Today's 1 January Major Events in History

• 153 BC Roman consuls begin their year in office

104 BC Triumphal procession for Roman General Gaius Marius with the defeated Numidian King Jugurtha led in chains through Rome

Julian Calendar

45 BC The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time by edict of Roman dictator Julius Caesar

• 1 Origin of the Christian Era, now widely accepted as "Common Era"
• 69 Roman garrison at Mainz (Mogontiacum) rises in rebellion, refusing allegiance to Emperor Galba

Revolt of Saturninus

89 Revolt of Saturninus: Governor Lucius Antonius Saturninus of Germany leads a failed rebellion against Roman Emperor Domitian

• 313 Start of Roman (Pontifical) Indiction
• 365 Co-emperors and brothers Valentinian I and Valens are made consuls to signify their new reign, and shortly after, they divide the empire into East and West
• 404 Last known gladiator competition in Rome
• 468 Gallo-Roman scholar Sidonius Apollinaris recites a panegyric in verse in honor of the Emperor Anthemius, his third panegyric, in Rome
• 722 Hofmeister Charles Martel flees from Bishop Willibrord
• 1259 Michael VIII Palaiologos is formally proclaimed Emperor of Nicaea in Nymphaion
• 1430 Jews of Sicily are no longer required to attend conversion services
• 1438 Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary after the death of his father-in-law, King Sigismund
• 1494 Juw Dekama is elected Potestaat of Frisia

Rio de Janeiro

1502 A Portuguese expedition under Pedro Álvares Cabral is the first European group to discover the Bay of Guanabara, naming it Rio de Janeiro after mistaking it for a river entrance

Louis Loses Kingdom of Naples

1504 French King Louis XII loses Gaeta, his last remaining territory in the Kingdom of Naples

• 1515 Jews are expelled from Laibach in Austria
• 1527 Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin
• 1573 The Geuzen set fire to the city of Woudrichem

1583 First day of the Gregorian calendar in Holland and Flanders

• 1592 Korean naval commander Admiral Yi Sun-sin begins his famous war diary "Nanjung ilgi" (included in UNESCO's Memory of the World 2013) [1]
• 1600 Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25
• 1622 Papal Chancery adopts January 1 as the beginning of the year (previously March 25)

Coronation of Charles II

1651 Charles II Stuart is crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace

• 1660 English Colonel George Monck, with two brigades of troops, crosses the Anglo-Scottish border by fording the River Tweed at Coldstream and heads through knee-deep snow to London to end military rule and restore the monarchy

Samuel Pepys' Diary Begins

1660 First entry in the diary of English civil servant Samuel Pepys

Fairfax Takes York

1660 Rebels within the New Model Army, led by General Thomas Fairfax, occupy York

• 1660 The Academia de Bellas Artes is founded in Seville with painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo as its first president

Bajazet

1672 Jean Racine's five-act tragedy play "Bajazet" premieres in Paris, France

• 1675 Don Carlos de Gurrea becomes the Spanish land guardian of Southern Netherlands
• 1700 Protestant Western Europe, except England, begins to use the Gregorian calendar
• 1700 Russia begins using the Anno Domini era and no longer uses the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire
• 1707 John V succeeds his father, Peter II, as King of Portugal
• 1710 Parisian merchant Jean Marius obtains a five-year royal privilege for his invention of a folding umbrella, the first in Europe

Fahrenheit Scale

1724 Glassblower Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit proposes a system for making thermometers and the Fahrenheit temperature scale in a paper to the Royal Society of London and is elected a fellow on this basis

• 1739 French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier discovers the uninhabited Bouvet Island, the world's most remote island, near Antarctica [1]
• 1743 French explorers Louis-Joseph and François de La Vérendrye are the first Europeans to reach the foot of the Rocky Mountains at the Yellow River, having crossed the Great Plains [1]

Standardized Species Names

1758 The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature establishes the starting point for standardized species names across the animal kingdom, based on the binomial nomenclature in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae by Carl Linnaeus

• 1770 Date of action in Victor Herbert and Grant Stewart's opera "Madeleine"
• 1772 The London Credit Exchange Company issues the first traveler's cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities

Wedgwood Blue

1775 English potter Josiah Wedgwood writes that he has developed his famous 'Wedgwood blue' color in a letter to Thomas Bentley [1]

Event of Interest

1781 1,500 soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey as part of the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1781

