121 things happened on 12 January, from AD 475 to 2023. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1808 · 218 years ago
St Mary's Church in Reculver, Kent, was founded in the 7th century inside an old Roman fort. By 1808 the sea was wearing away the cliff it stood on, and engineer John Rennie had planned new sea defences. Instead, at a meeting in Reculver, local leaders voted …
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
St Mary's Church in Reculver, Kent, was founded in the 7th century inside an old Roman fort. By 1808 the sea was wearing away the cliff it stood on, and engineer John Rennie had planned new sea defences. Instead, at a meeting in Reculver, local leaders voted to knock the church down. Its twin towers were saved as a landmark for ships and still stand on the coast.
UK story
The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain was founded in London. Aeronautics is the science of flight, and this is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. In 1868 it held a major exhibition at London's Crystal Palace, and it helped to pay for the first wind tunnel in 1870–71. It is now called the Royal Aeronautical Society.
UK story
The National Trust was officially registered, with the aim of protecting beautiful and historic places for the nation. Its founders were social reformer Octavia Hill, solicitor Sir Robert Hunter and clergyman Hardwicke Rawnsley. Its first piece of land, given in 1895, was Dinas Oleu, a clifftop above Barmouth in Wales. The charity looks after countryside, coastline and historic buildings in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
In a fierce storm, a big sailing ship called the Forrest Hall got into trouble off the Devon coast. The sea was too rough to launch Lynmouth's lifeboat from its harbour. So that evening, around 100 people and many horses began dragging the 10-ton boat 15 miles over Exmoor to Porlock Weir. After an 11-hour journey, the crew launched at dawn and stayed beside the ship until tugs arrived.
UK story
The giant British liner Queen Mary 2 left Southampton on her maiden, or first, voyage to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. She carried 2,620 passengers. At the time she was the longest and largest passenger ship ever built, and she remains the largest ocean liner ever made. She was also the first ship with a planetarium on board.
UK story
Federalist Thomas Pinckney appointed first U.S. minister to Britain.
UK story
The organizational meeting leading to the creation of the Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is held in Edinburgh.
UK story
The foundation stone of Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork was laid.
UK story
Anglo-Zulu War: Natal Native Contingent and British troops defeated Zulu forces in the Action at Sihayo's Kraal.
Hattie Caraway of Arkansas won a special election and became the first woman ever elected to the United States Senate. She had been appointed to the seat in 1931, after her husband, a senator, died. Later in 1932 she surprised many politicians by standing for a full term, and she won. She was also the first woman to chair a Senate committee.
NASA's Deep Impact space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Its mission was to find out what the inside of a comet is made of. In July 2005 it released a smaller craft, called an impactor, which smashed into Comet Tempel 1 and made a crater. Photographs showed that the comet was dustier and less icy than scientists had expected.
Comet McNaught made its closest approach to the Sun and became the brightest comet for more than 40 years. For a few days it was bright enough to be seen in daylight, close to the Sun. It had been discovered in 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught. Later, people in the Southern Hemisphere could easily see it, with its tail stretching far across the sky.
Basiliscus became Byzantine emperor after Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople.
Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned since his election in June 1523.
Bayinnaung, who later assembled what was probably the largest empire in the history of mainland Southeast Asia, was crowned as the king of the Burmese Toungoo dynasty.
The city of Belém, Brazil is founded on the Amazon River delta by Portuguese captain Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco.
The fort at Allahabad was surrendered to the forces of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Mission Santa Clara de Asís (pictured), a Spanish mission in California that formed the basis of both the city of Santa Clara and Santa Clara University, was established by the Franciscans.
The Palermo rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first imperial coronation in that city in over 200 years.
The University of the Philippines College of Law is established.
The United States House of Representatives rejects a proposed constitutional amendment to require states to give women the right to vote.
Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann became the first German aviators to be awarded the Pour le Mérite, Germany's highest military honour.
World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt creates the National War Labor Board.
World War II: The Red Army begins the Vistula–Oder Offensive.
Vietnam War: Operation Chopper, the first American combat mission and first American helicopter assault in the war, takes place.
Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah was overthrown by rebels led by John Okello, ending 200 years of Arab dominance in Zanzibar.
Lyndon B. Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until Communist aggression there is ended.
Seventy-three-year-old psychology professor James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future resuscitation.
The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League to win Super Bowl III in what is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
The United Nations Security Council votes 11–1 to allow the Palestine Liberation Organization to participate in a Security Council debate (without voting rights).
Space Shuttle program: Congressman and future NASA Administrator Bill Nelson lifts off from Kennedy Space Center aboard Columbia on mission STS-61-C as a payload specialist.
Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of American military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches from the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-81 to the Russian space station Mir, carrying astronaut Jerry M. Linenger for a four-month stay on board the station, replacing astronaut John E. Blaha.
Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
Downtown Disney opens to the public as part of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “The National Trust is founded to protect special places”?
B: 1895. 1895 — that’s 131 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Reculver's leaders vote to pull down their ancient church”?
C: 1808. 1808 — that’s 218 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
C: Reculver's leaders vote to pull down their ancient church. 1899: Lynmouth's lifeboat crew begin hauling their boat over Exmoor · 1895: The National Trust is founded to protect special places · 1808: Reculver's leaders vote to pull down their ancient church Find it on the page
“Lynmouth's lifeboat crew begin hauling their boat over Exmoor” happened in 1899. How many years ago was that?
B: 127 years. 2026 − 1899 = 127. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 12 January.
Jack London was an American writer and journalist. He was one of the first American authors to become famous worldwide and earn a fortune from writing. His best-known books, The Call of the Wild and White Fang, are set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. He also campaigned for animal welfare and workers' rights.
Charles Perrault was a French writer who helped to create a new kind of story: the fairy tale. He based his tales on older folk stories and published them in a book in 1697. His best-known stories include Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and Sleeping Beauty. His versions influenced the Brothers Grimm in Germany more than 100 years later.
Well-known people who died on 12 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 12 January somewhere in the world.
Yennayer is the first month of the Amazigh, or Berber, calendar, and its first day is celebrated as the Amazigh New Year. Many people in North Africa celebrate it on 12 January, including in Algeria and Morocco. Families prepare a special, hearty meal, which may include couscous with seasonal vegetables. In 2018 Algeria celebrated Yennayer as a public holiday for the first time.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “January 12” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.