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This Day in History - January

Can you guess these things that happened in the month of January?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: March 16, 2023
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First submittedSeptember 27, 2012
Times taken38,933
Average score77.4%
Rating4.45
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Date
Year
Clue
Answer
Jan 1
2002
This currency enters circulation for the first time
Euro
Jan 2
1492
Christians capture Granada, completing the reconquest of this country
Spain
Jan 3
1959
This state becomes the 49th to join the U.S.
Alaska
Jan 4
2010
Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, opens in this city
Dubai
Jan 5
1914
This manufacturing company doubles pay to $5 a day
Ford
Jan 6
1066
This last Anglo-Saxon king of England is crowned. He would be
killed at the Battle of Hastings just 10 months later.
Harold Godwinson
Jan 7
1610
This scientist discovers the four largest moons of Jupiter
Galileo Galilei
Jan 8
1959
This man becomes the first President of France during the
Fifth Republic era
Charles de Gaulle
Jan 9
1349
Jewish residents in Basel, Switzerland are slaughtered after being
blamed for this pandemic
Black Death
Jan 10
49 BC
This general crosses the Rubicon
Julius Caesar 
Jan 11
1964
The American surgeon general warns that this activity may be
hazardous to one's health
Smoking
Jan 12
2010
100,000 people are killed by an earthquake in this country
Haiti
Jan 13
1968
This singer performs at Folsom State Prison
Johnny Cash
Jan 14
1953
Josip Broz Tito is inaugurated as President of this country
Yugoslavia
Jan 15
1892
James Naismith publishes the rules to this game
Basketball
Jan 16
27 BC
This man becomes the first Roman emperor
Augustus
Jan 17
1929
This spinach-guzzling cartoon character appears for the first time
Popeye
Jan 18
1778
This British sea captain discovers Hawaii
James Cook
Jan 19
1981
The U.S. secures the release of hostages held by this country
Iran
Jan 20
2009
This man becomes the first black President of the U.S.
Barack Obama
Jan 21
1793
This device is used to execute Louis XVI of France
Guillotine
Jan 22
1901
This queen dies after reigning for 63 years
Queen Victoria
Jan 23
1368
This dynasty comes to power in China
Ming
Jan 24
41
This depraved Roman emperor is assassinated
Caligula
Jan 25
1533
This woman becomes the second wife of Henry VIII
Anne Boleyn
Jan 26
1924
This city is renamed Leningrad
Petrograd
Jan 27
1984
This pop singer's hair catches fire while filming a Pepsi commercial
Michael Jackson
Jan 28
1986
This space shuttle explodes
Challenger
Jan 29
1820
This "mad king" dies
George III
Jan 30
1969
This band performs for the last time, on the roof of Apple Records
The Beatles
Jan 31
2010
This film becomes the first to gross $2 billion worldwide
Avatar
+2
Level 22
Sep 29, 2012
add another min please
+10
Level 88
Jan 1, 2018
How slow can you be man
+1
Level 79
Dec 21, 2020
I got 30/31 with 3 minutes remaining!
+2
Level 8
Oct 16, 2012
Australia Day????? Why isnt it there on the 26th of Jan
+1
Level 15
May 28, 2013
Apparently my birthdays on Australia day.
+2
Level 80
Mar 21, 2023
Now I just need to check for your maiden name showing up in a comment on another quiz and ... profit!
+3
Level 53
Jan 1, 2021
What would you put as the clue?
+4
Level 90
Aug 14, 2013
Kings, Queens, and emperors have been very busy in January, haven't they?
+7
Level 19
Feb 10, 2014
By dying, yes
+9
Level 89
Sep 2, 2018
I guess they didn't get busy trying.
+2
Level 74
Jan 2, 2018
It's all these Presidents who do stuff in January. Anyone would think they had nothing to do the rest of the year!
+4
Level 83
May 8, 2014
Love the quiz. The date thing isn't that critical; it's really just a general knowledge quiz. But a darn good one.
+1
Level 66
Jun 8, 2019
yea, never once looked at the month and day, but the years do matter
+4
Level 43
Jul 10, 2014
For Jan 2, 1492: it should be "Granada" (with all As). Grenada is the Caribbean nation; Granada is the Spanish city.
+1
Level 69
Jul 20, 2014
Came here for this ;)
+1
Level ∞
Sep 1, 2014
Fixed
+2
Level 48
Jan 1, 2015
First European to discover Hawaii I think would be better.
+4
Level 83
Nov 28, 2015
Why?
+8
Level 82
Aug 24, 2016
Because presumably the people living there had discovered it previously...
+4
Level 83
Sep 2, 2016
^ But the clue doesn't currently say "first person to discover Hawai'i".
+1
Level 85
Aug 13, 2020
Oxford Dictionary (emphasis added): "Discover: Be the *first* to find or observe (a place, substance, or scientific phenomenon)"
+6
Level 83
Nov 19, 2020
Cambridge Dictionary: "to find information, a place or an object, especially for the first time" - i.e. not necessarily for the first time. If I were to find a nice picnic spot, I might say I discovered it, but that doesn't mean I was the first
+1
Level 76
Jan 1, 2021
@brandybuck - Sure, you could say that, but it doesn't mean you should get credit for it from the rest of the world.
+2
Level 83
Jan 1, 2024
This British sea captain discovers Hawaii ...

