January 4
Activity of the day
Today is . . .
- Trivia Day in the U.S.
- Independence Day in Myanmar
- Feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint
On this day . . .
- The first successful appendix operation is performed (1885)
- The socialist Fabian Society is founded in London (1884)
- Utah becomes the 45th state of the Union (1896)
- The first pop music chart is published in Billboard magazine in the U.S. (1936)
- Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (1958)
- Donald Campbell is killed while trying to break world water speed
record (1960)
Births
- Jakob Grimm, German storyteller (1785)
- Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille alphabet for the blind (1809)
- Isaac Pitman, inventor of shorthand (1813)
- Carlos Saura, Spanish film director (1932)
- John McLaughlin, British blues and jazz guitarist (1943)
- Rick Stein, English chef (1947)
- Michael Stipe, American singer (1960)
Deaths
- Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (1958)
- Albert Camus, French novelist and dramatist (1960)
- T.S. Eliot, US poet and critic (1965)
- Christopher Isherwood, English novelist (1986)