December 9th


0536 - Having captured Naples earlier in the year, Belisarius takes Rome.

1165 - Died this day, Malcolm IV, King of Scotland (1153-65), aged 24, and was succeeded by his younger brother, William I the Lion.

1212 - Frederik II crowned himself Roman Catholic king.

1292 - Died this day, Sa'di, great Persian poet (Orchard, Rose Garden).

1425 - Pope Martinus V formed the University of Leuven.

1437 - Died this day, Sigismund, German Emperor, king of Hungary/Bohemia, aged 70.

1516 - Born this day, Edwin Sandys, English statesman, a founder of Virginia colony. Died in 1588.

1565 - Died this day, Gianangelo de' Medici [Pope Pius IV, 1559-65] aged 66.

1569 - Born this day, Martinus de Porres, in Peru, saint (patron of social justice).

1608 - Born this day, John Milton, in London, English poet, civil rights activist, puritan (Paradise Lost, Samson Agonistes). Died in 1674.

1640 - Settler Hugh Bewitt, was banished from the Massachusetts colony when he declared himself to be free of 'original sin'.

1641 - Died this day, Anthonie 'Antoon' van Dyck, Flemish painter, aged 42.

1658 - Dutch troops occupied the harbour city of Quilon (Coilan), India.

1669 - Died this day, Giulio Rospigliosi [Pope Clement IX, 1667-69], aged 71.

1688 - King James II's wife and son fled England for France.

1706 - Died this day, Pedro II, king of Portugal (1683-1706), aged 58.

1724 - Colley Cibber's Caesar in Aegypt premiered in London.

1738 - All Jews were expelled from Breslau, Silesia.

1747 - Britain and the Netherlands signed a military alliance treaty.

1762 - The British parliament accepted the Treaty of Paris.

1767 - Died this day, Benedetto Alfieri, the Italian architect who created the San Giovanni Battista.

1783 – In Britain the first executions took place at Newgate Prison.

1793 - Noah Webster established The American Minerva, New York's first daily newspaper.

1805 - Comet 3D/1805 V1 (Biela) approached to within 3.4 million miles of Earth.

1809 - Born this day, William Barret Travis, commander of the Texas troops at the battle of the Alamo.

1824 - In the Peruvian War of Independence, 9,300 Spaniards under Laserna were defeated by Peruvian Patriots led by Sucre at the battle of Ayacucho (Candorcangui); the victory led to Peru's independence.

1835- The Army of the Republic of Texas captures San Antonio.

1840 - Scottish missionary explorer David Livingstone, aged 27, set sail on his first journey to Africa. (He had been accepted to serve under the London Missionary Society two years earlier.)

1848 - Born this day, Joel Chandler Harris, US journalist, author of the Uncle Remus stories. Died in 1908.

1851 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.

1854 - Lord Tennyson's poem, Charge of the Light Brigade was published.

1861 - The US Senate approved the establishment of a committee that would become the Joint Committee on the Conduct of War.

1863 - Born this day, G. Campbell Morgan, English congregational clergyman and Bible expositor. Morgan authored more than 60 Bible commentaries and books of sermons many are still in print.

1864 - Born this day, composer Sidney Homer.

1867 - The capital of Colorado Territory was moved from Golden to Denver.

1868 - William Ewart Gladstone became British Prime Minister for the first of his four terms of office.

1869 - The Noble Order of Knights of Labor was founded, in Philadelphia.

1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback became the first black governor of Louisiana.

1878 - Joseph Pulitzer bought the St. Louis Dispatch for $2,500.

1883 - Born this day, Alexander Papagos, Greek fieldmarshal, supreme commander.

1884 - Levant Richardson of Chicago, Illinois patented the ball-bearing roller skate.

1886 - Born this day, Clarence Birdseye, inventor, US pioneer of frozen food. He died in 1956.

1888 - Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department

1889 - President Harrison visited the opening of Chicago Auditorium.

1894 - Roman Catholics won Parliamentary election in Belgium.

1897 - Marguerite Durand, a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette, founded the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde.

1898 - Born this day, circus clown Emmett Kelly (Weary Willie), in Sedan, Kansas. He died in 1977.

1900 – Russia’s Czar Nicholas V rejects Boer Paul Kruger's pleas for aid in South Africa against the British.

1902 - Born this day, actress Margaret Hamilton, in Cleveland, Ohio (The Wicked Witch of the West – Wizard of Oz, 1939). She died in 1985.

1903 - The Norwegian parliament voted unanimiously for female suffrage.

1905 - An Act for the Separation of Church and State became law in France, rescinding Napoleon's Concordat of 1801. The new law guaranteed freedom of conscience, but also severed all religious groups from any further economic support by the national government.

1905 - Salome, a one-act opera by Richard Strauss from the story by Oscar Wilde, had its first performance in Dresden, Germany, and was condemned as obscene.

1906 - Born this day, Grace Murray Hopper, computer developer, US Navy Rear Admiral.

1906 - The New York American reported Belgian King Leopold II bribed the US Senate commission on the Congo.

1907 - In 1907, the first Christmas Seals to raise money to fight tuberculosis went on sale in the post office in Wilmington, Delaware. Today, Christmas seal income is used primarily in the fight against birth defects.

1908 - A child labour bill passed in the German Reichstag, forbade work for children under the age of 13.

1909 - Born this day, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., in New York, NY, actor (Ghost Story). Died in 2000.

1909 - The first US monoplane was flown by Henry W. Walden of Long Island, New York.

1910 - French troops occupied the Morrocan harbour city of Agadir.

1911 - Born this day, Lee J. Cobb [Leo Jacoby], actor. Died in 1976.

1911 - Born this day, [William Pendergast] Broderick Crawford, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, actor (All the King's Men, Highway Patrol, Hunter, Liar's Moon). Died in 1986.

1913 - Heavyweights Jack Johnson and Jim Johnson fought to a 'no decision' in Paris.

1916 - Born this day, Kirk Douglas [Isadore Demsky/Issur Danielovitch], actor (Gunfight at the OK Corral, 7 Days in May).

1917 - Turkish troops surrendered Jerusalem to British troops led by General Viscount Allenby.

1917 - The new Finnish Republic demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops.

1918 - French troops occupied Mainz.

1920 - The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Woodrow Wilson.

1922 - Born this day, Redd Foxx [John Elroy Sanford], in St Louis, Missouri, comedian (Sanford & Son, Redd Foxx Show). He died in 1991.

1924 - The Dutch-Hungary trade treaty was signed.

1924 - Michael Hainisch was re-elected as Austrian President.

1925 - Died this day, Eugene Gigout, composer, aged 81.

1926 - Benny Goodman’s first recording session. He played clarinet with the Ben Pollack Orchestra on a tune titled, Downtown Shuffle on Victor Records. Goodman, was all of 17-years-old.

1928 - Born this day, actor Dick Van Patten, (Tom Bradford-8 is Enough) in Queens, New York.

1929 - Born this day, Robert J.L. Hawke, former (Labour) Prime Minister of Australia (1983-91).

1931 - Spain became a republic.

1931 - Benn W. Levy's Springtime for Henry premiered in New York.

1931 - The Japanese army attacked the Chinese province of Jehol.

1932 - Born this day, Junior Wells, Blues singer, harmonica player, toured with The Rolling Stones in 1970. Died 15 January 1998.

1933 - Romania disallowed a fascist Iron Guard.

1939 – The Soviet air force mounts a massive air raid against Helsinki.

1940 - Illegal Jewish immigrants to Haifa were deported to Mauritius.

1940 - British forces begin their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II. They attacked Sidi Barrani in Egypt taking over 1,000 Italians troops prisoner in the sudden thrust.

1941 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Americans to plan for a long war.

1941 - China formally issued a declaration of war against Japan, Germany and Italy.

1941 - The first US World War II (WWII) bombing mission in the Far East, at Luzon, Philippines.

1943 - Frank Sinatra was classified 4-F by the US Army when he tried to enlist in Newark, New Jersey during World War II.

