Historical Events
- Jan 1 74th Sugar Bowl: #5 Georgia beats #10 Hawai'i, 41-10
- Jan 1 94th Rose Bowl: #6 Southern California beats #13 Illinois, 49-17
- Jan 1 A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples comes into effect.
America Defeats Serbia
Jan 4 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Americans Serena Williams & Mardy Fish beat Serbian pair Novak Đoković & Jelena Janković 7-6, 6-2 for an unassailable 2-0 lead, and the 5th US title
"No Country for Old Men" Wins
Jan 7 13th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: "No Country for Old Men" wins Best Film
- Jan 7 College Football, 10th BCS National Championship Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans: #2 LSU beats #1 Ohio State, 38-24
Dempsey, Heigl Winners
Jan 8 34th People's Choice Awards: Johnny Depp & Reese Witherspoon win (Movie Star) and Patrick Dempsey & Katherine Heigl win (TV)
- Jan 8 New Jersey officially apologizes for slavery, becoming the first Northern state to do so.
65th Golden Globes
Jan 13 65th Golden Globes (announced): Atonement, Daniel Day-Lewis, & Julie Christie win
- Jan 13 Orlando Magic knock down a then NBA-record 23 3-pointers in 37 attempts (62.2%); Jameer Nelson goes 5-for-5 from beyond the arc as Magic beat the Sacramento Kings, 139-107
- Jan 14 MESSENGER spacecraft performs a Mercury flyby
- Jan 15 Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority members celebrate 100th anniversary by donating $1 million to scholarship funds at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Clooney Messenger of Peace
Jan 18 The United Nations announce George Clooney as a UN messenger of peace
"Breaking Bad" Premieres
Jan 20 "Breaking Bad", created by Vince Gilligan and starring Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul premieres on AMC
- Jan 20 AFC Championship, Gillette Stadium, Foxborough: New England Patriots beat San Diego Chargers, 21-12
- Jan 20 Frenchman Francis Joyon becomes the fastest person to sail solo around the world, taking 57 days, 13 hours and 34 minutes
- Jan 20 NFC Championship, Lambeau Field, Green Bay: New York Giants beat Green Bay Packers, 23-20 (OT)
- Jan 21 Fears of a possible US recession cause a Black Monday for global stock markets, European stocks suffer their worst result since 9/11, and Asian stocks drop as much as 15%
- Jan 21 The Eyak language in Alaska becomes extinct as its last native speaker dies
Sharapova Defeats Ivanović
Jan 26 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Russian Maria Sharapova wins her first and only Australian title; beats Ana Ivanović of Serbia 7-5, 6-3
- Jan 27 24th Sundance Film Festival: "Frozen River", directed by Courtney Hunt, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
- Jan 27 56th NHL All-Star Game, Phillips Arena, Atlanta, GA: Eastern Conference beats Western Conference, 8-7; MVP: Eric Staal, Carolina, C
Đoković Defeats Tsonga
Jan 27 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Novak Đoković beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 to become first Serbian player to win a Grand Slam title
Famous Divorces
Daniel Johns
Jan 4 Australian pop diva Natalie Imbruglia (32) and "Silverchair" frontman Daniel Johns (28) announce their divorce stating "we have simply grown apart through not being able to spend enough time together"
Famous Deaths
- Jan 1 Harold Corsini, American photographer, dies from a stroke at 88
- Jan 1 Peter Caffrey, Irish actor, dies at 58
- Jan 1 Pratap Chandra Chunder, Indian union minister, dies at 88
- Jan 1 Salvatore Bonanno, American mafioso & son of crime boss Joseph Bonanno, dies of a heart attack at 75
- Jan 2 Galyani Vadhana, Princess of Naradhiwas, dies at 84
- Jan 2 George MacDonald Fraser, British poet and author (Flashman at the Charge), dies at 82
- Jan 2 Gerry Staley, American baseball pitcher (MLB All Star 1952-53, 60; St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox), dies of natural causes at 87
- Jan 2 Lee S. Dreyfus, American politician, dies at 81
- Jan 3 Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor (b. 1953)
- Jan 3 Natasha Collins, British actress and television presenter (b. 1976)
- Jan 3 Werner Dollinger, German politician and economist (b. 1918)
- Jan 3 Yo-Sam Choi, South Korean boxer (Lineal & WBC light flyweight titles 1999-2002), dies of brain damage after fight at 35
- Jan 4 Jimmy Nah, Singapore celebrity (b. 1968)
- Jan 4 John O'Donohue, Irish poet (Anam Cara; Benedictus), philosopher, theologian, and one-time priest, dies at 52
- Jan 4 Joyce Carlson, American artist (b. 1923)
- Jan 4 Mort Garson, Canadian-American composer ("Our Day Will Come") and Moog synthesizer pioneer, dies of renal failure at 83
- Jan 4 Xavier Chamorro Cardenal, Nicaraguan journalist and newspaper editor (La Prensa; El Nuevo Diario), dies of heart disease at 75
- Jan 5 Clinton Grybas, Australian sports commentator (b. 1975)
- Jan 5 Irene Reid, American jazz singer ("I Must Be Doing Something Right"). dies at 77
- Jan 5 Thomas Gray, English pioneering anaesthetist, dies at 94
- Jan 7 Alwyn Schlebusch, South African vice state president (b. 1917)
