December 31 - Christmas in CT

Christmas in CT

This Day In History

1600

The British East India Company is chartered.

1759

Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.

1853

A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an Iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.

1879

The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan remieres at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City.

1890

Ellis Island opens as a US immigration depot.

1897

Brooklyn's last day as a city. It is incorporated into NYC on New Years Day.

1923

The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.

1960

The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

1983

The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

1994

This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC-10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.

Famous Birthdays

1491

Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)

1720

Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1788)

1869

Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954)

1905

Jule Styne, English-born composer (d. 1994)

1937

Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor

1943

John Denver, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)
Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor

1945

Connie Willis, American writer

1947

Tim Matheson, American actor, director and producer

1958

Bebe Neuwirth, American actress

1965

Nicholas Sparks, American author

December 30 - Then and Now

Then and Now

    

This Day In History

1853

Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest.
1907
Ruyard Kipling receives Nobel prize for literature.

1919

Lincoln's Inn in London, England, UK admits its first female bar student.

1927

The Ginza Line, the first subway line in Asia, opens in Tokyo, Japan.

1948

The Cole Porter Broadway musical Kiss Me, Kate (1,077 performances) opens at the New Century Theatre and becomes the first show to win the Best Musical Tony Award.

1993

Israel and Vatican City establish diplomatic relations.

Famous Birthdays

1678

William Croft, English composer (d. 1727)

1849

John Milne, English seismologist and geologist (d. 1913)

1865

Rudyard Kipling, English writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1936)

1899

Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (d. 2001)

1920

Jack Lord, American actor (d. 1998)

1942

Michael Nesmith, American singer, songwriter, actor, and musician (The Monkees)

1945

Davy Jones, English singer, songwriter and actor (The Monkees)(d. 2012)

1956

Suzy Bogguss, American singer

1980

Eliza Dushku, American actress

1982

Kristin Kreuk, Canadian actress

December 29 - Holi-daze

Holi-daze

Overheard

[E is trying on a dress from Aunt Karen]
D: It might look better without the red t-shirt.
E: No! It looks perfect with the red t-shirt.

This Day In History

1170

Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church.

1812

USS Constitution, under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.

1845

The United States annexes the Mexican state of Texas. The Republic of Texas, which had been independent since the Texas Revolution of 1836, is thereupon admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

1860

The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, HMS Warrior, is launched.

1949

KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.

1959

Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.

Famous Birthdays

1721

Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (d. 1764)

1800

Charles Goodyear, American inventor (d. 1860)

1876

Pau Casals i Defilló, known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor, generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time (d. 1973)

1921

Robert C. Baker, Inventor of the chicken nugget (d. 2006)

1936

Mary Tyler Moore, American actress

1959

Patricia Clarkson, American actress

1972

Jude Law, British actor

1985

Alexa Ray Joel, American musician, daughter of Billy Joel

December 28 - Blast-off!

Blast-off!

This Day In History

1065

Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

1612

Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star.

1846

Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.

1895

The Lumière brothers perform for their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema.

1902

The Syracuse Athletic Club defeated the New York Philadelphians, 5-0, in the first indoor professional American football game, which was held at Madison Square Garden.

1912

The first municipally owned streetcars take to the streets in San Francisco, California.

1973

The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.

Famous Birthdays

1651

Johann Krieger, German composer and organist (d. 1735)

1798

Thomas James Henderson, Scottish astronomer(d. 1844)

1856

Woodrow Wilson, American politician, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)

1879

Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)

1882

Arthur Stanley Eddington, British astronomer (d. 1944)

1920

Steve Van Buren, American football player (d. 2012)

1922

Stan Lee, American comic book writer

1932

Nichelle Nichols, American actress and singer

1934

Dame Maggie Smith, British actress

1954

Denzel Washington, American actor

1969

Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer programmer

1978

John Legend, American singer-songwriter and actor
1981
Sienna Miller, British actress

December 27 - Peek

Peek-a-Boo

This Day In History

537

The Hagia Sophia is completed.

1831

Charles Darwin embarks on his voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

1845

Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1892
The foundation is laid for the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in the City and Diocese of New York (known locally as 'St. John the Unfinished').

1922

IJN Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.

1927

Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.

1966

The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

1978

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in the South Pole recorded temperatures of 7.5 °F (−13.6 °C), making it the highest temperature to ever be recorded in the South Pole.

2004

Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

Famous Birthdays

1571

Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (d. 1630)

1654

Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1705)

1773

George Cayley, English scientist, inventor, and politician (d. 1857)

1822

Louis Pasteur, French scientist (d. 1895)

1879

Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (d. 1954)

1901

Marlene Dietrich, German actress and singer (d. 1992)

1918

John Celardo, American comic strip artist (d. 2012)

1939

John Amos, American actor

1948

Gérard Depardieu, French actor

1960

Maryam d'Abo, British actress

1966

Eva LaRue, American actress

1969

Sarah Vowell, American author and journalist
1974
Masi Oka, Japanese-American actor
1983
Cole Hamels, American baseball player

December 26 - Long Day

Long Day

This Day In History

1776

In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian mercenaries.

1799

Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral, at which Henry Lee calls him "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

1862

Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1871

Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

1933

FM radio is patented.

1982

Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.

Famous Birthdays

1646

Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)

1716

Thomas Gray, English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor (d. 1771)

1780

Mary Fairfax Somerville, Scottish science writer and polymath (d. 1872)

1791

Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (d. 1871)

1891

Henry Miller, American writer (d. 1980)

1914

Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)

1939

Phil Spector, American music producer

1954

Ozzie Smith, American baseball player

1977

Sofia Bekatorou, Greek yacht racer

December 25 - Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

This Day In History

496

Clovis I, king of the Franks, is baptized into the Catholic faith at Rheims, by Saint Remigius.

