January 20 - Definition and Overview

January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 345 days remaining (346 in leap years). In astrology, it is the cusp day between Aquarius and Capricorn.

Events

• 1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of the lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland.
• 1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the Houses of Parliament.
• 1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
• 1356 - Edward Balliol resigns as King of Scotland.
• 1523 - Christian II was forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
• 1667 - Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kyiv, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusiv.
• 1783 - Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
• 1801 - John Marshall is appointed Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
• 1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
• 1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
• 1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
• 1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• 1891 - James Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state.
• 1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
• 1921 - The first constitution of Turkey was adopted, which made fundamental change in the source and exercise of sovereignty.
• 1929 - The movie In Old Arizona was released. The film was the first full-length talking film to be filmed outdoors.
• 1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
• 1937 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
• 1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decide the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
• 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
• 1945 - Hungary drops out of the Second World War, agreeing an armistice with the Allies.
• 1952 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1953 - Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th President of the United States.
• 1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1958 - Elvis Presley receives his draft notice.
• 1964 - Meet the Beatles, the first Beatles album in the United States, is released.
• 1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula.
• 1975 - Michael Ovitz founds Creative Artists Agency.
• 1981 - Ronald W. Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States. Minutes later, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
• 1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day was celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 1986 - The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.
• 1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in the Lebanon.
• 1990 - Black January - bloody crackdown of Azeri protest demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
• 1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
• 1994 - In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet to attend The Citadel but soon drops out.
• 1996 - Yasser Arafat is elected president of the Palestinian Authority.
• 1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet bars.
• 2002 - Inauguration of Churches Uniting in Christ.

Births

• 225 - Gordian III, Roman emperor (d. 244)
• 1435 - Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1490)
• 1812 - Thomas Meik, engineer (d. 1896)
• 1837 - David Josiah Brewer, U.S. Supreme Court justice (d. 1910)
• 1856 - Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch, women's rights activist (d. 1940)
• 1873 - Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, Danish author, Nobel prize winner (d. 1950)
• 1876 - Jozef Hofmann, Polish pianist (d. 1967)
• 1878 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer (d. 1968)
• 1894 - Walter Piston, American composer
• 1896 - George Burns, American actor, comedian (d. 1996)
• 1900 - Colin Clive, British Actor (d. 1937)
• 1906 - Aristotle Onassis, industrialist (d. 1975)
• 1907 - Paula Wessley, actress (d. 2000)
• 1910 - Joy Adamson, naturalist, writer (d. 1980)
• 1915 - C. W. Ceram, author (d. 1972)
• 1915 - Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of Pakistan
• 1918 - Esquivel, musician (d. 2002)
• 1920 - Federico Fellini, film director (d. 1993)
• 1920 - DeForest Kelly, actor (d. 1999)
• 1920 - John O'Connor, Cardinal of New York City (d. 2000)
• 1921 - Bernt Engelmann, author (d. 1994)
• 1924 - Slim Whitman, American country music singer
• 1925 - Ernesto Cardenal, theologian, author and politician
• 1926 - Patricia Neal, actress
• 1926 - David Tudor, pianist and composer (d. 1996)
• 1928 - Peter Donat, Canadian actor
• 1929 - Arte Johnson, actor
• 1929 - Glenn "Fireball" Roberts, NASCAR race car driver (d. 1964)
• 1929 - Bob Denard, French mercenary
• 1930 - Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
• 1934 - Tom Baker, British actor
• 1937 - Dorothy Provine, American dancer, actress
• 1939 - Paul Coverdell, American politician (d. 2000)
• 1940 - Carol Heiss, Olympic figure skating gold medalist
• 1946 - David Lynch, film director
• 1948 - Natan Sharansky - Soviet-Israeli physicist, politician
• 1949 - Göran Persson, Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1950 - Mahamane Ousmane, former President of Niger
• 1951 - Ian Hill, British musician (Judas Priest)
• 1952 - Paul Stanley, musician, of the rock band KISS
• 1956 - Bill Maher, actor, comedian, political analyst
• 1958 - Lorenzo Lamas, actor
• 1963 - James Denton, American actor
• 1968 - Melissa Rivers, American reporter, actress
• 1969 - Skeet Ulrich, actor
• 1976 - Gretha Smit, Olympic speed skating silver medalist
• 1979 - Rob Bourdon, American musician (Linkin Park)

Deaths

• 1156 - Bishop Henry, patron saint of Finland
• 1612 - Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1779 - David Garrick, actor (b. 1717)
• 1848 - Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
• 1850 - Adam Oehlenschlager, Danish poet (b. 1779)
• 1907 - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor of the Periodic table (b. 1834)
• 1936 - King George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
• 1944 - James McKeen Cattell, first professor of Psychology in U.S. (b. 1860)
• 1962 - Robinson Jeffers, poet
• 1965 - Alan Freed, disk jockey (b. 1922)
• 1971 - Gilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' Anderson, actor, director, writer, producer
• 1984 - Johnny Weissmuller, Olympic swimming gold medalist, actor (b. 1904)
• 1990 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress (b. 1907)
• 1993 - Audrey Hepburn, actress (b. 1929)
• 1996 - Gerry Mulligan, musician (b. 1927)
• 1997 - Curt Flood, baseball star
• 1998 - Bobo Brazil, professional wrestler
• 2002 - Carrie Hamilton, American actress
• 2003 - Al Hirschfeld, caricaturist
• 2003 - Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b. 1947)
• 2003 - Nedra Volz, American actress
• 2004 - Guinn Smith, American athlete
• 2005 - Jan Nowak-Jezioranski Polish journalist, writer, politician (b. 1913)

Holidays and observances

• The Eve of St. Agnes
• Presidential Inauguration Day in the United States
• day of Saint Sebastian in Catholic church. Also holiday in Rio de Janeiro as he is the city's saint

January 19 - January 21 - December 20 - February 20 -- listing of all days