1944 - In the Ardennes: An enormous German counter-offensive is organized as the last of the Wehrmacht’s available armor is massed for a lightning drive to the English Channel. The assault would become, what is today known as, The Battle of the Bulge.

1945 - Born this day, actor Michael Nouri, (Beacon Hill, Bay City Blues) in Washington DC.

1946 - Doctors' Trial: The trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity began for medical
researchers involved in the horrors of Nazi human experimentation.

1947 - Born this day, US Senator Thomas A. Daschle.

1948 - The United Nations General Assembly unanimously approved the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

1949 - The UN took trusteeship over Jerusalem.

1949 - The Dutch 2nd Chamber accepted Indonesian sovereignty.

1950 - Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II.

1953 - General Electric announced that all Communist employees would be fired.

1955 - Sugar Ray Robinson became the first ex-boxing champion to return from retirement and win back his title. He was also the first boxer to win the middleweight title three times when, on this date, he knocked out Carl 'Bobo' Olson in the second round of their Chicago bout.

1956 - The Million Dollar Session was held at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis gathered for an impromptu jam session. Six songs by the artists were recorded at this session. None of the songs were released for nearly three decades.

1957 - Born this day, singer (and Danny Bonaduce’s favorite punching bag) Donny Osmond, in Ogden, Utah.

1958 - In Indianapolis, retired Boston candy manufacturer Robert H. W. Welch Jr. and 11 other men, established the John Birch Society. The right-wing organization was dedicated to fighting what it perceived to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society.

1960 - Sperry Rand Corporation, of St. Paul, Minnesota, unveiled a new computer, known as Univac 1107. The new technology marvel used what was known as thin-film memory.

1960 - The first episode of Coronation Street was televised at 7.00pm in black and white, although it was not networked until Spring 1961. It was originally called Florizel Street.

1960 - The Laos government fled to Cambodia as the capital city of Vientiane was engulfed in war.

1961 - SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann was found guilty of war crimes in Israel.

1961 - Tanganyika became independent within the commonwealth; one year later, it became a republic within the commonwealth. It took the name Tanzania.

1962 - Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park was established.

1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr., was kidnapped.

1963 - Zanzibar gained independence from Britain.

1964 - Died this day, Edith L. Sitwell, English poet, author (Wheels), aged 77.

1965 - The television debut of the comic strip Peanuts gang, in A Charlie Brown Christmas, was on this date. Nearly 40 years later, it is still a perennial favorite.

1966 - Barbados became the 122nd member of the United Nations.

1967 - The Cunard liner Queen Mary docked at Long Beach, California, after her final voyage.

1967 - The Doors lead singer, Jim Morrison, was arrested onstage for breach of peace in New Haven, Connecticut.

1967 - Nicolae Ceausescu became President (dictator) of Romania.

1968 - Doug Engelbart demonstrated the first computer mouse at Stanford.

1969 - Born this day, Allison Smith, in the Bronx, New York, actress (Jennie-Cagney & Lacey, Kate & Allie).

1969 - Born this day in New York City, Jakob Dylan, son of music legend Bob Dylan. Guitar and lead vocals for “The Wallflowers” (One Headlight, 1997 US No.3 album Bringing Down The Horse).

1969 - Charles Manson was formally charged with the August 1969 Tate/LaBianca murders.

1970 - Died this day, Artem Mikoyan, Russian aircraft designer of the MIG, aged 65.

1970 - In the Dutch Antilles: the Government of Petronia fell.

1971 - Lewis F. Powell Jr., was appointed to the US Supreme Court.

1972 - The British rock band “Moody Blues” started a five week run at No.1 on the US albums chart with Seventh Sojourn.

1973 - Keith Moon, Rod Stewart and Roger Daltry opened the rock opera, Tommy, in london. The show featured, among other tunes, the mega-hits “Tommy” and “Pinball Wizard”.

1973 - Following the resignation of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, House Speaker Gerald R. Ford became the nation’s first, appointed Vice President.

1974 - White House aide John Ehrlichman testified at the Watergate trial that President Nixon was responsible for the cover-up.

1975 - US President Gerald Ford signed a $2.3 Billion loan authorization for bankrupt New York City.

1975 - Died this day, William A. Wellman, US director (Ox Bow Incident), aged 79.

1978 - NASA’s Pioneer space probe “Venus 2” dropped five probes into the atmosphere of Venus.

1979 - Died this day, Fulton J. Sheen, archbishop, religious broadcaster, in New York, NY aged 84.

1981 - Porn star John Holmes was charged with the Laurel Canyon murders.

1982 - Mary-Beth and William Hurt divorced.

1983 - US Attorney General (and world class idiot) Edwin Meese said, “People go to soup kitchens because the food is free and that's easier than paying for it”.

1984 - A 6-day hijacking of a Kuwaiti jet ended.

1985 - OPEC oil ministers abandoned the struggle to control production and prices, setting the stage for a global oil price war.

1985 - Former Argentine president Jorge Videla and his fellow junta member, Admiral Emilio Massera, were sentenced to life imprisonment for their part in the 'dirty war' against left-wing guerrillas in which up to 9,000 people disappeared.

1986 - Racing Greyhound “Ballyregan Bob” was retired after winning a world record 32 consecutive races.

1987 - The first riots of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, erupted on the Gaza Strip.

1988 - According to a poll released in the US, the music of Neil Diamond was favoured as the best background music for sex, Beethoven was the second choice and Luther Vandross was voted third.

1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, winner of several gold medals as a teenager at the 1976 Olympics, defected to southern Florida. Accompanying her was Constantin Panait, a roofer who was married and the father of four children.

1990 - Lech Walesa, the former leader of the trade union Solidarity, won a landslide victory in Poland's first direct presidential vote.

1991 - It was revealed that £420million was missing from pension funds controlled by newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell.

1992 - British Prime Minister John Major announced the formal separation of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

1992 - Cincinnati Red owner Marge Schott apologised for racist remarks. (That’s OK, Marge…we all know how feeble-minded you are!)

1992 - Operation Restore Hope. US Marines landed in Somalia, to ensure food and medicine reaches the deprived areas of that country.

1993 - Ivory Coast Premier Ouattara resigned.

1993 - US astronauts finished a grueling five-day repair work on the $3 billion Hubble Space Telescope.

1994 - Britain and Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army's political wing, held their first formal talks in more than 70 years.

1994 - President Clinton fired US Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders for suggesting that masturbation should be taught in the schools.

1994 - Died this day, Kim II Sung, President of North Korea (1945-94), aged 82.

1995 - Died this day, aviator Douglas 'Wrong Way' Corrigan.

1995 - Poland's Supreme Court confirmed the victory of ex-communist Aleksander Kwasniewski in November's presidential election, rejecting protests from supporters of defeated former Solidarity hero Lech Walesa.

1996 - The United Nations (UN) authorised the start of a long-delayed oil-for-food deal with Iraq, enabling Baghdad to make a limited return to the world oil market for the first time since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. To this day that scandal-racked program is surrounded in controversy.

1997 - Police in South Carolina investigated a complaint by a woman who claimed actor Edward James Olmos forced her to “do things she didn't want to do”. The sex probe was abandoned by police a few days later when the charges were dropped.

1998 - All Saint Nicole Appleton walked out during the recording of BBC2's Later saying she had quit the band.

2001 - The British Government was accused of “bullying” after going on the offensive against opposition peers who defeated its anti-terrorism legislation.

2002 - Stereolab singer Mary Hanson was killed in a cycling accident after colliding with a dump truck in East London.

2340 - Born this day, the Klingon, Worf of “Star Trek the Next Generation” fame.

December 10th


1041 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.

1817 - Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.

1836 - Emory College, now Emory University, is chartered in Oxford, Georgia.

1864 - William Tecumseh Sherman reaches Savannah, Georgia, ending his "March to the Sea".

1869 - Wyoming grants women the right to vote.

1898 - A treaty is signed in Paris that officially ends the Spanish-American War.

