Events
406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
535 – Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
1229 – James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.
1599 – The British East India Company is chartered.
1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1695 – A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
1831 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada.
1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.
1891 – A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island, New York.
1904 – The first New Year s Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York.
1909 – Manhattan Bridge opens.
1923 – The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
1944 – World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.
1946 – President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
1955 – The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
1960 – The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
1961 – The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
1963 – The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1981 – A coup d état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann s PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
1987 – Robert Mugabe assumes office as President of Zimbabwe.
1986 – A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
1999 – Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
1999 – Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
1999 – The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, currently the tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
2007 – Bocaue Fire: Seven people are injured when a fire results in the explosions of several fireworks stores in the municipality of Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.
2007 – The massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends.

Births
695 – Muhammad bin Qasim, Syrian general (d. 715)
1378 – Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)
1491 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
1514 – Andreas Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (d. 1564)
1572 – Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, (d. 1617)
1668 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738)
1720 – Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1788)
1738 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (d. 1805)
1741 – Isabella Maria of Parma, wife of future Holy Roman emperor (d. 1763)
1763 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
1815 – George Meade, American Civil War general (d. 1872)
1830 – Isma il Pasha, Governor of Egypt (d. 1895)
1830 – Alexander Smith, Scottish poet (d. 1867)
1857 – King Kelly, American baseball player (d. 1894)
1860 – Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (d. 1937)
1869 – Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954)
1877 – Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author (d. 1967)
1878 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966)
1878 – Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan-Argentinian writer (d. 1937)
1880 – George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Laureate (d. 1959)
1880 – Fred Beebe, American baseball player (d. 1957)
1881 – Max Pechstein, German painter (d. 1955)
1882 – Martin O Meara, Australian soldier (d. 1935)
1884 – Bobby Byrne, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1885 – Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1970)
1894 – Pola Negri, Polish actress (d. 1987)
1899 – Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican composer (d. 1940)
1902 – Lionel Daunais, Quebec singer and composer (d. 1982)
1903 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992)
1904 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)
1905 – Jule Styne, English-born composer (d. 1994)
1908 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2005)
1909 – Jonah Jones, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2000)
1910 – Carl Dudley, American film director (d. 1973)
1911 – Dal Stivens, Australian novelist (d. 1997)
1912 – Maj-Gen John Frost, British para commander (d. 1993)
1919 – Tommy Byrne, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1920 – Rex Allen, American actor, singer, and songwriter (d. 1999)
1924 – Taylor Mead, American actor
1928 – Siné, French cartoonist
1930 – Odetta, American singer (d. 2008)
1931 – Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)
1933 – Edward Bunker, American author and actor (d. 2005)
1934 – Akram Awan, Islamic scholar
1937 – Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, Nobel laureate
1937 – Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor
1938 – Rosalind Cash, American actress (d. 1995)
1940 – Mani Neumeier, German musician (Guru Guru)
1941 – Sir Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager
1941 – Sarah Miles, English actress
1942 – Andy Summers, British guitarist (The Police)
1943 – John Denver, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)
1943 – Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor
1943 – Pete Quaife, English bassist (The Kinks)
1944 – Taylor Hackford, American producer and director
1945 – Diane von Fürstenberg, Belgian-born fashion designer
1945 – Barbara Carrera, Nicaraguan actress and model
1945 – Connie Willis, American writer
1946 – Pius Ncube, Zimbabwean human rights advocate
1947 – Burton Cummings, Canadian keyboardist (The Guess Who)
1947 – Tim Matheson, American actor
1947 – Rita Lee, Brazilian Rock Star
1948 – Donna Summer, American singer
1948 – René Robert, National Hockey League player
1949 – Ellen Datlow, American editor
1949 – Susan Shwartz, American writer
1951 – Tom Hamilton, American bassist (Aerosmith)
1953 – James Remar, American actor
1953 – Jane Badler, American actress
1954 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician
1954 – Hermann Tilke, German racing circuit architect
1955 – Dawood Ibrahim, Indian crime boss
1956 – Steve Rude, American comics artist
1958 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress
1959 – Phill Kline, American politician
1959 – Val Kilmer, American actor
1959 – Paul Westerberg, American musician (The Replacements)
1959 – Baron Waqa, Nauruan politician and musician
1959 – Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (d. 1981)
1960 – John Allen Muhammad, American serial killer
1960 – Steve Bruce, English football player & manager
1961 – Rick Aguilera, American baseball player
1961 – Nina Li Chi, Chinese actress
1962 – Heather McCartney, British activist
1962 – Tyrone Corbin, American basketball player
1963 – Scott Ian, American guitarist (Anthrax)
1963 – Konishiki, American sumo wrestler
1964 – Michael McDonald, American actor-comedian
1964 – Lowri Turner, British TV presenter
1965 – Julie Doucet, Canadian underground cartoonist
1965 – Gong Li, Chinese actress
1965 – Nicholas Sparks, American author
1966 – Lisa Joyner, American entertainment reporter
1968 – Gerry Dee, Canadian comedian and actor
1969 – Kate Beahan, Australian actress
1969 – Dominik Diamond, Scottish presenter and newspaper columnist
1970 – Carlos Morales Quintana, husband of Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
1970 – Bryon Russell, American basketball player
1971 – Brent Barry, American basketball player
1971 – Esteban Loaiza, Mexican Major League Baseball player
1971 – Ricardo López Felipe, Spanish footballer
1972 – Joe McIntyre, American singer (New Kids on the Block)
1973 – Shandon Anderson, American basketball player
1973 – Malcolm Middleton, Scottish musician (Arab Strap)
1974 – Mario Aerts, Belgian cyclist
1974 – Tony Kanaan, Brazilian racing driver
1974 – Ryan Sakoda, Japanese American professional wrestler
1975 – Toni Kuivasto, Finnish footballer
1975 – Rob Penders, Dutch footballer
1976 – Craig Reucassel, Australian comedian, member of The Chaser
1977 – Wardy Alfaro, Costa Rican footballer
1977 – Donald Trump Jr., son of Donald Trump and Ivana Trump
1978 – Papoose, American rapper
1979 – Bob Bryar, American drummer (My Chemical Romance)
1979 – Elaine Cassidy, Irish actress
1980 – Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player
1980 – Matt Cross, American professional wrestler
1981 – Jason Campbell, American football player
1981 – Matthew Pavlich, Australian football player
1982 – Bryce Avary, The Rocket Summer, American musician
1982 – Julio DePaula, Dominican baseball player
1982 – Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer
1982 – Luke Schenscher, Australian basketball player
1985 – Jan Smit, Dutch singer
1987 – Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player
1987 – Émilie Le Pennec, French gymnast

Deaths
192 – Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)
335 – St. Silvester, Pope
1164 – Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)
1194 – Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)
1297 – Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)
1302 – Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
1384 – John Wycliffe, English theologian and Bible translator
1424 – Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader
1460 – Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1443)
1460 – Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)
1510 – Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)
1535 – William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)
1568 – Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)
1575 – Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502)
1583 – Thomas Erastus, Swiss theologian (b. 1524)
1610 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)
1650 – Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)
1673 – Oliver St John, English statesman and judge
1679 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
1691 – Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)
1719 – John Flamsteed, English astronomer (b. 1646)
1742 – Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)
1799 – Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (b. 1723)
1872 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (b. 1834)
1876 – Catherine Labouré, French visionary and saint (b. 1806)
1877 – Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)
1888 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)
1889 – Ion Creanga, Romanian writer
1890 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican war heroine (b. 1826)
1891 – Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Nigerian bishop. (b. 1809)
1894 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (b. 1856)
1905 – Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)
1910 – John Moisant, American aviator (b. 1868)
1910 – Arch Hoxsey, American aviator (b. 1884)
1921 – Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)
1936 – Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer and philosopher (b. 1864)
1948 – Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (b. 1885)
1953 – Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)
1964 – Ólafur Thors, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
1964 – Bobby Byrne, baseball player (b. 1884)
1969 – George Lewis, American clarinetist (b. 1900)
1971 – Pete Duel American actor (b. 1940)
1971 – Marin Sais, American actress (b. 1890)
1971 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
1972 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican baseball player (b. 1934)
1977 – Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924)
1980 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (b. 1911)
1980 – Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)
1985 – Rick Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)
1986 – Lloyd Haynes, American actor (b. 1934)
1987 – Jerry Turner, American television anchorman (b. 1929)
1990 – Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)
1990 – George Allen, American football coach (b. 1918)
1993 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first President of Georgia (b. 1939)
1993 – Brandon Teena, American murder victim (b. 1972)
1994 – Leigh Bowery, Australian-born English fashion performance artist (b. 1961)
1994 – Woody Strode, American actor and decathlete (b. 1914)
1997 – Floyd Cramer, American musician (b. 1933)
1997 – Billie Dove, American actress (b. 1903)
1997 – Michael Kennedy, American politician (b. 1958)
1999 – Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)
2000 – Alan Cranston, American politician (b. 1914)
2000 – José Greco, Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
2000 – Binyamin Ze ev Kahane, Israeli leader of Kahane Chai party and son of Rabbi Meir Kahane, murder victim (b. 1966)
2001 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)
2002 – Kevin Scott MacMichael, American guitarist (Cutting Crew) (b. 1951)
2003 – Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898)
2004 – Gerard Debreu, French economist, Bank of Sweden Prize laureate (b. 1921)
2005 – Phillip Whitehead, British politician (b. 1937)
2005 – Enrico di Giuseppe, American tenor (b. 1932)
2006 – George Sisler, Jr., American baseball executive (b. 1917)
2007 – Tommy Dickson, British footballer (b. 1929)
2007 – Tony Elliott, American football player (b. 1959)
2007 – Michael Goldberg, American painter (b. 1924)
2007 – Bill Idelson, American actor (b. 1919)
2007 – Kathryn Ish, American actress (b. 1936)
2007 – Milton L. Klein, Canadian politician (b. 1910)
2007 – Markku Peltola, Finnish actor and musician (b. 1956)
2007 – Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect and designer (b. 1917)
2008 – Donald E. Westlake, American author (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances
New Year s Eve on the Gregorian Calendar.
Hogmanay in Scotland.
Last Day of the Year Celebration, special non-working holiday in the Philippines.
The seventh day of Christmas in Western Christianity. Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-31st-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-30th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-30th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-30th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 30th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
1460 – Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield.
1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is proclaimed.
1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.
1853 – A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an Iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London.
1862 – The USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1896 – José Rizal is executed by firing squad in Manila.
1897 – Natal annexes Zululand.
1903 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills 600.
1905 – Former Governor Frank Steunenberg is assassinated near his home in Caldwell, Idaho.
1906 – The All India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, which later laid down the foundations of Pakistan.
1919 – Lincoln s Inn in London admits its first female bar student.
1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.
1924 – Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies.
1927 – The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opens in Tokyo, Japan.
1936 – The United Auto Workers union stages its first sit-down strike.
1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
1943 – Subhas Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair.
1944 – King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving the throne vacant.
1947 – King Michael of Romania is forced to abdicate by the Soviet-backed Communist government of Romania.
1948 – The Cole Porter Broadway musical, Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances), opens at the New Century Theatre and becomes the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.
1953 – The first ever NTSC color television sets go on sale for about USD at $1,175 each from RCA.
1960 – Farthing ceases to be legal tender in the UK.
1965 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.
1972 – Vietnam War: The United States halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam.
1977 – For the second time, Ted Bundy escapes from his cell in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
1986 – The Swift Current Broncos bus crashes during bad weather outside Swift Current, Saskatchewan, killing 4 players and injuring 1.
1993 – Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations.
1995 – The lowest ever United Kingdom temperature of -27.2°C was recorded at Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands. This equalled the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on February 11, 1895 and January 10, 1982.
1996 – In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.
1996 – Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel.
1997 – In the worst incident in Algeria s insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people are killed from four villages.
2000 – Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a period of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.
2003 – U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft recuses himself and his office from the Plame affair.
2004 – A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.
2005 – Tropical Storm Zeta forms in the open Atlantic Ocean, tying the record for the latest tropical cyclone ever to form in the North Atlantic basin.
2006 – Madrid Barajas International Airport is bombed.
2006 – Deposed President of Iraq Saddam Hussein, convicted of the executions of 148 Iraqi Shiites, is executed by hanging.

