1938 – Australian Championships Men’s Tennis: American Don Budge wins the 1st-leg of his Grand Slam; beats John Bromwich of Australia 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
1956 – French government of Guy Mollet forms
1971 – US male Figure Skating championship won by John Misha Petkevich
1971 – Special Veterans Committee adds 6 former players and 1 executive to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Dave Bancroft, Jake Beckley, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, Joe Kelley, Rube Marquard and George Weiss
1985 – South African President P. W. Botha offers to free Nelson Mandela if he denounces violence
2006 – US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retires and is replaced by Samuel Alito
2007 – Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq
2017 – Romanian government passes emergency decree to release prisoners and decriminalise corruption charges, triggering huge protests in Bucharest
Author: gil7
Today in History for 31st January 2026
Historical Events
1891 – First attempt of a republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto, Portugal
1966 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: Margaret Smith wins her 7th consecutive Australian singles title; beats American Nancy Richey in a walkover, Richey injured
1968 – Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) declares independence from Australia the UK and New Zealand, becoming the world’s smallest republic
1975 – Barry Manilow’s single “Mandy” goes gold
2009 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Serena Williams wins 10th Grand Slam singles title; outclasses Dinara Safina of Russia 6-0, 6-3
Famous Birthdays
1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and Roman Catholic saint, born in Fontcouverte, France (d. 1640)
1919 – Jackie Robinson, American Baseball HOF second baseman (1st African-American MLB player Brooklyn Dodgers; 6 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1955; NL MVP 1949), born in Cairo, Georgia (d. 1972)
1920 – Bert Williams, English soccer goalkeeper (24 caps; Wolverhampton Wanderers 381 games), born in Bradley, Staffordshire (d. 2014)
1924 – William Bryant, American character actor (King Dinosaur, Hell Squad), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 2001)
1942 – Gerald Chanberlain, American jazz trombonist (Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd), born in Refugio, Texas (d. 2007)
Famous Deaths
1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan independentist leader (b. 1775)
1865 – Aristide Farrenc, French flautist, music publisher, and musicologist (Trésor des pianistes), dies at 70
1925 – George W. Cable, American writer (Northampton Years), dies at 80
1974 – Glenn Morris, American athlete (Olympic gold decathlon 1936) and actor (Tarzan’s Revenge; Hold That Co-ed), dies of congestive heart failure at 61
1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and imam, stabbed to death at 54 (b. 1935)
Famous Deaths for 30th January 2026
1797 – Johann Abraham Sixt, German organist, harpsichord player, and composer, dies at 40
1840 – Juan Galindo, Irish-Honduran soldier, diplomat for Federal Republic of Central America and early Maya archaeologist, killed in battle at about 38
1846 – Joseph Carpue, English surgeon who pioneered early plastic surgery in England, dies at 81
1867 – Kōmei [Osahito], 121st Emperor of Japan (1846-67) during the final years of the Edo period, dies of smallpox at 35
1957 – Grigore Gafencu, Romanian minister of Foreign Affairs (1938-39), dies at 65
1967 – (Raymond) Lee Morgan, American actor (Dungeons of Harrow; The Last of the Fast Guns), dies of heart disease at 64
1983 – Alan Cunningham, British general and last High Commissioner of Palestine (1945-48), dies at 95
1996 – Bob Thiele, American radio broadcaster, and record producer (John Coltrane; B.B. King), dies of kidney failure at 73
2001 – Johnnie Johnson, British fighter pilot (b. 1915)
2017 – Harold Rosen, American engineer (created geosynchronous communications satellite), dies at 90
Historical Events for 30th January 2026
1820 – British explorer Edward Bransfield aboard Williams sights Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica, claiming it for Britain
