January 13, 1981 (Tuesday)
- Donna Griffiths, a 12 year old girl in Pershore, Worcestershire, in the United Kingdom, began sneezing, and continued to sneeze, twice a minute, for 978 consecutive days. Eventually slowing to once every five minutes, Donna had her first day without sneezing on September 16, 1983.
- Died: Dr. Owen H. Wagensteen, 82, American surgeon and inventor who created the suction procedure used in gastrointestinal surgery.
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