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This day in history

This day in history: 5 January

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

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Key facts

352 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 5 January.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2024: Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 makes an emergency landing at Portland International Airport after a door plug blows off the Boeing 737 MAX 9 operating the flight. There are no fatalities, but the accident prompts the 737 MAX to be grounded and

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast day: Charles of Mount Argus

Christian Feast day: January 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian Feast day: John Neumann (Catholic Church)

Christian Feast day: Pope Telesphorus

Christian Feast day: Simeon Stylites (Latin Church)

Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival (Harbin, China)

Joma Shinji (Japan)

National Bird Day (United States)

The Twelfth day of Christmas and the Twelfth Night of Christmas. (Western Christianity)

Events

2024Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 makes an emergency landing at Portland International Airport after a door plug blows off the Boeing 737 MAX 9 operating the flight. There are no fatalities, but the accident prompts the 737 MAX to be grounded and

2023The 2023 Sinaloa unrest begins.

2022Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismisses Prime Minister Asqar Mamin and declares state of emergency over the 2022 Kazakh unrest.

2014A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine.

2005The dwarf planet Eris is discovered by Palomar Observatory-based astronomers, later motivating the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to define the term planet for the first time.

2003A suicide bombing at the Tel Aviv central bus station kills 23 people and injures over 100 more.

1993The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.

1991Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–92 South Ossetia War.

1991Somali Civil War: The United States Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu is evacuated by helicopter airlift days after the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu.

1976The Khmer Rouge announce that the new Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea is ratified.

1976The Troubles: Gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK, allegedly as retaliation for a string of attacks on Irish Catholic civilians in the area by Loyalists

1975The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.

1972US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.

1970A Spantax Convair CV-990 Coronado crashes during takeoff from Stockholm Arlanda Airport, killing five people.

1970The 7.1 Mw Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Between 10,000 and 15,000 people are known to have been killed and about another 26,000 are injured.

1969Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes in Fernhill, West Sussex, UK, while on approach to Gatwick Airport, killing 50 people.

1969The Venera 5 space probe is launched at 06:28:08 UTC from Baikonur.

1968Alexander Dubček comes to power in Czechoslovakia, effectively beginning the "Prague Spring".

1967Cultural Revolution: The Shanghai People's Commune is established following the seizure of power from local city officials by revolutionaries.

1957In a speech given to the United States Congress, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces the establishment of what will later be called the Eisenhower Doctrine.

1953The play Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett receives its première in Paris.

1949In his State of the Union address, United States President Harry S. Truman unveils his Fair Deal program.

1948The Semiramis Hotel bombing kills at least 23 people.

1945The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland.

1944The Daily Mail becomes the first major London newspaper to be published on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

1941Amy Johnson, a 37-year-old pilot and the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia, disappears after bailing out of her plane over the River Thames, and is presumed dead.

1933Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.

1925Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female governor in the United States.

1919The German Workers' Party, which would become the Nazi Party, is founded in Munich.

1914The Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and minimum daily wage of $5 in salary plus bonuses.

1913First Balkan War: The Battle of Lemnos begins; Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it did not venture for the rest of the war.

1912The sixth All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Prague Party Conference) opens. In the course of the conference, Vladimir Lenin and his supporters break from the rest of the party to form the Bolshevik moveme

1911Kappa Alpha Psi, the world's third-oldest and largest black fraternity, is founded at Indiana University.

1900Irish nationalist leader John Edward Redmond calls for revolt against British rule.

1895Dreyfus affair: French army officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

1875The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated in Paris.

1822The government of Central America votes for total annexation to the First Mexican Empire.

1781American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by former American general Benedict Arnold.

1757Louis XV of France survives an assassination attempt by Robert-François Damiens, who becomes the last person to be executed in France by drawing and quartering (the traditional form of capital punishment used for regicides).

1675Battle of Colmar: The French army defeats forces from Austria and Brandenburg.

Born on this day

2009Walker Scobell, American actor

2004Shane Wright, Canadian ice hockey player

2001Ellis Simms, English footballer

2001Mykhailo Mudryk, Ukrainian footballer

2000Gastón Martirena, Uruguayan footballer

1999Filip Ugrinić, Swiss footballer

1999Mattias Svanberg, Swedish footballer

1998Carles Aleñá, Spanish footballer

1998Corey Horsburgh, Australian rugby league player

1997Jesús Vallejo, Spanish footballer

1996James Fisher-Harris, New Zealand rugby league player

1996Nicolás Tripichio, Argentine footballer

1996Tyler Ulis, American basketball player and coach

1995Toafofoa Sipley, New Zealand rugby league player

1994Gustavo Scarpa, Brazilian footballer

1994Lachlan Fitzgibbon, Australian rugby league player

1994Matt Grzelcyk, American ice hockey player

1994Tyrone Phillips, Australian rugby league player

1994Zemgus Girgensons, Latvian ice hockey player

1993Franz Drameh, English actor

1993Phillip Dorsett, American football player

1993Stefan Rzadzinski, Canadian race car driver

1992Mike Faist, American actor, singer, and dancer

1992Suki Waterhouse, English actress, singer-songwriter, and model

1991Denis Alibec, Romanian footballer

1991Eric Fisher, American football player

1990C. J. Cron, American baseball player

1990José Iglesias, Cuban-American baseball player

1990José Luis Palomino, Argentine footballer

1990Leroy Fer, Dutch footballer

1990Mark Nicholls, Australian rugby league player

1989Eduardo Escobar, Venezuelan-American baseball player

1989Krisztián Németh, Hungarian footballer

1988Azizulhasni Awang, Malaysian track cyclist

1988Luke Daniels, English footballer

1988Mandip Gill, English actress

1988Miroslav Raduljica, Serbian basketball player

1988Nikola Kalinić, Croatian footballer

1987Alexander Salák, Czech ice hockey player

1987Brian Mushana Kwesiga, Ugandan-born entrepreneur, engineer, and civic leader

Died on this day

2025Costas Simitis, Greek economist, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (born 1936)

2025Mike Rinder, Australian-American former Scientologist, critic (born 1955)

2024Joseph Lelyveld, American journalist and executive editor of The New York Times (born 1937)

2024Mário Zagallo, Brazilian footballer and manager (born 1931)

2022Kim Mi-soo, South Korean actress and model (born 1992)

2021Colin Bell, English footballer (born 1946)

2021John Georgiadis, English violinist and composer (born 1939)

2020Tafazzul Haque Habiganji, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar and politician (born 1938)

2019Bernice Sandler, American women's rights activist (born 1928)

2019Dragoslav Šekularac, Serbian footballer and manager (born 1937)

2018Asghar Khan, Pakistani three star general and politician (born 1921)

2018Karin von Aroldingen, German ballerina (born 1941)

2018Thomas Bopp, American astronomer best known as the co-discoverer of comet Hale–Bopp (born 1949)

2017Jill Saward, English rape victim and activist (born 1965)

2016Pierre Boulez, French pianist, composer, and conductor (born 1925)

2015Bernard Joseph McLaughlin, American bishop (born 1912)

2015Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French racing driver and motorcycle racer (born 1937)

2014Carmen Zapata, American actress (born 1927)

2014Eusébio, Mozambican-Portuguese footballer and manager (born 1942)

2013Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Pakistani scholar and politician (born 1938)

2012Frederica Sagor Maas, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (born 1900)

2012Isaac Díaz Pardo, Spanish painter and sculptor (born 1920)

2010Kenneth Noland, American painter (born 1924)

2010Willie Mitchell, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer (born 1928)

2009Griffin Bell, American lawyer and politician, 72nd United States Attorney General (born 1918)

2007Momofuku Ando, Taiwanese-Japanese businessman and inventor, founded Nissin Foods (born 1910)

2006Merlyn Rees, Welsh educator and politician, Home Secretary (born 1920)

2004Norman Heatley, English biologist and chemist, co-developed penicillin (born 1911)

2003Félix Loustau, Argentine footballer (born 1922)

2003Roy Jenkins, Welsh politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1920)

Quote of the day

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.”

attributed to Marcus Aurelius

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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