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4713 BCE The first Julian Day

The Julian day or Julian day number (JDN) is the number of days that have elapsed since 12 noon Greenwich Mean Time (UT or TT) on Monday, January 1, 4713 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar. Astronomers and chronologists use a system of numbering days called Julian days or Julian day numbers – the term has no connection with the calendar of Julius Caesar which was introduced on this day in 46 BCE. Yup, it's confusing all right.

It was developed by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1554 - 1609); no one knows why he chose to start his system from January 1, 4713 BCE, nor why he named it after his father, Julius Caesar Scaliger (April 23, 1484 - October 21, 1558).

Neil Armstrong walked on the moon on Julian Day 2,440,423 (July 20, 1969 in US time, July 21 in Universal Time).

Try our Julian day Number and Civil Date Calculator (pop-up)

More on Scaliger    The Julian and Gregorian Calendars    NASA Gregorian-Julian date conversion page

Julian Day and Civil Date calculator    U.S. Naval Observatory Time Service article

Outlines of Astronomy by John Herschel    Calendrica

International Astronomical Union Resolution 1B: On the Use of Julian Dates

Another Julian Day calculator with conversions to many other calendars valid from January 1, 100 proleptic Gregorian calendar

Open-source date conversion software

193 BCE A temple to Vediovis (Veiovis; Veive), an old Italian or Etruscan deity, was dedicated in Rome between the two peaks of the Capitoline Hill.

153 BCE This day became the commencement of the Roman Civil year, when the Consuls entered office. This had previously occurred on March 15.

45 BCE The Julian calendar first took effect.

Julius Caesar introduced a new calendar and it was so successful it was used in Europe until Pope Gregory XIII introduced his updated version in 1582. In fact, England used the Julian calendar until 1752, and the Soviet Union did not discard it until 1918.

30 BCE The first day of the 'Era of Actium', according to 19^th- Century scholars.

1 CE Commencement of the Christian Era; first day of the first millennium.

193 CE Pertinax became emperor of Rome.

404 The last known gladiator competition in Rome took place.

897 (Unknown date in January) the Cadaver Synod (also called the Cadaver Trial or, in Latin, the Synodus Horrenda): the name commonly given to the posthumous ecclesiastical trial of Pope Formosus, held in Rome. During the proceedings, the decomposing body of Formosus, who had been dead for nine months, was dressed in his papal vestments and seated on a throne while his successor, Pope Stephen VII, read the charges against him and conducted the trial. The Cadaver Synod is remembered as one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of the medieval Roman Catholic papacy.

Source: Wikipedia

"After a little while, the corpse was dragged out of the earth and hurled into the Tiber.

"A hermit retrieved the remains and gave the pope a decent burial. Pope John IX (898-900) declared the actions of the cadaver synod annulled. Its acts were burned, and a declaration made that no posthumous trials were ever too be held again. Stephen, meanwhile, had fallen from power, was stripped of his office and strangled while in prison."
Source: The Pope Encyclopedia

1001 First day of the second millennium.

1254 St Alban's Abbey, England, was over-flown by a large, luminous object described as a ship, as recorded by Matthew of Paris. Monks at saw in the night sky "a kind of large ship elegantly shaped and well-equipped and of marvellous colour".

UFOs from the Past    UFOs at Wikipedia

1308 In order to fight the Austrian oppressors of their native Switzerland, the great Swiss patriot, William Tell, formed a fighting band with some countrymen.

"(11 April 2000, Kentucky, USA) Larry and his friend Silas decided to reenact the William Tell scene where the famous archer is forced to test his prowess by shooting an apple off his son's head. But instead of apples, they used a beer can, which was closer to hand. You might suspect that the pair were teenagers, but in fact they were grown men of 47. Larry put the beer can on his head and urged Silas to shoot. But Silas missed the can, fatally wounding his lifelong friend Larry on Tuesday night. Authorities said the men had been drinking, and that the shooting was not prompted by an earlier altercation in the parking lot."   Source

1438 Albert II of Habsburg was crowned King of Hungary.

1600 Scotland began using the Julian calendar.

1600 The British East India Company was given its charter by Queen Elizabeth I.

1622 In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 was declared by the Pope as the first day of the year, instead of, for example, March 25 in England.

