Almanac - January 23

Django Reinhardt 1910-1953

Events

• 3102 BCE – Epoch (origin) of the Kali Yuga.
• 393 – Roman Emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight year old son Honorius co-emperor.
• 971 – In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops.
• 1368 – In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
• 1510 – Henry VIII of England, then 18 years old, appears incognito in the lists at Richmond, and is applauded for his jousting before he reveals his identity.
• 1546 – Having published nothing for eleven years, François Rabelais publishes the Tiers Livre, his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel.
• 1556 – The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000.
• 1570 – James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, regent for the infant King James VI of Scotland, is assassinated by firearm, the first recorded instance of such.
• 1571 – The Royal Exchange opens in London.
• 1579 – The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
• 1656 – Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
• 1719 – The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
• 1789 – Georgetown College, the first Catholic University in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.)
• 1793 – Second Partition of Poland: Russia and Prussia partition Poland for the second time.
• 1849 – Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Geneva Medical College of Geneva, New York, becoming the United States' first female doctor.
• 1855 – The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota, a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge.
• 1870 – In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in the Marias Massacre.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.
• 1897 – Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction.
• 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic.
• 1900 – The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces during the Second Boer War resulted in a British defeat.
• 1904 – Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
• 1912 – The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
• 1920 – The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
• 1937 – In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders.
• 1941 – Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Rabaul begins, the first fighting of the New Guinea campaign.
• 1943 – World War II: Troops of Montgomery's 8th Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German-Italian Panzer Army.
• 1943 – World War II: Australian and American forces finally defeat the Japanese army in Papua. This turning point in the Pacific War marks the beginning of the end of Japanese aggression.
• 1943 – Duke Ellington plays at Carnegie Hall in New York City for the first time.
• 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign ends.
• 1945 – World War II: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal.
• 1950 – The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
• 1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, who later rename it the "Frisbee".
• 1958 – Overthrow in Venezuela of Marcos Pérez Jiménez
• 1960 – The bathyscaphe USS Trieste breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 m (35,798 feet) in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1961 – The Portuguese luxury cruise ship Santa Maria is hijacked by foes of the Estado Novo regime with the intention of waging war until dictator António de Oliveira Salazar was overthrown.
• 1963 – Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attacked the Portuguese army stationed in Tite.
• 1964 – The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
• 1967 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
• 1968 – North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo (AGER-2), claiming the ship had violated their territorial waters while spying.
• 1973 – President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
• 1973 – A volcanic eruption devastates Heimaey in the Vestmannaeyjar chain of islands off the south coast of Iceland.
• 1986 – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
• 1997 – Madeleine Albright becomes the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State.
• 2002 – "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in FBI custody.
• 2002 – Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered .
• 2003 – Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10.
• 2010 – Protests take place in 60 Canadian cities against the prorogation of the 40th Canadian Parliament.