- Jan 8 Clyde Otis, American songwriter and music producer (b. c. 1924)
- Jan 8 George Moore, Australian jockey (Epsom Derby 1967, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe 1959, Prix du Jockey Club 1960, Irish 1000 Guineas 1959, 5 x Doomben 10,000, 3 x Sydney Cup), dies at 84
- Jan 9 John Harvey-Jones, English businessman and chairman of ICI (1982-87), dies at 83
- Jan 9 Johnny Grant, American radio personality, television producer, and "honorary mayor" of Hollywood, dies at 84
- Jan 9 Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist (b. 1977)
- Jan 9 William Quinn, Irish Republican Army soldier (b. 1950)
- Jan 10 (Walter) "Pete" Candoli, American jazz, big band, and session trumpeter (Woody Herman; Stan Kenton; Henry Mancini; The Brothers Candoli), dies of prostate cancer at 84
- Jan 10 Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (b. 1967)
- Jan 10 Maila Nurmi [Syrjäniemi], Finnish-American actress (The Vampira Show), dies at 85
- Jan 10 Mikhail Minin, Russian Soviet soldier (b. 1922)
- Jan 11 Carl Karcher, founded the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain (b. 1917)
Edmund Hillary (1919-2008)
Jan 11 New Zealand explorer and mountaineer who was 1st to scale Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay, dies from a heart attack at 88
- Jan 13 Johnny Podres, American baseball player (b. 1932)
- Jan 13 Sergei Larin, Lithuanian operatic tenor, dies at 51
- Jan 14 Judah Folkman, American pediatric surgeon and cancer researcher (angiogenesis), dies of a heart attack at 74
- Jan 15 Brad Renfro, American actor (The Client), dies of heroin overdose at 25
- Jan 15 Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, English Game Designer (Zombies Ate My Neighbors), dies of cancer (b. 1964)
- Jan 17 Allan Melvin, American character actor (Brady Bunch, All in Family), dies of cancer at 84
Bobby Fischer (1943-2008)
Jan 17 American chess player (world champion 1972-75), dies of renal failure at 64
- Jan 17 Ernie Holmes, American football player (b. 1948)
- Jan 17 Rod Allen [Bainbridge] British pop-rock singer and bassist (Fortunes - "You've Got Your Troubles"; "Here It Comes Again"), dies of cancer at 63
- Jan 18 Frank Lewin, German-American composer and music theorist (Yale, 1971-92), dies at 82
- Jan 18 Georgia Frontiere, American businesswoman (co-owner Cleveland/Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams 1979–2008), dies at 80
- Jan 18 John Stroger, first African-American Cook County Board President (b. 1929)
- Jan 19 Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster for CBC (b. 1936)
- Jan 19 John Stewart, American pop-folk singer, guitsrist, banjo player (Kingston Trio, 1961-67), and songwriter ("Daydream Believer"), dies of a stroke at 68
- Jan 19 Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (The Birds; The Bob Newhart Show - "Emily"), dies at 70
- Jan 20 Louis de Cazenave, France's oldest living man (oldest survivor from WWI), dies at 110
- Jan 20 Tālivaldis Ķeniņš, Latvian-Canadian composer, organist, and pedagogue, dies at 88
- Jan 21 Marie Smith Jones, last native speaker of the Eyak language (b. 1918)
- Jan 21 Pam Barrett, Canadian politician (b. 1953)
Heath Ledger (1979-2008)
Jan 22 Australian-American Actor (Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight), dies of a drug overdose at 28
- Jan 22 Miles Lerman, Polish-American activist (b. 1920)
- Jan 22 Roberto Gari, American actor (b. 1920)
- Jan 22 Ștefan Niculescu, Romanian composer, dies at 80
- Jan 24 J. Robert Hooper, American politician, dies at 71
- Jan 24 Randy Salerno, co-anchor of Chicago's CBS 2 News (b. 1963)
- Jan 25 Christopher Allport, American actor (To Live and Die in L.A.), dies at 60
- Jan 25 Evelyn Barbirolli, English musician (b. 1911)
- Jan 26 Christian Brando, American actor and son of Marlon Brando, dies of pneumonia at 49
- Jan 26 Viktor Schreckengost, American industrial designer, dies at 101
- Jan 27 Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1995-2008), dies at 97
- Jan 27 Louie Welch, mayor of Houston (b. 1918)
Suharto (1921-2008)
Jan 27 Indonesian army officer and 2nd President of Indonesia (1967-98), dies at 86
- Jan 28 Bengt Lindström, Swedish artist, dies at 82
- Jan 28 Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece (b. 1939)
- Jan 29 Margaret Truman, American presidential daughter, singer and writer (Murder at FBI), dies at 83
- Jan 29 Philippe Khorsand, French actor (b. 1948)
- Jan 29 Raymond Jacobs, American Marine Corp sergeant (one of the WWII Iwo Jima flag planters), and news journalist, dies at 82
- Jan 30 Gunnar Reynir Sveinsson, Icelandic classical, choral, and jazz composer (Samstæður; Fyrir þitt friðarorð - For Your Peace), dies at 79
- Jan 30 Jeremy Beadle, British television host (Beadle's About), dies of pneumonia at 59
- Jan 30 Marcial Maciel, Mexican Catholic priest (founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi), dies at 79
- Jan 30 Roland Selmeczi, Hungarian stage and screen actor, and film dubber, dies in a car crash at 38
- Jan 31 Zeltim Odie Peterson, famous pug (b. 1997)
