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|
Julian Calendar introduced
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| 379:
|
Death of St. Basil
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| 533:
|
Death of St. Fulgentius
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| 898:
|
Death of Odo, King of the Franks; Charles "the Simple" becomes King
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| 1189:
|
Saladin abandons his siege of Tyre
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| 1356:
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The Pope publishes the "Golden Bull"
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| 1387:
|
Death of Charles II, "The Bad", King of Navarre
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| 1391:
|
Jean Gerson preaches against warfare to the King of France
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| 1449:
|
Lorenzo de Medici born
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| 1484:
|
Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant reformer born
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| 1500:
|
Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers the coast of Brazil
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| 1511:
|
Prince Henry of England, who survives no more than six weeks born
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| 1515:
|
Death of Louis XII, King of France
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| 1531:
|
Rio de Janerio, Brazil, discovered
|
| 1559:
|
Death of Christian III, King of Denmark and Norway
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| 1562:
|
Huguenots abolish Catholicism in Castres, France
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| 1618:
|
Bartolom Esteban Murillo, Spanish Baroque artist (baptized) born
|
| 1651:
|
King Charles II crowned King of Scotland, the last King crowned at Scone
|
| 1735:
|
Paul Revere born
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| 1752:
|
Betsy Ross, who, according to legend, made the first American flag. born
|
| 1766:
|
Old Pretender, son of James III dies
|
| 1782:
|
"The English Bach "John Christian Bach died. He composed operas in the Italian style but also played organ like his dad
|
| 1797:
|
Albany became the capital of New York state, replacing New York City
|
| 1804:
|
Haiti gains it's independence
|
| 1863:
|
The Emancipation Proclamation, declared the previous September by Abraham Lincoln, took effect. It declared freedom for slaves in all areas of the Confederacy that were still in rebellion against the Union
|
| 1879:
|
English novelist E.M. Forster born
|
| 1879:
|
The Brahms Violin Concerto was premiered in Leipzig on this day, with Brahms' close friend Joseph Joachim in the solo spotlight. Virtually no previous violin concerto had been so thickly orchestrated and symphonic in its mood
|
| 1892:
|
The Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York formally opened
|
| 1895:
|
J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Dircetor. born
|
| 1900:
|
Xavier Cugat (Francisco Deulogeo) Composer, band leader (The Lady in Red, Perfidia, Brazil, Begin the Beguine) born
|
| 1900:
|
Musical Records, W.J. Henderson wrote "No gentleman would have written that thing. There are places for such music, but surely not before miscellaneous assemblages of ladies and gentlemen." It was the work of Strauss that he was offending, "Till Eulenspiegel."
|
| 1901:
|
The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed
|
| 1902:
|
1st Rose Bowl game held in Pasadena, California
|
| 1906:
|
British Parliament curtails immigration for the insane, impoverished, criminal and diseased
|
| 1907:
|
The Pure Food and Drug Act becomes law in the U.S
|
| 1909:
|
Actor Dana Andrews (State Fair, The Best Years of Our Lives, A Walk in the Sun, Battle of the Bulge, Airport '75) born
|
| 1909:
|
Barry Goldwater the 1964 Republican candidate for president born
|
| 1909:
|
London astronomers hint of sightings of a planet beyond Neptune
|
| 1912:
|
British-born Soviet master spy Harold "Kim" Philby born
|
| 1919:
|
J. D. Salinger, author of 'Catcher in the Rye'. born
|
| 1921:
|
Champion prize fighter Rocky Graziano (Rocco Barbella) born
|
| 1923:
|
Jazz musician Milt Jackson born
|
| 1923:
|
Sadi Lecointe sets a new aviation speed record flying an average of 208 mph at Istres
|
| 1925:
|
Edwin Hubble announces our galaxy is just one among billions of others
|
| 1927:
|
Massachusetts becomes the first state to require automobile insurance