1631 Death of Thomas Hobson (b. 1544?), the carrier from Cambridge, England who only rented out horses in the strict order which he approved, giving rise to the expression "Hobson's choice" - it is this choice and no other. It was the poet John Milton who popularised both Hobson and the phrase, twice commemorating him in epitaphs, and in issue 509 of Addison and Steele's 'Spectator' (1712). See also the Australian expression, 'Buckley's (and none)'.

1651 Charles II was crowned King of of the Scots, the last King crowned at Scone, Scotland.

1660 General Monk commenced his march from Scotland to London. This march helped to bring about the Restoration. His army of six or seven thousand men set out from the village of Coldstream, Berwickshire, a name later given to the famous regiment, the Coldstream Guards.

1660 Diarist Samuel Pepys began the work for which he is remembered, his daily journal, a project he continued until May 31, 1669.

1673 Regular mail delivery began between New York and Boston.

1700 Russia began using the Julian calendar.

1701 Swiss Protestants abolished the Julian calendar, replacing it with the Gregorian.

1707 John V was crowned King of Portugal

1738 Bouvet Island was discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.

1766 'The Old Pretender', James Francis Edward Stuart, father of Bonnie Prince Charlie, died.

1785 London publisher John Walter established the first issue of Daily Universal Register, three years later naming The Times.

1788 The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.

1789 Today was a public holiday in New South Wales, according to David Collins, the Judge Advocate in the new colony.

1797 Albany replaced New York City as the capital of New York.

1800 Scotland: Welsh-born utopian socialist Robert Owen (1771 - 1858) assumed control of the mills at New Lanark.  

Owen was an industrialist who became an influential social reformer. New Lanark, with its social and welfare programmes, epitomised his utopian socialism.

Some 2,000 people lived at New Lanark, many from the poorhouses of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Although not the grimmest of mills by far, Owen found the conditions unsatisfactory and resolved to improve the workers' lot. He paid particular attention to the needs of the 500 or so children living and working at the mills, and opened the first infants' school in Britain in 1816.

Early progressives in the Book of Days

1801 Legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland was completed to form United Kingdom.

1801 The first known asteroid, 1 Ceres, was discovered by Sicilian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi.

1804 French rule ended in Haiti: Haiti became the first Latin American colony to declare its independence from its European master, following an eleven-year slave rebellion.  

1808 Importation of slaves into the United States was banned.

1810 Australia: Major General Lachlan Macquarie took up office as the fifth Governor of New South Wales.

1812 Luddite property attacks took place on the Notts/ Derbyshire border, UK.

1814 London's great Frost Fair

Making the most of the frozen River Thames, Londoners created a 'Frost Fair' on the ice. The day before, the ice on the Thames had grown so thick that people dared to walk over it. On New Year's Day, fortunately a holiday, it seems the whole of London emerged to enjoy the stalls being set up on the ice. One enterprising marketeer put a sheep on a spit, selling what he advertised as 'Lapland Mutton'. Even a printer set up shop on the frozen river, selling cards. There were also Frost Fairs in 1789 and 1740, and in early 1684 the river was frozen for seven weeks.

1818 Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus was published.

1821 Missouri, USA, began taxing bachelors.

1830 Four hotels in Fremantle became Western Australia's first licensed premises.

1831 US: First issue of The Liberator, William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist paper.

1832 First meeting of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, USA.

1838 Australia: Melbourne's Advertiser began publication.

1840 The first ten-pin bowling tournament was held, USA.

1842 Afghan guerrillas defeated the British imperial army at Kabul.

1845 The Australian Mutual Provident (AMP) Society began in Sydney.

1850 Australians now had their own adhesive postage stamps with the issue of the one penny crimson lake 'Sydney View'. Standard postage was introduced at the same time: a penny for a letter locally, twopence for a letter interstate, and threepence for an overseas letter.

1853 First practical fire engine (horse-drawn) in US entered service.

1855 Australia: The Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) Ltd was established, in Sydney.

1856 Queen Victoria approved a petition to rename Van Diemen's Land, Tasmania, in honour of Dutch navigator Abel Tasman.

1861 Porfirio Diaz conquered Mexico City.

1863 American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation took effect.

1863 USA: The first claim under the Homestead Act was made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.

1877 Britain's Queen Victoria became Empress of India.

1880 Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805 - 1894) began French construction of the Panama Canal.

1881 Postal orders were first issued in Britain.

1889 The US State of New York made a great leap forward with the adoption of the electric chair for capital punishment. On June 4 the previous year, the New York Legislature had passed a law establishing electrocution as the state's method of execution.

