January 1940 calendar

Events

• 03 Jan 1940 WPG-AM in Atlantic City, New Jersey consolidates with WBIL andWOV as new WOV
• 04 Jan 1940 WWII: Axis powers: Luftwaffe General Hermann Göring assumes control of most war industries in Germany.
• 05 Jan 1940 FCC hears 1st transmission of FM radio with clear, static-free signal
• 06 Jan 1940 WWII: Winter War: General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Russian forces.
• 08 Jan 1940 World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
• 09 Jan 1940 WWII British submarine is sunk.
• 10 Jan 1940 WWII: Mechelen Incident: A German plane carrying secret plans for the invasion of western Europe makes a forced landing in Belgium, leading to mobilization of defense forces in the Low Countries.
• 14 Jan 1940 Commissioner Kenesaw Landis gives free agency to 91 Detroit Tigers.
• 21 Jan 1940 Foreign correspondents in the Netherlands under censorship
• 22 Jan 1940 1st radio broadcast of Road to Happiness on CBS
• 23 Jan 1940 Pianist Ignaz Paderewski becomes premier of Polish government in exile.
• 26 Jan 1940 Brisbane, Australia swelters through its hottest day ever, 43.2 degrees Celsius (109.76 Fahrenheit).
• 27 Jan 1940 -17 degrees F (-27 degrees C), CCC Camp F-16, Georgia, USA (state record).
• 29 Jan 1940 Three trains on the Sakurajima Line, in Osaka, Japan, collide and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi Station. 181 people are killed.
• 30 Jan 1940 Cor Jongert wins 6th Dutch 11 Cities Skating Race.
• 31 Jan 1940 40 U-boats sunk this month

Famous Birthday

• Carlos Slim Helú
• John Hurt

  British actor whose TV roles as the celebrated homosexual, Quentin Crisp, in "The Naked Civil Servant" and Caligula in "I, Claudius," are...

• James Cromwell

  American actor and producer.

• Olga Georges-Picot

  French noted family, the daughter of an ambassador born in China.

• Clifford Olson

  Canadian homicide perpetrator.

• Jack Nicklaus

  American golfer who turned professional in 1962.

• Katharine Ross

  American actress.

• Georges Poujouly

  French actor, singer and poet.

• Jim Bakker

  American TV evangelist who built up a huge fortune before he was indicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy in 1987.

• Gao Xingjian

  Chinese-French author playwright and critic Nobel Prize laureate.

• Franz Müntefering

  German politician, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 2008-2009.

• Tabaré Vázquez

  Uruguayan physician and politician 39th President of Uruguay.

• Michel Demaret

  Dutch politician and mayor of Brussels who began his career as a wrestler, then as a bouncer of the "La Fregate" dance club before competing...

• George Seifert

  American football coach, the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, champions at the 1990 and the 1995 Super Bowl.

• Pierre Combescot

  French journalist and writer.

• Serge Latouche
• Joachim Gauck

  Designated German President, election expected on 18 March 2012.

• Julian Bond

  American politician, educator and TV commentator.

• Edmund White

  American writer who transcended his original acclaim as a "gay writer" by becoming a master craftsman of unconventional novels, non-fiction...

• Ruth Dreifuss

  Swiss journalist and politician 86th President of the Swiss Confederation.

• See more

Famous Deaths

• Erich R Jaensch

  German psychologist (eidetiek), dies at 56.

• Kazimierz P Tetmajer

  Polish writer / Poet (Young Poland), dies at 74.

• Conrad Weiss

  German writer / Poet (Heart of Words), dies at 59.

• Tina Modotti [Maria del Carmen]

  Italian/Mexican communist, dies at age 46.

• Emile van Bosch

  revue/operetta-artist, dies at age 52.

• Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao

  Indian writer and essayist (Born 1865).

• Isaac Babel

  Russian language journalist, playwright, literary translator, and short story writer.

• Edward Smith
• Humbert Wolfe

  Italian-English poet and civil servant (d. 1940).

• Elias Simojoki

  Finnish clergyman and politician (Born 1899).

• Omar Bundy

  American army general (Born 1861).

• Flora Finch

  British-American silent-film comedienne (Born 1867).

• See more

Top #1 songs in the USA

1. Kate Smith - The Last Time I Saw Paris