmilla Chiriaeff, Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer and director (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens) (d. 1996)
1924 – Max Roach, American percussionist, drummer, and composer (d. 2007)
1926 – Musallam Bseiso, Palestinian journalist, thinker, and politician
1927 – Gisele MacKenzie, Canadian singer (d. 2003)
1927 – Lee Philips, American actor
1927 – Johnnie Ray, American singer (d. 1990)
1927 – Otto Stich, Swiss politician
1928 – Philip Levine, American poet
1929 – Derek Hammond-Stroud, English operatic baritone
1930 – Roy Edward Disney, American film executive
1931 – Peter Barnes, English writer (d. 2004)
1932 – Elaine Devry, American actress
1933 – Anton Rodgers, English actor (d. 2007)
1934 – Leonid Kravchuk, Ukrainian politician
1935 – Ronnie Hawkins, American musician
1935 – Sherrill Milnes, American baritone
1936 – Burnum Burnum, Australian Aboriginal activist, actor, author and dreamer (d. 1997)
1936 – Stephen Ambrose, American historian (d. 2002)
1936 – Robert Woodrow Wilson, American physicist and radio astronomer, Nobel laureate
1936 – Al Goldstein, American publisher and pornographer
1937 – Thomas Penfield Jackson, American judge
1938 – Donald Knuth, American mathematician and computer scientist
1938 – Frank Mahovlich, Canadian ice hockey player and Canadian Senator
1938 – Willie McCovey, American baseball player
1939 – Jared Carter, American poet
1939 – David Horowitz, American author and political commentator
1939 – William Levy, Dutch writer
1939 – Scott McKenzie, American singer
1939 – Sal Mineo, American actor (d. 1976)
1939 – Bill Toomey, American athlete
1940 – Guy Chevrette, Quebec politician
1940 – Harry Gant, American race car driver
1940 – Ntare VI of Ankole, Omugabe of Nkole
1940 – Yesudas, Indian playback singer and classical musician
1942 – Walter Hill, American film director
1943 – Jim Croce, American singer (d. 1973)
1944 – Rory Byrne, South African racing car designer
1944 – Bernard Derome, Canadian news presenter (Le Téléjournal)
1944 – William Sanderson, American actor
1944 – Frank Sinatra, Jr., American singer
1945 – Jennifer Moss, English Actress (d. 2006)
1945 – John Fahey, Australian politician
1945 – Rod Stewart, Scottish singer
1945 – Edward Wiskoski, American professional wrestler
1946 – Aynsley Dunbar, English musician
1947 – Afeni Shakur, mother of Tupac Shakur
1948 – Donald Fagen, American keyboardist, singer and songwriter (Steely Dan)
1948 – Teresa Graves, American actress and singer (d. 2002)
1948 – Mischa Maisky, Latvian cellist
1948 – Bernard Thévenet, French cyclist
1949 – George Foreman, American boxer
1949 – James Lapine, American stage director
1949 – Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress (d. 2002)
1950 – Roy Blunt, American politician, House minority whip
1951 – Paul DiMaggio, American educator
1952 – Scott Thurston, American musician
1953 – Pat Benatar, American singer
1953 – Dennis Cooper, American author
1953 – Bobby Rahal, American race car driver and team owner
1955 – Michael Schenker, German guitarist (UFO)
1956 – Shawn Colvin, American singer
1956 – Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spanish writer
1957 – Greg Walden, American politician
1958 – Anatoly Pisarenko, Soviet weightlifter
1959 – Fran Walsh, New Zealand screenwriter
1960 – Benoît Pelletier, Canadian politician
1960 – Brian Cowen, Taoiseach of Ireland
1960 – Jay Russell, American film director
1960 – Samira Said, Moroccan singer
1961 – Evan Handler, American actor
1961 – Janet Jones, American actress; wife of Wayne Gretzky
1961 – Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Italian-American violinist
1962 – Michael Fortier, Canadian politician
1963 – Mark Pryor, American politician, junior senator of Arkansas
1964 – Brad Roberts, Canadian singer (Crash Test Dummies)
1965 – Butch Hartman, American animator
1966 – Steve Kramer, American politician
1967 – Johan Laats, Belgian judoka
1970 – Marcus Bagwell, American professional wrestler
1970 – Alisa Maric, Serbian-born American chess grandmaster
1972 – Thomas Alsgaard, Norwegian cross-country skier
1972 – Brian Lawler, American professional wrestler
1973 – Ryan Drummond, American voice actor
1973 – Glenn Robinson, American basketball player
1973 – Félix Trinidad, Puerto Rican boxer
1974 – Jemaine Clement, New Zealand actor
1974 – Davide Dionigi, Italian footballer
1974 – Akari Kaida, Japanese composer
1974 – Steve Marlet, French footballer
1974 – Hrithik Roshan, Indian actor
1975 – Jake Delhomme, American football player
1976 – Adam Kennedy, American baseball player
1978 – Brent Smith, American singer (Shinedown)
1980 – Matt Roney, American baseball player
1980 – Sarah Shahi, American actress and model
1980 – Nelson Cuevas, Paraguayan footballer
1981 – Brian Joo, Korean-American singer
1982 – Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (d. 2002)
1983 – Danilo Dirani, Brazilian racing driver
1983 – Li Nina, Chinese aerial free-style skier
1986 – Saleisha Stowers, American model
1986 – Abigail Clancy, English model
1989 – Kyle Reimers, Australian rules footballer
1990 – Tao Li, Singaporean swimmer
Deaths
681 – Pope Agatho
976 – John I Tzimiskes, Greek Byzantine Emperor (b. 925)
1094 – Caliph Al-Mustansir of Cairo (b. 1029)
1276 – Pope Gregory X (b. c.1210)
1645 – William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1573)
1654 – Nicholas Culpeper, English botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer (b. 1616)
