1676 – Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1609)
1842 – Bedrich Divis Weber, Bohemian composer and musicologist, dies at 76
1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
1942 – Vojislav Vuckovic, composer, dies at 32
1980 – Louis Neefs, Belgian singer, dies at 43
1997 – Anatoli Boukreev, mountaineer, dies at 39
2010 – Bud Greenspan, American documentary maker (Olympic Games), dies at 84
2013 – Mike Hegan, American baseball player, dies from heart failure at 71
2018 – Nancy Roman, American, NASA’s first chief of astronomy ‘Mother of the Hubble’, dies at 93
2020 – Tony Rice, American bluegrass guitarist (J.D. Crowe and the New South), dies at 69
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 25th December 2021
390 – Roman emperor Theodosius admits debt on mass murder in Thessalonica
1643 – Christmas Island founded and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
1776 – George Washington crosses Delaware, surprises and defeats 1,400 Hessians
1931 – Fleetwood-Smith takes 5-69 Victoria v Tas at Hobart
1939 – Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th red-nosed reindeer
1939 – Grimmett and Ward rip through Qld except Bill Brown (156)
1959 – A synagogue in Cologne Germany desecrated with swatstikas
1968 – 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers
1969 – 5 Israeli gunboats escape from Cherbourg harbor
1976 – Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed
Today in History for 25th December 2021
Historical Events
1902 – Pope Leo XIII, at his annual Christmas reception, endorses the Christian Democratic movement now emerging in Europe as an attempt to offer an alternative to more radical movements
1905 – V Herbert/H Blossoms musical “Mlle Modiste” premieres in NYC
1947 – Constitution of the Republic of China comes into effect
1959 – Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market
1987 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured
2009 – Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years in prison in Beijing, China for “inciting subversion of state power”
Famous Birthdays
1808 – Stephen Cleeg Rowan, Commander (Union Navy), (d. 1890)
1907 – Mike Mazurki, Austrian-American actor and professional wrestler (Some Like It Hot, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World), born in Tarnopol, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (d. 1990)
1942 – Mani Kaul, director (Idiot, Nazar, Dhrupad, Duvidha)
1944 – Kenny Everett [Maurice James Christopher Cole], British DJ and TV personality (Kenny Everett Show), born in Seaforth, Lancashire, England (d. 1995)
1956 – Mansoor Akhtar, Pakistani cricket batsman (19 Tests, 1 x 100, 3 x 50s; 41 ODIs; UBL, Sind, Karachi), born in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricket batsman (76 Tests, 14 x 100s, HS 219; 123 ODIs; Somerset CCC), born in Keynsham, England
Famous Deaths
1883 – Marek Konrad Sokolowski, Polish guitarist and composer, dies at 65
1895 – Raul Pompeia, Brazilian writer (O Ateneu), dies at 32
1973 – İsmet İnönü, Turkish statesman (b. 1884)
1979 – Joan Blondell, American actress (Real McCoys), dies of leukemia at 73
1990 – Marguerite N Wittenberg, entertainer, dies of cancer at 77
1999 – Peter Jeffrey, British character actor (Dr Phibes Rides Again, Twinsanity), dies at 70
Famous Deaths for 24th December 2021
1541 – Andreas R Bodenstein von Carlstadt, radical Lutheran, dies at about 61
1862 – Joseph Funk, early American composer, dies at 84
1868 – Adolphe d’Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist, dies at 66
1957 – Norma Talmadge, American silent screen actress (Within the Law, Sign on Bay), dies at 64
1976 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
1992 – Robert “Bobby” LaKind, American conga player, vocalist, songwriter and occasional backup drummer (The Doobie Brothers), dies from terminal colon cancer at 47
1994 – John Eastburn Boswell, medievalist, dies at 47
1998 – Raemer Schreiber, American Physicist (Manhattan Project) who helped develop the first atomic bomb during World War II and prepared the Fat Man bomb that was used in the bombing of Nagasaki, dies at 88
2003 – Herman Keiser, American golfer (US Masters 1946), dies of Alzheimer’s disease complications at 89
2009 – Rafael Caldera, lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker, politician, and ex-president of Venezuela (b. 1916)
Historical Events for 24th December 2021
1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook
1832 – 1st US Negro hospital founded by whites chartered, Savannah, Georgia
1851 – Fire devastates US Library of Congress in Washington, destroys 35,000 volumes
1912 – Irving Fisher patents archiving system with index cards
1928 – George Abbott Theater (Adelphi, 54 St) opens at 152 W 54th St NYC
1932 – Arturo Alessandri wins presidential election in Chile
1935 – National Council of Negro Women forms
1950 – National Football League Championship, Cleveland Stadium: Cleveland Browns beat LA Rams, 30-28; Cleveland has 5 interceptions, Rams 1
1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
2001 – “Time Magazine” names New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ‘Person of the Year’, for leadership after 9/11 attacks
Today in History for 24th December 2021
Historical Events
1798 – Russia and Britain sign Second anti-French Coalition
1922 – BBC broadcasts first British radio play “The Truth about Father Christmas”
1930 – F Garcia Lorca’s “La Zapatera Prodigiosa” premieres in Madrid
1953 – René Coty elected president of France
1966 – Soviet spacecraft Luna 13 lands on Moon
1973 – Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200
Famous Birthdays
1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1873)
