1349 The Jews were blamed for the spread of the Black Death through Basel, Switzerland. Amid rumours of well poisoning, on January 9, 1349 the Jewish population of Basel was rounded up and incinerated. Following the massacre, it was decreed that all Jews were banned from settling in the city of Basel for 200 years. However, the city's subsequent financial collapse necessitated their early re-admittance.
1386 On January 9, 1386, a sow was convicted by an ecclesiastical court of murdering a young child and hanged in Faliase, France. The executioner was paid ten sous and ten deniers for his efforts in dragging and then hanging the pig.
1449 The first Italian lottery, whose actual date was recorded, was held on January 9, 1449 in Milan organized by the Golden Ambrosian Republic to finance the war against the Republic of Venice.
The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for sale, was one organized by Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. The funds were for repairs in the City of Rome, and the winners were given prizes in the form of articles of unequal value.
1493 On January 9, 1493, Christopher Columbus, sailing near the Dominican Republic, thought he saw three mermaids. They were "not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men." Most likely they were manatees, which are slow-moving aquatic mammals with human-like eyes, large faces and paddle-like tails.
1739 Rebecca Bryan, the wife of frontiersman Daniel Boone, was born on January 9, 1739. They married in Yadkin River, North Carolina on August 14, 1756. Rebecca was nearly as tall as her husband and was very attractive with black hair and dark eyes.
1768 Former cavalry officer Philip Astley staged the first modern circus on January 9, 1768 with shows of acrobatic riding skills, including a female horse-rider covered in bees. The entertainment took place in an open field on the south bank opposite the Houses of Parliament in London. This format was so successful that Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences, and later moved to fenced premises just south of Westminster Bridge.
1788 Connecticut became the fifth state to be admitted to the United States on January 9, 1788 after ratifying the U.S. Constitution. The name "Connecticut" comes from the Mohegan Indian word "Quinnehtukqut". It means "Long River Place" or "Beside the Long Tidal River."
1793 On January 9, 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight in the United States. Blanchard’s balloon, filled with hydrogen, took off from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soared to 5,800 feet and eventually wound up some 15 miles away, in Woodbury, New Jersey. President George Washington was in Philadelphia for the event, along with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, James Monroe and other bigwigs.
1799 On January 9, 1799, the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax as a temporary measure to finance the Napoleonic Wars. Under Pitt's new tax annual incomes over £200 were taxed at 10 per cent, whilst those earning between £60-£200 were taxed from under one per cent to 10 per cent. The expected return was £10 million in the first year but owing to widespread tax evasion, it actually realized less than £6 million.
1806 Admiral Horatio Nelson's state funeral took place at St Paul's Cathedral on January 9, 1806.
The funeral was a male only affair, thus excluding Lady Nelson and Emma Hamilton. 18 of the admirals invited to his funeral refused to attend such was the dislike of him. Nelson had chosen to be buried at St Paul's rather than Westminster Abbey as he'd heard Westminster was sinking into the Thames.
1816 Sir Humphry Davy started experimented with lamps for use in coal mines in 1815. At that time before gas lightening had been invented, the only way a bright light could be obtained was a candle without protection. The first trial of Sir Humphry Davy's safety lamp for miners took place at Hebburn Colliery on January 9, 1816.
1848 German-English astronomer Caroline Herschel died on January 9, 1848. The first woman to earn a living as a scientist, Caroline Herschel worked with her brother William Herschel throughout his career. Her most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel-Rigollet, which bears her name.
1863 William Gladstone was one of the very first people to ride on the London Underground. On January 9, 1863, when Farringdon station was opened for the first time, two steam trains took Gladstone and some 600 other notables of society on the world's first underground train journey. They were greeted at the end of their journey by a banquet.
1873 In his later years, Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III, 1st President of France) suffered agonies from stones in the bladder. On one occasion a witness saw him holding his arm against the flame of a candle in an attempt to find some relief through a change of pain. In the summer of 1872, doctors recommended surgery to remove his gallstones. After two operations he became very seriously ill. He was given last rites, and died on January 9, 1873.
1902 The Spanish Roman Catholic priest Josemaría Escrivá, founder of The Opus Dei, was born on January 9, 1902. Following a prayerful retreat in which he saw a vision, Josemaría Escrivá founded The Opus Dei (Work of God) organization in 1928 in Madrid, Spain. Escrivá intended the group to be a collection of secular priests and lay people with each member dedicating their life to God but retaining the freedom and responsibility of their worldly lives.
1386 On January 9, 1386, a sow was convicted by an ecclesiastical court of murdering a young child and hanged in Faliase, France. The executioner was paid ten sous and ten deniers for his efforts in dragging and then hanging the pig.
 |
| Illustration from Chambers Book of Days depicting a sow being tried for the murder of a child |
1449 The first Italian lottery, whose actual date was recorded, was held on January 9, 1449 in Milan organized by the Golden Ambrosian Republic to finance the war against the Republic of Venice.
