December 23......

December 23 is the 357th day of the year (358th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 8 days remaining in the year on this date.

EVENTS

● 619 - Boniface V begins his reign as Catholic Pope

● 1482 - Peace of Atrecht

● 1493 - Georg Alt's German translation of Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle is published.

● 1569 - St Philip of Moscow martyred by Ivan the Terrible

● 1617 - First penal colony in North America established in Virginia.

● 1620 - French huguenots declare war on King Louis XIII

● 1648 - Birth of Robert Barclay, Scottish Quaker theologian. He published his most famous work, "An Apology for the True Christian Divinity," in 1676, making him the most prominent theologian in the early Quaker Church.

● 1672 - Giovanni Cassini discovers Rhea, a satellite of Saturn

● 1688 - English king Jacob II flees to France

● 1690 - John Flamsteed observes Uranus without realizing it's undiscovered

● 1715 - Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund

● 1724 - Emperor Charles VI names Maria Elisabeth land guardian of Australia Netherlands

● 1728 - Prussian Emperor Karel VI sign Treaty of Berlin

● 1751 - France sets plan to tax clergymen

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

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

● 1779 - Benedict Arnold court-martialed for improper conduct

● 1783 - George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland. George Washington then returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.

● 1788 - Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.

● 1790 - Birth of Jean Francois Champollion, French Egyptologist. In 1822 he successfully decoded the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta Stone (uncovered in 1799), and is recognized today as the founder of modern Egyptology.

● 1793 - Thomas Jefferson warned of slave revolts in West Indies

● 1823 - The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore (" 'Twas the night before Christmas...") was published.

● 1832 - Dutch troops in Antwerp surrender

● 1834 - English architect Joseph Hansom patented his 'safety cab', better known as the Hansom cab.

● 1841 - Birth of Handley C.G. Moule, Anglican theologian. He succeeded B.F. Westcott in 1901 as Bishop of Durham. A profound scholar, he could nevertheless speak and write for ordinary people, and published commentaries on nearly all of Paul's letters in the New Testament.

● 1852 - The Theatre of Celestial John opened on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, CA. It was the first Chinese theatre in the U.S.

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

● 1862 - Birth of Amos R. Wells, American Christian educator. He was first editorial secretary of the newly organized Christian Endeavor Society (forerunner of modern church "youth fellowships") from 1891 until his death in 1933.

● 1867 - Sarah Breedlove Walker, the American businesswoman and philanthropist considered to be the first black female millionaire , was born.

● 1876 - Turkey's 1st constitution proclaimed

● 1877 - Birth of Luigi Fabbri, Fabriano, Italy. Professor, Italian anarchist, theorist, writer. Escaped the fascist regime in 1926, seeking refuge in France, Belgium, and, finally, after being expelled several times, in Uruguay.

● 1880 - Malheur Agency in South Oregon is closed, with all Indians successfully removed from region.

● 1880 - Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Electric Light Company of Europe.

● 1888 - Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own left earlobe, takes it to a brothel, and gives it to a prostitute named Rachel.

● 1899 - Fieldmarshal Lord Roberts departs Southampton to South Africa

● 1899 - Tentative Turkish & German treaty on construction of Baghdad railway

● 1907 - 1st all-steel passenger railroad coach completed, Altoona PA

● 1909 - Albert becomes king of Belgium

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

● 1912 - Aswan Dam in Nile begins operation

● 1913 - The Federal Reserve Bill was signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The act established 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

● 1916 - World War I: Battle of Magdhaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

● 1917 - 3 British warships come close to Holland

● 1919 - The first ship designed to be used as an ambulance for the transport patients was launched. The hospital ship was named USS Relief and had 515 beds.

● 1919 - Alice H Parker patents gas heating furnace

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

● 1920 - King George V signs Home Rule Act

● 1921 - Visva-Bharati University inaugurated.

● 1922 - BBC Radio began daily newscasts

● 1922 - Pope Pius XI pleas for peace: encyclical Ubi arcano

● 1925 - Sultan Ibn Saud of Nedzjed conquers Djeddah

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

● 1930 - Police Bureau of Criminal Alien Investigation started in New York NY

● 1930 - Ruth Elizabeth Davis, an unknown actress, arrived in Hollywood, under contract to Universal Studios. Universal changed her name to Bette Davis for the movies.

