324 - Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.
401 - St Anastasius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1055 - Seldjuken under Toghril Beg occupy Baghdad
1154 - King Henry II of England crowned
1551 - Dutch west coast hit by hurricane
1562 - Battle at Dreux: Anne de Montmorency & huguenots under Condé captured
1686 - Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
1688 - King James II's wife & son flee to France
1696 - Jean-Francois Regnard's "Le Joueur," premieres in Paris
1732 - Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"
1776 - Thomas Paine published his 1st "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls"
1777 - Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pa for winter
1783 - English govt of Pitt Jr forms
1788 - Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
1795 - 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
1823 - Georgia passes 1st US state birth registration law
1828 - South Carolina declares right of states to nullify federal laws
1835 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin approaches NZ
1842 - US recognizes independence of Hawaii
1843 - Charles Dickens publishes "A Christmas Carol," in England
1854 - Allen Wilson of Conn patents sewing machine to sew curving seams
1859 - Grading started for Market Street RR
1861 - Battle of Black Water
1862 - Skirmish at Jackson/Salem Church, Tenn (80 casualties)
1867 - Victims of "Angola Horror" burned to death (Angola NY)
1871 - Albert L Jones (NYC), patents corrugated paper
1881 - Opera "Hérodiade" is produced (Brussels)
1884 - Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1887 - Jake Kilrain & Jem Smith fight 106 round bare knuckle draw
1888 - Stanley's expedition reaches Fort Bodo, East-Africa
1889 - Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii
1890 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Beryl Coronet" (BG)
1891 - 1st Negro Catholic priest ordained in US, Charles Uncles, Baltimore
1891 - Canadian Rugby Union forms
1894 - Cricket day 5 1T Aus v Eng Eng 437 all out, Aus need 177 are 2-113
1903 - Williamsburg suspension bridge opens between Brooklyn & Manhattan
1904 - Dawson City hockey team begins 9 day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in Stanley Cup on Jan 13 1905
1907 - 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Penn
1907 - Gas explosion at Jacobs Creek Pa, coal mine kills 239
1910 - 1st city ordinace requiring white & black residential areas (Balt)
1910 - Rayon 1st commercially produced, Marcus Hook, Penn
1913 - Jack Johnson fights Jim Johnson to a draw in 10 for hw boxing title
1916 - Suriname Bauxite Company forms in Paramaribo
1917 - 1st NHL game played on artificial ice (Toronto)
1917 - Quebec Bulldogs play their 1st professional hockey game
1918 - Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column (NY Globe)
1919 - American Meteorological Society found
1920 - 1st US indoor curling rink opens (Brookline, Mass)
1920 - King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.
1922 - Mrs Theres Vaughn, 24, confessed in court to being married 62 times
1924 - Test Cricket debut of Bill Ponsford, who scored 110 in 1st innings
1924 - The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold inLondon , England
1928 - 1st autogiro (predecessor of helicopter) flight in US
1930 - James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of NAACP
1931 - Bradman scores 112 Australia v South Africa at cricket SCG
1931 - Joseph A Lyons (C) becomes premier of Australia
1932 - British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas
1933 - Electric Home & Farm Authority Inc, authorized
1934 - Japan agress to fleet treaty of 1922 & 1930
1939 - Russian air & ground attack against Finnish positions near Summa
1941 - German submarine U-574 sinks
1941 - Hitler takes complete command of German Army
1941 - US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II
1943 - Military coup in Bolivia
1945 - Austrian Republic re-establishes
1945 - Jean Giraudoux' "La Folle de Chaillot," premieres in Paris
1946 - Noel Cowards musical "Pacific 1860," premieres in London
1946 - War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi
1948 - 2nd political action of Java/Sumatra
1948 - 8th largest snowfall in NYC history (15.3")
1948 - Cleveland Browns beats Buffalo Bills 49-7 in AAFC championship game
1948 - Phila Eagles shutout Chicago Cards 7-0 in NFL championship game
1949 - Luxury passenger ship Aquitania demolished in Garelock Scotland
1949 - WJW TV channel 8 in Cleveland, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - Gen Eisenhower named NATO commander
1950 - Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
1951 - Nazi General Christiansen leaves Nethe
1952 - Queen Juliana unveals statue "Docker"
1953 - KFYR TV channel 5 in Bismarck, ND (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes"
1957 - "Music Man" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 1375 performances
1958 - 1st radio broadcast from space (Pres Eisenhower voice "To all mankind, America's wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere")
1959 - 1st Liberty Bowl game-Penn State beats Alabama 7-0
1960 - Fire aboard USS Constellation, under construction at Bkln (50 die)
1960 - Frank Sinatra's 1st session with Reprise Records (Ring-A-Ding-Ding)
1960 - Mercury-Redstone 1A reaches 210 km in test flight
1961 - British govt begins decimal coin system
1961 - Indonesian President Sukarno proclaims general mobilization
1962 - Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia & Nyasaland
1962 - Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission
1962 - Transit 5A1, 1st operational navigational satellite, launched
1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent from UK
1965 - French president De Gaulle re-elected (Mitterrand gets 45%)
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt is officially presumed dead.
