Almanac - January 20

George Burns 1896-1996

Events

• 250 – Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred.
• 1265 – In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting held by Simon de Montfort in the Palace of Westminster, now also known colloquially as the "Houses of Parliament".
• 1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
• 1356 – Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.
• 1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
• 1576 – The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
• 1649 – Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes".
• 1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence).
• 1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Botany Bay is unsuitable for the location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.
• 1801 – John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.
• 1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
• 1885 – L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
• 1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• 1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
• 1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
• 1929 – In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, is released.
• 1934 – Fujifilm, the photographic and electronics company, is founded in Tokyo, Japan.
• 1936 – Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
• 1941 – A Nazi officer is murdered in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
• 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question".
• 1945 – World War II: Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
• 1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
• 1949 – Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
• 1954 – The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1959 – The first flight of the Vickers Vanguard.
• 1960 – Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
• 1969 – East Pakistani police kill student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman. The resulting outrage is in part responsible for the Bangladesh Liberation War.
• 1972 – Pakistan launched its Nuclear detterent program few weeks after its defeat in Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
• 1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U.S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
• 1986 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 1987 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
• 1990 – On Black Saturday, the Red Army kills Azerbaijani civilians in Baku.
• 1991 – Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
• 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and five crew members.
• 1999 – The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use, aimed especially at Internet cafés.
• 2001 – Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
• 2006 – Witnesses report seeing a bottlenose whale swimming in the River Thames, the first time the species had been seen in the Thames since records began in 1913.
• 2007 – A three-man team, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1958 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.