● 1933 - Marinus van der Lubbe sentenced to death

● 1933 - Train crash in Eastern Paris; 230 die

● 1936 - Colombia becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

● 1937 - First flight of the Vickers Wellington bomber.

● 1938 - Spanish insurgents launch Catalonia drive.

● 1938 - "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" was heard for the final time on the radio.

● 1938 - Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West costume catches fire in filming of "Wizard of Oz"; she is severely burned and off the film for over one month

● 1939 - Finnish counter offensive at Summa

● 1941 - American forces on Wake Island surrender to Japanese

● 1941 - British troops overrun Benghazi Libya

● 1941 - Japan begins assault on Rangoon Burma

● 1942 - Bob Hope agreed to entertain U.S. airmen in Alaska. It was the first of the traditional Christmas shows.

● 1942 - Allies air attack on Den Helder

● 1943 - General Montgomery told he is appointed commandant for D-day

● 1943 - "Hansel and Gretel," the opera, was televised on New York's WRBG. It was the first complete opera to be televised.

● 1944 - Beginning of harsh winter

● 1945 - Pope Pius XII encyclical Orientals omnes, about Rutheense church

● 1946 - University of Tennessee refuses to play Duquesne University, because they may use a black player in their basketball game

● 1946 - Belgian Council of State forms

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

● 1947 - Pres. Truman pardons 1,523 of 15,805 World War II draft resisters.

● 1947 - Transistor invented by Bardeen, Brattain & Shockley demonstrated at Bell Labs

● 1948 - Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed by hanging in at Sugamo Prison Tokyo. They had been found guilty of crimes against humanity at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.

● 1950 - U.S. signs an agreement with France, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to provide military assistance in Indochina.

● 1950 - Pope Pius XII declared that the tomb of St. Peter had been discovered beneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

● 1951 - A National Football League (NFL) championship game was televised nationally for the first time. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cleveland Browns 24-17. The DuMont Network had paid $75,000 for the rights to the game.

● 1951 - Last Belgian communities get electricity

● 1953 - Soviet secret police chief Lavrenti Beria and six of his associates were shot for treason following a secret trial.

● 1954 - England: Bertrand Russell broadcasts on "Man's Peril" – the H-bomb.

● 1954 - The Walt Disney movie "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was released.

● 1954 - The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

● 1956 - Jubilation as allied troops leave Suez; The United Nations Emergency Force takes over in Egypt after British and French forces withdraw from Port Said and Port Fuad ending the Suez Crisis.

● 1957 - Dan Blocker made his acting debut on television in the "Restless Gun."

● 1958 - Dedication of Tokyo Tower, world's highest self-supporting iron tower.

● 1958 - Abdallah Ibrahim forms government of Morocco

● 1960 - De Quay's Dutch government falls

● 1960 - King Saudi of Saudi-Arabia takes power

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

● 1961 - Train accident in Italy, 70 die

● 1962 - Cuba starts returning US prisoners from the Bay of Pigs invasion

● 1963 - Fire on Greek ship Laconia, 128 die

● 1964 - Beeching to leave British Railways; Dr Richard Beeching who instigated major and controversial changes to the rail network will quit, says the government.

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

● 1965 - A 70-mph speed limit was introduced in Britain.

● 1966 - Fervently pro-war Catholic Cardinal Spellman arrives in Vietnam for a five-day Christmas visit, stating U.S. troops were there for the "defense, protection, and salvation not only of our country, but...of civilization itself." Apparently, Shrub was listening.

● 1967 - Lyndon B Johnson meets Pope Paul VI at the Vatican

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

● 1968 - 1st documented US case of space motion sickness

● 1968 - Eighty-two crewmembers of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

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

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

● 1970 - French author Régis Debray freed in Bolivia

● 1970 - The North Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,368 feet (411 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

● 1970 - USSR performs nuclear test

● 1972 - About 350 anti-war protesters march through stores in the downtown Seattle shopping district.

● 1972 - Australian Labour Party elected government, defeating the 23-year-old Liberal-Country Party Coalition.

● 1972 - The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second play that was dubbed the "Immaculate Reception." Pittsburgh's Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and ran it in for the winning touchdown.

