| By the sixth century A.D., the Catholic Church’s system of governance had endured longer than most civil governments. Since Church traditions and the dating of Church councils had become very important theological themes, the Church hierarchy decided that calendar years should be measured from the birth of Jesus, the King of kings. So, during the sixth century leadership of Pope John I, a Scythian monk, Dionysus Exiguus, was appointed to calculate Jesus’ birth as well as the date for Easter. The Church began to impose the calendar dating of Exiguus throughout the world. |
Close this window |
| The Christian Church wanted the celebration to be a prayerful mass, so they named the holiday "Christ's Mass". In 337, the new holiday got a huge boost when the Roman Emperor Constantine was baptized and Christianity became the offical state religion. |
Close this window |
| Christmas was celebrated in Rome by Pope Liberius (352-66) on Dec. 25. On Dec. 25, 379, St. Gregory Nazianzus preached a Christmas sermon in Constantinople. In the Cathedral of Milan, St. Ambrose (d. 397) celebrated Christmas. Therefore, by; the year 400, generally, the birth of Christ was set on Dec. 25 with the exception of Palestine, where it was celebrated on Jan. 6 until the mid-600s, when it was then transferred to Dec. 25. |
Close this window |
| In 597, England adopted the Julian calendar. In the year 46 BC, Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, changing the number of days in the months to achieve a 365-day year. To keep the seasons aligned with the Julian calendar, Caesar added a leap day in every four years to make a 366-day leap year. The present Gregorian calendar was proposed by Aloysius Lilius, a physician from Naples, to amend a remaining small error in the Julian calendar by dropping a few days. Its use was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and catholic countries began adopting it in Oct 1582. In Great Britain and its Dominions, Sept. 2, 1752 was followed by Sept. 14, 1752. |
Close this window |
| He was crowned Imperator Augustus in Rome on Christmas Day, 800 by Pope Leo III and is therefore regarded as the founder of the Holy Roman Empire (as Charles I). Through military conquest and defence, he solidified and expanded his realm to cover most of Western Europe. |  |
Close this window | |
| William, Duke of Normandy, laid claim to the English throne and invaded England. The English fought defensively while the Normans infantry and cavalry repeatedly charged their shield-wall. Finally, the English line gave way and the Normans rushed their enemy with a vengeance. King Harold fell as did the majority of the Saxon aristocracy. William's victory was complete. On Christmas day 1066, William was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey. |
 |
Close this window |
| On Christmas eve, St. Francis of Assisi, carrying a lighted torch, led his followers and all the townspeople to the woods where the nativity scene was located and celebrated Mass. As Mass was said, there, before the eyes of all to see, was a stable, animals and a manger. It was said on that night Francis’ message was so powerful that when the people looked into the empty manger, they saw the Christ Child. |  |
Close this window | |
| When Admiral Christopher Columbus discovered the beautiful island of Hispaniola, it was inhabited by the Taino Indians. His ship, the Santa Maria, ran aground on a coral reef near what is now the border of Haiti and The Dominican Republic on Christmas Eve of 1492. |  |
Close this window | |
| Pitching the bar was a game some of the Pilgrims were playing on Christmas Day 1621, upsetting their governor, William Bradford. The bar was a large piece of wood, often a log or a pole, and the object was to throw it as far as possible. Governor Bradford was upsetbecause the Pilgrims didn't celebrate Christmas. It was just another day to them, not a holiday, and people were expected to do their work as usual. However, many members of the Pilgrim community were not of the same religion as the Pilgrim fathers and wished to play games. |
 |
Close this window |
| A law was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony requiring a five-shilling fine from anyone caught "observing any such day as Christmas or the like, either by forbearing of labor, feasting, or any other way." Christmas Day was deemed by the Puritans to be a time of seasonal excess with no Biblical authority. |
Close this window |
| The Centigrade temperature scale was devised by astronomer Anders Celsius and incorporated into a Delisle thermometer at Uppsala in Sweden. Celsius divided the fixed-point range of the Fahrenheit scale (the freezing and boiling temperatures of water) into 100 equal divisions, but curiously set the freezing point at 100 and the boiling point at 0. This reverse scaling was changed to match the sense of the other temperature scales after Celsius's death. |  |
