Today In History - December 25

1 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
337 Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
352 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
390 Roman emperor Theodosius admits debt on mass murder in Thessalonica
498 French king Clovis baptises himself
597 England adopts Julian calendar
795 Adrian I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
800 Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Roman emperor
875 Charles, the Bare, crowned emperor of Rome
967 John XIII crowned Otto II the Red German compassionate emperor
969 Johannes I Tzimisces, crowned emperor of Byzantium
979 Rotardus appointed as bishop of the kingdom
999 Heribertus becomes bishop of Cologne
1000 Monarch Istvan crowned king of Hungary
1046 Pope Clemens VI crowns Henry III RC-German emperor
1066 William the Conqueror, crowned king of England
1100 Boudouin I of Boulogne crowned king of Jerusalem
1101 Henry I of Limburg becomes duke of Neth-Lutherans
1121 Norbertus van Xanten finds order of the Norbertijnen
1130 Anti-pope Anacletus II crowns Roger II the Norman, king of Sicily
1223 St. Francis of Assisi assembles 1st Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy)
1492 Columbus' ship Santa Maria docks at Dominican Republic
1522 Turkish troops occupy Rhodos
1582 Zealand/Brabant adopts Gregorian calendar, yesterday was Dec 14th
1613 Johan Sigismund of Brandenburg becomes protestant
1621 Gov William Bradford of Plymouth forbids game playing on Christmas
1640 Pierre de Fermat writes to Marin Mersenne about Fermat's church thesis
1641 Emperor Ferdinand III makes appointments with Sweden and France
1651 Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine (five shillings) for "observing any such day as Christmas"
1683 English Whig-leader duke of Monmouth flees to Holland
1688 English king James II lands in Ambleteuse, France
1688 Lord Delamere sides with King James II
1717 Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces, 1000s killed
1741 Astronomer Anders Celcius introduces Centigrade temperature scale
1745 Prussia/Austria signs Treaty of Dresden
1745 Treaty of Dresden gives much of Silesia to the Prussians
1758 Halley's comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch during return
1760 Juptier Hammon, New York slave, publishes poetry in "An Evening Throught"
1775 Pope Pius VI encyclical on the problems of the pontificate
1776 Washington crosses Delaware and surprises and defeats 1,400 Hessians
1818 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night") sung (Austria)
1818 Handel's Messiah, U.S. premieres in Boston
1830 Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic," premieres
1831 Louisiana and Arkansas are 1st states to observe Christmas as holiday
1837 Battle of Okeechobee-U.S. forces defeat Seminole Indians
1843 1st theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, New York City)
1848 New Haven Railroad opens
1862 40,000 watch Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head, SC
1896 "Stars and Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa
1899 Farmers send/guide belegerd Ladysmith Kerstpudding/desire in grenade
1900 Arthur Schnitzlers "Leutnant Gustl" forbidden in Germany
1901 Battle at Tweefontein Orange-Free state: Boers surprise attack Brits
1902 Clyde Fitch' "Girl with Green Eyes," premieres in New York City
1905 V Herbert/H Blossoms musical "Mlle Modiste," premieres in New York City
1908 Jack Johnson KO Tommy Burns and becomes 1st black heavyweight champ
1911 Edward Knoblock's "Kismet," premieres in New York City
1914 Legendary/unofficial "Christmas Truce" takes place (Brits and Germans)
1915 Irving Berlin and Harry B Smith's musical premieres in New York City
1917 "Why Marry," 1st drama to win Pulitzer Prize, premieres in New York City
1917 Hirsch/Harbach's musical "Going Up," premieres in New York City
1922 Lenin dictates his "Political testament"
1923 Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St. New York City
1926 Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan 1926-1989
1928 Christmas Day attendance at cricket MCG (Vic vs. NSW) 14,887
1928 NSW (v Vic) go from 8-74 to 9-113 to be 9-367 at stumps
1929 Grimmett takes 6-146 for SA, Queensland all out 380 Crowd 5,390
1930 Mt Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid, New York opens
1930 Slinger Nitschke scores 142 SA vs. Qld at Adelaide before 5,422
