This Day in History for 23rd December

◀ Nov December Jan ▶
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31
All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 143

619 - Boniface V begins his reign as Catholic Pope
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.
1482 - Peace of Atrecht
1493 - Georg Alt's German translation of Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle is published.
1620 - French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII
1672 - Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn
1688 - English king Jacob II flees to France
1690 - John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered
1715 - Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund
1724 - Emperor Charles VI names Maria Elisabeth land guardian of Aust Neth
1728 - Prussian Emperor Karel VI sign Treaty of Berlin
1751 - France sets plan to tax clergymen
1776 - Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France
1776 - Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"
1779 - Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct
1783 - General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress
1788 - Maryland votes to cede a 10 sqaure mile area for Dist of Columbia
1793 - Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies
1823 - "Visit from St Nicholas" by C Moore published in Troy (NY) Sentinel
US President Thomas Jefferson 1832 - Dutch troops in Antwerp surrender
1834 - Joseph Hansom of London receives patent for Hansom cabs
1852 - 1st Chinese theater in US, Celestial John, opens in San Francisco
1862 - Union General Ben "Beast" Butler is proclaimed a "felon, outlaw & common enemy of mankind" by Jefferson Davis
1867 - 1st self-made millionairess (Sarah Breedlove-hair straightner)
1876 - Turkey's 1st constitution proclaimed
1888 - Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear
1893 - Opera "Hansel und Gretel" is produced (Weimar)
1894 - Debussy's ballet "L'aprés-midi d'un faune," premieres in Paris
1899 - British Fieldmarshall Lord Roberts departs Southampton to South Africa for the 2nd Boer War
1899 - Tentative Turkish & German treaty on construction of Baghdad railway
1907 - 1st all-steel passengar railroad coach completed, Altoona, Pa
1909 - Albert becomes king of Belgians
1911 - Frank Wedekind's "Oaha, die Satire der Satire," premieres in Munich
1911 - Opera "I Giojelli Della Madonna" is produced (Berlin)
1912 - 1st "Keystone Kops" film, titled "Hoffmeyer's Legacy"
1912 - Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation
US President Woodrow Wilson 1913 - President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law
1914 - World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.
1915 - J Kern/S Greene's musical "Very Good Eddie," premieres in NYC
1916 - World War I: Battle of Magdhaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.
1917 - 3 British warships come close to Holland
1919 - 1st hospital ship built to move wounded naval personnel launched
1919 - Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace
1920 - Ireland divided into 2 parts, each with its own parliament
1920 - King George V signs Home Rule Act
1921 - Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated.
1922 - BBC Radio began daily newscasts
1922 - Pope Pius XI pleas for peace: encyclical Ubi arcano
1923 - Yankees pitcher Carl Mays sold to Reds for $85,000
1925 - Sultan Ibn Saud of Nedzjed conquers Djeddah
1926 - KEX-AM in Portland OR begins radio transmissions
1928 - NBC sets up a permanent, coast-to-coast radio network
1930 - Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios
1930 - Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in NYC
1933 - Howie Morenz takes over NHL career goal lead at 251
1933 - Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death
1933 - Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die
1936 - Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1937 - First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.
1938 - Margaret Hamilton's costume catches fire in filming of "Wizard of Oz"
1938 - Discovery of the first modern coelacanth in South Africa.
1939 - Finnish counter offensive at Summa
1939 - South Australia score 7-821 against Queensland
1940 - John Van Druten's "Old Acquaintance," premieres in NYC
1941 - American forces on Wake Island surrender to Japanese
1941 - British troops overrun Benghazi Libya
1941 - Japan begins assault on Rangoon Burma
1942 - Allies air attack on Den Helder
1943 - 1st telecast of a complete opera (Hansel & Gretel), Schenectady, NY
1943 - Gen Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day
1944 - Beginning of harsh winter
1945 - Frederick Astons "Cinderella" premieres in London
1945 - Pope Pius XII encyclical Orientals omnes, about Rutheense church
1946 - Belgian Council of State forms
1946 - Highest ridership in NYC subway history (8.8 million passengers)
1946 - U of Tenn refuses to play Duquesne U, because they may use a black player in their basketball game
1947 - Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs
1951 - Last Belgian communities get electricity
1951 - 1st coast-to-coast televised football game (Dumont paid $75,000) LA Rams beat Cleveland Browns 24-17 in NFL championship game
1953 - Dodgers 2nd baseman Jim "Junior" Gilliam wins NL Rookie of Year
1954 - The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
1957 - Test Cricket debut for Wally Grout & Bobby Simpson v South Africa
1958 - "Party with Comden & Green" opens at John Golden NYC for 38 perfs
1958 - Abdallah Ibrahim forms government of Morocco
1960 - De Quay's Dutch government falls
1960 - King Saudi of Saudi-Arabia takes power
1961 - KICU TV channel 43 in Visalia-Fresno, CA (IND) begins broadcasting
1961 - Train accident in Italy, 70 die
Dictator Fidel Castro 1961 - Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies
1962 - Cuba starts returning US prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion
1962 - Dallas Texans beat Houston Oilers 20-17 in AFL championship game
1963 - Beach Boys 1st appearance on "Shindig"
1963 - Fire on Greek ship Laconia, 128 die
1964 - India & Ceylon hit by cyclone, about 4,850 killed
1966 - Britains rock TV show, "Ready Steady Go," last program
1967 - Brussels: NATO-Council accept "Flexible Response"-strategy
1968 - 1st US case of space motion sickness
1968 - 82 members of US intelligence ship `Pueblo' released by North Korea
1968 - Borman, Lovell & Anders become 1st men to orbit Moon
1968 - North Korea releases Pueblo crew

