:: wikimiki.org ::

1972

1972

1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Saturday.

Events

- International year of the book

January

- January 2 - The Pierre Hotel Heist - Six men rob the safety deposit boxes of the Pierre Hotel in New York City. Loot is at least $4 million.
- January 4 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge at the Old Bailey in London.
- January 5 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
- January 4 - Kurt Waldheim becomes the Secretary General of the United Nations.
- January 7 - Iberian Airlines passenger planes crashes into an 800' peak on island of Ibiza - 104 dead.
- January 9 - Howard Hughes speaks by telephone to denounce Clifford Irving's supposed biography about him.
- January 9 - RMS Queen Elizabeth is destroyed by fire (Hong Kong harbor).
- January 11 - East Pakistan becomes independent with the name Bangladesh.
- January 14 - King Frederick IX of Denmark dies - his daughter Queen Margaret II of Denmark ascends to the throne at January 16.
- January 19 - Libertarian enclave Minerva on a platform in the South Pacific, sponsored by the Phoenix Foundation, declares independence. Soon neighboring Tonga annexes the area and dismantles the platform
- January 22 - Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the EEC.
- January 23 - New Delhi bootlegger sells wood alcohol to a wedding party - 100 dead
- January 24 - Japanese soldier Shoichi Yokoi is discovered in Guam. He had spent 28 years in the jungle.
- January 25 - Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to US Congress, announces her candidacy for US president.
- January 26 - Yugoslavian air stewardress Vesna Vulovic is the only survivor when her plane crashes in Czechoslovakia. She survives after falling about 30,000' in the tail section of the aircraft.
- January 28 - Richard Chanfray claims he is Count of St Germain on French television.
- January 30 - Bloody Sunday - the British Army kills 13 unarmed Roman Catholic civil rights marchers in Derry, Ireland.
- January 30 - Pakistan withdraws from the British Commonwealth.
- January 31 - King Mahendra of Nepal dies, becoming the second king to die that month, and is succeeded by his son, Birendra.

February

- February 1 - First scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) introduced (price $395).
- February 2 - A bomb explodes in British Yacht Club in West Berlin. Only casualty is Irwin Beelitz, a German boat builder. Movement 2 June announces it is in support of Irish Republican Army.
- February 2 - Anti-British riots throughout Ireland take place. The British Embassy in Dublin is burned to the ground as are several British owned businesses.
- February 3 - The Winter Olympics begin in Sapporo, Japan.
- February 4 - Mariner 9 sends pictures from Mars.
- February 5 - US airlines begin mandatory inspection of passengers and baggage.
- February 5 - Bob Douglas becomes the first African American elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
- February 9 - The British government declares a state of emergency over a miners' strike.
- February 15 - President of Ecuador José María Velasco Ibarra is deposed for the fourth time.
- February 15 - Phonorecords granted U.S. Federal copyright protection for the first time.
- February 17 - Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle model exceed those of Ford Model-T (15 million).
- February 18 - The California Supreme Court invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life in prison.
- February 21-February 27 - President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented eight-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.
- February 21 - The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.
- February 22 - IRA bomb in Aldershot - 7 dead.
- February 23 - Angela Davis is released from jail.
- February 23 - A Lufthansa plane is hijacked and taken to Aden. Passengers are released after a ransom of 16 million D-marks is agreed.
- February 24 - North Vietnamese negotiators walk out of the peace talks in Paris to protest US air raids.
- February 26 - A coal sludge spill kills 125 in Buffalo Creek.
- February 26 - Luna 20 comes back to Earth with a cargo of moon rocks.

March

- March 1 - Thai province Yasothon created after being split off from the Ubon Ratchathani Province.
- March 1 - British 14-year-old schoolboy Timothy Davey is sentenced in Turkey for "conspiring to sell cannabis."
- March 1 - The Club of Rome publishes report "Boundaries on the Growth."
- March 2 - Launch of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft.
- March 2 - Jean-Bedel Bokassa becomes the president of the Central African Republic.
- March 3 - Sculpted figures of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson are completed at Stone Mountain, Georgia.
- March 4 - Libya and the Soviet Union sign a cooperation treaty.
- March 5 - Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis leaves the Greek Communist Party.
- March 13 - The United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China elevate diplomatic exchanges to the ambassadorial level after 22 years.
- March 13 - Clifford Irving admits to a New York court that he had fabricated Howard Hughes "autobiography."
- March 16 - The first building of the Pruitt-Igoe housing development is destroyed.
- March 19 - India and Bangladesh sign a friendship treaty.
- March 24 - To prevent further unionist misrule, Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland.
- March 26 - 19 climbers on Mount Fuji die in an avalanche.
- March 30 - Vietnam War: The Eastertide Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.

