| 438:
|
Publication of the Theodosian Code
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| 496:
|
Baptism of Clovis, King of France
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| 800:
|
Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor
|
| 820:
|
Assassination of Leo V, Emperor of Byzantium
|
| 875:
|
Coronation of Charles "the Bald" as Emperor of the Franks
|
| 967:
|
Coronation of Otto II as Holy Roman Emperor
|
| 1000:
|
Stephen crowned as Hungary's first King
|
| 1066:
|
William the Conqueror was crowned King William I of England
|
| 1075:
|
Pope Gregory VII kidnapped while saying Mass
|
| 1223:
|
St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy
|
| 1583:
|
Orlando Gibbons, whom Glenn Gould regarded as the greatest composer of all time, was baptized. By the age of 19 he was earning money for compositions. He was one of England's most prominent organists from the age of 21
|
| 1621:
|
The Plymouth Colony bans card-playing
|
| 1635:
|
Death of Samuel de Champlain, explorer
|
| 1642:
|
British mathematician, physicist and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton born
|
| 1776:
|
General George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, New Jersey
|
| 1818:
|
"Silent Night" was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria: composed by organist Franz Gruber and Father Joseph Mohr
|
| 1821:
|
American Red Cross founder Clara Barton born
|
| 1868:
|
President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War
|
| 1870:
|
Richard Wagner hired an orchestra to play music on Cosima's 33rd birthday. The music was the "Siegfried Idyll." She was sleeping upstairs until the orchestra began performing on the lower stairs
|
| 1876:
|
Founder of the Republic of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah born
|
| 1887:
|
Hotel Magnet Conrad Hilton born
|
| 1892:
|
English author (Cicily Fairfield) Rebecca West (The Meaning of Treason, A Train of Powder, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, The Birds Fall Down) born
|
| 1893:
|
Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley born
|
| 1895:
|
Foster father Cal Farley Founder of Cal Farley's Boys Ranch born
|
| 1896:
|
John Philip Sousa wrote the melody to a song that had haunted him for days. On Christmas Day, that melody was finally titled, "The Stars and Stripes Forever."He had hoped the song would be a ballad - but alas, another march
|
| 1899:
|
Actor Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, The Barefoot Contessa, Tokyo Joe, Key Largo) born
|
| 1906:
|
Producer Lord Grade born
|
| 1907:
|
Singer and band leader Cab (Cabell) Calloway (`Highness of Hi-De-Ho': Minnie the Moocher) born
|
| 1913:
|
Singer Tony Martin born
|
| 1914:
|
Singer (Alvin Morris) Tony Martin (It's a Blue World, To Each His Own, Kiss of Fire) born
|
| 1917:
|
The play, "Why Marry?", opened at the Astor Theatre in New York City. Jesse Lynch Williams won a Pulitzer the following year making ; "Why Marry?" the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize
|
| 1918:
|
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (Nobel Peace Prize winner with Israel's Menachim Begin in1978) born
|
| 1924:
|
Scriptwriter Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Planet of the Apes, Seven Days in May) born
|
| 1926:
|
Hirohito became emperor of Japan, suceeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito (Hirohito was formally enthroned almost two years later)
|
| 1928:
|
Actor Dick Miller born
|
| 1931:
|
New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcast an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck
|
| 1937:
|
Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of "Symphony of the Air" over NBC radio
|
| 1939:
|
The Charles Dickens classic, "A Christmas Carol", was read by Lionel Barrymore on "The Campbell Playhouse" on CBS radio. The reading of the tale became an annual radio event for years to come
|
| 1941:
|
British Hong Kong surrendered to advancing Japanese forces
|
| 1943:
|
Actress Hanna Schygulla (Dead Again, The Summer of Miss Forbes, Forever, Lulu, Casanova, Delta Force) born
|
| 1945:
|
Actor Gary Sandy (WKRP in Cincinnati, All That Glitters, Troll, Hail) born
|
| 1946:
|
Singer Jimmy Buffett (Margaritaville, Come Monday, Changes in Latitudes - Changes in Attitudes; main `Parrot Head') born
|
| 1946:
|
Football Hall-of-Famer Larry Csonka born
|
| 1946:
|
Comedian W.C. Fields died in Pasadena, California, at age 66
|
| 1948:
|
Singer Barbara Mandrell (CMA Entertainer of the Year 1980, 1981; Female Vocalist of the Year 1979) born
|
| 1949:
|
Actress Sissy (Mary) Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter, Missing, The River, Carrie) born
|
| 1950:
|
Dick Tracy got married on Christmas Day. The comic strip hero married Tess Truehart
|
| 1954:
|
Singer Annie Lennox born
|
| 1954:
|
Reggae singer-musician Robin Campbell (UB40) born
|
| 1954:
|
Country singer Steve Wariner born
|
| 1957:
|
Singer Shane McGowan (Transmetropolitan, Streams of Whiskey, Dark Streets of London, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, Dirty Old Town, Sally MacIennane, A Pair of Brown Eyes) born
