Christmas Eve
Birthdays:
1971 ~ Ricky Martin (né Enrique Martin Morales), Puerto Rican singer. He is considered the King of Latin Pop. He holds both American and Spanish citizenship.
1962 ~ Kate Spade (née Katherine Noel Frances Brosnahan; d. June 5, 2018), American fashion designer who built a handbag empire. She was best known for her designer handbags. She died at age 55 of an apparent suicide.
1957 ~ Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan. He served as President from December 2001 until September 2014.
1955 ~ Scott Fischer (né Scott Eugene Fischer; d. May 11, 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. He was 40 at the time of his death.
1946 ~ Jeff Sessions (né Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III), American politician and 84th United States Attorney General. He assumed that Office in February 2017 and served during the Trump administration until he was forced to resign in November 2018. Prior to becoming Attorney General, he served as a United States Senator from Alabama.
1930 ~ Robert Joffrey (né Abdullah Jaffa Bey Khan, d. Mar. 25, 1988), American choreographer and founder of the Joffrey Ballet. He died at age 57.
1929 ~ Frank Tyger (d. May 2, 2011), American cartoonist. He died of Parkinson’s Disease at age 81.
1928 ~ Manfred Rommel (d. Nov. 7, 2013), German politician and Wehrmacht general’s son who made amends. His father was Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. He died at age 84.
1927 ~ Mary Higgins Clark (née Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins), American mystery writer. She began writing after her husband died in 1964 and she had to support her young family.
1925 ~ Yafa Yakoni (d. Jan. 1, 2012), Israeli singer. She died 8 days after her 86th birthday.
1923 ~ General George Patton, IV (né George Smith Patton, IV; d. June 27, 2004), American general. He served in Korea and Vietnam. He was the son of World War II General George S. Patton, Jr. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He died at age 80.
1922 ~ Ava Gardner (née Ava Lavinia Gardner; d. Jan. 25, 1990), American actress. She was married to Mickey Rooney, Artie Shaw and Frank Sinatra. She died of pneumonia a month after her 67th birthday.
1921 ~ Bill Dudley (né William McGarvey Dudley; d. Feb. 4, 2010), American NFL halfback who was known as “Bullet Bill.” He died at age 88.
1910 ~ Max Mideinger (d. Mar. 8, 1980), Swiss typeface designer best known for creating the Helvetica typeface in 1957. He died at age 69.
1907 ~ I.F. Stone, (né Isidor Feinstein Stone; d. June 18, 1989), American investigative journalist and writer. He died of myocardial infarction at age 81 in Boston, Massachusetts.
1905 ~ Howard Hughes (né Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.; d. Apr. 5, 1976), American hermit and aviator. He died in Houston, Texas of kidney failure at age 70.
1903 ~ Ava Pauling (né Ava Helen Miller; d. Dec. 7, 1981), American humanitarian and social activist. She was also the wife of scientist Linus Pauling. She died 17 days before her 78th birthday.
1880 ~ Johnny Gruelle (né John Barton Gruelle; d. Jan. 9, 1938), American cartoonist, children’s author and creator of the Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. He died 15 days after his 57th birthday of a heart attack.
1879 ~ Alexandrine, of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. Dec. 28, 1952), Queen consort of Denmark and Iceland and wife of King Christian X. She died 4 days after her 73rd birthday.
1868 ~ Emanuel Lasker (d. Jan. 11, 1941), German mathematician. He was the World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 until 1921. He died of a kidney infection 17 days after his 72nd birthday.
1845 ~ George I, King of Greece (d. Mar. 18, 1913). He was King of Greece from March 1963 until his assassination 50 years later. He was the son of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse. He was killed at age 67.
1837 ~ Empress Elizabeth of Austria (d. Sept. 10, 1898), Empress consort and wife of Franz Joseph I of Austria. She was assassinated at age 60. Her life story is told in the historical novel, Sisi: Empress on Her Own, by Allison Pataki.
