On This Day

December 15, 2013

1654 - A meteorological office established in Tuscany began recording daily temperature readings.

1791 - In the U.S., the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, went into effect following ratification by the state of Virginia.

1815 - Jane Austen's "Emma" was published.

1840 - Napoleon Bonapart's remains were interred in Les Invalides in Paris, having been brought from St. Helena, where he died in exile.

1854 - In Philadelphia, the first street cleaning machine was put into use.

1877 - Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.

1890 - American Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, SD, during an incident with Indian police working for the U.S. government.

1925 - The third Madison Square Gardens opened.

1938 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presided over the ground-breaking ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.

1939 - "Gone With the Wind," produced by David O. Selznick based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, premiered at Loew's Grand Theater in Atlanta. The movie starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

1941 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into practice Bill of Rights Day.

1944 - A single-engine plane carrying U.S. Army Major Glenn Miller disappeared in thick fog over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

1944 - American forces invaded Mindoro Island in the Philippines.

1944 - Dr. R. Townley Paton and a small group of doctors laid the groundwork for the Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration.

1961 - Former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death in Jerusalem by an Israeli court. He had been tried on charges for organizing the deportation of Jews to concentration camps.

1961 - The U.N. General Assembly voted against a Soviet proposal to admit Communist China as a member.

1964 - Canada's House of Commons approved a newly designed flag thereby dropping the Canadian "Red Ensign" flag.

1965 - Two U.S. manned spacecraft, Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, maneuvered within 10 feet of each other while in orbit around the Earth.

1966 - Walter Elias "Walt" Disney died in Los Angeles at the age of 65.
Disney movies, music and books

1970 - The Soviet probe Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land softly on the surface of Venus. The probe only survived the extreme heat and pressure for about 23 minutes and transmitted the first data received on Earth from the surface of another planet.

1973 - J. Paul Getty III was found in southern Italy after being held captive for five months, during which his right ear was cut off and sent to a newspaper in Rome.

1978 - U.S. President Carter announced he would grant diplomatic recognition to Communist China on New Year's Day and sever official relations with Taiwan.

1979 - The former shah of Iran, Muhammad Riza Pahlavi, left the United States for Panama. He had gone to the U.S. for medical treatment on October 22, 1979.

1979 - In a preliminary ruling, the International Court of Justice ordered Iran to release all hostages that had been taken at the U.S. embassy in Tehran on November 4, 1979.

1981 - The U.S. Congress passed $200 billion spending bill. At the time it was the largest in U.S. history.

1982 - Paul "Bear" Bryant announced his retirement as head football coach at the University of Alabama.

1982 - Gibraltar's frontier with Spain was opened to pedestrian use after 13 years.

1983 - The last 80 U.S. combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew. It was just over seven weeks after the U.S.-led invasion of the Caribbean island.

1989 - An uprising in Romania began as demonstrators gathered to prevent the arrest of the Reverend Laszlo Tokes, a dissident clergyman.

1992 - IBM announced it would eliminate 25-thousand employees in the coming year.

1992 - Bettino Craxi, the leader of Italy's Socialist Party, was informed that he was under investigation in a burgeoning corruption scandal in the northern city of Milan.

1992 - El Salvador's government and leftist guerrilla leaders formally declared the end of the country's 12-year civil war.

1993 - In Geneva, 117 countries completed the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The countries agreed on a reform package.

1993 - The prime ministers of Britain and the Republic of Ireland (John Major and Albert Reynolds respectively) made the "Downing Street Declaration," stating the basis for trying to achieve peace in Northern Ireland.

1995 - The U.N. Security Council authorized NATO to take over the peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.

1995 - French rail workers voted to end a three-week-old strike.

1996 - Boeing Co. announced plans to pay $13.3 billion to acquire rival aircraft manufacturer McDonnell Douglas Corp.

1997 - The San Francisco 49ers retired Joe Montana's number 16 during halftime of a game against the Denver Broncos.

1999 - Syria reopened peace talks with Israel in Washington, DC, with the mediation of U.S. President Clinton.

2000 - The Chernobyl atomic power plant in Kiev, Ukraine, was shut down.

2000 - New York Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed to accept an $8 million book deal with Simon & Schuster. The book was to be about her eight years in the White House. The advance was the highest ever to be paid to a member of the U.S. Congress.

2001 - It was announced that Siena Heights University would begin offering a class called "Animated Philosophy and Religion." The two-credit class would cover how religion and philosophy are part of popular culture and is based on the television series "The Simpsons."

December 16, 2013

1653 - Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1773 - Nearly 350 chests of tea were dumped into Boston Harbor off of British ships by Colonial patriots. The patriots were disguised as Indians. The act was to protest taxation without representation and the monopoly the government granted to the East India Company.

1809 - Napoleon Bonaparte was divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate.

1835 - In New York, 530 buildings were destroyed by fire.

1838 - The Zulu chief Dingaan was defeated by a small force of Boers at Blood River celebrated in South Africa as 'Dingaan's Day'.

1850 - The first immigrant ship, the Charlotte Jane, arrived at Lyttleton, New Zealand.

1901 - "The Tale of Peter Rabbit," by Beatrix Potter, was printed for the first time.

1903 - Women ushers were employed for the first time at the Majestic Theatre in New York City.

1905 - Sime Silverman published the first issue of "Variety".

1912 - The first postage stamp to depict an airplane was issued was a 20-cent parcel-post stamp.

1916 - Gregory Rasputin, the monk who had wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, was murdered by a group of noblemen.

1940 - French Premier Petain arrested Pierre Laval after learning of a plan for Laval to seize power and set up a new government with German support.

1944 - During World War II, the Battle of the Bulge began in Belgium. It was the final major German counteroffensive in the war.

1950 - U.S. President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight "Communist imperialism."

1951 - NBC-TV debuted "Dragnet" in a special preview on "Chesterfield Sound Off Time". The show began officially on January 3, 1952.

1960 - A United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collided over New York City, killing 134 people.

1972 - The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to go unbeaten and untied in a 14-game regular season. The Dolphins went on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.

1973 - O.J. Simpson broke Jim Brown’s single-season rushing record in the NFL. Brown had rushed for 1,863 yards, while Simpson attained 2,003 yards.

1981 - The U.S. Congress restored the $122 minimum monthly social security benefit for current recipients.

1984 - The play "Diamonds" opened in New York City.

1985 - Reputed organized-crime chief Paul Castellano was shot to death outside a New York City restaurant.

1990 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a leftist priest, was elected president in Haiti's first democratic elections.

1991 - The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25.

1993 - The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for negotiations on a comprehensive test ban.

1995 - Many U.S. government functions were again closed as a temporary finance provision expired and the budget dispute between President Clinton and Republicans in Congress continued.

1995 - NATO launched a military operation in support of the Bosnia peace agreement.

1996 - Britain's agriculture minister announced the slaughter of an additional 100,000 cows thought to be at risk of contracting BSE in an effort to persuade the EU to lift its ban on Britain.

1998 - The U.S. and Britain fired hundreds of missiles on Iraq in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to comply with U.N. weapons inspectors.

1999 - Sigourney Weaver received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1999 - Torrential rains and mudslides in Venezuela left thousands of people dead and forced at least 120,000 to leave their homes.

2000 - Researchers announced that information from NASA's Galileo spacecraft indicated that Ganymede appeared to have a liquid saltwater ocean beneath a surface of solid ice. Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, is the solar system's largest moon. The discovery is considered important since water is a key ingredient for life.

2000 - U.S. President-elect George W. Bush selected Colin Powell to be the first African-American secretary of state. Powell was sworn in January 20, 2001.

2001 - In Tora Bora, Afghanistan, tribal fighters announced that they had taken the last al-Quaida positions. More than 200 fighters were killed and 25 captured. They also announced that they had found no sign of Osama bin Laden.

2001 - Cuba received the first commercial food shipment from the United States in nearly 40 years. The shipment was sent to help Cuba after Hurrican Michelle hit Cuba on November 4, 2001.

2001 - A British newspaper, The Observer, reported that a notebook had been found at an al-Quaida training camp in southern Afghanistan. The notebook contained a "blue print" for an bomb attack on London's financial district.

2002 - Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol. The 1997 treaty was aimed a reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

2009 - Astronomers discovered GJ1214b. It was the first-known exoplanet on which water could exist.

December 17, 2013

that's actually pretty amazing, thanks

December 19, 2013

1154 - Henry II became King of England.

1562 - The Battle of Dreux was fought between the Huguenots and the Catholics, beginning the French Wars of Religion.

1732 - Benjamin Franklin began publishing "Poor Richard's Almanac."

1776 - Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay.

1777 - General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, PA, to camp for the winter.

1842 - Hawaii's independence was recognized by the U.S.

1843 - Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was first published in England.

1871 - Corrugated paper was patented by Albert L. Jones.

