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This day in history

This day in history: 4 January

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day196 · 99

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Key facts

341 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 4 January.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2019: A fire in an escape room in Koszalin, Poland, kills five teenagers through carbon monoxide poisoning.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Angela of Foligno

Christian feast day: Elizabeth Ann Seton

Christian feast day: Ferréol of Uzès

Christian feast day: January 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Mavilus

Christian feast day: Pharaildis of Ghent

Christian feast day: Rigobert

Colonial Martyrs Repression Day (Angola)

Day of the Martyrs (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Independence Day (Myanmar), celebrates the independence of Myanmar from the United Kingdom in 1948.

Ogoni Day (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People)

The eleventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Western Christianity)

Events

2019A fire in an escape room in Koszalin, Poland, kills five teenagers through carbon monoxide poisoning.

2018Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash: A passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collides with a truck on a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad, Free State, South Africa. Twenty people are killed and 260 injured.

2013A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.

2010The Burj Khalifa, the current tallest building in the world, officially opens in Dubai.

2008A Let L-410 Turbolet crashes in the Los Roques Archipelago in Venezuela, killing 14 people.

2007The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

2006Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke.

2004Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution.

2004Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

2000A Norwegian passenger train departing from Trondheim, collides with a local train coming from Hamar in Åsta in Åmot Municipality; 19 people are killed and 68 injured in the accident.

1999Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota, United States.

1998A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.

1990In Pakistan's deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries.

1989Second Gulf of Sidra incident: A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.

1987The Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.

1976The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen would shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation.

1975This date overflowed the 12-bit field that had been used in TOPS-10. There were numerous problems and crashes related to this bug while an alternative format was developed.

1972Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, UK.

1967The Doors released their eponymous debut album.

1965Aeroflot Flight 101/X-20 crashes on approach to Alma-Ata Airport, killing 64 people.

1959Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

1958Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, falls to Earth from orbit.

1956The Greek National Radical Union is formed by Konstantinos Karamanlis.

1951Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time.

1948Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic.

1946The first day of a three-day "disastrous" tornado outbreak across the south-central United States leaves 41 people dead and at least 412 others injured.

1944World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.

1918The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.

1912The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Empire by royal charter.

1909Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes.

1903Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy's death.

1896Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

1885Sino-French War: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing force at Núi Bop in northern Vietnam.

1884The Fabian Society is founded in London, United Kingdom.

1878Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule.

1863The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.

1854The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.

1853After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.

1844The first issue of the Swedish-languaged Saima newspaper founded by J. V. Snellman is published in Kuopio, Finland.

1798Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.

Born on this day

2006Marc Guiu, Spanish footballer

2005Dafne Keen, British-Spanish actress

2005Emil Højlund, Danish footballer

2005Oscar Højlund, Danish footballer

2005Rob Dillingham, American basketball player

2004Victor Wembanyama, French basketball player

2003Jaeden Martell, American actor

2003Kevin, Brazilian footballer

2002Vladyslav Vanat, Ukrainian footballer

2001Lola Young, English singer and songwriter

2001Odilon Kossounou, Ivorian footballer

2000Facundo Colidio, Argentine footballer

2000Max Aarons, English footballer

1999Collin Sexton, American basketball player

1999Daniel Arzani, Iranian-Australian footballer

1999Jaeman Salmon, Australian rugby league player

1999Jan-Niklas Beste, German footballer

1999Nico Hischier, Swiss ice hockey player

1999Wessam Abou Ali, Palestinian footballer

1998Arnoldas Kulboka, Lithuanian basketball player

1998Coco Jones, American singer-songwriter and actress

1998Liza Soberano, Filipina actress

1998Rodrigo Garro, Argentine footballer

1997Angeliño, Spanish footballer

1997Ante Žižić, Croatian basketball player

1996Jackson Hastings, Australian rugby league player

1996Jasmine Paolini, Italian tennis player

1996Marcus Ingvartsen, Danish footballer

1996Michael Dickson, Australian gridiron football player

1995Adam Webster, English footballer

1995Sarah Nurse, Canadian ice hockey player

1994Derrick Henry, American football player

1993James Michael McAdoo, American basketball player

1993Mahmoud Metwalli, Egyptian footballer

1992Kris Bryant, American baseball player

1992Quincy Promes, Dutch footballer

1991Charles Melton, American actor

1990Alberto Paloschi, Italian footballer

1990Iago Falque, Spanish footballer

1990Raisel Iglesias, Cuban baseball player

Died on this day

2026Michael Reagan, American political commentator (born 1945)

2025Ana Gligić, Serbian virologist (born 1934)

2024Christian Oliver, German actor (born 1972)

2024David Soul, American-British actor and singer (born 1943)

2024Glynis Johns, British actress and singer (born 1923)

2023Rosi Mittermaier, German alpine skier and Olympic champion (born 1950)

2021Tanya Roberts, American actress (born 1949)

2020Tom Long, Australian actor (born 1968)

2019Harold Brown, 14th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1927)

2017Georges Prêtre, French orchestral and opera conductor (born 1924)

2017Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and general manager (born 1918)

2016S. H. Kapadia, Indian lawyer, judge, and politician, 38th Chief Justice of India (born 1947)

2016Stephen W. Bosworth, American academic and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Korea (born 1939)

2015Pino Daniele, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1955)

2013Anwar Shamim, Pakistani general (born 1931)

2013Zoran Žižić, Montenegrin politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1951)

2012Eve Arnold, American photographer and journalist (born 1912)

2012Rod Robbie, English-Canadian architect, designed the Canadian Pavilion and Rogers Centre (born 1928)

2011Coen Moulijn, Dutch footballer (born 1937)

2011Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (born 1947)

2011Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisian street vendor who caused the Tunisian Revolution, which was the first revolution in the Arab Spring. (born 1984)

2011Salmaan Taseer, Pakistani businessman and politician, 26th Governor of Punjab, Pakistan (born 1944)

2010Johan Ferrier, Surinamese educator and politician, 1st President of Suriname (born 1910)

2010Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese engineer (born 1916)

2009Gert Jonke, Austrian poet, playwright, and author (born 1946)

2008Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist (born 1932)

2007Helen Hill, American director and producer (born 1970)

2007Marais Viljoen, South African politician, 5th State President of South Africa (born 1915)

2006Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet and academic (born 1912)

2006Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emirati politician, 1st Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (born 1946)

Quote of the day

“Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

Epictetus

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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