On This Day

[Raistlin]

Births

1596 Niccolò Amati, Italian violin-maker

1857 Joseph Conrad, British novelist

1883 Anton von Webern, Austrian composer

1930 Andy Williams, US singer

1930 Jean-Luc Godard, French film director

1953 Franz Klammer, Austrian skier

Deaths

1839 Frederick VI, King of Denmark

1894 Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish novelist

1910 Mary Baker Eddy, US founder of Christian Science

1919 Pierre Auguste Renoir, French painter

1980 Oswald Mosley, English fascist leader

1993 Lewis Thomas, US physician and biologist

1993 Frank Zappa, US composer and guitarist

Events

1810 The British captured Mauritius from the French.

1910 Neon lighting was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor Show.

1917 The Quebec Bridge, the world's longest cantilever, over the St Lawrence River, was opened - 87 lives were lost during its construction.

1961 At the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Henri Matisse's painting Le Bateau, which had been hanging upside-down for 46 days, was hung the right way up.

1967 At Groote Schurr Hospital, Cape Town, Dr Christiaan Barnard carried out the world's first heart transplant.

1984 A chemical leakage at a pesticide factory in Bhopal, India caused the Deaths of over 2,500 people and blinded many thousands.

1996 A bomb exploded in a crowded commuter train in Paris, killing three people and injuring; Algerian terrorists were among the extremist groups suspected in the bombing.

1996 A circuit court judge in Honolulu, Hawaii, ordered the state to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

[Raistlin]

Events

1154 The only Englishman to become a pope, Nicholas Breakspear, became Adrian IV.

1791 Britain's oldest Sunday paper, the Observer, was first published.

1808 Napoleon abolished the Inquisition in Spain.

1829 Under British rule, suttee (whereby a widow commits suicide by joining her husband's funeral pyre) was made illegal in India.

1905 British Conservative prime minister Arthur Balfour resigned.

1947 The first performance of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire starring Marlon Brando and Jessica Tandy, in New York.

1961 Birth control pills became available on the NHS.

1991 News correspondent Terry Anderson, the longest-held Western hostage in Lebanon (2,454 days in captivity), was freed by Islamic Jihad.

1991 Pan Am airline (founded 1927), burdened with massive debts, was closed down.

Births

1795 Thomas Carlyle, Scottish author

1865 Edith Cavell, English nurse

1875 Rainer Maria Rilke, German poet

1892 Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator

1903 A.L. Rowse, historian of Cornwall and Tudor England

1930 Ronnie Corbett, British comedian

1949 Jeff Bridges, US film actor

Deaths

1642 Cardinal Richelieu, French politician

1732 John Gay, English poet and dramatist

1798 Luigi Galvani, Italian physiologist

1969 jack Payne, British bandleader

1976 Benjamin Britten, English composer

1993 Frank Zappa, US rock musician and composer

1994 Geoffrey Elton, Czechoslovakian-born British historian

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1492 Christopher Columbus discovered Santo Domingo island.

1697 The first Sunday service was held in the new St Paul’s Cathedral.

1766 James Christie, founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London.

1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer, died from typhus and was buried in an unmarked grave with several other paupers.

1872 The American brig Mary Celeste was found drifting in the Atlantic, her crew missing.

1901 Walt Disney, cartoon film producer, was born in Chicago.

1933 Prohibition ended in America after 14 years.

1945 Five US Navy bombers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, disappeared over the area which became known as the Bermuda Triangle.

1956 Rose Heilbron became Britain’s first female judge.

1958 The Preston by-pass, Britain’s first section of motorway (the M1 - 8 miles long) was officially opened by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1421 Henry VI, who inherited the throne at the age of nine months, was born at Windsor.

1774 Austria introduced the first state education system.

1793 Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV of France, died on the guillotine after being found guilty by the Revolutionary Tribunal of ‘‘wasting the treasures of the state’’.

1877 Thomas Alva Edison recited Mary Had A Little Lamb into his phonograph - and made the world’s first recording of the human voice.

1888 Will Hay, British music hall and film comedy actor, was born in Stockton-on-Tees.

1897 The world’s first motor cab fleet began operations in London.

It went out of business in 1900 - its battery-powered taxis moved at only 8mph.

