January 5......

January 5 is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 360 (361 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

● 1349 - Margaretha of Bavaria names her son Willem V Earl of Holland/Zealand

● 1438 - Pope Eugenius IV deallocated council of Basel to Ferrara

● 1463 - Poet François Villon is banned from Paris.

● 1477 - Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France, over 7000 killed.

● 1500 - Duke Ludovico Sforza's troops reconquer Milan.

● 1527 - Swiss Anabaptist reformer Felix Manz, 29, was drowned in punishment for preaching adult (re-)baptism. Manz's death made him the first Protestant in history to be martyred at the hands of other Protestants.

● 1531 - Pope Clemens VII forbids English king Henry VIII to re-marry

● 1554 - A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

● 1589 - Catherine de Medici of France died at age 69.

● 1593 - William Louis of Nassau becomes Governor/Viceroy of Drenthe

● 1638 - Petition in Recife Brazil leads to closing of their 2 synagogues

● 1675 - Battle of Colmar: the French army beats Brandenburg.

● 1709 - Sudden extreme cold kills 1000s of Europeans

● 1715 - Advertisement in Boston newspaper offered for sale Indian woman "fit for all manner of household work."

● 1717 - Prussian King Frederik Willem I buys conscript for nobles

● 1719 - England/Hannover/Saxony-Poland/Austria sign anti-Prussian/Russian pact

● 1757 - Louis XV of France survives the assassination attempt by Robert–François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France with the traditional and gruesome form of death penalty used for regicides, being "drawn and quartered" (torn asunder) in public by horses.

● 1759 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.

● 1776 - Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution

● 1781 - Former American General Benedict Arnold, who defected to the British, helps the Redcoats plunder and burn Richmond, Virginia.

● 1800 - 1st Swedenborgian temple in US holds 1st service, Baltimore MD

● 1804 - Ohio legislature passes 1st laws restricting free blacks movement

● 1809 - Treaty of Dardanelles concluded between Britain & France

● 1822 - Central America proclaims annexation to Mexican Empire

● 1825 - Alexandre Dumas pare fights his 1st duel; his pants fall down

● 1828 - 1st edition of Amsterdam General Trade Journal (Algemeen Handelsblad)

● 1834 - Kiowa Indians record this as the night the stars fell.

● 1835 - Birth of American feminist Olympia Brown, Praire Ronde, Michigan.

● 1836 - Davy Crockett arrives in Texas, just in time for the Alamo

● 1839 - Scottish clergyman Robert Murray McCheyne wrote in a letter: 'There is nothing like a calm look into the eternal world to teach us the emptiness of human praise.'

● 1840 - Records show 95,820 licensed public houses in England on this date

● 1841 - James Clark Ross (UK) is 1st to enter pack ice near Ross Ice Shelf

● 1846 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.

● 1850 - California Exchange opens

● 1854 - The San Francisco steamer sinks, killing 300 people.

● 1859 - 1st steamboat sails, Red River

● 1861 - Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines at Mobile Bay

● 1861 - 250 Federal troops are sent from New York to Fort Sumter

● 1863 - Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky, one of the greatest masters of Russian drama and a founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, was born.

● 1869 - First black labor convention in U.S..

● 1874 - Birth of Leon Jules Leauthier, Manosque. Anarchist shoemaker who stabbed and seriously wounded the Minister of Serbia. Sentenced to life, but is killed during a prison uprising at ïles du Salut (October 1894).

● 1875 - President Grant sends federal troops to Vicksburg MS

● 1878 - Birth of Nelly Roussel. Free thinker, anarchist, feminist. Partner of the sculptor Henri Godet. Agitated, with Paul Robin, to spread neo-Malthusian ideas, opposing the repressive ideology and laws outlawing contraception and its propaganda. She spoke throughout France, demanding complete freedom for women, founded on new relationships between the sexes.

● 1881 - Paris Commune leader Louis-Auguste Blanqui dies, Paris, France. Huge crowd attends his funeral.

● 1885 - The Long Island Railroad Company became the first to offer piggy-back rail service which was the transportation of farm wagons on trains.

● 1887 - 1st US school of librarianship opens at Columbia University

● 1888 - Dutch Heidemaatschappij established

● 1892 - 1st successful auroral photograph made

● 1895 - Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. {Innocent of all charges it is several years before vindication all because Dreyfus committed the sin of being Jewish}

● 1896 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.