Births

• 1350 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1419)
• 1688 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
• 1719 – John Landen, English mathematician (d. 1790)
• 1737 – John Hancock, American patriot (d. 1793)
• 1745 – William Jessop, English canal engineer (d. 1814)
• 1783 – Stendhal, French writer (d. 1842)
• 1786 – Auguste de Montferrand, French architect (d. 1858)
• 1809 – Veer Surendra Sai, Indian Freedom Fighter (d. 1884)
• 1813 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (d. 1895)
• 1828 – Saigo Takamori, Samurai, leader of Satsuma rebellion (d. 1877)
• 1832 – Édouard Manet, French artist (d. 1883)
• 1840 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist (d. 1905)
• 1855 – John Moses Browning, American inventor (d. 1926)
• 1857 – Andrija Mohorovicic, Croatian seismologist (d. 1936)
• 1862 – David Hilbert, German mathematician (d. 1943)
• 1872 – Paul Langevin, French physicist (d. 1946)
• 1872 – Joze Plecnik, Slovenian architect (d. 1957)
• 1876 – Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1954)
• 1881 – Luisa Casati, Artist's patroness, muse and fashion icon (d. 1957)
• 1884 – George McManus American cartoonist (d. 1954)
• 1884 – Ralph DePalma, Italian-American race car driver (d. 1956)
• 1896 – Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1985)
• 1896 – Alf Hall, South African cricketer (d. 1964)
• 1897 – Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian independence fighter
• 1897 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (d. 2000)
• 1897 – Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond. (d. 1989)
• 1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian film director (d. 1948)
• 1898 – Randolph Scott, American actor (d. 1987)
• 1898 – Freda Utley, British scholar and author (d. 1978)
• 1899 – Glen Kidston, British aviator and racing driver (d. 1931)
• 1900 – William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor and organist (d. 1988)
• 1903 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (d. 1948)
• 1907 – Dan Duryea, American actor (d. 1968)
• 1907 – Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
• 1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist (d. 1953)
• 1912 – Boris Pokrovsky, Russian operatic stage director (d. 2009)
• 1913 – Jean-Michel Atlan, French painter (d. 1960)
• 1913 – Wally Parks, American racing executive, founder of the NHRA (d. 2007)
• 1915 – Arthur Lewis, British economist, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
• 1915 – Potter Stewart, American Supreme Court Justice (d. 1985)
• 1916 – David Douglas Duncan, American photo-journalist
• 1916 – Airey Neave, British Major, politician and indictment server at the Nuremberg Trials (d. 1979)
• 1918 – Gertrude B. Elion, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1999)
• 1919 – Frances Bay, Canadian actress (d. 2011)
• 1919 – Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist and underwater scientist
• 1919 – Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (d. 1962)
• 1919 – Bob Paisley, English football player and manager. (d. 1996)
• 1920 – Walter Frederick Morrison, American inventor (d. 2010)
• 1923 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach
• 1923 – Walter M. Miller, Jr., American writer (d. 1996)
• 1924 – Frank Lautenberg, American politician
• 1924 – Bal Thackeray, founder and president of Indian political party Shiv Sena
• 1927 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer (d. 1994)
• 1927 – Jack Quinlan, Chicago Cubs Broadcaster (d. 1965)
• 1928 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress
• 1929 – Patriarch Filaret (Mykhailo Denysenko) of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kiev Patriarch
• 1929 – John Charles Polanyi, Canadian chemist, Nobel laureate
• 1929 – Myron Cope, American sports announcer (d. 2008)
• 1930 – Derek Walcott, West Indies writer, Nobel laureate
• 1930 – Teresa Zylis-Gara, Polish singer
• 1933 – Chita Rivera, Puerto Rican actress and dancer
• 1934 – Pierre Bourgault, Quebec politician and essayist (d. 2003)
• 1935 – Bob Moses, American civil rights activist
• 1936 – Jerry Kramer, American football player
• 1938 – Shohei Baba, Japanese professional wrestler (d. 1999)
• 1938 – Georg Baselitz, German painter and sculptor
• 1939 – Sonny Chiba, Japanese actor and martial artist
• 1939 – Arlene Golonka, American actress
• 1940 – Joe Dowell, American singer