● 1972 - All 16 survivors of the October 13 crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 are rescued after 70 days, survived by cannibalism.

● 1972 - The Nicaraguan capital of Managua is struck by a 6.5 magnitude earthquake, killing more than 10,000.

● 1973 - 6 Persian Gulf nations double their oil prices

● 1973 - French Caravelle crashes in Morocco, 106 killed

● 1975 - The Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes of Maine win a court decision upholding principle that the U.S. has an obligation to protect the land rights of all tribes, whether recognized by the federal government or not.

● 1975 - Congress passes Metric Conversion Act

● 1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1979 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

● 1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces it has identified dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.

● 1983 - Journal Science publishes 1st report on nuclear winter

● 1986 - Sakharov comes in from the cold; The Soviet Union's most prominent dissident, Andrei Sakharov, has returned to Moscow after almost seven years of internal exile.

● 1986 - Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California and becomes the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without refueling.

● 1987 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in West Virginia. She was recaptured two days later.

● 1989 - Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were captured as they were attempting to flee their country.

● 1990 - Elections in Yugoslavia ended, leaving four of its six republics with non-Communist governments.

● 1990 - History of Slovenia: 88% of Slovenia's population vote for independence from Yugoslavia in a referendum.

● 1991 - Prayers for peace in all churches, but a planned interfaith peace rally is banned by Yugoslavian authorities.

● 1991 - New York Daily News publisher Kevin Maxwell resigns

● 1992 - France: The "Journal Officiel" publishes the abrogation of the "laws scolorates," adopted between December 12, 1893 and July 28, 1894, following Auguste Vaillant's attack on the Chamber of Deputies, which were designed to repress anarchists throughout the country.

● 1992 - Queen's Christmas speech leaked; The BBC investigates a leak which led to the Queen's Christmas speech being published in a national newspaper.

● 1995 - A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children, during a year-end party being held near the children's school.

● 1995 - The bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple religious sect were found in a clearing near Grenoble, France. Fourteen were presumed shot by two people who then committed suicide.

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

● 1997 - Terry Nichols was convicted by a Denver jury on charges of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the 1995 federal building bombing in Oklahoma City. The bomb killed 168 people.

● 1997 - US Agriculture Department estimates it costs $149,820 to raise a child to 18

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

● 1998 - Guerrillas in south Lebanon fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel.

● 2002 - Senate Republicans unanimously elected Bill Frist of Tennessee to succeed Trent Lott of Mississippi as their leader in the next Congress.

● 2003 - The government announced the first suspected case of mad cow disease in United States. (It was later confirmed.)

● 2003 - A jury in Chesapeake, Va., sentenced teen sniper Lee Boyd Malvo to life in prison, sparing him the death penalty.

● 2003 - New York Gov. George Pataki pardoned the late comedian Lenny Bruce for his 1964 obscenity conviction.

● 2004 - Former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland pleaded guilty to a corruption charge. (He was later sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.)

● 2004 - Macquarie Island in the Southern Ocean is hit by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake.

● 2005 - Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 217 from Baku, Azerbaijan to Aktau, Kazakhstan crashed shortly after takeoff killing 23 people.

● 2005 - Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18th attack on Adre, which left about 100 people dead.

● 2012 - Great benchmark in Mayan calendar: "The Long Count cycle will return to the symmetry of the beginning."

BIRTHS

● c.245- Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra (d. ?)

● 1513 - Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (d. 1577)

● 1537 - King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)

● 1582 - Severo Bonini, Italian composer (d. 1663)

● 1597 - Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (d. 1639)

● 1613 - Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish soldier (d. 1676)

● 1621 - Edmund Berry Godfrey, English magistrate (d. 1678)

● 1621 - Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1682)

● 1648 - Robert Barclay, English-born American Quaker leader (d. 1690)

● 1682 - James Gibbs, Scottish architect (d. 1754)

● 1689 - Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (d. 1755)

● 1732 - Richard Arkwright, English industrialist and inventor (d. 1792)

● 1743 - Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet (d. 1803)

● 1750 - King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (d. 1827)

● 1777 - Tsar Alexander I of Russia (d. 1825)

● 1790 - Jean François Champollion, French Egyptologist (d. 1832)

● 1804 - Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (d. 1869)

● 1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr., American founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1844)

● 1819 - Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (d. 1889)

