1758 – Return of Halley’s comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch
1875 – Lambs Club in New York forms
1901 – Battle at Tweefontein: British force camped on a hill is surprised by a Boer attack at 2am
1923 – Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St NYC
1933 – Another Christmas Day five-wicket haul by Clarrie Grimmett
1933 – Belgian Working people’s party accept Henry de Mans Plan of Labor
1962 – USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1973 – The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
1973 – Tommy Chambers (Scotland) finishes 51 yr cycle tour (799,405 miles)
1979 – Ballon d’Or: Hamburg’s English forward Kevin Keegan wins his 2nd consecutive trophy as best football player in Europe; beats Bayern Munich forward Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Ajax sweeper Ruud Krol
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 24th December 2018
1864 – Battle of Gordonsville, VA
1884 – Austria-Hungary admits King Leopold II’s Congo Free State
1894 – Soccer team Achilles ’94 forms in Axes
1936 – 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered in Berkeley, California
1953 – Two fast express trains crash head-on killing 103 in Czechoslovakia
1966 – “Joyful Noise” closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 12 performances
1967 – China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
1968 – WATU (now WAGT) TV channel 26 in Augusta, GA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1990 – Expos trade Tim Raines to White Sox for Ivan Calderon and Barry Jones
1996 – Ballon d’Or: Borussia Dortmund’s German sweeper Matthias Sammer is named best football player in Europe ahead of PSV/Barcelona striker Ronaldo and Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer
Historical Events for 23rd December 2018
1793 – Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies
1909 – Albert I becomes the third King of the Belgians
1914 – World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.
1941 – American forces on Wake Island surrender to Japanese
1942 – Allies air attack on Den Helder
1952 – Alain Bombard arrives in Barbados after 65 days at sea proving his theory that a shipwrecked person could survive with almost no provisions, despite having lost 25 kg (65 lbs) in weight
1961 – Train accident in Italy, 70 die
1963 – Fire on Greek ship Laconia, 128 die
1970 – NYC World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m)
1997 – Terry Nichols found guilty of manslaughter in Oklahoma bombing
Historical Events for 22nd December 2018
1907 – Saint-Saëns’/Fokine’s ballet “Le Cygne” premieres in St Petersburg
1910 – US postal savings stamps 1st issued
1936 – 1st common carrier license issued by ICC, Scranton, Pa
1946 – “Bal Negre” closes at Belasco Theater NYC after 54 performances
1965 – “Doctor Zhivago” based on the novel by Boris Pasternak, directed by David Lean and starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie premieres in NYC
1971 – USSR performs underground nuclear test
1987 – Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx overdoses from heroin
1988 – South Africa signs accord granting independence to South West Africa
2000 – On This Day launched as HistoryOrb.com
2006 – Australian archaeologist Sue O’Connor finds first evidence of modern humans in Jerimalai cave, near Lene Hara cave in East Timor
Historical Events for 21st December 2018
1561 – Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Archbishop of Mechelen, made Cardinal
1946 – Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086
1956 – Martin Luther King Jr. and others sit in the new integrated bus
1957 – Indonesia proclaims end to state of war
1959 – Citizens of Deerfield Ill block building of interracial housing
1975 – Madagascar adopts constitution
1985 – Alice Miller/Don January wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
1991 – 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
1993 – “The Sign” single released in the US by Ace of Base (Billboard Song of the Year 1994)
2012 – Flavor Flav’s Chicken and Ribs opens in Sterling Heights, Michigan
Historical Events for 20th December 2018
1522 – Suleiman the Magnificent accepts surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1893 – 1st state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia
1918 – Eugene O’Neill’s “Moon of the Caribees” premieres in NYC
1946 – Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” film premieres in New York, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore
1959 – Jasu Patel takes 9-69, India v Australia at Kanpur
1973 – Dutch Antillean government of Evertsz forms
1985 – Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is 1st)
1990 – Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns
1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
2002 – “Gangs of New York”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, is released
Historical Events for 19th December 2018
1854 – Allen Wilson of Conn patents sewing machine to sew curving seams
1884 – Italy recognizes King Leopold II’s Congo Free State
1933 – Electric Home and Farm Authority Inc, authorized
1948 – 8th largest snowfall in NYC history (15.3″)
1948 – Cleveland Browns beats Buffalo Bills 49-7 in AAFC championship game
1949 – Luxury passenger ship Aquitania demolished in Gareloch, Scotland
1965 – French President De Gaulle re-elected (Mitterrand gets 45%)
1978 – Indira Gandhi ambushed in India
1981 – Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee, Cornwall, lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
1984 – China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
Historical Events for 18th December 2018
1787 – New Jersey becomes 3rd state to ratify US constitution
1865 – 1st US cattle importation law passed
1878 – French SS Byzantin sinks after collision in Dardanelles, 210 killed
1947 – Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Optissima Pax
1958 – Niger gains autonomy within French Community (National Day)
1961 – Britain’s EMI Records originally rejects the Beatles
1965 – “La Grusse Valise” closes at 54th St Theater NYC after 7 performances
1969 – “Coco” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 333 performances
1971 – 1st Candlelight Processional at the EPCOT Center, Disney World
1984 – 73rd Davis Cup: Sweden beats USA in Gothenburg (4-1)
Historical Events for 17th December 2018
1587 – The Earl of Leicester’s army leaves Netherlands
1777 – George Washington’s army returns to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
1845 – German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt arrives in Port Essington after a nearly 4,800 km (3,000 mi) overland journey to explore Australia’s Northern Territory
1860 – Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County
1919 – Austrian parliament approves 8-hour working day
1962 – Beatles 1st British TV appearance (People and Places)
1983 – In his 352nd NHL game, Wayne Gretzky scores a goal and 5 assists in 8-1 rout of Quebec Nordiques to record his 800th point and 500th assist; averages 2.27 points, 1.42 assists, 0.85 goals per game to start career
2003 – SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight
2007 – Republic of Lakotah asserts independence from the United States
2012 – 10 girls collecting firewood are killed by a mine blast in east Afghanistan
Historical Events for 16th December 2018
1659 – General Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
1883 – Tonkin Campaign: The French capture the citadel in Hanoi
1914 – World War I: German battleships under Franz Von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
1922 – Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Baseball Clubs formally organizes
1924 – Hiram Bingham is elected as a Republican to serve in the U.S. Senate forcing him to resign as Governor of Connecticut after serving only one day in office, the shortest term of any Connecticut Governor
1926 – WOW-AM in Omaha NE begins radio transmissions
1979 – QB Roger Staubach’s last regular season game with the Dallas Cowboys
1983 – Yogi Berra named Yankee manager for 2nd time
1985 – John Gotti assumes leadership of New York’s Gambino crime family after ordering the executions of Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti
1985 – Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 51-L mission