Today In History - December 19

401 St. Anastasius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1055 Seldjuken under Toghril Beg occupy Baghdad
1154 King Henry II of England crowned
1551 Dutch west coast hit by hurricane
1562 Battle at Dreux: Anne de Montmorency and huguenots under Conde captured
1688 King James II's wife and son flee to France
1696 Jean-Francois Regnard's "Le Joueur," premieres in Paris
1686 Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe)
1732 Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard Saunders begins publication of "Poor Richard's Almanack"
1777 Washington settles his troops at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for winter
1783 English government of Pitt, Jr. forms
1788 Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam
1795 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
1823 Georgia passes 1st U.S. state birth registration law
1828 South Carolina declares right of states to nullify federal laws
1835 HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin approaches NZ
1842 US recognizes independence of Hawaii
1843 Charles Dickens publishes "A Christmas Carol," in England
1854 Allen Wilson of Connecticut patents sewing machine to sew curving seams
1859 Grading started for Market Street RR
1861 Battle of Black Water
1871 Albert L Jones (New York City), patents corrugated paper
1881 Opera "Herodiade" is produced (Brussels)
1884 Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State
1888 Stanley's expedition reaches Fort Bodo, East-Africa
1889 Bishop Museum founded in Hawaii
1890 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Beryl Coronet"
1891 Canadian Rugby Union forms
1903 Williamsburg suspension bridge opens between Brooklyn and Manhattan
1910 1st city ordinace requiring white and black residential areas (Balt)
1910 Rayon 1st commercially produced, Marcus Hook, Penn
1916 Suriname Bauxite Company forms in Paramaribo
1918 Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column (New York Globe)
1917 1st NHL game played on artificial ice (Toronto)
1917 Quebec Bulldogs play their 1st professional hockey game
1919 American Meteorological Society found
1920 1st U.S. indoor curling rink opens (Brookline, Mass)
1913 Jack Johnson fights Jim Johnson to a draw in 10 for hw boxing title
1928 1st autogiro (predecessor of helicopter) flight in US
1930 James Weldon Johnson resigns as executive secretary of NAACP
1931 Joseph A Lyons (C) becomes premier of Australia
1932 British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas
1933 Electric Home and Farm Authority Inc, authorized
1976 John Lever takes 7-46 in 1st Test Cricket innings, vs. India Delhi
1939 Russian air and ground attack against Finnish positions near Summa
1941 Hitler takes complete command of German Army
1941 US Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II
1943 Military coup in Bolivia
1945 Austrian Republic re-establishes
1945 Jean Giraudoux' "La Folle de Chaillot," premieres in Paris
1946 War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi
1949 Luxury passenger ship Aquitania demolished in Garelock Scotland
1950 General Eisenhower named NATO commander
1950 Tibet's Dalai Lama flees Chinese invasion
1948 2nd political action of Java/Sumatra
1951 Nazi General Christiansen leaves Nethe
1952 Queen Juliana unveals statue "Docker"
1922 Mrs Theres Vaughn, 24, confessed in court to being married 62 times
1955 Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes"
1948 Philadelphia Eagles shutout Chicago Cards 7-0 in NFL championship game
1949 WJW TV channel 8 in Cleveland, OH (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 KFYR TV channel 5 in Bismarck, ND (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1960 Fire aboard USS Constellation, under construction at Brooklyn (50 die)
1961 British government begins decimal coin system
1961 Indonesian President Sukarno proclaims general mobilization
1960 Frank Sinatra's 1st session with Reprise Records (Ring-A-Ding-Ding)
1962 Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia and Nyasaland
1962 Street signs in Golden Gate Park approved by Park Commission
1963 Zanzibar becomes independent from UK
1965 French president De Gaulle re-elected (Mitterrand gets 45%)
1959 1st Liberty Bowl game-Penn State beats Alabama 7-0
1962 Transit 5A1, 1st operational navigational satellite, launched
1971 CBS airs "Homecoming A Christmas Story," (introducing the Waltons)
1971 Stanley Kubrick's X-rated "A Clockwork Orange" premieres
1971 NASA launches Intelsat 4 F-3 for COMSAT Corp
1973 Grenada adopts constitution
1974 "Man With Golden Gun" premieres in US
1975 John Paul Stevens becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1975 Ron Wood joined the Rolling Stones
1974 Dave Kryskow scores Washington Capitals 1st NHL shorthanded goal
1976 Jo Ann Washam/Chi Chi Rodriguez wins Pepsi-Cola Mixed Team Golf Champ
1976 Piper Cherokee crashes into Balt Memorial Stadium upper stands, 10 minutes after Colts lose 40-14 to Steelers. No one seriously hurt
1969 Beatle's 7th Christmas album is released
1977 Dutch government of Van Agt/Wiegel forms
1978 France performs nuclear test
1978 Indira Gandhi ambushed in India
1980 Mutaual Broadcasting cancels Sears Radio Theater
1976 President Brezhnev receives his 5th Lenin order
1984 China PR Premier Zhao Ziyang and Margaret Thatcher sign Hong Kong Treaty
1984 China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1984 Scotty Bowman becomes NHL's all time winningest coach
1984 UK signs agreement with China to return Hong Kong to China in 1997
1985 "Wind in the Willows" opens at Nederlander Theater New York City for 4 performances
1986 U.S.S.R. frees dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile
1985 Mary Lund is 1st woman to receive a Jarvik VII artificial heart
1987 Gari Kasparov becomes world chess champ
1988 NASA unviels plans for lunar colony and manned missions to Mars
1989 American Airlines purchases Eastern Airline's Latin American route
1989 Larry Bird, of the Celtics, begins NBA free throw streak of 71 games
1987 Bruins' Linseman and Blues' Doug Gilmore score goals, 2 seconds apart
1972 Apollo 17, last of Apollo Moon landing series, returns to Earth
1948 Cleveland Browns beats Buffalo Bills 49-7 in AAFC championship game
1991 "Christmas Carol" opens at Eugene O'Neill Theater New York City for 14 performances
1991 Boris Yeltsin takes control of Kremlin
1991 New York Yankee pitcher Steve Howe arrested for cocaine possession
1988 Oklahoma's College football team gets 3 year probation
1993 Guinee general Lansana re-elected president
1887 Jake Kilrain and Jem Smith fight 106 round bare knuckle draw
1995 Queen Elizabeth askes Prince Charles and Diana to divorce
1996 "Once Upon a Matress," opens at Broadhurst New York City for 187 performances
1997 MTV drops video "Smack My Bitch Up" by Prodigy

Today In History - December 19

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