1822 ~ Matthew Arnold (d. Apr. 15, 1888), British poet and social and religious critic. He died at age 65.
1822 ~ Charles Hermite (d. Jan. 14, 1901), French mathematician who studied number theory. He died 3 weeks after his 78th birthday.
1818 ~ James Joule (né James Prescott Joule; d. Oct. 11, 1889), British physicist, mathematician and brewer. He is best known for studying law of conservation of energy and the first law of thermodynamics. He died at age 70.
1809 ~ Kit Carson (né Christopher Houston Carson; d. May 23, 1868), American general, frontiersman, scout and Indian agent. He died at age 58.
1804 ~ Charles M. Conrad (né Charles Magill Conrad; d. Feb. 11, 1878), politician and United States Senator from Louisiana. He was a senator from April 1842 until 1843. He served as the 22nd United States Secretary of War under Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce from August 1850 until March 1853. After Louisiana seceded from the Union, he served a member of the Confederate Congress. He died in New Orleans, Louisiana at age 73.
1747 ~ William Paterson (d. Sept. 9, 1806), Irish-born American Associate Justice of the United State Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President George Washington. He served on the High Court from March 1793 until his death at age 60 on this date 13 years later. He replaced Thomas Johnson on the Court and was succeeded by Henry Livingston. Prior to serving on the Supreme Court, he served as the 2nd Governor of New Jersey, from October 1790 until March 1793. The town of Paterson, New Jersey is named in his honor.
1597 ~ Honoré II, Prince of Monaco (d. Jan. 10, 1662). He was the first to be called the Prince of Monaco. He died 16 days after his 64th birthday. He was succeeded by his grandson, Prince Louis I.
1166 ~ King John I of England (d. Oct. 19, 1216). He was also known as John Lackland. He was the youngest of five sons of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was never expected to become king, however, his brothers all died, so he ascended to the throne. He is best known for his association with the Magna Carta. He was married to Isabella, Countess of Gloucester, but their marriage was annulled before he ascended to the throne. He then married Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. He was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Henry, who would become King Henry III. King John died at age 49.
Events that Changed the World:
2016 ~ Chanakuh began at sunset.
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. The crew was comprised of Frank Borman (b. 1928), James Lovell (b. 1928), and William Anders (b. 1933).
1955 ~ The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) began the annual tradition of tracking Santa Clause.
1951 ~ Libya gained its independence from Italy. Idris I (1889 ~ 1983) was named King. He reigned until 1969, when Colonel Mu’ammar Muhammad al-Qadhafi (1942 ~ 2011) led a revolution. Qadhafi became the head of the Libyan government until he was ousted and killed in 2011.
1945 ~ A fire destroyed the home of George Sodder in Fayetteville, West Virginia. George, his wife and four of their children escaped the fire. The other five children who were in the house at the time of the fire disappeared and their bodies have never been found.
1943 ~ General Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) 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 (1866 ~ 1932), a radio pioneer, transmitted the first radio broadcast. It consisted of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
1871 ~ Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, Aida, was first performed. The premiere of the opera took place in Cairo, Egypt.
1865 ~ The Ku Klux Klan was formed.
1851 ~ The United States Library of Congress burned.
1826 ~ Cadets at the United States Military Academy became involved in the Eggnog Riot. A few days prior to the incident, a large quantity of whiskey had be smuggled into the academy to make eggnog for the Christmas party. Things got out of hand, and the drunken cadets began a riot. Following an investigation, several of the cadets were court-martialed.
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 ~ James Cook (1728 ~ 1779) visited Kiritimati, also known as Christmas Island. A few years earlier, William Mynors discovered the island on Christmas Day, hence its name.
1294 ~ Pope Boniface VIII (1230 ~ 1303) was elected Pope, replacing Pope Celestine V (1215 ~ 1296), who had resigned after serving only a few months.
