18 gennaio

Events

96 – Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated.
324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire.
1180 – Philip Augustus becomes king of France.
1454 – In the Battle of Chojnice, the Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army during the Thirteen Years' War.
1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his fourth, and final, voyage.
1573 – Spain attacks Alkmaar.
1635 – Emperor Ferdinand II declares war on France.
1679 – New Hampshire becomes a county of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1739 – The Treaty of Belgrade is signed, ceding Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire.
1759 – The British capture Quebec City.
1793 – The first cornerstone of the Capitol building is laid by George Washington.
1809 – The Royal Opera House in London opens.
1810 – First Government Junta in Chile. Though supposed to rule only in the absence of the king, it is in fact the first step towards independence from Spain, and is commemorated as such.
1812 – The 1812 Fire of Moscow dies down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.
1837 – Tiffany and Co. (first named Tiffany & Young) is founded by Charles Lewis Tiffany and Teddy Young in New York City. The store is called a "stationery and fancy goods emporium".
1838 – The Anti-Corn Law League is established by Richard Cobden.
1850 – The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.
1851 – First publication of ''The New-York Daily Times'', which later becomes ''The New York Times''.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga takes place.
1870 – Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition to Yellowstone.
1872 – King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1873 – The Panic of 1873 begins.
1879 – The Blackpool Illuminations are switched on for the first time.
1882 – The Pacific Stock Exchange opens.
1885 – Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.
1895 – Booker T. Washington delivers the "Atlanta Compromise" address.
1895 – Daniel David Palmer gives the first chiropractic adjustment.
1898 – Fashoda Incident – Lord Kitchener's ships reach Fashoda, Sudan.
1906 – A typhoon with tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
1910 – In Amsterdam, 25,000 demonstrate for general suffrage.
1911 – Russian Premier Peter Stolypin is shot at the Kiev Opera House.
1914 – The Irish Home Rule Act becomes law, but is delayed until after World War I.
1914 – World War I: South African troops land in German South West Africa.
1919 – The Netherlands gives women the right to vote.
1919 – Fritz Pollard becomes the first African-American to play professional football for a major team, the Akron Pros.
1922 – Hungary is admitted to League of Nations.
1927 – The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.
1928 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro crossing of the English Channel.
1931 – The Mukden Incident gives Japan the pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.
1932 – Actress Peg Entwistle commits suicide by jumping from the letter "H" in the Hollywood sign.
1934 – The USSR is admitted to League of Nations.
1939 – World War II: Polish government of Ignacy Mościcki flees to Romania.
1939 – William Joyce makes his first Nazi propaganda broadcast.
1940 – World War II: Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani.
1942 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is authorized.
1943 – World War II: The Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibór.
1943 – World War II: Adolf Hitler orders the deportation of Danish Jews.
1944 – World War II: The British submarine torpedoes Junyō Maru, 5,600 killed.
1945 – General Douglas MacArthur moves his command headquarters to Tokyo.
1947 – The United States Air Force becomes an independent branch of the United States armed forces.
1948 – Communist Madiun uprising in Dutch Indies.
1948 – Margaret Chase Smith of Maine becomes the first woman elected to the US Senate without completing another senator's term, when she defeats Democratic opponent Adrian Scolten.
1948 – Ralph Bunche is confirmed as acting United Nations mediator for Palestine and Israel.
1948 – Yoni Abramski, age 12, killed by sniper in Jerusalem.
1948 – The Donald Bradman-led Australian cricket team completes the unprecedented feat of going through an English summer without defeat.
1959 – Vanguard 3 is launched into Earth orbit.
1960 – Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.
1961 – U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash while attempting to negotiate peace in the war-torn Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1962 – Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda and Trinidad and Tobago are admitted to the United Nations.
1964 – Constantine II of Greece marries Danish princess Anne-Marie.
1964 – North Vietnamese Army begins infiltration of South Vietnam.
1972 – First Ugandans expelled by Idi Amin arrive in the United Kingdom.
1973 – The Bahamas, East Germany and West Germany are admitted to the United Nations.
1974 – Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110�mph winds, killing 5,000 people.
1975 – Patty Hearst is arrested after a year on the FBI Most Wanted List.
1976 – Mao Zedong's funeral takes place in Beijing.
1977 – Voyager I takes first photograph of the Earth and the Moon together.
1978 – Leaders of Israel and Egypt reach a settlement for the Middle East at Camp David.
1980 – Soyuz 38 carries 2 cosmonauts (including 1 Cuban) to Salyut 6 space station.
1981 – Assemblée Nationale votes to abolish capital punishment in France.
1982 – Christian militia begin killing six-hundred Palestinians in Lebanon.
1984 – Joe Kittinger completes the first solo balloon crossing of the Atlantic.
1988 – End of pro-democracy uprisings in Myanmar after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. Thousands, mostly monks and civilians (primarily students) are killed by the Tatmadaw.
1990 – Liechtenstein becomes a member of the United Nations.
1991 – Yugoslavia begins a naval blockade of 7 Adriatic port cities.
1992 – An explosion rocks Giant Mine at the height of a labor dispute, killing 9 replacement workers.
1997 – United States media magnate Ted Turner donates USD $1 billion to the United Nations.
1997 – Voters in Wales vote yes (50.3%) on a referendum on Welsh autonomy.
1998 – ICANN is formed.
2001 – First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2006 – Right wing protesters riot the building of the Hungarian Television in Budapest, Hungary, one day after an audio tape is made public, in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány admitted he and his party lied during the 2006 general elections.
2007 – Pervez Musharraf announces that he will step down as army chief and restore civilian rule to Pakistan, but only after he is re-elected president.
2007 – Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some called the Saffron Revolution.
2009 – The 72 year run of the soap opera ''The Guiding Light'' ends as its final episode is broadcast.

