January 18
January 18 is the 18th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 347 days remaining (348 in leap years)
Events
- 336 - Saint Mark elected Catholic Pope.
- 350 - General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans, proclaims himself Emperor.
- 474 - Leo II briefly becomes Byzantine emperor
- 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
- 1486 - King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV.
- 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".
- 1788 - The first 736 convicts banished from England to Australia landed in Botany Bay creating the first Australian Penal Colony
- 1861 - American Civil War - Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in secession from the United States.
- 1871 - Wilhelm I of Germany becomes the first German Emperor.
- 1884 - Dr William Price attempts to cremate the body of his infant son, Jesus Christ Price, setting a legal precedent for cremation in the UK.
- 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.
- 1912 - British explorer Robert Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole only to find that Roald Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, had preceded them by just over a month.
- 1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
- 1916 - A 611 gram chondrite type meteorite struck a house near the village of Baxter in Stone County, Missouri.
- 1919 - World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
- 1919 - Bentley Motors Limited is founded.
- 1939 - Louis Armstrong records Jeepers Creepers.
- 1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: 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.
- 1944 - Soviet forces liberate Leningrad, effectively ending a three year Nazi siege, known as the Siege of Leningrad.
- 1945 - Liberation of the Budapest ghetto by the Red Army
- 1958 - Willie O'Ree, the first African American National Hockey League player, make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
- 1964 - Plans are revealed for the World Trade Center in New York City.
- 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 Jim Thorpe Olympic medals to his family.
- 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 Air Lines 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.
- 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the Bill Clinton - Monica Lewinsky affair story on his website The Drudge Report.
- 2002 - A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one man and calling into question the maintenance of CP track and the policy of voice-tracking used by Clear Channel Communications.
- 2005 - A U.N. World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan begins.
Births
- 885 - Daigo, Emperor of Japan (d. 930)
- 1543 - Alfonso Ferrabosco (I), Italian composer (d. 1588)
- 1641 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
- 1672 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (d. 1731)
- 1688 - Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
- 1689 - Montesquieu, French writer (d. 1755)
- 1779 - Peter Roget, British lexicographer (d. 1869)
- 1782 - Daniel Webster, American statesman (d. 1852)
- 1813 - Joseph Glidden, American farmer who patented barbed wire (d. 1906)
- 1840 - Henry Austin Dobson, English poet (d. 1921)
- 1842 - Albert Alonzo Ames, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
- 1848 - Ioan Slavici, Transylvanian writer (d. 1925)
- 1849 - Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
- 1850 - Seth Low, American politician (d. 1916)
- 1854 - Thomas Watson, American telephone pioneer (d. 1934)
- 1877 - Samuel Zemurray, U.S. businessman (d.1961)
- 1879 - Henri Giraud, French general (d. 1949)
- 1882 - A. A. Milne, English author (d. 1956)
- 1888 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (d. 1989)
- 1892 - Oliver Hardy, American comedian and actor (d. 1957)
- 1892 - Paul Rostock, German surgeon (d. 1956)
- 1904 - Cary Grant, English actor (d. 1986)
- 1905 - Joseph Bonanno, Italian-born gangster (d. 2002)
- 1908 - Jacob Bronowski, Polish-born mathematician, poet, and physicist (d. 1974)
- 1913 - Danny Kaye, American actor (d. 1987)
- 1914 - Arno Schmidt, German author (d. 1979)
- 1914 - William Stafford, American poet (d. 1993)
- 1922 - Bob Bell, American clown (d. 1997)
- 1931 - Chun Doo-hwan, President of South Korea
- 1932 - Robert Anton Wilson, American author
- 1933 - John Boorman, Irish film director
- 1934 - Raymond Briggs, English writer and illustrator
- 1937 - John Hume, Northern Irish politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998
- 1938 - Curt Flood, baseball player (d. 1997)
- 1941 - David Ruffin, American singer (d. 1991)
- 1943 - Kay Granger, American politician
- 1944 - Paul Keating, twenty-fourth Prime Minister of Australia
- 1946 - Joseph Deiss, Swiss Federal Councilor
- 1947 - Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
- 1949 - Philippe Starck, French designer
- 1949 - Bill Keller, American newspaper editor
- 1950 - Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
- 1951 - Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist (d. 1982)
- 1952 - R. Stevie Moore, American singer, songwriter, and home recording pioneer
- 1953 - Brett Hudson, American actor
- 1955 - Kevin Costner, American actor
- 1956 - Sharon Mitchell, American porn actress
- 1956 - Tom Bailey, British singer (Thompson Twins)
- 1961 - Mark Messier, Canadian hockey player
- 1962 - Jeff Yagher, American actor
- 1964 - Jane Horrocks, British actress
- 1965 - Dave Attell, American writer and comedian
- 1967 - Kim Perrot, American basketball player (d. 1999)
- 1967 - Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
- 1968 - Frank Quitely, Scottish comic book artist
- 1969 - Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
- 1969 - David Bautista, American professional wrestler
- 1970 - DJ Quik, American rapper
- 1970 - Peter van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
- 1971 - Jonathan Davis, American musician (KoЯn)
- 1971 - Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
- 1972 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
- 1973 - Crispian Mills, British musician (The Jeevas and Kula Shaker)
- 1974 - Michael Tunn, Australian television and radio
- 1977 - Curtis Cregan, American actor
- 1979 - Brian Gionta, professional hockey player
- 1979 - Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
- 1979 - Jay Chou, Taiwanese singer and producer
- 1980 - Julius Peppers, American football player
- 1982 - Quinn Allman, American musician (The Used)
- 1983 - Samantha Mumba, Irish singer and actress
- 1987 - Johan Djourou, Swiss footballer
Deaths
- 52 BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher (murdered)
- 474 - Leo I, Byzantine Emperor (b. 401)
- 1367 - King Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
- 1425 - Edmund de Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
- 1471 - Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
- 1547 - Pietro Bembo, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1470)
- 1583 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b. 1522)
- 1677 - Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch merchant (b. 1619)
- 1803 - Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (b. 1743)
- 1862 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (b. 1790)
- 1873 - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, English author (b. 1803)
- 1878 - Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist (b. 1788)
- 1896 - Charles Floquet, French statesman (b. 1828)
- 1927 - Empress Carlotta of Mexico (b. 1840)
- 1936 - Rudyard Kipling, British writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
- 1940 - Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish writer (b. 1865)
- 1952 - Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (b. 1903)
- 1954 - Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
- 1963 - Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the British Labour Party (b. 1906)
- 1966 - Kathleen Norris, American writer (b. 1880)
- 1967 - Goose Tatum, American basketball player (b. 1921)
- 1969 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (b. 1887)
- 1970 - David O. McKay, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
- 1980 - Sir Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer (b. 1904)
- 1984 - Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
- 1985 - Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (b. 1912)
- 1995 - Adolf Butenandt, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1995 - Ron Luciano, baseball umpire (b. 1937)
- 1997 - Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1941)
- 2000 - Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
- 2001 - Al Waxman, Canadian actor (b. 1935)
- 2003 - Edward "The Sheik" Farhat, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Lamont Bentley, American actor (b. 1973)
- 2006 - Jan Twardowski, Polish poet (b. 1915)
Holidays and observances
- Christian ecumenism - Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins
- Winnie The Pooh Day (In observance of the birthday of Alan Alexander Milne, 1882.)
External links
January 17 - January 19 - December 18 - February 18 - listing of all days