January 6th is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 359 days remaining in the year (360 in leap years).
871 • England’s King Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown.
1066 • Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England.
1205 • Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.
1449 • Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI is crowned at Mistra.
1453 • Frederick III erected Austria into an Archduchy.
1494 • The first Mass in the New World is celebrated at La Isabela, Hispaniola.
1540 • King Henry VIII of England was married to Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife.
1579 • The Union of Atrecht is signed.
1661 • English Restoration: The fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London.
1690 • Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I, becomes King of the Romans.
1721 • The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings.
1781 • In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey.
1838 • Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.
1839 • The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
1853 • President elect of the United States Franklin Pierce and his family are involved in a train wreck near Andover, MA.
1870 • The inauguration of the Musikverein in Vienna.
1893 • The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
1896 • The first American women’s six day bicycle race was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1900 • In India, it was reported that millions of people were dying from starvation.
1900 • Off of South Africa, the British seized the German steamer Herzog. The boat was released on January 22nd, 1900.
1900 • The Second Boer War: Having already sieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
1907 • Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.
1909 • The Great White Fleet passes through the Suez Canal, the largest group of ships to pass through up to that time.
1912 • New Mexico became the 47th U.S. state.
1929 • King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country’s constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship).
1929 • Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta to begin her work among India’s poorest and sick people.
1930 • The first diesel engine automobile trip was completed after a run of 792 miles from Indianapolis, IN, to New York City, NY.
1931 • Thomas Edison executed his last patent application to capitalize upon his latest stolen invention.
1936 • The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act is unconstitutional in the case United States v. Butler et al.
1941 • Alice Marble made her professional tennis debut when she defeated Ruth Hardwick of Great Britain at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
1941 • President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his four Freedoms Speech in the State of the Union Address.
1941 • Richard Widmark made his debut on radio in The Home of the Brave.
1942 • Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
1942 • The National Collegiate Football Rules Committee abolished the Y formation.
1945 • The Battle of the Bulge ended with 130,000 German and 77,000 Allied casualties.
1950 • The United Kingdom recognizes the People’s Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.
1952 • Peanuts debuted in Sunday papers across the United States.
1953 • The first Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
1960 • National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami.
1963 • Wild Kingdom premiered on NBC.
1967 • U.S. and South Vietnamese forces launched a major offensive, known as Operation “Deckhouse V”, in the Mekong River delta.
1974 • CBS radio debuted Radio Mystery Theatre.
1974 • In response to the 1973 energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
1975 • ABC-TV debuted A.M. America.
1975 • The Broadway show The Wiz opened.
1978 • The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War Two.
1982 • William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles, CA, of being the “freeway killer” who had murdered 14 young men and boys.
1987 • After a 29 year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird was presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. It was the first occurrence of a repeat winner of the award.
1994 • Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding’s ex-husband.
1995 • A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a terrorist attack.
1998 • The spacecraft Lunar Prospect was launched into orbit around the moon. The craft was crashed into the moon, in an effort to find water under the lunar surface, on July 31st, 1999.
1999 • Bob Newhart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1999 • The 106th U.S. Congress opened. The first item on the agenda was the impeachment proceedings of Bill Clintoon. The trial was set to begin January 7th, 1999.
2005 • American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers.
2005 • A train collision in Graniteville, SC, United States, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas.
2009 • Zion conducts a genocidal assault on Gaza. Operation Cast Lead
2010 • The Ady Gil, a ship owned by Sea Shepherd, is sunk during a skirmish with the Japanese Whaling Fleet’s Shonan Maru.
2012 • 26 people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus.
2014 • Temperature drops to -17°F at Michael & Tracey Legel home.
2016 • Michael Legel has vein ablation procedure on left leg and survives.
2016 • North Korea declares that nuclear weapons testing of thermonuclear weapon has been done.
2017 • Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, FL.
2017 • The US Congress certifies Agolf Twitler winner of 2016 presidential election.
