- 963 Leo VIII elected Pope
- 1060 Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary
- 1160 Jean Bodels "Jeu de St Nicholas" premieres in Arras
- 1196 Northern Dutch coast flooded, "Saint-Nicolas Flood"
Mongol Siege of Kyiv
1240 Mongols led by Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kyiv after an 8 day siege; out of 50,000 people in the city only 2,000 survive
Aquinas' Divine Revelation
1273 Thomas Aquinas, thought to have had a mystical experience in Naples, refuses to continue his work "I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me"
Barcelona Right to Expel Jews
1424 Don Alfonso V of Aragon grants Barcelona the right to exclude Jews
Pope Clement VII Flees
1527 Pope Clement VII escapes imprisonment in the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, fleeing to Orvieto disguised as a peddler
- 1534 Quito, Ecuador, founded by Spanish colonists on the ruins of an Inca city
- 1631 1st predicted transit of Venus (Kepler) is observed
- 1641 Don Francisco de Mello appointed land guardian of South Netherlands
- 1648 Pride's Purge: Thomas Pride prevents 96 presbyterians from sitting in English parliament
Charles VI's Pragmatic Sanction
1723 Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI's Pragmatic Sanction with the Diet of Hungary recognizes the King's daughters as successors
Jacobite Army Retreats
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's Jacobite army retreats to Scotland
US National Observatory Proposed
1825 US President John Quincy Adams suggests establishment of a national observatory
Schumann's 4th Symphony
1841 Robert Schumann's 4th Symphony in D minor premieres
La Damnation de Faust
1846 Hector Berlioz's dramatic oratorio "La Damnation de Faust" premieres, conducted by the composer at the Opéra-Comique, Paris
Harriet Tubman Escapes
1849 Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery in Maryland for the 2nd and final time
Lincoln Orders Santee Sioux Hanged
1862 US President Abraham Lincoln orders hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians
- 1864 Battle of Deveaux's Neck, South Carolina
- 1865 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery (except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted) [1]
- 1866 Chicago water supply tunnel 3,227 m into Lake Michigan completed
- 1869 Colored National Labor Union, 1st Black labor convention meets at Union League Hall in Washington, D.C.
- 1873 1st international football game in US: Yale 2, Eton (England) 1 in New Haven, Connecticut
- 1875 44th Congress (1875-77) convenes
- 1876 1st crematorium in US begins operation, Washington, Pennsylvania
Hayes, Tilden Election
1876 US Electoral College casts their votes in the disputed election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden; two sets of conflicting results are returned to Congress the next day
Edison's Phonograph
1877 Thomas Edison enters the offices of Scientific American and turns the crank on his cylinder phonograph, astonishing those present with the recording, "Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?" [1]
- 1877 Washington Post publishes 1st edition
- 1882 Atmosphere of Venus detected during transit
- 1884 Aluminum capstone set atop Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., making it the tallest human-built structure in the world (overtaking Cologne Cathedral)
- 1896 D T Suzuki found the awakening at Engakuji temple, in Kamakura
- 1897 London becomes the world's first city to host licenced taxicabs
- 1903 Sumatra Atjehs guerilla leader Panglima Polim surrenders
Monroe Doctrine Confirmed
1904 Theodore Roosevelt confirms Monroe Doctrine (Roosevelt Corollary)
- 1906 The British grant Transvaal self-government
- 1907 Coal mine explosions in Monongah, West Virginia kills 361
- 1912 China votes for universal human rights
- 1913 White Sox beat Giants 9-4 in exhibition game in Tokyo
- 1914 German troops over run Lodz
- 1916 World War I: The Central Powers under General Mackensen capture Bucharest
- 1917 French munition ship SS Mont Blanc collides with Norwegian SS Imo in Halifax harbour, Canada, resulting explosion kills at least 1,700 and injures more than 9,000 people - world’s largest pre-atomic explosion [1]
- 1917 Taking advantage of the temporary relaxation of authority in Russia, Finland declares itself a republic, following the Ukraine on 20 November
Anglo-Irish Treaty Signed
1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed; Ireland receives dominion status; partition creates Northern Ireland
Liberal Party Victory
1921 Canada's Liberal Party and its leader Mackenzie King defeats Arthur Meighen's Conservative Party and Thomas Crerar' Progressive Party in general election, goes on to form a minority government
- 1922 1st constitution of Irish Free State comes into operation
- 1922 1st electric power line commercial carrier in US, Utica, NY
First US Presidential Radio Address
1923 1st US Presidential address broadcast on radio by President Calvin Coolidge
Ulysses Ban Lifted
1933 Ban on James Joyce's "Ulysses" in US lifted
- 1938 117 Spanish knights under capt Piet Laros return to Netherlands
- 1938 French-German friendship treaty drawn up (Ribbentrop-Bonnet Pact)
- 1939 5th Heisman Trophy Award: Nile Kinnick, Iowa (HB)
- 1940 Gestapo arrest German resistance fighter/poster artist Helen Ernst
