January 6: Day of the year

January 6 is the sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 359 days remaining until the end of the year (360 in leap years).

Since 2021, the terms January 6, January 6th, and 1/6 have been used in the media as a shorthand for the 2021 United States Capitol riots, which occurred on that day.

Up to 1900

• 1066 – Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England.
• 1118 – Reconquista: Alfonso the Battler conquers Zaragoza.
• 1311 – Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Italy.
• 1355 – Charles I of Bohemia is crowned King of Italy in Milan.
• 1389 – The University of Cologne is opened, with a celebratory church service in Cologne Cathedral on the Feast day of the Three Kings, the city's patron saints.
• 1492 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada, completing the Reconquista.
• 1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
• 1612 – Axel Oxenstierna becomes Lord High Chancellor of Sweden.
• 1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London.
• 1759 – George Washington marries Martha Dandridge.
• 1781 – Battle of Jersey: Great Britain defeats the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
• 1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes.
• 1839 – Ireland is hit by its most damaging storm in 300 years.
• 1853 – US President-elect Franklin Pierce's family are involved in a train accident in Andover, Massachusetts, killing Pierce's 11-year-old son Benjamin. Pierce and his wife suffer from depression after this incident, and Franklin Pierce turns to alcoholism.
• 1870 – Vienna's Musikverein is inaugurated.
• 1893 – Washington National Cathedral is chartered by the United States Congress.
• 1900 – It is reported that millions are starving in India.
• 1900 – Boers attack Ladysmith, South Africa – over 1000 people killed.

1901–2000

• 1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.
• 1912 – New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
• 1912 – Alfred Wegener presents his theory of Continental drift.
• 1921 – Formation of Iraq's Army.
• 1926 – Lufthansa, currently Germany's biggest airline, is created.
• 1929 – Alexander I of Yugoslavia suspends his country's constitution.
• 1929 – Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta.
• 1930 – The first diesel-engine automobile trip is completed (Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City).
• 1931 – Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
• 1939 – Al Capone is released early from prison.
• 1940 – Mass execution of Polish people by Germans in the city of Poznań, Warthegau.
• 1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt makes his "Four Freedoms" speech during his State of the Union Address.
• 1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
• 1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China ends diplomatic relations with Britain in response.
• 1951 – Korean War: Ganghwa massacre.
• 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb between New York City and Miami.
• 1967 – United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
• 1978 – The United States returns the Crown of St. Stephen to Hungary.
• 1991 – Jorge Antonio Serrano Elias is elected President of Guatemala, becoming the first Protestant Head of State in Latin America.
• 1992 – The United Nations Security Council condemns Israel's treatment of Palestinians.
• 1992 – President Zviad Gamsakhurdia leaves Georgia, after a military coup.
• 1993 – The Indian Border Security Force kills 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir.
• 1994 – Nancy Kerrigan is attacked during the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit.
• 1998 – Unidentified perpetrators saw off the head of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen; this is the second time that the statue has been damaged by this kind of vandalism; it previously happened in 1964.

From 2001

• 2001 – Al Gore, as President of the United States Senate, names George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 United States presidential election.
• 2005 – Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of three civil rights activists.
• 2016 – North Korea declares that nuclear weapons testing of hydrogen atom has been done.
• 2018 – The "MV Sanchi" oil tanker collides with a Hong Kong-flagged ship near Shanghai, causing an explosion and leaving 32 sailors missing.
• 2021 – The 2021 United States Capitol attack, an attack on the United States capitol.