|
| 1958:
|
Baseball outfielder Ricky Henderson born
|
| 1968:
|
Actress Klea Scott born
|
| 1971:
|
Rock musician Noel Hogan (The Cranberries) born
|
| 1977:
|
Comedian Sir Charles Chaplin died in Switzerland at age 88
|
| 1982:
|
Country singer Alecia Elliott born
|
| 1987:
|
Authorities recaptured Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who had escaped two days earlier from the federal prison in Alderson, West Virginia, where she was serving a life sentence for her attempt on the life of President Ford
|
| 1988:
|
Christmas services were held in Lockerbie, Scotland, where residents mourned the loss of 270 lives in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 with relatives of the victims
|
| 1989:
|
Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising
|
| 1989:
|
Former baseball manager Billy Martin died in a traffic accident in Fenton, New York
|
| 1990:
|
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev won sweeping new powers from the Congress of People's Deputies
|
| 1990:
|
Romania's former monarch, King Michael, arrived on his first visit to his homeland since Communist rulers forced him to abdicate four decades earlier -- but he was deported by the new Bucharest government less than 12 hours later
|
| 1991:
|
Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence
|
| 1992:
|
US Marines delivered wheat to a refugee camp in Bardera, Somalia, setting off a small riot among the Somalis; American and French troops also took control of Hoddur
|
| 1993:
|
Full-fledged Christmas celebrations returned to Bethlehem for the first time since the Palestinian uprising began six years earlier
|
| 1993:
|
In London, an unidentified 59-year-old woman who'd been implanted with donated eggs gave birth to twins in a case that sparked controversy
|
| 1994:
|
Pope John Paul the Second, in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message, bemoaned "selfishness and violence" around the world
|
| 1994:
|
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a Jerusalem bus stop, injuring a dozen other people
|
| 1995:
|
Singer Dean Martin died at his Beverly Hills home at age 78
|
| 1995:
|
An ailing Pope John Paul the Second cut short his traditional Christmas greetings, telling crowds he was fighting to regain his health
|
| 1996:
|
Peruvians held candles high and prayed outside the Japanese ambassador's residence, where leftist rebels freed one hostage for health reasons, but continued to hold more than 100 others
|
| 1997:
|
Richard Bliss, a field technician for Qualcomm Incorporated accused of spying in Russia, arrived in San Diego after Russian authorities were persuaded to let him return home (however, Russia says its investigation of Bliss continues)
|
| 1997:
|
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld announced plans to fold his highly successful NBC sitcom "Seinfeld" at the end of the current season
|
| 1998:
|
British mogul Richard Branson, American millionaire Steve Fossett and Per Lindstrand of Sweden gave up their attempt to make the first non-stop round-the-world balloon flight seven days into their journey, ditching off Hawaii
|
| 1999:
|
Space shuttle "Discovery's" astronauts finished their repair job on the Hubble Space Telescope
|
| 1999:
|
A Cuban airplane crashed in northern Venezuela, killing all 22 aboard
|
| 2005:
|
Australian troops receive Christmas show in Iraq
|
| 2005:
|
Fiesta Season begins in Colombia
|
| 2005:
|
Armenian Journalists Facing Prison Sentences in Turkey
|
| 2005:
|
Australian wheat to lose out in Iraqi market grab
|
| 2005:
|
Apaches accuse Prescott Bush of robbing Geronimo's grave
|
| 2005:
|
Cheney-Rumsfeld "Cabal" alleged in the USA
|
| 2005:
|
War between top lawyers in Greece
|
| 2005:
|
Taxi driver stabbed to death in Nova Scotia
|
| 2005:
|
United States 2003 National Adult Literacy Survey released
|
| 2006:
|
India wins its first cricket Test in South Africa
|
| 2006:
|
James Brown dies of pneumonia
|
| 2007:
|
Google Taiwan: Building knowledge sharing center-stage with innovations
|
| 2007:
|
No injuries after Antarctica research station support plane crashes
|
| 2007:
|
Israel says cluster bomb use was legal
|
| 2007:
|
Leaders throughout the world deliver Christmas messages
|
| 2008:
|
Apartment gas blast in Yevpatoria, Ukraine
|
| 2008:
|
FDA says Coca-Cola's Diet Coke Plus is misbranded
|
| 2009:
|
Over twenty dead after multiple bomb attacks in Iraq
|
History
Icons
Oscar winning actor and film legend, Humphrey Bogart born in New York City
Grammy Award winning singer, Cabell "Cab" Calloway III born in Rochester, New York
Soldier, revolutionary and third president of Egypt, Muhammad Anwar Al Sadat born in Mit Abu al-Kum, Egypt
Paratrooper, boxer, and prolific screenwriter, Rod Serling born in Syracuse, New York
Singer, songwriter, author, and businessman, James William "Jimmy" Buffett born in Pascagoula, Mississsippi
Singer, Academy and Golden Globe Award winning actress, Sissy Spacek born in Quitman, Texas
Academy Award winning songwriter, musician and singer, Annie Lennox born in Aberdeen, Scotland