January 15: Kerala in India, Jallikattu in South India.

chandoo

January 15 is the 15th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 350 days remaining until the end of the year (351 in leap years).

Events

588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 18, 586 BC.
69 - Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but only rules for three months before committing suicide.
1559 - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey by Owen Oglethorpe, the Bishop of Carlisle, instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
1582 - Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland.
1759 - The British Museum opens.
1777 - American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present day Vermont) declares its independence.
1782 - Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
1822 - Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.
1844 - University of Notre Dame receives its charter from the state of Indiana.
1865 - American Civil War - Fort Fisher North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy .
1870 - A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).
1885 - Wilson Bentley takes the first photograph of a snowflake.
1892 - James Naismith publishes the rules for basketball.
1908 - Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African-American college women.
1919 - The Boston Molasses Disaster kills 21 people.
1919 - Ignace Paderewski becomes Premier of Poland.
1919 - Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps.
1936 - The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio (the building was for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company).
1943 - World War II: The Japanese are driven off Guadalcanal.
1943 - World War II: The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 - The world's largest office building, The Pentagon, is dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.
1947 - The brutalized corpse of Elizabeth Short ("The Black Dahlia") is found in Leimert Park, Los Angeles, California.
1951 - Ilse Koch, The "Bitch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in West Germany.
1966 - The government of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in Nigeria is overthrown in a military coup.
1967 - In the first ever Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10.
1969 - The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 - After a 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria, Biafra surrenders.
1970 - Muammar al-Qaddafi is proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 - Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1975 - Portugal grants independence to Angola.
1976 - Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
1977 - The KÃ¤lvesta air disaster kills 22 people, the worst air crash in Sweden's history.
1986 - The Living Seas opens at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World, Florida.
1986 - HBO and Cinemax pay cable television services initiate scrambling of their national satellite feeds on Galaxy 1 with the Videocipher II system.
1990 - AT&T's long distance telephone network suffers a cascade switching failure.
1991 - The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
1992 - The international community recognizes the independence of Slovenia and Croatia from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
1993 - Salvatore Riina, the Mafia boss known as 'The Beast', is arrested in Sicily after three decades as a fugitive
1999 - The Racak incident: 45 Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak are killed by Yugoslav security forces.
2001 - Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
2005 - An intense solar flare blasts X rays across the solar system.
2005 - ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
2007 - Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
2007 - Comet McNaught makes perigee after coming close to the sun.

