1932 – United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth
1945 – German air raid on allied airports at Eindhoven/Saint-Trond/Brussels
1962 – 28th Orange Bowl: #4 LSU beats #7 Colorado, 25-7
1963 – 29th Orange Bowl: #5 Alabama beats #8 Oklahoma, 17-0
1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned from broadcast media in the US
1990 – 19th Fiesta Bowl: #5 Florida State beats #6 Nebraska, 41-17
1990 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implements “SYNDEX,” granting independent stations more rights over cable TV outlets for exclusive syndicated programs
2000 – Opening of the Holy Doors of Santa Maria Maggiore by Pope John Paul II in Rome to celebrate the new millennium
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 31st December 2025
870 – Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beats a section of the Viking Great Heathen Army, camped at Reading
1911 – Marie Curie receives her second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her work with radioactivity
1923 – BBC begins using Big Ben’s chimes as an interval signal
1957 – Amateur Athletic Union awards American sprinter Bobby Morrow the James E. Sullivan Award
1975 – 42nd Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama beats #7 Penn State, 13-6
1986 – Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 97
1996 – 63rd Orange Bowl: #6 Nebraska beats #10 Virginia Tech, 41-21
1997 – 27th Fiesta Bowl: #10 Kansas State beats #14 Syracuse, 35-18
Historical Events for 30th December 2025
1621 – English King James I tears the Protestation of Parliament from the records, objecting to Parliament commenting on a foreign marriage alliance
1672 – Baron Karl Rabenhaupt occupies Coevorden, Netherlands
1896 – Stanley Cup, Granite Rink, Winnipeg, Manitoba: Ernie McLea scores a hat-trick as Montreal Victorias beat Winnipeg Victorias, 6-5; first SC Challenge game played outside of Montreal
1917 – -37°F (-38°C) in Lewisburg, WV (state record)
1953 – Queen Elizabeth II visits the Tūrangawaewae marae in New Zealand, home of the Māori Kīngitanga movement
1973 – AFC Championship, Miami Orange Bowl: Miami Dolphins beat Oakland Raiders, 27-10
1979 – English Progressive rock group, Emerson, Lake and Palmer break up
1997 – In the worst incident in Algeria’s insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people are killed from four villages.
Historical Events for 29th December 2025
1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty
1944 – Belgian Walloon Nazi collaborator Léon Degrelle sentenced to death
1955 – NHL officials wear new vertically striped black-and-white sweaters for the first time in Montreal Canadiens’ 5-2 win over Toronto Maple Leafs
1957 – National Football League Championship, Briggs Stadium, Detroit: Detroit Lions beat Cleveland Browns, 50-14; Lions score 2 touchdowns in each quarter
1965 – The Supremes release single “My World is Empty Without You”
1992 – Governor Cuomo grants Jean Harris (Scarsdale Diet Dr killer) clemency
1994 – Australian cricket’s spin king Shane Warne dismisses England’s Phil DeFreitas, Darren Gough and Devon Malcolm for a famous hat-trick in 2nd Test win in Melbourne
1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over a million people
Historical Events for 28th December 2025
1915 – Today the British Cabinet recognizes the true nature of the war by deciding to institute compulsory military service, with single men to be conscripted before married ones
1926 – Imperial Airways begins mail and passenger service from England to India
1949 – 20th Century Fox announces it will produce TV programs
1953 – WLBT TV channel 3 in Jackson, Mississippi (NBC) begins broadcasting
1964 – Premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich’s cantata “The Execution of Stepan Razin”
1984 – Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress party wins the general election in India
1994 – American country singer Tammy Wynette admitted to the hospital with bile duct infection
2019 – Jihadist fundamentalist group al-Shabaab sets off a truck bomb in Mogadishu, Somalia, killing at least 84 people and wounding over 150
Historical Events for 27th December 2025
1703 – England and Portugal sign Methuen-Asiento-trade agreement
1939 – 1st American skimobiles (North Conway, NH)
1943 – France transfers most of her powers in Lebanon to Lebanese government
1960 – France performs nuclear test
1960 – 1961 NFL Draft: Tommy Mason from University of Tulane first pick by Minnesota Vikings
1986 – Musical “Les Misérables” opens in the US at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.
2001 – The People’s Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.
Historical Events for 26th December 2025
1825 – Decembrist uprising in Russia against Tsar Nicholas I begins [O.S. 14 December]
1877 – Socialist Labor Party of North America holds 1st national convention
1878 – 1st US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia
1972 – Ballon d’Or: Bayern Munich defender Franz Beckenbauer wins award for best European football player ahead of tied fellow German duo of Gerd Müller and Günter Netzer
1976 – AFC Championship, Oakland Coliseum: Oakland Raiders beat Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-7
1988 – Anti African student rebellion in Nanjing, China
1990 – Senior Professional Baseball Association folds
1991 – Militant Sikhs kill 55 and wounds 70 in India
Historical Events for 25th December 2025
1000 – Monarch Istvan crowned king of Hungary
1688 – British King James II lands in Ambleteuse, France
1899 – Shelling on besieged Ladysmith during the Boer War includes one shell containing a plum pudding
1921 – Last major Potlatch (ceremony) by Chief Daniel Cranmer (Kwakwaka’wakw) from Alert Bay, British Columbia. Twenty-six people arrested, their masks and regalia sold by Canadian government.
1930 – Tasmania all out 280, WI 2-139 at Hobart Crowd 2,500
1942 – Soviet artillery and tank battle on German armies at Stalingrad
1973 – Arab oil ministers cancel January 5 percent production cut; Saudi Arabian oil minister promises 10 percent OPEC production rise
1997 – For 1st time US movie box office receipts pass $6 billion
Historical Events for 24th December 2025
1924 – School in Babb’s Switch, Oklahoma, catches fire, 36 die
1963 – Greeks and Turks riot in Cyprus
1973 – Ferryboat capsized off coast of Equador, drowning 200
1974 – The Sporting News bestows St Louis Cardinals outfielder Lou Brock their MLB Player of the Year Award
1977 – “Ghost to the Post”, Raiders tight end Dave Casper (“The Ghost”) catches a 42-yard reception to set up the Raiders’ tying field goal near the end of regulation (Raiders win in OT)
1984 – Palace coup in Mauritania
1989 – Charles Taylor starts the First Liberian Civil War when he enters the country at the head of the guerrilla group National Patriotic Front of Liberia to overthrow President Samuel Doe
1991 – Ballon d’Or: Marseille forward Jean-Pierre Papin is named Europe’s best football player; first from the French League to win the trophy
Historical Events for 23rd December 2025
1815 – “Emma” novel by Jane Austen is published by John Murray in London
1941 – Japan begins assault on Rangoon, Burma
1962 – AFL Championship, Jeppesen Stadium, Houston: Dallas Texans beat Houston Oilers, 20-17; Tommy Brooker lands winning 25-yard field goal in overtime
1966 – Britain’s rock TV show “Ready Steady Go” last program
1970 – USSR performs nuclear test
1990 – Comedy “Lettice and Lovage” closes at Barrymore Theater, NYC after 284 performances
1997 – Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson is quickest to reach 500 wins (682 games)
2016 – United Nations Security Council adopts a landmark resolution demanding a halt to all Israeli settlement in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967. Resolution 2334 was moved by New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela and passed 14-0 with a US abstention.