Births

• 225 – Gordian III, Roman Emperor (d. 244)
• 1292 – Elisabeth of Bohemia (1292–1330) (d. 1330)
• 1435 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (d. 1490)
• 1554 – King Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
• 1586 – Johann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
• 1664 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian writer and jurist (d. 1718)
• 1716 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French writer and numismatist (d. 1795)
• 1716 – King Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
• 1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American statesman (d. 1794)
• 1755 – Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1824)
• 1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist (d. 1836)
• 1781 – Joseph Hormayr Freiherr zu Hortenburg, Austrian politician (d. 1848)
• 1783 – Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
• 1798 – Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (d. 1858)
• 1804 – Eugène Sue, French novelist (d. 1857)
• 1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
• 1834 – George D. Robinson, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
• 1837 – David Josiah Brewer, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1910)
• 1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
• 1867 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
• 1873 – Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish Nobel laureate (d. 1950)
• 1876 – Józef Hofmann, Polish pianist (d. 1967)
• 1878 – Finlay Currie, British actor (d. 1968)
• 1878 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (d. 1968)
• 1880 – Walter W. Bacon, American politician and 60th Governor of Delaware (d. 1962)
• 1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American aviation executive (d. 1969)
• 1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian born violinist (d. 1967)
• 1893 – Georg Åberg, Swedish athlete (d. 1946)
• 1894 – Walter Piston, American composer (d. 1976)
• 1895 – Gábor Szego, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1985)
• 1896 – George Burns, American actor, comedian (d. 1996)
• 1896 – Isabel Withers, American actress (d. 1968)
• 1898 – U Razak, Burmese politician (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Clarice Cliff, English ceramic artist (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese development of television (d. 1990)
• 1900 – Colin Clive, British actor (d. 1937)
• 1902 – Leon Ames, American actor (d. 1993)
• 1907 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress (d. 2000)
• 1908 – Fleur Cowles, American writer, editor and artist (d. 2009)
• 1910 – Joy Adamson, Austrian naturalist and writer (d. 1980)
• 1911 – Wendell J. Westcott, American carillonneur (d. 2010)
• 1912 – Walter Briggs, Jr., American sports executive (d. 1970)
• 1913 – Cleon Skousen, American author (d. 2006)
• 1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
• 1918 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican bandleader (d. 2002)
• 1918 – Nevin S. Scrimshaw, American food scientist
• 1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian film director (d. 1993)
• 1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Frank Kush, American football player and coach
• 1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Telmo Zarraonaindía, Spanish footballer (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Ray Anthony, American trumpeter, bandleader and actor
• 1922 – Graham Stark, British actor
• 1923 – Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer
• 1924 – Slim Whitman, American singer
• 1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan theologian and politician
• 1926 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, essayist and columnist
• 1926 – Qurratulain Hyder, Indian and Pakistani novelist (d. 2007)
• 1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
• 1928 – Rudy Boesch, Contestant on Survivor: Borneo (3rd Place) and Survivor: All-Stars (17th Place)
• 1929 – Jimmy Cobb, American jazz drummer
• 1929 – Arte Johnson, American actor
• 1929 – Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
• 1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut
• 1931 – David Lee, American physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics laureate
• 1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese songwriter and pianist (d. 1992)
• 1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1933 – Ron Townson, American singer (The 5th Dimension) (d. 2001)
• 1934 – Tom Baker, British actor
• 1935 – Alexander Men, Russian priest (d. 1990)
• 1935 – Joan Weston, Roller Derby Queen (d. 1997)
• 1937 – Dorothy Provine, American singer, dancer and actress (d. 2010)
• 1938 – William Berger, Austrian actor (d. 1993)
• 1938 – Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2007)
• 1939 – Paul Coverdell, American politician (d. 2000)
• 1940 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater
• 1940 – Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician
• 1941 – Pierre Lalonde, Canadian singer and television host
• 1942 – Linda Moulton Howe, American investigative journalist and documentary producer-writer-director-editor
• 1944 – José Luis Garci, Spanish filmmaker
• 1944 – Farhad Mehrad, Iranian musician (d. 2002)
• 1945 – Robert Olen Butler, American writer
