History of 5 January
- 1900 – In Ireland, Nationalist leader John Edward Redmond called for a revolt against British rule.
- 1903 – The general public could use the Pacific cable for the very first time.
- 1914 – Ford Motor Company announced that there would be a new daily minimum wage of $5 and an eight-hour workday.
- 1925 – Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross was sworn in as the governor of Wyoming She was the first female governor in the U.S.
- 1933 – In California, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began.
- 1934 – Both the National and American baseball leagues decided to use a uniform-size baseball. It was the first time in 33 years that both leagues used the same size ball.
- 1935 – Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra was featured on CBS radio on the program, “The Hour of Charm.”
- 1940 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got its very first demonstration of FM radio.
- 1944 – The London “Daily Mail” was the first transoceanic newspaper to be published.
- 1948 – Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel. The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.
- 1956 – In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time.
- 1961 – “Mr. Ed” debuted. The show would run for six years.
- 1970 – “All My Children” premiered on ABC.
- 1972 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle.
- 1987 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan underwent prostate surgery.
- 1993 – The state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd. It was America’s first legal hanging since 1965. Dodd was an admitted child sex killer.
- 1996 – Yahya Ayyash, a member of the Hamas in Israel, is killed by a booby-trapped cellular phone.
- 1998 – U.S. Representative Sonny Bono died in skiing accident.
- 2002 – A 15 year-old student pilot, Charles Bishop, crashed a small plane into a building in Tampa, FL. Bishop was about to begin a flying lesson when he took off without permission and without an instructor.
- 2005 – Eris, the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, is discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.
- 2014 – A launch of the communication satellite GSAT-14 aboard the GSLV MK.II D5 marks the first successful flight of an Indian cryogenic engine.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Deadmau5 (Joel Thomas Zimmerman), Canadian musician
- 1982 – Janica Kostelić, Croatian skier
- 1984 – Derrick Atkins, Bahamian sprinter
- 1985 – Diego Vera, Uruguayan footballer
- 1986 – Deepika Padukone, Indian actress
- 1988 – Azizulhasni Awang, Malaysian track cyclist
- 1988 – Luke Daniels, English footballer
- 1989 – Krisztián Németh, Hungarian footballer
- 1990 – Mark Nicholls, Australian rugby league player