Births
39 – Titus, Roman emperor (d. 81)
1204 – Abû Uthmân Sa îd Hakam al Qurashi, ruler of Minorca (d. 1282)
1552 – Simon Forman, English occultist and astrologer (d. 1611)
1642 – Vincenzo da Filicaja, Italian poet (d. 1707)
1673 – Ahmed III, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1736)
1678 – William Croft, English composer (d. 1727)
1722 – Charles Yorke, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1770)
1724 – Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter (d. 1805)
1740 – Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain (d. 1759)
1785 – Dorothea Lieven, Russian noblewoman (d. 1857)
1819 – Theodor Fontane, German writer (d. 1898)
1819 – John W. Geary, 1st Mayor of San Francisco (d. 1873)
1838 – Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (d. 1929)
1851 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician (d. 1929)
1853 – André Messager, French composer (d. 1929)
1865 – Rudyard Kipling, English writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1936)
1869 – Stephen Butler Leacock, English-born Canadian writer and economist (d. 1944)
1873 – Al Smith, American politician (d. 1944)
1878 – William Aberhart, Canadian politician (d. 1943)
1879 – Sri Ramana Maharshi, Indian philosopher (d. 1950)
1883 – Lester Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1960)
1884 – Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
1890 – Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, President of Mexico (d. 1973)
1897 – Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (d. 1976)
1899 – Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (d. 2001)
1904 – Dmitri Kabalevsky, Russian composer (d. 1987)
1905 – Daniil Kharms, Soviet-era surrealist and absurdist poet, writer and dramatist (d. 1942)
1906 – Carol Reed, English film director (d. 1976)
1910 – Paul Bowles, American composer and author (d. 1999)
1911 – Jeanette Nolan, American actress (d. 1998)
1913 – Lucio Agostini, Italian-born Canadian conductor and composer (d. 1996)
1913 – Elyne Mitchell, Australian author (d. 2002)
1914 – Bert Parks, American television host (d. 1992)
1914 – Jo Van Fleet, American actress (d. 1996)
1917 – Seymour Melman, American industrial engineer (d. 2004)
1920 – Jack Lord, American actor (d. 1998)
1921 – Rashid Karami, Lebanese statesman (d. 1987)
1927 – Bernard Barrow, American actor (d. 1993)
1927 – Robert Hossein, French film actor and director
1928 – Bo Diddley, American singer and musician (d. 2008)
1929 – Rosalind Hurley, British physician, barrister, ethicist and writer (d. 2004)
1929 – Barbara Nichols, American actress (d. 1976)
1930 – Thomas Benton Wood, American
1931 – Skeeter Davis, American singer (d. 2004)
1934 – John Norris Bahcall, American physicist (d. 2005)
1934 – Joseph Bologna, American actor
1934 – Joseph P. Hoar, former US Central Command commander
1934 – Del Shannon, American singer (d. 1990)
1934 – Russ Tamblyn, American actor, dancer, and singer
1935 – Omar Bongo, President of Gabon
1935 – Sandy Koufax, American baseball player
1935 – Jack Riley, American actor
1937 – Gordon Banks, English footballer
1937 – John Hartford, American musician (d. 2001)
1937 – Jim Marshall, American football player
1937 – Noel Paul Stookey, American folk singer (Peter, Paul & Mary)
1939 – Glenda Adams, Australian author (d. 2007)
1939 – Felix Pappalardi, American musician and recording producer (Mountain) (d. 1983)
1940 – James Burrows, American television director
1941 – Mel Renfro, American football player
1942 – Vladimir Bukovsky, Russian author and dissident
1942 – Guy Edwards, English racing driver
1942 – Michael Nesmith, American singer and musician (The Monkees)
1942 – Janko Prunk, Slovenian historian
1942 – Fred Ward, American actor
1944 – William J. Fallon, U.S. Navy Admiral, former U.S. Central Command commander
1945 – Davy Jones, English singer (The Monkees)
1945 – Lloyd Kaufman, American film director and producer
1945 – Concetta Tomei, American actress
1945 – Vernon Wells, Australian actor
1946 – Patti Smith, American singer and poet
1947 – Michael Burns, American historian
1947 – Jeff Lynne, English musician (ELO)
1949 – Jim Flaherty, Canadian politician
1950 – Lewis Shiner, American sci-fi/fantasy author
1950 – Bjarne Stroustrup, Danish computer scientist, creator of C++
1951 – Doug Allder, English footballer
1952 – June Anderson, American soprano
1953 – Bill Kazmaier, American powerlifter
1953 – Harald Schmautz, German-born journalist
1953 – Meredith Vieira, American television journalist
1955 – Dindo Yogo, Congolese musician (d. 2000)
1956 – Suzy Bogguss, American singer
1956 – Sheryl Lee Ralph, American actress
1957 – Matt Lauer, American newscaster
1958 – Rod Harrington, English darts player
1958 – Steven L. Smith, American astronaut
1959 – Tracey Ullman, English actress and singer
1959 – Josée Verner, French Canadian politician
1961 – Douglas Coupland, Canadian author
1961 – Sean Hannity, American talk radio and television host
1961 – Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete
1962 – Henry Cho, Korean-American comedian
1962 – Joshua Clover, American poet
1963 – Chandler Burr, American author
1963 – Michelle Douglas, Canadian human rights activist
1963 – Milan Šrejber, Czech tennis player
1964 – Sylvie Moreau, French Canadian actress
1964 – Duglas T. Stewart, Scottish musician (BMX Bandits)
1965 – Heidi Fleiss, American madam
1965 – Darrin C. Huss, Canadian singer Psyche
1966 – Bennett Miller, American film director
1967 – Carl Ouellet, Canadian professional wrestler
1969 – Dave England, American television personality
1969 – Jay Kay, English musician (Jamiroquai)
1969 – Meredith Monroe, American actress
1971 – Daniel Sunjata, American actor
1971 – Ricardo Lopez Felipe, Spanish footballer
1972 – Kerry Collins, American football player
1972 – Paul Keegan, Irish footballer
1972 – Steven Wiig, American actor and musician
1973 – Jason Behr, American actor
1973 – Ato Boldon, Trinidadian athlete
1973 – Nacho Vidal, Spanish porn star
1974 – Johanna Sällström, Swedish actress (d. 2007)
1975 – Scott Chipperfield, Australian soccer player
1975 – Tiger Woods, American golfer
1976 – Patrick Kerney, American football player
1976 – A.J. Pierzynski, American baseball player
1977 – Laila Ali, American boxer
1977 – Grant Balfour, Australian baseball player
1977 – Scott Lucas, Australian rules footballer
1977 – Kenyon Martin, American basketball player
1977 – Kazuyuki Toda, Japanese footballer
1978 – Devin Brown , American basketball player
1978 – Tyrese, American singer and actor
1978 – Zbigniew Robert Prominski, Polish drummer
1978 – Rob Scuderi, American ice hockey player
1979 – Flávio, Angolan footballer
1980 – Eliza Dushku, American actress
1980 – Kenny Kwan, Hong Kong singer
1981 – Ali Al Habsi, Omani footballer
1981 – Haley Paige, American porn star (d. 2007)
1981 – Michael Rodríguez, Costa Rican footballer
1981 – Matt Ulrich, American football player
1982 – Kristin Kreuk, Canadian actress
1982 – Dawan Landry, American football player
1982 – Dathan Ritzenhein, American runner
1984 – Randall Azofeifa, Costa Rican footballer
1984 – LeBron James, American basketball player
1985 – Lars Boom, Dutch cyclist
1987 – Jake Cuenca, Filipino actor and commercial model
1988 – Leon Jackson, Scottish singer
1989 – Ryan Sheckler, American professional skateboarder

Deaths
1218 – Richard de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford, English politician (b. 1162)
1460 – Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, claimant to the English throne (killed in battle) (b. 1411)
1525 – Jacob Fugger, German banker (b. 1459)
1572 – Galeazzo Alessi, Italian architect (b. 1512)
1573 – Giovanni Battista Giraldi, Italian writer (b. 1504)
1591 – Pope Innocent IX (b. 1519)
1621 – Saint Job of Maniava, Ukrainian Orthodox Saint (b. 1550)
1640 – John Francis Regis, French saint (b. 1597)
1644 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist (b. 1577)
1662 – Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria (b. 1628)
1691 – Robert Boyle, Irish scientist (b. 1627)
1769 – Nicholas Taaffe, 6th Viscount Taaffe, Austrian soldier (b. 1685)
1803 – Francis Lewis, signer of the American Declaration of Independence (b. 1713)
1896 – José Rizal, national hero of the Philippines, (executed) (b. 1861)
1908 – Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian lawyer, journalist and senator (b. 1844)
1941 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)
1944 – Romain Rolland, French writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1866)
1947 – Alfred North Whitehead, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1861)
1947 – Han van Meegeren, Dutch painter, portraitist and art forgers (b. 1889)
1954 – Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)
1955 – Rex Ingamells, Australian poet (b. 1913)
1967 – Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1887)
1968 – Trygve Lie, Norwegian politician, first United Nations Secretary General (b. 1896)
1970 – Sonny Liston, American boxer (b. 1932)
1971 – Melba Rae, American actress (Search for Tomorrow) (b. 1922)
1979 – Richard Rodgers, American composer (b. 1902)
1981 – Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (b. 1959)
1984 – Massa, oldest gorilla on record (b. 1930)
1986 – Era Bell Thompson, American journalist (b. 1905)
1988 – Yuli Daniel, Russian writer (b. 1925)
1989 – Lenore Lemmon, wife of George Reeves (b. 1923)
1992 – Ling-Ling, panda given to the USA by China (b. 1969)
1993 – Mack David, American lyricist and songwriter (b. 1912)
1993 – Irving Swifty Lazar, American Hollywood talent agent (b. 1907)
1993 – Giuseppe Occhialini, Italian physicist (b. 1907)
1994 – Dmitri Ivanenko, Russian physicist (b. 1904)
1994 – Maureen Starkey, wife of Ringo Starr (b. 1946)
1995 – Ralph Flanagan – American band leader (b. 1914)
1995 – Doris Grau, American actress (b. 1924)
1996 – Lew Ayres, American actor (b. 1908)
1996 – Jack Nance, American actor (b. 1943)
1997 – Shinichi Hoshi, Japanese novelist (b. 1926)
1998 – Johnny Moore, American singer (The Drifters) (b. 1934)
1998 – Sam Muchnick, American professional wrestling promoter (b. 1905)
1998 – George Webb, English actor (b. 1911)
1999 – Fritz Leonhardt, German structural engineer (b. 1909)
1999 – Sarah Knauss, American, once considered the world s oldest living person (b. 1880)
2000 – Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)
2002 – Mary Brian, American actress (b. 1906)
2002 – Mary Wesley, English novelist (b. 1912)
2003 – David Bale, South African-born activist (b. 1941)
2003 – John Gregory Dunne, American writer (b. 1932)
2003 – Anita Mui, Hong Kong singer and actress (b. 1963)
2004 – Artie Shaw, American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1910)
2005 – Rona Jaffe, American author (b. 1932)
2006 – Terry Peck, Falkland Islander (b. 1938) who acted as a scout for 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in the Falklands War
2006 – Michel Plasse, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1948)
2006 – Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi President, (executed) (b. 1937)

Holidays and observances
The fifth day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
R.C. Saints – Pope Felix I (optional memorial), Saint Sabinus, Anysia of Salonika, Anysius, Aphian, Donatus, Egwin of Worcester, Eugene of Milan, Eugenia Ravasco, Exuperantius, Holy Family (2007), Honorius, John Alcober, Liberius of Ravenna, Mansuetus, Marcellus, Margaret Colonna, Matthia dei Nazzarei, Our Lady of Bethlehem, Ralph of Vaucelles, Raynerius of Aquila, Ruggero of Canne, Severus, Venustian
Philippines – Rizal Day Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-30th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-29th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-29th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-29th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 29th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
1170 – Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,500 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia without firing a shot.
1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of Notables is convened.
1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.
1813 – British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York during the War of 1812.
1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.
1845 – Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
1851 – The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1860 – The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.
1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
1890 – United States soldiers kill more than 200 Oglala Lakota men, women, and children with 4 Hotchkiss guns in the Wounded Knee Massacre.
1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.
1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty.
1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal s presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.
1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
1939 – First flight of the Consolidated B-24.
1940 – World War II: In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 200 civilians.
1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
1972 – An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed Tristar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.
1975 – A bomb explodes at La Guardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
1989 – Václav Havel is elected president of Czechoslovakia. He becomes the first non-Communist to attain the post in more than four decades.
1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million.
2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda shopping center in Lima, Peru, kills at least 291.

Births
1709 – Empress Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)
1721 – Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (d. 1764)
1796 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877)
1800 – Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d. 1860)
1808 – Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
1809 – William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1898)
1816 – Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895)
1843 – Elisabeth of Wied (pen name was Carmen Sylva), queen of Romania and writer (d. 1916)
1856 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (d. 1894)
1859 – Venustiano Carranza, 54th President of Mexico (d. 1920)
1876 – Pablo Casals, Catalan musician (d. 1973)
1881 – Jess Willard, American boxer (d. 1968)
1896 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (d. 1974)
1899 – Nie Rongzhen, People s Liberation Army Chief of General Staff (d. 1992)
1902 – Nels Stewart, National Hockey League player (d. 1957)
1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)
1910 – Ronald Coase, British economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1914 – Billy Tipton, American musician (d. 1989)
1914 – Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d. 1999)
1915 – Bill Osmanski, American football player (d. 1996)
1917 – Tom Bradley, American politician (d. 1998)
1917 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian film director (d. 2005)
1920 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress (d. 1995)
1921 – Robert C. Baker, Inventor of the chicken nugget (d. 2006)
1922 – William Gaddis, American writer (d. 1998)
1925 – Pete Dye, American golf course architect
1927 – Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)
1928 – Bernard Cribbins, British actor
1931 – Prince Gu of Korea, Korean royalty (d. 2005)
1932 – Inga Swenson, American actress
1934 – Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)
1936 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress
1936 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
1937 – Wayne Huizenga, American football team owner
1937 – Barbara Steele, British actress
1938 – Harvey Smith, English showjumper
1938 – Jon Voight, American actor
1941 – Ray Thomas, British musician (The Moody Blues)
1942 – Rick Danko, Canadian musician (The Band) (d. 1999)
1942 – Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor
1946 – Marianne Faithfull, British singer
1947 – Ted Danson, American actor
1947 – Cozy Powell, English rock drummer (d. 1998)
1947 – Vincent Winter, British actor (d. 1998)
1948 – Peter Robinson, first minister of Northern Ireland
1949 – Syed Kirmani, Indian cricket player
1949 – David Topliss, rugby league player
1950 – Jon Polito, American actor
1951 – Yvonne Elliman, American disco singer
1951 – Georges Thurston, Canadian singer (d. 2007)
1952 – Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
1953 – Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress
1953 – Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian
1953 – Stanley Tookie Williams, American author/murderer (d. 2005)
1954 – Roger Voudouris, American singer (d. 2003)
1954 – Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
1956 – Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian
1957 – Brad Grey, American film producer
1957 – Paul Rudnick, American screenwriter/playwright
1958 – Nancy J. Currie, American astronaut
1959 – Patricia Clarkson, American actress
1959 – Paula Poundstone, American comedian
1960 – David Boon, Australian Cricketer
1960 – Thomas Lubanga, founder and leader of Union of Congolese Patriots
1961 – Kevin Granata, American associate professor at Virginia Tech, victim of the Virginia Tech massacre (d. 2007)
1961 – Jim Reid, Scottish singer (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Freeheat)
1962 – Blake Mitchell, American adult actress
1962 – Devon White, Jamaican baseball player
1963 – Francisco Bustamante, Filipino billiard player
1963 – Des Foy, British rugby league player
1963 – Dave McKean, British artist and filmmaker
1963 – Sean Payton, American football coach
1965 – Dexter Holland, American musician (The Offspring)
1966 – Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer
1966 – Martin Offiah, former rugby league footballer
1967 – Ashleigh Banfield, Canadian journalist
1967 – Chris Barnes, American singer
1967 – Andy Wachowski, American director
1967 – Evan Seinfeld, American musician (Biohazard) and actor
1969 – Jennifer Ehle, American actress
1969 – Allan McNish, Scottish race car driver
1970 – Aled Jones, Welsh singer
1970 – Hidetoshi Mitsusada, Japanese racing driver
1970 – Glen Phillips, American musician (Toad The Wet Sprocket)
1970 – Kevin Weisman, American actor
1971 – Margot Thien, American synchronized swimmer
1972 – Asheru, American rapper
1972 – Jason Kreis, American soccer player
1972 – Jude Law, British actor
1973 – Pimp C, American rapper (UGK) (d. 2007)
1973 – Theo Epstein, American baseball general manager
1974 – Mekhi Phifer, American actor
1974 – Richie Sexson, American baseball player
1975 – Jaret Wright, American baseball player
1976 – Danny R. McBride, American actor, writer, and producer
1976 – Filip Kuba, Czech hockey player, defenseman for the Ottawa Senators
1977 – Katherine Moennig, American actress
1977 – Jimmy Journell, American baseball player
1978 – Matthew Carr, Australian rules footballer
1978 – Alexis Amore, Peruvian pornographic actress
1978 – Kieron Dyer, English footballer
1978 – LaToya London, American singer
1979 – Diego Luna, Mexican actor
1979 – Mitsuhiro Ishida, Japanese mixed-martial arts fighter
1979 – Ariel Schrag, American Cartoonist
1981 – Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
1982 – Dale Morris, Australian rules footballer
1982 – Gabrielle Destroismaisons, Quebec singer
1983 – James Kelly, Australian rules footballer
1983 – Jessica Andrews, American country/pop singer
1986 – Kim Ok-bin, South Korean actress and model
1987 – Yuhi Sekiguchi, Japanese racing driver
1988 – Agnes Szavay, Hungarian tennis player
1989 – Nathan Forbes, British footballer
1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan

Deaths
721 – Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)
1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (assassinated) (b. 1118)
1563 – Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b. 1515)
1634 – John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop (b. 1612)
1661 – Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
1689 – Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
1731 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685)
1737 – Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)
1785 – Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
1825 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
1891 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (b. 1823)
1894 – Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
1897 – William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)
1916 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
1924 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
1926 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)
1929 – Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)
1937 – Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)
1953 – Violet MacMillan, American Broadway theatre actress(b. 1887)
1960 – Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
1960 – Philippe Panneton, Quebec physician, diplomat and writer (b. 1895)
1967 – Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)
1968 – Austin Farrer, English theologian and philosopher (b. 1904)
1970 – Marie Menken, American experimental filmmaker and socialite (b. 1909)

Holidays and observances
1976 – Ivo Van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954)
1980 – Tim Hardin, American musician (b. 1941)
1980 – Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
1981 – Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893)
1986 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (b. 1932)
1988 – Mike Beuttler, British racing driver (b. 1940)
1993 – Frunzik Mkrtchyan, Soviet Armenian actor (b. 1930)
1995 – Lita Grey, American actress (b. 1908)
1996 – Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906)
1998 – Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)
1999 – Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906)
2001 – Takashi Asahina, Japanese conductor (b. 1908)
2003 – Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
2003 – Dinsdale Landen, English actor (b. 1932)
2003 – Bob Monkhouse, English comedian and game show host (b. 1928)
2004 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
2004 – Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1947)
2004 – Ken Burkhart, American baseball player (b. 1915)
2005 – Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (b. 1922)
2007 – Phil O Donnell, Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
2007 – Kevin Greening, British radio presenter (b. 1962)
2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1938) Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-29th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-28th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-28th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-28th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 28th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
1308 – The reign of Emperor Hanazono, emperor of Japan, begins.
1612 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.
1768 – King Taksin s coronation achieved through conquest as a king of Thailand and established Thonburi as a capital.
1795 – Construction of Yonge Street, the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto, Ontario).
1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.
1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.
1836 – South Australia and Adelaide are founded.
1836 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.
1846 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
1867 – United States claims Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.
1879 – The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.
1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines marking the debut of the cinema.
1908 – An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily killing over 75,000.
1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California.
1929 – Black Saturday in Samoa: New Zealand colonial police kill 11 unarmed demonstrators, an event which leads the Mau movement to demand independence for Samoa.
1935 – Pravda publishes a letter by Pavel Postyshev, who revives New Year tree tradition in the Soviet Union.
1943 – World War II – After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the battle of Ortona concludes with the victory of the1st Canadian Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute Division and the capture of the Italian town of Ortona.
1944 – Maurice Richard becomes the first player to score 8 points in one game of NHL ice hockey.
1945 – The Congress of the United States officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.
1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami, Florida.
1950 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom s first National Park.
1958 – Greatest Game Ever Played – Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in the first ever National Football League sudden death overtime game at New York s Yankee Stadium.
1973 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.
1974 – Senegalese marxist group Reenu-Rew founds the political movement And-Jëf at a clandestine congress.
1981 – The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born in Norfolk, Virginia.
1989 – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
1999 – Saparmurat Niyazov is proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan.
2000 – U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
2007 – Nepal declares a federal democratic Republic by interim parliament, abolishing the monarchy.
2008 – The Detroit Lions finished the season 0-16 with a 31-21 lost to the Green Bay Packers The first time in National Football League history that a team went winless in a 16-game season.

Births
1164 – Emperor Rokujo of Japan (d. 1176)
1522 – Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (d. 1583)
1619 – Antoine Furetière, French writer (d. 1688)
1635 – Princess Elizabeth of England (d. 1650)
1655 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)
1665 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, British general (d. 1716)
1763 – John Molson, English-born Canadian brewer (d. 1836)
1778 – Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d. 1846)
1842 – Calixa Lavallée, French-Canadian composer (O Canada) (d. 1891)
1856 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel laureate (d. 1924)
1866 – Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian and diplomat (d. 1935)
1879 – Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)
1882 – Arthur Stanley Eddington, British astronomer (d. 1944)
1888 – Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)
1898 – Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (d. 1957)
1898 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (d. 1947)
1899 – Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)
1902 – Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (d. 2001)
1902 – Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (d. 1988)
1903 – Earl Hines, American musician (d. 1983)
1903 – John von Neumann, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1957)
1905 – Cliff Arquette, American actor (d. 1974)
1907 – Nicolae Brânzeu , Romanian composer and conductor.(d. 1983)
1908 – Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)
1910 – Billy Williams, American singer (d. 1972)
1913 – Lou Jacobi, Canadian actor
1914 – Bernard Youens, English actor (d. 1984)
1915 – Pops Staples, American musician (The Staple Singers) (d. 2000)
1922 – Stan Lee, American comic book writer
1924 – Milton Obote, President of Uganda (d. 2005)
1925 – Hildegard Knef, German actress (d. 2002)
1928 – Moe Koffman, Canadian musician (d. 2001)
1929 – Brian Redhead, British journalist (d. 1994)
1929 – Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (d. 1970)
1931 – Guy Debord, French writer (d. 1994)
1932 – Dhirubhai Ambani, Indian businessman (d. 2002)
1932 – Dorsey Burnette, American singer (d. 1979)
1932 – Roy Hattersley, British politician
1932 – Harry Howell, Canadian hockey player
1932 – Nichelle Nichols, American actress and singer
1932 – Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (d. 1990)
1933 – John Y. Brown, Jr., American politician
1934 – Dame Maggie Smith, British actress
1934 – Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (d. 1987)
1936 – Jacques Mesrine, French criminal (d. 1979)
1936 – Lawrence Schiller, American journalist
1937 – Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist
1938 – Dick Sudhalter, American jazz musician (d. 2008)
1938 – Lagumot Harris, Nauruan politician and former President (d. 1999)
1939 – Philip Anschutz, American businessman
1940 – Don Francisco, Chilean television host
1942 – Roger Swerts, Belgian cyclist
1943 – Richard Whiteley, British television presenter (d. 2005)
1943 – David Peterson, Canadian politician
1944 – Johnny Isakson, American politician
1944 – Kary Mullis, American chemist, Nobel laureate
1946 – Edgar Winter, American musician
1946 – Mike Beebe, American politician, governor of Arkansas
1946 – Pierre Falardeau, Quebec film director
1946 – Tim Johnson, American politician, senior senator from South Dakota
1947 – Aurelio Rodríguez, Mexican baseball player (d. 2000)
1950 – Alex Chilton, American musician (Box Tops)
1950 – Øivind Blunck, Norwegian comedian and actor
1951 – Ian Buruma, Anglo-Dutch scholar and writer on Japan and the Far East.
1952 – Arun Jaitley, Indian Politician
1953 – Richard Clayderman, French pianist
1953 – Tatsumi Fujinami, Japanese professional wrestler
1954 – Denzel Washington, American actor
1954 – Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler
1956 – Nigel Kennedy, British violinist
1957 – Anne Sargeant, Australian netballer
1959 – Ana Torroja, Spanish singer (Mecano)
1959 – Phil Abrams, American actor
1960 – Raymond Bourque, Canadian hockey player
1961 – Kent Nielsen, Danish footballer and football coach
1962 – Rachel Z, American pianist
1962 – Michel Petrucciani, French pianist (d. 1999)
1962 – Melissa R. Kelly, former Maryland politician
1962 – Choi Soo Jong, South Korean actor
1962 – Niel van der Watt, South African composer
1964 – Maite Zúñiga, Spanish athlete
1967 – Chris Ware, American cartoonist
1969 – Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer programmer
1970 – Francesca Le, American porn star
1971 – Frank Sepe, American bodybuilder
1971 – Benny Agbayani, American baseball player
1971 – William Gates, American basketball player
1972 – Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player
1972 – Roberto Palacios, Peruvian footballer
1972 – Adam Vinatieri, American football player
1973 – Alex Dimitriades, Australian actor
1973 – Herborg Kråkevik, Norwegian singer and actress
1973 – Seth Meyers, American actor
1974 – Jason Ridge, American porn actor
1974 – Rob Niedermayer, Canadian-born ice-hockey player.
1975 – B.J. Ryan, American baseball player
1977 – Shane Elford, Australian rugby league player
1978 – Chris Coyne, Australian footballer
1978 – John Legend, American musician
1979 – James Blake, American tennis player
1979 – Bill Hall, American baseball player
1979 – Senna Guemmour, German Singer (Monrose)
1980 – Lomana LuaLua, Congo footballer
1980 – Vanessa Ferlito, American actress
1981 – Elizabeth Jordan Carr, American Test-Tube Baby
1981 – Sienna Miller, British actress
1981 – Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer
1981 – Mika Väyrynen, Finnish footballer
1982 – Cedric Benson, American football player
1982 – François Gourmet, Belgian decathlete
1982 – Kevin Pereira, American television host
1983 – Mike He, Taiwanese actor
1984 – Leroy Lita, English footballer
1984 – Wesley Holiday, American wrestler/model
1984 – Alex Lloyd, British racing driver
1985 – Kamani Hill, American footballer
1985 – Taryn Terrell, American wrestler/model
1986 – Tom Huddlestone, English footballer
1987 – Thomas Dekker, American actor
1989 – Mackenzie Rosman, American actress
1990 – David Archuleta, American Idol runner-up, American singer

Deaths
300 – Theonas, Patriarch of Alexandria
1367 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (b. 1330)
1446 – Antipope Clement VIII
1503 – Piero di Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)
1558 – Hermann Finck, German composer (b. 1527)
1622 – Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and saint (b. 1567)
1663 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1618)
1671 – Johann Friedrich Gronovius, German classical scholar (b. 1611)
1694 – Queen Mary II of England (b. 1662), of the joint monarchy William and Mary.
1703 – Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)
1706 – Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (b. 1647)
1708 – Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (b. 1656)
1715 – William Carstares, Scottish minister (b. 1649)
1734 – Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (b. 1671)
1736 – Antonio Caldara, Italian composer (b. 1670)
1795 – Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist (b. 1747)
1859 – Thomas Macaulay, British poet (b. 1800)
1872 – James Van Ness, Mayor of San Francisco (1855-1856) (b. 1808)
1877 – Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (b. 1821)
1897 – Rev. William Corby, American Catholic priest (b. 1833)
1900 – Alexandre Alberto da Rocha de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese explorer (b. 1846)
1916 – Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (b. 1835)
1917 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian World War One flying ace (b. 1892)
1918 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (b. 1865)
1919 – Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (b. 1854)
1924 – Léon Bakst, Russian artist (b. 1866)
1932 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)
1937 – Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)
1938 – Florence Lawrence, American actress (b. 1886)
1943 – Steve Evans, American baseball player (b. 1885)
1945 – Theodore Dreiser, American author (b. 1871)
1947 – King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
1949 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)
1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)
1959 – Ante Pavelic, leader of Nazi Germany puppet Independent State of Croatia (b. 1889)
1962 – Kathleen Clifford, American actress (b. 1887)
1963 – Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)
1967 – Katharine McCormick, American women s rights activist (b. 1875)
1971 – Max Steiner, Austrian-born American film music composer (b. 1888)
1976 – Katharine Byron, American politician (b. 1903)
1976 – Freddie King, American musician (b. 1934)
1981 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-born film director (b. 1885)
1983 – William Demarest, American actor (b. 1892)
1983 – Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (b. 1910)
1983 – Dennis Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)
1984 – Sam Peckinpah, American film director (b. 1925)
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (b. 1932)
1989 – Hermann Oberth, German physicist (b. 1894)
1991 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1952)
1992 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player (b. 1917)
1993 – William L. Shirer, American journalist (b. 1904)
1994 – Jean-Louis Lévesque, French Canadian entrepreneur (b. 1911)
1999 – Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)
2001 – Samuel A. Goldblith, American food scientist (b. 1919)
2001 – William X. Kienzle, American novelist (b. 1928)
2003 – Benjamin Hacker, American admiral (b. 1935)
2004 – Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
2004 – Susan Sontag, American writer (b. 1933)
2006 – Jamal Karimi-Rad, Iranian Minister of Justice (b. 1956)
2007 – Aidin Nikkhah Bahrami, Iran national basketball team player (b. 1982)

Holidays and observances
The fourth day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
Proclamation Day in South Australia
Roman Catholic / Eastern Orthodox saints – Feast of the Holy Innocents, also known as Childermas, commemorating the Massacre of the Innocents on order of King Herod the Great. In Spain and Latin American countries the festival is celebrated in a manner similar to April Fool s Day.
Abel is commemorated on this day in the Coptic Church
The third day of Kwanzaa is celebrated among African-Americans. Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-28th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-27th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-27th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-27th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 27th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
537 – The Hagia Sophia is completed.
1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World.
1657 – The Flushing Remonstrance is signed.
1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
1814 – Destruction of schooner Carolina, the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson s make-shift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson s victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate the theory of evolution.
1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people.
1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
1923 – Namba Daisuke, a Japanese student, tries to assassinate the Prince Regent Hirohito.
1932 – Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.
1939 – Erzincan, Turkey was hit by an earthquake.
1942 – The Union of Pioneers of Yugoslavia is founded.
1945 – The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.
1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence.
1968 – Apollo Program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.
1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.
1985 – Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside Rome and Vienna airports.
1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.
1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland.
2001 – The People s Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.
2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya.
2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.
2007 – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated by a suicide bomber.

