Today in History

On This Day In History, December 26th

2004 Massive tsunami causes damage and kills thousands in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Thailand
The tsunami was precipitated by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The earthquake was the third strongest earthquake ever measured using the Richter scale in recorded history. The other two were the Valdivia earthquake in Chile in 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5 and the Prince William Sound earthquake in Alaska in 1964, with a magnitude of 9.2. The Indian Ocean earthquake killed about 200,000 people and is considered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recent history.

1982 The December issue of Times magazine proclaimed the personal computer as the "Man of the Year"
The Man of the Year tradition began in 1927 at Time magazine as a way to identify and showcase those that influenced the year and its events significantly. In 1999, the feature was renamed Person of the Year.

1966 First Kwanzaa celebrations
The week-long cultural holiday is celebrated among African diaspora in the United States and was created by Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana Studies and a key figure in the Black Power movement. The holiday is celebrated annually from December 26 to January 1, and it is a recognition of African culture and heritage.

1941 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill, making the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day into federal law
The holiday has been celebrated officially in the United States since 1863. The first Thanksgiving is thought to have been observed by early settlers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony after their first harvest in 1621.

1898 Nobel Prize winners Marie and Pierre Curie announce the existence of Radium
The radioactive element has an atomic number of 88 and is known by the symbol Ra. In its pure form, it is a highly toxic element and is not used extensively for scientific purposes.
 

Births On This Day, December 26th 🎂

1956 David Sedaris
American comedian, author, radio host

1893 Mao Zedong
Chinese military leader, politician

1891 Henry Miller
American author, painter

1837 George Dewey
American Admiral

1791 Charles Babbage
English mathematician, and engineer, invented the Different engine

Deaths On This Day, December 26th 🪦

2006 Gerald Ford
American politician, 38th President of the United States

1997 Cornelius Castoriadis
Greek economist, philosopher

1974 Jack Benny
American actor, comedian

1972 Harry S. Truman
American colonel, politician, 33rd President of the United States

1890 Heinrich Schliemann
German archaeologist
 
On This Day In History, December 28th

2007 Nepal abolishes monarchy
The amendment to the Nepalese constitution that declared the country a federal republic was passed by the parliament. The transition was completed on May 28, 2008. Established in 1768 by Prithvi Narayan Shah, the Kingdom of Nepal lasted for over 200 years. Nepal is the world's only country with Hinduism as the state religion.

1972 The office of the presidency was established in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Kim Il-sung became the first and only president of North Korea under an amended constitution. He was elected to the post by the members of the North Korean parliament, which is also known as the Supreme People's Assembly. The post was abolished in 1998, and Kim II-sung was given the title of Eternal President of Korea.

1968 Israel raid on Lebanom
The Israeli Defence Forces mounted a special operation, also known as Operation Gift, on Beirut Airport. The raid was in retaliation to the attack on El Al Flight 253, which was en route from Tel Aviv to New York. During its layover in Athens, Greece, two Palestinians fired at passengers and crew and killed 1 person. In retaliation, Israel destroyed several passenger and cargo planes parked at Beirut Airport. There were no fatalities during the raid.

1885 Indian National Congress (INC) founded
The party is one of the two main political parties in India. Created by the members of the Theosophical Society, the party was a major player in India's independence movement against the British. After Independence, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru belonged to the INC.

1836 South Australia becomes a British colony
The central southern state of Australia was first established as a province in 1834 by the British Parliament under the South Australia Act. The day was observed as Proclamation Day in the state, which was later turned into an extra holiday after Christmas Day.
 