1968 - WCWB (now WMGT) TV channel 41 in Macon, GA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1969 - Beatle's 7th Christmas album is released
1971 - "Inner City" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 97 performances
1971 - CBS airs "Homecoming A Christmas Story," (introducing the Waltons)
1971 - NASA launches Intelsat 4 F-3 for COMSAT Corp
1971 - Stanley Kubrick's X-rated "A Clockwork Orange" premieres
401 - St Anastasius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1055 - Seldjuken under Toghril Beg occupy Baghdad
1154 - King Henry II of England crowned
1551 - Dutch west coast hit by hurricane
1562 - Battle at Dreux: Anne de Montmorency & huguenots under Condé captured
1686 - Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
1688 - King James II's wife & son flee to France
1696 - Jean-Francois Regnard's "Le Joueur," premieres in Paris
1732 - Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"
1776 - Thomas Paine published his 1st "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls"
1777 - Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pa for winter
1783 - English govt of Pitt Jr forms
1788 - Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
1795 - 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
1823 - Georgia passes 1st US state birth registration law
1828 - South Carolina declares right of states to nullify federal laws
1835 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin approaches NZ
1842 - US recognizes independence of Hawaii
1843 - Charles Dickens publishes "A Christmas Carol," in England
1854 - Allen Wilson of Conn patents sewing machine to sew curving seams
1859 - Grading started for Market Street RR
1861 - Battle of Black Water
1862 - Skirmish at Jackson/Salem Church, Tenn (80 casualties)
1867 - Victims of "Angola Horror" burned to death (Angola NY)
1871 - Albert L Jones (NYC), patents corrugated paper
1881 - Opera "Hérodiade" is produced (Brussels)
1884 - Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1887 - Jake Kilrain & Jem Smith fight 106 round bare knuckle draw
1888 - Stanley's expedition reaches Fort Bodo, East-Africa
1889 - Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii
1890 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Beryl Coronet" (BG)
1891 - 1st Negro Catholic priest ordained in US, Charles Uncles, Baltimore
1891 - Canadian Rugby Union forms
1894 - Cricket day 5 1T Aus v Eng Eng 437 all out, Aus need 177 are 2-113
1903 - Williamsburg suspension bridge opens between Brooklyn & Manhattan
1904 - Dawson City hockey team begins 9 day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in Stanley Cup on Jan 13 1905
1907 - 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Penn
1907 - Gas explosion at Jacobs Creek Pa, coal mine kills 239
1910 - 1st city ordinace requiring white & black residential areas (Balt)
1910 - Rayon 1st commercially produced, Marcus Hook, Penn
1913 - Jack Johnson fights Jim Johnson to a draw in 10 for hw boxing title
1916 - Suriname Bauxite Company forms in Paramaribo
1917 - 1st NHL game played on artificial ice (Toronto)
1917 - Quebec Bulldogs play their 1st professional hockey game
1918 - Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column (NY Globe)
1919 - American Meteorological Society found
1920 - 1st US indoor curling rink opens (Brookline, Mass)
1920 - King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite.