1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.

1906 – US Presidebt Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize

1936 - Edward VIII, the only British monarch to have voluntarily relinquished the throne, signed his instrument of abdication. He reverted to the title of "His Royal Highness Prince Edward of Windsor" the following day.

1941 - Japanese forces land in the Philippines, capture Guam and sink the British ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse.

1948 - The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

1949 - Chinese Revolution: The Red Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last KMT-held city on mainland China. Chiang Kai-Shek leaves for Taiwan.

1953 - Dr. Albert Schweitzer is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1965 - The Grateful Dead play their first concert, at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

1975 - Andrei Sakharov wins the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize is accepted by his wife, Yelena Bonner.

1978 - Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat win the Nobel Peace Prize

1983 - Lech Wałęsa wins the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize is accepted by his wife, Danuta.

1984 - Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize

1986 - Elie Wiesel wins the Nobel Peace Prize

1993 – The Shareware version of Doom is released.

2002 - High Court of Australia handed down its judgement in the Internet defamation dispute in the case of Gutnick vs. Dow Jones.

December 11th


1205 - John Grey, Bishop of Norwich, is elected Archbishop of Canterbury.

1792 - King Louis XVI of France goes on trial for treason.

1816 - Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.

1816 - Citizens of Geneva, Switzerland repel an attack by Savoy.

1917 - Lithuania declares its independence (Kingdom of Lithuania).

1931 - Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Newfoundland.

1937 - Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom becomes effective.

1937 - Italy leaves the League of Nations.

1941 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. (Hmmm, I dunno…that one might come back to bite you guys!)

1944 - JCI (Junior Chamber International) is founded in Mexico City.

1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.

1954 - The American Nuclear Society is founded.

1958 - Upper Volta declares its independence from France.

1970 - John Lennon releases the classic album Plastic Ono Band.

1971 - The United States Libertarian Party is formed.

1972 - Apollo 17 lands on the Moon.

1981 - Muhammad Ali's last fight – he loses to Trevor Berbick.

1981 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru becomes UN Secretary-General.

1981 - The Salvadoran army massacres 900 villagers in the El Mozote massacre.

1994 - Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.

1994 - A small bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. The bombing was a field test done by Ramzi Yousef to test explosives that would have been used in Project Bojinka, a terrorist attack plan that would be exposed after an apartment fire.

1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes just short of runway at Surat Thani airport, located in southern Thailand, 101 die.

2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.

December 12th


1531 - The apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City

1781 - The British navy defeated a French fleet in the Second Battle of Ushant during the American Revolutionary War.

1787 - Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.

1897 - The city of Belo Horizonte is founded.

1900 – The famous US Steel Company is incorporated.

1901 - First radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean is made by Guglielmo Marconi from Land’s End, Britain to Signal Hill, Newfoundland.

1913 - The Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence, Italy two years after it was stolen.

1917 - In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys. In 1979 it was finally opened to girls as well.

1925 - Reza Pahlavi takes control of Iran as the self appointed Shah.

1937 – The Panay incident takes place.

1939 - Finland defeated the Soviet Union in the Battle of Tolvajärvi. It was the Finns first, but not last, major victory in the Winter War.

1941 – The United States seizes the French luxury liner “Normandie” in New York.

1948 – The Batang Kali Massacre takes place in Malaysia.

1963 – After more than a decade of internal warfare and tribal unrest finally resulting in the “Mau Mau” movement, Kenya gains its independence from Britain.

1979 - The Coup d'état of December Twelfth in South Korea.

1979 - Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe. (May you rot, Mugabe!)

1981 - The Chaos Computer Club was founded in Berlin.


1983 - Dallos is the first OAV (Original Animation Video) ever released.

1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.

1996 - Uday Hussein is seriously injured in an assassination attempt.

2000 - The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore, deciding the presidential election of 2000.

December 13th


1545 – The Council of Trent begins.

1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, on his round-the-world voyage.

1642 - Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand.

1643 - The Battle of Alton during the English Civil War.

1862 - Confederate forces defeat the Union army at The Battle of Fredericksburg during the American Civil War.

1937 - Battle of Nanjing concludes with a Japanese victory and the fall of the city which would become the site of the Nanjing Massacre.

1938 – The Nazis force 100 deportees from Sachsenhausen to build the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.

1939 - The Royal Navy's heavy cruisers, HMS Exeter, Achilles and Ajax engage the the German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee in the "Battle of the River Plate".

1949 - The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.

1959 - Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus.

1972 - A chartered Spanish airliner crashes on takeoff from the Canary Islands, killing 155.

1974 - Malta becomes an independent republic.

1977 - A US government DC-3 crashes shortly after takeoff from Evansville, Indiana, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team.

1978 – The first Susan B. Anthony dollar enters circulation in the US.

1981 - Ruling General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland.

1996 - Kofi Annan is elected as Secretary General of the United Nations.

2000 - The Texas 7 escape from a Texas prison and go on a crime spree.

2001 – An attack on the Parliament of India by armed militants is foiled.

2002 - The European Union announces the addition of ten new members in Copenhagen: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Their membership became effective May 1, 2004.

2003 - Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

December 14th


867 - Adrian II becomes Pope.

872 - John VIII becomes Pope.

1287 – In Holland the Zuider Zee sea wall collapses, the ensuing flood kills over 50,000 people.

1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland.

1790 - Alexander Hamilton proposes the creation of a Bank of the United States.

1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.

1825 - Several Imperial Russia army officers lead over 3000 soldiers onto the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising.

1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway, the third in the world, opens. An accident closes it the same day and it does not re-open until 1897.

1900 - Max Planck publishes his study of the quantum theory.

1902 - First telegraph cable laid across the Pacific Ocean from the US mainland to Hawaii.

1911 - Roald Amundsen’s expedition reaches the bottom of the world. The first time ever man has stood on the South Pole.

1918 - Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounced the Finnish throne.

1927 - Iraq gains independence from Britain.

1939 - The USSR is expelled from the League of Nations.

1946 – The UN General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City.

1947 - NASCAR is founded.

1959 - Motown Studios, a famed record label whose roster included The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men and many other musicians, was founded in Detroit, Michigan.

1962 - Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.

1962 - The Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million, the highest insurance valuance for a painting in history at that time.

1964 - Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (379 US 241 1964) is decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1979 - Punk rock band The Clash releases the influential double album London Calling.

1981 - Israel annexes the Golan Heights.

1989 - Chile holds its first free election in 16 years. Patricio Aylwin was elected president.

1991 - A rock slide takes off 10 metres of Mount Cook's elevation in New Zealand.

1995 - The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars.

1999 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, announced his retirement.

2000 - The Texas 7 robs a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas. They stole police scanners that would be used in their following infamous heist.

2003 - The news of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's capture is finally announced.

2003 – The celebration of the reopening of the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italy.

December 15th


0037 - Born this day, Nero Claudius Augustus Germanicus, 5th emperor of Rome (54-68).

0687 - St Sergius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Conon.

1025 - Died this day, Basilius II the Bulgarendoder, Byzantine emperor (976-1025).

1124 - Chancellor Haimeric selects pope - Lamberto becomes Honorius II.

1230 - Died this day, Ottokar I, king of Bohemia (1197-1230).

1488 - Bartholomeus Diaz returned to Portugal after sailing round Cape of Good Hope.

1515 - Died this day, Alfonso de Albuquerque, viceroy of Portuguese Indies.

1534 - Born this day, Lucas Osiander, composer.

1569 - Westmoreland fled to Scotland.

1582 - Spanish Netherlands/Denmark/Norway adopt Gregorian calendar.

1593 –The state of Holland grants a patent on the windmill with crankshaft.

1612 - Simon Marius, is the first to observe the Andromeda galaxy through a telescope.

1629 - In England, Baptist minister and founder of Rhode Island, 26 year old Roger Williams married Mary Barnard, daughter of a Puritan clergyman. Two years later, he and his wife sailed from Bristol to Massachusetts.

