Historical Events
US Navy Beats Mare Island
Jan 1 5th Rose Bowl, Tournament Park, Pasadena, California: Great Lakes, US Navy beats Mare Island, USMC, 17-0; MVP: George Halas, US Navy
Beatty Made Admiral
Jan 1 Battle of Jutland British naval commander David Beatty is promoted to full admiral
- Jan 1 Belorussian SSR established
Henry Ford's Son Succeeds Him
Jan 1 Edsel Ford succeeds his father, Henry Ford, as president of the Ford Motor Company
Hoover Takes on War Relief
Jan 3 Herbert Hoover is placed in charge of war relief in Europe
- Jan 3 The Faisal-Weizmann Agreement, which was a short-lived agreement for the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, is signed by the King of Iraq and the President of the World Zionist Organization
- Jan 5 German Workers' Party forms, precursor to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi)
- Jan 5 Left-wing Spartacus organization instigates a revolt in Berlin; terrified by the spread of Bolshevism, German troops brutally suppress the uprising
- Jan 7 Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel, but fail to prevent Serbia's annexation of Montenegro
- Jan 7 The Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union of South Africa is founded, led by Clements Kadalie
- Jan 11 3-year-old German communist party (Spartacus) crushed
- Jan 11 Romania annexes Transylvania
- Jan 13 Dutch Soccer team OSV forms
- Jan 14 John McGraw, Charles A. Stoneham and Francis Xavier McQuade buy NY Giants
"The Last Days of Mankind"
Jan 15 Frank Wedekind's play "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Mankind)" premieres
- Jan 15 Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps
- Jan 15 Semana Tragica (Tragic Week): Bloodbath in Buenos Aires
- Jan 15 Two million gallons of molasses flood Boston Massachusetts in the "Great Molasses Flood" when a storage tank burst, drowning 21 and injuring 150
- Jan 15 Wilson Collison & Otto Harbach's play "Up in Mabel's Room" premieres in NYC
Prohibition is Ratified
Jan 16 The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing the prohibition of alcohol, is ratified by a majority of US states
Bentley Motors Founded
Jan 18 Bentley Motors Limited is founded by Walter Owen Bentley in London, England
Ignacy Jan Paderewski Prime Minister
Jan 18 Composer and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Polish Prime Minister
- Jan 18 The Paris peace conference (aka the Versailles peace conference) opens to draw up the treaties formally ending the Great War (WWI)
- Jan 19 National elections held in Germany to form a National Constituent Assembly and draft a constitution
Patterson Defeats Kingscote
Jan 20 International Lawn Tennis Challenge, Double Bay, Sydney: Gerald Patterson beats Algernon Kingscote 6-4, 6-4, 8-6 to retain title for Australasia over the Great Britain, 3-1; ends 4-1
- Jan 21 Irish militant nationalist party Sinn Féin creates its own parliament in Dublin and declares Ireland independent of Great Britain, sparking the Irish War of Independence
- Jan 25 Founding of League of Nations, 1st meeting 1 year later
- Jan 25 The Hotel Pennsylvania, at the time the world's largest, opens in Manhattan
- Jan 31 The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland: troops deployed against protesters for fear of a Bolshevik uprising
Famous Birthdays
- Jan 1 Bernard Drukker, Dutch organist, pianist, and orchestra leader (Devil's Wheel), born in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1992)
- Jan 1 Carole Landis [Frances Ridste], American actress (I Wake Up Screaming; One Million BC; Topper Returns), born in Fairchild, Wisconsin (d. 1948)
- Jan 1 Horace "Bones" McKinney, American basketball forward, coach and broadcaster (Washington Capitols, Wake Forest), born in Lowland, North Carolina (d. 1997)
J. D. Salinger (1919-2010)
Jan 1 American novelist (The Catcher in the Rye), born in New York City
- Jan 1 Rocky Graziano, American boxer (World Middleweight title 1947-48; famous Tony Zale trilogy) and entertainer (Pantomime Quiz, Miami Undercover), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1990)
- Jan 3 Herbie Nichols, American jazz pianist and composer ("Lady Sings the Blues"), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 1963)
- Jan 4 Al "Jazzbo" Collins, American DJ (The Tonight Show, America After Dark), born in Rochester, New York (d. 1997)
- Jan 4 Havelock Hudson, British underwriter (Lloyd's of London) (d. 1996)
- Jan 5 Severino Gazzelloni, Italian flautist, born in Roccasecca, Italy (d. 1992)
- Jan 11 Stan Pearson, English soccer inside forward (8 caps; Manchester United, Bury, Chester), born in Salford, England (d. 1997)