1887 - Jake Kilrain and Jim Smith fought in a bare knuckles fight which lasted 106 rounds and 2 hours and 30 minutes. The fight was ruled a draw and was halted due to darkness.

1903 - The Williamsburg Bridge opened in New York City. It opened as the largest suspension bridge on Earth and remained the largest until 1924. It was also the first major suspension bridge to use steel towers to support the main cable.

1907 - A coalmine explosion in Jacobs Creek, PA, killed 239 workers.

1917 - The first games of the new National Hockey League (NHL) were played. Five teams made up the league: Toronto Arenas, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, the Montreal Canadiens and the Montreal Wanderers.

1918 - Robert Ripley began his "Believe It or Not" column in "The New York Globe".

1932 - The British Broadcasting Corp. began transmitting overseas with its "Empire Service" to Australia.

1957 - Meredith Wilson’s "The music Man" opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. It ran for 1,375 shows.

1957 - Air service between London and Moscow was inaugurated.

1959 - Penn State’s Nittany Lions beat Alabama, 7-0, in the first Liberty Bowl football game.

1959 - Walter Williams died in Houston, TX, at the age of 117. He was said to be the last surviving veteran of the U.S. Civil War.

1961 - "Judgment At Nuremberg" opened in New York City.

1972 - Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

1973 - Johnny Carson started a fake toilet-paper scare on the "Tonight Show."

1978 - Indira Gandhi was expelled from the Lok Sabha for contempt and imprisoned.

1979 - ESPN televised its first NHL game. The teams were the Washington Capitals and the Hartford Whales.

1984 - Wayne Gretsky, 23, of the Edmonton Oilers, became only the 18th player in the National Hockey League (NHL) to score more than 1,000 points.

1984 - Ted Hughes was appointed England's poet laureate.

1984 - Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

1985 - Jan Stenerud announced his retirement from the NFL. The football kicker held the record for the most career field goals with 373.

1985 - ABC Sports announced that it was severing ties with Howard Cosell and released ‘The Mouth’ from all TV commitments. Cosell continued on ABC Radio for another five years.

1986 - The Soviet Union announced it had freed dissident Andrei Sakharov from internal exile, and pardoned his wife, Yelena Bonner.

1986 - Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh was appointed to investigate the Iran-Contra issue.

1989 - U.S. troops invaded Panama to overthrow the regime of General Noriega.

1990 - Bo Jackson (Los Angeles Raiders) became the first athlete to be chosen for All Star Games in two sports.

1996 - The school board of Oakland, CA, voted to recognize Black English, also known as "ebonics." The board later reversed its stance.

1997 - "Titanic" opened in American movie theaters.

1998 - U.S. President Bill Clinton was impeached on two charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the U.S. House of Representatives.

1998 - A four-day bombing of Iraq by British and American forces ended.

2000 - The U.N. Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers unless they closed all terrorist training camps and surrender U.S. embassy bombing suspect Osama bin Laden.

2003 - Images for the new design for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site were released. The building slopes into a spire that reaches 1,776 feet.

2008 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed a $17.4 billion rescue package of loans for ailing auto makers General Motors and Chrysler.

December 20, 2013

1606 - The "Susan Constant," "Godspeed" and "Discovery" set sail from London. Their landing at Jamestown, VA, was the start of the first permanent English settlement in America.

1699 - Peter the Great ordered that the Russian New Year be changed from September 1 to January 1.

1790 - The first successful cotton mill in the United States began operating at Pawtucket, RI.

1803 - The United States Senate ratified a treaty that included the Louisiana Territories from France for $15 million. The transfer was completed with formal ceremonies in New Orleans.

1820 - The state of Missouri enacted legislation to tax bachelors between the ages of 21-50 for being unmarried. The tax was $1 a year.

1860 - South Carolina became the first state to secede from the American Union.

1864 - Confederate forces evacuated Savannah, GA as Union Gen. William T. Sherman continued his "March to the Sea."

1879 - Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, NJ.

1880 - New York's Broadway became known as the "Great White Way" when it was lighted by electricity.

1892 - Alexander T. Brown and George Stillman patented the pneumatic tire.

1928 - Mail delivery by dog sled began in Lewiston, ME.

1933 - The film "Flying Down to Rio" was first shown in New York.

1938 - Vladimir Kosma Zworykin patented the iconoscope television system.

1946 - The Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life" had a preview showing for charity at New York City's Globe Theatre, a day before its "official" world premiere. James Stewart and Donna Reed star in the film.

1946 - In Indochina (Vietnam), full-scale guerrilla warfare between Vietnam partisans and French troops began.

1954 - Buick Motor Company signed Jackie Gleason to one of the largest contracts ever entered into with an entertainer. Gleason agreed to produce 78 half-hour shows over a two-year period for $6,142,500.

1962 - A world indoor pole-vault record was set by Don Meyers when he cleared 16 feet, 1-1/4 inches.

1963 - The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners. It was only for the holiday season. It closed again on January 6, 1964.

1968 - Author John Steinbeck died at the age of 66.

1973 - The Spanish premier Carrero Blanco was assassinated in Madrid.

1987 - More than 3,000 people were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island, setting off a double explosion.

1989 - General Noriega, Panama's former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. The project was known as Operation Just Cause.

1991 - Ante Markovic resigned as federal Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.

1991 - Oliver Stone's "JFK" opened in the U.S.

1994 - Marcelino Corniel, a homeless man, was shot and mortally wounded by White House security officers. He had brandished a knife near the executive mansion.

1994 - Ivan Lendl retired after a 17-year tennis career.

1995 - An American Airlines Boeing 757 en route to Cali, Colombia, crashed into a mountain, killing all but four of the 163 people aboard.

1996 - Doctors reported that a Cypriot woman who had taken fertility drugs was carrying about 11 embryos.

1998 - In Houston, TX, a 27-year-old woman gave birth to the only known living set of octuplets.

1999 - The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.

1999 - Sovereignty over the colony of Macao was transferred from Portugal to China.

2001 - The U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.

2001 - Argentina's President Fernando De la Rua resigned after two years in power.

2001 - The first British peacekeepers arrived in Afghanistan to help the nation heal after decades of war.

December 21, 2013

1849 - The first ice-skating club in America was formed in Philadelphia, PA.

1879 - Ibsen's "A Doll's House" was first performed in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a revised happy ending.

1898 - Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.

1909 - McKinley and Washington schools of Berkeley, CA, became the first authorized, junior-high schools in the U.S.

1913 - The "New York World" Sunday edition included a crossword puzzle as an added feature of the "Fun" supplement. It was the first crossword puzzle to be published.

1914 - Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand and Mack Swain appeared in the first six-reel, feature-length comedy. The film was entitled "Tillie’s Punctured Romance".

1925 - Eisenstein's film "Battleship Potemkin" was first shown in Moscow.

1937 - Walt Disney debuted the first, full-length, animated feature in Hollywood, CA. The movie was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

1944 - Horse racing was banned in the United States until after the end of World War II.

1945 - U.S. Gen. George S. Patton died in Heidelberg, Germany, of injuries from a car accident.

1948 - The state of Eire (formerly the Irish Free State) declared its independence.

1951 - Joe DiMaggio announced his retirement from major league baseball.

1958 - Charles de Gaulle was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France.

1968 - Apollo 8 was launched on a mission to orbit the moon. The craft landed safely in the Pacific Ocean on December 27.

1971 - The U.N. Security Council chose Kurt Waldheim to succeed U Thant as secretary-general.

1978 - Police in Des Plaines, IL, arrested John W. Gacy Jr. and began unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy was later convicted of killing.

1981 - Cincinnati defeated Bradley 75-73 in seven overtimes. The game was the longest collegiate basketball game in the history of NCAA Division I competition.

1988 - 270 people were killed when Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, due to a terrorist attack.

1990 - In a German television interview, Saddam Hussein declared that he would not withdraw from Kuwait by the UN deadline.

1991 - Eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaimed the birth of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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

1996 - After two years of denials, U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted violating House ethics rules.

1998 - Israel's parliament voted overwhelmingly for early elections. It was the signal to the demise of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government.

1998 - A Chinese court sentenced two dissidents to long prison terms for attempting to organize an opposition party. A third man was sentenced to 12 years in prison on December 22, 1998.

1998 - The first vaccine for Lyme disease was approved.

2001 - The Islamic militant group Hamas released a statement that said it was suspending suicide bombings and mortar attacks in Israel.

2002 - Larry Mayes was released after spending 21 years in prison for a rape that maintained that he never committed. He was the 100th person in the U.S. to be released after DNA tests were performed.

December 22, 2013

1715 - James Stuart, the "Old Pretender", landed at Petershead after his exile in France.

1775 - A Continental naval fleet was organized in the rebellious American colonies under the command of Ezek Hopkins.

1807 - The U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act, designed to force peace between Britain and France by cutting off all trade with Europe.

1864 - During the American Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman sent a message to U.S. President Lincoln from Georgia. The message read, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah."

