Exact date unknown - 1617 (394 Years)
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, one of the most important painters of the Spanish Baroque period, was born.
1st January 1766 (245 Years)
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James VII and II and Mary of Modena, dies.
1st January 1793 (218 Years)
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi, Venetian painter of veduta, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School, died.
1st January 1863 (148 Years)
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin French educator and historian, and founder of the International Olympic Committee, was born.
1st January 1864 (147 Years)
Alfred Stieglitz, an American photographer and modern art promoter, was born.
1st January 1867 (144 Years)
Jeanne-Marie Lanvin, a French haute couture fashion designer, was born.
Exact date unknown - 1887 (124 Years)
A massive portfolio, with 781 plates comprising 20,000 of the photographs, in a groundbreaking collection titled Animal Locomotion by Eadweard Muybridge, was published.
1st January 1892 (119 Years)
Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States.
1st January 1927 (84 Years)
Birth of Maurice Béjart, dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet.
Exact Date Unknown - 1952 (59 Years)
The elegant film based on Edward Lear’s nonsense poem is released.
1st January 1959 (52 Years)
The Communist revolutionary Fidel Castro led the Cubans to victory over Fulgencia Batista.
2nd January 1557 (421 Years)
Jacopo Carucci, known as Jacopo da Pontormo or simply Pontormo, Italian Mannerist painter and portraitist from the Florentine School, died.
2nd January 1891 (120 Years)
Giovanni Michelucci, Italian architect who designed the Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station, is born.
2nd January 1941 (70 Years)
World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales. 75 years.
3rd January 1883 (128 Years)
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, former Prime Minister of the UK and Leader of the Labour Party, was born.
3rd January 1892 (119 Years)
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (South Africa).
3rd January 1959 (52 Years)
President Eisenhower signed proclamation admitting Alaska to the union as the 49th state.
3rd January 1967 (44 Years)
Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvery Oswald, the assassin of John F. Kennedy, died.
4th January 1642 (369 Years)
King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England's slide into civil war. 375 years.
4th January 1847 (164 Years)
Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.
4th January 1865 (146 Years)
The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City. 150 years.