1707 – Louis Willem I, Margrave of Baden-Baden, dies at 51
1874 – Thomas Gregson, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1798)
1953 – Arthur Hoyt, American actor and director (Gold Dust Gertie, Goldie Get Along), dies at 79
1955 – (Jan Derk) Domela Nieuwenhuis Nyegaard, Dutch vicar, writer, and political activist (Young Flanders), dies at 84
1981 – Ruth Lowe, Canadian pianist and composer (“I’ll Never Smile Again”), dies at 66
1995 – Robert Clifford Latham, English Pepys scholar, dies at 82
2001 – Les Brown, American big band bandleader (His Band of Renown – “Sentimental Journey”), dies at 88
2004 – John Toland, American political writer (Rising Sun, Pulitzer 1971), dies at 91
2005 – Guy Davenport, American author, artist, and scholar (b. 1927)
2008 – Mort Garson, Canadian-American composer (“Our Day Will Come”) and Moog synthesizer pioneer, dies of renal failure at 83
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 4th January 2026
1717 – Netherlands, Great Britain and France sign Triple Alliance
1906 – South Africa beat England by one wicket, their 1st Test win
1934 – Premiere of the first Dutch talkie movie, Jan Teunissen’s “Willem van Oranje”
1951 – Korean War: Chinese forces recapture Seoul
1967 – English land and boat racer Donald Campbell is killed while driving jet-powered boat Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water in England trying to beat his own water speed record
1986 – Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson scores twice as he rushes for an NFL postseason record 248 yards in 20-0 victory over Dallas Cowboys in NFC divisional playoff in Anaheim, California
1987 – Sixteen die in a train crash in Chase, Maryland
2018 – ‘Bomb Cyclone’ hits US Northeast prompting flooding and snow in New York subway system
Today in History for 4th January 2026
Historical Events
1725 – Benjamin Franklin arrives in London [OS=Dec 24 1724]
1945 – US jeep-aircraft carrier Ommaney Bay sinks after Japanese kamikaze attack
1947 – Arthur Schwartz, Ira Gershwin, and George S. Kaufman’s musical “Park Avenue” closes at the Shubert Theater, NYC, after 72 performances
1951 – Korean War: Chinese forces recapture Seoul
1987 – Sixteen die in a train crash in Chase, Maryland
Famous Birthdays
1839 – Carl Humann, German engineer and self-made archaeologist who discovered the Pergamon altar, born in Steele, Prussia (d. 1896)
1882 – Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist, born in Nizhny Lomov, Russia (d. 1943)
1965 – Yvan Attal, Israeli-French actor (Love Without Pity) and director (The Accusation), born in Tel Aviv, Israel
1970 – Sean Lumpkin, American NFL safety (New Orleans Saints), born in Golden Valley, Minnesota
1998 – Liza Soberano, Filipino-American actress (Forevermore; Everyday I Love You), born in Santa Clara, California
Famous Deaths
1729 – Joseph de Montesquiou earl d’Artagnan, French lt-general, dies at 77
1898 – Frantisek Pivoda, Czech composer, dies at 73
1955 – G. G. van der Hoeven, Dutch editor-in-chief (NRC newspaper), dies at 82
2004 – Joan Aiken, British writer of children’s books (The Whispering Mountain, The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase), dies at 79
2010 – Johan Ferrier, Surinamian politician (b. 1910)
Famous Deaths for 3rd January 2026
1501 – Ali-Shir Nava’i, Timurid poet and writer (Mahbub ul-Qulub) considered a founder of early Turkic literature, dies at 59
1767 – Luca Antonio Predieri, Italian composer and violinist, dies at 78
1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English pottery designer and manufacturer (Wedgwood), dies at 64
1882 – William Harrison Ainsworth, English writer (Guy Fawkes), dies at 76
1942 – Pauline Beersmans [PLJM van Cuyck], Flemish actress, dies at 70
1967 – Jack Ruby [Jacob Rubenstein], American nightclub owner who murdered assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, dies of pulmonary embolism at 55
1976 – Mateusz Gliński, Polish conductor, musicologist (Scriabin, Chopin), composer, and pedagogue (Winsdor University), dies at 83
2011 – Fadil Hadžić, Croatian film director, dies at 88
