Dec. 6, 1917 -- Major explosion in Halifax, N.S. harbor when two ships, carrying TNT, arms and other explosives earmerked for the troops fighting WW I, collide. Some sources call it the most powerful explosion in history to that date, one which would, in time, be surpassed only by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Sidelight: this is the reason why the official Boston, MA, city Christmas tree every year is a Nova Scotia white spruce, sent by the city of Halifax annually as a gift to the people of Boston as a token of thanks for the unexpectedly swift and determined rescue that the Bostonians launched. As soon as word got to Massachusetts, the city's Civil Safety Committee chartered a train and ploughed through a whirling blizzard to get medical help and supplies to our neighbors to the north.
December 7....
36 B.C....Earliest known Mayan inscription, Stela-2 at Chiapa de Corzo
1783...William Pitt Jr. becomes British Premier
1787...Delaware is the first State to ratify the Constitution
1808...James Madison is elected President
1836...Martin Van Buren is elected President
1868...Jesse James gang robs a bank i Gallatin Missouri and kills one person.
1877...Thomas Edison demonstrates the gramophone
1889...Gilbert and Sullivan's Gondoliers premieres in London
1907...Eugene Corri is the first referee in the boxing ring.
1926...gas refrigerator is patented
1934...Wiley Post discovers the jet stream
1937...Boston Red Sox acquire the contract of Ted Williams, aged 19 years.
1939...Lou Gehrig is elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame at age 36.
1941...Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii
1981...Spain becomes a member of NATO
1985...Bo Jackson receives the 51st Heisman Trophy Award
My apologies for interrupting your timeline, folks!
I was reading through this thread with great interest and it reminded me of a website I accessed a few years back, checking out what happened on my birthday, Feb 10. Scrolling through, I came across an entry for 1943 - "Died this day - Wa'er shot dead by Defiance". I spent many hours trying to track this one down, but had no luck at all.
Does anyone have any idea who (or what) Wa'er and Defiance were?
Dunno, lezzles, but as it was 1943, I'd assume it had something to do with a World War II battle.
Amazingly everyone (myself included) let Dec. 8 go by without posting anything. It was the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon. Couldn't miss it hereabouts. Radio stations were bending over backwards to play Lennon-McCartney songs.
Thanks, M.A. I've decided to post my query as a new topic - maybe it will trigger a memory somewhere.
As it is mid-morning, 12 Dec where I am, I have been thinking about John Lennon for a few days now - I still find it hard to believe.
December 11
On this day...
1620 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock
1688 King James II arrested
1710 Battle of Villa Viciosa (France beat Habsburgers)
1718 Battle at Frederikshall Norway
1719 1st recorded display of Aurora Borealis in US (New England)
1730 Voltaire's "Brutus" premieres in Paris
1792 France's King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason
1816 Citizens of Geneva thwarted Savoyard invaders
1816 Indiana becomes 19th state
1844 1st dental use of nitrous oxide, Hartford CT
1866 1st yacht race across the Atlantic Ocean
1872 1st black US Governor took office, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (Louisiana)
1882 Boston's Bijou Theatre, 1st American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, 1st performance, Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe"
1882 Victorien Sardous "Fedora", with Sarah Bernhardt, premieres in Paris
1888 French Panamá Canal company fails
1901 Marconi sends 1st transatlantic radio signal, Cornwall to Newfoundland
1908 Frederick Delius' "In a Summer Garden" premieres
1909 Colored moving pictures demonstrated at Madison Square Garden, New York NY
1909 Canadian Football exhibition game played in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, Hamilton Tigers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 11-6 before 15,000
1914 Stockton Street Tunnel (San Francisco) completed
1916 David Lloyd George forms British war government
1917 13 black soldiers hanged for alleged participation in Houston riot
1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
1919 Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise AL
1925 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quas Primas
1926 Josephine Baker performs in Amsterdam
1926 Queensland win their 1st Sheffield Shield cricket match, vs New South Wales
1928 Buenos Aires police thwart an attempt on President-elect Herbert Hoover
1928 National League President John Heydler proposes designated hitter for pitchers