April

- April 3 - First call was made with a cell phone (cellular phone) in New York.
- April 7 - US Mafioso Joe Gallo shot in Umberto's Clam House in Little Italy.
- April 10 - The USA and the Soviet Union join some 70 nations in signing an agreement to ban biological warfare.
- April 10 - A 7.0 Richter scale earthquake kills 1/5 of the population of Iranian province of Fars.
- April 13 - The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
- April 16 - Apollo 16 launched.
- April 16 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – Prompted by the North Vietnamese offensive, the United States resumes bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong.
- April 18 - The Roland Corporation is founded in Osaka.
- April 22 - Sylvia Cook and John Fairfax have rowed across the Pacific.
- April 27 - Constructive Vote of No Confidence against German Chancellor Willy Brandt fails under obscure circumstances.
- April 29 - The fourth anniversary of the Broadway musical Hair is celebrated with a free concert at a Central Park bandshell, followed by dinner at the Four Seasons. There, thirteen Black Panther protesters and the show's co-author, Jim Rado, are arrested for disturbing the peace and marijuana use.

May

- May 5 - An Alitalia DC-8 crashes west of Palermo, Sicily – 115 dead.
- May 13 - Fire in a nightclub atop the Sennichi department store in Osaka, Japan – 115 dead.
- May 15 - Governor George Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur Herman Bremer at a Laurel, Maryland political rally.
- May 17 - The closing notice is posted for the Broadway musical Hair.
- May 18 - Four troopers of both SAS and SBS are parachuted onto the HMS Queen Elizabeth II, 1000 miles off Britain in the Atlantic, after a bomb threat and demand for ransom. It turns out to be bogus.
- May 19 - Three out of six bombs explode in the Springer Press building in Hamburg, Germany - 17 injured. The Red Army Faction claims responsibility.
- May 21 - In Rome, Laszlo Toth attacks Michelangelo's Pieta statue with a sledgehammer shouting that he is Jesus Christ
- May 22 - Earthquake lasting 20 seconds destroys most of Bingol, Turkey - more than 1000 dead, 10.000 made homeless
- May 22 - Ceylon becomes the republic of Sri Lanka under prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike when its new constitution is ratified.
- May 24 - A RAF bomb explodes in the Campbell Barracks of the US Army Supreme European Command in Heidelberg. Two US soldiers dead.
- May 26 - Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign SALT I treaty in Moscow (including Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; also other agreements were made).
- May 26 - Willandra National Park is established in Australia.
- May 30 - The Angry Brigade goes on trial.
- May 30 – 3 members of Japanese Red Army kill 24 and injure 100 in Lod Airport, Israel.

June

- June - Iraq nationalizes the Iraq Petroleum Company.
- June 2 - Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe, Holger Meins and some other members of Red Army Faction are arrested in Frankfurt am Main after a shootout.
- June 3 - Sally Priesand becomes the first female US rabbi.
- June 4 - Angela Davis found not guilty of murder.
- June 14 - June 23 - Hurricane Agnes kills 117 in US east coast.
- June 15 - Ulrike Meinhof and Gerhard Müller of Red Army Faction are arrested in a teacher's apartment in Langenhagen, West Germany.
- June 17 - Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burglarizing the offices of the Democratic National Committee.
- June 17 - Return of Okinawa from United States' control to Japan.
- June 17 - Chilean president Salvador Allende forms a new government.
- June 18 - West Germany beat the Soviet Union 3-0 to win Euro 72.
- June 23 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
- June 25 - Juan Peron is elected president of Argentina.
- June 26 - Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney found Atari.
- June 28 - US president Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam.
- June 29 - Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

July

- July 1 - The Broadway production of the musical Hair closes after 1,752 performances.
- July 2 - Following Pakistan's surrender to India in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, both nations sign the historic Simla Agreement agreeing to settle their disputes bilaterally.
- July 4 - The first Rainbow Gathering held in Colorado.
- July 8 - The USA sells grain to the Soviet Union for $750 million.
- July 10 - A stampede of elephants kills 24 in the Chandka Forest in India.
- July 15 - The Pruitt-Igoe housing development is demolished.
- July 18 - Anwar Sadat expels 20.000 soviet advisors from Egypt
- July 21 - Bloody Friday — 22 bombs explode in Belfast, Ireland. 9 people were killed and a further 130 seriously injured.
- July 23 - The United States launches LANDSAT 1, first Earth-resources satellite.
- July 25 - US Health officials admit that blacks were used as guinea pigs in a syphilis experiment.
- July 29 - National dock strike begins in Britain.

August

- August 4 - Arthur Bremer jailed for 63 years for shooting George Wallace.
- August 4 - Dictator Idi Amin declares that Uganda will expel 50,000 Asians with British passports to Britain within three months.
- August 11-August 12 - Last US ground troops withdrawn from Vietnam.
- August 16 - The Royal Moroccan Air Force mistakenly fires upon, but fails to bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he was traveling back to Rabat.
- August 23 - R.J (Dick) Hamer replaces Henry Boltie As Victorian Premier.
- August 28 - Prince William of Gloucester dies in an air crash.