Close this window | |
| The predicted return of Halley's comet was first sighted by German farmer and amateur astronomer, Johann Georg Palitzsch, as a faint object in Pisces. Edmund Halley had predicted in 1705 the return of the comet to the Earth's vicinity every 75.5 years. For the first time the scientific prediction had been proven. Palitzsch also observed the June 6, 1761 transit of Venus, when he saw a black band linking Venus and the Sun near the beginning and end of the transit ("black drop effect") and correctly interpreted this as evidence that Venus possessed an atmosphere. |
 |
Close this window |
| George Washington crossed the ice-choked Delaware River with 5,400 troops during the American Revolution. Through driving sleet and snow, Washington pushed his ill-equipped forces in the hope of surprising the Hessians celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. The following morning, the Hessians were quickly overwhelmed . |  |
Close this window | |
| The patient from whom Dr. Ephraim McDowell removed a huge ovarian tumor in 1809 was a courageous Kentucky woman of about 46 named Mrs. Jane Todd Crawford. He described her as a woman of small stature whose abdomen had become so pendulous with the tumor as to reach almost to her knees. During the few days before the operation she rode 60 miles by horseback, resting the tumor on the horn of the saddle, to reach Danville, then a frontier town of possibly a thousand. |
 |
Close this window |
| First American premiere of Messiah was performed by The Handel & Haydn Society at Boylston Hall, Boston. |  |
Close this window | |
| Perhaps the best known Christmas carol is "Silent Night," written in 1818 by an Austrian assistant priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Day. Saddened, he sat down to write three stanzas that could be sung by choir to guitar music. "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" was heard for the first time at that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. The congregation listened as the voices of the Fr. Joseph Mohr and the choir director, Franz Xaver Gruber, rang through the church to the accompaniment of Fr. Mohr's guitar. |
 |
Close this window |
| It is interesting to note that, while not a holiday in the New England colonies, Christmas was always celebrated in the other colonies; and later, in 1831, Louisiana and Arkansas would become the first states to decree Christmas a legal holiday, and by 1890 all the states and territories would do so. |
Close this window |
| One of the best attended sporting events of the nineteenth century occurred on Christmas Day, 1862 when the 165th New York Volunteer Regiment (Duryea Zouaves) played at Hilton Head, South Carolina with more than 40,000 troops watching. The Zouaves' opponent was a team composed of men selected from other Union regiments. A.G. Mills, who would later become the president of the National League, played in the game. |
Close this window |
| As one of his last official acts as president, Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all who had participated in the Confederacy, excluding only a few high-ranking officials. Johnson had frequently acted to heal the regional division and this had been a major part in his opposition from Congress and his impeachment. |  |
Close this window | |
| It was originally called mushball, kittenball or indoor baseball, but by the 1920s it had acquired the name of softball. |
Close this window |
| John Philip Sousa was an American entertainer and composer. He is best remembered for his marches, his band, and his patriotism. Known as the "March King," he wrote 136 marches, including "The Stars and Stripes Forever," the national march of the United States. |  |
Close this window | |
| The truce lasted from Christmas, 1914, to the 3rd of January 1915. Christmas day began quietly but once the sun was up the fraternisation began. Again songs were sung and rations thrown to one another. It was not long before troops and officers started to take matters into their own hands and ventured forth. No-man's land became something of a playground. Men exchanged gifts and buttons. In one or two places soldiers who had been barbers in civilian times gave free haircuts. |
 |
Close this window |
| Hirohito took the throne on December 25, 1926. He took as his reign name Showa ("Enlightened Peace"), and he was formally known as Showa Tenno. However, the choice of reign name would not hold true as his armies occupied parts of Manchuria and later areas of the Asian mainland. |  |
Close this window | |