The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for sale, was one organized by Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar. The funds were for repairs in the City of Rome, and the winners were given prizes in the form of articles of unequal value.
1493 On January 9, 1493, Christopher Columbus, sailing near the Dominican Republic, thought he saw three mermaids. They were "not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men." Most likely they were manatees, which are slow-moving aquatic mammals with human-like eyes, large faces and paddle-like tails.
1739 Rebecca Bryan, the wife of frontiersman Daniel Boone, was born on January 9, 1739. They married in Yadkin River, North Carolina on August 14, 1756. Rebecca was nearly as tall as her husband and was very attractive with black hair and dark eyes.
1768 Former cavalry officer Philip Astley staged the first modern circus on January 9, 1768 with shows of acrobatic riding skills, including a female horse-rider covered in bees. The entertainment took place in an open field on the south bank opposite the Houses of Parliament in London. This format was so successful that Astley added a clown to his shows to amuse the spectators between equestrian sequences, and later moved to fenced premises just south of Westminster Bridge.
 |
| Astley's Amphitheatre in London circa 1808. |
1788 Connecticut became the fifth state to be admitted to the United States on January 9, 1788 after ratifying the U.S. Constitution. The name "Connecticut" comes from the Mohegan Indian word "Quinnehtukqut". It means "Long River Place" or "Beside the Long Tidal River."
1793 On January 9, 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight in the United States. Blanchard’s balloon, filled with hydrogen, took off from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soared to 5,800 feet and eventually wound up some 15 miles away, in Woodbury, New Jersey. President George Washington was in Philadelphia for the event, along with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, James Monroe and other bigwigs.
1799 On January 9, 1799, the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax as a temporary measure to finance the Napoleonic Wars. Under Pitt's new tax annual incomes over £200 were taxed at 10 per cent, whilst those earning between £60-£200 were taxed from under one per cent to 10 per cent. The expected return was £10 million in the first year but owing to widespread tax evasion, it actually realized less than £6 million.
1806 Admiral Horatio Nelson's state funeral took place at St Paul's Cathedral on January 9, 1806.
The funeral was a male only affair, thus excluding Lady Nelson and Emma Hamilton. 18 of the admirals invited to his funeral refused to attend such was the dislike of him. Nelson had chosen to be buried at St Paul's rather than Westminster Abbey as he'd heard Westminster was sinking into the Thames.
 |
| Nelson's coffin in the crossing of St Paul's during the funeral service |
1816 Sir Humphry Davy started experimented with lamps for use in coal mines in 1815. At that time before gas lightening had been invented, the only way a bright light could be obtained was a candle without protection. The first trial of Sir Humphry Davy's safety lamp for miners took place at Hebburn Colliery on January 9, 1816.
1848 German-English astronomer Caroline Herschel died on January 9, 1848. The first woman to earn a living as a scientist, Caroline Herschel worked with her brother William Herschel throughout his career. Her most significant contributions to astronomy were the discoveries of several comets, including the periodic comet 35P/Herschel-Rigollet, which bears her name.
 |
| William and Caroline Herschel polishing a telescope lens. Wikipedia |
1863 William Gladstone was one of the very first people to ride on the London Underground. On January 9, 1863, when Farringdon station was opened for the first time, two steam trains took Gladstone and some 600 other notables of society on the world's first underground train journey. They were greeted at the end of their journey by a banquet.
1873 In his later years, Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III, 1st President of France) suffered agonies from stones in the bladder. On one occasion a witness saw him holding his arm against the flame of a candle in an attempt to find some relief through a change of pain. In the summer of 1872, doctors recommended surgery to remove his gallstones. After two operations he became very seriously ill. He was given last rites, and died on January 9, 1873.
 |
| Napoleon III after his death; wood-engraving in the Illustrated London News |
1909 On January 9, 1909, Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition, planted the British flag at a latitude of 88° 23' S, approximately 97 nautical miles (180 km) from the South Pole, the furthest south anyone had ever reached at that time.
1913 Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California to Francis "Frank" Anthony Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. He was named after the medieval English king Richard the Lionheart. His mother was a devout Quaker and Richard's upbringing was marked by Quaker observances of the time, such as refraining from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. Herbert Hoover was the only other United States President to belong to the Quaker faith.
1929 Alexander Fleming’s assistant Stuart Craddock was the first person to be treated with penicillin on January 9, 1929. The first modern day antibiotic, Craddock was (unsuccessfully) given penicillin for his infected sinuses.
1957 When Sir Anthony Eden had an operation to remove gallstones in 1953 it went wrong and when he became UK Prime Minister in 1955, he was still ill. During the Suez Crisis, he took 'purple heart' pills, or Drinamyl, which were half-barbiturate (to calm him down) and half- amphetamine (to perk him up). Eden resigned as Prime Minister on January 9, 1957 as doctors had warned him his life was at stake if he continued in office.