1910 – William “Bill” Pickering, NASA scientist (JPL), born in Wellington, New Zealand (d. 2004)
1916 – (Eduardo) “Lalo” Guerrero, American guitarist, Chicano singer-songwriter (Los Carlistas), and women’s rights activist, born in Tucson, Arizona (d. 2005)
1949 – Ray Colcord III, American film and television composer, born in NYC, New York (d. 2016)
1968 – Marleen Renders, Belgian athlete, born in Diest, Belgium
1992 – Melissa Suffield, English actress, born in London, England
Famous Deaths
1869 – Edwin Stanton, US Secretary of War during most of the American Civil War (1861-65) and US Attorney General (1860-61), dies at 55
1914 – John Muir, Scottish naturalist and discoverer (glacier in High Seirras), dies of pneumonia at 76
1963 – Raphaël Verwilghen, Belgian architect, and urban planner, dies at 78
1996 – Edward Leadbitter, politician, dies at 77
1997 – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman and founder of Quebecor, dies at 72
2014 – Boniface “Buddy” DeFranco, Italian-American jazz clarinetist and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra), dies at 91
Famous Deaths for 23rd December 2021
1891 – Holger Simon Paulli, Danish conductor and composer, dies at 81
1902 – Frederick Temple, 95th Archbishop of Canterbury, dies at 81
1907 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer, discovered helium, dies at 83
1945 – Mogens Klitgaard, Danish author (Brunkul), dies at 39
1962 – George Saiko, Austrian writer, dies at 70
1966 – Heimito von Doderer, Austrian writer, dies at 70
1989 – Josef Alexander, composer, dies at 82
2001 – Bola Ige, Nigerian politician, Minister of Justice, murdered at 71
2007 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist and composer, dies of kidney failure at 82
2019 – Duncan MacKay, Scottish soccer defender (14 caps; Celtic 162 games), dies at 82
Historical Events for 23rd December 2021
1688 – King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch flees to France from William of Orange
1692 – Nahum Tate is appointed the third Poet Laureate by English monarchs William and Mary
1912 – Indian revolutionary underground in Bengal and Punjab, headed by Rash Behari Bose attempt to assassinate Viceroy of India Lord Hardinge, by throwing homemade bomb into Viceroys’s Howdah (elephant carriage) during ceremonial procession in Delhi. Although wounded, the Viceroy survives. Investigations lead to the Delhi conspiracy trial.
1939 – Finnish counter offensive at Summa
1945 – Pope Pius XII encyclical Orientals omnes, about Rutheense church
1946 – University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne University after they suggested they may use a black player in their basketball game
1958 – Musical Revue “Party with Comden and Green” opens at John Golden NYC for 38 performances
1970 – USSR performs nuclear test
1971 – US President Richard Nixon commutes remaining 8 years of Teamsters labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa’s 13-year jail term for bribery and fraud
2005 – Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan, to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashes shortly after takeoff killing 23 people.
Today in History for 23rd December 2021
Historical Events
1692 – Nahum Tate is appointed the third Poet Laureate by English monarchs William and Mary
1917 – 3 British warships come close to Holland
1930 – Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in NYC
1937 – First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber
1958 – Musical Revue “Party with Comden and Green” opens at John Golden NYC for 38 performances
1974 – “Good News” opens at St James Theater NYC for 16 performances
Famous Birthdays
1544 – Anna, duchess of Saxson/wife of prince Willem of Orange (1561-71)
1923 – Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist and radio host, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 2008)
1923 – James Stockdale, American admiral (Vietnam) andRoss Perot’s 1992 running mate, born in Abingdon, Illinois (d. 2005)
1951 – Johnny Contardo, American doo-wop singer (Sha Na Na), born in Boston, Massachusetts
1971 – Masayoshi Yamazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter, born in Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
1981 – Beth [Elisabeth Rodergas Cols], Spanish singer and actress, born in Súria, Catalonia
Famous Deaths
1675 – Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602)
1911 – Karl Hoschna, Bohemian born Tin Pan Alley-era composer (Every Little Movement), dies at 34
1975 – Richard S Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, shot dead
1992 – Eddie Hazel, American pop guitarist (Funkadelic-Knee Deep), dies at 42
2004 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (1991-96), dies of a heart attack at 83
2010 – Fred Hargesheimer, American World War II pilot (b. 1916)
Famous Deaths for 22nd December 2021
1828 – Rachel Jackson, wife of 7th US President Andrew Jackson, dies of heart failure
1867 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer who was one of the founders of modern projective geometry, dies at 79
1867 – Théodore Rousseau, French painter, dies at 55
1873 – Charles Lenox Remond, African-American orator and abolitionist, dies at 63
1902 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Austro–German psychiatrist and author (Psychopathia Sexualis), dies at 62
1974 – Fosco Giachetti, Italian actor (Wastrel, We the Living), dies at 74
1995 – James Meade, English economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1907)
1996 – Hetta Empson, South African-British artist, dies at 81
1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese director, commits suicide at 64
2010 – Fred Foy, American radio and television announcer (b. 1921)