Battle of Ruspina
46 BC Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina
- 274 St Eutychian begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 871 Battle at Reading: Ethelred of Wessex defeated by Danish invasion army
- 1490 Anna of Brittany announces that all those who would ally with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of lese-majesty.
- 1519 -6] 1st Altenburger sermon (Luther & Karl von Miltitz)
- 1570 Spanish viceroy Alva banishes Zutphen City's only physician, Joost Sweiter, "because he is a Jew"
- 1656 Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, laden with gold and jewellery bound for Spain, sinks off the coast of the Bahamas, only 45 of 650 people survive (most eaten by sharks) [1]
- 1698 Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire
- 1717 Netherlands, Great Britain & France sign Triple Alliance
- 1725 Benjamin Franklin arrives in London [OS=Dec 24 1724]
- 1754 Columbia University founded, as Kings College (NYC)
- 1762 Seven Years' War: Great Britain declares war on Spain & Naples
- 1780 Snowstorm hits George Washington's army at Morristown, New Jersey
- 1781 Andre Méchain discovers M80 (globular cluster in Scorpio)
- 1832 Insurrection of Trinidad negroes
- 1843 Royal Academy (Technical Hague court) Delft opens
Wuthering Heights
1847 Manuscripts of Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights" and Anne Brontë's "Agnes Grey" sent to publisher T.C. Newby (published December 1847)
Colt Revolver
1847 Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government
Romney Campaign
1862 Romney Campaign: Stonewall Jackson occupies Bath, West Virginia
- 1863 Four wheeled roller skates patented by James Plimpton in New York
- 1863 The New Apostolic Church is established in Germany
- 1865 New York Stock Exchange opens its 1st permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad St, near Wall Street in New York City
- 1868 Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone" is first serialized in "All the Year Round" owned by Charles Dickins
- 1878 Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.
Music History
1881 Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" premieres in Breslau
- 1883 Ontario Rugby Football Union (forerunner of CFL) forms
- 1884 Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario)
- 1884 The Fabian Society is founded in London.
- 1885 Dr William Grant of Iowa, performs 1st appendectomy in America on Mary Gartside, aged 22
- 1887 Thomas Stevens is 1st man to bicycle around the world (San Francisco to San Francisco)
- 1893 US President Cleveland grants amnesty to Mormon polygamy
- 1894 France ratifies Duple Alliance with Russia
- 1896 AFL charters Actors' National Protective Union, NYC
- 1896 Following Mormon abandonment of polygamy, Utah admitted as 45th state
- 1898 1st installment of William Dean Howell's "Life & Letters" appears
- 1902 Australian cricket spin bowler Hugh Trumble dismisses England batsmen Arthur Jones, John Gunn and Sydney Barnes in successive balls to complete 2nd Test rout by 229 runs in Melbourne; Trumble's first of 2 Test hat-tricks
- 1902 The French Panama Canal Company offers to sell its right to build a canal to the US for 40 million, tipping the balance away from those favoring a canal through Nicaragua
Topsy the Elephant is Electrocuted
1903 Topsy the elephant is electrocuted by her owners at Luna Park, Coney Island and filmed by Edison Manufacturing movie company [1]
- 1904 In 'Gonzales v Williams', the US Supreme Court rules that Puerto Ricans are not aliens and may not be refused admission into continental United States; not until 1917 will citizenship rights be granted
- 1904 Stanley Cup, Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, ON: Ottawa HC beats Winnipeg Rowing Club, 2-0 for 2-1 challenge series victory
- 1906 South Africa beat England by one wicket, their 1st Test win
Theater Premiere
1907 George Bernard Shaw's play "Don Juan in Hell" premieres in London
- 1912 Smallest earth-moon distance this century, 356,375 km center-to-ctr
- 1912 The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.
