1767 – Van Ritter von Glucks opera “Alceste” premieres
1826 – Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
1838 – Battle of Blood River: Zulu impis defeated by Voortrekkers in South Africa (Great Trek)
1850 – Ships the Charlotte-Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand
1897 – 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
1940 – WWII: British air raid on Mannheim, Germany
1989 – Protest breaks out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor, László Tőkés.
2012 – Corinthians defeat Chelsea 1-0 to win the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup
Author: gil7
Today in History for 16th December 2025
Historical Events
1877 – Anton Bruckner reluctantly steps in to conduct the premiere of his “Symphony No. 3,” dedicated to Richard Wagner; it is a critical disaster and undergoes many revisions
1923 – National Football League Championship: undefeated Canton Bulldogs (11-0-1) repeat as champions
1962 – Nepal establishes its constitution and becomes a Constitutional Hindu Monarchy
1990 – Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
1993 – Jule Styne, Norman and Bob Merrill’s musical “Red Shoes”, based on the 1948 film, opens at Gershwin Theater, NYC; runs for 5 performances
Famous Birthdays
1915 – Georgy Sviridov, Soviet Russian neo-romantic composer (The Blizzard; Time; Forward!), born in Fatezh, Kursk Governorate, Russian Empire (d. 1998)
1944 – N!xau [ǂToma], Namibian farmer and actor (The Gods Must Be Crazy), born in Tsumkwe, Namibia (d. 2007)
1946 – Adriaan van Dis, Dutch author (Promised Country), born in Bergen aan Zee, Netherlands
1971 – Laurence Cottle, Welsh session rock, jazz, and jazz-fusion bass guitarist and composer (Earthworks; Alan Parsons Project; Black Sabbath), born in Swansea, Wales
1979 – Trevor Immelman, South African golfer (US Masters 2008), born in Cape Town, Western Cape
Famous Deaths
882 – John VIII, Italian Pope (872-82), dies
1921 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (Samson et Dalila; Organ Symphony), dies of a heart attack at 86
1984 – Debs Garms, American baseball utility (World Series 1944 St. Louis Cardinals; NL batting champion 1940 Pittsburgh Pirates), dies at 77
2006 – Taliep Petersen, South African singer and composer (b. 1950)
2020 – Kálmán Sóvári, Hungarian soccer defender (17 caps; Újpesti Dózsa, VM Egyetértés), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 15th December 2025
1598 – Philip van Marnix, Flemish ruler of St Aldegonde and poet, dies at 58
1699 – Henrik van Reede tot Drakenstein, Dutch botanist and VOC official, dies at about 63
1831 – Paulus Roelof Cantz’laar, Dutch naval officer, and colonial governor (Curaçao, 1820-28; Dutch West Indies, 1828-31), dies at 60
1880 – Carlo Boncompagni di Mombello, Italian minister of Justice, dies at 76
1924 – T. Frank Appleby, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives – (R) New Jersey, 1921-23), dies at 60
1968 – Antonio J. Barrette, French Canadian politician, premier of Quebec, dies at 69
1984 – Jan Peerce [Jacob Pincus Perelmuth], American tenor (NBC Symphony, 1938-55; NY Metropolitan Opera, 1941-67; “Bluebird of Happiness”), dies at 80
1986 – Serge Lifar, Russian-French ballet dancer (Ballet Russes, 1923-29), ballet master (Paris Opera Ballet, 1930-44 and 1947-58), and choreographer, dies at 81
2009 – Carolyn DeZurik, American country and polka singer and yodeler (The Cackle Sisters; Prairie Ramblers; The Polka Chips), dies at 90
2022 – Shirley Eikhard, Canadian Juno Award-winning country singer-songwriter (Something to Talk About), dies of cancer at 67
Historical Events for 15th December 2025
1791 – First US law school is established at the University of Pennsylvania
1914 – Serbian troops retake Belgrade in Austria-Hungary
1969 – San Francisco Fire Department replaces leather helmets with plastic ones
1980 – ZBZ Sangha registered after 5 yrs of administrative hassles in Warsaw
1986 – CIA director William J. Casey suffers a cerebral seizure