| The Mount Van Hoevenberg bob-sled run at Lake Placid, N. Y. is an ice-lined ditch 1 1/2 mi. long, twisting down the side of a comparatively small Adirondack mountain. The sleds that go down it are $400 machines equipped with steering wheel, brakes, and seats ten inches above the runners and weigh 485 lb. The Mount Van Hoevenberg run was constructed for the Xth Olympiad bob-sled racing. The run cost $250,000, most of which was supplied by New York State. |
 |
Close this window |
| 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", heard on the NBC network of stations. |  |
Close this window | |
| Under Toscanini's direction, the orchestra's first broadcast concert aired from NBC's Studio 8H on Christmas Day, 1937. In addition to weekly broadcasts on the NBC Red and Blue networks, the NBC Symphony Orchestra made recordings of symphonic, choral and operatic music. |  |
Close this window | |
| On the night of December 10, 1938, shooting began on "Gone With The Wind" with "The Burning of Atlanta" scene. As yet no one had been chosen for the role. David Selznick's brother Myron, the man who had defined the role of the Hollywood agent, came onto the set that night escorted by a strikingly beautiful, mysterious woman. That woman was Vivien Leigh. Leigh reportedly auditioned for George Cukor that very night. A week and a half later, on December 21 and December 22, her screentests were made. Legend has it that George Cukor called her three days later on Christmas Day to tell her she had the part. |
 |
Close this window |
| "A Christmas Carol" originally aired live in 1939 on the CBS Campbell Playhouse broadcast. It featured Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge, narratation by Orson Welles, and was produced by the famous Mercury Radio Theatre troupe. |  |
Close this window | |
| Rudolph came to life in 1939 when the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward company asked Robert L. May, a copywriter, to come up with a Christmas story they could give away to shoppers as a promotional gimmick. Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of the Rudolph booket in 1939, and although wartime paper shortages curtailed printing for the next several years, a total of 6 million copies had been given by the end of 1946. |
 |
Close this window |
| Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart received a letter from writer John O'Hara, asking if they would like to write a musical based on his series of short stories written for The New Yorker about a fast-talking Chicago cad whose adventures were told in the form of letters signed "Pal Joey." After a tryout in Philadelphia, "Pal Joey" opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Christmas night, 1940. |  |
Close this window | |
| The longest, sponsored program in the history of broadcasting was heard on NBC radio’s Blue network. The daylong "Victory Parade’s Christmas Party of Spotlight Bands" was heard over 142 radio stations. The marathon broadcast was sponsored by Coca-Cola. |
Close this window |
| According to legend this block of red sandstone was originally used in biblical times by Jacob
as a pillow. It came to Scotland by way of Egypt, Spain and Ireland and was used as the coronation stone of 'the kings
of Alba' at the Abbey of Scone until 1296, when it was carried off to perform a similar function for the English
royalty at Westminster Abbey. Four Scottish Nationalist students broke into the Abbey and removed the Stone and took it to Scotland. It was found in Arbroath Abbey and returned to Westminster in April 1951. The Stone was officially returned to Scotland in 1996 and is now part of the Honours of Scotland display in Edinburgh Castle. |
 |
Close this window |
| Dick Tracy was an unswervingly honest man in his mid-thirties, whose life was forever changed by a tragedy which struck the same day he proposed to his photographer girlfriend Tess Trueheart. When they returned to Tess' home to inform her family of their engagement, they walked in on the middle of a robbery. Local thugs, led by mob boss Big Boy Caprice, were shaking down Tess' grocer father, Emil. Interrupted, the crooks shoot Emil dead, then Big Boy knocks out Dick and kidnaps Tess. The couple later became parents of a daughter. The little girl’s name was Bonnie Braids. |
 |
Close this window |
| On Christmas Day in 1950 for NBC and again in 1951 for CBS, Disney produced hour-long specials that employed a number of clips from various Disney films and short subjects. Both specials achieved excellent ratings, and soon all three networks were wooing Disney to create an entire series for them. |
 |
Close this window |
