Date | Event |
---|---|
1 |
1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus |
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. |
337 |
Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th |
352 |
1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th |
390 |
Roman emperor Theodosius admits debt on mass murder in Thessalonica |
498 |
French King Clovis baptises himself |
597 |
England adopts Julian calendar |
604 |
Battle at Etampes (Stampae): Burgundy beat Neustriers |
800 |
Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Roman emperor |
875 |
Charles, the Bare, crowned emperor of Rome |
967 |
John XIII crowned Otto II the Red German compassionate emperor |
969 |
Johannes I Tzimisces crowned emperor of Byzantium |
979 |
Rotardus appointed as bishop of the kingdom |
999 |
Heribertus becomes bishop of Cologne |
1000 |
Monarch Istvan crowned king of Hungary |
1046 |
Pope Clemens VI crowns Henry III as Holy Roman Emperor |
1048 |
Parliament of Worms: Emperor Henry III names his cousin count Bruno van Egisheim/Dagsburg as Pope Leo IX |
1066 |
Duke William of Normandy ('William the Conqueror) crowned king of England |
1100 |
Boudouin I of Boulogne crowned king of Jerusalem |
1101 |
Henry I of Limburg becomes duke of Neth-Lutherans |
1121 |
Norbertus van Xanten finds order of the Norbertijnen |
1130 |
Anti-pope Anacletus II crowns Roger II the Norman king of Sicily |
1223 |
St Francis of Assisi assembles 1st Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy) |
1261 |
John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus. |
1492 |
Columbus' ship Santa Maria runs aground and sinks on Hispaniola |
1522 |
Turkish troops occupy Rhodos |
1553 |
Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeats the Spanish conquistadors and exetutes the governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia. |
1582 |
Zealand/Brabant adopts Gregorian calendar, yesterday was Dec 14th |
1599 |
The city of Natal, Brazil, is founded. |
1613 |
Johan Sigismund of Brandenburg becomes protestant |
1621 |
Gov William Bradford of Plymouth Colony (now in Massachusetts) forbids game playing on Christmas |
1640 |
Pierre de Fermat writes to Marin Mersenne about Fermat's church thesis |
1641 |
Emperor Ferdinand III makes appointments with Sweden & France |
1643 |
Christmas Island founded and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary. |
1651 |
Massachusetts General Court ordered a five shilling fine for "observing any such day as Christmas" |
1683 |
English Whig leader Duke of Monmouth flees to Holland |
1688 |
British king James II lands in Ambleteuse, France |
1688 |
Lord Delamere sides with King James II |
1717 |
Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces, thousands killed |
1741 |
Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale |
1745 |
Prussia and Austria sign Treaty of Dresden giving much of Silesia to the Prussians |
1758 |
Return of Halley's comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch |
1760 |
Jupiter Hammon, NY slave, publishes poetry in "An Evening Throught" |
1769 |
First Christian service in New Zealand; Mass is celebrated in Doubtless Bay by Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix of the de Surville expedition |
1775 |
Pope Pius VI encyclical on the problems of the pontificate |
1776 |
Washington crosses Delaware & surprises & defeats 1,400 Hessians |
1809 |
Physician Ephraim McDowell performs the first abdominal surgery in the U.S, an ovariotomy to remove a 22 lb ovarian tumor |
1814 |
Rev Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society holds the first Christian service in New Zealand on land, at Rangihoua |
1818 |
1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night") sung (Austria) |
1818 |
Handel's Messiah, premieres in the US in Boston |
1830 |
Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic" premieres |
1831 |
Louisiana & Arkansas are 1st states to observe Christmas as holiday |
1832 |
Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas in St Martin at Cape Receiver |
1833 |
Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas in Port Desire, Patagonia |
1834 |
Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas on Beagle at Tres Montes, Chile |
1835 |
Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas in Pahia, New Zealand |
1837 |
Battle of Okeechobee-US forces defeat Seminole Indians |
1843 |
