1st January anniversaries

• Birth
  • 1449
  • Italy
  • "Birth of Lorenzo de Medici, patron of the arts at the height of the Italian Renaissance." more
  • 1883
  • United States
  • "Birth of William J. Donovan, American Director of the Office of Strategic Services during WWII (The O.S.S. later became the CIA)."
  • 1907
  • Great Britain
  • "Alan Ross born 1907 (died 1980). Linguistician best known for his 'Linguistic class-indicators in present-day English' (Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, 1954) on U and non-U English, incorporated into Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige: an Enquiry into the Ide"
  • 1909
  • United States
  • "Birth of Dana Andrews, American actor"
• event
  • 1660
  • Great Britain
  • Samuel Pepys starts his diary
  • 1707
  • Great Britain
  • The Act of Union between England and Scotland signed
  • 1785
  • Great Britain
  • John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
  • 1801
  • Great Britain
  • "Union Jack official British flag – The Kingdom of Ireland merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain, adding St. Patrick's saltire to the Union Flag" more
  • 1808
  • United States
  • The importation of African slaves into the United States was banned .
  • 1814
  • Invasion of France by Allies
  • 1855
  • "Registration of births, marriages and deaths made compulsory in Scotland."
  • 1880
  • Great Britain
  • Britains 1st telephone directory is published
  • 1894
  • Great Britain
  • Manchester Ship Canal opens
  • 1909
  • Great Britain
  • The first old-age pensions were paid in Britain
  • 1919
  • Great Britain
  • Nancy Astor becomes first Female MP
  • 1934
  • United States
  • "Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, USA became a federal prison"
  • 1947
  • Great Britain
  • Coal Mines nationalised
  • 1948
  • Great Britain
  • British railways were nationalised to form British Rail .
  • 1948
  • Italy
  • The Constitution of Italy came into force 39448.
  • 1949
  • Great Britain
  • "The British Nationality Act came into effect. It established the status of Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies, and granted those citizens the right to enter and live in the United Kingdom"
  • 1949
  • The undeclared war between India and Pakistan ended when the United Nations negotiated a cease-fire in Kashmir
  • 1958
  • The European Community was established .
  • 1959
  • Cuba
  • "Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba, overthrowing Fulgencio Batista"
  • 1959
  • "Cultivars of plants (those created by selective breeding) named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin, to avoid confusing them with natural botanical species"
  • 1961
  • Great Britain
  • Farthing ceases to be legal tender in UK
  • 1964
  • Great Britain
  • First 'Top of the Pops' on BBC TV
  • 1973
  • Britain enters EEC Common Market (with Ireland and Denmark)
  • 1979
  • The USA and China formally established diplomatic relations. Celebrations were held in Washington and Beijing
  • 1983
  • The Internet was created when the ARPANET officially switched to using Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
  • 1984
  • United States
  • American communications giant AT&T Bell was broken up into 22 separate companies under the terms of an antitrust agreement
  • 1984
  • Brunei became independent from the UK
  • 1989
  • The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer came into force
  • 1998
  • The European Central Bank was established .
  • 1999
  • The euro officially became the new currency in 11 European countries
  • 2007
  • Further enlargement of the European Union to include Bulgaria and Romania
• Death
  • 1984
  • Great Britain
  • "Death of Alexis Korner, British blues musician"