1662 – Prince Honoré II of Monaco (b. 1597)
1698 – Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French historian (b. 1637)
1707 – Philibert, comte de Gramont, French writer (b. 1621)
1754 – Edward Cave, English editor and publisher (b. 1691)
1761 – Edward Boscawen, British admiral (b. 1711)
1777 – Spranger Barry, Irish actor (b. 1719)
1778 – Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (b. 1707)
1794 – Georg Forster, German scientist and revolutionary (d. 1754)
1811 – Marie-Joseph Chénier, French poet (b. 1764)
1824 – King Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia (b. 1759)
1828 – François de Neufchâteau, French statesman and intellectual figure (b. 1750)
1833 – Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician (b. 1752)
1851 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (b. 1775)
1855 – Mary Russell Mitford, English novelist and dramatist (b. 1787)
1862 – Samuel Colt, American inventor (b. 1814)
1863 – Lyman Beecher, US Presbyterian clergyman, temperance movement leader (b. 1775)
1866 – Pyotr Pletnyov, Russian poet (b. 1792)
1883 – Dr Samuel A. Mudd, American medical doctor (b. 1833)
1895 – Benjamin Godard, French composer (b. 1849)
1901 – Sir James Dickson, Premier of Queensland, Australian Minister for Defence (b. 1832)
1904 – Jean-Léon Gérôme, French painter and sculptor (b. 1824)
1905 – Karlis Baumanis, Latvian composer (b. 1835)
1917 – William F. Buffalo Bill Cody, American frontiersman (b. 1846)
1922 – Frank Tudor, Australian Labor Opposition leader (b. 1866)
1934 – Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist accused of setting the Reichstag fire (b. 1909)
1935 – Edwin Flack, Australian athlete, first Olympic champion (b. 1873)
1941 – Frank Bridge, English composer (b. 1879)
1941 – Sir John Lavery, Northern Irish artist (b. 1856)
1941 – Joe Penner, Hungarian-born comedian and actor (b. 1904)
1949 – Erich von Drygalski, German geographer, geophysicist, and polar scientist (b. 1865)
1951 – Sinclair Lewis, American writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1885)
1951 – Yoshio Nishina, Japanese physicist (b. 1890)
1957 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1889)
1960 – Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1879)
1961 – Dashiell Hammett, American writer (b. 1894)
1968 – Basil Sydney, English actor (b. 1894)
1969 – John Brownlee, Australian tenor (b. 1900)
1970 – Pavel Belyayev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1925)
1971 – Gabrielle Coco Chanel, French fashion designer (b. 1883)
1972 – Aksel Larsen, Danish politician (b. 1897)
1976 – Howlin Wolf, American musician (b. 1910)
1978 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist (b. 1924)
1978 – Don Gillis, American composer (b. 1912)
1980 – Hughie Critz, American baseball player (b. 1900)
1980 – George Meany, American labor leader (b. 1894)
1980 – Bo Rein, American college football coach (b. 1945)
1981 – Katherine Alexander, American actress (b. 1898)
1981 – Richard Boone, American actor (b. 1917)
1981 – Fawn M. Brodie, American historian (b. 1915)
1982 – Paul Lynde, American comedian (b. 1926)
1984 – Souvanna Phouma, Prince and Prime Minister of Laos (b. 1901)
1985 – Anton Karas, Austrian zither player and composer (b. 1906)
1986 – Jaroslav Seifert, Czech writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1901)
1987 – Marion Hutton, American singer and actress (b. 1919)
1987 – Sir David Robinson, English philanthropist and entrepreneur (b. 1904)
1989 – Herbert Morrison, American radio reporter (b. 1905)
1989 – Colin Winchester, Australian Assistant Police Commissioner, murdered (b. 1933)
1992 – Roberto Bonomi, Argentine racing driver (b. 1919)
1995 – Kathleen Tynan, Canadian-British journalist, author and screenwriter (b. 1937)
1997 – Elspeth Huxley, British journalist and writer (b. 1907)
1997 – Sheldon Leonard, American film producer, actor, and director (b. 1907)
1997 – Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1907)
1999 – Sir Edward Williams, Australian judge (b. 1921)
2000 – Sam Jaffe, American producer (b. 1901)
2002 – W.A. Criswell, American (Baptist) preacher (b. 1909)
2004 – Spalding Gray, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2004 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (b. 1934)
2005 – Gene Baylos, American comedian (b. 1906)
2005 – Margherita Carosio, Italian soprano (b. 1908)
2005 – James Forman, American civil rights leader (b. 1928)
2005 – Kalevi Hämäläinen, Finnish cross country skier (b. 1932)
2005 – Erwin Hillier, British cinematographer (b. 1911)
2005 – Jack Horner, American sports journalist (b. 1912)
2005 – Joséphine-Charlotte, Grandduchess of Luxembourg (b. 1927)
2005 – Metropolitan Wasyly Fedak, primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada (b. 1909)
2007 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (b. 1912)
2007 – Bradford Washburn, American explorer (b. 1910)
2008 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (b. 1967)
2008 – Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira, Finnish-born American actress (b. 1921)
2008 – Mikhail Minin, Russian Soviet soldier (b. 1922)
2009 – William Frederick Bill Stone , British World War I veteran (b. 1900)
Holidays and observances
Roman Catholic Church
Peter Orseolo, Doge of Venice and saint
Coptic Church:
Obadiah
January 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
