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On This Day In History

Birthdates which occurred on December 24:
0003 -BC- Servius Sulpicius Galba 6th Roman emperor (68-69)
1167 John "Lackland" Plantagenet, king of England (1199-1216)
1714 Rainieri De Calzabigi Italian's literary (1st European Lottery)
1745 Benjamin Rush, Byberry Pa, physician/general/signer (Declaration of Independence)
1809 Kit (Christopher) Carson (frontiersman: subject of adventure novels; fur trapper, guide, American Indian agent and brevet Union general)
1818 James Prescott Joule, physicist (discovered conservation of energy)
1868 Emanuel Lasker, Germany, world chess champion (1894-21)
1905 I.F. (Isidor Feinstein) Stone (journalist)
1922 Ava Gardner Grabtown NC, actress (On the Beach, Night of the Iguana)
1940 Jorma Kaukonen rock guitarist/vocalist (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)
1940 Paul Tagliabue NFL commissioner (1989- )
1944 Mike Curb (music executive: producer: Oscar-winner You Light Up My Life)
1950 John Matuszak (football: Oakland Raiders defensive end: Super Bowls XI, XIV)

Deaths which occurred on December 24:
1524 Vasco da Gama Portuguese explorer/viceroy of Cochin India, dies at about 55
1863 W M Thackeray writer, dies at 52
1869 Edwin M[cMasters] Stanton US Secretary of War (1861-65), dies at 55
1942 Admiral Jean Darlan French naval officer is murdered
1979 Rudi [Rudolf] Dutschke German student leader, dies at 39
1980 Karl Dönitz German great admiral/Führer (1945), dies at 89
1984 Peter Lawford actor, dies of cardiac arrest at 61
1991 Walter Hudson 1,025 lb man, dies at 46
1992 Pierre Culliford [Peyo] Belgian cartoonist (Smurfs), dies at 64
1993 Norman Vincent Peale rev (Power of Positive Thinking), dies at 95
1994 John Eastburn Boswell medievalist, dies at 47
1994 Rossano Brazzi Italian resistance fight/actor (Final Justice), dies at 78
1996 Nguyen Huu Tho President of Vietnam (1980-81), dies
1996 Peter Dormer arts writer, dies at 47
1997 Alan Fluck musical educationalist, dies at 69
1997 Toshiro Mifune Japanese actor (Shogun), dies at 77

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 CHRISTIANO JOSEPH---ROCHESTER NY.
[MAYDAY HEARD SEARCH NEG]
1965 COLWELL WILLIAM K.---GLENCOVE NY.
[MAYDAY HEARD SEARCH NEG]
1965 EILERS DENNIS L.---CEDAR RAPIDS IA.
[MAYDAY HEARD SEARCH NEG]
1965 HASSENGER ARDEN K.---LEBANON OR.
[MAYDAY HEARD SEARCH NEG]
1965 JEFFORDS DERRELL B.---PHOENIX AZ.
[MAYDAY SEARCH NEG]
1965 THORNTON LARRY C---IDAHO FALLS ID.
[MAYDAY HEARD SEARCH NEG]
1967 POWERS VERNIE H.---BALTIMORE MD.
1968 BROWNLEE CHARLES R.---ALAMOSA CO.
1970 LUNDY ALBRO L. JR.---SHERMAN OAKS CA.
1971 FINN WILLIAM R.---METAIRIE LA.
1971 TUCKER TIMOTHY M.---LAS ANIMAS CO.
1972 CLARK PHILLIP S. JR.---FAIRCHILD AFB WA.
[GOOD CHUTE AND VOICE CONTACT REMAINS RETURNED 03/88]
1972 JACKSON PAUL V. III---HAMPTON VA.
1972 RIESS CHARLES F.---EAST ST. LOUIS IL.
[03/28/73 RELEASED BY PL]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

On this day...
0640 John IV begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1046 Pope Clement II [Suitger] elected
1294 Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani chosen as Pope Boniface VIII
1476 400 Burgundy soldiers freeze to death during siege of Nancy
1515 Thomas Wolsey appointed English Lord Chancellor
1638 The Ottomans under Murad IV recapture Baghdad from Safavid Persia.
1724 Benjamin Franklin arrives in London
1799 Jacobin plot against Napoleon uncovered
1851 Fire devastates Library of Congress in Washington, destroys 35,000 volumes
1861 The USS Gem of the Sea destroys the British blockade runner Prince of Wales off the coast at Georgetown, S.C
1889 Daniel Stover & William Hance patent bicycle with back pedal brake
1893 Henry Ford completes his 1st useful gas motor
1904 German SW Africa abolishes slavery of young children
1906 Reginald A Fessenden became 1st to broadcast music over radio (Massachusetts)
1941 1st ships of Admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor-fleet return to Japan
1942 1st powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemünde, Germany
1943 FDR appoints General Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces
1946 4th French republic established
1946 US General MacNarney gives 800,000 "minor nazis" amnesty
1956 African Americans defy a city law in Tallahassee, Florida, and occupy front bus seats.
1963 New York's Idlewild Airport is renamed JFK Airport in honor of the murdered President Kennedy.
1964 Shooting begins on "The Cage", the pilot for Star Trek
1966 Luna 13 lands on Moon
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Soviet Union
1992 President Bush pardons Caspar Weinberger of Iran-contra affair
1994 4 Moslem fundamentalists capture Air France pilot in Algiers
1996 The streets of Belgrade, Yugoslavia, turned violent as demonstrators traded blows with supporters of President Slobodan Milosevic and then were clubbed by riot police.
1997 1st time a Channukah candle is officially lit in Vatican City

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Laos : Sovereignty Day (1954)
Libya : Independence Day (1951)

Religious Observances
Christian : Christmas Eve
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Sharbel Makhlouf, Lebanese monk, hermit
Jewish : Hanukkah-Festival of Lights

Religious History
1784 Methodism was officially organized in the newlyÂindependent United States of America, in Baltimore. Francis Asbury was consecrated the first Methodist bishop, a few days later.
1818 In St. Nicholas Church at Oberndorf, Austria, church organist Franz Gruber, 31, composed a melody on guitar for the poem, "Stille Nacht," written earlier by pastor Joseph Mohr, 26. This evening the world heard "Silent Night" sung for the very first time.
1871 The Northside Tabernacle in Chicago was dedicated by evangelist Dwight L. Moody. It became the original structure of what is today the Moody Memorial Church.
1943 German theologian and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison: 'Gratitude changes the pangs of memory into a tranquil joy.'
1951 "Amahl and the Night Visitors," a Christmas musical, had its TV debut. Written by composer Gian Carlo Menotti, it was the first musical to be broadcast over television.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

Thought for the day :
"The wise shepherd never trusts his flock to a smiling wolf."

Question of the day...
If peanut butter cookies are made from peanut butter, then what are Girl Scout cookies made out of?

Murphys Law of the day...(Golden Principle)
Nothing will be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

Amazing Fact #91...
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."