Births On This Day, December 28th 🎂

1962 Michel Petrucciani
French/American pianist

1934 Maggie Smith
English actress

1903 John von Neumann
Hungarian/American mathematician

1903 Earl Hines
American pianist

1856 Woodrow Wilson
American politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths On This Day, December 28th 🪦

2015 Lemmy
English singer-songwriter, bass player, actor

2004 Susan Sontag
American author

1984 Sam Peckinpah
American director, screenwriter

1959 Ante Pavelić
Croatian politician

1937 Maurice Ravel
French composer
 
Dec 28th:
1860
abolitionist, Harriet Tubman arrives in Auburn,NY, her last mission to free slaves. She evaded capture for 8 yrs on the Underground Railroad
1869
William Finley Semple in Mt Vernon, Ohio patents chewing gum
1958
novelty Christmas song' The Chipmunk Song' written by David Seville featuring 3 chipmunks, Alvin, Simon&Theodore hit #1 on the music charts 3 days before Christmas
1968
The Beatles 'White Album' hits #1 on music charts stays there for 9 weeks
2000
U.S giant retailer, Montgomery Ward announced it was going out of business after 128 yrs
 
On This Day In History, December 29th

1996 Civil War ends in Guatemala
The 36-year long civil war fought between several leftist groups representing the indigenous people and poor and the government came to an end after Comandante Rolando Morán of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity and president Álvaro Arzú signed a peace treaty under the supervision of the UN. Morán and Arzú received the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in bringing peace to the country.

1937 Ireland established
A new constitution, established by a national referendum, changed the name of the Irish Free state to Ireland. The Irish Free State was a part of the British Commonwealth and was established in 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty singed in 1921.

1916 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is published
The first novel of Irish writer, James Joyce, the book follows the life of Stephen Dedalus, who many believe was the author's alter ego. It first came out as a series in the literary magazine, The Egoist and was then published by American publisher B. W. Huebsch. James Joyce is best known for his book Ulysses, which is about a single day in the life of advertising agent, Leopold Bloom. In honour of the book, fans of the author celebrate an unofficial holiday, Bloomsday on June 16.

1911 Mongolian Independence
The landlocked North East Asian country declared its independence from the Qing Dynasty, after the Mongolian Revolution of 1911. The country had been under the Qing rule for about 200 years.

1890 Wounded Knee Massacre
On this day, the U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry tried to disarm the members of the Lakota tribe who were camped at the Wounded Knee Creek. During their attempt, a shot was fired and the cavalry massacred over 150 members of the tribe including women and children. Many historians believe that the number of people massacred was much higher. Wounded Knee is near present-day Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the state of South Dakota
 
Births On This Day, December 29th 🎂

1972 Jude Law
English actor, director, producer

1953 Stanley Williams
American gang leader co-founded the Crips

1923 Cheikh Anta Diop
Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist

1809 William Ewart Gladstone
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1808 Andrew Johnson
American politician, 17th President of the United States

Deaths On This Day, December 29th 🪦

2009 Akmal Shaikh
Pakistani/English businessman, drug trafficker

1986 Harold Macmillan
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1929 Wilhelm Maybach
German businessman founded Maybach

1916 Grigori Rasputin
Russian monk

1170 Thomas Becket
English archbishop
 
On This Day In History, December 30th

2011 No December 30 in Samoa and Tokelau
The South Pacific Ocean Islands changed their time zone and moved west of the international dateline to align their time zone with their major trading partners, Australia and New Zealand. In doing so, they skipped December 30 and moved directly from December 29 to December 31. 119 years ago, Samoa had made a similar shift, eastwards of the dateline, to synchronize its time with the United States. Today, Samoa follows West Samoa Time, which is 13 hours ahead of UTC.

2006 Saddam Hussein executed
The deposed president of Iraq was hanged after he was found guilty of crimes against humanity. Hussein was the fifth president of Iraq and came to power after a coup in 1968.

2004 Highest barometric pressure ever recorded in recent history for locations 750 m above sea level
At 2 am local time, the atmospheric pressure in Tosontsengel, Mongolia rose to 846.5 hPa (adjusted for height above sea level).

1995 Lowest temperature ever recorded in the United Kingdom
Altnaharra, a small hamlet in northern Scotland, recorded a temperature of −27.2°C (-16.96 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature had dipped this low once before in the UK - in Braemar, East Scotland on January 10, 1982

1947 Last king of Romania steps down
Michael I was forced to abdicate by the Communist Party of Romania. His first reign over the country was in 1927 as a 6-year old, and it lasted only 3 years until 1930. He was then reinstalled in 1940.
 