Up to 1850

• 1256 – Gertrude the Great, German mystic and theologian (d. 1302)
• 1367 – Richard II of England (d. 1400)
• 1412 – Joan of Arc, Roman Catholic Saint and national heroine of France (legendary date) (d. 1431)
• 1486 – Martin Agricola, German composer (d. 1556)
• 1525 – Caspar Peucer, German reformer and physician (d. 1602)
• 1561 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physician (d. 1656)
• 1587 – Gaspar de Guzman, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish statesman (d. 1645)
• 1617 – Kristoffer Gabel, Danish statesman (d. 1673)
• 1655 – Eleonore-Magdalena of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1720)
• 1670 – Alexander Gordon, Scottish-Russian general (d. 1752)
• 1695 – Giuseppe Sammartini, Italian composer (d. 1750)
• 1714 – Percival Pott, English physician (d. 1788)
• 1730 – Thomas Crittenden, 1st Governor of Vermont (d. 1797)
• 1745 – Jacques Etienne Montgolfier, French inventor (d. 1799)
• 1787 – Gaspard Théodore-Ignace de la Fontaine, 1st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1871)
• 1793 – James Madison Porter, American politician (d. 1862)
• 1798 – Melchior von Diepenbrock, Prince-Bishop of Breslau (d. 1853)
• 1799 – Jedediah Smith, American hunter, explorer and writer (d. 1831)
• 1801 – Daniel Haines, two-time Governor of New Jersey (d. 1877)
• 1803 – Henri Herz, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1888)
• 1805 – Charles J. Jenkins, American politician and Governor of Georgia (d. 1883)
• 1807 – Joseph Petzval, Slovakian inventor (d. 1891)
• 1811 – Charles Sumner, American politician (d. 1874)
• 1812 – Melchora Aquino, Filipino revolutionary figure (d. 1919)
• 1819 – Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (d. 1886)
• 1822 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (d. 1890)
• 1826 – Adolf Kirchhoff, German philologist (d. 1908)
• 1827 – John C. Brown, American Confederate general and politician, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1889)
• 1832 – Gustave Dore, French painter and sculptor (d. 1883)
• 1837 – Juan Lindolfo Cuestas, President of Uruguay (d. 1905)
• 1838 – Max Bruch, German composer (d. 1920)
• 1842 – Clarence King, American geologist, mountaineer and critic (d. 1901)
• 1848 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1876)
• 1850 – Eduard Bernstein, German politician and political theorist (d. 1932)
• 1850 – Franz Xaver Scharwenka, Polish-German pianist and composer (d. 1924)

1851–1900

• 1856 – Giuseppe Martucci, Italian composer (d. 1909)
• 1857 – William E. Russell, 37th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
• 1857 – Hugh Mahon, Australian politician (d. 1931)
• 1859 – Samuel Alexander, Australian-English philosopher (d. 1938)
• 1861 – Victor Horta, Belgian architect and designer (d. 1947)
• 1862 – August Oetker, German businessman (d. 1918)
• 1868 – Stefan Luchian, Romanian painter (d. 1937)
• 1868 – Vittorio Monti, Italian composer, conductor and violinist (d. 1922)
• 1870 – Gustav Bauer, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1944)
• 1872 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (d. 1915)
• 1874 – Fred Niblo, American actor, director and producer (d. 1948)
• 1878 – Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)
• 1880 – Tom Mix, American actor, director and producer (d. 1940)
• 1882 – Sam Rayburn, American politician (d. 1961)
• 1882 – Fan S. Noli, 14th Prime Minister of Albania (d. 1965)
• 1883 – Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese writer (d. 1931)
• 1899 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile pioneer (d. 1968)
• 1900 – Maria of Yugoslavia (d. 1961)