Pietro Badoglio Resigns
1940 Pietro Badoglio resigns as viceroy of Ethiopia
- 1941 Dutch & British pilots see Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore
- 1941 NYC Council agrees to build Idlewild (Kennedy) Airport in Queens
Dutch Commonwealth Begins
1942 Queen Wilhelmina announces Dutch Commonwealth
- 1942 RAF bombs Philips factory (150 die)
- 1944 US 95th Infantry division reaches Westwall
Everglades National Park
1947 The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated by President Harry S. Truman
Beauvoir Receives Prix Goncourt
1954 Simone de Beauvoir receives the Prix Goncourt prize in French literature
- 1955 New York psychologist Joyce Brothers wins "$64,000 Question" with topic of boxing
- 1956 Against the background of the Soviet invasion of Hungary the nations square off at the Melbourne Olympics in a famous water polo match; game called off with Hungary leading 4-0 and near riot halted by police; Hungary goes on to win gold medal
- 1956 Australian swimmer David Theile sets world record 1:02.2 to win the 100m backstroke gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
Australian Win Swim Relay
1956 Australian women's 4 × 100m freestyle relay team of Dawn Fraser, Faith Leech, Sandra Morgan & Lorraine Crapp swim world record 4:17.1 and beat powerful US team to win the gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics
- 1956 German WWII prisoner of war Helmut Bantz and Soviet gymnast Valentin Muratov tie for the vault gold medal with 18.85 points at the Melbourne Olympics
Mandela Arrested
1956 Nelson Mandela & 156 others arrested for political activities in South Africa
- 1956 Randhir Singh Gentle scores the winner as India beats Pakistan, 1-0 in the Melbourne Olympics field hockey final to win it's 6th consecutive gold medal in the sport
- 1956 Soviet gymnast Viktor Chukarin follows his parallel bars gold medal with the individual all-round title and teams gold at the Melbourne Olympics
- 1957 1st US attempt to launch a satellite fails-Vanguard rocket blows up
- 1957 AFL-CIO votes to expel Teamsters (readmitted in October 1987)
- 1957 Indonesia begins nationalizing Dutch possessions
Sessions' 3rd Symphony
1957 Roger Sessions' 3rd Symphony premieres in Boston with Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony
Davis 1st African American Winner
1961 27th Heisman Trophy Award: Ernie Davis, Syracuse RB; 1st African American to win)
- 1962 US abandons Skybolt ballistic missile program
Johnson's 31 Medal Recipients
1963 President Lyndon B. Johnson confers Presidential Medal of Freedom on 31 recipients selected by JFK, including: contralto Marian Anderson; diplomat Ralph Bunche; cellist Pablo Casals; Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter; labor leader George Meaney; architect Mies van der Rohe; pianist Rudolf Serkin; writers E. B. White and Thorton Wilder; and painter Andrew Wyeth; as well as posthumously to JFK himself, and Pope John XXIII
- 1963 Test Cricket debut of Graeme Pollock at the Gabba
- 1963 The Beatles begin a tradition of releasing a Christmas record for fan club members
- 1964 "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" 1st airs on TV
- 1964 KTVR TV channel 13 in La Grande, OR (PBS) begins broadcasting
Antonio Segni Resigns
1964 President Antonio Segni of Italy resigns
Beggar's Banquet
1968 Decca Records releases Rolling Stones album "Beggar's Banquet" in UK, the last during Brian Jones' lifetime (US release the next day)
- 1968 Major League Baseball dismisses Commissioner William Eckert after 3 years
- 1968 PBA National Bowling Championship won by Wayne Zahn (29)
- 1968 WKID (WSCV) TV channel 51 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (IND) 1st broadcast
Rolling Stones at Altamont
1969 300,000 attend free concert featuring The Rolling Stones in Altamont, California; the event is marred by violence and four deaths
- 1969 USSR performs nuclear test
- 1970 Cleveland Cavaliers 1st NBA home victory, beating Buffalo Braves 108-106
- 1971 A woman dies trying to salvage property from the Salvation Army Citadel in Belfast after bomb which started a large fire in an adjoining building
- 1971 Lewis Franklin Powell confirmed as US Supreme Court justice
- 1973 Bahrain's constitution goes into effect
Gerald Ford VP
1973 Gerald Ford sworn-in as first unelected Vice President, succeeds Spiro Agnew who resigned over corruption allegations
- 1973 NL votes to move San Diego Padres to Washington, D.C. (doesn't happen)
Ding Dong, Ding Dong
1974 George Harrison releases single "Ding Dong, Ding Dong"
- 1975 41st Heisman Trophy Award: Archie Griffin, Ohio State (RB)
- 1975 Balcombe Street Siege: for 6 days, four Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers hold two hostages at an apartment in London, England
Pieter Menten Arrested
1976 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten arrested in Zurich, Switzerland
- 1977 South Africa grants Bophuthatswana independence
- 1978 Spain adopts constitution
- 1980 NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 502
- 1981 Rob de Castella of Australia sets Marathon record at 2:08:18
- 1982 Droppin Well bombing: 11 British soldiers and 6 civilians are killed by an Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) time bomb at the Droppin’ Well Bar in Ballykelly, County Londonderry
