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.
Category: Historical Events
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
Historical Events for 24th December 2023
1777 – James Cook is first European to visit Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island
1798 – Russia and Britain sign Second anti-French Coalition
1921 – Ottawa’s Harry Broadbent scores in 10-0 Senators blowout of the Montreal Canadiens; first in 16-game NHL record goal-scoring streak; Charlie Simmer’s 13 game streak (1979) is considered modern-day record
1943 – US President FDR appoints General Eisenhower Supreme Commander of the Allied forces
1948 – First US completely solar heated house is occupied (Dover, Mass)
1954 – Laos gains its independence
1960 – Dutch bishops question papacy values
1966 – USAF C144 military charter aircraft crashes near Binh Thai, Vietnam, killing 129
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)
2000 – The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery
Historical Events for 23rd December 2023
619 – Boniface V begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1724 – Emperor Charles VI names Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria land guardian of the Austrian Netherlands
1834 – Joseph Hansom of London receives patent for Hansom cabs
1912 – 1st “Keystone Kops” film, entitled “Hoffmeyer’s Legacy”
1921 – Gangster Carlo Gambino enters the United States as an illegal immigrant on the SS Vincenzo Florio
1946 – University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne University after they suggested they may use a black player in their basketball game
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
1960 – Jan De Quay’s Dutch government falls
1960 – King Saud of Saudi Arabia takes power
1975 – US Congress passes Metric Conversion Act
Historical Events for 22nd December 2023
1135 – Norman nobles recognize Stefanus van Blois as English king
1907 – Saint-Saëns’/Fokine’s ballet “Le Cygne” premieres in St Petersburg
1962 – Kinderman Place in the Bronx named
1962 – 1,000,000th NBA point scored
1963 – Oakland Raider Tom Flores passes for 6 touchdowns vs Houston (52-49)
1970 – Treblinka SS commander Franz Stangl sentenced to life imprisonment
1971 – USSR performs underground nuclear test
1976 – 35 Unification church couples wed in NYC
1978 – Thailand adopts constitution
2022 – “American life expectancy is now at its lowest in nearly two decades” – 76.4 years, according to new report by CDC, biggest factors in the fall among many, COVID-19 and drug overdoses
Historical Events for 21st December 2023
1872 – Phileas Fogg completes his round the world trip in 80 days, in Jules Verne’s “Around the World in Eighty Days”
1919 – J. Edgar Hoover persuades US to deport 250 alien radicals, including anarchist and feminist Emma Goldman and her husband to Russia
1929 – Coco the Clown first appears for Bertram Mills Circus in Manchester, England
1942 – US Supreme court declares Nevada separation legal
1980 – Harold Carmichael ends NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions
1991 – 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
1996 – Pakistan all out 67 to lose to Tasmania by an inning
2012 – Rapper Flavor Flav opens Flavor Flav’s Chicken and Ribs causal restaurant in Sterling Heights, Michigan – closes July 2013
2020 – Governor of California Gavin Newson says there are now no intensive care beds left in Southern California or the San Joaquin Valley
2022 – Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky visits Washington, DC, meets with US President Joe Biden at the White House, and addresses Congress
Historical Events for 20th December 2023
1192 – Richard the Lionhearted captured near Vienna by Leopold of Austria on his way home from the Third Crusade (released 1194)
1780 – Britain declares war on Holland
1894 – England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1st six-day Test Cricket, Australia needed 177 to win, all out at 166 on 6th day
1920 – Bert Collins scores 104 on Test Cricket debut v England SCG
1922 – Polish parliament selects Stanislaw Wojcieckowski as president
1962 – Pop singing group the Osmond Brothers debut on “The Andy Williams Show”
1975 – Pope Paul VI names Johannes Willebrands Archbishop of Utrecht
1985 – Denis Potvin passes Bobby Orr as NHL defenseman scorer (916 points)
1987 – 76th Davis Cup: Sweden beats India in Gothenburg (5-0)
2022 – The ruling Taliban suspend university education for female students in Afghanistan, part of a wider crackdown on women’s rights in the country