New Years Day (January 1st) in History...

45 BC: The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time.

1: Origin of the Christian Era.

177: Commodus, son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius becomes consul for the first time - at 15 then youngest ever in Roman history (See New Year’s Eve post).

1449: Florentine statesman, ruler, and patron of arts and letters Lorenzo de' Medici is born.

1735: Paul Revere is born (1735 - 1818). American soldier, hero of the American Revolution. He is best known for alerting the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" (1861). He is also the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels (1800).

1752: Betsy Ross, flag maker, is born (1752 - 1836).

1772: Thomas Jefferson (30) marries Martha Wayles Skelton (23).

1782: Johann Christian Bach, German composer, dies.

1788: The Times, London's oldest running newspaper, publishes its first edition.

1808: A U.S. law banning the import of slaves comes into effect, but is widely ignored.

1811: Writer James Fenimore Cooper (21) weds Susan Augusta de Lancey in Mamaroneck, New York.

1818: Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus. Mary Shelley's famous novel is first published. During the rainy, cold volcanic summer of 1816, known as the "Year Without a Summer," caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora, 18-year-old Mary was challenged to write a horror story. Shortly afterwards, she has a waking dream of a corpse brought back to life. "I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion. Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world." She expands her dream into the classic novel.

1830: William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first edition of a journal entitled The Liberator, calling for the complete and immediate emancipation of all slaves in the United States.

1856: U.S. Postage. Government-issued stamps become mandatory for postage. Until then, other forms of payment were legal.

1863: President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederacy.

1874: First in Flight - Before the Wright Brothers. Gustave Whitehead is born (d. 1927). Bavarian-born American inventor. According to some documents, he made the first manned heavier-than-air flight in 1901 - two years before the Wright brothers. Reports are published in the New York Herald, and the Bridgeport Herald and is witnessed by several people, including a reporter for the Bridgeport Herald. Children and youngsters who are present sign affidavits about 30 years later about what they saw. Reports say he started on the wheels from a flat surface, flew 800 meters at a height of 15 meters, and lands softly on the wheels.

1891: Facilities open on Ellis Island, New York, to cope with the vast flood of immigrants coming into the United States.

1895: J. Edgar Hoover, founding director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is born.

1902: First Rose Bowl Game. Michigan beats Stanford (49-0). The oldest college bowl game.

1907: The Pure Food and Drug Act becomes law in the United States.

1908: New York City drops the ball. The ball signifying the New Year was dropped for the first time at Times Square in New York City.

1914: The world's first airline, St. Petersburg Tampa Airboat Line, starts operation in St. Petersburg, Florida.

1915: Formidable is Sunk. In the early morning of New Year's Day a British ship named Formidable is hit by a German submarine known as U-42. The Formidable sinks into the waters of the English Channel, and 547 lives are lost. 

1919: J.D. [Jerome David] Salinger, U.S. novelist (The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey) is born.

1934: The Island of Alcatraz ( The Rock ) is turned into a federal prison, some of the most hardened criminals are sent to Alcatraz over the next few years.

1937: At a party at the Hormel Mansion in Minnesota, a guest wins $100 for naming a new canned meat--Spam.

1937: Safety Glass: In Great Britain, manufacturers were required to make safe glass mandatory. The new safety glass that was created was similar to the kinds that are used today in the creation of windows for automobiles. If the glass cracks, it would shatter into thousands of little pieces versus the larger pieces which would cause serious damage. A year before this, a glass called PVB (polyvinyl) was created, and this was the type of glass that was used in cars.

1937: Old Age Pensions Start. Workers begin to acquire credits toward old-age pension benefits. Employers and employees become subject to a tax of one percent of wages on up to $3,000 a year. 

1942: Car Production Stops. The U.S. government no longer allow the sale of civilian vehicles (i.e. cars and trucks). Automobile manufacturers are required to make only vehicles which are to be used for war purposes. Automobile plants during this time are dedicated to the sale of bombers, jeeps, military trucks, and other gear. 

1942: United Nations Established. Representatives of 26 countries come together and sign a declaration that established the existence of the "United Nations" (the UN). President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill are among the leaders there. One of the intentions of establishing the UN is to be able to enforce peacekeeping strategies.

1943: Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello) is born. American comedian. Known for his character Father Guido Sarducci. In 1981, he was arrested for "impersonating a priest" and stripped of his priest outfit while doing a photo shoot at the Vatican. TV: Saturday Night Live.

1951: Pay Per View Movies. The first testing of Pay Per View Movies is tested by The Zenith Radio Corporation but Pay Per View Movies only appeared for the mass audience nearly 45 years later in the 1990's. 

1953: Hank Williams Really Is Dead. American country singer Hank Williams' chauffeur realizes he had died in the car. Earlier that night, the chauffeur was stopped by a highway patrolman who commented that Hank looked dead. Later, when the driver stopped for fuel, he realized Hank really was dead and rigor mortis had begun to set in. Williams had been taking pain killers to ease the symptoms of his spina bifida occulta. When Williams saw a doctor earlier that day because he was feeling the effects of the chloral hydrate and alcohol he drank, the doctor gave him two shots of B12 that also contained a quarter-grain of morphine. It is believed Williams died of heart failure caused by the combination of alcohol, morphine, and chloral hydrate.

1959: Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba as General Fulgencio Batista flees.

1962: The Beatles Turned Down. The Beatles go for an audition with Decca Records and are turned down in favor of the Tremeloes.

1975: John Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman were convicted of obstruction of justice in the Watergate affair.

1976: Rocky vs. Apollo Creed. Date of the fictional fight between Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) in the first Rocky movie (1976). (**Spoiler Alert**) Rocky loses by decision, but manages to go all 15 rounds, a first for any of Creed's opponents.

1985: First Mobile Phone Call. The British comedian Ernie Wise makes the First Mobile Phone Call in Britain to Vodafone. 

1992: Discovers First Computer Bug. Grace Hopper dies (b. 1906). American computer pioneer, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral. While she is working on a Mark II Computer in 1947, her team discovers a moth stuck in a relay causing the computer to malfunction, causing the first "computer bug." The moth can be seen in their log book at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. She is a pioneer in early computer languages and instrumental in the development of the computer language COBOL. She is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016).

1993: Czechoslovakia is dissolved. The country was peacefully divided into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

1995: WTO. The (WTO) World Trade Organization as the successor to the (GATT) organization General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to supervise and liberalize international trade between nations of the world.

2000: New Millennium. This is the day that the New Millennium takes place. The big concern is called the possible "Y2K Crisis". 

2002: Euro coins and notes go into circulation in twelve European nations. By March 2002 it is the sole legal tender of participating member states.

2005: First Black Woman Elected to the U.S. Congress, Shirley Chisholm (Shirley Anita St. Hill) dies. (b. 1924). American politician, educator. She is the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress (1968). In 1972, she becomes the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

2006: NFL Dropkick. Doug Flutie makes a successful dropkick. This was the first successful dropkick in an NFL game since 1941.

2010: Magnus Carlsen is ranked as the world's Number One Ranked Chess Player.