1653 – The Coonan Cross Oath is taken in the Saint Thomas Christian community in an effort to avoid submission to Portuguese rule in India
1872 – 1st patent list issued by US Patent Office
1890 – 1st US college-level dairy school opens at University of Wisconsin
1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first female elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first female to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States.
1969 – Rep Adam Clayton Powell Jr seated by Congress
1971 – 1st AFC Championship, Memorial Stadium, Baltimore: Baltimore Colts beat Oakland Raiders, 27-17
1973 – A 12-man syndicate led by Michael Burke and George Steinbrenner III buys MLB’s New York Yankees from CBS for US$10 million
1985 – Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
2007 – National Express has its worst ever coach crash just outside Heathrow Airport.
2019 – Chinese Chang’e-4 spacecraft becomes the first ever to touch down on the far side of the Moon
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 2nd January 2024
1814 – Lord Byron completes “The Corsair”, a long tale in verse
1893 – 1st US commemoratives and 1st US stamp to picture a woman issued (Queen Isabella, patron of Columbus)
1928 – 14th Rose Bowl: Stanford beats Pittsburgh, 7-6
1944 – 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol)
1950 – 16th Sugar Bowl: #2 Oklahoma beats #9 LSU, 35-0
1972 – An anti-internment rally is held in Belfast, North Ireland
1990 – Sting joins pro wrestling’s legendary “4 Horsemen” (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson)
2001 – 67th Sugar Bowl: #3 Miami beats #7 Florida, 37-20
2002 – Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.
2006 – 35th Fiesta Bowl: #4 Ohio State beats #5 Notre Dame, 34-20
Historical Events for 1st January 2024
1622 – Papal Chancery adopts Jan 1 as beginning of the year (was Mar 25)
1852 – National debt of Britain and Ireland is 765,126,582 pounds
1891 – French troops occupy Nioro, West-Sudan, 3000 killed
1914 – Northern and Southern Nigeria united in British colony of Nigeria
1925 – 11th Rose Bowl: Notre Dame beats Stanford, 27-10
1944 – Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football “Arab Bowl,” Oran, North Africa
1958 – European Economic Community, better known as the European Common Market starts operation
1964 – KNMT TV channel 12 in Walker, MN (CBS) begins broadcasting
1995 – “A Tuna Christmas” closes at Booth Theater NYC after 20 performances
2004 – St. Louis head coach Joel Quenneville records his 300th NHL win with the Blues, a 5-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Savvis Center, St. Louis; Quenneville is Blues coaching games and wins leader
Historical Events for 31st December 2023
1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1805 – End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism
1969 – Congo-Brazzaville becomes People’s republic, under major Ngouabi
1974 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Australian Evonne Goolagong Cawley retains her title; beats Martina Navratilova of Czechoslovakia 6-3, 6-2
1978 – Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier
1978 – Taiwan’s final day of diplomatic relations with US
1988 – Pittsburgh NHL center Mario Lemieux accounts for all his team’s goals in Penguins 8-6 win over the NJ Devils; famously scores 5 goals, each in a different way: even strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot and empty net; also 3 assists
1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
1995 – “Paul Roebson” closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 14 performances
2016 – Chris Ofili is appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to art
Historical Events for 30th December 2023
1896 – Filipino nationalist José Rizal is executed by firing squad in Manila by the Spanish
1906 – The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, later laid down the foundations of Pakistan
1922 – Creation of the USSR formally proclaimed in Moscow from the Bolshoi Theatre, organized as a union (U) of Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian and Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republics (SSR).
1926 – Chicago Tribune reports the Tigers threw a 4-game series to the White Sox in 1917 to help Chicago win the pennant (never substantiated)
1958 – French franc devalued
1969 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1971 – A member of the Irish Republican Army is killed in a premature bomb explosion in Santry, Dublin.