September

- September 1 - Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chess match at Reykjavik, Iceland, and becomes the first American chess champion (see Match of the Century).
- September 5-September 6 - Munich Massacre: Eleven Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of the Arab terrorist group Black September invade the Olympic Village; five guerillas and one policeman are also killed in a failed hostage rescue.
- September 14 - West Germany and Poland renew diplomatic relations.
- September 17 - Uganda announces that there are Tanzanian troops in its territory.
- September 17 - M
- A
- S
- H debuts on CBS.
- September 19 - Parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
- September 21 - Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation No. 1081 placing the entire country under martial law.
- September 25 - Norwegian EC referendum, 1972 - the people of Norway reject membership into the European Economic Commission.
- September 27 - Joint Communique of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China.
- September 28 - The goal heard round the world. Canada wins the summit series with a goal by Paul Henderson.
- September 29 - Sino-Japanese relations: Japan normalized diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China after breaking official ties with the Republic of China.

October

- October 1 - First publication reporting the production of a recombinant DNA molecule, marking the birth of modern molecular biology methodology. :: Jackson, David A.; Symons, Robert H.; and Berg, Paul. (1972). [http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/69/10/2904 Biochemical Method for Inserting New Genetic Information into DNA of Simian Virus 40: Circular SV40 DNA Molecules Containing Lambda Phage Genes and the Galactose Operon of Escherichia coli]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 69(10), 2904-2909.
- October 2 - Denmark joins the EEC. The Faroe Islands stay out.
- October 5 - The United Reformed Church is founded out of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches.
- October 6 - Train crash in Saltillo, Mexico – 208 dead.
- October 12 - En route to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin, a racial brawl involving more than 100 sailors breaks out aboard the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. Nearly 50 sailors are injured.
- October 13 - A Fairchild passenger plane transporting a rugby union team crashes at about 14,000' in the Andes mountain range, near the Argentina/Chile border. Sixteen of the survivors are found alive December 20 but they have had to resort to cannibalism to survive (see Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571).
- October 16 - A plane carrying US congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana and three other men vanishes in Alaska. The wreckage has never been found, despite a massive search at the time.
- October 16 - Rainbow, a British television programme for children, debuts.
- October 16 - Rioting inmates of the Maze prison cause a fire that destroys most of the camp
- October 17 - Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visits Yugoslavia.
- October 25 - First female FBI agents hired.
- October 25 - Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx sets a new world hour record in Mexico City.
- October 29 - The Black September group hijacks a Lufthansa Boeing 727 over Turkey and demands the release of three of their comrades still held for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Olympic games
- October 30 - US President Richard Nixon approves legislation to increase Social Security spending by US$5.3 billion.

November

- November ? - At a scientific meeting in Honolulu, over [http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/projects/biosci/symposium/cohen/text.html corned beef sandwiches], Herbert Boyer and Stanley N. Cohen conceived the concept of recombinant DNA. They published their results in November 1973 in PNAS. Separately in 1972, Paul Berg also recombined DNA in a test tube. Recombinant DNA technology has dramatically changed the field of biological sciences, especially biotechnology, and opened the door to genetically modified organisms.
- November 5 - Group of Amerindians occupies the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- November 7 - U.S. presidential election, 1972: Republican incumbent Richard Nixon defeats Democratic Senator George McGovern (the election had the lowest voter turnout since 1948 with only 55 percent of the electorate voting).
- November 11 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - The United States Army turns over the massive Long Binh military base to South Vietnam.
- November 14 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 1,000 (1,003.16) for the first time.
- November 16 - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization adopts the [http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=182 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage].
- November 17 - Juan Perón returns to Argentina.
- November 22 - Vietnam War: The United States loses its first B-52 Stratofortress of the war.
- November 30 - Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.

December

- December 2 - Gough Whitlam becomes the first Labour Party Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years. He is famously sworn in on the election night and his first action using executive power is to withdraw all Australian personnel from the Vietnam War.
- December 7 - PIRA kidnaps Jean McConville in Belfast.
- December 7 - Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon, is launched.
- December 7 - Imelda Marcos is stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant; her bodyguards shoot him.
- December 15 - The Commonwealth of Australia ordains equal pay to women.
- December 21 - East Germany and West Germany recognize each other.
- December 21 - ZANLA troopers attack Altera Farm in north-east Rhodesia
- December 22 - 6.25 Richter scale earthquake in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua – over 12,000 dead. President Somoza is later accused of pocketing millions of dollars worth of foreign aid.
- December 22 - Australia establishes diplomatic relations with China and West Germany.
- December 23 - Earthquake in Nicaragua kills 5000-10.000 in the capital Managua
- December 28 - The bones of Martin Bormann identified in Berlin.
- December 29 - An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 crashes into the Everglades in Florida, killing 99 of 163 onboard.