1877 - The "American Bicycling Journal" went on sale for the first time.

1894 - The United States Golf Association was formed in New York City.

1894 - French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated.

1895 - German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife's hand.

1910 - U.S. Postal savings stamps were issued for the first time. They were discontinued in 1914.

1939 - Gloria Jacobs became the first girl to hold a world pistol record when she shot 299 out of a possible 300 points. She was 17 years old at the time.

1943 - Sporting goods manufacturers received permission to use synthetic rubber for the core of baseballs.

1941 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington for a wartime conference with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt.

1956 - Colo, the first gorilla to be born in captivity, was born at the Columbus, Ohio zoo.

1956 - The last British and French forces evacuated Egypt.

1961 - James Davis became the first U.S. soldier to die in Vietnam, while U.S. involvement was still limited to the provision of military advisers.

1976 - The last show of "Let’s Make A Deal" was aired.

1984 - New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot four black youths on a Manhattan subway. Goetz claimed they were about to rob him.

1989 - Romania's hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a popular uprising.

1990 - Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland's first popularly elected president.

1991 - The body of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, an American hostage murdered by his captors, was found along a highway in Lebanon.

1996 - A car bomb exploded in Belfast, injuring a known IRA supporter. Police suspected that Protestant loyalists were responsible for the attack.

1998 - A unit of RJR Nabsico pled guilty to attempting to smuggle cigarettes into Canada.

2001 - Thirty Afghans, including two women, were sworn in as part of the new interim government in Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai was the head of the post-Taliban government.

December 23, 2013

1783 - George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.

1788 - Maryland voted to cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government. About two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.

1823 - The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore (" 'Twas the night before Christmas...") was published.

1834 - English architect Joseph Hansom patented his 'safety cab', better known as the Hansom cab.

1852 - The Theatre of Celestial John opened on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco, CA. It was the first Chinese theatre in the U.S.

1880 - Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Electric Light Company of Europe.

1888 - Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

1893 - The Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Hansel und Gretel" was first performed, in Weimar, Germany.

1913 - The Federal Reserve Bill was signed into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. The act established 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

1919 - The first ship designed to be used as an ambulance for the transport patients was launched. The hospital ship was named USS Relief and had 515 beds.

1922 - The British Broadcasting Corporation began daily news broadcasts.

1930 - Ruth Elizabeth Davis, an unknown actress, arrived in Hollywood, under contract to Universal Studios. Universal changed her name to Bette Davis for the movies.

1938 - "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" was heard for the final time on the radio.

1941 - During World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.

1942 - Bob Hope agreed to entertain U.S. airmen in Alaska. It was the first of the traditional Christmas shows.

1943 - "Hansel and Gretel," the opera, was televised on New York's WRBG. It was the first complete opera to be televised.

1947 - John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley invented the transistor.

1948 - Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo. They had been found guilty of crimes against humanity.

1951 - A National Football League (NFL) championship game was televised nationally for the first time. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cleveland Browns 24-17. The DuMont Network had paid $75,000 for the rights to the game.

1953 - Soviet secret police chief Lavrenti Beria and six of his associates were shot for treason following a secret trial.

1954 - The Walt Disney movie "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was released.

Disney movies, music and books

1957 - Dan Blocker made his acting debut on television in the "Restless Gun."

1965 - A 70-mph speed limit was introduced in Britain.

1968 - Eighty-two crewmembers of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo were released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured.

1972 - The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in an NFL playoff game on a last-second play that was dubbed the "Immaculate Reception." Pittsburgh's Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and ran it in for the winning touchdown.

1981 - NASA approved a plan to continue the Voyager II spacecraft on a trajectory that would take it within 66,000 miles of Uranus on July 24, 1986.

1986 - The experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

1987 - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, serving a life sentence for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ford in 1975, escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison for Women in West Virginia. She was recaptured two days later.

1989 - Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were captured as they were attempting to flee their country.

1990 - Elections in Yugoslavia ended, leaving four of its six republics with non-Communist governments.

1995 - A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children, during a year-end party being held near the children's school.

1995 - The bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple religious sect were found in a clearing near Grenoble, France. 14 were presumed shot by two people who then committed suicide.

1997 - Terry Nichols was convicted by a Denver jury on charges of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the 1995 federal building bombing in Oklahoma City. The bomb killed 168 people.

1998 - Guerrillas in south Lebanon fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel.

December 24, 2013

1814 - The War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain was ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium.

1818 - Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for "Silent Night" to words written by Josef Mohr.

1828 - William Burke who, with his partner William Hare, dug up the dead and murdered to sell the corpses for dissection, went on trial in Edinburgh.

1851 - A fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, destroying about 35,000 volumes.

1865 - Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, TN, called the Ku Klux Klan.

1906 - Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, MA.

1914 - In World War I, the first air raid on Britain was made when a German airplane dropped a bomb on the grounds of a rectory in Dover.

1928 - The first broadcast of "The Voice of Firestone" was heard.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord.

1944 - The Andrews Sisters starred in the debut of "The Andrews Sisters’ Eight-To-The-Bar-Ranch" on ABC Radio.

1944 - A German submarine torpedoed the Belgian transport ship S.S. Leopoldville with 2,235 soldiers aboard. About 800 American soldiers died. The soldiers were crossing the English Channel to be reinforcements at the battle that become known as the Battle of the Bulge.

1948 - For the first time ever, a midnight Mass was broadcast on television. It was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

1948 - The first completely solar-heated house became occupied in Dover, MA.

1951 - NBC-TV presented, "Amal and the Night Visitors," the first opera written for television.

1951 - Libya achieved independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, under King Idris.

1965 - A meteorite landed on Leicestershire. It weighed about 100lbs.

1966 - Luna 13 landed on the moon.

1967 - Joe Namath (New York Jets) became the first NFL quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards.

1968 - The crew of the U.S. Navy ship, Pueblo, was released by North Korea. The Captain of the Pueblo, Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, and 82 of his crew were held for 11 months after the ship was seized by North Korea because of suspected spying by the Americans.

1968 - Three astronauts, James A. Lovell, William Anders and Frank Borman, reached the moon. They orbited the moon 10 times before coming back to Earth. Seven months later man first landed on the moon.

1979 - Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in support of the country's Marxist government.

1981 - Reggie Jackson announced that he would join Gene Autry’s California Angels for the 1982 season.

1981 - In Eastern Kazakh/Semipalatinsk, the Soviet Union performed a nuclear test.

1985 - Fidel Castro, the Cuban president, announced that he was a non-smoker.

1989 - Ousted Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega took refuge at the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City.

1990 - Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were married.

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.

1997 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as "Carlos the Jackal," was sentenced by a French court to life in prison for the 1975 murders of two French investigators and a Lebanese national.

1998 - At Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, a tourist was hit by a piece of flying metal while waiting to board a ride. The man's wife and a Disneyland employee were also injured. Luan Phi Dawson died December 26th from his injuries.

1999 - Ivory Coast President Henri Konan Bédié was overthrown in a coup.

1999 - An Indian Airplines plane was seized during a flight from Katmandu, Nepal, to New Delhi. In Afghanistan, the 150 hostages were freed on December 31 after India released three Kashmir militants from prison.

2000 - 36 minutes after the end of a game, both the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins were called back to the playing field. The teams had to play the final 3 seconds of the game which the Dolphins had won 27-24. The end result did not change.

2000 - The "Texas 7," seven convicts that had escaped a Texas prison, robbed a sports store in Irving, TX. The suspects killed Officer Aubrey Hawkins, stole $70,000, 25 weapons and clothing. The men had escaped on December 13.

December 25, 2013

0800 - Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III.

1066 - William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.

1223 - St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy.

1776 - Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, NJ.

1818 - "Silent Night" was performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.

1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.

1894 - The University of Chicago became the first Midwestern football team to play on the west coast. U.C. defeated Stanford, 24-4, in Palo Alto, CA.

1896 - John Philip Sousa finally titled the melody "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

1914 - During World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial truce and even playing football together on the Western Front.

1917 - The play "Why Marry?" opened at the Astor Theatre in New York City. "Why Marry?" was the first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize.

1926 - Hirohito became the emperor of Japan after the death of his father Emperor Taisho.

1930 - The Mt. Van Hoevenberg bobsled run at Lake Placid, New York opened to the public. It was the first bobsled track of international specifications to open in the U.S.

1931 - Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. The first opera was "Hansel und Gretel" and was heard on the NBC network of stations.

1937 - Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of "Symphony of the Air" over NBC radio.

1939 - "A Christmas Carol," by Charles Dickens, was read on CBS radio for the first time.

1941 - Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese.

1946 - W.C. Fields died at the age of 66.

1950 - Dick Tracy married on Tess Truehart.

1962 - The Department of Commerce Census Clock in Washington, DC, recorded the U.S. population on this day as 188,000,000.

