January 3

2024 Calendar

January 3 is the third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 362 days remaining until the end of the year (363 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

235 – St. Anterus, Pope
323 – Jin Yuandi, Chinese Emperor (b. 276)
492 – Pope Felix III
502 – Genevieve of Paris, Patron Saint of Paris
1322 – King Philip V of France (b. 1293)
1437 – Catherine of Valois, wife of King Henry V of England (b. 1401)
1543 – Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, first European to visit California (b. 1499)
1571 – Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1505)
1641 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (b. ca. 1619)
1670 – George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (b. 1608)
1701 – Prince Louis I of Monaco (b. 1642)
1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian painter (b. 1634)
1785 – Baldassare Galuppi, Italian composer (b. 1706)
1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, English pottery maker (b. 1730)
1863 – John Branch, Governor of North Carolina (b. 1782)
1875 – Pierre Larousse, French editor and encyclopedist (b. 1817)
1881 – Anna McNeill Whistler, mother of James Whistler (b. 1804)
1895 – James Merritt Ives, American lithographer and businessman (b. 1804)

1901–2000

1903 – Alois Hitler, father of Adolf Hitler (b. 1837)
1904 – Larin Paraske, Finnish runic singer (b. 1834)
1915 – James Elroy Flecker, English poet, writer and playwright (b. 1884)
1916 – Grenville M. Dodge, American general (b. 1831)
1923 – Jaroslav Hasek, Czech novelist (b. 1883)
1927 – Carl Runge, German mathematician (b. 1856)
1933 – Wilhelm Cuno, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
1933 – Jack Pickford, Canadian actor (b. 1896)
1943 – Walter James, 5th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1863)
1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)
1946 – William Joyce, Irish Nazi propagandist (executed) (b. 1906)
1950 – Emil Jannings, Swiss actor (b. 1884)
1956 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (b. 1864)
1959 – Edwin Muir, Scottish poet, writer and translator (b. 1887)
1967 – Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1911)
1974 – Gino Cervi, Italian actor (b. 1901)
1979 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (b. 1887)
1980 – Joy Adamson, Czech conservationist and writer (b. 1910)
1980 – Lucien Buysse, Belgian cyclist (b. 1892)
1981 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, the last grandchild of Queen Victoria (b. 1883)
1982 – Fritz Laband, German footballer (b. 1925)
1988 – Rose Auslander, German poet (b. 1901)
1988 – Gaston Eyskens, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1905)
1989 – Sergei Lvovich Sobolev, Russian mathematician (b. 1909)
1992 – Dame Judith Anderson, Australian actress (b. 1897)

From 2001

2001 – José Greco, flamenco dancer (b. 1918)
2002 – Freddy Heineken, Dutch CEO of Heineken (b. 1923)
2003 – Sid Gillman, American football coach (b. 1911)
2004 – Des Corcoran, 37th Premier of South Australia (b. 1928)
2004 – Leon Wagner, American MLB All-Star (b. 1934)
2005 – Jyotindra Nath Dixit, Indian national security advisor and former foreign secretary (b. 1936)
2005 – Will Eisner, American comic book artist and pioneering graphic novelist (b. 1917)
2005 – Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator with the PRC (b. 1917)
2006 – Bill Skate, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (b. 1954)
2008 – Yo Sam-Choi, South Korean boxer (b. 1972)
2008 – Werner Dollinger, German politician and economist (b. 1918)
2009 – Pat Hingle, American actor (b. 1924)
2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and scholar (b. 1928)
2012 – Josef Skvorecky, Czech writer (b. 1924)
2013 – Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian movie director, actor and politician (b. 1930)
2013 – Burry Stander, South African cyclist (b. 1987)
2014 – Leon de Wolff, Dutch journalist (b. 1948)
2014 – George Goodman, American economics professor (b. 1930)
2014 – Phil Everly, American singer and musician (Everly Brothers) (b. 1939)
2014 – Alicia Rhett, American actress (b. 1915)
2014 – Saul Zaentz, American movie producer (b. 1921)
2015 – Edward Brooke, American politician, United States Senator from Massachusetts (b. 1919)
2015 – Derek Minter, British motorcycle racer (b. 1932)
2015 – Bernice Madigan, American supercentenarian (b. 1899)
2015 – Olga Knyazeva, Russian fencer (b. 1954)
2016 – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist (b. 1928)
2016 – Bill Plager, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1945)
2016 – C. B. Forgotston, American political blogger (b. 1945)
2016 – Igor Sergun, Russian military officer (b. 1957)
2016 – Paul Bley, Canadian jazz pianist (b. 1932)
2016 – Stephen W. Bosworth, American diplomat (b. 1939)
2016 – Amby Fogarty, Irish footballer (b. 1933)
2016 – Demmus Hentze, Faroese politician (b. 1923)
2016 – Peter Powell, English kite maker (b. 1932)
2016 – Georg Nees, German academic and artist (b. 1926)
2016 – Tommy Sale, English rugby league player (b. 1918)
2017 – Charles J. Colgan, American politician (b. 1925)
2017 – Rolf Noskwith, German-British businessman (b. 1919)
2017 – Igor Volk, Ukrainian-Russian cosmonaut (b. 1937)
2017 – Rodney Bennett, British television director (b. 1935)
2017 – Martin Brandtner, American Marine Corps general (b. 1938)
2017 – Mike Buchanan, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)
2018 – Fred Bass, American bookseller (b. 1928)
2019 – Herb Kelleher, American businessman (b. 1931)
2020 – Qasem Soleimani, Iranian general (b. 1957)
2022 – Beatrice Mintz, American embryologist (b. 1921)
2022 – Viktor Saneyev, Georgian triple jumper and Olympic champion (b. 1945)

