Old Farmer's Almanac

Daily Calendar for Friday, January 23, 2026

Daily Calendar

View daily calendar information including holidays, advice, and daily features.

Friday, January 23, 2026

Born

  • John Hancock (statesman ) –
  • Camilla Collett (writer) –
  • Joseph Nathan Kane (American author and fact-finder; was born in New York City) –
  • Ernie Kovacs (actor) –
  • Chita Rivera (singer, actress, & dancer) –
  • Gil Gerard (actor) –
  • Rutger Hauer (actor) –
  • Richard Dean Anderson (actor) –
  • Princess Caroline of Monaco –
  • Mariska Hargitay (actress) –

Died

  • Anna Pavlova (ballerina) –
  • Samuel Barber (composer) –
  • Salvador Dali (artist) –
  • Daniel Pearl (Wall Street Journal reporter who disappeared and was later killed) –
  • Nell Carter (singer & actress) –
  • Helmut Newton (fashion photographer) –
  • Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo) –
  • Johnny Carson (comedian who dominated late-night television for 30 years as the host of The Tonight Show) –

Events

  • Deadliest earthquake on record killed 830,000 in China –
  • Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree. –
  • Envelope machine patented –
  • California vintner Agoston Haraszthy received 100,000 European grape vine cuttings. –
  • Charles Curtis first of Native American descent to be elected as U.S. senator –
  • Leonard Thompson received the world’s first successful insulin injection –
  • The movie Casablanca was copyrighted –
  • Duke Ellington played at New York City’s Carnegie Hall for the first time –
  • Fire devastated streetcar barns in Regina, Saskatchewan –
  • Bathyscaphe Trieste dove a record-breaking 35,800 feet –
  • Eldfell volcano began to form, Heimaey Island, Iceland –
  • Willie Mays elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame –
  • China’s giant pandas were added to the endangered species list –
  • The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first members: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Little Richard –
  • International Polar Bear Conservation Centre opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba –
  • At 12:31 am, a 7.9 earthquake struck the Gulf of Alaska, about 181 miles southeast of Kodiak, prompting a tsunami warning for coastal Alaska and British Columbia, and a tsunami watch for the rest of the U.S. West Coast. This was cancelled after several hours; a minor tsunami, less than a foot, was reported in Alaska. –

Weather

  • In Iroquois Falls, Ontario, the temperature reached -73°F. –
  • Eighty degrees below zero F at Prospect Creek, Alaska –
  • 13.4 inches of snow fell on Boston, the most snow the city had received in a single day since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1892. This was from a powerful blizzard which started on January 22 and ended on the 23rd. –