1971 - The longest pro-football game to date finally ended when Garo Yepremian kicked a field goal in the second quarter of sudden death overtime. The Miami Dolphins defeated Kansas City, 27-24. The total game time was 82 minutes and 40 seconds.

1972 - The Nicaraguan capital Managua was hit by an earthquake. Over 10,000 people were killed.

1979 - The USSR invaded Afghanistan in a bid to halt civil war and protect USSR interests.

1989 - Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising.

1989 - Former baseball player and manager Billy Martin died in a truck crash in Fenton, NY.

1989 - Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia.

1991 - Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.

1998 - Seven days into their journey, Richard Branson, Steve Fossett and Per Lindstrand of Sweden gave up their attempt to make the first nonstop round-the-world balloon flight. They ditched near Hawaii.

2000 - Over 300 people were killed and dozens were injured by fire at a Christmas party in the Chinese city of Luoyang. The incident occurred at the Dongdu Disco

December 26, 2013

1620 - The Pilgrim Fathers landed at New Plymouth, MA, to found Plymouth Colony, with John Carver as Governor.

1776 - The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the American Revolutionary War.

1865 - The coffee percolator was patented by James H. Mason.

1871 - The "Gods Grown Old" was performed for the first time. It ran for 64 shows.

1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium.

1908 - Texan boxer "Galveston Jack" Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia, to become the first black boxer to win the world heavyweight title.

1917 - During World War I, the U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads.

1921 - The Catholic Irish Free State became a self-governing dominion of Great Britain.

1927 - The East-West Shrine football game featured numbers on both the front and back of players’ jerseys.

1941 - Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

1943 - The German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk in the North Sea, during the Battle of North Cape.

1944 - Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" was first performed publicly, at the Civic Theatre in Chicago, IL.

1947 - Heavy snow blanketed the Northeast United States, burying New York City under 25.8 inches of snow in 16 hours. The severe weather was blamed for about 80 deaths.

1953 - "Big Sister" was heard for the last time on CBS Radio. The show ran for 17 years.

1954 - "The Shadow" aired on radio for the last time.

1956 - Fidel Castro attempted a secret landing in Cuba to overthrow the Batista regime. All but 11 of his supporters were killed.

1959 - The first charity walk took place, along Icknield Way, in aid of the World Refugee Fund.

1974 - Comedian jack Benny died at age 80.

1982 - The Man of the Year in "TIME" magazine was a computer. It was the first time a non-human received the honors.

1986 - Doug Jarvis, age 31, set a National Hockey League (NHL) record as he skated in his 916th consecutive game. Jarvis eventually set the individual record for most consecutive games played with 964.

1986 - "Search for Tomorrow" was seen for the last time on CBS-TV. The show had been on the air for 35-years.

1990 - Garry Kasparov beat Anatoly Karpov to retain the chess championship.

1991 - The Soviet Union's parliament formally voted the country out of existence.

1995 - Israel turned dozens of West Bank villages over to the Palestinian Authority.

1996 - Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, CO.

1998 - Iraq announced that it would fire on U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the skies over northern and southern Iraq.

1999 - Alfonso Portillo, a populist lawyer, won Guatemala's first peacetime presidential elections in 40 years.

2000 - Michael McDermott, age 42, opened fire at his place of employment killing seven people. McDermott had no criminal history.

2002 - The first cloned human baby was born. The announcement was made the December 27 by Clonaid.

2004 - Under the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent 500-mph waves across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The tsunami killed at least 283,000 people in a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand and India.

December 27, 2013

1703 - The Methuen Treaty was signed between Portugal and England, giving preference to the import of Portuguese wines into England.

1831 - Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution.

1845 - Dr. Crawford Williamson Long used anesthesia for childbirth for the first time. The event was the delivery of his own child in Jefferson, GA.

1900 - Carrie Nation staged her first raid on a saloon at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, KS. She broke each and every one of the liquor bottles that could be seen.

1904 - James Barrie's play "Peter Pan" premiered in London.

1927 - Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party.

1938 - The first skimobile course in America opened in North Conway, NH.

1945 - The World Bank was created with an agreement signed by 28 nations.

1947 - The children's television program "Howdy Doody," hosted by Bob Smith, made its debut on NBC.

1949 - Queen Juliana of the Netherlands granted sovereignty to Indonesia after more than 300 years of Dutch rule.

1951 - In Cincinnati, OH, a Crosley automobile, with a steering wheel on the right side, became the first vehicle of its kind to be placed in service for mail delivery.

1965 - The BP oil rig Sea Gem capsized in the North Sea, with the loss of 13 lives.

1968 - "The Breakfast Club" signed off for the last time on ABC radio, after 35 years on the air.

1971 - Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Woodstock of Charles Schulz’ "Peanuts" comic strip were on the cover of "Newsweek" magazine.

1978 - Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.

1979 - Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal succeeded President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed.

1985 - Palestinian guerrillas opened fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports. A total of twenty people were killed, including five of the attackers, who were slain by police and security personnel.

1985 - Dian Fossey, an American naturalist, was found murdered at a research station in Rawanda.

1992 - The U.S. shot down an Iraqi fighter jet during what the Pentagon described as a confrontation between a pair of Iraqi warplanes and U.S. F-16 jets in U.N.-restricted airspace over southern Iraq.

1996 - Muslim fundamentalist Taliban forces retook the strategic air base of Bagram, solidifying their buffer zone around Kabul, the Afghanistan capital.

1997 - In Northern Ireland, Billy Wright was assassinated. He was imprisoned as a Protestant paramilitary leader.

2000 - Mario Lemeiux (Pittsburgh Penguins) returned to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player after over 3 years of retirement. He was the first owner-player in the modern era of pro sports. Lemieux had purchased the Pittsburgh Penguins during his retirement from playing.

2001 - U.S. President George W. Bush granted China permanent normal trade status with the United States.

2002 - North Korea ordered U.N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said that it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons.

2002 - Clonaid announced the birth of the first cloned human baby. The baby had been born December 26.

2002 - In Chechnya, at least 40 people were killed when suicide bombers attacked the administartion of Grozny.

December 28, 2013

1065 - Westminster Abbey was consecrated under Edward the Confessor.

1694 - Queen Mary II of England died after five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.

1732 - "The Pennsylvania Gazette," owned by Benjamin Franklin, ran an ad for the first issue of "Poor Richard’s Almanack."

1832 - John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down over differences with President Jackson.

1836 - Mexico's independence was recognized by Spain.

1846 - Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.

1869 - William E. Semple, of Mt. Vernon, OH, patented an acceptable chewing gum.

1877 - John Stevens applied for a patent for his flour-rolling mill, which boosted production by 70%.

1879 - In Dundee, Scotland the central portion of the Tay Bridge collapsed as a train was passing over it. 75 people were killed.

1897 - "Cyrano de Bergerac," the play by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris, France.

1902 - The first professional indoor football game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Syracuse defeated the Philadelphia Nationals 6-0.

1908 - An earthquake killed over 75,000 at Messina in Sicily.

1912 - The first municipally-owned street cars were used on the streets of San Francisco, CA.

1917 - The New York Evening Mail published a facetious essay by H.L. Mencken on the history of bathtubs in America.

1926 - The highest recorded cricket innings score of 1,107 runs was hit by Victoria, against New South Wales, in Melbourne.

1937 - The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland when a new constitution established the country as a sovereign state under the name of Eire.

1942 - R.O. Sullivan crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the 100th time.

1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognized the "Pledge of Allegiance."

1950 - The Peak District became Britain's first designated National Park.

1956 - After five years on television, the last "Ding Dong School" was aired on NBC-TV.

1964 - Initial filming of the movie "Dr. Zhivago" began on location near Madrid, Spain. The movies total running time is 197 minutes.

1973 - The Chamber of Commerce of Akron, OH, terminated its association with the All-American Soap Box Derby. It was stated that the race had become "a victim of cheating and fraud."

1973 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.

1981 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, VA.

1982 - Nevell Johnson Jr. was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade. The event set off three days of race related disturbances that left another man dead.

1987 - The bodies of 14 relatives of R. Gene Simmons were found at his home near Dover, AR. Simmons had gone on a shooting spree in Russellville that claimed two other lives.

1989 - Alexander Dubcek, who had been expelled from the Communist Party in 1970, was elected speaker of the Czech parliament.

1991 - Nine people died in a rush to get into a basketball game at City College in New York.

1995 - Pressure from German prosecutors investigating pornography forced CompuServe to set a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups on the Internet for its customers.

2000 - U.S. District Court Judge Matsch held a hearing to ensure that confessed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh understood that he was dropping his appeals. McVeigh said that he wanted an execution date, set but wanted to reserve the right to seek presidential clemency.

2000 - Shannen Doherty was arrested for driving under the influence.

December 29, 2013

1170 - St. Thomas à Becket, the 40th archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in his own cathedral by four knights acting on Henry II's orders.

