814 – Charlemagne dies of pleurisy in Aachen as the first Holy Roman Emperor. He is succeeded by his son Louis the Pious as king of the Frankish Empire.
946 – Caliph Al-Mustakfi is blinded and deposed by Emir Mu’izz al-Dawla, ruler of the Buyid Empire. He is succeeded by Al-Muti as caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate.
1077 – Walk to Canossa: The excommunication of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor is lifted.
1393 – King Charles VI of France is nearly killed when several dancers’ costumes catch fire during a masquerade ball.
1547 – Henry VIII dies. His nine-year-old son, Edward VI, becomes king
1813 – Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.
1855 – A locomotive on the Panama Canal Railway runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean for the first time.
1909 – United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish-American War.
1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
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If you’ve got three minutes to spare, watch Rudolph Caracciola working for Mercedes Benz set the land speed record on a public road
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1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W195 at a speed of 432.7 kilometres per hour (268.9 mph).
1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance.
1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977 which dumps 10 feet of snow in one day in Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas.
1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board. A booster engine failed, causing the Shuttle Challenger to break apart just 73 seconds after launch.
Births
676 – Toneri, Japanese prince (d. 735)
1533 – Paul Luther, German scientist (d. 1593)
1582 – John Barclay, French-Scottish poet and author (d. 1621)
1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist/physicist (d. 1679)
1611 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (d. 1687)
1864 – Charles Williams Nash, businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948)
1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (d. 1982)
1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956)
1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator
1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso
1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and 23rd President of France
Deaths
814 – Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (b. 742)
919 – Zhou Dewei, Chinese general
1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German race car driver (b. 1909)
1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger crew
*Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944)
*Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut (b. 1948)
*Ronald McNair, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1950)
*Ellison Onizuka, American engineer and astronaut (b. 1946)
*Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949)
*Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939)
*Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1945)
Today is Data Privacy Day, an international holiday that occurs every January 28. The purpose of Data Privacy Day is to raise awareness and promote privacy and data protection best practices. It is currently observed in the United States, Canada, India and 47 European countries.(known in Europe as Data Protection Day) source: wikipedia
This list is compiled from many internet and other sources of information including wikipedia, the New York Times, a multitude of websites and old books.