1723 – Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI’s Pragmatic Sanction with the Diet of Hungary recognizes the King’s daughters as successors
1862 – US President Abraham Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
1903 – Sumatra Atjehs guerilla leader Panglima Polim surrenders
1914 – German troops over run Lodz
1922 – 1st electric power line commercial carrier in US, Utica, NY
1973 – Bahrain’s constitution goes into effect
1984 – Helena Suková snaps Martina Navratilova’s 74-match winning streak 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the semi finals of the Australian Open in Melbourne; ends Navratilova’s hopes of completing the Grand Slam
2022 – Donald Trump’s real estate company Trump Organization convicted of tax fraud in New York
Author: gil7
Today in History for 6th December 2025
Historical Events
1060 – Béla I is crowned King of Hungary in Székesfehérvár
1969 – Oscar Brown, Jr’s musical “Buck White”, starring Muhammad Ali, closes at George Abbott Theatre, NYC, after 7 performances
1990 – Baseball player “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s signature sells for $23,100 at auction
2008 – 4th ACC Championship Game: Virginia Tech beats #18 Boston College, 30-12
2017 – Skirball wildfire near Los Angeles closes the Interstate 405 as thousands forced to evacuate
Famous Birthdays
1822 – John Eberhard Faber, German-American pencil manufacturer and built 1st large-scale pencil factory in US, born in Stein Bavaria, Germany (d. 1879)
1919 – Willis Whitfield, American physicist and inventor of the clean room, born in Rosedale, Oklahoma (d. 2012)
1949 – Peter Willey, English cricketer (England batsman late 70’s early 80’s), born in Sedgefield, County Durham, England
1955 – Steven Wright, American stand-up comedian (Steven Wright Live), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts
1971 – Naozumi Takahashi, Japanese singer and voice actor, born in Ōshū, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
Famous Deaths
1959 – Len Doyle, American actor (Harrington-Mr District Attorney), dies at 66
1983 – Lucienne Boyer, French singer (Parlez-moi d’amour), dies at 82
1989 – Frances Bavier, American Emmy Award-winning stage and screen actress (The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry, RFD – “Aunt Bee”), dies of congestive heart failure at 86
1995 – James Reston, American journalist (New York Times), dies at 86
1997 – Eliot Daniel, American composer (I Love Lucy theme), dies at 89
Famous Deaths for 5th December 2025
1675 – John Lightfoot, English theologist and scholar (Horae Hebraicae), dies at 73
1745 – Christoph Förster, German composer, dies at 52
1916 – Hans Richter, Austrian-Hungarian orchestral and opera conductor who led first complete performance of Richard Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus (1876), dies at 73
1931 – Vachel Lindsay, American poet (b. 1879)
1968 – Fred Clark, American actor (Zotz, Auntie Mame), dies of liver ailment at 54
1977 – Aleksandr Vasilevsky, Soviet military commander (b. 1895)
1996 – Wilf Carter, Canadian country and western singer-songwriter, yodeler, and guitarist, also known as “Montana Slim”, dies at 91
2007 – Andrew Imbrie, American contemporary classical composer, and pianist, dies at 86
2013 – Colin Wilson, English writer (Afterlife, Book of Great Mysteries), dies at 82
2023 – Norman Lear, American Peabody and Emmy Award-winning TV writer and producer (All in The Family; One Day at a Time; The Jeffersons; Maude), and film director (Cold Turkey), dies at 101
Historical Events for 5th December 2025
1832 – Andrew Jackson re-elected US President after defeating Henry Clay
1859 – Dion Boucicault’s stage melodrama “The Octaroon” opens at The Winter Garden Theatre, NYC
1892 – Anti-semite Hermann Ahlwardt elected to Germany’s Reichstag
1928 – England defeats Australia by record 675 runs at Brisbane
1945 – Dutch Special Council of Annulment affirms death sentence of radio presenter Max Blokzijl for broadcasting Nazi propaganda
