What Happened in January 1997

Historical Events

Gingrich Re-elected Speaker

Jan 7 Newt Gingrich narrowly re-elected speaker of the US House of Representatives

Jan 9 After 5 days missing, Tony Bullimore rescued alive after his boat capsized in Southern Ocean

Sinatra Heart Attack

Jan 9 Heart attacks sends singer Frank Sinatra back to hospital

"Seven Gates of Jerusalem"

Jan 9 Krzysztof Penderecki's choral symphony "Seven Gates of Jerusalem" premieres in Jerusalem, Israel

Jan 10 "Rehearsal" closes at Criterion Theater NYC
Jan 10 1st Comet of 1997 Discovered: Comet 1997 A1
Jan 10 4,000th episode of "Entertainment Tonight"

Arnoldo Aleman Sworn In

Jan 10 Arnoldo Aleman sworn in as president of Nicaragua

Jan 10 Dow Corning provides $295 billion to settle breast implant suits
Jan 10 Italy's new 1,000 lire coin shows divided Germany on map
Jan 11 Telstar 401 Satellite Fails

23rd People's Choice Awards

Jan 12 23rd People's Choice Awards: Mel Gibson & Sandra Bullock win (Dramatic Motion Picture) and Tim Allen & Oprah Winfrey win (TV)

Jan 12 AFC Championship, Foxborough Stadium: New England Patriots beat Jacksonville Jaguars, 20-6
Jan 12 Ladies' figure skating star Oksana Baiul injured slightly while driving intoxicated in Bloomfield, Connecticut
Jan 12 NFC Championship, Lambeau Field, Green Bay: Green Bay Packers beat Carolina Panthers, 30-13
Jan 12 Space Shuttle STS 81 (Atlantis 18), launches into space
Jan 13 Radical guerrillas hold 72 hostages and shoot at police outside the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru

Rodman Kicks Cameraman

Jan 15 Controversial Chicago Bulls' forward Dennis Rodman kicks cameraman Eugene Amos in the groin during a game against Minnesota Timberwolves; ultimately pays Amos $200,000 settlement, and is suspended for 11 games without pay

Princess Diana Calls for Landmine Ban

Jan 15 Diana, Princess of Wales, calls for an international ban on landmines, angering ministers in the UK

Jan 15 San Francisco head coach George Seifert announces his resignation after 8 highly-successful NFL seasons with the 49ers: winningest coach in team history at 108-35; 2 Super Bowl titles
Jan 15 Seattle's Sam Perkins ties Jeff Hornacek's NBA single-game record by connecting on 8 straight 3-point field goals during Sonics' 122-78 win over visiting Toronto; Seattle also sets an NBA steals record with 27
Jan 15 Space Shuttle Atlantis docks with Mir Space Station
Jan 16 Anthony Stuart takes ODI hat-trick, Aus v Pakistan, MCG
Jan 17 NBA suspends Dennis Rodman indefinitely for kicking cameraman
Jan 18 47th NHL All-Star Game, San Jose Arena, San Jose, CA: East beats West, 11-7; Mark Recchi, Montreal, RW
Jan 18 Boerge Ousland of Norway becomes the first person to cross Antarctica alone and unaided
Jan 18 In northwest Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.

54th Golden Globes

Jan 19 54th Golden Globes: The English Patient, Geoffrey Rush, & Brenda Blethyn win

Arafat's Hebron Return

Jan 19 Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.

Jan 20 2nd Critics' Choice Movie Awards: Fargo wins Best Film
Jan 20 Comet Hale-Bopp crosses Mars' orbit
Jan 20 French electronic dance duo Daft Punk release their album "Homework"
Jan 20 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in New Orleans LA on KKND 106.7 FM
Jan 20 Pakistan defeat West Indies 2-0 to win Aust one-day Series
Jan 21 An inquiry in North Wales names more than 80 child abusers
Jan 22 Space shuttle Atlantis successfully returns to Earth
Jan 24 The Swiss government and several banks and businesses agree to create a memorial fund for victims of the Holocaust
Jan 25 In a high profile NHL trade, San Jose obtain future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Ed Belfour from Chicago in exchange for goaltender Chris Terreri, Ulf Dahlen, Michal Sykora and a conditional pick in 1998 Entry Draft
Jan 26 "Ideal Husband" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 308 performances
Jan 26 13th Sundance Film Festival: "Sunday" wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic

Sampras Defeats Moyá

Jan 26 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Pete Sampras wins his 2nd and last Australian title; beats Carlos Moyá of Spain 6-2, 6-3, 6-3

Hingis Defeats Pierce

Jan 26 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Martina Hingis becomes first Swiss player – male or female – to win a Grand Slam singles title; beats Mary Pierce of France 6-2, 6-2

Jan 26 Brunswick World Bowling Tournament of Champions won by John Gant

Lemieux Ties Record

Jan 26 Mario Lemieux ties NHL record with 4 goals in the 3rd period as Pittsburgh wins, 5-2 at Montreal; 39th career hat trick and 13th 4-goal game, tying NHL record shared by Wayne Gretzky & Mike Bossy

Jan 26 Super Bowl XXXI, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: Green Bay Packers beat New England Patriots, 35-21; MVP: Desmond Howard, Green Bay KR
Jan 27 "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" opens at Gershwin NYC

24th American Music Awards

Jan 27 24th American Music Awards: Toni Braxton & Alanis Morissette win

Jan 30 Minuteman III launches
Jan 31 "Final Fantasy VII" is released by Square and Sony Computer Entertainment to PlayStation
Jan 31 San Antonio forward Dominique Wilkins scores 27 points in the Spurs' 97-95 loss to Minnesota; gives him 26,009 career points; only the 6th NBA player to reach the 26k milestone

Events in 1997

Famous Birthdays

Jan 1 Noah Khan, American singer-songwriter ("Hurt Somebody"), born in Strafford, Vermont
Jan 5 Gino Mäder, Swiss road and track cyclist (Vuelta a España Young rider classification 2021), born in Flawil, Switzerland (d. 2023)

Lamar Jackson (27 years old)

Jan 7 American NFL quarterback (Heisman Trophy 2016, Louisville; Pro Bowl 2019, Baltimore Ravens), born in Pompano Beach, Florida

Jan 7 Ozzie Albies, Curaçaoan MLB player (Atlanta Braves), born in Willemstad, Curaçao
Jan 9 Lauryn McClain, American actress and singer, born in Decatur, Georgia

Cody Simpson (27 years old)

Jan 11 Australian singer ("iYiYi", "All Day") and swimmer, born in Logan City, Queensland

Jan 13 Connor McDavid, Canadian ice hockey centre (#1 pick 2015 NHL Draft by Edmonton Oilers; Hart Memorial Trophy 2017, 21, 23; Art Ross Trophy 2017, 18, 21, 22, 23), born in Richmond Hill, Ontario
Jan 13 Egan Bernal, Colombian road cyclist (Tour de France 2019; Giro d'Italia 2021), born in Bogotá, Colombia
Jan 15 Valentina Zenere, Argentine actress (Soy Luna, Elite), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Jake Paul (27 years old)

Jan 17 American YouTube personality, born in Cleveland, Ohio

Jan 17 Maxwell Frost, American politician (1st generation Z elected to US Congress, Rep-R-Florida)
Jan 20 Blueface [Johnathan Jamall Porter], American rapper (Respect My Cryppin; Thotiana), born in Los Angeles, California
Jan 26 Pasaye, twin born 92 days after his brother (Oct 26), born in Palatine, Illinois
Jan 27 Kinga Głyk, Polish jazz electric bassist and composer (Dream), born in Rydułtowy, Poland

Born in 1997

Famous Weddings

Jan 4 "Smothers Brothers" actor-singer Dick Smothers (58) weds third wife Denby Franklin (47) in Las Vegas, Nevada; divorce in 2006

Václav Havel

Jan 4 Czech Republic's first president Vaclav Havel (60) weds Czech actress Dagmar Havlova (43) in Prague, Czech Republic

Famous Divorces

Charlie Sheen

Jan 27 "Wall Street" actor Charlie Sheen (31) divorces model Donna Peele after nearly 5 months of marriage

