2 January
Notable Births
CJ Egan-Riley
b. 2003
English footballer (born 2003)
Elye Wahi
b. 2003
French footballer (born 2003)
Cole Caufield
b. 2001
Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 2001)
Luiz Henrique (footballer, born 2001)
b. 2001
Brazilian footballer (born 2001)
Spencer Arrighetti
b. 2000
American baseball player (born 2000)
Fernando Tatís Jr.
b. 1999
Dominican baseball player (born 1999)
Aaron Wiggins
b. 1999
American basketball player (born 1999)
Tfue
b. 1998
American professional esports player (born 1998)
Timothy Fosu-Mensah
b. 1998
Dutch footballer (born 1998)
Arshad Nadeem
b. 1997
Pakistani javelin thrower (born 1997)
Carlos Soler
b. 1997
Spanish footballer (born 1997)
Jonah Bolden
b. 1996
Australian-American basketball player (born 1996)
Ronald Darby
b. 1994
American football player (born 1994)
Bryson Tiller
b. 1993
American singer (born 1993)
Paulo Gazzaniga
b. 1992
Argentine footballer (born 1992)
Alexey Marchenko
b. 1992
Russian ice hockey player (born 1992)
Teemu Pulkkinen
b. 1992
Finnish ice hockey player (born 1992)
Korbin Sims
b. 1992
Fiji international rugby league footballer
Ben Hardy (actor)
b. 1991
English actor (b. 1991)
Germán Cano
b. 1988
Argentine footballer (born 1988)
Notable Deaths
Ágnes Keleti
d. 2025
Hungarian-Israeli artistic gymnast (1921–2025)
Francesc Antich
d. 2025
Venezuelan-born Spanish politician (1958–2025)
Daryl Dragon
d. 2019
American musician (1942–2019)
Bob Einstein
d. 2019
American actor and comedy writer (1942–2019)
Gene Okerlund
d. 2019
American wrestling interviewer and announcer (1942–2019)
Guida Maria
d. 2018
Portuguese actress (1950–2018)
Thomas S. Monson
d. 2018
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (1927–2018)
Jean Vuarnet
d. 2017
French alpine skier (1933–2017)
John Berger
d. 2017
British painter, writer and art critic
A. B. Bardhan
d. 2016
Former General secretary of the Communist party of India
Frances Cress Welsing
d. 2016
American psychiatrist (1935–2016)
Nimr al-Nimr
d. 2016
Shia Muslim religious figure and Saudi government critic; executed in 2016
Gisela Mota Ocampo
d. 2016
Mexican politician and murder victim
Tihomir Novakov
d. 2015
Serbian-American physicist (1929–2015)
Bernard Glasser
d. 2014
American film director
Elizabeth Jane Howard
d. 2014
English novelist
Gerda Lerner
d. 2013
Austrian-American scholar (1920–2013)
Teresa Torańska
d. 2013
Polish journalist and writer
Gordon Hirabayashi
d. 2012
American sociologist (1918–2012)
Silvana Gallardo
d. 2012
American actress (1953–2012)
On This Day in History
All 38 ›
2024
Two aircraft collide on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, killing 5 and injuring 18.
2024 Haneda Airport runway collision
2022
Massive nationwide protests and unrest break out in Kazakhstan over the sudden increase of liquefied petroleum gas prices, leading to 238 people dead and thousands injured by January 11.
2022 Kazakh unrest
2004
Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.
Stardust (spacecraft)
1993
Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
Sri Lankan civil war
1991
Sharon Pratt Dixon becomes the first African American woman mayor of a major city and first woman Mayor of the District of Columbia.
Sharon Pratt
1988
Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782 crashes near Seferihisar, Turkey, killing 16 people.
Condor Flugdienst Flight 3782
1981
One of the largest investigations by a British police force ends when serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", is arrested in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
United Kingdom
1978
On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
President of Pakistan
1976
The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.
Gale of January 1976
1975
At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
Samastipur
1971
The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic association football match.
1971 Ibrox disaster
1967
Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
Ronald Reagan
1963
Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
Vietnam War
1959
Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the Soviet Union.
Luna 1
1955
Following the assassination of the Panamanian president José Antonio Remón Cantera, his deputy, José Ramón Guizado, takes power, but is quickly deposed after his involvement in Cantera's death is discovered.
Panama
1954
India establishes its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.
India
1949
Luis Muñoz Marín is inaugurated as the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
Luis Muñoz Marín
1942
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) obtains the conviction of 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history; Also known as the Duquesne Spy Ring.
Federal Bureau of Investigation
1942
World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
Manila
1941
World War II: The Cardiff Blitz severely damages the cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.
World War II