795 – Leo III begins his reign as Pope after his election the previous day
1521 – The “Zwickau Prophets” appear in Wittenberg
1741 – Prussian forces took Olmutz, Czechoslovakia
1951 – 40th Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Sydney (3-2)
1972 – New North Korean constitution comes into effect
1972 – LA Kings start Islanders on 12 game losing streak
1974 – Dear Abby show ends run on CBS radio after 11 years
1992 – “Les Miserables” opens at Ostregaswerks, Copenhagen
1992 – Harry Connick Jr is caught with 9mm gun in NY’s JFK airport
2013 – 29 people are killed after a bus plunged off the Huay Tong Bridge, Thailand
Author: gil7
Today in History for 27th December 2020
Historical Events
1512 – Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World
1945 – Arthur Laurent’s “Home of the Brave” premieres in NYC
1971 – 1st Fiesta Bowl: #8 Arizona State beats Florida State, 45-38
1974 – Dear Abby show ends run on CBS radio after 11 years
1984 – Padres’ free agent pitcher Ed Whitson signs with NY Yankees
1993 – Dow-Jones hits record 3792.93
Famous Birthdays
1814 – James Henry Carleton, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Lubec, Maine (d. 1873)
1874 – Max Ettinger, Jewish-German composer (Jiddische Requiem), born in Lwow, Poland (d. 1951)
1896 – Louis Bromfield, Mansfield Ohio, writer (Early Autumn, Pulitzer-1926)
1907 – Conrad L. Raiford, Goodwill Ambassador (d. 2002)
1944 – Mick Jones, English rock guitarist (Foreigner-Want to Know What Love is), born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England
1971 – Bryan Smolinski, NHL forward (Team USA, Pitts Penguins), born in Toledo, Ohio
Famous Deaths
1743 – Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter, dies at 84
1782 – Henry Home, Lord Kames, Scottish philosopher (b. 1697)
1812 – Shneur Zalman of Liadi, Lithuanian rabbi and founder of Chabad Hasidism (b. 1745)
1997 – Brendan Gill, American critic (The New Yorker), dies at 83
2003 – Ivan Calderón, Puerto Rican baseball outfielder (MLB All Star 1991; Chicago White Sox, Montreal Expos), dies from multiple firearm wounds at 41
2015 – Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer and director, dies at 93
Famous Deaths for 26th December 2020
1624 – Simon Marius, astronomer, dies in Bavaria at 54
1627 – Gonzaga, Italian monarch of Mantua/Monferrato, dies
1740 – Mauritius Louis II earl of Nassau, lt-gen (12 children), dies
1887 – Jules Francois Blasini, Curacaos pianist/composer, dies at 40
1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist who rediscovered Troy, dies of cholesteatoma at 86
1893 – Victor Schœlcher, French abolitionist writer, dies at 89
1950 – Emile Enthoven, Dutch composer and lawyer, dies at 47
1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and producer (Rio Bravo, Scarface, The Big Sleep), dies at 81
1985 – Dian Fossey, American zoologist (Gorillas in the Mist), murdered in Rwanda at 53
1997 – John Hinde, photographer/circus promoter, dies at 81
Historical Events for 26th December 2020
1809 – British invasionary troop leaves Vlissingen
1865 – James H Mason (Mass) patents 1st US coffee percolator
1917 – US Federal government took over operation of American railroads for duration of WW I
1918 – After spending Christmas with American troops in France, Wilson goes to London for preliminary discussions about the forthcoming peace conference
1962 – Dmitri Shostakovich’s opera “Katerina Ismailova” premieres in Moscow
1976 – The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.
1977 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1991 – Chuck Knolls retires as NFL coach after 23 years
2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) record one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts
2005 – Boxing Day shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto.