- 1915 1st elected Jewish governor, Moses Alexander, takes office in Idaho
- 1915 Trans-Caucausus Russian defeat Turkish troops
- 1920 Amsterdam actors decide to strike for retirement benefits
Theater Premiere
1921 Eugene O'Neill's play "Diff'rent" premieres in NYC
Historic Event
1932 British Viceroy of India Lord Willingdon arrests Indian independence leaders Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru
- 1932 State of siege proclaimed in Honduras
- 1934 1st Dutch talkie movie, Jan Teunissen's "Willem of Orange" premieres
Historic Event
1939 Hermann Goering appoints Reinhard Heydrich head of Jewish Emigration
Hall of Fame
1942 7 x NL batting champion Rogers Hornsby is 14th player selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
Historic Event
1942 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill & General Marshall fly to Florida
Historic Event
1943 Thomas Mann completes his tetralogy, "Joseph & His Brothers"
- 1944 Operation Carpetbagger begins (aerial dropping of supplies and weapons to resistance fighters in Europe)
Appointment of Interest
1944 Ralph Bunche appointed 1st African American official in US State Department
Historic Event
1947 Emilio G. Segrè and Carlo Perrier announce technetium, a previously unknown element and the first artificially synthesized chemical element
Music Recording
1954 Elvis Presley records his 1st demo for Sun Records at a recording studio in Memphis, "It Wouldn't Be The Same Without You" and "I'll Never Stand In Your Way"
- 1954 Soap Opera "The Brighter Day" premieres
- 1957 "Blondie" situation comedy premieres on NBC TV (later on CBS)
- 1957 Dodgers buy 44 passenger twin-engine airplane for $775,000
Historic Event
1958 NZ team led by Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole, the 1st to reach the Pole overland using motor vehicles and the 1st since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912
- 1958 Sputnik 1 reenters atmosphere & burns up
Lunar 1 (Mechta)
1959 USSR's Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes the 1st spacecraft to leave Earth's gravity
- 1966 Doug Walters scores second Test century in his second Test
- 1966 Military coup in Upper Volta leads to a new national constitution
- 1966 WFLD TV channel 32 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins broadcasting
- 1967 English land and boat racer Donald Campbell is killed while driving jet-powered boat Bluebird K7 on Coniston Water in England trying to beat his own water speed record
- 1968 Duck hunter accidentally shoots endangered whooping crane in Texas
- 1968 Leo Fender sells Fender Guitars for $13 million to CBS
- 1969 A People's Democracy march between Belfast and Derry is repeatedly attacked by loyalists and off-duty police officers
- 1969 Allan Sherman and Albert Hague's musical "The Fig Leaves Are Falling", starring Dorothy Loudon, Barry Nelson, and David Cassidy, closes at Broadhurst Theatre, NYC, after 4 performances
- 1969 France begins arms embargo against Israel
Sports History
1970 AFL Championship, Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland: Kansas City Chiefs beat Oakland Raiders, 17-7; Chiefs defence forces 4 interceptions
Music Recording
1970 Beatles last recording session at Abbey Road studios, completing George Harrison's tune "I Me Mine"; John Lennon was on vacation and did not participate
- 1970 More than 15,000 people are killed in Tonghai County, China after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake
- 1970 NFL Championship, Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington: Minnesota Vikings beat Cleveland Browns, 27-7
- 1970 NYC transit fare rises from 20 cents to 30 cents, new larger tokens used
Historic Event
1970 Walter Cronkite ends hosting weekly documentary
- 1971 Dr Melvin H Evans inaugurated as 1st elected governor of Virgin Is
- 1971 Philadelphia's Veteran's Stadium dedicated
- 1972 Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.
