History of 9 January
- 1981 – Hockey Hall of Famer, Phil Esposito, announced that he would retire as a hockey player after the New York Rangers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game. The game ended in a tie. (NHL)
- 1984 – Clara Peller was first seen by TV viewers in the “Where’s the Beef?” commercial campaign for Wendy’s.
- 1986 – Kodak got out of the instant camera business after 10 years due to a loss in a court battle that claimed that Kodak copied Polaroid patents.
- 1991 – U.S. secretary of state Baker and Iraqi foreign minister Aziz met for 61/2 hours in Geneva, but failed to reach any agreement that would forestall war in the Persian Gulf.
- 1995 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Poliakov, 51, completed his 366th day in outer space aboard the Mirspace station, breaking the record for the longest continuous time spent in outer space.
- 1997 – Tamil rebels attacked a military base in Sri Lanka. 200 soldiers and 140 rebels were killed.
- 2000 – ABC-TV began airing “The Mole.”
- 2002 – The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was pursuing a criminal investigation of Enron Corp. The company had filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.
- 2003 – Archaeologists announced that they had found five more chambers in the tomb of Qin Shihuang, China’s first emperor. The rooms were believed to cover about 750,000 square feet.
- 2006 – Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a dual ceremony.
- 2007 – Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.’s CEO, announced the first generation iPhone.
- 2011– Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, killing 77 people.
- 2014– An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.
- 2015– The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes.
- 2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladiolileaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1981 – Euzebiusz Smolarek, Polish footballer and manager
- 1982 – Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
- 1984 – Drew Brown, American musician and songwriter
- 1984 – Benjamin Danso, German rugby player
- 1985 – Juan Francisco Torres, Spanish footballer
- 1986 – Jéferson Gomes, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Uwe Hünemeier, German footballer
- 1986 – Amanda Mynhardt, South African netball player
- 1987 – Sam Bird, English race car driver
- 1987 – Lucas Leiva, Brazilian footballer
- 1987 – Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1987 – Jami Puustinen, Finnish footballer
- 1988 – Katherine Copely, American ice dancer
- 1988 – Marc Crosas, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Lee Yeon-hee, South Korean actress
- 1989 – Michael Beasley, American basketball player
- 1989 – Nina Dobrev, Bulgarian-Canadian actress
- 1989 – Michaëlla Krajicek, Dutch tennis player
- 1989 – Yana Maksimava, Belarusian heptathlete
- 1989 – Chris Sandow, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Jordan Turner, English rugby league player
- 1990 – Justin Blackmon, American football player
- 1991 – Edon Hasani, Albanian football player
- 1991 – Alvaro Soler, Spanish singer-songwriter
- 1993 – Katarina Johnson-Thompson, English long jumper and heptathlete
- 1993 – Marcus Peters, American football player
- 1993 – Kevin Korjus, Estonian race car driver
- 1995 – Braden Uele, New Zealand rugby league player