1 2 ▶

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 239

245 - Zenobia, Palmyra, Syria, Queen of Palmyra, (d. 274)
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)
1544 - Anna, duchess of Saxson/wife of prince Willem of Orange (1561-71)
1548 - Pieter C Bockenberg, historian (Annales Hollandiae et Zeelandiae)
1582 - Severo Bonini, composer
1597 - Martin Opitz, Germany, poet "Father of Modern German Poetry"
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)
1644 - Tomas de Torrejon y Velasco, composer
1689 - Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, composer
1699 - Joseph Gibbs, composer
1709 - Jean-Noel Hamal, composer
1714 - Johann Siebenkas, composer
1716 - Johann Heinrich Rolle, composer
1732 - Richard Arkwright, inventor (spinning frame)
1743 - Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (d. 1803)
Queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Roman Syria Zenobia (245) 1749 - Johann Lukas Schubaur, composer
1750 - Frederik Augustus I, the Righteous, king of Saxony (1806-27)
1758 - Nathan Wilson U.S. Representative from New York
1763 - John Davy, composer
1777 - Aleksandr I P Romanov, tsar of Russia (1801-25)
1780 - Charles-Louis Panckoucke, French publisher
1790 - Jean-Francois Champollion, deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics
1795 - Philippe Vandermaelen, Flemish cartographer (Atlas Universel)
1804 - Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French critic/writer (Informal Talk)
1805 - Joseph Smith Jr, Sharon Vermont, founder (Mormon Church), (d. 1844)
1808 - Thomas Turner, Commander (Union Navy), died in 1883
1812 - Samuel Smiles, Scotland, author (Self-Help, Character, Duty)
1812 - William Hauser, composer
1815 - Henry Highland Garnet, Maryland, minister/abolitionist/diplomat
1818 - David Addison Weisiger, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1899
Religious Leader Joseph Smith Jr (1805) 1819 - Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (d. 1889)
1822 - Wilhelm Bauer, German engineer (d. 1875)
1823 - Alexandru Flechtenmacher, composer
1827 - Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff, Austrian admiral (Helgoland/Lissa)
1828 - Mathilde Wesendonk, German writer/poet (Tagebuchblatter)
1830 - Adam Minchejmer, composer
1843 - Richard Conner, American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient (d. 1924)
1845 - Emmanuel-Persillier Lachapelle, dr (found Notre Dame Hosp Montreal)
1845 - Gustave Ador, union president of Austria (1919)
1854 - Henry B. Guppy, British botanist (d. 1926)
1855 - Alan Gray, composer
1858 - Vladimir Nemirovitch-Dantshenko, playwright (Life in Russian Theater)
1860 - Harriet Monroe, Chicago, poet/editor of Poetry magazine (You & I)
1862 - Henri Pirenne, Belgian historian (History of Belgium)
1864 - Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (d. 1890)
Cosmetics Mogul Madame C J Walker (1867) 1867 - Madame C J Walker, Louisiana, cosmetic mogul (Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company), (d. 1919)