Births On This Day, December 30th 🎂

1984 LeBron James
American basketball player

1975 Tiger Woods
American golfer

1946 Patti Smith
American singer-songwriter, poet

1865 Rudyard Kipling
English author, poet, and Nobel Prize laureate

1853 André Messager
French composer

Deaths On This Day, December 30th 🪦

2009 Abdurrahman Wahid
Indonesian politician, 4th President of Indonesia

2006 Saddam Hussein
Iraqi politician, 5th President of Iraq

1970 Sonny Liston
American boxer

1947 Alfred North Whitehead
English mathematician, philosopher

1896 José Rizal
Filipino polymath
 
On This Day In History, December 31st

2009 Both a blue moon and lunar eclipse occur
The next such event to happen on New Year's Eve will be in 2028.

1994 Date skipped in Kiribati
The Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands in Kiribati skip December 31st due to a change in their time zone from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.

1983 Coup in Nigeria
A military coup in Nigeria overthrew the civilian government of Shehu Shagari and installed Maj-Gen Muhammadu Buhari.

1909 Manhattan Bridge opens for traffic
The Manhattan Bridge, one of the first suspension bridges ever constructed, was opened to traffic on this day. The bridge was designed by Leon Moisseiff and crosses the East River in New York City.

1907 The first annual ball drop at Times Square
The annual tradition of dropping a ball at 11:59 pm to mark the start of the New Year was organised for the first time by Adolph Ochs, the owner of the New York Times.
 
Births On This Day, December 31st 🎂

1990 Patrick Chan
Canadian figure skater

1980 Richie McCaw
New Zealand rugby union footballer

1977 Psy
South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, dancer

1941 Alex Ferguson
Scottish footballer, manager

1869 Henri Matisse
French painter

Deaths On This Day, December 31st 🪦

2015 Natalie Cole
American singer-songwriter, actress

1985 Ricky Nelson
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor

1980 Marshall McLuhan
Canadian author, theorist

1972 Roberto Clemente
Puerto Rican baseball player

1889 Ion Creangă
Romanian author, educator
 
On This Day In History, January 1st

1999 The Euro becomes the official currency in 11 countries
While the Euro was already valid for bank transfers, notes and coins were introduced on January 1, 2002.

1993 Czechoslovakia is dissolved
The country was peacefully divided into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.

1992 The Russian Federation is founded
The formation of the Russian Federation followed the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

1958 The European Economic Community (EEC) is founded
The EEC was a predecessor of today's European Union (EU)

1912 Republic of China is founded
It was succeeded by the People's Republic of China in 1949.
 
Births On This Day, January 1st 🎂

1977 Bobby Roode
Canadian wrestler

1895 J. Edgar Hoover
American 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

1864 Alfred Stieglitz
American photographer

1863 Pierre de Coubertin
French historian, educator, founded the International Olympic Committee

1735 Paul Revere
American military officer

Deaths On This Day, January 1st 🪦

1997 Townes Van Zandt
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1958 Edward Weston
American photographer

1953 Hank Williams
American singer-songwriter, guitarist

1894 Heinrich Hertz
German physicist

1782 Johann Christian Bach
German composer
 
1st January

1651 Charles II was crowned King of Scotland at Scone, a village in Perth and Kinross.

1660 Samuel Pepys began writing the Diary which he kept for nine years, writing in an early form of shorthand.

1773 The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", was first used to accompany a sermon, led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire.

1781 The first all-iron bridge in the world, Iron Bridge in Shropshire was opened to traffic. The bridge was built by Abraham Darby III, from a design by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard.

1919 More than 200 men, returning home after the end of World War One, died when the naval yacht HMY Iolaire hit a reef in bad weather close to Stornoway harbour and sank just yards from the Lewis coastline.

1959 The President of Cuba, Fulgencio Batista, fled the country, his government in ruins, in the face of a relentless advance by the rebel army led by a 32-year-old lawyer, Fidel Castro.
 