| Bennett's first hit, "Because of You," topped the charts in September 1951, succeeded at number one by his cover of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart." Following another five chart entries over the next two years, he returned to number one in November 1953 with "Rags to Riches." |  |
Close this window | |
| First establishing themselves with the huge pop hit "Mr. Sandman" in 1954, they continued to chart in the last half of the 1950s and the early 1960s, often with covers of rock and RB songs. The 2 1958 hit "Lollipop" was the biggest of these. |  |
Close this window | |
| Alan Freed's "Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular" concert series at the Manhattan Loew's State Theater in New York with artists including Frankie Avalon, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers, the Moonglows, Johnnie Ray, Bo Diddley, and Jackie Wilson. |  |
Close this window | |
| The world’s first transistorized TV. It had an 8” screen and retailed for $249.95. When Sony introduced this set, it was the beginning of a long series of product launches in the United States. This model performed flawlessly, and Sony began to gain respect and earned a reputation for quality in electronics. |  |
Close this window | |
| Arthur (aka Wart) is a young boy who aspires to be a knight's squire. On a hunting trip he falls in on Merlin, a powerful but amnesiac wizard who has plans for Wart beyond mere squiredom. He starts by trying to give Wart an education, believing that once one has an education, one can go anywhere. Needless to say, it doesn't quite work out that way. |  |
Close this window | |
| The powerful tycoon Auric Goldfinger has initiated "Operation Grand Slam," a cataclysmic scheme to raid Fort Knox and obliterate the world economy. James Bond, armed with his specially equipped Aston Martin (its accessory package includes built-in machine guns, a smoke screen and an ejector seat), must stop the plan by overcoming several outrageous adversaries, including Oddjob, the mute servant who kills at the toss of a lethal hat. |
 |
Close this window |
| They were the first British Invasion band to break in a big way in the States after the Beatles. The Dave Clark Five reached the Top 40 17 times between 1964 and 1967 with memorable hits like "Glad All Over," "Bits and Pieces," "Because," and a remake of Bobby Day's "Over and Over," as well as making more appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show than any other English act. |  |
Close this window | |
| This simple song about a young girl who gets a brand new pair of roller skates was written by Melanie in 15 minutes. She intended it to be a lighthearted novelty to perform in between her more intense material. However it proved to be her most successful song. |
 |
Close this window |
| Jesse Jackson left Operation Breadbasket, the economic arm of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, to found Operation People United to Save Humanity (PUSH). Like Operation Breadbasket, the new organization set its sights on strengthening the economic security of African Americans. |
Close this window |
| "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" was never released as a single in England because it was banned on British radio stations due to suggestive lyrics. The offending lyric is: "Spread your wings and let me come inside." Stewart's girlfriend, Swedish actress Britt Ekland, sings in French at the end. |  |
Close this window | |
| They released Private Eyes in the summer of 1981; the record featured two number one hits, "Private Eyes" and "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)," as well as the Top Ten hit "Did It in a Minute." "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" also spent a week at the top of the RB charts -- a rare accomplishment for a White act. "H20" followed in 1982 and it proved more successful than their two previous albums, selling over two million copies and launching their biggest hit single, "Maneater," as well as the Top Ten hits "One on One" and "Family Man." |
 |
Close this window |
| Swatches, those trendy Swiss-made watches, and Cherry Coke, which grabbed about four percent of the total beverage market after being reintroduced in the early spring. Back in the 1950s, there was a lot of Cherry Coke sipping; especially at the corner drugstore. | |
 |
 |
Close this window | |
| Carey claims this was intended for the 1992 Dustin Hoffman movie, also called "Hero." The producers of the movie used Luther Vandross' "Heart Of A Hero" Instead. Limo driver Chris Selletti sued Carey, claiming he wrote the lyrics and has them in an envelope he mailed to himself in 1990. So far, his case has been dismissed in court, but Selletti claims he will open the envelope on live TV to prove his case. |
 |
Close this window |
 |
|||
Christmas Day, commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.
