January 1

JANUARY IS…
National Blood Donor Month
National Braille Literacy Month
National Hobby Month
Hot Tea Month
National Oatmeal Month
National Soup Month

Today it’s New Year’s Day

ON THIS DAY…

45BC The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time
0404 The last known gladiator competition in Rome takes place
1600 Scotland begins using the Julian calendar
1660 Samuel Pepys begins his famous diary
1673 Regular mail delivery begins between New York and Boston
1700 Russia replaces Byzantine with Julian calendar
1772 The first traveler’s cheques go on sale in London for the first time
1788 The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published
1788 The Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves
1797 Albany replaces Kingston as the capital of New York State
1800 The Dutch East India Company ceases to exist
1801 The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
1801 The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi
1808 The importation of slaves into the United States is banned
1818 Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is published
1852 The first U.S. public bath opens in New York City
1863 The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory
1880 The building of the Panama Canal begins
1881 Dr. John Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes (according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
1890 The first Tournament of Roses is held in Pasadena, CA
1892 Annie Moore, a fifteen-year-old Irish girl, is the first immigrant who would pass through the doors of the Ellis Island Immigration Station
1901 Australia declares independence from Federation of UK colonies
1902 The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, CA
1906 Dutch law makes driver’s license mandatory
1907 President Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in one day
1908 For the first time a ball signifying the new year is dropped in Times Square
1912 The Republic of China is established
1912 The first running of San Francisco’s “Bay to Breakers” marathon
1913 The US Post Office begins parcel post deliveries
1919 Edsel Ford succeeded his father, Henry Ford, as president of the Ford Motor Company
1922 In Vancouver, BC, motorists begin driving on the right side of road
1923 Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is established
1925 Norway’s capital Christiania changes name to Oslo
1928 The first US air-conditioned office building opens in San Antonio, TX
1934 Alcatraz Island officially becomes a United States Federal Prison
1934 Nazi Germany passes the “Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring”
1939 William Hewlett and David Packard found Hewlett-Packard
1946 Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god
1947 Britain nationalizes its coal industry
1948 British railways are nationalized to form British Rail
1956 Elvis Presley records “Heartbreak Hotel” in Nashville
1962 United States Navy SEALs are established
1962 The Beatles unsuccessfully audition for Decca Records
1966 All US cigarette packs are now to carry “Caution Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health” warning
1971 Cigarette advertisements are banned on American TV
1983 The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet
1985 The Internet’s Domain Name System is created
1985 The first British mobile phone call is made by comedian Ernie Wise to Vodafone
1985 VH-1 makes its broadcasting debut
1985 The first mandatory seatbelt law in the US goes into effect in NY
1995 The last “Far Side” cartoon by Gary Larson runs in US newspapers
1996 After 27 years, Betty Rubble debuts as a Flintstone vitamin
1998 All California bars, clubs and card rooms must now be smoke-free
1999 The Euro currency is introduced
2002 Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union’s member states

BORN:

1449 Lorenzo de’ Medici, ruler of Florence (1469-1492)
1735 Paul Revere, American patriot/silversmith
1752 Betsy Ross, seamstress
1779 William Clowes, English printer
1864 George Washington Carver, educator
1868 Snitz Edwards, actor (The Thief of Bagdad, Seven Chances)
1879 E. M. Forster, novelist (Howard’s End, Room with a View)
1891 Charles Bickford, actor (Little Miss Marker, Duel in the Sun)
1895 J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director
1900 Xavier Cugat, musician (“Papa Loves Mambo,” “Cuban Love Song”)
1909 Dana Andrews, actor (The Best Years of Our Lives, The Ox-Bow Incident)
1912 Kim Philby, British spy/double-agent and defector to the Soviet Union
1912 Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, mathematician remembered for his contribution to the study of probability theory
1919 J. D. Salinger, novelist (Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey)
1922 Rocky Graziano, World Middleweight Boxing Champion (1947-48>
1925 Matthew “Stymie” Beard, actor (Our Gang)
1933 Joe Orton, playwright (Loot, What the Butler Saw, Entertaining Mr Sloane)
1940 Frank Langella, actor (Dracula, The Ninth Gate)
1943 Don Novello [Father Guido Sarducci/László Tóth], actor (Saturday Night Live, Tucker: The Man and His Dream)
1946 Rick Hurst, actor (The Dukes of Hazzard, Steel Magnolias)
1958 Grandmaster Flash, hip hop pioneer (“White Lines,” “Beat Street”)
1961 Mark Wingett, actor (The Bill, Quadrophenia)
1962 Sophie Thompson, actress (EastEnders, Emma)
1962 Richard Roxburgh, actor (Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing)
1969 Verne Troyer, actor (Austin Powers in Goldmember, Harry Potter)
1969 Sophie Okonedo, actress (Doctor Who: “Scream of the Shalka”, Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker)
1972 Neve McIntosh, actress (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Bodies)
1977 Keeley Hawes, actress (Spooks, Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story)
1981 Jonas Armstrong, actor (Robin Hood, The Ghost Squad)

DIED:

1952 Hank Williams, musician/songwriter (“Lonesome Blues,” “Honky Tonk Blues”), dies at 29
1960 Margaret Sullavan, actress (The Shop Around the Corner, The Shining Hour), commits suicide at 48
1969 Ian Flemming, actor (School for Scandal, The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes), dies at 80
1972 Maurice Chevalier, actor/singer (Gigi, Fanny), dies at 83
1981 Beulah Bondi, character actress (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Penny Serenade), dies at 92
1982 Victor Buono, actor (The Greatest Story Ever Told, Robin and the 7 Hoods), dies of a heart attack at 43
1992 Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, computer scientist who developed the first compiler for a computer programming language, dies at 85
1994 Cesar Romero, actor (Batman, The Thin Man) dies at 86
1995 Fred West, British serial killer, commits suicide in prison at 53
2000 Marc Davis, Disney cartoonist/designer of the Pirates of the Carribean ride, dies at 86
2001 Ray Walston, two-time Emmy Award-winning actor (Picket Fences, South Pacific, My Favorite Martian), dies at 86
2002 Jack Haldeman, biologist/SF author (Vector Analysis, Echoes of Thunder), dies at 61