Dashed left edge = started before January 2025 ·
Dashed right edge = ongoing beyond January 2025
Events in January 2025 31
1928 – 2025Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928-2025)Died 7 January 2025, aged 96French nationalist who founded the National Front and led it from 1972 to 2011, the main right-wing opposition to France's mainstream conservatives for four decades.
1929 – 2025Dick Button (1929-2025)Died 30 January 2025, aged 95American figure skater who dominated the sport in the late 1940s and early 1950s and later became its best-known television analyst.
1929 – 2025Joan Plowright (1929-2025)Died 16 January 2025, aged 95English actress who won a Tony for A Taste of Honey and an Oscar nomination for Enchanted April. She was married to Laurence Olivier from 1961 until his death.
1929 – 2025Jules Feiffer (1929-2025)Died 17 January 2025, aged 95American cartoonist and writer whose strip Feiffer was celebrated for its literate, satirical captions.
1934 – 2025Bob Uecker (1934-2025)Died 16 January 2025, aged 90American baseball player turned Hall of Fame broadcaster, the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for more than fifty years and a comic actor in Major League.
1935 – 2025David Lodge (1935-2025)Died 1 January 2025, aged 89English novelist and critic best known for his satires of academic life, above all the Campus trilogy.
1936 – 2025Costas Simitis (1936-2025)Died 5 January 2025, aged 88Greek legal scholar and politician who served as prime minister of Greece from 1996 to 2004.
1938 – 2025Peter Yarrow (1938-2025)Died 7 January 2025, aged 86American singer of the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, at the forefront of the 1960s folk revival.
1939 – 2025Michael Longley (1939-2025)Died 22 January 2025, aged 85Northern Irish poet called a custodian of griefs and wonders, best known for Ceasefire, written about the Troubles.
1940 – 2025Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (1940-2025)Died 24 January 2025, aged 85Native American artist whose paintings and prints used Modernist vocabularies to explore Native American history and identity.
1946 – 2025David Lynch -- filmmaker, painter, surrealistDavid Keith Lynch (20 January 1946 - 15 January 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician and actor whose surrealist vision of America made him one of the most influential directors in the history of cinema. In a career spanning more than fifty years he directed only ten feature films, but among them were works -- Eraserhead, The Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive -- widely regarded as masterpieces. He co-created Twin Peaks with Mark Frost, transforming American television. His distinctive style gave rise to the adjective 'Lynchian', denoting a quality of uncanny menace beneath surfaces of normality. He received three Academy Award nominations for Best Director, the Palme d''Or at Cannes, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2019. A lifelong smoker, he died of cardiac arrest caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, five days before his 79th birthday.
1946 – 2025Marianne Faithfull (1946-2025)Died 30 January 2025, aged 78British singer and actress, a defining figure of 1960s London who overcame addiction to make some of the most candid records of her generation.
1957 – 2025Cecile Richards (1957-2025)Died 20 January 2025, aged 67American activist who led the Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 2006 to 2018.
1959 – 2025Mauricio Funes (1959-2025)Died 21 January 2025, aged 65Salvadoran television journalist who served as president of El Salvador from 2009 to 2014.
2021 – 2025Biden presidency46th President — 2021 to 2025Joe Biden served as the 46th President from January 20, 2021 to January 20, 2025. He passed the Inflation Reduction Act, led NATO support for Ukraine following Russia's invasion, and withdrew US troops from Afghanistan.
2025Australian Open 2025Men: Jannik Sinner · Women: Madison KeysSinner defended his title, defeating Zverev. Madison Keys caused an upset, beating world number 1 Sabalenka in the women's final.
2025 – 2026Times Radio -- Saturday morning showIn January 2025 Liddle begins presenting a Saturday morning show on Times Radio, adding broadcasting to his roster of weekly columns. He is now writing for The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Spectator simultaneously while broadcasting weekly -- a workload that reflects both his energy and his centrality to the British media landscape. It is his last regular public platform.
20252025: Lando NorrisMcLarenBritish driver Norris won his first World Championship at the age of 26, clinching the title by just two points from Max Verstappen at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. He became the eighth McLaren driver to win the Drivers' Championship.
2025A Savage Art DocumentaryThe documentary A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant was released, chronicling his career across five decades and ten US presidents.
2025Vagabond MemoirPublished Vagabond, his memoir, which became an instant New York Times bestseller and a USA Today bestseller. The book was a celebration of his life's work and a testament to his impact on the entertainment industry.
2025Los Angeles WildfiresWorst fires in LA historyA series of devastating wildfires erupted across Los Angeles County, fuelled by extreme Santa Ana winds and prolonged drought. The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed over 16,000 structures, killed at least 29 people and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands. Entire neighbourhoods in Pacific Palisades and Altadena were levelled. Total damages were estimated at over $250 billion, making them the costliest natural disaster in US history.
2025Wildfires devastate the Los Angeles areaAmong the costliest disasters in US historyWildfires erupted around Los Angeles on 7 January 2025 and burned for a month, hitting Pacific Palisades and Eaton Canyon hardest. Thirty people were killed and damage was estimated at $76-131 billion.
2025David Lynch dies in Los AngelesDavid Lynch died on 15 January 2025 in Los Angeles, five days before his 79th birthday. His death certificate listed cardiac arrest as the immediate cause, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease as the underlying condition. His family announced the news on his Facebook page with the words: 'Keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole. It''s a beautiful day with golden sunshine and blue skies all the way.' He was cremated and buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
2025Gaza CeasefireIsrael and Hamas agree to halt fightingIsrael and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire after 15 months of war in Gaza that killed over 46,000 Palestinians and around 1,700 Israelis. The deal included the phased release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The war had triggered a global humanitarian crisis, with much of Gaza's infrastructure destroyed and its population displaced.
2025Donald Trump inaugurated for a second termThe oldest person ever to win the officeDonald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States on 20 January 2025, only the second president to serve two non-consecutive terms and, at 78, the oldest ever elected.
2025 – presentTrump 2nd presidency47th President — from 2025Donald Trump began his second term as the 47th President on January 20, 2025, having defeated Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. He is the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms.
2025Onyx Storm breaks adult fiction sales records2.7 million copies in its first weekRebecca Yarros published Onyx Storm, the third book in her Empyrean series, on 21 January 2025. It sold more than 2.7 million copies in a week, the fastest-selling adult fiction title in twenty years.
2025Thailand legalises same-sex marriageA first in Southeast AsiaThailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage on 23 January 2025.
2025Star Trek: Section 31The franchise's first original TV movie, premiering on Paramount+. Michelle Yeoh reprises her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou, now working for Section 31 — Starfleet's black-ops intelligence division — in the 24th century. Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi. Omari Hardwick and Robert Picardo co-star. The film explores the moral ambiguities of a Starfleet organisation that operates without ethical constraints.
2025Ne Zha 2 becomes the highest-grossing film of the yearA Chinese animation tops the global box officeThe animated film Ne Zha 2 was released in China on 29 January 2025 and went on to become the highest-grossing film of the year.
2025Stampede at the Kumbh Mela in PrayagrajAt least thirty killed during the Hindu festivalAt least 30 people were killed in a stampede at the Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, on 29 January 2025.