Although the exact date of his birth is not known, it has been celebrated
on December 25 by the Western (Roman Catholic) Church since 337 A.D.
0001 First Christmas, according to calendar-maker
Dionysus Exiguus
More ...
0337 Earliest possible date that Christmas was
celebrated on Dec 25th
More ...
0352 First definite date Christmas was celebrated
on Dec 25th
More ...
0597 England adopts Julian calendar
More ...
0800 Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne),
Roman emperor
More ...
1066 William the Conqueror, crowned king of England
More ...
1223 St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the
first Nativity scenes
More ...
1492 Columbus' ship Santa Maria docks at Dominican
Republic
More ...
1621 Governor William Bradford of Plymouth forbids
game playing on Christmas day
More ...
1659 Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine
for observing Christmas
More ...
1741 Astronomer Anders Celcius introduces Centigrade
temperature scale
More ...
1758 Halley's comet first sighted by Johann Georg
Palitzsch during return
More ...
1776 Washington crosses Delaware & surprises
& defeats 1,400 Hessians
More ...
1809 The first abdominal surgical procedure was
performed -- in Danville, Kentucky
More ...
1818 First US performance of Händel's Messiah,
Boston
More ...
1818 First known Christmas carol sung (Silent Night)
More ...
1831 Louisiana & Arkansas are first states
to observe Christmas as holiday
More ...
1843 First theatre matinee (Olympic Theatre, New
York NY)
1862 Union army men play baseball
at Hilton Head SC
More ...
1868 President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon
to Southerners
More ...
1888 First indoor baseball game played at fairgrounds
in Philadelphia
More ...
1896 "Stars & Stripes Forever" written
by John Philip Sousa
More ...
1914 Legendary/unofficial "Christmas Truce"
takes place (British & Germans)
More ...
1926 Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan
More ...
1930 First US bobsled run open to the public
More ...
1931 Radio came to the Metropolitan Opera House
in New York City
More ...
1937 Arturo Toscanini conducts first "Symphony
of the Air" over NBC Radio
More ...
1938 George Cukor announces Vivien Leigh will
play Scarlett O'Hara
More ...
1939 "A Christmas Carol" presented
on CBS radio
More ...
1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th
reindeer
More ...
1940 Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart's "Pal
Joey" premieres in New York
More ...
1942 The longest, sponsored program in
broadcasting history aired
More ...
1950 Coronation Stone stolen from Westminster
Abbey
More ...
1950 Dick Tracy marries Tess Trueheart (Comics)
More ...
1950 First Walt Disney special on TV
More ...
1953 "Rags to Riches" by Tony Bennett
topped the charts
More ...
1954 "Mr. Sandman" by the Chordettes
topped the charts
More ...
1958 Alan Freed's Christmas Rock & Roll Spectacular
opens
More ...
1959 Sony brings transistor TV 8-301 to the market
More ...
1963 Walt Disney's "The Sword In The Stone"
is released
More ...
1964 "Goldfinger" premieres in US
More ...
1965 "Over and Over" by Dave Clark Five
topped the charts
More ...
1971 Longest NFL game (82 minutes 40 seconds)
as Dolphins beat Chiefs 27-24
1971 "Brand New Key" by Melanie topped
the charts
More ...
1971 Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity)
form Jesse Jackson
More ...
1976 "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)"
by Rod Stewart topped the charts
More ...
1982 "Maneater" by Daryl Hall &
John Oates topped the charts
More ...
1984 L.F. Holland patented an improved trailer
or mobile home
1985 Two trendy products of 1985 - one you wear and
one you sip
More ...
1989 Japanese scientist achieves -271.8ºC, coldest
temp ever recorded
1993 "Hero" by Mariah Carey topped the
charts
More ...
1997 For first time US movie box office receipts
pass $6 billion
1997 Jerry Seinfeld says this is the final season
of his TV show