1901–1950

• 1902 – Helmut Poppendick, German physician (d. 1994)
• 1913 – Edward Gierek, Polish politician (d. 2001)
• 1913 – Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1915 – Don Edwards, American politician (d. 2015)
• 1915 – Alan Watts, English philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1920 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Early Wynn, American baseball player
• 1922 – George Carroll, American lawyer and politician (d. 2016)
• 1923 – Norman Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1974)
• 1924 – Earl Scruggs, American musician (d. 2012)
• 1925 – John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman (d. 2005)
• 1925 – Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen (d. 2010)
• 1925 – Ari Rath, Austrian-Israeli journalist (d. 2017)
• 1926 – Ralph Branca, American baseball player (d. 2016)
• 1926 – Pat Flaherty, American racing driver (d. 2002)
• 1926 – Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian actor and bodybuilder (d. 2006)
• 1927 – Jesse Leonard Steinfeld, American physician, 11th Surgeon General of the United States (d. 2014)
• 1928 – Capucine, American actress (d. 1990)
• 1928 – Derek Saunders, English footballer (d. 2018)
• 1929 – Babrak Karmal, Afghan politician (d. 1996)
• 1931 – E. L. Doctorow, American writer (d. 2015)
• 1931 – Dickie Moore, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
• 1932 – José Saraiva Martins, Portuguese cardinal
• 1932 – Max Streibl, German politician, Minister-President of Bavaria (d. 1998)
• 1933 – Oleg Makarov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2003)
• 1933 – Leszek Drogosz, Polish boxer (d. 2012)
• 1933 – Emil Steinberger, Swiss actor, director and screenwriter
• 1934 – Sylvia Sims, English actress
• 1935 – Margarita of Bulgaria
• 1935 – Claude Steiner, French-born American psychologist and writer (d. 2017)
• 1935 – Gerald R. Molen, American film producer
• 1936 – Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre, 49th President of Guatemala
• 1936 – Julio Maria Sanguinetti, former President of Uruguay
• 1937 – Harri Holkeri, 57th Prime Minister of Finland (d. 2011)
• 1937 – Paolo Conte, Italian singer-songwriter, jazz musician and composer
• 1938 – Adriano Celentano, Italian singer-songwriter, actor and director
• 1939 – Murray Rose, British-born Australian swimmer (d. 2012)
• 1939 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer and coach (d. 2002)
• 1941 – Philippe Busquin, Belgian politician
• 1942 – Vicki Lansky, American writer and publisher (d. 2017)
• 1943 – Hak Ja Han, South Korean church leader
• 1943 – Terry Venables, English football manager
• 1944 – Bonnie Franklin, American actress (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Swiss immunologist
• 1945 – Barry John, Welsh rugby player
• 1946 – Syd Barrett, English guitarist, singer and songwriter (Pink Floyd) (d. 2006)
• 1948 – Guy Gardner, American air force officer and astronaut
• 1949 – Carolyn D. Wright, American poet (d. 2016)
• 1950 – Louis Freeh, 10th Director of the FBI

1951–1975

• 1951 – Kim Wilson, American musician
• 1953 – Malcolm Young, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter, actor and director (d. 2017)
• 1953 – Manfred Kaltz, German footballer
• 1954 – Yuji Horii, Japanese video game designer
• 1954 – Anthony Minghella, English movie director (d. 2008)
• 1954 – Trudie Styler, English actress
• 1955 – Rowan Atkinson, English comedian and actor
• 1956 – Angus Deayton, English comedian, actor and television presenter
• 1956 – Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1956 – Clive Woodward, English rugby player and coach
• 1957 – Michael Foale, British-American astronaut
• 1959 – Kathy Sledge, American actress
• 1960 – Nigella Lawson, English chef and writer
• 1960 – Paul Azinger, American golfer
• 1960 – Kari Jalonen, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1961 – Fergal Keane, Irish-British journalist and BBC News correspondent
• 1964 – Henry Maske, German boxer
• 1964 – Mark O'Toole, English musician
• 1964 – Anthony Scaramucci, American financier, entrepreneur and political figure
• 1964 – Yuri, Mexican singer
• 1965 – Christine Wachtel, German middle-distance runner
• 1966 – Attilio Lombardo, Italian footballer
• 1968 – John Singleton, American director (d. 2018)
• 1969 – Norman Reedus, American actor
• 1971 – Karin Slaughter, American crime fiction writer
• 1972 – Nek, Italian singer
• 1973 – Scott Ferguson, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1974 – Daniel Cordone, Argentine footballer

From 1976

• 1976 – Richard Zednik, Slovakian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Judith Rakers, German newsreader
• 1976 – David Di Michele, Italian footballer
• 1978 – Bubba Franks, American football player
• 1980 – Travis Dodd, Australian footballer
• 1980 – Steed Malbranque, French footballer
• 1981 – Rinko Kikuchi, Japanese actress
• 1981 – Asante Samuel, American football player
• 1982 – Eddie Redmayne, English actor
• 1983 – Adam Burish, American ice hockey player
• 1985 – Ben Haenow, English singer
• 1985 – Callum McCaig, Scottish politician
• 1985 – Inge Vermeulen, Brazilian-Dutch field hockey player (d. 2015)
• 1986 – Alex Turner, English musician (Arctic Monkeys)
• 1986 – Paul McShane, Irish footballer
• 1986 – Petter Northug, Norwegian skier
• 1986 – Irina Shayk, Russian model
• 1987 – Gemma Gibbons, English judoka
• 1987 – Zhang Lin, Chinese swimmer
• 1987 – Bongani Khumalo, South African footballer
• 1989 – Andy Carroll, English footballer
• 1989 – James Durbin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1990 – Sandro Cortese, German motorcycle racer
• 1996 – Courtney Eaton, Australian actress and model
• 2003 – Matty BRaps, American rapper

Up to 1900

• 429 – Honoratus, French archbishop (b. 350)
• 768 – Abo of Tiflis, Christian saint
• 1088 – Berengar of Tours, French theologian (b. 999)
• 1537 – Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (b. 1510)
• 1537 – Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (b. 1481)
• 1646 – Elias Holl, German architect (b. 1573)
• 1689 – Seth Ward, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1617)
• 1693 – Mehmed IV, ex-Ottoman Sultan (b. 1642)
• 1829 – Josef Dobrovsky, Czech philologist and theologian (b. 1753)
• 1831 – Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1766)
• 1840 – Fanny Burney, English writer (b. 1752)
• 1852 – Louis Braille, French teacher of the blind, inventor of Braille (b. 1809)
• 1855 – Giacomo Beltrami, Italian explorer (b. 1779)
• 1882 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1815)
• 1884 – Gregor Johann Mendel, Austrian geneticist (b. 1822)
• 1896 – Thomas W. Knox, American writer and journalist (b. 1835)

1901–2000

• 1918 – Georg Cantor, German mathematician (b. 1845)
• 1919 – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858)
• 1934 – Herbert Chapman, English football manager (b. 1878)
• 1939 – Gustavs Zemgals, 2nd President of Latvia (b. 1871)
• 1942 – Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian head of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1876)
• 1944 – Ida Tarbell, American journalist (b. 1857)
• 1944 – Jacques Rosenbaum, Estonian-German architect (b. 1878)
• 1945 – Edith Frank, mother of Anne Frank (b. 1900)
• 1949 – Ivar Lykke, Prime Minister of Norway (b. 1872)
• 1972 – Chen Yi, Chinese military commander (b. 1901)
• 1980 – Georgeanna Tillman, American singer (b. 1944)
• 1981 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish writer (b. 1896)
• 1990 – Pavel Cherenkov, Soviet-Russian physicist (b. 1904)
• 1990 – Ian Charleson, Scottish actor (b. 1949)
• 1993 – Dizzy Gillespie, American musician (b. 1917)
• 1993 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian dancer (b. 1938)
• 1994 – Virginia Dell Cassidy, mother of Bill Clinton (b. 1923)
• 1995 – Karl Guttmann, Dutch theatre director (n. 1913)
• 1995 – Joe Slovo, ANC activist and South African minister of Housing (b. 1926)
• 1997 – Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b. 1912)
• 1999 – Michel Petrucciani, French jazz pianist (b. 1962)
• 2000 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (b. 1931)

