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Today in History ~ December 26
Events1492 - 1st Spanish settlement in New World founded by Columbus
1773 - Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia
1776 - George Washington defeats Hessians at Trenton
1776 - American forces under Gen. George Washington, having crossed the Delaware River on Christmas night, defeated Hessian mercenary troops fighting for the British at the Battle of Trenton, N.J.
1799 - George Washington is eulogized by Col Henry ("Light Horse Harry") Lee as "1st in war, 1st in peace and 1st in hearts of his countrymen"
1825 - Erie Canal opens
1830 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Anna Bolena," premieres in Milan
1831 - Vincenzo Bellini's opera "Norma," premieres in Milan
1848 - 1st gold seekers arrive in Panama en route to SF
1854 - Woodpulp paper 1st exhibited, Buffalo
1860 - Major Robert Anderson, under cover of darkness, concentrates his small federal force at Ft Sumter
1862 - 38 Santee Sioux Indians hanged in Mankato Minn following their uprising
1862 - -Dec 28th) Battle of Dumfries, VA
1865 - James H Mason (Mass) patents 1st US coffee percolator
1872 - 4th largest snowfall in NYC history (18")
1878 - 1st US store to install electric lights, Philadelphia
1879 - Johannes Brahms' "Tragic Overture," premieres
1917 - The federal government took over operation of American railroads for the duration of World War I.
1926 - Prince-regent Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan
1931 - Pulitzer Prize-winning musical play "Of Thee I Sing" opens on Broadway
1931 - SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich marries Lina von Osten
1932 - Earthquake kills 70,000 in Kansu, China
1936 - Israel Philarmonic Orch forms
1940 - JA Fields' & J Chodorov's "My Sister Eileen," premieres in NYC
1941 - Winston Churchill becomes 1st British PM to address a joint meeting of Congress, warning that Axis will "stop at nothing" [H]
1943 - British sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst
1943 - Count Claus von Stauffenberg tries in vain to plant bomb in Hitler's headquarters
1944 - Battle of Bastogne -- US Gen Patton's tanks repulse Germans
1944 - Budapest surrounded by Soviet army
1944 - Tennessee Williams' play "Glass Menagerie," premieres in Chicago
1947 - Heavy snow blankets Northeast, buries NYC under 25.8" of snow in 16 hrs. That same day, LA set a record high of 84F
1948 - Hungarian Cardinal Mindszenty arrested
1954 - "The Shadow," airs for last time on radio
1960 - Musical "Do Re Mi" with Phil Silvers premieres in NYC
1963 - Beatles release "I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There"
1965 - "Funny Girl" with Barbra Streisand closes on Broadway
1967 - BBC broadcasts "Magical Mystery Tour"
1968 - Jay Allen's "Forty Carats," premieres in NYC
1973 - "Exorcist," starring Linda Blair & rated X, premieres
1975 - 1st supersonic transport service (USSR-Tupolev-144)
1978 - India's former PM, Indira Gandhi, released from jail
1982 - TIME's Man of the Year is a computer
1988 - Anti African student rebellion in China PR
1990 - Garry Kasparov beats Antatoly Karpov to retain chess championship
1990 - Nancy Cruzan, the focus of a right-to-die case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, died in a Missouri hospital.
1991 - Jack Ruby's gun sells for $220,000 in auction
1991 - Businesswoman Barbara Franklin was nominated as U.S. commerce secretary.
1993 - Members of China's Communist Party gathered in Beijing to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mao Tse-tung.
1996 - Child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey, age 6, was found slain in a basement room of her family's posh Boulder, Colo., home. Her killing remains unsolved.
2000 - Police in China arrested two suspects in a disco blaze in the city of Luoyang that killed 309 people.
2000 - The White House killed a drug-import plan, saying the congressional measure for low-cost prescription drugs would neither be safe and nor cut costs.
Birthdays Today
1194 - Frederick II, Iesi Italy, German Emperor (1212-1250)/King of Sicily
1716 - Thomas Gray (poet: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: "The paths of glory lead but to the grave."; also: "...where ignorance is bliss/'Tis folly to be wise.")
1716 - Thomas Gray, English poet ("Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard")
1770 - Pierre earl de Cambronne, French general (Waterloo, Elba)
1792 - Charles Babbage, English inventor (calculating machine)
1822 - Dion Boucicault, Irish/Us actor/playwright (Rip van Winkle)
1826 - Franz Coenen, composer
1837 - Goerge Dewey (Admiral of the Navy: Spanish-American War: hero of Manila: "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley.")
1861 - Friedrich Engel, German mathematician (group theory)
1891 - Henry Miller, stream-of-consciousness, lurid, explicit author (Tropic of Capricorn, Tropic of Cancer)
1893 - Mao Tse-Tung (communist-revolutionist: founding father of the People's Republic of China)
1894 - Antonio Molina, composer
1914 - Richard Widmark (actor: Judgment at Nuremburg, Murder on the Orient Express, The Halls of Montezuma, How the West was Won, The Alamo, Against All Odds, True Colors)
1917 - Rosemary Woods, Nixon's secretary
1921 - Steve Allen (comedian, author, musician, composer, TV host: The Tonight Show, The Steve Allen Show; films: The Benny Goodman Story, cameo with wife, Jayne Meadows: Casino)
1924 - Frank Broyles (football, sportscaster)
1927 - Alan King (Irwin Kniberg) (comedian, TV panelist: Hollywood Squares; producer, actor: The Anderson Tapes, Author! Author!, Casino; Las Vegas performer)
1936 - Wayne Causey (baseball)
1940 - Phil Spector ('Tycoon of Teen': record company executive: originator of Wall of Sound; sang with The Teddy Bears; songwriter: To Know Him is to Love Him, Spanish Harlem)
1940 - Ray Sadecki (baseball)
1946 - Joyce Jillson (actress: Slumber Party '57, Superchick)
1947 - Carlton Fisk (baseball: Boston Red Sox catcher: American League Rookie of the Year [1972])
1948 - Chris Chambliss (baseball: Cleveland Indians first baseman: American League Rookie of the Year [1971])
1948 - Dave Rader (baseball)
1952 - Kurt Schmacher (football)
Famous deaths
0267 - Dionysius, bishop of Rome/saint, dies
1476 - Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Il Sforza del Destino), duke of Milan, murdered
1530 - Zahir al-Din Mohammed Babur Shah, founder Mogols dynasty, dies at 47
1771 - Claude A Helvetius, French encyclopedist (L'esprit), dies at 56
1776 - Johann Gottlieb Rall, Hessian colonel/mercenary, dies in battle of Trenton
1797 - John Wilkes, English journalist/politician/Lower house leader, dies at 72
1890 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (Seven Cities of Troy), dies at 86
1950 - Emile Enthoven, composer, dies at 47
1963 - "Gorgeous George" Wagner, perfumed and pampered wrestler, dies
1972 - Harry Truman, 33rd US Pres (1945-53), dies in KC Mo at 88
1974 - Jack Benny, comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 80. He was 39 years old.
1985 - Dian Fossey, zoologist (Gorillas in the Mist), murdered at 53
If you have other Birthdays or events to add for this day please E-mail me
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