History Today: 1st Christmas celebration,1st Christmas song.coldet temp recorded

• 1 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
• 337 Earliest possible date that Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
• 352 1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th
• 390 Roman emperor Theodosius admits debt on mass murder in Thessalonica
• 498 French King Clovis baptises himself
• 597 England adopts Julian calendar
• 604 Battle at Etampes (Stampae): Burgundy beat Neustriers
• 875 Charles the Bald crowned emperor of Rome
• 967 John XIII crowned Otto II the Red German compassionate emperor
• 969 Johannes I Tzimisces crowned emperor of Byzantium
• 979 Rotardus appointed as bishop of the kingdom
• 999 Heribertus becomes bishop of Cologne
• 1000 Monarch Istvan crowned king of Hungary
• 1046 Pope Clemens VI crowns Henry III as Holy Roman Emperor
• 1048 Parliament of Worms: Emperor Henry III names his cousin count Bruno van Egisheim/Dagsburg as Pope Leo IX
• 1066 Duke William of Normandy ('William the Conqueror) crowned King of England
• 1100 Boudouin I of Boulogne crowned king of Jerusalem
• 1101 Henry I of Limburg becomes Duke of Lower Lorraine
• 1121 Norbertus van Xanten finds order of the Norbertijnen
• 1130 Anti-pope Anacletus II crowns Roger II the Norman king of Sicily
• 1522 Turkish troops occupy Rhodos
• 1553 Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeats the Spanish conquistadors and exetutes the governor of Chile Pedro de Valdivia.
• 1582 Zealand/Brabant adopts Gregorian calendar, yesterday was Dec 14th
• 1599 The city of Natal, Brazil, is founded.
• 1613 Johan Sigismund of Brandenburg becomes protestant
• 1621 Gov William Bradford of Plymouth Colony (now in Massachusetts) forbids game playing on Christmas
• • 1640 Pierre de Fermat writes to Marin Mersenne about Fermat's church thesis
  • 1641 Emperor Ferdinand III makes appointments with Sweden & France
  • 1643 Christmas Island founded and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
  • 1651 Massachusetts General Court ordered a five shilling fine for "observing any such day as Christmas"
  • 1683 English Whig leader Duke of Monmouth flees to Holland
  • 1688 British King James II lands in Ambleteuse, France
  • 1688 Lord Delamere sides with King James II
  • 1717 Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces, thousands killed
  • 1745 Prussia and Austria sign Treaty of Dresden giving much of Silesia to the Prussians
  • 1758 Return of Halley's comet 1st sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch
  • 1760 Jupiter Hammon, an African American slave, composes poetry broadside "An Evening Thought" (1st poetry published by an African American 1761)
  • 1769 First Christian service in New Zealand; Mass is celebrated in Doubtless Bay by Father Paul-Antoine Léonard de Villefeix of the de Surville expedition
  • 1775 Pope Pius VI encyclical on the problems of the pontificate
  • 1776 Washington crosses Delaware & surprises & defeats 1,400 Hessians
  • 1809 Physician Ephraim McDowell performs the first abdominal surgery in the U.S, an ovariotomy to remove a 22 lb ovarian tumor
  • 1814 Rev Samuel Marsden of the Church Missionary Society holds the first Christian service in New Zealand on land, at Rangihoua
  • 1818 1st known Christmas carol ("Silent Night, Holy Night" - "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht) sung (Austria)
  • 1818 Handel's Messiah, premieres in the US in Boston
  • 1830 Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic" premieres
  • 1831 Louisiana & Arkansas are first states to observe Christmas as holiday
  • 1833 Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas in Port Desire, Patagonia
  • 1834 Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas on the Beagle at Tres Montes, Chile
  • 1835 Charles Darwin celebrates Christmas in Pahia, New Zealand
  • 1837 Battle of Okeechobee-US forces defeat Seminole Indians
  • 1843 1st theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, NYC)
  • 1848 New Haven Railroad opens
  • 1862 40,000 watch Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head, SC
  • 1899 Farmers send/guide belegerd Ladysmith Kerstpudding/desire in grenade
  • 1900 Arthur Schnitzler's "Leutnant Gustl" forbidden in Germany
  • 1901 Battle at Tweefontein: British force camped on a hill is surprised by a Boer attack at 2am
  • 1902 Clyde Fitch' "Girl with Green Eyes" premieres in NYC
  • 1902 Pope Leo XIII, at his annual Christmas reception, endorses the Christian Democratic movement now emerging in Europe as an attempt to offer an alternative to more radical movements
  • 1905 V Herbert/H Blossoms musical "Mlle Modiste" premieres in NYC
  • 1911 Edward Knoblock's "Kismet" premieres in NYC
  • 1914 Legendary "Christmas Truce" takes place on the battlefields of WWI between British and German troops. Instead of fighting, soldiers exchange gifts and play football.