Unknown dates

- Prime minister of Sweden, Olof Palme compares the American bombings of North Vietnam to Nazi massacres. The US breaks diplomatic contact with Sweden.
- The last major epidemic of smallpox in Europe breaks out in Yugoslavia.
- The United Kingdom begin to train Special Air Service for anti-terrorist duties.
- Steve Jobs graduates from Homestead High School and enrolls in Reed College in Portland, Oregon but drops out after one semester.
- Kim Sung-il becomes president of North Korea.
- The Japanese government begins building a railway tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido.
- Stephen Hawking is confined to a wheelchair due to motor neuron disease.
- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms becomes independent from IRS.
- The "tea house" Mellow Yellow opens on the Amstel River in Amsterdam, pioneering the legal sale of marijuana in the Netherlands.
- The Aboriginal Tent Embassy founded on the lawn of Parliament House in Canberra.
- First women admitted to Dartmouth College.
- Colombian looters find Ciudad Perdida but keep it a secret until government reveals it 1975.
- Frank Serpico exposes corruption in New York City police.
- Vietnam War veteran Richard McCoy hijacks a United Airlines jet and extorts $500,000 – he is later captured.
- The Yellow River dries up for the first time in known history.
- Somalian language gets a written form.
- Assassination of Zanzibar's leader Sheik Abeid Karume.
- Tamil United Front, pro-Tamil organization, founded.
- Worship of Norse gods officially approved in Iceland.
- Women are allowed to compete in the Boston Marathon for the first time.
- The Second Cod War between UK and Iceland.
- First use of the term Hadean.
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation established.
- The first Ruby Tuesday(resturant) founded.

Births

January-March

- January 2 - Taye Diggs, American actor
- January 12 - Espen Knutsen, Norwegian hockey player
- January 17 - Ken Hirai, Japanese singer and songwriter
- January 18 - Mike Lieberthal, baseball player
- January 23 - Marcel Wouda, Dutch swimmer
- February 1 - Yoshi DeHerrera, American television personality
- February 2 - Klára Dobrev, wife of Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
- February 4 - Giovanni Silva De Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
- February 14 - Drew Bledsoe, American football player
- February 15 - Jaromir Jagr, Czech hockey player
- February 16 - Jerome Bettis, American football player
- February 17 - Billie Joe Armstrong, American musician (Green Day)
- February 17 - Philippe Candeloro, French figure skater
- February 21 - Seo Taiji, Korean musician
- February 24 - Richard Chelimo, Kenyan athlete (d. 2001)
- February 29 - Antonio Sabato Jr., Italian actor
- March 6 - Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player
- March 10 - Takashi Fujii (Matthew Minami), Japanese television performer
- March 10 - Matt Kenseth, American race car driver
- March 10 - Eugene Roshal, Russian-born computer programmer
- March 15 - Mark Hoppus, American musician (Blink 182)
- March 17 - Mia Hamm, American soccer player
- March 20 - Alexander Kapranos, English singer and guitarist (Franz Ferdinand (band))
- March 22 - Shawn Bradley, American basketball player
- March 22 - Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
- March 23 - Judith Godrèche, French actress
- March 27 - Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Dutch footballer

April-June

- April 3 - Jennie Garth, American actress
- April 4 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician
- April 11 - Jason Varitek, baseball player
- April 13 - Fiona McSwein, Founder of Juice Associates
- April 17 - Tony Boselli, American football player
- April 17 - Jennifer Garner, American actress
- April 17 - Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
- April 19 - Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
- April 24 - Chipper Jones, baseball player
- May 2 - The Rock, American professional wrestler and actor
- May 4 - Mike Dirnt, American musician (Green Day)
- May 10 - Radosław Majdan, Polish goalkeeper
- May 20 - Busta Rhymes, American musician and actor
- May 21 - The Notorious B.I.G., American musician (d. 1997)
- May 28 - Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist
- May 30 - Manny Ramirez, baseball player
- June 4 - Derian Hatcher, American hockey player
- June 5 - Justin Smith, American drummer, The Seeds
- June 7 - Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
- June 15 - Andy Pettitte, baseball player
- June 19 - Brian McBride, American soccer player
- June 21 - Irene van Dyk, South African-born netball player
- June 23 - Zinédine Zidane, French footballer
- June 25 - Carlos Delgado, baseball player
- June 29 - Samantha Smith, American activist (d. 1985)