1st theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, NYC) |
1848 |
New Haven Railroad opens |
1862 |
40,000 watch Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head, SC |
1868 |
Despite bitter opposition, President A Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War) |
1875 |
Lambs Club in NY forms |
1888 |
1st indoor baseball game played at fairgrounds in Philadelphia |
1894 |
1st midwestern football team to play on west coast, University of Chicago defeats Stanford 24-4 at Palo Alto, CA in football |
1896 |
"Stars & Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa |
1899 |
Farmers send/guide belegerd Ladysmith Kerstpudding/desire in grenade |
1900 |
Arthur Schnitzlers "Leutnant Gustl" forbidden in Germany |
1901 |
Battle at Tweefontein Orange-Free state: Boers surprise attack Brits |
1901 |
At Tweefontein, a British force is camped on a hill slope; at 2am it is attacked by Boers coming down from the other side |
1902 |
Clyde Fitch' "Girl with Green Eyes" premieres in NYC |
1902 |
Pope Leo XIII, at his annual Christmas reception, endorses the Christian Democratic movement now emerging in Europe as an attempt to offer an alternative to more radical movements |
1905 |
V Herbert/H Blossoms musical "Mlle Modiste" premieres in NYC |
1911 |
Edward Knoblock's "Kismet" premieres in NYC |
1914 |
Legendary "Christmas Truce" takes place on the battlefields of WWI b/w British & Germans troops - gifts exchanged and football played |
1915 |
Irving Berlin & Harry B Smith's musical premieres in NYC |
1917 |
"Why Marry" 1st drama to win Pulitzer Prize, premieres in NYC |
1917 |
Hirsch/Harbach's musical "Going Up" premieres in NYC |
1922 |
-Dec 26] Lenin dictates his "Political testament" |
1923 |
Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St NYC |
1926 |
Prince-regent Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan (1926-1989) upon the death of his father Yoshihito |
1928 |
Christmas Day attendance at cricket MCG (Vic v NSW) 14,887 |
1928 |
NSW (v Vic) go from 8-74 to 9-113 to be 9-367 at stumps |
1929 |
Grimmett takes 6-146 for SA, Queensland all out 380 Crowd 5,390 |
1930 |
1st US bobsled run open to public (Lake Placid, NY) |
1930 |
Mt Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid, NY opens |
1930 |
Slinger Nitschke scores 142 SA v Qld at Adelaide before 5,422 |
1930 |
Tasmania all out 280, WI 2-139 at Hobart Crowd 2,500 |
1931 |
Albert Lonergan scores 137 SA v Qld at Adelaide before 5,697 |
1931 |
Fleetwood-Smith takes 5-69 Victoria v Tas at Hobart |
1931 |
NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio |
1932 |
7.6 magnitude earthquake ravages Qansu, China, kills 275 |
1932 |
During King George V's Christmas dinner speech his chair collapes |
1933 |
Another Christmas Day five-wicket haul by Clarrie Grimmett |
1933 |
Belgian Working people's party accept Henry de Mans Plan of Labor |
1933 |
Stan Smith takes 8-33 for Victoria v Tasmania at Hobart |
1934 |
Four centuries for SA as they make 7-644 v Qld before 6,180 |
1934 |
Samson Raphaelson's "Accent on Youth" premieres in NYC |
1936 |
Belgian bishops condemn fascism & communism |
1936 |
Ron Hamence scores 104 for SA v Queensland before 4,865 |
1937 |
Arturo Toscanini conducts 1st Symphony of the Air over NBC Radio |
1937 |
Queensland all out for 93 v SA in front of 10,436 |
1938 |
George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O'Hara |
1939 |
Grimmett & Ward rip through Qld except Bill Brown (156) |
1939 |
Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer |
1940 |
Bradman out 1st ball for SA v Victoria before 6213 |
1940 |
Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Harts "Pal Joey" premieres in NYC |
1941 |
Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong |
1941 |
Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi/Kagu back in Kure, Japan |
1942 |
Admiral Dalans murderer of Bosinier de la Chapelle, sentenced to death |
1942 |
British Col S W Bailey reaches Mihailovics headquarter |
1942 |
Russian artillery/tank battle on German armies at Stalingrad |
1946 |
Constitution accepted in Taiwan |
1947 |
Taiwan passes Human Rights laws (Day of Earth Law) |
1947 |
The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect. |
1950 |
Cleveland Browns beat LA Rams 30-28 in NFL championship game |
1950 |
Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, stolen from Westminster Abbey & smuggled back to Scotland |
1951 |
