on this day in January

1801  Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid Ceres

1660  Samuel Pepys began his diary

1651  Charles II was crowned at Scone - the last coronation to take place in Scotland

1971  A barrier collapsed at Ibrox Park football ground in Glasgow and 66 people were crushed to death

1938  The BBC started its first foreign language service - in Arabic

1941  Marlene Dietrich became an American citizen

1948  Mrs Dale's Diary was first broadcast

1940  The American Edwin Armstrong first demonstrated FM radio

1926  The first UK widow's pension were paid

1896  Wilhelm Röntgen first demonstrated X rays

1066  Edward the Confessor died

1958  Chuck Berry recorded "Sweet Little Sixteen"

1961  The Avengers was first shown on tv 

1610  Galileo discovered the first four satellites of Jupiter - Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto

1989  A British Midland Boeing 737 aircraft crashed on the M1 motorway with the loss of 44 lives

1949  The radio comedian Tommy Handley died

1923  Juan de la Cierva made the first successful flight in an autogyro

1985  Sir Clive Sinclair launched the electric C5 vehicle

1929  Tintin appeared for the first time, in the Belgian newspaper Vingtieme Siecle

1926  Fritz Lang's film Metropolis opened in Berlin

1863  The first section of London's Underground railway - Paddington to Farringdon - opened

1973  The Open University awarded its first degrees to 867 students

1922  The first diabetic patient was treated with insulin, at Toronto General Hospital

1864  The Lancashire County Cricket Club was founded

1929  US Marshall Wyatt Earp died

1854  Anthony Faas patented the accordion

888  Charles the Fat, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, died

2002  Stanley Unwin died aged 90

1954  Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio

1205  The Great Frost Fair began on the frozen frozen River Thames

1880  The first telephone directory was published

1969  Jan  Palach, a Czech Student, set fire to himself as a protest against the apathy following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia the previous year - he died three days later

1917  The USA bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25,000,000

1904  Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard" was first performed

1827  The Duke of Wellington was appointed Commander in Chief of the British Army

1773  Captain Cook's ship Resolution became the first ship to cross the Antarctic Circle

1911  An American pilot made the first landing on the deck of a ship

1949  Cuba recognised Israel

1939  Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers was born

1348  Edward III established the Order of the Garter

1971  The first ever UK postal strike began

1959  The film producer and director Cecil B deMille died

1954  The first nuclear powered submarine - the USS Nautilus - was launched

1814  January e Austen began writing her novel Emma

1972  The UK became part of the European Economic Community

1985  The proceedings of the House of Lords were first televised

1973  An agreement was reached in Paris for a ceasefire in the Vietnam War

1960  Piccard and Walsh reached a record depth of 35,820 feet in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific Ocean

1790  The Bounty mutineers led by Fletcher Christian landed on Pitcairn Island

  571  The Royal Exchange in London was opened

1969  The Ford Capri, as we know it, was introduced

1962  Brian Epstein signed a contract with the Beatles to become their manager

1948  Mae West made her London stage debut in Diamond Lil

1890  The first train passed over the Forth Rail Bridge

1839  WH Fox-Talbot produced a photographic negative

1924  The American Charles Jewtraw won the 500m speed skating and so won the first gold medal at the first Winter Olympics

1871  The Rugby Football Union was founded

1906  Fire broke out on the River Thames when oil on the surface ignited

1969  Barbara Jo Ruben was the first female jockey to win a race in North America

1985  The Scottish comedian Chic Murray died

1963  Britain was refused entry in to the Common Market

1942  Desert Island Discs was first broadcast - the first castaway was the comedian Vic Oliver

1886  The German engineer Karl Benz patented the first successful petrol driven car

1856  The Victoria Cross was instituted

1790  The first purpose-built lifeboat was launched

1788  Prince Charles Edward Stuart, 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' and 'The Young Pretender', died

1606  Guy Fawkes, Robert Winter, Ambrose Rokewood and Robert Keyes, four of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators were executed