"... the world's first electrical execution law went into full effect. Westinghouse protested and refused to sell any AC generators directly to the New York State prison authorities. Edison and Brown found a way around Westinghouse and provided the AC generators needed for the first working electric chairs. Westinghouse funded the appeals for those first few souls sentenced to death by electrocution, the appeals were made on the grounds that 'electrocution was cruel and unusual punishment.' Edison and Brown both testified for the state that execution was a quick and painless form of death. The State of New York won the appeals. For many years people referred to the process of being electrocuted in the chair as being 'Westinghoused'."   Source

"Popular myth has it that Edison invented the electric chair, despite being against capital punishment, solely as a means of impressing the public that alternating current was more dangerous than direct current, and would therefore be the logical choice for electrocutions. In fact, the chair was primarily invented by a few of his employees, in particular Harold P. Brown, working at Menlo Park (though Edison certainly monitored their operations)."   Source: Wikipedia

1889 Friedrich Nietzsche had a nervous breakdown after seeing a horse whipped by a cab driver.

1892 Ellis Island opened to begin accepting immigrants to the United States.

1893 Japan began using the Gregorian calendar.

1894 The Manchester Ship Canal, England, was officially opened to traffic.

1898 New York City annexed land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, were joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

1899 Spanish rule ended in Cuba.

1901 Federation: The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federated as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton became first Prime Minister.

Australia's first Governor-General, John Hope, made the proclamation at Centennial Park, Sydney. The New South Wales Protectionist Party leader, Edmund Barton (1849 - 1920), became the nation's first prime minister.

When Australian States achieved political reforms:

State since 1901	Vote for all adult males	Vote for women	Secret Ballot	Triennial Parliaments	Payment of Members
NSW	1858	1902	1858	1874	1889
Vic	1857	1908	1856	1859	1870
SA	1856	1894	1856	1856	1887
Tas	1900	1903	1858	1891	1890
Qld	1872	1905	1859	1890	1886
WA	1893	1899	1877	1900	1900

Source: NSW Government Board of Studies

Take a look at Australia's Constitution. Where is any word derived from the verb 'to lead'? If you find one, let me know please.

Do a Search and Find on words derived from the verb 'to represent' and what will emerge is a total of 62 words that describe what our elected politicians are supposed to do for us.

Leaders need followers. They won't be getting me – will they get you?

Constitution of Australia (PDF file)    Federation of Australia

Transcript of a very good ABC radio documentary on Federation

Records of the Australasian Federal Conventions of the 1890s

Related: Henry Parkes in the Book of Days; Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson

On May 9 of 1901, the Duke of York (later King George V) opened the First Commonwealth Parliament in the temporary capital (Melbourne). It was filmed by the Salvation Army's Limelight Department, producing what is arguably the world's first documentary film.

"In May 1901, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York, (later King George V and Queen Mary) came to Melbourne to open the first Federal Parliament. The royal visit confirmed Australia's links with Britain, and transformed a potentially dull political event into a grand ceremonial and festive occasion."   Source   Pictures   Chronology of the Australian Federation Movement, 1883 - 1901   More    More

1901 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA: The first official Mummers Parade was held.

1904 Earl Russell was issued the first British motor vehicle registration plate, A1, for his 'Napier'.

1905 Russia relinquished Port Arthur to the Japanese.

1905 In Italy, Belgian Henri Oedenkoven founded the world's first vegetarian organisation.

1907 The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology was founded, Melbourne, Australia.

1908 For the first time, a ball was dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at 12:00 am.

1909 When French author, Valentin-Louis-Georges-Eugène-Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922), on about this date, dipped a piece of toast in his tea, the flavour brought back a rush of childhood memories that became the basis for the famous 'madeleine' episode in Swann's Way.

From this evolved the structure of the seven-volume, fourteen-year, À la recherche du temps perdu (lit. 'In Search of Lost Time', translated as 'Remembrance of Things Past'):

And as soon as I had recognized the taste of the piece of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-blossom which my aunt used to give me (although I did not yet know and must long postpone the discovery of why this memory made me so happy) immediately the old grey house upon the street, where her room was, rose up like a stage set to attach itself to the little pavilion opening on to the garden which had been built out behind it for my parents (the isolated segment which until that moment had been all that I could see); and with the house the town, from morning to night and in all weathers, the Square where I used to be sent before lunch, the streets along which I used to run errands, the country roads we took when it was fine ...

