1649

England’s King Charles I was executed for high treason.

1933

Adolf Hitler was named chancellor of Germany.

1945

During World War II, a Soviet submarine torpedoed the German ship MV Wilhelm Gustloff in the Baltic Sea, killing over 9,000, most of them war refugees; roughly 1,000 people survived.

1948

Indian political and spiritual leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, was shot and killed in New Delhi by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.

1969

The Beatles staged an unannounced concert atop Apple headquarters in London that would be their last public performance.

2020

Health officials reported the first known case in which the new coronavirus was spread from one person to another in the United States.

Birthdays

Actor Gene Hackman is 95. Actor Vanessa Redgrave is 88. Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is 84. Musician Phil Collins is 74. Golf Hall of Famer Curtis Strange is 70. Actor Ann Dowd (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) is 69. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson is 53. Actor Christian Bale is 51. Actor Olivia Colman is 51. Actor Wilmer Valderrama (“That ‘70s Show”) is 45. Rapper-musician Kid Cudi is 41.