Births

1342 - Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404)
1432 - King Afonso V of Portugal (d. 1481)
1481 - Ashikaga Yoshizumi, Japanese shogun (b. 1511)
1538 - Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (d. 1599)
1622 - MoliÃ¨re, French playwright (d. 1673)
1671 - Abraham de la Pryme, English antiquarian (d. 1704)
1674 - Prosper Jolyot de CrÃ©billon, French writer (d. 1762)
1716 - Philip Livingston, American founding father (d. 1778)
1747 - John Aikin, English doctor and writer (d. 1822)
1754 - Richard Martin, Irish founder of the SPCA (d. 1834)
1791 - Franz Grillparzer, Austrian writer (d. 1872)
1795 - Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright (d. 1829)
1809 - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French anarchist (d. 1865)
1812 - Peter Christen AsbjÃ¸rnsen, Norwegian writer (d. 1885)
1816 - Marie LaFarge, French murderer (d. 1852)
1824 - Marie Duplessis, French courtesan, inspiration for La Dame aux Camelias (d. 1847)
1841 - Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, Governor General of Canada (d. 1908)
1842 - Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (d. 1925)
1850 - Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet (d. 1889)
1850 - Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician (d. 1891)
1855 - Jacques Damala, Greek military officer and actor (d. 1889)
1863 - Wilhelm Marx, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1946)
1866 - Nathan SÃ¶derblom, Swedish archbishop, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1931)
1869 - Stanisław Wyspiański, Polish dramatist (d. 1907)
1872 - Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian writer (d. 1944)
1875 - Tom Burke, American runner (d. 1929)
1879 - Mazo de la Roche, Canadian author (d. 1961)
1882 - Princess Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden (d. 1920)
1885 - Huang Yuanyong, Chinese writer (d. 1915)
1885 - Lorenz BÃ¶hler, Austrian physician (d. 1973)
1885 - Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (d. 1968)
1891 - Ray Chapman, American baseball player (d. 1920)
1891 - Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (d. 1938)
1892 - Rex Ingram, Irish director (d. 1950)
1893 - Ivor Novello, Welsh actor (d. 1951)
1895 - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen, Finnish chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
1897 - Xu Zhimo, Chinese poet (d. 1931)
1899 - Goodman Ace, American actor (d. 1982)
1902 - King Saud of Saudi Arabia (d. 1969)
1906 - Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (d. 1975)
1908 - Edward Teller, Hungarian-born physicist (d. 2003)
1909 - Jean Bugatti, German-born automobile designer (d. 1939)
1909 - Gene Krupa, American drummer (d. 1973)
1912 - Michel DebrÃ©, French politician (d. 1996)
1913 - Lloyd Bridges, American actor (d. 1998)
1913 - Miriam Hyde, Australian composer (d. 2005)
1914 - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (d. 2003)
1918 - Gamal Abdal Nasser, President of Egypt (d. 1970)
1918 - Ã‰douard Gagnon, Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 2007)
1920 - John Cardinal O'Connor, American Catholic cardinal (d. 2000)
1920 - Steve Gromek, American baseball player (d. 2002)
1923 - Lee Teng-hui, Taiwanese politician
1923 - Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet (d. 2006)
1926 - Maria Schell, Swiss actress (d. 2005)
1926 - Florence Buchsbaum, theater director (d. 1996)
1927 - Phyllis Coates, American actress
1929 - Martin Luther King Jr, American civil rights leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1968)
1930 - Eddie Graham, American professional wrestler (d. 1985)
1933 - Ernest J. Gaines, American author
1937 - Margaret O'Brien, American actress
1938 - Chuni Goswami, Indian Foothball Player
1941 - Don Van Vliet, a.k.a. Captain Beefheart, American musician and visual artist
1943 - Mike Marshall, American baseball player
1945 - Vince Foster, American lawyer (d. 1993)
1947 - Andrea Martin, Canadian actress
1948 - Ronnie Van Zant, American singer (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
1949 - Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican baseball player (d. 2001)
1949 - Panos Mihalopoulos, Greek actor
1950 - Marius TrÃ©sor, French footballer
1951 - Charo, Spanish-born singer
1953 - Kent Hovind, American evangelist and Young Earth creationist
1953 - Ta-Tanisha, American actress
1954 - Nikos Sarganis, Greek footballer
1955 -
Theresa Saad Thurman
, American Arbitrator
1955 - Nigel Benson, English author
1956 - Mayawati, Indian politician
1957 - Marty Lyons, American football player
1957 - Mario Van Peebles, American actor
1957 - Patrick Dixon, British entrepreneur
1958 - Boris Tadić, President of Serbia
1959 - Pete Trewavas, English bass guitarist (Marillion)
1960 - Aaron Jay Kernis, American composer
1960 - Kelly Asbury, American director and actor
1961 - Yves P. Pelletier, Quebec comedian (Rock et Belles Oreilles), actor and film director
1962 - Creflo Dollar, American televangelist
1963 - Conrad Lant (aka Cronos), English musician
1964 - Osmo Tapio RÃ¤ihÃ¤lÃ¤, Finnish composer
1965 - Norma Houston, North Carolina political mastermind
1965 - Bernard Hopkins, American boxer
1965 - Adam Jones, American musician (Tool)
1965 - James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor
1965 - Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist
1968 - Chad Lowe, American actor
1968 - IÃ±aki UrdangarÃn, Spanish royalty
1969 - Delino DeShields, American baseball player
1970 - Shane McMahon, American professional wrestler
1971 - Teanna Kai, American star
1971 - Max Beesley, English musician and actor
1971 - Regina King, American actress
1972 - Kobe Tai, American star
1972 - Claudia Winkleman, English television presenter
1973 - Essam El-Hadary,Egyptian Football goal keeper
1974 - Ray King, American baseball player
1975 - Mary Pierce, French tennis player
1975 - Edith Bowman, Scottish television and radio presenter
1976 - Corey Chavous, American football player
1978 - Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist
1978 - Eddie Cahill, American actor
1979 - Drew Brees, American football player
1980 - Matt Holliday, American baseball player
1981 - El Hadji Diouf, Senegalese footballer
1981 - Howie Day, American pop singer
1981 - Sean Lamont, Scottish rugby union footballer
1982 - Benjamin Agosto, American skater
1982 - Megan Quann, American swimmer
1982 - Philip and Alexander, American-born princes of the Yugoslav Royal Family
1983 - Jermaine Pennant, English footballer
1983 - Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer
1984 - Victor Rasuk, American actor
1984 - Megan Jendrick, American professional swimmer
1985 - Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer
1986 - Fred Davis, American football player
1987 - Kelly Kelly, American WWE Diva
1987 - David Knight, English footballer
1987 - Michael Seater, Canadian actor