Births
1390 – Anne de Mortimer, claimant to the English throne (d. 1411)
1571 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (d. 1630)
1654 – Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1705)
1683 – Conyers Middleton, English minister (d. 1750)
1715 – Philippe de Noailles, duc de Mouchy, French soldier (d. 1794)
1717 – Pope Pius VI (d. 1799)
1721 – François Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher (d. 1790)
1761 – Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian military commander (d. 1818)
1773 – George Cayley, English scientist, inventor, and politician (d. 1857)
1776 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1811)
1796 – Mirza Ghalib, Indian poet (d. 1869)
1803 – François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, French Canadian Patriote (d. 1839)
1822 – Louis Pasteur, French scientist (d. 1895)
1823 – Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1896)
1832 – Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and patron of art (d. 1897)
1864 – René Georges Hermann-Paul, French artist (d. 1940)
1879 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (d. 1954)
1883 – Cyrus S. Eaton, Canadian-American financier, industrialist and philanthropist (d. 1979)
1888 – Thea von Harbou, German author and actress (d. 1954)
1892 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian World War One flying ace (d. 1917)
1896 – Carl Zuckmayer, German author and dramatist (d. 1977)
1896 – Louis Bromfield, American writer (d. 1956)
1896 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (d. 1952)
1900 – Hans Stuck, German race car driver (d. 1978)
1901 – Marlene Dietrich, German actress and singer (d. 1992)
1901 – Irene Handl, English actress (d. 1987)
1906 – Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, and actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and writer (d. 1999)
1907 – Conrad L. Raiford, Goodwill Ambassador (d. 2002)
1907 – Willem van Otterloo, Dutch conductor and composer (d. 1978)
1910 – Charles Olson, American poet (d. 1970)
1911 – Anna Russell, English-born Canadian singer and comedian (d. 2006)
1915 – Mary Kornman, American actress (d. 1973)
1915 – William Masters, American gynecologist (d. 2001)
1915 – Gyula Zsengellér, Hungarian footballer (d. 1999)
1916 – Werner Baumbach, German bomber pilot (d. 1953)
1917 – Onni Palaste, Finnish writer
1918 – John Celardo, American comic strip artist
1920 – Bruce Hobbs, American jockey (d. 2005)
1925 – Michel Piccoli, French actor
1926 – Jerome Courtland, American actor, director and producer
1927 – Antony Gardner, British politician
1927 – Agnes Nixon, American television producer, director, and writer
1930 – Wilfrid Sheed, English-born American writer
1931 – Scotty Moore, American guitarist
1934 – Larissa Latynina, Russian gymnast
1939 – John Amos, American actor
1941 – Michael Pinder, British musician (Moody Blues)
1941 – Nolan Richardson, American basketball coach
1942 – Byron Browne, baseball player
1942 – Thomas Menino, American politician
1942 – Charmian Carr, American actress
1943 – Cokie Roberts, American journalist
1943 – Joan Manuel Serrat, Spanish musician
1943 – Peter Sinfield, British lyricist and producer
1944 – Barry Elliot British actor
1944 – Mick Jones, British musician (Foreigner)
1946 – Lenny Kaye, American guitarist
1946 – Janet Street-Porter, British journalist, producer and presenter
1947 – Bill Eadie, professional wrestler known as Ax of Demolition
1947 – Tracy Nelson, American blues singer
1947 – Mickey Redmond, National Hockey League player
1947 – Janet Perry, American soprano
1947 – Willy Polleunis, Belgian athlete
1948 – Gérard Depardieu, French actor
1950 – Roberto Bettega, Italian footballer
1950 – Terry Bozzio, American drummer (Missing Persons)
1951 – Ernesto Zedillo, President of Mexico
1952 – Karla Bonoff, American singer and songwriter
1952 – Tovah Feldshuh, American actress
1952 – Jay Hill, Canadian politician
1952 – David Knopfler, British musician (Dire Straits)
1955 – Barbara Olson, American political commentator (d. 2001)
1955 – Brad Murphey, Australian racing driver
1959 – Gerina Dunwich, American author
1959 – Andre Tippett, American football player
1960 – Maryam d Abo, British actress
1960 – Victoria Paige Meyerink, American actress and producer
1960 – Donald Nally, American choral conductor
1962 – Barbara Crampton, American actress
1962 – Mark Few, American basketball coach
1962 – Bill Self, American basketball coach
1962 – Sherri Steinhauer, American golfer
1963 – Gaspar Noé, Argentinian-born director
1964 – Ian Gomez, American actor
1964 – Theresa Randle, American actress
1965 – Salman Khan, Indian actor
1965 – Chris Mainwaring, Australian rules footballer (d. 2007)
1966 – Wendy Coakley-Thompson, American writer
1966 – Eva LaRue, American actress
1966 – Bill Goldberg, American football player and professional wrestler
1966 – Fabian Núñez, American politician
1969 – Jean-Christophe Boullion, French race car driver
1969 – Chyna, American professional wrestler
1969 – Sarah Vowell, American author and journalist
1970 – Brendon Cook, Australian racing driver
1970 – Lorenzo Neal, American football player
1971 – Duncan Ferguson, Scottish footballer
1971 – Bryan Smolinski, American ice hockey player
1972 – Thomas Wilson Brown, American actor
1972 – Colin Charvis, Welsh rugby union player
1972 – Matt Slocum, American musician (Sixpence None the Richer)
1973 – Kristoffer Zegers, Dutch composer
1973 – Wilson Cruz, Puerto Rican actor
1973 – Dee Ferris, British painter
1974 – Masi Oka, Japanese-American actor
1974 – Jay Pandolfo, American ice hockey player
1975 – Heather O Rourke, American actress (d. 1988)
1976 – Fernando Pisani, Canadian/Italian ice hockey player
1976 – Aaron Stanford, American actor
1977 – Jacqueline Pillon, Canadian actress
1979 – David Dunn, English footballer
1979 – Carson Palmer, American football player
1980 – Claudio Castagnoli, Swiss wrestler
1980 – Cas Haley, American singer and guitarist
1981 – David Aardsma, American baseball player
1981 – Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress
1981 – Javine, British singer
1982 – James Mead, American guitarist (Kutless)
1983 – Cole Hamels, American baseball player
1984 – Gilles Simon, French tennis player
1984 – Pleasure P, American R&B Singer. Former member of Pretty Ricky
1985 – Logan Bailly, Belgian football goalkeeper
1985 – Paul Stastny, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1986 – Tristan Mathews, Porn Star, Model
1988 – Rick Porcello, American baseball player
1987 – Heath Hocking, Australian rules footballer
1988 – Hayley Williams, American singer for Paramore
1990 – Luis Trujillo, Peruvian Football Player

Deaths
418 – Pope Zosimus
1076 – Prince Svyatoslav II of Kiev (b. 1027)
1381 – Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, English politician
1548 – Francesco Spiera, Italian Protestant jurist (b. 1502)
1603 – Thomas Cartwright, English Puritan clergyman
1707 – Jean Mabillon, French palaeograopher and diplomat (b. 1632)
1737 – William Bowyer, English printer (b. 1663)
1743 – Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (b. 1659)
1771 – Henri Pitot, French engineer (b. 1695)
1782 – Henry Home, Lord Kames, Scottish philosopher (b. 1697)
1800 – Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (b. 1718)
1812 – Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Lithuanian rabbi and founder of Chabad Hasidism (b. 1745)
1812 – Joanna Southcott, an English self-described religious prophetess (b. 1750)
1834 – Charles Lamb, English essayist (b. 1775)
1836 – Stephen F. Austin, American pioneer (b. 1793)
1858 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French composer (b. 1785)
1896 – John Brown, British manufacturer (b. 1816)
1900 – William George Armstrong, English inventor, industrialist, and engineer (b. 1810)
1914 – Charles Martin Hall, American chemist and inventor (b. 1863)
1923 – Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect (b. 1832)
1925 – Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (b. 1895)
1938 – Calvin Bridges, American geneticist (b. 1889)
1938 – Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet (b. 1891)
1950 – Max Beckmann, German painter (b. 1884)
1952 – Patrick Joseph Hartigan, Australian Roman Catholic priest (b. 1878)
1953 – Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (b. 1894)
1955 – Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (b. 1881)
1956 – Lambert McKenna, Irish editor and lexicographer. (b. 1870)
1965 – Edgar Ende, German painter (b. 1901)
1966 – Guillermo Stábile, Argentine footballer (b. 1906)
1972 – Lester B. Pearson, fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada, recipient of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1897)
1974 – Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock, Russian physicist (b. 1898)
1978 – Bob Luman, American country and rockabilly singer (b. 1937)
1978 – Houari Boumédienne, President of Algeria (b. 1932)
1979 – Hafizullah Amin, second President of Afghanistan (b. 1929)
1981 – Hoagy Carmichael, American composer and singer (b. 1899)
1982 – John Swigert, American astronaut (b. 1931)
1987 – Geoffrey D Lloyd, Chairman of the guild of British Newspaper editors (b. 1933)
1988 – Hal Ashby, American film director (b. 1929)
1992 – Kay Boyle, American writer (b. 1902)
1993 – André Pilette, Belgian racing driver (b. 1918)
1994 – Fanny Cradock, English food writer and broadcaster (b. 1909)
1994 – J. B. L. Reyes, Filipino jurist (b. 1902)
1995 – Shura Cherkassky, Ukrainian classical pianist (b. 1909)
1997 – Brendan Gill, American columnist and humorist (b. 1914)
1997 – Billy Wright, Irish Protestant paramilitary leader (b. 1960)
2002 – George Roy Hill, American film director (b. 1922)
2003 – Alan Bates, English actor (b. 1934)
2003 – Iván Calderón, Puerto Rican baseball player (b. 1962)
2004 – Hank Garland, American musician (b. 1930)
2005 – William Doody, Canadian politician (b. 1931)
2007 – Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan (assassinated) (b. 1953)
2007 – Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Polish film director (b. 1922)
2007 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (b. 1920)
2008 – Delaney Bramlett, American musician (b. 1939)

Holidays and observances
R.C. Saints – John the Apostle and Evangelist; Nicarete, an early Byzantine female physician.
St. Stephen s Day among Orthodox Churches; a public holiday in Romania.
The second day of Christmas in Western Christianity. Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-27th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-26th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-26th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-26th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 26th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
1251 – Alexander III, the King of Scots, was married to Margaret, the daughter of Henry III, King of England, in York.
1481 – Battle of Westbrook – Holland defeats troops of Utrecht.
1613 – Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, marries Frances Howard, occasioning John Donne s Eclogue.
1620 – Elizabeth Báthory s crimes are uncovered.
1620 – Pilgrim Fathers land at what becomes New Plymouth in Massachusetts.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The British are defeated in the Battle of Trenton.
1790 – Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
1792 – The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris.
1793 – Battle of Geisberg: French defeat Austrians.
1793 – The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.
1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
1811 – 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 – Several Imperial Russia army officers lead circa 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising.
1848 – The Phi Delta Theta fraternity is founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
1860 – 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 – 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 Britain.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.
1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.
1870 – The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
1871 – 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 – The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.
1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
1916 – Joseph Joffre is made Marshal of France.
1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
1925 – Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
1925 – The Communist Party of India is founded.
1931 – Phi Iota Alpha, the Oldest Latino Fraternity in Existence, was founded in Troy, NY.
1933 – FM radio is patented.
1933 – The Nissan Motor Company is organized in Tokyo, Japan.
1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway s North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
1944 – World War II: Patton s Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
1945 – CFP franc and CFA franc are created.
1948 – Cardinal Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
1973 – Comet Kohoutek reaches perihelion but is not as spectacular a display as expected.
1973 – Soyuz 13 lands on earth after a week in orbit.
1974 – Salyut 4 is launched.
1975 – The Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union.
1976 – The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.
1979 – Opening night of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the Hammersmith Odeon; a benefit concert for the citizens of Cambodia who were victims of dictator Pol Pot.
1980 – Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
1982 – Time Magazine s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
1986 – The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air.
1986 – World Population reaches 5 billion according to www.ibiblio.org world population tracker.
1988 – The Nanjing Anti-African protests in Nanjing, the People s Republic of China begin.
1990 – Results of a national referendum for independence of Slovenia were published.
1991 – The Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR.
1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family s home in Boulder, Colorado.
1996 – Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.
1996 – The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force.
1997 – The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
1998 – Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland cause widespread disruption and widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland.
1999 – Severe weather in France kills over 100 people and causes extensive damage to property, trees and the French national power grid (see Lothar).
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
2004 – A 9.0 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 230,000 people.
2005 – Boxing Day shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto.
2006 – The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hit Taiwan.

