- 1163 Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
- 1561 Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Archbishop of Mechelen, made Cardinal
- 1582 Flanders adopts Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is Jan 1 1583
- 1598 Battle of Curalaba: the Mapuche people led by Pelentaru revolt and inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile
- 1620 102 Mayflower Pilgrims and about 30 crew land at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [OS=Dec 11]
- 1650 Johan de Witt installed as Dutch pension advisor of Dordrecht
- 1788 Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
- 1829 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
- 1835 HMS Beagle sails into Bay of Islands, New Zealand
- 1844 The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
- 1849 1st US skating club formed (Philadelphia)
Victory in Battle
1864 General Sherman conquers Savannah, Georgia
William Tecumseh Sherman
- 1866 Fetterman Massacre: Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians kill all 81 US Army soldiers in the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. Army on the Great Plains
Event of Interest
1872 Phileas Fogg completes his round the world trip in 80 days, in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"
Jules Verne
- 1890 Pim Mulier 1st & only trip to "Alvesteddetocht"
Event of Interest
1891 1st game of basketball, based on rules created by James Naismith, played by 18 students in Springfield, Massachusetts
James Naismith
Event of Interest
1894 Mackenzie Bowell becomes the 5th Prime Minister of Canada
Mackenzie Bowell
Event of Interest
1898 French Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium
Marie Curie
Theater Premiere
1900 Gerhart Hauptmann's play "Michael Kramer" premieres in Berlin
Gerhart Hauptmann
- 1906 British Parliament pass two important pieces of social legislation: The Trades Disputes Bill, legalizing peaceful picketing, and The Workingmen's Compensation Act, broadening employers' liability for accidents
- 1907 Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
- 1909 1st junior high school established (Berkeley California)
- 1909 Clyde Fitch' "City" premieres in NYC
- 1909 Unitversity of Copenhagen rejects American Explorer Frederick A Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole
- 1910 Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England, 344 mine workers dies
- 1912 Denmark, Norway & Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
- 1913 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World
Film Release
1914 1st feature-length silent film comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin
Marie Dressler
Charlie Chaplin
- 1914 2,800 African miners strike at the Van Rhyn Deep mines in a bid to redress some of their grievances
- 1915 10.17" (25.83 cm) of rainfall, Glenora, Oregon (state record)
- 1918 Red Sox trade Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore & Duffy Lewis to Yankees for Ray Caldwell & Slim Love, Frank Gilhooey, Al Walters & $15,000
Event of Interest
1919 J. Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
J. Edgar Hoover
- 1920 Jerome Kern/BG DeSylva's musical "Sally" premieres in NYC
- 1921 Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
- 1923 Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
- 1925 "Battleship Potemkin", Soviet silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barksy and Grigori Aleksandrov, premieres in Moscow
- 1925 Hunter "Stork" Hendry scores 325 for Victoria against NZ
- 1926 Soccer team DOS Struggle forms
- 1929 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)
Event of Interest
1929 Coco the Clown first appears for Bertram Mills Circus in Manchester, England
Coco the Clown
Contract of Interest
1933 Fox Films signs Shirley Temple aged 5, to a studio contract
Shirley Temple
- 1933 Newfoundland reverts to being a crown colony of Great Britain
Donald Bradman
- 1937 O'Reilly completes 14-98 for cricket match, NSW v South Aust
Film Premier
1937 The first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre
Walt Disney
- 1937 Chicago Black Hawks left wing Paul Thompson becomes first player in NHL history to score a goal against his brother; scores on bro Cecil of the Boston Bruins with just 9 seconds left in regulation; Bruins win though, 2-1
Event of Interest
1939 Adolf Hitler names Adolf Eichmann leader of "Referat IV B", responsible for evictions and Jewish immigration
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Hitler
- 1941 Chicago Bears Ray McLean makes last NFL drop kick for an extra point
- 1941 National Football League Championship, Wrigley Field, Chicago: Chicago Bears beat New York Giants, 37-9; first team in NFL championship game era (since 1933) to win consecutive titles; Bears 5th title overall
- 1941 David Diamond's 1st Symphony premieres
- 1941 German submarine U-567 sinks
- 1942 US Supreme court declares Nevada separation legal
- 1944 Cards' Marty Marion wins NL MVP
- 1945 "Billion Dollar Baby" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 219 performances
- 1946 "If the Shoe Fits" closes at Century Theater NYC after 20 performances
- 1946 Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086
- 1946 Morton Gould's "Minstrel Show" premieres in Indianapolis
- 1948 O'Neil Place in the Bronx erronously renamed O'Neill Place
- 1948 State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