Births

1901–1950

1901 – Ngo Dinh Diem, Vietnamese politician (d. 1963)
1905 – Anna May Wong, Chinese-American actress (d. 1961)
1906 – William Wilson Morgan, American astronomer (d. 1994)
1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh actor and director (d. 1986)
1909 – Victor Borge, Danish comedian and pianist (d. 2000)
1910 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992)
1912 – Federico Borrell Garcia, Spanish Republican soldier (d. 1936)
1915 – Mady Rahl, German actress (d. 2009)
1916 – Bernard Greenhouse, American cellist (d. 2011)
1916 – Betty Furness, American actress (d. 1994)
1916 – Maxene Andrews, American singer (The Andrews Sisters) (d. 1995)
1919 – Dorothy Morrison, American actress
1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
1920 – Siegfried Buback, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977)
1920 – Renato Carosone, Italian pianist (d. 2001)
1921 – Chetan Anand, Indian movie director and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1921 – Jean-Louis Koszul, French mathematician (d. 2018)
1922 – Bill Travers, British actor and director (d. 1994)
1923 – Abd El Aziz Muhammad Hegazi, Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
1926 – George Martin, English music producer (d. 2016)
1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury and former Director of the Jewish museum in Berlin
1927 – Nazmiye Demirel, First Lady of Turkey (d. 2013)
1927 – Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, Indian politician (d. 2015)
1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian movie director (d. 1989)
1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor (d. 2015)
1932 – Coo Coo Marlin, American racing driver (d. 2005)
1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish athlete
1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor
1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American politician
1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1938 – Ove Andersson, Swedish rally driver (d. 2008)
1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer (d. 2013)
1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player
1942 – Laszlo Solyom, former President of Hungary
1942 – John Thaw, British actor (d. 2002)
1943 – Jarl Alfredius, Swedish journalist (d. 2009)
1944 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, producer and actor
1944 – David Atherton, English conductor
1945 – Stephen Stills, American musician
1945 – David Starkey, English historian
1946 – John Paul Jones, English musician (Led Zeppelin)
1947 – Fran Cotton, English rugby player
1948 – Manfred Kokot, German athlete
1949 – Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (d. 1965)
1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress

1951–1975

1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian politician
1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish politician
1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, former President of the Maldives
1953 – Peter Taylor, English footballer
1955 – Palmolive, Spanish-English drummer
1956 – Mel Gibson, Australian-American actor and director
1956 – Guy Ryder, British labour activist
1958 – Shim Hyung-rae, South Korean movie maker
1960 – Daniela Schadt, German journalist
1962 – Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player
1963 – Stewart Hosie, Scottish politician
1963 – Till Lindemann, German singer (Rammstein)
1967 – Magnus Gustafsson, Swedish tennis player
1968 – Kent Carlsson, Swedish tennis player
1969 – Michael Schumacher, German racing driver
1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian bobsledder and luger
1971 – Sarah Alexander, British actress
1971 – Cory Cross, American ice hockey player
1972 – Janek Kiisman, Estonian footballer
1975 – Danica McKellar, British actress
1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ and producer (Daft Punk)

From 1976

1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer
1977 – Lee Bowyer, English footballer
1977 – Michelle Stephenson, English singer (Spice Girls)
1978 – Liya Kebede, Ethiopian model
1978 – Mike York, American ice hockey player
1979 – Dina Tersago, Belgian model and television host
1981 – Eli Manning, American football player
1982 – Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer, actress and model
1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer
1984 – Billy Mehmet, Irish footballer
1984 – Maximilian Mechler, German ski jumper
1985 – Linas Kleiza, Lithuanian basketball player
1986 – Dana Hussain, Iraqi athlete
1986 – Jessica O'Rourke, American soccer player
1986 – Lloyd, American singer
1988 – Ikechi Anya, Scottish footballer
1988 – Matt Frattin, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Ayaka Umeda, Japanese singer (AKB48)
1989 – Kohei Uchimura, Japanese gymnast
1989 – Alex D. Linz, American actor
1991 – Darius Morris, American basketball player
1992 – Doug McDermott, American basketball player
1993 – Kevin Ware, American basketball player
1995 – Kim Seol-hyun, South Korean actress and singer
1997 – Rahul Shah, Indian cricketer
2003 – Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate change activist

Deaths

Observances

Statehood Day (Alaska)
Perihelion, on or around this date, when Earth is at its closest point to the Sun during its orbit.