History Today: first protestants formed, Jews ban in Sweden,

• 741 St Zachary begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Gregory III
• 1347 Pope Clemens VI declares Roman tribunal Coke di Rienzo as heretics
• 1557 1st Covenant of Scottish protestants form
• 1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia
• 1639 1st annulment by court decree passes
• 1676 Battle of Lund (Scanian War): Swedish army of 8,000 defeats much larger joint Danish/Dutch force of 13,000
• 1678 Edmund Halley receives MA from The Queen's College, Oxford
• 1685 Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm, Sweden
• 1694 English parliamentary election set for every 3 years
• 1699 Baron Jacob Hop appointed treasurer-general of the Hague
• 1730 Colley Cibber is appointed British Poet Laureate under George II
• 1833 Oberlin College in Ohio, the first truly coeducational college, opens
• 1834 First US dental society organized (NY)
• 1835 First US mutual fire insurance company issues first policy (Rhode Island)
• 1844 RC Society Apostole of Prayer forms
• 1883 48th US Congress (1883-85) convenes
• 1901 Milwaukee is dropped from the AL & replaced by St Louis Browns
• 1903 Panglima Polim surrenders to Capt Colijn at Atjeh
• 1907 George Cohan's musical "Talk of the Town" premieres in NYC
• 1908 Edward Elgar's 1st Symphony in A premieres
• 1910 Neon lights first publicly displayed (Paris Auto Show)
• 1912 Gerrit Brinkman becomes 1st Dutch traffic officer
• 1912 Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece & Bulgaria sign weapons pact
• 1912 First Balkan War: The Naval Battle of Elli takes place.
• 1914 Dutch army opens fire on interned Belgian soldiers: 8 killed
• 1915 General Joseph Joffre becomes Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies
• 1917 After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
• 1917 The Supreme Allied War Council, meeting at Versailles to define war aim, fails to reach an agreement
• 1920 Turkey & Armenia agree to peace treaty
• 1921 9th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Edmonton Eskimos, 23-0
• 1922 First successful technicolor movie (Tall of the Sea), shown in NYC
• 1923 First Congressional open session broadcast via radio (Washington, D.C.)
• 1926 Manchester Guardian (German Reichswehr/Red Army work together)
• 1929 Boston Bruins begins then NHL record 14 game winning streak
• 1930 Airborn chemicals combine with fog to kill 60 (Meuse Valley, Belgium)
• 1930 Otto Ender forms Austrian government
• 1930 Richard Rodgers/L Hart's musical "Evergreen" premieres in London
• 1931 Alka Seltzer goes on sale
• 1932 20th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Regina Roughriders, 25-6
• 1932 Gen Kurt von Schleicher becomes chancellor of Germany
• 1933 Joe Lilliard QBs Chic Cardinals; last NFL black until 1946
• 1934 Italian colonial Tripoli & Cyrenaica annexed to Libya
• 1934 KYW-AM in Chicago Ill moves to Philadelphia Penn
• 1938 AAUs decides to continue linear measuring system over metric
• 1939 Dmitri Shostakovich's 6th Symphony premieres

1944 British order to disarm causes general strike in Greece

1944 Hungarian death march of Jews ends

1944 Mussert puts Seyss-Inquart plan for small Nazi-Europe

1944 NFL Cardinals-Pitts merger disolves

1944 US 5th Armoured division occupies Brandenburg Hurtgenwald

1944 The Greek Civil War breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between communists and royalists.

1944 Britain's Home Guard ('Dad's Army') is officially stood down at a special farewell parade in Hyde Park, London.

1946 12th Heisman Trophy Award: Glenn Davis, Army (HB)

1946 US government asks UN to order dictator Franco out of Spain

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1948 Chinese refugee ship "Kiangya" explodes in E China Sea killing 1,100

1949 KRLD (now KDFW) TV channel 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (CBS) begins

1949 14th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 14-13 in Birmingham

1950 Cleveland Browns last NFL team with no-pass game (beat Philadelphia 13-7)

1950 Cleveland Browns' Horace Gillom sets club record with 12 punts

1952 1st TV broadcast in Hawaii

1952 Marcos Perez Jiménez elected president of Venezuela

1953 "Kismet" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 583 performances