1st Christmas Day in Test Crickets, Aust v WI at Adelaide |
1951 |
West Indies defeat Australia by 6 wkts on 3rd day of 3rd Test Cricket |
1953 |
Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand) |
1954 |
WSFA TV channel 12 in Montgomery, AL (NBC) begins broadcasting |
1955 |
Pope Pius XII encyclical on sacred music & popular music |
1957 |
Ed Gein found insane of murder |
1958 |
Alan Freed's Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular opens |
1959 |
A synagogue in Cologne Germany desecrated with swatstikas |
1959 |
Richard Starkey receives his 1st drum set |
1959 |
Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market |
1962 |
USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR |
1962 |
"To Kill a Mockingbird", the film adaptation on the novel by Harper Lee, starring Gregory Peck, is released |
1963 |
Walt Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" is released |
1964 |
"Goldfinger" premieres in US |
1964 |
George Harrison's girlfriend Patti Boyd attacked by female Beatle fans |
1965 |
The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People's Organisation is founded in Taiz |
1967 |
Paul McCartney & Jane Asher get engaged |
1968 |
Frank Borman's Christmas reading while orbiting Moon |
1968 |
42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers. |
1969 |
5 Israeli gunboats escape from Cherbourg harbor |
1969 |
India all out for 163 at Madras v Aust, Ashley Mallett 5-91 |
1971 |
Longest NFL game (82m40s) as Dolphins beat Chiefs 27-24 |
1971 |
Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) form Jesse Jackson |
1971 |
Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul |
1972 |
England beat India by six wickets in the 1st Cricket Test in Delhi |
1973 |
Tommy Chambers (Scotland) finishes 51 yr cycle tour (799,405 miles) |
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. |
1973 |
Arab oil ministers cancel January 5 percent production cut; Saudi Arabian oil minister promises 10 percent OPEC production rise |
1974 |
Cyclone Tracy virtually destroys Darwin, Australia |
1974 |
Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff. |
1976 |
Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed |
1976 |
Takeo Fukuda becomes Japanese premier |
1977 |
Israeli PM Menachem Begin meets Egyptian Pres Sadat in Egypt |
1979 |
Opening day of 4th Test Cricket, India 8-112 v Pakistan at Kanpur |
1979 |
USSR airlifts invasionary army to Afghanistan |
1982 |
Mudassar Nazar scores century, then Imran Khan rips through Indians |
1983 |
1st live telecast of Christmas Parade at the EPCOT Centre, Disney World Florida |
1984 |
NBA's Bernard King scores 60 points |
1987 |
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured |
1989 |
Japanese scientist achieve -271.8°C, coldest temp ever recorded |
1990 |
"Godfather III" premieres |
1990 |
The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web. |
1991 |
Last day of a washout Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Gujranwala |
1991 |
Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigns as President of USSR in a televised speech |
1994 |
"Comedy Tonight" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 8 perfs |
1997 |
For 1st time US movie box office receipts pass $6 billion |
1997 |
Jerry Seinfeld says this is the final season of his TV show |
2003 |
The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe which was 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. |
2008 |
Phil Jackson becomes the sixth coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games |
2009 |
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 |
2012 |
27 people are killed after an Antonov An-72 plane crashes near Shymkent, Kazakhstan |
2012 |
8 people are killed and thousands left homeless after two fires strike Manila, Philippines |
2013 |
"The Wolf of Wall Street", starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, is released |
2015 |
Pope calls for peace in Holy Land, end to other conflicts |
2015 |
Oops! British astronaut Tim Peake phones wrong number from space |
2015 |
Top Syrian rebel leader killed in air strike |
2015 |
Bill Clinton's first home damaged in suspected arson |
2016 |
China's 1st Aircraft Carrier Heads for Western Pacific |
2016 |
Russian Military Plane With 92 Aboard Crashes Into Black Sea |
2017 |
Suicide bomber kills 6 in Afghan capital |
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