• 1781 World's first iron bridge opens to the public, crossing the Severn River at Coalbrookdale, England; regarded as a symbol of the Industrial Revolution
• 1785 John Walter publishes the first issue of his newspaper "The Daily Universal Register," which is renamed "The Times" of London in 1788
• 1788 London newspaper "The Daily Universal Registrar" changes name to "The Times"
• 1788 Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their enslaved people
• 1797 Albany replaces New York City as the capital of New York
• 1798 Russia appoints first Jewish censor to censor Hebrew books
• 1800 The dissolution of the Dutch East India Company comes into effect
• 1801 Italian monk Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the dwarf planet Ceres
• 1801 The Irish Parliament votes to join the Kingdom of Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
• 1803 Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam
• 1804 Haiti gains independence from France (National Day), becoming the only state ever founded by formerly enslaved people and without slavery
• 1804 Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Saint-Domingue (Haiti) independent, ending the 13-year-long Haitian Revolution
• 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte abolishes the French Republican calendar after 12 years of use
• 1807 Curaçao is taken by the English during the Napoleonic Wars until March 1816
• 1808 African Benevolent Society (education) forms
• 1808 Sierra Leone becomes a British colony
• 1808 The US Congress prohibits the importation of slaves
• 1809 Holland Brigade under Brigadier-General David Hendrik Chassé reaches Madrid during the Napoleonic Wars
• 1814 Field Marshal Blücher's troops cross the Rhine at Kaub

Frankenstein Published

1818 Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" is published anonymously by the small London publishing house of Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones

• 1818 The White House officially reopens
• 1826 Godert van der Capellen resigns as Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
• 1827 The Dutch Trading Company (NHM) is granted a monopoly on the sale of opium in Java and Madura
• 1831 Slave plantation owner Charles Farquharson begins his diary at Prospect Hill Plantation, Watlings Island (San Salvador), the only plantation diary to survive from the Bahamas (ends Dec 1832) [1]

The Liberator

1831 William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first issue of the abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator" in Boston; publication continues until the 13th Amendment abolishes slavery in 1865

• 1833 Curaçao census: 2,602 white people, 6,531 free people, 5,894 enslaved people
• 1833 The British government reasserts its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands
• 1834 German Zollverein (Customs Union) comes into effect
• 1838 First official horse race in South Australia takes place in Adelaide
• 1840 First recorded bowling match in the US takes place at Knickerbocker Alleys, New York
• 1842 New York Illustrated News, the first illustrated weekly magazine in the US, publishes its first issue in New York
• 1844 First edition of New Rotterdam's Daily is published (three times per week)
• 1845 Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn is completed, becoming the world's first subway tunnel
• 1846 Legislative Assembly of Yucatán declares independence from Mexico
• 1848 British forces forcibly seize the port of San Juan del Norte (later Greytown) from Nicaragua
• 1851 City of Glasgow steamer inaugurates Philadelphia-Liverpool line
• 1852 National debt of Britain and Ireland is £765,126,582
• 1852 Netherlands begins issuing its first postage stamps
• 1852 The first US public bath opens in New York City
• 1853 The first practical horse-drawn fire engine in the US enters service
• 1854 Presbyterian minister John Miller Dickey and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson, found Ashmun Institute, a historically Black college later known as Lincoln University, in Hinsonville, Pennsylvania
• 1860 Slavery is abolished in the Dutch East Indies for areas under direct rule

1863 Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation to free enslaved people in Confederate states

• 1863 Battle of Galveston, Texas-Confederates recapture the city
• 1863 The first homestead under the Homestead Act is claimed near Beatrice, Nebraska

Carolinas Campaign

1865 General Sherman's Union army begins its Carolinas campaign, which lasts until April 26

Asunción Falls to Brazil

1869 War of the Triple Alliance: Paraguay's capital, Asunción, is occupied by Brazilian forces led by General João de Souza da Fonseca Costa

• 1871 Belgium disbands its salt tax
• 1872 The Moerdijk railway bridge over Hollands Diep in South Holland opens, becoming the longest bridge in Europe at that time
• 1873 Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar
• 1874 New York City annexes the West Bronx
• 1875 Britain's Midland Railway abolishes second-class travel, ending the practice of carrying third-class passengers in open-air wagons [1]
• 1876 The Reichsbank, the central bank of the German Empire, opens in Berlin

Brahms' Violin Concerto

1879 Johannes Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, premieres in Leipzig

Watson Meets Holmes

1881 Dr. John Watson is first introduced to the character Sherlock Holmes in a story written by Arthur Conan Doyle

• 1881 The French Panama Canal Company begins construction of the Panama Canal
• 1890 Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government
• 1890 The Rose Parade, then known as the Tournament of Roses, is first held in Pasadena, California
• 1891 French troops occupy Nioro, West Sudan, and 3,000 people are killed
• 1892 Ellis Island opens as a US immigration inspection station and becomes the gateway to the United States for more than 12 million people
• 1893 First U.S. college extension courses for credit are offered at the University of Chicago
• 1893 The railway line from Germiston to Pretoria, South Africa, is opened to traffic
• 1894 Denmark adopts Central European Time

The American

1894 First public performance of Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 "The American" by the Kneisel Quartet in Boston, Massachusetts

• 1894 Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
• 1894 The South African Amateur Athletic Union is founded in Johannesburg
• 1895 Norway adopts Central European time
• 1895 Philippine revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo becomes a Freemason, joining Pilar Lodge No. 203 in Imus, Cavite

• 1898 Brooklyn merges with New York City to form the present-day City of New York

Dream of a Spring Morning

1898 Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio's dramatic work "Sogno d'un mattino di primavera" (Dream of a Spring Morning) premieres in Rome

