January 22 facts for kids

January 22nd is a day filled with many interesting events throughout history! From ancient battles to modern inventions and important births, this date has seen a lot happen. Let's explore some of the most notable moments and people connected to January 22nd.

Historical Events

Ancient Times and Middle Ages

• In 613, a very young boy named Heraclius Constantine was crowned as a co-emperor by his father, Heraclius, in Constantinople. He was only eight months old!
• In 871, a big battle happened at Old Basing in England. The West Saxons, led by King Æthelred I, were defeated by the Danelaw Vikings.
• Fast forward to 1506, when the very first group of 150 Swiss Guards arrived at the Vatican. They are still the Pope's special protectors today!
• In 1517, the powerful Ottoman Empire, led by Selim I, won a major victory against the Mamluk Sultanate in the Battle of Ridaniya. This led to them taking control of what is now Egypt.
• The Ava Kingdom in Myanmar fell to the Taungoo Dynasty in 1555.

From the 1600s to the 1900s

• In 1689, a special meeting called the Convention Parliament took place in England. They met to decide if King James II, who was the last Roman Catholic king of England, Ireland, and Scotland, had given up his throne when he ran away to France.
• The royal family of Portugal arrived in Brazil in 1808. They had to leave Portugal because the French army had invaded their country two months earlier.
• In 1824, the brave Ashantis people in what is now Ghana successfully defeated British forces.
• The Second Anglo-Sikh War saw the end of the Siege of Multan in 1849. After nine months, the Sikh defenders of Multan in Punjab finally surrendered.
• A big uprising began in Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus in 1863. This movement, called the January Uprising, aimed to free these lands from Russian control.
• The Anglo-Zulu War saw two important battles in 1879. The Battle of Isandlwana resulted in a defeat for the British.
• Just 15 kilometers away, the Battle of Rorke's Drift happened on the same day, and this time the British won.
• The United Mine Workers of America, a union for miners, was started in Columbus, Ohio, in 1890.

The 20th and 21st Centuries

• In 1901, Edward VII was declared King of the United Kingdom after his mother, Queen Victoria, passed away.
• A sad day known as Bloody Sunday occurred in Saint Petersburg in 1905. This event marked the beginning of the 1905 revolution in Russia.
• The ship SS Valencia ran aground on rocks near Vancouver Island in British Columbia in 1906, causing the loss of over 130 lives.
• In 1917, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States, which was still neutral, called for "peace without victory" in Europe.
• The Act Zluky was signed in 1919, which brought together the Ukrainian People's Republic and the West Ukrainian National Republic.
• Ramsay MacDonald became the first Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1924.
• The first live radio commentary of a football (soccer) match happened in 1927. Teddy Wakelam described the game between Arsenal F.C. and Sheffield United at Highbury.
• During World War II in 1941, British and Commonwealth soldiers captured Tobruk from Italian forces as part of Operation Compass.
• Also in World War II, Australian and American forces defeated Japanese units in the tough Battle of Buna–Gona in 1943.
• In 1944, the Allies started Operation Shingle, an attack on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy.
• In 1946, Qazi Muhammad declared the independent Republic of Mahabad in Iran. He became its first president.
• The Central Intelligence Group, which later became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), was created in 1946.
• KTLA, the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River, started broadcasting in Hollywood in 1947.
• Israel pulled its troops out of the Sinai Peninsula in 1957.
• The Élysée Treaty, an agreement for cooperation between France and West Germany, was signed in 1963 by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.
• The Apollo Program continued in 1968 with the launch of Apollo 5. This mission carried the first Lunar module into space.
• The Boeing 747, the world's first "jumbo jet", began commercial flights in 1970. Its first trip was from New York to London for Pan American Airways.
• The Singapore Declaration, a very important document for the Commonwealth of Nations, was issued in 1971.
• In 1973, the crew of Apollo 17, who had just completed the last Apollo Moon landing, spoke to a joint session of Congress.
• Also in 1973, in a world heavyweight boxing match in Kingston, Jamaica, George Foreman defeated champion Joe Frazier.
• The Apple Macintosh, one of the first computers to make the computer mouse and graphical user interface popular for everyday users, was introduced in 1984 during a Super Bowl XVIII commercial.
• In 1992, rebel forces took over Zaire's national radio station in Kinshasa and demanded the government resign.
• The space shuttle Discovery launched on STS-42 in 1992. On board was Dr. Roberta Bondar, who became the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist to go to space.
• In 1998, the space shuttle Endeavour launched on STS-89 to connect with the Russian space station Mir.
• Evo Morales became the first indigenous President of Bolivia in 2006.
• In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama signed an order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, though it faced opposition and was not fully carried out.
• In 2024, the Ram Mandir was officially opened by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, after many years of dispute.