Births
1194 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
1532 – Guilielmus Xylander, German classical scholar (d. 1576)
1536 – Yi I, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1584)
1542 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, unifier of Japan and first Tokugawa Shogun (d. 1616)
1646 – Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)
1666 – Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru of Sikhism (d. 1708)
1687 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (d. 1755)
1716 – Thomas Gray, English writer (d. 1771)
1716 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (d. 1803)
1723 – Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm, German writer (d. 1807)
1737 – Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (d. 1815)
1751 – Clement Hofbauer, Austrian missionary and saint (d. 1820)
1771 – Julie Clary, queen consort of Naples (d. 1845)
1780 – Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)
1782 – Filaret Drozdov, Metropolitan of Moscow (d. 1867)
1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (d. 1871)
1819 – E. D. E. N. Southworth, American novelist (d. 1899)
1822 – Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
1837 – George Dewey, U. S. admiral (d. 1917)
1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American politician and baseball commissioner (d. 1922)
1853 – René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
1859 – William Stephens, U.S. political figure (d. 1944)
1872 – Norman Angell, British politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French artist (d. 1955)
1887 – Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army officer (d. 1966)
1890 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (d. 1992)
1891 – Henry Miller, American writer (d. 1980)
1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician (d. 1976)
1894 – Jean Toomer, American writer (d. 1967)
1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter (d. 1980)
1903 – Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
1905 – William Loeb, American newspaper publisher, (d. 1981)
1906 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2003)
1907 – Albert Gore Sr., American Politician (d. 1998)
1911 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino politician and sportswriter (d. 1962)
1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
1914 – Annemarie Wendl, German actress (d. 2006)
1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
1918 – George Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
1921 – Steve Allen, American comedian (d. 2000)
1922 – Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
1924 – Frank Broyles, American athlete, long time athletic director of the University of Arkansas.
1926 – Gina Pellón, Cuban painter
1927 – Alan King, American comedian (d. 2004)
1927 – Stu Miller, American baseball player
1927 – Denis Quilley, British actor (d. 2003)
1929 – Régine, French singer and nightclub owner
1930 – Donald Moffat, English-born actor
1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer and songwriter
1933 – Ugly Dave Gray, Australian television personality
1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer
1935 – Abdul Duke Fakir, American singer (The Four Tops)
1935 – Norm Ullman, Canadian hockey player
1937 – John Horton Conway, British mathematician
1937 – Jay Heimowitz, American poker player
1938 – Bahram Beizai, Iranian playwright and film director
1938 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi film director (d. 1989)
1939 – Fred Schepisi, Australian film director
1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel laureate
1940 – Ray Sadecki, American Major league baseball pitcher
1940 – Phil Spector, American music producer
1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss film director (d. 2006)
1942 – Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, Guatemalan president
1942 – Gray Davis, former Governor of California
1944 – Jane Lapotaire, British actress
1945 – John Walsh, American talk show host
1947 – James T. Conway, 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
1947 – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist
1949 – José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, Nobel laureate
1951 – Richard Skinner, British radio presenter
1951 – John Scofield, American jazz guitarist
1953 – Leonel Fernández, Dominican politician and current President of the Dominican Republic
1953 – Henning Schmitz, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1954 – Ozzie Smith, American baseball player
1954 – Steve Steen, English actor
1955 – Evan Bayh, American politician
1956 – David Sedaris, American essayist
1957 – Dermot Murnaghan, British broadcaster
1958 – Adrian Newey, British engineer
1959 – Koji Morimoto, Japanese animated film director
1960 – Temuera Morrison, New Zealand actor
1960 – Jim Toomey, American syndicated cartoonist
1960 – Tina Wesson, Winner of Survivor: The Australian Outback
1961 – John Lynch, Irish actor
1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-born drummer (Metallica)
1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
1966 – Sandra Taylor, American model and actress
1968 – Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler
1970 – James Mercer, American musician (The Shins)
1970 – Krissada Terrence, Thai singer and actor
1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and singer (30 Seconds to Mars)
1971 – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
1971 – Jonathan M. Parisen, American film director
1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentine footballer
1972 – Robert Muchamore, English children s author
1973 – Reichen Lehmkuhl, American television personality
1974 – Josie Ho, Hong Kong singer and actor
1974 – Joshua John Miller, American actor
1975 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
1976 – Simon Goodwin, Australian rules footballer
1976 – Lea De Mae, Czech actress (d. 2004)
1976 – Nadia Litz, Canadian actress
1978 – Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Chris Daughtry, American singer
1979 – Mzbel, Ghanaian singer
1979 – Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
1980 – Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
1982 – Kenneth Darby, American National Football League player
1982 – Oguri Shun, Japanese Actor/Model
1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
1985 – Yuu Shirota, Japanese Idol
1987 – Adam Walker, British flautist
1989 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican racing driver
1990 – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
1995 – Zach Mills, American actor

Deaths
211 – Publius Septimius Geta – Roman Emperor (b. 189)
268 – Pope Dionysius
418 – Pope Zosimus
1350 – Jean de Marigny, French bishop
1458 – Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1393)
1476 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1444)
1530 – Babur, Emperor of the Mogul empire (b. 1483)
1574 – Charles of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1524)
1624 – Simon Marius, German astronomer (b. 1573)
1731 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (b. 1672)
1771 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
1780 – John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)
1784 – Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (b. 1743)
1786 – Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (b. 1713)
1869 – Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1797)
1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
1909 – Frederic Remington, American artist (b. 1861)
1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German Nazi politician (b. 1868)
1931 – Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey decimal classification (b. 1851)
1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian literary critic and politician (b. 1875)
1957 – Charles Pathé, French film and recording industries pioneer (b. 1863)
1960 – Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)
1963 – George Wagner (Gorgeous George), American professional wrestler and television personality (b. 1915)
1966 – Herbert Otto Gille, German SS officer (b. 1897)
1970 – Lillian Board, British athlete (b. 1948)
1972 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
1973 – Harold B. Lee, 11th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
1974 – Farid al-Atrash, Arab composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor (b. 1915)
1974 – Jack Benny, American comedian (b. 1894)
1977 – Howard Hawks, American film director and writer (b. 1896)
1980 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (b. 1912)
1981 – Savithri, Indian actress (b. 1937)
1981 – Amber Reeves, feminist writer (b. 1887)
1983 – Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
1985 – Dian Fossey, American gorilla specialist (b. 1932)
1985 – Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1928)
1986 – Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (b. 1902)
1988 – Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (b. 1907)
1989 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)
1990 – Gene Callahan, American film art and production designer (b. 1923)
1992 – Nikita Magaloff, Russian pianist (b. 1912)
1996 – JonBenét Ramsey, American murder victim (b. 1990)
1994 – Parveen Shakir, Pakistani Woman Poet (b. 1952)
1997 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher and economist (b. 1922)
1999 – Curtis Mayfield, American musician (b. 1942)
1999 – Shankar Dayal Sharma, President of India (b. 1918)
2000 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
2002 – Herb Ritts, American photographer (b. 1952)
2002 – Armand Zildjian, American cymbal manufacturer (b. 1921)
2004 – Sir Angus Ogilvy, British businessman (b. 1928)
2004 – Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian mediator (b. 1945)
2004 – Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African heart surgeon (b. 1959)
2004 – Sigurd Køhn, Norwegian jazz musician (b. 1959)
2004 – Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
2004 – Aki Sirkesalo, Finnish musician (b. 1962)
2004 – Mieszko Talarczyk, Polish-born Swedish musician (Nasum) (b. 1974)
2004 – Troy Broadbridge, Australian rules footballer (b. 1980)
2004 – Khun Bhumi Jensen, Thai Royal Family member (b. 1983)
2005 – Erich Topp, German submarine commander (b. 1914)
2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1937)
2005 – Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (b. 1937)
2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
2006 – Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
2006 – Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier (b. 1951)
2007 – John A. Garraty, American author (b. 1920)
2007 – Stu Nahan, American sportscaster (b. 1926)
2007 – Joe Dolan, Irish entertainer (b. 1943)
2008 – Gösta Krantz, Swedish actor (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances
St. Stephen s Day, a public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, and in Slovakia.
Synaxis of Theotokos and feast of St. Joseph,King and Prophet David and St. James the Just (Orthodox Christianity)
The first of the twelve days of Christmas in Western Christianity.
Boxing Day in the Commonwealth of Nations except when 26 December is a Sunday Boxing Day is transferred to 27 December by Royal Proclamation.
Wren day in Ireland and the Isle of Man.
Australia – Proclamation Day (South Australian public holiday), for the foundation of the Australian state of South Australia on December 28, 1836 but commemorated on this day.
Solomon Islands – Thanksgiving public holiday.
South Africa – Day of Goodwill, a public holiday.
First day of Kwanzaa
Abadiu of Antinoe is commemorated in the Coptic Church on this date.
First day of Junkanoo street parade in the Bahamas (the second day is on the New Year s Day)
Slovenia – Day of independence and unity, national holiday. Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-26th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-25th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-25th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Fri, 25 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-25th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 25th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
274 – Roman Emperor Aurelian dedicates a temple to Sol Invictus on the supposed day of the winter solstice and day of rebirth of the Sun.
800 – Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
1000 – The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
1066 – Coronation of William the Conqueror as king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
1100 – Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned as the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity
1130 – Roger II of Sicily is crowned as the first King of Sicily
1223 – St. Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene.
1261 – John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus.
1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeats the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
1599 – The city of Natal, Brazil is founded.
1643 – Christmas Island founded and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
1776 – George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the Kingdom of Great Britain s Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.
1818 – The first performance of Silent Night takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.
1837 – Battle of Lake Okeechobee: United States forces defeat Seminole Native Americans.
1868 – U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
1914 – World War I: Known as the Christmas truce, German and British troops on the Western Front temporarily cease fire.
1926 – Emperor Taisho of Japan dies. His son, Prince Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor Showa.
1932 – A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills ~70,000 people.
1941 – Admiral Chester W Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
1941 – World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong.
1947 – The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
1950 – The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
1963 – Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots were forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
1965 – The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People s Organisation is founded in Taiz
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneouver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
1968 – 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.
1973 – The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia.
1974 – Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
1977 – Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat.
1989 – Nicolae Ceausescu, former communist dictator of Romania and his wife Elena are condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges.
1990 – The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web.
1991 – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine s referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
2003 – The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
2004 – Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn s moon Titan on January 14, 2005.

