Jan 5 in History

1531 — Pope Clemens VII forbids Henry VIII to re-marry under penalty of excommunication. Henry has his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled and marries Anne Boleyn (and another four wives). He initiates the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority.

1592 — Shah Jahan (Shahab-ud-din Muhammad Khurram), fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire (162858), is born in Lahore. His reign represents the height of Mughal architecture, most notably the Taj Mahal in Agra, Upper Pradesh, commissioned in honour of his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died on June 17 1631 giving birth the their 14th child

1875 — The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated in Paris.

1876 — Konrad Adenauer, first chancellor of postWorld War 2 West Germany (September 15 1949 to October 11 1963), is born in Cologne, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire. (“In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity.”)

1912 — The sixth All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party opens in Prague. In the course of the conference, Vladimir Lenin and his supporters break away and form their own Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks).

1919 — The German Workers’ Party is formed. It lasts until February 24 1920 when it is replaced by the National Socialist German Workers’ (Nazi) Party.

1941 — Amy Johnson, 37, the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia and who made two record-breaking solo flights to South Africa (in July 1932 and May 1936), disappears after bailing out of her plane over the Thames Estuary near Herne. Her body is never recovered.

1946 — Diane Keaton, actress (“Annie Hall”, “The Little Drummer Girl”), is born in Los Angeles.

1970 — The TV soap opera “All My Children” (created by Agnes Nixon) premieres on ABC. Its final episode is aired on September 23 2011, with Susan Lucci (as the popular character Erica Kane) the one constant in 4,342 episodes.

1974 — The warmest reliably measured temperature within the Antarctic Circle, 15°C, is recorded at New Zealand’s Vanda Station.

1976 — The SABC’s nationwide television service starts. Experimental broadcasts in the main cities began on May 5 1975.

1986 — Deepika Padukone, Indian actress, is born in Copenhagen, Denmark.