July-September

- July 3 - Asha Gill, English-born television host
- July 8 - Saurav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
- July 2 - Wayne Brady, American actor and comedian
- July 7 - Lisa Leslie, American Basketball player
- July 27 - Jill Arrington, American football reporter
- July 28 - Elizabeth Berkley, American actress
- August 6 - Geri Halliwell, English musician (Spice Girls)
- August 11 - Jonathon Prandi, American model and actor
- August 14 - Ed O'Bannon, American basketball player
- August 15 - Ben Affleck, American actor
- August 23 - Dave Chappelle, American actor and comedian
- August 25 - Marvin Harrison, American football player
- August 30 - Cameron Diaz, American actress
- August 30 - Pavel Nedved, Czech footballer
- September 2 - Sergei Zholtok, Russian hockey player (d. 2004)
- September 8 - Lisa Kennedy, American disc jockey and political satirist
- September 10 - Ghada Shouaa, Syrian athlete
- September 12 - Jason Statham, English actor
- September 17 - Bobby Lee, American comedian
- September 21 - Liam Gallagher, British singer (

Leap year starting on Saturday

This is the calendar for any leap year starting on Saturday (dominical letter BA), e.g. 2000. Previous year | Next year

Millennium	Century	Year
2nd Millennium:	19th century:	1820	1848	1876
2nd Millennium:	20th century:	1916	1944	1972
3rd Millennium:	21st century:	2000	2028	2056	2084
3rd Millennium:	22nd century:	2124	2152	2180

Category:Weeks ko:토요일로 시작하는 윤년 th:ปีอธิกสุรทินที่วันแรกเป็นวันเสาร์

January 2

January 2 is the second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 363 days (364 in leap years) remain in the year after this day.

Events

- 366 - Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine in large numbers, invading Roman Empire.
- 533 - Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1492 - Reconquista: Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders.
- 1757 - The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.
- 1788 - Georgia becomes the 4th state to ratify the United States Constitution.
- 1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.
- 1815 - Lord Byron marries Anna Isabella Milbanke, Seaham, County Durham.
- 1818 - British Institution of Civil Engineers formed.
- 1859 - Erastus Beadle publishes The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette.
- 1860 - The discovery of the planet Vulcan was announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.
- 1870 - Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.
- 1871 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.
- 1872 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy (25 wives).
- 1879 - Fred Spofforth claims the first Hat-trick in test cricket on the Sydney Cricket Ground against England.
- 1882 - John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.
- 1890 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House.
- 1893 - Introduction by Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America: Railroad chronometers.
- 1900 - John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.
- 1900 - Chicago Canal opens.
- 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China.
- 1917 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.
- 1921 - The first religious radio broadcast (KDKA AM in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) .
- 1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park San Francisco opens.
- 1923 - U.S.Interior Secretary Albert Fall resigns due to the Teapot Dome scandal.
- 1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.
- 1935 - Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh.
- 1941 - WWII: German bombing severely damaged the Llandaff Cathedral, built in 1290 on the bank of the River Taff in Cardiff, Wales.
- 1941 - The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program with a stated goal of building 200 freighters. Over 2,700 ships will eventually be constructed by the end of the war.
- 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.
- 1942 - The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
- 1946 - Unable to resume his rule over Albania after World War II, King Zog abdicated but retained his claim to the throne.
- 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.
- 1957 - San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange and Los Angeles Oil Exchange merge.
- 1959 - The first artificial satellite to orbit the sun, Luna 1, was launched by the U.S.S.R.
- 1959 - CBS Radio cuts four soap operas: Backstage Wife, Our Gal Sunday, Road of Life, and This is Nora Drake.
- 1967 - Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the second successful heart transplant.
- 1971 - The second Ibrox disaster occurred.
- 1974 - Richard Nixon signs a bill lowering the maximum US speed limit to 55 MPH in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.
- 1979 - Sid Vicious goes on trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen.
- 1981 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested.
- 1983 - The musical Annie is performed for the last time after 2,377 shows at the Uris Theatre on Broadway.
- 1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.
- 1992 - Paraguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1993 - Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia meet to discuss peace plans.
- 1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
- 1999 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern USA, causing 14 inches (359mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin and 19 inches (487mm) at Chicago, Illinois. In Chicago, temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C), and 68 deaths are reported.
- 2002 - Levy Mwanawasa takes office as the third President of Zambia.
- 2004 - Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.