Today in History for 26th December 2020
Historical Events
1872 – 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18″)
1917 – 1st NHL defensemen to score a goal: Toronto Maple Leaf Harry Cameron
1976 – NFC Championship, Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington: Minnesota Vikings beat Los Angeles Rams, 24-13
1981 – One of the great day’s Test Cricket at the MCG Australia v West Indies
2001 – Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) record one of their largest 1-day jumps of the year as traders become convinced that OPEC will follow through on production cuts
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
Famous Birthdays
1778 – Juan Lovera, Venezuela, artist
1862 – Alexander Amfiteatrov, Russian-French-Italian writer, born in Kaluga, Russia (d. 1923)
1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter (d. 1980)
1920 – Gote Carlid, Swedish composer, born in Hogbo near Sandviken (d. 1953)
1961 – John Lynch, Irish actor, born in County Armagh, Northern Ireland
1979 – Mzbel [Nana Akua Amoah], Ghanaian singer (16 Years, Saucy Girl), born in Accra, Ghana
Famous Deaths
1350 – Jean de Marigny, French bishop
1950 – Emile Enthoven, Dutch composer and lawyer, dies at 47
1961 – Charlie Frank, cricketer (S Af Test centurion v Aust 1921-22), dies
1983 – Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
1989 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey defence player (‘100 Greatest NHL Players), dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 65
2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1937)
Famous Deaths for 25th December 2020
1676 – Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England (b. 1609)
1765 – Václav Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist, dies at 67
1824 – Barbara Juliane, baroness von Krüdener, Baltic German religious mystic, author, and Pietist Lutheran theologian, dies at 60
1842 – Bedrich Divis Weber, Bohemian composer and musicologist, dies at 76
1921 – Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (The Blind Musician), dies at 68
1933 – Francesc Macià, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (Library Gallimard), dies at 94
1995 – Dean Martin [Dino Paul Crocetti], American singer, comedian and actor (Martin and Lewis, The Dean Martin Show), dies of throat cancer at 78
2000 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, dies at 92
2014 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (England opening batsman late 50’s early 60’s), dies at 79
Historical Events for 25th December 2020
1194 – Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI crowned King of Sicily in Palermo Cathedral
1760 – Jupiter Hammon, an African American slave, composes poetry broadside “An Evening Thought” (1st poetry published by an African American 1761)
1923 – Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St NYC
1928 – Christmas Day attendance at cricket MCG (Vic v NSW) Australia is 14,887
1934 – Four centuries for SA as they make 7-644 v Qld before 6,180
1938 – George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the Wind”
1973 – Ballon d’Or: Ajax forward Johan Cruyff wins his second award for best European football player ahead of Juventus goalkeeper Dino Zoff and Bayern Munich striker Gerd Müller
1974 – Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
1979 – Ballon d’Or: Hamburg’s English forward Kevin Keegan wins his 2nd consecutive trophy as best football player in Europe; beats Bayern Munich forward Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Ajax sweeper Ruud Krol
1997 – Jerry Seinfeld announces the final season of his TV show “Seinfeld” will air the following year
Today in History for 25th December 2020
Historical Events
1814 – Reverend Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society holds the first Christian service in New Zealand on land, at Rangihoua
1896 – “Stars and Stripes Forever” written by John Philip Sousa
1923 – Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St NYC
1968 – Frank Borman’s Christmas reading while orbiting the Moon
1977 – 7th Fiesta Bowl: #8 Penn State beats #15 Arizona State, 42-30
1983 – 1st live telecast of Christmas Parade at the EPCOT Centre, Disney World Florida
Famous Birthdays
1250 – John IV Laskaris, Byzantine Emperor (d. circa 1305)
1829 – Patrick Gilmore, Irish-born American bandmaster and composer (When Johnny Comes Marching Home), born in Ballygar, Ireland (d. 1892)
1910 – Marguerite Churchill, American actress (Dracula’s Daughter, Big Trail), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2000)
1913 – Tony Martin [Alvin Morris], American singer (It’s a Blue World, To Each), born in San Francisco, California
1920 – Henry Charnock, oceanographer
1943 – Trevor Lucas, rocker (Fairport Convention)
Famous Deaths
1406 – Henry III, King of Castile and León (1390-1406), dies at 27
1943 – Raymond Huntington Woodman, composer, dies at 82
1953 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1865)
1988 – Edward Pelham-Clinton, 10th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (b. 1920)
1991 – Orane Demazis, French actress (Marius, Fanny et Caesar), dies at 87
2000 – Neil Hawke, Australian cricket fast bowler (27 Tests, 91 wickets), dies at 61
Famous Deaths for 24th December 2020
1869 – Edwin M[cMasters] Stanton, US Secretary of War (1861-65), dies at 55
1972 – Ernst Kreuder, German writer (The Attic Pretenders), dies at 69
1973 – Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Indian Social social activist and reformer, dies at 94
1984 – Ian Hendry, British actor (The Avengers, The Lotus Eaters), dies of a stomach haemorrhage at 53
1997 – Alan Fluck, musical educationalist, dies at 69
2009 – Rafael Caldera, lawyer, sociologist, writer, speaker, politician, and ex-president of Venezuela (b. 1916)
2010 – Elisabeth Beresford, British author and creator of The Wombles (b. 1926)
2012 – Ray Collins, American rock vocalist (Mothers of Invention), dies at 76
2012 – Charles Durning, American actor (Fury, Sting, Tootsie), dies from natural causes at 89
2017 – Heather Menzies-Urich, Canadian actress (The Sound of Music, Piranha), dies of cancer at 68
Historical Events for 24th December 2020
640 – John IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1515 – Thomas Wolsey appointed Lord Chancellor of England
1893 – Henry Ford completes his first useful petrol / gasoline fuelled engine
1953 – Wellington-Auckland (NZ) express train swept away in flood kills 166
1954 – Laos gains its independence
1954 – Council for the Protection of Children forms in Netherlands
1967 – Pirate Radio Pegasus starts broadcasting off New Zealand
1986 – French hostage Aurel Cornea, held in Lebanon for 9 months, released
1994 – Four Muslim fundamentalists capture Air France pilot in Algiers
2000 – The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery