History of 18 January
- 1985 – Mary Decker broke a world, indoor record when she ran the women’s, 2,000-meter race in 5:34.2. She also ran the outdoor mile in 4:16.7.
- 1987 – For the first time in history the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) was seen by over 100 million viewers. The audience was measured during the week of January 12-18.
- 1990 – A jury in Los Angeles, CA, acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.
- 1990 – In an FBI sting, Washington, DC, Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession. He was later convicted of a misdemeanor.
- 1991 – Eastern Airlines shut down after 62 years in business due to financial problems.
- 1993 – The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 S.states for the first time.
- 1995 – The “yahoo.com” domain was created.
- 1995 – A network of caves were discovered near the town of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in southern France. The caves contained paintings and engravings that were 17,000 to 20,000 years old.
- 1997 – Hutu militiamen killed three Spanish aid workers and three soldiers and seriously wound an American in a night attack in NW Rwanda.
- 2000 – The Chinese web services company Baidu, Inc. was incorporated in Beijing.
- 2002 – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of a saliva-based ovulation test.
- 2012 – Wikipedia began a 24-hour “blackout” in protest against proposed anti-piracy legislation (S. 968 and H.R. 3261) known as the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. Many websites, including Reddit, Google, Facebook, Amazon and others, contended would make it challenging if not impossible for them to operate.
- 2015 – Kellingley Colliery, the last deep coal mine in Great Britain, closes.
- 2017 – Amtrak Cascades passenger train 501, derailed near DuPont, Washington, a city in United States near Olympia, Washington killing six people, and injuring 70 others.
- 2018 – List of bolides: A meteor exploded over the Bering Sea with a force over 10 times greater than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
- 2019 – The United States President Donald Trump is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the third president of the United States to be impeached.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
- 1980 – Neil Fingleton, English actor and basketball player, one of the tallest 25 men in the world (d. 2017)
- 1980 – Heinz Inniger, Swiss snowboarder
- 1980 – Benjamin Watson, American football player
- 1983 – Andy Fantuz, Canadian football player
- 1984 – Brian Boyle, American ice hockey player
- 1984 – Paul Harrison, English footballer
- 1984 – Giuliano Razzoli, Italian skier
- 1984 – Derrick Tribbett, American bass player and singer
- 1986 – François Hamelin, Canadian speed skater
- 1986 – Usman Khawaja, Pakistani-Australian cricketer
- 1986 – Bill Stull, American football player
- 1987 – Ayaka, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
- 1987 – Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater
- 1987 – Yuki Furukawa, Japanese actor
- 1988 – Lizzie Deignan, English cyclist
- 1988 – Seth Doege, American football player
- 1988 – Brianne Theisen-Eaton, Canadian heptathlete
- 1988 – Imad Wasim, Pakistani cricketer
- 1990 – Sierra Kay, American singer-songwriter
- 1991 – Marcus Butler, English internet celebrity
- 1992 – Bridgit Mendler, American singer, songwriter and actress
- 1992 – Ryan Crouser, American shot putter
- 1993 – Byron Buxton, American baseball player
- 1993 – Ana Porgras, Romanian former artistic gymnast
- 1993 – Thomas Lam, Finnish professional football defender
- 1994 – Natália Kelly, American-Austrian singer
- 1994 – Gerard Gumbau, Spanish professional footballer
- 2001 – Billie Eilish, American pop singer