- 1974 Nixon refuses to hand over tapes subpoenaed by Watergate Committee
- 1975 "Good News" closes at St James Theater NYC after 16 performances
- 1975 "Gypsy" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 120 performances
- 1975 "Over Here" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 341 performances
- 1975 Ford Executive Order on CIA Activities within the US (No 11828)
- 1975 Ice thickness measured at 4776 m, Wilkes Land, Antarctica
- 1975 Montreal Canadiens shutout Washington Capitals 10-0
- 1975 New Orleans Jazz set a then NBA record (with 24-second shot clock) by scoring only 20 points in the first half of a 111-89 loss in Seattle; unwanted record stands for nearly 25 years
- 1976 "Candide" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 740 performances
- 1976 "Home Sweet Homer" opens & closes at Palace Theater NYC
- 1976 AFC Championship, Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders, 16-10
- 1976 Australian Open Men's Tennis: In an all-Australian final Mark Edmondson upsets John Newcombe 6-7, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 for his first and only Grand Slam title
- 1976 NFC Championship, LA Memorial Coliseum: Dallas Cowboys beat Los Angeles Rams, 37-7
- 1976 The Ulster Volunteer Force shoot dead 6 Catholic civilians in 2 coordinated attacks in County Armagh, North Ireland
- 1977 Mary Shane hired by Chicago White Sox as 1st woman TV play-by-play announcer
- 1979 US State of Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to relatives of Kent State University shooting victims, in an out of court settlement
- 1981 "Frankenstein" opens & closes on Broadway
- 1981 "Red Right 88", trailing 14–12 Clevelands Browns attempt an end zone pass play (Red Right 88) and a game-winning field goal in the final minute, but pass intercepted by Raiders safety Mike Davis and Oakland wins
- 1981 Australian Open Men's Tennis: American Brian Teacher wins his first and only Grand Slam event; beats home favourite Kim Warwick 7-5, 7-6, 6-3
Historic Event
1981 British police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper"
- 1981 Musical "Peter Pan", starring Sandy Duncan, closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 578 performances
- 1982 ABC Direction Network (57 affiliates) & ABC Rock Network (40 affiliates) become the 5th & 6th ABC radio network
- 1982 Bryant Gumbel became co-host of NBC's "Today Show"
- 1982 Chris Wallace becomes co-anchor of the Today Show
- 1982 Golden Gate Bridge closed for 3rd time by fierce storm
Album Release
1983 Eurythmics release their breakthrough second studio album "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
- 1983 US Football League holds its 1st player draft
- 1984 "Night Court" starring Harry Anderson, created by comedy writer Reinhold Weege, premieres on NBC TV; runs for 9 seasons
- 1984 Adrian Dantley ties Wilt Chamberlain's NBA record for most free throws made in a game by converting 28 of 29 free throws in Utah's 116-111 win over Houston at Las Vegas
- 1984 Edmonton beats Minnesota 12-8 highest-scoring modern NHL game
Sports History
1986 David Boon's second Test century, 131 v India at Adelaide
Sports History
1986 Los Angeles Rams running back Eric Dickerson scores twice as he rushes for an NFL postseason record 248 yards in 20-0 victory over Dallas Cowboys in NFC divisional playoff in Anaheim, California
Sports History
1986 NCAA basketball's David Robinson blocks a record 14 shots
Historic Event
1989 George H. W. Bush is 1st sitting Vice President since Millard Filmore (in 1850) to declare himself President of the United States
- 1989 US F-14s shoot down 2 Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean
- 1990 307 dead and 700 injured after overloaded passenger train collides with empty freight train in Pakistan
- 1991 12 year old Chinese diver Fu Mingxia wins 10m platform gold medal at World Swimming Championships in Perth, Australia; youngest world champion in the history of any aquatic event
- 1991 AT&T workers in Newark accidentally snap a cable
- 1991 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Goran Prpić beats American David Wheaton 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 for an unassailable 2-0 lead, (ends 2-1) and Yugoslavia's first title
- 1991 Iraq agrees to send Aziz to Geneva to meet Baker on Jan 9th
- 1991 Jan Krzystof Bielecki becomes premier of Poland
- 1992 8th largest wrestling crowd NJPW Starcade (60,000-Tokyo Dome)
NBA Record
1992 Boston's Robert Parish becomes 5th player in NBA history to register 2,000 career blocks during Celtics' 100-96 loss at Minnesota - others Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mark Eaton, Wayne Rollins and George Johnson
Historic Event
1995 Newt Gingrich (R) becomes speaker of the US House of Representatives
- 1996 "Father" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 52 performances
- 1997 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Justin Gimelstob & Chanda Rubin clinch first title for the US; beat South African pair Wayne Ferreira & Amanda Coetzer 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 for a 2-1 victory
- 1998 A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continues through January 10, and causes widespread destruction
- 1998 Anton Chekov's dramatic play "Ivanov", translated and adapted by David Hare, closes at Vivian Beaumont Theater, NYC, after 51 performances
- 1998 Jeffrey Stock and Susan Birkenhead's musical "Triumph of Love" closes at Royale Theater, NYC, after 85 performances
Musical Finale
1998 Second successful revival of by Stephen Sondheim's musical "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum", starring Nathan Lane, closes at St James, NYC, after 715 performances and 1 Tony Award
- 1998 Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages
- 1999 College Football, 1st BCS National Championship, Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ: #1 Tennessee beats #2 Florida State, 23-16, at 28th Fiesta Bowl
- 1999 Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as Governor of Minnesota
- 1999 Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.