Births
1250 – John IV Laskaris, Byzantine Emperor (d. c. 1305)
1461 – Christina of Saxony, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1521)
1583 – Orlando Gibbons, English composer (d. 1625)
1587 – Margarita of Austria, queen of Philip III of Spain (d. 1611)
1628 – Noël Coypel, French painter (d. 1707)
1642 (O.S.) – Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (d. 1727)
1652 – Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (d. 1713)
1665 – Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
1667 – Ehrengard von der Schulenburg, English royal mistress (d. 1743)
1674 – Thomas Halyburton, Scottish theologian (d. 1712)
1700 – Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (d. 1758)
1711 – Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French composer (d. 1772)
1716 – Johann Jakob Reiske, German scholar and physician (d. 1774)
1730 – Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1816)
1742 – Charlotte von Stein, German friend of Goethe (d. 1827)
1757 – Benjamin Pierce, U.S. politician (d. 1839)
1763 – Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (d. 1805)
1771 – Dorothy Wordsworth, English diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
1810 – Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves, Greek poet and statesman (d. 1892)
1821 – Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
1856 – Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
1856 – Pud Galvin, American professional baseball pitcher (d. 1902)
1860 – Manuel Dimech, Maltese philosopher and social reformer (d. 1921)
1861 – Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian founder of Banaras Hindu University (d. 1946)
1863 – Charles Pathé, French pioneer of film and record industries (d. 1957)
1864 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach (d. 1951)
1865 – Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1950)
1870 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-born American cosmetics industrialist (d. 1965)
1873 – Otto Frederick Hunziker, Swiss-born American dairy educator (d. 1959)
1874 – Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano (d. 1944)
1875 – Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Austrian archbishop (d. 1955)
1876 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan (d. 1948)
1876 – Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, Nobel laureate (d. 1959)
1878 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver (d. 1941)
1884 – Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (d. 1967)
1886 – Kid Ory, American musician (d. 1973)
1887 – Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (d. 1979)
1889 – Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader s Digest) (d. 1984)
1890 – Noel Odell, British mountaineer (d. 1987)
1890 – Robert Ripley, collector of odd facts (d. 1949)
1891 – Clarrie Grimmett, Australian cricketer (d. 1980)
1899 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
1901 – Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
1902 – Barton MacLane, American actor (d. 1969)
1904 – Gerhard Herzberg, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1906 – Lew Grade, Ukrainian-born film producer (d. 1998)
1906 – Ernst Ruska, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
1907 – Cab Calloway, American bandleader (d. 1994)
1907 – Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (d. 1988)
1907 – Mike Mazurki, Ukrainian-born actor (d. 1990)
1908 – Quentin Crisp, English author (d. 1999)
1908 – Jo-Jo Moore, baseball player (d. 2001)
1908 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-American automotive engineer (d. 1996)
1908 – Ernest L. Massad, U.S. Army general (d. 1993)
1911 – Louise Bourgeois, sculptor
1912 – Tony Martin, American singer and actor
1912 – Natalino Otto, Italian singer (d. 1969)
1913 – Henri Nannen, German journalist (d. 1966)
1914 – James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand industrialist (d. 2007)
1915 – Pete Rugolo, Italian-born composer
1918 – Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
1918 – Ahmed Ben Bella, politician, first President of Algeria
1919 – Naushad Ali, Indian music director (d. 2006)
1919 – Paul David, French Canadian cardiologist, founder of the Montreal Heart Institute (d. 1999)
1919 – Noele Gordon, English actress (d. 1985)
1921 – Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, Pakistani journalist (d. 2000)
1923 – Rene Girard, French historian, literary critic and philosopher
1924 – Rod Serling, American television writer (d. 1975)
1924 – Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India
1925 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born author (d. 1998)
1926 – Enrique Jorrín, Cuban composer and musician (d. 1987)
1927 – Nellie Fox, baseball player (d. 1975)
1928 – Dick Miller, American actor
1929 – Stuart Hall, British radio and television presenter
1929 – Chris Kenner, American singer and songwriter (d. 1976)
1930 – Emmanuel Agassi, Iranian boxer and father of Andre Agassi
1930 – Salah Jaheen, Egyptian poet and cartoonist (d. 1986)
1932 – Mabel King, American actress (d. 1999)
1935 – Al Jackson, baseball player
1936 – HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
1936 – Ismail Merchant, Indian-born film producer (d. 2005)
1937 – O Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (d. 1986)
1938 – Noel Picard, Quebec ice hockey player
1938 – Duane Armstrong, American painter
1940 – Pete Brown, English poet and lyricist
1943 – Hanna Schygulla, German actress
1943 – Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, Brazilian racing driver
1944 – Jairzinho, Brazilian footballer
1944 – Kenny Everett, British entertainer (d. 1995)
1944 – Henry Vestine, American musician (d. 1997)
1944 – Nigel Starmer-Smith, English Rugby Union commentator.
1945 – Noel Redding, English musician (d. 2003)
1945 – Rick Berman, Star Trek producer
1945 – Gary Sandy, American actor
1945 – Mike Pringle, Scottish politician
1946 – Jimmy Buffett, American singer and songwriter
1946 – Larry Csonka, American football player
1946 – Gene Lamont, American baseball player and manager
1948 – Barbara Mandrell, American singer and actress
1948 – Alia al Hussein, of Jordan (d. 1977)
1948 – Joel Natalino Santana, Brazilian soccer coach
1949 – Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan
1949 – Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira, Singer and icon of the Brazilian music
1949 – Sissy Spacek, American actress
1949 – Joe Louis Walker, American musician
1950 – Peter Boardman, British mountaineer (d. 1982)
1950 – Manny Trillo, baseball player
1950 – Yehuda Poliker, Israeli singer-songwriter
1950 – Karl Rove, former American presidential advisor
1952 – CCH Pounder, Guyana-born actress
1952 – Desireless, French singer
1954 – Annie Lennox, Scottish singer
1954 – Steve Wariner, American country music singer
1955 – Alannah Myles, Canadian singer
1957 – Chris Kamara, English footballer and commentator
1957 – Shane MacGowan, Irish musician
1958 – Hanford Dixon, American football player
1958 – Rickey Henderson, baseball player
1959 – Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (d. 2003)
1960 – Ron Bottitta, British actor
1961 – Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
1962 – Dean Cameron, American actor
1962 – Darren Wharton, British Keyboardist (Thin Lizzy and Dare)
1964 – Gary McAllister, Scottish footballer
1964 – Tim Royes – Music Video Director and Editor
1964 – Bob Stanley, English musician (Saint Etienne), filmmaker and journalist
1967 – Jason Thirsk, American bass player (d. 1996)
1968 – Helena Christensen, Danish model
1968 – Jim Dowd, American ice hockey player
1971 – Dido, English singer
1971 – Justin Trudeau, Canadian media personality
1971 – Noel Hogan, Irish musician
1972 – Josh Freese, American drummer
1972 – Mac Powell, American musician, singer/songwriter (lead singer of Third Day)
1973 – Robbie Elliott, English footballer
1973 – Chris Harris, American professional wrestler
1973 – Alexandre Trudeau, Canadian journalist
1974 – Nagma, Indian actress
1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer
1975 – Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball player
1975 – Rob Mariano, American reality show contestant
1976 – Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish keyboardist and songwriter
1976 – Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ & Producer
1977 – Jim Greco, American skateboarder
1977 – Uhm Ji-won, South Korean actress
1977 – Israel Vasquez, Current WBC Super bantamweight champion
1978 – Joel Porter, Australian footballer
1978 – Simon Jones, English cricketer
1980 – Marcus Trufant, American football player (Seattle Seahawks)
1980 – Reika Hashimoto, Japanese actress
1980 – Locó, Angolan footballer
1980 – Laura Sadler, British actress (d. 2003)
1981 – Katie Wright, American actress
1981 – Willy Taveras, baseball player
1982 – Shawn Andrews, American football player
1982 – Rob Edwards, Welsh footballer
1982 – Shystie, British rapper-songwriter
1982 – Trenesha Biggers, American professional wrestler
1984 – Chris Cahill, Samoan footballer
1984 – Alastair Cook, English cricketer
1984 – Georgia Moffett, British actress
1984 – The Veronicas, Australian singers (twin sisters)
1985 – Leon Pisani, Welsh singer
1985 – Perdita Weeks, British actress
1986 – Doug Loft, English footballer
1987 – Justin Sweeney, Australian rules footballer
1988 – Eric Gordon, American basketball player

Deaths
795 – Pope Adrian I
820 – Leo V, Byzantine Emperor (b. 775)
1156 – Peter the Venerable, French Benedictine abbot of Cluny (b. c.1092)
1635 – Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (b. 1567)
1676 – Matthew Hale, English jurist (b. 1609)
1676 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English soldier (b. 1592)
1683 – Kara Mustafa, Ottoman general (b. 1634)
1758 – James Hervey, English clergyman (b. 1714)
1763 – Suraj Mal, Sinsiwar Jat ruler of Bharatpur (b. 1707)
1765 – Václav Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist (b. 1698)
1784 – Yosa Buson, Japanese painter (b. 1716)
1824 – Barbara Juliana, Baroness von Krüdener, Russian writer (b. 1764)
1868 – Linus Yale, Jr., American mechanical engineer and inventor (b. 1821)
1875 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1851)
1880 – Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss jurist (b. 1828)
1916 – St. Albert Chmielowski, Polish Catholic saint (b. 1845)
1921 – Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (b. 1853)
1925 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (b. 1877)
1926 – Emperor Taisho of Japan (b. 1879)
1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
1935 – Paul Bourget, French novelist and critic (b. 1852)
1938 – Karel Capek, Czech author (b. 1890)
1940 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)
1944 – George Steer, British journalist (b. 1909)
1946 – W. C. Fields, American comedian (b. 1880)
1947 – Gaspar G. Bacon, American politician (b. 1886)
1950 – Neil Francis Hawkins, British fascist (b. 1903)
1953 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1865)
1954 – Johnny Ace, American singer (b. 1929)
1961 – Otto Loewi, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)
1961 – Owen Brewster, American politician (b. 1888)
1963 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian writer (b. 1896)
1973 – Ismet Inönü, Turkish statesman (b. 1884)
1973 – Gabriel Voisin, French aviator (b. 1880)
1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (b. 1881)
1977 – Charlie Chaplin, English actor and film director (b. 1889)
1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress (b. 1906)
1979 – Jordi Bonet, Quebec muralist and sculptor (b. 1932)
1983 – Joan Miró, Catalan painter (b. 1893)
1988 – Ooka Shohei, Japanese novelist (b. 1909)
1988 – Edward Pelham-Clinton, 10th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (b. 1920)
1989 – Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian dictator (b. 1918)
1989 – Elena Ceausescu, Romanian politician (b. 1916)
1989 – Billy Martin, American baseball manager (b. 1928)
1992 – Monica Dickens, British writer (b. 1915)
1993 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist (b. 1899)
1994 – Zail Singh, President of India (b. 1916)
1995 – Dean Martin, American singer (b. 1917)
1995 – Emmanuel Levinas, French Philosopher (b. 1906)
1996 – JonBenet Ramsey, American beauty queen and murder victim (b. 1990)
1997 – Anatoli Boukreev, Kazakh mountaineer (b. 1958)
1997 – Denver Pyle, American actor (b. 1920)
1998 – Bryan MacLean, American musician and songwriter (Love) (b. 1946)
1998 – John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1926)
1999 – Peter Jeffrey, English actor (b. 1929)
2000 – Neil Hawke, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1939)
2000 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher (b. 1908)
2002 – William T. Orr, American television producer (b. 1917)
2003 – Nicholas Mavroules, American politician (b. 1929)
2004 – Gennady Strekalov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1940)
2005 – Derek Bailey, English guitar virtuoso (b. 1930)
2005 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish opera singer (b. 1918)
2005 – Robert Barbers, Philippine senator (b. 1944)
2006 – James Brown, American singer (b. 1933)
2006 – Hiroaki Hidaka, Japanese serial killer (b. 1962)
2007 – Desmond Barrick, English Cricketer (b. 1927)
2007 – Mighty King Kong, Kenyan reggae musician. (b. 1973)
2007 – Jim Beauchamp, American baseball player (b. 1939)
2008 – Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (b.1927)

Holidays and observances
Christmas Day Christian Feast Day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
(Re) birth of Sol Invictus. The winter solstice feast in the Roman Empire from 274 to 391
Quaid-e-Azam s Day – Pakistan
Constitution Day – Republic of China now based in Taiwan
The feast day of Anastasia of Sirmium
Yule Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-25th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-24th-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-24th-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-24th-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 24th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
563 – The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.
1294 – Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had abdicated.
1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
1814 – The Treaty of Ghent is signed ending the War of 1812.
1851 – Library of Congress burns.
1865 – Several U.S. Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan.
1906 – Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
1914 – World War I: The Christmas truce begins.
1924 – Albania becomes a republic.
1929 – Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
1939 – World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
1941 – World War II: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.
1941 – World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
1942 – World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers.
1943 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.
1946 – France s Fourth Republic is founded.
1951 – Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
1953 – Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, and killing 153 people.
1966 – A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
1968 – The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.
1968 – Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.
1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
1979 – The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
1997 – The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
2000 – The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery.
2003 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid s busy Chamartín Station.

Births
3 BC – Galba, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
1166 – King John of England (d. 1216)
1389 – John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)
1475 – Thomas Murner, German writer (d. c. 1537)
1491 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (d. 1556)
1508 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)
1588 – Constance of Austria, queen of Poland (d. 1631)
1609 – Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (d. 1683)
1635 – Mariana of Austria, second wife of king Philip IV of Spain (d. 1696)
1698 – William Warburton, English Bishop of Gloucester (d. 1779)
1724 – Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (d. 1811)
1745 – Benjamin Rush, doctor and Founding Father of the United States (d. 1813)
1754 – George Crabbe, British poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
1761 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831)
1784 – Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1803)
1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)
1809 – Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)
1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter (d. 1873)
1812 – Karl Eduard Zachariae, German jurist (d. 1894)
1818 – James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)
1822 – Matthew Arnold, British poet (d. 1888)
1837 – Elisabeth of Bavaria a.k.a Sissi, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)
1843 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (d. 1886)
1845 – King George I of Greece (d. 1913)
1867 – Kantaro Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
1868 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
1879 – Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Consort to Christian X (d. 1952)
1879 – Émile Nelligan, Quebec poet (d. 1941)
1880 – Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children s book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann (d. 1939)
1881 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1886 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (d. 1962)
1887 – Louis Jouvet, French actor and producer (d. 1951)
1893 – Harry Warren, American composer and lyricist (Chattanooga Choo Choo – I Only Have Eyes for You) (d. 1981)
1894 – Georges Guynemer, French aviator (d. 1917)
1895 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier (d. 1978)
1898 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1967)
1898 – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (d. 1959)
1900 – Joey Smallwood, Canadian politician, Premier of Newfoundland (d. 1991)
1904 – Joseph Moses Juran, American industrial engineer and philanthropist. (d. 2008)
1905 – Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)
1906 – Franz Waxman, German film composer (d. 1967)
1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist (d. 1989)
1910 – Fritz Leiber, American writer (d. 1992)
1910 – Max Miedinger, typeface designer, famous for creating Helvetica in 1957. (d. 1980)
1914 – Ralph Marterie, American trumpet player and big band leader (d. 1978)
1914 – Herbert Reinecker, German writer (d. 2007)
1917 – Kim Jong-suk, Wife of Kim Il-sung, mother of Kim Jung-Il, The Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution (d. 1949)
1920 – Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)
1923 – George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)
1923 – Michael DiBiase, American wrestler (d. 1969)
1924 – Lee Dorsey, American singer (d. 1986)
1924 – Grigory Kriss, Russian Olympic champion fencer
1925 – Mohd. Rafi, Indian actor and playback singer (d. 1980)
1926 – Paul Buissonneau, French-born Quebec theatre director
1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, American author
1931 – Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (d. 2008)
1931 – Ray Bryant, American jazz pianist and composer
1932 – On Kawara, Japanese conceptual artist
1934 – Stjepan Mesic, president of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement and president of Croatia.
1937 – Félix Miéli Venerando, Brazilian football player
1938 – Bobby Henrich, American baseball player
1938 – Valentim Loureiro, Portuguese politician, and former football chairman of Boavista F.C. and Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional
1941 – John Levene, British actor
1943 – Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
1944 – Daniel Johnson, Jr., Quebec politician, Premier of Quebec
1944 – Mike Curb, American musician, record company executive and politician
1944 – Oswald Gracias, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bombay
1944 – Barry Chuckle, British comedian
1945 – Lemmy, British singer, bassist (Motörhead)
1945 – Nicholas Meyer, American author
1945 – Steve Smith, Canadian Comedian, The New Red Green Show, Duct Tape Forever
1946 – Brenda Howard, American bisexual activist (d. 2005)
1946 – Jeff Sessions, American politician
1947 – Kevin Sheedy, coach of Australian Football League club Essendon FC
1948 – Frank Oliver, New Zealand rugby player
1949 – Randy Neugebauer, American politician
1949 – Warwick Brown, Australian racing driver
1950 – Dana Gioia, American poet
1951 – John D Acquisto, baseball player
1952 – Christopher Buckley, American author and political commentator
1953 – François Loos, French politician
1954 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician
1955 – Grand L. Bush, American actor
1955 – Clarence Gilyard, American actor
1957 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
1957 – Diane Tell, Quebec singer
1958 – Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese drummer (d. 2008)
1959 – Keith Deller, British darts player
1959 – Anil Kapoor, Indian actor
1960 – Glenn McQueen, American animator (d. 2002)
1960 – Carol Vorderman, British television presenter
1961 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan Republic
1961 – Jay Wright, American basketball coach
1963 – Jay Bilas, American basketball analyst
1963 – Mary Ramsey, American singer (10,000 Maniacs)
1963 – Caroline Aherne, British comedienne, writer and actress
1964 – Mark Valley, American actor
1965 – Millard Powers, American musician and songwriter
1966 – Diedrich Bader, American actor
1967 – Mikhail Shchennikov, Russian race walker
1968 – Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model (d. 2008)
1968 – Doyle Bramhall II, American guitarist
1968 – Marleen Renders, Belgian athlete
1969 – Brad Anderson, American professional wrestler
1969 – Mark Millar, Scottish comic book writer
1970 – Amaury Nolasco, American actor
1970 – Will Oldham, American singer and songwriter
1971 – Giorgos Alkaios, Greek singer
1971 – Christopher Daniels, American professional wrestler
1971 – Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer
1971 – Oro, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 1993)
1972 – Alvaro Mesen, Costa Rican footballer
1973 – Eddie Pope, American soccer player
1973 – Stephenie Meyer, American author
1974 – Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
1974 – Ryan Seacrest, American television host
1978 – Warren Tredrea, Australian rules footballer
1978 – Yildiray Bastürk, Turkish footballer
1979 – Chris Hero, American professional wrestler
1980 – Tomas Kalnoky, American musician (Streetlight Manifesto)
1981 – Shane Tuck, Australian rules footballer
1981 – Dima Bilan, Karachay-Russian pop artist
1982 – Aiba Masaki, Japanese singer and actor
1982 – Robert Carmine, American singer
1985 – David Ragan, American race car driver
1986 – Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007 from Japan
1992 – Melissa Suffield, English actress

