A tangled day in European history, with Edward III of England being declared King of France in 1340, France declaring war on England in 1666 and in 1788 England, Netherlands, Austria & Sardinia sign an anti-French treaty. The German - Polish non aggression pact was signed in 1934. The British introduced the Lee-Enfield rifle in 1907, and is still in use today.

In 1696, John Bernoulli proposed to the mathematical world the famous problem of the Quickest Descent from A to B, giving them six months to solve it. On receiving this challenge Newton promptly solved the problem before going to bed, the same day. In 1838 Tennessee became the first state to prohibit alcohol, in 1992 Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced that nuclear missiles would no longer be targeted on the West and in 1998 President Clinton assured his nation about impropriety with a young intern, Monica Lewinski.
 
Franco captured Barcelona in 1939 as filming began for Gone With The Wind.
 

 
Events 

• 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
• 1531 – Lisbon, Portugal is hit by an earthquake--thousands die.
• 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day
• 1808 – Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.
• 1841 – The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China later formally cedes.
• 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum.
• 1905 – The Cullinan Diamond is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.
• 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.
• 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
• 1980 – Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
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• 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
• 2001 – An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
• 2004 – President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.

 
Births 

• 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-born gangster (d. 1973)
• 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish statesman, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
• 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-born singer (d. 1987)
• 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1918 – Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American writer (d. 2009)
• 1922 – Michael Bentine, British comedian (d. 1996)
• 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, philanthropist, race car driver and race team owner (d. 2008)
• 1928 – Roger Vadim, French film director and actor (d. 2000)
• 1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist and writer
• 1944 – Angela Davis, American feminist and activist
• 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
• 1950 – Jörg Haider, Austrian far-right politician (d. 2008)
• 1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch musician (Van Halen)
• 1963 – José Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
• 1987 – Marlon Mario Brandao da Silveira, Brazilian footballer

 
Deaths 

• 1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (b. 1640)
• 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (b. 1732)
• 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French writer (b. 1808)
• 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (b. 1893)
• 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
• 1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader (b. 1905)
• 2000 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-born author (b. 1912)
• 2001 – Al McGuire, American basketball coach (b. 1928)
• 2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet Olympic athlete (b. 1942)
• 2003 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (b. 1917)
• 2003 – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, British politician (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani opposition leader and Pashtun nationalist (b. 1917)