- 2000 19 are killed after two trains collide in Asta, Norway
Sports History
2000 A day after accepting the head coaching position at the New York Jets, Bill Belichick resigns and moves to the New England Patriots
- 2000 After 2 months, Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill, reach the South Poll, the same day as Edmund Hillary 48 years before
- 2000 American businessman and investor Mark Cuban purchases a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise for $285m from H. Ross Perot, Jr.
Music History
2001 Rapper Vanilla Ice spends night in jail after allegedly ripping out some of his wife's hair during a row
NBA Record
2001 Washington Wizards forward Michael Jordan becomes 4th player in NBA history to score 30,000 career points; hits a free throw in 2nd quarter of an 89-83 win against his old team, the Chicago Bulls
Hopman Cup
2003 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Serena Williams & James Blake beat Australian pair Alicia Molik & Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 for a 3-0 win, and 2nd American title
- 2004 Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia
- 2004 Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
- 2005 Adam Gilchrist of Australia becomes the most prolific century scoring wicket keeper in cricket history when he smashes 113 from just 120 balls in the 3rd Test against Pakistan in Sydney
Historic Event
2006 Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Election of Interest
2007 The 110th United States Congress convenes and elects Nancy Pelosi as the 1st female Speaker of the House
- 2008 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: Americans Serena Williams & Mardy Fish beat Serbian pair Novak Đoković & Jelena Janković 7-6, 6-2 for an unassailable 2-0 lead, and the 5th US title
- 2009 Phil Taylor, with a 7–1 victory in the final over Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld wins his 12th PDC World Darts title, his 14th in all; his 110.94 average remains a record for the PDC World Darts Championship final
- 2010 The Burj Khalifa, world's tallest building at 829.8 m (2,722 ft), officially opens in Dubai
- 2010 The Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed HIV infection from its list of communicable diseases of public health significance.
- 2013 3 people are killed after a Beechcraft BE35 crashes into a house in Florida
- 2013 6 people are killed a 2 are seriously injured after a snowmobile veers off a ski slope on Mt Cermis, Italy
- 2013 8 people are killed by a gunman in Kawit, the Philippines
- 2013 9 people are killed by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria
- 2014 14 people are killed after a three-story building construction site collapses in Goa, India
- 2014 Hopman Cup Tennis, Perth: France wins first title; Alizé Cornet & Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Poland's Agnieszka Radwańska & Grzegorz Panfil 6-0, 6-2 to clinch 2-1 victory
- 2015 Gary Anderson of Scotland beats 16-time world champion Phil Taylor, 7-6 to win his first PDC World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace, London
- 2016 Colombo's Gemology Institute certifies world's largest ever blue star sapphire at 1404.49 carats, found in a Sri Lankan mine in August 2015
- 2018 'Bomb Cyclone' hits US Northeast prompting flooding and snow in New York subway system
- 2018 Liverpool and Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah is named African Football Player of the Year
- 2018 Truck hits a train near Kroonstad city, South Africa killing 19 passengers
- 2019 Indian cricket batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara scores 193 and Rishabh Pant 159no as the tourists declare at 622/7 on Day 2 of 4th Test against Australia in Sydney; Pant, first Indian wicketkeeper to hit a century in Australia
- 2019 Thailand's worst storm in 30 years, Tropical Storm Pabuk makes landfall on country's east coast
Historic Event
2020 Australian bushfires death toll reaches 23 as PM Scott Morrison announces national defense force will be employed to help fight the more than 200 fires, amid criticism of his leadership
COVID-19 Pandemic
2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces new national lockdown for England following Scotland, as COVID-19 variant spreads rapidly with hospitalizations now higher than the first wave