1640 - The Duke of Bragança was crowned King Johan IV of Portugal.

1660 - In the Philippines - Andres Malong’s rebels plundered Bagnotan.

1664 - The English began colonizing Connecticut.

1680 – The tax revolt on Terschelling, due to a tax on cereal.

1720 - Born this day, J.F. Beck, writer.

1791 - The first US law school was established at the University of Pennsylvania.

1791 - The Bill of Rights was ratified this day in Virginia. The Bill of Rights is comprised of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution.

1792 - The first life insurance policy was issued in the US in Philadelphia.

1794 - In the War of Austrian Succession, the Prussians under Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau seriously defeated the Saxons under Rutowski at the battle of Kesseldorf near Dresden.

1794 - The Revolutionary Tribunal was abolished in France.

1806 - In the Napoleonic Wars, French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte entered Warsaw.

1810 - The first Irish magazine to be published in the US, The Shamrock, was published today.

1815 - Rossini got the assignment for Il barbiere di Siviglia (Barber of Seville).

1820 - The first general pharmacopoeia in the US was published in Boston.

1832 - Born this day, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, French engineer, born in Dijon. Designer of many notable bridges and viaducts and the Eiffel tower in Paris, France. At 985ft high, it was the highest building in the world until 1930. It was erected in 1887-89 on the Champs-de-Mars at a cost of £260,000 for the World Exhibition of 1889. In 1893 he was condemned to two years' imprisonment and fined for breach of trust in connection with the abortive French Panama Canal scheme. Died in 1923.

1836 - The Patent Office in Washington DC burned down.

1840 - Napoleon Bonaparte's remains were interred in Les Invalides in Paris, having been brought from St Helena where he died.

1852 - Born this day, Tewfik Pasja, khedive (viceroy) of Egypt.

1852 - Born this day, Antoine Henri Becquerel, discovered radioactivity with Marie and Pierre Curie. Was awarded the Nobel prize for physics in 1903 jointly with Marie and Pierre Curie.

1854 - Philadelphia residents were amazed as the first street cleaning machine was put into operation.

1859 - GR Kirchoff described the chemical composition of the Sun.

1861 - Born this day, Charles Edgar Duryea, inventor, first automobile built and operated in the US.

1861 - Died this day, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria.

1864 – In Tennessee the Battle of Nashville took place.

1874 - The first reigning king to visit the United States, King David Kalakaua of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), was received by President Ulysses Grant.

1877 - Thomas A. Edison patented the phonograph.

1889 - Died this day, Ferdinand II, king of Portugal, aged 73.

1890 - Died this day, Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull. He was killed while resisting arrest.

1892 - Born this day, J. [Jean] Paul Getty, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, oil magnate, (Getty Oil). He died in 1976.

1893 – Dvorák’s “From the New World” premiered at Carnegie Hall, in New York.

1899 - In the second Boer War, the British under General Redvers Buller made a frontal attack in the battle of Colenso aimed at relieving the besieged town of Ladysmith. The action failed and the British lost over 1,100 men.

1904 - Born this day, Kermit Bloomgarden, Tony Award-winning producer. (Diary of Anne Frank, Music Man) He died in 1976.

1914 - The American Radio Relay League, an organization for radio hams, was founded by Hiram Percy Maxim.

1914 - The Battle of Lódz ended with the Russians retreating toward Moscow.

1914 - Swedish troops overran Belgrade in Austria-Hungary.

1916 – In the longest engagement of the First World War, French and British forces defeat the German Army at the Battle of Verdun. There were losses of 364,000 Allied and 338,000 German soldiers during the battle.

1917 - The Moldavian Republic declared its independence from Russia.

1918 - The American Jewish Congress held its first meeting.

1919 - Fiume (Rijeka) declared its independence.

1925 - The first hockey game at Madison Square Garden was played between the Montréal Canadiens and the New York Americans.

1933 - Born this day, Tim Conway, in Willoughby, Ohio, actor, comedian, (McHale's Navy, The Carol Burnett Show).

1936 - Born this day, Edna O'Brien, Irish novelist, playwright and writer of short stories. Born in Twamgraney, County Clare, Ireland. Her dominant themes are loneliness, guilt and loss, articulated in musical prose. Among her celebrated books are The Country Girls (1960), The Lonely Girl (1962), Girls in their Married Bliss (1964), August is a Wicked Month (1965), and A Pagan Place (1970). The Collected Edna O'Brien, containing nine novels, was published in 1978. Also Fanatic of Heart and Casualties of Peace.

1938 - The first sods of earth were turned for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC.

1939 - The epic film Gone with the Wind had its world premiere at Loews Grand Theatre, in Atlanta, Georgia, introduced by its producer David O. Selznick.

1939 - Nylon yarn was sold to hosiery mills to make women's stockings; marking the first use of commercial yarn for apparel. The DuPont product enabled a record number of ladies' hose to go on sale for the first time in May 1940.

1941 - USS Swordfish became the first US submarine to sink a Japanese ship.

1941 – The commander of the Nazi occupation forces severely restricted civilian use of gas and electricity use in Holland.

1941 - A musical standards was recorded this day on Victor Records. Lena Horne sang the torch classic that became her signature: “Stormy Weather”.

1942 - Born this day, Dave Clark, in Tottenham, London, England, rock musician, drummer and singer for the Dave Clark Five.

1943 - Died this day, famed composer, blues singer, jazz pianist and pipe organ player (Thomas Wright) Fats Waller: In Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 39, from pneumonia. He was born May 21, 1904 in New York.

1944 - Died this day, US band leader/jazz composer, (Major) Glenn Miller, aged 40. His plane went missing over the English Channel between London and Calais. He was on his way to lead his Air Force Band in a Christmas concert.

1944 - The US Congress gave General Eisenhower his fifth star.

1944 – Country music great Hank Williams married Audrey Guy. The ceremony took place at a filling station.

1944 - US troops landed on Mindoro.

1948 - Former US State Department official Alger Hiss, was indicted in New York City for perjury.

1949 - After a decade on radio, “Captain Midnight” was heard for the final time. (Put your secret decoder rings away now, kids.)

1950 - Ezzard Charles knocked out Nick Barone to retain the heavyweight boxing title.

1952 - Pope Pius XII published the encyclical Orientales Ecclesias.

1954 - The Netherlands Antilles became a co-equal participate of the Kingdom of Netherlands.

1954 - An audience of forty million watched TV's “Disneyland” and saw Fess Parker first portray the character of Davy Crockett. The nation's youth became entranced with Crockett (along with his coonskin cap), and there was a sudden and manic obsession for a man who had died 118 years earlier.

1956 - An emergency crisis in North Ireland was proclaimed after IRA strikes.

1959 - The Everly Brothers recorded Let It Be Me.

1960 - King Boudouin of Belgium married doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon.

1961 - In Jerusalem, World War II Nazi SS colonel, Adolf Eichmann, was sentenced to death for organizing the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.

1961 - The United Nations General Assembly voted against a Soviet proposal to admit Communist China as a member.

1962 - Died this day, English actor Charles Laughton (Hunchback of Notre Dame), aged 63.

1964 – The Canadian parliament adopted the country’s current national flag. A red maple leaf on a white background with two red end bars.

1965 - US spacecraft Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 achieved the first space rendezvous, flying side by side for two orbits.

1965 - The third cyclone of the year killed another 10,000+ people at the mouth of the Ganges River, in present day Bangladesh.

1965 – Holland’s Queen Juliana opened the Zeeland Bridge to Oosterschelde.

1966 - Audouin Dollfus discovered the tenth satellite of Saturn. It was named Janus.

1966 - Died this day, Walt Disney. The world mourned the loss of the animation genius, who died from acute circulatory collapse one month after having lung surgery. He was 65. He won a record 17 Oscars, some posthumously. Disney would be best remembered for his animation contributions, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bambi, Cinderella, Fantasia, and Pinocchio. Also for his wild-life documentaries, and family oriented motion pictures, including Mary Poppins, Treasure Island, The Parent Trap, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, to name but a few. Disney’s most lasting legacy was Disneyland, his revolutionary fantasy/amusement park in Anaheim, California. Construction of Disney World in Florida was underway as well.

