This Day In History - January 1!
Celebrating New Year's Day on January 1st began in 45 B.C. when Julius Caesar decreed the Julian Calendar. Western capital centers like London's Trafalgar Square usher in the year en masse. In Moscow's Red Square, loudspeakers sound the national anthem. In the French capital, revellers salute New Year Eve along the brightly lit Champs Elysées with plenty of Champagne and kisses. In Rome, where the current Gregorian Calendar was institusted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1603, the Pope presides over a more reverent celebration. And in New York, Americans watch on television as some one million people jam Time Square