Historical Events
- 1065 New church devoted to St Peter the Apostle built by Edward the Confessor - later called the 'west minister' consecrated in London (rebuilt mid 13th century) [1]
- 1612 First observation of Neptune - Galileo observes and records a "fixed star" without realising it is a planet
- 1767 King Taksin crowned King of Thailand and establishes Thonburi as his capital
- 1836 Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico
- 1860 Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn, New York, on her last mission to free slaves, having evaded capture for 8 years on the Underground Railroad
- 1908 Earthquake strikes Messina in Italy, killing nearly 80,000
- 1943 All Kalmyk inhabitants of the Republic of Kalmukkie deported by the Soviet Union to Central Asia and Siberia. Many die en route.
- More Historical Events
Dec 28 in Film & TV
- 1895 Filmmakers the Lumiere brothers, hold the first commercial film screening at Salon Indien du Grand Café, Paris
Dec 28 in Music
- 1944 Leonard Bernstein's musical "On the Town" premieres in NYC
Dec 28 in Sport
- 1958 "The Greatest Game Ever Played": Baltimore Colts win the 26th NFL championship against the New York Giants 23-17 at Yankee Stadium, in the first ever sudden-death overtime game in NFL history. 17 future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame were involved in the game.
Did You Know?
Detroit Lions crash to a 31-21 loss to Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field; first team in NFL history to go winless in a 16-game season
On December 28, 2008
Woodrow Wilson
Stan Lee
Terry Sawchuk
Denzel Washington
Linus Torvalds
John LegendWould You Believe?
Jean Baptiste Jolly opens “Teinturerier Jolly Belin”, 1st modern dry cleaning shop in Paris
On December 28, 1849
Famous Weddings
- 1936 British best-selling romantic author Barbara Cartland (35) marries 2nd husband Hugh McCorquodale
- 1936 Football player Bronko Nagurski (28) weds childhood sweetheart Eileen Kane in International Falls, Minnesota
- 1950 Author John Steinbeck (48) weds actress Elaine Anderson (36)
Famous Divorces
- 1942 American actress Janet Leigh (15) granted annulment of 4 month marriage to childhood sweetheart John Kenneth Carlisle (18)
- 2010 Film and record company executive Justin Siegel (23) divorces actress-singer Emmy Rossum due to irreconcilable differences after a year-and-a-half of marriage
- 2012 Astronaut Buzz Aldrin (82) divorces Lois Driggs Cannon due to irreconcilable differences after 23 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces
Maurice Ravel
Victor Emmanuel III
Ante Pavelić
Jimmy Demaret
Gregorio Álvarez
John MaddenArticles, Photos and Quiz
Benjamin Franklin’s Words of Wisdom
He is best known as a Founding Father of America but Benjamin Franklin’s first major enterprise was Poor Richard’s Almanack, first published on this day in history.
December 28, 1732
Oh Tragedy! What Could Be Worse? – McGonagall’s Verse!
Suffering a tragedy such as happened on this day was bad enough: what made it worse was having self-declared poet William McGonagall compose a rhyme about it.
December 28, 1879
Weekly Quiz for December 23 - 29
This week in history, French artist Vincent van Gogh cut off what part of his body in 1888? Who was crowned King on Christmas Day, December 25th?
