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January 4 is the fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 361 days remaining until the end of the year (362 in leap years).
Up to 1900
- 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.
- 1490 – Anne of Brittany announces that all those who would ally (go on the same side) with the King of France will be guilty of the crime of lese-majesty.
- 1642 – Charles I of England sends soldiers in to arrest members of parliament.
- 1643 – Famous English scientist Isaac Newton is born. In the Julian calendar in use in England at the time, his date of birth was December 25, 1642.
- 1649 – The English Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.
- 1717 – The Netherlands, Great Britain and France sign a triple alliance.
- 1762 – Great Britain declares war on Spain and Naples.
- 1798 – Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, then-part of Wallachia, as its new prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.
- 1847 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the US Government.
- 1852 – British steamer RMS Amazon catches fire and explodes and sinks, killing 104 people.
- 1854 – The Subantarctic McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald.
- 1863 – The New Apostolic Church is created in Hamburg.
- 1865 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters on Wall Street.
- 1878 – The city of Sofia is freed from Ottoman Rule.
- 1880 – Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador is first climbed by Edward Whymper.
- 1885 – Dr. William W. Grant of Davenport, Iowa, performs what is thought to be the first appendectomy.
- 1889 – The Oklahoma Land Run opens 2 million square acres of unused Oklahoma Territory to first-come, first-served settlers from April 22.
- 1896 – Utah becomes a state of the US.
1901–2000
- 1904 – In Gonzales v. Williams, the U.S. Supreme Court decides that citizens of Puerto Rico are not aliens and can enter the U.S. freely.
- 1912 – The Scout Association is officially created throughout the British Commonwealth of Nations by Royal Charter.
- 1935 – Dry Tortugas National Park in Mexico is created.
- 1944 – World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
- 1948 – Burma gained independence from the United Kingdom.
- 1950 – Israel declares Jerusalem to be its capital city.
- 1951 – The Communist forces of North Korea and China, seize the city of Seoul.
- 1958 – Sputnik 1 falls back to Earth.
- 1958 – Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole, leading the first overland expedition there since Robert Falcon Scott.
- 1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the area near the Moon.
- 1964 – Pope Paul VI visits Israel.
- 1965 – During the State of the Union Address, President Lyndon Johnson outlines his plan for "The Great Society".
- 1966 – A coup occurs in Upper Volta (present-day Burkina Faso).
- 1967 – Donald Campbell is killed in an attempt to beat his own water speed record on Coniston Water.
- 1970 – An earthquake in Yunnan, China, kills around 10,000 people.
- 1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit on the Old Bailey in London.
- 1976 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh. On January 5, gunmen shoot dead 10 Protestant civilians nearby.
- 1981 – Peter Sutcliffe admits being the Yorkshire ripper.
- 1987 – An Amtrak train travelling from Boston, Massachusetts to Washington, DC, collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.
- 1990 – A train accident in Sangi, Pakistan, kills 350 people.
- 1998 – A massive ice storm in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States causes widespread disruption and power outages.
- 1999 – Former wrestler, Jesse Ventura, becomes Minnesota's governor.
- 1999 – The US Mint begins issuing the 50 state quarters.
From 2001
- 2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars.
- 2004 – Mikheil Saakashvili becomes President of Georgia.
- 2006 – Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon suffers a stroke. His duties are transferred to Ehud Olmert.
- 2007 – Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
- 2010 – The Burj Khalifa is opened in Dubai, officially becoming the world's tallest building.
- 2016 – Zinedine Zidane becomes the manager of Real Madrid C.F..