Deaths
427 – Archbishop Sisinnius I of Constantinople
1257 – John I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1218)
1453 – John Dunstaple, English composer (b. c.1390)
1524 – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (b. c.1469)
1660 – Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631)
1707 – Noël Coypel, French painter (b. 1628)
1813 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, British writer (b. 1811)
1865 – Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, British painter and writer (b. 1793)
1868 – Adolphe d Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist (b. 1802)
1872 – William John Macquorn Rankine, British physician and engenier (b. 1820)
1873 – Johns Hopkins, Baltimore philanthropist and businessman (b. 1795)
1889 – Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (b. 1819)
1898 – Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI (b. 1828)
1914 – John Muir, British naturalist (b. 1838)
1935 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer (b. 1885)
1938 – Bruno Taut, German architect (b. 1880)
1941 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (b. 1858)
1942 – François Darlan, vice-premier of Vichy France (b. 1881)
1957 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)
1965 – William M. Branham, Christian minister (b. 1906)
1971 – Maria Koepcke, ornithologist (b. 1924)
1972 – Gisela Richter, British art historian (b. 1882)
1972 – Melville Ruick, American actor (b. 1898)
1975 – Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (b. 1911)
1976 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
1977 – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (b. 1917)
1980 – Karl Dönitz, German naval admiral, and last leader of Nazi Germany (b. 1891)
1980 – Siggie Nordstrom, model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
1982 – Louis Aragon, French writer (b. 1897)
1984 – Peter Lawford, British actor (b. 1923)
1985 – Camille Tourville, Professional Wrestler (b. 1927)
1985 – Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, Last Lincoln descendant (b. 1904)
1986 – Gardner Fox, American writer (b. 1911)
1987 – Joop den Uyl, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1919)
1987 – M. G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu (b. 1917)
1990 – Thorbjørn Egner, Norwegian author (b. 1922)
1992 – Peyo, Belgian comics artist, and creator of The Smurfs (b. 1928)
1992 – Bobby LaKind, American musician and singer (The Doobie Brothers) (b. 1945)
1993 – Norman Vincent Peale, American writer (b. 1898)
1994 – John Boswell, American historian (b. 1947)
1994 – Rossano Brazzi, Italian actor and singer (b. 1916)
1997 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (b. 1920)
1997 – Pierre Péladeau, Quebec businessman, founder of Quebecor (b. 1925)
1999 – João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
1999 – Maurice Couve de Murville, French politician, Prime minister of France (b. 1907)
1999 – Bill Bowerman, American track and field coach (b. 1911)
2000 – John Cooper, English race car designer (b. 1923)
2000 – Nick Massi, American singer (The Four Seasons) (b. 1935)
2002 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
2002 – Laci Peterson, American murder victim (b. 1975)
2004 – Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
2005 – Michael Vale, American commercial actor (b. 1922)
2006 – Braguinha, Brazilian songwriter (b. 1907)
2006 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian singer, poet and comedian (b. 1961)
2006 – Frank Stanton, American television executive (b. 1908)
2007 – Nicholas Pumfrey, British judge (b. 1951)
2007 – Akbar Radi, Iranian dramatist and playwright (b. 1939)
2008 – Harold Pinter, British playwright (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances
Christmas Eve
It is the day before Christmas day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
In Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, among others, this is the day that presents are exchanged and opened. In some of these countries, presents are delivered to children by Santa Claus, personified by an adult dressed up as Santa who comes knocking on the door.
Calendar of saints: Feast of Saint Adela and Saint Irmina.
The Declaration of Christmas Peace takes place in the Old Great Square of Turku, Finland s official Christmas City, according to old traditions dating back to the Middle Ages. Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-24th-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-23rd-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-23rd-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-23rd-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 23rd 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
962 – Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist.
1493 – Georg Alt s German translation of Hartmann Schedel s Nuremberg Chronicle is published.
1783 – George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.
1793 – The Battle of Savenay, the decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in Revolt in the Vendée during the French Revolution.
1893 – The opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.
1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.
1914 – World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Magdhaba – Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt s Sinai peninsula.
1921 – Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated.
1936 – Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1937 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
1938 – Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa.
1940 – World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (?-2) sinks the Italian motor ship Antonietta.
1941 – World War II: The Japanese Imperial Army occupies Wake Island.
1947 – The PNP point-contact germanium transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.
1948 – Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo.
1954 – The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
1958 – Dedication of Tokyo Tower, world s highest self-supporting iron tower.
1968 – The United States won the release of 82 sailors by issuing a written apology to North Korea for spying on the Communist country.
1972 – The Nicaraguan capital of Managua is struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 10,000.
1972 – The 16 survivors of the Andes flight disaster are rescued after 73 days, having survived by cannibalism.
1972 – The famous NFL play dubbed the Immaculate Reception which propelled the Pittsburgh Steelers to playoff victory over the Oakland Raiders.
1979 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
1979 – Opening of the highest aerial tramway in Europe, the Klein Matterhorn.
1982 – The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.
1986 – Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world.
1990 – History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88% of Slovenia s population vote for independence from Yugoslavia.
2002 – An MQ-1 Predator is shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25, making it the first time in history that an aircraft and an unmanned drone had engaged in combat.
2003 – PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.
2004 – Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean is hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake.
2005 – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashes shortly after takeoff killing 23 people.
2005 – Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

Births
245- Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra
1173 – Louis I, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1231)
1513 – Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (d. 1577)
1537 – King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
1582 – Severo Bonini, Italian composer (d. 1663)
1597 – Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (d. 1639)
1613 – Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish soldier (d. 1676)
1621 – Edmund Berry Godfrey, English magistrate (d. 1678)
1621 – Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1682)
1689 – Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (d. 1755)
1732 – Richard Arkwright, English industrialist and inventor (d. 1792)
1743 – Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (d. 1803)
1750 – King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (d. 1827)
1758 – Nathan Wilson U.S. Representative from New York (d. 1834)
1777 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia (d. 1825)
1790 – Jean François Champollion, French Egyptologist (d. 1832)
1804 – Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (d. 1869)
1805 – Joseph Smith, Jr., American religious leader (d. 1844)
1819 – Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (d. 1889)
1822 – Wilhelm Bauer, German engineer (d. 1875)
1843 – Richard Conner, American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient (d. 1924)
1854 – Henry B. Guppy, British botanist (d. 1926)
1864 – Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (d. 1890)
1867 – Madam C.J. Walker, American philanthropist and tycoon (d. 1919)
1878 – Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer (d. 1972)
1885 – Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)
1891 – Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter and photographer (d. 1956)
1900 – Otto Soglow, American comics artist (d. 1975)
1902 – Norman Maclean, American author (d. 1990)
1907 – Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean writer and poet (d. 2005)
1907 – Avraham Stern, Polish-born Zionist leader (d. 1942)
1908 – Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born, Canadian portrait photographer (d. 2002)
1910 – Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (d. 1961)
1911 – Niels Kaj Jerne, English-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)
1911 – James Gregory, American actor (d. 2002)
1916 – Dino Risi, Italian film director and screenwriter
1918 – Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of Germany
1918 – José Greco, Italian-born flamenco dancer (d. 2001)
1918 – Kumar Pallana, Indian-born American actor
1919 – Kenneth M. Taylor, American pilot (d. 2006)
1921 – Guy Beaulne, French Canadian actor and theatre director (d. 2001)
1922 – Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (d. 2001)
1923 – Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist
1923 – Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor
1923 – James Stockdale, American admiral (d. 2005)
1923 – Onofre Marimón, Argentine racing driver (d. 1954)
1925 – Duncan Hallas, British political figure
1925 – Rayner Unwin, British book publisher (d. 2000)
1926 – Robert Bly, American poet
1928 – Chronis Aidonidis, Greek singer
1929 – Chet Baker, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1988)
1929 – Dick Weber, American professional tenpin bowler (d. 2005)
1931 – Ronnie Schell, American actor
1933 – Akihito, Emperor of Japan
1935 – Paul Hornung, American football player
1935 – Esther Phillips, American singer (d. 1984)
1936 – Frederic Forrest, American actor
1937 – Edward Irving Wortis, American author
1937 – Barney Rosenzweig, American television producer
1938 – Bob Kahn, American Internet pioneer
1940 – Jorma Kaukonen, American musician (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
1940 – Robert Labine, French-Canadian politician
1940 – Eugene Record, American singer (The Chi-Lites) (d. 2005)
1941 – Tim Hardin, American musician (d. 1980)
1941 – Serge Reding, Belgian weightlifter (d. 1975)
1942 – John Peterman, American fashion designer
1943 – Mikhail Gromov, Russian-born mathematician
1943 – Harry Shearer, American actor
1943 – Ron Allen, American baseball player
1943 – Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (d. 1987)
1943 – Silvia Sommerlath, Queen of Sweden
1944 – Wesley Clark, American military officer
1945 – Ron Bushy, American drummer (Iron Butterfly)
1946 – Edita Gruberova, Slovak operatic soprano
1946 – Susan Lucci, American actress
1948 – Jack Ham, American football player
1948 – Leslie Moonves, American television executive
1949 – Adrian Belew, American musician
1950 – Michael C. Burgess, American politician
1950 – Ilchi Lee, Korean educator and author
1951 – Anthony Phillips, British musician (Genesis)
1952 – William Kristol, American political commentator
1953 – Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia
1956 – Michele Alboreto, Italian Formula one driver (d. 2001)
1956 – Dave Murray, English musician (Iron Maiden)
1957 – Dan Bigras, Canadian singer
1957 – Trisha Goddard, English television presenter
1958 – Victoria Williams, American singer
1958 – Joan Severance, American actress
1959 – Geoff Willis, British engineer
1961 – Carol Smillie, British television personality
1962 – Bertrand Gachot, Belgian racing driver
1962 – Kang Je-gyu, South Korean film director
1962 – Keiji Muto, Japanese professional wrestler
1963 – Jim Harbaugh, American football player
1963 – Jess Harnell, American voice actor
1963 – Donna Tartt, American author
1964 – Eddie Vedder, American musician (Pearl Jam)
1967 – Carla Bruni, Italian-French model and singer
1967 – Tim Fountain, British playwright
1968 – Quincy Jones III, Swedish-American musician
1969 – Greg Biffle, American racecar driver
1969 – Martha Byrne, American actress
1969 – Rob Pelinka, American sports agent
1970 – Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
1970 – Raymont Harris, American football player
1971 – Corey Haim, Canadian actor
1971 – Masayoshi Yamazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter
1971 – Michalis Klokidis, Greek footballer
1971 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite
1971 – Wim Vansevenant, Belgian cyclist
1974 – Agustín Delgado, Ecuadorian footballer
1974 – Mieszko Talarczyk, Swedish musician (Nasum) (d. 2004)
1975 – Sky Lopez, American actress
1975 – Vadim Sharifijanov, Russian ice hockey player
1976 – Brad Lidge, American baseball player
1976 – Dimitris Mavrogenidis, Greek footballer
1976 – Jamie Noble, American professional wrestler
1977 – Alge Crumpler, American football player
1977 – Jari Mäenpää, Finnish guitarist and singer
1977 – Paul Shirley, American basketball player
1978 – Andra Davis, American football player
1978 – Esthero, Canadian musician and singer
1978 – Jodie Marsh, British glamour model
1978 – Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan baseball player
1978 – Estella Warren, Canadian model and actress
1979 – Summer Altice, American model and actress
1979 – Scott Gomez, American ice hockey player
1979 – Holly Madison, American model
1979 – Kenny Miller, Scottish football player
1980 – Cody Ross, American baseball player
1981 – Beth, Spanish singer
1981 – Yuriorkis Gamboa, Cuban boxer
1983 – Michael Chopra, English footballer
1983 – Hanley Ramírez, Dominican baseball player
1985 – Harry Judd, British drummer (McFly)
1985 – Luke O Loughlin, Australian actor
1986 – T.J. Oshie, American ice hockey player
1988 – Eri Kamei, Japanese singer
1990 – Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress, model, and singer

