January 20

January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 345 days remaining until the end of the year (346 in leap years).

In the ancient astronomy, it is the cusp day between Capricorn and Aquarius. In some years it is Aquarius, but others Capricorn. It depends on solar term Dahan (Major cold).

Events

• 250 – Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian is martyred.
• 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
• 1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament".
• 1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
• 1356 – Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
• 1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
• 1567 – Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.
• 1576 – The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
• 1649 – Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes".
• 1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the American Revolutionary War (also known as the American War of Independence).
• 1785 – Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
• 1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides that Botany Bay is unsuitable for the location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.
• 1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.
• 1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
• 1877 – Last day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
• 1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• 1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
• 1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
• 1929 – In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking motion picture filmed outdoors, is released.
• 1936 – Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
• 1941 – A German officer is murdered in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.
• 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".
• 1945 – World War II: The Miklós provisional government of Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.
• 1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.
• 1949 – Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
• 1954 – In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1959 – The first flight of the Vickers Vanguard.
• 1960 – Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
• 1969 – East Pakistani police kill student activist Amanullah Asaduzzaman. The resulting outrage is in part responsible for the Bangladesh Liberation War.
• 1972 – Pakistan launched its Nuclear weapons program few weeks after its defeat in Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
• 1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
• 1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 1987 – Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
• 1990 – The Red Army crackdown on civil protests in Baku, Azerbaijan during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Also known as Black January.
• 1991 – Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
• 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France killing 87 of the 96 people on board. A design flaw in the computer mode selection system resulted in the crew selecting the wrong rate of descent.
• 1999 – The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use, aimed especially at Internet cafés.
• 2001 – President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
• 2006 – Witnesses report seeing a bottlenose whale swimming in the River Thames, the first time the species had been seen in the Thames since records began in 1913.
• 2007 – A three-man team, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1958 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.
• 2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.

