1974 Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panamá's Gold 100 balboa coin

1974 41st Sugar Bowl: Nebraska 13 beats Florida 10

1974 Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs record $3.75 million 5 year New York Yankee contract

1974 Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac

1974 Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer

1975 42nd Sugar Bowl: Alabama 13 beats Penn State 6

1976 TV soap "Somerset" ends 6 year run

1976 The Cars play their 1st gig

1977 Donald Woods, a banned white editor flees South Africa

1977 Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado

1977 WFAT (Brooklyn NY pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620 AM

1977 "Bubbling Brown Sugar" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 766 performances

1977 "Man of La Mancha" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 124 performances

1977 Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah becomes leader of Kuwait

1977 Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam

1978 Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with the US

1978 "Magic Show" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 1859 performances

1978 "Runaways" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 199 performances

1978 CIA director, Admiral Stansfield Turner retires from the Navy

1978 Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier

1979 Winterland Rock Concert Hall in San Francisco closes after 556 concerts

1712 - Birth of Peter Bohler, the Moravian missionary who, at age 25, influenced the religious spirit of John Wesley. Bohler taught the founder of Methodism the joys of personal conversion and self_surrendering faith, and Wesley later incorporated these spiritual emphases within Methodist theology.

1823 - Birth of William O. Cushing, American clergyman. He penned over 300 hymns, among them "When He Cometh," "Under His Wings" and "Hiding in Thee."

1837 - Birth of John R. Sweney, American sacred chorister. He composed over 1,000 gospel tunes, including SUNSHINE ("There is Sunshine in My Soul Today") and SWENEY ("More About Jesus Would I Know").

1900 - Birth of Stephen C. Neill, British clergyman and biblical scholar. A prolific writer, some of Neill's better_known titles are "A History of Christian Missions" (1964), "The Interpretation of the New Testament: 1871_1961" (1966) and "The Modern Reader's Dictionary of the Bible" (1966).

1997 Microsoft buys Hotmail E-mail service

1997 More Swedes died than were born in 1997, 1st time since 1809

1994 First snowless December in Baltimore MD

1993 Barbra Streisand does her first live public concert in 20 years

1994 Anti Apartheid Group of Netherlands (AABN) disbands

1995 "Danny Gans on Broadway" closes at Neil Simon NYC

1995 "Having Our Say" closes at Booth Theater NYC after 308 performances

1995 "Heiress" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 340 performances

1995 "Paul Roebson" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 14 performances

1995 "Racing Demon" closes at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC after 48 performances

1991 Daniel R McCarthy elected New York Yankee managing general partner

1985 King Hussein of Jordan and President Assad hold talks

1984 Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash

1977 "Man of La Mancha" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 124 performances

1966 Monkee's "I'm a Believer" hits #1 & stays there for 7 weeks

1966 Pirate Radio 390 (Radio Invicata) off England, resumes transmitting

1942 Potatoes rationed in Holland

1939 Dutch national debt hits ƒ4,218,553,180.99

1929 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini illius magistri

1907 - Gustav Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera

1910 - US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910

1492 - 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily

870 - Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army

1680 - Amsterdam opera at Leidsegracht opens

1756 - Russia joins the Alliance of Versailles

1762 - Mozart family moves from Vienna to Salzburg

1841 - Alabama becomes first state to license dental surgeons

1879 - Gilbert/Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres in NYC

1911 - Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize

1921 - Last San Francisco firehorses retired

During the Middle Ages under the influence of the Christian Church, many countries moved the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals — December 25 (the Nativity of Jesus), March 1, March 25 (the Annunciation), or even Easter. Eastern European countries (most of them with populations showing allegiance to the Orthodox Church) began their numbered year on September 1 from about 988.

In England, January 1 was celebrated as the New Year festival, but from the 12th century to 1752 the year in England began on March 25 (Lady Day). So, for example, the Parliamentary record records the execution of Charles I occurring in 1648 (as the year did not end until March 24), although modern histories adjust the start of the year to January 1 and record the execution as occurring in 1649.

