January 1  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Art and culture

The Ancient Romans began their year on 1 January. During the Middle Ages under the influence of the Christian Church, many countries moved the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals - 25 December (the Nativity of Jesus), 1 March, 25 March (the Annunciation), or even Easter.

Births

• 1431 - Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
• 1854 - Sir James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist (d. 1941)
• 1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
• 1879 - E. M. Forster, English novelist (d. 1970)
• 1900 - Xavier Cugat, Spanish musician (d. 1990)
• 1919 - J. D. Salinger, American novelist
• 1927 - Maurice Béjart, French choreographer
• 1933 - Joe Orton, English writer (d. 1967)
• 1942 - Country Joe McDonald, American musician (Country Joe and the Fish)
• 1950 - Morgan Fisher, English musician (Mott the Hoople)
• 1951 - Rodger Bumpass, American actor (Squidward Tentacles)
• 1951 - Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
• 1951 - Nana Patekar, Indian film and stage actor
• 1951 - Hans-Joachim Stuck, German-born race car driver
• 1953 - Greg Carmichael, British guitarist (Acoustic Alchemy)
• 1954 - Bob Menendez, American politician
• 1956 - Mark R. Hughes, American entrepreneur (d. 2000)
• 1956 - Kôji Yakusho, Japanese actor
• 1956 - Mike Mitchell, American basketball player
• 1957 - Ewa Kasprzyk, Polish actress
• 1957 - Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer, professor and politician
• 1958 - Grandmaster Flash, Barbados-born musician
• 1959 - Azali Assoumani, Comorian president
• 1959 - Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach
• 1959 - Jennifer Edwards, American actress
• 1961 - Fiona Phillips, British television presenter
• 1961 - Mark Wingett, British actor
• 1962 - Sophie Thompson, British actress
• 1962 - Ari Up, German musician (The Slits)
• 1964 - Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
• 1966 - Anna Burke, Australian politician
• 1967 - Derrick Thomas, American football player (d. 2000)
• 1967 - John Digweed, English DJ
• 1967 - Tim Dog, American rapper
• 1967 - Juanma Bajo Ulloa, Spanish film director
• 1968 - Miki Higashino, Japanese composer
• 1968 - Joey Stefano, American adult actor (d. 1994)
• 1968 - Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
• 1969 - Christi Paul, American news anchor
• 1969 - Verne Troyer, American actor
• 1970 - Gabriel Jarret, American actor
• 1970 - Shelley O'Donnell, Australian netballer
• 1970 - Kimberly Page, American actress
• 1971 - Bobby Holik, Czech hockey player
• 1972 - Neve McIntosh, Scottish actress
• 1972 - Lilian Thuram, French footballer
• 1974 - Catalina Guirado, English model and TV personality
• 1975 - Sonali Bendre, Indian model and actress
• 1975 - Joe Cannon, American soccer player
• 1975 - Eiichiro Oda, Japanese Manga artist
• 1976 - Vidya Balan, Indian actress
• 1976 - Caleb Wyatt, American motocross rider
• 1977 - Keeley Hawes, British actress
• 1977 - Hasan Salihamidžić, Bosnian footballer
• 1978 - Nina Bott, German actress
• 1978 - Phillip Mulryne, Northern Irish footballer
• 1978 - Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, Indian spiritualist
• 1978 - Tarik O'Regan, British composer
• 1979 - Brody Dalle, Australian singer (The Distillers)
• 1979 - Koichi Domoto, Japanese artist
• 1980 - Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
• 1981 - Jonas Armstrong, Irish actor
• 1981 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
• 1981 - Abdülkadir Koçak, Turkish boxer
• 1981 - Eden Riegel, American actress
• 1982 - David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
• 1983 - Calum Davenport, English footballer
• 1983 - Emi Kobayashi, Japanese model
• 1984 - José Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
• 1984 - Alok Kapali, Bangladeshi cricketer
• 1984 - Shareefa, American singer
• 1984 - Michael Witt, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1985 - Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
• 1986 - Alexa Ray Joel, American musician
• 1986 - Glen Davis, American basketball player
• 1987 - Devin Setoguchi, Professional hockey player
• 1987 - Gilbert Brule, Professional hockey player
• 1987 - Meryl Davis, American ice dancer
• 1998 - Marlene Lawston, American child actress

