January 9

Events

* 475 - Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople.
*1349 - The Jewish population of Basel, Switzerland, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing bubonic plague, were rounded up and incinerated.
*1431 - Judges' investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government.
*1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat.
*1768 - Philip Astley stages the first modern circus in London.
*1788 - Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States.
*1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States.
*1799 - British Prime Minister William Pitt introduces income tax to raise funds for the war against Napoleon.
*1806 - Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral.
*1816 - Sir Humphry Davy tests the Davy lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery.
*1822 - The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese king João VI, starting the Brazilian independence process.
*1839 - The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process.
*1857 - The Fort Tejon earthquake of California occurs, registering an estimated magnitude of 7.9.
*1858 - Anson Jones, the last President of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.
*1861 - American Civil War: The "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. It is considered by some historians to be the "First Shots of the American Civil War".
* 1861 - Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War.
*1863 - American Civil War: the Battle of Fort Hindman occurs in Arkansas.
*1878 - Umberto I becomes King of Italy.
*1880 - The Great Gale of 1880 devastates parts of Oregon and Washington with high wind and heavy snow.
*1894 - New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switchboard in Lexington, Massachusetts.
*1903 - Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the famous poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia.
*1905 - According to the Julian Calendar which was used at the time, Russian workers stage a march on the Winter Palace that ends in the massacre by Tsarist troops known as Bloody Sunday, setting off the Russian Revolution of 1905.
*1916 - The Ottoman Empire prevails in the Battle of Çanakkale, as the last British troops are evacuated.
*1917 - World War I: the Battle of Rafa occurs near the Egyptian border with Palestine.
*1923 - Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight.
*1941 - First flight of the Avro Lancaster.
* 1941 - World War II: The Greek "Triton" (S.112) sinks the Italian submarine "Neghelli" in Otranto.
*1945 - The United States invades Luzon in the Philippines.
*1947 - Elizabeth "Betty" Short, the Black Dahlia, is last seen alive.
*1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opens in New York City.
*1964 - Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag on the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians.
*1968 - The only known snowfall in Mexico City occurs; additional snow falls on January 10 and 11.
*1972 - The "RMS Queen Elizabeth" is destroyed by fire in Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.
*1986 - After losing a patent battle with Polaroid, Kodak must give up its instant camera business.
*1991 - The Soviets storm Vilnius to stop Lithuanian independence.
*1997 - A Comair Embraer EMB 120 crashes during approach into Detroit Metro Airport, killing 29 people.
*2001 - Shenzhou 2, an unmanned Chinese spacecraft, is launched.
*2001 - Apple announced iTunes at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, for organizing and playing digital music and videos. Now widely used by Windows and Mac users.
*2005 - The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, commonly known as the Naivasha Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel group in Naivasha, Kenya.
* 2005 - Elections are held to replace Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is succeeded by Rawhi Fattouh.
*2007 - Apple Inc CEO, Steve Jobs announces the iPhone.