2012 – Harold Zirin, American astronomer, dies at 82
2012 – Robert L. Carter, American civil rights activist and judge (Brown v. Board of Education, NAACP v. Alabama), dies after complications from a stroke at 94
Historical Events for 3rd January 2026
1922 – First living person is depicted on a U.S. coin when Governor Thomas Kilby appears on the Alabama Centennial half dollar
1945 – Admiral Chester Nimitz begins planning assaults on Okinawa and Iwo Jima in Japan
1947 – First opening session of Congress is televised; it does not happen again until 1977
1961 – US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1991 – 8 Iraqi embassy officials are expelled from the UK
1994 – 35-foot-tall Chief Wahoo, trademark of Indians on top of Stadium since 1962, is taken down, to be moved to Jacob’s Field
1998 – American “Hee Haw” banjo player Grandpa Jones suffers a stroke
2002 – College Football, 4th BCS National Championship, Rose Bowl, Pasadena: #1 Miami beats #2 Nebraska, 37-14, at 88th Rose Bowl
Today in History for 3rd January 2026
Historical Events
1911 – City of Almaty in Russian Turkestan is destroyed by a magnitude 7.7 earthquake
1920 – Boston Red Sox baseball club owner Harry Frazee announces agreement to sell slugger Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees for $125,000 in cash and a $350,000 loan; start of the 84 year “Curse of the Bambino”
1967 – WJAN TV channel 17 in Canton, OH (IND) begins broadcasting
1976 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley beats Renata Tomanova of Czechoslovakia 6-2, 6-2 for her 3rd straight home singles title
1987 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Famous Birthdays
1777 – Louis Poinsot, French mathematician and physicist (invented geometrical mechanics), born in Paris, France (d. 1859)
1870 – Henry Handel Richardson [Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson], Australian novelist (Richard Mahoney), born in East Melbourne, Australia (d. 1946)
1939 – (Gwendolyn) Dianne Brooks, American RandB, jazz, session and touring vocalist (Three Playmates – “Sugah Wooga”; solo – “Walking On My Mind”; Anne Murray), born in New Jersey (d. 2005)
1940 – Tsutomu Hanahara, Japanese freestyle wrestler (Olympic gold flyweight 1964), born in Shimonoseki, Japan (d. 2024)
1957 – Frank Dicopoulos, American actor (Frank Cooper Jr in “Guiding Light”), born in Akron, Ohio
Famous Deaths
1028 – Fujiwara Michinaga, Japanese regent (wrote world’s oldest autographic diary), dies (b. 966)
1927 – Carle David Tolmé Runge, German mathematician and physicist, dies at 70
1968 – Earl Swope, American jazz and big band trombonist (Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Jimmy Dorsey, Louie Bellson), dies at 45
1979 – Conrad Hilton, American hotel mogul (Hilton Hotels, world’s 1st international hotel chain), dies at 91
2015 – Allie Sherman, American football coach (Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1953-56 CFL; New York Giants 1961–68), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 2nd January 2026
1918 – Sybe Kornelis Bakker, Dutch Christian socialist and reformed preacher, dies at 42
1933 – William “Kid” Gleason, American baseball utility (St. Louis Browns, NY Giants, Philadelphia Phillies) and manager (Chicago White Sox, during “Black Sox” scandal), dies from a heart condition at 66
1961 – Bob Catterall, South African cricket batsman (24 Tests, 3 x 100s, HS 120; Transvaal, Natal), dies at 60
1977 – Erroll Garner, American jazz pianist (Misty), dies at 53
1991 – Irving Johnson, American sail training pioneer and adventurer, dies at 85
1995 – Manuel Rivera, Spanish painter and co-founder (El Paso), dies at 67
2007 – Paek Nam-sun, North Korean Foreign Affairs minister, dies at 77
2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-born technology pioneer and professor, dies at 55
2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English novelist (The Cazalet Chronicles), dies at 90
2018 – Rick Hall, American record producer, songwriter, and creator of the “Muscle Shoals sound” (FAME Studio), dies of prostate cancer at 85
Historical Events for 2nd January 2026