Deaths

• 379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea (b. 330)
• 404 - Saint Telemachus
• 874 - Hasan al-Askari, eleventh Shia Imam (b. 846)
• 898 - Odo, Count of Paris (b. 860)
• 962 - Baldwin III, Count of Flanders
• 1204 - King Haakon III of Norway
• 1387 - King Charles II of Navarre (b. 1332)
• 1515 - King Louis XII of France (b. 1462)
• 1554 - Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador (b. 1500)
• 1559 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (b. 1503)
• 1560 - Joachim du Bellay, French poet (bc. 1522)
• 1617 - Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (b. 1558)
• 1697 - Filippo Baldinucci, Florentine biographer/ historian (b. 1624)
• 1716 - William Wycherley, English dramatist (bc. 1640)
• 1730 - Samuel Sewall, English-born judge (b. 1652)
• 1742 - Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1686)
• 1748 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1667)
• 1759 - Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie, French adventurer (b. 1705)
• 1766 - James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender" (b. 1688)
• 1782 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
• 1789 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (b. 1716)
• 1793 - Francesco Guardi, Venetian painter (b. 1712)
• 1796 - Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde, French mathematician (b. 1735)
• 1800 - Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (b. 1716)
• 1817 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (b. 1743)
• 1862 - Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky, Russian physicist (b. 1801)
• 1869 - Martin W. Bates, American politician (b. 1786)
• 1892 - Roswell B. Mason, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
• 1894 - Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, German physicist (b. 1857)
• 1919 - Mikhail Drozdovsky, Russian general (b. 1881)
• 1921 - Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
• 1931 - Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
• 1940 - Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian writer and essayist (b. 1865)
• 1944 - Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
• 1953 - Hank Williams, American singer (b. 1923)
• 1958 - Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
• 1960 - Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
• 1964 - Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (b. 1890)
• 1966 - Vincent Auriol, French politician (b. 1884)
• 1969 - Barton MacLane, American actor (b. 1902)
• 1969 - Bruno Söderström, Swedish athlete (b. 1888)
• 1971 - Saint Amphilochius of Pochayiv, Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Saint (b. 1894)
• 1972 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
• 1982 - Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
• 1984 - Alexis Korner, British blues musician (b. 1928)
• 1985 - Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (b. 1905)
• 1986 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
• 1986 - Bruce Norris, American hockey executive (Detroit Red Wings) (b. 1924)
• 1991 - Buck Ram, American songwriter and businessman (The Platters) (b. 1907)
• 1992 - Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b. 1906)
• 1994 - Lord Arthur Espie Porritt, Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
• 1994 - Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
• 1995 - Fred West, British serial killer (suicide) (b. 1941)
• 1995 - Eugene Wigner, Hungarian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
• 1996 - Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
• 1996 - Arthur Rudolph, German engineer (b. 1906)
• 1997 - Townes Van Zandt, American musician (b. 1944)
• 1997 - Hagood Hardy, Canadian composer and musician (b. 1937)
• 1998 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b. 1905)
• 2000 - Colin Vaughan, Australian-born political journalist (b. 1931)
• 2001 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
• 2002 - Julia Phillips, American film producer (b. 1944)
• 2003 - Joe Foss, American politician and fighter pilot (b. 1915)
• 2003 - F. William Free, American advertising executive (b. 1928)
• 2005 - Shirley Chisholm, American politician (b. 1924)
• 2005 - Hugh Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham, British newspaperman (b. 1931)
• 2005 - Bob Matsui, American politician (b. 1941)
• 2005 - Eugene J. Martin, American painter, artist (b. 1938)
• 2006 - Harry Magdoff, American magazine editor (b. 1913)
• 2006 - Hugh McLaughlin, Irish publisher and inventor (b. 1918)
• 2006 - Bryan Harvey, American musician (House of Freaks) (b. 1956)
• 2007 - Leonard Fraser, Australian serial killer (b. 1951)
• 2007 - Ernie Koy, American baseball player (b. 1909)
• 2007 - Tillie Olsen, American writer (b. 1912)
• 2007 - Del Reeves, American country singer (b. 1932)
• 2007 - Darrent Williams, American football player (b. 1982)
• 2007 - Leon Davidson, American scientist known for studying UFOs (b. 1922)
• 2007 - Roland Levinsky, South African medical scientist (b. 1943)
• 2007 - Tad Jones, American jazz music historian (b. 1952)
• 2007 - Julius Hegyi, American conductor (b. 1923)
• 2007 - A. I. Bezzerides, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1908)

Notes

John Latham Alfred Stieglitz Pope Alexander VI Enrico Sabbatini Frederick Wiseman James George Frazer Country Joe McDonald Ernest Jones History of erotic photography J. D. Salinger Teruo Ishii Grandmaster Flash Mikhail Lermontov Hendrick Goltzius Maurice Béjart Carole Landis The Far Side Don Drummond Tom Barman E. M. Forster Spencer Tunick Antioch Ruling Joe Orton Desire Unbound Xavier Cugat