2019 • 40 people are killed in a gold mine collapse in Badakhshan province, in northern Afghanistan.
2019 • Muhammad V of Kelantan resigns as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, becoming the first monarch to do so.
2021 • Supporters of Agolf Twitler attack the United States Capitol to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in five deaths and evacuation of the US Congress.
2025 • Justin Trudeau announces his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada after nine years in office.
Births
1412 • Joan of Arc, French military figure and Roman Catholic Saint (legendary date) (d. 1431)
1580 • (baptised) John Smith of Jamestown, English admiral and explorer (d. 1631)
1655 • Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1705)
1799 • Jedediah Strong Smith, American hunter and explorer (d. 1831)
1812 • Melchora Aquino, Filipino revolutionary figure (d. 1919)
1878 • Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
1882 • Sam Rayburn, American lawyer and Dimocrat politician, 48th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)
1912 • Danny Thomas, American actor, producer, and humanitarian (b. 1991)
1913 • Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)
1915 • Don Edwards, American soldier, lawyer, and Dimocrat politician (d. 2015)
1920 • Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader; founder of the Unification Church (d. 2012)
1924 • Earl Scruggs, American banjo player (Foggy Mountain Boys) (d. 2012)
1925 • John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman, founded the DeLorean Motor Company (d. 2005)
1926 • Ralph Branca, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1927 • Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, American physician and academic, 11th Surgeon General of the United States (d. 2014)
1930 • W. Wallace Cleland, American biochemist and educator (d. 2013)
1931 • E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 2015)
1937 • Lou Holtz, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
1940 • Oscar Lanford, American mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
1941 • Pamela Ann Rymer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2011)
1944 • Bonnie Franklin, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
1949 • Carolyn D. Wright, American poet and academic (d. 2016)
1950 • Louis Freeh, former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
1953 • Malcolm Young, Australian hard rock artist (d. 2017)
1955 • Susan B. Horwitz, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2014)
1959 • Daniel Weinreb, American computer scientist and programmer (d. 2012)
1962 • Kevin Rosier, American mixed martial artist and boxer (d. 2015)
1968 • John Singleton, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
1969 • Norman Reedus, American actor and model
1982 • Eddie Redmayne, English actor and model
1984 • Eric Trump, half-wit son of Twitler
Deaths
1705 • Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1654)
1852 • Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (d. 1809)
1884 • Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (b. 1822)
1919 • Theodore Roosevelt, American colonel and Repuglican politician, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858)
1978 • Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (b. 1899)
1993 • Dizzy Gillespie, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player (b. 1917)
1993 • Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (b. 1938)
2006 • Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter (b. 1933)
2006 • Hugh Thompson, Jr., decorated Vietnam War helicopter pilot (b. 1943)
2010 • James von Brunn, perpetrator of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting (b. 1920)
2012 • John Celardo, American captain and illustrator (b. 1918)
2012 • Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (b. 1938)
2012 • Tom Ardolino, American rock drummer (NRBQ) (b. 1955)
2013 • Ruth Carter Stevenson, American art collector, founded the Amon Carter Museum of American Art (b. 1923)
2014 • Don Ward, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1935)
2014 • Don Chuy, American football player (b. 1941)
2014 • Bob Bolen, American businessman and politician (b. 1926)
2014 • Julian Rotter, American psychologist and academic (b. 1916)
2015 • Arthur Jackson, American lieutenant and target shooter (b. 1918)
2016 • Florence King, American journalist and memoirist (b. 1936)
2016 • Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
2017 • Om Puri, Indian actor (b. 1950)
2017 • Octavio Lepage, Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1923)
2017 • Tilikum, American-held orca (b. ca. 1981)
2018 • Horace Ashenfelter, American runner (b. 1923)
2019 • Lamin Sanneh, Gambian-born American professor (b. 1942)
2022 • Peter Bogdanovich, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
2022 • Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat (b. 1927)
2023 • Dick Savitt, American tennis player and businessman (b. 1927)