Today in History - Famous Events

🏰 On this day in History - December 23, 2024

1915 J Kern/S Greene's musical "Very Good Eddie," premieres in NYC

1970 French author R‚gis Debray freed in Bolivia

1961 Train accident in Italy, 70 die

1987 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for attempted assassination of Pres Gerald R Ford escapes from Alderson Prison

1911 Opera "I Giojelli Della Madonna" is produced (Berlin)

1919 Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace

1688 English king Jacob II flees to France

1930 Bette Davis arrives in Hollywood under contract to Universal Studios

1972 Islanders end 15 games winless streak

1968 North Korea releases Pueblo crew

1973 6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices

1925 Sultan Ibn Saud of Nedzjed conquers Djeddah

1933 Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die

1968 1st US case of space motion sickness

1951 Last Belgian communities get electricity

1941 British troops overrun Benghazi Libya

1973 "Young & Restless" premieres on TV

1620 French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII

1482 Peace of Atrecht

1973 French Caravelle crashes in Morocco, 106 killed

1715 Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund

1913 President Woodrow Wilson signs Federal Reserve Act into law

1958 "Party with Comden & Green" opens at John Golden NYC for 38 perfs

1920 King George V signs Home Rule Act

1942 Allies air attack on Den Helder

1672 Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn

1939 Finnish counter offensive at Summa

1783 Washington resigns as US Army's commander-in-chief

1958 Abdallah Ibrahim forms govt of Morocco

1920 Ireland divided into 2 parts, each with its own parliament

1963 Beach Boys 1st appearance on "Shindig"

1724 Emperor Charles VI names Maria Elisabeth land guardian of Aust Neth

1967 Brussels: NATO-Council accept "Flexible Response"-strategy

1911 Frank Wedekind's "Oaha, die Satire der Satire," premieres in Munich

1943 Gen Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day

1972 6.25 Earthquake destroys central Managua Nicaragua, 10,000 die

1960 King Saudi of Saudi-Arabia takes power

1776 Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France

1926 KEX-AM in Portland OR begins radio transmissions

1912 1st "Keystone Kops" film, titled "Hoffmeyer's Legacy"

1953 Dodgers 2nd baseman Jim "Junior" Gilliam wins NL Rookie of Year

1899 Southampton: field marshal lord Roberts departures to South Africa

1728 Prussian Emperor Karel VI sign Treaty of Berlin

1941 Japan begins assault on Rangoon Burma

1972 Chandrasekhar takes 8-79 India v England at Delhi

1907 1st all-steel passengar railroad coach completed, Altoona, Pa

1972 "Immaculate Reception" Steelers turns around a 7-6 defeat with a last second touchdown reception against Raiders to win 13-7

1990 "Lettice & Lovage" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 284 perfs

1975 Peter Seitz makes Andy Messersmith & Dave McNally free agents

1930 Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in NYC

1970 7,511th performance of Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap" (record)

1933 Howie Morenz takes over NHL career goal lead at 251

1779 Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct

1970 USSR performs nuclear test

1997 Chic Bull coach Phil Jackson is quickest to reach 500 wins (682 games)

0619 Boniface V begins his reign as Catholic Pope

17831222 Washington resigns his military commission [or ?]

1939 South Australia score 7-821 against Queensland

1933 Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death

1888 Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear

1946 Belgian Council of State forms

1963 Fire on Greek ship Laconia, 128 die

1978 Islanders scored 7 goals in 1 period against NY Rangers, Trottier scores 8 points vs Rangers, 5 goals-NHL record 6 pts in 1 period

1979 NY Islanders greatest shutout lose (8-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks

1893 Opera "H„nsel und Gretel" is produced (Weimar)

1951 1st coast-to-coast televised football game (Dumont paid $75,000) LA Rams beat Cleve Browns 24-17 in NFL championship game

1919 1st hospital ship built to move wounded naval personnel launched

1922 BBC Radio began daily newscasts

1961 Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food & medical supplies