Births

• 225 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (d. 244)
• 1029 – Alp Arslan, second Sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk (d. 1072)
• 1292 – Elizabeth of Bohemia (d. 1330)
• 1435 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (d. 1490)
• 1502 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish-born Franciscan, beatified for his work in Mexico (d. 1600)
• 1554 – Sebastian of Portugal (d. 1578)
• 1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1624)
• 1586 – Johann Schein, German composer (d. 1630)
• 1664 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (d. 1718)
• 1703 – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (d. 1741)
• 1716 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and numismatist (d. 1795)
• 1716 – Charles III of Spain (d. 1788)
• 1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress (d. 1794)
• 1741 – Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Swedish naturalist (d. 1783)
• 1755 – Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1824)
• 1762 – Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, Belgian-French composer and theorist (d. 1842)
• 1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1836)
• 1781 – Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, Austrian-German historian and politician (d. 1848)
• 1783 – Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (d. 1860)
• 1798 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician, 5th President of the Republic of Texas (d. 1858)
• 1804 – Eugène Sue, French author (d. 1857)
• 1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (d. 1896)
• 1834 – George D. Robinson, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
• 1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (d. 1899)
• 1867 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (d. 1944)
• 1870 – Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian composer (d. 1894)
• 1873 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
• 1876 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1967)
• 1878 – Finlay Currie, Scottish-English actor (d. 1968)
• 1878 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer (d. 1968)
• 1880 – Max Schöne, German swimmer (d. 1961)
• 1882 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American mobster (d. 1957)
• 1883 – Enoch L. Johnson, American mob boss (d. 1968)
• 1886 – Claude Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1943)
• 1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer and businessman; founded the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company (d. 1969)
• 1889 – G. H. Luce, British colonial scholar in Burma (d. 1979)
• 1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (d. 1967)
• 1893 – Georg Åberg, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1946)
• 1894 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist; created Little Orphan Annie (d. 1968)
• 1894 – Walter Piston, American composer, theorist, and academic (d. 1976)
• 1895 – Gábor Szegő, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1985)
• 1896 – George Burns, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1996)
• 1898 – U Razak, Burmese educator, politician & martyr (d. 1947)
• 1899 – Clarice Cliff, English potter (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (d. 1990)
• 1900 – Colin Clive, French-English actor (d. 1937)
• 1902 – Leon Ames, American actor and singer (d. 1993)
• 1902 – Kevin Barry, Irish republican rebel (d. 1920)
• 1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Turkish-Greek businessman (d. 1975)
• 1907 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (d. 2000)
• 1909 – Gōgen Yamaguchi, Japanese martial artist (d. 1989)
• 1910 – Joy Adamson, Austrian-Kenyan naturalist, painter and author (d. 1980)
• 1912 – Hulusi Kentmen, Turkish actor (d. 1993)
• 1913 – S. M. Rasamanickam, Sri Lankan politician (d. 1974)
• 1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani businessman and politician, 7th President of Pakistan (d. 2006)
• 1918 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2002)
• 1918 – W. Cleon Skousen, American author and academic (d. 2006)
• 1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1993)
• 1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Ray Anthony, American trumpet player, composer, bandleader, and actor
• 1922 – Graham Stark, English actor and director (d. 2013)
• 1923 – Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer (d. 2015)
• 1923 – Slim Whitman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and composer (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2015)
• 1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician
• 1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (d. 2010)
• 1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
• 1927 – Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist, author, and academic (d. 2007)
• 1928 – Antonio de Almeida, French conductor and musicologist (d. 1997)
• 1929 – Jimmy Cobb, American drummer
• 1929 – Arte Johnson, American actor, singer, and screenwriter
• 1929 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (d. 1964)
• 1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
• 1931 – David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese pianist and composer (d. 1992)
• 1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1934 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (d. 2014)
• 1934 – Tom Baker, English actor
• 1934 – Horst Mahseli, Polish footballer (d. 1999)
• 1936 – Frances Shand Kydd, English-Scottish mother of Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 2004)
• 1937 – Dorothy Provine, American singer, dancer, and actress (d. 2010)
• 1938 – William Berger, Austrian-American actor (d. 1993)
• 1938 – Derek Dougan, Irish-English footballer and journalist (d. 2007)
• 1939 – Paul Coverdell, American politician (d. 2000)
• 1939 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist
• 1940 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater and actress
• 1940 – Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician
• 1940 – Mandé Sidibé, Malian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (d. 2009)
• 1941 – Pierre Lalonde, Canadian singer and television host
• 1941 – Clift Tsuji, American politician
• 1943 – Rick Evans, American singer and guitarist (Zager and Evans)
• 1944 – José Luis Garci, Spanish director and producer
• 1944 – Farhad Mehrad, Iranian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
• 1945 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist and sportscaster (d. 2013)
• 1945 – Eric Stewart, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1946 – David Lynch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1946 – Vladimír Merta, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and journalist
• 1947 – Cyrille Guimard, French cyclist and sportscaster
• 1948 – Nancy Kress, American author and academic
• 1948 – Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and politician; Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
• 1949 – Göran Persson, Swedish politician; 31st Prime Minister of Sweden
• 1950 – Daniel Benzali, Brazilian-American actor
• 1950 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2014)
• 1950 – Mahamane Ousmane, Nigerian politician, President of Niger
• 1951 – Iván Fischer, Hungarian conductor and composer
• 1952 – Nikos Sideris, Greek psychiatrist and poet
• 1952 – Paul Stanley, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (Kiss and Wicked Lester)
• 1954 – Rudy La Scala, Venezuelan singer-songwriter and producer
• 1954 – Ken Page, American actor and singer
• 1954 – Alison Seabeck, English politician
• 1955 – McKeeva Bush, Caymanian politician, Premier of the Cayman Islands
• 1955 – Hiromi Ōta, Japanese singer
• 1956 – Maria Larsson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs
• 1956 – Bill Maher, American comedian, actor, and television host
• 1958 – Lorenzo Lamas, American actor, director, and producer
• 1959 – Tami Hoag, American author
• 1959 – R. A. Salvatore, American author
• 1960 – Apa Sherpa, Nepalese-American mountaineer
• 1960 – Scott Thunes, American bass player
• 1960 – Will Wright, American video game designer; co-founded Maxis
• 1962 – Laima Muktupāvela, Latvian writer
• 1963 – James Denton, American actor
• 1963 – Mark Ryden, American painter
• 1964 – Ozzie Guillén, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
• 1964 – Ron Harper, American basketball player and coach
• 1964 – Kaho Minami, Japanese actress
• 1964 – Kazushige Nojima, Japanese screenwriter and songwriter
• 1964 – Aquilino Pimentel III, Filipino lawyer and politician
• 1964 – Fareed Zakaria, Indian-American journalist and author
• 1964 – Nobuo Yamada(NoB), Japanese singer
• 1965 – Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer and manager
• 1965 – Sophie, Countess of Wessex
• 1965 – Greg K., American bass player (The Offspring)
• 1965 – John Michael Montgomery, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1965 – Heather Small, English singer-songwriter and actress (M People)
• 1965 – Anton Weissenbacher, Romanian footballer
• 1966 – Stacey Dash, American actress
• 1966 – Tracii Guns, American guitarist and songwriter
• 1966 – Rainn Wilson, American actor, director, and producer
• 1967 – Jay Hunt, Australian-English businessman
• 1967 – Eric Quizon, Filipino actor, director, producer, and writer
• 1968 – Nick Anderson, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1968 – Melissa Rivers, American actress, television host, and producer
• 1968 – Charlie Swan, Irish jockey and trainer
• 1969 – Noriko Kinohara, Japanese actress
• 1969 – Patrick K. Kroupa, American computer hacker and activist; co-founded MindVox
• 1969 – Nicky Wire, Welsh singer-songwriter and bass player (Manic Street Preachers)
• 1970 – Kerri Kenney-Silver, American actress and singer
• 1970 – Skeet Ulrich, American actor
• 1971 – Questlove, American drummer, DJ, and producer (The Roots and Soulquarians)
• 1971 – Gary Barlow, English singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
• 1971 – Derrick Green, American singer-songwriter (Sepultura)
• 1971 – Wakanohana Masaru, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 66th Yokozuna
• 1972 – Nikki Haley, American accountant and politician, 116th Governor of South Carolina
• 1973 – Queen Mathilde of Belgium
• 1974 – David Dei, Italian footballer
• 1975 – Norberto Fontana, Argentinian race car driver
• 1976 – Gretha Smit, Dutch speed skater
• 1977 – Melody, Belgian singer
• 1978 – Salvatore Aronica, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Joy Giovanni, American wrestler and actress
• 1978 – Sonja Kesselschläger, German heptathlete
• 1978 – Allan Søgaard, Danish footballer
• 1978 – Sid Wilson, American DJ and pianist
• 1978 – Luciano Zauri, Italian footballer
• 1979 – Asaka Kubo, Japanese singer
• 1979 – Shang Yi, Chinese footballer
• 1979 – Will Young, English singer-songwriter and actor
• 1980 – Philippe Cousteau, Jr., American-French oceanographer and journalist
• 1980 – Philippe Gagnon, Canadian swimmer
• 1980 – Kim Jeong-hoon, South Korean singer and actor
• 1980 – Petra Rampre, Slovenian tennis player
• 1980 – Matthew Tuck, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1981 – Daniel Cudmore, Canadian actor and stuntman
• 1981 – Brendan Fevola, Australian footballer
• 1981 – Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
• 1981 – Owen Hargreaves, English footballer
• 1981 – Crystal Lowe, Canadian actress
• 1981 – Jason Richardson, American basketball player
• 1982 – Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer
• 1983 – Mari Yaguchi, Japanese singer and actress (Morning Musume)
• 1984 – Olivia Hallinan, English actress
• 1984 – Rene Mandri, Estonian cyclist
• 1985 – Marina Inoue, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1985 – Tanel Sokk, Estonian basketball player
• 1985 – Roxanne Barcelo, Filipino singer, actress and host
• 1986 – Genie Chuo, Taiwanese singer and actress
• 1986 – Kevin Parker, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1987 – Evan Peters, American actor
• 1987 – Janin Lindenberg, German sprinter
• 1987 – Michelle Maylene, American actress, adult model, and porn star.
• 1987 – Marco Simoncelli, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2011)
• 1988 – Colin Bensadon, Gibraltarian swimmer
• 1988 – Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian footballer
• 1988 – Nathan Jones, Australian rules footballer
• 1988 – Callum MacLeod, English racing driver
• 1988 – Jeffrén Suárez, Spanish footballer
• 1989 – Nick Foles, American football player
• 1989 – Washington Santana da Silva, Brazilian footballer
• 1991 – Ciara Hanna, American actress and model
• 1991 – Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player
• 1991 – Jolyon Palmer, English race car driver
• 1991 – Lily LaBeau, American porn actress
• 1992 – Jorge Zárate, Mexican footballer
• 1993 – Lorenzo Crisetig, Italian footballer
• 1994 – Denis Mukhametdinov, Russian footballer
• 1995 – Joey Badass, American rapper (Pro Era)