1922 - Mrs Theres Vaughn, 24, confessed in court to being married 62 times
1924 - Test Cricket debut of Bill Ponsford, who scored 110 in 1st innings
1924 - The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in
1928 - 1st autogiro (predecessor of helicopter) flight in US
1930 - James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of NAACP
1931 - Bradman scores 112 Australia v South Africa at cricket SCG
1931 - Joseph A Lyons (C) becomes premier of Australia
1932 - British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas
1933 - Electric Home & Farm Authority Inc, authorized
1934 - Japan agress to fleet treaty of 1922 & 1930
1939 - Russian air & ground attack against Finnish positions near Summa
1941 - German submarine U-574 sinks
1941 - Hitler takes complete command of German Army
1941 - US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II
1943 - Military coup in Bolivia
1945 - Austrian Republic re-establishes
1945 - Jean Giraudoux' "La Folle de Chaillot," premieres in Paris
1946 - Noel Cowards musical "Pacific 1860," premieres in London
1946 - War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi
1948 - 2nd political action of Java/Sumatra
1948 - 8th largest snowfall in NYC history (15.3")
1948 - Cleveland Browns beats Buffalo Bills 49-7 in AAFC championship game
1948 - Phila Eagles shutout Chicago Cards 7-0 in NFL championship game
1949 - Luxury passenger ship Aquitania demolished in Garelock Scotland
1949 - WJW TV channel 8 in Cleveland, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
1950 - Gen Eisenhower named NATO commander
1950 - Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
1951 - Nazi General Christiansen leaves Nethe
1952 - Queen Juliana unveals statue "Docker"
1953 - KFYR TV channel 5 in Bismarck, ND (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1955 - Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes"
1957 - "Music Man" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 1375 performances
1958 - 1st radio broadcast from space (Pres Eisenhower voice "To all mankind, America's wish for Peace on Earth & Good Will to Men Everywhere")
1959 - 1st Liberty Bowl game-Penn State beats Alabama 7-0
1960 - Fire aboard USS Constellation, under construction at Bkln (50 die)
1960 - Frank Sinatra's 1st session with Reprise Records (Ring-A-Ding-Ding)
1960 - Mercury-Redstone 1A reaches 210 km in test flight
1961 - British govt begins decimal coin system
1961 - Indonesian President Sukarno proclaims general mobilization
1962 - Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia & Nyasaland
1962 - Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission
1962 - Transit 5A1, 1st operational navigational satellite, launched
1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent from UK
1965 - French president De Gaulle re-elected (Mitterrand gets 45%)
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt is officially presumed dead.
1968 - WCWB (now WMGT) TV channel 41 in Macon, GA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1969 - Beatle's 7th Christmas album is released
1971 - "Inner City" opens at Barrymore Theater NYC for 97 performances
1971 - CBS airs "Homecoming A Christmas Story," (introducing the Waltons)
1971 - NASA launches Intelsat 4 F-3 for COMSAT Corp
1971 - Stanley Kubrick's X-rated "A Clockwork Orange" premieres
1972 - Apollo 17 (last of Apollo Moon landing series) returns to Earth
1973 - "Molly" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 68 performances
1973 - Grenada adopts constitution
1974 - "Man With Golden Gun" premieres in US
1974 - Dave Kryskow scores Washington Capitals 1st NHL shorthanded goal
1974 - Nelson A Rockefeller sworn-in as 41st VP
1975 - John Paul Stevens becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1975 - Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones
1976 - Jo Ann Washam/Chi Chi Rodriguez wins Pepsi-Cola Mixed Team Golf Champ
1976 - John Lever takes 7-46 in 1st Test Cricket innings, v India Delhi
1976 - Pres Brezhnev receives his 5th Lenin order
1976 - Piper Cherokee crashes into Balt Memorial Stadium upper stands, 10 minutes after Colts lose 40-14 to Steelers. No one seriously hurt
1977 - Dutch govt of Van Agt/Wiegel forms
1978 - France performs nuclear test
1978 - Indira Gandhi ambushed in India
1980 - Anguilla becomes a British dependency separate from St Kitts
1980 - Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
1980 - Mutaual Broadcasting cancels Sears Radio Theater
1981 - Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
1983 - The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation inRio de Janeiro
1984 - China PR Premier Zhao Ziyang & Margaret Thatcher sign Hong Kong Treaty
1984 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1984 - Fire at Wilberg Mine in central Utah killed 27 people
1984 - Scotty Bowman becomes NHL's all time winningest coach
1984 - UK signs agreement with China to return Hong Kong to China in 1997
1984 - Wayne Gretzky, 23, is 18th & youngest NHL-er to score 1,000 points
1985 - "Wind in the Willows" opens at Nederlander Theater NYC for 4 perfs
1985 - Mary Lund is 1st woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart
1985 - STS 61-C scrubbed at T -13s because of SRB auxiliary power problem
1986 - USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile
1986 - Jack Morris agrees to salary arbitration with former team Tigers & accuses owners of collusion against free agency
1986 - Michael Sergio, who parachuted into Shea Stadium during game 6 of the World Series, sentenced to 100 hrs of community service & fined $500
1987 - Bruins' Linseman & Blues' Doug Gilmore score goals, 2 seconds apart
1987 - Gari Kasparov becomes world chess champ
1988 - NASA unviels plans for lunar colony & manned missions to Mars
1988 - Oklahoma's College football team gets 3 year probation
1988 - Unexploded WW II bomb found in Frankfurt, Germany-5,000 evacuated
1989 - American Airlines purchases Eastern Airline's Latin American route
1989 - Larry Bird (Celtics) begins NBA free throw streak of 71 games
1991 - "Christmas Carol" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 14 perfs
1991 - 6,000th episode of One Life To Live
1991 - Boris Yeltsin takes control of Kremlin
1991 - NY Yankee pitcher Steve Howe arrested for cocaine possession
1993 - "Red Shoes" closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 5 performances
1993 - Guinee general Lansana re-elected president
1994 - Rolls-Royce announces its future cars will feature V12 engine which will be produced by BMW.
