On this Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on December 25:
1583 Orlando Gibbons English composer (O Clap Your Hands), baptized
1601 Jose Ximenez composer
1624 Angelus Silesius [Johann Scheffler] German mystic (St Seelenlust)
1642 [Sir] Isaac Newton Woolsthorpe Lincolnshire England, physicist/mathematician/astronomer/apple fancier (Laws of Motion and Gravity)
1698 Jacobus Houbraken Dutch engraver/illustrator
1717 Pius VI [Giovanni A Braschi] Italy, Pope (1775-99)
1721 William Collins Chichester England, (Mayor-Chichester)/poet
1750 John "Christmas" Beckwith composer
1763 Claude Chappe French engineer (optical telegraph)
1771 Dorothy Wordsworth
1808 Stephen Cleeg Rowan Commander (Union Navy), died in 1890
1811 Wilhelm E Freiherr von Ketteler German politician/bishop of Mainz
1813 Milledge Luke Bonham (Confederacy) died in 1890
1821 Clara Harlowe Barton Oxford MA, nurse (founder-American Red Cross)
1823 Preston Smith Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died in 1863
1832 Thomas Alfred Smyth Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1865
1837 Cosima Liszt wife of Austrian composer Richard Wagner
1855 James Galvin pitcher, shut-out every opposing team in 1884
1865 Evangeline Cory Booth Salvation Army general (1904-34)
1876 Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah Karachi, founded Pakistan (1947)/Governor (1947-58)
1878 W Starling Burgess yacht designer (America Cup's Enterprise)
1881 Joseph V McCarthy baseball manager (New York Yankees)
1887 Conrad Hilton hotel mogul (Hilton Hotels)
1891 Kenneth A N Anderson British general (Dunkerk, North Africa)
1893 Ropert L Ripley Santa Rosa CA, cartoonist (Believe It or Not)
1899 Humphrey Bogart New York NY, actor, Here's looking at you, kid (Casablanca)
1903 J Edward Bromberg Hungary, actor (Mark of Zorro, Under 2 Flags)
1906 Clark M Clifford US Secretary of Defense (1968-69)
1906 Lord Lew Grade British TV mogul (ATV)/movie producer (Boys from Brazil)
1907 Cab[ell] Calloway [III] Rochester NY, bandleader (Minnie the Moocher, Jazzball, Blues Brothers)
1910 David Lichine [Lichtenstein] Russian/US dancer (Make Mine Music)
1918 Anwar el-Sadat Egyptian President (1970-81, Nobel 1978)
1931 Carlos Castaneda US, writer/mystic (Eagle's Gift, Fire From Within)
1934 McKinley Mitchell US gospel/singer (The Town I Live In)
1937 O'Kelly Isley Cincinnati OH, singer (Isley Brothers-Twist & Shout)
1943 Ravish Malhotra India cosmonaut (Soyuz T-11 backup)
1945 Noel Redding rocker (The Jimi Hendrix Experience-Purple Haze)
1945 Ken "The Snake" Stabler NFL quarterback (Oakland Raiders, Super Bowl XI)
1946 Jimmy Buffett Mobile AL, singer/songwriter (Margaritaville, Volcano)
1946 Larry Csonka NFL running back (Miami Dolphins, New York Giants)
1948 Barbara Mandrell Houston TX, singer/TV host (Mandrell Sisters)
1954 Steve Wariner Noblesville IN, country singer (Small Town Girl)
1957 Jillie Mack Mrs Tom Selleck/actress (Magnum PI)
1959 Michael P Anderson Plattsburgh NY, major USAF/astronaut (STS 89)
1960 Amy Grant singer (That's What Love Is, Baby Baby)
1976 Yazmin Fiallos Miss Universe-Honduras (1996)
Deaths which occurred on December 25:
0795 Adrian I Italian Pope (772-95), dies
0820 Leo V the Armenian, Byzantine general/Emperor (813-20), murdered
1156 Peter Venerabilis French theologist/9th abbot of Cluny, dies at about 61
1249 Peter Nolascus Spanish monastery founder/St, dies
1530 Babur emperor of Delhi, dies
1683 Kara Mustapha Turkish grand-vizier (1676-83), executed
1761 Elisabeth Petrovna tsarina of Russia (1741-62), dies at about 51
1868 Linus Yale developer of cylinder lock, dies
1878 Anna Claypoole Peale US painter of miniatures, dies
1926 Yoshihito 123rd Emperor of Japan (1912-26), dies at 47
1927 Sergei D Sazonov Russian Foreign minister (1910-16), dies at 66
1938 Karel Capek Czechoslovakian author/antifascist (Bílá Nemoc), dies at 48
1946 W[illiam] C[laude] Fields (Dunkinfield) writer/comedian/actor (Bank Dick, It's A Gift), dies from pneumonia at 67
1951 Harry T Moore Florida NAACP official, killed by bomb
1954 Liberty Hyde Bailey US botanist (Plantbreeding), dies at 96
1957 Frederick Law Olmsted US architect (Central Park), dies at 87