1933 – After Paul von Hindenburg appoints Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, his former WWI colleague General Erich Ludendorff sends a letter to him stating “this accursed man will cast our Reich into the abyss and bring our nation to inconceivable misery”
1944 – World War II: United States troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands
1954 – Belgium ends trade agreement with USSR
1956 – Home of Martin Luther King Jr. is bombed
1969 – US/Canada ISIS 1 launched to study ionosphere
1993 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Monica Seles beats Steffi Graf 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her 3rd consecutive Australian singles crown
1995 – Norway’s Statoil announces a newly formed consortium that will supply Norwegian natural gas to the European continent
Today in History for 30th January 2026
Historical Events
1820 – British explorer Edward Bransfield aboard Williams sights Trinity Peninsula, Antarctica, claiming it for Britain
1925 – Turkish government throws out Constantine VI of Constantinople
1934 – Former Australian cricket spin bowler Bert Ironmonger ends Sheffield Shield career age 51 years 298 days as Victoria draws with NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground
1960 – US female Figure Skating championship won by Carol Heiss
1993 – 100,000 Europeans demonstrate against fascism and racism
Famous Birthdays
1617 – William Sancroft, 79th Archbishop of Canterbury, born in Fressingfield, Suffolk, England (d. 1693)
1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born English actress (Man in Grey, Great Expectations), born in Buenos Aires (d. 1969)
1920 – George Skibine, Russian-American ballet dancer and choreographer (Tragedy in Verona), born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia (d. 1981)
1951 – Trevor Laughlin, Australian cricketer (Australian all-rounder 1978-79), born in Nyah West, Australia
1956 – Jeremy Gittins, British actor (Michael the Vicar in “Keeping Up Appearances”), born in Manchester, England
Famous Deaths
1956 – Gerrit Mannoury, Dutch mathematician and philosopher, dies at 88
1972 – Karel Boleslav Jirak, Czech composer and pedagogue, dies at 81
1999 – (Henry) “Huntz” Hall, American radio, stage, and screen actor (Dead End Kids: The Bowery Boys; Gas Pump Girls), dies from congestive heart failure at 78
2016 – Ken Sailors, American basketball point guard (popularised and may have invented the jump shot), dies at 95
2022 – Jon Appleton, American electronic and electro-acoustic music composer, educator and co-developer of the Synclavier, dies at 83
Famous Deaths for 29th January 2026
1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and author (famous for his nonsense poems – The Owl and the Pussycat), dies at 75
1946 – Harry Hopkins, American statesman and presidential advisor (US Secretary of Commerce, Loan and Lease law), dies at 55
1946 – Sidney Jones, British conductor and composer (The Geisha, A Gaiety Girl), dies at 84
1960 – Louis Jean Heydt, American character actor (Waterfront; Gone With The Wind; The Great McGinty), dies from a heart attack at 56
2007 – Barbaro, American thoroughbred racehorse, winner of 2006 Kentucky Derby, dies at 3
2009 – Bill Frindall, English cricket scorer and statistician (BBC, “the Bearded Wonder”), dies from Legionnaires’ disease at 69
2011 – Milton Babbitt, American mathematician, composer of serial and electronic music (Correspondences), and teacher (Princeton; Juilliard), dies at 94
2021 – Yvon Douis, French soccer striker (20 caps; Lille, Le Havre, Monaco, Cannes), dies from COVID-19 at 85
2024 – Héctor Sanabria, Mexican soccer defender (7 caps; UNAM Pumas 1965-78) and manager (UNAM Pumas, CD Toluca, CD Veracruz), dies at 78
2025 – Vadim Naumov, Russian pairs skater (World C’ship gold 1994), dies in American Eagle Flight 5342 collision with Black Hawk helicopter at 55
Historical Events for 29th January 2026
1943 – U.S. cruiser “Chicago” is heavily damaged by Japanese bombers on the first day of the Battle of Rennell Island
1968 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: American Billie Jean King beats home favourite Margaret Court 6-1, 6-2 for her 13th Grand Slam singles title
1968 – Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) adopts constitution
1980 – 6 Iranian-held US hostages escape with help of Canadians
1993 – US postal service issues a stamp commemorating chemist Percy Lavon Julian
1996 – The 6,138th performance of “Cats” is held in London, surpassing the record of Broadway’s longest-running musical, “A Chorus Line”
2012 – 100th Australian Open Men’s Tennis: Novak Đoković beats Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5; longest Grand Slam singles final in duration in the Open Era, 5 hours 53 minutes
2017 – 62nd NHL All Star Games, Staples Centre, Los Angeles, CA: Metropolitan All Stars win four team 3-on-3 tournament; MVP: Wayne Simmonds, Philadelphia Flyers, RW
Today in History for 29th January 2026
Historical Events
1895 – King Koko’s Kopermannen assault on Akassa Niger, 100’s killed
1908 – Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, at Cornell University, incorporates
1982 – Wayne Garland, baseball’s first millionaire free agent, is waived by the Indians
1995 – Greg Blewett scores century on Test debut vs England, Adelaide
2011 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Kim Clijsters wins her 4th and final Grand Slam title; beats Li Na of China 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Famous Birthdays
1889 – Francisco Santiago, Filipino pianist, composer (Taga-ilog Symphony), conductor, and pedagogue, born in Santa Maria, Bulacan, Philippines (d. 1947)
1940 – Katharine Ross, American actress (Graduate, Francesca-Colbys), born in Hollywood, California
1948 – Felice Taylor, American RandB singer (“I Feel Love Comin’ On”), born in Richmond, California (d. 2017)
1964 – Maarika Järvi, Estonian-American classical flautist), born in Tallinn, Estonian SSR, US
1967 – Sean Burke, Canadian ice hockey goalie (NHL All-Star 1989, 2001, 02; Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes; Canada Cup gold 1991), born in Toronto, Ontario
Famous Deaths
1933 – Sara Teasdale, American lyric poet (Pulitzer Prize 1918 “Love Songs”), commits suicide at 48
1934 – Fritz Haber, German physicist and chemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry – 1918, for process to synthesize ammonia), dies at 65
1999 – Lili St. Cyr [Marie Van Schaack], American dancer and strip tease performer, dies at 80
2004 – Otto Wilhelm Fischer, Austrian actor (Helden, Ich suche dich), dies of kidney disease at 88
2021 – Hilton Valentine, British rock guitarist (Animals – “House of the Rising Sun”), dies at 77
Famous Deaths for 28th January 2026
1612 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar (founder of the Bodleian Library), dies at 66
1896 – Joseph Barnby, English conductor and composer, dies at 57
1942 – Pablo Luna, Spanish composer (De España vengo), dies at 61
1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (Tour de France 1911), dies at 78
1963 – Jean Felix Piccard, Swiss scientist, explorer and balloonist (1st flight into stratosphere, by balloon), dies on his 79th birthday
1976 – Ray Nance, American jazz trumpeter, violinist, and vocalist (Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1940-63 – “Take the ‘A’ Train”, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”; Earl Hines), dies at 62
1995 – Walter Allen, English writer and literary critic, dies at 83
1997 – Pietro Cavallero ‘the laughing bandit’, Italian bandit, dies at 68
2006 – Henry McGee, British actor and comedian (No, That’s Me Over Here!, The Benny Hill Show), dies at 77
2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian athlete (Olympic gold Unified Team 3,000m 1992), dies at 43
Historical Events for 28th January 2026
1846 – Battle of Allwal, British beat Sikhs in Punjab
1855 – The first locomotive runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean on the Panama Railway
1917 – Municipally owned streetcars take to the streets of San Francisco, California
1928 – Christopher Hornsrud chosen Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Australian Championships Women’s Tennis: In an all-Australian final Emily Hood Westacott beats Nell Hall Hopman 6-1, 6-2 for her only Grand Slam singles title
1942 – WW II Navy flier Don Mason sends message “Sighted sub sank same”
1968 – Thai boxer Chartchai Chionoi retains his world flyweight title with a 13th-round TKO of home favourite Efren Torres in Mexico City; first of 3 meetings between the pair
1968 – 29th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Chandler Harper