• 1898 Lightship replaces whistling buoy at the mouth of San Francisco Bay
• 1899 The government of Cuba is handed over to the US from Spanish rule; American occupation continues until 1902
• 1900 Compulsory primary school education in the Netherlands goes into effect

The 42nd Parallel

1900 First date mentioned in John Dos Passos' novel The 42nd Parallel is January 1, 1900

• 1900 The Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria are officially established
• 1901 The Commonwealth of Australia is formed when the British (Imperial) Parliament Act and the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 come into effect
• 1902 1st Rose Bowl, Tournament Park, Pasadena, California: Michigan defeats Stanford 49-0; MVP: Michigan fullback Neil Snow
• 1902 Nathan Stubblefield makes his first public demonstration of radio in Kentucky

Great Durbar for Edward VII

1903 In Delhi, a great durbar, or formal reception, marks the coronation of King Edward VII as Emperor of India; the British release some 16,000 prisoners in honor of the occasion

• 1904 The Dutch East Indies government takes control of opium distribution
• 1906 Dutch law makes a driver's license mandatory
• 1906 The first permanent movie theater in Canada, the Ouimetoscope, opens by Léo Ouimet in Montreal, Quebec
• 1906 The poll tax of £1 per head on all adult male inhabitants of Natal, South Africa, becomes payable, except for indentured Indians and married Blacks, imposed by the Natal Parliament in 1905
• 1907 Joe Gans lands a devastating right to the head of Canadian challenger Kid Herman to retain his world lightweight boxing title with an 8th round knockout in Tonopah, Nevada
• 1907 US President Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in one day

Jack Hobbs Debut

1908 Jack Hobbs makes his international debut in England's 2nd Test win over Australia at the MCG, scoring 83 and 28 in his two innings. Goes onto become the leading run scorer and century maker in 1st-class cricket history.

• 1909 American Robert Fowler runs then world record marathon (2:52:45.4) at Yonkers, NY
• 1909 Drilling begins on the Lakeview Gusher
• 1909 In Great Britain, the Old Age Pension Law is finally instituted, providing pensions for every British subject over 70 with low income

Beatty Rear-admiral

1910 British naval officer David Beatty is promoted to rear-admiral

• 1910 England cricket underhand bowler George Simpson-Hayward takes 6-43 on debut with underarm lobs in 1st Test against South Africa in Johannesburg; SA wins by 19 runs
• 1911 Belgian mining law introduces a 9½-hour workday
• 1911 South Australia transfers Northern Territory to federal government
• 1912 First running of San Francisco's famed "Bay to Breakers" footrace (7.63 miles/12.3 km); Robert Vlught wins in 44:10

• 1913 US Post office begins parcel post deliveries
• 1914 Klaas ter Laan becomes The Netherlands first socialist mayor (Zaandam)
• 1914 Northern and Southern Nigeria are united in British colony of Nigeria
• 1914 St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline, covering the 18-mile distance in 23 minutes, piloted by Tony Jannus. Service ceases after three months.

• 1915 Jews of Laibach Austria expelled
• 1916 First blood transfusion using stored and cooled blood is performed
• 1916 First issue of "Journal of Negro History" is published

T. E. Lawrence Joins Arabian Forces

1917 T. E. Lawrence joins the forces of the Arabian sheik Feisal al Husayn, beginning his adventures that will lead him to Damascus by October, 1918

• 1918 Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland
• 1919 Battle of Jutland British naval commander David Beatty is promoted to full admiral
• 1919 Belorussian SSR established

Henry Ford's Son Succeeds Him

1919 Edsel Ford succeeds his father, Henry Ford, as president of the Ford Motor Company

• 1920 Belarusian Communist Organization is founded as a separate party
• 1922 Coal miners in the Transvaal, South Africa, embark on a strike in response to a wage cut, which quickly escalated into a large-scale revolt against the government, known as the Rand Rebellion.
• 1922 Vancouver, British Columbia starts driving on the right side of road
• 1923 Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMSR
• 1923 Union of Socialist Soviet Republics established
• 1924 Grossdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft/Volkische Block replaces NSDAP
• 1925 Norway's capital Christiania changes name to Oslo
• 1926 Flood in Rhine strikes Cologne
• 1927 Communist uprising in West Java
• 1927 MLB Brooklyn Robins announce release of future Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Zack Wheat after 18 consecutive seasons with the team; Wheat hits .324 in final season with Philadelphia A's
• 1927 Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar: December 18, 1926 (Julian), is immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian)
• 1928 1st US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio
• 1928 Algemeene Vereeniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) begins broadcasting in the Netherlands
• 1930 Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to 2nd lieutenant
• 1930 Jurgens & Van den Berg merge with Lever Brothers to form Unilever
• 1932 Jacob Cocey Sr chosen as Mayor of Massillon, Ohio

Himmler's Wedding Laws

1932 Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt publishes Himmler's wedding laws - SS men have to prove their Aryan descent in order to have children

