January 26

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

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 hit by an earthquake--thousands die.
1564 - The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
1565 - Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
1589 - Jove (Patriarch Jove) is elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
1699 - Treaty of Carlowitz signed.
1700 - The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the west coast of the North America, 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 Sydney, 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.
1920 - Former Ford Motor Co. executive Henry Leland launches The Lincoln Motor Co., which he'd later sell to his former employer.
1930 - The Indian National Congress declares 26 th January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence)
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.
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.
1980 - Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
1983 - Lotus 1-2-3 is released.
1986 - Halley's Comet is visible in the night sky as it passes in its 76-year orbit around the sun.
1991 - Mohamed Siad Barre is removed in Somalia, ending centralized government
1992 - Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
1993 - Václav Havel elected President of the Czech Republic.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
2000 - Robert F. Vasa ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Baker.
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.
2004 - President Hamid Karzai signed the new constitution of Afghanistan.
2005 - Three trains crash , killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California near Los Angeles.
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.
2006 - A large fire breaks out on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa.
2006 - Western Union discontinues use of its telegram service.

Births

1497 - Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
1541 - Florent Chrestien, French writer (d. 1596)
1714 - Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (d. 1785)
1716 - George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and politician (d. 1785)
1722 - Alexander Carlyle, Scottish church leader (d. 1805)
1763 - King Charles XIV of Sweden, Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Napoleonic general (d. 1844)
1781 - Achim von Arnim, German poet (d. 1831)
1813 - Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican founding father (d. 1876)
1826 - Julia Dent Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)
1857 - the 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
1880 - Douglas MacArthur, American general (d. 1964)
1891 - Frank Costello, Italian-born gangster (d. 1973)
1892 - Zara Cully, American actress (d. 1978)
1900 - Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
1901 - Stuart Symington, American politician (d. 1988)
1902 - Menno ter Braak, Dutch author and polemicist (d. 1940)
1904 - Ancel Keys, American scientist (d. 2004)
1904 - Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1988)
1905 - Charles Lane, American actor
1905 - Maria von Trapp, Austrian-born singer (d. 1987)
1908 - Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (d. 1997)
1911 - Polykarp Kusch, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
1913 - James Van Heusen, American songwriter (d. 1990)
1914 - Princess Hadice Hayriye Ayshe Dürrühsehvar (d. 2006)
1915 - William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
1918 - Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989)
1918 - Philip José Farmer, American writer
1921 - Akio Morita, Japanese businessman (d. 1999)
1922 - Michael Bentine, British comedian (d. 1996)
1923 - Anne Jeffreys, American actress
1924 - Rauf Denktash, Cypriot politician
1924 - Annette Strauss, philanthropist and Mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1998)
1924 - Alice Babs, Swedish singer
1925 - Joan Leslie, American actress
1925 - Paul Newman, American actor
1927 - José Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
1928 - Roger Vadim, French film director and actor (d. 2000)
1929 - Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist and writer
1932 - Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, Jamaican record producer
1933 - Ercole Baldini, Italian cyclist
1935 - Bob Uecker, baseball player, broadcaster, and actor
1937 - Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leone political leader (d. 2003)
1941 - Scott Glenn, American actor
1941 - Henry Jaglom, English director
1943 - César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 2005)
1943 - Jean Knight, American singer
1944 - Angela Davis, American feminist and activist
1945 - Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
1946 - Gene Siskel, American film critic (d. 1999)
1949 - Jonathan Carroll, American author
1950 - Janet Lupo, American model
1953 - Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of Denmark
1953 - Lucinda Williams, American singer
1955 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-born musician
1958 - Anita Baker, American singer
1958 - Ellen DeGeneres, American actress, comedian, and talk show host
1958 - Salvador Sánchez, Mexican boxer
1961 - Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey player, coach, and team owner
1962 - Oscar Ruggeri, Argentine footballer
1963 - José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
1963 - Andrew Ridgeley, English musician
1963 - James May, British writer
1965 - Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet gymnast
1970 - Kirk Franklin, American singer
1971 - Dorian Gregory, American actor
1976 - Frankie Rayder, American model
1976 - Maggie Lawson, Australian Musician
1977 - Vince Carter, American basketball player
1977 - Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player
1978 - Corina Morariu, American tennis player
1978 - Kelly Stables, American actress
1979 - Sara Rue, American actress
1986 - Matt Heafy, Japenese-born musician (Trivium)
1986 - Shantelle Taylor, Canadian professional wrestler
1989 - Emily Hughes, American figure skater
1993 - Cameron Bright, Canadian actor
1995 - Kyle Chavarria, American actress

Deaths

1567 - Nicholas Wotton, English diplomat
1630 - Henry Briggs, English mathematician (b. 1556)
1636 - Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552)
1697 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (b. 1640)
1744 - Ludwig Andreas Graf Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683)
1750 - Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist (b. 1686)
1795 - Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (b. 1732)
1799 - Gabriel Christie, British general (b. 1722)
1823 - Edward Jenner, English physician (b. 1749)
1824 - Théodore Géricault, French painter (b. 1791)
1855 - Gérard de Nerval, French writer (b. 1808)
1870 - Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie, French statesman and diplomat (b. 1785)
1885 - Edward Davy, English inventor, physician, and scientist (b. 1806)
1885 - Charles George Gordon, British general (b. 1833)
1886 - David Rice Atchison, American politician (b. 1807)
1891 - Nikolaus August Otto, German inventor (b. 1833)
1893 - Abner Doubleday, American general and inventor of baseball (b. 1819)
1942 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (b. 1868)
1943 - Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (b. 1880)
1943 - Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist (b. 1887)
1947 - Grace Moore, American soprano (plane crash) (b. 1898)
1947 - Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Westrobothnia, second in line to the Swedish throne (b. 1906)
1952 - Horloogiyn Choybalsan, leader of Mongolia (b. 1895)
1961 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (b. 1900)
1962 - Lucky Luciano, American mobster (b. 1897)
1968 - Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher, and aviation promoter (b. 1883)
1968 - Yvor Winters, American poet and critic (b. 1900)
1973 - Edward G. Robinson, American actor (b. 1893)
1979 - Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
1983 - Stjefen Kolcaj, American-Albanian Artist (b. 1913)
1984 - Paul "Bear" Bryant, American football coach (b. 1913)
1990 - Lewis Mumford, American historian (b. 1895)
1992 - José Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (b. 1912)
1993 - Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader (b. 1905)
1993 - Jeanne Sauvé, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1922)
1996 - Harold Brodkey, American author (b. 1930)
1996 - Dave Schultz, American wrestler (b. 1959)
1997 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (b. 1904)
1998 - Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher (b. 1898)
2000 - Don Budge, American tennis player (b. 1915)
2000 - Kathleen Hale, British author (b. 1898)
2000 - A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-born author (b. 1912)
2001 - Al McGuire, American basketball coach (b. 1928)
2003 - Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (b. 1942)
2003 - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
2003 - George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (b. 1931)
2004 - Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
2004 - Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979)

Holidays and observances

Australia - Australia Day.
Roman Empire - third day of the Sementivae in honor of Ceres and Terra.
Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church:
India - Republic Day - One of only three state holidays in India, celebrated with pomp and a military parade in New Delhi.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Uganda - Liberation Day.
International Customs Day.

External links

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

Days

Gourt Home::Gourt :: January 26

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links