|
| 1934:
|
Alcatraz officially becomes a Federal Prison
|
| 1940:
|
Actor Frank Langella born
|
| 1942:
|
Rock singer-musician Country Joe McDonald born
|
| 1943:
|
Writer-comedian Don Novello born
|
| 1945:
|
France was admitted to the United Nations
|
| 1950:
|
Country singer Steve Ripley (The Tractors) born
|
| 1953:
|
Country singer Hank Williams Senior, 29, died of a drug and alcohol overdose while en route to a concert date in Canton, Ohio
|
| 1956:
|
Sudan gains it's independence
|
| 1958:
|
Rapper Grandmaster Flash. born
|
| 1958:
|
Treaties establishing the European Economic Community went into effect
|
| 1959:
|
Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista
|
| 1964:
|
Actress Dedee Pfeiffer ("Cybill") born
|
| 1969:
|
Actor Verne Troyer ("Austin Powers born
|
| 1970:
|
Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights"; "Magnolia") born
|
| 1975:
|
A jury convicted former Attorney General John Mitchell and former White House aides John Ehrlichman and H.R. Haldeman on all counts in the Watergate cover-up case
|
| 1979:
|
The United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries
|
| 1984:
|
The break-up of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement
|
| 1986:
|
Soviet television aired a five-minute greeting from President Reagan and Americans got the same from Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the first such exchange between the superpowers
|
| 1987:
|
More than 2,000 Chinese students, defying a government ban, held a pro-democracy rally in Beijing's Tiananmen Square
|
| 1988:
|
President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev exchanged optimistic New Year's greetings, expressing mutual hope they would reach an arms control treaty on strategic weapons within six months
|
| 1988:
|
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher distanced herself from US vows to punish whoever bombed Pam Am Flight 103, saying in a TV interview that revenge "can affect innocent people."
|
| 1990:
|
David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor
|
| 1991:
|
President Bush called top advisers to the White House for a fresh assessment of the Persian Gulf crisis
|
| 1992:
|
President Bush became the first American leader to address the Australian Parliament, telling lawmakers the U.S. would continue to subsidize its agricultural exports, despite protests by Australia's farmers
|
| 1992:
|
Boutros Boutros-Ghali succeeded Javier Perez de Cuellar as secretary-general of the United Nations
|
| 1993:
|
President Bush continued to tour Somalia, greeting hundreds of cheering youngsters and foreign relief workers at an orphanage in Baidoa. Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia
|
| 1994:
|
The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect
|
| 1994:
|
In Mexico, the Zapatista National Liberation Army launched a rebellion to press for better living conditions for Indian peasants in Chiapas
|
| 1994:
|
Actor Cesar Romero died in Santa Monica, California, at age 86
|
| 1995:
|
A cease-fire supposed to last four months began in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Sweden, Finland and Austria joined the European Union
|
| 1995:
|
Fernando Henrique Cardoso took office as Brazil's 37th president
|
| 1996:
|
Some 100,000 Bangladeshi women rallied to protest Islamic clerics' attacks on female education and employment
|
| 1996:
|
Two buses collided in northern Mexico, killing 25 people
|
| 1996:
|
Retired U.S. Adm. Arleigh Burke, remembered for his World War II heroics, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital at age 94
|
| 1997:
|
An off-duty Israeli soldier with a history of mental problems opened fire on a crowded vegetable market in Hebron, wounding five people and touching off a stone-throwing demonstration by angry Palestinians
|
| 1997:
|
Kofi Annan assumed the title of United Nations secretary-general
|
| 1998:
|
A new anti-smoking law went into effect in California, prohibiting people from lighting up in bars
|
| 1998:
|
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that 2% milk no longer "low fat." Also, in a move to reduce birth defects, food manufacturers were required to add the nutrient folic acid to enriched breads, flours, corn meals, pastas, rice and other grain products
|
| 1998:
|
Adventurer Steve Fossett completed the first full day of a planned circumnavigation of the globe, aiming his balloon toward wind currents that will carry him over the Atlantic Ocean toward Europe. Fossett, cruising at an altitude of about 22,000 feet, was
