140 things happened on 13 January, from 86 BC to 2026. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1969 · 57 years ago
English rock band Led Zeppelin released their first album, also called Led Zeppelin, in the United States. It had been recorded in just 36 hours at a studio in London, a few months after the band formed. The album mixed blues, folk and loud electric guitar, a…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
English rock band Led Zeppelin released their first album, also called Led Zeppelin, in the United States. It had been recorded in just 36 hours at a studio in London, a few months after the band formed. The album mixed blues, folk and loud electric guitar, and it reached the top 10 in both Britain and America. Led Zeppelin went on to become one of the best-selling bands of all time.
UK story
British troops captured Fort Peter in St. Marys, in the only battle of the War of 1812 to take place in the state of Georgia.
UK story
Second Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs.
UK story
Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
UK story
The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting.
UK story
A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to no more being a "region occupied and governed by the United Kingdom and France".
Octavian, Julius Caesar's adopted heir, made a show of giving his powers, provinces and armies back to the Roman Senate. Three days later the Senate asked him to take charge of many provinces again, and it gave him a new title: Augustus, meaning 'the revered'. He became the first Roman emperor. His rule began a long time of peace known as the Pax Romana.
The first national assembly of Greek revolutionaries, meeting at Epidaurus, adopted a national flag for Greece. They chose a blue and white design, with a white cross standing for Christianity. The modern flag has nine blue and white stripes, with a white cross on blue in the top corner. Greeks often call it the 'Blue-and-White'.
A group of 33 explorers and scientists met at a club in Washington, DC, to start a society to spread knowledge about geography. It became the National Geographic Society. Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell later became its second president. The society pays for scientific research and exploration, and its magazine, National Geographic, was a pioneer in telling stories with photographs.
Car maker Henry Ford patented a car made almost entirely of plastic, fixed to a metal frame. The plastic was made using soybeans and other crops. The car weighed about 30% less than a normal steel car, so it would use less fuel. Because of the Second World War, the experiment soon came to a halt and the car was never made for sale.
German test pilot Helmut Schenk became the first person to escape from a failing aircraft using an ejection seat. Ice had stopped the controls of his Heinkel He 280 jet from working. An ejection seat shoots the pilot out of the aircraft, and then a parachute opens. After the war, ejection seats made by the British company Martin-Baker were fitted to many aircraft.
Bernice Gera won a court case against a professional baseball organisation, which had treated her unfairly because she was a woman. Winning the case allowed her to become a professional baseball umpire, the official who makes decisions during a game. Later in 1972 she became the first woman to umpire a professional baseball game. She stopped after one game, saying other umpires resented her.
Douglas Wilder was sworn in as Governor of Virginia, in the United States. He was the first African American ever elected as governor of a US state. Wilder was born in Richmond, Virginia, and his grandparents on his father's side had been enslaved. He served as governor until 1994 and later became a university professor.
Pope Eugene IV promulgated the papal bull Sicut dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the native Guanche of the Canary Islands by the Spanish.
United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President elect Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
The Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, informally ending the fighting of the Mexican–American War in California.
U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the USS Boston to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
First Italo-Ethiopian War: The war's opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.
Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph decrees German will be language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces.
The first Feminist Congress of Yucatán (delegates pictured) began in Mérida, Mexico, to propose reforms for women's social, educational, and legal rights.
The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
In the first recorded instance of strike action by Catholic laity against the clergy, gravediggers at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York City, went on strike.
Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.
First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.
Nine Moscow doctors were accused of a plot to poison members of the Soviet political and military leadership.
The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in California.
Ghanaian military officer Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup to overthrow Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo.
Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
Operation Southern Watch: U.S.A.F., U.S.N., R.A.F. and French Air Force jets attack AAA and SAM sites in Southern Iraq.
Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter's Square, protesting against homophobia.
Steve Ballmer replaced Bill Gates as the chief executive officer of Microsoft.
The trans-Neptunian object 208996 Achlys was discovered by Chad Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at Palomar Observatory, California.
The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia (pictured) ran aground on a reef and capsized off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany.
A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii causes widespread panic in the state.
The Thai Ministry of Public Health confirms the first case of COVID-19 outside China.
Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Led Zeppelin release their first album in the United States”?
B: 1969. 1969 — that’s 57 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year was Michael Bond born?
B: 1926. 1926 — that’s 100 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
A: Octavian hands power back to the Roman Senate. 27 BC: Octavian hands power back to the Roman Senate · 1942: Henry Ford patents a car made from soybean plastic · 1969: Led Zeppelin release their first album in the United States Find it on the page
“Max Whitlock” happened in 1993. How many years ago was that?
B: 33 years. 2026 − 1993 = 33. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 13 January.
UK story
Michael Bond was an English author who created Paddington Bear. Paddington, a bear from Peru, first appeared in the book A Bear Called Paddington in 1958. Bond went on to write 29 books featuring Paddington, and more than 35 million copies have been sold around the world. Paddington has also starred in television series, films and a stage musical.
UK story
Max Whitlock is an English gymnast and the most successful gymnast in British history. At the 2016 Olympic Games he won gold medals on the floor and the pommel horse. That made him Great Britain's first ever Olympic champion in artistic gymnastics. He has won three Olympic gold medals in all, and is the most successful pommel horse gymnast in Olympic history.
Well-known people who died on 13 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 13 January somewhere in the world.
Lohri is a winter folk and harvest festival celebrated mainly in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. It usually falls on 13 or 14 January and celebrates the end of winter and the coming of longer days. People light big bonfires, then sing and dance around them. Children go from house to house singing traditional Lohri songs.
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 13” 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.