1921 Irish independence was granted for the 26 southern states which became known as the Irish Free State.

Six counties which formed Ulster (Northern Ireland) remained as part of the UK.

1963 Christine Keeler, model involved in the Profumo scandal, was jailed for nine months for perjury.

1969 A free concert given by the Rolling Stones at Altamont, California, ended in tragedy when Hell’s Angels stabbed a man to death.

1990 Durham were admitted to first-class cricket, the first new county side for 90 years.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1688 The Apprentice Boys of Derry slammed the gates against King James' troops.

1732 The Covent Garden Opera House opened with Way Of The World, by William Congreve.

1783 William Pitt the Younger became the youngest of Britain's Prime Ministers he was 24.

1817 Captain Bligh, captain of mutiny ship The Bounty, died in London.

1907 At London's National Sporting Club, Eugene Corri became the first referee to officiate from inside a boxing ring.

1941 The Japanese attacked the US fleet in Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

1967 The number of people arriving in the Republic was restricted to 7,000 per day, to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease.

1982 Charles Brooks Jnr, a prisoner at Fort Worth, was executed by a lethal injection, the first to die by this method in the US.the US.

1988 An earthquake in Armenia killed thousands and caused widespread destruction.

1989 A gunman claiming to hate feminists massacred 14 women at the University of Montreal.

1990 A week-long succession of violent clashes between Hindus and Muslims in India began, resulting in about 300 deaths and 3,000 arrests.

1991 Serb forces bombarded Dubrovnik's historic Old Town, leaving many dead and thousands homeless.

[Raistlin]

Events

1854 Pope Pius IX declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be an article of faith.

1863 Tom King of England defeated American John Heenan, becoming the first world heavyweight champion.

1886 The American Federation of Labor was founded.

1941 The USA, Britain, and Australia declared war on Japan, one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

1987 US President Reagan and Soviet President Gorbachev signed the Intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty in Washington DC, the first nuclear arms reduction agreement.

1991 The leaders of Russia, Byelorussia, and the Ukraine signed an agreement forming a 'Commonwealth of Independent States' to replace the USSR; the decision was denounced by President Gorbachev as unconstitutional.

Births

65 BC Horace, Roman poet

1542 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots

1832 Björnstjerne Björnson, Norwegian poet and dramatist

1894 James Thurber, US wit and cartoonist

1925 Sammy Davis Jr, US singer, actor, and dancer

1943 Jim Morrison, US singer

Deaths

1859 Thomas de Quincey, English author

1903 Herbert Spencer, British philosopher and writer

1964 Simon Marks, English retailer

1978 Golda Meir, Israeli politician

1980 John Lennon, British rock singer and songwriter

[Raistlin]

Births

1608 John Milton, English poet

1886 Clarence Birdseye, US inventor of the deep-freezing process

1909 Douglas Fairbanks Jr, US film actor

1918 Kirk Douglas, US film actor

1929 Robert Hawke, Australian politician

1950 Joan Armatrading, English singer and songwriter

Deaths

1641 Anthony Van Dyck, Flemish painter

1814 Joseph Bramah, English inventor of the hydraulic press

1963 Juan de la Cierva, Spanish engineer

1964 Edith Sitwell, English poet and author

1968 Karl Barth, Swiss theologian

1991 Bernice Abbott, US photographer

1993 Danny Blanchflower, Irish footballer

Events

1783 The first executions at Newgate Prison took place.

1868 Gladstone was elected prime minister of Britain, beginning the first of his four terms.

1917 The British captured Jerusalem from the Turks, during World War I.

1955 Sugar Ray Robinson knocked out Carl Olson, regaining his world middleweight boxing title.

1960 The first episode of Coronation Street was screened on ITV.

1987 The first martyrs of the 'intifada' in the Gaza Strip were created when an Israeli patrol attacked the Jabaliya refugee camp.

1990 Lech Walesa, leader of the once-outlawed Solidarity labour movement, was elected president of Poland.

1990 Slobodan Milosovic (Serbian Socialist Party) was elected president in Serbia's first free elections for 50 years.

1992 Separation was announced of Prince and Princess of Wales (married 1981).

1992 US troops arrived in Mogadishu, Somalia, to oversee delivery of international food aid, in operation 'Restore Hope'.

1996 UN Secretary General Boutros-Ghali approved a deal allowing Iraq to resume its exports of oil and easing the UN trade embargo imposed on Iraq in 1990.

[Raistlin]

Births

1822 César Franck, Belgian composer

1830 Emily Dickinson, US poet

1903 William Plomer, South African author

1908 Olivier Messiaen, French composer and organist

1914 Dorothy Lamour, US film actress

1960 Kenneth Branagh, British actor and director

Deaths

1475 Paolo Uccello, Italian painter

1865 Leopold I, King of the Belgians

1896 Alfred Nobel, Swedish industrialist and philathropist

1946 Damon Runyon, US writer

1967 Otis Redding, US soul singer and songwriter

1987 Jascha Heifetz, US violinist

1994 Keith Joseph, British Conservative politician

Events

1768 The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in London by George III, with Joshua Reynolds as its first president.

1817 Mississippi was admitted to the Union as an American state.

1845 Pneumatic tyres were patented by Scottish civil engineer Robert Thompson.

1898 Cuba became independent of Spain following the Spanish-American War.

1901 Nobel prizes were first awarded.

1941 The Royal Naval battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sunk by Japanese aircraft in the Battle of Malaya.

1953 Nobel prize for literature is presented to Winston Churchill and Nobel Peace Prize to George Marshall.

1991 The leaders of the 12 EC nations ended their two-day summit and agreed on the treaty of Maastricht, pledging closer political and economic union.

1996 South Africa's President Mandela signed into law a new democratic constitution, completing the country's transition from white-minority rule to a non-racial democracy.

[Raistlin]

Events

1688 King James II flees London for exile in France.

1769 Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds.

1844 Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, was first used for a tooth extraction.

1894 The first motor show opened in Paris, with nine exhibitors.

1936 In Britain, King Edward VIII abdicated.

1941 Germany and Italy declared war on the USA.

1987 Charlie Chaplin's trademark cane and bowler hat were sold at Christie's for £82,500.

1991 Salman Rushdie, under an Islamic death sentence for blasphemy, made his first public appearance since 1989 in New York, at a dinner marking the 200th anniversary of the First Amendment (which guarantees freedom of speech).

1994 Russian forces invaded the breakaway republic of Chechnya.

1997 Delegates at the Kyoto, Japan, conference on global warming agreed to cut emission of greenhouse gases by 5.2% from 1990 levels during the years 2008 and 2012.

Births

1475 Pope Leo X

1803 Hector Berlioz, French composer

1913 Carlo Ponti, Italian film director and producer

1918 Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Russian author

1929 Kenneth MacMillan, Scottish choreographer

1944 Brenda Lee, US pop singer

Deaths

1282 Llewlyn ap Gruffydd, last native Prince of Wales

1513 Bernardino Pinturicchio, Italian painter

1920 Olive Schreiner, South African novelist

1965 Ed Murrow, US journalist and broadcaster

1997 Eddie Chapman, English safecraker and double agent

[Raistlin]

Events

1896 Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.

1915 The first all-metal aircraft, the German Junkers J1, made its first flight.

1925 The world's first motel, in San Luis Obispo, California, opened.

1955 British engineer Christopher Cockerell patented the first hovercraft.

1982 20,000 women encircled Greenham Common air base in Britain in protest against proposed siting of US Cruise missiles there.

1989 US billionairess Leona Helmsley, dubbed the 'Queen of Greed', was fined $7 million and sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion.

1997 The US Justice Department ordered Microsoft to sell its Internet browser separately from its Windows operating system to prevent it from building a monopoly of Web access programs.

Births

1821 Gustave Flaubert, French novelist

1863 Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter

1893 Edward G Robinson, US film actor

1915 Frank Sinatra, US singer and actor

1941 Dionne Warwick, US singer

1960 Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian racing driver

Deaths

1889 Robert Browning, English poet

1939 Douglas Fairbanks, Sr, US film actor

1950 Peter Fraser, New Zealand politician

1968 Tallulah Bankhead, US actress

1985 Anne Baxter, US film actress

1993 Jozsef Antall, Hungarian prime minister

[Raistlin]

Events

1474 Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand of Aragon, were proclaimed as Queen and King of Castile.

1577 Francis Drake began his journey from Plymouth in the Golden Hind that was to take him around the world.

1642 Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand.