• 1932 United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth
• 1934 Alcatraz officially becomes a federal prison
• 1934 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (US bank guarantor) effective
• 1934 International Telecommunication Union established
• 1934 Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring"
• 1935 1st Orange Bowl: Bucknell beats Miami (FL), 26-0
• 1935 Associated Press inaugurates Wirephoto
• 1935 Eastern Airlines hires Eddie Rickenbacker as GM
• 1935 President Mustapha Kemal Pasha names himself "Ataturk: Father of Turkey"
• 1936 1st newspaper to microfilm its current issues, NY Herald Tribune
• 1937 Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua
• 1937 German officer Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to captain
• 1937 Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in the UK
• 1937 US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory is completed in Ohio

Hewlett-Packard Founded

1939 Hewlett-Packard is founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in a garage in Palo Alto, California "the birthplace of Silicon Valley"

• 1939 Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45°C (113°F) heat, a record for the city

Soviet Chief of General Staff

1941 Russian general Georgy Zhukov appointed chief of general staff

• 1941 The Netherlands begins taxing wages
• 1942 US and 25 other countries sign a united declaration against the Axis
• 1943 Chicago Black Hawks field first trio of brothers to play together in an NHL game; Max, Doug and Reggie Bentley appear for the Hawks in a 6-5 win over the New York Rangers at Chicago Stadium
• 1943 German officer Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to lt-colonel
• 1943 Negro Baseball League star Josh Gibson suffers a nervous breakdown; admitted to hospital for rest and treatment; released in time for pre-season training
• 1944 1st feature-length foreign movie "African Journey", shown on TV, NYC
• 1944 Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football "Arab Bowl," Oran, North Africa

Clark Replaces Patton

1944 General Clark replaces General Patton as commander of US 7th Army

• 1945 German air raid on allied airports at Eindhoven/Saint-Trond/Brussels

• 1946 ENIAC, US 1st computer finished by Mauchly/Eckert
• 1946 National Assembly proclaims Hungary a republic
• 1947 Benelux agrees to work related issues
• 1947 Britain nationalizes its coal industry
• 1947 WTTG TV channel 5 in Washington, D.C. (MET) begins broadcasting
• 1948 1st color newsreel filmed (Pasadena, California)
• 1948 After partition, India declines to pay the agreed share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to Pakistan
• 1948 General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade effective
• 1948 Orissa province accedes to India
• 1948 The Constitution of Italy comes into force
• 1948 Transport Act of 1947 comes into force in the United Kingdom, nationalizing the British rail system under the name British Railways

Bradman Honored

1949 Arguably cricket's greatest ever batsman, ex-Australian captain Don Bradman is knighted; first time a cricketer is bestowed with the honour solely for his contribution to the game

• 1949 KPRC TV channel 2 in Houston, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1949 KTTV TV channel 11 in Los Angeles, CA (MET) begins broadcasting
• 1949 Tokelau (Union) Islands formally becomes part of New Zealand
• 1950 Dutch government raises all wages 5%, minimally fl. 5 per week

Ho Chi Minh Begins Offensive

1950 Ho Chi Minh begins offensive against French troops in Indo China

• 1950 The state of Ajaigarh is ceded to the Government of India.

Paul Harvey News and Comment

1951 Chicago broadcaster Paul Harvey begins his national radio program "Paul Harvey News and Comment" from WENR-AM for the ABC network

• 1951 Massive Chinese and North Korean assault begins on UN lines
• 1952 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 5th string quartet - premieres Leningrad 1953
• 1952 Norman McLaren's anti-war film "Neighbours" is released (Academy Award Best Documentary Short Subject) [1]
• 1953 Ernest Blochs's work for viola and piano "Suite Hebraique", part of his "Jewish Cycle", premieres in Chicago
• 1953 First TV detector van begins operating in the UK, used to identify users of unlicensed television sets
• 1953 The Bantu Education Act (later renamed the Black Education Act) commenced, providing the legal underpinning of several aspects of the apartheid system, most importantly in education
• 1953 WBRE TV channel 28 in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA (NBC) 1st broadcast
• 1954 KSLA TV channel 12 in Shreveport, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1954 NBC broadcasts 1st live color US coast-to-coast telecast, the Tournament of Roses Parade, from Pasadena, California
• 1954 Rose & Cotton Bowl are 1st sport colorcasts
• 1954 WWTV TV channel 9 in Cadillac-Traverse City, MI (CBS) 1st broadcast

Djilas Criticizes Communism

1954 Yugoslav parliament chairman and Vice President Milovan Djilas criticizes communism

• 1955 Bhutan issues its 1st postage stamps
• 1955 WEAT (now WPEC) TV channel 12 in West Palm Beach, FL (CBS) begins
• 1956 A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people
• 1956 KHAS TV channel 5 in Hastings, Nebraska (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1956 KOSA TV channel 7 in Odessa, Texas (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1956 Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) declares independence from Egypt & UK
• 1956 WREC (now WREG) TV channel 3 in Memphis, Tennessee (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1957 An Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit attacks Brookeborough Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in one of the most famous incidents of the IRA's Operation Harvest