Births

- 1642 - Mehmed IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1693)
- 1713 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)
- 1719 - Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder and merchant (d. 1797)
- 1727 - James Wolfe, British general (d. 1759)
- 1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
- 1822 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (d. 1888)
- 1836 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Russian writer (d. 1917)
- 1837 - Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (d. 1910)
- 1870 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor, graphic artist, and poet (d. 1938)
- 1877 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (d.1906)
- 1886 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)
- 1896 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)
- 1904 - Sally Rand, American fan dancer (d. 1979)
- 1905 - Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)
- 1913 - Anna Lee, English actress (d. 2004)
- 1917 - Vera Zorina, German dancer and actress (d. 2003)
- 1920 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born author (d. 1992)
- 1930 - Julius LaRosa, American singer
- 1936 - Roger Miller, American singer (d. 1992)
- 1938 - Ian Brady, British serial killer
- 1938 - Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author
- 1939 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
- 1942 - Hugh Shelton, American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- 1944 - Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician
- 1947 - Jack Hanna, American zoologist
- 1949 - Christopher Durang, American playwright
- 1954 - Henry Bonilla, American politician
- 1954 - Dawn Silva, American singer (The Brides of Funkenstein and P-Funk)
- 1955 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor
- 1961 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress
- 1961 - Todd Haynes, American film director
- 1963 - David Cone, baseball player
- 1964 - Pernell Whitaker, American boxer
- 1967 - Tia Carrere, American actress
- 1968 - Cuba Gooding Jr., American actor
- 1968 - Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion
- 1969 - Tommy Morrison, American boxer
- 1969 - Christy Turlington, American model
- 1971 - Lisa Harrison, American basketball player
- 1972 - Taye Diggs, American actor
- 1974 - Tricia Helfer, Canadian actress and model
- 1975 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)
- 1976 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress
- 1983 - Kate Bosworth, American actress

Deaths

- 1512 - Svante, Regent of Sweden (b. 1460)
- 1514 - William Smyth, English bishop and statesman
- 1557 - Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)
- 1685 - Harbottle Grimston, English politician (b. 1603)
- 1694 - Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English polician (b. 1651)
- 1726 - Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)
- 1893 - John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (b. 1805)
- 1904 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (b. 1821)
- 1913 - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)
- 1917 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)
- 1924 - Sabine Baring-Gould, English composer and novelist (b. 1834)
- 1939 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)
- 1960 - Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist(b. 1919)
- 1963 - Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1974 - Tex Ritter, American actor and singer (b. 1905)
- 1977 - Errol Garner, American musician (b. 1921)
- 1986 - Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1986 - Bill Veeck, baseball executive (b. 1914)
- 1990 - Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
- 1992 - Jason Oledan, Awesome kid from F.C.
- 1995 - Siad Barre, President of Somalia
- 1996 - Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1915)
- 2000 - Nat Adderley, American musician and composer (b. 1931)
- 2000 - Patrick O'Brian, British novelist (b. 1914)
- 2000 - Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., American admiral (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Teri Diver, American actress (b. 1971)
- 2004 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Cyril Fletcher, British comedian (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Frank Kelly Freas, American artist (b. 1922)
- 2005 - Ronald 'Bo' Ginn, U.S. Congressman from Georgia (b. 1934)
- 2005 - Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist (b. 1911)
- 2005 - Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (b. 1921)

Holidays and observances

- The eighth day and ninth night of Christmas in Western Christianity.
- Catholicism and Anglicanism — Feast day of St. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen.
- Scotland — Second day of the Hogmanay Bank Holiday.
- New Zealand — Statutory holiday, Second day of New Year.
- Slovenia — Second day of New Year.

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/2 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/1/2 Today in History: January 2] ---- January 1 - January 3 - December 2 - February 2 — listing of all days ko:1월 2일 ja:1月2日 simple:January 2 th:2 มกราคม

Rose Heilbron

Dame Rose Heilbron (born 19 August 1914, Liverpool) was one of the first women to practise as a barrister in the UK. Education: Belvedere School, Liverpool; Liverpool University. She was called to the Bar, Gray's Inn in 1939, and became a Bencher in 1968 and Treasurer in 1985. In 1949, along with Helen Normanton, she became one of the first two female King's Counsel to serve in the English Bar. She was Recorder of Burnley, 1956-71. On 4 January 1972 she was appointed as the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey, Elizabeth Lane having been previously appointed the first female judge in the County court (1962) and High court (1965). She was created a DBE in 1974. She has one daughter, Hilary Nora Burstein Heilbron, who became a QC in 1987. Heilbron, Rose Heilbron, Rose Heilbron, Rose

London

London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. As Europe's richest city, London produces 17% of the UK's GDP, and is one of the world's major business and financial centres. The capital of the former global empire, London is a leader in culture, communications, politics, finance, entertainment and the arts and has considerable influence worldwide. arts]] arts] London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. London's population includes an extremely diverse range of peoples, cultures, and religions, making it one of the most cosmopolitan, vibrant and energetic cities on earth. A resident of London is referred to as a Londoner. Over 300 languages are spoken in London, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. Initially it was a Roman city and known as Londinium and then as Lunnainn, Llundain and Londain in the Scottish, Welsh and Irish languages respectively. London is known by these names in other languages. London is the home of many global organisations, institutions and companies, and as such retains its leading role in global affairs. A city where cutting-edge meets tradition, London is a major tourist destination and transport hub. It has a great number of important buildings and iconic landmarks, including world-famous museums, theatres, concert halls, galleries, airports, sports stadia and palaces. London is one of the world's major global cities (along with New York City, Tokyo and Paris).

