1620 – 102 Mayflower Pilgrims and about 30 crew land at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [OS=Dec 11]
1914 – 2,800 African miners strike at the Van Rhyn Deep mines in a bid to redress some of their grievances
1937 – O’Reilly completes 14-98 for cricket match, NSW v South Aust
1948 – 1949 NFL Draft: University of Pennsylvania linebacker/center Chuck Bednarik is selected first by Philadelphia Eagles
1949 – Dutch 1st Chamber accept sovereignty of Indonesia
1962 – Angolin leaves Comecon
1970 – WUTV TV channel 29 in Buffalo, NY (IND) begins broadcasting
1979 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1993 – “The Sign” single released in the US by Ace of Base (Billboard Song of the Year 1994)
1995 – Martina Ertl of Germany wins her 3rd giant slalom world cup
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 20th December 2019
1900 – Giacobini discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited by spacecraft)
1906 – Venezuela (under vice-pres Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
1920 – Bob Hope becomes an American citizen
1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers” in Kunming, China.
1948 – Second Chamber accept 2nd Police Action in Indonesia
1973 – AL pres Joe Cronin refuses to allow Dick Williams to manage Yankees
1985 – Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC
2006 – A judge rules against the death penalty in the case of Naveed Haq, a man convicted in the shooting death and injuries at the Jewish Federation in Seattle.
2012 – Intercontinental Exchange purchases the New York Stock Exchange, the largest in the world, for $8 billion
2017 – Lady Gaga signs Las Vegas residency deal for $75m at MGM Park Theatre
Historical Events for 19th December 2019
1945 – Austrian Republic re-establishes
1948 – National Football League Championship, Shribe Park, Philadelphia: Philadelphia Eagles shutout Chicago Cardinals, 7-0 in a snowstorm, ‘the Philly Blizzard’
1948 – 2nd political action of Java/Sumatra
1950 – Tibet’s Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
1958 – 1st radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower Christmas message “to all mankind, America’s wish for peace on Earth and goodwill to men everywhere”
1962 – Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission
1964 – “Gertrud”, Danish film directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer, starring Nina Pens Rode, Bendt Rothe and Ebbe Rode, is released in France
1971 – Stanley Kubrick’s X-rated film “A Clockwork Orange” based on the book by Anthony Burgess and starring Malcolm McDowell premieres
1988 – Oklahoma’s College football team gets 3 year probation
2000 – Ballon d’Or: Real Madrid’s Portuguese midfielder Luís Figo is named best football player in Europe ahead of Juventus midfielder Zinedine Zidane and Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko
Historical Events for 18th December 2019
1890 – Lugards expedition to Meng and Kampala, Uganda
1912 – Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is supposedly found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.
1948 – Indonesia begins its 2nd political election
1953 – KMID TV channel 2 in Midland and Odessa, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
1964 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 – 1st Candlelight Processional at the EPCOT Center, Disney World
1978 – USSR performs underground nuclear test
1978 – France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
1992 – FCC vote 4-1 to allow Infinity to purchase Cook Inlet stations
2002 – Governor of California Gray Davis announces the state faces a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier
Historical Events for 17th December 2019
1843 – Henry Cole, founder of London’s VandA Museum, commissions printing of the 1st Christmas card
1933 – Spain’s 2nd government of Lerroux forms
1935 – 1st flight of the Douglas DC-3 (C-47 Skytrain/Dakota) airplane.
