December 24

Birthdays:

1971 ~ Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer.

1962 ~ Kate Spade, American fashion designer.

1957 ~ Hamid Karzai, 12^th President of Afghanistan.

1955 ~ Scott Fischer (d. 1996), American mountaineer and guide.  He was best known for his ascents of the world’s highest mountains.  In 1996, he was leading a group of hikers up Mt. Everest when a sudden blizzard arose.  He did not survive the storm.  He was the subject of the book, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest.

1927 ~ Mary Higgins Clark, American mystery writer.

1922 ~ Ava Gardner (d. 1990), American actress.

1921 ~ Bill Dudley (d. 2010), American NFL halfback who was known as “Bullet Bill.”

1910 ~ Max Mideinger (d. 1980), Swiss typeface designer best known for creating the Helvetica typeface in 1957.

1907 ~ I.F. Stone (né Isador Feinstein, d. 1989), American journalist and writer.

1905 ~ Howard Hughes (d. 1976), American film producer, inventor and recluse.

1880 ~ Johnny Gruelle (d. 1930), American cartoonist, children’s author and creator of the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

1879 ~ Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (d. 1952), Queen Consort to King Christian X.

1818 ~ James Joule (d. 1889), British physicist.

1809 ~ Kit Carson (né Christopher Houston Carson, d. 1868), American frontiersman.

1166 ~ King John of England (d. 1216).  He was also known as John Lackland.  He was the youngest of five sons to King Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and did not expect to become ruler.  He is most associated with the sealing of the Magna Carta.

Events that Changed the World:

1973 ~ The residents of Washington, D.C., were finally granted the legal authority to elect their own local government, following the passage of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.

1968 ~ Apollo 8 became the first manned crew to orbit the Moon.

1955 ~ The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) began the annual tradition of tracking Santa Clause.

1951 ~ Libya gained its independence from Italy.  In 1969, Colonel Mu’ammar Muhammad al-Qadhafi led a revolution and became the head of the Libyan government until he was ousted and killed in 2011.

1943 ~ General Dwight D. Eisenhower became the Supreme Allied Commander during World War II.

1914 ~ The World War I Christmas truce began.  It was a series of unofficial ceasefires that occurred along the Western Front.  British and German soldiers began to exchange Christmas greetings on occasionally entered into the “no-man’s land” to mingle, to exchange food and tokes and sing Christmas songs.

1906 ~ Reginald Fessenden, a radio pioneer, transmitted the first radio broadcast.  It consisted of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

1871 ~ Verdi’s opera, Aida, was first performed in Cairo, Egypt.

1865 ~ The Ku Klux Klan was formed.

1851 ~ The United States Library of Congress burned.

1818 ~ The first performance of Silent Night was held at St. Nikolaus Church in Oberndorf, Austria.

1814 ~ The Treaty of Ghent was signed by the United States and the United Kingdom, thereby ending the War of 1812.

1777 ~ Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook.

1294 ~ Pope Boniface VIII was elected Pope, replacing Pope Celestine V, who had resigned after serving only a few months.

Good-byes:

2012 ~ Charles Durning (b. 1923), American actor.

2012 ~ Jack Klugman (b. 1922), American actor.

2008 ~ Harold Pinter (b. 1930), British playwright and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature.

2008 ~ Samuel Huntington (b. 1927), American scholar who predicted a class of cultures.  He was best known for arguing that religion and culture, particularly Christianity and Islam, would fuel the conflicts of the 21^st century.

1999 ~ Bill Bowerman (b. 1911), American sports coach and businessman.  He was a co-founder of Nike, Inc.

1993 ~ Norman Vincent Peale (b. 1898), American minister and writer who promoted “positive thinking.”

1984 ~ Peter Lawford (b. 1923), British actor and former in-law to the Kennedy clan.

1967 ~ Burt Baskin (b. 1913), American entrepreneur and founder of the Baskin and Robbins ice cream franchise.  He died 7 days after his 54^th birthday.

1914 ~ John Muir (b. 1838), Scottish-American naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club.

1873 ~ Johns Hopkins (b. 1795), American philanthropist and businessman.  The Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore is named after him.

1869 ~ Edwin Stanton (b. 1814), 25^th US Attorney General.  He served in this position under President James Buchanan.  He also served as the 27^th Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.

1868 ~ Linus Yale, Jr. (b. 1821), American mechanical engineer and inventor, best known for his invention of the cylinder locks.

1863 ~ William Makepeace Thackeray (b. 1811), British writer best known for his novel Vanity Fair.

1660 ~ Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631).

1524 ~ Vasco da Gama (b. 1469), Portuguese explorer.