January 2......

January 2 is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 363 (364 in leap years) days remaining in the year on this date.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 69 - Roman Lower Rhine army proclaims its commander, Vitellius, emperor

● 366 - Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire.

● 533 - Mercurius becomes Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.

● 725 - 18-Rabbit, high Mayan king of Copan, installs Cauac-Sky as ruler of Quirigua.

● 1235 - Emperor Joseph II orders Jews of Galicia Austria to adopt family names

● 1492 - The leader of the last Arab (Moorish) stronghold, Granada, in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

● 1570 - Tsar Ivan the Terrible march to Novgorod begins

● 1585 - Spain & Catholic France sign Saint League of Joinville

● 1602 - Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsdale

● 1744 - Colonial missionary to the American Indians David Brainerd wrote in his journal: 'We are a long time in learning that all our strength and salvation is in God.'

● 1757 - The United Kingdom captures Calcutta, India.

● 1776 - 1st revolutionary flag displayed

● 1776 - Austria ends interrogation torture {at least until Hitler or Bush have people there}

● 1788 - Birth of Etienne Cabet, French utopian socialist and influence on Robert Owen. Utopian colonies based on his ideas will be founded in Illinois, Iowa and Texas.

● 1788 - Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution.

● 1793 - Russia and Prussia partition Poland.

● 1800 - Free black community of Philadelphia petitions Congress to abolish slavery.

● 1811 - US Senator Thomas Pickering is 1st senator censured (revealed confidential documents communicated by the President of the US)

● 1818 - The British Institution of Civil Engineers is formed.

● 1831 - Liberator, abolitionist newspaper, begins publishing in Boston

● 1832 - 1st Curling club in US (Orchard Lake Curling Club) opens

● 1839 - 1st photo of the Moon (French photographer Louis Daguerre)

● 1842 - 1st US wire suspension bridge for general traffic opens in Pennsylvania

● 1859 - Erastus Beadle published "The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette."

● 1860 - The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences in Paris.

● 1861 - Colonel Charles Stone is put in charge of organizing DC militia

● 1861 - SC seizes inactive Fort Johnson in Charleston Harbor

● 1863 - Battle of Murfreesboro (Stone's River) ends

● 1870 - The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins.

● 1871 - Amadeus I becomes King of Spain.

● 1872 - Brigham Young is arrested for bigamy due to having 25 wives.

● 1875 - Harriot Kezia Hunt dies in Boston. The most famous female "irregular" medical practitioner who couldn't or wouldn't get a medical degree, Hunt urged women into the profession as the surest way to preserve the modesty of female patients. Finally admitted to Harvard's medical school after years of applying, she was forced to withdraw when male students rioted in protest. Hunt fought to abolish slavery, advocated higher education for women, and supported payment for house work and child-rearing. For 20 years, she registered a formal "taxation without representation" protest when she paid her taxes. Her clinical work rejected the established practice of heavily dosing patients with medications, and instead stressed proper diet, exercise and hygiene.

● 1879 - Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator. {This generator was designed by Tesla because Edison preferred the less efficient DC to the ultimately used AC.}

● 1879 - British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die

● 1882 - Because of anti-monopoly laws, John D. Rockefeller unites his oil holdings into the Standard Oil trust.

● 1885 - General Wolseley receives last distress signal of General Gordon in Khartoum

● 1890 - Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer for the White House.

● 1890 - Record 19'2" alligator shot in Louisiana by E A McIlhenny

● 1893 - 1st US commemoratives & 1st US stamp to picture a woman issued

● 1893 - The first commemorative postage stamps were issued.

● 1893 - Sybil Morrison, pacifist feminist, born, Britain.

● 1893 - Webb C. Ball of the General Railroad Timepiece Standards in North America introduces railroad chronometers.

● 1896 - Battle at Doornkop, South Africa (Boers beat Dr Jamesons troops)

● 1900 - E Verlinger begins manufacturing 7" single-sided records (Montréal)

● 1900 - The Chicago Canal opened.

● 1900 - U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announces the Open Door Policy to promote trade with China.

● 1903 - President Theodore Roosevelt shuts down post office in Indianola, Mississippi, for refusing to accept its appointed postmistress because she was black.

● 1905 - Conference of Industrial Unionists in Chicago forms the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), fondly known as The Wobblies.

