✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 1st day of the year

January 1

A look at January 1 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Ali al-Rida and Jonas Armstrong, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♑ZodiacCapricorn ◈BirthstoneGarnet ❀Birth flowerCarnation
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Events

10 notable moments
  1. 2011

    2011 Alexandria bombing

    A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.

    Attack on Coptic Christians
  2. 2007

    Adam Air Flight 574

    Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia, killing all 102 people on board.

    2007 aviation accident in
  3. 1995

    World Trade Organization

    The World Trade Organization comes into being.

    Intergovernmental trade organization
  4. 1945

    World War II

    World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed, attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.

    1939–1945 global conflict
  5. 1892

    Ellis Island

    Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.

    Island in New York
  6. 1810

    Lachlan Macquarie

    Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.

    Colonial administrator (1762–1824)
  7. 1788

    The Times

    The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.

    British daily national newspaper
  8. 1776

    American Revolutionary War

    American Revolutionary War: Burning of Norfolk – Norfolk, Virginia, is burned to the ground by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.

    1775–1783 conflict in North
  9. 1739

    Bouvet Island

    Bouvet Island, the world's remotest island, is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.

    Uninhabited subantarctic volcanic island
  10. 1726

    Johann Sebastian Bach

    J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16, his church cantata for New Year's Day to a libretto by Georg Christian Lehms.

    German composer (1685–1750)
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Famous birthday twins

Born on January 1

Ali al-Rida

b. 766

8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam

Jonas Armstrong

b. 1981

Irish-English actor

Satyendra Nath Bose

b. 1894

Indian physicist and mathematician

George Foster Shepley (judge)

b. 1819

American general

Sigismund I the Old

b. 1467

Polish king

Wilhelm Canaris

b. 1887

German admiral

Alassane Ouattara

b. 1942

Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast

Christian Thomasius

b. 1655

German jurist and philosopher

Deaths

  • 2023Earth, Wind & Fire, American musician and songwriter
  • 1992Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and admiral, co-developed COBOL
  • 1894Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic
  • 1560Joachim du Bellay, French poet and critic
  • 404AD 404, Christian monk and martyr
  • 138AD 138, adopted son and intended successor of Hadrian

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Feast of the Circumcision of Christ Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Fulgentius of Ruspe
  • —Christian feast day: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God; and its related observances: World Day of Peace
  • —Christian feast day: January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —The last day of Kwanzaa (African Americans)
  • —The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
  • —Global Family Day

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