January 7

January 7 is the 7th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 358 days remaining (359 in leap years).

The day is 人日 (Jinjitsu[?]), 七草の節句 in Japan.

Events

• 1325 - Alfonso IV[?] becomes King of Portugal
• 1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England
• 1566 - Pius V becomes Pope
• 1598 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia
• 1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.
• 1782 - The first American commercial bank opens (Bank of North America).
• 1785 - Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard[?] and American John Jeffries[?] travel from Dover, England to Calais, France in a gas balloon, becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air
• 1789 - First nationwide United States election
• 1894 - W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film.
• 1901 - Alferd Packer[?] is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism
• 1904 - The distress signal[?] "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS."
• 1927 - First international telephone call - New York City to London
• 1927 - The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game
• 1935 - World War II: Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval[?] sign the Italo-French agreements[?].
• 1942 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins
• 1945 - British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge
• 1953 - President Harry Truman announces development of the hydrogen bomb
• 1959 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro
• 1975 - OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
• 1979 - Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are overthrown by Vietnamese troops
• 1980 - President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation
• 1989 - Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan
• 1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
• 1996 - One of the worst blizzards in American. history hits eastern states killing more than 100.
• 1999 - The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins.

Births

• 1768 - Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples (+ 1844)
• 1800 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States 1850-1853
• 1831 - Heinrich von Stephan[?], organizer of the German postal union and founder of the Universal postal union (+ 1897)
• 1834 - Johann Philipp Reis[?], physicist and inventor (+ 1874)
• 1845 - King Ludwig II of Bavaria (+ 1921)
• 1873 - Adolph Zukor, producer (+ 1976)
• 1890 - Henny Porten[?], actress (+ 1960)
• 1898 - Rudolf Fernau[?], actor (+ 1985)
• 1899 - Francis Poulenc, composer (+ 1963)
• 1901? - Zora Neale Hurston, writer (+ 1960)
• 1910 - Orval Faubus[?], Governor of Arkansas, segregationist (+ 1994)
• 1911 - Butterfly McQueen[?], actress (+ 1995)
• 1912 - Charles Addams, cartoonist (+ 1988)
• 1915 - Erwin Wickert[?], narrator
• 1922 - Jean-Pierre Rampal[?], musician
• 1923 - Pinkas Braun[?], actor and film director
• 1928 - William Peter Blatty[?], screenwriter
• 1935 - Valeri Kubasov, cosmonaut
• 1942 - Paul Revere, singer and musician
• 1948 - Kenny Loggins[?], singer
• 1956 - David Caruso[?], actor
• 1957 - Katie Couric[?], television host
• 1964 - Nicolas Cage, actor

Deaths

• 1536 - Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England
• 1872 - James Fisk, entrepreneur
• 1893 - Jožef Stefan, physicist, mathematician and poet
• 1988 - Trevor Howard, actor
• 1989 - Hirohito, Emperor of Japan
• 1990 - Bronko Nagurski, American football star

Holidays and observances

• Catholicism - Feast day of St. Raymond of Penafort[?].
• Julian Calendar Christmas

January 6 - January 8 - December 7 - February 7 - Historical anniversaries