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.

December 21

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Julie Delpy, French model and actress.

1959 ~ Florence Griffith Joyner (d. 1998), American sprinter, known as FloJo.

1955 ~ Jane Kaczmarek, American actress.

1954 ~ Christine “Chris” Evert, American tennis player.

1950 ~ Jeffrey Katzenbert, American screenwriter and producer.  He co-founded DreamWorks Animation.

1948 ~ Samuel L. Jackson, American actor.

1947 ~ Paco de Lucía (d. 2014), the Mexican guitarist who reinvented flamenco.

1940 ~ Frank Zappa (d. 1993), American musician.

1937 ~ Jane Fonda, American actress.

1935 ~ Phil Donahue, American talk show host.

1926 ~ Joseph Paterno (d. 2012), American football coach at Penn State.  He was forced to resign due to a cover-up of a sex and pedophile scandal by his assistant coach.

1922 ~ Paul Winchell (d. 2005), American ventriloquist and voice actor.

1921 ~ Robert Lipshutz (d. 2010), 17^th White House Counsel.  He served under President Jimmy Carter.

1918 ~ Donald Regan (d. 2003), 11^th White House Chief of Staff.  He served under President Ronald Reagan.  He was also the 66^th Treasurer of the United States, also during the Reagan Administration.

1918 ~ Kurt Waldheim (d. 2007), 9^th President of Austria and 4^th Secretary-General of the United Nations.

1917 ~ Heinrich Böll (d. 1985), German writer and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature.

1915 ~ Werner von Trapp (d. 2007), Austrian singer and member of the Von Trapp family.

1914 ~ Frank Fenner (d. 2010), Australian virologist who fought smallpox, malaria and rabbits.

1892 ~ Rebecca West (d. 1983), British writer.

1891 ~ John William McCormack (d. 1980), 53^rd Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress.

1890 ~ Hermann Joseph Muller (d. 1967), American geneticist and recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1878 ~ Jan Łukasiewicz (d. 1956), Polish mathematician.

1877 ~ Jaan Sarv (d. 1954), Estonian mathematician.

1860 ~ Henrietta Szold (b. 1945), American activist and founder of Hadassah.

1804 ~ Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1881), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1795 ~ John Russell (d. 1883), English parson and dog breeder.

1603 ~ Roger Williams (d. 1684), English theologian and founder of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

1118 ~ Thomas Becket (d. 1170), Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury.  He was later murdered and is now an English saint.

Events that Changed the World:

1995 ~ The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.

1994 ~ Mexican volcano Popocatepetl, which had been dormant for 47 years, erupted gases and ash.

1988 ~ A bomb exploded aboard Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 270 aboard.

1973 ~ The Geneva Conference on the Arab-Israeli conflict began.

1962 ~ Norway established its first national park with the creation of Rondane National Park.

1951 ~ Libya gained its independence.  It had been under Italian control until 1943, when it was under Allied occupation and was under British and French administration

1946 ~ A massive 8.1 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan killed over 1,300 people.

1937 ~ The first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater.

1919 ~ Emma Goldman, an American anarchist, was deported to Russia.

1913 ~ Arthur Wayne created the first modern crossword puzzle.  It was published in the Sunday edition of the New York World newspaper.

1907 ~ The Chilean Army committed the Santa María School massacre by killing an estimated 2000 striking nitrate miners along with their wives and children.  The massacre occurred at the Domingo Santa María School in Iquique, Chile.

1879 ~ The world première of Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, was performed at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1826 ~ American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declared their independence and started the Fredonian Rebellion.

1620 ~ The Pilgrims are believed to have landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Good-Byes:

2009 ~ Edwin Krebs (b. 1918), American biochemist and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1992 ~ Stella Adler (b. 1901), American actress.

1988 ~ Nikolaas Tinbergen (b. 1907), Dutch ornithologist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1967 ~ Louis Washkansky (b. 1913), the first human to have a heart transplant died 18 days after receiving the transplant.

1945 ~ General George S. Patton, Jr. (b. 1885), American military commander.

1940 ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald (née Francis Scott Fitzgerald, b. 1896), American novelist, best known for his novel The Great Gatsby.

1937 ~ Frank B. Kellogg (b. 1856), 45^th Secretary of State.  He served under Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover.  He was also the recipient of the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died 1 day before his 81^st birthday.

1900 ~ Roger Wolcott (b. 1847), 39^th Governor of Massachusetts.

1880 ~ Amos Akerman (b. 1821), 31^st US Attorney General.  He served during Ulysses S. Grant administration.  He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

1824 ~ James Parkinson (b. 1755), English surgeon, geologist, paleontologist and political activist.  He is most famous for his description of a condition that would later become known as Parkinson’s disease.

1549 ~ Marguerite de Navarre (b. 1492), French wife of Henry II of Navarre.