Deaths

• 250 – Pope Fabian (b. 200)
• 820 – Al-Shafi‘i, Palestinian scholar and jurist (b. 767)
• 842 – Theophilos, Byzantine emperor (b. 813)
• 1156 – Henry, English-Finnish bishop and saint
• 1191 – Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia (b. 1167)
• 1410 – Martin of Aragon (b. 1356)
• 1479 – John II of Aragon (b. 1397)
• 1568 – Myles Coverdale, English bishop and translator (b. 1488)
• 1612 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
• 1663 – Isaac Ambrose, English minister and author (b. 1604)
• 1666 – Anne of Austria (b. 1601)
• 1707 – Humphrey Hody, English scholar and theologian (b. 1659)
• 1709 – François de la Chaise, French priest (b. 1624)
• 1751 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (b. 1665)
• 1770 – Charles Yorke, English lawyer and politician; Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1722)
• 1779 – David Garrick, English actor, producer, playwright, and manager (b. 1717)
• 1810 – Benjamin Chew, American lawyer and judge (b. 1721)
• 1819 – Charles IV of Spain (b. 1748)
• 1837 – John Soane, English architect; designed the Bank of England (b. 1753)
• 1841 – Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish adventurer (b. 1780)
• 1841 – Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1791)
• 1848 – Christian VIII of Denmark (b. 1786)
• 1850 – Adam Oehlenschläger, Danish poet-playwright (b. 1779)
• 1852 – Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler; the 6th Yokozuna (b. 1794)
• 1873 – Basil Moreau, French priest; founded the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)
• 1875 – Jean-François Millet, French painter and educator (b. 1814)
• 1891 – Kalākaua of Hawaii (b. 1836)
• 1900 – John Ruskin, English painter and critic (b. 1819)
• 1901 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer; invented the Gramme machine (b. 1826)
• 1907 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer (b. 1842)
• 1908 – John Ordronaux, American surgeon and academic (b. 1830)
• 1913 – José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican engraver and illustrator (b. 1852)
• 1921 – Mary Watson Whitney, American astronomer (b. 1847)
• 1936 – George V of the United Kingdom (b. 1865)
• 1940 – Omar Bundy, American general (b. 1861)
• 1944 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (b. 1860)
• 1947 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (b. 1911)
• 1962 – Robinson Jeffers, American poet and philosopher (b. 1887)
• 1965 – Alan Freed, American radio host (b. 1922)
• 1971 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1880)
• 1971 – Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (b. 1903)
• 1973 – Lorenz Böhler, Austrian physician and surgeon (b. 1885)
• 1973 – Amílcar Cabral, Guinea Bissauan-Cape Verdian engineer and politician (b. 1924)
• 1977 – Dimitrios Kiousopoulos, Greek jurist and politician; 151st Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1892)
• 1979 – Gustav Winckler, Danish singer-songwriter (b. 1925)
• 1983 – Garrincha, Brazilian footballer (b. 1933)
• 1984 – Johnny Weissmuller, American swimmer and actor (b. 1904)
• 1988 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Pakistani activist and politician (b. 1890)
• 1988 – Dora Stratou, Greek dancer and choreographer (b. 1903)
• 1989 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
• 1990 – Hayedeh, Iranian singer (b. 1942)
• 1990 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress and singer (b. 1907)
• 1993 – Audrey Hepburn, British actress and humanitarian (b. 1929)
• 1994 – Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and coach (b. 1909)
• 1994 – Bedia Muvahhit, Turkish actress (b. 1897)
• 1996 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1927)
• 1997 – Curt Flood, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1938)
• 1998 – Bobo Brazil, American wrestler and actor (b. 1924)
• 2002 – Carrie Hamilton, American actress and singer (b. 1963)
• 2003 – Al Hirschfeld, American painter and illustrator (b. 1903)
• 2003 – Nedra Volz, American actress (b. 1908)
• 2003 – Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (b. 1947)
• 2004 – Alan Brown, English racing driver (b. 1919)
• 2004 – T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (b. 1917)
• 2004 – Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Parveen Babi, Indian model and actress (b. 1949)
• 2005 – Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1913)
• 2005 – Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist and politician (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Dave Lepard, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist (Crashdïet) (b. 1980)
• 2007 – Dan Christensen, American painter (b. 1942)
• 2009 – Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian patriarch (b. 1920)
• 2009 – David "Fathead" Newman, American saxophonist and songwriter (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Etta James, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
• 2012 – John Levy, American bassist and manager (b. 1912)
• 2012 – Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior (b. 1933)
• 2012 – Alejandro Rodriguez, Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist (b. 1918)
• 2013 – Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Toyo Shibata, Japanese poet and author (b. 1911)
• 2014 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (b. 1933)
• 2014 – James Jacks, American film producer (b. 1947)
• 2015 – Edgar Froese, Russian-German keyboard player and songwriter (Tangerine Dream) (b. 1944)
• 2015 – Hitoshi Saito, Japanese martial artist (b. 1961)
• 2015 – Tyrone José González Oramas; Venezuelan composer and singer (b. 1988)
• 2015 – Ricardo dos Santos; Brazilian surfer (b. 1990)

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Abadios
  • Blessed Basil Moreau
  • Eustochia Smeralda Calafato
  • Euthymius the Great
  • Fabian
  • Manchán of Lemanaghan
  • Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception
  • Richard Rolle (Church of England)
  • Sebastian
  • Stephen Min Kuk-ka (one of The Korean Martyrs)
  • January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Armed Forces Day (Mali)
• Heroes' Day (Cape Verde)
• Inauguration Day, held every four years in odd-numbered years, except when January 20 falls on a Sunday. (United States of America)
• Martyrs' Day (Azerbaijan)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On this day in Canada