Defining London

Today, "London" usually refers to the conurbation known as Greater London, which is divided into thirty-two London Boroughs and the City of London and forms the London region of England. Historically, "London" referred to the square mile of the City of London at the conurbation's heart, from which the city grew. Between 1889 and 1965 it referred to the former County of London which covered the area now known as Inner London. There are other definitions of "London" which cover varying areas, such as the London postal district; the area covered by the telephone area code 020; the area accessible by public transport using a Transport for London Travelcard; the area delimited by the M25 orbital motorway; the Metropolitan Police district; and the London commuter belt. The coordinates of the centre of London (traditionally considered to be Charing Cross, near the junction of Trafalgar Square, the Strand, Whitehall and the Mall) are approximately . The Romans marked the centre of Londinium with the London Stone in the City.

Geography and climate

London Stone, with Green Park and St. James's Park to its right]] Greater London covers an area of 609 square miles (1,579 km²). London is a port on the Thames, a navigable river. The river has had a major influence on the development of the city. London was founded on the north bank of the Thames and there was only a single bridge, London Bridge, for many centuries. As a result, the main focus of the city was on the north side of the Thames. When more bridges were built in the 18th century, the city expanded in all directions as the mostly flat or gently rolling countryside around the Thames floodplain presented no obstacle to growth. There are some hills in London, examples being Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill, but these provided fine prospects of the city centre without significantly affecting the directions of the spread of the city and London is therefore roughly circular. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river than it is today. It has been extensively embanked, and many of its London tributaries now flow underground. The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding. The threat has increased over time due to a slow but continuous rise in high water level and the slow 'tilting' of Britain (up in the north and down in the south) caused by post-glacial rebound. The Thames Barrier was constructed across the Thames at Woolwich in the 1970s to deal with this threat, but in early-2005 it was suggested that a ten-mile-long barrier further downstream might be required to deal with the flood risk in the future [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4162905.stm]. London has a temperate climate, with warm but seldom hot summers, cool but rarely severe winters, and regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. Summer temperatures rarely rise much above 33°C (91°F), though higher temperatures have become more common recently. The highest temperature ever recorded in London was 38.1°C (100.6°F), measured at Kew Gardens during the European Heat Wave of 2003. Heavy snowfalls are almost unknown. In recent winters, snow has rarely settled to more than an inch (25 mm). London's average annual precipitation of less than 24 inches (600 mm) is lower than that of Rome or Sydney. London's large built-up area creates a microclimate, with heat stored by the city's buildings: sometimes temperatures are 5°C (9°F) warmer in the city than in the surrounding areas.

History

microclimate bombings of London]] The name London is commonly thought to have come from the Latin name Londinium, as London was founded by the Romans during their reign over the land, around 43AD – although there is some slight evidence of pre-Roman settlement. The [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/england/rom_roman_invasion.shtml BBC History website], however, claims that the name Londinium is actually "Celtic, not Latin, and may originally have referred to a previous farmstead on the site"; the root is 'Lond' meaning 'wild' (i.e. overgrown or forested) place. This fortified Roman settlement was the capital of the province of Britannia. According to findings displayed in London Museum, the initial language of London was Latin with much Greek spoken due to the presence of Greek speaking Roman soldiers and businessmen. Another suggestion for where the name of the city comes from could be that of the mythical leader, King Lud. It was said that Lud laid out the first set of roads in the city. His statue can be seen hidden at the church of St Dunstan's In The West, Fleet Street. Around AD 61 the Iceni tribe of Celts lead by Queen Boudica stormed London and took the city from the Romans. The Celts burnt the relatively new Roman town to the ground, and archaeological digs have revealed a layer of red ash beneath the City of London, which is believed to be the burnt remains of the old Roman town. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Londinium was abandoned and a Saxon town named Lundenwic was established approximately one mile to the west in what is now Aldwych, in the 7th century. The old Roman city was then reoccupied during the late-9th or early-10th century. Westminster was once a distinct town, and has been the seat of the English royal court and government since the mediæval era. Eventually, Westminster and London grew together and formed the basis of London, becoming England's largest – though not capital – city (Winchester was the capital city of England until the 12th century). London has grown steadily over centuries, surrounding and making suburbs of neighbouring villages and towns, farmland, countryside, meadows and woodlands, spreading in every direction. From the 16th to the early-20th century, London flourished as the capital of the British Empire. In 1666, the Great Fire of London swept through and destroyed a large part of the City of London. Rebuilding took over 10 years, but London's growth accelerated in the 18th century, and, by the early-19th century, it was the largest city in the world. London's local government system struggled to cope with this rapid growth, especially in providing the city with adequate infrastructure. In 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works was created to provide London with infrastructure to cope with its growth. In 1889 the MBW was abolished, and the County of London was created which was administered by the London County Council, the first elected London-wide administrative body. Probably the most significant changes to London in the last 100 years were as a result of the Blitz and other bombing by the GermanLuftwaffe that took place during World War II. The bombing killed over 30,000 Londoners and flattened large tracts of housing and other buildings across London. The rebuilding during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was characterised by a wide range of architectural styles and has resulted in a lack of unity in architecture that has become part of London's character. Until their 1997 ceasefire, London was regularly a target for IRA bombers seeking to pressurise the British government into negotiations with Sinn Féin on Northern Ireland. On 7 July 2005, there was a series of coordinated bomb attacks by Islamic extremist suicide bombers on three underground stations and a bus. The explosions came less than 24 hours after London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics and as the G-8 summit was underway in Gleneagles, Scotland. A series of explosions also took place on 21 July 2005; however, in the latter incident, there were no fatalities.