1964 – “Goldfinger”, 3rd James Bond film, starring Sean Connery and Honor Blackman premieres in London
1979 – Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)
1993 – Muslims in Bangladesh call for the murder of feminist Taslima Nasrin
2003 – SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight
2012 – Jiroemon Kimura of Japan becomes the world’s oldest verified man at 116 years old
2013 – Australia wins the 3rd test to take win the 2013-14 Ashes test cricket series
2017 – “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” takes more than $450m worldwide in its opening weekend, 2nd largest opening in North America ($220m)
Historical Events for 16th December 2019
1538 – King Francois I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
1767 – Van Ritter von Glucks opera “Alceste” premieres
1912 – 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20 cent parcel post, issued
1913 – Charlie Chaplin begins his film career at Keystone for $150 a week
1944 – Nazi Germany launches a counteroffensive against the Allies in the Ardennes region of Belgium, beginning the ‘Battle of the Bulge’
1950 – “Let’s Make an Opera” closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 5 performances
1966 – The Beatles release “Everywhere it’s Christmas” in UK
1969 – British House of Commons votes 343-185 to abolish the death penalty
1974 – US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1979 – QB Roger Staubach’s last regular season game with the Dallas Cowboys
Historical Events for 15th December 2019
1124 – Chancellor Haimeric selects pope (Lamberto becomes Honorius II)
1167 – Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.
1688 – Lord Delamere sides with King James II [NS 12/25]
1926 – Facist national symbol elevated in Italy
1929 – Swiss pilot Walter Mittelholzer is the first to fly over Mt. Kilimanjaro
1962 – Vaughn Meader’s “1st Family” album goes #1 and stays #1 for 12 weeks
1974 – A’s Catfish Hunter is ruled a free agent (later signs with Yankees)
2002 – 68th Heisman Trophy Award: Carson Palmer, USC (QB)
2009 – Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner makes its maiden flight from Seattle, Washington.
2015 – Mayor of Flint, Michigan declares state of emergency over contaminated water supplies amid calls for a criminal investigation
Historical Events for 14th December 2019
1575 – Polish Parliament selects Istvan Bathory as king of Poland
1812 – The French invasion of Russia, led by Napoleon, officially ends with the French having lost as many as 530,000 people
1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company
1946 – “Three to Make Ready” closes at Adelphi Theater NYC after 323 performances
1958 – Pat Summerall kicks game winning field goal for the New York Giants against the Cleveland Browns at Yankee Stadium
1960 – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) forms
1968 – Bobby Orr scores first career hat trick (vs Chicago Blackhawks)
1969 – Bishen Bedi takes 7-98 (career-best) v Australia at Calcutta
1984 – Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires from Monday Night Football
1997 – Phoenix Coyote Mike Gartner is 5th NHLer to score 700 goals
Historical Events for 13th December 2019
1864 – War of the Triple Alliance: Paraguay officially declares war on Brazil, invades the next day
1941 – German occupiers forbid National Front and Netherland Union
1947 – “Caribbean Carnival” closes at International NYC after 11 performances
1949 – Knesset votes to transfer Israel’s capital to Jerusalem
1957 – “Peyton Place” film based on the novel by Grace Metalious, directed by Mark Robson and starring Lana Turner and Hope Lange is released
1985 – Australian cricketer David Boon’s 1st Test century, 123 v India at Adelaide
1991 – NY assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
1992 – FCC fines Infinity Broadcasting $600,000
1993 – Dow Jones hits record 3764.43
2018 – Actress Eliza Dushku revealed received $9.5 million settlement from CBS after sexual harassment on set of “Bull” from actor Michael Weatherley
Historical Events for 12th December 2019
1899 – George F Bryant of Boston patents the wooden golf tee
1915 – 1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J-1) test flown at Dessau, Germany
1917 – Rev Edward Flanagan forms Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska
1937 – NBC and RCA sends 1st mobile-TV vans onto the streets of NY
1946 – Ice plant collapses, shearing a tenement building and burying 38
1964 – Cleveland Browns’ Frank Ryan sets club record of 5 TD passes
1975 – Sara Jane Moore pleds guilty to trying to kill US President Gerald Ford
1982 – $9,800,000 in cash stolen from money transport car in NYC
1988 – “Rainman” directed by Barry Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise premieres in New York (Best Picture 1989)
1990 – US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks