Historical Anniversaries this Week

January 1

 Events (300 years ago today): 1726 – J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16, his church cantata for New Year's Day to a libretto by Georg Christian Lehms.^[21]

 Events (250 years ago today): 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Burning of Norfolk – Norfolk, Virginia, is burned to the ground by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.^[26]

 Events (250 years ago today): 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag, the Continental Union Flag, at Prospect Hill.^[27]

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board.^[81]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Kazys Petkevi?ius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (died 2008)^[236]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Tank, American singer, songwriter, producer, and actor^[325]

January 2

 Events (250 years ago today): 1776 – Empress Maria Theresa of Austria amends the Constitutio Criminalis Theresiana to include the abolition of torture throughout the Habsburg-ruled countries of Austria and Bohemia.^[7]

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – The Gale of January 1976 begins, resulting in coastal flooding around the southern North Sea coasts, affecting countries from Ireland to Yugoslavia and causing at least 82 deaths and US$1.3 billion in damage.^[31]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Gino Marchetti, American football player (died 2019)^[96]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Paz Vega, Spanish actress^[123]

 Deaths (300 years ago today): 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (born 1688)^[195]

 Deaths (150 years ago today): 1876 – Meta Heusser-Schweizer, Swiss poet (born 1797)^[200]

January 3

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force.^[37]

 Births (150 years ago today): 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (died 1960)^[84]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury^[126]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (died 2016)^[127]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer^[196]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer^[197]

 Deaths (200 years ago today): 1826 – Louis-Gabriel Suchet, French general (born 1770)^[287]

January 4

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen would shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation.^[32]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Ted Lilly, American baseball player^[170]

January 5

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – The Khmer Rouge announce that the new Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea is ratified.^[31]

 Events (50 years ago today): 1976 – The Troubles: Gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians after stopping their minibus at Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK, allegedly as retaliation for a string of attacks on Catholic civilians in the area by Loyalists, particularly the killing of six Catholics the night before.^[32]

 Births (150 years ago today): 1876 – Konrad Adenauer, German lawyer and politician, Chancellor of West Germany (died 1967)^[64][65]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, Singaporean lawyer and politician (died 2008)^[104]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Veikko Karvonen, Finnish runner (died 2007)^[105]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – W. D. Snodgrass, American poet (died 2009)^[106]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Hosea Williams, American businessman and activist (died 2000)^[107]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Diego Tristán, Spanish footballer^[185]

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1976 – John A. Costello, Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland (born 1891)^[282]

January 6

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Ralph Branca, American baseball player (died 2016)^[129]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (died 2002)^[130]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian-American actor and bodybuilder (died 2006)^[131]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Johan Davidsson, Swedish ice hockey player^[210]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Danny Pintauro, American actor^[211]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Richard Zedník, Slovak ice hockey player^[212]

January 7

 Births (150 years ago today): 1876 – William Hurlstone, English pianist and composer (died 1906)^[81]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1926 – Kim Jong-pil, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea (died 2018)

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Vic Darchinyan, Armenian-Australian boxer^[164]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Éric Gagné, Canadian baseball player^[165]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player^[166]