January 1937

The following events occurred in January 1937:

January 1, 1937 (Friday)

*In retaliation for the ''Palos'' incident of the previous week, the German cruiser ''Königsberg'' forced the Spanish steamer ''Soton'' aground near Santander while the '' Graf Spee'' stopped another steamer, the ''Aragon'', and forced it to change course to a Nationalist-held port. The Spanish government called Germany's recent naval actions "acts of aggression and war." Germany sent a note offering to release the ''Aragon'' and cease attacks on Spanish shipping as soon as restitution was made for the loss of cargo of the ''Palos'', a proposal which Spain rejected.
*The Public Order Act 1936 went into effect in the United Kingdom, banning the wearing of political uniforms and empowering the police to stop political marches when there is risk of disorder. The Act, given royal assent on December 18, was aimed at the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, whose black shirt uniforms had been modeled after those of the Fascist Party of Italy.
*General Anastasio Somoza García was inaugurated as the 21st President of Nicaragua in a colorful ceremony on the parade grounds at the foot of Loma Hill in Managua. beginning 19 years of rule that would last until his assassination in 1956, and control of Nicaragua by the Somoza family until 1979. Somoza, commander of the Nicaraguan National Guard, succeeded Carlos Alberto Brenes, whom he had installed after leading a military coup d'etat on June 9, and winning a fraudulent election on December 8.
* Alan Turing's seminal 1936 paper on the principles of modern computing was published, titled ''On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem'', and presenting the concept of a ''Universal Turing Machine''.
*In American college football, with the Associated Press having issued its final rankings on November 30, the #3 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers beat the #5 ranked Washington Huskies, 21 to 0, in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The #2 ranked LSU Tigers lost to the Santa Clara Broncos, 21-14 in the Sugar Bowl. Because the Big Ten Conference did not allow its members to play in postseason bowl games, the #1 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (who had beaten the Washington Huskies in their season opener) remained idle.
*The first Cotton Bowl was played in Dallas as the highest ranked team in Texas, the TCU Horned Frogs beat the Marquette Golden Avalanche 16–6.
*Born:
** Sayed Amjad Hussain, Pakistani-born American cardiothoracic surgeon who developed the pleuroperitoneal shunt and a special endotracheal tube; in Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, British India (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan)
** Porter W. Anderson Jr., American microbiologist known for developing a vaccine against bacterial meningitis from the influenza virus H. influenzae B.
**Vinod Kumar Shukla, Indian Hindi novelist; in Rajnandgaon, princely state of Nangaon, British India (now in Chhattisgarh state of India)
** Chuck Davis, African-American choreographer and dancer who founded DanceAfrica, the Chuck Davis Dance Company, and the African American Dance Ensemble; in Raleigh, North Carolina (d. 2017)
** Matt Robinson, African-American TV actor known for portraying one of the human characters on the first seasons of ''Sesame Street''; in Philadelphia (d. 2002)
**Lenita Airisto, Finnish business leader and TV journalist, former beauty pageant winner; in Helsinki
*Died:
**Lieutenant Colonel Frederick I. Eglin, U.S. Army officer and pilot for whom Eglin Air Force Base is named. Eglin and a co-pilot, Lieutenant Howard E. Shelton, were killed in the crash of a Northrop A-17 airplane into the side of Cheaha Mountain in the U.S. state of Alabama.
**Father William J. Stanton, Canadian Roman Catholic missionary and former Canadian football coach, was killed in a car accident when his automobile overturned in a ditch as he was driving from Cedar Springs, Ontario to Blenheim, Ontario.
**Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, 62, Hindu Bengali Indian theologian of the Gaudiya Vaishnavi sect

January 2, 1937 (Saturday)

*Great Britain and Italy signed a "gentleman's agreement" pledging to mutually respect one another's rights and interests in the Mediterranean as well as Spain's independence and integrity.
*U.S. automobile manufacturer Nash Motors (known for the Nash Rambler) merged with the Kelvinator company, manufacturer of refrigerators, to create the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. In 1954, Nash-Kelvinator would acquire Hudson Motor Car Company to create the American Motors Corporation (AMC), which would be acquired by the Chrysler Corporation in 1988.
*The detective film ''Smart Blonde'', starring Glenda Farrell and Barton MacLane in the first of seven movies teaming reporter Torchy Blane and her boyfriend, detective Steve McBride, was released by Warner Bros. studio.
*Born: Marianne McDonald, American philanthropist; in Chicago
*Died: Ross Alexander (stage name for Alexander Ross Smith), 29, American stage and film actor known as the star of the 1936 movie ''Hot Money'', shot himself with a .22 caliber revolver.

January 3, 1937 (Sunday)

*In China, 128 drug addicts were taken to a village near Tianjin and executed by firing squad.
*Evacuation of British citizens from Gibraltar continued as the Royal Navy destroyer took on 252 civilians, 116 of whom were women and children.
*During the Second Battle of the Corunna Road in the Spanish Civil War, the Nationalists captured Villafranca del Castillo west of Madrid in the "Battle of the Fog".
*The first science fiction convention in Britain, and perhaps the world, took place in Leeds at the Theosophical Hall with 20 fans, including Arthur C. Clarke and Eric Frank Russell, attending. The meeting was organized by the Leeds chapter of Britain's Science Fiction League.
*The finals of Germany's Tschammerpokal were played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, bringing an end to a tournament that had started with 5,291 soccer football teams competing for the 64 spots in the knockout competition. VfB Leipzig