January facts

While investigating facts about January, I found out little known, but curios details like:

When his eight years as President of the United States ended on January 20, 1953, private citizen Harry Truman took the train home to Independence, Missouri, mingling with other passengers along the way. He had no secret service protection. His only income was an Army pension.

"on January 13, 1958, Klansmen burned a cross on the lawn of a Lumbee American Indian woman in the town of St. Pauls, North Carolina as "a warning" because she was dating a white man." At their next rally, a group of 500 armed Lumbee encircled the klansmen and opened fire.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about January I managed to collect.

1. Reggie Miller, NBA Hall of Famer, couldn't escape his older sister Cheryl's shadow while in high school. On January 26, 1982, he scored a career high 40 points. He tried bragging about it on the car ride home, only to find out Cheryl scored 105 points and broken 8 national records!

2. In its January 1988 issue, Cosmopolitan ran a feature claiming that women had almost no reason to worry about contracting HIV. The piece claimed that unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man did not put women at risk of infection and went on to state that "most heterosexuals are not at risk".

3. Sam LLoyd, or Ted from Scrubs, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in january which had metastasized from his lungs. Further scans showed that the cancer was also in his liver, spine, and jaw. The news just came weeks after he and his wife received their first child.

4. As a result of World War II the population of London fell so dramatically that the city didn't return to its pre-war population level until January 2015.

5. The Hollywood sign was modified to read 'Hollyweed' after some pranksters added $50 of fabric to it. On January the 1st, 1976

6. When the French Navy officially ceased using Morse Code on January 31st, 1997, the final message they transmitted was "Calling all. This is our last cry before our eternal silence."

7. René Carmille, a punched-card computer expert and French double agent who is believed to have saved thousands of lives by sabotaging Nazi efforts to identify Jewish citizens. He eventually was found out, withstood torture, and sent to a concentration camp where he died in January of 1945.

8. London only reached its pre-WW2 population level in January, 2015.

9. There are 1,311 people who live in Verkhoyansk, Russia, a town with an average temperature of -45C (-50F) in January. In 2012, the town was attacked by a pack of 400 wolves.

10. In 2038, we will have another Y2K-style software issue with dates, as 32 bit software can't represent time past Tuesday, 19 January 2038. Times beyond that will be stored internally as a negative number, which these systems will interpret as Friday, 13 December 1901

January data charts

For your convenience take a look at January figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

What is true about january?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

In January 2018, Belgium and the Netherlands swapped land to change their national borders. Belgium's foreign minister noted that "the agreement shows that borders can also be exchanged peacefully."

London only reached its pre-WW2 population level in January, 2015. - source

Martin Luther King Jr's assassin, James Earl Ray was once erroneously honoured during a parade which intended to praise the actor James Earl Jones. Lauderdale, Florida accidentally created a plaque in January 2002 which read 'Thanks James Earl Ray for keeping the dream alive'. - source

John Joe Gray, who has been wanted by Texas police since January 2000, but they're not willing to fight his religious separatist group in order to arrest him

On January 22, 1943, the temperature in Spearfish, South Dakota, changed from -4°F to 45°F in just two minutes, setting a world record. This was caused by a Chinook wind, which increased the temperature eventually up to 54°F before dying down, dropping the temperature back to -4°F. - source

David Bowie holds the world record for number of music video plays over a 24-hour period with 51 million plays, occurring January 11th, 2016, the day after his death.

Someone took all the details from the Ice Cube song Today Was a Good Day to figure out which day it took place on and the song took place on January 20th, 1992.

Abraham Lee Shakespeare was an American casual laborer who won a $30 million lottery jackpot, receiving $17 million in 2006. In 2009, his family declared him missing, and in January 2010 his body was found buried under a concrete slab in the backyard of an acquaintance.

Jay-Z released "Glory" on January 9, 2012, a song dedicated to his first child, Blue Ivy Carter. Because Blue's cries were included at the end of the song and she was officially credited on the song as "B.I.C", at two days old she became the youngest person ever to appear on a Billboard chart.

In January 1997, the capitol of Ghana rioted over accusations of penis snatching wizards. Several people were killed by mobs who accused them of using magic handshakes to kidnap penises and hold them for ransom.

Mickey Mouse is set to become public domain on January 1, 2024

January infographics

Beautiful visual representation of January numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.