1993 – Y-12 crashes at Phonesavanh, Laos: 18 killed
2024 – Five members of the “Bali Nine”, arresting for smuggling drugs out of Indonesia in 2005, return to Australia after serving nearly 20 years in prison
2024 – More than 50 people are killed in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes as the death toll for Palestinians killed in the Israel-Gaza War surpasses 45,000
Today in History for 15th December 2025
Historical Events
1930 – Occasional leg-spin bowler Don Bradman takes his 1st of only 2 Test cricket wickets when he traps West Indian batsman Ivan Barrow lbw for 27 in the 1st Test in Adelaide
1984 – USSR launches Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley’s Comet
2011 – ESPN and the NCAA extend their TV rights deal through 2023-24, giving the network worldwide multi-media rights to 24 NCAA championships for various sports; deal worth $500m
2015 – 1,000 schools closed in Los Angeles after a email threat, supposedly from jihadists
2019 – Raiders play their final NFL game in Oakland conceding 17 unanswered 2nd half points to go down 20-16 to the Jacksonville Jaguars; team to play out of Las Vegas in 2020
Famous Birthdays
130 – Lucius Verus, Roman emperor, born in Rome, Italy (d. 169)
1925 – Jack Rothstein, British concert violinist (London Czech Trio), conductor (Viennese Orchestra of London), and session player (The Beatles – “I Am the Walrus”; “Within You Without You”; Paul McCartney – “Here Today”), born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 2001)
1938 – Bob Foster, American boxer (world light-heavyweight champion 1968-74), born in Lubbock, Texas (d. 2015)
1939 – Dave Clark, British rock drummer, singer-songwriter, and producer (Dave Clark Five – “Glad All Over”), born in Tottenham, Middlesex, England
1948 – David Gwillim, English actor (Island at Top of the World), born in Plymouth, Devon, England
Famous Deaths
1924 – T. Frank Appleby, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives – (R) New Jersey, 1921-23), dies at 60
1947 – George L. Funke, Dutch botanist (Flower Physiology), dies after an operation at 50
1994 – Hans de Jong, Dutch conductor (De Damrakkertjes; Amsterdams Vrouwenkoor), dies at 86
2001 – Russ Haas, American professional wrestler, dies of a heart attack at 27
2003 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey defenseman (NHL All Star 1971, 72; Chicago Black Hawks), dies in a motor vehicle accident at 56
Famous Deaths for 14th December 2025
1886 – Antoni Wincenty Rutkowski, Polish-Russian composer, dies at 27
1951 – Coretté Alefred [Hardy], American-Russian-Soviet jazz, spiritual and pop lyrical and dramatic soprano, dancer, and actress, dies at 70
1958 – Joseph Vandemeulebroek, Belgian politician (Mayor of Brussels,1939-41 and 1944-56), dies at 82
1967 – Frank Moran, American heavyweight boxer and film actor, dies of a heart attack at 80
1989 – Konrad Lechner, German cellist, composer, and conductor, dies at 78
1990 – Hope Sansberry, American actress (Rats are Coming), dies at 94
1998 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist, dies at 74
2000 – Ralph Louis Wain, British agricultural scientist, dies at 89
2003 – Don Conicannon, British miner, labor union official and politician (Member of Parliament, 1966-87), dies at 73
2012 – Klaus Köste, German gymnast, dies at 69
Historical Events for 14th December 2025
1575 – Polish Parliament selects Istvan Bathory as king of Poland
1702 – The Forty-seven Ronin (leaderless samurai), under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master in Japan
1977 – Test Cricket debut of Pakistan spin bowling great Abdul Qadir v England in 1st Test at Lahore
1983 – Biographical drama film “Silkwood”, directed by Mike Nichols, and starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Cher premieres
1984 – Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires from Monday Night Football
1993 – Muslim fundamentalists murder 12 Croats and Bosnians in Algeria
