On this day...

1265 First English Parliament called into session by Earl of Leicester
1613 Peace of Knarod ends War of Kalmar between Denmark & Sweden
1667 Treaty of Andrussovo-ends 13 year war between Poland & Russia
1778 First American military court martial trial begins, Cambridge MA
1783 Hostilities cease in Revolutionary War
1788 Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah, GA
1801 John Marshall appointed US chief justice
1809 First US geology book published by William Maclure
1840 Dumont D'Urville discovers Adelie Land, Antarctica
1841 China cedes Hong Kong to the British
1850 Investigator, first ship to effect the Northwest Passage, leaves England
1866 Prim's Insurrection in Spain ends
1868 Florida constitutional convention meets in Tallahassee
1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton becomes first woman to testify before Congress
1870 "City of Boston" vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard
1887 US Senate approves the naval base lease of Pearl Harbor
1892 First basketball game played (Massachusetts)
1921 Turkey declared in remnants of the Ottoman Empire
1929 First feature talking motion picture taken outdoors, "In Old Arizona"
1936 England replaces King George V stamp series with King Edward VIII
1945 FDR sworn-in for an unprecedented 4th term as President
1953 First live coast-to-coast inauguration address (Eisenhower)
1961 Robert Frost recites "The Gift Outright" at JFK's inauguration
1965 The Byrds record "Mr Tambourine Man"
1974 Essex Community College beats Englewood Cliffs 210-67 in basketball
1978 Columbia Pictures pays $9.5 million for movie rights to "Annie"
1980 President Jimmy Carter announces US boycott of Olympics in Moscow
1980 Super Bowl XIV-Pittsburgh Steelers-31, Los Angeles Rams-19
1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed
1982 7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor KY
1985 Super Bowl XIX-San Francisco 49'ers-38, Miami Dolphins-16
1986 First federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
1987 Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon
1988 Arizona committee opens hearing on impeachment of Governor Evan Mecham
1989 Reagan becomes first President elected in a "0" year, since 1840, to leave office alive
1991 Iraq pardes captured Allied airmen on TV

Birthdays which occurred on January 20th:

1760 Charles III, King of Spain (1759-88)
1820 Anne Jemima Clough, England, promoted higher education for women
1866 Richard Le Gallienne, English writer (Maker of Gainborg)
1873 Johannes V. Jensen, Denmark, novelist/poet/essayist (Nobel 1944)
1888 Leadbelly, Louisiana, blues 12 string guitarist (Rock Island Line)
1894 Harold L. Gray, writer, (Little Orphan Annie)
1894 Walter Hamor Piston, Rockland Maine, composer (Incredible Flutis)
1896 George Burns [Nathan Birnbaum], New York NY, actor/comedian (Oh God!)
1896 Rolfe Sedan, New York NY, actor (Mailman-George Burns Show)
1903 Leon Ames, Portland Indiana, actor (Mr. Ed, Father of the Bride)
1904 Alexandra Danilova, ballerina (Turning Point)
1910 Abram Hill, director/playwright/founder (American Negro Theater)
1910 Joy Adamson, naturalist/author (Born Free)
1919 Alex Nicol, Ossining NY, actor (Man From Laramie, Air Cadet)
1920 DeForest Kelly, actor (Dr. McCoy-Star Trek)
1920 Federico Fellini, Italian director (Satyricon, La Dolce Vita)
1922 Ray Anthony, Pennsylvania, orchestra leader (Ray Anthony Show, Peter Gunn Theme)
1926 Patricia Neal, Packard KY, actress (Hud, Subject Was Roses)
1928 Martin Landau, Brooklyn NY, actor (Mission Impossible, Tucker, Space 1999)
1928 Peter Donat, Kentville Nova Scotia, (Flamingo Road, Different Story)
1928 William Berger, Austria, actress (Adventure of Hercules)
1929 Arte Johnson, Chicago IL, comedian (Laugh-in, Don't Call Me Charlie)
1930 Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr. Montclair NJ, USAF/astronaut (Gem 12, Apollo 11)
1931 Sawako Ariyoshi, Japanese writer (Compound Pollution, Doctor's Wife)
1933 Nelson Doubleday, baseball team owner (New York Mets)
1933 Ron Townson, rock vocalist (5th Dimension-Up Up & Away)
1937 Dorothy Provine, Deadwood SD, actress (Good Neighbor Sam, Darn Cat)
1944 Isao Okano, Japan, middleweight judo (Olympic-gold-1964)
1946 David Lynch, Montana, director (Blue Velvet, Dune, Eraserhead)
1947 George Grantham, rocker (Poco-Crazy Eyes)
1948 Anatoly Shcharansky, Soviet human rights activist/emigre
1952 Ian Hill, bass guitarist (Judas Priest-Livin' After Midnight)
1952 Paul Stanley, rock guitarist (KISS-Rock and Roll All Night)
1955 Joe Doherty, Ireland, IRA activist (jailed in US)
1955 Michael Anthony, bass guitar player (Van Halen)
1966 Tia Carrere, Honolulu Hawaii, actress (Wayne's World, General Hospital)

Deaths which occurred on January 20th:

1900 John Ruskin, English writer, critic, dies of influenza at 81
1900 R.D. Blackmore, English novelist (Lorna Doone), dies at 74
1962 Robinson Jeffers, poet/playwright dies at 75
1965 Alan Freed, DJ (Big Beat), dies at 42
1984 Johnny Weismuller, actor (Tarzan, Jungle Jim), dies in Acapulco at 79
1990 Barbara Stanwyck, actress (Big Valley), dies at 82
1993 Audrey Hepburn, actress (Breakfast at Tiffany's), dies at 63 of colon cancer