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Up to 1900
- 1077 – Emperor Zhezong of China (d. 1100)
- 1334 – Amadeus VI of Savoy (d. 1383)
- 1341 – Wat Tyler, English leader of the Peasants' Revolt (d. 1381)
- 1581 – James Ussher, Irish bishop and theologian (d. 1656)
- 1643 – Isaac Newton, English scientist (d. 1727)
- 1664 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (d. 1742)
- 1710 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, violinist and organist (d. 1736)
- 1720 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer (d. 1774)
- 1737 – Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, French chemist and politician (d. 1816)
- 1785 – Jacob Grimm, German storyteller (d. 1863)
- 1793 – Roger Sherman Baldwin, American politician, Senator and Governor of Connecticut (d. 1863)
- 1809 – Louis Braille, French inventor of Braille (d. 1852)
- 1813 – Isaac Pitman, English linguist (d. 1897)
- 1838 – General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (d. 1883)
- 1839 – Carl Humann, German engineer, architect and classical archaeologist (d. 1896)
- 1848 – Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913)
- 1858 – Carter Glass, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1946)
- 1866 – Joel Hastings Metcalf, American astronomer (d. 1925)
- 1866 – Ramon Casas i Carbo, Catalan painter (d. 1932)
- 1869 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player (d. 1960)
- 1870 – Percy Pitt, English organist and conductor (d. 1932)
- 1872 – Ottilie Sutro, American pianist (d. 1970)
- 1874 – Josef Suk, Czech composer (d. 1935)
- 1874 – Albert Tyler, American athlete (d. 1945)
- 1878 – Augustus John, Welsh painter (d. 1961)
- 1881 – Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)
- 1883 – Max Eastman, American writer (d. 1969)
- 1883 – Pat Ryan, American hammer thrower (d. 1964)
- 1883 – Johanna Westerdijk, Dutch botanist (d. 1961)
- 1887 – Hugo Steinhaus, Polish mathematician (d. 1972)
- 1888 – Walther Kossel, German physicist (d. 1956)
- 1889 – M. Patanjali Sastri, 2nd Chief Justice of India (d. unknown)
- 1890 – Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, American pulp writer and publisher (DC Comics) (d. 1968)
- 1891 – Edward Brooker, Australian politician, 31st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1948)
- 1893 – Yone Minagawa, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2007)
- 1896 – Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)
- 1896 – André Masson, French painter (d. 1987)
- 1896 – Arnold Susi, Estonian lawyer and politician (d. 1968)
- 1900 – James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1980)
1901–1950
- 1902 – John McCone, 6th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1991)
- 1903 – Georg Elser, German resistance activist (d. 1945)
- 1905 – Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)
- 1910 – Arthur Villeneuve, Canadian painter (d. 1990)
- 1913 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan Head of State (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French historian and anthropologist (d. 2007)
- 1915 – Meg Mundy, English-American actress
- 1922 – Mart Port, Estonian architect (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Walter Ris, American swimmer (d. 1989)
- 1924 – Charles Thone, American politician, 34th Governor of Nebraska (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish skier (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Barbara Rush, American actress
- 1929 – Günter Schabowski, East German politician (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Don Shula, American football coach
- 1931 – William Deane, former Governor-General of Australia
- 1932 – Carlos Saura, Spanish director
- 1932 – Clint Hill, American secret service agent and writer
- 1933 – Norman H. Bangerter, American politician, Governor of Utah (d. 2015)
- 1933 – Ilia II of Georgia, Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church
- 1934 – Zurab Tsereteli, Georgian sculptor
- 1934 – Hellmuth Karasek, German journalist, writer and critic (d. 2015)
- 1934 – Rudolf Schuster, former President of Slovakia
- 1935 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer (d. 2006)
- 1935 – Walter Mahlendorf, German athlete
- 1936 – Gianni Vattimo, Italian philosopher, writer and politician
- 1937 – Grace Bumbry, American soprano
- 1937 – Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, screenwriter and producer
- 1939 – Veniamin Soldatenko, Soviet athlete
- 1939 – Joseph Bonnel, French footballer (d. 2018)
- 1940 – Antoni Krauze, Polish screenwriter and director (d. 2018)
- 1940 – Helmut Jahn, German-American architect
- 1940 – Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist
- 1940 – Gao Xingjian, Chinese-French writer
- 1941 – Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)
- 1942 – John McLaughlin, English guitarist and songwriter
- 1945 – Richard R. Schrock, American chemist
- 1947 – Chris Cutler, British singer and musician
- 1947 – Doc Neeson, Northern Irish-born Australian singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Tim Rooney, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1947 – Rick Stein, English chef and restaurateur
- 1948 – Cissé Mariam Kaïdema Sidibé, Prime Minister of Mali
- 1949 – Mick Mills, English footballer
1951–1975
- 1951 – Barbara Cochran, American skier
- 1951 – Ronald Corp, English composer, conductor and priest
- 1953 – Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer
- 1954 – Oleg Romantsev, Russian footballer
- 1955 – Wolfgang Tiefensee, German politician
- 1956 – Bernard Sumner, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
- 1956 – Sarojini Sahoo, Indian feminist writer
- 1957 – Patty Loveless, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Vesnaja Zmijanac, Montenegrin-Serbian folk singer
- 1957 – Gurdas Maan, Indian singer, songwriter, choreographer and actor
- 1958 – Andy Borowitz, American comedian and actor
- 1958 – Julian Sands, English actor
- 1958 – Gary Jones, Welsh-Canadian actor
- 1960 – Michael Stipe, American singer and musician (R.E.M.)