1903 Moulds for ice cream cones were patented by Italo Marcione of New York.

1904 The Metropolitan Underground railway in London went electric.

1967 A military coup replaced the monarchy in Greece, sending King Constantine II into exile.

1973 Due to the Arab oil embargo and the coalminers' slowdown, the British government ordered a three-day work week.

1981 Martial law was imposed in Poland, along with mass detention and curbs on civil liberties and trade unions.

Births

1797 Heinrich Heine, German poet and journalist

1903 John Piper, English painter and writer

1906 Laurens van der Post, South African writer and explorer

1915 Balthazar Johannes Vorster, South African politician

1929 Christopher Plummer, US film actor

1942 Howard Brenton, English dramatist

Deaths

1204 Maimonides, Jewish philosopher

1466 Donatello, Italian sculptor

1784 Dr Samuel Johnson, English lexicographer

1944 Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter

1961 Grandma Moses, US primitive painter (aged 101)

1983 Mary Renault, English novelist

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1247 Robin Hood is said to have died on this date, aged 87.

1503 French astrologer and prophet Nostrodamus was born.

1799 George Washington, 1st US president, died.

1861 Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, died.

1900 Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory.

1911 Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer, became the first man to reach the South Pole.

1939 The premiere of Gone With The Wind took place in Atlanta, Georgia.

1955 The Republic of Ireland was admitted to the United Nations.

1959 Archbishop Makarios was elected Cyprus’ first president.

1962 Mariner II sent back the first close-up pictures of the planet Venus.

1976 Dr Garret FitzGerald began the first-ever visit to the USSR by an Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs.

1989 Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and human rights campaigner, died.

1990 After 30 years in exile, ANC president Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa.

[Raistlin]

Events

1654 A meteorological office established in Tuscany began recording daily temperature readings.

1791 The Bill of Rights' ten amendments became part of the US Constitution.

1916 In World War I, the first Battle of Verdun ended; over 700,000 German and Allied soldiers died in the action.

1939 Nylon was first produced commercially in Delaware, USA.

1961 Nazi official Adolph Eichmann was found guilty of crimes against the Jewish people and sentenced to death, after a trial in Jerusalem.

1982 Gibraltar's frontier with Spain was opened to pedestrian use after 13 years.

1992 Bettino Craxi, the leader of Italy's Socialist Party, was informed that he was under investigation in a burgeoning corruption scandal that had racked the northern city of Milan.

1993 The prime ministers of Britain and the Republic of Ireland (John Major and Albert Reynolds) made the 'Downing Street Declaration', stating the basis for trying to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.

1993 117 nations agreed on a revised General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Geneva, Switzerland.

1996 The Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft manufacturers announced that they would merge, creating the world's largest aerospace company.

Births

AD 37 Nero, Roman emperor

1734 George Romney, English painter

1832 Gustave Eiffel, French engineer

1892 John Paul Getty, US oil billionaire

1936 Edna O'Brien, Irish novelist

1942 Dave Clark, English pop drummer

Deaths

1675 Jan Vermeer, Dutch painter

1683 Izaak Walton, English author of The Compleat Angler

1890 Sitting Bull, chief of the Sioux Indians

1943 Fats Waller, US jazz pianist

1962 Charles Laughton, English actor

1966 Walt Disney, US filmmaker and animator

[Raistlin]

Events

1865 The USA officially abolished slavery with the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

1903 The Panama Canal Zone was acquired 'in perpetuity' by the USA, for an annual rent.

1912 The immigration of illiterate persons to the USA was prohibited by Congress.

1912 The discovery of the Piltdown Man in East Sussex was announced; it was proved to be a hoax in 1953.

1969 The death penalty for murder was abolished in Britain.

1970 Divorce became legal in Italy.

1973 The IRA launched its Christmas bombing campaign in London.

1979 The sound barrier was broken on land for the first time by Stanley Barrett, driving at 739.6 mph, in California.

1996 Despite a UN truce, factional fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, broke out in which at least 300 fighters and civilians were killed.