1997 – Revival of Arthur Miller’s dramatic play “A View From the Bridge”, starring Anthony LaPaglia, Allison Janney, and Brittany Murphy. opens at the Criterion Theater, NYC; runs for 239 performance, wins 2 Tony and 4 Drama Desk Awards
2017 – The Walt Disney Company buys most of 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion
Today in History for 14th December 2025
Historical Events
1925 – Alban Berg’s first opera “Wozzeck” premieres with the Berlin State Opera in Berlin, Germany
1944 – Beginning of Liese-Aktion: Germany tries to recruit Dutch men for the Germany labor force
1969 – “Leaving on a Jet Plane” single sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, written by John Denver, hits #1 on US Billboard’s Hot Top 100
1975 – WCPR (Brooklyn New York pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620 AM
1988 – Spanish General strike to protest austerity measures
Famous Birthdays
1895 – George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1936-52), born in Norfolk, England (d. 1952)
1901 – Paul I, King of Greece (1947-64), born at Tatoi Palace in Parnitha, Kingdom of Greece (d. 1964)
1927 – Koss Rietkerk, Dutch internal minister (VVD) (1982-86), born in Boskoop, Netherlands (d. 1986)
1927 – Richard Cassilly, American tenor, born in Washington, D.C. (d. 1998)
1975 – Tamecka Dixon, American WNBA guard (LA Sparks), born in Linden, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
1417 – John Oldcastle, English nobleman and pro-protestant Lollard leader, whom Shakespeare based his Falstaff character on, hanged for heresy at 39
1998 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist, dies at 74
2012 – Kenneth Kendall, British broadcaster (BBC News, Treasure Hunt), dies from a stroke at 88
2017 – Lones Wigger, American competitive rifle shooter (Olympic gold/silver-1964, 72), dies at 80
2017 – Yú Guāngzhōng [Yu Kwang-chung], Taiwanese poet, essayist, and translator (Nostalgia), dies from respiratory failure at 89
Famous Deaths for 13th December 2025
1124 – Callistus/Callixtus II [Guido di Borgogna], Italian Pope (1119-24), dies
1793 – Johann Joachim Christoph Bode, German literary translator, dies at 63
1862 – Maxcy Gregg, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies in Battle of Fredericksburg at 48
1868 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer, dies at 74
1894 – Sarah Parker Remond, African-American abolitionist, dies at 68
1908 – Augustus Le Plongeon, French-American photographer and antiquitarian, dies at 83
1934 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell in inventing the telephone, dies at 80
1935 – Victor Grignard, French chemist (Nobel 1912 – development of the Grignard reaction), dies at 64
1945 – Irma Grese, German Nazi concentration camp guard known as the “Hyena of Auschwitz”, and convicted war criminal, executed by hanging at 22
1963 – Hubert ME Pierlot, Belgian advocate/premier (1939-45), dies at 79
Historical Events for 13th December 2025
1294 – Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months, hoping to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit
1570 – Sweden and Denmark signs Peace of Stettin
1643 – English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
1895 – First complete performance of Gustav Mahler’s 2nd Symphony (“Resurrection”), in Berlin, Germany, conducted by the composer
1979 – Strikes against price increases in Gdańsk, Poland
1982 – Australian Open Men’s Tennis: South African Johan Kriek wins 2nd straight Australian title; repeats previous year’s win over American Steve Denton 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
1990 – Revival of Leigh, Charlap, Styne, Comden and Green’s musical “Peter Pan”, starring Cathy Rigby, opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater, NYC; runs for 45 performances
2023 – COP28 in Dubai ends with agreement from 190 counties to begin “transitioning away from fossil fuels”, a compromise but still the first to directly address an end to fossil fuels