1930 Tasmania all out 280, WI 2-139 at Hobart Crowd 2,500
1931 Albert Lonergan scores 137 SA vs. Qld at Adelaide before 5,697
1931 Fleetwood-Smith takes 5-69 Victoria vs. Tas at Hobart
1931 NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio
1932 During King George V Christmas dinner speech, his chair collapes
1933 Another Christmas Day five-wicket haul by Clarrie Grimmett
1933 Belgian Working people's party accept Henry de Mans Plan of Labor
1933 Stan Smith takes 8-33 for Victoria vs. Tasmania at Hobart
1934 Four centuries for SA as they make 7-644 vs. Qld before 6,180
1934 Samson Raphaelson's "Accent on Youth," premieres in New York City
1936 Belgian bishops condemn fascism and communism
1936 Ron Hamence scores 104 for SA vs. Queensland before 4,865
1937 Arturo Toscanini conducts 1st Symphony of the Air over NBC Radio
1937 Queensland all out for 93 vs. SA in front of 10,436
1938 George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O'Hara
1939 Grimmett and Ward rip through Qld except Bill Brown (156)
1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer
1940 Bradman out 1st ball for SA vs. Victoria before 6213
1940 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Harts "Pal Joey," premieres in New York City
1941 Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong
1941 Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi/Kagu back in Kure, Japan
1942 Admiral Dalans murderer of Bosinier de la Chapelle, sentenced to death
1942 British Col S W Bailey reaches Mihailovics headquarter
1942 Russian artillery/tank battle on German armies at Stalingrad
1946 Constitution accepted in Taiwan
1947 Taiwan passes Human Rights laws (Day of Earth Law)
1950 Cleveland Browns beat Los Angeles Rams 30-28 in NFL championship game
1950 Dick Tracy marries Tess Truehart
1951 1st Christmas Day in Test Crickets, Aust vs. WI at Adelaide
1951 West Indies defeat Australia by 6 wkts on 3rd day of 3rd Test Cricket
1953 Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand)
1954 WSFA TV channel 12 in Montgomery, AL (NBC) begins broadcasting
1955 Cleveland Browns win NFL championship
1955 Pope Pius XII encyclical on sacred music and popular music
1957 Ed Gein found insane of murder
1958 Alan Freed's Christmas Rock and Roll Spectacular opens
1959 A synagogue in Cologne Germany desecrated with swatstikas
1959 Richard Starkey receives his 1st drum set
1959 Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market
1962 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.
1963 Walt Disney's "The Sword in the Stone" is released
1964 "Goldfinger" premieres in US
1964 George Harrison's girlfriend Patti Boyd attacked by female Beatle fans
1967 Paul McCartney and Jane Asher get engaged
1968 Frank Borman's Christmas reading while orbiting Moon
1969 5 Israeli gunboats escape from Cherbourg harbor
1969 India all out for 163 at Madras vs. Aust, Ashley Mallett 5-91
1971 Longest NFL game (82m40s) as Dolphins beat Chiefs 27-24
1971 Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) form Jesse Jackson
1971 Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul
1972 England beat India by six wickets in the 1st Test Cricket at Delhi
1973 Tommy Chambers (Scotland) finishes 51 yr cycle tour (799,405 miles)
1974 Cyclone Tracy virtually destroys Darwin Australia
1976 Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed
1976 Takeo Fukuda becomes Japanese premier
1977 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets Egyptian President Sadat in Egypt
1979 Opening day of 4th Test Cricket, India 8-112 vs. Pakistan at Kanpur
1979 U.S.S.R. airlifts invasionary army to Afghanistan
1982 Mudassar Nazar scores century, then Imran rips through Indians
1983 1st live telecast of Christmas Parade
1984 NBA's Bernard King scores 60 points
1987 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured
1989 Japanese scientist achieve -271.8 degrees C, coldest temp ever recorded
1990 "Godfather III" premieres
1991 Last day of a washout Pakistan vs. Sri Lanka at Gujranwala
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as President of U.S.S.R.
1994 "Comedy Tonight" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City after 8 performances
1997 For 1st time U.S. movie box office receipts pass $6 billion
1997 Jerry Seinfeld says this is the final season of his TV show

Today In History - December 25

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