1982 Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge, was born Kate Middleton in Reading, Berkshire, England on January 9, 1982. Her parents became self-made millionaires after launching a successful party supply store. As a young child, Kate performed in a play in which she portrayed a young lady wooed by a young, handsome blond prince named William.
1992 Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced on January 9, 1992 the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12, the first definitive detection of extrasolar planets.
2001 Apple Computers Inc launched iTunes on January 9, 2001 at Macworld San Francisco. At first, the service was available only to Mac users and the music files were encoded in Apple's proprietary format restricting where they could be played. On April 28, 2003, version 4.0 introduced the iTunes Store; six months later version 4.1 added support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
2006 The Phantom of The Opera became the longest-running show on Broadway on January 9, 2006, passing the 7,485 performances of Cats. The show finally closed its curtains on April 16, 2023 after 35 years and 13,981 performances.
2007 On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone—a touch screen mobile phone with an iPod, camera and Web-browsing capabilities—at the Macworld convention in San Francisco. Jobs called the iPhone a "revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone."
2007 The word "Computer" was removed from Apple's name on January 9, 2007, the same day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, reflecting its shifted focus towards consumer electronics.
2008 Gemina was a 12-foot-tall Baringo giraffe who lived in the Santa Barbara Zoo in California. When she was three years old her neck vertebrae began to jut out from her neck. Gemina's crooked neck was an inspiration to disabled children and was featured in an episode of a reality show about a girl with scoliosis. Despite her mysterious deformity, Gemina lived longer than the average giraffe by about six years dying aged 21 on January 9, 2008.
2017 The 2016 musical comedy drama La La Land was nominated in seven categories at the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards, which took place on January 9, 2017. It won the globe for every single nomination, including all five major Golden Globes, beating the previous record haul at the awards of five.
1913 Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California to Francis "Frank" Anthony Nixon and Hannah Milhous Nixon. He was named after the medieval English king Richard the Lionheart. His mother was a devout Quaker and Richard's upbringing was marked by Quaker observances of the time, such as refraining from alcohol, dancing, and swearing. Herbert Hoover was the only other United States President to belong to the Quaker faith.
1929 Alexander Fleming’s assistant Stuart Craddock was the first person to be treated with penicillin on January 9, 1929. The first modern day antibiotic, Craddock was (unsuccessfully) given penicillin for his infected sinuses.
 |
| Science Museum London / Science and Society Picture Library |
1957 When Sir Anthony Eden had an operation to remove gallstones in 1953 it went wrong and when he became UK Prime Minister in 1955, he was still ill. During the Suez Crisis, he took 'purple heart' pills, or Drinamyl, which were half-barbiturate (to calm him down) and half- amphetamine (to perk him up). Eden resigned as Prime Minister on January 9, 1957 as doctors had warned him his life was at stake if he continued in office.
1992 Radio astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail announced on January 9, 1992 the discovery of two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12, the first definitive detection of extrasolar planets.
 |
| Artist's impression of the planets orbiting PSR B1257+12. |
2001 Apple Computers Inc launched iTunes on January 9, 2001 at Macworld San Francisco. At first, the service was available only to Mac users and the music files were encoded in Apple's proprietary format restricting where they could be played. On April 28, 2003, version 4.0 introduced the iTunes Store; six months later version 4.1 added support for Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP.
2007 On January 9, 2007, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone—a touch screen mobile phone with an iPod, camera and Web-browsing capabilities—at the Macworld convention in San Francisco. Jobs called the iPhone a "revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone."
2007 The word "Computer" was removed from Apple's name on January 9, 2007, the same day Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, reflecting its shifted focus towards consumer electronics.
2008 Gemina was a 12-foot-tall Baringo giraffe who lived in the Santa Barbara Zoo in California. When she was three years old her neck vertebrae began to jut out from her neck. Gemina's crooked neck was an inspiration to disabled children and was featured in an episode of a reality show about a girl with scoliosis. Despite her mysterious deformity, Gemina lived longer than the average giraffe by about six years dying aged 21 on January 9, 2008.
2017 The 2016 musical comedy drama La La Land was nominated in seven categories at the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards, which took place on January 9, 2017. It won the globe for every single nomination, including all five major Golden Globes, beating the previous record haul at the awards of five.
2017 On January 9, 2017, "Shape of You," the joint lead single from Ed Sheeran's third album ÷ (Divide) became the most streamed track on Spotify in 24 hours when it racked up 7.24 million streams. This smashed Spotify's previous 24-hour streaming record, set on July 31, 2015 by One Direction's "Drag Me Down", with 4.75 million streams.
2019 An outbreak of a novel coronavirus was identified during mid-December 2019 in the city of Wuhan in Central China. It was a group of people with pneumonia with no clear cause. It was soon seen as a new strain of coronavirus, which was named 2019-nCoV. The first confirmed death from 2019-nCoV occurred in China on January 9, 2020.
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