Births

53 – Trajan, Roman Emperor (d. 117)
1344 – Marie Valois, Princess of France (d. 1404)
1434 – Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1467)
1505 – Maria of Austria, wife of Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (d. 1558)
1587 – Francesca Caccini, Italian composer (d. c. 1640)
1643 – Gilbert Burnet, Scottish Bishop of Salisbury (d. 1715)
1676 – Eberhard Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1733)
1684 – Johann Gottfried Walther, German composer (d. 1748)
1709 – Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (d. 1784)
1718 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (d. 1783)
1733 – George Read, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (d. 1798)
1750 – Tomas de Iriarte, Spanish writer (d. 1791)
1752 – Adrien-Marie Legendre, French mathematician (d. 1833)
1765 – Pope Gregory XVI (d. 1846)
1779 – Joseph Story, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1845)
1786 – Christian VIII of Denmark, King of Denmark (d. 1848)
1786 – Justinus Kerner, German poet (d. 1862)
1812 – Herschel Vespasian Johnson, American politician (d. 1880)
1819 – Leon Foucault, French physicist (d. 1868)
1837 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos, (Portuguese) Archbishop of Goa (d. 1880)
1838 – Anton Mauve, Dutch artist (d. 1888)
1846 – Richard With, Norwegian businessman, politician and captain, founder of Hurtigruten (d. 1930)
1857 – John Hessin Clarke, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1945)
1858 – Kate Booth, the oldest daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1955)
1859 – John L. Bates, 41^st Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1946)
1859 – Lincoln Loy McCandless, American cattle rancher (d. 1940)
1863 – Hermann Kutter, Swiss theologian (d. 1931)
1870 – Clark Wissler, American anthropologist (d. 1947)
1875 – Tomas Burgos, Chilean philanthropist (d. 1945)
1876 – James Scullin, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1953)
1883 – Gerald Hugh Tyrwhitt-Wilson, British composer (d. 1950)
1888 – Toni Wolff, Swiss student and lover of Carl Jung (d. 1953)
1889 – Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (d. 1970)
1893 – Arthur Benjamin, Australian composer (d. 1960)
1893 – William March, American writer (d. 1954)
1895 – Tomoji Tanabe, the oldest man in the world from January 2007 until his death (d. 2009)
1895 – John Diefenbaker, 13th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1979)
1900 – Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius (d. 1985)
1901 – Harold Clurman, American film producer (d. 1980)
1904 – David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles, British politician and peer (d. 1999)
1905 – Eddie Anderson, American actor (d. 1977)
1905 – Agnes de Mille, American choreographer (d. 1993)
1905 – Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (d. 1990)
1907 – Leon Askin, Austrian actor (d. 2005)
1907 – Edwin McMillan, Nobel laureate (d. 1991)
1911 – Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1976)
1912 – Kurt Lotz, German business executive, second postwar CEO of Volkswagen (d. 2005)
1914 – Jack Cardiff, British film director (d. 2009)
1916 – Rossano Brazzi, Italian singer and actor (d. 1994)
1916 – John Jacob Rhodes, Jr., American politician and lawyer (d. 2003)
1916 – Frank Bell, British educator (d. 1989)
1917 – June Foray, American voice actress
1917 – Francis Parker Yockey, American author (d. 1960)
1918 – John Berger, English politician
1920 – Jack Warden, American actor (d. 2006)
1922 – Grayson Hall, American actress (d. 1985)
1922 – Ray Steadman-Allen, English composer
1923 – Peter Smithson, English architect (d. 2003)
1923 – Queen Anne of Romania
1925 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player (d. 1994)
1926 – Bud Greenspan, American film producer
1926 – Bob Toski, American golfer
1927 – Phyllis Kirk, American actress (d. 2006)
1929 – Nancy Littlefield, American film producer (d. 2007)
1932 – Nikolai Rukavishnikov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2002)
1933 – Scotty Bowman, Canadian ice hockey coach
1933 – Robert Blake, American actor
1933 – Jimmie Rodgers, American singer and composer
1933 – Robert Foster Bennett, American senator (Utah)
1935 – John Spencer, English snooker player (d. 2006)
1936 – Big Tom, Irish country singer
1937 – Ralph Backstrom, Canadian ice hockey player
1939 – Jorge Sampaio, President of Portugal