1995 - Queen Elizabeth askes Prince Charles & Diana to divorce
1996 - "Once Upon a Matress," opens at Broadhurst NYC for 187 performances
1997 - MTV drops video "Smack My Bitch Up" by Prodigy
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.
2000 - The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office inIstanbul
2001 - A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel,Khövsgöl Province , Mongolia
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots - Riots erupt inBuenos Aires
2007 - The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with theUnited States Republic of Lakotah
1973 - "Molly" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 68 performances
1973 - Grenada adopts constitution
1974 - "Man With Golden Gun" premieres in US
1974 - Dave Kryskow scores Washington Capitals 1st NHL shorthanded goal
1974 - Nelson A Rockefeller sworn-in as 41st VP
1975 - John Paul Stevens becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1975 - Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones
1976 - Jo Ann Washam/Chi Chi Rodriguez wins Pepsi-Cola Mixed Team Golf Champ
1976 - John Lever takes 7-46 in 1st Test Cricket innings, v India Delhi
1976 - Pres Brezhnev receives his 5th Lenin order
1976 - Piper Cherokee crashes into Balt Memorial Stadium upper stands, 10 minutes after Colts lose 40-14 to Steelers. No one seriously hurt
1977 - Dutch govt of Van Agt/Wiegel forms
1978 - France performs nuclear test
1978 - Indira Gandhi ambushed in India
1980 - Anguilla becomes a British dependency separate from St Kitts
1980 - Iran requests $24 billion in US guarantees to free hostages
1980 - Mutaual Broadcasting cancels Sears Radio Theater
1981 - Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
1983 - The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in
1984 - China PR Premier Zhao Ziyang & Margaret Thatcher sign Hong Kong Treaty
1984 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1984 - Fire at Wilberg Mine in central Utah killed 27 people
1984 - Scotty Bowman becomes NHL's all time winningest coach
1984 - UK signs agreement with China to return Hong Kong to China in 1997
1984 - Wayne Gretzky, 23, is 18th & youngest NHL-er to score 1,000 points
1985 - "Wind in the Willows" opens at Nederlander Theater NYC for 4 perfs
1985 - Mary Lund is 1st woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart
1985 - STS 61-C scrubbed at T -13s because of SRB auxiliary power problem
1986 - USSR frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile
1986 - Jack Morris agrees to salary arbitration with former team Tigers & accuses owners of collusion against free agency
1986 - Michael Sergio, who parachuted into Shea Stadium during game 6 of the World Series, sentenced to 100 hrs of community service & fined $500
1987 - Bruins' Linseman & Blues' Doug Gilmore score goals, 2 seconds apart
1987 - Gari Kasparov becomes world chess champ
1988 - NASA unviels plans for lunar colony & manned missions to Mars
1988 - Oklahoma's College football team gets 3 year probation
1988 - Unexploded WW II bomb found in Frankfurt, Germany-5,000 evacuated
1989 - American Airlines purchases Eastern Airline's Latin American route
1989 - Larry Bird (Celtics) begins NBA free throw streak of 71 games
1991 - "Christmas Carol" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater NYC for 14 perfs
1991 - 6,000th episode of One Life To Live
1991 - Boris Yeltsin takes control of Kremlin
1991 - NY Yankee pitcher Steve Howe arrested for cocaine possession
1993 - "Red Shoes" closes at Gershwin Theater NYC after 5 performances
1993 - Guinee general Lansana re-elected president
1994 - Rolls-Royce announces its future cars will feature V12 engine which will be produced by BMW.
1995 - Queen Elizabeth askes Prince Charles & Diana to divorce
1996 - "Once Upon a Matress," opens at Broadhurst NYC for 187 performances
1997 - MTV drops video "Smack My Bitch Up" by Prodigy
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives forwards articles I and III of impeachment against President Bill Clinton to the Senate.
2000 - The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in
2001 - A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel,
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots - Riots erupt in
2007 - The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the