Births

*1554 - Pope Gregory XV (d. 1623)
*1571 - Karel Bonaventura Buquoy, French soldier (d. 1621)
*1589 - Ivan Gundulic, Croatian poet (d. 1638)
*1624 - Empress Meishō (d. 1696)
*1685 - Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist (d. 1766)
*1728 - Thomas Warton, English poet (d. 1790)
*1745 - Caleb Strong, 6th and 10th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1819)
*1773 - Cassandra Austen, English watercolorist and sister of Jane Austen (d. 1845)
*1790 - Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet (d. 1855)
*1811 - Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, English writer (d. 1856)
*1819 - James Francis, Premier of Victoria (d. 1884)
*1823 - Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (d. 1908)
*1829 - Thomas William Robertson, English playwright (d. 1871)
* 1829 - Adolf von Schlagintweit, German explorer (d. 1857)
*1832 - Félix-Gabriel Marchand, journalist, author and politician, Premier of Quebec (d. 1900)
*1839 - John Knowles Paine, U.S. composer (d. 1906)
*1848 - Princess Frederica of Hanover (d. 1926)
*1849 - John Hartley, English tennis player, double winner of Wimbledon (d. 1935)
*1854 - Jennie Jerome, American society beauty and mother of Winston Churchill (d. 1921)
*1856 - Anton Aškerc, Slovenian priest and poet (d. 1912)
*1859 - Carrie Chapman Catt, American suffragist leader (d. 1947)
*1864 - Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician (d. 1926)
*1868 - S. P. L. Sørensen, Danish chemist (d. 1939)
*1870 - Joseph B Strauss, American civil engineer (d. 1938)
*1873 - Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Hebrew poet (d. 1934)
*1875 - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American socialite (d. 1942)
*1879 - John Broadus Watson, American psychologist (d. 1958)
*1881 - Lascelles Abercrombie, British poet and critic (d. 1938)
* 1881 - Edouard Beaupré, horse lifter (d. 1904)
* 1881 - Giovanni Papini, Italian writer (d. 1956)
*1890 - Karel Čapek, Czech writer (d. 1938)
* 1890 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist (d. 1935)
*1892 - Eva Bowring, American politician (d. 1985)
*1896 - Warwick Braithwaite, New Zealand-born British conductor (d. 1971)
*1897 - Karl Löwith, German philosopher (d. 1973)
*1898 - Vilma Bánky, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
* 1898 - Gracie Fields, English vaudeville performer (d. 1979)
* 1898 - Wally Baker, American supercentenarian
*1900 - Richard Halliburton, American adventurer (presumed dead 1939)
* 1900 - Maria of Romania, Queen Consort of Yugoslavia (d. 1961)
*1901 - Chic Young, American cartoonist (d. 1973)
*1902 - Rudolph Bing, Austrian-born opera manager (d. 1997)
* 1902 - Saint Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish Catholic priest and founder of Opus Dei (d. 1975)
*1903 - Hem Vejakorn, Thai illustrator (d. 1969)
*1908 - Simone de Beauvoir, French author (d. 1986)
*1909 - Herva Nelli, Italian-born soprano (d. 1994)
*1912 - Ralph Tubbs, British architect (d. 1996)
*1913 - Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (d. 1994)
*1914 - Gypsy Rose Lee (or 1911), American burlesque entertainer (d. 1970)
* 1914 - Kenny (Klook) Clarke, American jazz drummer and composer (d. 1985)
*1915 - Anita Louise, U.S. actress (d. 1970)
* 1915 - Fernando Lamas, Argentine actor (d. 1982)
*1916 - Vic Mizzy, American orchestra leader
* 1916 - Peter Twinn, English World War II code-breaker (d. 2004)
*1920 - Chan Canasta, Polish-British magician (d. 1999)
* 1920 - Clive Dunn, British actor
* 1920 - Hakim Mohammed Said, Pakistani scholar
*1921 - Lister Sinclair, Canadian broadcaster and playwright (d. 2006)
*1922 - Har Gobind Khorana, Nobel laureate
* 1922 - Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (d. 1984)
*1924 - Sergei Parajanov, Armenian film director (d. 1990)
*1925 - Lee Van Cleef, American actor (d. 1989)
*1926 - Giannis Christou, Greek composer (d. 1970)
* 1926 - Jean-Pierre Côté, Canadian politician, Lieutenant governor of Quebec (d. 2002)
*1928 - Judith Krantz, American author
* 1928 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (d. 1994)
*1929 - Brian Friel, Irish dramatist
* 1929 - Heiner Muller, German dramatist (d. 1995)
* 1929 - Dorothea Puente, American serial killer
*1931 - Algis Budrys, American author
*1933 - Robert Garcia, American politician
* 1933 - Wilbur Smith, Zambian-British novelist
*1934 - Bart Starr, American football player
*1935 - Bob Denver, American actor (d. 2005)
* 1935 - Dick Enberg, American sportscaster
