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