1967 - The movie version of “Valley of the Dolls” was released.

1967 - The Silver Bay bridge from Ohio to West Virginia, collapsed during the afternoon rush hour. 34 people died.

1969 - John Lennon gave what would be his final performance in the UK. The Peace For Christmas charity concert for UNICEF at The Lyceum Ballroom in London, featured John Lennon, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Keith Moon.

1970 - The unmanned Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land on another planet when it touched down on Venus.

1970 - A South Korean ferry, the Namyong-Ho, sank in the Strait of Korea killing 308 people.

1973 - Sandy Hawley became the first jockey to win 500 races in 1 year.

1973 - The American Psychiatric Association declared homosexuality was not a mental illness.

1976 - The Argo Merchant ran aground on Fishing Rip (Nantucket Shoals) southeast of Nantucket Island, in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. It spilled it entire cargo of 7.7 million gallons of No.6 fuel oil when it broke up on December 21st.

1978 - US President (hypocrite) Jimmy Carter announced he would establish diplomatic relations with China on January 1, 1979 and break off relations with Taiwan. (Well at least you know how to treat our friends of over 40 years, Jimmy!)

1979 - The deposed Shah of Iran left the US for Panama.

1979 – In a toothless decision, the World Court in The Hague ruled that Iran should release all US hostages. (Oh, you got them Iranians on the ropes now, Jimmy!)

1979 – U2 appeared at the Windsor Castle Pub on Harrow Road in London, admission was free.

1979 - Pink Floyd started a five week run at No.1 on the charts with the single “Another Brick In The Wall”.

1979 – In Canada, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott came up with the idea for a game called Trivial Pursuit.

1981 - NASA launched Intelsat V.

1982 - Spain reopened the border with Gibraltar. (Took ‘em long enough!)

1983 - The last remaining 80 US combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew, just over seven weeks after the US-led invasion of the Caribbean island.

1984 - The USSR launched Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley's Comet.

1986 - Violinist Isaac Stern arrived in a horse-drawn carriage to cut the ribbon for the renovated Carnegie Hall in New York City.

1986 - 150 people were killed during a race riot in Karachi, Pakistan.

1988 - Lori Davis of Long Island, NY, sued Mike Tyson for grabbing her buttocks.

1988 - Singer James Brown was sentenced to six years in prison after an interstate car chase with police. He served more than two years before being paroled.

1990 - Rock singer Rod Stewart married New Zealand super model Rachel Hunter in Beverly Hills.

1990 - More than 400 American Roman Catholic theologians charged that the Vatican had been throttling church reforms and imposing “an excessive Roman centralization”. They contended that the Vatican had undercut a greater role for women, slowed the ecumenical drive for Christian unity and undermined the collegial functioning of national conferences of bishops. (Other than that, they thought things were going pretty good.)

1991 - More than 470 people drowned when a ferry carrying mainly Egyptian pilgrims sank in the Red Sea.

1992 - El Salvador's government and leftist guerrilla leaders formally declared the end of a 12-year civil war.

1993 - British Prime Minister John Major and Irish premier Reynolds, signed a Downing Street Declaration concerning Northern Ireland self determination.

1993 - John Williams made his final appearance as the conductor of the Boston Pops.

1993 - Lee Aspen resigned as the US Secretary of Defense.

1993 - Steven Speilberg's haunting black & white film “Schindler's List” opened in US theatres. The movie won many awards, including Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.

1994 - John Bruton became Ireland's premier.

1994 - Liberian militia murdered 48 inhabitants of Monrovia. (How good are ya’ against armed opponents?)

1995 - The United Nations Security Council authorized NATO to take over peacekeeping operations in Bosnia. A resolution spelling the end of one of the United Nations toughest field missions. (When the going gets tough, turn tail and run…there’s always NATO to go running to!)

1995 - Southeast Asian nations signed a treaty banning the possession, manufacture and acquisition of nuclear weapons and created a nuclear arms-free zone from Burma and Vietnam in the north to Indonesia in the south.

1995 - European Union leaders christened their planned new single currency the Euro.

1995 - Playboy went back on sale after a 36 year ban in Ireland. (The centerfold that month was from Dublin.)

1997 - Spice World The Movie premiered at The Empire, Leicester Square, London. The following year it was nominated for the 'worst film' at the Golden Raspberry Awards.

1997 – Exactly 31years to the day after the death of her husband, Lillian Disney, widow of Walt Disney, died at the age of 98.

1999 - Boy George was knocked unconscious when a mirror ball fell on his head during a show in Dorset. (Fortunately it hit him on the head or he may have been hurt!)

1999 – Displaying her formidable martial arts skills, Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham) knocked a crazed fan to the ground after he tried to grab her baby son Brooklyn as she left Harrods in London.

2000 – In a London court, an intruder who had broken into George Harrison's home and stabbed the ex-Beatle was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

2001 – Singer Joe Walsh was given an honorary Doctorate of Music from Kent State University in Ohio.

December 16th

~755 – An Lushan revolted against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty of China. Over 36 million people may have died during the conflict which lasted for more than 7 years.

~1431 – England's Henry VI was crowned King of France at Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. (Just to irritate the French.)

~1497 – Vasco da Gama's ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal, and sailed into waters previously unknown to Europeans.

~1575 – The Valdivia earthquake occurred in Chile.

~1598 – The Battle of Noryang Point took place. This was the final battle of the Asian Seven Year War and was fought between the China and the Korean Allied Forces and the Japanese navies. The outcome was a decisive Allied Forces victory against the Japanese although Chinese admiral Yi was killed during the fight.

~1653 - Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. (And a greater scumbag has never walked the face of the Earth.)

~1689 - The English Covention Parliament embodied the English Bill of Rights.

~1707 – The last eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan occurred and continued for 16 days. The volcano has been dormant ever since.

~1761 – The Seven Years' War: After a 4 month siege, Russian forces under Pyotr Rumyantsev took the Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg.

~1773 – In Massachusetts, a protest was made against a tax imposed on tea (amongst other things) by London. Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks boarded a British ship and dumped its cargo of tea overboard into the harbor in what we now know as The Boston Tea Party.

~1811 – The first two in a series of severe earthquakes occured in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri. The 3 so called Mega-quakes are believed to be an ongoing cataclysmic danger that could reprise the 1811-12 series of over 2,000 quakes that affected the lands of what would be 8 of today's heartland states of the US.

~1826 – Benjamin W. Edwards rode into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declared himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia. (Old Benny was often given towards suicidal tendancies.)

~1838 – The Battle of Blood River: 464 Voortrekkers and just over 200 of their servants, led by Andries Pretorius, fought and defeated a Zulu army of 15,000 to 20,000 led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. While Voortrekker casuaties were only 3 slightly wounded, more than 3,000 Zulu warriors died in the battle.

~1850 - The first 4 ships, the Charlotte-Jane, Cressy, Sir George Seymour and the Randolph, brought the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton to settle Christchurch, New Zealand.

~1893 – Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, "From The New World" was given its world première at Carnegie Hall.

~1907 – The Great White Fleet left Hampton Roads, Virginia to begin its circumnavigation of the world.

~1910 - Henri Coanda makes first (unintentional) short flight in an aircraft with a jet engine.

~1914 – World War I: German battleships under admiral Franz von Hipper bombarded the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.

~1920 – The Haiyuan Earthquake, a magnitude 8.5, devastated the Gansu province in China, killing 234,117 people injuring twice that number and leaving over a million homeless.

~1922 – The President of Poland, Gabriel Narutowicz, was assassinated at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw just 5 days after taking office.

~1930 – Bank robbers Herman Lamm & co. engaged a posse of 200 in a fierce gun battle, following a botched bank robbery in Clinton, Indiana. Lamm and 2 others ended up dead while the 2 remaining gang members were captured. Lamm is widely considered one of the most brilliant and efficient bank robbers to have ever lived, and has been described as "the father of modern bank robbery". His techniques have been studied and imitated by other bank robbers across the country, including the infamous John Dillinger.

