On this day...

1 -BC- Origin of Era of Pisa
1 Origin of Christian Era
30 -BC- Origin of Actian Era
38 -BC- Origin of Era of Spain (Cesars)
45 -BC- Origin of Julian Era; Julian calendar begins
313 Start of Roman (Pontifical) Indiction
990 Russia adopts Julian calendar
1515 Francis, Duke of Angouleme succeeds Louis XII as Francis I of France
1583 First day of the Gregorian calendar in Belgium
1622 Papal Chancery adopts Jan 1 as beginning of the year (was Mar 25)
1660 First entry in Samuel Pepys' diary
1673 Regular mail delivery begins between NY & Boston
1739 J.B.C. Bouvet de Lozier discovers Bouvet Island, near Antarctica
1772 First traveler's checks issued (London)
1785 "Daily Universal Register" (Times of London) publishes first issue
1788 London's Daily Universal Register becomes the Times
1788 Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves
1801 Ireland & Great Britain (England & Scotland) form United Kingdom
1804 Haiti gains independence from France (National Day)
1808 Congress prohibits importation of slaves
1831 William Lloyd Garrison publishes First issue of abolitionist journal
1838 First official horse race in South Australia-Adelaide
1840 First recorded bowling match in US, Knickerbocker Alleys, New York NY
1842 First illustrated weekly magazine in US publishes First issue, New York, NY
1846 Yucatan declares independence from Mexico
1848 Britain takes Mosquito Coast from Nicaragua
1851 City of Glasgow steamer inaugurates Philadelphia-Liverpool line
1852 First US public bath opens in NYC
1853 First practical fire engine (horse-drawn) in US enters service
1854 Lincoln University, a black college, chartered (Oxford PA)
1863 First homestead under the Homestead Act claimed, near Beatrice NE
1863 Battle of Galveston, Texas-Confederates recapture the city
1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by Lincoln
1873 Origin of Japanese Era
1874 New York City annexes the Bronx
1877 England's Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India
1879 Brahms' violin concerto in D major premiers
1886 First Tournament of Roses, Pasadena CA
1892 Brooklyn merges with NY to form present City of NY
1892 Ellis Island becomes reception center for new immigrants
1893 First US college extension courses for credit, University of Chicago
1893 Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar
1894 Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
1896 Wilhelm Rontgen announces his discovery of x-rays
1897 First football game between black colleges-Atlanta University 10, Tuskegee 0
1898 Lightship replaces whistling buoy at mouth of San Francisco Bay
1899 Cuba liberated from Spain by US (National Day)
1900 First date in John dos Passos' USA trilogy (The 42nd Parallel)
1900 British protectorates of Northern & Southern Nigeria established
1901 Commonwealth of Australia established
1902 First Rose Bowl game (Pasadena CA) (University of Michigan-49, Stanford-0)
1902 Nathan Stubblefield makes First public demonstration of radio, Pennsylvania
1907 President Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in 1 day
1908 First time, ball signifying new year dropped at Times Square
1911 South Australia transfers Northern Territory to federal government
1912 First running of San Francisco's famed "Bay to Breakers" race
1913 Post office begins parcel post deliveries
1914 First scheduled airline flight, St Petersburg-Tampa (Tony Jannus, pilot)
1914 Northern & Southern Nigeria united in British colony of Nigeria
1916 First issue of "Journal of Negro History" published
1918 Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland
1919 Belorussian SSR established
1922 Vancouver, BC starts driving on the right side of road
1923 Union of Socialist Soviet Republics established
1925 Norway's capital Christiania changes name to Oslo
1928 First US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio
1929 Roy Riegels runs 60 yards the wrong way with Rose Bowl fumble recovery
1934 Alcatraz officially becomes a federal prison
1934 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (US bank guarantor) effective
1934 International Telecommunication Union established
1935 First Sugar Bowl & First Orange Bowl
1935 Associated Press inaugurates Wirephoto
1935 Eastern Airlines hires Eddie Rickenbacker as GM