● 1905 - Birth of Michael Tippett, pacifist composer, England.

● 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Russian fleet surrenders at Port Arthur, China. Japanese Gen. Nogi received from Russian Gen. Stoessel at 9 o'clock P.M. a letter formally offering to surrender, ending the Russo-Japanese War.

● 1905 - Elara, a satellite of Jupiter, discovered by Perrine

● 1908 - Canadian branch of the Royal Mint opens in Ottawa

● 1909 - Future Foursquare Gospel church founder Aimee Elizabeth (nee Kennedy) Semple (later McPherson), 19, along with her husband Robert Semple, was ordained to the ministry in Chicago by evangelist William H. Durham.

● 1909 - 1st official Dutch 11 city skate (Minne Hoekstra in 13 50)

● 1910 - The first junior high school in the United States opened. McKinley School in Berkeley, CA, housed seventh and eighth grade students. In a separate building students were housed who attended grades 9-12.

● 1913 - National Woman's Party forms

● 1914 - Philips installs research department in Eindhoven

● 1917 - The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank.

● 1919 - Anti-British uprising in Ireland

● 1919 - Lithuania gains independence

● 1920 - Attorney General Palmer orders the arrest of and illegal detention of 10,000 Americans, including suspected anarchists, communists, unionists, and other radicals.

● 1920 - Birth of science and science fiction author Isaac Asimov ("Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." {Proven repeatedly by the current incompetent in the White House.}), Petrovichi, Russia.

● 1921 - The first religious program heard over the radio was broadcast from Calvary Episcopal Church of Pittsburgh over local radio station KDKA. The sermon was preached by Dr. E. J. van Etten. (The first licensed radio station in the US, KDKA had been on the air only two months.)

● 1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opens

● 1923 - As evidence of his illegal behavior in the Teapot Dome Affair mounted, Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall resigns. President Harding responds by offering Fall an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court.

● 1923 - Ku Klux Klan surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood FL, 8 killed (compensation awarded in 1995) {This means the youngest survivors would be at least 72 years old. Justice delayed is justice denied.}

● 1924 - Felipe Carrillo Puerto, socialist governor of Yucatan state (Mexico), assassinated.

● 1925 - Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region established (now in Tadzhik SSR)

● 1929 - Canada and the United States agree on a plan to preserve Niagara Falls.

● 1932 - Young gang shoot dead six police in Springfield, Missouri.

● 1933 - Ijmuider fishing strike begins (till July 11th)

● 1933 - US troops leave Nicaragua

● 1934 - 1st state liquor stores open, in Pennsylvania

● 1935 - Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial for the kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh, Jr., infant son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne. At the time, this was called the trial of the century. (He was found guilty and executed.)

● 1936 - 1st electron tube to enable night vision described, St Louis MO

● 1938 - Book publisher Simon and Schuster founded

● 1941 - World War II: German bombing severely damages the Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff, Wales.

● 1941 - World War II: The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program to build freighters in support of the war effort.

● 1942 - World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces.

● 1942 - The United States Navy opens a blimp base at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

● 1942 - 28 nations, at war with Axis, pledge no separate peace

● 1942 - German troops in Bardia surrender

● 1944 - 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol)

● 1945 - Japanese Americans released from internment camps.

● 1945 - Allied air raid on Neurenberg

● 1945 - Radio Orange ends cooperation at Liese-Aktion

● 1946 - Unable to resume rule after World War II, King Zog of Albania abdicates but retains his claim to the throne.

● 1947 - Mahatma Gandhi begins march for peace in East-Bengali

● 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.

● 1952 - In protest against German remilitarization, dock workers refuse to unload munitions from freighter. Hamburg, West Germany.

● 1953 - "The Life of Riley" debuted on NBC-TV.

● 1953 - Asian Socialist Conference.

● 1955 - Panamanian president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated.

● 1956 - Poujadists/communists win French parliamentary elections

● 1957 - The San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange and Los Angeles Oil Exchange merge.

● 1959 - Soviets launch moon probe Luna I. It misses the moon to become first artificial satellite to orbit the sun.

● 1959 - Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees

● 1959 - CBS Radio ended four soap operas. "Our Gal Sunday", "This is Nora Drake", "Backstage Wife" and "Road of Life" all aired for the last time.