Deaths

69 - Galba, Roman Emperor (b. 3 BC)
570 - Saint Ita, Irish nun (b. 475)
936 - King Rudolph of France
1345 - Martin Zaccaria, Italo-Greek ruler
1595 - Murat III, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1546)
1672 - John Cosin, English clergyman (b. 1594)
1683 - Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (b. 1609)
1781 - Marianne Victoria of BorbÃ³n, queen regent of Portugal (b. 1718)
1790 - John Landen, English mathematician (b. 1719)
1804 - Dru Drury, English entomologist (b. 1725)
1909 - Arnold Janssen missionary (b. 1837)
1919 - Karl Liebknecht, German politician (b. 1871)
1919 - Rosa Luxemburg, German politician (b. 1870)
1945 - Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian mathematician (b. 1865)
1947 - Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia (b. 1924)
1955 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (b. 1900)
1964 - Jack Teagarden, American musician (b. 1905)
1967 - David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (b. 1882)
1968 - Bill Masterton, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1938)
1973 - Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1901)
1973 - Coleman Francis, American film director (b. 1919)
1983 - Meyer Lansky, Russian-born gangster (b. 1902)
1987 - Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904)
1988 - SeÃ¡n MacBride, Irish statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1904)
1990 - Gordon Jackson, Scottish actor (b. 1923)
1992 - Dee Murray, English bassist (b. 1946)
1993 - Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b. 1913)
1994 - Harry Nilsson, American musician (b. 1941)
1996 - Les Baxter, American musician and composer (b. 1922)
1996 - Minnesota Fats, American Billiards player (b. 1913)
1996 - Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938)
1998 - Junior Wells, American musician (b. 1934)
2000 - Å½eljko RaÅ¾natović, aka Arkan, Serbian paramilitary leader (b. 1952)
2000 - Fran Ryan, American actress (b. 1916)
2000 - Georges-Henri LÃ©vesque, French Canadian Dominican priest and sociologist (b. 1903)
2001 - Ted Mann, American screenwriter (b. 1916)
2002 - Steve Gromek, American baseball player (b. 1920)
2003 - Doris Fisher, American singer and songwriter (b. 1915)
2005 - Deem Bristow, American video game voice actor (b. 1947)
2005 - Victoria de los Angeles, Catalan soprano (b. 1923)
2005 - Walter Ernsting, German author (b. 1920)
2005 - Elizabeth Janeway, American author (b. 1913)
2005 - Dan Lee, Canadian animator (b. 1969)
2005 - Ruth Warrick, American actress (b. 1915)
2006 - Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1926)
2007 - Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein (b. 1951) (executed)
2007 - Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court (b. 1945) (executed)
2007 - Bo Yibo, Chinese politician (b. 1908)
2007 - David Vanole, American soccer player (b. 1963)
2007 - James Hillier, Canadian inventor of electron microscope (b. 1915)

Holidays and Observances

Roman Empire - Second day of the Carmentalia in honor of Carmenta.
Malawi - John Chilembwe Day.
North Korea - Korean Alphabet Day.
United States - Traditionally, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Kerala in India - Makaravilakku or Makara Sankranthy at Sabarimala.
Jallikattu in South India.
Pongal in Tamil Nadu (2007).
Nigerian Armed Forces Rememberance day

Religious Observances

Abeluzius in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Roman Catholic Church - Saint Ita, virgin, died January 15, 570.
Macarius of Egypt
Paul the Hermit
January 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).