• 1940 – Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1942 – Razzak, Bangladeshi actor and director
• 1943 – Gary Burton, American jazz vibraphonist
• 1943 – Gil Gerard, American actor
• 1944 – Rutger Hauer, Dutch actor
• 1945 – Mike Harris, Canadian politician, Premier of Ontario
• 1946 – Arnoldo Alemán, ex-president of Nicaragua
• 1946 – Don Whittington, American businessman, car & airplane racer and convicted felon
• 1947 – Thomas R. Carper, American politician, senior senator of Delaware
• 1947 – Megawati Sukarnoputri, 5th President of Indonesia
• 1948 – Anita Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters)
• 1950 – Richard Dean Anderson, American actor
• 1950 – Danny Federici, American musician (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band) (d. 2008)
• 1950 – John Greaves, English musician (Henry Cow, National Health)
• 1951 – Chesley Sullenberger, Captain of US Airways Flight 1549, a flight that successfully ditched into the Hudson River
• 1952 – Omar Henry, South African cricketer
• 1953 – John Luther Adams, American composer
• 1953 – Alister E. McGrath, British theologian and scientist
• 1953 – Antonio Villaraigosa, Hispanic-American 52nd Mayor of Los Angeles
• 1953 – Robin Zander, American singer (Cheap Trick)
• 1954 – Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
• 1954 – Edward Ka-Spel, English musician (Legendary Pink Dots)
• 1957 – Princess Caroline of Monaco
• 1957 – Lou Schuler, American fitness journalist
• 1959 – Clive Bull, English radio talk show host
• 1960 – Patrick de Gayardon, French skydiver and skysurfing pioneer (d. 1998)
• 1960 – Jean-François Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1961 – Mas Selamat bin Kastari, Singapore's most-wanted terror fugitive
• 1962 – Elvira Lindo, Spanish writer and journalist
• 1963 – Gail O'Grady, American actress
• 1964 – Mariska Hargitay, American actress
• 1964 – Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana
• 1964 – Mario Roberge, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1965 – Louie Clemente, American drummer (Testament)
• 1966 – Haywoode Workman, American basketball player
• 1967 – Naim Süleymanoglu, Bulgaria-born Turkish weightlifter
• 1968 – Petr Korda, Czech tennis player
• 1969 – Ariadna Gil, Spanish actress
• 1969 – Andrei Kanchelskis, Ukrainian-Russian footballer
• 1969 – Brendan Shanahan, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Tracey Cherelle Jones, American actress
• 1970 – Brendan O'Connor, Irish journalist, satirist
• 1970 – Spyridon Vasdekis, Greek long jumper
• 1971 – Scott Gibbs, Welsh rugby player
• 1971 – Kevin Mawae, American football player
• 1971 – Marc Nelson, American R&B singer and lyricist
• 1971 – Adam Parore, New Zealand wicketkeeper (cricket)
• 1972 – Ewen Bremner, Scottish actor
• 1972 – Lisa Snowdon, British model and TV presenter
• 1972 – Marcel Wouda, Dutch swimmer
• 1973 – Lanei Chapman, American actress
• 1973 – Tomas Holmström, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1974 – Sampsa Astala, Finnish musician (Lordi)
• 1974 – Joel Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Rebekah Elmaloglou, Australian actress
• 1974 – Yosvani Pérez, Cuban baseball player
• 1974 – Richard T. Slone, British artist
• 1974 – Tiffani Thiessen, American actress
• 1975 – Phil Dawson, American football player
• 1975 – Tito Ortiz, American UFC fighter
• 1976 – Brandon Duckworth, American baseball player
• 1976 – Angelica Lee, Taiwanese actress and singer
• 1976 – Tony Lucca, actor, singer and musician
• 1976 – Nigel McGuinness, English professional wrestler
• 1977 – Kamal Heer, Punjabi singer and musician
• 1979 – Larry Hughes, American basketball player
• 1979 – Dawn Porter, British television presnter
• 1979 – Juan Rincón, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1981 – Rob Friend, Canadian footballer
• 1981 – Julia Jones, Native American actress
• 1982 – Patrick Levis, American actor
• 1982 – Wily Mo Peña, Dominican baseball player
• 1984 – Arjen Robben, Dutch footballer
• 1985 – Dong Fangzhuo, Chinese footballer
• 1985 – Doutzen Kroes, Dutch supermodel
• 1986 – Anne Foy, British children's television presenter
• 1986 – Benjamin Griesert, German footballer
• 1986 – José Enrique Sánchez, Spanish footballer
• 1986 – Steven Taylor, English footballer
• 1987 – Felicia Brandström, Swedish singer
• 1988 – Alan Power, Irish footballer
• 1989 – April Pearson, British actress
• 1990 – Martyn Waghorn, English footballer

