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  • 483 St Felix III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
  • 607 12th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
  • 1138 German king Koenraad II von Hohenstaufen crowned
  • 1519 Cortez lands in México
  • 1560 Spanish fleet occupies Djerba, at Tripoli
  • 1564 Cardinal Granvelle flees Brussels
  • 1567 Battle at Oosterweel: Spanish troops destroy Geuzenleger
  • 1569 Battle of Jarnac, Count of Anjou defeats Huguenots
  • 1591 Battle at Tondibi: Moroccans army under Judar beats sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai
  • 1634 Académie Française opens
  • 1639 Cambridge College renamed Harvard for clergyman John Harvard
  • 1656 Jews are denied the right to build a synagogue in New Amsterdam
  • 1677 Massachusetts gains title to Maine for $6,000
  • 1735 1st US Moravian bishop, David Nitschmann, consecrated in Germany
  • 1759 27th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
  • 1772 Gotthold Lessing's "Emilia Calotti," premieres in Brunswick
  • 1781 Sir William Herschel sees "comet" (really discovered Uranus)
  • 1790 John Martin, 1st American-born actor, performs in Philadelphia
  • 1797 Cherubini's opera "Medée," premieres in Paris
  • 1835 Charles Darwin departs Valparaiso for Andes crossing
  • 1846 Friedrich Hebbel's "Maria Magdalena," premieres in Königsberg
  • 1852 Uncle Sam cartoon figure made its debut in the NY Lantern weekly
  • 1861 Jefferson Davis signs bill authorizing use of slaves as soldiers
  • 1865 US Confederate Congress calls on black slaves for field service
  • 1868 Senate begins Pres Andrew Johnson impeachment trial
  • 1869 Arkansas legislature passes anti-Klan law
  • 1878 Oxford defeats Cambridge in their 1st golf match
  • 1884 Siege of Khartoum Sudan begins
  • 1884 US adopts Standard Time
  • 1887 Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs
  • 1888 Great Blizzard of 1888 rages
  • 1894 J L Johnstone of England invents horse racing starting gate
  • 1895 Spanish cruiser Reina Regente sinks off Gibraltar, 402 die
  • 1900 British troops occupy Bloemfontein, Orange-Free state
  • 1904 Bronze statue of Christ on Argentine-Chilian border dedicated
  • 1911 Ivan Caryll's musical "Pink Lady," premieres in NYC
  • 1911 Stanley Cup: Ottawa Senators beat Galt (Ont), 7-4
  • 1912 Stanley Cup: Quebec Bulldogs sweep Moncton (NB) in 2 games
  • 1913 Kansas legislature approved censorship of motion pictures
  • 1915 Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tries to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane, but the pilot substituted a grapefruit
  • 1918 American Red Magen David (Jewish Red Cross) forms
  • 1918 1st NHL championship: Mont Canadiens beat Toronto Arenas, outscoring them 10-7 in a 2 game set
  • 1920 Wolfgang Kapp's coup attempt in Berlin fails
  • 1921 Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) declares independence from China
  • 1922 George Bernard Shaws "Back to Methusaleh V," premieres in NYC
  • 1922 WRR-AM in Dallas TX begins radio transmissions
  • 1922 NHL Championship: Ottawa Senators outscore Toronto St Pats, 5 to 4, in 2 games
  • 1923 Lee de Forest demonstrates his sound-on-film moving pictures (NYC)
  • 1924 German Republic day
  • 1925 NHL Championship: Montreal Canadiens sweep Toronto Arenas in 2 games
  • 1925 Tennessee makes it unlawful to teach evolution
  • 1928 450 die in St Francisquito Valley Dam burst (Calif)
  • 1928 Rudolph Friml's musical "Three Musketeers," premieres in NYC
  • 1929 Bradman scores 123 Aust v England at MCG, his 2nd Test Cricket ton
  • 1930 Clyde Tombaugh announces discovery of Pluto at Lowell Observatory
  • 1933 Banks reopen
  • 1933 Josef Göbbels becomes German minister of Information & Propaganda
  • 1935 Driving tests introduced in Great Britain
  • 1938 Anschluß-Austria annexed by Nazi Germany
  • 1940 Finland-Russian cease fire signed, Finland gives up Karelische
  • 1941 A Bougne forms AGRA (Amis du Grand Reich Allemand)
  • 1942 Julia Flikke, Nurse Corps, becomes 1st woman colonel in US army
  • 1943 Baseball approves official ball (with cork & balata)
  • 1943 Failed assassin attempt on Hitler during Smolensk-Rastenburg flight
  • 1943 Frank Dixon wins Knights of Columbus mile (4:09.6)
  • 1944 USSR recognizes Italian Badoglio govt
  • 1945 Queen Wilhelmina returns to Netherlands
  • 1945 Sicherheitsdienst arrest Dutch resistance fighter Henry Werkman
  • 1947 "Brigadoon" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 581 performances
  • 1947 19th Academy Awards - "Best Years of Lives," De Havilland, March win
  • 1948 10th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kentucky beats Baylor 58-42
  • 1949 US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Yvonne C Sherman
  • 1949 US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
  • 1950 General Motors reports net earnings of $656,434,232 (record)
  • 1951 2nd Dutch govt of Drees forms
  • 1951 Israel demands DM 6.2 billion compensation from Germany
  • 1954 Braves' Bobby Thomson breaks his ankle, he is replaced by Hank Aaron
  • 1954 Viet Minh General Giap opens assault on That Bien Phu
  • 1955 Bir BSD Mahendra succeeds Tribhubana as king of Nepal