Modern London

2005 Today Greater London comprises the City of London and the 32 London boroughs (including the City of Westminster). 12 of these boroughs are defined as Inner London, the remaining 20 defined as Outer London. The dominant centre of activity in London is the City of Westminster (including the West End) which is the main cultural, entertainment and shopping district, the location of most of London's major corporate headquarters outside of the financial services sector, and the centre of the UK's national government. The City of London (also known as the "Square Mile") is at the centre of international finance, and is Europe’s main business centre. The headquarters of more than 100 of Europe’s 500 largest companies are all in London. The London foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with an average daily turnover of $504 billion, more than the New York and Tokyo exchanges combined. While very busy during the working week, most parts of the City tend to be quiet at weekends, since it is primarily a non-residential area. London is one of the most visited cities on earth. Tourist attractions are located mainly in Central London, comprising the historic City of London; the West End with its many cinemas, bars, clubs, theatres, shops and restaurants; the City of Westminster with Westminster Abbey, the Royal palaces of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House etc., the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea with its museums (the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum) and Hyde Park. Other important tourist attractions include St Paul's Cathedral, the National Gallery; the South Bank and Bankside areas of Southwark with the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern; London Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and the Tate Britain on the Embankment; and the British Museum in Bloomsbury. There are many other places of interest across the city.

Culture

:Main article: Culture of London. London is an international centre of culture in all its forms - music, theatre, arts, museums, festivals and much more.

London Districts

See also: Inner London, Outer London.

Central London

City of London

Outer London]] The City of London is the principal financial district of the United Kingdom, and is one of the most important in the world. It is governed by the Corporation of London, an ancient body headed by the Lord Mayor of London. The City also has its own police force, the City of London police. Once dominated by the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, it is now home to many skyscrapers, including Tower 42 (formerly, and popularly still, known as the NatWest Tower) and 30 St Mary Axe (popularly known as the "Gherkin", built in 2003). The City has only a small (c. 7,000) resident population, but a daytime working population of more than 300,000. Its primacy as the chief financial district has been directly challenged in recent years by Canary Wharf in East London.

The West End

Canary Wharf.]] The West End is the most popular shopping and entertainment district in London. Trafalgar Square is the most prominent landmark. Oxford Street is one of the best-known shopping streets in the world. Running from Charing Cross Road in the east to Marble Arch in the west, via Oxford Circus where it crosses Regent Street, it is home to many large department stores and shops (Selfridges, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer). Tottenham Court Road runs north from the eastern end of Oxford Street towards the north of the city centre, and is best known for its plethora of hi-fi, computer and electronics stores. West of the City, Covent Garden is home to the Avenue of Stars, London's version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame. South of Oxford Street's eastern end is Soho, a network of small streets crowded with restaurants, pubs, clubs, smaller shops and boutiques, and theatres and cinemas, as well as media companies and film, advertising and post-production companies. Soho is also well known for its very lively club and bar scene, the notorious sex industry and as the major "gay quarter" of the city. Piccadilly is an elegant thoroughfare running from Piccadilly Circus in the east to Hyde Park Corner in the west. It is adjacent to Mayfair, and Green Park. Regent Street and Bond Street are important thoroughfares.

East London

East London saw much of London's early industrial development and much of it now is being extensively redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway. It was also key to London's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics, and is now scheduled to undergo extensive regeneration in the run-up to the games. This is the second time in modern history that East London has seen large-scale rebuilding: it took the full force of the Blitz in World War Two, with post-war reconstruction leaving a legacy of bleak housing estates and tower blocks in several areas.

The East End

tower block The East End of London is closest to the original Port of London, and tend