January 4

2025 Calendar

January 4 is the fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 361 days remaining until the end of the year (362 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

1066 – Edward the Confessor, Saxon king (b. 1003)
1248 – King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)
1428 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (b. 1370)
1564 – Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b. 1514)
1584 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (b. 1539)
1752 – Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b. 1704)
1761 – Stephen Hales, English physicist and physiologist (b. 1677)
1773 – Anton Losenko, Russian painter (b. 1737)
1786 – Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher (b. 1729)
1804 – Charlotte Lennox, British writer (b. 1730)
1821 – Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)
1825 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)
1843 – Stevens Mason, American politician, 1st Governor of Michigan (b. 1811)
1874 – Thomas Gregson, Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Tasmania (b. 1798)
1877 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman (b. 1794)
1880 – Anselm Feuerbach, German painter (b. 1829)
1882 – John William Draper, English–American physician, chemist and photographer (b. 1811)
1895 – Manuel Pavia, Spanish general (b. 1827)

1901–2000

1910 – Léon Delagrange, French aviator and sculptor (b. 1873)
1913 – Hjalmar Johansen, Norwegian explorer (b. 1867)
1915 – Anton von Werner, German painter (b. 1843)
1919 – Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1843)
1931 – Louise, Princess Royal (b. 1867)
1931 – Mohammad Ali Jouhar, Indian journalist, activist and scholar (b. 1878)
1941 – Henri Bergson, French philosopher (b. 1859)
1944 – Kaj Munk, Danish minister, poet and activist (b. 1898)
1956 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish–French chess player (b. 1887)
1960 – Albert Camus, French writer (b. 1913)
1961 – Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist (b. 1887)
1965 – T. S. Eliot, American poet (b. 1888)
1967 – Donald Campbell, English motorboat racer (b. 1921)
1975 – Carlo Levi, Italian writer, painter and politician (b. 1902)
1986 – Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)
1986 – Phil Lynott, Irish musician (b. 1949)
1990 – Henry Bolte, Australian politician, Premier of Victoria (b. 1907)
1995 – Eduardo Mata, Mexican conductor and composer (b. 1942)
1995 – Dorothy Granger, American actress (b. 1911)
1998 – John Gary, American singer (b. 1932)
1999 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)

