Born on this day 4th January
1643 Sir Isaac Newton
1785 Jakob Grimm
1809 Louis Braille
1813 Sir Isaac Pitman
1914 Jane Wyman
1935 Floyd Patterson
1937 Dyan Cannon
1947 Rick Stein
1956 Bernard Sumner
1960 Michael Stipe
1962 Martin McAloon
1986 James Milner

Died on this day
1965 T. S. Eliot
1967 Donald Campbell
1986 Phil Lynott

Music

1978 Ozzy Osbourne rejoined Black Sabbath for a temporary reunion

1979 Hamburg’s Star Club re-opened

1981 The Boomtown Rats began a UK tour at the Gaumont in Southampton

Sport

1892 Erika Rowe showed more than a little front when she streaked across the pitch during the rugby match between England and Australia at Twickenham
People & Showbiz

1993 Terry Wogan returned to his breakfast slot on Radio 2 after a 9 year break

General Events

871 Battle of Reading: Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army

1642 King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England’s slide into civil war

1884 The Fabian Society is founded in London

1912 The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter

1973 At a celebration at Christie’s auction rooms, Prime Minister Edward Heath was accused of being a traitor by a middle-aged woman who subsequently attempted to make a citizen’s arrest

1988 Indian moustache growing champion Karni Bheel, with a tache measuring 7ft 10 inches, had been found decapitated in west Rajasthan City, an area where competition to grow the most luxuriant moustache was fierce

1992 9 year old Kieran Wiffin from Newark, who had lauched a balloon with his name and address on it, had become pen-pals with a radio producer in Copenhagen who had found it, 600 miles from where it had been released

2007 The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history