1812 - The USS Constitution won a battle with the British ship HMS Java about 30 miles off the coast of Brazil. Before Commodore William Bainbridge ordered the sinking of the Java he had her wheel removed to replace the one the Constitution had lost during the battle.

1813 - The British burned Buffalo, NY, during the War of 1812.

1837 - Canadian militiamen destroyed the Caroline, a U.S. steamboat docked at Buffalo, NY.

1845 - U.S. President James Polk and signed legislation making Texas the 28th state of the United States.

1848 - U.S. President James Polk turned on the first gas light at the White House.

1851 - The first American Young Men's Christian Association was organized, in Boston, MA.

1860 - The HMS Warrior, Britain's first seagoing first iron-hulled warship, was launched.

1888 - The first performance of Macbeth took place at the Lyceum Theatre.

1890 - The U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred over 400 men, women and children at Wounded Knee Creek, SD. This was the last major conflict between Indians and U.S. troops.

1895 - The Jameson Raid from Mafikeng into Transvaal, which attempted to overthrow Kruger's Boer government, started.

1911 - Sun Yat-sen became the first president of a republican China.

1913 - "The Unwelcome Throne" was released by Selig’s Polyscope Company. This was a moving picture and the first serial motion picture.

1934 - The first regular-season, college basketball game was played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. New York University defeated Notre Dame 25-18.

1934 - Japan renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

1937 - Babe Ruth returned to baseball as the new manager of the Class D, De Land Reds of the Florida State League. Ruth had retired from baseball in 1935.

1940 - During World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.

1945 - The mystery voice of Mr. Hush was heard for the first time on the radio show, "Truth or Consequences", hosted by Ralph Edwards.

1945 - Sheb Wooley recorded the first commercial record made in Nashville, TN.

1949 - KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut became the first ultrahigh frequency (UHF) television station to begin operating on a regular daily schedule.

1952 - The first transistorized hearing aid was offered for sale by Sonotone Corporation.

1953 - Jean Stapleton debuted in her first Broadway play, "In the Summer House", which closed after only 55 performances.

1972 - Following 36 years of publication, the last weekly issue of "LIFE" magazine hit the newsstands. The magazine later became a monthly publication.

1975 - A bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York's LaGuardia Airport. 11 people were killed.

1985 - Phil Donahue and a Soviet radio commentator hosted the "Citizens’ Summit" via satellite TV.

1986 - The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, FL, reopened for business after eighteen years and $47 million expended on restoration.

1989 - Following Hong Kong's decision to forcibly repatriate some Vietnamese refugees, thousands of Vietnamese 'boat people' battled with riot police.

1996 - The Guatemalan government and leaders of the leftist Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union signed a peace accord in Guatemala City, ending a civil war that had lasted 36 years.

1997 - Hong Kong began killing 1.25 million chickens, the entire population, for fear of the spread of 'bird flu'.

1998 - Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed 1 million lives.

December 30, 2013

1460 - At the Battle of Wakefield, in England's Wars of the Roses, the Duke of York was defeated and killed by the Lancastrians.

1853 - The United States bought about 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase.

1879 - Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" was first performed, at Paignton, Devon, England.

1880 - The Transvaal was declared a republic. Paul Kruger became its first president.

1887 - A petition to Queen Victoria with over one million names of women appealing for public houses to be closed on Sundays was handed to the home secretary.

1903 - About 600 people died when fire broke out at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, IL.

1919 - Lincoln's Inn, in London, admitted the first female bar student.

1922 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed.

1924 - Edwin Hubble announced the existence of other galactic systems.

1927 - The first subway in the Orient was dedicated in Tokyo, Japan.

1935 - Italian bombers destroyed a Sweedish Red Cross unit in Ethiopia.

1936 - The United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant in Flint, MI.

1940 - California's first freeway was officially opened. It was the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena.

1942 - "Mr. and Mrs. North" debuted on NBC radio.

1944 - King George II of Greece proclaimed a regency to rule his country, virtually renouncing the throne.

1947 - King Michael of Romania abdicated in favor of a Communist Republic. He claimed he was forced from his throne.

1948 - "Kiss Me Kate" opened at the New Century Theatre in New York City. Cole Porter composed the music for the classic play that ran for 1,077 performances.

1953 - The first color TV sets went on sale for about $1,175.

1954 - Pearl Bailey opened on Broadway in the play, "House of Flowers."

1954 - James Arness made his dramatic TV debut in "The Chase". The "Gunsmoke" series didn’t begin for Arness until the fall of 1955.

1961 - jack Nicklaus lost his first attempt at pro golf to Gary Player in an exhibition match in Miami, FL.

1972 - The United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

1976 - The Smothers Brothers, Tom and Dick, played their last show at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas and retired as a team from show business. Both continued as solo artists and they reunited several years later.

1978 - Ohio State University fired Woody Hayes as its football coach, one day after Hayes punched Clemson University player Charlie Bauman during the Gator Bowl. Bauman had intercepted an Ohio pass.

1993 - Israel and the Vatican established diplomatic relations.

1996 - A passenger train was bombed by Bodo separatists in India's eastern state of Assam. At least 26 people were killed and dozens were seriously injured.

1996 - About 250,000 striking workers shut down vital services across Israel in protests against budget cuts proposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu.

1997 - More than 400 people were massacred in four villages in the single worst incident during Algeria's insurgency.

December 31, 2013

1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France for the Cape of Good Hope, where they would later create the South African wine industry with the vines they took with them on the voyage.

1695 - The window tax was imposed in Britain, which resulted in many windows being bricked up.

1711 - The Duke of Marlborough was dismissed as commander-in-chief.

1775 - The British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec. Montgomery was killed in the battle.

1841 - The State of Alabama enacted the first dental legislation in the U.S.

1857 - Britain's Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada.

1862 - U.S. President Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.

1877 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes became the first U.S. President to celebrate his silver (25th) wedding anniversary in the White House.

1879 - Thomas Edison gave his first public demonstration of incandescent lighting to an audience in Menlo Park, NJ.

1891 - New York's new Immigration Depot was opened at Ellis Island, to provide improved facilities for the massive numbers of arrivals.

1897 - Brooklyn, NY, spent its last day as a separate entity before becoming part of New York City.

1923 - In London, the BBC first broadcast the chimes of Big Ben.

1929 - Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played "Auld Lang Syne" as a New Year's Eve song for the first time.

1946 - U.S. President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.

1947 - Roy Rogers and Dale Evans were married.

1953 - Willie Shoemaker broke his own record as he won his 485th race of the year.

1954 - The last episode of the radio show "Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" aired.

1955 - General Motors became the first U.S. corporation to earn more than one billion dollars in a single year.

1960 - The farthing coin, which had been in use in Great Britain since the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender.

1961 - In the U.S., the Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.

1967 - The Green Bay Packers won the National Football League championship game by defeating the Dallas Cowboys 21-17. The game is known as the Ice Bowl since it was played in a wind chill of 40 degrees below zero. (NFL)

1974 - Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.

1978 - Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the final time from the embassy flagpole in Washington, DC. The event marked the end of diplomatic relations with the U.S.

1979 - At year end oil prices were 88% higher than at the start of 1979.

1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, killed 97 and injured 140 people. Three hotel workers later pled guilty to charges in connection with the fire.

1990 - Titleholder Gary Kasparov of the U.S.S.R. won the world chess championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.

1996 - NCR Corp. became an independent company.

1997 - Michael Kennedy, 39-year-old son of the late U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado.

1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.

1999 - Five hijackers left the airport where they had been holding 150 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane. They left with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed from an Indian prison. The plane had been hijacked during a flight from Katmandu, Nepal to New Dehli on December 24.

1999 - Sarah Knauss died at the age of 119 years. She was the world's oldest person. She was born September 24, 1880.

January 1, 2014

0404 - The last gladiator competition was held in Rome.

1622 - The Papal Chancery adopted January 1st as the beginning of the New Year (instead of March 25th).

1772 - The first traveler's checks were issued in London.

1785 - London's oldest daily paper "The Daily Universal Register" (later renamed "The Times" in 1788) was first published.

1797 - Albany became the capital of New York state, replacing New York City.

1801 - The Act of Union of England and Ireland came into force.

1801 - Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi became the first person to discover an asteroid. He named it Ceres.

1804 - Haiti gained its independence.

1808 - The U.S. prohibited import of slaves from Africa.

1840 - The first recorded bowling match was recorded in the U.S.

1863 - U.S. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that all slaves in the rebel states were free.

1887 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi.

1892 - Ellis Island Immigrant Station formally opened in New York.

1892 - Brooklyn and New York merged to form the single city of New York.

1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened to traffic.

1898 - Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island were consolidated into New York City.

1900 - Hawaii asked for a delegate to the Republican national convention.

1900 - Nigeria became a British protectorate with Frederick Lagard as the high commissioner.

