January 26

January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 339 days remaining (340 in leap years).

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Events

• 1340 – King Edward III of England is declared King of France.
• 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to discover Brazil.
• 1531 – Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake--thousands die.
• 1699 – Treaty of Carlowitz signed.
• 1700 – The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the coast of the American Northwest, as evidenced by Japanese records.
• 1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
• 1785 – Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to his daughter expressing disappointment over the selection of the eagle as the symbol of the United States; he wanted the turkey.
• 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sail into Sydney Harbour to establish the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Celebrated as Australia Day.
• 1802 – The U.S. Congress passes an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol; eventually this becomes the Library of Congress.
• 1808 – Rum Rebellion, the only successful (but temporary) armed takeover of the government in Australia.
• 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
• 1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
• 1841 – The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China had ceded.
• 1861 – The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
• 1870 – American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union.
• 1885 – Troops loyal to the Mahdi conquer Khartoum.
• 1887 – Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat Italians.
• 1905 – The Cullinan Diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine.
• 1911 – Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful seaplane.
• 1934 – The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, New York City.
• 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
• 1942 – World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
• 1946 – Félix Gouin becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1950 – India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president.
• 1956 – 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
• 1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.
• 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
• 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
• 1966 – The Beaumont Children go missing from Glenelg Beach in Adelaide, South Australia.
• 1970 – Folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel release classic album Bridge Over Troubled Water.
• 1980 – Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
• 1983 – Lotus 1–2–3 is released.
• 1986 – Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots, 46–10.
• 1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
• 1992 – Super Bowl XXVI: The Washington Redskins defeat the Buffalo Bills, 37–24.
• 1993 – Václav Havel elected President of the Czech Republic.
• 1994 – A man fires two blank shots at Charles, Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia.
• 1996 – Whitewater scandal: Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before a grand jury.
• 1997 – Super Bowl XXXI: The Green Bay Packers defeat the New England Patriots, 35–21.
• 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
• 1998 – Compaq buys Digital Equipment Corporation.
• 2001 – A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
• 2001 – An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
• 2003 – Super Bowl XXXVII: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Oakland Raiders, 48–21, earning the Buccaneers their first Vince Lombardi Trophy.
• 2005 – The Glendale train crash occurs, involving three trains; the accident kills 11 and injures 200 in Glendale, California near Los Angeles early in the morning peak hours.
• 2005  – Having been confirmed earlier in the day by a vote of 85–13 in the United States Senate, Condoleezza Rice is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post.
• 2005  – A helicopter crash in eastern Iraq kills 31 United States soldiers.

Births

• 1763 – Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Napoleonic general and King Charles XIV of Sweden and Norway (d. 1841)
• 1781 – Achim von Arnim, German poet (d. 1831)
• 1826 – Louis Favre, engineer Gotthard tunnel (d. 1879)
• 1826 – Julia Dent Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)
• 1831 – Mary Mapes Dodge, writer (d. 1907)
• 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (d. 1964)
• 1891 – Frank Costello, gangster (d. 1973)
• 1892 – Zara Cully, American actress (d. 1978)
• 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
• 1901 – Stuart Symington, American politician (d. 1988)
• 1904 – Ancel Keys, scientist (d. 2004)
• 1905 – Charles Lane, actor
• 1905 – Bernhard Minetti, actor
• 1905 – Maria von Trapp, singer (d. 1987)
• 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, musician, composer (d. 1997)
• 1913 – William Prince, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, songwriter (d. 1990)
• 1918 – Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Vito Scotti, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1918 – Philip José Farmer, science fiction writer
• 1921 – Akio Morita, co-founder of Sony (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Michael Bentine, British comedian (d. 1996)
• 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, actress
• 1924 – Annette Strauss, philanthropist, former mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1998)
• 1924 – Rauf Denktash, Cypriot politician
• 1925 – Paul Newman, actor
• 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress
• 1928 – Roger Vadim, French film director and actor (d. 2000)
• 1929 – Jules Feiffer, cartoonist, writer
• 1932 – Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, Jamaican record producer
• 1935 – Bob Uecker, broadcaster, baseball player, actor
• 1937 – Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leone political leader (d. 2003)
• 1941 – Henry Jaglom, director
• 1941 – Scott Glenn, actor
• 1943 – Jean Knight, singer
• 1943 – César Gutiérrez, Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
• 1944 – Angela Davis, feminist and activist
• 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
• 1946 – Gene Siskel, film critic (d. 1999)
• 1953 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
• 1953 – Lucinda Williams, country singer
• 1955 – Eddie Van Halen, musician
• 1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, actress, comedienne, talk show host
• 1961 – Wayne Gretzky, ice hockey player
• 1963 – José Mourinho, football manager
• 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, musician
• 1963 – Jazzie B., singer
• 1970 – Kirk Franklin, gospel singer
• 1977 – Vince Carter, basketball player

Deaths

• 1824 – Théodore Géricault, French writer (b. 1791)
• 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer (b. 1808)
• 1885 – Edward Davy, English inventor, physician, and scientist (b. 1806)
• 1886 – David Rice Atchison, American politician (b. 1807)
• 1942 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (b. 1868)
• 1947 – Grace Moore, singer (plane crash) (b. 1898)
• 1946 – Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Westrobothnia, second in line to the Swedish throne (b. 1906)
• 1962 – Lucky Luciano, American mobster (b. 1897)
• 1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, newspaper publisher, and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
• 1968  – Yvor Winters, poet and critic
• 1972 – Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
• 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, actor (b. 1893)
• 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
• 1983 – Paul "Bear" Bryant, American football coach
• 1885 – Charles George Gordon, British general
• 1990 – Lewis Mumford, historian (b. 1895)
• 1992 – José Ferrer, actor (b. 1912)
• 1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1922)
• 1993  – Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader
• 1996 – Dave Schultz, wrestler
• 1996  – Harold Brodkey, American author
• 1998 – Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher
• 1997 – Jeane Dixon, astrologer
• 2000 – A. E. van Vogt, science fiction author (b. 1912)
• 2000  – Don Budge, tennis player (b. 1915)
• 2000  – Kathleen Hale, children's author
• 2001 – Al McGuire, basketball coach
• 2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet athlete (b. 1942)
• 2003  – Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, British historian
• 2003  – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Fred Haas, golfer (b. 1915)
• 2004  – Wilhemina Barns-Graham, Scottish artist (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances

• Roman Empire – third day of the Sementivae in honor of Ceres and Terra
• Australia – Australia Day
• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church
  • Timothy and Titus, martyrs
  • Paula
  • Polycarp
  • Saint Alberic
  • Margaret of Hungary
• India – Republic Day – One of only three state holidays in India, celebrated with pomp and a military parade in New Delhi

External links

• BBC: On This Day

January 25 – January 27 – December 26 – February 26 — listing of all days