On This Day In History, January 3rd

1994 Millions of people from the former Apartheid Homelands gain South African citizenship
The apartheid regime had stripped the black inhabitants of the right to citizenship to ensure a white majority of the de jure population.

1993 The second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) is signed
The U.S.A. and Russia agreed to reduce the number of nuclear warheads by about 3,000.

1961 The United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba
In April 1961, the U.S. government launched an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Cuban government by invading the country at the Bay of Pigs.

1959 Alaska becomes the 49th U.S. state
The territory had been bought from Russia in 1867 for a mere $7.2 million.

1957 The first electric watch is available
The Hamilton Electric 500 came in “modern” asymmetrical designs to reflect the revolutionary technology.
 
Births On This Day, January 3rd 🎂

1969 Michael Schumacher
German race car driver

1956 Mel Gibson
American/Australian actor, director, producer, screenwriter

1901 Ngo Dinh Diem
South Vietnamese politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam

1892 J. R. R. Tolkien
English philologist, author

1883 Clement Attlee
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Deaths On This Day, January 3rd 🪦

2010 Mary Daly
American philosopher, theologian

2005 Will Eisner
American illustrator

2003 Sid Gillman
American football player

1967 Jack Ruby
American murderer

1946 William Joyce
American/English politician, broadcaster
 
1853
Solomon North author of memoir'Twelve Years a Slave' is freed after 7 illegal years in slavery with help from Gov of NY, Washington Hunt
1871
oleomargarine is patent by Henry Bradley in Binghamton, NY
1929
businessman, William S.Paley becomes President of CBS until 1949
1941
U.S.&Canada acquire air bases in Newfoundland on a 99yr lease
1957
1st electric battery powered watch, the Hamilton 500 is introduced from the Hamilton Watch Company in Lancaster, PA, cost $175
1977
co founders, Steve Wozniak &Steve JObs incorporate Apple Computer,Inc
2022
Elizabeth Holmes, founder of blood testing start up, 'Theranos' is found guilty on 4 counts of fraud in San JOse,Calif. Her prison sentence is 11yrs, ordered to pay $451 mil in restitution
 
Jan 4th:
1865
New York Stock Exchange open its 1st permanent HQ at 10-12 Broad St near Wall St in NYC
1936
Billboard Magazine publishes its 1st hit parade,listing the top 10 songs of the week. The #1 song was'Stop, Look&Listen by jazz violinist,Joe Venute&his orchestra
1958
New Zealand explorer team led by Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole,using motor vehicles,1st since Ronald Amundsen did it in 1911
1979
state of Ohio reaches an out of court settlement with the relatives of the Kent State Univ shooting victims,paying $675,000 to each family
2007
The 110th U.S. Congress begins with Nancy Pelosi as the 1st female Speaker of the House
 
On This Day In History, January 5th

2005 The solar system's largest known dwarf planet is discovered
The discovery of “Eris” ultimately lead to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) downgrading Pluto, which is roughly the same size, to a dwarf planet.

1993 The MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands
The oil tanker spilt twice as much crude oil as the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

1968 The Prague Spring begins
The period of political liberalisation in Czechoslovakia began with the election of Alexander Dubček as the country's leader.

1933 Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is one of the best-known symbols of the United States.

1895 Alfred Dreyfus is sentenced to life imprisonment
The French artillery officer was accused of treason. He was later exonerated.
 
Births On This Day, January 5th 🎂

1969 Marilyn Manson
American singer-songwriter, actor, director

1932 Umberto Eco
Italian philosopher, author

1928 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Pakistani politician, 4th President of Pakistan

1876 Konrad Adenauer
German politician, Chancellor of West Germany

1779 Stephen Decatur
American navy officer

Deaths On This Day, January 5th🪦

2016 Pierre Boulez
French pianist, composer, conductor

1970 Max Born
German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1933 Calvin Coolidge
American politician, 30th President of the United States

1922 Ernest Shackleton
Irish explorer

1589 Catherine de' Medici
Italian/French wife of Henry II of France
 

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