● 1822 - Wilhelm Bauer, German engineer (d. 1875)

● 1843 - Richard Conner, American Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient (d. 1924)

● 1850 - Oscar Solomon Straus, American member of President Wilson's cabinet (d. 1926)

● 1856 - James Buchanan Duke, American tobacco magnate (d. 1925)

● 1858 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian playwright (d. 1943)

● 1864 - Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (d. 1890)

● 1867 - Madam Sarah Breedlove Walker, American millionaire (d. 1919)

● 1878 - Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer (d. 1972)

● 1885 - Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)

● 1889 - Emil Brunner, Swiss theologian (d. 1966)

● 1891 - Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter and photographer (d. 1956)

● 1907 - Avraham Stern, Polish-born Zionist leader (d. 1942)

● 1908 - Yousuf Karsh, Turkish-born photographer (d. 2002)

● 1911 - Niels Kaj Jerne, English-born immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)

● 1911 - James Gregory, American actor (d. 2002)

● 1918 - Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of Germany

● 1918 - José Greco, Italian-born flamenco dancer (d. 2001)

● 1921 - Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Actor

● 1921 - Guy Beaulne, French Canadian actor and theatre director (d. 2001)

● 1922 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician

● 1923 - Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist

● 1923 - Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor

● 1923 - James Stockdale, U.S. Navy admiral (d. 2005)

● 1924 - Bob Kurland, Basketball Hall of Fame member

● 1926 - Robert Bly, American poet

● 1929 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1988)

● 1931 - Ronnie Schell, American actor

● 1933 - Akihito, Emperor of Japan

● 1935 - Paul Hornung, American football player

● 1935 - Esther Phillips, American singer (d. 1984)

● 1936 - James Stacy, Actor

● 1936 - Frederic Forrest, American actor

● 1938 - Bob Kahn, American Internet pioneer

● 1940 - Jorma Kaukonen, American musician (Jefferson Airplane)

● 1940 - Eugene Record, American singer (The Chi-Lites) (d. 2005)

● 1941 - Ron Bushy, Rock musician (Iron Butterfly)

● 1941 - Tim Hardin, American musician (d. 1980)

● 1942 - John Peterman, American fashion designer

● 1943 - Mikhail Gromov, Russian-born mathematician

● 1943 - Harry Shearer, American actor-comedian (''The Simpsons'')

● 1943 - Silvia Sommerlath, Queen of Sweden

● 1943 - Ron Allen, Baseball player

● 1943 - Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (A Patch of Blue) (d. 1987)

● 1944 - Wesley Clark, U.S. general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander

● 1946 - Susan Lucci, American actress (''All My Children'')

● 1948 - Jack Ham, American football player and Hall of Fame member

● 1949 - Adrian Belew, American musician

● 1950 - Michael C. Burgess, American politician

● 1951 - Anthony Phillips, British guitarist (Genesis)

● 1952 - William Kristol, American political commentator

● 1956 - Dave Murray, English guitarist (Iron Maiden)

● 1956 - Michele Alboreto, Italian Formula one driver (d. 2001)

● 1957 - Dan Bigras, Quebec rock singer

● 1958 - Dave Murray, Rock musician (Iron Maiden)

● 1958 - Victoria Williams, American singer

● 1961 - Carol Smillie, British television personality

● 1962 - Keiji Muto, Japanese professional wrestler

● 1963 - Jim Harbaugh, American football player

● 1964 - Eddie Vedder, American musician (Pearl Jam)

● 1968 - Carla Bruni, Italian-French model, songwriter and singer

● 1969 - Martha Byrne, American actress

● 1970 - Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater

● 1970 - Raymont Harris, American football player

● 1971 - Corey Haim, Canadian actor

● 1971 - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite

● 1974 - Agustín Delgado, Ecuadorian footballer

● 1975 - Jamie Murphy, Rock musician

● 1975 - Sky Lopez, American actress

● 1976 - Jamie Noble, American professional wrestler

● 1977 - Alge Crumpler, American football player

● 1978 - Andra Davis, American football player

● 1978 - Esthero, Canadian musician and singer

● 1978 - Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player

● 1978 - Estella Warren, Canadian model and actress

● 1978 - Jodie Marsh, British adult model

● 1979 - Summer Altice, American model and actress

● 1981 - Beth, Spanish singer

● 1983 - Michael Chopra, English footballer

● 1985 - Harry Judd, British drummer (McFly)

DEATHS

● 910 - Naum of Preslav, Bulgarian scholar

● 913 - Conrad of Franconia

● 1230 - Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard I of England

● 1556 - Nicholas Udall, English playwright (b. 1504)

● 1568 - Roger Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth I of England

● 1575 - Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese warrior (b. 1531)

● 1588 - Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (b. 1550)

● 1631 - Michael Drayton, English poet (b. 1563)

● 1646 - François Maynard, French poet (b. 1582)

● 1652 - John Cotton, founder of Boston, Massachusetts (b. 1585)

● 1675 - Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602)

● 1722 - Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)

● 1771 - Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian saint (b. 1701)

● 1761 - Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell, Scottish Jacobite spy

● 1779 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (b. 1724)

● 1789 - Charles-Michel de l'Épée, French philanthropist and developer of signed French (b. 1712)

● 1793 - Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)

● 1795 - Henry Clinton, British general (b. 1730)

● 1805 - Pehr Osbeck, Swedish explorer and naturalist (b. 1723)

● 1834 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)

● 1846 - Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, French naturalist (b. 1780)

● 1902 - Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1821)

● 1912 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (b. 1850)

● 1931 - Wilson Bentley, Discovered that no two snowflake are the same

● 1939 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)

● 1948 - Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (hanged) (b. 1884)

● 1948 - Akira Muto, Japanese army commander (hanged) (b. 1883)

● 1953 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (b. 1899)

● 1954 - René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)

● 1970 - Charles Ruggles, American actor (b. 1886)

● 1972 - Andrei Tupolev, Soviet aircraft designer (b. 1888)

● 1973 - Charles Atlas, Italian-born bodybuilder (b. 1892)

● 1973 - Irna Phillips, American television writer, director, and producer (b. 1901)

● 1979 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)

● 1982 - Jack Webb, American actor, producer, and director (b. 1920)

● 1983 - Colin Middleton, Northern Irish artist (b. 1910)

● 1992 - Vincent Fourcade, French American interior designer and socialite (b. 1934)

● 1992 - Eddie Hazel, American guitarist (Funkadelic) (b. 1950)

● 1994 - Sebastian Shaw, English actor (b. 1905)

● 2000 - Billy Barty, American actor (b. 1924)

● 2000 - Victor Borge, Danish-born comedian and pianist (b. 1909)

● 2002 - Joe Strummer, Punk guitarist (b. 1952)

● 2004 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, ninth Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)

● 2005 - Norman D. Vaughan, polar explorer and dogsled driver (b. 1905)

● 2005 - Lajos Baróti, Hungarian footballer and coach (b. 1914)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic
● St. O Emmanuel
● St. John Cantius (John of Kanty)
● St. Thorlac Thorhallsson, patron saint of Iceland
● St. Servulus
● St. Victoria
● St. Vintila
● St. Theodulus
● St. Dagobert II
● St. John Cantius
● Martyrs of Crete
● St. Nicholas Factor
● St. Migdonius & Mardonius

● Roman festivals:
● Larentalia, a festival in honor of Larenta

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 10 (Civil Date: December 23)
● Nativity Fast.
● Martyrs Menas, Hermogenes and Eugraphus of Alexandria
● St. Ioasaph, Bishop of Belgorod (also 4 September).
● Martyr Gemellus of Paphlagonia.
● St. Thomas of Bithynia.
● Blessed John, king of Serbia, and his parents Stephen and Angelina Brancovich.

● Greek Calendar:
● Hieromartyr Theotecnus.
● Martyr Marianus.
● Martyr Eugene.

● Japan - The Emperor's Birthday - Birthday of Akihito, the current Emperor of Japan

● Jämtland – Sjursmäss ("Sigurd's Mass"), a local holiday

● Ancient Latvia - Ziemassvetki held

● Sweden - Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day

● Oaxaca - Night of the Radishes

● Egypt : Victory Day

● Montego Bay Jamaica : John Canoe Day

● Secular humanism (American) - Human Light observed

FICTION BASED

● 1954 – Birth of Toby Ziegler, The West Wing character

● Festivus - Seinfeld-based fictional holiday


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

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