563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.
640 - John IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1046 - Pope Clement II, [Suitger] elected
1294 - Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani chosen as Pope Boniface VIII
1476 - 400 Burgundy soldiers freeze to death during siege of Nancy
1515 - Thomas Wolsey appointed English Lord Chancellor
1565 - Compromise of the Nobles closes against inquisition
1568 - Uprising of Morisco's in Granada
1593 - Storm hits Texel: 40 ships hit, 500 killed
1651 - John van Riebeeck departs to Cape of Good Hope
1715 - Swedish troops occupy Norway
1724 - Benjamin Franklin arrives in London
1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook
1798 - Russia & England sign Second anti-French Coalition
1799 - Jakobijns plot against Napoleon uncovered
1814 - Treaty of Ghent (end of US-Britain's War of 1812) signed
1818 - "Silent Night" composed by Franz Joseph Gruber; 1st sung next day
1818 - Franz Xaver Gruber composes "Silent Night"
1832 - 1st US Negro hospital founded by whites chartered, Savannah, Ga
1832 - HMS Beagle anchors in Wigwam Bay at Cape Receiver
1851 - Fire devastates Library of Congress in Wash, destroys 35,000 volumes
1851 - US Library of Congress catches fire; 35,000 books burn
1860 - Joseph Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle," premieres in NYC
1864 - Battle of Gordonsville, VA
1865 - Several Confederate veterans form Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tn
1871 - Giusseppi Verdi's "Aida" premieres in Cairo, at Suez canal opening
1874 - Pope Pius IX proclaims a jubilee for 1875
1884 - Austria-Hungary admits King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1889 - Daniel Stover & William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake
1893 - Henry Ford completes his 1st useful gas motor
1894 - Scheveningse fishing boats destroyed by storm
1894 - Soccer team Achilles '94 forms in Axes
1898 - Herman Heijermans' "Ghetto," premieres in Amsterdam
1900 - Herman Heijermans' "Hope of Blessing" premieres in Amsterdam
1904 - German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children
1906 - Reginald A Fessenden became 1st to broadcast music over radio (Mass)
1910 - Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain
1912 - Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards
1914 - German plane drops bombs on Dover England
1920 - Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (NYC)
1922 - BBC sends 1st British radio play "Truth about Father Christmas"
1922 - London Coloseum opens
1924 - 1st radio transmission of NCRV in Netherlands
1924 - Albania becomes a republic (ex-premier Ahmed Zogoe's coup)
1924 - Richard Rodgers Theater (46th St Chanin's) opens at 226 W 46th NYC
1924 - School in Babb's Switch, Oklahoma catches fire, 36 die
1927 - Test Cricket debut of Walter Hammond, who scored 51 & took 5-36 v S Af
1928 - George Abbott Theater (Adelphi, 54 St) opens at 152 W 54th St NYC
1930 - Bandung, Java: ir Sukarno 4 years jail sentenced
1930 - F Garcia Lorca's "La Zapatera Prodigiosa," premieres in Madrid
1932 - Arturo Alessandri wins presidental election in Chile
1933 - Paris express train derails & kills 160, injures 300 (France)
1934 - Grimmett takes 9-180 for SA as Queensland make 430
1935 - Bradman scores 233 in 191 mins, SA v Queensland, 28 fours 1 six
1935 - National Council of Negro Women forms
1936 - 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered, Berkeley, Ca
1937 - Dutch govt recognizes Italian king Emanuel III as emperor of Abyssinia
1939 - World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
1941 - 1st ships of admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor-fleet return to Japan
1942 - 1st powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemunde, Germany
1942 - Red army occupies German airports at Tasjinskaja & Morozowsk
1943 - FDR appoints Gen Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces
1943 - Terence Rattigan's "While the Sun Shines," premieres in London
1946 - 4th French republic established
1946 - US General MacNarney gives 800,000 "minor nazi's" amnesty
1946 - France's Fourth Republic is founded.
