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1724 Benjamin Franklin arrives in London
1800 Jacobins plot against Napoleon uncovered
1814 Treaty of Ghent (end of the War of 1812)
signed
1818 "Silent Night" composed by Franz
Joseph Gruber; sung for first time the next day
1851 Fire devastates Library of Congress in Washington,
destroys 35,000 volumes
1860 Joseph Jefferson's "Rip Van Winkle"
premieres in New York NY
1867 It was Christmas Eve that R.H. Macy’s
department store in New York City remained open until midnight to catch last-minute
shoppers.
1871 Giuseppe Verdi's `Aida' premiere in Cairo
at Suez canal opening
1886 Thomas Stevens is first man to bicycle around
the world
1889 Daniel Stover & William Hance patent
bicycle with back pedal brake
1893 Henry Ford completes his first useful gas
motor
1906 Reginald A. Fessenden became first to broadcast music over radio
1912 Irving Fisher patents archiving system with
index cards
1914 WWI German air raid against Britain
1920 Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance (New York NY)
1922 BBC sends first British radio play "Truth
about Father Christmas"
1924 Notre Dame football coach Knute
Rockne opposed elimination of the pass
1928 The first broadcast of "The Voice of
Firestone" was heard
1936 First radioactive isotope medicine administered,
Berkeley CA
1941 First ships of Admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor-fleet
return to Japan
1942 First powered flight of V-1 buzz bomb, Peenemünde,
Germany
1944 "The Andrews Sisters’ Eight-To-The-Bar-Ranch"
radio program debuted on ABC Radio
1948 For the first time ever, a midnight Mass
was broadcast on television. St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City
was the locale.
1948 First US house completely sunheated is occupied
(Dover MA)
1949 "Mule Train" by Frankie Laine topped
the charts
1951 First televised opera ("Amahl &
the Night Visitor")
1953 "Dragnet" was the first program filmed
in Technicolor
1955 The Lennon Sisters debuted as featured
vocalists on "The Lawrence Welk Show"
1955 "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie
Ford topped the charts
1956 "I Love Lucy" Christmas show airs,
never put in syndication
1960 "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" by
Elvis Presley topped the charts
1964 Shooting begins on "The Cage",
the pilot for Star Trek
1966 Luna 13 lands on Moon
1966 "Winchester Cathedral" by the New
Vaudeville Band topped the charts
1968 Apollo 8 astronauts' Christmas reading (Book
of Genesis) while orbiting Moon
1970 Walt Disney's "The Aristocats"
is released
1977 "How Deep Is Your Love" by the
Bee Gees topped the charts
1979 First Ariane-rocket launched
1980 Americans remembered the U.S. hostages in
Iran by burning candles or shining lights for 417 seconds -- one second for
each day of captivity
1983 "Say, Say, Say" by Paul McCartney
& Michael Jackson topped the charts
1988 "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison
topped the charts
1990 On Christmas Eve, the bells of St. Basil's
Cathedral in Moscow rang for the first time since the death of Lenin
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the
Soviet Union
2004 Cassini released Huygens space probe