1960 – Ghana drops diplomatic relations with Belgium
1983 – LA Dodger pitcher Steve Howe is suspended for 1 year for cocaine use
2019 – Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, announces articles of impeachment against US President Donald Trump will be drawn up for abuse of power
Today in History for 5th December 2025
Historical Events
1914 – CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts win first Championship; beat U of Toronto Blues, 14-2
1941 – Soviet anti-offensive in Moscow drives out Nazi army
1982 – Dutch judoka Ingrid Berghmans retains judo’s world championship
1991 – “Catskills on Broadway” opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 452 performances
2006 – Audrey Hepburn’s Givenchy little black dress from film “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is auctioned for charity for a record £467,200 ($923,187) at Christie’s, London
Famous Birthdays
1855 – Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist and ornithologist, born in New York City (d. 1942)
1901 – Hanns Jelinek, Austrian composer, born in Vienna (d. 1969)
1936 – James Lee Burke, American writer (Dave Robicheaux series), born in Houston, Texas
1960 – Brian Bromberg, American jazz bass player (You Know That Feeling), born in Tucson, Arizona
1969 – Morgan J. Freeman, American film director (Hurricane Streets), born in Long Beach, California
Famous Deaths
1955 – Paul Harvey, American actor (Spellbound, Calamity Jane, Heldorado, Jamboree), dies at 73
1958 – Ferdinand Bruckner [Theodor Tagger], Austrian-German playwright (Races), dies at 67
1979 – Sonia Delaunay, Russian-born French artist (Orphism), dies at 94
1991 – Jill Browne, dies at 54
2024 – Bill Melton, American baseball third baseman. 1968-77 (MLB All-Star and AL home run leader, 1971; Chicago White Sox, and 2 other teams) and broadcaster,1998-2020 (NBC, Comcast, Chicago White Sox), dies at 79
Famous Deaths for 4th December 2025
1334 – Pope John XXII (1316-1334), dies at about 90
1915 – Gustav Hollaender, German violinist, conductor, and composer, dies at 60
1944 – Roger Bresnahan, American Baseball Hall of Fame catcher, outfielder and manager (World Series 1905 NY Giants; St. Louis Cardinals; first shin guards and batting helmet), dies at 65
1969 – Alceo Toni, Italian arranger (Vivaldi’s “Four Season’s” for piano four-hands), composer (Elegiac Quintet), and musicologist, dies at 85
1983 – Bruce Drake, American Basketball Hall of Fame coach (University of Oklahoma 1938-55, 200-181), dies at 77
1985 – Marcel Boereboom, Belgian pianist, critic, educator, and musicologist (Handbook of Music History), dies at 83
1994 – Geoffery Rudolph Elton, historiographer, dies at 73
1995 – Adrianne Jones, killed by David Graham and Diane Zamora, at 16
2005 – Gregg Hoffman, American film producer (b.1963)
2017 – Mary Louise Hancock, American politician and activist, dies at 97
Historical Events for 4th December 2025
1906 – Alpha Phi Alpha, first Black Greek Letter Fraternity, forms
1949 – Duncan Stewart, 2nd British Governor of Sarawak is fatally stabbed in the streets of Sibu by Malay student Rosli Dhoby with help from Morshidi Sidek with the goal of helping neighbouring Indonesia to take over British Sarawak
1971 – The UN Security Council calls an emergency session to consider the deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan
1977 – NFL’s 5,000th game, Cincinnati beats KC 27-7
1982 – China adopts its constitution
1985 – Slobodan Živojinović of Yugoslavia upsets No. 2 seed John McEnroe 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the Australian Open quarter finals; leaves McEnroe without a major singles title for the first time since 1978
1994 – 83rd Davis Cup: Sweden beats Russia in Moscow (4-1)
2012 – Miranda Hart wins Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year for “Is It Just Me?” at The British Book Awards
Today in History for 4th December 2025
Historical Events