|
| 1998:
|
A group of at least 1,000 Hutu rebel killed 150 people in an attack on a village and military camp near Bujumbura airport. Col. Jean-Bosco Daradangwe said the attack was the biggest by Hutu rebels since 1993
|
| 1998:
|
Mexico's majestic Popocatepetl volcano boomed out a loud eruption, spewing out a massive gas cloud and setting off a series of tremors reaching up to 3.3 on the Richter scale. Television Azteca showed video of a giant cloud extending some four miles above the peak, which is 17,992 feet above sea level
|
| 1999:
|
The euro, the new single currency of eleven European countries, officially came into existence with the start of the New Year
|
| 1999:
|
Cuban President Fidel Castro, marking the 40th anniversary of his rise to power, portrayed his socialist nation as a defender of humanity against rapacious capitalism
|
| 2000:
|
The arrival of 2000 saw no terrorist attacks, Y2K meltdowns or mass suicides among doomsday cults, but instead saw seven continents stepping joyously and peacefully into the New Year
|
| 2000:
|
On his first full day as acting president, Vladimir Putin assured Russians there would be no "vacuum of power" after Boris Yeltsin's surprise resignation
|
| 2000:
|
Wisconsin beat Stanford, 17-to-9, to become the first Big Ten team to win consecutive Rose Bowls
|
| 2002:
|
Twelve European nations adopted the euro in the most ambitious currency changeover in history
|
| 2002:
|
Michael Bloomberg succeeded Rudolph Giuliani as New York City's mayor
|
| 2002:
|
Eduardo Duhalde was named Argentina's fifth president in two weeks
|
| 2005:
|
Tsunami deaths mount to more than 120,000
|
| 2005:
|
Republicans seek to reduce ethics rules
|
| 2005:
|
DirecTV tunes out Trio, network in limbo
|
| 2005:
|
Australian National Archives release Loans Affair documents
|
| 2005:
|
Aid pledges rise; Japan promises 500,000,000 USD
|
| 2006:
|
New Zealand citizenship requirements tighten in 2006
|
| 2006:
|
World celebrates new year for Gregorian Calendar
|
| 2006:
|
Australian volunteer firefighters kept busy on New Year's Day
|
| 2006:
|
Tropical Storm Zeta becomes second cross-season tropical storm in history
|
| 2006:
|
Russia cuts off gas supplies to Ukraine
|
| 2006:
|
Four-team trade may be in the works in Major League Baseball
|
| 2006:
|
Boyfriend forces Missouri woman to swallow cell phone
|
| 2006:
|
Error hits Greenpeace donations
|
| 2007:
|
Bangkok hit with further New Year bomb blasts
|
| 2007:
|
Australian 1976 Cabinet papers released
|
| 2007:
|
1 million people welcome in Sydney
|
| 2007:
|
New UN Secretary General assumes post
|
| 2007:
|
Slovenia adopts euro
|
| 2007:
|
World reacts to execution of Saddam Hussein
|
| 2007:
|
Boston rings in the new year
|
| 2007:
|
New Zealand MP to be present at state funeral of Gerald Ford
|
| 2007:
|
Young child dies imitating Hussein's execution
|
| 2008:
|
South Australian Premier Rann wants apology from Hicks
|
| 2008:
|
Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro
|
| 2008:
|
US diplomat shot and killed in Sudan
|
| 2008:
|
Finnish actor Markku Peltola dies at 51
|
| 2008:
|
Senior security official: "Hardly any chance" to ban German Church of Scientology
|
| 2008:
|
NHL game held outdoors in stadium; Pittsburgh defeats Buffalo in shootout
|
| 2008:
|
Fire kills three and closes main transport route into Western Australia
|
| 2008:
|
Violent clashes in Kenya kill scores
|
| 2008:
|
Taipei 101 shows "Love Taiwan" mark after New Year's Eve in Taipei, Taiwan
|
| 2009:
|
Mount Everest plane crash blamed on pilot error
|
| 2009:
|
New Year fire kills at least 59, injures 212 more at Bangkok pub
|
| 2009:
|
Mathematician Martin Taylor awarded knighthood
|
| 2010:
|
Afghanistan: two kidnapped French journalists believed to be in good health
|
| 2010:
|
At least eighteen dead after storms in Brazil
|
| 2012:
|
Nationalised bank Northern Rock sold to Virgin Money
|
| 2012:
|
UK's Commission on Assisted Dying to recommend law change
|
| 2012:
|
On the campaign trail, December 2011
|
History
Icons
Silversmith, soldier and revolutionary, Paul Revere born in Boston, Massachusetts
Seamstress Betsy Ross born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Air Force Major General and five-time US Senator, Barry Morris Goldwater born in Phoenix, Arizona
Soldier, cruise ship entertainer and author, J. D. Salinger born in Manhattan, New York
Middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano born Thomas Rocco Barbella in New York City