From 2001

2004 – Joan Aiken, English writer (b. 1924)
2006 – Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai politician (b. 1946)
2007 – Marais Viljoen, South African politician (b. 1915)
2007 – Sandro Salvadore, Italian footballer (b. 1939)
2009 – Lei Clijsters, Belgian footballer (b. 1956)
2010 – Casey Johnson, American socialite (b. 1979)
2010 – Johan Ferrier, first President of Suriname (b. 1910)
2010 – Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese survivor of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs (b. 1916).
2011 – Salmaan Taseer, Pakistani politician (b. 1964)
2011 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter (b. 1947)
2011 – Mohamed Bouazizi, Tunisian fruit seller (b. 1984)
2011 – Dick King-Smith, English writer (b. 1922)
2011 – Ali-Reza Pahlavi of Iran (b. 1966)
2012 – Eve Arnold, American photographer (b. 1912)
2013 – Tony Lip, American actor (b. 1930)
2014 – Sergey Kozlov, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
2015 – Stuart Scott, American sportscaster (b. 1965)
2015 – Hank Peters, American baseball executive (b. 1924)
2015 – Stu Miller, American baseball player (b. 1927)
2015 – Lance Diamond, American singer (b. 1946)
2015 – Pino Daniele, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1955)
2015 – Natalino Pescarolo, Italian bishop (b. 1929)
2015 – René Vautier, French movie director (b. 1928)
2016 – Michel Galabru, French actor (b. 1922)
2016 – Tom Allin, English cricketer (b. 1987)
2016 – S. H. Kapadia, Indian judge (b. 1947)
2016 – Jorge Lepra, Uruguayan diplomat and politician (b. 1942)
2016 – John Roberts, Welsh footballer (b. 1946)
2016 – Fernando Barrachina, Spanish footballer (b. 1947)
2016 – Achim Mentzel, German musician and television presenter (b. 1946)
2016 – Leo Rucka, American football player (b. 1931)
2017 – Milt Schmidt, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1918)
2017 – Ezio Pascutti, Italian footballer (b. 1937)
2017 – Wayne Westner, South African golfer (b. 1961)
2017 – Hisham Al-Otaibi, Kuwaiti politician (b. 1946)
2017 – Heinz Billing, German physicist and computer scientist (b. 1914)
2017 – Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan, Indian sitar player and composer (b. 1927)
2017 – Jordi Pagans i Monsalvatje, Catalan painter (b. 1932)
2017 – Douglas Wass, British civil servant (b. 1923)
2017 – Georges Pretre, French conductor (b. 1924)
2018 – Aharon Appelfeld, Ukrainian–born Israeli writer (b. 1932)
2018 – Johannes Brost, Swedish actor (b. 1946)
2018 – Brendan Byrne, American politician, 47th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1924)
2018 – Bruce Halle, American automobile parts executive (b. 1930)
2018 – Senichi Hoshino, Japanese baseball player (b. 1947)
2018 – Philipp Jenninger, German politician (b. 1932)
2018 – Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
2018 – Vladimir Yankilevsky, Russian artist (b. 1938)
2019 – Harold Brown, 14th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1927)
2021 – Tanya Roberts, American actress (b. 1955)
2021 – Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner (b. 1931)
2022 – Joan Copeland, American actress (b. 1922)
2022 – Hilton Cheong-Leen, Hong Kong politician (b. 1922)

Births

1901–1950

1902 – John McCone, 6th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1991)
1903 – Georg Elser, German resistance activist (d. 1945)
1905 – Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)
1910 – Arthur Villeneuve, Canadian painter (d. 1990)
1913 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan Head of State (d. 2007)
1914 – Jean-Pierre Vernant, French historian and anthropologist (d. 2007)
1915 – Meg Mundy, English–American actress
1922 – Mart Port, Estonian architect (d. 2012)
1924 – Walter Ris, American swimmer (d. 1989)
1924 – Charles Thone, American politician, 34th Governor of Nebraska (d. 2018)
1925 – Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish skier (d. 2003)
1927 – Barbara Rush, American actress
1929 – Günter Schabowski, East German politician (d. 2015)
1930 – Don Shula, American football coach
1931 – William Deane, former Governor-General of Australia
1932 – Carlos Saura, Spanish director
1932 – Clint Hill, American secret service agent and writer
1933 – Norman H. Bangerter, American politician, Governor of Utah (d. 2015)
1933 – Ilia II of Georgia, Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church
1934 – Zurab Tsereteli, Georgian sculptor
1934 – Hellmuth Karasek, German journalist, writer and critic (d. 2015)
1934 – Rudolf Schuster, former President of Slovakia
1935 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer (d. 2006)
1935 – Walter Mahlendorf, German athlete
1936 – Gianni Vattimo, Italian philosopher, writer and politician
1937 – Grace Bumbry, American soprano
1937 – Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, screenwriter and producer
1939 – Veniamin Soldatenko, Soviet athlete
1939 – Joseph Bonnel, French footballer (d. 2018)
1940 – Antoni Krauze, Polish screenwriter and director (d. 2018)
1940 – Helmut Jahn, German–American architect
1940 – Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist
1940 – Gao Xingjian, Chinese–French writer
1941 – Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)
1942 – John McLaughlin, English guitarist and songwriter
1945 – Richard R. Schrock, American chemist
1947 – Chris Cutler, British singer and musician
1947 – Doc Neeson, Northern Irish–born Australian singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2014)
1947 – Tim Rooney, American actor (d. 2006)
1947 – Rick Stein, English chef and restaurateur
1948 – Cissé Mariam Kaïdema Sidibé, Prime Minister of Mali
1949 – Mick Mills, English footballer

