Today in History

From wikipedia.org:

Events
45 BC - Julian calendar goes into effect
404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome and martyrdom of Saint Telemachus
1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Hungary
1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro explored.
1600 - Scotland first began the numbered year of its Julian calendar
1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland
1700 - Russia first adopted Western numbers for its Julian calendar
1707 - John V becomes King of Portugal
1738 - Bouvet Island was discovered
1752 - England and its colonies first began the numbered year of their calendar
1788 - First edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published
1801 - Discovery of 1 Ceres, first known asteroid
1808 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned
1863 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War
1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska
1874 - New York City annexes The Bronx
1876 - First modern-day mummers parade held to celebrate America’s centennary
1880 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins
1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States
1893 - Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar
1897 - Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City
1898 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island
1899 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City
1902 - The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, California
1908 - A ball signifying New Year’s Day drops in New York City’s Times Square for the first time
1934 - Alcatraz becomes a federal prison
1935 - Bucknell University wins the first Orange Bowl 26-0 over the University of Miami
1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas
1970 - Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC
1971 - Cigarette advertisements banned on United States television
1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet
1984 - AT&T is broken up into 22 independent units
1985 - Creation of the Internet’s Domain Name System
1985 - First British mobile phone call made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone
1992 - George H. W. Bush is first President of the United States to address the Australian Parliament
1993 - Velvet Divorce: Czechoslovakia divides into Slovakia and the Czech Republic
1998 - Smoking is banned in all bars and restaurants in the US state of California

Births
1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman (d. 1492)
1735 - Paul Revere, American silversmith, patriot (d. 1818)
1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
1752 - Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d. 1836)
1804? - James Fannin, Texas Revolutionary (d. 1836)
1860 - George Washington Carver, American educator, inventor, botanist (d. 1943)
1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and pedagogue, initiator of modern Olympic Games (d. 1937)
1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
1900 - Xavier Cugat, Catalan-Cuban musician, bandleader (d. 1990)
1942 - Country Joe McDonald, American musician, (Country Joe and the Fish)
1945 - Jacky Ickx, Belgian automobile racer

Deaths
379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea (b. 330)
1515 - Louis XII of France (b. 1462)
1782 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
1953 - Hank Williams, American country music singer (b. 1923)
1958 - Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
1972 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
1992 - Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b. 1906)
1996 - Arleigh Burke, U.S. admiral (b. 1901)
1997 - Townes Van Zandt, musician (b. 1944)
2001 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)

Holidays & observations
The seventh day and eighth night of Christmas in Western Christianity

Many countries around the world using Gregorian Calendar - New Year’s Day; often celebrated at 0:00 with fireworks

Vienna New Year’s Concert

United States - Copyright Expiration Day, celebrating the expiration of the copyright of a year's worth of works of authorship into the public domain. Not celebrated from 1978 to 2018 because of repeated copyright term extensions

Catholicism - Holy Day of Obligation Octave of Christmas, Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (New calendar)

Catholicism - Feast of the Circumcision (Old calendar)

Catholicism - National Migration Week begins (varying official support by the office of U.S. President, not strictly religious)

Slovakia: Establishment of Slovak Republic

Pasadena, California - The Tournament of Roses parade and, traditionally, the Rose Bowl football championship

World Day for Prayer for Peace