1600 – Ottario Rinuccini and Giulio Caccini’s opera “Euridice” published
1918 – Eugene O’Neill’s “Moon of the Caribees” premieres in NYC
1973 – Montreal Canadien Henri Richard scores his 1,000th NHL point
1973 – Dutch Antillean government of Evertsz forms
1974 – George Harrison releases his “Dark Horse” album in UK
1974 – Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state
1975 – Joe Walsh recruited to join Eagles
1975 – Pope Paul VI named J Willebrands archbishop of Utrecht
1987 – 76th Davis Cup: Sweden beats India in Gothenburg (5-0)
1992 – Northwest and KLM introduce a new joint logo “Worldwide Reliability”
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 19th December 2021
1795 – 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
1887 – Jake Kilrain and Jem Smith fight 106 round bare knuckle draw
1900 – General Horatio Kitchener offers protections to all Boers who will surrender and asks the Dutch community of Pretoria to convey this offer, leaders in the field refuse to surrender
1918 – Robert Ripley began his “Believe It or Not” column (NY Globe)
1949 – WJW TV channel 8 in Cleveland, Ohio (CBS) begins broadcasting
1973 – “Molly” closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 68 performances
1988 – NASA unveils plans for lunar colony and manned missions to Mars
1991 – 6,000th episode of One Life To Live
2004 – World’s largest indoor water park Tropical Islands Resort, opens in the Aerium, an old airship hanger, in the world’s largest free-standing hall, south of Berlin, Germany
2018 – US President Donald Trump announces victory over the Islamic State and planned withdrawal of US troops from Syria
Historical Events for 18th December 2021
1849 – William Bond obtains 1st photograph of Moon through a telescope
1878 – John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires, is executed in Pennsylvania
1892 – Anton Bruckner’s 8th Symphony premieres
1923 – International zone of Tangier set up in Morocco
1963 – “The Pink Panther” film premieres directed by Blake Edwards and starring Peter Sellers and David Niven with theme by Henry Mancini
1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
1970 – “Me Nobody Knows” opens at Helen Hayes Theater NYC for 587 performances
1982 – Flight readiness firing of Challenger’s main engines; 20 seconds
1993 – The MGM Grand Las Vegas hotel and casino first opens as the largest hotel complex in the world (since surpassed)
1996 – During a press conference, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Maleki states that Iran supports the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, but reserves the option of closing off the shipping route if it is threatened
Historical Events for 17th December 2021
1903 – The Wright brothers make the 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight at 10:35 AM, piloted by Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
1926 – KYA-AM in San Francisco CA begins radio transmissions
1943 – Transport 63 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1949 – Burma recognizes People’s Republic of China
1954 – 1st fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary, Indiana)
1965 – The Houston Astrodome opens; 1st event is a concert by Judy Garland with The Supremes as opening act
1970 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 – Radio Bangladesh begins transmitting
1978 – The Workers’ Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
1983 – The Provisional IRA bombs Harrods department store in London, killing six people and injuring 90
Historical Events for 16th December 2021
1659 – General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1811 – Earthquake hits New Madrid, Missouri, causing widespread damage
1909 – A conservative revolution and US pressure forces Nicaraguan President Jose Santos from office
1913 – Charlie Chaplin begins his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1920 – 8.5 earthquake rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000
1965 – Taufa’ahau Tupou IV becomes King of Tonga
1971 – Don McLean’s 8+ minute version of “American Pie” released
1985 – John Gotti assumes leadership of New York’s Gambino crime family after ordering the executions of Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti
1989 – Commencement of 1st Test Cricket play at Bellerive Oval, Hobart (v SL)
1997 – US President Bill Clinton names his Labrador retriever “Buddy”
Historical Events for 15th December 2021
1582 – Leidse university names Rembert Dodoens professor of botany and medicine
1745 – Battle at Kesseldorf: Prussian force beats Saksen and Austria near Dresden
1868 – Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō
1919 – Edna St Vincent Millay’s play “Aria da Capo” premieres in NYC
1969 – San Francisco Fire Department replaces leather helmets with plastic ones
1973 – American kidnap victim John Paul Getty III freed after ransom paid by oil tycoon grandfather John Paul Getty
1983 – Columbia flies to Kennedy Space Center via El Paso, Kelly AFB
1997 – “Spice World” movie directed by Bob Spiers and starring girl group the Spice Girls premieres in the UK
2011 – Former French President Jacques Chirac is convicted of diverting public funds, receives a two-year suspended prison sentence
2018 – Egyptian Archaeologists announce discovery of 4,400 year old tomb of Fifth Dynasty priest in Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo
Historical Events for 14th December 2021
872 – John VIII elected as Catholic Pope
1702 – The Forty-seven Ronin (leaderless samurai), under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master in Japan
1849 – 1st chamber music group in US gives their 1st concert in Boston
1920 – Jack Dempsey KOs Bill Brennan in 12 for heavyweight boxing title in NYC
1952 – R H Shodhan scores 110 on Test Cricket debut v Pakistan, Calcutta
1959 – Archbishop Makarios proclaimed president of Cyprus
1983 – Muscial “Peg” opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 5 performances
1988 – CBS’ $1.1 B bid wins exclusive 1990-94 major-league baseball rights
1995 – AIDS patient Jeff Getty receives baboon bone marrow transplant
2012 – Gene Wolfe wins the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award
Historical Events for 13th December 2021
1861 – Battle of Alleghany Summit, West Virginia
1895 – First complete execution of Gustav Mahler’s 2nd Symphony
1913 – British foreign minister Sir Edward Grey proposes that southern Albania be divided between Greece and Albania with compensation to Greece in the Aegean islands
1939 – Battle of the River Plate – 3 British cruisers vs German pocket battleship Graf Spee
1941 – German occupiers forbid National Front and Netherland Union
1968 – Brazilian President Da Costa e Silva issues Ato Institucional Número Cinco degree
1970 – Greg Chappell scores 108 on Test debut v England at the WACA
1970 – Neil Simon’s “Gingerbread Lady” premieres in NYC
1989 – “Driving Miss Daisy” directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Morgan Freeman and Jessica Tandy is released (Best Picture 1990)
2018 – Passenger train collides with maintenance locomotive in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 9 and injuring 47
Historical Events for 12th December 2021
1901 – Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic radio signal, from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada
1925 – Arthur Heinman coins term “motel”; opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo
1939 – Russ Indigirka capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 750 die
1955 – 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer Christoper Cockerell
1961 – Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes in Israel
1963 – Argentina asks for extradition of ex-President Juan Perón
1969 – Offices of Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed, killing 14
1988 – 3 trains collide in London, 40 die
1992 – 58th Heisman Trophy Award: Gino Torretta, U of Miami (QB)
1997 – Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to record 6 year $69 million contract
Historical Events for 11th December 2021
1665 – “Messiah” Sjabtai Tswi festival in Smyrna
1882 – Victorien Sardous play “Fedora” with Sarah Bernhardt premieres in Paris
1907 – New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire
1937 – 25th CFL Grey Cup, Varsity Stadium, Toronto: Toronto Argonauts claim their 4th Championship; beat Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 4-3
1949 – WOAI (now KMOL) TV channel 4 in San Antonio, TX (NBC) 1st broadcast
1958 – 4th (last) Dutch government of Drees falls
1969 – Libya adopts constitution
2004 – 70th Heisman Trophy Award: Matt Leinart, USC (QB)
2005 – The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead, England, is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
2009 – Tiger Woods announces an indefinite leave from professional golf to focus on his marriage.