4th January

[chenrezig]

1642 – King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England's slide into civil war.
1912 – The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal charter.
1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London, England.
1974 – United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1998 – A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.
2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
2006 – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

Births
1809 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (d. 1852)
1922 – Rosalie Crutchley, English actress (d. 1997)
1947 – Rick Stein, English chef
1958 – Julian Sands, English actor

Deaths
1965 – T. S. Eliot, American-English poet, playwright, and critic Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
1967 – Donald Campbell, English racer (b. 1921)
1986 – Phil Lynott, Irish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Thin Lizzy, Skid Row, and Grand Slam) (b. 1949)
2004 – Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)
2011 – Dick King-Smith English author (b. 1922)
2011 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (The Humblebums and Stealers Wheel) (b. 1947)

[annie]

tha22222

[wendy]