Today in History

December 7, 1941: The Japs made a sneak attack against the USA at Pearl Harbor. People of my vintage will never forget although young people today seem to be totally unaware and uncaring.
 

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Dec 7th:
1909
chemist/inventor, Leo Baekland patents 1st thermosetting plastic' Bakelite" which sparks the beginning of the plastic industry
1939
NY Yankees legend, Lou Gehrig, age 36 is elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame 6 months after he retired
1941
The imperial Japanese Navy with 353 planes attacks U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor Naval base in Hawaii killing 2.403 people
1967
The Beatles open a clothing store'Apple Boutique' at 94 Baker St in London,closed 8 months later. 94 Baker street is now an office building
1995
rock band,'The Grateful Dead' disband after the death of Jerry Garcia
2020
singer/songwriter, Bob Dylan sells his entire songwriting catalog with over 600 songs to Universal Music Publishing for $300 million
2024
The restored Notre Dame Cathederal in Paris, France reopens after a 2019 fire with world leaders in attendance
 
December 8th

1864 The opening of the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon at Bristol, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel when he was aged just 24. A plaque on the bridge commemorates Brunel's work. There have been over 500 suicides since the bridge was opened, including the tragic death of Charlotte Bevan and her new-born baby Zaani Tiana, whose bodies were discovered at the foot of the gorge on 3rd and 4th of December 2014 respectively.
( I’ve sailed under it)





1941 The US, Britain and Australia declared war on Japan following the Pearl Harbour attack the previous day. The attack sank 9 ships of the American fleet and 21 ships were severely damaged. The overall death toll reached 2,403, including 68 civilians.




1952 Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth announced that she would permit her forthcoming coronation to be televised.




1967 The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" EP is released in UK; issued in US as an album, including additional singles from 1967
 

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December 9th1783The first executions took place at Newgate Prison. Prior to this, public executions were carried out at Tyburn gallows, which involved carting the prisoners from Newgate Prison through the crowded streets.



1854Lord Tennyson's poem, Charge of the Light Brigade was published. The Charge of the Light Brigade had been led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25th October 1854 in the Crimean War. The poem emphasized the valour of the cavalry in carrying out their orders, even though they knew that blunders had been made by those in command. Quote from the poem - 'Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.'





1888 – Statistician Herman Hollerith Installs His Computing Device at the United States War DepartmentOn December 9, 1888, statistician Herman Hollerith installed his revolutionary computing device at the United States War Department. Hollerith’s invention was an early form of a data processing machine, designed to efficiently tabulate and analyze large sets of data. Using punched cards to store information, his device significantly sped up the process of data handling and analysis.





1960The first episode of Coronation Street was screened on ITV. It is the world's longest-running television soap opera.
Who can forget Ena Sharples?




1966, Cream released their debut studio album 'Fresh Cream' in the UK



2014A notebook which showed the early work of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, was bought by Swansea University for £104,500. He had a long affinity with Laugharne, (Carmarthenshire) spending the last four years of his life in the Boathouse
 
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9th December

1882
First sighting of Australia's mythical Yowie is recorded

1941
Australia formally declares war on Japan

1974
Helen Reddy became Australia's first female artist to have a number one record on the US chart when "I Am Woman" reached the top of the Billboard hit parade.

2017
Same sex couples are now allowed to marry in Australia.
 
December 10th


1898The Treaty of Paris was signed.Signed by US President McKinley, this treaty brought an end to the Spanish-American War. It ended with the US acquiring the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

1884Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was first published in the UK and Canada



1541Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham were executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.



1845The Scottish civil engineer, Robert Thompson, patented pneumatic tyres. He was one of Scotland’s most prolific, but now largely forgotten, inventors. Tyre manufacture had to be by hand and they proved too expensive to be economically viable until Dunlop developed the process in 1888.




1868Whitaker’s Almanac reference book was published for the first time.Lasted until 2022.




1868The first traffic lights were installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they used semaphore arms and were illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.



In 1971, singer Frank Zappa was thrown from the stage of the Rainbow Theatre in London, breaking his leg and his ankle and fracturing his skull. A 24-year-old man said he did it because his girlfriend said she loved Zappa. Zappa spent months in a wheelchair recovering.
 
10th December

1979 Daredevil Kidd's 80ft river jump. Stuntman Eddie Kidd accomplished a "death-defying" motorcycle leap. During the spectacle he crossed an 80ft gap over a 50ft sheer drop above a viaduct on a 400cc motorcycle.

1988 Up to 45,000 people died and a further 500,000 made homeless after the devastating earthquake which ripped through Armenia, official figures revealed.

1990 The first of the hostages held in the Gulf for four-and-a-half months arrived in Britain after their release by Saddam Hussein. A total of 100 British hostages were freed and landed at Heathrow airport with the promise of a further 400 to follow.
 
