December 25
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Contents |
[change] Births
- 4 BC - AD 1 - Jesus, Christian icon (The exact day and year are disputed.) (d. circa 33)
- 1583 - Orlando Gibbons, English composer (d. 1625)
- 1628 - Noël Coypel, French painter (d. 1707)
- 1642 - (OS) - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (d. 1727)
- 1652 - Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (d. 1713)
- 1665 - Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
- 1667 - Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal and Munster
- 1674 - Thomas Halyburton, Scottish theologian (d. 1712)
- 1700 - Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (d. 1758)
- 1742 - Charlotte von Stein, friend of Goethe (d. 1827)
- 1757 - Benjamin Pierce, U.S. politician (d 1839)
- 1763 - Claude Chappe, telecommunications pioneer (d. 1805)
- 1771 - Dorothy Wordsworth, English diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
- 1821 - Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
- 1856 - Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
- 1861 - Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, founder of Banaras_Hindu_University
- 1875 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna
- 1876 - Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan
- 1876 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
- 1878 - Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver and automotive pioneer (d. 1941)
- 1883 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (d. 1955)
- 1884 - Evelyn Nesbit, actress (d. 1967)
- 1886 - Kid Ory, jazz musician (d. 1973)
- 1887 - Conrad Nicholson Hilton, hotelier (d. 1979)
- 1899 - Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
- 1901 - Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
- 1904 - Gerhard Herzberg, German-Canadian physicist (d. 1999)
- 1906 - Ernst Ruska, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
- 1906 - Sir Lew Grade, film producer (d. 1998)
- 1907 - Cab Calloway, bandleader (d. 1994)
- 1908 - Quentin Crisp, author, activist for homosexuals (d. 1999)
- 1908 - Helen Twelvetrees, actress (d. 1958)
- 1912 - Tony Martin, singer
- 1912 - Natalino Otto, Italian singer
- 1913 - Henri Nannen, journalist and publisher (d. 1966)
- 1915 - Pete Rugolo, bandleader
- 1918 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt (d. 1981)
- 1924 - Rod Serling, American television scriptwriter (d. 1975)
- 1924 - Atal Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India
- 1925 - Carlos Castaneda, author (d. 1998)
- 1927 - Nellie Fox, baseball player (d. 1975)
- 1928 - Dick Miller, actor
- 1936 - Princess Alexandra of Kent
- 1936 - Ismail Merchant, film producer (d. 2005)
- 1943 - Hanna Schygulla, actress
- 1944 - Jairzinho, footballer
- 1945 - Noel Redding, bassist (d. 2003)
- 1945 - Gary Sandy, actor
- 1945 - Kenny Stabler, American football player
- 1946 - Jimmy Buffett, singer, songwriter
- 1946 - Larry Csonka, American football player
- 1946 - Gene Lamont, American baseball player and manager
- 1948 - Barbara Mandrell, singer, actress
- 1949 - Sissy Spacek, actress
- 1949 - Joe Louis Walker, blues musician
- 1950 - Manny Trillo, baseball player
- 1950 - Karl Rove, political advisor to President George W. Bush
- 1954 - Robin Campbell, guitarist and singer (UB40)
- 1954 - Annie Lennox, singer (Eurythmics)
- 1957 - Shane MacGowan, musician
- 1958 - Hanford Dixon, American football player
- 1958 - Rickey Henderson, baseball player
- 1959 - Michael P. Anderson, astronaut
- 1961 - Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
- 1962 - Dean Cameron, American actor
- 1967 - Jason Thirsk, American bass player (Pennywise)
- 1971 - Dido, singer
- 1971 - Noel Hogan, guitarist and main co-songwriter of The Cranberries band
- 1975 - Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer
- 1976 - Tuomas Holopainen, keyboardist and composer (Nightwish)
- 1976 - Armin van Buuren, keyboardist
- 1980 - Reika Hashimoto, actress and model
- 1989 - Ellie Tack, well known actress, received full marks for her critically acclaimed performance in The Graduate
[change] Deaths
[change] Events
- 800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
- 1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror as king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
- 1223 - Saint Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene.
- 1599 - The city of Natal, Brazil is founded.
- 1776 - George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the monarchy's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" (Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria).
- 1837 - Battle of Okeechobee - United States forces defeat Seminole Native Americans.
- 1868 - US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.
- 1868 - Ezo Republic founded in Hokkaido by Shogunate rebels.
- 1914 - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops on the Western Front cease firing their guns and artillery and start singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they trade gifts with the enemy forces that face them. The Christmas truce lasts for several days, depending on the location.
- 1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City
- 1926 - Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding the Taisho Emperor.
- 1932 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills ~70,000 people
- 1939 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was read on radio for the first time (CBS radio)
- 1939 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is introduced by Montgomery Ward stores
- 1941 - Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese.
- 1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
- 1953 - A fire broke out in Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong.
- 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
- 1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia
- 1977 - Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat
- 1989 - Nicolae Ceausescu, former communist dictator of Romania, and his wife Elena were condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges by a court perceived by many as illegitimate.
- 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).
- 2002 - New Delhi Metro was introduced.
- 2004 - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which will land on Saturn's moon, Titan on January 14, 2005.
[change] Holidays
- Christmas Day