1939 – Frankie Avalon, American musician
1939 – Fred Willard, American comedian
1942 – Gabriella Ferri, Italian singer.
1942 – Alex Stepney, English football goalkeeper
1944 – Michael Franks, American musician
1944 – Charles L. Veach, American astronaut (d. 1995)
1944 – Rocío Jurado, Spanish singer and actress (d. 2006)
1946 – Nicholas Clay, English actor (d. 2000)
1946 – Otis Sistrunk, American football player
1947 – Giancarlo Minardi, Italian motor racing team boss
1948 – Ken Brett, American baseball player (d. 2003)
1948 – Rodger Beckman, American baseball player
1949 – Jim McCrery, American politician
1949 – Mo Mowlam, British politician (d. 2005)
1949 – Peter Shilton, English footballer
1949 – Billy Drago, American actor
1949 – Kerry Livgren, American singer (Kansas)
1950 – Shabana Azmi, Indian actress
1950 – Darryl Sittler, Canadian ice hockey player
1950 – Anna Deavere Smith, American actress and playwright
1951 – Benjamin Carson, American neurosurgeon
1951 – Darryl Stingley, American football player (d. 2007)
1951 – Marc Surer, Swiss motor racing driver
1952 – Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Greek politician
1952 – Rick Pitino, American basketball coach
1952 – Dee Dee Ramone, American bassist (The Ramones) (d. 2002)
1953 – Betsy Boze née: Vogel, American academic
1954 – Tommy Tuberville, American football coach
1954 – Murtaza Bhutto, Pakistani politician (d. 1996)
1954 – Takao Doi, Japanese astronaut
1954 – Steven Pinker, Canadian-American scientist
1954 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007)
1955 – Bob Papenbrook, American voice actor (d. 2006)
1956 – Peter Šťastný, Slovak ice hockey player
1956 – Chris Hedges, American journalist and author
1956 – Tim McInnerny, English actor
1957 – Emily Remler, American Jazz Guitarist (d. 1990)
1958 – John Aldridge, Irish footballer
1958 – Don Geronimo, American radio personality
1958 – Linda Lusardi, English actress and model
1958 – Joan Walsh, American writer
1959 – Ryne Sandberg, American baseball player
1959 – Ian Arkwright, English footballer
1959 – Mark Romanek, American filmmaker
1960 – Karim Rashid, Egyptian/English industrial designer
1961 – James Gandolfini, American actor
1962 – Joanne Catherall, English singer
1962 – John Fashanu, English footballer
1962 – Boris Said, American race car driver
1963 – Jim Pocklington, British racing driver
1964 – Marco Masini, Italian singer-songwriter
1964 – Holly Robinson Peete, American actress
1967 – Ricky Bell, American singer (New Edition, Bell Biv DeVoe)
1967 – Tara Fitzgerald, English actress
1968 – Toni Kukoč, Croatian basketball player
1969 – Cappadonna, American rapper
1970 – Darren Gough, English cricketer
1970 – Dan Eldon, British photojournalist (d. 1993)
1970 – Aisha Tyler, American actress and comedian
1971 – Lance Armstrong, American cyclist
1971 – Anna Netrebko, Russian opera singer
1971 – Jada Pinkett Smith, American model and actress
1971 – Michael Patrick Walker, American composer and lyricist
1972 – Brigitte Becue, Belgian swimmer
1972 – David Jefferies, British motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
1973 – Paul Brousseau, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – James Marsden, American actor
1973 – Ami Onuki, Japanese singer (Puffy AmiYumi)
1973 – Mark Shuttleworth, South African entrepreneur
1974 – Sol Campbell, English footballer
1974 – Travis Schuldt, Actor
1974 – Andrew Hansen, Australian comedian and musician
1974 – Ticha Penicheiro, Portuguese basketball player
1974 – Xzibit, American rapper
1975 – Kanstantsin Lukashyk, Belarusian pistol shooter
1975 – Jason Sudeikis, American actor and comedian
1975 – "Habacuc" Guillermo Vargas, Costa Rican artist
1976 – Gabriel Gervais, Canadian football player
1976 – Kikki Daire, American pornographic actress
1977 – Kieran West, British oarsman
1977 – Li Tie, Chinese footballer
1978 – Pilar López de Ayala, Spanish actress
1978 – Augustine Simo, Cameroonian footballer
1979 – Alison Lohman, American actress
1979 – Daniel Aranzubia, Spanish footballer
1979 – Vinay Rai, Indian actor
1980 – Avi Strool, Israeli footballer
1980 – Chris Tarrant, Australian footballer
1981 – Jennifer Tisdale, American actress and model
1983 – Kevin Doyle, Irish footballer
1983 – Sanaya Irani, Indian actress
1984 – Jack Carpenter, American actor
1984 – Anthony Gonzalez, American football player
1986 – Keeley Hazell, British model
1988 – Annette Obrestad, Norwegian poker player

