Events 1463 - Poet François Villon is banned from Paris. 1500 - Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan. 1781 - American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold. 1846 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom. 1895 - Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. 1896 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays. 1900 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule. 1909 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. 1914 - Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor. 1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States. 1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay. 1940 - FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time. 1944 - The London Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper. 1945 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland. 1948 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl). 1957 - Major league baseballer Jackie Robinson retires. 1961 - Television: Mr. Ed debuts. 1968 - "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia. 1970 - Soap opera: All My Children premieres. 1972 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program. 1975 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people. 1980 - Hewlett-Packard announces release of its first personal computer. 1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU. 1987 - President of the United States Ronald Reagan undergoes prostate surgery causing worries about his health. 1993 - The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands spilling 84,700 tonnes of oil. 1993 - Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965). 1996 - Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone. 2000 - The 1st day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit 2002 - Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack. Births 1596 - Henry Lawes, composer († 1662) 1717 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman († 1793) 1779 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer († 1820) 1855 - King Camp Gillette, inventor († 1932) 1876 - Konrad Adenauer, German chancellor 1949-1963 († 1967) 1880 - Nikolay Medtner, composer († 1951) 1893 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru († 1952) 1904 - Jeane Dixon, astrologer († 1997) 1909 - Stephen Kleene, mathematician († 1994) 1913 - Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor († 2001) 1914 - George Reeves, actor († 1959) 1920 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, pianist († 1995) 1921 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, writer († 1990) 1923 - Sam Phillips, country music producer († 2003) 1926 - Maria Schell, actress 1928 - Walter Mondale, U.S. Senator, Democratic presidential nominee in 1984 1928 - Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan († 1979) 1931 - Alvin Ailey, choreographer († 1989) 1931 - Alfred Brendel, pianist 1931 - Robert Duvall, actor and director 1932 - Umberto Eco, philologist and writer 1932 - Raisa Gorbachev, political consort, († 1999) 1938 - King Juan Carlos of Spain 1941 - Miyazaki Hayao, film maker 1941 - Grady Thomas, singer (P-Funk) 1942 - Maurizio Pollini, pianist 1942 - Charlie Rose, talk show host 1946 - Diane Keaton, actress 1953 - George Tenet, Director of the CIA 1961 - Suzy Amis, actress 1969 - Marilyn Manson, singer Deaths 1589 - Catherine de Medici, Queen of France 1740 - Antonio Lotti, composer 1891 - Emma Abbott, american opera singer 1922 - Ernest Shackleton, explorer 1929 - Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia 1933 - Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States 1941 - Amy Johnson, aviator 1943 - George Washington Carver, educator, activist, botanist 1956 - Mistinguett (Jeanne Bourgeois), French singer 1963 - Rogers Hornsby, Baseball Hall of Famer 1970 - Max Born, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1954 1970 - Roberto Gerhard, composer 1970 - Jock Yablonski, president of the United Mine Workers, is discovered dead with his family 1971 - Douglas Shearer, pioneer motion-picture sound engineer 1979 - Charles Mingus, musician 1981 - Lanza del Vasto, philosopher, poet and non-violent activist 1988 - Pete Maravich, Basketball Hall of Famer 1994 - Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, Speaker of the House 1996 - Yahya Ayyash, terrorist 1998 - Sonny Bono, singer, actor, United States Representative 2002 - Igor Cassini, gossip columnist ("Cholly Knickerbocker") 2003 - Roy Jenkins, British politician Holidays and observances The twelfth day of Christmas in Western Christianity. Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Neumann. See Also: January 4 - January 6 - December 5 - February 5 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
January 4 - January 6 - December 5 - February 5 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December