Prince of the Pagodas

1957 Benjamin Britten's only full-length ballet "Prince of the Pagodas" premieres at Covent Garden, London

• 1957 Fergal O'Hanlon, an Irish Republican Army volunteer, is killed during the Brookeborough Raid at the age of 20
• 1957 France returns Saar to becomes the 10th state of German Federal Republic

George Town

1957 George Town, Penang becomes a city by a royal charter granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

• 1958 The European Economic Community comes into effect, better known as the European Common Market
• 1958 WMBD TV channel 31 in Peoria, Illinois (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1959 Chad becomes an autonomous republic in the French Community

Johnny Cash's Prison Show

1959 Johnny Cash performs the first of many free concerts behind bars at San Quentin State Prison in California

• 1959 Rohan Kanhai completes 256 v India at Calcutta
• 1960 A photograph of a 13-year-old South African boy in a torn vest working in a mine is published in the Daily Herald; employing a 'native' under 18 in the mines is illegal under the Native Labour Regulation Act
• 1960 French Cameroon gains independence from France
• 1960 The Bank of France issues a new franc worth 100 times the value of existing francs

1st AFL Championship

1961 1st AFL Championship, Jeppesen Stadium, Houston; Houston Oilers beat Los Angeles Chargers 24-16; QB George Blanda throws 3 TD passes, three conversions, and a field goal

• 1961 Briggs Stadium, home of baseball's Detroit Tigers, is officially renamed Tiger Stadium
• 1961 Russia introduces a new ruble worth $1.11
• 1961 The largest check issued by the National Bank of Chicago to Sears is $960.242 billion
• 1962 Belgium grants Rwanda internal self-governance

• 1962 United States Navy SEALs are established
• 1962 Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand, and Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes the co-chief of Western Samoa
• 1963 American banker George Woods succeeds Eugene Black as president of the World Bank

Astro Boy

1963 Astro Boy, the first popular animated Japanese television series based on the manga series by Osamu Tezuka, premieres on Fuji TV in Japan

• 1963 WTEV (now WLNE) TV channel 6 in Providence, Rhode Island, begins broadcasting

Top of the Pops

1964 "Top of the Pops," a British pop music television program, premieres with performances by Dusty Springfield, The Rolling Stones, Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Swinging Blue Jeans, and The Beatles

• 1964 KNMT TV Channel 12 in Walker, Minnesota (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1964 The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved
• 1965 49-year-old former England international soccer forward Stanley Matthews is the only player to be awarded a knighthood while still playing for Stoke City

Murphy Joins US Senate

1965 American actor George Murphy begins his term as US Senator from California

• 1965 International Cooperation Year begins
• 1965 Palestinian Fatah National Liberation Movement forms as a political party
• 1965 The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul by Nur Muhammad Taraki and Babrak Karmal
• 1966 12-day New York City transit worker strike halts subway and bus services

• 1966 All US cigarette packs have to state "Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"
• 1966 Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100

• 1967 AFL Championship, War Memorial Stadium, Buffalo: Kansas City Chiefs beat Buffalo Bills, 31-7; QB Len Dawson passes for 2 TDs, RB Mike Garrett runs for 2 TDs
• 1967 Second day's play in Calcutta 2nd cricket Test, India vs. West Indies is canceled due to riots; ticket holders denied access start trouble outside the ground; escalates with fires in stands and pitch damage; West Indies win by 45
• 1967 St Helena adopts a new constitution
• 1967 The law of Tonga, comprising all laws, acts, and ordinances, comes into force
• 1967 WABW TV Channel 14 in Pelham, Georgia (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1968 ABC Radio splits into four networks: Info, Entertainment, Contemporary, and FM
• 1968 Netherlands gets color TV
• 1968 WDCO TV channel 15 in Cochran, Georgia (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1969 Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the NHL's LA Kings, fines each player $100 for not arguing with the referees
• 1969 The People's Democracy (PD) begins a march from Belfast to Derry, inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.'s Selma to Montgomery march in the US
• 1970 Charles "Chub" Feeney becomes the President of Major League Baseball's National League
• 1970 The "Unix Epoch" (Time 00:00:00 for UNIX systems, Midnight GMT)
• 1970 The Afro-American Historical Calendar Series is established
• 1970 The Netherland Christian Workers Union (NCW) forms
• 1970 The revised General Roman Calendar for the Western Roman Catholic Church comes into effect
• 1970 The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), an infantry regiment of the British Army, comes into existence
• 1970 The University College of Zululand, formerly affiliated with the University of South Africa, attains full academic autonomy as the University of Zululand
• 1970 The US Federal oil depletion allowance is reduced from 27.5% to 22.0%
• 1971 Cigarette advertisements are banned from broadcast media in the US
• 1972 International Book Year begins
• 1972 KDSD-TV channel 16 in Aberdeen, South Dakota (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1972 Policewomen are enlisted as full members of the South African Police Force (SAP) for the first time
• 1973 Britain, Ireland, and Denmark become the 7th, 8th, and 9th members of the European Economic Community
• 1973 The Community of West Africa (CWA) is formed by six French-speaking West African nations
• 1974 Ernie DiGregorio of Buffalo hands out 25 assists in the Braves' 120-119 win over Portland, establishing an NBA single-game record for assists by a rookie
• 1974 Lee MacPhail takes over as AL president, succeeding Joe Cronin
• 1974 NBC Radio begins broadcasting news on the hour, 24 hours a day, following CBS's lead
• 1974 With effect from this date, New Zealand government terminates all tariff preferences previously granted to South Africa
• 1974 World Population Year begins