● 1960 - 1st redshank old world shore bird reported in North America (Halifax)

● 1960 - John Reynolds sets age of solar system at 4,950,000,000 years

● 1960 - Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

● 1961 - Hawaii's, then all time low temperature, 14ºF recorded atop Haleakale

● 1964 - Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan

● 1964 - Failed assassination attempt on President Nkrumah of Ghana

● 1965 - "Broadway" Joe Namath signed the richest rookie contract ($400,000) in the history of pro football.

● 1965 - Bomb explodes in Naples, Italy at the Spanish Consulate. The attack is claimed by the Spanish anarchists of the CNT, FAI, and FIJL, which declare - "As long as the Iberian people continue to be oppressed by the fascist dictatorship, dynamite will recall that the voice of freedom cannot be choked. Long live anarchy."

● 1965 - Martin Luther King Jr begins a drive to register black voters

● 1965 - Obverse design of all Canadian coins is changed to depict the Queen with a slightly more mature look

● 1966 - 1st Jewish child born in Spain since 1492 expulsion

● 1967 - Sixty-nine armed men, plus three CBS cameramen, arrested in Florida Keys as they complete preparations for an invasion of Haiti. It is later revealed that CBS had paid the prospective invaders for exclusive rights to film the landing.

● 1968 - Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth wrote in a letter: 'In the Church of Jesus Christ there can and should be no non-theologians.'

● 1968 - Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs 2nd heart transplant, the first successful one.

● 1968 - Fidel Castro announced petroleum and sugar rationing in Cuba.

● 1969 - Luis Ferré becomes the first statehooder Governor of Puerto Rico.

● 1969 - Murdoch wins Fleet Street foothold; The Australian media magnate, Rupert Murdoch, beats off a rival bid to win control of the News of the World newspaper group. It is his first Fleet Street newspaper.

● 1969 - Operation Barrier Reef began in Mekong Delta, Vietnam

● 1969 - "Soviet Sport" calls Emile Zatopek a public enemy

● 1970 - US population is 205,052,174; Black population 22,600,000 (11.1%)

● 1970 - U.S. Supreme Court rules unconstitutional General Lewis Hershey's 1967 directive during the Vietnam War that local draft boards reclassify to 1-A (eligible for active duty) anti-draft demonstrators.

● 1971 - A team of Israeli scholars announced the discovery in Jerusalem of a 2,000-year-old skeleton of a crucified male. Found in a cave-tomb, it was the first direct physical evidence of the well-documented Roman method of execution.

● 1971 - The second Ibrox disaster kills 66 fans at a Rangers-Celtic football game in Glasgow Scotland.

● 1971 - In the U.S., a federally imposed ban on television cigarette advertisements went into effect.

● 1972 - John Wayne Gacy picks up an unidentified teenage boy at the Chicago Greyhound terminal; the boy is the first of his 33 victims, and the only one stabbed instead of strangled.

● 1972 - Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars

● 1974 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.

● 1974 - Belgium - Jean de Boe dies. Anarchist militant, trade unionist, and cooperatist.

● 1974 - Worst fire in Argentine history destroys 1.2 million acres

● 1975 - US Department of Interior designates grizzly bear a threatened species

● 1975 - Court rules John Lennon and his lawyers get access to Department of Immigration files regards his deportation case, to determine if the government case is based on his 1968 British drug conviction or his anti-establishment comments during the Nixon administration years.

● 1977 - Bowie Kuhn suspends Braves owner Ted Turner for one year due to tampering charges in Gary Matthews free-agency signing

● 1978 - Bülent Ecevit forms government in Turkey

● 1978 - Devil's Lake Lakota win settlement of $8.5 million for 1,500 square miles taken illegally from Fort Totten reservation in 1880s.

● 1979 - Trial of ex-Sex Pistol Sid Vicious for the October 1978 murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen, New York City. Sid never hears the verdict, dying from a heroin overdose.

● 1979 - Dr Benjamin E Mays, named president of Atlanta Board of Education

● 1980 - Steel workers strike over pay; British steel workers are staging their first national strike for more than fifty years.

● 1981 - Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is arrested.

● 1983 - Garry Trudeau takes a 20-month break from writing "Doonesbury"

● 1984 - Riot in Tunis kills over 100.

● 1984 - Wilson Goode, sworn-in as Philadelphia's 1st black mayor

● 1985 - The Rebels of UNLV beat Utah State in three overtime periods. The final score of 142-140 set a new NCAA record for total points in a basketball game (282). The game took over three hours to play.

● 1985 - Egyptian President Mubarak re-appoints Coptic pope Shenuda III

● 1986 - 191.66 million shares traded in New York Stock Exchange

● 1987 - Troops of Chad President Habré conquer Fada oasis

● 1988 - Mulroney & Reagan sign Canada-US free trade agreement

● 1988 - Drinking water supply for thousands is threatened after an Ashland Oil Company storage tank collapsed and spills 860,000 gallons of Diesel fuel into the Monongahela River north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Towns along the Ohio River below Pittsburgh were forced to act as a slick, 20 miles long from bank to bank, moved down river.

● 1990 - Dow Jones hits record 2,800 (2,810.15)

● 1991 - Salvadoran rebels shoot down U.S. helicopter and shoot two U.S. military "advisors."

● 1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC, becoming the first African American woman to lead a city of that size and importance.

● 1993 - Round table talks on peace for Bosnia; Leaders of the three warring factions in Bosnia are meeting to discuss a peace plan aimed at ending nine months of fighting in the country.

● 1994 - Battles between army & rebellious Indians in South Mexico, kill 57

● 1995 - Bus crashes in Luzon Philippines, 29 killed

● 1995 - Most distant galaxy yet discovered found by scientists using Keck telescope in Hawaii (estimated 15 billion light years away)

● 1996 - US peacekeepers pour into Bosnia; The first convoy of American combat troops arrives in Northern Bosnia to try to keep the peace between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims.

● 1996 - AT&T announced that it would eliminate 40,000 jobs over three years.

● 1996 - An estimated 100,000 Bangladeshi women travelled from the countryside to attend a rally in Dacca, the capital, to protest Islamic clerics' attacks on women's education and employment.

● 1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.

● 1998 - Autopsy of Chris Farley shows he overdosed of opiates & cocaine {Same as his idol the late John Belushi, again proving if one falls to learn the lessons of history, mistakes will be repeated}

● 1998 - Russia began circulating new rubles in effort to keep inflation in check and promote confidence.

● 1999 - A brutal snowstorm smashes into the Midwestern United States, causing 14 inches (359 mm) of snow at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and 19 inches (487 mm) at Chicago, where temperatures plunge to -13°F (-25°C); 68 deaths are reported.

● 2001 - Sila Calderón becomes the first female Governor of Puerto Rico.

● 2002 - Levy Mwanawasa takes office as the third President of Zambia.

● 2002 - Eduardo Duhalde is appointed interim President of Argentina by the Legislative Assembly.

● 2004 - Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will return to Earth two years later.

● 2006 - A methane gas explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia killed one miner outright and trapped 12 others underground for more than 40 hours. Randal McCloy Jr. was the only survivor; the others succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

● 2006 - Fifteen people die in the Bad Reichenhall ice rink roof collapse tragedy in Bavaria, Germany.

● 2007 - Wesley Autrey jumps onto a New York City Subway track in front of an oncoming train to save another man.

● 2007 - The Detroit Red Wings of the NHL retire the #19 jersey of Steve Yzerman.

BIRTHS

● 1642 - Mehmed IV, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1693)

● 1647 - Nathaniel Bacon, English-born American colonist (d. 1676)

● 1713 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (d. 1803)

● 1719 - Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder (d. 1797)

● 1727 - James Wolfe, British general who captured Quebec (d. 1759)

● 1729 - Johann, Daniel Titius, Prussian astronomer and physicist (d. 1796)

● 1777 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)

● 1822 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (d. 1888)

● 1827 - Peter Semenov of Tian Shan, Russian explorer (d. 1914)

● 1831 - Justin Winsor, American librarian and historian (d. 1897)

● 1836 - Mendele Moykher Sforim, Jewish writer (d. 1917)

● 1837 - Mily Balakirev, Russian composer (d. 1910)

● 1870 - Ernst Barlach, German sculptor and playwright (d. 1938)

● 1870/71 - Tex Rickard, American fight promoter and gambler (d. 1929)

● 1872 - Albert Coombs Barnes, American inventor and art collector (d. 1951)

● 1873 - Saint Thérèse de Lisieux, French Roman-Catholic Carmelite nun (d. 1897)

● 1877 - Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (d.1906)

● 1886 - Florence Lawrence, Canadian actress (d. 1938)