Most western European countries changed the start of the year to January 1 before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to January 1 in 1600. England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to January 1 in 1752. Later that year in September, the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies. These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.

January 1 became the official start of the year as follows:

    * 1522 Venice
    * 1544 Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
    * 1556 Spain, Portugal
    * 1559 Prussia, Sweden
    * 1564 France
    * 1576 Southern Netherlands
    * 1579 Lorraine
    * 1583 United Provinces of the Netherlands (northern)
    * 1600 Scotland
    * 1700 Russia
    * 1721 Tuscany
    * 1752 Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies

153 BC – Roman consuls begin their year in office.

45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time.

69 – The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuses to swear loyalty to Galba. The rebelled and proclaimed Aulus Vitellius Germanicus as emperor.

193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman Emperor

1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Silvester II.

1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.

1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.

1515 – King Francis I of France succeeds to the French throne.

1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as king of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.

1600 – Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1 instead of March 25.

1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.

1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era and no longer uses the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.

1707 – John V is crowned King of Portugal.

1739 – Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.

1772 – The first traveler's cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities, go on sale in London.

1781 – 1,500 soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey as part of the Pennsylvania (Continentals; Regiment) Mutiny of 1781.

1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.

1800 – The Dutch East India Company is dissolved.

1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1801 – The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.

1803 – Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.

1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black republic and second independent country on the American Continent after the U.S.

1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.

1808 – The importation of slaves into the United States is banned.

1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB officially becomes Governor of New South Wales

1811 – The Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, orders troops from Durham Castle to break up a miners strike in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham

1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly of Epidaurus.

1833 – The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

1845 – The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn is completed.

1860 – First Polish stamp is issued.

1861 – Porfirio Díaz conquers Mexico City.

1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.

1863 – The first claim under the Homestead Act is made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.

1873 – Japan begins using the Gregorian calendar.

1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.

1880 – Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.

1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sanford Fleming's proposal for Standard Time (and also, time zones)

1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government.

1890 – The Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, is first held.

1892 – Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States.

1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal, England, is officially opened to traffic.

1898 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.

1901 – Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.

1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.

1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena.

1906 – British India officially adopts the Indian Standard Time.

1908 – For the first time, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight.

1909 – Drilling begins on the Lakeview Gusher.

1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear Admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members), since Horatio Nelson.

1911 – Northern Territory is separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.

1912 – The Republic of China is established.

1916 – German troops abandon Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and begin the long march to Spanish Guinea.

1920 – The Belorussian Communist Organisation is founded as a separate party.

1923 – Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.

1927 – Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar: December 18, 1926 (Julian), is immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian).

1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.

1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.

1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.

1934 – Alcatraz Island becomes a United States federal prison.

1934 – Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".

1937 – Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain.

1937 – Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain.
What did there use before then?

1939 – William Hewlett and David Packard found Hewlett-Packard.

1939 – Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a record for the city.

1942 – The Declaration by the United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.

1945 – World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops massacre 30 SS prisoners at Chenogne.

1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Unternehmen Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.

1947 – The American and British occupation zones in Germany, after the World War II, merge to form the Bizone, that later became the Federal Republic of Germany.

1948 – The British railway network is nationalised to form British Railways.

1948 – The Constitution of Italy comes into force.

1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.

1954 – NBC makes the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast when it telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade , with public demonstrations given across the United States on prototype color receivers.

1956 – The Republic of the Sudan achieves independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1956 – A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.

1957 – George Town, Penang becomes a city by a royal charter granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

1957 – An Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit attacks Brookeborough RUC barracks in one of the most famous incidents of the IRA's Operation Harvest.

1958 – The European Community is established.

1959 – Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution.

1960 – The Republic of Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.

1962 – United States Navy SEALs established.

1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.