Births

1779 Joseph Grimaldi, English clown

1879 Paul Klee, Swiss painter

1913 Willy Brandt, German statesman

1916 Betty Grable, US film actress

1943 Keith Richards, British guitarist

1947 Steven Spielberg, US film director

Deaths

1737 Antonio Stradivari, Italian violinmaker

1919 John Alcock, English aviator

1957 Dorothy L Sayers, English author

1971 Bobby Jones, US golfer

1980 Ben Travers, British dramatist

1990 Paul Tortelier, French cellist

1993 Sam Wanamaker, US actor and director

[Bizarra]

1154 Henry II became King of England.

1848 Emily Bronte, English novelist who wrote Wuthering Heights, died aged 30 from tuberculosis.

1851 Painter Joseph Turner died in his Chelsea house under the assumed name of Booth, where his demand for privacy was strictly enforced by his housekeeper.

1863 Linoleum was patented by Frederick Walton of London.

1905 London County Council set up the first motorised ambulance service for traffic accident victims.

1906 Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet President 1977-1982, was born in the Ukraine.

1915 Legendary singer Edith Piaf, ‘‘the little sparrow’’ who began singing in the streets when she was 15 and lived a life of lovers, alcohol and drugs, was born in Paris.

Her song Je Ne Regrette Rien summed up her outlook on life.

1981 The Penlee lifeboat, Solomon Browne, was lost with her crew of eight, attempting to rescue the crew of the coaster Union Star, wrecked in violent seas off the Cornish coast.

1984 Britain and China signed an agreement for the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

1984 Ted Hughes was named Poet Laureate in succession to Sir John Betjeman.

[Raistlin]

Births

1894 Robert Menzies, Australian politician

1923 James Leasor, English author

1926 Geoffrey Howe, British politician

1946 Uri Geller, Israeli psychic/illusionist

1952 Jenny Agutter, English actress

1958 Billy Bragg, English rock singer

Deaths

1937 Erich Ludendorff, German general

1954 James Hilton, English novelist

1968 John Steinbeck, US novelist

1982 Artur Rubinstein, US pianist

1983 Bill Brandt, British photographer

1994 Dean Rusk, US Democrat politician

Events

1860 South Carolina seceded from the American Union, and joined the Confederacy.

1915 The ANZACS, Australian and New Zealand forces with British troops were evacuated from Gallipoli, after their expedition against the Turks went seriously wrong.

1933 Flying Down to Rio, the first film to feature Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, was first shown in New York.

1957 Elvis Presley, at the height of his stardom, received his draft papers.

1973 The Spanish premier Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid.

1989 General Noriega, Panama's former dictator, was overthrown by a US invasion force invited by the new civilian government.

1990 Soviet Foregn Minister Shevardnadze resigned, complaining of conservative attacks on his policies.

1991 Ante Markovic resigned as federal Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

1996 Doctors reported that a Cypriot woman who had taken fertility drugs was carrying about 11 embryos.

[Red Yaris 54]

On this Day - 1988 - A Pan Am jumbo jet with 258 passengers on board crashes on to the town of Lockerbie in Scotland - hundreds are feared dead

On this Day - 1962 - President Kennedy and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan agree the UK will buy nuclear missiles from the US to form a multilateral Nato nuclear force

On this Day - 2001 - Police storm a cargo ship in the English Channel after an intelligence tip-off that terrorists were onboard.

On this Day - 1958 - General Charles de Gaulle is elected President of France with an overwhelming majority

[Raistlin]

Births

1768 John Crome, English painter

1839 John Nevil Maskelyne, English stage magician

1858 Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer

1907 Peggy Ashcroft, English actress

1949 Maurice and Robin Gibb, Australian pop musicians

Deaths

1880 George Eliot, English novelist

1943 Beatrix Potter, English author and artist

1944 Harry Langdon, US silent-film comedian

1965 Richard Dimbleby, British broadcaster

1989 Samuel Beckett, Irish author and dramatist

Events

1715 James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', landed at Petershead after his exile in France.

1894 Alfred Dreyfus, the French officer who was falsely convicted for selling military secrets, was sent to Devil's Island.

1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand.

1961 James Davis became the first US soldier to die in Vietnam, while US involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers.

1989 Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausçescu was overthrown in a bloody revolutionary coup.

1991 Eleven of the 12 Soviet republics (excluding Georgia) agreed, in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, on the creation of a Commonwealth of Independent States.

1994 Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned following accusations of corruption.

1996 The local school board in Oakland, California, became the first to recognize 'black English', or 'Ebonics', as a distinct language.

