Events
of the day
1135
β Coronation of King Stephen of England.
1481 β Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeats troops
of Utrecht.
1613 β Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, marries
Frances Howard.
1776 β American Revolutionary War: The British are
defeated in the Battle of Trenton.
1790 β Louis XVI of France gives his public assent
to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French
Revolution.
1792 β The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins
in Paris, France.
1793 β Second Battle of Wissembourg: French defeat
Austrians.
1793 β The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia
and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.
1799 β Four thousand people attend George Washington's
funeral where Henry Lee declares him as "first
in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of
his countrymen."
1805 β Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
1806 β Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces
hold French forces under Napoleon.
1811 β A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills
the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and
the president of the First National Bank of Virginia
Abraham B. Venable.
1825 β Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against
Tsar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist
Revolt in St. Petersburg.
1846 β Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without
food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.
1860 β The first ever inter-club football match takes
place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the
Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England.
1861 β American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate
diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell
are freed by the United States government, thus heading
off a possible war between the United States and United
Kingdom.
1862 β American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw
Bayou begins.
1862 β Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board
USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S.
Navy hospital ship.
1862 β The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took
place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.
1870 β The 12.8-km long FrΓ©jus Rail Tunnel through
the Alps is completed.
1871 β Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first
time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly
well, but the two would not collaborate again for
four years.
1883 β The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics
and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.
1898 β Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation
of radium.
1900 β A relief crew arrives at the lighthouse on
the Flannan Isles of Scotland, only to find the previous
crew has disappeared without a trace.
1919 β Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to
the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
1925 β Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
1933 β FM radio is patented.
1941 β U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs
a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November
as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
1943 β World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is
sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against
major Royal Navy forces.
1944 β World War II: Patton's Third Army breaks the
encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne,
Belgium.
1945 β CFP franc and CFA franc are created.
1948 β Cardinal JΓ³zsef Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary
and accused of treason and conspiracy.
1966 β The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana
Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California
State University, Long Beach.
1972 β Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker
II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked
Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force
Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in
Strategic Air Command history.
1975 β The Tupolev Tu-144 SST goes into service in
Soviet Union.
1976 β The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist)
is founded.
1980 β Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
1982 β Time's Man of the Year is for the first time
a non-human, the personal computer.
1986 β The first long-running American television
soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode
after 35 years on the air.
1991 β The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets
and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.
1994 β Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control
of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at
Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards
the aircraft and kills the perpetrators.
1996 β Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenΓ©t Ramsey is
found beaten and strangled in the basement of her
family's home in Boulder, Colorado.
1996 β Start of the largest strike in South Korean
history.
1997 β The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of
Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
1998 β Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S.
and British warplanes that patrol the northern and
southern no-fly zones.
1999 β The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe,
killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
2003 β A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast
Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and
destroying the citadel of Arg-Γ© Bam.
2004 β A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami
causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia,
Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas
around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000
people including over 1700 on a moving train.
2004 β Orange Revolution: The final run-off election
in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
2005 β A gang-related shooting on a busy shopping
street in Toronto kills one and injures six.
2006 β A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit Hengchun, Pingtung,
Taiwan, killing two people and causing severe communication
disruptions in southeast Asia.
2006 β An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes,
killing at least 260.
Holidays
and observances
Boxing
Day, except when 26 December is a Sunday. If it is
a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to 27 December
by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations),
and its related observances:
Day of Good Will (South Africa and Namibia)
Family Day (Vanuatu)
Thanksgiving (Solomon Islands)
Christian Feast Day:
Abadiu of Antinoe (Coptic Church)
Earliest day on which Feast of the Holy Family can
fall, celebrated on Sunday after Christmas or 30 if
Christmas falls on a Sunday.
James the Just (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Stephen (Western Church)
Synaxis of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Church)
Independence and Unity Day (Slovenia)
Mauro Hamza Day (Houston, Texas)
Mummer's Day (Padstow, Cornwall)
St. Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria,
Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong
Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovakia),
and its related observances:
Father's Day (Bulgaria)
The first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January
1 (United States)
The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second
day is on the New Year's Day (the Bahamas)
The first of Twelve Holy Days (Esoteric Christianity)
The second day of Christmas (Western Christianity)
Wren Day (Ireland and the Isle of Man)
Alexandria Day, USA
For details, contact Datacentre
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