~1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempted to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, and may have made it; although several reputable reports were made there was never a confirmed sighting of either again.

~1942 – Porajmos: Heinrich Himmler ordered that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.

~1944 - In the Ardennes, an enormous German counter-offensive began as the last of the Wehrmacht’s available armor was massed for a lightning drive to the English Channel. The assault would become, what is today known as, The Battle of the Bulge. This was Hitler's last ditch effort to end the war with a negotiated settlement.

~1944 – A German V-2 rocket hit the Rex Cinema in Antwerp killing 567 people.

~1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain devised the first practical point contact transistor.

~1950 – President Harry S. Truman declared a state of emergency, after Chinese troops entered the fight with communist North Korea during The Korean War. (Like, you didn't see that one coming, did you, Harry!)

~1960 – The New York Air Disaster: While approaching New York's Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 was in collision with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation during a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island. 134 were killed in the incident.

~1963 - Park Chung-Hee was sworn in as South Korea's fifth president, he took office the next day.

~1965 – US general William Westmoreland sent U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more troops to be sent to Vietnam by the end of 1966.

~1971 - After receiving a tremendous 2 week long bare-bottomed spanking at the hands of the Indian military, a totally defeated and humiliated (and teary-eyed) Pakistani army surrendered to the Indo forces. This ended the India-Pakistani War of 1971 and led to the establishment of Bangladesh the following day. (Afterwards Pakistan had to stand in the corner with their pants down and their noses to the wall while promising to be good...no, they weren't allowed to rub their bums.)

~1985 - In New York City, mafia bosses Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti were shot dead when exiting from Sparks Steak House, making hit organizer John Gotti the leader of the powerful Gambino organized crime family.

~1989 - The Romanian Revolution began in the city of Timişoara as a protest against an attempt by the government to evict a dissident Methodist priest, László Tőkés.

~1989 – A nutcase began his terrorist bombing streak when he sent Judge Robert Smith Vance a bomb in the mail, instantly killing him at his home in Mountain Brook, Alabama.

~1991 – Resolutionville: The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 4686 revoked UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, which declared that Zionism is racism, after Israel made revocation of resolution 3379 a condition of its participation in the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. (Great at making resolutions...not so great at standing behind them.)

~1997 – The Dennō Senshi Porygonan (Computer Soldier Porygon) episode of Pokémon was aired in Japan. The special effects contained within the show induced seizures in hundreds of Japanese children. It has never been aired since.

~1998 - Operation Desert Fox: American and British troops began bombing Iraqi targets after Iraq obstructed UN weapons inspectors.

~2000 - NASA announced that there is an ocean beneath Jupiter moon Ganymede's icy surface.

~2003 - National Institute of Standards and Technology physicist Deborah Jin induced the formation of a fermionic condensate among fermionic atoms.

~2007 – Ron Paul raised a record amount of money online in a single day money bomb, over $6 million in just 24 hours.

...

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

December 17th



283 – St. Gaius becomes Pope.

384 – St. Siricius becomes Pope.

1586 - The reign of Emperor Go-Yozei, the 107th imperial ruler of Japan, began.

1637 - The Shimabara Rebellion broke out in Japan.

1830 – In Santa Marta, Colombia Simon Bolivar died.

1843 - Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is published.

1903 – The age of Aviation dawns at Kittyhawk NC, when bicycle makers Orville and Wilbur Wright make the world’s first powered flight in “The Wright Flyer”.

1935 – A pivotal date in aviation history as one of the three most significant aircraft in history, the Douglas DC-3 takes to the air for the first time.

1939 – The German pocket-battleship “Admiral Graf Spee” was scuttled in the harbor of Montevideo, Uruguay by Captain Hans Langsdorff following the Battle of the River Plate.

1941 – The German siege of Sevastopol begins

1944 – The US Western Defense Command issues proclamation ending requirement of Japanese internment.

1944 - In the Malmédy massacre over 80 American POW are executed by Waffen-SS troops of Jochen Peiper’s Kampfgruppe.

1961 - India seizes Goa from Portugal.

1969 - U.S. Air Force closes its “Project Blue Book”announcing that its UFO investigations have found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

1969 – The SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) negotiations begin.

1969 – Verna died.

1970 - The My-Lai massacre trial begins.

1970 - Mass riots in the coastal cities of Poland ended in the massacre of shipyard workers by government forces at Gdynia.

1973 - The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

1982 - Tootsie opens in theaters, starring Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, George Gaynes, and Geena Davis.

1989 - Brazil holds its first free elections in 25 years.

1989 - Full scale street manifestations and riots in Timisoara ignite the Romanian Revolution.

1997 - A chartered Yakovlev-42 from Ukraine crashes into the mountains near Katerini, Greece killing all 70 aboard.

1998 - Claudia Benton is murdered in her West University, Texas home by Angel Maturino Resendiz. She is his fifth murder victim in his fourth incident.

2002 – A peace accord is signed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2003 – Exactly 100 years after Kittyhawk “Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne” makes its first supersonic flight.

2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King opens in theaters around the world.

December 18th



218 BC – The Battle of the Trebia, Hannibal's first great victory over the Rome.

1352 - Innocent VI is elected Pope.

1642 - Abel Tasman lands at Mohua Golden Bay becoming the first European in New Zealand.

1776 - North Carolina's Constitution is ratified.

1787 - New Jersey is the third state to ratify the United States Constitution.

1865 - Slavery is abolished in the United States, with the passing of the 13th Amendment.

1894 - Women in South Australia become the first in all of Australia to gain the right to vote and to be elected to Parliament.

1912 – The Piltdown Man is discovered.

1926 - The Makropulos Affair, an opera by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, premiered in Brno in the Czech Republic.

1958 - Niger becomes an autonomous state within the French Community after the establishment of the Fifth French Republic. Following full independence on August 3 membership was allowed to lapse.

1961 - Indonesia invaded New Guinea to annex West Papua, formerly known as Netherlands New Guinea.

1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus was discovered by Richard L. Walker, and then lost for 12 years.

1973 – The Soviet space program launched Soyuz 13.

1996 - "Ebonics" was declared a language or dialect by the school board of Oakland, California.

1997 - HTML 4.0 is released by the World Wide Web Consortium.

2002 - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the second Lord of the Rings movie to open in theaters.

2002 - California Governor Gray Davis announced that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier; the budget issue was used to support his 2003 recall from office.

December 19th



(Happy Birthday, Mom!)

324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.

1187 - Clement III is elected pope.

1732 - Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanack.

1777 - George Washington's army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1842 - The United States recognizes the independence of Hawaii.

1912 - William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum, that killed over 1,000 people on June 15, 1904 was pardoned after 3 1/2 years in Sing Sing prison by President Taft.

1916 - In France the last skirmishes end in the now decided Battle of Verdun.

1928 - First autogiro flight in the United States takes place.

1945 - Austria becomes a republic for the second time, the first having been interrupted by the Nazi invasion/annexation of Austria in 1938.

1946 - Ho Chi Minh's forces attack the French in Hanoi.

1961 - The Indian Army invades the Portuguese colony of Goa.

1962 - Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

1963 - Zanzibar received its independence from Britain to become a constitutional monarchy under the sultan.

1972 - Apollo 17, the last manned lunar flight, returns to Earth.

1974 - The Altair 8800, the first personal computer, goes on sale.

1978 - John Wayne Gacy is arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men.

1979 - Kramer vs. Kramer opens in theaters, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

1980 - Anguilla is made a dependency of Great Britain, separate from St. Kitt's.

1984 - Britain and the People's Republic of China sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which handed Hong Kong over to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

1997 - A Silkair Boeing 737-300 crashes into the Musi River, in Sumatra, Indonesia killing 104.

1998 - The U.S. House of Representatives pass articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal.