Deaths

96 – Domitian, Roman Emperor (b. 51)
887 – Pietro I Candiano, Doge of Venice (killed in battle)
1180 – King Louis VII of France (b. 1120)
1598 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1536)
1630 – Melchior Klesl, Austrian cardinal and statesman (b. 1552)
1663 – St Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (b. 1603)
1675 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1604)
1721 – Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat (b. 1664)
1722 – André Dacier, French classical scholar (b. 1651)
1783 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (b. 1707)
1783 – Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman and Hebrew scholar (b. 1718)
1792 – August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German religious leader (b. 1704)
1806 – Patrick Cotter O'Brien, first known eight-foot-tall person (b. 1760)
1827 – Robert Pollok, Scottish poet (b. 1789)
1830 – William Hazlitt, English essayist (b. 1778)
1860 – Joseph Locke, English railway builder and civil engineer (b. 1805)
1872 – King Charles XV / Carl IV of Sweden and Norway (b. 1826)
1891 – William Ferrel, American mathematician (b. 1817)
1896 – Hippolyte Fizeau, French physicist (b. 1819)
1905 – George MacDonald, Scottish writer and minister (b. 1824)
1911 – Pyotr Stolypin, Russian politician (b. 1862)
1924 – Francis Herbert Bradley, British philosopher (b. 1846)
1931 – Geli Raubal, Adolf Hitler's niece (b. 1908)
1931 – Hazrat Babajan, a Baloch Muslim saint (b. c.1806)
1939 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter, and photographer (b. 1885)
1944 – Robert G. Cole American Paratrooper of the 101st, 502nd division (b. 1915)
1949 – Frank Morgan, American actor (b. 1890)
1953 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian racing driver (b. 1927)
1956 – Adélard Godbout, premier of Quebec (b. 1892)
1959 – Benjamin Péret, French surrealist author (b. 1899)
1961 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish United Nations Secretary-General and distinguished economist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1905)
1964 – Clive Bell, English art critic (b. 1881)
1964 – Sean O'Casey, Irish writer (b. 1880)
1967 – John Cockcroft, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
1970 – Jimi Hendrix, American musician (b. 1942)
1977 – Paul Bernays, Swiss mathematician (b. 1888)
1980 – Katherine Anne Porter, American novelist (b. 1890)
1986 – Pat Phoenix, English actress (b. 1923)
1987 – Américo Tomás, Portuguese admiral and politician, 14^th President of Portugal (b. 1894)
1994 – Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (b. 1954)
1995 – Oleg Tverdokhleb, Ukrainian athlete (b. 1969)
1997 – Jimmy Witherspoon, blues singer (b. 1920)
2001 – Ernie Coombs, Canadian entertainer (b. 1927)
2002 – Bob Hayes, American athlete (b. 1942)
2002 – Mauro Ramos, Brazilian football player (b. 1930)
2003 – Emil Fackenheim, German Holocaust survivor and philosopher (b. 1916)
2003 – Bob Mitchell, British politician (b. 1927)
2004 – Norman Cantor, Canadian historian (b. 1929)
2004 – Russ Meyer, American film director (b. 1922)
2005 – Michael Park, British Rally co-driver (b. 1966)
2006 – Edward J. King, 66^th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1925)
2007 – Pepsi Tate Welsh bassist (tigertailz) (b. 1965)

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day
*Constantius (Theban Legion)
*Eustorgius I
*Joseph of Cupertino
*Methodius of Olympus
*Richardis
*September 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
National Day or ''Dieciocho'', the date of the first Government Junta after the Chilean independence on February 12, 1818 (Chile)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada ----

18 gennaio