1954 William Walton's opera "Troilus & Cressida" premieres in London

1955 KTVE TV channel 10 in Monroe-El Dorado, LA (NBC) begins broadcasting

1956 Bitain and France pull troops out of Egypt

1956 KFSA (now KFSM) TV channel 5 in Ft Smith, AR (CBS) 1st broadcast

• 1957 23rd Heisman Trophy Award: John Crow, Texas A&M (HB)
• 1958 Indonesian parliament accepts nationalisation of Dutch businesses
• 1959 State of emergency in Cyprus ends
• 1960 "Camelot" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 873 performances
• 1960 Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner's "Camelot" premieres in NYC
• 1961 Anton Geesink becomes 1st non-Japanese judo world champion
• 1961 The Beatles meet future manager Brian Epstein
• 1961 George Blanda of Houston Oilers kicks 55-yard field goal
• 1961 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1962 Edith Spurlock Sampson sworn-in as 1st US black female judge
• 1962 Pravda criticizes western art
• 1962 1963 NFL Draft: Terry Baker from Oregon State first pick by Los Angeles Rams
• 1964 KHQL (now KCAN) TV channel 8 in Albion, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1964 Police arrests 800 sit-in students at University of California at Berkeley
• 1965 The Beatles begin final UK concert tour in Glasgow
• 1965 USSR launches Luna 8; it crashes on the Moon
• 1966 US performs underground nuclear test at Hattiesburg, Miss
• 1966 31st Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 31-0 in Birmingham
• 1967 1st human heart transplant performed by Dr Christian Barnard in South Africa
• 1967 Derek Clayton runs world record marathon (2:09:36.4)
• 1968 Pitcher's mound drops from 15" to 10" & strike zone reduced from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits, to help hitters
• 1968 NBC Elvis comeback special airs
• 1969 John Lennon is offered role of Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar
• 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1971 Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: India invades West Pakistan and a full scale war begins claiming hundreds of lives.
• 1972 Convair 990A charter crashes in Tenerife Canary Island, 155 die
• 1973 Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet) [Dec 4-GMT]
• 1975 Laos falls to communist forces; Lao People's Democratic Rep proclaimed
• 1976 Patrick J Hillery elected President of Ireland
• 1978 "King of Hearts" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 48 performances
• 1978 Pat Bradley/Lon Hinkle wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
• 1979 11 trampled to death at Who concert in Cincinnati
• 1979 45th Heisman Trophy Award: Charles White, Southern Cal (RB)
• 1979 Christies auctions a thimble for a record $18,400
• 1979 Iran accepts constitution
• 1979 Shadow Traffic begins broadcasting in the New York City metropolitan area.
• 1980 NY Federal jury finds Reps Thompson D-NJ & Murphy, D-NY, guilty
• 1981 Beth Daniel/Tom Kite win LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
• 1981 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1982 1st NJ Devil hat-trick (Steve Tambellini) defeat Hartford 5-4
• 1982 35.7 cm rainfall at Big Fork, Arkansas (state record)
• 1982 77°F highest December temperature ever recorded in Cleveland, Ohio
• 1982 NJ Devils 1st hat trick (Steve Tambellini)
• 1982 Tommy Hearns wins WBC Welterweight title in decision over Benitez
• 1982 "Frances", film depicting life of actress Frances Frances and starring Jessica Lange, first released in the US
• 1983 "Marilyn: An American Fable" closes at Minskoff NYC after 16 performances
• 1983 49th Heisman Trophy Award: Mike Rozier, Nebraska (RB)
• 1983 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
• 1983 48th Iron Bowl: Auburn beats Alabama 23-20 in Birmingham
• 1984 Union Carbide pesticide plant leak of methyl isocyanate and other toxic compounds in Bhopal, India, kills 2,259 (official figure) - other estimates as high as 16,000 (including later deaths) and over half a million injured
• 1985 23rd Shuttle Mission (61-B)-Atlantis 2-lands at Edwards AFB
• 1986 Sri Lanka all out 55 v WI in one-dayer Walsh 5-1 in 4 3 overs
• 1988 54th Heisman Trophy Award: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State (RB)
• 1988 NY Lotto pays $45 million to twelve winner (#s are 1-8-13-18-28-48)
• 1989 Pat Bradley/Bill Glasson win LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
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• 1991 Muslim Shi'ites release US hostage Alan Steen
• 1991 White House Chief of Staff John Sununu resigns
• 1992 UN Security Council votes unanimous for US led forces to enter Somalia
• 1992 The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching La Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
• 1994 3rd SEC Championship Game: #6 Florida beats #3 Alabama, 24-23
• 1995 "Company" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 68 performances
• 1995 "Holiday" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 49 performances
• 1995 84th Davis Cup: USA beats Russia in Moscow (3-2)
• 1995 Beth Daniels/Davis Love III wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
• 1995 Jack Russell takes 11 catches in Test Cricket v South Africa, a record
• 1995 Naeem Akhtar takes 10-28 for Rawalpindi B against Peshawar
• 1995 Northwestern South Carolina begins using new area code 864
• 1997 "1776" opens at Gershwin Theater NYC
• 1997 Golden State Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell, four-year, $32 million, contract terminated for attacking his coach P J Carlesimo
• 1999 NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
• 2005 XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.
• 2005 14th SEC Championship Game: #13 Georgia beats #3 LSU, 34-14
• 2005 1st ACC Championship Game: #22 Florida State beats #5 Virginia Tech, 27-22
• 2005 10th Big 12 Championship Game: #2 Texas beats Colorado, 70-3
• 2006 95th Davis Cup: Russia beats Argentina in Moscow (3-2)
• 2007 Devastating winter storms cause Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, closing 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days, resulting in at least eight deaths and billions of dollars of damage
• 2011 20th SEC Championship Game: #1 LSU beats #16 Georgia, 42-10
• 2011 7th ACC Championship Game: #21 Clemson beats #5 Virginia Tech, 38-10
• 2014 Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot dead unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, resigns
• 2014 Australian Rugby star David Pocock is arrested after protesting against a coal mine under construction in an Australian national forest
• 2014 Protests erupt in cities across the US after a grand jury decides not to charge the New York City police officer who killed Eric Garner with a choke-hold
• 2015 US Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces all combat roles in US armed forced will be opened to women