● 1898 - Birth of Federico Garcia Lorca. Spanish poet/dramatist. Murdered by Franco's fascists in 1936. Accused of subversive activity, evidence todaysuggests that it was a hate crime in response to his homosexuality. His writings were censored until Franco died (1975).

● 1900 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.

● 1903 - San Francisco-Hawaii telegraph cable opens for public use

● 1904 - -34ºF (-36.7ºC), River Vale NJ (state record)

● 1904 - -42ºF (-41.1ºC), Smethport PA (state record)

● 1904 - England beat Australia at the MCG, Rhodes 7-56 & 8-68

● 1905 - Charles Perrine announces discovery of Jupiter's 7th satellite, Elara

● 1905 - National Association of Audubon Society incorporates

● 1909 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.

● 1911 - San Francisco has it's 1st air meet

● 1911 - Portuguese expel Jesuits

● 1912 - Prague Party Conference.

● 1914 - Ford Motor Company raises its basic wage from $2.40 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day.

● 1916 - Austria-Hungary offensive against Montenegro

● 1918 - British premier Lloyd George demand for unified peace

● 1919 - Gottfried Feder founds the German Workers' Party, a political party that would later evolve into the Nazi Party. Among a number of extremist political groups operating in Germany after World War I, the relatively unknown Workers' Party combined socialist economics with militant German nationalism and an opposition to democracy.

● 1919 - Winnipeg (Canada) Central Trades and Labour Council delegates urge workers not to register if draft is reenacted.

● 1919 - Spartacists, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, lead revolt to renew November revolution. It lasts six days (in Berlin); both are murdered by the so-called "democratic" left on the 15th.

● 1922 - Following her sensational divorce, popular American evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, 32, resigned her denominational ordination and returned her fellowship papers to the General Council of the Assemblies of God.

● 1925 - First woman governor, Nellie Taylor Ross of Wyoming, sworn in.

● 1925 - Under Polish control, Danzig establishes Port Gdansk post office

● 1929 - Coup by King Alexander in South Slavia

● 1930 - Mao Tse-tung writes "A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire"

● 1932 - Spanish civil guards kill six people celebrating reinstatement of fired worker.

● 1933 - Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60.

● 1933 - Work on Golden Gate Bridge begins, on Marin County side

● 1934 - Both the National and American baseball leagues decided to use a uniform-size baseball. It was the first time in 33 years that both leagues used the same size ball. (MLB)

● 1934 - Birth of Winnie Mandela, a leader of African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa.

● 1937 - Only unicameral state legislature in US opens 1st session (Nebraska)

● 1940 - Finnish offensive at Suomossalmi against Russia

● 1940 - FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time.

● 1941 - British/Australian troops conquer Bardia Lybia

● 1942 - 55 German tanks reach North-Africa

● 1942 - John B. Hughes of the Mutual Broadcasting Company opens an attack on Japanese Americans in California. He charges they are engaged in espionage and their dominance in produce production and control of the food supply are part of a master war plan. The press attack is joined by "patriotic" organizations and white farming interests. Pres. Roosevelt goes on to authorize interning West Coast (but not Hawai'ian) Japanese Americans in remote desert concentration camps.

● 1943 - Educator and scientist George Washington Carver died in Tuskegee, Ala., at age 78.

● 1943 - William H Hastie, civilian aide to secretary of war, resigns to protest segregation in armed forces

● 1943 - Teams agrees to start season later due to WWII

● 1944 - The London "Daily Mail" was the first transoceanic newspaper to be published.

● 1945 - Japanese pilots received the first order to become kamikaze, or "Divine Wind." The suicidal blitz of the Kamikazes revealed Japan's desperation in the final months of World War II. Most of Japan's top pilots were dead, but youngsters needed little training to take planes full of explosives and crash them into ships. At Okinawa, they sank 30 ships and killed almost 5,000 Americans.

● 1945 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.

● 1945 - Pepe LePew debuts in Warner Bros cartoon "Odor-able Kitty"

● 1945 - Surprise attack on Liese-Aktion-office on Marnix St, Amsterdam

● 1948 - Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel. The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.

● 1949 - U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall prayed: 'Our Father in heaven, give us the long view of our work and our world. Help us to see that it is better to fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than to succeed in a cause that will ultimately fail.'