1948 - 1st US house completely sunheated is occupied (Dover Mass)
1948 - Greek govt disbands due to state of war, press censorship
1950 - Cleveland Browns win NFL championship, beat LA 30-28
1951 - 1st televised opera (Amahl & Night Visitor)
1951 - United Kingdom of Libya gains independence from Italy via UN
1953 - 2 fast express trains crash head-on killing 103 (Czechoslovakia)
1953 - KHOL (now KHGI) TV channel 13 in Kearney, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - KOA (now KCNC) TV channel 4 in Denver, CO (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - René Coty elected pres of France
1953 - Wellington-Auckland (NZ) express train swept away in flood kills 166
1954 - Council for the Children Protection forms in Neth
1954 - Laos gains its independence
1956 - "I Love Lucy" Christmas show airs, never put in syndication
1956 - Ferdinand de Lesseps statue blown up in Port Said Egypt
1960 - Dutch bishops question papacy values
1961 - Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3 in AFL championship game
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Greek & Turks riot in Cyprus
1964 - Shooting begins on "The Cage" the pilot for Star Trek
1966 - "Joyful Noise" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 12 perfs
1966 - Luna 13 lands on Moon
1966 - USAF C144 military charter crashes near Binh Thai Vietnam kills 129
1967 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1967 - Pirate Radio Pegasus starts broadcasting off New Zealand
1968 - Apollo 8 astronauts read passages from Book of Genesis
1968 - WATU (now WAGT) TV channel 26 in Augusta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1970 - 9 Jews are convicted in Leningrad of hijacking a plane
1970 - Walt Disney's "Aristocats" is released
1971 - Peruvian Airlines Electra crashes at headwaters of Amazon, killing all except Juliane Margaret Koepcke found 10 days later
1973 - Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200
1973 - District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1974 - Cardinals' Lou Brock is named Sportsman of the Year
1979 - 1st Ariane-rocket launched
1980 - Americans rememberedIran
640 - John IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1046 - Pope Clement II, [Suitger] elected
1294 - Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani chosen as Pope Boniface VIII
1476 - 400 Burgundy soldiers freeze to death during siege of Nancy
1515 - Thomas Wolsey appointed English Lord Chancellor
1565 - Compromise of the Nobles closes against inquisition
1568 - Uprising of Morisco's in Granada
1593 - Storm hits Texel: 40 ships hit, 500 killed
1651 - John van Riebeeck departs to Cape of Good Hope
1715 - Swedish troops occupy Norway
1724 - Benjamin Franklin arrives in London
1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook
1798 - Russia & England sign Second anti-French Coalition
1799 - Jakobijns plot against Napoleon uncovered
1814 - Treaty of Ghent (end of US-Britain's War of 1812) signed
1818 - "Silent Night" composed by Franz Joseph Gruber; 1st sung next day
1818 - Franz Xaver Gruber composes "Silent Night"
1832 - 1st US Negro hospital founded by whites chartered, Savannah, Ga
1832 - HMS Beagle anchors in Wigwam Bay at Cape Receiver
1851 - Fire devastates Library of Congress in Wash, destroys 35,000 volumes
1851 - US Library of Congress catches fire; 35,000 books burn
1860 - Joseph Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle," premieres in NYC
1864 - Battle of Gordonsville, VA
1865 - Several Confederate veterans form Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tn
1871 - Giusseppi Verdi's "Aida" premieres in Cairo, at Suez canal opening
1874 - Pope Pius IX proclaims a jubilee for 1875
1884 - Austria-Hungary admits King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1889 - Daniel Stover & William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake
1893 - Henry Ford completes his 1st useful gas motor
1894 - Scheveningse fishing boats destroyed by storm
1894 - Soccer team Achilles '94 forms in Axes
1898 - Herman Heijermans' "Ghetto," premieres in Amsterdam
1900 - Herman Heijermans' "Hope of Blessing" premieres in Amsterdam
1904 - German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children
1906 - Reginald A Fessenden became 1st to broadcast music over radio (Mass)
1910 - Luisa Tetrazzini sings to 250,000 people at Lotta's Fountain
1912 - Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards
1914 - German plane drops bombs on Dover England
1920 - Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (NYC)
1922 - BBC sends 1st British radio play "Truth about Father Christmas"
1922 - London Coloseum opens
1924 - 1st radio transmission of NCRV in Netherlands
1924 - Albania becomes a republic (ex-premier Ahmed Zogoe's coup)
1924 - Richard Rodgers Theater (46th St Chanin's) opens at 226 W 46th NYC
1924 - School in Babb's Switch, Oklahoma catches fire, 36 die
1927 - Test Cricket debut of Walter Hammond, who scored 51 & took 5-36 v S Af
1928 - George Abbott Theater (Adelphi, 54 St) opens at 152 W 54th St NYC
1930 - Bandung, Java: ir Sukarno 4 years jail sentenced
1930 - F Garcia Lorca's "La Zapatera Prodigiosa," premieres in Madrid
1932 - Arturo Alessandri wins presidental election in Chile
1933 - Paris express train derails & kills 160, injures 300 (France)
1934 - Grimmett takes 9-180 for SA as Queensland make 430
1935 - Bradman scores 233 in 191 mins, SA v Queensland, 28 fours 1 six
1935 - National Council of Negro Women forms
1936 - 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered, Berkeley, Ca
1937 - Dutch govt recognizes Italian king Emanuel III as emperor of Abyssinia
1939 - World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
1941 - 1st ships of admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor-fleet return to Japan
1942 - 1st powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemunde, Germany
1942 - Red army occupies German airports at Tasjinskaja & Morozowsk
1943 - FDR appoints Gen Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces
1943 - Terence Rattigan's "While the Sun Shines," premieres in London
1946 - 4th French republic established
1946 - US General MacNarney gives 800,000 "minor nazi's" amnesty
1946 - France's Fourth Republic is founded.
