January 6......

January 6 is the 6th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 359 (360 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

● 548 - This was the last year the Church in Jerusalem observed the birth of Jesus on this date. (Celebrating Christmas on December 25th began in the late 300s in the Western Church.)

● 871 - England's King Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown.

● 1066 - Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England.

● 1099 - Henry V crowned German king

● 1205 - Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.

● 1227 - Ferrand of Portugal freed from the Louvre

● 1352 - French king Jean II introduces Order of the Star

● 1412 - According to tradition, birth of French military heroine Joan of Arc.

● 1453 - Emperor Frederik III becomes archduke of Austria

● 1494 - The first mass in America was celebrated in the Roman Catholic church on Isabella Island in Haiti. This was the first church established in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus.

● 1496 - Moorish fortress Alhambra, near Grenada, surrenders to the Christi

● 1497 - Jews are expelled from Graz (Syria)

● 1535 - City of Lima Peru founded by Francisco Pizarro

● 1538 - German Reformer Martin Luther wrote in an Epiphany sermon: 'Though Mary had been conceived in sin, the Holy Spirit takes her flesh and blood and purifies them; and thence He creates the body of the Son of God...Thus He assumed a genuine body from His mother Mary, but this body was cleansed from sin by the Holy Spirit.'

● 1540 - England's King Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage lasted about six months.

● 1579 - Artois/Hainault/Dowaai sign pro-Spanish Union of Arras (Atrecht)

● 1622 - Pope Gregory XV forms Congregatio the Propagande Fide

● 1639 - Virginia is 1st colony to order surplus crops (tobacco) destroyed

● 1661 - The fifth monarchy men unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London.

● 1663 - Great earthquake in New England

● 1681 - 1st recorded boxing match (Duke of Albemarle's butler vs his butcher)

● 1690 - Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I, becomes King of the Romans.

● 1720 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings.

● 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army draws to Glasgow

● 1759 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Curtis

● 1773 - Massachusetts slaves petition legislature for freedom

● 1781 - Battle of Jersey (Island in the UK)

● 1784 - Turkey & Russia sign treaty in Constantinople

● 1831 - First world anti-slavery convention held.

● 1832 - New England Anti-Slavery Society organizes (Boston)

● 1838 - Samuel Morse first successfully tested the electrical telegraph.

● 1839 - 2 day storm off Irish & English coast immortalized as "The Big Wind"

● 1842 - 4,500 British & Indian troops leave Kabul, massacred before India

● 1850 - Future renowned English Baptist preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon was converted to a living faith at age 16, in a Methodist chapel.

● 1853 - American President-Elect Franklin Pierce, wife Jane, and son Ben are involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts. Franklin and Jane survive but eleven-year-old Ben is killed.

● 1857 - Patent for reducing zinc ore granted to Samuel Wetherill, Pennsylvania

● 1858 - Birth of French anarchist Sebastien Faure.

● 1861 - New York City NY mayor proposes New York become a free city, trading with N & S

● 1861 - Florida troops seize Federal arsenal at Apalachicola

● 1864 - U.S. Army captures 11,000 Navajos, later force-marching them 400 miles to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, killing thousands. Thousands more died of starvation after the army burned all Navajo crops and orchards.

● 1870 - The inauguration of the Musikverein (Vienna).

● 1873 - Pope Pius IX encyclical "On the Church in Armenia"

● 1873 - US Congress begins investigating Crédit Mobilier scandal

● 1880 - Record snow cover in Seattle-120cm

● 1882 - Sam Rayburn (1882-1961), who served for more than 48 years in the U.S. House of Representatives (1913-61), was born.

● 1882 - Toronto (Canada) Labor Council supports equal pay for equal work.

● 1887 - `Abd-allah II of Harar opens the Battle of Chelenqo with an attack on the camp of the Shewan army of Negus Menelik II early in the morning; prepared for the assault, the Negus orders a counter-attack which routs the enemy, resulting with the capture of Harar a few days later.

● 1893 - Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.

● 1893 - Great Northern Railway connects Seattle with east coast

● 1895 - Former Hawai'ian Queen Lili'uokalani is arrested after a failed coup against the "republican" government of Sanford Dole.