Famous Deaths

Jan 1 Hagood Hardy, American-Canadian jazz and easy listening pianist, vibraphonist and film score composer ("The Homecoming"), dies from lymphoma at 59
Jan 1 James B. Pritchard, American theologist & archaeologist, dies at 87
Jan 1 Joan Rice, British actress (His Majesty O'Keefe, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men), dies at 66
Jan 1 John Burgess, English rugby coach and administrator (England coach 1971-75; RFU President 1987-88), dies at 71
Jan 1 Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter ("Pancho and Lefty"), dies of a heart attack at 52
Jan 2 Randy California, American rock guitarist, dies at 45
Jan 3 Burton Lane, American film and stage composer and lyricist (Finian's Rainbow), dies at 84
Jan 3 Cornelius Kee, Dutch organist and composer, dies at 96
Jan 3 David Kraehenbuehl, American composer (March of the Trolls), pianist, teacher (Yale), and music theorist (Journal of Music Theory), dies of a heart attack at 73
Jan 3 Roger Goeb, American composer, dies at 82
Jan 4 Harry B Helmsley, American billionaire real estate developer (purchased Empire State Building, 1961), dies at 87
Jan 5 Andre Franquin, Belgian cartoonist (Gaston), dies at 73
Jan 6 Catherine Scorsese [Cappa], Italian-American actress (The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear), dies from Alzheimer's disease at 84
Jan 6 Ian Peter Leslie Smith, British journalist, dies at 52
Jan 6 Litz Pisk, British movement teacher in the theater, dies at 87
Jan 6 Vince Williams, actor (Hamp-Guiding Light), dies of cancer at 39

Jan 7 Desmond Flower, English publisher, dies at 89
Jan 7 Sándor Végh, Hungarian-French violinist teacher and conductor, dies at 84
Jan 8 Carole Carr [Carless], British singer and actress (Down Among the Z Men), dies of cancer at 68
Jan 8 George Handy [Hendleman], American bebop jazz arranger, pianist and composer Handyland, U.S.A.), dies at 76
Jan 8 Jesse White [Weidenfeld], American character actor (Bedtime for Bonzo; Harvey; Maytag repairman, 1967-88), dies of a heart attack at 80

Melvin Calvin (1911-1997)

Jan 8 American biochemist (Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1961 - for discovery of chemical pathways of photosynthesis), dies at 85 [1]

Jan 8 Phyllis Hartnoll, writer/editor, dies at 90
Jan 9 Edward Osobka-Morawski, prime minister of Poland (1945-47), dies
Jan 9 Junaidu ibn Buhari, scholar, dies at 90
Jan 10 Alexander R. Todd, British chemist (Nobel Prize 1957), dies at 89
Jan 10 Alvinio Misciano, Italian tenor, killed in a fall from a window
Jan 10 Darrell A. Amyx, American classical archaeologist (Greek Ceramics), dies at 85
Jan 10 Elspeth Huxley, English author (The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard), dies at 89
Jan 10 George Young, Scottish soccer defender (54 caps; Rangers 293 games), dies at 74
Jan 10 Hilary Grover Barratt Brown, conservationist, dies at 71
Jan 10 Shiv Verma, Indian revolutionary soldier, dies at 88
Jan 11 Cavan O'Connor, British singer ("I'm Only a Strolling Vagabond"), dies at 97
Jan 11 Duncan Wood, English TV director and producer (Hancock's Half Hour, Steptoe & Son), dies at 71
Jan 11 Helen Foster Snow, American journalist (reported from China in the 1930s), dies at 89
Jan 11 Sheldon Leonard, American actor, producer and director (Danny Thomas Show, Big Eddie), dies at 89
Jan 12 Charles Huggins, American-Canadian physician and cancer researcher (1966 Nobel Prize), dies at 95
Jan 12 Jean Writer-Edern Hallier, dies at 60
Jan 12 Jill Summers, actress (Agatha Coronation Street), dies at 86
Jan 13 William Mills, painter, dies at 74
Jan 14 Dollard Ménard, French Canadian general (b. 1913)
Jan 14 King Hu, Chinese film director, (wuxia films), dies at 64
Jan 15 Jose Ignacio Domecq, Spanish wine maker, dies at 82
Jan 15 Kenneth Thimann, English American botanist (Balzan Prize), dies at 92
Jan 16 Charlie Alfred Galbraith, English jazz trombonist, dies at 76
Jan 16 Ennis Cosby, son of Bill Cosby, murdered on Los Angeles highway at 29
Jan 16 Jim Kensil, American NFL executive (New York Jets president), dies of heart failure at 66
Jan 16 Stephen Fitz-Simon, British fashion retailer and entrepreneur (Biba), dies at 59
Jan 17 Amha Selassie, Crown prince of Ethiopia and son of emperor Haile Selassi, dies at 82
Jan 17 Andrea Fisher, American artist, dies at 41
Jan 17 Bert Kelly, Australian politician (b. 1912)
Jan 17 Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (discovered Pluto), dies at 90
Jan 18 Myfanwy Piper, British librettist and art critic, dies at 85
Jan 18 Neville Crump, British racehorse trainer (Grand National 1948, 52, 60), dies at 86 [1]
Jan 18 Paul Tsongas, American politician (Sen-D-Mass), dies of complications from pneumonia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 55
Jan 19 Adriana Caselotti, voice of Snow White in Disney's animated film, dies at 70
Jan 19 George Armin Goyder, businessman/social philosopher, dies at 88
Jan 19 James Dickey, American poet, novelist and lecturer (Deliverance, Buckdancer's Choice), dies at 73