... much to the surprise of the Hawaiians already living there :)

+1
Level 78
Jan 1, 2015
No mention of the birth of the King on Jan. 8?
+1
Level 37
Jul 16, 2018
BobSagat: AGREE! How dare they not have the king's b'day (1/8/35) as an answer.
+7
Level 70
Jan 3, 2021
Are you speaking of Aragorn, son of Arathorn?
+1
Level 75
Jan 1, 2015
Got 'em all. What about Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday, Epiphany, or Robert Burns Day? (I always wanted to try a haggis.)
+2
Level 80
Feb 13, 2017
It's one of my favourite meals. If you ever get the chance, do try it.
+4
Level 58
Feb 27, 2017
Don't do it! It's a trap!
+1
Level 89
Sep 2, 2018
Imagine hummus (or even humus) with Crisco.
+2
Level 59
Jan 2, 2018
What about lots of other things that happened in January? You can't have everything to make every needy person happy.
+2
Level 71
Jan 1, 2015
This was a fun quiz. A nice idea, well executed. Thank you.
+1
Level 55
Jan 1, 2015
Winston Churchill died 24 January 1965 - 50 years ago this month in fact.
+2
Level 83
Jan 3, 2015
Sorry to be a pedant but it was Petrograd at the time (1924) not St Petersburg.
+1
Level ∞
Jan 4, 2015
Fixed
+6
Level 84
Feb 13, 2017
Too Roman-Emperor-y. :-)
+1
Level 84
May 24, 2017
LOL!!
+1
Level 73
Feb 14, 2017
easy
+7
Level 77
Feb 14, 2017
I'm sure the Canadians aren't happy about only saying the US was responsible for the Iranian hostage release.
+4
Level 37
Jul 16, 2018
So true. Canada not only sheltered (was it 8 or 12) Americans, but was fully involved in the negotiations for the release of the 44 others, as the Khomeini government would not negotiate directly with the US. How quickly we forget! - A belated Thank You, Canada particularly your brave Ambassador, who endangered his own life by doing so!
+5
Level 78
Jan 3, 2018
The January 2 question is historical misleading, since Spain didn't exist as a country by the time year Granada was conquered. It was a join effort by the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile that did the conquest.
+3
Level 82
Jan 4, 2018
People tend to oversimplify history and just assume that all present-day nation states, races, and ethnicities existed for all time even though they obviously did not. So... "Spain" is just shorthand for any country or kingdom or people that existed in roughly the same area as the contemporary nation-state of Spain.
+3
Level 54
Oct 1, 2018
This quiz format is directly copied from mine which I made before this one...not sure how that happened
+8
Level ∞
Aug 13, 2020
This quiz was made in 2012. Your quiz was made in 2017.
+1
Level 90
Mar 16, 2023
Please organize a system where quizzes have both the original publication date and the date of any updates included.

It helps to avoid situations like this, which I have seen on a number of quizzes.

+1
Level ∞
Mar 16, 2023
You can click more info to see the date of first creation.
+1
Level 85
Aug 13, 2020
Are you sure about the year for Tito? When I Google "January 14 Tito", the first 5 hits are all about his first inaugural in 1953.
+1
Level ∞
Aug 14, 2020
Fixed. We had a different question there but replaced it.
+2
Level 55
Nov 20, 2020
Can you give Toowise Credit?
+3
Level 52
Jan 1, 2021
No. This was made in 2012, years before he even joined the site.

"Last updated" ≠ "First submitted"

+2
Level 78
Jan 1, 2024
Bit late with this comment, but thanks for thinking of me, it is however correct that this quiz was made before I even joined the site.

Besides, my quizzes are about each day not the month.

I'm currently updating the quizzes btw.

+1
Level 57
Jan 3, 2021
Never heard of Popeye before, but nice quiz!
+1
Level 32
Oct 1, 2021
the Earl of Wessex should count for Harold Godwinson
+4
Level 77
Jan 10, 2022
After awhile on Jetpunk I've learnt to just type "Philip, Victoria, Harold, Charles, Louis, John, Henry, etc." once I've gotten everything but the royalty questions.
+1
Level 67
Sep 27, 2023
Facts
+2
Level 88
Feb 22, 2022
I really thought "game" was referring to a board game not a sport smh
+1
Level 67
Sep 27, 2023
30/31, just missed Basketball, knew I recognized the name smh
+1
Level 70
Jan 1, 2024
"The guillotine was specifically designed to be the most humane way to decapitate someone in front of a jeering crowd."

- Philomena Cunk