• 1945 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, cricket commentator and correspondent
• 1945 – Eric Stewart, English musician and songwriter (10cc)
• 1946 – David Lynch, American film director
• 1947 – Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and directeur sportif
• 1948 – Nancy Kress, American writer
• 1948 – Mel Pritchard, British Musician
• 1948 – Natan Sharansky, Russian-born physicist and politician
• 1949 – Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden (1996–2006)
• 1950 – Daniel Benzali, Brazilian-American actor
• 1950 – Liza Goddard, British actress
• 1950 – Edward Hirsch, American poet
• 1950 – Chuck Lefley, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1950 – Mahamane Ousmane, President of Niger
• 1951 – Ivan Fischer, Hungarian conductor
• 1951 – Ian Hill, British musician (Judas Priest)
• 1952 – Paul Stanley, American musician (Kiss)
• 1953 – Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and convicted sex offender
• 1953 – Colleen Zenk Pinter, American actress
• 1954 – Rudy La Scala, Venezuelan singer-songwriter
• 1954 – Ken Page, American cabaret singer and actor
• 1955 – Joe Doherty, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• 1955 – Wyatt Knight, American actor
• 1955 – Hiromi Ota, Japanese singer
• 1956 – Maria Larsson, Swedish politician
• 1956 – Bill Maher, American author, comedian, and political analyst
• 1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor
• 1959 – Tami Hoag, American novelist
• 1959 – R.A. Salvatore, American author
• 1960 – Apa Sherpa, Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer, summitted Everest 19 times
• 1960 – Scott Thunes, American musician (Frank Zappa)
• 1960 – Will Wright, American computer game designer
• 1963 – Firebreaker Chip, American professional wrestler
• 1963 – James Denton, American actor
• 1964 – Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan-born baseball player and manager
• 1964 – Ron Harper, American basketball player
• 1964 – Kazushige Nojima, Japanese game scenario writer
• 1965 – Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer
• 1965 – Warren Joyce, English footballer
• 1965 – Greg Kriesel, American bassist (The Offspring)
• 1965 – John Michael Montgomery, American singer
• 1965 – Heather Small, British Soul Singer
• 1965 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the wife of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
• 1965 – Anton Weissenbacher, Romanian footballer
• 1966 – Stacey Dash, American actress
• 1966 – Tracii Guns, American guitarist
• 1966 – Rainn Wilson, American actor
• 1968 – Nick Anderson, American basketball player
• 1968 – Melissa Rivers, American reporter and actress
• 1969 – Patrick K. Kroupa, American computer hacker
• 1969 – Nicky Wire, British musician (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1970 – Mitch Benn, UK comedian, songwriter and actor
• 1970 – Kerri Kenney-Silver, American actress
• 1970 – Edwin McCain, American singer-songwriter
• 1970 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
• 1971 – Gary Barlow, English singer (Take That)
• 1971 – Brian Giles, American baseball player
• 1971 – Derrick Green, American singer (Sepultura)
• 1971 – Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 66th Yokozuna
• 1971 – Gerard McDonnell, Irish mountaineer (d. 2008)
• 1971 – Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, American drummer (The Roots)
• 1973 – Princess Mathilde, Duchess of Brabant
• 1974 – David Dei, Italian footballer
• 1975 – David Eckstein, American baseball player
• 1975 – Norberto Fontana, Argentine racing driver
• 1976 – Kirsty Gallacher, Scottish television presenter
• 1976 – Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
• 1977 – Melody, Belgian singer
• 1977 – Sid Wilson, American Musician, (Slipknot)
• 1978 – Joy Giovanni, American actress and glamour model
• 1978 – Sonja Kesselschläger, German heptathlete
• 1978 – Allan Søgaard, Danish footballer
• 1978 – Luciano Zauri, Italian footballer
• 1979 – Asaka Kubo, Japanese gravure idol of 20th Century
• 1979 – Shang Yi, Chinese footballer
• 1979 – Will Young, British singer
• 1980 – Philippe Cousteau, Jr., French oceanographer; grandson of Jacques Cousteau
• 1980 – Brigitte Olivier, Belgian judoka
• 1981 – Daniel Cudmore, Canadian actor
• 1981 – Brendan Fevola, Australian Rules Football Player
• 1981 – Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
• 1981 – Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
• 1981 – Crystal Lowe, Canadian actress
• 1981 – Jason Richardson, American basketball player
• 1982 – Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer
• 1982 – Joe Swash, English actor
• 1983 – Geovany Soto, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1983 – Paula Taylor, English-Thai actress, model and presenter
• 1983 – Mari Yaguchi, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
• 1984 – Toni Gonzaga, Filipina actress and singer
• 1984 – Olivia Hallinan, English actress
• 1986 – Derek Fathauer, American professional golfer
• 1987 – Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2011)
• 1988 – Denisse Lara, American singer-songwriter
• 1988 – Jeffrén Suárez, Spanish footballer
• 1988 – Benjamin Ulrich, German rugby player
• 1989 – Washington, Brazilian footballer
• 1991 – Jolyon Palmer, English racing driver; son of Jonathan Palmer