2001 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three Lord of the Rings movies, opens in theaters.

2001 - A new world-record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 mb (32.06 inches Hg) is set at Tosontsengel, Hovsgol Aymag, Mongolia.

December 20th



1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.

1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completed.

1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.

1915 – The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.

1917 - Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, are founded.

1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.

1960 – The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.

1989 - Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.

1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

1995 - An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.

1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.

1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.

2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

December 21st


69 - Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the “Year of the Four Emperors”.

1861 - The Medal of Honor is first authorized.

1861 - In order to prevent war between the United States and Great Britain Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning the Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell. They were arrested by the United States Navy aboard the British mail steamer Trent.

1872 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography.

1880 - Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote.

1891 – The first basketball game is played.

1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium.

1913 – The first crossword puzzle is published.

1914 – The first feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin, is released.

1923 - Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state.

1933 - Newfoundland becomes a crown colony.

1935 – The first screening of the Disney classic, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President of the Fifth Republic of France.

1962 - Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, was established.

1968 - Apollo 8 is launched.

1979 - The United States government bails out the Chrysler Corporation with guaranteed loans.

1988 - A terrorist bomb explodes aboard Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground.

1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near Calatayud (Zaragoza) a Madrid-bound van driven by ETA and loaded with 950 kg of explosives. The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as "la caravana de la muerte" (the caravan of death). Shortly after 9/11, ETA confirmed their plan had been to blow up Torre Picasso.

2002 - Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments. (Vancouver city council is well known for having their heads planted firmly up their rectums.)

2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end.

December 22nd


1603 - Mehmed III Sultan of the Ottoman Empire dies and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I.

1807 - The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.

1809 - The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, passes the U.S. Congress.

1849 - The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is canceled at the last second.

1864 - Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman.

1885 - Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.

1894 - The Dreyfus affair begins in France when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason.

1910 – The Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire leaves 21firemen dead.

1937 - The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic.

1944 – At “The Battle of the Bulge”German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium. 1944 – The Vietnam People's Army is formed to resist the Japanese occupation of Vietnam.

1964 - Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity.

1974 - Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.

1988 - Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, was assassinated.

1989 - After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communist dictatorship.

1989 - Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

1990 - Lech Wałęsa is sworn in as President of Poland.

1997 - Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas were massacred by paramilitary forces.

1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard finds near Calatayud (Zaragoza) another van loaded by ETA with 750 kg of explosives (see related event on December 21, 1999).

1999 - Tandja Mamadou became the President of Niger.

2001 - Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, handed over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by Hamid Karzai.

2001 - Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.

2001 - CC the cat is born, the world’s first cloned pet.

December 23rd

(Originally posted by La Juliette)

1620 - Construction began of the first permanent European settlement in New England, one week after the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth harbour in present day Massachusetts.

1776 - Thomas Paine wrote "These are the times that try men's souls".

1779 - Benedict Arnold was court-martialed for improper conduct.

1783 - George Washington returned to Mount Vernon, Virginia, after resigning his commission with the US Army following the Revolutionary War. He became America's first president in 1789.

1788 - Maryland voted to cede a 10 square mile area for the District of Columbia.

1823 - An anonymous poem appeared in the Troy (NY) Sentinel, A Visit from St. Nicholas, later known better as 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The poem was written by a professor of Greek and Oriental literature, Clement Clark Moore, and appeared without his permission in the newspaper.

1888 - In a fit of depression, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear. His Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear shows the right one bandaged because he painted the mirror image. He was staying at lodgings in Arles, France.

1907 - The first all-steel passenger railroad coach was completed in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

1913 - The 'Federal Reserve Act' was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson. It established 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

1919 - Alice H. Parker patented a gas heating furnace.

1922 - BBC Radio began daily news broadcasts.

1928 - The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) established a permanent coast-to-coast radio hookup.

1930 - Bette Davis arrived in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios.

1933 - A train crash in Eastern Paris left 230 people dead.

1938 - Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West costume caught fire during the filming of The Wizard of Oz. She was severely burned and was off the film for over one month.

1942 - Bob Hope agreed to entertain US airmen in Alaska. It was the first of his many famous Christmas shows for American armed forces around the world. The tradition continued for more than three decades.

1943 - General Montgomery was advised that he would be appointed commandant for D-day.

1946 - University of Tennessee refused to play Duquesne University, because they may use a black player in their basketball game.

1957 - Actor Dan Blocker made his debut on television in the Restless Gun production of The Child. Two years later, Blocker starred in the very popular Bonanza on NBC, as Hoss Cartwright.

1959 - The Drifters recorded This Magic Moment.

1961 - Fidel Castro announced that Cuba would release 1,113 prisoners from the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, for $62 million worth of food and medical supplies.

1962 - Cuba started returning US prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion.

1964 - India and Ceylon were hit by a cyclone, an estimated 4,850 were killed.

1970 - The New York World Trade Center reached its highest point of 411 metres.

1972 - Around 12,000 people were killed when Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, was destroyed by an massive earthquake.

1975 - US Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act.

1977 - Cat Stevens formally changed his name to Yusef Islam.

1979 - The USSR performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1986 - Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager became the first airplane pilots to make a non-stop trip around the world without refueling; 216 hours of continuous flying; breaking their own record of 111 hours set a year and a half earlier. The couple guided their Voyager on the record-setting, but harrowing and uncomfortable, flight to and from Edwards Air Fo rce Base in Southern California. (nine-day, 25,012-mile global flight without refueling.)

1987 - Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempted assassination of President Gerald R. Ford, escaped from Alderson Prison.

1993 - President Clinton announced he would instruct his lawyers to give investigators all documents relating to the Whitewater scandal.

1997 - Terry Nichols, the second defendant in the Oklahoma City bombing trial, was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter, but not first-degree murder, by a jury in Denver, Colorado.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

December 24th


640 - John IV becomes Pope.

1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by British Captain James Cook.

1814 – In Paris “The Treaty of Ghent” was signed, ending the War of 1812. News of this did not reach the Americas in time to prevent the bloodbath at The Battle of New Orleans.

1818 – “Silent Night” was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber.

1851 – The Library of Congress burns to the ground.

1865 - Several US Civil War Confederate veterans join to form the Ku Klux Klan.

1906 - The first radio program, a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech, is broadcast.

1914 - World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

1924 - Albania becomes a republic.

1943 - US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the supreme Allied commander in Europe.

1946 - France's Fourth Republic is founded. (Show of hands from all those who give a tinker’s damn…!)

1951 - Libya became independent from Italy. Idris I was proclaimed king of Libya.

1953 - 153 people die as a result of the Tangiwai disaster when the railway bridge collapses at Tangiwai, New Zealand sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River

1953 - NBC's Dragnet becomes the first network-sponsored television program to air.

1954 - Laos gains its independence.

1966 - A Canadair CL44, chartered by the United States military, crashes into a small village in South Vietnam killing 129.

1968 - The crew of the USS Pueblo was released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.

1969 - Curt Flood writes to Bowie K. Kuhn, the Commissioner of Baseball, asking to be declared a free agent.

1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Australia.

1979 - The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to support the country's Marxist government.

1979 - The launch of the first European “Ariane” rocket results in a spectacular success.

1985 - A black bull blocked Cross Harbour Tunnel of Hong Kong for three hours.

1997 - Woody Allen at the age of 62, married Soon-Yi Previn aged 27, the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow.

1997 - The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty. (Whoa! Slow news day or what?)

2000 - The Texas 7 holds up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot in the incident.

2003 – At 3:55 PM Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives (set to detonate at 4:00 PM) inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

December 25th


800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror as king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

1223 - Saint Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene.

1599 - The city of Natal, Brazil is founded.

1776 - George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the monarchy's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.

1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.

1837 - Battle of Okeechobee - United States forces defeat Seminole Indians.

1868 - US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.

1868 – The Ezo Republic is founded in Hokkaido by Shogunate rebels.

1914 - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops on the Western Front cease firing their guns and artillery and start singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they trade gifts with the enemy forces that face them. The Christmas truce lasted for several days, depending on the location.