December 11th




1282
Battle of Orewin Bridge: Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, in mid-Wales.



1602
A surprise attack by forces under the command of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. (Commemorated annually by the Fête de l'Escalade.)

1688James II fled to France, never to return and was forced to abdicate after William of Orange had landed in England on 5th November.


1769Venetian blinds were patented (in London) by Edward Beran.



1968 - ClassicBands.com

December 11
Filming began for The Rolling Stones ' Rock and Roll Circus, which included John and Yoko, The Who, Eric Clapton and Jethro Tull, along with clowns and acrobats. The film was intended to be shown on the BBC, but the Stones held it back because they felt their performance wasn't up to par. It would not be issued until 1996.
 
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11th December

1823 - Australia's oldest bridge, Richmond Bridge opens.

1964 - Soul/R&B singer Sam Cooke was shot and killed in a Los Angeles motel by the motel owner named Bertha Franklin.

1970 - 1st ever test match played at the WACA between Australia v England begins.

2005 - over 5,000 mostly Anglo-Australians assembled at Cronulla in Sydney’s south to ‘reclaim the beach from outsiders.
Violence erupted as the crowd attacked people of Middle Eastern appearance, sparking two further days of rioting.
Since called the Cronulla Race Riots.

2008 - Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge Medina criticized Madonna's first concert in Santiago, Chile, saying "This woman comes here and in an incredibly shameless manner, she provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts."
 
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1913
Mona Lisa painting is recovered 2yrs after it was stolen from Louvre Museum in Paris
1946
United Nations International Children's Fund{UNICEF} is established at U.N. General Assembly
1951
NYYankee's center fielder, JOe Di Maggio announces his retirement,he played 13 seasons 1936-1951 with the team
1992
Pres.George H.W. Bush bestows actress/ humanitarian,Audrey Hepburn with Presidental Medal of Freedom Award
2008
financier, Bernie Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in $50 billion Ponzi scheme, the largest in U. S. history. He pleads guilty to 11 federal felonies,sentenced to 150 yrs in federal prison.He died in 2021 age 82 in North Carolina
 
12th December

1953 - United Sates Air Force officer Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 (3000kmph - 1864mph) in Bell X-1A rocket plane.

1968 - Arthur Ashe become the first African American tennis player to be ranked Number 1.

1970 - The Doors played their last concert with Jim Morrison as lead singer at the Warehouse in New Orleans.

2003 - Mick Jagger was knighted by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
 
December 12th
884 ADKing Carloman II of West Francia was mortally wounded while out hunting.



1955 Christopher Cockerell patented his prototype of the hovercraft. He had tested his theories using a hair-dryer and tin cans and found his work to have potential, but the idea took some years to develop, and he was forced to sell personal possessions in order to finance his research. Hovertravel is the only scheduled passenger hovercraft service in Europe and it operates between Southsea, Portsmouth and Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

1966 English sailor Francis Chichester arrived at Sydney in his ketch Gipsy Moth IV - half way in his bid to become the first man to sail solo around the world. On 28 May 1967, after 226 days, he arrived back in Plymouth and became the first person to achieve a true, solo, circumnavigation of the world from West to East via the great capes. The voyage was also a race against the clock as Chichester wanted to better the typical times achieved by the fastest fully crewed clipper ships during the heyday of commercial sail in the 19th century.



1969 - ClassicBands.com

December 12
Apple Records releases "Live Peace in Toronto 1969" by The Plastic Ono Band. Recorded at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival on the previous September 13th, it was the first live album by any member of The Beatles, as a group or solo. It would peak at #10 in the US, but did not chart at all in the UK. Much of the blame for the failure of the album was aimed at Yoko Ono's two songs that took up the entire Side Two, which were described as "screaming", "wailing", "pitchless" and "brainless". Somehow, the LP managed to sell over 500,000 copies in America, earning a Gold Record.





December 12
The Magic Christian, a movie featuring Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers, premieres to negative reviews in London. The film also featured appearances by John Cleese, Raquel Welch, Christopher Lee, Richard Attenborough and Roman Polanski.
 
1899
George Bryant in Boston,Mass patents wooden golf tee
1911
Delhi replaces Calcutta as India's captial
1937
NBC&RCA send 1st mobile TV vans onto the streets in NYC
1946
Proctor&Gamble introduce' Tide' the world's 1st heavy duty synthetic detergent' to the public
1963
19yrold Frank Sinatra,Jr was kidnapped from his hotel room at Harrah's Lake Tahoe hotel held for 2 days.His father paid the $240,00 ransom
1980
Apple makes its initial public offering{IPO} on U.S. stock market. 38 yrs later it becomes 1st U.S. company valued over $1 trillion
2022
Emma Tucker, is appointed as the 1st female editor in chief at Wall St Journal newspaper. She oversees all global news gathering& editorial operations. She previously was editor of London Sunday Times
 

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