640 ~ Pope John IV (d. Oct. 12, 642) was elected Pope after a 4-month vacancy. He was head of the Catholic Church for just under 2 years. He succeeded Pope Severinus (d. Aug. 2, 640) and was followed by Pope Theodore I (d. May 14, 649).
Good-byes:
2016 ~ Richard Adams (né Richard George Adams; b. May 9, 1920), British author best known for his novel Watership Down. He died at age 96.
2012 ~ Charles Durning (né Charles Edward Durning; b. Feb. 28, 1923), American actor. He died at age 89.
2012 ~ Jack Klugman (né Jacob Joachim Klugman; b. Apr. 27, 1922), American actor. He is best known for his role as Oscar Madison on the television sit-com, The Odd Couple. He died at age 90.
2008 ~ Harold Pinter (b. Oct. 10, 1930), British playwright and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature. He died at age 78.
2008 ~ Samuel P. Huntington (né Samuel Phillips Huntington; b. Apr. 18, 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 21st century. He died in Martha’s Vineyard at age 81.
1999 ~ Bill Bowerman (né William Jay Bowerman; b. Feb. 19, 1911), American sports coach and businessman. He was a co-founder of Nike, Inc. He died at age 88.
1993 ~ Norman Vincent Peale (b. May 31, 1898), American clergyman and author. He is best known for his book, The Power of Positive Thinking. He died at age 95.
1984 ~ Peter Lawford (né Peter Sydney Ernest Alyen; b. Sept. 7, 1923), English-American actor. He was the former brother-in-law to President John F. Kennedy during his marriage to the President’s sister, Patricia. He died at age 61 of cardiac arrest, complicated by renal and liver failure.
1982 ~ Louis Aragon (b. Oct. 3, 1897), French poet and leader in the French surrealist movement in France. He died at age 85.
1977 ~ Juan Velasco Alvarado (b. June 16, 1910), Peruvian general, dictator and President of Peru. He ruled Peru as the President of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces of Peru from October 1968 through August 30, 1975. He died at age 67.
1972 ~ Charles Atlas (né Angelo Siciliano; b. Oct. 30, 1893), Italian-born bodybuilder. He died at age 80.
1967 ~ Burt Baskin (b. Dec. 17, 1913), American entrepreneur and co-founder of the Basking and Robbins ice cream franchise. He died of a heart attack 7 days after his 54th birthday.
1962 ~ Wilhelm Ackermann (né Wilhelm Friedrich Ackermann; b. Mar. 29, 1896), German mathematician. He died at age 66.
1914 ~ John Muir (b. Apr. 21, 1838), Scottish-American environmentalist. He was the founder of the Sierra Club. He died of pneumonia at age 76.
1889 ~ Charles Mackay (b. Mar. 27, 1814), Scottish poet and author. He died at age 85.
1873 ~ Johns Hopkins (b. May 19, 1795), American businessman, abolitionist and philanthropist. Johns Hopkins University was one of the beneficiaries of his will. He died at age 78.
1872 ~ William John Macquorn Rankine (b. July 5, 1820), Scottish mathematician and engineer. He died at age 52.
1869 ~ Edwin Stanton (né Edward McMasters Stanton; b. Dec. 19, 1814), 25th United States Attorney General. He served in this position under President James Buchanan. He subsequently served as the 27th Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He died 5 days after his 55th birthday.
1863 ~ William Makepeace Thackerary (b. July 18, 1811), British author. He is best known for his satirical novel Vanity Fair. He died at age 52.
1660 ~ Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. Nov. 4, 1631). She died of smallpox at age 29.
1524 ~ Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (b. 1469), Portuguese explorer. The exact date of his birth is not known.
36 ~ Gongsun Shu, Chinese emperor of Chengjia. He ruled for 12 years before dying from injuries sustained in a battle. The date of his birth is not known.
No comments:
Post a Comment