- 1948 1949 NFL Draft: University of Pennsylvania linebacker/center Chuck Bednarik is selected first by Philadelphia Eagles
- 1949 Dutch 1st Chamber accept sovereignty of Indonesia
Film Premier
1949 "Samson and Delilah", directed and produced by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Hedy Lamarr and Victor Mature, premieres in New York
Hedy Lamarr
Cecil B. DeMille
- 1950 Cole Porte's musical "Out of this World" premieres at New Century Theater NYC for 157 performances
- 1952 Broadway Tunnel opens in San Francisco
- 1952 WSBT TV channel 22 in South Bend, IN (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KOMU TV channel 8 in Columbia, MO (NBC/PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1955 2nd National Film Awards (India): "Mirza Ghalib" wins the Golden Lotus
Event of Interest
1956 Martin Luther King Jr. and others sit in the new integrated bus
Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1957 Indonesia proclaims end to state of war
Event of Interest
1958 Charles de Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st President of 5th Rep of France
Charles de Gaulle
Event of Interest
1959 Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys (stays until 1988)
Tom Landry
Music Recording
1960 Ornette Coleman records his influential album "Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation", establishes the name for the Free Jazz sound
Ornette Coleman
Event of Interest
1968 Apollo 8: 1st manned Moon voyage launched with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders
Frank Borman
- 1968 David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash) premiere together in California
Event of Interest
1968 Glen Campbell's album "Wichita Lineman" goes to No. 1 in the US
Glen Campbell
Elvis Meets Nixon
1970 Elvis Presley meets US President Richard Nixon in the White House - the image of this meeting is the most requested photo from the entire National Archives
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- 1970 WUTV TV channel 29 in Buffalo, NY (IND) begins broadcasting
- 1970 Oregon v. Mitchell Supreme Court case was decided, lowering the minimum voting age in U.S. federal elections to 18. The voting age for state and local elections was left to states discretion
- 1971 UN Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th Secretary-General
- 1971 A publican is killed as he tried to remove a bomb from his pub, Northern Ireland
- 1972 Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
- 1973 Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US & USSR meet in Geneva to discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict
- 1974 Raiders RB Clarence Davis somehow catches game-winning touchdown pass among "the sea of hands" of three Dolphins defenders with 24 seconds left in the game, eliminating Miami from the playoffs, 1st time in 3 years
- 1975 "Hello, Dolly" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 51 performances
- 1975 "Very Good Eddie" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 307 performances
- 1975 1st NY Jet to gain 1,000 yards rushing (John Riggins)
- 1975 64th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Czechoslovakia in Stockholm (3-2)
- 1975 Madagascar adopts constitution
- 1975 Buffalo Sabres set NHL record of 40 points beating Caps 14-2 scoring 5 goals vs Washington Caps in 4:57
- 1976 20th Islander shut-out opponent-Billy Smith 3-0 vs Bruins
- 1976 Patricia R Harris named secretary of HUD
- 1976 UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
- 1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1978 "Broadway Musical" opens/closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC
Murder of Interest
1978 Police in Des Plaines, Illinois, arrest John Wayne Gacy for murder
John Wayne Gacy
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1979 New constitution for Zimbabwe agreed
- 1979 Garry Unger’s NHL record for consecutive games ends at 914, as his Atlanta Flames lose 5-1 to the St Louis Blues and he is benched by coach Al MacNeil; record eventually broken by Doug Jarvis (964)
- 1980 Harold Carmichael ends NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions
- 1981 Cincinnati beats Bradley 75-73 in 7 OTs (NCAA record)
- 1983 Musical "Tap Dance Kid" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 669 performances
- 1983 NBA Indiana Pacers end a 28 game road losing streak
- 1983 NCAA rules rescinded last 2-minute men's basketball free throw rule
- 1984 Islander Kelly Hrudy's 1st shut-out win-Whalers 1-0
- 1984 USSR launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley's Come
- 1985 ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
- 1985 Alice Miller/Don January wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
- 1985 Heart's "Heart" album goes #1
- 1987 3 white NY teens convicted of manslaughter in death of a black man
- 1987 Soyuz TM-4 launches 3 cosmonauts to space station Mir
- 1987 Vladimir Titov & Musa Manarov launched
- 1988 Drexel agrees guilt to security felonies, pays a $650 million fine
- 1988 Vladimir Titov & Musa Manarov return to earth (a year) with Chretien
- 1988 Lockerbie disaster: Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed mid air by a terrorist bomb killing all 258 on board over Scotland
- 1989 VP Quayle sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon
- 1989 New Zealand is the first country to set a formal inflation target (0-2%) for how much prices should rise each year. Similar targets are subsequently adopted by most developed countries.
- 1990 Steve & Mark Waugh complete 464* partnership for NSW v WA
- 1991 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
- 1991 El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane
- 1991 Soviet Union formally dissolves as 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States
- 1992 Dutch DC-10 in fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
- 1993 "The Sign" single released in the US by Ace of Base (Billboard Song of the Year 1994)
- 1994 Bomb goes off on #4 train on Fulton Street NYC
- 1995 Martina Ertl of Germany wins her 3rd giant slalom world cup
- 1995 SF Giants announce plans to build a new stadium to open in 2000
- 1995 The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
- 1996 Pakistan all out 67 to lose to Tasmania by an inning
- 1997 Detroit Lions Barry Sanders is 3rd to run for 2,000 yards in a season
- 1997 Detroit Lions linebacker Reggie Brown, knocked unconscious in game
- 1999 The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.
- 1999 Ballon d'Or: FC Barcelona's Brazilian midfielder Rivaldo is named best football player in Europe ahead of Manchester United midfielder David Beckham and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko
- 2005 Civil Partnership Act comes into force in the UK, with Elton John and David Furnish one of the first couples to form a same-sex civil union
- 2006 Puzzle Play aired to network Ten, replacing In the Box
- 2007 The Schengen Agreement area increases to include 9 European Union member states; Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia on land and sea borders.
- 2012 39 people are killed in violent clashes in Kenya
- 2012 The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar reaches the date 13.0.0.0.0
- 2012 "Gangnam Style" by Psy becomes the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube
- 2012 The NHL announces a further cancellation of games until January 14 bringing the total number of cancelled games to 625
Event of Interest
2012 Flavor Flav's Chicken & Ribs opens in Sterling Heights, Michigan
Flavor Flav
Event of Interest
2016 Carl Icahn is announced as Special Advisor to the President on Regulatory Reform, under President Donald Trump
Carl Icahn
Donald Trump
- 2017 UN General Assembly votes 128 to 9 to denounce US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital
- 2018 Tennis Australia announces a 10-point tie break to be implemented in Australian Open when deciding set reaches 6-6; takes place of 2-game advantage final sets
December in History
The Face that Launched a Thousand Quips...
The greatest and most famous clown of them all, and by whose name, Joey, all circus clowns became known, was born on this day, December 18, 1778.
December 18, 1778
'Good Sport' in The Trenches
Prime Minister's son, Raymond Asquith tells his wife of life and death on the battlefront in World War I on this day in 1915.
December 21, 1915
Business a Rocky Road for Hansom Cab Pioneer
Architect and inventor Joseph Hansom was a man of vision who somehow found it impossible to turn his great ideas into money-making ventures.
December 23, 1834
The Day Murdoch Spoilt the Queen's Christmas
Queen Elizabeth II made the first live Christmas Day broadcast of her reign on December 25, 1952. Forty years later a pre-recorded message would be leaked.
December 25, 1952