1996 A car bomb exploded in Belfast, injuring a known IRA supporter. Police suspected that Protestant loyalists were responsible for the attack.

[Raistlin]

Births

1732 Richard Arkwright, English inventor

1777 Alexander I, tsar of Russia

1812 Samuel Smiles, Scottish author

1888 J Arthur Rank, British film magnate

1909 Maurice Denham, English actor

1918 Helmut Schmidt, German statesman

Deaths

1631 Michael Drayton, English poet

1834 Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist

1872 George Catlin, US painter and explorer

1944 Charles Dana Gibson, US artist and illustrator

1987 Henry Cotton, British golfer

1991 Ernst Krenek, US composer

Events

1834 English architect Joseph Hansom patented his 'safety cab', better known as the Hansom cab.

1888 Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

1922 The British Broadcasting Corporation began daily news broadcasts.

1948 General Tojo and six other Japanese military leaders were executed, having been found guilty of crimes against humanity.

1953 Soviet secret police chief Lavrenti Beria and six of his associates were shot for treason following a secret trial.

1965 A 70-mph speed limit was introduced in Britain.

1986 ***** Rutan and Jeana Yeager made the first non-stop flight around the world without refuelling, piloting the US plane Voyager.

1990 Elections in Yugoslavia ended, leaving four of its six republics with non-Communist governments.

1995 Bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple religious sect were found in a clearing near Grenoble, France; 14 were probably shot by two who then committed suicide.

1996 Russian President Yeltsin returned to work in the Kremlin, seven weeks after his heart by-pass operation

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1167 King John (John Lackland) was born in Oxford.

1491 Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Jesuits, was born in Loyola in north Spain.

1524 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator who found the sea route from Europe to the East, died on his second voyage after landing in Cochin, India.

1600 Two Spanish ships arrived at Killybegs, Co Donegal, loaded with weapons and money to aid the fight of O’Neill and O’Donnell.

1601 The Battle of Kinsale took place.

The forces of Hugh O’Neill and Hugh O’Donnell were defeated by those of Lord Mountjoy in less than three hours.

1809 American folk hero Kit Carson was born in Kentucky.

1814 The War of 1812 between the US and Britain was brought to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.

1818 A mouse put the organ out of order at St Nicholas Church, Oberdorf, Germany.

Franz Xavier Gruber rescued the Christmas music for Midnight Mass by writing a carol for guitar and choir.

It was called Stille Nacht (Silent Night).

1823 James Gandon, architect of the Customs House, the Four Courts and CJ Haughey’s residence Abbéville, died.

1828 The trial of William Burke began in Edinburgh.

The other body-snatcher, William Hare, had turned King’s evidence and was not brought to trial.

Sentenced to death, Burke was hanged on January 28, 1829.

1871 Verdi’s opera Aida had its world premiere in Cairo.

1974 The Beatles’ partnership was legally dissolved.

[Bizarra]

Day

On This Day Over The Years

1066, William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.

1818, "Silent Night" was performed for the first time, at the Church of St.

Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.

1900, Salvation Army in New York serves 4,000 of the city's poor with Christmas dinner.

1913, Couple arrested in New York for kissing in the street on Christmas Day; a judge fines them $15.

1920, Ku Klux Klan leaders parade the streets of Columbus, Georgia, scattering letters to undesirable citizens that say Warning! Undesirables both white and black.

We are after you.

1923, First electrically lit White House Christmas tree appears.

1957, Queen makes her first Christmas broadcast on television.

1958, In her annual TV and radio message, Queen Elizabeth appeals to the British people to stop religious and racial discrimination.

1966, Minister of Transport announces the blackest Christmas on Britain's roads as 136 die.

1976, One hundred Muslims returning from pilgrimage die as boat sinks in the Red Sea.

1980, Death of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, Hitler's hand-picked successor.

(Born September 16, 1891.

) 1986, Iraqi Airways plane hijacked by gunmen.

Sixty-two passengers killed in exchange of fire and subsequent explosion as plane attempts to land.

1988, Rome: In his Christmas Day speech the Pope appeals for help and understanding for AIDS victims, who are called to face the challenge not only of the sickness but also the mistrust of a fearful society that instinctively turns away from them.

1989, Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising.

1992, Death of Monica Dickens, British author.

(Born May 10, 1915.

