AD 41 – Roman Emperor Caligula, known for his eccentricity and sadistic despotism, is assassinated by his disgruntled Praetorian Guards. The Guard then proclaims Caligula’s uncle Claudius as Emperor
1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.
1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
1961 – Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II. He was a Japanese sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War and among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945, discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almost 28 years after U.S. forces had regained control of the island in 1944.
1978 – Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
1984 – Apple Computer places the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the United States.
Births
AD 76 – Hadrian, Roman emperor (d. 138)
1712 – Frederick the Great, Prussian king (d. 1786)
1862 – Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1937)
1915 – Robert Motherwell, American painter and academic (d. 1991)
1928 – Desmond Morris, English zoologist, ethologist, and painter
1943 – Sharon Tate, American model and actress (d. 1969)
1949 – John Belushi, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1982)
Deaths
AD 41 – Caligula, Roman emperor (b. 12)
1920 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1884)
1965 – Winston Churchill, English colonel and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
1975 – Larry Fine, American comedian (b. 1902)
1986 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (b. 1911)
1993 – Thurgood Marshall, American lawyer and jurist, 32nd United States Solicitor General (b. 1908)