● 1949 - President Harry S Truman labels his administration the "Fair Deal"

● 1949 - General Spoor orders cease-fire on Sumatra

● 1952 - Churchill renews 'special relationship;' British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in the United States for an official visit, his first since re-election last October.

● 1953 - Passenger ships Willem Ruys & Orange collide in the Red Sea

● 1956 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time.

● 1956 - Elvis Presley records "Heartbreak Hotel"

● 1957 - Dodgers' Jackie Robinson retires rather than be traded to New York Giants

● 1957 - Eisenhower asks Congress to send troops to the Mid East

● 1959 - "Bozo the Clown" live children's show premieres on TV

● 1960 - Spanish anarchist/guerilla Francisco Sabaté dies in a shootout with the fascist civil guard.

● 1961 - US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba

● 1961 - "Mr. Ed," the talking horse, debuted for what would be a six-year run on TV.

● 1964 - Committee Against Nuclear Power Plants in New York stops plant planned for Queens.

● 1964 - Following an unprecedented pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. It was the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in over 500 years (since 1439).

● 1968 - Dr. Benjamin Spock, opposed to the Vietnam War, is indicted for conspiring to violate draft law, along with Coffin, Mitchell Goodman (married to Denise Levertov), Michael Ferber, and Marcus Raskin for delivering draft cards (October 1967).

● 1968 - Czechoslovakia's Stalinist ruler, Antonin Novotny, is succeeded as Communist Party leader by Alexander Dubcek, a Slovak who supports diplomatic reforms. Two months later, Novotny resigns the presidency, and Dubcek introduces a series of far-reaching political and economic reforms, including increased freedom of speech and an end to state censorship. Dubcek's efforts to establish "Communism with a human face" are celebrated across the country, and the brief period of freedom becomes known as the "Prague Spring." In August, the Soviet Union responds to Dubcek's liberal reforms with a Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.

● 1969 - USSR Venera 5 launched for 1st successful planet landing (Venus)

● 1970 - Joseph A. Yablonski, unsuccessful reform candidate to unseat "Tough Tony" Boyle as President of the United Mine Workers, is murdered, along with his wife and daughter, in their Clarksville, Pennsylvania home by assassins acting on Boyle's orders. Boyle was later convicted of the killing. West Virginia miners went on strike the following day in protest.

● 1970 - State of Mississippi integrates first three districts of its public schools.

● 1970 - 23,000 Belgian mine workers strike

● 1971 - Harlem Globetrotters lose 100-99 to New Jersey Reds, ending 2,495-game win streak

● 1971 - US heavyweight "Sonny" Liston's (36) corpse found

● 1972 - New York City NY transit fare rises from 30¢ to 35¢

● 1972 - President Nixon signs a bill for NASA to begin research on manned shuttle

● 1972 - West-Pakistani sheik Mujib ur-Rahman freed

● 1973 - Mali & Niger break diplomatic relations with Israel

● 1973 - Netherlands recognizes German Democratic Republic

● 1974 - An earthquake in Lima, Peru, kills six people, and damages hundreds of houses.

● 1975 - 14 die when British freighter "Lake Illawarra" rams pylon bridge between Derwent & Hobart, Tasmania & ship sinks

● 1975 - Salyut 4 with crew of 2 is launched for 30 days

● 1975 - South Africa - Twelve thousand black workers strike at Vaal Reefs gold mine.

● 1976 - Ten dead in Northern Ireland ambush; Ten Protestant men are shot dead as they return home from work in a mini-bus in Northern Ireland.

● 1976 - Cambodia is renamed Democratic Kampuchea by the Khmer Rouge.

● 1976 - "MacNeil-Lehrer Report" premieres on PBS

● 1977 - Kenya President Jomo Kenyatta disbands parliament

● 1981 - British police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, a truck driver later convicted of "Yorkshire Ripper" murders of 13 women

● 1981 - Death of Lanza del Vazzo, founder of Communaire de l'Arche, France.

● 1982 - Arkansas judge rules against obligatory teaching of creation

● 1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.

● 1985 - Israel ends major Ethiopian rescue mission; Thousands of Jewish refugees from Ethiopia are airlifted from Sudan to Israel in a secret operation.

● 1985 - Discovery moves to launch pad for STS 51-C mission

● 1987 - President Ronald Reagan underwent prostate surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Doctors reported no signs of cancer.

● 1987 - Surrogate Baby M case begins in Hackensack NJ

● 1988 - Austrian President Waldheim's war record investigated

● 1989 - 2 French TV newsmen arrested for trying to plant fake bombs on 3 airlines at JFK airport in security test

● 1993 - The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.

● 1993 - The state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd. It was America's first legal hanging since 1965. Dodd was an admitted child sex killer.

● 1993 - Price is Right model Janice Pennington sues CBS for show accident

● 1993 - Reggie Jackson elected to Hall of Fame

● 1994 - Former House Speaker Thomas P. ''Tip'' O'Neill died in Boston at age 81.

● 1995 - Lockheed C-140 Jetstar crashes at Isfahan Persia, 18 killed

● 1996 - Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone.

● 1997 - Russian forces withdraw from Chechnya.

● 1998 - U.S. Representative Sonny Bono, the 1960's pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; he was 62.

● 1998 - Ice storm knocks out electricity in Québec & Ontario

● 1998 - Vandals decapitate Copenhagen's Little Mermaid

● 2000 - INS Commissioner Doris Meissner ruled that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez ''belongs with his father'' and must be returned to Cuba.

● 2000 - The first day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit.

● 2001 - Shipman 'may have killed hundreds;' The former GP Harold Shipman may have killed more than 300 of his British patients, a report reveals.

● 2002 - A 15 year-old student pilot, Charles Bishop, crashed a small plane into a building in Tampa, FL. Bishop was about to begin a flying lesson when he took off without permission and without an instructor.

● 2004 - After 14 years of denials, Pete Rose publicly admitted that he'd bet on baseball while manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

● 2005 - Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.

● 2006 - Independence Air ceases operations.

BIRTHS

● 1209 - Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1272)

● 1548 - Francisco Suarez, Spanish theologian (d. 1617)

● 1587 - Xu Xiake, Chinese geographer (d. 1641)

● 1592 - Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India and builder of the Taj Mahal (d. 1666)

● 1614 - Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, (d. 1662)

● 1696 - Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/painter (d. 1757)

● 1717 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (d. 1793)

● 1762 - Constanze Weber, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1842)

● 1779 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (d. 1820)

● 1779 - Zebulon Pike, American explorer (d. 1813)

● 1838 - Camille Jordan, French mathematician (d. 1922)

● 1846 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1926)

● 1852 - Margaret Custer, Sister of George Armstrong Custer (d. 1910)

● 1855 - King Camp Gillette, American inventor (d. 1932)

● 1863 (1/17/1863 N.S.) - Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavsky, Russian actor, producer, teacher and philosopher of theater (d. 1938)

● 1864 - Bob Caruthers, baseball player (d. 1911)

● 1865 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (d. 1920)

● 1874 - Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)

● 1876 - Konrad Adenauer, First chancellor of West Germany (1949-63) (d. 1967)

● 1877 - Henry Sloane Coffin, American clergyman (d. 1954)

● 1879 - Hans Eppinger, Austrian physician (d. 1946)

● 1880 - Nikolay Medtner, Russian composer (d. 1951)

● 1882 - Herbert Bayard Swope, American journalist and editor (d. 1958)

● 1893 - Zoltán Böszörmény, Hungarian Nazi politician (d. unknown)

● 1893 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (d. 1952)

● 1895 - Elizabeth Cotten, American musician (d. 1987)

● 1900 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)

● 1902 - Stella Gibbons, English novelist (d. 1989)

● 1902 - Hubert Beuve-Méry, French publisher and editor of "Le Monde" (d. 1989)

● 1904 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)

● 1906 - Dame Kathleen Kenyon, English archaeologist (d. 1978)

● 1908 - George Dolenz, American actor (d. 1963)

● 1909 - Stephen Kleene, American mathematician (d. 1994)

● 1910 - Hugh Brannum, American actor (d. 1987)

● 1910 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (d. 1949)

● 1911 - Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor (d. 2001)

● 1914 - George Reeves, American actor (d. 1959)

● 1914 - Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (d. 1955)

● 1915 - Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian-born cartographer (d. 2004)

● 1917 - Jane Wyman, American actress

● 1920 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)

● 1921 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)

● 1921 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

● 1923 - Sam Phillips, American music producer (d. 2003)