* 1935 - Earl G. Graves, Sr., African-American Publisher
* 1935 - Brian Harradine, Australian independent Senator
*1936 - Anne Rivers Siddons, American writer
*1940 - Jimmy Boyd, American actor and singer
* 1940 - Barbara Buczek, Polish composer (d. 1993)
* 1940 - Al Downing, American singer (d. 2005)
* 1940 - Ruth Dreifuss, Swiss politician
*1941 - Joan Baez, American singer and activist
* 1941 - Gilles Vaillancourt, Quebec politician
*1942 - K Callan, American actress
* 1942 - Lee Kun-hee, Korean industrialist, chairman of Samsung
* 1942 - Susannah York, British actress
*1943 - Robert Drewe, Australian author
* 1943 - Elmer MacFadyen, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
* 1943 - Freddie Starr, English comedian and singer
* 1943 - Scott Walker, American singer
*1944 - Ian Hornak, American Painter, Draughtsman and Sculptor (d. 2002)
* 1944 - Jimmy Page, British musician and producer (Led Zeppelin)
*1945 - John Doman, American actor
*1947 - Ronnie Landfield, American artist
*1948 - Bill Cowsill, American singer (The Cowsills) (d. 2006)
* 1948 - Cassie Gaines Backup Singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
*1950 - David Johansen American singer
* 1950 - Rio Reiser, German singer (d. 1996)
*1951 - M.L. Carr, basketball player and coach
* 1951 - Crystal Gayle, American singer
*1952 - Hugh Bayley, British politician
*1953 - Morris Gleitzman, British-Australian children's author
*1955 - Michiko Kakutani, American literary critic
* 1955 - J. K. Simmons, American actor
*1956 - Kimberly Beck, American actress
* 1956 - Imelda Staunton, British actress
* 1956 - Mike Walczewski, American Public Address Announcer at Madison Square Garden
*1957 - Bibie, Ghanaian singer
* 1957 - Phil Lewis, lead singer of L.A. Guns
*1958 - Mehmet Ali Ağca, Turkish attempted assassin of Pope John Paul II
* 1958 - Stephen Neale, British philosopher
*1959 - Mark Martin, American race car driver
* 1959 - Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
* 1959 - Cristi Minculescu, Romanian musician
* 1959 - Otis Nixon, American baseball player
*1961 - Oliver Goldstick, American screenwriter
*1963 - Michael Everson, expert in writing systems and Unicode
*1965 - Darren Bennett, Australian-born American football player
* 1965 - Muggsy Bogues, American basketball player
* 1965 - Iain Dowie, English football manager
* 1965 - Eric Erlandson, American musician
* 1965 - Joely Richardson, British actress
*1967 - Carl Bell, American musician
* 1967 - Claudio Caniggia, Argentinian footballer
* 1967 - Steven Harwell, American singer and musician (Smash Mouth)
* 1967 - Dave Matthews, South African singer and musician
*1968 - Jimmy Adams, West Indian cricketer
* 1968 - Joey Lauren Adams, American actress
* 1968 - Al Schnier, American rock guitarist (moe.)
*1970 - Lara Fabian, Belgian singer
* 1970 - Alex Staropoli, Italian keyboardist (Rhapsody Of Fire)
*1971 - Daniel Dumile, American hip hop artist
* 1971 - Hal Niedzviecki, Canadian author
* 1971 - Scott Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1971 - Yusuke Naora, Japanese game art director
*1972 - Sarah Beeny, British TV personality
* 1972 - Angie Martinez, American radio and television personality
* 1972 - Jay Powell, baseball player
*1973 - Angela Bettis, American actress
*1974 - Farhan Akhtar, Indian Bollywood Director, Actor, Producer, Singer.
*1975 - Kiko Calero, Puerto Rican baseball player
* 1975 - Kimberley Ann Scott Mathers, former wife of Eminem
*1976 - Radek Bonk, Czech ice hockey player
* 1976 - Todd Grisham, American professional wrestling interviewer
*1977 - Beth Troutman, American production assistant
*1978 - Mathieu Garon, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1978 - Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer
* 1978 - Chad Ocho Cinco, American football player
* 1978 - AJ McLean, American singer (Backstreet Boys)
* 1978 - Maggie Rizer, American model and AIDS activist
*1979 - Tomiko Van, Japanese singer
*1980 - Sergio García, Spanish golfer
*1981 - Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer
*1982 - Kate Middleton, girlfriend of Prince William of Wales
*1987 - Sam Bird, English racing driver
* 1987 - Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer/songwriter
* 1987 - Pablo Santos, Mexican actor (d. 2006)
* 1987 - Lucas Pezzini Leiva, Brazilian and Liverpool Footballer
*1989 - Michaella Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
*1997 - Lauryn McClain, American actress and singer