1965 – The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul.

1966 – A twelve-day New York City transit strike begins.

1966 – After a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa assumes power as president of the Central African Republic.

1970 – Unix epoch time begins at 00:00:00 UTC/GMT.

1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.

1973 – Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland are admitted into the European Community.

1978 – Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 crashes into the sea, due to instrument failure and pilot disorientation, off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.

1978 – The Constitution of the Northern Mariana Islands becomes effective.

1979 – Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.

1980 – Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.

1981 – The Republic of Greece is admitted into the European Community.

1981 – The Republic of Palau achieves self-government though it is not independent from the United States.

1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary General of the United Nations.

1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.

1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.

1984 – The Sultanate of Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1985 – The Internet's Domain Name System is created.

1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone.

1986 – Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1986 – The Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic are admitted into the European Community.

1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.

1989 – The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer comes into force.

1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.

1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.

1993 – A single market within the European Community is introduced.

1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican State of Chiapas.

1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.

1995 – The World Trade Organization goes into effect.

1995 – The Kingdom of Sweden and the republics of Austria and Finland are admitted into the European Union.

1995 – The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe becomes the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.

1996 – Curaçao gains limited self-government, though it remains within free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

1997 – The Republic of Zaïre officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Zaïre.

1997 – Ghanaian diplomat Kofi Annan is appointed Secretary General of the United Nations.

1998 – Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.

1998 – The European Central Bank is established.

1999 – The Euro currency is introduced in 11 countries - members of NATO (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden).

2002 – Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.

2002 – Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.

2002 – The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force.

2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.

2006 – Sydney, Australia swelters through its hottest New Years Day on record. The thermometer peaked at 45 °C (113 °F), sparking bushfires and power outages. (Same as 1939)

2007 – Bulgaria and Romania officially join the European Union. Also, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the European Union, joining 20 other official languages.

2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board.

2008 – Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.

2009 – 66 die in nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.

2010 – A suicide car bomber detonated at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.

366 – The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire

533 – Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy

1492 – Reconquista: the emirate of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders

1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under the command of George Washington repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek near Trenton, New Jersey

1788 – Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution

1791 – Big Bottom massacre in the Ohio Country, marking the beginning of the Northwest Indian War

1818 – The British Institution of Civil Engineers is founded

1833 – Re-establishment of British rule on the Falklands.

1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris

1860 – The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris
No such planet was ever found.

1871 – Amadeus I becomes King of Spain

1900 – John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian garrison surrenders at Port Arthur, China

1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill

1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London left two dead and sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill
The Siege of Sidney Street

1920 – The second Palmer Raid takes place with another 6,000 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial. These raids take place in several U.S. cities.

1927 – Angered by the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917, Catholic rebels in Mexico rebelled against the government.

1935 – Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh

1941 – World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales

1942 – The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) convicts 33 members of a German spy ring headed by Fritz Joubert Duquesne in the largest espionage case in United States history—the Duquesne Spy Ring

1942 – World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces

1945 – World War II: Nuremberg (in German, Nürnberg) is severely bombed by Allied forces

1949 – Luis Muñoz Marín becomes the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico

1955 – Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated

1959 – Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched by the U.S.S.R.

1971 – The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic football match

1974 – President Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum U.S. speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo

1999 – A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) in Chicago, where temperatures plunge to -13 °F (-25 °C); 68 deaths are reported

2001 – Sila Calderón becomes the first female Governor of Puerto Rico

2002 – Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.

2004 – Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that are returned to Earth.

2006 – An explosion in a coal mine in Sago, West Virginia traps and kills 12 miners, while leaving one miner in critical condition.

1744 - Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'We are a long time in learning that all our strength and salvation is in God.'

1909 - Future Foursquare Gospel church founder Aimee Elizabeth Semple , 19, along with her husband Robert Semple, was ordained to the ministry in Chicago by evangelist William H. Durham.