- 1983 A bomb planted on a bus in Jerusalem explodes, kills 6 Israelis
- 1984 France performs nuclear test
- 1984 Hijackers aboard Kuwaiti jetliner kill 2nd hostage
- 1986 52nd Heisman Trophy Award: Vinny Testaverde, Miami Fla (QB)
- 1986 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1987 3 satanist Missouri teenagers bludgeon comrade to death for "fun"
- 1987 Christa Rothenburger skates female world record 500m (39.39 sec)
- 1988 Agnes Neil Williams purchases Baltimore Orioles for $70 million Eli Jacobs becomes CEO of Baltimore Orioles
- 1988 Carlos Andres Perez re-elected president of Venezuela
- 1988 Merv Hughes takes 13 wickets v WI at the WACA but Australia lose
- 1988 Milwaukee Bucks win their 1,000th NBA game (2nd fastest)
- 1988 Nelson Mandela is transferred to Victor Vester Prison, Capetown
- 1988 STS-27 Atlantis lands in California after secret mission
Arafat Meets US Jews
1988 Yasser Arafat meets prominent American Jews in Stockholm, Sweden
Hussein Releases Hostages
1990 Saddam Hussein announces release of all foreign hostages
Jerry Rice's Record Touchdown
1992 San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice catches NFL record 101st touchdown in a 27-3 win over Miami Dolphins at Candlestick Park
Bonds' $43M Pact
1992 San Francisco Giants sign record $43million USD pact with Pirates MLB outfielder Barry Bonds
Michael Jackson Collapses
1995 Michael Jackson collapses while rehearsing for an HBO special
- 1996 Mashonaland defeat England in first-class tour match
Hugo Chávez Elected
1998 Hugo Chávez is elected President of Venezuela
British Museum's Great Court
2000 Great Court of the British Museum redesigned with the largest covered courtyard in Europe by Foster & Partners opened by Queen Elizabeth II [1]
- 2001 The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador
Adaptation
2002 "Adaptation" directed by Spike Jonze, starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep premieres
Bettie Page Hospitalized
2008 American pin-up model Bettie Page (85) is hospitalized in critical condition after suffering a heart attack
A Steady Rain
2009 Final Broadway performance of "A Steady Rain", starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig
Birds of America's Record Price
2010 Record price for a printed book when a first edition of "The Birds of America" by John James Audubon auctioned at Sotheby's, London, England, for £7,321,250
New Post for Abuse Cases
2013 Pope Francis gives his ascent to a proposal to create a permanent post on the Pontifical Commission on cases of sin and sexual abuse of minors
- 2017 "Supermassive" most distant black hole discovery announced by astronomers in journal "Nature", 13 billion light-years away, 800 x bigger than the Sun
Andrej Babiš Sworn In
2017 Andrej Babiš is sworn as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
- 2017 Brazilian drug lord Rogério da Silva arrested in Rio
- 2017 Britain's top Brexit negotiator David Davis admits there has been "no systematic impact assessment" on effects of Brexit
- 2017 Skirball wildfire near Los Angeles closes the Interstate 405 as thousands forced to evacuate
- 2017 Starbucks opens its largest cafe in the world in Shanghai, 30,000 square-feet, 1/2 size of a football field
- 2017 Time Magazine names their Person of the Year "The Silence Breakers", people who came forward to report sexual misconduct
Trump Recognizes Jerusalem
2017 US President Donald Trump officially recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, announcing plans to move US embassy there
- 2018 Luxembourg is the first country to make all public transport free
- 2018 Oldest-known plague sample found in 4,900-year-old remains of 20-year old woman in Gökhem, southern Sweden published in "Cell"
- 2018 Senegal's new Museum of Black Civilisations is opened in Dakar by President Macky Sall
Henry's Record-breaking Game
2018 Tennessee Titans running back Derrick Henry explodes for franchise-record 238 yards & 4 touchdowns in 30-9 win v Jacksonville Jaguars in Nashville; 99-yard TD run ties Dallas Cowboys HOF RB Tony Dorsett's longest run in NFL history
- 2020 Japanese space capsule Hayabusa-2 lands safely back on earth in Australia, carrying first significant rock samples from an asteroid, the Ryugu
- 2020 US President Donald Trump orders about 700 troops withdrawn from Somalia
Aung San Suu Kyi Sentenced
2021 Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to four years (later reduced to two) for inciting public unrest and breaching Covid-19 protocols [1]
- 2021 New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announces a COVID-19 mandate for all private employers effective December 27, to combat Omicron, 1st in the country
- 2022 Argentine Vice-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner found guilty of fraud, sentenced to six years in prison and banned from holding office [1]
- 2022 Donald Trump's real estate company Trump Organization convicted of tax fraud in New York [1]
- 2022 Indonesia passes a new criminal code outlawing sex outside marriage, even for foreigners [1]
Avatar: The Way of Water
2022 James Cameron's sci-fi film sequel "Avatar: The Way of Water" starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldaña premieres in London
Music History
2023 Taylor Swift is named Time's Person of the Year [1]
