History Today: 1st junior secondary school, 1st US secretary of state

• 1163 Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
• 1561 Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Archbishop of Mechelen, made Cardinal
• 1582 Flanders adopts Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is Jan 1 1583
• 1598 Battle of Curalaba: the Mapuche people led by Pelentaru revolt and inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile
• 1620 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock [OS=Dec 11]
• 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts
• 1650 Johan de Witt installed as Dutch pension advisor of Dordrecht
• 1906 British Parliament pass two important pieces of social legislation: The Trades Disputes Bill, legalizing peaceful picketing, and The Workingmen's Compensation Act, broadening employers' liability for accidents
• 1907 Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
• 1909 1st junior high school established (Berkeley California)
• 1909 Clyde Fitch' "City" premieres in NYC
• 1909 Unitversity of Copenhagen rejects American Explorer Frederick Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole
• 1910 Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England, 344 mine workers dies
• 1912 Denmark, Norway & Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
• 1913 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World
• 1914 1st feature-length silent film comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance" released starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin
• 1914 2,800 African miners strike at the Van Rhyn Deep mines in a bid to redress some of their grievances

• 1920 Jerome Kern/BG DeSylva's musical "Sally" premieres in NYC
• 1921 Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
• 1923 Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
• 1925 Eisenstein's movie Battleship Potemkin premieres in Moscow
• 1925 Stork Hendry scores 325 for Victoria against NZ
• 1926 Soccer team DOS Struggle forms
• 1929 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)
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• 1941 Chicago Bears Ray McLean makes last NFL drop kick for an extra point
• 1941 Chicago bears win the NFL championship
• 1941 David Diamond's 1st Symphony premieres
• 1941 German submarine U-567 sinks
• 1942 US Supreme court declares Nevada separation legal
• 1944 Cards' Marty Marion wins NL MVP
• 1945 "Billion Dollar Baby" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 219 performances
• 1945 Gould/Comden/Green's "Billion Dollar Baby" premieres in NYC
• 1946 "If the Shoe Fits" closes at Century Theater NYC after 20 performances
• 1946 Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086
• 1946 Morton Gould's "Minstrel Show" premieres in Indianapolis
• 1948 O'Neil Place in the Bronx erronously renamed O'Neill Place
• 1948 State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
• 1948 1949 NFL Draft: Chuck Bednarik from University of Pennsylvania first pick by Philadelphia Eagles
• 1949 Dutch 1st Chamber accept soeveregnty of Indonesia

• 1950 Cole Porte's musical "Out of this World" premieres at New Century Theater NYC for 157 performances
• 1952 Broadway Tunnel opens in SF
• 1952 WSBT TV channel 22 in South Bend, IN (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1953 KOMU TV channel 8 in Columbia, MO (NBC/PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1955 2nd National Film Awards (India): "Mirza Ghalib" wins the Golden Lotus
• 1962 Angolin leaves Comecon
• 1962 US & Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
• 1966 USSR launches Luna 13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
• 1968 Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell & Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
• 1968 David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash premiere together in Calif
• 1969 Diana Ross final TV appearance as a Supreme (Ed Sullivan Show)
• 1969 Vince Lombardi (Redskins) coaches his last football game
• 1970 WUTV TV channel 29 in Buffalo, NY (IND) begins broadcasting
• 1971 UN Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th Secretary-General
• 1971 A publican is killed as he tried to remove a bomb from his pub, Northern Ireland
• 1972 Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
• 1973 Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US & USSR meet in Geneva to discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict
• 1973 3rd Fiesta Bowl: #10 Arizona State beats Pittsburgh, 28-7
• 1974 Raiders RB Clarence Davis somehow catches game-winning touchdown pass among "the sea of hands" of three Dolphins defenders with 24 seconds left in the game, eliminating Miami from the playoffs, 1st time in 3 years
• 1975 "Hello, Dolly" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 51 performances
• 1975 "Very Good Eddie" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 307 performances
• 1975 1st NY Jet to gain 1,000 yards rushing (John Riggins)
• 1975 64th Davis Cup: Sweden beats Czechoslovakia in Stockholm (3-2)
• 1975 Madagascar adopts constitution
• 1975 Buffalo Sabres set NHL record of 40 points beating Caps 14-2 scoring 5 goals vs Washington Caps in 4:57
• 1976 20th Islander shut-out opponent-Billy Smith 3-0 vs Bruins
• 1976 Patricia R Harris named secretary of HUD
• 1976 UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
• 1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1978 "Broadway Musical" opens/closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC
• 1979 Gary Unger plays in record 914th consecutive NHL game
• 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1979 New constitution for Zimbabwe agreed
• 1980 Harold Carmichael ends NFL streak of 127 consecutive game receptions
• 1981 Cincinnati beats Bradley 75-73 in 7 OTs (NCAA record)
• 1983 Musical "Tap Dance Kid" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 669 performances
• 1983 NBA Indiana Pacers end a 28 game road losing streak
• 1983 NCAA rules rescinded last 2-minute men's basketball free throw rule
• 1984 Islander Kelly Hrudy's 1st shut-out win-Whalers 1-0
• 1984 USSR launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley's Come
• 1985 ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
• 1985 Alice Miller/Don January wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
• 1985 Heart's "Heart" album goes #1
• 1986 Amy Alcott/Bob Charles wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
• 1987 3 white NY teens convicted of manslaughter in death of a black man
• 1987 Soyuz TM-4 launches 3 cosmonauts to space station Mir
• 1987 Vladimir Titov & Musa Manarov launched
• 1988 Drexel agrees guilt to security felonies, pays a $650 million fine
• 1988 Vladimir Titov & Musa Manarov return to earth (a year) with Chretien
• 1988 Lockerbie disaster: Pan Am Flight 103 destroyed mid air by a terrorist bomb killing all 258 on board over Scotland
• 1989 VP Quayle sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon
• 1989 New Zealand is the first country to set a formal inflation target (0-2%) for how much prices should rise each year. Similar targets are subsequently adopted by most developed countries.
• 1990 Steve & Mark Waugh complete 464* partnership for NSW v WA
• 1991 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
• 1991 El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane
• 1991 Soviet Union formally dissolves as 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States
• 1992 Dutch DC-10 in fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
• 1994 Bomb goes off on #4 train on Fulton Street NYC
• 1995 Martina Ertl of Germany wins her 3rd giant slalom world cup
• 1995 SF Giants announce plans to build a new stadium to open in 2000
• 1995 The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
• 1996 Pakistan all out 67 to lose to Tasmania by an inning
• 1997 Detroit Lions Barry Sanders is 3rd to run for 2,000 yards in a season
• 1997 Detroit Lions linebacker Reggie Brown, knocked unconscious in game
• 1999 The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.
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• 2006 Puzzle Play aired to network Ten, replacing In the Box
• 2007 The Schengen Agreement area increases to include 9 European Union member states; Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia on land and sea borders.
• 2012 39 people are killed in violent clashes in Kenya
• 2012 The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar reaches the date 13.0.0.0.0
• 2012 "Gangnam Style" becomes the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube
• 2012 The NHL announces a further cancellation of games until January 14 brining the total number of cancelled games to 625