1878 - Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer (d. 1972)
1883 - Hubert M E Pierlot, Belgian advocate/premier (1939-45)
1885 - Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)
1886 - Albert Ehrenstein, Austria writer (Message from the Madhouse)
1887 - Eric Blore, London England, actor (Great Gatsby, Bowery to Baghdad)
1887 - John Cromwell, Toledo OH, actor/director (Spitfire, Of Human Bondage)
1888 - Eric Blore, English/US actor (Great Gatsby, Bowery to Baghdad)
1888 - Friedrich Wolf, writer
1891 - Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter and photographer (d. 1956)
1893 - Ann O'Neal, Missouri, actress (Nana-Professional Father)
1894 - Arthur Gilligan, cricketer (England captain in 1920's)
1896 - Alberto Hemsi, composer
1896 - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sicilian writer (Der Leopard)
1897 - Julien Carette, Paris France, actor (Sylvia & the Phantom)
1900 - Otto Soglow, American comics artist (d. 1975)
1901 - Gene Sarazen, golfer (PGA 1922, 23, 33)
1902 - Norman Maclean, American author (d. 1990)
1903 - Fredi [Fredericka] Carolyn Washington, actress (Black & Tan)
1903 - Michael Kalatozov, Russian producer (When the Cranes Fly)
1905 - Arn Bjornsson, composer
1906 - Ross Lee Finney, Wells Minnesota, composer (Landscapes Remembered)
1907 - Don McNeill, Galena Ill, host (Don McNeill TV Club)
1907 - Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean writer and poet (d. 2005)
1907 - Avraham Stern, Polish-born Zionist leader (d. 1942)
1908 - Yousuf Karsh, portrait photographer (Life Magazine)
1909 - Barney Ross, NYC, Welterweight Boxing Champ (1934)
1909 - Don Cleverley, cricketer (two Tests for NZ 1932 & 1946, took 0-130)
1909 - Maurice Denham, Beckenham England, actor (Mr Love, Damn the Defiant)
1910 - Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (d. 1961)
1911 - James Gregory, Bronx NYC, actor (My Favorite Martian, Barney Miller)
1911 - Niels Jerne, immunologist
1913 - Hans Henkemans, composer
1913 - Leo A Ketelaars, Dutch oratorio vocalist
1914 - Dezider Kardos, composer
1916 - Dino Risi, Italian film director and screenwriter
1918 - Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of Germany (SPD, 1974- )
1918 - Jose Greco, Italy, flamenco dancer (Holiday for Lovers)
1918 - Kumar Pallana, Indian-born American actor
1919 - Kenneth M. Taylor, American pilot (d. 2006)
1921 - Gerald S O'Loughlin, NYC, actor (Storefront Lawyer, Rookies, Wheels)
1922 - Ian Powell Bancroft, civil servant
1922 - Micheline Ostermeyer, France, shot-put/discus thrower (Oly-gold-1948)
1923 - Bob Barker, Darrington Wash, TV host (Price is Right)
1923 - James Stockdale, admiral (Vietnam)/Ross Perot's 1992 running mate
1923 - Kenneth Henry Lowry Lamb, broadcaster
1923 - Leonard Stern, NYC, producer/TV writer (Phil Silvers Show, Get Smart)
1923 - Lucas M Mangope, 1st president of Bophuthatswana (1977-94)
1923 - Milt Okun, Bkln NY, orchestra leader (Starland Vocal Band Show)
1923 - Ruth Roman, Boston Mass, actress (Sylvia-Knots Landing, Dallas)
1923 - Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist

1 2 3 ▶

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 6 of 6

1997 - Woody Allen, 62 weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted daughter of Mia Farrow
2004 - CBS executive Les Moonves (55) weds CBS' "Early Show" co-host Julie Chen (34) on a private estate in Acapulco
2005 - Soccer star player Kaka (23) weds Brazilian singer Caroline Celico (18) at Igreja Renascer em Cristo in Sao Paulo, Brazil
2005 - "Are You Being Served?" actor John Inman (70) weds Ron Lynch at Westminster Register Office
2005 - "Jurassic Park" actress Laura Dern (38) weds musician Ben Harper (36) in Los Angeles
2007 - "Dr. Izzie Stevens" actress Katherine Heigl (29) weds singer-songwriter Josh Kelley (27) at Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 122

558 - Childebert, king of France (511-58), dies at about 62
679 - Dagobert II, king of Austrasia (676-679), murdered
910 - Naum of Preslav, Bulgarian scholar
918 - Conrad I, East Frankish/German king (911-18), dies. Born 890
1116 - Ivo van Chartres, French canonist/bishop of Chartres/saint, dies
1230 - Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard I of England
1236 - Philippus Cancellarius, French theologist/poet (Summa Cum Laude), dies
1502 - Margaretha, English princess of Burgundy, dies at 57
1556 - Nicholas Udall, English playwright (b. 1504)
1568 - Roger Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth I of England
1569 - St Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow, martyred by Ivan the Terrible
1575 - Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese warrior (hanged) (b. 1531)
1588 - Hendrik de Guise, French leader of Catholic League, murdered at 37
1619 - Johan Sigismund, elector of Brandenburg/duke of Prussia, dies at 47
1631 - Michael Drayton, English poet (b. 1563)
1646 - François Maynard, French poet (b. 1582)
1652 - John Cotton, Mass Bay Puritan preacher, dies at 68
1675 - Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602)
1688 - Jean-Louis Lully, composer, dies at 21
1696 - Johann David Mayer, composer, dies at 60
1722 - Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)
1761 - Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell, Scottish Jacobite spy
1771 - Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian saint (b. 1701)
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)
1812 - Michel Delalande, composer, dies at 73
1834 - Reverend Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)
1846 - Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, French naturalist (b. 1780)
1891 - Holger Simon Paulli, composer, dies at 81
1908 - Eduard Wachmann, composer, dies at 72
1908 - Francois A Gevaert, Belg/Dutch composer (Diable au Moulin), dies at 68
1911 - Karl L Hoschna, composer, dies at 34
1912 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (b. 1850)
1913 - James Middleton, cricketer (24 wkt of lefty pace S Af 1895-1903), dies
1915 - Roland Leighton, dies at 20
1925 - A S C Wallis, [Adele von Antal-Opzoomer], writer (Vorstengunst), dies
1930 - Johannes H Been, Brielle archivist, dies at 71
1931 - Wilson Bentley, American scientist (b. 1865)
1938 - Robert Herrick, US writer (Chimes), dies at 70
1939 - Anthony H G Fokker, Dutch airplane builder (Spider), dies at 49
1943 - Theo[dorus J] Thijssen, Dutch writer (Kees de Jongen), dies at 64
1945 - Mogens Klitgaard, Danish author (Brunkul), dies at 39
1946 - John A. Sampson, American gynecologist (b. 1873)
1948 - Hideki Tojo, Japan PM (1941-44) & 6 Japs, hanged for war crimes at 64
1950 - Vincenzo Tommasini, composer, dies at 72
1951 - Alfreds Kalnins, composer, dies at 72
1951 - Benito Lynch, Irish/Argentine writer (Palo Verde), dies at 66
1953 - Lavrenti P Beria, soviet minister of internal security, executed
1954 - René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)
1959 - Edward FLW Halifax, English viscount/viceroy of India, dies at 78
1959 - Lester Lonergan Jr, actor (Growing Paynes), dies at 65
1959 - Lord Irwin, ambassador to US (1940-46), dies at 78
1961 - Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (b. 1910)
1962 - George Saiko, writer, dies at 70
1962 - Luis Alberni, actor (Topaze), dies at 76
1964 - Arrigo Pedrollo, composer, dies at 86
1966 - Hv Doderer, writer, dies at 70
1966 - Robert Keith, actor (Battle Circus, Men in War), dies at 68
1967 - Karen Verne, actress (Ships of Fools, Underground), dies at 49
1967 - Richard Flury, composer, dies at 71
1967 - Ruth Fuller Sasaki, head of 1st Zen Institute of America, dies at 75
1969 - Donald Foster, actor (Scaramouche), dies after long illness at 80
1970 - Charlie Ruggles, actor (Ruggles, Aesop-Bullwinkle Show), dies at 84
1971 - Carlo Jachino, composer, dies at 84
1972 - Andrej N Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, dies at 84
1972 - Charles Atlas, [Angelo Siciliano], body builder, dies at 79
1973 - Arthur Richardson, cricketer (9 Tests 1924-26), dies
1975 - Richard S Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, shot dead
1976 - Frank Forest, actor (Big Broadcast of 1937, Champagne Waltz), dies
1976 - Paul M Frank Forest, dies at 80
1976 - Walter Bauer, writer, dies at 72
1979 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)
1982 - Jack Webb, actor (Joe Friday-Dragnet), dies of a heart attack at 62
1982 - Norman Dinnerstein, composer, dies at 45
1983 - Colin Middleton, Northern Irish artist (b. 1910)
1984 - Joan Lindsay, Australian author (b. 1896)
1985 - James Vance (20) & Raymond Belknap (18), commit suicide, sparking their families to sue rock group Judas Priest for subliminal messages
1989 - Josef Alexander, composer, dies at 82
1990 - Frank King, cricketer (WI fast bowler played 14 Tests 1953-56), dies
1991 - Byron Q Griffith, producer/actor, dies at 73
1992 - Cyril Walters, cricketer (11 Tests for England, 784 runs), dies
1992 - Eddie Hazel, US pop guitarist (Funkadelic-Knee Deep), dies at 42
1993 - Gertrude "Trudi" Duby Blom, actress, shot to death at about 92
1994 - Charles Shirley, jazz arranger, dies at 74
1994 - Didier Rocher, son of French cosmetic maker Yves Rocher, dies at 41
1994 - Nora Dunfree, US actress (Grass Harp), dies at 78
1994 - Sebastian Lewis Shaw, actor (High Season, Ace of Spades), dies at 89
1995 - David Land, impressario, dies at 77
1995 - Gabrielle Keiller, collector/golfer, dies at 87
1995 - Patric Reginald Lawrence Knowles, actor (Chisum, Mutiny), dies at 84
1996 - Rina Ketty, singer, dies at 85
1996 - Ronnie Scott, musician/club-owner, dies at 69
1997 - Austin Whitaker, schoolmaster classical scholar/archivist, dies at 90
1997 - Brian Malzard Foss, psychologist, dies at 76
1997 - Donald Gunn MacRae, sociologist, dies at 76
1997 - Hrvoje Horvatic, video artist, dies at 39