1977 – Australian Open Women’s Tennis: Evonne Goolagong Cawley wins her 6th career Grand Slam title; beats fellow Australian Helen Gourlay Cawley 6-3, 6-0
1986 – Ballon d’Or: Dynamo Kyiv’s Ukrainian forward Igor Belanov is named best football player in Europe ahead of Barcelona striker Gary Lineker and Real Madrid forward Emilio Butragueño
1995 – Lowest ever UK temperature recorded of -27.2°C iat Altnaharra in the Scottish Highlands, equaling the record set at Braemar, Aberdeenshire on February 11, 1895 and January 10, 1982
Historical Events for 29th December 2023
1782 – 1st nautical almanac in US published by Samuel Stearns, Boston
1812 – The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle
1837 – Canadian militia destroy Caroline, a US steamboat docked at Buffalo
1899 – British fleet seizes German Imperial Mail Steamer Bundesrath accused of carrying contraband
1900 – General Viljoen surprise attack British garrison to Helvetia
1940 – Worst German air raid on London as over 10,000 bombs including the 1st incendiary bombs are dropped on the city as part of the Blitz
1949 – 1st UHF television station operating regular basis Bridgeport, Connecticut
1974 – AFC Championship, Oakland Coliseum: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Oakland Raiders, 24-13
1983 – Indian cricket opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar scores an unbeaten 236 in drawn 6th Test v West Indies at Chennai; his 4th Test double century and 30th century, surpassing Don Bradman’s record of 29
1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
Historical Events for 28th December 2023
1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes 1st VP to resign (differences with President Jackson)
1914 – Turks are repulsed by the Russians after fighting in Armenia for weeks
1915 – San Francisco City Hall dedicated by Mayor James Rolph
1934 – Film “Bright Eyes” premieres starring Shirley Temple and featuring the song “On the Good Ship Lollipop”
1968 – Israeli assault on Beirut Airport
1969 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1970 – Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) adopts constitution
1972 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1984 – Creosote bush determined to be 11,700 years old
1994 – American country singer Tammy Wynette admitted to the hospital with bile duct infection
Historical Events for 27th December 2023
1934 – Musical revue “Thumbs Up”, including music and lyrics by Vernon Duke, James Hanley, and Ira Gershwin (among others), premieres at the St. James Theatre, NYC; runs for 156 performance
1954 – Gian Carlo Menotti’s Pulitzer Prize winning opera “The Saint of Bleecker Street” opens at Broadway Theater in ,NYC; runs for 92 performances
1960 – 1961 NFL Draft: Tommy Mason from University of Tulane first pick by Minnesota Vikings
1961 – Belgium and Congo resume diplomatic relations
1981 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1983 – Propane gas fire devastated 16 blocks of Buffalo
1991 – Bengals hire Dave Shula as youngest NFL coach (32)
1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram air base which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul.
2000 – Pittsburgh Penguins center and part-owner Mario Lemieux scores a goal and 2 assists in his return to the NHL after more than 3 years out with injury problems and lingering cancer issues; Penguins beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-0
2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya.
Historical Events for 26th December 2023
1925 – 1st East-West Shrine Bowl game of college football ‘all-stars’ played before 25,000 fans at Ewing Park, San Francisco. Proceeds continue to benefit Shriners Hospitals for Children.
1940 – JA Fields/J Chodorov’s “My Sister Eileen,” premieres in NYC
1954 – “The Shadow” airs for last time on radio
1968 – Bruin Ted Green sets NHL penalty record of 3 minors, 2 majors and 2 game misconducts in a game against NY Rangers in NY’s Madison Square Garden
1968 – Led Zeppelin’s concert debut in Denver as opener for Vanilla Fudge
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
1973 – Horror film “The Exorcist” based on book and screenplay by William Peter Blatty, starring Linda Blair, rated X, premieres – 1st horror film to be nominated for Best Picture
1975 – Crowd of 85,661 attend the 1st day of the Australia vs West Indies MCG cricket test
1991 – Gun of Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, sells for $220,000 at auction
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
Historical Events for 25th December 2023
1194 – Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI crowned King of Sicily in Palermo Cathedral
1553 – Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeats the Spanish conquistadors and exetutes the governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia.
1818 – 1st known Christmas carol (“Silent Night, Holy Night” – “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht) sung (Austria)
1900 – Arthur Schnitzler’s novel “Leutnant Gustl” (“None But The Brave”) banned in Germany due to its unflattering portrait of military protocol
1911 – Edward Knoblock’s “Kismet” premieres in NYC
1923 – Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St NYC
1951 – West Indies wrap up 6 wicket defeat of Australia on first Christmas Day of Test cricket, the 3rd day of 3rd Test at the Adelaide Oval
1973 – Arab oil ministers cancel January 5 percent production cut; Saudi Arabian oil minister promises 10 percent OPEC production rise
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
1994 – “Comedy Tonight” closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 8 performances