1909 The United Kingdom instituted old age pensions: five shillings per week to citizens more than 70 years of age.

1911 Opening in New York of a 'Modern School' founded by the Ferrer Association, with the assistance of anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.

1913 Film censorship began in Britain.

1913 Australia: The streets of Hobart, Tasmania were illuminated by electricity for the first time.

1915 Two Turks attacked a New Year's Day picnic train near Broken Hill, NSW; two men were killed and six injured in the ensuing battle.

1927 The BBC was constituted, UK.

1930 Australia: A Sydney to Brisbane air service began, provided by Australian National Airlines, owned by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.

1934 Two days of heavy rain flooded the Los Angeles Basin, killing 45.

1937 Anastasio Somoza became President of Nicaragua.

1939 The Vienna New Year's Concert was first held.

1942 The Declaration by the United Nations was signed by representatives of twenty-six nations.

1947 The British government nationalised the coal industry.

1947 Britain stopped minting silver money, switching instead to cupro-nickel 'ersatz' silver. Maundy money remained silver-based.

1948 British railways were nationalised by Clement Attlee's Labor government, to form British Rail.

1948 Enrico De Nicola formally became President of the Italian Republic, but refused to be a candidate for the first constitutional election the following May.

1949 A UN cease-fire was ordered to operate in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stopped accordingly.

1950 American cowboy star Hopalong Cassidy made his debut on radio.

1953 USA: American country singer Hank Williams died in the back of his Cadillac.

1955 The USA began financial aid to South Vietnam.

1956 The Republic of the Sudan achieved independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1958 The European Economic Community came into being. The member states were France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

1960 The Republic of Cameroon achieved independence from France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1961 The British farthing ceased to be legal tender.

1961 'The Pill' – the oral contraceptive tablet – was launched in Britain.

1962 John, Paul, George and Ringo – The Beatles – were rejected for signing by Dick Rowe at Decca Records, London. Rowe signed instead Brian Poole and The Tremeloes.

Beatles Trivia    Wilson's Almanac Book of Days hip list

1963 The Bogle-Chandler case: One of Australia's most famous mysteries, involving murder, sex, swingers and suggestions of international espionage.

The semi-dressed bodies of CSIRO scientist, former Rhodes Scholar Dr Gilbert Bogle and Margaret Chandler were discovered by youths searching for golf balls, in bush at Lane Cove National Park on the banks of the Lane Cover River, Sydney. Bogle was involved in sexual relationships with people other than his wife, having as many as five affairs at any one time. Margaret Chandler was also married, to Mr Geoffrey Chandler who also worked at the CSIRO and who at a recent Christmas party had sanctioned his wife's desire to have an affair with Dr Bogle.

Both had last been seen alive at a New Year's Eve party in the home of Ken Nash (who also worked at the CSIRO) in Waratah Street, Chatswood. Chandler left the party and drove to another party in the suburb of Balmain where he met Pam Logan, with whom he was having an affair.

From Wikipedia: Dr Bogle's body was discovered first, by two youths searching for golf balls. They saw his body and presumed him to be drunk, but when they returned an hour later to find that he hadn't moved and that his face had turned blue, they went to fetch help.

When police arrived at the scene, they discovered that Bogle's body was half-undressed. Somebody had placed his clothes on him in such a way that he appeared to be dressed, but wasn't.

Shortly after this, Mrs Chandler's body was discovered a short distance away. She was also in a state of undress, her body having been covered with pieces of cardboard. It was initially believed that she had covered first Bogle's body and then her own, but closer examination suggested that someone had covered her body as well.

At the scene were signs of vomit and excreta. Unfortunately, forensic examination of the bodies was delayed for 36 hours because New Year's Day was a public holiday. When forensic examination did take place, no traces of any poison could be found.

The mystery of the reasons for their death and even its cause has never been solved, although rumours persist about a connection with wife-swapping as well as national security agencies. In 1989, long-preserved heart tissues from both Bogle and Chandler had new forensic techniques applied to them, yielding evidence of the presence of LSD in their bodies. The Bogle-Chandler mystery remains one of the nation's most famous and enduring unsolved crimes. Recently it has been suggested the cause of death was the gas hydrogen sulphide, which may have come from sewage and factory wastes pumped into the Lane Cove River. A documentary broadcast on ABC Television on September 7, 2006 established it as being perhaps the most likely cause of death, but it had been suggested and dismissed as early as 1971.