Famous Births

Many notable people were born on January 22nd:

Before the 1600s

• 1263 – Ibn Taymiyyah, a Syrian scholar and thinker.
• 1440 – Ivan III of Russia, a powerful Russian ruler.
• 1552 – Walter Raleigh, an English poet, soldier, and explorer.
• 1561 – Francis Bacon, a famous English philosopher and politician.
• 1573 – John Donne, an English poet and cleric.
• 1592 – Pierre Gassendi, a French mathematician and philosopher.

From the 1600s to the 1900s

• 1645 – William Kidd, a Scottish sailor known as a pirate hunter.
• 1788 – Lord Byron, a very famous English poet and playwright.
• 1849 – August Strindberg, a Swedish novelist and playwright.
• 1858 – Beatrice Webb, an English sociologist and economist.
• 1865 – Wilbur Scoville, an American chemist who created the Scoville scale for chili peppers.
• 1875 – D. W. Griffith, an American film director and producer.
• 1892 – Marcel Dassault, a French businessman who founded Dassault Aviation.
• 1898 – Sergei Eisenstein, a Russian film director and screenwriter.

From the 1900s to Today

• 1904 – George Balanchine, a Georgian-American dancer and choreographer who co-founded the New York City Ballet.
• 1908 – Lev Landau, an Azerbaijani-Russian physicist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1909 – U Thant, a Burmese educator and the 3rd United Nations Secretary-General.
• 1920 – Alf Ramsey, a famous English footballer and coach.
• 1923 – Diana Douglas, a British-American actress.
• 1931 – Sam Cooke, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1932 – Piper Laurie, an American actress.
• 1936 – Ong Teng Cheong, the 5th President of Singapore.
• 1940 – John Hurt, a well-known English actor.
• 1946 – Malcolm McLaren, an English singer-songwriter and manager.
• 1949 – Steve Perry, an American singer-songwriter, famous for being the lead singer of Journey.
• 1953 – Jim Jarmusch, an American film director and screenwriter.
• 1957 – Mike Bossy, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1959 – Linda Blair, an American actress.
• 1960 – Michael Hutchence, an Australian singer-songwriter.
• 1965 – Diane Lane, an American actress.
• 1968 – Guy Fieri, an American chef and television host.
• 1972 – Gabriel Macht, an American actor.
• 1973 – Rogério Ceni, a Brazilian footballer.
• 1974 – Joseph Muscat, the 13th Prime Minister of Malta.
• 1977 – Hidetoshi Nakata, a Japanese footballer.
• 1980 – Christopher Masterson, an American actor.
• 1981 – Beverley Mitchell, an American actress.
• 1987 – Shane Long, an Irish footballer.
• 1988 – Marcel Schmelzer, a German footballer.
• 1990 – Alizé Cornet, a French tennis player.
• 1996 – Dillon Brooks, a Canadian basketball player.
• 1997 – Fan Zhendong, a Chinese table tennis player.

Notable Deaths

Here are some important people who passed away on January 22nd:

Before the 1600s

• 239 – Cao Rui, a Chinese emperor.
• 628 – Anastasius of Persia, a monk.
• 1170 – Wang Chongyang, a Chinese Daoist who helped start the Quanzhen School.
• 1188 – Ferdinand II of León, a king from Spain.
• 1552 – Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, an English general and politician.

From the 1600s to the 1900s

• 1666 – Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor who built the Taj Mahal.
• 1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, an English politician.
• 1779 – Jeremiah Dixon, an English surveyor and astronomer, known for the Mason-Dixon line.
• 1840 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German physician and anthropologist.
• 1900 – David Edward Hughes, a Welsh-American physicist who helped invent the microphone.

From the 1900s to Today

• 1901 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who ruled for a very long time.
• 1922 – Pope Benedict XV, the head of the Catholic Church.
• 1925 – Fanny Bullock Workman, an American geographer and mountain climber.
• 1959 – Mike Hawthorn, an English racing driver.
• 1968 – Duke Kahanamoku, an American swimmer and water polo player, known for popularizing surfing.
• 1973 – Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th President of the United States.
• 1994 – Telly Savalas, an American actor.
• 2008 – Heath Ledger, a talented Australian actor.
• 2010 – Jean Simmons, an English-American actress.
• 2012 – Joe Paterno, a famous American football coach.
• 2018 – Ursula K. Le Guin, a highly respected American science fiction and fantasy novelist.
• 2021 – Hank Aaron, a legendary American baseball player.
• 2022 – Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist.

Holidays and Observances

• In Ukraine, January 22nd is celebrated as Day of Unity of Ukraine.
• In Poland, it's a special day called Grandfather's Day.

See also

In Spanish: 22 de enero para niños