1936 First newspaper to microfilm its current issues, NY Herald Tribune
1937 US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio
1942 Rose Bowl played in NC due to Japanese threat-Oregon 20, Duke 16
1944 First feature-length foreign movie, African Journey, shown on TV, NY, NY
1944 Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football "Arab Bowl," Oran, North Africa
1945 France joins the UN
1946 Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god
1946 National Assembly proclaims Hungary a republic
1947 Britain nationalizes its coal industry
1948 First newsreel in color filmed, Pasadena CA
1948 Britain nationalizes its railways
1948 General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade effective
1948 Orissa province accedes to India
1949 Tokelau (Union) Islands declared part of New Zealand
1954 Rose & Cotton Bowl are first sport colorcasts
1955 Bhutan issues its First postage stamps
1956 Sudan gains independence from Britain & Egypt (National Day)
1957 France returns Saar to becomes the 10th state of German Federal Republic
1957 International Geophysical Year begins; ends 6/30/1958 (18-mo year)
1958 European Economic Community (Common Market) starts operation
1958 Sammy Davis, Jr. marries Loray White
1959 Castro leads Cuba to victory as Batista flees to Dominican Republic
1959 Chad becomes autonomous republic in French Community
1960 Bank of France issues a franc, worth $0.20
1960 Cameroon gains independence from France
1961 Houston Oilers beat Los Angeles Chargers 24-16 in AFL championship game
1961 Largest check issued, National Bank of Chicago to Sears ($960.242 billion)
1961 Russia introduces a new ruble worth $1.11
1962 Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium
1962 Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand
1964 Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland dissolved
1967 Green Bay Packers beat Dallas Cowboys 34-27 in NFL championship game
1967 Kansas City Chiefs beat Buffalo Bills 31-7 in AFL championship game
1968 Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump Cesar's Palace Fountain
1970 Charles "Chub" Feeney becomes president of baseball's National League
1970 Revised calendar for Western (RC) Church goes into effect
1971 Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
1972 International Book Year begins
1973 Britain, Ireland & Denmark become 7th-9th members of Common Market
1975 Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell & Mardian convicted of Watergate crimes
1976 NBC replaces the peacock logo
1977 First woman formally ordained an Episcopal priest (Jacqueline Means)
1978 Air India 747 explodes near Bombay killing 213
1978 President Ford signs First major revision of copyright law since 1909
1979 International Year of the Child begins
1979 Jura, 26th canton of Switzerland, established
1979 US & China (Peoples Republic) begin diplomatic relations
1980 Alabama beats Arkansas in Sugar Bowl for college football championship
1981 Georgia beats Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl for college football title
1981 Palau (Trust Territory of Pacific Is) becomes self-governing
1981 Roger Smith becomes CEO of General Motors
1982 Clemson wins the Orange Bowl for college football championship
1982 Pope John Paul II prays for an end to martial law in Poland
1983 Penn State beats Georgia in Sugar Bowl for college football title
1983 PGA inaugurates all-exempt tour
1984 AT&T's 22 owned Bell system companies divests into 8 companies
1985 Actress Judith Licht (Who's the Boss?) gets married
1986 Aruba becomes independent part of Kingdom of the Netherlands
1986 Oklahoma wins Orange Bowl for college football championship
1986 Spain & Portugal become 11th & 12th members of Common Market
1987 60 bodies recovered in Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico
1988 Miami beats Oklahoma for college football championship
1989 Actress Kelly McGillis gets married
1990 David Dinkins sworn in as first black mayor of NYC
1990 Sports News Network begins operation on cable TV
1991 5% sales tax on consumer goods & services goes into effect in USSR
1991 Iraq rejects peace proposal from Egyptian President Hosi Mubarak
1992 Boutros Boutros-Ghali becomes UN Secretary General