From 2001

• 2002 – Sanya Dharmasakti, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1905)
• 2004 – Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1954)
• 2005 – Makgatho Mandela, South African lawyer, businessman and son of Nelson Mandela (b. 1950)
• 2005 – Louis Robichaud, 25th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1925)
• 2006 – Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter, producer and actor (b. 1933)
• 2009 – Ron Asheton, American musician (The Stooges) (b. 1948)
• 2011 – Gary Mason, British boxer (b. 1962)
• 2012 – Roger Boisjoly, American aeronautical engineer (b. 1938)
• 2012 – Bob Holness, South African-born British quiz show host (b. 1928)
• 2013 – Neil Adcock, South African cricketer (b. 1931)
• 2014 – Larry D. Mann, Canadian-American actor (b. 1922)
• 2014 – Lena Smedsaas, Swedish journalist (b. 1951)
• 2014 – Don Ward, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1935)
• 2015 – Vlastimil Bubnik, Czech ice hockey player and footballer (b. 1931)
• 2015 – Johannes de Villiers Graaff, South African economist (b. 1928)
• 2015 – Basil John Mason, British meteorologist (b. 1923)
• 2015 – Joseph Djida, Cameroonian bishop (b. 1945)
• 2015 – Ron Hovey, Australian football player (b. 1932)
• 2015 – George H. McKee, American air force lieutenant general (b. 1923)
• 2015 – Tim Roberts, American professional wrestler (b. 1976)
• 2016 – Christy O'Connor Jnr, Irish golfer (b. 1948)
• 2016 – Silvana Pampanini, Italian actress (b. 1925)
• 2016 – Nivaria Tejera, Cuban poet and novelist (b. 1929)
• 2016 – Florence King, American writer (b. 1936)
• 2016 – Pat Harrington, Jr., American actor (b. 1929)
• 2016 – Alfredo "Chocolate" Armenteros, Cuban trumpeter (b. 1928)
• 2016 – Ioannis Petridis, Greek politician (b. 1931)
• 2016 – Yves Vincent, French actor (b. 1921)
• 2017 – Om Puri, Indian actor (b. 1950)
• 2017 – Octavio Lepage, Venezuelan politician (b. 1923)
• 2017 – Ricardo Piglia, Argentine writer (b. 1941)
• 2017 – Bayezid Osman, Turkish royalty (b. 1924)
• 2017 – Gavin Whittaker, Australian rugby league player (b. 1970)
• 2017 – Francine York, American actress (b. 1936)
• 2017 – Greg Jelks, American-Australian baseball player (b. 1961)
• 2017 – Yaron Ben-Dov, Israeli footballer (b. 1970)
• 2017 – Les Lazarowitz, American sound mixer (b. 1941)
• 2017 – Tilikum, American-held orca (b. 1981)
• 2018 – Horace Ashenfelter, American athlete (b. 1923)
• 2018 – Rita Crocker Clements, American political organizer, First Lady of Texas (b. 1931)
• 2018 – Thomas Bopp, American astronomer (b. 1949)
• 2018 – Marjorie Holt, American politician (b. 1920)
• 2018 – Peter Preston, British journalist, former editor of The Guardian (b. 1938)
• 2018 – Greta Thyssen, Danish-American actress (b. 1927)
• 2018 – Chris Tsangarides, British music producer (b. 1956)
• 2019 – Annalise Braakensiek, Australian model and actress (b. 1972)
• 2020 – Mike Fitzpatrick, American politician (b. 1963)
• 2021 – Maurice Wolin, American former oncologist and convicted sex offender (b. 1958)
• 2022 – Peter Bogdanovich, American movie director, actor, and writer (b. 1939)
• 2022 – F. Sionil José, Filipino writer (b. 1924)
• 2022 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, movie director and activist (b. 1927)

• Epiphany, feast day of the Three Kings (except Eastern and Oriental Orthodox who follow the Julian Calendar) – Twelfth Day of Christmas
• Public holiday in Spain, Italy and Puerto Rico to mark Epiphany
• Ireland – Little Christmas
• Rastafari – Celebration of the ceremonial birthday of Haile Selassie
• Armenian Christmas (except in the Holy Land where it is on 18 January – old calendar)
• End of Four Hills Ski jumping tournament (Germany, Austria)