Deaths

• 1002 – Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 980)
• 1199 – Yaqub, Almohad Caliph (b. 1160)
• 1548 – Bernardo Pisano, Italian composer (b. 1490)
• 1549 – Johannes Honter, Transylvanian Saxon humanist and theologian (b. 1498)
• 1567 – Jiajing, Emperor of China (b. 1507)
• 1570 – James Stewart, Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland (assassinated)
• 1612 – Edward Fenner, English judge, famous for involvement in prosecution of witchcraft
• 1622 – William Baffin, English explorer
• 1744 – Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (b. 1668)
• 1785 – Matthew Stewart, Scottish mathematician (b. 1717)
• 1789 – Frances Brooke, English writer (b. 1724)
• 1789 – John Cleland, English novelist (b. 1709)
• 1800 – Edward Rutledge, American statesman (b. 1749)
• 1803 – Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (b. 1725)
• 1805 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (b. 1763)
• 1806 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
• 1810 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist and physicist (b. 1776)
• 1812 – Robert Craufurd, British general (b. 1764)
• 1820 – Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (b. 1767)
• 1833 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, British admiral (b. 1757)
• 1837 – John Field, Irish composer (b. 1782)
• 1866 – Thomas Love Peacock, English satirist (b. 1785)
• 1875 – Charles Kingsley English writer (b. 1819)
• 1883 – Gustave Doré, French artist, engraver, and illustrator (b. 1832)
• 1893 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1825)
• 1921 – Mykola Leontovych, Ukrainian composer (b. 1877)
• 1922 – Arthur Nikisch, Hungarian conductor (b. 1855)
• 1923 – Max Nordau, Austrian author, philosopher, and Zionist leader (b. 1849)
• 1931 – Anna Pavlova, Russian ballerina (b. 1881)
• 1937 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist (b. 1876)
• 1939 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer (b. 1903)
• 1943 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, author, and bon vivant (b. 1887)
• 1944 – Viktor Gusev, Russian poet (b. 1909)
• 1944 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (b. 1863)
• 1956 – Alexander Korda, Hungarian/British film director (b. 1893)
• 1957 – Willie Edwards, Murder victim/killed by KKK members (b. 1932)
• 1958 – Nikolaos Georgantas, Greek discus thrower (b. 1880)
• 1963 – Józef Goslawski, Polish sculptor and medallic artist (b. 1908)
• 1971 – Fritz Feigl, Austria-born chemist (b. 1871)
• 1973 – Alexander Onassis, Greek heir of the Onassis family (b. 1948)
• 1973 – Kid Ory, American jazz trombonist (b. 1886)
• 1976 – Paul Dupuis, French Canadian film and television actor (b. 1913)
• 1976 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, and social activist (b. 1898)
• 1977 – Toots Shor, New York restaurateur (b. 1903)
• 1978 – Vic Ames, American singer (Ames Brothers) (b. 1925)
• 1978 – Terry Kath, American musician (Chicago) (b. 1946)
• 1978 – Jack Oakie, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1981 – Samuel Barber, American composer (b. 1910)
• 1983 – Fred Bakewell, English cricketer (b. 1908)
• 1984 – Mu'in Bseiso, Palestinian poet (b. 1926)
• 1986 – Joseph Beuys, German artist (b. 1921)
• 1988 – Charles Glen King, American biochemist (b. 1896)
• 1989 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (b. 1904)
• 1990 – Allen Collins, American guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (b. 1952)
• 1991 – Northrop Frye, Canadian writer and critic (b. 1912)
• 1992 – Freddie Bartholomew, Irish actor (b. 1924)
• 1993 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American singer (b. 1899)
• 1994 – Nikolai Ogarkov, Soviet field marshal (b. 1917)
• 1994 – Brian Redhead, English journalist and broadcaster (b. 1929)
• 1997 – Richard Berry, American composer and musician (b. 1935)
• 1999 – Joe D'Amato, Italian director (b. 1936)
• 1999 – Jay Pritzker, American businessman (b. 1922)
• 1999 – Prince Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican musician (b. 1949)
• 2002 – Paul Aars, American racecar driver (b. 1934)
• 2002 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (b. 1930)
• 2002 – Robert Nozick, American philosopher (b. 1938)
• 2003 – Nell Carter, American singer and actress (b. 1948)
• 2004 – Bob Keeshan, American actor (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Helmut Newton, German-born photographer (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Morys George Lyndhurst Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare, British politician (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Johnny Carson, American television host (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Chris McKinstry, Canadian scientist (b. 1967)
• 2007 – Syed Hussein Alatas, Malaysian Politician (b. 1928)
• 2007 – E. Howard Hunt, American Watergate figure (b. 1918)
• 2007 – Ryszard Kapuscinski, Polish journalist and writer (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Tatiana Mamaki, Greek dancer and choreographer (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Robert W. Scott, American politician, governor of North Carolina (b. 1929)
• 2011 – Jack LaLanne, American fitness and nutritional expert (b. 1914)

Holidays and observances

• Bounty Day (Pitcairn Island)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Abakuh
  • Blessed Marianne of Molokai
  • Emerentiana
  • January 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)