1901 - The Commonwealth of Australia was founded. Lord Hopetoun officially assumed the duties as the first Governor-General.

1902 - The first Tournament of Roses (later the Rose Bowl) collegiate football game was played in Pasadena, CA.

1909 - The first payments of old-age pensions were made in Britain. People over 70 received five shillings a week.

1913 - The post office began parcel post deliveries.

1924 - Frank B. Cooney received a patent for ink paste.

1926 - The Rose Bowl was carried coast to coast on network radio for the first time.

1930 - "The Cuckoo Hour" was heard for the first time on the NBC-Blue Network, which later became ABC Radio.

1934 - Alcatraz Island officially became a Federal Prison.

1934 - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) began operation.

1936 - The "New York Herald Tribune" began microfilming its current issues.

1937 - The First Cotton Bowl football game was played in Dallas, TX. Texas Christian University (T.C.U.) beat Marquette, 16-6.

1939 - The Hewlett-Packard partnership was formed.

1942 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued a declaration called the "United Nations." It was signed by 26 countries that vowed to create an international postwar World War II peacekeeping organization.

1945 - France was admitted to the United Nations.

1956 - Sudan gained its independence.

1958 - The European Economic Community (EEC) started operations.

1959 - Fidel Castro overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista, and seized power in Cuba.

1968 - Evel Knievel, stunt performing daredevil, lost control of his motorcycle midway through a jump of 141 feet over the ornamental fountains in front of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

1971 - Tobacco ads representing $20 million dollars in advertising were banned from TV and radio broadcast.

1973 - Britain, Ireland, Denmark and Norway joined the EEC.

1975 - The magazine "Popular Electronics" announced the invention of a person computer called Altair. MITS, using an Intel microprocessor, developed the computer.

1979 - The United States and China held celebrations in Washington, DC, and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

1981 - Greece joined the European Community.

1984 - AT&T was broken up into 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement with the U.S. Federal government.

1986 - Spain and Portugal joined the European Community (EC).

1987 - A pro-democracy rally took place in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (China).

1990 - David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.

1992 - The ESPN Radio Network was officially launched.

1993 - Czechoslovakia split into two separate states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The peaceful division had been engineered in 1992.

1994 - Bill Gates, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft and Melinda French were married.

1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.

1995 - Frederick West, an alleged killer of 12 women and girls, was found hanged in his jail cell in Winston Green prison, in Birmingham. West had been under almost continuous watch since his arrest in 1994, but security had reportedly been relaxed in the months preceding the apparent suicide.

1995 - The World Trade Organization came into existence. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade.

1998 - A new anti-smoking law went into effect in California. The law prohibiting people from lighting up in bars.

1999 - The euro became currency for 11 Member States of the European Union. Coins and notes were not available until January 1, 2002.

1999 - In California, a law went into effect that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity."

2001 - The "Texas 7," rented space in an RV park in Woodland Park, CO.

January 2, 2014

1492 - The leader of the last Arab stronghold in Spain surrendered to Spanish forces loyal to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.

1788 - Georgia became the 4th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1842 - In Fairmount, PA, the first wire suspension bridge was opened to traffic.

1859 - Erastus Beadle published "The Dime Book of Practical Etiquette."

1872 - Brigham Young, the 71-year-old leader of the Mormon Church, was arrested on a charge of bigamy. He had 25 wives.

1879 - Thomas Edison began construction on his first generator.

1890 - Alice Sanger became the first female White House staffer.

1892 - Ellis Island opened as America's first federal immigration center. Annie Moore, at age 15, became the first person to pass through.

1893 - The first commemorative postage stamps were issued.

1900 - U.S. Secretary of State John Hay announced the Open Door Policy to prompt trade with China.

1900 - The Chicago Canal opened.

1910 - The first junior high school in the United States opened. McKinley School in Berkeley, CA, housed seventh and eighth grade students. In a separate building students were housed who attended grades 9-12.

1917 - Royal Bank of Canada took over the Quebec Bank.

1921 - The first religious broadcast on radio was heard on KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh, PA, as Dr. E.J. Van Etten of Calvary Episcopal Church preached.

1921 - DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park opened.

1929 - The United States and Canada reached an agreement on joint action to preserve Niagara Falls.

1935 - Bruno Richard Hauptmann went on trial for the kidnap-murder of Charles Lindberghs baby. Hauptmann was found guilt and executed.

1942 - The Philippine capital of Manila was captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

1953 - "The Life of Riley" debuted on NBC-TV.

1955 - Panamanian President Jose Antonio Remon was assassinated.

1957 - The San Francisco and Los Angeles stock exchanges merged.

1959 - CBS Radio ended four soap operas. "Our Gal Sunday", "This is Nora Drake", "Backstage Wife" and "Road of Life" all aired for the last time.

1960 - U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1965 - "Broadway" Joe Namath signed the richest rookie contract ($400,000) in the history of pro football.

1968 - Fidel Castro announced petroleum and sugar rationing in Cuba.

1971 - In the U.S., a federally imposed ban on television cigarette advertisements went into effect.

1974 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon signed a bill requiring all states to lower the maximum speed limit to 55 MPH. The law was intended to conserve gasoline supplies during an embargo imposed by Arab oil-producing countries. Federal speed limits were abolished in 1995.

1983 - The final edition of Garry Trudeau’s comic strip, "Doonesbury", appeared in 726 newspapers. "Doonesbury" began running again in September 1984.

1983 - The musical "Annie" closed on Broadway at the Uris Theatre after 2,377 performances.

1985 - The Rebels of UNLV beat Utah State in three overtime periods. The final score of 142-140 set a new NCAA record for total points in a basketball game (282). The game took over three hours to play.

1991 - Sharon Pratt Dixon was sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC. She was the first black woman to head a city of that size and prominence.

1996 - AT&T announced that it would eliminate 40,000 jobs over three years.

1998 - Russia began circulating new rubles in effort to keep inflation in check and promote confidence.

January 3, 2014

1496 - References in Leonardo da Vinci notebooks suggested that he tested his flying machine. The test didn't succeed and he didn't try to fly again for several years.

1521 - Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther.

1777 - The Battle of Princeton took place in the War of Independence, in which George Washington defeated the British forces, led by Cornwallis.

1815 - By secret treaty, Austria, Britain, and France formed a defensive alliance against Prusso-Russian plans to solve the Saxon and Polish problems.

1823 - Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and began colonization in the region of the Brazos River in Texas.

1825 - The first engineering college in the U.S. , Rensselaer School, opened in Troy, NY. It is now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

1833 - Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. About 150 years later, Argentina seized the islands from the British, but Britain took them back after a 74-day war.

1868 - The Shogunate was abolished in Japan and Meiji dynasty was restored.

1871 - Henry W. Bradley patented oleomargarine.

1888 - The drinking straw was patented by Marvin C. Stone.

1924 - English explorer Howard Carter discovered the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen in the Valley of the Kings, near Luxor, Egypt.

1925 - In Italy, Mussolini announced that he would take dictatorial powers.

1938 - The first broadcast of "Woman in White" was presented on the NBC Red network. The program remained on radio for 10 years.

1938 - The March of Dimes was established by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The organization fights poliomyelitis. The original name of the organization was the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.

1947 - U.S. Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time. Viewers in Washington, Philadelphia and New York City saw some of the opening ceremonies of the 80th Congress.

1947 - In Trenton, NJ, Al Herrin, passed away at age 92. He had claimed that he had not slept at all during his life.

1951 - NBC-TV debuted "Dragnet."

1953 - Frances Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, became the first mother-son combination to serve at the same time in the U.S. Congress.

1957 - The Hamilton Watch Company introduced the first electric watch.

1959 - In the U.S., Alaska became the 49th state.

1961 - The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.

1962 - Pope John XXIII excommunicated Cuban prime minister Fidel Castro.

1967 - jack Ruby died in a Dallas, TX, hospital.

1973 - The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sold the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by George Steinbrenner for $10 million.

1980 - Conservationist Joy Adamson, author of "Born Free," was killed in northern Kenya by a servant.

1983 - Tony Dorsett (Dallas Cowboys) made the longest run from scrimmage in NFL history. Dorsett ran 99 yards in a game against the Minnesota Vikings.

1984 - A woman died at Disneyland after falling from a ride. She had apparently unfastened her seatbelt while on the Matterhorn bobsled.

1988 - Margaret Thatcher became the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th century.

1990 - Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission.

1991 - The British government announced that seven Iraqi diplomats, another embassy staff member and 67 other Iraqis were being expelled from Britain.

1993 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in Moscow.

1995 - WHO reported that the cumulative total of officially reported cases of AIDS had risen to 1,025,073 in 192 countries as at the end of 1994.

1995 - The U.S. Postal Service raised the price of the first-class stamp to 32 cents.

1997 - Bryant Gumbel signed off for the last time as host of NBC's "Today" show.

