American tourists Tom and Eileen Lonergan were unintentionally left behind by a scuba diving boat off the coast of North Queensland on January 25, 1998.
It took two days for the boat crew to realise they had left the pair behind in the Coral Sea.
In June that year, a diver's slate washed ashore reading: "Monday Jan 26; 1998 08am. To anyone who can help us: We have been abandoned on A[gin]court Reef by MV Outer Edge 25 Jan 1998 3pm. Please help to rescue us before we die. Help!!!"
Their bodies were never found though much of their gear was recovered.
It is believed they removed their buoyant diving outfits out of delirium from dehydration, and drowned.
Professional Mexican wrestler Juana Barraza was arrested for the murder of an 82-year-old woman on January 25, 2006.
She was then linked to as many as 40 murders of elderly women in Mexico City, making her one of the world's worst serial killers.
The arrest came after Barraza was caught fleeing the home of her latest victim. Up until that point, police had believed the serial killer was a transvestite dressing up as a woman to trick the targets.
Barraza, who wrestled under the name The Lady of Silence, is now serving a 759-year sentence.
Inspired by the book Around the World in 80 Days, renowned journalist Nellie Bly embarked on a round-the-world voyage.
With two days warning and everything she took with her packed into a small bag, Bly bested the fictional record.
She arrived back in New York on January 25, 1890, after 72 days.
Along the way, Bly met Jules Verne, visited a leper colony and bought a monkey.
On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter's Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush.
Not sure of what he found, he described it in a letter as "a kind of mettle...looks like gold".
The discovery of gold it triggered a mass influx to California from other parts of the US and from all over the world.
The mass migration of speculators drove California's population up from 15,000 to more than 300,000 by 1854.
The US government confirmed on January 23, 1974, that a peace agreement had been signed to end fighting in the Vietnam War.
Statements issued simultaneously by US and North Vietnamese officials confirmed the peace deal was signed in Paris, bringing to an end America's longest war.
An international force made up of troops from Canada, Poland, Hungary and Indonesia was deployed to monitor the ceasefire.
British traitor Kim Philby defected to the Soviet Union on January 23, 1962, in a major blow for western intelligence services.
Philby, a high-ranking member of the UK secret service, had been suspected for years of being a Russian spy.
He resigned in 1951 under suspicion that he had tipped off two other double agents, who fled to Moscow.
Philby died in Russia in 1988.
One of the most talked-about television commercials debuts during the Super Bowl on January 22, 1984.
Apple's "1984" ad was a dramatic high-budget minute directed by Ridley Scott to promote the upcoming Macintosh computer.
The dystopian ad featured a brightly dressed woman smashing a screen featuring a Big Brother-like character speaking.
The product itself, the Macintosh computer, was not shown in the commercial.
As a result, many viewers had no idea what it was advertising.
As influential as the commercial was, the Apple board hated it, and chairman Steve Jobs was forced out of the company the following year.
With little more than spears and cow-hide shields, a Zulu army of about 20,000 soldiers overwhelms a much better armed contingent of the British army on January 22, 1879.
The British army was completely overwhelmed at the Battle of Isandlwana, despite fighting with rifles against spears.
Later that day, about 150 British and colonial troops successfully defended the mission station of Rorke's Drift against an army of 3000 Zulu warriors.
Despite a clear numerical advantage, the undersupplied Zulus withdrew the next day.
Though both battles took place on the same day, the much smaller engagement of Rorke's Drift was memorialised in history as a celebration of British heroism and tenacity.
A new era in air travel began on January 21, 1976, when the supersonic Concorde passenger jet made its first commercial flight.
The aircraft's two main operators, British Airways and Air France, launched their services simultaneously from London and Paris respectively.
The Concorde was powered by advanced engine technology and had a sleek fuselage enabling it to break speed records.
The plane was also used to transport cargo including human organs and diamonds.
But Concorde's great speed also came with challenges.
A major blow was the decision by transport regulators that said it could not fly at its top speed over land due to the sonic boom trailing behind the aircraft.
This meant that it was mostly limited to routes over water, mainly the Trans Atlantic crossings.
In July 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed near Paris, killing all 100 passengers, nine crew and four people on the ground.
The aircraft were retired three years la
John McEnroe becomes the first player ever to be ejected from the Australian Open on January 21, 1990.
The star was booted out in his fourth round match after swearing at the umpire, supervisor and referee, intimidating a lineswoman and smashing a racquet.
After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine on January 21, 1793.
"I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France," the king said before being beheaded.
Doctor Bertrand Dawson administers a fatal dose of morphine and cocaine in order to kill George V before midnight on January 20, 1936.
The act of regicide was carried out for a bizarre reason – the doctor believed the death of the king should not be first announced in the lurid afternoon tabloids.
Instead the lethal injection was given at 11pm, so the king's death would take place before The Times' deadline.
Dr Dawson did not consult the king, the queen or the Prince of Wales before the act of euthanasia.
The king's last words as he was administered a sedative were: "God damn you."
Dr Dawson's actions did not become known until his diaries were made public in the 1980s, decades after his death.
Notorious bushranger Andrew George Scott, aka Captain Moonlite, is hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol on January 20, 1880.
Scott had been captured near Wagga Wagga after a police shootout that killed his accomplice and apparent lover James Nesbitt.
"My dying wish is to be buried beside my beloved James Nesbitt, the man with whom I was united by every tie which could bind human friendship, we were one in hopes, in heart and soul and this unity lasted until he died in my arms," Scott said before he was hanged.
His wish would not be granted until 1995, when his remains were exhumed and moved to Nesbitt's grave in Gundagai.