● 1896 - Cecil Rhodes resigns as premier of Cape colony

● 1898 - 1st telephone message from a submerged submarine, by Simon Lake

● 1900 - In India, it was reported that millions of people were dying from starvation.

● 1900 - Off of South Africa, the British seized the German steamer Herzog. The boat was released on January 22, 1900.

● 1900 - Boers attack Ladysmith, South Africa - over 1,000 people killed

● 1903 - Dutch Press museum opens in Amsterdam

● 1907 - Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome.

● 1912 - New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.

● 1912 - Birth of Christian anarchist Jacques Ellul, Bordeaux, France.

● 1914 - Stock brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch founded

● 1918 - Russia - Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly, by a detachment led by the anarchist sailor Zheleznyakov, who announced - "The guard is tired."

● 1919 - The 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, N.Y., at age 60.

● 1920 - Jose Lluis Facerias born, Spanish anarchist guerilla.

● 1920 - Birth of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, self-described Son of God and publisher of the influential conservative newspaper Washington Times.

● 1922 - Conference of Cannes concerning German retribution payments

● 1924 - In England, the first worship service heard over over radio was aired by the BBC. The service was conducted by H. R. L. Sheppard at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church, in London.

● 1926 - Kees Boeke opens 1st comprehensive school in Holland

● 1927 - U.S. Marines re-invade Nicaragua after ending a 13-year occupation.

● 1927 - On an exceptionally busy day, freelance executioner Robert Elliot conducts six electric chair executions, three in Charleston, Massachusetts, and three at Sing Sing Prison, New York.

● 1928 - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Mortalium animos (against oecumene)

● 1929 - King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution (the so-called January 6th Dictatorship, Šestojanuarska diktatura.)

● 1929 - Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta to begin a legacy of work amongst India's poorest and diseased people

● 1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip is completed (Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York City, 792 miles) in a Packard sedan.

● 1931 - Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.

● 1936 - Barbara Hanley became Canada's 1st woman mayor (Webbwood, Ontario)

● 1936 - Supreme Court of the United States rules the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional in the case United States v. Butler et al..

● 1936 - Porky Pig premieres.

● 1937 - Abraham Lincoln Brigade formed to fight Spanish fascism. Part of the International Brigade, it will fight valiantly on the Aragon front and in defense of Madrid. Some 4,000 American men and women fight for the Loyalists. Nearly 2,000 of them die of wounds or disease. One of the casualties is Oliver Law, an African American who came to command the entire Lincoln Battalion. Law is the first black man known to command white U.S. troops.

● 1938 - Bronze memorial statue of Henry Hudson erected in the Bronx

● 1940 - Mass execution of Poles, committed by Germans in the city of Poznań, Warthegau.

● 1941 - FDR's "4 Freedoms" speech (speech, worship, from want & from fear)

● 1941 - Keel of USS Missouri (BB-63) is laid at New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn

● 1942 - Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to have a flight go around the world.

● 1942 - Bob Feller, enlists in Navy & reports for duty to Norfolk Virginia

● 1944 - Muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell dies, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

● 1945 - The Battle of the Bulge ended with 130,000 German and 77,000 Allied casualties.

● 1945 - Future President George Bush marries Barbara Pierce in Rye NY

● 1946 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Quemadmodum

● 1950 - The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with Britain in response.

● 1952 - "Peanuts" debuted in Sunday papers across the United States.

● 1956 - Federal court bars former Little League Commissioner Carl Stotz from forming a rival group

● 1957 - Elvis Presley makes his 7th & final appearance on Ed Sullivan Show

● 1958 - Gibson patents the Flying V Guitar

● 1958 - Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to ee cummings

● 1961 - A fire at the Thomas Hotel in San Francisco kills 20 people.

● 1963 - "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins begins on NBC

● 1964 - Charlie Finlay announces he wants to move Kansas City A's to Louisville

● 1967 - United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.

● 1967 - Two homemade buses collided on a mountain road in Terpate, Philippines, plunging off a cliff, killing 84, injuring 140.

● 1968 - Surveyor 7 (last of series) launched by US for soft-landing on Moon

● 1968 - Dr N E Shumway performs 1st US adult cardiac transplant operation

● 1970 - U.S. Supreme Court upholds prohibition of underground GI anti-Vietnam War newspaper at Fort Bragg Army Base.

● 1970 - West Virginia miners wildcat to protest the murder of their union reform leader.

● 1971 - Berkeley chemists announces 1st synthetic growth hormones

● 1974 - England begins 3 day work week during mine strike

● 1974 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.

● 1975 - South Africa - 12,000 workers strike at Vaal Reefs gold mine.

● 1976 - China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Republic of China

● 1977 - The music publisher EMI ends its contract with the notorious punk rock group Sex Pistols after reports of abusive behaviour at Heathrow Airport, London.

● 1978 - The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after the Second World War.

● 1978 - 1st postage stamp copyrighted by US (Carl Sandburg stamp)

● 1980 - Indira Gandhi's Congress Party wins elections in India

● 1981 - Mark David Chapman pleads not guilty, by reason of insanity, to murdering John Lennon. (John mostly likely appreciates the fact that further violence as been committed by harming and/or killing Chapman.)

● 1982 - Bill Hetherington invites Red Army general to personally disarm, Moscow.

● 1982 - William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles, CA, of being the "freeway killer" who had murdered 14 young men and boys.

● 1983 - Danes raid British fishing grounds; The Royal Navy arrests Captain Kent Kirk at sea for trespassing in British fishing territory.

● 1984 - Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB for mating of STS 41 B mission

● 1986 - British Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine resigns

● 1986 - STS 61-C scrubbed at T-31 seconds because of liquid oxygen valve problem

● 1986 - Impala Platinum fires 20,000 black mine workers in Johannesburg

● 1986 - Cylinder of nuclear material bursts after being improperly heated at a Kerr-McGee plant at Gore, Oklahoma. One worker dies, 100 hospitalized.

● 1987 - 100th US Congress convenes

● 1987 - Astronomers at University of California see 1st sight of birth of a galaxy

● 1987 - After a 29-year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird was presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. It was the first occurrence of a repeat winner of the award.

● 1991 - Jorge Serrano Elías elected President of Guatemala

● 1992 - US halts breast implants; The US Government recommends doctors suspend the use of silicone breast implants as fears grow they could leak and affect the health of those using them.

● 1993 - Ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev died at age 54.

● 1993 - Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie died at age 75.

● 1993 - Jean Mueller discovers comet Mueller/1993a

● 1994 - Dow-Jones hits record 3803.88

● 1994 - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding's ex-husband.

● 1995 - A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.

● 1998 - The spacecraft Lunar Prospect was launched into orbit around the moon. The craft was crashed into the moon, in an effort to find water under the lunar surface, on July 31, 1999.

● 1999 - The 106th U.S. Congress opened. The first item on the agenda was the impeachment proceedings of U.S. President Bill Clinton. The trial was set to begin January 7, 1999.

● 1999 - Bob Newhart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

● 2000 - Flu outbreak stretches NHS resources; Hospitals around the UK are feeling the strain of the current flu outbreak even though it has not been classed as an epidemic.

● 2001 - With the vanquished Vice President Al Gore presiding, Congress certified Republican George W. Bush the winner of the close and bitterly contested 2000 presidential election.

● 2004 - Mijailo Mijailovic confessed to the fatal stabbing of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in September 2003.

● 2004 - Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate is declared the official anthem of Karnataka

● 2005 - Former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter.)

● 2005 - Andrea Yates' murder conviction for drowning her children in the bathtub was overturned by a Texas appeals court.

● 2005 - First World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace begins in Brussels, Belgium.

● 2006 - Tropical Storm Zeta (2005) dissipates, ending the notorious 2005 hurricane season.

● 2007 - California Institute of Technology's men's basketball team snaps a 207-game losing streak dating back to 1996. The Beavers beat Bard College 81-52.