  • 1955 Patty Berg wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
  • 1956 NZ bowl out WI for 77 at Eden Park to score their 1st Test Cricket win
  • 1957 Bloody battles after anti-Batista demonstration in Havana Cuba
  • 1958 Govt troops land in Sumatra Indonesia
  • 1960 Fay Crocker wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
  • 1960 NFL's Chicago Cardinals moves to St Louis
  • 1960 White Sox unveil new road uniforms with players' names above number
  • 1961 Elizabeth Gurley Finn (70) becomes pres of US Communist Party
  • 1961 Floyd Patterson KOs Ingemar Johansson in 6 for heavywgt boxing title
  • 1961 JFK sets up the Alliance for Progress
  • 1961 Landslide in USSR, kills 145
  • 1961 Old type, black & white notes cease to be legal tender
  • 1961 Pablo Picasso (79) marries his model Jacqueline Rocque (37)
  • 1962 Yugoslavia grants 1,000 prisoners amnesty
  • 1963 2 Russian reconnaissance flights over Alaska
  • 1963 Hindemith & Wilder's opera "Long Christmas Dinner," premieres in NYC
  • 1963 Indonesia & Netherlands recover diplomatic relations
  • 1964 Turkey threatens Cyprus with armed attack
  • 1965 Beatles' "Eight Days a Week," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
  • 1965 Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton of the Yardbirds
  • 1966 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Lagunita Golf Invitational
  • 1967 Congo sentences ex-premier Moïse Tsjombe to death
  • 1967 Robert Anderson's "You Know I Can't Hear You ...," premieres in NYC
  • 1968 Beatles release "Lady Madonna" in the UK
  • 1969 Apollo 9 returns to Earth
  • 1970 100 year Beehive anniversary ends in brawl in Amsterdam
  • 1970 Digital Equipment Corp introduces PDP-11 minicomputer
  • 1970 SF city employees begin 4-day strike
  • 1971 Live at Fillmore East recorded
  • 1973 Syria adopts constitution
  • 1973 "Irene" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 605 performances
  • 1973 Minskoff Theater opens at 200 W 45th St NYC
  • 1974 Charles de Gaulle Airport opens near Paris
  • 1974 Glenn Turner scores twin tons for NZ's 1st win against Aust
  • 1975 Bernard Slade's "Same Time, Next Year," premieres in NYC
  • 1977 Dennis Lillee takes 6-26, England all out 95 in Centenary Test
  • 1978 Moluccans "suicide commandos" occupies Province house
  • 1979 European Monetary System is established, ECU created
  • 1979 Gairy dictatorship in Grenada overthrown by New Jewel Movement
  • 1979 Isle's Mike Bossy's 5th career hat trick
  • 1980 Eric Heiden skates world record 1000m (1:13.60)
  • 1980 Ford Motor Co found innocent in death of 3 women in a fiery Pinto
  • 1980 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Dortmund won by Jan Hoffmann GDR
  • 1981 Attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehemet Ali Agca
  • 1981 NCAA St Joseph's upsets top seed DePaul
  • 1982 Ice Dance Championship at Copenhagen won by Torvill & Dean (GRB)
  • 1982 Ice Pairs Championship at Copenhagen won by Baess & Thierbach (GDR)
  • 1982 Men's Fig Skating Champions in Copenhagen won by Scott Hamilton (USA)
  • 1982 Worlds Ladies Fig Skate Champs in Copenhagen won by Elaine Zayak (USA)
  • 1982 Elaine Zayak, lands 6 triple jumps to win world skating championship
  • 1983 "Woman of the Year" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 770 perfs
  • 1983 1st USFL overtime game-Birmingham Stallions beat Oakld Invaders 20-14
  • 1984 Last day of 1st-class cricket for G Chappell, R Marsh, B Laird
  • 1984 WA beat Queensland by four wickets to win the Sheffield Shield
  • 1985 Funeral services held for Konstantin Chernenko (Moscow)
  • 1985 Michael Secrest (US) begins 24-hr ride of 516 miles, 427 yards
  • 1986 Soyuz T-15 carries 2 cosmonauts to Soviet space station Mir
  • 1987 Ice Dance Championship at Cincinnati won by Bestemianova & Bukin (URS)
  • 1987 John Gotti is acquitted of racketeering
  • 1987 Washington Caps score 5 goals against Toronto in 3 mins & 3 secs
  • 1988 14th People's Choice Awards: Fatal Attraction, Bill Cosby. win
  • 1989 27th shuttle, Discovery 8, launched, 1st woman to do the countdown
  • 1989 FDA orders recall of all Chilean fruit in US
  • 1989 US space shuttle STS-29 launched
  • 1990 Nicholoas Braithwaite elected premier of Grenada
  • 1991 Exxon pays $1-billion dollars in fines & cleanup of Valdez oil spill
  • 1992 570 die in a Turkish earthquake
  • 1992 FCC rules companies can own 30 AM & 30 FM stations (formerly 12)
  • 1992 Martina Navratilova & Judy Nelson settle their galamony suit
  • 1993 Blizzard of '93 hits north-east US
  • 1994 33.3% of Austria votes for ultra-right FPÖ
  • 1994 Cuba Godding Jr (26) weds Sara Kapfer (26)
  • 1994 Donna Andrews wins LPGA Ping Welch's Golf Championship
  • 1994 Oil tank/airship crash at Bosporus (huge fire/15+ killed)
  • 1994 President Mangope of Bophuthaswana deposed
  • 1995 9th Soul Train Music Awards: Boyz II Men, Anita Baker win
  • 1995 Anti fascist Kazachstan anti-parliament forms
  • 1995 Hungarian Forint devalued 9%
  • 1995 Istanbul police shoot dead 16 Alawitische demonstrators
  • 1996 Sri Lanka beat India in World Cup semi as riots stop play
  • 1996 Thomas Hamilton kills 16 kindergardeners, their teacher & himself