January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the first day of the Julian year by all Western European countries except England between about 1450 and 1600. The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in 1582 did not specify that January 1 was to be either New Year's Day or the first day of its numbered year. Although England began its numbered year on March 25 (Lady Day or Annunciation Day), between the 13th century and 1752, January 1 was called New Year's Day, and was, with Christmas and occasionally Twelfth Night, a holiday when gifts were exchanged. There are 364 days remaining (365 in leap years).
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Events
Pre-1900
Births
- 766 - Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (d. 818)
- 1431 - Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
- 1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman (d. 1492)
- 1484 - Huldreich Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (d. 1531)
- 1516 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, Queen of Sweden (d. 1551)
- 1618 - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter (d. 1682)
- 1735 - Paul Revere, American silversmith, patriot (d. 1818)
- 1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
- 1752 - Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d. 1836)
- 1804? - James Fannin, Texas Revolutionary (d. 1836)
- 1823 - Sándor Petöfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
- 1839 - Ouida, English writer (d. 1908)
- 1857 - Wojciech Kossak, painter (d. 1942)
- 1860 - George Washington Carver, American educator, inventor, botanist (d. 1943)
- 1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and pedagogue, initiator of modern Olympic Games (d. 1937)
- 1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
- 1874 - Gustave Whitehead, German-American inventor (d. 1927)
- 1876 - Harriet Brooks, physicist (d. 1933)
- 1878 - Yau Yokose, writer?
- 1879 - E. M. Forster, English novelist (d. 1970)
- 1887 - Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
- 1890 - Anton Melik, Slovene geographer (d. 1966)
- 1892 - Artur Rodzinski, Croatian conductor (d. 1958)
- 1894 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian mathematician (d. 1974)
- 1895 - J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director (d. 1972)
- 1897 - Makoto Tomioka, writer
- 1900 - Xavier Cugat, Catalan-Cuban musician, bandleader (d. 1990)
- 1904 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)
- 1906 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (d. 1974)
- 1909 - Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona Senator (d. 1998)
- 1909 - Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1911 - Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
- 1912 - Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
- 1917 - Jule Gregory Charney, meteorologist (d. 1981)
- 1917 - Albert Mol, Dutch actor (d. 2004)
- 1919 - J. D. Salinger, American novelist
- 1920 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer and songwriter (Quartetto Cetra)
- 1921 - Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American Muslim thinker, philosopher, and comparative religion scholar
- 1922 - Rocky Graziano, American boxer (d. 1990)
- 1925 - Stymie Beard, actor (d. 1981)
- 1927 - Doak Walker, American football star
- 1928 - Ernest Tidyman, American writer (d. 1984)
- 1931 - Chun Doo Hwan, president of South Korea
- 1933 - Frederick_Lowy, Canadian medical educator, ethicist, and university president
- 1933 - Joe Orton, English writer (d. 1967)
- 1940 - Helmut Jahn, German architect
- 1940 - Frank Langella American actor
- 1942 - Martin Frost, American politician
- 1942 - Country Joe McDonald, American musician, (Country Joe and the Fish)
- 1942 - Gennadi Sarafanov, cosmonaut
- 1943 - Don Novello, American actor, comedian, writer
- 1945 - Jacky Ickx, Belgian automobile racer
- 1958 - Grandmaster Flash, Barbados-born singer
- 1961 - Marcia Cross, American actress
- 1966 - Alison Doody, Irish actress
- 1966 - Michael Imperioli, American actor
- 1966 - Embeth Davidtz - American actress
- 1970 - Paul Thomas Anderson, American film director, writer, producer
- 1972 - Neve McIntosh, actress
- 1975 - Joe Cannon, American soccer player
- 1979 - Koichi Domoto, Japanese artist
- 1980 - Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
- 1981 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian Formula One racing driver
- 1982 - David Nalbandian, Argentine tennis player
Deaths
- 379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea (b. 330)
- 898 - Odo, Count of Paris (b. 860)
- 1515 - Louis XII of France (b. 1462)
- 1716 - William Wycherley, English dramatist (b. c. 1640)
- 1782 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
- 1817 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (b. 1743)
- 1892 - Roswell B. Mason, mayor of Chicago, IL (b. 1805)
- 1894 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (b. 1857)
- 1953 - Hank Williams, American country music singer (b. 1923)
- 1958 - Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
- 1960 - Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1972 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
- 1981 - Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)
- 1982 - Paul Belmondo, French sculptor
- 1986 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
- 1992 - Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b. 1906)
- 1994 - Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
- 1994 - Lord Arthur Espie Porritt, British athlete and physician; New Zealand Governor-General (b. 1900)
- 1995 - Fred West, British serial killer awaiting trial, hanged himself in prison (b. 1941)
- 1996 - Arleigh Burke, U.S. admiral (b. 1901)
- 1997 - Townes Van Zandt, musician (b. 1944)
- 1998 - Helen Wills Moody, tennis player (b. 1905)
- 2001 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Joe Foss, American politician, fighter pilot (b. 1915)
- 2005 - Shirley Chisholm, American politician, first black United States Congresswoman (b. 1924)
Holidays and observances
December 31 - January 2 - December 1 - February 1 -- listing of all days
af:01-01
ar:1 يناير
ast:1 de xineru
be:1 студзеня
bg:1 януари
bs:Januar 1
ca:1 de gener
cs:1. leden
cy:1 Ionawr
da:1. januar
de:1. Januar
et:1. jaanuar
el:1 Ιανουαρίου
es:1 de enero
eo:1-a de januaro
eu:Urtarrilaren 1
fo:1. januar
fr:1er janvier
fy:1 jannewaris
gl:1 de xaneiro
ko:1월 1일
hr:1. siječnja
hu:Január 1
ia:1 de januario
id:1 Januari
ie:1 januar
io:1 di januaro
is:1. janúar
it:1 gennaio
he:1 בינואר
ka:1 იან.
la:1 Ianuari
lt:Sausio 1
lb:1. Januar
nl:1 januari
ja:1月1日
no:1. januar
oc:1 de genièr
pl:1 stycznia
pt:1 de Janeiro
ro:1 ianuarie
ru:1 января
sk:1. január
sl:1. januar
fi:1. tammikuuta
sa:१ जनवरी
simple:January 1
sr:1. јануар
sv:1 januari
tl:Enero 1
tr:1 Ocak
uk:1 січня
wa:1î d' djanvî
zh:1月1日
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