1951–1975

1951 – Barbara Cochran, American skier
1951 – Ronald Corp, English composer, conductor and priest
1953 – Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer
1954 – Oleg Romantsev, Russian footballer
1955 – Wolfgang Tiefensee, German politician
1956 – Bernard Sumner, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1956 – Sarojini Sahoo, Indian feminist writer
1957 – Patty Loveless, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Vesnaja Zmijanac, Montenegrin–Serbian folk singer
1957 – Gurdas Maan, Indian singer, songwriter, choreographer and actor
1958 – Andy Borowitz, American comedian and actor
1958 – Julian Sands, English actor
1958 – Gary Jones, Welsh–Canadian actor
1960 – Michael Stipe, American singer and musician (R.E.M.)
1960 – April Winchell, American actress
1961 – Kiyotaka Matsui, Japanese footballer
1961 – Oh Se-hoon, South Korean politician
1962 – Robin Guthrie, Scottish guitarist and producer
1962 – Joe Kleine, American basketball player
1962 – Peter Steele, American musician (d. 2010)
1962 – André Rouvoet, French educator and politician
1963 – Dave Foley, Canadian comedian, actor, director and producer
1963 – Till Lindemann, German singer (Rammstein)
1963 – May-Britt Moser, Norwegian psychologist and neuroscientist, 2014 Nobel Prize winner
1964 – Dot Jones, American actress
1965 – Yvan Attal, Israeli–French actor and director
1965 – Craig Revel Horwood, Australian–English dancer
1965 – Guy Forget, French tennis player
1965 – Beth Gibbons, British musician
1965 – Cait O'Riordan, Irish musician (The Pogues)
1966 – Christian Kern, former Chancellor of Austria
1966 – Deana Carter, American singer
1971 – Katharine Viner, British newspaper editor (The Guardian)
1972 – James Longley, American director and producer
1973 – Harmony Korine, American movie director and screenwriter
1974 – Armin Zöggeler, Italian luger

From 1976

1977 – David Millar, British cyclist
1977 – Teitur Lassen, Faroese singer-songwriter
1978 – Karine Ruby, French snowboarder (d. 2009)
1978 – Mai Meneses, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Kevin Kuske, German bobsledder
1980 – Miguel Monteiro, Portuguese footballer
1980 – Greg Cipes, American actor
1980 – Happy Salma, Indonesian model, actress and writer
1981 – Zhang Jiewen, Chinese badminton player
1982 – Paulo Ferrari, Argentine footballer
1982 – Kang Hye-jung, South Korean actress
1983 – Gemma Hunt, English television presenter
1985 – Al Jefferson, American basketball player
1985 – Jung Sung Ryong, South Korean footballer
1985 – Ross Turnbull, English footballer
1986 – James Milner, English footballer
1986 – Younès Kaboul, French footballer
1986 – Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwanese tennis player
1987 – Nikolaj Misiuk, Lithuanian footballer
1988 – Nabila Jamshed, Indian writer
1989 – Labrinth, English singer
1990 – Toni Kroos, German footballer
1990 – Alberto Paloschi, Italian footballer
1991 – Olivia Tennet, New Zealand actress
1991 – Tal Al-Mallohi, Syrian blogger and activist
1992 – Kris Bryant, American baseball player
1993 – Scott Redding, British motorcycle racer
1995 – Maddie Hasson, American actress
1995 – Maria Isabel, Spanish singer
1998 – Coco Jones, American actress and singer
1998 – Liza Soberano, Filipino–American actress and model
2003 – Jaeden Lieberher, American actor

Deaths

Observances

Independence Day (Burma)
Day of the Fallen against Colonial Repression (Angola)
Day of the Martyrs (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
World Braille Day