● 1896 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (d. 1954)

● 1895 - Count Felke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat, humanitarian (d. 1948)

● 1897 - Jim Londos, wrestler (d. 1975)

● 1904 - Sally Rand, American fan dancer (d. 1979)

● 1905 - Michael Tippett, English composer (d. 1998)

● 1905 - Lev Schnirelmann, Russian mathematician (d. 1938)

● 1910 - Srirangam Srinivasarao, also known as Sri Sri, Famous Modern Telugu Poet (d. 1983)

● 1913 - Anna Lee, English actress (d. 2004)

● 1917 - Vera Zorina, German dancer (d. 2003)

● 1920 - Isaac Asimov, Russian-born American science and science-fiction Grand Master author (d. 1992)

● 1921 - Glen Harmon, National Hockey League defenceman

● 1926 - Harold Bradley, Country musician

● 1928 - Robert Goralski, American journalist (d. 1988)

● 1930 - Julius LaRosa, American singer

● 1933 - Morimura Seiichi, Japanese novelist

● 1935 - Neil Downing, Irish writer and musician

● 1936 - Roger Miller, American singer (d. 1992)

● 1938 - Ian Brady, British serial killer

● 1938 - Hans Herbjørnsrud, Norwegian author

● 1940 - Jim Bakker, Former American televangelist {and general all-around scum ball}

● 1942 - Dennis Hastert, Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

● 1942 - Hugh Shelton, 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

● 1944 - Prince Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian politician

● 1946 - Richard Cole, American tour manager

● 1947 - Jack Hanna, American zoologist

● 1947 - Calvin Hill, American football player

● 1949 - Christopher Durang, American playwright

● 1950 - David Shifrin, American classical clarinetist

● 1951 - Bill Madlock, Major League Baseball player

● 1952 - Wendy Phillips, Actress

● 1954 - Henry Bonilla, American politician

● 1954 - Dawn Silva, American singer (The Brides of Funkenstein, P-Funk)

● 1955 - Tex Brashear, American voice actor

● 1957 - Joanna Pacula, Polish actress

● 1958 - Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Russian pianist

● 1960 - Christian Bartolf, German scientist

● 1960 - Naoki Urasawa, Japanese manga author

● 1961 - Gabrielle Carteris, American actress

● 1961 - Todd Haynes, American film director

● 1963 - David Cone, American baseball player

● 1963 - Edgar Martinez, American baseball player

● 1964 - Pernell Whitaker, American boxer

● 1965 - Greg Swindell, American baseball player

● 1967 - Tia Carrere, American actress

● 1968 - Cuba Gooding Jr., Oscar winning American actor

● 1968 - Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion

● 1968 - Evan Parke, Jamaican actor

● 1969 - Tommy Morrison, American boxer

● 1969 - Christy Turlington, American model

● 1969 - Róbert Švehla, Slovak ice hockey player

● 1969 - Patrick Huard, Quebec actor and comedian

● 1970 - Royce Clayton, American baseball player

● 1971 - Lisa Harrison, American basketball player

● 1971 - Scott Underwood, Rock musician (Train)

● 1971 - Renee Elise Goldsberry, African American actress, and singer

● 1972(71? NYT) - Taye Diggs, American actor

● 1973 - Lucy Davis, British actress

● 1974 - Patrick Fonti, American musician

● 1975 - Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby union player

● 1975 - Doug Robb, American singer (Hoobastank)

● 1975 - Dax Shepard, Actor (''Punk'd'')

● 1975 - Chris Cheney, Australian musician (The Living End)

● 1975 - Sundra Oakley, American actress and Survivor contestant

● 1976 - Cletidus Hunt, American football player

● 1976 - Danilo di Luca, Italian cyclist

● 1976 - Paz Vega, Spanish actress

● 1977 - Ales Pisa, Czech ice hockey player

● 1978 - Chris Hartman, Country musician

● 1979 - Suranne Jones, British actress

● 1980 - Mac Danzig, American Mixed martial arts combatant

● 1981 - Hanno Balitsch, German footballer

● 1981 - Kirk Hinrich, basketball player

● 1981 - Maxi Rodríguez, Argentine footballer

● 1983 - Kate Bosworth, American actress

● 1984 - Colleen Taylor, American journalist

● 1985 - Heather O'Reilly, American soccer player

DEATHS

● 1512 - Svante, Regent of Sweden (b. 1460)