- 1960 – April Winchell, American actress
- 1961 – Kiyotaka Matsui, Japanese footballer
- 1961 – Oh Se-hoon, South Korean politician
- 1962 – Robin Guthrie, Scottish guitarist and producer
- 1962 – Joe Kleine, American basketball player
- 1962 – Peter Steele, American musician (d. 2010)
- 1962 – André Rouvoet, French educator and politician
- 1963 – Dave Foley, Canadian comedian, actor, director and producer
- 1963 – Till Lindemann, German singer (Rammstein)
- 1963 – May-Britt Moser, Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist, 2014 Nobel Prize winner
- 1964 – Dot Jones, American actress
- 1965 – Yvan Attal, Israeli-French actor and director
- 1965 – Craig Revel Horwood, Australian-English dancer
- 1965 – Guy Forget, French tennis player
- 1965 – Beth Gibbons, British musician
- 1965 – Cait O'Riordan, Irish musician (The Pogues)
- 1966 – Christian Kern, former Chancellor of Austria
- 1966 – Deana Carter, American singer
- 1971 – Katharine Viner, British newspaper editor (The Guardian)
- 1972 – James Longley, American director and producer
- 1973 – Harmony Korine, American movie director and screenwriter
- 1974 – Armin Zöggeler, Italian luger
From 1976
- 1977 – David Millar, British cyclist
- 1977 – Teitur Lassen, Faroese singer-songwriter
- 1978 – Karine Ruby, French snowboarder (d. 2009)
- 1978 – Mai Meneses, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1979 – Kevin Kuske, German bobsledder
- 1980 – Miguel Monteiro, Portuguese footballer
- 1980 – Greg Cipes, American actor
- 1980 – Happy Salma, Indonesian model, actress and writer
- 1981 – Zhang Jiewen, Chinese badminton player
- 1982 – Paulo Ferrari, Argentine footballer
- 1982 – Kang Hye-jung, South Korean actress
- 1983 – Gemma Hunt, English television presenter
- 1985 – Al Jefferson, American basketball player
- 1985 – Jung Sung Ryong, South Korean footballer
- 1985 – Ross Turnbull, English footballer
- 1986 – James Milner, English footballer
- 1986 – Younès Kaboul, French footballer
- 1986 – Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwanese tennis player
- 1987 – Nikolaj Misiuk, Lithuanian footballer
- 1988 – Nabila Jamshed, Indian writer
- 1989 – Labrinth, English singer
- 1990 – Toni Kroos, German footballer
- 1990 – Alberto Paloschi, Italian footballer
- 1991 – Olivia Tennet, New Zealand actress
- 1991 – Tal Al-Mallohi, Syrian blogger and activist
- 1992 – Kris Bryant, American baseball player
- 1993 – Scott Redding, British motorcycle racer
- 1995 – Maddie Hasson, American actress
- 1995 – Maria Isabel, Spanish singer
- 1998 – Coco Jones, American actress and singer
- 1998 – Liza Soberano, Filipino-American actress and model
- 2003 – Jaeden Lieberher, American actor
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Up to 1900
- 1066 – Edward the Confessor, Saxon king (b. 1003)
- 1248 – King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)
- 1428 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (b. 1370)
- 1564 – Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b. 1514)
- 1584 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (b. 1539)
- 1752 – Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b. 1704)
- 1761 – Stephen Hales, English physicist and physiologist (b. 1677)
- 1773 – Anton Losenko, Russian painter (b. 1737)
- 1786 – Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher (b. 1729)
- 1804 – Charlotte Lennox, British writer (b. 1730)
- 1821 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)
- 1825 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)
- 1843 – Stevens Mason, American politician, 1st Governor of Michigan (b. 1811)
- 1874 – Thomas Gregson, Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1798)
- 1877 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman (b. 1794)
- 1880 – Anselm Feuerbach, German painter (b. 1829)
- 1882 – John William Draper, English-American physician, chemist and photographer (b. 1811)
- 1895 – Manuel Pavia, Spanish general (b. 1827)
1901–2000
- 1910 – Léon Delagrange, French aviator and sculptor (b. 1873)
- 1913 – Hjalmar Johansen, Norwegian explorer (b. 1867)
- 1915 – Anton von Werner, German painter (b. 1843)
- 1919 – Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1843)
- 1931 – Louise, Princess Royal (b. 1867)
- 1931 – Mohammad Ali Jouhar, Indian journalist, activist and scholar (b. 1878)
- 1941 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher (b. 1859)
- 1944 – Kaj Munk, Danish minister, poet and activist (b. 1898)
- 1956 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish-French chess player (b. 1887)
- 1960 – Albert Camus, French writer (b. 1913)
- 1961 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist (b. 1887)
