Born On This Day:

• Prophet Muhammad (trad), AD 570
• Francesco Caracciolo, duca de Brienza, 1752
• Peter Mark Roget, 1779
• Daniel Webster, 1782
• Edouard de Laboulaye, 1811
• Paul Leautaud, 1872
• Sir Thomas Sopwith, 1888
• Oliver Hardy, 1892
• A.A. Milne, 1892
• Cary Grant, 1904
• Jacob Bronowski, 1908
• Danny Kaye, 1913
• Ray Dolby, 1933
• John Boorman, 1933
• Kevin Costner, 1955
• Mark Rylance, 1960

Died On This Day:

• John Tyler, 1862
• Wallace Reid, 1923
• Rudyard Kipling, 1936
• Ferdinand Porsche, 1951
• Sydney Greenstreet, 1954
• Hugh Gaitskell, 1963
• Cecil Beaton, 1980
• Bruce Chatwin, 1989
• Rusty Hamer suicide, 1990
• Sargent Shriver, 2011

Today's Events:

• 1486 - The first recorded fireworks in England exploded today at Henry VII's wedding.
• 1486 - King Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, and future mother of Henry VIII.
• 1733 - The first bear brought to the U.S. is exhibited in Boston.
• 1778 - Hawaii discovered by Captain Cook on his third and final world voyage; calls them Sandwich Islands.
• 1871 - German Empire proclaimed by Bismarck at Versailles; single Reich unites north & south.
• 1911 - First landing of an airplane onto a ship; Eugene Ely lands on U.S.S. Pennsylvania in S.F. harbor.
• 1912 - Captain Scott reaches South Pole; finds that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen already been there.
• 1943 - Siege of Leningrad raised.
• 1945 - Nazi SS orders Auschwitz to be evacuated and 56,000 prisoners march westward in freezing weather.
• 1950 - Christopher Fry's "Venus Observed" premieres at St. James's Theatre, London.
• 1951 - Volcano eruption in New Guinea; 3,000 die.
• 1974 - Israel & Egypt sign peace agreements after Israel wins Yom Kippur War.
• 1995 - France announces discovery of 30,000 year old cave paintings including panther, hyena and owls.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Margaret of Hungary
• Prisca

Holiday:

• Hindu Day of the Sun
• Saint Athanasius Day celebrated in Greece

Non-Specific Holiday:

• YÜAN TAN. Chinese New Year's Day. Based on lunar calendar - starts sunset on day of 2nd New Moon.
• CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL 15th day of first month of lunar calendar marks end of Chinese New Year.
• TU BI-SHEBAT (Judaism) New Year for Trees, celebrated on 15th of lunar month Shebat.
• MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY 3rd Monday in January
• ADULTS DAY in Japan - second Monday in January - 'Seijin no hi'
• SNOW FESTIVAL - Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
• GANESHA CHATURTHI, Hindu Festival of the Elephant God
• VASANT PANCHAMI, Hindu Festival of Spring and of Saraswati, Goddess of Learning (end of January)
• PONGAL AND MAKARA SANKRANTI, mid-January, Harvest festival celebrated in Southern India and Singapore
• LAILAT AL MIRAJ Muslim Festival celebrating ascent of Muhammad into Heaven
• JAPANESE NEW YEAR - 3 day festival
• LOHRI, the Hindu Bonfire Festival, celebrated early January