● 1514 - William Smyth, English bishop and statesman (bc. 1460)

● 1557 - Pontormo, Italian painter (b. 1494)

● 1685 - Harbottle Grimston, English politician (b. 1603)

● 1694 - Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English politician (b. 1651)

● 1726 - Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (b. 1688)

● 1833 - Seraphim of Sarov, Russian Orthodox saint (b. 1759)

● 1892 - George Airy, British Astronomer Royal (b. 1801)

● 1893 - John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (b. 1805)

● 1904 - James Longstreet, American Confederate general (b. 1821)

● 1913 - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855)

● 1917 - Edward Burnett Tylor, English anthropologist (b. 1832)

● 1924 - Sabine Baring-Gould, English composer and novelist (b. 1834)

● 1939 - Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (b. 1864)

● 1946 - Joe Darling, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)

● 1960 - Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist (b. 1919)

● 1960 - Paul Sauvé, Canadian politician (b. 1907)

● 1963 - Dick Powell, American actor (b. 1904)

● 1963 - Jack Carson, American actor (b. 1910)

● 1974 - Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905)

● 1977 - Errol Garner, American musician (b. 1921)

● 1986 - Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903)

● 1986 - Bill Veeck, baseball executive (b. 1914)

● 1990 - Alan Hale Jr., American actor (b. 1918)

● 1995 - Siad Barre, President of Somalia (b. 1919)

● 1995 - Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921)

● 1996 - Karl Targownik, Hungarian psychiatrist (b. 1915)

● 1997 - Randy California, American guitarist & songwriter (Spirit) (b. 1951)

● 2000 - Nat Adderley, American musician and composer (b. 1931)

● 2000 - Patrick O'Brian, British novelist (b. 1914)

● 2000 - Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., U.S. admiral (b. 1920)

● 2001 - Teri Diver, American actress (b. 1971)

● 2004 - Lynn Cartwright, American actress (b. 1927)

● 2004 - Jess Collins, American artist (b. 1923)

● 2005 - Cyril Fletcher, British comedian (b. 1913)

● 2005 - Frank Kelly Freas, American artist (b. 1922)

● 2005 - Ronald 'Bo' Ginn, American politician (b. 1934)

● 2005 - Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist (b. 1911)

● 2005 - Edo Murtić, Croatian painter (b. 1921)

● 2007 - Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Basil the Great, bishop
● St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishop
● St. Adelard
● St. Caspar del Bufalo, Italian priest
● St. Gaspar
● St. Adalard
● St. Argeus
● St. Aspasius
● St. Blidulf
● St. Seraphim of Sarov
● St. Artaxus
● St. Martinian
● St. Munchin

● old Roman Catholic:
● Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (most years)

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 20 (Civil Date: January 2)
● Nativity Fast.
● Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ.
● Repose of Righteous John of Kronstadt
● Hieromartyr Ignatius the God bearer, Bishop of Antioch (also celebrated January 29)
● St. Philogonius, Bishop of Antioch.
● St. Daniel II, Archbishop of Serbia.
● St. Ignatius, archimandrite of the Kiev Caves.
● New Martyr John of the Isle of Thasos.
● Repose of Anthony, Archbishop of Voronezh and Zadonsk (1846), and Metropolitan Philaret of Kiev (Theodosius in schmea) (1857).

● Anglican:
● St. Basil the Great
● St. Gregory Nazianzen.

● Lutheran:
● Johann Loehe, pastor

● Christian :
● St. Macarius the Younger, martyr

● The eighth day of Christmas (and ninth night of same) in Western Christianity.

● Unification Church : Day of Victory of Love

● Georgia : Constitution Ratification Day (1788)

● Haiti — Ancestry/Hero's Day

● Japan : Kakizome

● Japan : Shigoto Hajime-Begin Work Day (beginning of the work year)

● New Zealand — Statutory holiday, Second day of New Year.

● Scotland — Second day of the Hogmanay Bank Holiday.

● Slovenia — Second day of New Year.

● Spain : Granada Day (1492)

● Switzerland — Berchtold's Tag (Day), founding of Berne

● Ukraine — Second day of New Year

● United States : Betsy Ross Day (1776)

● This Holiday is only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● Scotland : Handsel Monday - ( Monday )


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

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

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Permanent Backlink to Post