1998 - China announced that it would spend $27.7 billion to fight erosion and pollution in the Yangtze and Yellow river valleys.

1999 - Israeli authorities detained, and later expelled, 14 members of Concerned Christians. Israili officials claimed that the Denver, CO-based cult was plotting violence in Jerusalem to bring about the Second Coming of Christ.

2000 - Charles M. Schulz's final original daily comic strip appeared in newspapers.

2001 - The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) charged the "Texas 7" with weapons violations. An autopsy showed that Office Aubrey Hawkins, killed by the convicts, had been shot 11 times and run over with a vehicle.

2004 - NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars. The craft was able to send back black and white images three hours after landing.

January 4, 2014

1821 - The first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, MD.

1850 - The first American ice-skating club was organized in Philadelphia, PA.

1884 - The socialist Fabian Society was founded in London.

1885 - Dr. William Grant performed the first successful appendectomy. The patient was Mary Gartside.

1896 - Utah became the 45th U.S. state.

1928 - NBC Radio debuted "The Dodge Victory Hour" which starred Will Rogers, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra and singer Al Jolson.

1935 - Bob Hope was heard for the first time on network radio as part of "The Intimate Revue."

1936 - The first pop music chart based on national sales was published by "Billboard" magazine.

1944 - The attack on Monte Cassino was launched by the British Fifth Army in Italy.

1948 - Britain granted independence to Burma.

1951 - During the Korean conflict, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces captured the city of Seoul.

1953 - Tufted plastic carpeting was introduced by Barwick Mills.

1957 - "Collier’s" magazine was published for the last time. The periodical was published for 69 years.

1958 - The Soviet satellite Sputknik I fell to the earth from its orbit. The craft had been launched on October 4, 1957.

1960 - French author Albert Camus died in an automobile accident at age 46.

1962 - New York City introduced a train that operated without conductors and motormen.

1965 - The Fender Guitar Company was sold to CBS for $13 million.

1965 - Poet T.S. Eliot died at age 76.

1965 - In his State of the Union address, U.S. President Johnson proclaimed the building of the "Great Society."

1972 - Rose Heilbron became the first woman judge in Britain at the Old Bailey, London.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

1974 - NBC-TV presented hockey in prime time. The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers were the teams in the National Hockey League (NHL) game.

1981 - The Broadway show "Frankenstein" lost an estimated $2 million, when it opened and closed on the same night.

1982 - Bryant Gumbel moved from NBC Sports to the anchor desk where he joined Jane Pauley as co-host of the "Today" show on NBC.

1984 - Wayne ‘The Great One’ Gretzky scored eight points (four goals and four assists) for the second time in his National Hockey League (NHL) career. Edmonton’s Oilers defeated the Minnesota North Stars, 12-8. The game was the highest-scoring NHL game to date.

1987 - An Amtrak train bound from Washington to Boston collided with Conrail engines approaching from a side track, 16 people were killed.

1990 - Charles Stuart jumped to his death from a Boston Harbor bridge. He had become a suspect in the murder of his wife. He had claimed that a gunman had shot him and his wife.

1990 - Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was arraigned in U.S. federal district court in Miami on drug-trafficking charges.

1991 - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to condemn Israel's treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories.

1997 - The Greek Cypriot government signed an agreement to buy S-300 surface-to-air missiles from Russia.

1999 - A drifting Nicaraguan fishing boat was found by the Norwegian oil tanker Joelm. The fisherman had been lost at sea for 35 days after the engine of their vessel quit working.

1999 - 16 people were killed and 25 injured when gunmen opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan.

1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 37th governor.

2001 - FBI agents in the Dallas area charged the "Texas 7" of unlawful flight to avoid federal prosecution for capital murder, broadening the manhunt nationwide.

2006 - Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. She was the first woman to hold the position.

2010 - In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) opened as the world's tallest tower at 2,625 feet.

January 5, 2014

1781 - Richmond, VA, was burned by a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold.

1885 - The Long Island Railroad Company became the first to offer piggy-back rail service which was the transportation of farm wagons on trains.

1896 - It was reported by The Austrian newspaper that Wilhelm Roentgen had discovered the type of radiation that became known as X-rays.

1900 - In Ireland, Nationalist leader John Edward Redmond called for a revolt against British rule.

1903 - The general public could use the Pacific cable for the very first time.

1914 - Ford Motor Company announced that there would be a new daily minimum wage of $5 and an eight-hour workday.

1925 - Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross was sworn in as the governor of Wyoming She was the first female governor in the U.S.

1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began.

1934 - Both the National and American baseball leagues decided to use a uniform-size baseball. It was the first time in 33 years that both leagues used the same size ball. (MLB)

1935 - Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra was featured on CBS radio on the program, "The Hour of Charm."

1940 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got its very first demonstration of FM radio.

1944 - The London "Daily Mail" was the first transoceanic newspaper to be published.

1948 - Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel. The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.

1956 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time.

1961 - "Mr. Ed" debuted. The show would run for six years.

1970 - "All My Children" premiered on ABC.

1972 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle.

1987 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan underwent prostate surgery.

1993 - The state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd. It was America's first legal hanging since 1965. Dodd was an admitted child sex killer.

1996 - Yahya Ayyash, a member of the Hamas in Israel, is killed by a booby-trapped cellular phone.

1998 - U.S. Representative Sonny Bono died in skiing accident.

2002 - A 15 year-old student pilot, Charles Bishop, crashed a small plane into a building in Tampa, FL. Bishop was about to begin a flying lesson when he took off without permission and without an instructor.

January 6, 2014

0871 - England's King Alfred defeated the Danes at the Battle of Ashdown.

1205 - Philip of Swabia was crowned as King of the Romans.

1453 - Frederick III erected Austria into an Archduchy.

1540 - King Henry VIII of England was married to Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife.

1720 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble published its findings.

1759 - George Washington and Martha Dandridge Custis were married.

1838 - Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated the telegraph for the first time.

1896 - The first American women’s six-day bicycle race was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1900 - In India, it was reported that millions of people were dying from starvation.

1900 - Off of South Africa, the British seized the German steamer Herzog. The boat was released on January 22, 1900.

1912 - New Mexico became the 47th U.S. state.

1930 - The first diesel-engine automobile trip was completed after a run of 792 miles from Indianapolis, IN, to New York City, NY.

1931 - Thomas Edison executed his last patent application.

1941 - Richard Widmark made his debut on radio in "The Home of the Brave."

1941 - Alice Marble made her professional tennis debut when she defeated Ruth Hardwick of Great Britain at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

1942 - The first commercial around-the-world airline flight took place. Pan American Airlines was the company that made history with the feat.

1942 - The National Collegiate Football Rules Committee abolished the Y formation.

1945 - The Battle of the Bulge ended with 130,000 German and 77,000 Allied casualties.

1950 - Britain recognized the Communist government of China.

1952 - "Peanuts" debuted in Sunday papers across the United States.

1963 - "Wild Kingdom" premiered on NBC.

1967 - U.S. and South Vietnamese forces launched a major offensive, known as Operation "Deckhouse V", in the Mekong River delta.

1974 - CBS radio debuted "Radio Mystery Theatre."

1975 - The Broadway show "The Wiz" opened.

1975 - ABC-TV debuted "A.M. America."

1982 - William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles, CA, of being the "freeway killer" who had murdered 14 young men and boys.

1987 - After a 29-year lapse, the Ford Thunderbird was presented with the Motor Trend Car of the Year Award. It was the first occurrence of a repeat winner of the award.

1994 - Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit, MI. Four men were later sentenced to prison for the attack, including Tonya Harding's ex-husband.

1998 - The spacecraft Lunar Prospect was launched into orbit around the moon. The craft was crashed into the moon, in an effort to find water under the lunar surface, on July 31, 1999.

1999 - The 106th U.S. Congress opened. The first item on the agenda was the impeachment proceedings of U.S. President Bill Clinton. The trial was set to begin January 7, 1999.

1999 - Bob Newhart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

January 7, 2014

1558 - Calais, the last English possession on mainland France, was recaptured by the French.

1610 - Galileo Galilei sighted four of Jupiter's moons. He named them Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

1782 - The Bank of North America opened in Philadelphia. It was the first commercial bank in the United States.

1785 - French aeronaut/balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard successfully made the first air-crossing of the English Channel from the English coast to France.

1789 - Americans voted for the electors that would choose George Washington to be the first U.S. president.

1887 - Thomas Stevens completed the first worldwide bicycle trip. He started his trip in April 1884. Stevens and his bike traveled 13,500 miles in almost three years time.

1894 - W.K. Dickson received a patent for motion picture film.

1896 - The "Fannie Farmer Cookbook" was published.

1904 - The distress signal "CQD" was established. Two years later "SOS" became the radio distress signal because it was quicker to send by wireless radio.

1926 - George Burns and Gracie Allen were married.