1909 – Oldest still-operating NHL franchise is officially established as J. Ambrose O’Brien and Jack Laviolette create the “Club de Hockey Canadien,” known today as the Montreal Canadiens
1920 – 1st Pro football playoff game Buffalo-7, Canton-3 at Polo Grounds, NYC
1948 – Heitor Villa-Lobos’ folk operetta “Magdalena” closes at Ziegfeld Theater, NYC, after 88 performances
1964 – Test Cricket debut of Ian Chappell, v Pakistan MCG, 11, 0-49, 0-31
1968 – Following a civil rights march in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, there is a violent clash between Loyalists and those who are taking part in the march
Famous Birthdays
1908 – Alfred Hershey, American biologist, worked with bacteriophages (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1969), born in Owosso, Michigan (d. 1997)
1920 – Jeanne Manford, American gay rights activist, born in Flushing, New York (d. 2013)
1938 – Yvonne Minton, Australian-British soprano, born in Sydney, Australia
1955 – Cassandra Wilson [née Fowlkes], American jazz singer-songwriter, born in Jackson, Mississippi
1961 – Frank Reich, American NFL quarterback (Buffalo Bills) and coach (Indianapolis Colts 2018-20), born in Freeport, New York
Famous Deaths
1807 – Prince Hall, activist/Masonic leader, dies in Boston
1959 – Rosetta Duncan, American vaudevillian (Duncan Sisters), actress (Topsy and Eva), and songwriter (Remeberin’). dies in an auto accident at 65
1976 – W. F. McCoy, Northern Irish politician (b. 1886)
2000 – H. C. Artmann, Austrian writer, dies at 79
2019 – Bob Willis, English cricket fast bowler and captain (90 Tests, 325 wickets; 64 ODIs; Surrey CCC, MCC, Warwickshire CCC, Northern Transvaal), dies of prostate cancer at 70
Famous Deaths for 3rd December 2025
1807 – Clara Reeve, English author (old English baron), dies at 78
1866 – Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda [Jan Kalivoda], Bohemian violinist, composer, and court conductor, dies of a heart attack at 65
1894 – Joseph Schadde, Flemish architect (Antwerp Stock exchange), dies at 76
1949 – Elin Pelin [Dimitar Ivanov Stoyanov], Bulgarian writer (The Gerak Family; Earth), dies at 72
1980 – Oswald Mosley, British politician and founder of British Union of Fascists, dies at 84
2009 – Richard Todd, Irish-born British actor (Dorian Gray, Assassin Yangtse Incident), dies at 90
2015 – Scott Weiland, American rock singer-songwrite (Stone Temple Pilots; Velvet Revolver), dies of an accidental drug overdose at 48
2018 – Philip Bosco, American actor (Trading Places, Lend Me a Tenor), dies at 88
2021 – Ed Shames, US Army paratrooper (WWII), and last surviving officer of the Band of Brothers (101st Airborne-Easy Company 506th Regiment), dies at 99
2023 – Myles Goodwyn, Canadian rock guitarist, singer and songwriter (April Wine – “You Could Have Been a Lady”), and record producer, dies at 75
Historical Events for 3rd December 2025
1676 – Battle of Lund (Scanian War): Swedish army of 8,000 defeats much larger joint Danish/Dutch force of 13,000
1912 – Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece and Bulgaria sign weapons pact
1933 – Funeral of WWI commander Sir Arthur Currie with 150,000 people lining the streets of Montreal – largest Canadian funeral at the time
1983 – 48th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 23-20 in Birmingham
1992 – UN Security Council passes Resolution 794 authorizing US led allied forces to intervene in war-torn Somalia to restore order and allow humanitarian aid to be delivered
2005 – XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.
2018 – David Attenborough warns collapse of civilisation and the natural world on the horizon at UN climate summit in Poland
2018 – Ballon d’Or: Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modrić wins; first time since 2007 that either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t win award; Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg is inaugural women’s winner