January 3

January 3 is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 362 days remaining (363 in leap years).

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Events

• 1496 – Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
• 1521 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther.
• 1749 – Benning Wentworth issued the first of the New Hampshire Grants, leading to the establishment of Vermont.
• 1777 – Battle of Princeton. American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis.
• 1815 – Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia.
• 1823 – Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from the government of Mexico
• 1833 – Britain seizes control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
• 1834 – The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City
• 1840 – One of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Port Phillip Herald is founded by George Cavanaugh.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Delaware votes not to secede from the United States
• 1868 – The Japanese Meiji dynasty is restored and the Shogunate is abolished.
• 1888 – The 91 cm refracting telescope at Lick Observatory is used for the first time. It was the largest telescope in the world at the time.
• 1899 – The first known use of the word automobile, in an editorial in the New York Times.
• 1920 – Curse of the Bambino: The Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for a sum of $125,000 and a loan of more than $300,000.
• 1925 – Benito Mussolini announces he is taking dictatorial powers over Italy.
• 1926 – General Theodorus Pángulos names himself dictator of Greece.
• 1938 – The March of Dimes is established by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time.
• 1951 – Dragnet airs on television for the first time (NBC).
• 1957 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch.
• 1958 – West Indies Federation formed.
• 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state.
• 1961 – The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba.
• 1961 – The SL-1, a government-run reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho leaks radiation, killing three workers at the installation. The radiation is contained.
• 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro.
• 1966 – First Acid Test at the Fillmore, San Francisco, California.
• 1973 – Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led by George Steinbrenner.
• 1987 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
• 1990 – Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces.
• 1993 – In Moscow, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
• 1994 – An Aeroflot Tupolev TU-154 crashes and explodes after takeoff from Irkhutsk, Russia killing 125 including 1 on the ground
• 1997 – NBC's Today show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time.
• 2000 – The last Peanuts comic strip was created by Charles Schulz.
• 2004 – Flight 604, a Boeing 737 owned by Flash Airlines, an Egyptian airliner, plunges into the Red Sea, killing all 148 aboard.

Births

• 106 BC – Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (d. 43 BC)
• 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American women's rights activist and abolitionist (d. 1880)
• 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, British dramatic playwright and political satirist (d. 1857)
• 1829 – Konrad Duden, philologist (d. 1911)
• 1840 – Father Damien, Belgian missionary priest in Hawai'i (d. 1889)
• 1855 – Hubert Bland, English socialist and co-founder of Fabian Society (d. 1914)
• 1879 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957)
• 1883 – Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967)
• 1887 – August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)
• 1892 – J. R. R. Tolkien, South African-born writer and philologist (d. 1973)
• 1894 – Pola Negri, Polish actress (d. 1987)
• 1897  – Marion Davies, American actress (d. 1961)
• 1901 – Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam (d. 1963)
• 1905 – Anna May Wong, Chinese-American actress (d. 1961)
• 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh actor (d. 1986)
• 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish entertainer and humorist (d. 2000)
• 1911 – John Sturges, American director (d. 1982)
• 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, Finnish director (d. 2005)
• 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and consumer activist (d. 1994)
• 1920 – Renato Carosone, Italian musician and singer (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Hank Stram, American football coach and broadcaster
• 1924  – Nell Rankin, American soprano (d. 2005)
• 1926 – George Martin, "5th Beatle": producer of The Beatles' records
• 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)
• 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor
• 1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor
• 1936 – Georgina Spelvin, pornographic film actress
• 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1941 – Van Dyke Parks, American musician, composer
• 1942 – John Thaw, British actor (d. 2002)
• 1945 – Stephen Stills, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist
• 1946  – Victoria Principal, American actress
• 1946 – John Paul Jones, English bassist from Led Zeppelin
• 1956 – Mel Gibson, Australian actor and director
• 1957 – Bojan Križaj, Slovenian alpine skier
• 1960 – Joan Chen, Chinese actress
• 1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer
• 1968 – Shannon Sturges, American actress
• 1969 – Michael Schumacher, German Formula One driver
• 1975 – Danica McKellar, American actress
• 1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor
• 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor
• 1977 – Alan Rogers, English footballer
• 1981 – Polly Klaas, young victim of crime (d. 1993)
• 1981 – Eli Manning, American football player
• 1989 – Alex D. Linz, American actor

Deaths

• 1322 – King Philip V of France (b. 1293)
• 1543 – Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, first European to visit California (b. 1499)
• 1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (b. ca. 1619)
• 1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
• 1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English potter (b. 1730)
• 1875 – Pierre Larousse, French editor and encyclopedist (b. 1817)
• 1881 – Anna McNeill Whistler, Whistler's mother (b. 1804)
• 1923 – Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist (b. 1883)
• 1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
• 1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
• 1946 – William Joyce, American Nazi propagandist (executed) (b. 1906)
• 1950 – Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (b. 1884)
• 1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
• 1967 – Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1911)
• 1979 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
• 1980 – Joy Adamson, Czech conservationist and author (b. 1910)
• 1981 – Her Royal Highness Princess Alice of Albany, the last grandchild of Queen Victoria (b. 1883)
• 1992 – Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)
• 2001 – José Greco, flamenco dancer (b. 1918)
• 2002 – Freddy Heineken, Dutch CEO of the beer brewery (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
• 2004 – Leon Wagner, MLB All-Star (b. 1934)
• 2005:
  • JN Dixit, Indian national security adviser and former foreign secretary (b. 1936)
  • Will Eisner, United States comic book artist and pioneering graphic novelist (b. 1917)
  • Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator with the PRC (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances

• Feast day of St Genevieve
• Roman Empire – Festival in honour of Pax
• The ninth day and tenth night of Christmas in Western Christianity
• In astronomy the best date to view the Quadrantids meteor shower.

External links

• BBC: On This Day

January 2 – January 4 – December 3 – February 3 – listing of all days