Birthdays which occurred on January 1:

1449 Lorenzo de'Medici "The Magnificent" of Florence
1481 Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant reformer
1714 Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lutheran pastor, Lithuanian poet (The Seas)
1729 Edmund Burke, famous Whig (Reflections on the Revolution)
1735 Paul Revere, silversmith/US patriot (British are coming)
1745 "Mad" Anthony Wayne, general
1752 Elizabeth Griscom (Betsy) Ross, flag maker
1819 Arthur Hugh Clough poet, friend of Matthew Arnold
1823 Sandor Petofi Kikkoros, Hungary, poet, revolutionary (Jaos Vitez)
1854 Sir James Frazer Britain, anthropologist/author (The Golden Bough)
1861 Isaac Murphy, thoroughbred jockey, 628 wins on 1,412 mounts (44.5%)
1863 Baron Pierre de Coubertin, France, revived Olympic games
1864 Alfred Stieglitz, father of modern photography
1867 Lew Fields, comedian (of Weber & Fields)
1873 Mariano Azuela, Mexico, novelist (The Flies, The Bosses)
1879 E.M. Forster, England, novelist (Howard's End, Passage to India)
1889 Alexander Smallens, St Petersburg, Russia, conductor
1889 Charles Bickford, Cambridge MA, actor (John-The Virginian)
1892 Artur Rodzinski Spalato, Dalmatia, Poland, conductor
1892 Manuel Roxas y Acuna, First president Philippines
1895 J. Edgar Hoover, spook
1906 Frank Stack, Canada, speed skater (Olympic-bronze-1932)
1909 Barry Goldwater (Senator-R-AZ)
1909 Dana Andrews, Collins MS, actor (Battle of the Bulge, Laura)
1911 Hank Greenberg, Hall-of-Fame First baseman (Detroit Tiger)
1912 Kim Philby, British spy/Soviet mole
1912 Victor Reuther, Wheeling WV, labor leader
1913 Eliot Janeway, financial writer
1916 Earl Wrightson, Baltimore MD, singer (Paul Whiteman's Goodyear Revue)
1919 Carole Landis, actress (One Million BC, Topper Returns)
1919 J.F. "Jerome David" Salinger, author (Catcher in the Rye)
1921 Alain Mimoun-o-Kacha, France, world cross-country champion
1922 Ernest Hollings (Senator-D-SC)
1925 George Conner, NFL tackle, linebacker (Chicago Bears)
1925 Valentina Cortesa, Milan Italy, actress (Kidnap Syndicate)
1927 Maurice Bejart, France, ballet choreographer (Rite of Spring)
1927 Yuri Grigorovich, Russia, choreographer
1928 Ernest R. Tidyman, Ohio, novelist/screenwriter (French Connection)
1930 Ty Hardin, New York NY, actor (Riptide, Bronco)
1933 Joe Orton, England, actor/dramatist (Prick Up Your Ears)
1936 Eve Queler, New York NY, conductor
1936 Willy White, long jumper
1940 Frank Langella, actor (Dracula, Diary of a Mad Housewife, 12 Chairs)
1942 Country Joe McDonald, California, rock guitarist/vocalist
1942 Don Novello [Father Guido Sarducci], Ashtabula OH, comedian (SNL)
1945 Jacques Ickx, Belgium, Le Mans auto race (6-time winner)
1946 Manfred Stengl, Austria, 2 man lugist (Olympic-gold-1960)

Deaths which occurred on January 1:

1515 Louis XII, Father of People, King of France (1498-1515), dies at 52
1953 Hank Williams, singer
1958 David Broekman, musician (Think Fast), dies at 55
1969 Barton Maclane, actor (General Peterson-I Dream of Jeannie), dies at 68
1972 Jane Morgan, actress (Mrs. Margaret Davis-Our Miss Brooks), dies at 91
1982 Victor Buono, actor (Mr. Schubert-Man from Atlantis), dies at 43