January 3
Activity of the day
Today is . . .
- Feast Day of St Genevieve, patron saint of Paris
On this day . . .
- Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins (1870)
- Paper drinking straws are patented in the U.S. (1888)
- Howard Carter discovers the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen (1924)
- Alaska becomes the 49th and largest state of the Union (1959)
- The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba (1961)
- Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century (1988)
- The World Health Organisation calculates Aids affects 6 million people (1996)
- The last Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz is published (2000)
- NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, lands on Mars (2004)
Births
- Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher (106 BC)
- Clement Attlee, British statesman (1883)
- J.R.R. Tolkein, British author of Lord of the Rings (1888)
- Victor Borge, American comedian (1909)
- George Martin, British record producer (1926)
- Sergio Leone, Italian film director (1929)
- Stephen Stills, American musician (1945)
- John Paul Jones, British musician (1946)
- Mel Gibson, Australian actor (1956)
- Michael Schumacher, German racing driver (1969)
Deaths
- Pierre Larousse, French encyclopaedist (1875)
- Conrad Hilton, American hotel magnate (1979)
- Joy Adamson, British naturalist and author (1980)
- Will Eisner, American comic book artist (2005)