1948 - 1st US house completely sunheated is occupied (Dover Mass)
1948 - Greek govt disbands due to state of war, press censorship
1950 - Cleveland Browns win NFL championship, beat LA 30-28
1951 - 1st televised opera (Amahl & Night Visitor)
1951 - United Kingdom of Libya gains independence from Italy via UN
1953 - 2 fast express trains crash head-on killing 103 (Czechoslovakia)
1953 - KHOL (now KHGI) TV channel 13 in Kearney, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
1953 - KOA (now KCNC) TV channel 4 in Denver, CO (NBC) begins broadcasting
1953 - René Coty elected pres of France
1953 - Wellington-Auckland (NZ) express train swept away in flood kills 166
1954 - Council for the Children Protection forms in Neth
1954 - Laos gains its independence
1956 - "I Love Lucy" Christmas show airs, never put in syndication
1956 - Ferdinand de Lesseps statue blown up in Port Said Egypt
1960 - Dutch bishops question papacy values
1961 - Houston Oilers beat San Diego Chargers 10-3 in AFL championship game
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1963 - Greek & Turks riot in Cyprus
1964 - Shooting begins on "The Cage" the pilot for Star Trek
1966 - "Joyful Noise" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 12 perfs
1966 - Luna 13 lands on Moon
1966 - USAF C144 military charter crashes near Binh Thai Vietnam kills 129
1967 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1967 - Pirate Radio Pegasus starts broadcasting off New Zealand
1968 - Apollo 8 astronauts read passages from Book of Genesis
1968 - WATU (now WAGT) TV channel 26 in Augusta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1970 - 9 Jews are convicted in Leningrad of hijacking a plane
1970 - Walt Disney's "Aristocats" is released
1971 - Peruvian Airlines Electra crashes at headwaters of Amazon, killing all except Juliane Margaret Koepcke found 10 days later
1973 - Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200
1973 - District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1974 - Cardinals' Lou Brock is named Sportsman of the Year
1979 - 1st Ariane-rocket launched
1980 - Americans remembered
1981 - Guardian Angels Curtis Sliwa & Lisa Evers marry
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - Chaminade, with a student body of only 850 students, beats #1 ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic
1984 - Palace coup in Mauritania
1986 - French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released
1986 - Iran offensive against Iraqi islands of Shatt al-Arab
1989 - Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe
1989 - Panama's dictator, Manual Noriega seeks asylum at Vatican embassy
1990 - Expos trade Tim Raines to White Sox for Ivan Calderon & Barry Jones
1990 - Saddam says Israel will be Iraq's 1st target
1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of Soviet Union
1992 - Pres Bush pardons Caspar Weinberger of Iran-contra affair
1994 - 4 Moslem fundamentalists capture Air France pilot in Algiers
1997 - 1st time a Channukah candle is officially lit in Vatican City
1997 - The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
1997 - TheDominican Republic
2000 - TheTexas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving , Texas
2003 - The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. insideMadrid
1981 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1982 - Chaminade, with a student body of only 850 students, beats #1 ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic
1984 - Palace coup in Mauritania
1986 - French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released
1986 - Iran offensive against Iraqi islands of Shatt al-Arab
1989 - Charles Taylor enters Liberia to unseat President Samuel K Doe
1989 - Panama's dictator, Manual Noriega seeks asylum at Vatican embassy
1990 - Expos trade Tim Raines to White Sox for Ivan Calderon & Barry Jones
1990 - Saddam says Israel will be Iraq's 1st target
1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of Soviet Union
1992 - Pres Bush pardons Caspar Weinberger of Iran-contra affair
1994 - 4 Moslem fundamentalists capture Air France pilot in Algiers
1997 - 1st time a Channukah candle is officially lit in Vatican City
1997 - The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
1997 - The
2000 - The
2003 - The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside
