Events Date 1966 December | History by KabAstro

I Do! I Do!

Dec 5 Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones' musical "I Do! I Do!", starring Robert Preston and Mary Martin, and directed by Gower Champion, opens at 46th St Theater, NYC; runs for 561 performances

Dec 7 A fire at an army barracks in Erzurum, Turkey kills 68 people.

Yankees' Terrible Trade

Dec 8 A terrible New York Yankee trade, Roger Maris for St' Louis Card's Charlie Smith

Dec 8 US and USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
Dec 10 Israeli Shmuel Yosef Agnon wins Nobel Prize for literature
Dec 10 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to Robert S. Mulliken
Dec 11 Al Nelson sets NFL record returning missed field goal, 100 yards

A Man for All Seasons

Dec 12 "A Man for All Seasons" based on the play by Robert Bolt, directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Paul Scofield premieres in New York (Best Picture 1967)

Dec 12 US Supreme Courts votes 4-3 allowing Braves to move to Atlanta
Dec 13 1st battle for Bijlmer flats, Amsterdam
Dec 13 Test debut of Clive Lloyd, v India Bombay, 82 & 78
Dec 13 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Dec 15 Audouin Dollfus discovers 10th satellite of Saturn, Janus
Dec 15 John W. Mecom Jr becomes 1st owner of New Orlean Saints
Dec 15 Oscar Brand and Paul Nassau's musical "A Joyful Noise", starring John Raitt, opens at Mark Hellinger Theater, NYC; runs for 12 performances

Hey Joe

Dec 16 Jimi Hendrix Experience releases its 1st single, "Hey Joe" in the UK

Dec 16 The Beatles release "Everywhere it's Christmas" in UK

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Dec 18 Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" airs for 1st time on CBS; animated special directed by Chuck Jones, features voices of Boris Karloff, June Foray, and Thurl Ravenscroft, with songs by Albert Hague

Dec 18 Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
Dec 18 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Dec 20 NBA awards Seattle Supersonics a franchise for 1967-68 season
Dec 20 Nuclear Planning Group forms in Brussels
Dec 20 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

"King of Hearts"

Dec 21 French-Italian comic-drama film "King of Hearts" (Le Roi de cœur) directed by Philippe de Broca, and starring Alan Bates premieres in France; achieves cult film status when it reaches US art houses in 1973

Dec 21 USSR launches Luna 13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
Dec 22 WCVW TV channel 57 in Richmond, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting
Dec 23 Britain's rock TV show "Ready Steady Go" last program
Dec 24 Oscar Brand and Paul Nassau's musical "A Joyful Noise", starring John Raitt, closes at Mark Hellinger Theater, NYC, after 12 performances
Dec 24 Soviet spacecraft Luna 13 lands on Moon
Dec 24 USAF C144 military charter aircraft crashes near Binh Thai, Vietnam, killing 129
Dec 26 Jimi Hendrix writes the song "Purple Haze" backstage at the Upper Cut Club, London
Dec 26 Maulana Karenga establishes Kwanzaa (1st fruits of harvest) holiday
Dec 27 Ballon d'Or: Manchester United midfielder Bobby Charlton wins award for best European football player; claims award by a single point ahead of Benfica striker Eusébio
Dec 27 Flander and Swann's musical revue "At the Drop of Another Hat" opens at Booth Theater, NYC; runs for 105 performances
Dec 28 13 die in a train crash in Everett, Massachusetts