| 324 BC | Origin of Era of Alexander |
|---|---|
| 295 | Origin of Era of Ascension |
| 607 | Boniface III ends his reign as Catholic Pope |
| 1775 | General Washington forbids recruiting officers enlisting blacks |
| 1859 | Jules Leotard performs 1st Flying Trapeze circus act (Paris). He also designed the garment that bears his name |
| 1910 | 1st Movie stunt: man jumps into Hudson river from a burning balloon |
| 1915 | Britain annexes Gilbert & Ellice Islands |
| 1918 | Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary abdicates, Austria becomes a republic |
| 1919 | Ross & Smith start a 1 month flight from London to Australia |
| 1921 | Washington Conference for Limitation of Armaments |
| 1927 | Trotsky expelled from Soviet CP; Stalin becomes undisputed dictator |
| 1928 | British steamer “Vestris” capsizes & sinks off Virginia, kills 110 |
| 1931 | NHL’s Maple Leaf Gardens opens in Toronto, Leafs beat Black Hawks 2-1 |
| 1933 | 1st known photo of Loch Ness monster is taken |
| 1933 | 1st Sunday football game in Philadelphia (previously illegal) |
| 1933 | Nazis receive 92% of vote in Germany |
| 1936 | 1st TV Gardening show |
| 1936 | Oakland Bay Bridge opens |
| 1938 | Hermann Goering announces he wants Madagascar as a Jewish homeland |
| 1939 | Jews of Lodz Poland are ordered to wear yellow armbands |
| 1940 | Blizzard strikes US midwest, 154 die (69 on boat on Great Lakes) |
| 1941 | Germany’s drive to take Moscow halted |
| 1944 | German battleship “Tirpitz” sunk off Norway |
| 1946 | 1st drive-up bank window established (Chicago) |
| 1946 | Walt Disney’s “Song Of The South” released |
| 1948 | Japanese premier Hideki Tojo sentenced to death by war crimes tribunal |
| 1951 | 17 die in a train crash in Woodstock AL |
| 1953 | US district Judge Grim, rules NFL can black out TV home games |
| 1954 | Ellis Island, immigration station in US NY Harbor, closed |
| 1955 | Date returned to in “Back to the Future” & “Back to the Future II” |
| 1956 | Largest observed iceberg, 208 by 60 miles, 1st sighted |
| 1960 | Mercury-Redstone 1 test launch fails at 10 cm altitude |
| 1964 | Paula Murphy sets female land speed record 226.37 MPH |
| 1965 | Venera 2 launched by Soviet Union toward Venus |
| 1966 | High schooler Robert Smith kills 7 for fame |
| 1975 | Supreme Court Justice William O Douglas retired after 36 years |
| 1977 | New Orleans elects 1st black mayor, Ernest (Dutch) Morial |
| 1979 | US halts Iranian oil imports & freezes Iranian assets |
| 1980 | NYC Mayor Ed Koch admits to trying marijuana |
| 1980 | US space probe Voyager I approaches 77,000-mi (124,000 km) of Saturn |
| 1981 | 1st balloon crossing of the Pacific is completed (Double Eagle V) |
| 1981 | 2nd shuttle mission-1st time spacecraft launched twice (Columbia 2) |
| 1982 | Yuri V Andropov succeeds Leonid Brezhnev as Soviet leader |
| 1983 | 4 die in a train crash in Marshall Texas |
| 1984 | Paul McCartney releases “We All Stand Together” |
| 1984 | Space shuttle astronauts snared a satellite 1st space salvage |
| 1985 | STS 61-B vehicle moves to the launch pad |
| 1988 | Japan beats MLB All-Star team 5-4 in Tokyo (Game 6 of 7) |
| 1989 | Brazil holds 1st free presidential election in 29 years |
| 1991 | “Full House” 100th episode – The twins are born |
| Austria | Republic Day (1918) |
|---|---|
| Bermuda | Rememberance Day |
| Saudi Arabia | Coronation Day |
| Taiwan | Sun Yat Sen’s Birthday (1866) |
| Women’s Organizations | Elizabeth Cady Stanton Day (1815) |
| Germany | Repentance Day (Wednesday) |
| England | Lord Mayor’s Day (Saturday) |
| Old RC | Commemoration of Martin I, pope (649-55) |
|---|---|
| RC | Memorial of St Josaphat Kuncevyc, bishop/martyr |
| Ang | Commemoration of Charles Simeon, priest |
| 1556 | Dutch Anabaptist reformer Menno Simons wrote in a letter: ‘I can neither teach nor live by the faith of others. I must live by my own faith as the Spirit of the Lord has taught me through His Word.’ |