1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.

1926 - Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding the Taisho Emperor.

1932 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills over 70,000 people.

1939 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was read on (CBS) radio for the first time.

1939 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is introduced by Montgomery Ward stores.

1941 – Defended largely by a single, novice Canadian battalion, Hong Kong falls to the Japanese after fierce fighting.

1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China went into effect.

1953 - A large fire broke out in Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong.

1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.

1977 - Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat

1989 - Nicolae Ceausescu, former communist dictator of Romania, and his wife Elena were condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges by a court perceived by many as illegitimate.

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).

2002 - New Delhi Metro was introduced.

2004 - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which will land on Saturn's moon, Titan on January 14, 2005.

December 26th


1481 - Battle of Westbroek - Holland’s army defeats the troops of Utrecht.

1606 – Shakespeare’s King Lear is performed in the Court of England for the first time.

1620 - Elizabeth Bathory's crimes are uncovered.

1620 - Pilgrim Fathers land of what becomes New Plymouth in Massachusetts.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: The British were defeated in the Battle of Trenton.

1790 - Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.

1792 - Final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris.

1793 - Battle of Geisberg – The French defeat the Austrians.

1793 - Wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

1806 - Battle of Pultusk – An indecisive battle between Napoleon and the Russians.

1812 - Delaware and Chesapeake are blockaded during the War of 1812.

1825 - The Erie Canal opens.

1861 - Confederate diplomatic envoys James Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain.

1862 - 38 starving and angry Dakota men are hanged for killing white people after a brief rebellion.

1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1908 - Jack Johnson becomes the first black American heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia.

1916 - Joseph Joffre is made Marshal of France.

1925 – The Communist Party of India is founded.

1925 - Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.

1931 – The Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity was founded

1933 - The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan

1933 - FM radio is patented

1944 – The first public performance of Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” takes place.

1944 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne during “The Battle of the Bulge”.

1946 – The Flamingo Hotel opens in Las Vegas.

1947 - 26 inches of snow fall in only 16 hours in New York City.

1948 - Cardinal Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary.

1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

1973 – The Comet Kohoutek reaches perihelion but is not such a display as expected.

1973 - Soyuz 13 lands safely.

1974 - Salyut 4 is launched.

1975 – The Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union.

1979 - Soviet Special forces troops take over the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

1980 - Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service. (Talk about a flying death trap!)

1982 - TIME magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a non-human; a computer.

1984 - Princess Astrid of Belgium marries Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este.

1986 - The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air.

1988 - Start of the Nanjing Anti-African protests.

1991 – The Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR.

1996 - JonBenét Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen, was found murdered in her family's basement in Boulder, Colorado.

1996 - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force. (So far a dismal failure.)

1998 - Iraq announced its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones".

1998 - Severe gales occur over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland. Widespread disruption and power outages hit Northern Ireland and southern Scotland.

1999 - On the 26 and until the 28th, France and countries to east are devastated by severe storms and rain. Over 100 people were killed, with the storms causing extensive damage to property and trees and the French national power grid.

2002 - French Raelian scientist Brigitte Boisselier says Clonaid has delivered the first of a supposed five clone babies through cesarean section; these claims have never been verified.

2003 – A major earthquake devastates the southeast Iranian city of Bam with up to 43,300 killed and over 90,000 homeless; the citadel of Arg-é Bam is destroyed.

December 27th

(Originally posted by LaJuliette)


1703 - Portugal and England sign “The Methuen Treaty” which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.

1831 - Charles Darwin embarks on his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle.

1836 - The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people.

1845 - Ether anesthetic is used during childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia.

1900 - Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kansas. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles behind the bar. Nation usually did her damage with a hatchet; calling her vandalism, hatchetation.

1904 - James Barrie's play “Peter Pan” premieres in London.

1904 - The Abbey Theatre opens.

1918 - Beginning of the Great Poland Uprising, the Poles in Greater Poland, or Grand Duchy of Poznań, rebel against the governing Germans.

1932 - The largest movie theatre in the world, Radio City Music Hall in New York City, opened on this date. It originally had 5,945 seats. It was the largest indoor theatre in the world. The gala grand opening show was a six-hour extravaganza that lost half a million dollars within three weeks. The theatre has since been renovated to recapture its original decorative charm. An Art Deco cathedral of entertainment, it seats more than 6,200 people and is still a must-see for those visiting New York. During the holiday season, audiences continue to get a kick out of seeing the world-famous Rockettes perform in precision on Radio City Music Hall’s nearly 10,000-square-foot stage.

1945 - The World Bank is created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.

1945 - Foreign ministers of Britain, the US and the USSR, meeting in Moscow, divide Korea into two nations and agree on a plan to govern them for five years.

1947 - The children's TV show, Howdy Doody, under the title Puppet Playhouse, and featuring both live action and marionettes, premiered on NBC, with host Buffalo Bob Smith. It was television's first show to complete 1,000 broadcasts and the first to utilize a split screen on a cross-country telecast. After 13 successful years, production ended with a total of 2,343 shows under its belt.

1949 -The Indonesian National Revolution: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands grants Indonesia sovereignty.

1950 - The United States and Spain resumed relations for the first time since the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s.

1951 - In Cincinnati, Ohio a Crosley automobile, with right hand drive, became the first so equipped vehicle placed in service for mail delivery.

1961 - The first successfully hijacked aircraft landed in Havana after being diverted by its Cuban hijacker.

1964 - The Supremes made the first of many performnces on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show.

1968 - The long-running radio program The Breakfast Club signs off for the last time (ABC radio).

1971 - Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ famous “Peanuts” comic strip, made the cover of Newsweek.

1978 - Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.

1979 - The Soviet Union seizes control of Afghanistan; Babrak Karmal replaces overthrown and executed President Hafizullah Amin.

1979 - Knots Landing premiered on CBS-TV.

1983 - Pope John Paul II pardoned the man who shot him. (Mehmet Ali Agca).

1984 - British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was the woman most admired by the American people, according to a Gallup Poll. It marked the third consecutive year that the Iron Lady received that honor.

1985 - Terrorists killed 20 people and wounded a further 110 when four Palestinian terrorists attacked the El Al check-in counter at Rome's Fiumicino airport. A similar attack at Vienna's Schwechat airport left four dead, including one gunman. President Reagan blamed the Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Qaddafi.

1985 - American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.

1991 – “The Golden Era” of classic television comedy, which saw the likes of Red Skeleton, Jackie Gleason and many others grace the airwaves, comes to an end with the final airing of the Carol Burnett Show on CBS-TV.

1996 - Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.

1997 - Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland.

2001 - The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.

2002 - Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya.

December 28th


418 - St. Boniface I becomes Pope.

1065 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, the 95th imperial ruler of Japan, began.

1612 - Galileo was the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when it was in conjunction with Jupiter, yet he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic at that time. Neptune was not truly discovered as a planet until 1846, about 234 years after Galileo first sighted it with his telescope.

1832 - John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.

1835 - Osceola led his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the U.S. Army.

1836 - South Australia and Adelaide are founded.

1836 - Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.

1846 - Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

1879 - The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passed over it, killing 75.

1895 - The Lumiere brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines -- this date is commonly considered the debut of the cinema.

1897 - Edmond Rostand’s play “Cyrano de Bergerac”, premieres in Paris.

1902 - The first indoor professional American football game is played in New York City at Madison Square Garden.

1908 – A massive earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.

1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.

1950 - The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

1973 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn publishes “Gulag Archipelago”.

1981 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby is born in Norfolk, Virginia.

1991 - Nine people are crushed to death while a crowd pushes their way into a basketball game at the City College of New York.

1995 - CompuServe sets a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups after being pressured by German prosecutors.

1999 - Saparmurat Niyazov was proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan. (Democracy is thriving there, no?)

2000 - Adrian Năstase became the Prime Minister of Romania.

2000 – After 128 years in business, U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces that it is closing its doors forever.