1927 - Transatlantic telephone service began between New York and London. 31 calls were made on this first day.

1927 - In Hinckley IL, the Harlem Globetrotters played their first game.

1929 - The debut of "Buck Rogers 2429 A.D." occurred in newspapers around the U.S. The title of the comic strip was later changed to "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

1932 - Chancellor Heinrich Brüning declared that Germany cannot, and will not, resume reparations payments.

1935 - French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini signed the Italo-French agreements.

1940 - "Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch" debuted on CBS Radio. The show aired for 16 years.

1941 - The NBC Blue radio network presented "The Squeaky Door" for the first time. The show was later known as "Inner Sanctum."

1942 - The World War II siege of Bataan began.

1949 - The announcement of the first photograph of genes was shown at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

1953 - U.S. President Harry Truman announced the development of the hydrogen bomb.

1954 - The Duoscopic TV receiver was unveiled this day. The TV set allowed the watching of two different shows at the same time.

1959 - The United States recognized Fidel Castro's new government in Cuba.

1968 - The cost of a U.S. first class stamp was raised to 6 cents.

1975 - OPEC agreed to raise crude oil prices by 10%, which began a time of world economic inflation.

1979 - Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government.

1980 - U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed legislation that authorized $1.5 billion in loans for the bail out of Chrysler Corp.

1989 - Crown Prince Akihito became the emperor of Japan following the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito.

1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa was closed to the public. The accelerated rate of "leaning" raised fears for the safety of its visitors.

1996 - Alvaro Arzu was elected president of Guatemala.

1996 - One of the biggest blizzards in U.S. history hit the eastern states. More than 100 deaths were later blamed on the severe weather.

1998 - Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky signed an affidavit denying that she had an affair with U.S. President Clinton.

1999 - U.S. President Clinton went on trial before the Senate. It was only the second time in U.S. history that an impeached president had gone to trial. Clinton was later acquitted of perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

2002 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates introduced a new device code named Mira. The device was tablet-like and was a cross between a handheld computer and a TV remote control.

2009 - Russia shut off all gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin publicly endorsed the move and urged greater international involvement in the energy dispute.

2010 - Apple's iPad was unveiled.

January 8, 2014

1642 - Astronomer Galileo Galilei died in Arcetri, Italy.

1675 - The first corporation was charted in the United States. The company was the New York Fishing Company.

1790 - In the United States, George Washington delivered the first State of the Union address.

1815 - The Battle of New Orleans began. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans.

1838 - Alfred Vail demonstrated a telegraph code he had devised using dots and dashes as letters. The code was the predecessor to Samuel Morse's code.

1853 - A bronze statue of Andrew Jackson on a horse was unveiled in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC. The statue was the work of Clark Mills.

1856 - Borax (hydrated sodium borate) was discovered by Dr. John Veatch.

1877 - Crazy Horse (Tashunca-uitco) and his warriors fought their final battle against the U.S. Cavalry in Montana.

1886 - The Severn Railway Tunnel, Britain's longest, was opened.

1889 - The tabulating machine was patented by Dr. Herman Hollerith. His firm, Tabulating Machine Company, later became International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).

1894 - Fire caused serious damage at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL.

1900 - U.S. President McKinley placed Alaska under military rule.

1900 - In South Africa, General White turned back the Boers attack of Ladysmith.

1901 - The first tournament sanctioned by the American Bowling Congress was held in Chicago, IL.

1908 - A catastrophic train collision occurred in the smoke-filled Park Avenue Tunnel in New York City. Seventeen were killed and thirty-eight were injured. The accident caused a public outcry and increased demand for electric trains.

1916 - During World War I, the final withdrawal of Allied troops from Gallipoli took place.

1918 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announced his Fourteen Points as the basis for peace upon the end of World War I.

1921 - David Lloyd George became the first prime minister tenant at Chequers Court, Buckinghamshire.

1929 - William S. Paley appeared on CBS Radio for the first time to announce that CBS had become the largest regular chain of broadcasting chains in radio history.

1935 - The spectrophotometer was patented by A.C. Hardy.

1952 - Marie Wilson came to TV as "My Friend Irma".

1955 - After 130 home basketball wins, Georgia Tech defeated Kentucky 59-58. It was the first Kentucky loss at home since January 2, 1943.

1957 - Jackie Robinson announced his retirement from major league baseball in an article that appeared in "LOOK" magazine.

1958 - Bobby Fisher, at the age of 14, won the United States Chess Championship for the first time.

1959 - Charles De Gaulle was inaugurated as president of France's Fifth Republic.

1960 - The NCAA met in New York and voted against reviving the unlimited substitution rule for college football.

1964 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty."

1961 - Robert Goulet made his national TV debut this night on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on CBS.

1962 - Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was exhibited in America for the first time at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. The next day the exhibit opened to the public.

1973 - Secret peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam resumed near Paris, France.

1973 - The trial opened in Washington, of seven men accused of bugging Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, DC.

1975 - Ella Grasso became the governor of Connecticut. She was the first woman to become a governor of a state without a husband preceding her in the governor’s chair.

1982 - American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) settled the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.

1982 - The U.S. Justice Department withdrew an antitrust suit against IBM.

1987 - The Dow Jones industrial average closed over the 2000 mark for the first time at 2,002.25.

1992 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush collapsed during a state dinner in Tokyo. White House officials said Bush was suffering from stomach flu.

1993 - Bosnian President Izetbegovic visited the U.S. to plead his government's case for Western military aid and intervention to halt Serbian aggression.

1994 - Tonya Harding won the ladies' U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, MI, a day after Nancy Kerrigan dropped out because of a clubbing attack that injured her right knee. The U.S. Figure Skating Association later took the title from Harding because of her involvement in the attack.

1997 - Mister Rogers received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - Ramzi Yousef was sentenced to life in prison for his role of mastermind behind the World Trade Center bombing in New York.

1998 - Scientists announced that they had discovered that galaxies were accelerating and moving apart and at faster speeds.

1999 - The top two executives of Salt Lake City's Olympic Organizing Committee resigned amid disclosures that civic boosters had given cash to members of the International Olympic Committee.

1999 - British Prime Minister Tony Blair concluded a three-day visit to South Africa.

2005 - The rate for U.S. First Class mail was raised to 39¢.

2009 - In Egypt, archeologists entered a 4,300 year old pyramid and discovered the mummy of Queen Sesheshet.

January 9, 2014

1793 - Jean-Pierre Blanchard made the first successful balloon flight in the U.S.

1799 - British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduced income tax, at two shillings (10p) in the pound, to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1848 - The first commercial bank was established in San Francisco, CA.

1861 - The state of Mississippi seceded from the United States.

1894 - The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company put the first battery-operated switchboard into operation in Lexington, MA.

1902 - New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.

1905 - In Russia, the civil disturbances known as the Revolution of 1905 forced Czar Nicholas II to grant some civil rights.

1929 - The Seeing Eye was incorporated in Nashville, TN. The company's purpose was to train dogs to guide the blind.

1936 - The United States Army adopted the semi-automatic rifle.

1937 - The first issue of "Look" went on sale. Within a month, "Look" became a biweekly magazine.

1940 - Television was used for the first time to present a sales meeting to convention delegates in New York City.

1951 - The United Nations headquarters officially opened in New York City.

1961 - The play, "Rhinoceros," opened on Broadway.

1969 - The supersonic aeroplane Concorde made its first trial flight, at Bristol.

1972 - The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth was destroyed by fire in Hong Kong harbor.

1972 - British miners went on strike for the first time since 1926.

1981 - Hockey Hall of Famer, Phil Esposito, announced that he would retire as a hockey player after the New York Rangers-Buffalo Sabres hockey game. The game ended in a tie. (NHL)

1984 - Clara Peller was first seen by TV viewers in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's.

1986 - Kodak got out of the instant camera business after 10 years due to a loss in a court battle that claimed that Kodak copied Polaroid patents.

1991 - U.S. secretary of state Baker and Iraqi foreign minister Aziz met for 61/2 hours in Geneva, but failed to reach any agreement that would forestall war in the Persian Gulf.

1995 - Russian cosmonaut Valeri Poliakov, 51, completed his 366th day in outer space aboard the Mir space station, breaking the record for the longest continuous time spent in outer space.

1997 - Tamil rebels attacked a military base in Sri Lanka. 200 soldiers and 140 rebels were killed.

2000 - ABC-TV began airing "The Mole."

2002 - Yasmine Bleeth was sentenced to two years of probation, regular drug tests, 100 hours of community service and pay the court costs in connection to a cocaine-possession charge.

2002 - The U.S. Justice Department announced that it was pursuing a criminal investigation of Enron Corp. The company had filed for bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.

2003 - Archaeologists announced that they had found five more chambers in the tomb of Qin Shihuang, China's first emperor. The rooms were believed to cover about 750,000 square feet.

2006 - Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a dual ceremony.

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