Deaths
679 – Dagobert II, King of Austrasia (b. c. 650)
910 – Naum of Preslav, Bulgarian scholar
913 – Conrad of Franconia
918 – Conrad I of Germany
1230 – Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard I of England
1556 – Nicholas Udall, English playwright (b. 1504)
1568 – Roger Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth I of England
1575 – Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese warrior (hanged) (b. 1531)
1588 – Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (b. 1550)
1631 – Michael Drayton, English poet (b. 1563)
1646 – François Maynard, French poet (b. 1582)
1652 – John Cotton, English-born founder of Boston, Massachusetts (b. 1585)
1675 – Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602)
1722 – Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)
1771 – Marie-Marguerite d Youville, Canadian saint (b. 1701)
1761 – Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell, Scottish Jacobite spy
1779 – Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (b. 1724)
1789 – Charles-Michel de l Épée, French philanthropist (b. 1712)
1793 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)
1793 – Antoine François Prévost, French author and novelist (b. 1697)
1795 – Henry Clinton, British general (b. 1730)
1805 – Pehr Osbeck, Swedish explorer and naturalist (b. 1723)
1834 – Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)
1846 – Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, French naturalist (b. 1780)
1902 – Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1821)
1912 – Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (b. 1850)
1931 – Wilson Bentley, American scientist (b. 1865)
1939 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
1946 – John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (b. 1873)
1948 – Akira Muto, Japanese army commander (hanged) (b. 1883)
1948 – Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (hanged) (b. 1884)
1953 – Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (b. 1899)
1954 – René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)
1961 – Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (b. 1910)
1970 – Charles Ruggles, American actor (b. 1886)
1972 – Andrei Tupolev, Soviet aircraft designer (b. 1888)
1973 – Charles Atlas, Italian-born bodybuilder (b. 1892)
1973 – Irna Phillips, American television writer, director, and producer (b. 1901)
1979 – Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)
1982 – Jack Webb, American actor, producer, and director (b. 1920)
1983 – Colin Middleton, Northern Irish artist (b. 1910)
1984 – Joan Lindsay, Australian author (b. 1896)
1992 – Vincent Fourcade, French American interior designer and socialite (b. 1934)
1992 – Eddie Hazel, American guitarist (Funkadelic) (b. 1950)
1994 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor (b. 1905)
1997 – Stanley Cortez, American cinematographer (b. 1908)
1998 – Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1968)
2000 – Billy Barty, American actor (b. 1924)
2000 – Victor Borge, Danish-born comedian and pianist (b. 1909)
2000 – Noor Jehan, Indian singer and actress (b. 1926)
2001 – Bola Ige, Nigerian politician (b. 1930)
2005 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)
2005 – Lajos Baróti, Hungarian footballer and coach (b. 1914)
2005 – Norman D. Vaughan, American polar explorer and dogsled driver (b. 1905)
2006 – Charlie Drake, English comedian (b. 1925)
2006 – Timothy J. Tobias, American composer and musician (b. 1952)
2006 – Marilyn Waltz, American actress and Playboy Playmate (b. 1931)
2006 – Johnny Vincent, English footballer for Birmingham City and Middlesbrough (b. 1947)
2007 – William Francis Ganong, American physiologist (b. 1924)
2007 – Michael Kidd, American film and stage choreographer (b. 1915)
2007 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist and composer (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances
Roman festivals – Larentalia, (hanged) a festival in honour of Larenta
R.C. Saints – O Emmanuel, John Cantius ; Thorlac Thorhallsson, patron saint of Iceland
Japan – The Emperor s Birthday – Birthday of Akihito, the current Emperor of Japan
Ancient Latvia – Ziemassvetki held
Sweden – Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day
Oaxaca – Night of the Radishes
Secular humanism (American) – HumanLight observed
Saint Abassad, in the Coptic Church
Saint Psote, in the Coptic Church
Festivus, a non-denominational holiday made popular by the sitcom Seinfeld. Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-23rd-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0 http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-22nd-2009-this-day-in-history/ http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-22nd-2009-this-day-in-history/#comments Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:01:01 +0000 admin http://www.historylookup.com/uncategorized/december-22nd-2009-this-day-in-history/ Continue reading →]]> Today December 22nd 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009

Events
1790 – The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies.
1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.
1808 – The premiere of Beethoven s Fourth Piano Concerto, Fifth and Sixth symphonies amongst other pieces.
1809 – The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1849 – The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last second.
1851 – The first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.
1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his March to the Sea.
1885 – Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kingsport and Kentville, Nova Scotia.
1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins, in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason, on antisemitic grounds.
1920 – The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR.
1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.
1940 – World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.
1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: Nuts!
1944 – World War II: The Vietnam People s Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indo-China, now Vietnam.
1947 – The Constituent Assembly of Italy approves its constitution.
1956 – Colo is born, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity.
1963 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.
1964 – Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity.
1964 – First flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird).
1965 – In the United Kingdom, a 70mph speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. Previously, there had been no speed limit.
1974 – Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
1974 – The house of former British Prime Minister Ted Heath house is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.
1978 – The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
1984 – Subway vigilante Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four African-American men on an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City.
1988 – Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
1989 – After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceausescu s Communist dictatorship.
1989 – Berlin s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
1989 – Kempsey bus crash: Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific Highway north of Kempsey, New South Wales
1990 – Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship.
1997 – Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are massacred by paramilitary forces.
1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard finds near Calatayud (Zaragoza) another van loaded by ETA with 750 kg of explosives (see related event on December 21, 1999).
2001 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits near San Simeon, California.

Births
1095 – Roger II of Sicily, King of Sicily (d. 1154)
1178 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (d. 1185)
1546 – Kuroda Yoshitaka, Japanese Daimyo (d. 1604)
1550 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher (d. 1631)
1639 – Jean Racine, French dramatist (d. 1699)
1666 – Guru Gobind Singh, Sikh guru (d. 1708)
1690 – Meidingnu Pamheiba, King of Manipur (d. 1751)
1694 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (d. 1768)
1696 – James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (d. 1785)
1723 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German composer (d. 1787)
1765 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician (d. 1825)
1805 – John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (d. 1893)
1807 – Johann Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (d. 1873)
1819 – Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer (d. 1870)
1819 – Pierre Ossian Bonnet, French mathematician (d. 1892)
1853 – Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan pianist (d. 1917)
1853 – Yevgraf Fyodorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1919)
1856 – Frank B. Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State, Nobel laureate (d. 1937)
1858 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (d. 1924)
1860 – Austin Norman Palmer, American penmanship innovator (d. 1927)
1862 – Connie Mack, American baseball executive (d. 1956)
1869 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (d. 1935)
1869 – Dmitri Egorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1931)
1872 – Camille Guérin, French veterinarian and bacteriologist (d. 1961)
1874 – Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (d. 1939)
1876 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian poet and editor (d. 1944)
1883 – Edgard Varèse French-born composer (d. 1965)
1887 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)
1888 – J. Arthur Rank, British film producer (d. 1972)
1898 – Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock, Russian physicist (d. 1974)
1899 – Gustav Gründgens, German actor (d. 1963)
1900 – Marc Allégret, French film director and screenwriter (d. 1973)
1901 – André Kostelanetz, American popular music orchestra leader and arranger (d. 1980)
1903 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1983)
1905 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet (d. 1982)
1905 – Pierre Brasseur, French actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Dame Peggy Ashcroft, English actress (d. 1991)
1909 – Patricia Hayes, English actress (d. 1998)
1912 – Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States (d. 2007)
1914 – Swami Satchidananda, Yogi and Spiritual teacher (d. 2002)
1915 – Barbara Billingsley, American actress
1917 – Gene Rayburn, American game show host (d. 1999)
1921 – Hawkshaw Hawkins, American country singer (d. 1963)
1922 – Jack Brooks, American politician
1922 – Ruth Roman, American actress (d. 1999)
1924 – Frank Corsaro, American stage director
1925 – Lewis Glucksman, American financier (d. 2006)
1934 – David Pearson, American racecar driver
1936 – James Burke, British writer
1936 – Hector Elizondo, American actor
1936 – Wojciech Frykowski, Polish actor (d. 1969)
1937 – Eduard Uspensky, Russian writer
1938 – Matty Alou, Dominican baseball player
1938 – Lucien Bouchard, Quebec politician
1939 – James Gurley, American musician
1942 – Dick Parry, English musician (Pink Floyd)
1943 – Paul Wolfowitz, American politician
1944 – Steve Carlton, American baseball player
1945 – Diane Sawyer, American journalist
1946 – Rick Nielsen, American musician (Cheap Trick)
1948 – Noel Edmonds, English game show host
1948 – Steve Garvey, American baseball player
1948 – Chris Old, English cricketer
1948 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress (d. 2003)
1949 – Maurice Gibb, English musician (The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
1949 – Robin Gibb, English musician (The Bee Gees)
1951 – Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster
1953 – Bern Nadette Stanis, actress
1953 – Ian Turnbull, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 – Hideshi Matsuda, Japanese racing driver
1955 – Lonnie Smith, American baseball player
1957 – Carole James, Canadian politician
1958 – Frank Gambale, Australian musician
1958 – David Heavener, American actor and musician
1959 – Bernd Schuster, German footballer
1960 – Wakin Chau, Chinese singer
1960 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, American artist (d. 1988)
1960 – Luther Campbell (Luke), American rap artist (2 Live Crew)
1960 – Patrick Fitzgerald, American attorney
1961 – Andrew Fastow, American businessman
1962 – Ralph Fiennes, English actor
1963 – Giuseppe Bergomi, Italian footballer
1963 – Luna H. Mitani, Japanese American surrealism painter
1963 – Brian McMillan, former South African cricketer
1966 – Dmitry Bilozerchev, Soviet gymnast
1966 – Marcel Schmier Schirmer, German singer and bassplayer (Destruction)
1967 – Dan Petrescu, Romanian footballer
1967 – Richey James Edwards, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers) (disappeared in 1995)
1967 – Stéphane Gendron, Quebec politician
1967 – Paul Morris, Australian racing driver
1968 – Dina Meyer, American actress
1968 – Lauralee Bell, American actress
1969 – Myriam Bédard, Canadian athlete
1971 – Pat Mastroianni, Canadian actor
1972 – Big Tigger, television host
1972 – Vanessa Paradis, French singer
1974 – Heather Donahue, American actress
1975 – Chris Adler, American actor
1975 – Crissy Moran, American erotic actress
1975 – Dmitri Khokhlov, Russian footballer
1975 – Stanislav Neckár, Czech ice hockey player
1975 – Sergei Aschwanden, Swiss judoka
1976 – Brian A. Alexander, American screenwriter and director
1976 – Katleen De Caluwé, Belgian athlete
1976 – Jason Lane, American Baseball Player
1977 – Steve Kariya, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Chris Carmack, American actor
1982 – Brooke Nevin, Canadian actress
1983 – Jennifer Hawkins, Australian Miss Universe
1984 – Basshunter, popular Swedish singer
1984 – Festus, American professional wrestler
1986 – Dennis Armfield, Australian rules footballer
1989 – Jordin Sparks, American singer and American Idol winner
1990 – Jean-Baptiste Maunier, French actor

Deaths
1100 – Duke Bretislaus II of Bohemia
1550 – Richard Plantagenet (Richard of Eastwell) possibly a son of Richard III
1603 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (b. 1566)
1646 – Peter Mogila, Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (b. 1596)
1660 – André Tacquet, Flemish mathematician (b. 1612)
1681 – Richard Alleine, English Puritan clergyman (b. 1611)
1708 – Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (b. 1681)
1738 – Constantia Jones, British prostitute (executed)
1767 – John Newbery, English publisher (b. 1713)
1788 – Percivall Pott, English physician and surgeon (b. 1714)
1806 – William Vernon, American merchant (b. 1719)
1828 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (b. 1766)

Holidays and observances
1867 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician (b. 1788)
1870 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish poet and writer (b. 1836)
1880 – George Eliot, English writer (b. 1819)
1899 – Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist (b. 1837)
1902 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychiatrist (b. 1840)
1917 – Mother Cabrini, first American citizen canonized by the Catholic Church (b. 1850)
1939 – Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
1940 – Nathanael West, American writer (b. 1903)
1942 – Franz Boas, German anthropologist (b. 1858)
1943 – Beatrix Potter, English writer (b. 1866)
1944 – Harry Langdon, American silent film actor (b. 1884)
1959 – Gilda Gray, Polish-born American dancer and actress (b. 1901)
1965 – Richard Dimbleby, English journalist and broadcaster (b. 1913)
1971 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch author and television personality (b. 1913)
1979 – Darryl F. Zanuck, American producer (b. 1902)
1985 – D. Boon, American singer and guitarist (The Minutemen) (b. 1958)
1987 – Luca Prodan, Italian-Scottish singer (Sumo) (b. 1953)
1988 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist, and environmental activist (assassinated) (b. 1944)
1989 – Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1992 – Frederick Franz, Watchtower president (b. 1893)
1993 – Don DeFore, American actor (b. 1913)
1995 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress (b. 1911)
1995 – James Meade, English economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1907)
2001 – Ovidiu Iacov, Romanian footballer (b. 1981)
2002 – Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana (b. 1929)
2002 – Joe Strummer, English musician (The Clash) (b. 1952)
2003 – Dave Dudley, American singer (b. 1928)
2004 – Doug Ault, American baseball player (b. 1950)
2006 – Elena Mukhina, Russian gymnast (b. 1960)
2006 – Galina Ustvolskaya, Russian composer (b. 1919)
2006 – Dennis Linde, American songwriter (b. 1943)
2007 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino writer (b. 1932) Problem retrieving videos from provider: Bad Request ]]> http://www.historylookup.com/december-history/december-22nd-2009-this-day-in-history/feed/ 0