1066

William the Conqueror is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

1643

Christmas Island is found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel Royal Mary.

1815

The Handel and Haydn Society, oldest continuously performing arts organization in the U.S., gives its first performance.
1843
First theatre matinee takes place at Olympic Theatre in New York City.

1950

The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.

1968

Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

1977

Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat.

1990

The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web.

2003

The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.

Famous Birthdays

1583

Orlando Gibbons, English composer (d. 1625)

1642

Isaac Newton, English scientist and mathematician (d. 1727)
1665
Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)

1728

Johann Adam Hiller, German composer, conductor and writer on music (d. 1804)

1821

Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)

1856

Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)

1889

Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader's Digest) (d. 1984)

1899

Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)

1913

Tony Martin, American singer and actor (d. 2012)

1924

Rod Serling, American television writer (d. 1975)

1945

Rick Berman, American television producer (Star Trek series)

1946

Jimmy Buffett, American singer and songwriter

1950

Manny Trillo, Venezuelan baseball player
1954
Annie Lennox, Scottish singer
Steve Wariner, American country music singer
1982
Shawn Andrews, American football player
1984
Georgia Moffett, British actress

December 24 - Working

Working

This Day In History

563

The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

1777

Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

1818

The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.

1914

World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

1955

NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition.

1968

Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

1980

Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".

Famous Birthdays

1166

John, King of England (d. 1216)

1745

Benjamin Rush, doctor and Founding Father of the United States (d. 1813)

1809

Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)

1818

James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)

1880

Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children's book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann (d. 1939)

1893

Harry Warren, American composer and lyricist (Chattanooga Choo Choo – I Only Have Eyes for You) (d. 1981)

1905

Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)

1910

Fritz Leiber, American fantasy, horror, and science fiction writer (d. 1992)
Max Miedinger, typeface designer, famous for creating Helvetica in 1957 (d. 1980)

1922

Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)

1927

Mary Higgins Clark, American author

1964

Mark Valley, American actor

1966

Diedrich Bader, American actor

December 23 - Decorators

Decorators

This Day In History

484

Huneric dies and is succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund, who becomes king of the Vandals. During his reign the Catholics are free from persecutions.

1783

George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

1823

A Visit from St. Nicholas, also known as The Night Before Christmas, is published anonymously.

1938

The first modern coelacanth is discovered in South Africa.

1947

The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

1970

The North Tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York, New York is topped out at 1,368 feet (417 m), making it the tallest building in the world.

1986

Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refueling.

Famous Birthdays

245

Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra

1689

Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (d. 1755)

1732

Richard Arkwright, English industrialist and inventor (d. 1792)

1790

Jean-François Champollion, French Egyptologist (d. 1832)

1822

Wilhelm Bauer, German inventor and engineer who built several hand-powered submarines (d. 1875)

1919

Kenneth M. Taylor, American pilot (d. 2006)

1935

Paul Hornung, American football player

1938

Bob Kahn, American Internet pioneer

1961

Carol Smillie, British television personality

1971

Corey Haim, Canadian actor (d. 2010)

1976

Brad Lidge, American baseball player

December 22 - Holiday Party

Holiday Party

This Day In History

1808

Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).

1851

The first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.

1891

Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography.

1937

The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York, New York.

1944

German troops demand the surrender of U.S. troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply from General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

1964

The first test flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird) takes place at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California.

1989

Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

Famous Birthdays

1639

Jean Racine, French dramatist (d. 1699)

1696

James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (d. 1785)

1765

Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician (d. 1825)

1858

Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (d. 1924)

1860

Austin Norman Palmer, American penmanship innovator (d. 1927)

1936

Héctor Elizondo, American actor

1944

Steve Carlton, American baseball player

1947

Brian Daley, American science-fiction writer (d. 1996)

1951

Charles de Lint, Canadian fantasy author

1960

Jean-Michel Basquiat, American artist (d. 1988)

1962

Ralph Fiennes, English actor

1968

Dina Meyer, American actress
1978
Joanne Kelly, Canadian Actress

December 21 - Rise and Fall

Rise and Fall

This Day In History

1620

William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1872

HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth, England.

1879

World première of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1913

Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.

1937

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater.

1968

Apollo 8 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

1994

Mexican volcano Popocatépetl, dormant for 47 years, erupts gases and ash.

Famous Birthdays

1118

Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)

1603

Roger Williams, English theologian and founder of Providence Plantations (d. 1684)

1672

Benjamin Schmolck, German Lutheran composer of hymns (d. 1737)

1795

John Russell, English parson and dog breeder (d. 1883)

1804

Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)

1868

George W. Fuller: American sanitary engineer (d. 1934)

1892

Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)

1940

Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)

1948

Samuel L. Jackson, American actor

1954

Chris Evert, American tennis player

1966

Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor
Karri Turner, American actress

December 20 - Ornamental

Ornamental

This Day In History

1522

Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.

1803

The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1860

South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.

1941

First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.

1946

The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.

1951

The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.

1996

NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.

2007

Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by Pablo Picasso, is stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café by Candido Portinari.

Famous Birthdays

1629

Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)

1868

Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)

1901

Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)

1932

John Hillerman, American actor

1946

John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)

1952

Jenny Agutter, English actress

1957

Stephen Bicknell, British organ builder (d. 2007)

1963

Iqbal Theba, Pakistani actor

1970

Nicole de Boer, Canadian actress