Deaths

• 250 – Pope Fabian
• 1156 – Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
• 1191 – Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia (b. 1167)
• 1479 – King John II of Aragon (b. 1397)
• 1568 – Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator
• 1612 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
• 1663 – Isaac Ambrose, English Puritan divine (b. 1604)
• 1666 – Anna of Austria, wife of Louis XIII of France and regent (b. 1601)
• 1707 – Humphrey Hody, English theologian (b. 1659)
• 1709 – François de la Chaise, French confessor of Louis XIV of France (b. 1624)
• 1739 – Francesco Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (b. 1659)
• 1751 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
• 1770 – Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
• 1779 – David Garrick, English actor (b. 1717)
• 1810 – Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (b. 1722)
• 1819 – King Charles IV of Spain (b. 1748)
• 1837 – Sir John Soane, English neo-classical architect (b. 1753)
• 1841 – Minh Mang, the second emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam (b. 1791)
• 1848 – Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
• 1850 – Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet (b. 1779)
• 1852 – Onomatsu Midorinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 6th Yokozuna (b. 1794)
• 1873 – The Blessed Father Basil Anthony Marie Patrice Moreau, Founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
• 1875 – Jean-François Millet, French painter (b. 1814)
• 1877 – Dato Maharajalela Lela, Malay nationalist.
• 1891 – King Kalakaua, of Hawai?i (b. 1836)
• 1900 – John Ruskin, English art critic (b. 1819)
• 1901 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (b. 1826)
• 1908 – John Ordronaux, American Civil War army surgeon, a professor of medical jurisprudence, and pioneering mental health commissioner (b. 1830)
• 1913 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (b. 1852).
• 1920 – Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler (b. 1876)
• 1924 – Ivor Crapp, Australian rules football umpire (b. 1872)
• 1936 – King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
• 1940 – Omar Bundy, American army general (b. 1861)
• 1944 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist (b. 1860)
• 1947 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (b. 1911)
• 1954 – Fred Root, English cricketer (b. 1890)
• 1962 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet (b. 1887)
• 1965 – Alan Freed, American disk jockey (b. 1922)
• 1971 – Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, American actor, director, writer, and producer (b. 1880)
• 1971 – Minanogawa Tozo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (b. 1903)
• 1973 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician (b. 1885)
• 1973 – Amilcar Cabral, Guinea Bissauan and Cape Verdian politician (b. 1924)
• 1979 – Gustav Winckler, Danish singer (b. 1925)
• 1980 – William Roberts, British painter (b. 1895)
• 1983 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
• 1984 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
• 1988 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pashtun Nationalist & non-violent freedom fighter (b. 1890)
• 1988 – Dora Stratou, Greek choreographer and folklorist (b. 1903)
• 1989 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi film director (b. 1938)
• 1990 – Hayedeh, Persian singer (b. 1942)
• 1990 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (b. 1907)
• 1993 – Audrey Hepburn, Anglo-Dutch actress (b. 1929)
• 1994 – Sir Matt Busby, Scottish football player and coach (b. 1909)
• 1996 – Gerry Mulligan, American musician (b. 1927)
• 1997 – Curt Flood, American baseball player (b. 1938)
• 1998 – Bobo Brazil, American professional wrestler (b. 1924)
• 2002 – Carrie Hamilton, actress and singer, daughter of comedienne/actress Carol Burnett (b. 1963).
• 2003 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist (b. 1903)
• 2003 – Craig Kelly, American snowboarder (b. 1966)
• 2003 – Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b. 1947)
• 2004 – Guinn Smith, American athlete (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Parveen Babi, Indian Actress and Model (b. 1949)
• 2005 – Per Borten, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Roland Frye, American literary critic and theologian (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Jan Nowak-Jezioranski, Polish journalist, writer, and politician (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Miriam Louisa Rothschild, British zoologist, entomologist, and author (b. 1908)
• 2006 – Dave Lepard, Swedish rock singer and guitarist (b. 1980)
• 2009 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Patriarch Emeritus of Alexandria for the Coptic Catholic Church (b. 1920)
• 2009 – Stan Hagen, Canadian politician (b. 1940)
• 2009 – David Newman, American jazz musician, nicknamed "Fathead" (b. 1933)
• 2009 – Sheila O'Nions Walsh (aka Sheila Walsh, Sophie Leyton), English romance writer (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Mali)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abadios
  • Euthymius the Great
  • Fabian
  • Sebastian
  • Manchán of Lemanaghan
  • January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Martyrs' Day (Azerbaijan)
• United States presidential inauguration, held every four years since 1937 (with 2 exceptions by Eisenhower & Reagan, on January 21st because January 20 was a Sunday [1957 and 1985]) in odd-numbered years after years when the United States Presidential Election takes place (as the election takes place in years divisible by four – 2004, 2008, 2012, and so on – the inauguration takes place in 2005, 2009, 2013, etc.). The incoming/reelected President traditionally swears-in as close to Noon as possible.