Watergate Convictions

1975 H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and Robert Mardian are convicted of Watergate crimes

• 1975 International Women's Year begins (declared by the UN on December 18, 1972)
• 1975 The Swedish Instrument of Government is adopted, transitioning Sweden into a parliamentary democracy
• 1975 US Federal oil depletion allowance is eliminated for large producers
• 1976 After 45 years of coaching, Paul Brown (Cleveland Browns; Cincinnati Bengals) announces his retirement from the National Football League
• 1976 NBC replaces its "peacock" logo with a large block "N"; the design of the new logo costs nearly $1 million and is subject to a copyright infringement suit costing NBC an additional $800,000

1976 The Liberty Bell moves to a new home across the street from Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• 1976 Venezuela nationalizes its oil industry
• 1977 Belgium undergoes a major municipal reorganization and reapportions 2,359 communities into 596
• 1977 Czech intellectuals launch the human rights initiative Charter 77
• 1977 Jacqueline Means becomes the first woman formally ordained as an Episcopal priest
• 1978 Air India Flight 855 crashes into the Arabian Sea less than two minutes after takeoff, killing all 213 people on board
• 1978 Los Angeles Police Chief Edward Davis retires from the police force to launch his political campaign
• 1978 News editor Donald Woods finally arrives in London after escaping the apartheid regime in South Africa
• 1979 International Year of the Child begins (declared by UNESCO)
• 1979 John Y. Brown attends his first game as owner of the Boston Celtics NBA franchise after trading the Buffalo Braves to the previous Celtics owner, Irv Levin
• 1979 Swiss canton of Jura is officially established, making it the 26th canton of Switzerland
• 1979 The US and the People's Republic of China begin diplomatic relations
• 1980 Chrysler Europe is renamed Talbot

The Far Side

1980 Comic strip "The Far Side" by Gary Larson debuts in the San Francisco Chronicle

• 1980 International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade begins
• 1980 Mob storms Russian embassy in Tehran
• 1980 Premier Abdou Diouf becomes the President of the Republic of Senegal
• 1980 Sweden changes the rule of succession from agnatic primogeniture to absolute primogeniture
• 1981 Greece becomes the 10th country to join the European Economic Community
• 1981 International Year for the Disabled begins
• 1981 Palau approves a new constitution, becoming the Republic of Palau
• 1981 Roger Smith becomes the CEO of General Motors
• 1982 "Thirtysomething" stars Ken Olin and Patricia Wettig meet; they later marry
• 1982 American singer Barbra Streisand and hairdresser/film producer Jon Peters' romantic relationship ends
• 1982 MTA launches a five-year capital program to upgrade the NYC subway system

• 1983 'New Age' music radio program "Hearts of Space," hosted by Stephen Hill, makes its national syndication debut on U.S. National Public Radio
• 1983 Flag Day: TCP/IP protocols become the only approved protocol on ARPANET, replacing the earlier NCP protocol
• 1983 PGA Tour inaugurates its "All-Exempt Tour"
• 1983 World Communications Year begins
• 1984 AT&T's 22 owned Bell System companies divest into seven independent companies
• 1984 Brunei gains independence from the United Kingdom
• 1984 New York City transit fares rise from 75 cents to 90 cents
• 1984 World's largest residence for a head of state, Istana Nurul Iman, is completed as the home of the Brunei royal family, covering over 200,000 square meters
• 1985 'Nordu.net' is registered as the world's first domain name on the internet
• 1985 Ernest Harrison makes the first British mobile phone call to his father; Ernie Wise makes the first public mobile call hours later to Vodafone
• 1985 International Youth Year begins
• 1985 The first mandatory seat belt law in the US comes into effect in New York
• 1985 VH1 makes its broadcasting debut
• 1986 Aruba gains independence from the Netherlands Antilles
• 1986 International Peace Year begins (declared by the UN on October 24, 1985)
• 1986 New York City transit fare rises from 90 cents to $1.00
• 1986 Spain and Portugal are the 11th and 12th countries to join the European Economic Community
• 1986 The South African government closes its borders with Lesotho, cutting off important food and fuel supplies after Lesotho refuses to sign a non-aggression pact
• 1987 60 bodies are recovered from the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico
• 1987 China's rudimentary civil code, General Principles of the Civil Law, comes into effect
• 1987 International Year of Shelter for the Homeless begins
• 1988 Czech-born tennis star Hana Mandlíková becomes an Australian Citizen
• 1988 Year of the Reader begins
• 1989 Year of the Young Reader begins

