Holidays Calendar for January 22, 2020
Plurinational State Foundation Day (Día del Estado Plurinacional) is a public holiday in Bolivia celebrated on January 22. It has been celebrated since 2010.
Customs Officers’ Day, also known as Customs Officials’ Day, is one of the official professional holidays in Tajikistan established by the country’s Law on Holidays. It is celebrated annually on January 22 to commemorate the founding anniversary of the Customs Service of Tajikistan.
On the fourth Wednesday of January, take a photo of your bookshelf and post it on social media because it is Library Shelfie Day. This amazing holiday was created to encourage book lovers share their favorite books and promote reading.
Ukraine celebrates Unity Day on January 22 each year. It is an official observance, but it is not a public holiday.
January 22 is National Blonde Brownie Day. A blonde brownie, also known as a blondie, is a classic butterscotch treat that comes in different flavors.
Some people prefer it when their food tastes mild, and some like it hot. If you belong to the latter group, you absolutely should celebrate National Hot Sauce Day on January 22. This amazing holiday is dedicated to all varieties of hot sauce that you can think of.
January 22 is a great day to wear your favorite polka dot dress because it is National Polka Dot Day. This holiday was created to celebrate one of the most iconic patterns and to pay homage to Minnie Mouse, a Disney character who wears a recognizable polka-dotted dress.
Some countries have a single Grandparents' Day to celebrate both grandfathers and grandmothers, but Poland has two separate holidays. Grandmother's Day in Poland is celebrated on January 21, and Grandfather's Day (Dzień Dziadka) is observed a day later, on January 22.
Festivals on January 22, 2020
- London Art Fair in London, United Kingdom
- Cairo International Book Fair in Cairo, Egypt
- Temple Bar TradFest in Dublin, Ireland
- Kiwiburn in Hunterville, New Zealand
- Solothurn Film Festival in Solothurn, Switzerland
- International Film Festival Rotterdam in Rotterdam, Netherlands
- International Theatre Festival of Kerala in Thrissur, India
- Carnival of Limoux in Limoux, France
- Hoggetowne Medieval Faire in Gainesville, USA
- Manfredonia Carnival in Manfredonia, Italy
- Massafra Carnival in Massafra, Italy
- Rijeka Carnival in Rijeka, Croatia
- Montreal International Auto Show in Montreal, Canada
- Fringe World in Perth, Australia
- Patras Carnival in Patras, Greece
This Day in History
- 2018 Died: Ursula K. Le Guin, American novelist who worked mainly in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Her works often depicted futuristic or imaginary alternative worlds in politics, the natural environment, gender, religion, sexuality, and ethnography.
- 2008 Died: Heath Ledger, Australian actor and director, known for the films 10 Things I Hate About You, The Patriot, Brokeback Mountain, The Dark Knight, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
- 1993 Died: Kōbō Abe, Japanese writer, photographer, playwright and inventor. Abe is known for this surreal and often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society, that is why often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia.
- 1990 Died: David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-inventor of the microphone.
- 1984 The Apple Macintosh was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous "1984" television commercial. The computer mouse and the graphical user interface were popularized by this computer.
- 1981 Born: Ben Moody, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor. He is best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of Evanescence from 1995 to 2003.
- 1973 Died: Lyndon B. Johnson, American politician, the 36th President of the United Sates.
- 1973 A chartered Boeing 707 exploded upon landing at Kano Airport, Nigeria, killing 176.
- 1973 Elective abortion was legalized in all 50 states by the decision of the Supreme Court of the United Sates.
- 1971 Died: Harry Frank Guggenheim, American businessman and publisher, the co-founder of Newsday (a daily newspaper that primarily serves parts of Long Island) in 1940.
- 1971 The Singapore Declaration was issued. This is one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1968 Apollo 5 lifted off carrying the first Lunar module into space.
- 1965 Born: Steven Adler, American musician. He is best known as the former drummer and co-songwriter of Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s.
- 1959 Born: Linda Blair, American actress and activist who came to prominence with her portrayal of Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist, which established her as a scream queen.
- 1957 George P. Metesky, also known as the New York City "Mad Bomber", was arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was charged with planting more than 30 bombs.
- 1953 Born: Jim Jarmusch, American film director and screenwriter. His best known films include Stranger Than Paradise, Mystery Train, Coffee and Cigarettes, Only Lovers Left Alive, and more.
- 1951 Died: Karl Nessler, German-American hairdresser, known as the inventor of the permanent wave.
- 1946 The Central Intelligence Group was created. The Group was the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency.
- 1940 Born: John Hurt, English actor whose career spanned over five decades. He received numerous awards and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2015 for his services to drama.
- 1931 Born: Sam Cooke, American singer and songwriter, generally considered among the greatest of all time. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive voice and importance within popular music.
- 1927 Died: James Ford Rhodes, American historian and author. Rhodes earned a fortune in the iron, coal and steel industries, but retired from business. He devoted his life to historical research and published an eight-volume history of the U.S beginning in 1850.
- 1927 The world's first live radio commentary of a football match between Arsenal F.C and Sheffield Untied at Highbury was given by Teddy Wakelam.
- 1924 Born: Ortvin Sarapu, New Zealand chess player, sometimes known as "Mr Chess". Sarapu won or shared the New Zealand Chess Championship 20 times from 1952 to 1990.
- 1922 Died: Pope Benedict XV. He is known for his peace efforts during World War I, which overshadowed his pontificate. His diplomatic efforts during the war attributed to an increase of papal prestige and served as a model to the peace efforts of Pius XII (World War II), Paul VI (Vietnam War) and John Paul II (War in Iraq).
- 1915 Over 600 were killed in a railroad incident in Guadalajara, Mexico. A train plunged off the tracks into a deep canyon.
- 1906 SS Valencia, an iron-hulled passenger steamer, ran aground on rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, killing over 130 people.
- 1901 Died: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, the last British monarch of the House of Hanover.
- 1879 Born: Francis Picabia, French painter and poet, who is associated with Cubism. He was one of the earliest and major figures of the Dada movement in the U.S. and France.
- 1875 Born: D. W. Griffith, American director, producer, and screenwriter. Griffith is remembered as the director of the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation, which is considered the very first blockbuster.
- 1858 Born: Beatrice Webb, English economist and sociologist. She was the co-founder of the London School of Economics and Political Science and played a crucial role in forming the Fabian Society.
- 1840 Died: Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German anthropologist, who was one of the first to explore the study of mankind as an aspect of natural history. He is also known for his teachings in comparative anatomy.
- 1788 Born: Lord Byron, English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Don Juan, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, She Walks in Beauty are Byron's best-known works.
- 1561 Born: Francis Bacon, English philosopher. Bacon is called the father of empiricism and is known for establishing and popularizing inductive methodologies for scientific inquiry, often called the Baconian method, or simply the scientific method.