) 1995, Singer Dean Martin died at his Beverly Hills home at age 78.

1998, Four headless bodies discovered in Chechnya are identified as those of the four Western hostages murdered by kidnappers earlier this month.

[Raistlin]

Births

1716 Thomas Gray, English poet

1792 Charles Babbage, English mathematician

1891 Henry Miller, US novelist

1893 Mao Zedong, Chinese Communist leader

1914 Richard Widmark, US film actor

1944 Jane Lapotaire, English actress

Deaths

1797 John Wilkes, British politician and journalist

1890 Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist

1957 Charles Pathé, French film pioneer

1972 Harry S Truman, 33rd US president

1974 jack Benny, US comedian

Events

1620 The Pilgrim Fathers landed at New Plymouth, Massachusetts, to found Plymouth Colony, with John Carver as Governor.

1898 Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium.

1908 Texan boxer 'Galveston Jack' Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, to become the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title.

1943 The German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk in the North Sea, during the Battle of North Cape.

1956 Fidel Castro attempted a secret landing in Cuba to overthrow the Batista regime; all but 11 of his supporters were killed.

1959 The first charity walk took place, along Icknield Way, in aid of the World Refugee Fund.

1991 The Soviet Union's parliament formally voted the country out of existence.

[Bizarra]

On This Day Over The Years

1822 Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist, was born in Dole, France.

1831 Admiralty survey ship HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, set out from Plymouth on a scientific voyage around the world, which led to Darwin writing his controversial Origin Of Species.

1887 Chewing gum was patented.

1901 Marlene Dietrich, German actress who starred in The Blue Angel, was born.

1904 The first performance of James Barrie’s Peter Pan took place at the Duke of York’s theatre in London.

1927 Broadway staged the first performance of Showboat by Jerome Kern, presented by Florenz Ziegfeld.

1942 The weekly radio series Variety Bandbox began.

It should have been called Bandbox Variety but a secretary typed it the wrong way round.

1945 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in Washington.

1965 The Sea Gem oil rig collapsed in the North Sea - 13 died.

1978 Spain became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship

[Red Yaris 54]

On This Day Over The Years

1822 Louis Pasteur, chemist and bacteriologist, was born in Dole, France.

1831 Admiralty survey ship HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, set out from Plymouth on a scientific voyage around the world, which led to Darwin writing his controversial Origin Of Species.

1887 Chewing gum was patented.

1901 Marlene Dietrich, German actress who starred in The Blue Angel, was born.

1904 The first performance of James Barrie’s Peter Pan took place at the Duke of York’s theatre in London.

1927 Broadway staged the first performance of Showboat by Jerome Kern, presented by Florenz Ziegfeld.

1942 The weekly radio series Variety Bandbox began.

It should have been called Bandbox Variety but a secretary typed it the wrong way round.

1945 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in Washington.

1965 The Sea Gem oil rig collapsed in the North Sea - 13 died.

1978 Spain became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship

Also................

1960 The French move a step closer to developing a compact nuclear bomb after a third test in the Sahara desert

1977 Thousands of people flock to UK cinemas to watch the long-awaited blockbuster film, Star Wars

1985 At least 16 people are killed and more than 100 injured during twin terrorist attacks in Rome and Vienna airports

2004 Ukraine's "orange revolutionaries" celebrate as opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko is declared winner of the presidential election

2008 It is the day after Boxing day :P

[Bizarra]

1AD King Herod ordered the slaughter of all the infants in Bethlehem to ensure the death of *****, whom he saw as a rival.

1694 Queen Mary II died from smallpox, leaving William to reign alone.

1734 Rob Roy, legendary Scottish clan chief immortalised in a novel by Sir Walter Scott, died.

1796 Admiral Lazar Hoche’s expedition of 15,000 troops and 43 ships is forced to return to France by storms about this time.

1836 Mexico’s independence was recognized by Spain.

1879 The Tay railway bridge collapsed when the Edinburgh to Dundee train was crossing.

The engine and carriages plummeted into the icy river below, killing 90 people.

1905 Jazz pianist Earl Hines, who developed the modern single-finger style, was born in Duquesne, Pennsylvania.

1908 An earthquake killed more than 75,000 people in Messina in Sicily.

1937 The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland.

1989 Alexander Dubcek, who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, was elected speaker of the Czech parliament.