366 – The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers and invade the Roman Empire
1958 – Dmitri Shostakovich’ 2nd Piano Concerto has US premiere, with Leonard Bernstein as soloist and conductor of the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie hall in NYCs in NY
1967 – 33rd Sugar Bowl: #6 Alabama beats #3 Nebraska, 34-7
1969 – Once influential daily sports newspaper, ‘Soviet Sport’ declares Czech super-star distance runner Emil Zatopek a “public enemy” after he supports democratic wing of the Communist Party at start of the Prague Spring
1972 – “Rothschilds” closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 505 performances
1989 – 75th Rose Bowl: #11 Michigan beats #5 Southern California, 22-14
1996 – 25th Fiesta Bowl: #1 Nebraska beats #2 Florida, 62-24
2022 – Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok resigns in a televised address amid political deadlock after a rejection of his deal with the military by pro-democracy forces
Today in History for 2nd January 2026
Historical Events
1920 – Responding to global fear of communism caused by the Russian Revolution, US Attorney General Palmer authorizes raids across the country on unionists and socialists
1923 – Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood Florida, 8 killed (compensation awarded in 1995)
1933 – Ijmuider fishing strike begins (till July 11th)
1983 – Several African National Congress (ANC) members detained in Swaziland decide to leave the country voluntarily for Mozambique.
2019 – United States international Christian Pulisic becomes the most expensive American soccer player when he moves from Borussia Dortmund to Chelsea for £57.6M ($73M); remains at Dortmund on loan until the end of the season
Famous Birthdays
1908 – Jānis Ķepītis, Latvian pianist, conductor, and composer, born in Beverīna, Latvia (d. 1989)
1937 – Imerio Massignan, Italian road cyclist (Tour de France Mountains classification 1960, 61), born in Altavilla Vicentina, Italy (d. 2024)
1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (Olympic gold 1984, 4-division world champion), born in Norfolk, Virginia (d. 2019)
1982 – Athanasia Tsoumeleka, Greek race walker (Olympic gold 20k 2004), born in Preveza, Greece
1985 – Heather O’Reilly, American soccer midfielder (231 caps; FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015; Olympic gold 2004, 08, 12), born in East Brunswick, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
1973 – Joe Harriott, Jamaican-British be-bop and free-form jazz, and world-fusion alto saxophonist (Abstract; Indo-Jazz), dies of cancer at 44
1975 – Theo Osterkamp, German fighter pilot, dies at 82
1996 – Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, dies at 80
2007 – Teddy Kollek, Israeli politician (Mayor of Jerusalem), dies at 95
2020 – Grant Weatherstone, Scotland rugby union winger (16 caps; Edinburgh District), dies at 88
Famous Deaths for 1st January 2026
1907 – Cyrill Kistler, German composer, educator, and music theorist, dies at 58
1964 – Alf Hall, South African cricket fast bowler (7 Tests, 40 wickets), dies at 67
1968 – Andy Oberlander, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Dartmouth College; National C’ship 1954), dies at 62
1981 – Mauri Rose, American auto racer and three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 (1941, 1947-48), dies at 74
1994 – Arthur Porritt, New Zealand athlete (Olympic bronze 100m 1924) and 11th governor-general of New Zealand 1967-72, dies at 93
2006 – Bryan Harvey, American musician (House of Freaks), dies at 49
2013 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, British cricket journalist and broadcaster (President MCC; BBC Radio), dies of cancer at 67
2020 – Jaap Schröder, Dutch violinist, conductor, musicologist, and pedagogue (Academy of Ancient Music), dies at 94
2021 – Mark Eden [Douglas Malin], British actor (Alan Bradley in “Coronation Street”), dies at 92
2022 – Dan Reeves, American football coach (AP NFL Coach of the Year 1993 NY Giants, 1998 Atlanta Falcons; Denver Broncos), dies from complications of dementia at 77