|---|---|
| 1701 | The Carolina Assembly passed a Vestry Act making the Church of England the official religion of the Carolina Colony. (Strong opposition by Quakers and other resident Nonconformists forced the colony’s proprietors to revoke their legislation two years later.) |
| 1818 | Birth of Henri F. Hemy, English church organist. Of his several original compositions, best known is the tune ST. CATHERINE, to which we commonly sing the hymn, “Faith of Our Fathers.” |
| 1899 | American evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, 62, began his last evangelistic campaign in Kansas City, Missouri. Becoming ill during the last service, Moody was unable to complete his message, and died a few days later, on Dec 22. |
| 1954 | American Presbyterian missionary Francis Schaeffer wrote in a letter: ‘Loyalty to organizations and movements has always tended over time to take the place of loyalty to the person of Christ.’ |
| 1651 | Juana Ines de La Cruz Mexico, poet/nun/feminist (Primer Sueno) |
|---|---|
| 1790 | Letitia Christian Tyler 1st wife of US President Tyler |
| 1815 | Elizabeth Cady Stanton Johnstown NY, suffragist (80 Years & More) |
| 1817 | Bahá’u’lláh (Mirza Husayn Ali) founded Bahá’ís faith |
| 1833 | Aleksandr Borodin Russia, composer (Robert LeDiable) |
| 1840 | Auguste Rodin France, sculptor (Kiss, Thinker) |
| 1841 | Lord Rayleigh England, physicist/chancellor of Cambridge (1908-14) |
| 1866 | Sun Yat-sen father of modern China (ROC & PRC) (traditional) |
| 1889 | DeWitt Wallace St Paul MN, publisher, founded Readers Digest (1921) |
| 19– | Dick Clair San Francisco CA, comedian “Clair & McMahon” (The Funny Side) |
| 19– | Mary Louise Wilson New Haven CT, actress (Ginny-1 Day at a Time) |
| 19– | Megan Mullally Los Angeles CA, actress (Molly-Ellen Burstyn Show) |
| 19– | Richard Venture West New York NY, (Capt Leo Altobelli-Street Hawk) |
| 1903 | Jack Oakie Sedalia MO, actor (Great Dictator, 1974 Photoplay Award) |
| 1908 | Harry A Blackmun Illinois, Supreme Court justice (1970- ) |
| 1912 | Alphonse [Tuffy] Leemans NFL fullback (NY Giants) |
| 1914 | Roberto Cavanagh Argentina, polo (Olympic-gold-1936) |
| 1914 | Sylvi Saimo Finland, 500m kayak (Olympic-gold-1952) |
| 1915 | Roland Barthes French literary critic (L’Empire des Signer) |
| 1918 | Jo Stafford Coalinga CA, singer (I’ll Never Smile Again) |
| 1920 | Richard Quine Detroit, actor (Clay Pigeon) |
| 1922 | Kim Hunter Detroit MI, actress (Planet of the Apes, Lilith) |
| 1929 | Grace Kelly Phil, Monaco princess/actress (Philadelphia Story, Rear Window) |
| 1934 | Ann Flood Jamaica NY, actress (As the World Turns, Edge of Night) |
| 1934 | Charles Manson [No Name Maddox], Cincinnati OH, criminal (Tate-Labianco) |
| 1935 | Jerry Douglas actor (John-Young & Restless) |
| 1937 | Ina Balin actress (Danger in Paradise) |
| 1937 | Richard H Truly Fayette Miss, Rear Adm USN/astro (STS T-2, T-4, 2, 8) |
| 1939 | Lucia Popp Uhorsk Ves Czechoslovakia, soprano (Die Zauberflute) |
| 1943 | Brian Hyland Queens NY, rocker (She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini) |
| 1945 | Neil Young Canada, singer/songwriter (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) |
| 1961 | Nadia Comaneci Onesti Romania, gymnast (Oly-gold-1976, 80) (or 11/12) |
| 1967 | Charlie Pennaelino Queens NY, rocker (Linear-I Never Felt This Way) |
| 1970 | Craig Parker, actor (Lord of the Rings) |
| 1975 | Angela Watson actress (Karen Foster-Step by Step) |
| 1989 | Paul Jessup actor (Mikie-Baby Talk) |
| 1035 | Canute “The Great” King of the Danes (1016-1035), dies at 41 |
|---|---|
| 1558 | Rabbi Shalom Shakna ben Joseph founder of 1st Polish Yeshiva, dies |
| 1962 | Sid Tomack actor (Jim Gillis-Life of Riley, My Friend Irma) |
| 1975 | Anthony Ross TV host (Telltale Clue), dies at 69 |
| 1987 | Roger Lewis aviation exec (Lockheed, C Wright, Pan Am), dies at 75 |
| 1990 | Eve Arden actress (Our Miss Brooks), dies at 82 |