1776 Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"

1945 Pope Pius XII encyclical Orientals omnes, about Rutheense church

1994 Baseball owners impose salary cap, fiercely opposed by players

1997 US Agriculture Dept estimates it costs $149,820 to raise a child to 18

1832 Dutch troops in Antwerp surrender

1894 Debussy's ballet "L'apr‚s-midi d'un faune," premieres in Paris

1922 Pope Pius XI pleas for peace: encyclical Ubi arcano

1876 Turkey's 1st constitution proclaimed

1997 Colo Avalanche Jari Kurri is 8th NHLer to score 600 career goals

1941 American forces on Wake Island surrender to Japanese

1957 Test Cricket debut for Wally Grout & Bobby Simpson v S Africa

1991 NY Daily News publisher Kevin Maxwell resigns

1986 Rutan & Yeager make 1st around-the-world flight without refueling

1981 Boycott becomes leading run-scorer in Test Crickets with 8033

1947 Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley in Bell Labs

1996 4 women ordained priests in Jamaica, 1st in 330-year Anglican history

1968 82 members of US intelligence ship `Pueblo' released by North Korea

1983 Journal Science publishes 1st report on nuclear winter

1852 1st Chinese theater in US, Celestial John, opens in San Francisco

1961 KICU TV channel 43 in Visalia-Fresno, CA (IND) begins broadcasting

1972 16 plane crash survivors rescued after 70d, survived by cannabalism

1751 France sets plan to tax clergymen

1946 Highest ridership in NYC subway history (8.8 million passengers)

1980 Sam Shepard's "True West," premieres in NYC

1946 U of Tenn refuses to play Duquesne U, because they may use a black player in their basketball game

1788 Maryland votes to cede a 10э mile area for Dist of Columbia

1928 NBC sets up a permanent, coast-to-coast radio network

1867 1st self-made millionairess (Sarah Breedlove-hair straightner)

1225 St Francis of Assisi assembles 1st Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy)

1962 Cuba starts returning US prisoners from Bay of Pigs invasion

1690 John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered

1793 Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies

1968 Borman, Lovell & Anders become 1st men to orbit Moon

1970 NY World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m)

1909 Albert becomes king of Belgians

1899 Fieldmarshal Lord Roberts departs Southampton to South Africa

1899 Tentative Turkish & German treaty on construction of Baghdad railway

1960 De Quay's Dutch govt falls

1923 Yankees pitcher Carl Mays sold to Reds for $85,000

1974 "Good News" opens at St James Theater NYC for 16 performances

1912 Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation

1974 Leningrad: premier of Dmitri Sjotakovitsj' Michelangelo-liederen

1945 Frederick Astons "Cinderella" premieres in London

1569 St Philip of Moscow martyred by Ivan the Terrible

1962 Dallas Texans beat Houston Oilers 20-17 in AFL championship game

1975 Congress passes Metric Conversion Act

1823 "Visit from St Nicholas" by C Moore published in Troy (NY) Sentinel

1964 India & Ceylon hit by cyclone, about 4,850 killed

1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1990 Slovenians vote to secede from Yugoslavia

1862 Union Gen Ben "Beast" Butler is proclaimed a "felon, outlaw & common enemy of mankind" by Jefferson Davis

1940 John Van Druten's "Old Acquaintance," premieres in NYC

1943 1st telecast of a complete opera (Hansel & Gretel), Schenectady, NY

1997 Terry Nichols found guilty of manslaughter in Okla bombing

1834 Joseph Hansom of London receives patent for Hansom cabs

1997 Woody Allen, 62 weds Soon-Yi Previn 27, adopted daughter of Mia Farrow

1944 Beginning of harsh winter

1966 Britains rock TV show, "Ready Steady Go," last program

1984 Viv Richards scores 208 in Test Cricket at MCG

1917 3 British warships come close to Holland

1938 Margaret Hamilton's costume catches fire in filming of "Wizard of Oz"

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