1st African American NY Mayor

1990 David Dinkins is sworn in as the first African American mayor of New York City

• 1990 New York City transit fare rises from $1.00 to $1.15
• 1990 Sports News Network begins operation on cable TV
• 1990 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implements "SYNDEX," granting independent stations more rights over cable TV outlets for exclusive syndicated programs
• 1991 5% sales tax on consumer goods and services goes into effect in the USSR

Iraq Rejects Peace

1991 Iraq rejects a peace proposal from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak regarding the occupation of Kuwait

Secretary General Boutros-Ghali

1992 Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt begins his term as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations

• 1992 Curaçao becomes the first in the Dutch Antilles to implement compulsory education
• 1992 International Space Year begins
• 1992 New York City transit fare increases from $1.15 to $1.25
• 1992 The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is renamed the Russian Federation, becoming the successor state to the Soviet Union
• 1993 "Farewell My Concubine," directed by Chen Kaige from a novel by Lilian Lee, starring Leslie Cheung, Zhang Fengyi, and Gong Li, premieres in Hong Kong (wins Cannes Palme d'Or 1993)
• 1993 Cigarette advertisements are banned in New York City's M.T.A.
• 1993 Czechoslovakia separates into the Czech Republic and Slovakia
• 1993 The 12-member European Economic Area sets up a vast free trade zone
• 1994 Aleksandr Popov swims a world record 100m freestyle of 47.83 seconds
• 1994 International Year of the Family begins (declared by the UN on December 9, 1989)
• 1994 Jacobs Field opens with "Gateway's New Year's Eve Countdown to '94"
• 1994 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect
• 1994 The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates 12 days of armed conflict in the Mexican State of Chiapas
• 1995 Centennial of the Canadian Mounties' presence in Canada's Yukon Territory
• 1995 Fernando Henrique Cardoso is installed as the president of Brazil
• 1995 International Year for Tolerance is declared by the UN on November 16, 1995
• 1995 Last "The Far Side" by cartoonist Gary Larson (started 1980)
• 1995 The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves
• 1995 Treaty of Accession: Austria, Finland, and Sweden join the European Union
• 1996 After 27 years, Betty Rubble debuts as a Flintstone chewable vitamin character
• 1996 Curaçao gains a limited form of self-rule (Status Aparte)
• 1997 The Republic of Zaire officially joins the World Trade Organization as Zaire
• 1998 A paper published by Bryony Coles highlights the submerged land between Britain and Europe in the modern North Sea as a once crucial inhabited landmass and names it Doggerland [1]
• 1998 All California bars, clubs, and card rooms are required to be smoke-free
• 1998 Mongolia switches from a 46-hour to a 40-hour workweek
• 1998 Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence
• 1998 The US Census Bureau estimates the population at 268,921,733
• 1999 Euro currency is introduced to world financial markets
• 1999 International Year of Older Persons (declared by the UN on October 1, 1998)
• 2000 Gisborne, New Zealand, with a population of approximately 32,754, is the first city in the world to welcome the new Millennium

Santa Maria Maggiore

2000 Opening of the Holy Doors of Santa Maria Maggiore by Pope John Paul II in Rome to celebrate the new millennium

• 2002 Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states
• 2002 Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization as Chinese Taipei
• 2002 The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force

Musharraf Elected

2004 General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 of 1,170 votes in a confidence vote by the Electoral College and is deemed elected President under the Constitution of Pakistan

• 2004 St. Louis head coach Joel Quenneville records his 300th NHL win with the Blues, a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Savvis Center, St. Louis; Quenneville is the Blues coaching games and wins leader
• 2006 Sydney, Australia, swelters through its hottest New Year's Day on record, with the temperature peaking at 45.8 degrees Celsius, sparking bushfires and power outages
• 2007 Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board
• 2007 Bulgaria and Romania officially join the European Union
• 2007 Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the European Union, joining 20 other official languages
• 2007 Slovenia officially adopts the euro currency and becomes the 13th member of the Eurozone
• 2008 A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples comes into effect
• 2008 Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the euro, becoming the 14th and 15th countries in the eurozone
• 2009 67 people die and 222 are injured in a nightclub fire at Santika Club in Bangkok, Thailand
• 2009 Slovakia officially adopts the euro, becoming the 16th country in the eurozone

Taiwan Adopts Hanyu Pinyin

2009 The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) adopts Hanyu Pinyin as its official Chinese romanization system; before this time, the most commonly used system is Tongyong Pinyin

• 2010 New FINA rules re competition swimsuits come into effect; all body-length swimsuits banned; men's suits to maximally cover from the waist to knee, and women's from shoulder to knee; fabric must be a "textile" or woven material
• 2010 Suicide car bomb detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100
• 2012 Philip Glass' Symphony No. 9 premieres with the Bruckner Orchester Linz conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, at Brucknerhaus in Linz, Austria
• 2013 10 people are killed, and 120 are injured in a stampede in Luanda, Angola
• 2013 61 people are killed and 200 are injured after a stampede following New Year celebrations in Abidjan
• 2013 A US bi-partisan deal temporarily avoids the fiscal cliff
• 2013 An airstrike by the Colombian military kills 13 FARC members
• 2013 Bus and mini-bus collision in Thiès, Senegal, kills 40 people

