A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on January 4th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On January 4, 1847, inventor of the modern revolving pistol, Sam Colt, first sold his 1847 Walker .44 caliber revolver to the US Army, and the pistol promptly made its mark in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) where the revolver gave the Americans a decided advantage.
On January 4, 1903, Thomas Edison’s company filmed the execution of Topsy the Elephant, the largest purported casualty in the “War of the Currents”!
On January 4, 1970, the Beatles, minus John Lennon, had their last studio session as the iconic group, marking an end of the phenomenon that was The Beatles, probably the greatest rock band of all time, and possibly the greatest musical act of any genre in music history.
On January 4, 1972, the famous Old Bailey court in London England witnessed the first appointment of a female judge when Rose Heilbron was allowed to sit on the bench.
On January 4, 1989, two Libyan pilots made the massive blunder of attempting to engage a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters over the Gulf of Sidra off the Libyan coast, with the entirely predictable result of both MiG-23 “Flogger” fighters being promptly shot down.
On January 4, 1999, former professional wrestler and actor Jesse Ventura was sworn in as the Governor of Minnesota.
On January 4, 2007, Nancy Pelosi, US Representative to Congress from California, was sworn in as the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States congress.
On January 4, 2010, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened in the United Arab Emirates, taking top honors as the World’s Tallest Building, an honor it still holds.
On January 4, 2013, the Philippines were the scene of mass shooting carnage when a 41 year old man went on a rampage that left 20 people and a dog shot, with 7 of those people dying of their wounds and sadly, also the dog.
Shortly before 1 AM Eastern Time on January 4, 2015, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jon Jones defeated formerly undefeated Olympian Daniel Cormier in a grueling five-round battle in Las Vegas.
On January 4, 2019, the new thriller/horror movie, Escape Room, made its US debut.
On January 4, 2023, the United States House of Representatives struggled to elect a new Speaker of the House to succeed Nancy Pelosi.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