Curt Flood (1938-1997)

Jan 20 American baseball player (St Louis Cards), dies of throat cancer at 59

Jan 20 Edith Haisman, the oldest survivor of Titanic, dies at 100
Jan 20 Vladimir Yamnikov, owner (Kristall vodka), dies of cirrhosis at 56
Jan 21 Colonel Tom Parker [Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk], Dutch-born talent manager (Elvis Presley), dies at 87
Jan 21 Dennis Main-Wilson, British TV and radio producer (Marty, Till Death Us Do Part), dies of lung cancer at 72
Jan 21 Michael Duane, British progressive educationalist and author, dies at 81
Jan 22 Billy MacKenzie, Scottish rock vocalist (The Associates-Affectionate Punch), committed suicide at 39
Jan 22 Ian Munro, British medical journalist, humanitarian and cricketer, dies at 73
Jan 22 Irwin Levine, composer (Tie a Yellow Ribbon), dies at 58
Jan 22 Mollie Panter-Downes, British writer and columnist (The Shoreless Sea), dies at 90
Jan 22 Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican historian and political activist, dies at 98
Jan 22 Ron Holden, American singer (b. 1939)
Jan 22 Wally Whyton, English musician and broadcaster (BBC 2), dies at 66
Jan 23 Audie Pitre, American bass guitarist (Acid Bath), killed by a drunk driver at 26
Jan 23 Charles Craig, English opera singer, dies at 77
Jan 23 Jeremy Maas, British writer and art dealer, dies at 68
Jan 23 Laura "Dinky" Patterson, dies bungee jumping at Super Bowl rehearsal at 43
Jan 23 Randy Greenawalt, American convicted killer, executed by injection at 47
Jan 23 Richard Berry, African-American singer and musician (Louie Louie), dies at 61
Jan 23 Roger John Tayler, British astrophysicist (author of The Origin of the Chemical Elements), dies at 67
Jan 24 Callum Alexander MacDonald, Scottish historian, dies of cancer at 49
Jan 25 Jeane Dixon [Lydia Pinckert], American celebrity psychic and astrologer (A Gift of Prophecy), dies of a heart attack at 93
Jan 25 Jim Boyd, American boxer (Olympic gold light-heavyweight 1956), dies at 66
Jan 25 Seldon Powell, American jazz tenor saxophonist and flautist, dies at 68
Jan 26 Margaret, Princess of Hesse and by Rhine (née Geddes), and patron of the arts, dies at 83
Jan 27 Cecil Arthur Lewis, British fighter pilot and writer, dies at 98
Jan 27 David Townsend, English cricket batsman (3 Tests, HS 36; Durham CCC), dies at 84
Jan 27 Gerald Marks, American songwriter ("All of Me"), dies at 96
Jan 28 Colin Welch, British political journalist and critic of Enid Blyton's Noddy series, dies at 72
Jan 28 Pietro Cavallero 'the laughing bandit', Italian bandit, dies at 68
Jan 29 Eric Schneider, American murderer of 2 teachers, executed in MO at 35
Jan 29 Louis Pauwels, French writer and editor, dies at 76
Jan 29 Osvaldo Soriano, Argentine writer and journalist, dies of cancer at 54
Jan 30 Frank Tejeda, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas), dies at 51
Jan 30 Héctor Campos Parsi, Puerto Rican classical music composer, dies at 75
Jan 31 Eve Lister, British film and television actress (No Limit, Hyde Park), dies at 84
Jan 31 John Joseph Scanlan, Irish Catholic prelate (b. 1930)

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