● 1925 - Lou Carnesecca, Hall-of-fame basketball coach

● 1926 - William De Witt Snodgrass, American poet

● 1926 - Hosea Williams, American activist (d. 2000)

● 1928 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani statesman (d. 1979)

● 1928 - Walter Mondale, Former American vice president

● 1929 - Wilbert Harrison, American singer (d. 1994)

● 1931 - Alvin Ailey, American choreographer and dancer; founded Ailey American Dance Theater (d. 1989)

● 1931 - Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist

● 1931 - Robert Duvall, American actor

● 1932 - Umberto Eco, Italian writer

● 1932 - Chuck Noll, American football coach and Hall of Fame member

● 1936 - Florence King, American humorist

● 1938 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain

● 1938 - Jim Otto, American football player

● 1938 - Ngugi wa Thiongo, Kenyan writer

● 1940 - Michael O'Donoghue, American writer (d. 1994)

● 1940 - Yuri Ershov, Russian mathematician

● 1941 - Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese film maker

● 1941 - Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian cricketer

● 1942 - Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist

● 1942 - Jan Leeming, British television presenter and newsreader

● 1942 - Charlie Rose, American talk show host

● 1944 - Ed Rendell, Governor of Pennsylvania

● 1945 - Roger Spottiswoode, Canadian-born film director

● 1946 - Diane Keaton, American actress

● 1947 - Mike DeWine, Former U.S. senator, R-Ohio

● 1948 - Ted Lange, American actor

● 1949 - George ''Funky'' Brown, American drummer (Kool & The Gang)

● 1950 - Chris Stein, American guitarist (Blondie)

● 1950 - John Manley, Canadian politician

● 1950 - Ioan Petru Culianu, Romanian-born professor (d. 1991)

● 1950 - Charlie Richmond, Canadian entrepreneur

● 1951 - Steve Arnold, English footballer

● 1953 - George Tenet, Former CIA director

● 1953 - Pamela Sue Martin, American actress ("Dynasty")

● 1954 - Alex English, American basketball player and Hall of Fame member

● 1956 - Chen Kenichi, Japanese-born chef

● 1959 - Clancy Brown, American actor

● 1960 - Glenn Strömberg swedish fottballer

● 1960 - Phil Thornalley, English bass guitarist (The Cure)

● 1960 - Steve Jones, British aviator (Red Bull Air Race World Series)

● 1961 - Iris Dement, Country singer

● 1962 - Suzy Amis, American actress

● 1962 - Joe Monzo, American composer

● 1962 - Danny Jackson, American baseball player

● 1963 - Jeff Fassero, American baseball player

● 1964 - Grant Young, American drummer (Soul Asylum)

● 1965 - Vinnie Jones, British actor

● 1966 - Kate Schellenbach, American drummer (Luscious Jackson)

● 1967 - Joe Flanigan, American actor

● 1968 - Andrew Golota, Polish boxer

● 1968 - Ricky Paull Goldin, American actor

● 1968 - Carrie Ann Inaba, American dancer and choreographer

● 1968 - Joé Juneau, National Hockey League player

● 1969 - Heather Paige Kent, Actress

● 1969 - Marilyn Manson, American singer

● 1969 - Paul McGillion, Scottish actor

● 1971 - Mayuko Takata, Japanese actress

● 1972 - Sakis Rouvas, Greek singer

● 1973 - Phil Joel, Australian bassist (Newsboys)

● 1975 - Kylie Bax, New Zealand model

● 1975 - Bradley Cooper, American actor

● 1975 - Warrick Dunn, National Football League running back for the Atlanta Falcons

● 1975 - Mike Grier, American ice hockey player

● 1976 - Matt Wachter, American bassist (30 Seconds to Mars)

● 1976 - Diego Tristán, Spanish footballer

● 1978 - January Jones, Actress

● 1978 - Franck Montagny, French Formula One driver

● 1979 - Kyle Calder, American hockey player

● 1981 - Corey Flynn, New Zealand rugby player

● 1981 - Brooklyn Sudano, American actress

● 1982 - Janica Kostelić, Croatian skier

● 1984 - Amanda Hearst, American heiress

● 1985 - Richard Butler, English footballer

● 1985 - Michael Cuccione, Canadian actor (d. 2001)

● 1985 - Yoon So-Yi, South Korean actress

DEATHS

● 842 - Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 794)

