Perhaps many of history's rulers should beware the Ides of January, as a few fell from grace on this day. In 44 A.D. Caligula, the despot and animal lover was assassinated  by his guards. In 1076 German King Henry IV fired Pope Gregory VII, in 1568 the Duke of Alva declared William of Orange an outlaw and in 1670 King Charles II disbanded the English parliament. There was also a fair bit of revolutionary activity. In 1878 the revolutionary Vera Zasulich fired a few rounds at the Governor of St Petersburg, the People's commissars introduced the Gregorian calendar to Russia in 1918 and in 1924 the city was named Leningrad. 
 
Not a good day for nukes either. In 1961 the Goldsbro B52 crash disintegrated two H bombs over North Carolina and in 1978 a Soviet satellite breaks up over Canada, scattering radioactive debris from its reactor. Only 1% is recovered. Technology did come to our rescue in 1984 when the first Apple Mackintosh went on sale. 
 
Famed Roman wall builder, Hadrian was born in 76 A.D. In 1888, Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer took off, followed in 1891, by General Model. Leaving the world in 1895 was Lord Randolph Churchill, followed by Sir Winston Churchill in 1965. The booze loving wartime leader was outlived by Bill W, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. 

• 1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa.
• 1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento.
• 1857 – The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first full-fledged university in south Asia.
• 1859 – Political union of Moldavia and Wallachia; Alexandru Ioan Cuza is elected as ruler.
• 1862 – Bucharest proclaimed capital of Romania.
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• 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
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• 1966 – An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117.
• 1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
• 1977 – Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
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• 1986 – Voyager 2 passes within 81,500 km (50,680 miles) of Uranus.
• 1993 – Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
• 1996 – Polish Premier Jozef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
• 2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
• 2009 – Pope Benedict XVI rescinds the excommunications of four bishops consecrated without papal consent in 1988 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre.

 
Births 

• 76 – Hadrian, Roman Emperor (d. 138)
• 1638 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet (d. 1706)
• 1705 – Farinelli, Italian castrato (d. 1782)
• 1712 – King Frederick II of Prussia (d. 1786)
• 1848 – Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
• 1862 – Edith Wharton, American writer (d. 1937)
• 1901 – Edward Turner, English motorcycle designer (d. 1973)
• 1901 – Harry Calder, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Rafael Caldera, President of Venezuela (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Desmond Morris, British anthropologist
• 1941 – Neil Diamond, American singer
• 1957 – Adrian Edmondson, English comedian
• 1961 – Nastassja Kinski, German-born actress
• 1980 – Nicole Marie Lenz, American actress

 
 
Deaths 

• 1924 – Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1894)
• 1932 – Alfred Yarrow, English shipbuilder (b. 1842)
• 1948 – Maria Mandel, Camp Leader at Auschwitz (b. 1912)
• 1962 – Stanley Lord, captain of the SS Californian the night of the Titanic disaster (b. 1877)
• 1962 – André Lhote, French painter
• 1982 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian president and dictator (b. 1918)
• 1983 – George Cukor, American film director (b. 1899)
• 1986 – L. Ron Hubbard, American writer and founder of Scientology (b. 1911)
• 1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
• 1993 – Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Uğur Mumcu, Turkish journalist and writer (b. 1942)
• 1994 – Yves Navarre, French writer (b. 1940)
• 2002 – Elie Hobeika, Lebanese Forces militia commander (b. 1956)
• 2007 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, World's oldest military veteran (b. 1891)