Events in History

  • Jan 1 World Communications Year begins
  • Jan 1 TCP/IP protocols become the only approved protocol on the ARPANET, replacing the earlier NCP protocol
  • Jan 2 Gary Trudeau takes a 20-month break from writing “Doonesbury”
  • Jan 2 Several African National Congress (ANC) members detained in Swaziland decide to leave the country voluntarily for Mozambique.
  • Jan 4 US Football League holds its 1st player draft

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 7 President Reagan ends US arms embargo against Guatemala

US President & Actor Ronald Reagan
US President & Actor
Ronald Reagan

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 9 British PM Margaret Thatcher visits Falkland Islands

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
  • Jan 15 Dutch political party DS’70 disbands
  • Jan 15 Thom Syles keeps a life saver intact in his mouth for over 7 hours

Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jan 17 Alabama Governor George Wallace, becomes governor for a record 4th time

Governor of Alabama and Segregationist George Wallace
Governor of Alabama and Segregationist
George Wallace
  • Jan 17 Nigeria expels 2 million illegal aliens, mostly Ghanaians

Event of interestEvent of Interest

qatar airways

Jan 19 Klaus Barbie, SS chief in Lyon in Nazi-occupied France, arrested in Bolivia

Gestapo Chief Klaus Barbie
Gestapo Chief
Klaus Barbie

MurderMurder of Interest

Jan 20 American gangster Roy DeMeo is found murdered in his car trunk after disappearing a few days earlier

Gangster Roy DeMeo
Gangster
Roy DeMeo
  • Jan 21 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to Anthony E Hecht
  • Jan 21 President Reagan certifies El Salvador human-rights abuses have decreased making country eligible for US military aid
  • Jan 22 2nd flight readiness firing of Challenger’s main engines; 22 seconds
  • Jan 23 Cerebral Palsy telethon raises $14.7 million
  • Jan 23 Russian radioactive satellite falls into Indian Ocean
  • Jan 23 Schone skates ladies world record 5 km (7:40.97)
  • Jan 25 China’s supreme court commutes Chiang Ch’ing’s death sentence to life
  • Jan 25 Infrared telescope satellite launched into polar orbit
  • Jan 25 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia
  • Jan 26 Dutch British infrared satellite IRAS launched from California
  • Jan 27 Seikan Tunnel, the world’s longest tunnel with an underwater segment (53.90 km in total) opens connecting Honshu-Hokkaido. The Channel Tunnel remains the longest underwater tunnel.
  • Jan 31 In an effort to reduce driving deaths, a new law in UK requires drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seatbelts

Birthdays in History

 

Person of interestKim Jong-un

Jan 8 Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea (2011-), born in Pyongyang, North Korea

Supreme Leader and Dictator of North Korea Kim Jong-un
Supreme Leader and Dictator of North Korea
Kim Jong-un
  • Jan 10 Li Nina, Chinese aerial free-style skier, born in Benxi, China
  • Jan 22 Robert Steinhäuser, German perpetrator of the Erfurt massacre (d. 2002)

Deaths in History

  • Jan 7 August Cool, Belgian trade union leader, dies at 79
  • Jan 8 Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
  • Jan 8 Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter pilot (b. 1919)

MurderRoy DeMeo

Jan 10 Roy DeMeo, American gangster (Gambino crime family), murdered at 40

Gangster Roy DeMeo
Gangster
Roy DeMeo
  • Jan 11 Nikolaj V Podgorny, president USSR, dies at 79
  • Jan 11 Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist and educator, dies at 88
  • Jan 13 D Mack Reynolds, American writer (Amazon Planet, Once Departed), dies

Person of interestMeyer Lansky

Jan 15 Meyer Lansky, Polish-born American mobster known as the “Mob’s Accountant”, dies of lung cancer at 80

Mobster Meyer Lansky
Mobster
Meyer Lansky
  • Jan 28 Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (the shortest-serving prime minister in Australia’s history-8 days), dies at 92
  • Jan 30 Mack Reynolds, American sci-fi author (Earth War), dies at 65
  • Jan 30 Alan Cunningham, British general and last High Commissioner of Palestine (1945-48), dies at 95

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