• 2013 Nigerian military kills 13 Boko Haram members in Maiduguri
• 2013 Phil Taylor claims his 16th and last PDC World Darts Championship title with a 7–4 victory over Dutchman Michael van Gerwen in the final in London
• 2014 Dutchman Michael van Gerwen wins his first PDC World Darts Championship, defeating Peter Wright of Scotland 7-4; it is the first time no Englishman has been in the final
• 2014 New Zealand cricket batsman Corey Anderson smashes a record century off just 36 balls in the Black Caps' 159-run ODI win over the West Indies in Queenstown, finishing on 131 not out off 47 balls
• 2015 Lithuania adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the Litas and becoming the 19th member of the Eurozone
• 2015 The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan
• 2016 After floods along the Mississippi River kill 31 people, Exxon Mobil Corp decides to close a plant in flood-threatened Memphis
• 2016 Dubai skyscraper "The Address" burns as the New Year is rung in; the fire starts on New Year's Eve

Secretary General Guterres

2017 Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres becomes the United Nations Secretary-General, replacing South Korean Ban Ki-moon

• 2017 Vidarbha wins its first Ranji Trophy title in its first final appearance in 61 years, beating Delhi by 9 wickets in Indore; medium pacer Rajneesh Gurbani stars with the ball, taking 6 wickets
• 2018 An initiative of 300 Hollywood women called "Time's Up" announces a fight against sexual harassment
• 2018 California becomes the largest US state to legalize cannabis for recreational use

Iranian Protests

2018 Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says recent unrest "is nothing" after 30 people are killed in five days of anti-government demonstrations

• 2018 Japanese actress and former adult video star Sora Aoi announces her engagement
• 2018 Javier Bardem becomes the ambassador of Greenpeace for the protection of Antarctica
• 2018 World Darts Championship: Retired 16-time titleholder Phil Taylor loses 7-2 to fellow Englishman Rob Cross in the final at Alexandra Palace, London
• 2019 Dutchman Michael van Gerwen wins his 3rd PDC World Darts Championship; beats Englishman Michael Smith 7-3 at the Alexandra Palace in London

• 2019 Millions of women create a 385-mile 'Women's Wall' across the state of Kerala, India, in support of women's access to the Sabarimala temple
• 2019 Qatar introduces a 100% tax on alcohol and other "health-damaging goods," doubling the price of alcohol, tobacco, energy drinks, and pork in the oil-rich, predominantly Muslim nation
• 2019 Qatar withdraws from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after 57 years of membership
• 2019 Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria
• 2020 Pro-Iranian protesters end siege of US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq
• 2020 Scotland's Peter Wright beats Dutch defending champion Michael Van Gerwen 7-3 with a 102.79 average, 34 x 140s, 11 maximums, and 53% on doubles to seal his first PDC World Darts Championship in London
• 2021 Cuba's "day zero" unifies its two currencies by withdrawing the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), alongside steep increases in prices and salaries, effectively devaluing the remaining Cuban Peso for the first time since 1959 [1]
• 2021 The African Continental Free Trade Area, signed by 54 countries, comes into effect largely symbolically, with complete implementation expected to take years [1]
• 2022 Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan becomes the first player in NBA history to hit buzzer-beaters on consecutive days; he hits 3-pointers to beat the Washington Wizards 120-119 and the previous night the Indiana Pacers 108-106

Desmond Tutu's Funeral

2022 State funeral is held in Cape Town, South Africa, for anti-apartheid leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu

• 2023 Avenger's actor Jeremy Renner is accidentally run over by a snowplow, breaking more than 30 bones in his body near Reno, Nevada [1]
• 2023 Croatia adopts the euro, becoming the 20th member of the eurozone, and also joins the Schengen Area

• 2024 A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes Japan's western coast, killing an estimated 120 people and injuring more than 100
• 2024 Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE become BRICS members
• 2024 Ethiopia makes a controversial deal with Somaliland to lease part of its coastline, including becoming the first country to recognise it as a separate country from Somalia [1]
• 2025 A 42-year-old American army veteran plows through a New Year's Eve celebration on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in a rented pick-up truck; 14 people die, dozens are injured, and the driver is killed in a shoot-out with police [1]
• 2025 Bulgaria and Romania join the Schengen Area, lifting land border controls
• 2025 Fire destroys most of Ghana's Kantamanto Market in Accra, one of the world's largest secondhand clothing markets [1]
• 2025 Liechtenstein becomes the 37th country to legalize same-sex marriage
• 2025 Ukraine stops the flow of Russian gas, ending its transit agreement with Gazprom, cutting off gas supply to Transnistria, a separatist region of eastern Moldova [1]