BIRTHS

● 1367 - Richard II of England (d. 1400)

● 1412 - Joan of Arc, Roman Catholic Saint and national heroine of France (legendary date) (d. 1431)

● 1486 - Martin Agricola, German composer (d. 1556)

● 1488 - Helius Eobanus Hessus, German poet (d. 1540)

● 1525 - Caspar Peucer, German reformer (d. 1602)

● 1561 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician (d. 1656)

● 1587 - Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish statesman (d. 1645)

● 1595 - Claude Favre de Vaugelas, French man of letters (d. 1650)

● 1617 - Kristoffer Gabel, Danish statesman (d. 1673)

● 1655 - Jakob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1705)

● 1706 - Benjamin Franklin, American statesman (d. 1790)

● 1714 - Percivall Pott, English physician (d. 1788)

● 1745 - Étienne Montgolfier, French inventor (d. 1799)

● 1793 - James Madison Porter, American politician (d. 1862)

● 1795 - Anselme Payen, French chemist (d. 1871)

● 1807 - Jozef Maximilián Petzval, Slovak inventor (d. 1891)

● 1811 - Charles Sumner, American Civil War statesman (d. 1874)

● 1822 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (d. 1890)

● 1832 - Gustave Doré, French painter and sculptor (d. 1883)

● 1838 - Max Bruch, German composer (d. 1920)

● 1848 - Hristo Botev, Bulgarian poet (d. 1876)

● 1854 - Sherlock Holmes, Fictional detective

● 1861 - Victor Horta, Belgian architect (d. 1947)

● 1870 - Gustav Bauer, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1944)

● 1872 - Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (d. 1915)

● 1878 - Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (d. 1967)

● 1879 - Joseph Medill Patterson, American journalist and publisher (d. 1946)

● 1880 - Tom Mix, American actor (d. 1940)

● 1882 - Fan S. Noli, Albanian bishop (d. 1965)

● 1882 - Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)

● 1882 - Aleksandra Ekster, Russian painter (d. 1949)

● 1883 - Khalil Gibran, Lebanese writer (d. 1931)

● 1898 - James Fitzmaurice, Irish aviation pioneer (d. 1965)

● 1899 - Phyllis Haver, American actress (d. 1960)

● 1899 - Heinrich Nordhoff, German automobile engineer (d. 1968)

● 1903 - Maurice Abravanel, Greek-born conductor (d. 1993)

● 1905 - Idris Davies, Welsh poet (d. 1953)

● 1910 - Wright Morris, American writer (d. 1998)

● 1913 - Loretta Young, American actress (d. 2000)

● 1913 - Edward Gierek, Polish politician (d. 2001)

● 1914 - Danny Thomas, American actor (d. 1991)

● 1915 - Alan Watts, English writer (d. 1973)

● 1917 - Koo Chen-fu, Chinese negotiator (d. 2005)

● 1920 - Sun Myung Moon, Korean evangelist

● 1920 - John Maynard Smith, English biologist (d. 2004)

● 1920 - Early Wynn, baseball player (d. 1999)

● 1920 - Doris Stokes, British psychic medium (d. 1987)

● 1921 - Louis Harris, Pollster

● 1921 - Cary Middlecoff, American golfer (d. 1998)

● 1923 - Jacobo Timerman, Argentine writer (d. 1999)

● 1924 - Earl Scruggs, American musician

● 1925 - John De Lorean, American auto maker (d. 2005)

● 1926 - Ralph Branca, baseball player

● 1926 - Kim Dae-jung, President of South Korea and Nobel Prize laureate

● 1926 - Kid Gavilan, Cuban boxer (d. 2003)

● 1926 - Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian-born actor and bodybuilder (d. 2006)

● 1926 - Pat Flaherty, American racecar driver (2002)

● 1929 - Babrak Karmal, Afghani politician (d. 1996)

● 1930 - Vic Tayback, American actor (d. 1990)

● 1931 - Capucine, French actress (d. 1990)

● 1931 - E. L. Doctorow, American author

● 1931 - Dickie Moore, Canadian hockey player

● 1932 - Stuart A. Rice, American chemist

● 1933 - Oleg Makarov, cosmonaut (d. 2003)

● 1933 - Emil Steinberger, Swiss comedian

● 1935 - Nino Tempo, American singer and actor

● 1936 - Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo, President of Uruguay

● 1936 - Rubén Amaro, Sr., baseball player

● 1937 - Lou Holtz, football coach

● 1937 - Paolo Conte, Italian singer

● 1937 - Doris Troy, American singer (d. 2004)

● 1940 - Penny Lernoux, American journalist (d. 1989)

● 1940 - Van McCoy, American musician (d. 1979)

● 1943 - Terry Venables, English football manager

● 1944 - Bonnie Franklin, American actress (''One Day At A Time'')

● 1944 - Rolf M. Zinkernagel, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate

● 1945 - Allen Appel, American novelist

● 1945 - Kojo Nnamdi, host on NPR station WAMU

● 1946 - Syd Barrett, English guitarist, singer and songwriter; formed Pink Floyd (d. 2006)

● 1947 - Sandy Denny, English vocalist (d. 1978)

● 1951 - Kim Wilson, American musician (The Fabulous Thunderbirds)

● 1951 - Don Gullett, Major League Baseball pitcher

● 1952 - Frank Sivero, Italian-American actor

● 1952 - Moondog Spot, wrestler (d. 2003)

● 1953 - Malcolm Young, Scottish-born Australian guitarist (AC/DC)

● 1953 - Jett Williams, Singer

● 1954 - Anthony Minghella, Director

● 1954 - Hans Robert Hiegel, German architect

● 1954 - Yuji Horii, Japanese video game designer

● 1954 - Anthony Minghella, British director

● 1955 - Rowan Atkinson, British comedian and actor

● 1956 - Angus Deayton, British comedian, actor and television presenter

● 1957 - Nancy Lopez, American golfer

● 1959 - Kapil Dev, Indian cricketer

● 1959 - Kathy Sledge, American singer (Sister Sledge)

● 1960 - Eric Williams, R&B singer (BLACKstreet)

● 1960 - Kari Jalonen, Finnish ice hockey player

● 1960 - Nigella Lawson, British chef and writer

● 1960 - Howie Long, American football star

● 1960 - Paul Azinger, American golfer

● 1961 - james higgins, standing happy

● 1962 - Michael Houser, American musician (d. 2002)

● 1963 - Jazzie B, British musician

● 1964 - David Wall, programmer

● 1964 - Henry Maske, German boxer

● 1964 - Charles Haley, former American football player

● 1964 - Rafael Vidal, Venezuelan athlete (d. 2005)

● 1964 - Mark O'Toole, British musician

● 1965 - Muhammed al-Ahari, American Muslim writer

● 1965 - Konnan, professional wrestler

● 1966 - Fernando Carrillo, Venezuelan actor

● 1966 - A. R. Rahman, Indian Music Composer

● 1966 - Andrew Wood, American singer (Mother Love Bone) (d. 1990)

● 1968 - John Singleton, American film director

● 1970 - Julie Chen, American television presenter (''The Early Show,'' ''Big Brother'')

● 1970 - Gabrielle Reece, American volleyball player

● 1972 - Nek, Italian singer

● 1973 - Scott Ferguson, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1974 - Nicole DeHuff. American actress (d. 2005)

● 1975 - James Farrior, American football player

● 1975 - Yukana, Japanese seiyū

● 1976 - Danny Pintauro, American actor

● 1976 - Richard Zedník, Slovak ice hockey player

● 1978 - Nikki Einfeld, Canadian opera singer

● 1980 - Steed Malbranque, French footballer

● 1980 - Hiromi Oshima, Japanese adult model

● 1981 - Mike Jones, American rapper

● 1981 - Jérémie Renier, Belgian actor

● 1982 - Gilbert Arenas, American basketball player

● 1984 - A. J. Hawk, American football player

DEATHS

● 664 - Amr ibn al-A'as, Muslim general (bc. 583)

● 1088 - Berengar of Tours, French theologian (bc. 999)

● 1448 - Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1418)

● 1537 - Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (b. 1510)

● 1537 - Baldassare Peruzzi, Italian architect and painter (b. 1481)

● 1616 - Philip Henslowe, English theatrical entrepreneur (bc. 1550)

● 1689 - Seth Ward, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1671)

● 1711 - Philipp van Almonde, Dutch admiral (b. 1646)

● 1718 - Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian writer and jurist (b. 1664)

● 1718 - Richard Hoare, English goldsmith and banker (b. 1648)

● 1724 - Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese dramatist (b. 1653)

● 1731 - Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (b. 1672)

● 1734 - John Dennis, English critic and dramatist (b. 1657)

● 1813 - Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers, French general (b. 1764)

● 1831 - Rodolphe Kreutzer, French violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1766)

● 1840 - Fanny Burney, English novelist and diarist (b. 1752)

● 1852 - Louis Braille, French teacher of the blind (b. 1809)

● 1855 - Giacomo Beltrami, Italian explorer (b. 1779)

● 1884 - Gregor Johann Mendel, Austrian geneticist (b. 1822)

● 1885 - Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, Norwegian writer and scientist (b. 1812)

● 1913 - Frederick Hitch, English Victoria Cross Winner (b. 1856)

● 1918 - Georg Cantor, German mathematician (b. 1845)

● 1919 - Max Heindel, Danish astrologer and mystic (b. 1865)

● 1919 - Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States (b. 1858)

● 1922 - Jakob Rosanes, German mathematician (b. 1842)

● 1928 - Alvin Kraenzlein, American athlete (b. 1876)

● 1937 - André Besette, Canadian religious figure (b. 1845)

● 1941 - Charley O'Leary, American baseball player (b. 1882)

● 1942 - Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian International Olympic Committee president (b. 1876)

● 1944 - Ida Tarbell, American journalist (b. 1857)

● 1945 - Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian mineralogist (b. 1863)

● 1949 - Victor Fleming, American director (b. 1883)

● 1972 - Chen Yi, Chinese military commander and politician (b. 1901)

● 1978 - Burt Munro, New Zealand motorcycle racer (b. 1899)

● 1981 - A.J. Cronin, Scottish writer (b. 1896)

● 1990 - Ian Charleson, Scottish actor (b. 1949)

● 1990 - Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)

● 1993 - Dizzy Gillespie, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1917)

● 1993 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer (b. 1938)

● 1995 - Joe Slovo, South African politician (b. 1926)

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

● 1997 - Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress (b. 1912)

● 1999 - Michel Petrucciani, French jazz pianist (b. 1962)

● 2000 - Don Martin, American cartoonist (b. 1931)

● 2004 - Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (b. 1954)

● 2004 - Charles Dumas, American athlete (b. 1937)

● 2004 - Francesco Scavullo, American photographer (b. 1921)

● 2005 - Lois Hole, Lt. Governor of Alberta (b. 1933)

● 2005 - Louis Robichaud, Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1925)

● 2006 - Lou Rawls, American singer (b. 1933)

● 2006 - Hugh Thompson, Jr., decorated Vietnam War helicopter pilot (b. 1943)

● 2007 - Mario Danelo, American football player (b. 1985)

● 2007 - Sneaky Pete Kleinow, American musician and special-effects artist (b. 1934)

● 2007 - Roberta Wohlstetter, military historian and strategist (b. 1912)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Melanie
● St. Anastasius VIII
● St. Charles of Sezze, Italian monk
● St. Wiltrudis
● St. Schotin
● St. Diman
● St. Edeyrn
● St. Eigrad
● St. Erminold
● St. Hywyn
● St. John de Ribera, archbishop of Valencia
● St. Macra
● St. Melanius
● St. Merinus
● St. Guarinus (St. Guerin)
● St. Rafaela Maria Porras y Ayllon
● St. Peter of Canterbury
● Bl. Andre Bessette

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 24 (Civil Date: January 6)
● Nativity Fast.
● Nun martyr Eugenia of Rome, and with her Martyrs Philip her father, Protus, Hyacinth (Jacinth), Basilla, and Claudia.
● St. Nicholas the monk of Bulgaria.
● St. Antioch, monk of Palestine, and St. Bitimionus of Scete.
● St. Aphrodisius, monk of Palestine.
● New Martyr Achmed (Ahmet) the Calligrapher (or Architect) of Constantinople.

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyr Achaicus.

● Eastern (Byzantine) Catholic Church:
● Third greatest Feast of the Eastern Church, following Pascha (Easter) and Pentecost.

● Western Christianity:
● Epiphany
● Twelfth Day of Christmas, also known as Twelfth Day and Three Kings Day
● Theophany (Revelation of the Trinity at Christ's baptism in the Jordan)

● Public holiday in Spain, Italy and Puerto Rico to mark Epiphany

● In the Irish Calendar - Little Christmas (Nollaig na mBan, "Women's Christmas")

● Rastafari movement - Celebration of the ceremonial birthday of Haile Selassie

● Armenian Christmas (except in the Holy Land where it is on 18 January - old calendar)

● Ancient Latvia - Zvaigznes Diena observed

● Iraq : Army Day

● New Mexico : Admission Day (1912)

● Uruguay : Children's Day

● 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