● 1400 - John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English politician (executed) (bc. 1350)

● 1465 - Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet (b. 1394)

● 1477 - Charles, Duke of Burgundy (killed in battle) (b. 1433)

● 1524 - Marko Marulić, Croatian poet (b. 1450)

● 1527 - Felix Manz, Swiss leader (executed) (b. 1498)

● 1588 - Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)

● 1589 - Catherine de Medici, queen of Henry II of France (b. 1519)

● 1655 - Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)

● 1740 - Antonio Lotti, Italian composer (b. 1667)

● 1762 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (b. 1709)

● 1771 - John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)

● 1846 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (b. 1812)

● 1858 - Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (b. 1766)

● 1860 - Saint John Nepomucene Neumann, first American bishop to be canonized (b. 1811)

● 1891 - Emma Abbott, American soprano (b. 1849)

● 1904 - Karl Alfred von Zittel, German palaeontologist (b. 1839)

● 1910 - Léon Walras, French economist (b. 1834)

● 1922 - Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (b. 1874)

● 1933 - John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., 30th President of the United States (b. 1872)

● 1937 - Marie Booth, child of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1864)

● 1941 - Amy Johnson, English aviator (b. 1903)

● 1943 - George Washington Carver, American educator (b. 1860)

● 1951 - Andrei Platonov, Russian writer (b. 1899)

● 1954 - Rabbit Maranville, baseball player (b. 1891)

● 1956 - Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)

● 1963 - Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (b. 1896)

● 1970 - Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)

● 1970 - Roberto Gerhard, Catalan composer (b. 1896)

● 1971 - Douglas Shearer, Canadian film engineer (b. 1899)

● 1976 - Mal Evans, Beatles' "roadie" (b. 1935)

● 1979 - Charles Mingus, American musician (b. 1922)

● 1981 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1893)

● 1981 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher (b. 1901)

● 1982 - Hans Conried, American actor (b. 1917)

● 1988 - Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947)

● 1990 - Arthur Kennedy, American actor (b. 1914)

● 1991 - Vasko Popa, Yugoslav poet (b. 1922)

● 1994 - Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, American politician (b. 1912)

● 1996 - Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian terrorist (b. 1966)

● 1997 - André Franquin, Belgian cartoonist (Gaston Lagaffe) (b. 1924)

● 1997 - Burton Lane, American composer and lyricist (b 1912)

● 1998 - Sonny Bono, American entertainer (b. 1935)

● 2001 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (b. 1942)

● 2003 - Roy Jenkins, British politician (b. 1920)

● 2003 - Jean Kerr, American author (b. 1923)

● 2004 - Tug McGraw, baseball player (b. 1944)

● 2005 - Danny Sugerman, American music manager (The Doors) (b. 1954)

● 2007 - Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles and cup noodles (b. 1910)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. John Neumann, bishop of Philadelphia
● St. Telesphorus, 8th pope (125-136), martyr
● St. Simeon Stylites
● St. Charles of Sezze
● St. Roger
● St. Syncletica
● St. Apollinaris Syncletica
● St. Talida
● St. Cera
● St. Convoyon
● St. Emiliana
● St. Gaudentius
● St. Gerlac
● St. John Nepomucene Neumann
● St. Lomer
● St. Paula

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 23 (Civil Date: January 5)
● Nativity Fast.
● Forefeast of the Nativity of Christ
● Holy Ten Martyrs of Crete: Theodulus, Saturninus, Euporus, Gelasius,
● St. Paul, Bishop of Neo Caesarea.
● St. Niphon, Bishop of Cyprus.
● St. Nahum, Enlightener of the Bulgarians.
● St. Niphon, monk.
● St. Theoctistus, Archbishop of Novgorod.
● St. David of Echmiadzin in Armenia.
● New Martyr Priests John (1918).
● New Martyrs Priest Nicholas (1918).

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyr Schinon.

● The eleventh day of Christmas in Western Christianity, and the Twelfth Night of Christmas in Western Christianity.

● Lutheran:
● Commemoration of Kaj Munk, martyr

● Christian:
● Epiphany Eve

● Mungday (Discordianism)

● Bird Day (1905)

● England : Glastonbury Thorn Day

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

IN FICTION

● 1899 - Start of Sherlock Holmes adventure-Charles Augustus Milverton (BG)


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