What Happened in January 2010

Historical Events

  • Jan 1 76th Sugar Bowl: #5 Florida beats #3 Cincinnati, 51-24
  • Jan 1 96th Rose Bowl: #8 Ohio State beats #7 Oregon, 26-17

Film & TV History

Jan 1 Javier Bardem marries Spanish actress Penélope Cruz in The Bahamas

  • Jan 1 New FINA rules re competition swimsuits come into effect; all body-length swimsuits banned; men's suits to maximally cover from the waist to knee, and women's from shoulder to knee; fabric must be a "textile" or woven material
  • Jan 1 Suicide car bomb detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100
  • Jan 3 Phil Taylor successfully defends his PDC World Darts title with a 7–3 victory over Simon Whitlock of Australia in the final in London; Taylor's 13th PDC and 15th overall world championship
  • Jan 4 39th Fiesta Bowl: #6 Boise State beats #3 TCU, 17-10
  • Jan 4 The Burj Khalifa, world's tallest building at 829.8 m (2,722 ft), officially opens in Dubai
  • Jan 4 The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed HIV infection from its list of communicable diseases of public health significance.
  • Jan 5 76th Orange Bowl: #10 Iowa beats #9 Georgia Tech, 24-14

Shanahan Introduced as Coach

Jan 5 Mike Shanahan is formally introduced as head coach of the Washington Redskins

  • Jan 7 College Football, 12th BCS National Championship, Rose Bowl, Pasadena: #1 Alabama beats #2 Texas, 37-21
  • Jan 7 Muslim gunmen in Egypt kill nine people after opening fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians

3rd Spanish Title

Jan 9 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: María José Martínez Sánchez & Tommy Robredo of Spain beat British pair Laura Robson & Andy Murray 7-6, 7-5 to clinch a 2-1 win; Spain's 3rd title

Cowell Leaves "Idol"

Jan 11 Simon Cowell leaves "American Idol"

  • Jan 12 Colombia officially leaves the recession after achieving 2% economic growth in the last quarter of 2009

Earthquake Devastates Haiti

Jan 12 Earthquake devastates Haiti, killing approximately 160,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince

  • Jan 14 Yemen declares war on al-Qaeda
  • Jan 15 15th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: The Hurt Locker wins Best Film
  • Jan 17 A dragon boat from Chung Ling High School capsizes and collides with a tugboat amid strong currents in Penang, Malaysia, killing 6 people and injuring 12

Bryant Surpasses Chamberlain Record

Jan 21 LA Lakers forward Kobe Bryant becomes the youngest NBA player to reach 25,000 career points at 31 years, 151 days; beats Wilt Chamberlain by 35 days

"Volcker Rule" Proposed

Jan 21 President Barack Obama proposes the "Volcker Rule," a rule proposed by Paul Volcker intended to restrict risky trading by United States banks

O'Brien's Last Tonight Show

Jan 22 Conan O'Brien's last The Tonight Show episode after a big controversy over the Tonight Show timeslot

  • Jan 24 AFC Championship, Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN: Indianapolis Colts beat New York Jets, 30-17
  • Jan 24 NFC Championship, Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Saints beat Minnesota Vikings, 31-28 (OT)
  • Jan 25 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on-board.
  • Jan 26 After 6 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, the UK economy officially finally comes out of recession with a GDP growth of 0.1%

Swine Flu Pandemic

Jan 26 The World Health Organization rejects claims that it overstated the severity of the swine flu pandemic under pressure from vaccine companies

President's Murderers Hanged

Jan 28 Five murderers of Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman hanged: Lieutenant Colonel Syed Faruq Rahman, Lieutenant Colonel Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan, Major AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed, Major Bazlul Huda and Lieutenant Colonel Mohiuddin Ahmed

Williams Retains Title

Jan 30 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Serena Williams retains her title; beats Justine Henin of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-2

  • Jan 31 26th Sundance Film Festival: "Winter's Bone", directed by Debra Granik, wins Grand Jury Prize Dramatic
  • Jan 31 52nd Grammy Awards: "Use Somebody", Zac Brown Band win

Federer Defeats Murray

Jan 31 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Roger Federer outclasses Scotsman Andy Murray 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 for his 4th Australian title

  • Jan 31 NFL Pro Bowl, Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens: AFC beats NFC, 41-34; MVP: Matt Schaub, Houston Texans, QB
2010 History

Famous Weddings

  • Jan 2 "American Idol" singer Jason Castro (22) weds Mandy Mayhall near Dallas, Texas

Vince Vaughn

Jan 2 Actor Vince Vaughn (39) weds realtor Kyla Weber in Lake Forest, Illinois

  • Jan 9 Food writer and former fashion model Sophie Dahl (32) weds British jazz singer Jamie Cullum (30) in Hampshire, England

Famous Divorces

Dennis Hopper

Jan 14 "Easy Rider" director and actor Dennis Hopper (73) divorces his fifth wife Victoria Duffy due to irreconcilable differences and out-of-control spending

Famous Deaths

  • Jan 2 Oscar Sala, Italian-born Brazilian nuclear physicist, dies at 87
  • Jan 3 Joyce Collins, American jazz and film and television session pianist, singer, and educator, dies at 79
  • Jan 3 Mary Daly, American theologian and feminist scholar (b. 1928)
  • Jan 3 Professor Sir Ian Brownlie, International law specialist
  • Jan 4 Casey Johnson, American heiress and socialite (b. 1979)
  • Jan 4 Donal Donnelly, Irish actor (The Godfather: Part III, Dead), dies of cancer at 78
  • Jan 4 Johan Ferrier, Surinamian politician (b. 1910)
  • Jan 4 Rory Markas, American sportscaster (Los Angeles Angels, 2002-09), dies of a heart attack at 54
  • Jan 4 Sandro, Argentine songwriter (b. 1945)
  • Jan 4 Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese Businessman, and Survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombings (b. 1916)
  • Jan 5 Gisela Kraft, German writer, dies at 73
  • Jan 5 Kenneth Noland, American Color Field painter, dies of kidney cancer at 85
  • Jan 5 Murray Saltzman, Reform Jewish rabbi and civil rights leader (b. 1929)
  • Jan 5 Willie Mitchell, American R&B, pop, and soul singer, songwriter, producer, and arranger, dies of a heart attack at 81
  • Jan 6 Shelly Kurland, American educator, classically trained session violinist and string arranger for country music recordings (Shelly Kurland Strings), dies at 81
  • Jan 8 Monica Maughan, Australian actor (b. 1933)
  • Jan 8 Tony Halme, Finnish boxer and politician (b. 1963)
  • Jan 9 Vimcy, Sports writer (b. 1925)
  • Jan 10 Donald Acheson, Irish physician and Chief Medical Officer for England (1983-90), dies at 83
  • Jan 10 Mano Solo [Emmanuel Cabut], French singer, dies from multiple aneurisms at 46
  • Jan 11 Éric Rohmer [Maurice Schérer], French director, journalist and teacher (My Night at Maud's, Claire's Knee, Le rayon vert), dies at 89
  • Jan 11 Georgy Garanian, Armenian-Russian jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer, dies of cardiac arrest at 75
  • Jan 11 Joe Rollino, American strongman, weightlifter, and boxer (b. 1905)
  • Jan 11 Mick Green, British rock guitarist (The Pirates; Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas), dies of heart failure at 65
  • Jan 11 Miep Gies, Dutch discoverer of Anne Frank's diary and friend of the Frank family, dies at 100
  • Jan 12 Daniel Bensaïd, French philosopher and a leader of the Trotskyist movement in France, dies of cancer caused by the side effects of drugs used to treat AIDS at 63
  • Jan 12 Hasib Sabbagh, Palestinian businessman and philanthropist, co-founder of Consolidated Contractors Company (b. 1920)
  • Jan 13 Jay Reatard [James Lindsey], American garage rock-punk musician and songwriter, dies of cocaine toxicity at 29
  • Jan 13 Kalifa Tillisi, Libyan writer and linguist
  • Jan 13 Theodore "Teddy" Pendergrass, American soul singer (Turn Off the Lights), dies of respiratory failure at 59
  • Jan 14 Petra Schürmann, German model and TV announcer, Miss World 1956 (b. 1935)
  • Jan 15 Marshall Warren Nirenberg, Jewish-American biochemist and geneticist (Nobel 1968), dies at 82
  • Jan 17 Daisuke Gouri, Japanese seiyu (b. 1952)
  • Jan 17 Erich Segal, American author (Love Story, Oliver's Story), dies at 72
  • Jan 17 Gaines Adams, American football player (b. 1983)
  • Jan 17 Jyoti Basu, Indian Communist politician, dies at 95
  • Jan 18 Kate McGarrigle, Canadian folk music singer-songwriter (Kate & Anna McGarrigle - "Heartbeats Accelerating"), dies of clear-cell sarcoma at 63
  • Jan 19 Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby commentator known as "the voice of rugby", dies at 86
  • Jan 19 Panajot Pano, Albanian soccer forward (28 caps; Partizani Tirana 210 games; "The little Puskás"), dies of a heart attack at 70
  • Jan 20 Abraham Sutzkever, Yiddish language poet ("the greatest poet of the Holocaust"), dies at 96
  • Jan 21 Paul Quarrington, Canadian novelist, playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker, musician and educator (b. 1953)
  • Jan 22 Dolf Zwerver, Frisian-Dutch fantasy painter, dies at 77
  • Jan 22 James Mitchell, American dancer and actor (All My Children, Bloomer Girl), dies of pneumonia at 89
  • Jan 22 Jean Simmons, British actress (Thorn Birds, Guys & Dolls), dies at 80
  • Jan 22 Johnny Seven [Fetto], American actor (Ironside, Amy Prentiss), dies at 83
  • Jan 24 Pernell Roberts, American actor (Bonanza- "Adam"; Trapper John, M.D.), dies at 81
  • Jan 24 Robert Mosbacher, American businessman, yachtsman and political appointee (US Secretary of Commerce, 1989-92), dies of pancreatic cancer at 82
  • Jan 25 Ali Hasan al-Majid aka Chemical Ali, Iraqi defense minister and military commander (b. 1941)
  • Jan 25 Charles Mathias Jr., American Republican politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland), dies at 87
  • Jan 26 Louis Auchincloss, American lawyer and novelist (Watchfires), dies at 92

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

Jan 27 American historian and activist (A People's History of the United States), dies of a heart attack at 87

J. D. Salinger (1919-2010)

Jan 27 American novelist (The Catcher in the Rye), dies at 91

  • Jan 27 Zelda Rubinstein, American actress (b. 1933)

Tom Brookshier (1931-2010)

Jan 29 American football defensive end (Philadelphia Eagles) and broadcaster (CBS), dies of cancer at 78

  • Jan 31 Jürg Baur, German composer, dies at 91