Deaths

*1150 - Emperor Xizong of Jin was murdered by Prince Hailing of Jin in a Coup d'état.
*1282 - Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd Hakam al Qurashi, ruler of Minorca (b. 1204)
*1283 - Wen Tianxiang, Prime Minister of China (executed) (b. 1236)
*1499 - Johann Cicero, elector of Brandenburg (b. 1455)
*1514 - Anna, Duchess of Brittany, queen of Charles VIII of France (b. 1477)
*1543 - Guillaume du Bellay, French diplomat and general (b. 1491)
*1562 - Amago Haruhisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1514)
*1571 - Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French naval officer (b. 1510)
*1598 - Jasper Heywood, English translator (b. 1553)
*1677 - Aernout van der Neer, Dutch painter (b. 1603)
*1757 - Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (b. 1657)
* 1757 - Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician (b. 1688)
*1766 - Thomas Birch, British historian (b. 1705)
*1799 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian scientist (b. 1718)
*1800 - Jean Étienne Championnet, French general (b. 1762)
*1805 - Noble Wimberly Jones, American Continental Congressman (b. 1723)
*1843 - William Hedley, British industrial engineer (b. 1773)
*1848 - Caroline Herschel, German-born astronomer (b. 1750)
*1858 - Anson Jones, 5th and last President of Texas (suicide) (b. 1798)
*1873 - Emperor Napoleon III of France (b. 1808)
*1876 - Samuel Gridley Howe, American abolitionist (b. 1801)
*1877 - Alexander Brullov, Russia painter (b. 1799)
*1878 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (b. 1820)
*1895 - Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American watch manufacturer (b. 1812)
*1901 - Richard Copley Christie, English scholar (b. 1830)
*1908 - Wilhelm Busch, German painter (b. 1832)
* 1908 - Abraham Goldfaden, Russian-born actor (b. 1840)
*1911 - Edwin Arthur Jones, American composer (b. 1853)
* 1911 - Edvard Rusjan, Slovene flight pioneer (b. 1886)
*1918 - Émile Reynaud, French scientist (b. 1844)
*1923 - Katherine Mansfield, New Zealand writer (b. 1888)
*1927 - Houston Stewart Chamberlain, British pro-Aryan anti-semitic writer, son-in-law of Richard Wagner (b. 1855)
*1931 - Wayne Munn, wrestler (b. 1896)
*1936 - John Gilbert, American actor (b. 1899)
*1939 - Johann Strauss III, Austrian conductor (b. 1866)
*1945 - Jüri Uluots, Estonian Prime Minister (b. 1890)
*1946 - Countee Cullen, American poet (b. 1903)
* 1946 - Dimitrios Golemis, Greek athlete (b. 1874)
*1947 - Karl Mannheim, German sociologist (b. 1893)
*1960 - Elsie J. Oxenham, British children's author (b. 1880)
*1961 - Emily Greene Balch, American writer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1867)
*1971 - Giannis Christou, Greek composer (b. 1926)
* 1971 - Elmer Flick, baseball player (b. 1876)
*1972 - Ted Shawn, American dancer (b. 1891)
*1975 - Pierre Fresnay, French actor (b. 1897)
* 1975 - Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)
*1979 - Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian engineer and architect (b. 1891)
*1981 - Kazimierz Serocki, Polish composer (b. 1922)
*1984 - Wolfgang Staudte, German director (b. 1906)
*1985 - Robert Mayer, British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1879)
*1987 - Marion Hutton, American singer (b. 1919)
* 1987 - Arthur Lake, American actor (b. 1905)
*1989 - Bill Terry, baseball player (b. 1898)
*1990 - Sir Edward McTiernan, Australian jurist, lawyer and politician (b. 1892)
* 1990 - Spud Chandler, baseball player (b. 1907)
*1992 - Steve Brodie, American actor (b. 1919)
* 1992 - Bill Naughton, British playwright (b. 1910)
*1993 - Sir Paul Hasluck, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1905)
*1994 - Johnny Temple, baseball player (b. 1927)
*1995 - Peter Cook, British actor and comedian (b. 1937)
* 1995 - Souphanouvong, President of Laos (b. 1909)
*1997 - Edward Osobka-Morawski, Prime Minister of Poland (b. 1909)
* 1997 - Jesse White, American actor (b. 1917)
*1998 - Kenichi Fukui, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate (b. 1918)
* 1998 - Charito Solis, Filipino actress (b. 1935)
*2000 - Nigel Tranter, Scottish historian and author (b. 1909)
*2001 - Maurice Prather, American photographer (b. 1926)
*2003 - Will McDonough, American sports journalist (b. 1935)
*2004 - Norberto Bobbio, Italian philosopher (b. 1909)
*2005 - Gonzalo Gavira, Mexican film sound technician (b. 1925)
*2006 - Andy Caldecott, Australian motorcycle racer (b. 1964)
* 2006 - Mikk Mikiver, Estonian actor, director (b. 1937)
*2007 - Elmer Symons, South African motorcycle racer (b. 1977)
*2008 - Johnny Grant, American radio personality, television producer (b. 1923)
* 2008 - William Quinn, Irish Republican Army soldier (b. 1950)
* 2008 - Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist (b. 1977)
* 2008 - Sir John Harvey-Jones, chairman of ICI from 1982 to 1987 (b.1924).

Holidays and observances

* Martyrs' Day (Panama) commemorates the 1964 riots over sovereignty of the Panama Canal Zone
* Black Nazarene feast in the Quiapo district, Manila, Philippines
* January 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
* Republic Day in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
*Adrian of Canterbury
*Metropolitan Philip II of Moscow
*Theophan the Recluse

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/9 BBC: On This Day]
*
* [http://www1.sympatico.ca/cgi-bin/on_this_day?mth=Jan&day=09 On This Day in Canada] ----