1961 Dr Rheinhold Rudenberg inventor of the electron microscope dies
1976 Frankie Darro actor (Radio Ranch, Valley of Wanted Men), dies at 58
1977 Charlie Chaplin actor (Modern Times), dies in Switzerland at 88
1979 Joan Blondell actress (Real McCoys), dies at 70
1980 Oscar Romero archbishop of El Salvador, murdered
1983 Joan Miro Spanish surrealist, dies at his home in Majorca at 90
1989 Billy Martin New York Yankee manager, killed in a car accident at 61
1989 Elena Ceausescu wife of Romanian dictator Nicolae, executed
1989 Nicolae Ceausescu Romanian dictator (1945-89), executed
1992 Garrison H Davidson US Lieutenant-General commandant (West Point), dies
1994 Zail Singh President of India (1982-87), dies at 78
1995 Dean Martin singer/actor (Return to Me), dies at 78
1996 Jon Benet Ramsey Colorado child beauty queen, murdered at 6
1997 Denver Pyle actor (Dukes of Hazzard), dies at 77
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1965 BAILON RUBEN
1965 O'LAUGHLIN STEPHEN M.---SALMA AL.
[REMAINS RECOVERED 6/03/73]
1967 BURNS FREDERICK J.---MERRICK NY.
REMAINS RETURNED 1994, ID 04/95
1967 KOONCE TERRY T.---SAN ANTONIO TX.
1968 KING CHARLES D.---MUSCATINE IA.
1968 MEHRER GUSTAV A.---LEOBEN, AUSTRIA
[03/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]
1972 RICKMAN DWIGHT G.---JOPLIN MO.
[BURIED AT CRASH WITH VIET OBSERVER]
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
0001 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
0337 Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
0352 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
0390 Roman emperor Theodosius admits debt on mass murder in Thessalonica
0498 Frankish king Clovis baptises himself
0597 England adopts Julian calendar
0800 Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Roman emperor
0875 Charles, the Bare, crowned emperor of Rome
0967 John XIII crowned Otto II the Red German compassionate emperor
0969 Johannes I Tzimisces, crowned emperor of Byzantium
1046 Pope Clemens VI crowns Henry III Roman Catholic-German emperor
1048 Parliament of Worms: Emperor Henry III names his cousin count Bruno van Egisheim/Dagsburg as Pope Leo IX
1066 William the Conqueror, crowned king of England
1100 Boudouin I of Boulogne crowned king of Jerusalem
1130 Anti-pope Anacletus II crowns Roger II the Norman, king of Sicily
1223 St Francis of Assisi assembles 1st Nativity scene (Greccio, Italy)
1492 Columbus' ship Santa Maria docks at Dominican Republic
1522 Turkish troops occupy Rhodos
1613 Johan Sigismund of Brandenburg becomes protestant
1621 Governor William Bradford of Plymouth forbids game playing on Christmas day
1651 Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine (five shillings) for "observing any such day as Christmas"
1683 English Whig-leader duke of Monmouth flees to Holland
1688 English king James II lands in Ambleteuse, France
1717 Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces, 1000s killed
1741 Astronomer Anders Celcius introduces Centigrade temperature scale
1745 Prussia/Austria signs Treaty of Dresden; gives much of Silesia to the Prussians
1758 Halley's comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch during return
1760 Jupter Hammon, New York slave, publishes poetry in "An Evening Thought"
1775 Pope Pius VI encyclical on the problems of the pontificate
1776 Washington crosses Delaware & surprises & defeats 1,400 Hessians
1818 1st US performance of Händel's Messiah, Boston
1818 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night" by Franz Joseph Gruber & Joseph Mohr) sung (Austria)
1830 Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic" premieres
1831 Louisiana & Arkansas are 1st states to observe Christmas as holiday
1837 Battle of Okeechobee-US forces defeat Seminole Indians
1848 New Haven Railroad opens
1862 40,000 watch the Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head SC
1868 Despite bitter opposition, President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion (the Civil War)
1888 1st indoor baseball game played at fairgrounds in Philadelphia
1894 1st midwestern football team to play on west coast, University of Chicago defeats Stanford 24-4 at Palo Alto CA
1896 "Stars & Stripes Forever" written by John Philip Sousa
1908 Jack Johnson KO Tommy Burns & becomes 1st black heavyweight champion
1914 Legendary/unofficial "Christmas Truce" takes place (British & Germans)
1922 Lenin dictates his "Political testament"
1926 Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan (1926-1989)
1930 1st US bobsled run open to the public (Mount Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid NY)
1931 New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio
1932 During King George V Christmas dinner speech, his chair collapes (He landed on his majesty)
1936 Belgian bishops condemn fascism & communism
1938 George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O'Hara
1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer
1940 Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's "Pal Joey" premieres in New York NY
1941 Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong
1941 Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi/Kagu back in Kure, Japan
1942 Admiral Dalans, murderer of Bosinier de la Chapelle, sentenced to death
1942 Russian artillery/tank battle on German armies at Stalingrad
1946 Constitution accepted in Taiwan
1950 Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, stolen from Westminster Abbey & smuggled back to Scotland
1950 Dick Tracy marries Tess Truehart
1953 Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand)
1954 WSFA TV channel 12 in Montgomery AL (NBC) begins broadcasting
1955 Cleveland Browns win NFL championship
1955 Pope Pius XII encyclical on sacred music & popular music
1957 Ed Gein judged insane and committed to Waupan State Hospital for a life sentence for the murders of Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden
1958 Alan Freed's Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular opens
1959 A synagogue in Cologne Germany desecrated with swastikas
1959 Richard Starkey [Ringo Starr] receives his 1st drum set
1959 Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market
1963 Walt Disney's "The Sword In The Stone" is released
1964 "Goldfinger" premieres in US
1969 5 Israeli gunboats escape from Cherbourg harbor
1971 Longest NFL game (82 minutes 40 seconds) as Dolphins beat Chiefs 27-24
1971 Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul
1971 Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) form Jesse Jackson
1974 Cyclone Tracy virtually destroys Darwin Australia
1977 Israeli PM Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with Egyptian President Sadat
1979 USSR airlifts invasion army to Afghánistán
1987 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured
1989 Japanese scientist achieves -271.8ºC, coldest temp ever recorded
1990 "Godfather III" premieres
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as President of USSR
1997 Jerry Seinfeld says this is the final season of his TV show.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
England : New Year's Day observed before 1068
Taiwan : Constitution Day (1946)
World : Christmas
Religious Observances
Christian : Christmas Day Peace on Earth, good will towards men
Roman Catholic : New Years Day (until 12th century)
Religious History
0336 This is the earliest known year that Jesus' nativity was celebrated on December 25th, as mentioned in the Philocalian Calendar of A.D. 354. Jesus' birth was commemorated on January 6th in Greek Orthodoxy, although by the 400s most of the Eastern churches had accepted the Roman date.
1413 Two years before his martyrdom, Bohemian reformer and martyr Jan Huss wrote in a letter: 'Rejoice, that the immortal God is born, so that mortal men may live through eternity.'
1537 German reformer Martin Luther was recorded as saying: 'It is the most ungodly and dangerous business to abandon the certain and revealed will of God in order to search in to the hidden mysteries of God.'
1723 The Dunkards (Baptists from Germany) held their first immersion service in America at Germantown (near Philadelphia), Pennsylvania.
1923 In Washington, D.C., during Calvin Coolidge's first Christmas as president, the first electrically_lit Christmas tree appeared in the White House.
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
?
