History Today: Nigeria National Assembly dissolve, 1st US bank, 1st radio broadcast

• 406 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning invasion of Gallia
• 535 Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year
• 765 Coffin of Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China
• 870 Skirmish at Englefield: Ethelred of Wessex beats Danish invasion army
• 1229 James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (Palma) consummating Christian conquest of the island of Majorca
• 1492 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
• 1502 Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino
• 1564 Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion
• 1600 British East India Company chartered
• 1604 Admiral Steven van der Haghen's fleet reaches Bantam
• 1621 Hungarian King Bethlen Gabor/Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Mikulov
• 1660 James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
• 1669 France & Brandenburg sign secret treaty
• 1670 France & England sign Boyne-treaty
• 1680 Amsterdam opera at Leidsegracht opens
• 1687 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope
• 1688 Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham [OS=Dec 21]
• 1695 A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
• 1700 Frisia/Groningen adopt Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is 1/12/1701
• 1708 Great Alliance captures Bridge
• 1711 John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, fired as English army commander
• 1744 English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble)
• 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlies army meets with de Esk
• 1756 Russia joins the Alliance of Versailles
• 1758 British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar) Senegal
• 1775 Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold
• 1776 Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors
• 1779 British fleet beat Dutch Merchant vessels
• 1781 Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
• 1783 Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern US states
• 1805 End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism
• 1859 Dutch colony in Dutch Indies counts 4,800 slaves
• 1861 22,990mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in India in 1861, a world record
• 1862 -Jan 20th) Battle of Stone's River/Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennesse in American Civil War
• 1862 President Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to the Union
• 1862 Skirmish at Parker Cross Roads, Tennessee
• 1862 Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank off Cape Hatteras, NC
• 1870 J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done)
• 1879 Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
• 1879 Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
• 1879 Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera "Pirates of Penzance" premieres in NYC
• 1890 Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot
• 1897 Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898)
• 1901 In the first election under their new constitution, Cuba elects a Congress and their first president, Tomas Estrada Palma
• 1902 Boers & British army sign peace treaty
• 1904 First New Year's Eve celebration held in Times Square (then Longacre Square), in New York City
• 1906 French, British and Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia
• 1906 2nd Australasian Championships: Antony Wilding beats Francis Fisher (6-0, 6-4, 6-4)
• 1907 For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the New Year
• 1907 Gustav Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera
• 1910 US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910
• 1914 Colonel Jacob Ruppert & Captain Huston purchase NY Yankees for $460,000
• 1917 Dutch Social-democratic trade union NVV counts 159,450 members
• 1918 Kid Gleason replaces Pants Rowland as White Sox manager
• 1920 Roy Park makes 1st-ball duck in only Test Cricket inn, v Eng at MCG
• 1921 Last San Francisco firehorses retired
• 1921 14th Australasian Championships: Rhys Gemmell beats Alf Hedeman (7-5, 6-1, 6-4)
• 1923 1st transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice, Pittsburgh-Manchester
• 1923 BBC begins using Big Ben chime ID
• 1923 H Tierney/J McCarthy's musical "Kid Boots," premieres in NYC
• 1925 14th congress of CPSU decides to accelerate industry
• 1927 Ponsford scores 336 against SA, giving him 1146 for month
• 1929 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini illius magistri
• 1930 Pontifical encyclical Casti connubii against mixed marriages
• 1930 US tobacco industry produced 123 billion cigarettes in 1930
• 1932 John P O'Brien sworn-in as mayor of NYC
• 1934 Helen Richey becomes 1st woman to pilot an airmail transport
• 1935 CPH becomes Dutch Communist Party
• 1935 Charles Darrow patents Monopoly
• 1938 Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer", 1st breath test, introduced in Indiana
• 1938 Dutch national debt hits ƒ3,986,629,805.70
• 1939 25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton)
• 1939 Dutch national debt hits ƒ4,218,553,180.99
• 1940 37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton)
• 1941 Young Park (2) in the Bronx named in honor of Samuel Young
• 1942 60 U boats sunk this month (330,000 ton)
• 1942 Battle of the Barents Sea between British Navy and German Kriegsmarine off North Cape, Norway
• 1948 Dutch police actions up Java gone on strike
• 1949 18 countries recognize Republic Indonesia
• 1950 Jockeys W Shoemaker & Joe Culmone set record of 388 wins in a year
• 1951 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electricity announced
• 1952 41st Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Adelaide (4-1)
• 1953 Hulan Jack sworn in as Manhattan Borough president
• 1953 WFBC (now WYFF) TV channel 4 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (NBC) begins
• 1953 Willie Shoemaker shatters record, riding 485 winners in a year
• 1953 42nd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Melbourne (3-2)
• 1955 "Vamp" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 60 performances
• 1955 The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
• 1957 AAU awards Bobby Morrow, James Sullivan Memorial Trophy
• 1958 47th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in Brisbane (3-2)
• 1958 International Geophyscial Year ends
• 1958 Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X
• 1961 "lrma La Douce" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 527 performances
