3 January It Happened Today

1777  George Washington defeats the British at Princeton.

1892  Birth of South African born novelist J.R.R. Tolkien.

1918  Ernest Rutherford announces that he has split the atom.

1946  William Joyce, who became known as the Nazi propagandist Lord Haw Haw during WWII was hanged for treason.

1956  Birth of American actor Mel Gibson.

1959  Alaska becomes the 49th state of the USA.