- 1965 – T. S. Eliot, American poet (b. 1888)
- 1967 – Donald Campbell, English motorboat racer (b. 1921)
- 1975 – Carlo Levi, Italian writer, painter and politician (b. 1902)
- 1986 – Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Phil Lynott, Irish musician (b. 1949)
- 1990 – Henry Bolte, Australian politician, Premier of Victoria (b. 1907)
- 1995 – Eduardo Mata, Mexican conductor and composer (b. 1942)
- 1995 – Dorothy Granger, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1998 – John Gary, American singer (b. 1932)
- 1999 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)
From 2001
- 2004 – Joan Aiken, English writer (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai politician (b. 1946)
- 2007 – Marais Viljoen, South African politician (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Sandro Salvadore, Italian footballer (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Lei Clijsters, Belgian footballer (b. 1956)
- 2010 – Casey Johnson, American socialite (b. 1979)
- 2010 – Johan Ferrier, first President of Suriname (b. 1910)
- 2010 – Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese survivor of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs (b. 1916).
- 2011 – Salmaan Taseer, Pakistani politician (b. 1964)
- 2011 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
- 2011 – Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisian fruit seller (b. 1984)
- 2011 – Dick King-Smith, English writer (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Ali-Reza Pahlavi of Iran (b. 1966)
- 2012 – Eve Arnold, American photographer (b. 1912)
- 2013 – Tony Lip, American actor (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Sergey Kozlov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
- 2015 – Stuart Scott, American sportscaster (b. 1965)
- 2015 – Hank Peters, American baseball executive (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Stu Miller, American baseball player (b. 1927)
- 2015 – Lance Diamond, American singer (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Pino Daniele, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1955)
- 2015 – Natalino Pescarolo, Italian bishop (b. 1929)
- 2015 – René Vautier, French movie director (b. 1928)
- 2016 – Michel Galabru, French actor (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Tom Allin, English cricketer (b. 1987)
- 2016 – S. H. Kapadia, Indian judge (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Jorge Lepra, Uruguayan diplomat and politician (b. 1942)
- 2016 – John Roberts, Welsh footballer (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Fernando Barrachina, Spanish footballer (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Achim Mentzel, German musician and television presenter (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Leo Rucka, American football player (b. 1931)
- 2017 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1918)
- 2017 – Ezio Pascutti, Italian footballer (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Wayne Westner, South African golfer (b. 1961)
- 2017 – Hisham Al-Otaibi, Kuwaiti politician (b. 1946)
- 2017 – Heinz Billing, German physicist and computer scientist (b. 1914)
- 2017 – Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (b. 1927)
- 2017 – Jordi Pagans i Monsalvatje, Catalan painter (b. 1932)
- 2017 – Douglas Wass, British civil servant (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Georges Pretre, French conductor (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Aharon Appelfeld, Ukrainian-born Israeli writer (b. 1932)
- 2018 – Johannes Brost, Swedish actor (b. 1946)
- 2018 – Brendan Byrne, American politician, 47th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Bruce Halle, American automobile parts executive (b. 1930)
- 2018 – Senichi Hoshino, Japanese baseball player (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Philipp Jenninger, German politician (b. 1932)
- 2018 – Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
- 2018 – Vladimir Yankilevsky, Russian artist (b. 1938)
- 2019 – Harold Brown, 14th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1927)
- 2021 – Tanya Roberts, American actress (b. 1955)
- 2021 – Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner (b. 1931)
- 2022 – Joan Copeland, American actress (b. 1922)
- 2022 – Hilton Cheong-Leen, Hong Kong politician (b. 1922)
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- Independence Day (Burma)
- Day of the Fallen against Colonial Repression (Angola)
- Day of the Martyrs (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- World Braille Day
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