127 things happened on 23 January, from AD 393 to 2021. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1967 · 59 years ago
The government officially created Milton Keynes as a new town in Buckinghamshire, planned to grow into a city of 250,000 people. It was meant to ease crowded housing in London. At the time the area was mostly farmland, with several small towns and villages. P…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
King Louis IX of France gave a ruling known as the Mise of Amiens. It was meant to settle a quarrel between King Henry III of England and his rebellious barons, led by Simon de Montfort. Louis decided almost completely in Henry's favour. This one-sided decision led directly to fighting between the king and the barons, known as the Second Barons' War.
UK story
Queen Elizabeth I officially opened the Royal Exchange in the City of London and gave it its royal title. It was founded by the merchant Sir Thomas Gresham as a centre for trade, and was Britain's first building made especially for business. The first building burned down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A golden grasshopper, Gresham's family crest, still sits on top of the rebuilt Exchange as a weathervane.
UK story
English-born Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva Medical College in New York. She became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. Later she was also the first woman on the medical register for the United Kingdom, the official list of doctors. She worked hard to help more women train in medicine, and a medal named after her is still awarded every year.
UK story
The government officially created Milton Keynes as a new town in Buckinghamshire, planned to grow into a city of 250,000 people. It was meant to ease crowded housing in London. At the time the area was mostly farmland, with several small towns and villages. Planners gave it a grid of main roads with neighbourhoods in between, and the town became known for its famous Concrete Cows sculpture.
UK story
Anglo-Zulu War: The Battle of Rorke's Drift ends.
UK story
Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.
UK story
World War II: Troops of the British Eighth Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the German–Italian Panzer Army.
Zhu Yuanzhang took the throne as the Hongwu Emperor and started the Ming dynasty in China. A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family. The Ming came to power after the fall of the Yuan dynasty, which had been led by the Mongols. Ming emperors ruled China until 1644, and the Hongwu Emperor himself reigned for 30 years.
In Toronto, Canada, a 13-year-old boy called Leonard Thompson began daily injections of a purified insulin extract. His health quickly improved, making it the first successful insulin treatment for diabetes. His first injection, 12 days earlier, had caused an allergic reaction, so doctors made the extract purer. Before insulin, there was no effective treatment for this kind of diabetes.
American inventor Fred Morrison sold the rights to his flying disc to the toy company Wham-O. The company later renamed the toy the Frisbee. Wham-O also made other famous toys, such as the Hula hoop and Silly String. Morrison is remembered as the inventor of the Frisbee.
The bathyscaphe Trieste, a deep-diving research vessel, became the first crewed craft to reach the bottom of Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. This is the deepest known point of the seabed. Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and US Navy lieutenant Don Walsh dived to almost 11,000 metres in the Pacific Ocean. The Trieste was designed by Jacques's father, the scientist Auguste Piccard.
The first version of Mosaic, a web browser created by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, was released. A web browser is a program for viewing pages on the World Wide Web. Mosaic was not the first browser, but it was the first to show pictures alongside text instead of in a separate window. It helped make the web popular around the world during the 1990s.
Scientists picked up the final signal from NASA's space probe Pioneer 10, then about 12 billion kilometres from Earth. Launched in 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to visit Jupiter and the first to travel through the asteroid belt. It was also the first of five spacecraft to reach the speed needed to escape from the Solar System.
Roman emperor Theodosius I proclaims his eight-year-old son Honorius co-emperor.
Using crossbows, Song dynasty troops soundly defeat a war elephant corps of the Southern Han at Shao.
The episcopal seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen (located near the current centre of Turku) by the permission of Pope Gregory IX. The date is starting to be considered as the founding of Turku.
The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands.
Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales.
The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire.
Moscow University is established (12 January 1755 O.S.).
Bishop John Carroll purchased a plot of land that would become the home of the future Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the United States.
The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia partitioned the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth for the second time.
After crossing the frozen Zuiderzee, the French cavalry capture 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns, in a rare occurrence of surrender of naval vessels to land forces.
Slavery in Tunisia is abolished.
The Malolos Constitution is inaugurated, establishing the First Philippine Republic. Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as its first president.
Rebels led by John Chilembwe attacked local plantation owners, beginning an uprising regarded as a key moment in the history of Malawi.
The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime.
World War II: Japan began an invasion of the island of New Britain in the Australian Territory of New Guinea.
World War II: German admiral Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal, the evacuation of areas along the eastern Baltic coast.
The Knesset resolves that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese Army stationed in Tite.
The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes in national elections, is ratified.
Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts its first members: Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.
Madeleine Albright was sworn in as the first female United States Secretary of State, becoming the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government at that time.
Netscape announces Mozilla, with the intention to release Communicator code as open source.
The China–United States trade war begins when President Donald Trump places tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Elizabeth I opens the Royal Exchange in London”?
C: 1571. 1571 — that’s 455 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “France's King Louis IX sides with Henry III against the barons”?
A: 1264. 1264 — that’s 762 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: France's King Louis IX sides with Henry III against the barons. 1849: Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to earn a US medical degree · 1264: France's King Louis IX sides with Henry III against the barons · 1571: Elizabeth I opens the Royal Exchange in London Find it on the page
“Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to earn a US medical degree” happened in 1849. How many years ago was that?
A: 177 years. 2026 − 1849 = 177. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 23 January.
UK story
Bob Paisley was an English footballer and manager who spent almost 50 years at Liverpool Football Club. He took over as manager in 1974, following Bill Shankly, and became the most successful English manager in history. He was the first manager to win the European Cup three times. He is regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time.
Well-known people who died on 23 January.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 23 January somewhere in the world.
Bounty Day is a public holiday on the Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Pacific Ocean. It marks the day in 1790 when sailors who had taken over the British ship HMS Bounty in a mutiny arrived on Pitcairn Island. They came with a group of people from Tahiti. Many of the islanders living there now are their descendants.
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 23” 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.