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
Author: gil7
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
Today in History for 24th December 2020
Historical Events
1515 – Thomas Wolsey appointed Lord Chancellor of England
1832 – 1st US Negro hospital founded by whites chartered, Savannah, Georgia
1953 – René Coty elected president of France
1960 – Dutch bishops question papacy values
1999 – Opening of St Peter’s Holy Door by Pope John Paul II in approach of 3rd millennium
2001 – “Time Magazine” names New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani ‘Person of the Year’, for leadership after 9/11 attacks
Famous Birthdays
1879 – Émile Nelligan, Canadian francophone poet, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1941)
1930 – Robert Joffrey [Abdullah Jaffa Anver Bey Khan], American dancer, born in Seattle, Washington
1940 – Anthony Fauci, American immunologist (White House Coronavirus COVID-19 taskforce), born in Brooklyn, New York City
1949 – Warwick Brown, Australian racing driver, born in Sydney, Australia
1962 – Kate Spade, American fashion designer, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2018)
1974 – Ryan Seacrest, American television host, born in Dunwoody, Georgia
Famous Deaths
1914 – John Muir, Scottish naturalist and discoverer (glacier in High Seirras), dies of pneumonia at 76
1952 – Henry A “Hans” Kramers, Dutch theoretical physicist, dies at 58
1993 – Alexander Mackendrick, American-born Scottish director (Lady Killers), dies at 81
1994 – John Keith Wright, English Asst Sect of State (1971-84), dies at 66
2007 – Akbar Radi, Iranian dramatist and playwright (b. 1939)
2012 – Richard Rodney Bennett, English composer, dies at 76
Famous Deaths for 23rd December 2020
1688 – Jean-Louis Lully, French composer and son of Jean-Baptiste Lully, dies at 21
1744 – Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine, dies at 68
1795 – Henry Clinton, British army officer and politician, dies at 65
1972 – Andrej Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, dies at 84
1973 – Irna Phillips, American scriptwriter who created 6 soap operas (Guiding Light), dies at 72
2000 – Victor Borge [Borge Rosenbaum], Danish-American comedian and pianist, dies at 91
2001 – Bola Ige, Nigerian politician, Minister of Justice, murdered at 71
2007 – Michael Kidd, American film and stage choreographer (b. 1915)
2013 – Ricky Lawson, American musician, dies at 59
2013 – Yusef Lateef, American jazz saxophonist and flautist, dies at 93
Historical Events for 23rd December 2020
1862 – Union General Ben “Beast” Butler is proclaimed a “felon, outlaw and common enemy of mankind” by Jefferson Davis
1888 – Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear with a razor, after argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, and sends to a prostitute for safe keeping
1922 – BBC Radio began daily newscasts
1930 – Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in NYC
1970 – French author Régis Debray freed in Bolivia
1970 – A Protestant man is shot dead at his home in Belfast, North Ireland
1974 – “Good News” opens at St James Theater NYC for 16 performances
1991 – NY Daily News publisher Kevin Maxwell resigns
1997 – Ballon d’Or: Barcelona/Inter’s Brazilian striker Ronaldo wins his first of 2 best football player in Europe awards ahead of Real Madrid forward Predrag Mijatović and Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane
2003 – PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field explosion, Guoqiao, Kai, Chongqing, China, killing at least 234.
Today in History for 23rd December 2020
Historical Events
1920 – Government of Ireland Act / Home Rule Act passed partitioning Ireland
1921 – Visva-Bharati University is inaugurated in Santiniketan, West Bengal, India, founded by Rabindranath Tagore
1941 – Japan begins assault on Rangoon, Burma
1961 – Train accident in Italy, 70 die
1968 – 82 members of US intelligence ship Pueblo released by North Korea
1973 – 6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices
Famous Birthdays
1544 – Anna, duchess of Saxson/wife of prince Willem of Orange (1561-71)
1613 – Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish soldier (d. 1676)
1914 – Dezider Kardos, Slovak composer, born in Nadlice, Slovakia (d. 1991)
1921 – Gerald S O’Loughlin, American actor and director (Storefront Lawyer, Rookies, Wheels), born in NYC, New York (d. 2015)
1973 – Tony Graziani, American football quarterback (Atlanta Falcons), born in Las Vegas, Nevada
1975 – Sky Lopez, American actress, born in Stillwater, Minnesota
Famous Deaths
558 – Childebert, king of France (511-58), dies at about 62
1805 – Pehr Osbeck, Swedish explorer and naturalist (b. 1723)
1930 – Johannes H. Been, Brielle archivist, dies at 71
1972 – Andrej Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder, dies at 84
1982 – Norman Dinerstein, American composer, dies of a heart attack at 45
1995 – David Land, impresario and theatre producer, dies at 77
Famous Deaths for 22nd December 2020
1660 – André Tacquet, Flemish mathematician (b. 1612)
1738 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer, dies at 56
1806 – William Vernon, American merchant (b. 1719)
1964 – Bonifacio Gil Garcia, Spanish composer and folklorist, dies at 66
1965 – Al Ritz [Joaquim], American actor (Gorilla, Hi Ya Chum), dies at 62
1973 – Domingo Julio Gomez Garcia, composer, dies at 87
1979 – Darryl F. Zanuck, American film producer and President (20th Century Fox), dies at 77
1997 – Johnny Coles, trumpeter, dies at 71
2003 – Dave Dudley, American country singer (Six Days on the Road), dies at 75
2013 – Ed Herrmann, American baseball player, dies from prostate cancer at 67
Historical Events for 22nd December 2020
1772 – Moravian missionary constructs 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny
1885 – Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan
1936 – 1st common carrier license issued by ICC, Scranton, Pa
1946 – Cleveland Browns beat NY Yankees 14-9 in AAFC championship game
1959 – NY Ranger goalie Marcel Paille wears a customized mask
1969 – Pete Marovich sets NCAA record of hitting 30 of 31 foul shots
1977 – 36 die as grain elevator at Continental Grain Company plant explodes
1985 – 74th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Germany in Munich (3-2)
1990 – Paul Coffey becomes the second NHL defenceman to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games
2012 – 6 people are killed by a car bomb in Damascus
Today in History for 22nd December 2020
Historical Events
1919 – US deports 250 alien radicals, including anarchist Emma Goldman
1931 – Retrospective show of Mexican artist Diego Rivera opens at The Museum of Modern Art in New York
1965 – “Doctor Zhivago” based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, directed by David Lean and starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie premieres in NYC
1976 – “Your Arm’s Too Short…” opens at Lyceum NYC for 429 performances
1983 – Islanders score 3 shorthanded goals against Caps
1997 – Hunter Tylo awarded $4 million in Melrose Place breach of contract
Famous Birthdays
1684 – Johann J Dillenius [Dillen], German botanist (Historia Muscorum), born in Darmstadt, Germany (d. 1747)
1903 – Marc Lavry, Israeli composer, born in Riga, Latvia (d. 1967)
1945 – Joris J. C. Voorhoeve, Dutch Defense minister (1994-, VVD), born in the Hague, Netherlands
1947 – Dilip Doshi, Indian cricketer (India’s main slow lefty post-Bedi), born in Rajkot, India
1970 – Ted Cruz [Rafael Edward], Canadian-born US politician (Senate-R-Texas 2013-), born in Calgary. Alberta
1977 – Joanna Hughes, Australian gymnast (Olympics 1996), born in Victoria, Australia
Famous Deaths
1867 – Théodore Rousseau, French painter, dies at 55
1873 – Charles Lenox Remond, African-American orator and abolitionist, dies at 63
1940 – Nathanael West [Weinstein], American writer (Cool Million), dies at 37
1942 – Franz Boas, German-American anthropologist and linguist (Mind of Primitive Man), dies 84
1990 – Cecil Effinger, composer, dies at 76
2018 – Paddy Ashdown, British MP, leader of Liberal Democrats (1988-1999), dies of bladder cancer at 77
Famous Deaths for 21st December 2020
1597 – Saint Peter Canisius, Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest, dies at 76
1807 – John Newton, English cleric and hymnist, died at 82
1928 – Harry Butt, cricketer (England wicket-keeper v South Africa 1895-96), dies
1980 – Marc Connelly, American playwright (One Minute Please), dies at 90
1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-British biologist and zoologist (Nobel 1973), dies at 81
1995 – Trenchard Cox, British museum director, dies at 90
1996 – Margaret E Rey, author of children’s books, dies at 90
1998 – Roger Avon, British actor (Doctor Who, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.), dies at 84
2003 – M. J. Gopalan, Indian cricketer (1 Test India v England 1933-34), dies at 94
2017 – Bruce McCandless II, American aviator, electrical engineer and astronaut who made the 1st untethered space walk (STS 41B, STS-31), dies at 80