  • 1923 Imperial Theater opens at 249 W 45th St NYC
  • 1926 Prince-regent Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan (1926-1989) upon the death of his father Yoshihito
  • 1928 Christmas Day attendance at cricket MCG (Vic v NSW) Australia is 14,887
  • 1928 NSW (v Vic) go from 8-74 to 9-113 to be 9-367 at stumps
  • 1929 Grimmett takes 6-146 for SA, Queensland all out 380 Crowd 5,390
  • 1930 1st US bobsled run open to public (Lake Placid, NY)
  • 1930 Mt Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid, NY opens
  • 1930 Slinger Nitschke scores 142 SA v Qld at Adelaide before 5,422
  • 1930 Tasmania all out 280, WI 2-139 at Hobart Crowd 2,500
  • 1931 Albert Lonergan scores 137 SA v Qld at Adelaide before 5,697
  • 1931 Fleetwood-Smith takes 5-69 Victoria v Tas at Hobart
  • 1931 NY's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio
  • 1932 7.6 magnitude earthquake ravages Qansu, China, kills 275
  • 1933 Another Christmas Day five-wicket haul by Clarrie Grimmett
  • 1933 Belgian Working people's party accept Henry de Mans Plan of Labor
  • 1933 Stan Smith takes 8-33 for Victoria v Tasmania at Hobart
  • 1934 Four centuries for SA as they make 7-644 v Qld before 6,180
  • 1934 Samson Raphaelson's "Accent on Youth" premieres in NYC
  • 1936 Belgian bishops condemn fascism & communism
  • 1936 Ron Hamence scores 104 for SA v Queensland before 4,865
  • 1937 Arturo Toscanini conducts 1st Symphony of the Air over NBC Radio
  • 1937 Queensland all out for 93 v SA in front of 10,436
  • 1938 George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will play Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind"
  • 1939 Grimmett & Ward rip through Qld except Bill Brown (156)
  • 1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer
  •  Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Harts "Pal Joey" premieres in NYC
  • 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 British Col S W Bailey reaches Mihailovics headquarter
  • 1942 Russian artillery/tank battle on German armies at Stalingrad
  • 1946 Constitution accepted in Taiwan
  • 1947 Taiwan passes Human Rights laws (Day of Earth Law)
  • 1947 The Constitution of the Republic of China comes into effect.
  • 1950 Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, stolen from Westminster Abbey & smuggled back to Scotland
  • 1951 1st Christmas Day in Test Crickets, Aust v WI at Adelaide
  • 1951 West Indies defeat Australia by 6 wkts on 3rd day of 3rd Test Cricket
  • 1953 Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand)
  • 1954 WSFA TV channel 12 in Montgomery, AL (NBC) begins broadcasting
  • 1954 Rhythm and blues singer Johnny Ace, accidentally shoots himself in the head at the City Auditorium in Houston, Texas
  • 1955 Pope Pius XII encyclical on sacred music & popular music
  • 1968 Frank Borman's Christmas reading while orbiting Moon
  • 1968 42 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.
  • 1969 5 Israeli gunboats escape from Cherbourg harbor
  • 1969 India all out for 163 at Madras v Aust, Ashley Mallett 5-91
  • 1971 Longest NFL game (82m40s) as Dolphins beat Chiefs 27-24
  • 1971 Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) form Jesse Jackson
  • 1971 Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul
  • 1972 England beat India by six wickets in the 1st Cricket Test in Delhi
  • 1973 Tommy Chambers (Scotland) finishes 51 yr cycle tour (799,405 miles)
  • 1973 The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
  • 1973 Arab oil ministers cancel January 5 percent production cut; Saudi Arabian oil minister promises 10 percent OPEC production rise
  • 1977 7th Fiesta Bowl: #8 Penn State beats #15 Arizona State, 42-30
  • 1978 8th Fiesta Bowl: #8 Arkansas ties #15 UCLA, 10-10
  • 1979 Opening day of 4th Test Cricket, India 8-112 v Pakistan at Kanpur
  • 1979 USSR airlifts invasionary army to Afghanistan
  • 1979 9th Fiesta Bowl: #10 Pittsburgh beats Arizona, 16-10
  • 1982 Mudassar Nazar scores century, then Imran Khan rips through Indians
  • 1983 1st live telecast of Christmas Parade at the EPCOT Centre, Disney World Florida
  • 1984 NBA's Bernard King scores 60 points
  • 1987 Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, who escaped 2 days earlier, recaptured
  • 1989 Japanese scientist achieve -271.8°C, coldest temp ever recorded
  • 2003 The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe which was released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
  • 2004 Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
  • 2009 Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253
  • 2012 27 people are killed after an Antonov An-72 plane crashes near Shymkent, Kazakhstan
  • 2012 8 people are killed and thousands left homeless after two fires strike Manila, Philippines
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