- Jan 13 Army Archerd, American Hollywood columnist (Variety) and TV host (Movie Game), born in The Bronx, New York (d. 2009)
- Jan 13 Robert Stack, American actor (The Untouchables - "Elliot Ness"; Unsolved Mysteries; Written on the Wind), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2003)
- Jan 14 Andy Rooney, American CBS news correspondent (60 Minutes), born in Albany, New York (d. 2011)
- Jan 14 Giulio Andreotti, Italian politician and statesman (Prime Minister, 1989–1992), born in Rome, Italy (d. 2013)
Nathaniel Rochester (1919-2001)
Jan 14 American computer scientist (chief architect of the IBM 701), born in Buffalo, New York
- Jan 15 Åke Seyffarth, Swedish speed skater (Olympic gold 10,000m 1948; WR 3,000 & 5,000m), born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 1998)
- Jan 18 Juan Antonio Orrego-Salas, Chilean composer, born in Santiago, Chile (d. 2019)
- Jan 19 Ray Eberle, American big band vocalist (Glenn Miller; Gene Krupa), and bandleader, born in Hoosick Falls, New York (d. 1979) [1]
- Jan 20 Royalton Kisch, British conductor, born in Marylebone, London, England (d. 1995)
- Jan 20 Stepan Lucky, Slovak film score composer, born in Žilina, Slovakia (d. 2006)
- Jan 21 Jinx Falkenburg [Eugenia], American actress and well-known US cover-girl model throughout 1930s-40s, born in Barcelona, Spain (d. 2003)
- Jan 23 Bob Paisley, English football player and manager, born in Hetton-le-Hole, United Kingdom (d. 1996)
- Jan 23 Ernie Kovacs, American comedian (The Ernie Kovacs Show), born in Trenton, New Jersey (d. 1962)
- Jan 23 Frances Bay, Canadian-American character actress (Twin Peaks - "Mrs. Tremond"), born in Manville, Alberta (d. 2011)
- Jan 23 Hans Hass, Austrian zoologist and underwater scientist, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2013)
- Jan 23 Nina Dumbadze, Soviet discus thrower (Olympic bronze 1952), born in Odessa, Ukraine (d. 1983)
- Jan 24 Leon Kirchner, American contemporary classical composer (Pulitzer Prize for Music 1967), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2009)
- Jan 24 Nora Beloff, English journalist and author, born in London (d. 1997)
- Jan 25 Edwin Newman, American journalist and author (NBC-TV, Comment), born in New York City (d. 2010)
- Jan 26 K C Ibrahim, Indian cricket batsman (4 Tests, 1 x 50, HS 85; Bombay CA), born in Mumbai, India (d. 2007)
- Jan 27 David Seville [Ross Bagdasarian], American songwriter ("Come On A-My House"), singer (Alvin & The Chipmunks - "Witch Doctor"), and actor (Rear Window), born in Fresno, California (d. 1972)
- Jan 27 Nina Milkina, Russian British pianist, born in Moscow (d. 2006)
- Jan 29 Doyle Royal, American collegiate soccer coach (NCAA C'ship 1968; University of Maryland 1946-73) and tennis coach (U of Maryland 1954-80), born in Washington, D.C. (d. 2020)
- Jan 29 Norman Frederick Simpson, British playwright (One Way Pendulum), born in London, England (d. 2011)
- Jan 30 Nikolay Glazkov, Russian poet, born in Lyskovo, Russia (d. 1979)
- Jan 30 Robert Suter, Swiss composer, born in St. Gallen, Switzerland (d. 2008)
Jackie Robinson (1919-1972)
Jan 31 American Baseball HOF second baseman (1st African-American MLB player Brooklyn Dodgers; 6 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1955; NL MVP 1949), born in Cairo, Georgia
Famous Deaths
Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
Jan 6 26th US President (R: 1901-09; Nobel 1906), dies in NY at 60
- Jan 7 Henry Ware Eliot, American industrialist, philanthropist and the father of T. S. Eliot, dies at 75
- Jan 8 Jim O'Rourke, American Baseball HOF left fielder (NL HR leader 1880 Boston Red Caps; NY Giants) and manager (Buffalo Bisons 1881-84, Washington Sens 1893), dies at 68
- Jan 8 Peter Altenberg, writer, dies at 59
- Jan 10 Wallace Sabine, American physicist (father of architectural acoustics), dies at 50 [1]
- Jan 15 Karl Liebknecht, German Marxist revolutionary (Sparta Party), murdered at 47
- Jan 15 Rosa Luxemburg, Polish-German Marxist revolutionary and founder of the Spartacus League, murdered by the Freikorps at 47
- Jan 16 Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
- Jan 16 Jaroslav Jeremiáš, Czech pianist and composer, dies at 19
- Jan 18 Prince John of the United Kingdom, youngest son of English king George V, dies at 13
- Jan 21 Gojong, Emperor Gwangmu of Korea (1897-1907), dies at 66
- Jan 22 Carl Larsson, Swedish painter (Midwinter Sacrifice - Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts), dies at 65
- Jan 27 Endre Ady, Hungarian lyric poet (Még egyzer, Uj versek), dies from complications related to alcoholism at 41
- Jan 30 Sam Steele, Canadian soldier, dies from influenza at 71
- Jan 31 Paul Lindau, German playwright and critic (Estimate), dies at 79