• 1961 Beach Boys play their debut gig under that name
• 1961 Failed coup by Syrian group in Lebanon
• 1961 Green Bay Packers shutout NY Giants 37-0 in NFL championship game
• 1961 Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
• 1962 "Match Game" debuts on NBC with host Gene Rayburn
• 1962 American Basketball League announces suspension of operation
• 1962 Dutch leave New Guinea
• 1962 Katanga becomes part of Democratic Republic of Congo
• 1962 Ohio ends suit against Reds when they agree to stay in Cin for 10 yrs
• 1963 Dear Abby show premieres on CBS radio (runs 11 years)
• 1963 Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir played music together for the 1st time
• 1964 Donald Campbell (UK) sets world water speed record (276.33 mph)
• 1964 Indonesia proclaims expelled from the UN
• 1966 Monkee's "I'm a Believer" hits #1 & stays there for 7 weeks
• 1966 Pirate Radio 390 (Radio Invicata) off England, resumes transmitting
• 1966 Test Cricket debut of Bishen Singh Bedi, India v WI Calcutta, 2-92
• 1966 Toboggan Chutes begin operation in Cleveland Metroparks
• 1967 "Henry, Sweet Henry" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 80 performances
• 1967 1st NBA game at Great Western Forum, LA Lakers beat Houston 147-118
• 1967 Oakland Raiders beat Houston Oilers 40-7 in AFL championship game
• 1967 "The Ice Bowl", Packers beat Cowboys 21-17 in NFL championship game (-13°F)
• 1968 1st supersonic airliner flown (Russian TU-144)
• 1968 1st test flight of Tupolev TU 144
• 1968 NY Jets win AFL championship
• 1969 Congo-Brazzaville becomes People's republic, under major Ngouabi
• 1970 Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to disolve the Beatles
• 1970 President Allende nationalizes Chilean coal mines
• 1970 Would have been start of Aust/Eng Test Cricket at MCG, washed out
• 1971 KAID TV channel 4 in Boise, ID (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1971 Lt Gen Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, ends term as deputy director of CIA
• 1971 Edmund Compton, then Northern Ireland Ombudsman, is replaced by John Benn
• 1972 Leap second day; also in 1973-79, 1987
• 1972 AFC Championship Game: Miami Dolphins beat Pittsburgh Steelers 21-7
• 1972 Martin McGuinness is arrested and held under the new Republic of Ireland legislation
• 1972 NFC Championship Game: Washington Redskins beat Dallas Cowboys 26-3
• 1972 39th Sugar Bowl: #2 Oklahoma beats #5 Penn State, 14-0
• 1973 Johan Cruyff chosen European Football Player of theYear
• 1973 40th Sugar Bowl: #3 Notre Dame beats #1 Alabama, 24-23
• 1974 Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panama's Gold 100 balboa coin
• 1974 Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac
• 1974 NY Yankees sign Jim "Catfish" Hunter for 5 yrs for a record $3.75 million
• 1974 Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer
• 1974 41st Sugar Bowl: #8 Nebraska beats #18 Florida, 13-10
• 1975 42nd Sugar Bowl: #3 Alabama beats #7 Penn State, 13-6
• 1976 TV soap "Somerset" ends 6 year run
• 1976 The Cars played their 1st gig
• 1977 "Bubbling Brown Sugar" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 766 performances
• 1977 "Man of La Mancha" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 124 performances
• 1977 Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah becomes leader of Kuwait
• 1977 Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam
• 1977 Donald Woods, a banned white editor flees South Africa
• 1977 WFAT (Brooklyn New York pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620 AM
• 1977 66th Men's Australian Open: Vitas Gerulaitis beats John Lloyd (6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2)
• 1977 66th Women's Australian Open: Evonne Goolagong Cawley beats Helen Gourlay Cawley (6-3, 6-0)
• 1978 "Magic Show" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 1859 performances
• 1978 "Runaways" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 199 performances
• 1978 CIA director, Admiral Stansfield Turner retires from the Navy
• 1978 Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier
• 1978 Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with US
• 1978 The Runaways' band's last ever concert at Daly, CA.'s Cow Palace
• 1979 Winterland Rock Concert Hall in SF closes after 556 concerts
• 1980 A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya is bombed killing 18
• 1980 NY Islanders greatest shutout margin (9-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks
• 1980 Senegal president Leopold Senghor resigns
• 1981 CNN Headline News debuts
• 1981 Lt Jerry Rawlings becomes head of Ghana, suspends constitution
• 1981 Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000
• 1982 CBS Mystery Theater final episode on radio after 8 years
• 1982 NBC radio cancels almost all of its network daily features
• 1982 TV soap "Doctors" ends 19 year run
• 1983 Brunei gains complete independence from Britain
• 1983 Jose Happart installed as mayor of Voeren Belgium
• 1983 Nigeria's National Assembly dissolves after military coup
• 1983 Benjamin Ward appointed 1st African American NY City Police Commissioner by Mayor Ed Koch
• 1984 Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash
• 1984 NYC subway gunman Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH
• 1984 Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India's 7th Prime Minister succeeding his mother Indira Gandhi
• 1984 Test Cricket debut of Mohammad Azharuddin, v England at Calcutta
• 1984 US leaves UNESCO
• 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 97
• 1986 Russian TU-144 flies for 1st time faster than sound
• 1986 WIS-AM in Columbia SC changes call letters to WVOC (now WOMG)
• 1988 "The Fog Bowl", a heavy, dense fog rolled over Soldier Field in Chicago during the second quarter of the Bears/Eagles NFC Divisional Playoff Game, cutting visibility to about 15-20 yards for the rest of the game (Bears win 20-12)
• 1989 "Me & My Girl" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 1420 performances
• 1989 "Threepenny Opera" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 65 performances
• 1989 Fog Bowl: Heavy fog rolls in on Bears 20-12 victory over Eagles
• 1989 Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year
• 1990 Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds
• 1990 Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV begins transmitting
• 1990 United Somali Congress seizes Presidential Palace
• 1991 CPN, Communist Party of Netherland, last day of existance
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