1930 Bank of the United States opens in New York NY
1931 British Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Newfoundland
1931 Japan leaves the Gold Standard
1932 San Francisco's coldest day (27ºF) - snow falls
1934 1st Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher unsuccessful vs Rangers
1934 Ford C Frick becomes president of baseball's National League
1934 1935 All-Star Game is assigned to Cleveland
1934 National League votes to permit night baseball (up to 7 games per home team)
1936 King Edward VIII abdicates throne to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson; Duke of York becomes King George VI
1937 Italy withdraws from League of Nations
1937 25th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 30-7
1938 New York Giants win NFL championship
1939 New anti Jewish measures in Poland, proclaimed
1940 Russian General Zhukov warns of German assault
1941 Germany & Italy declare war on US
1941 Japanese occupy Guam
1941 Dutch government in exile in London declares war on Italy
1941 Giants acquire Johnny Mize from Cardinals for 3 players & $50,000
1941 Japanese attack Wake Island (only failed WWII-landing)
1942 Australian/Dutch guerrilla troops evacuated to Timor near Australia
1946 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
1946 Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label
1946 Spain suspended from UN
1950 Baseball owners vote 9-7 not to renew Commissioner Chandler's contract
1950 Hindemiths Concerto for clarinet, premieres
1951 Joe Dimaggio announces his baseball retirement
1954 USS Forrestal christened in Newport News VA
1954 Phillies purchase Connie Mack Stadium
1956 Anti-Russian demonstrates in Stettin & Wroclaw Poland
1957 Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra
1958 Upper Volta (now Bourkina Fasso) gains autonomy from France
1960 Black Sunday - Riot in Algiers, 114 die
1960 Coleman/Leigh's musical "Wildcat" with Lucille Ball premieres in New York NY
1961 Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel
1961 Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii" album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 20 weeks
1961 JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
1961 "Please, Mr. Postman" by Marvelettes, released
1965 "Anya" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 16 performances
1965 "Yearling" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 3 performances
1967 Beatles' Apple Music signs its 1st group-Grapefruit
1967 SST prototype "Concorde" 1st shown (France)
1967 People's front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) established
1969 Libya adopts constitution
1972 Astronauts Cernan & Harrison become 11th & 12th on the Moon
1973 West German chancellor Willy Brandt normalizes trade with Czechoslovakia
1975 1st class postage rises from 10¢ to 13¢
1975 Great Yankee trade getting Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis & Ken Brett from Pirates for George "Doc" Medich
1978 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at New York Kennedy Airport & made off with $5.8 million in cash & jewelry
1979 Great Britain grants independence to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)
1981 Muhammad Ali's 61st & last fight, losing to Trevor Berbick
1981 Spacelab I arrives at Kennedy Space Center
1981 UN Security Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as 5th Secretary-General
1981 Washington Capitals biggest margin of victory (9) beating Toronto 11-2
1981 Argentine President/General Roberto Viola flees
1983 1st visit to Lutheran church by a pope (John Paul II in Rome)
1983 Jan Stephens/Fred Couples win LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1984 "Doug Henning & His World..." opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 60 performances
1984 Mauretania military coup under Colonel Maawiya Ould Sid'ahmed Taya
1985 Edmonton Oilers (36) & Chicago Black Hawks (26) score NHL record 62 points
1985 General Electric acquires RCA Corp & its subsidiary, NBC
1985 Computer store owner in Sacramento CA killed by package bomb
1985 Dow Jones closes above 1,500 for 1st time (1,511.70)
1986 A Bartlett Giamatti becomes president of baseball's National League
1986 South Africa censors press
1989 "City of Angels" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 878 performances
1990 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga TN (I-75), due to fog
1990 US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) returns from space
1991 William Kennedy Smith found not guilty of rape
1992 Nor'easter storm hits New York, doing $650 million+ worth of damage
1992 WNEW AM radio on 1130 in NYC ends transmitting after 58 years
1993 Eduardo Frei elected President of Chile
1997 "Sunshine Boys" opens at Lyceum Theater NYC
1997 Federal judge orders Microsoft not to bundle IE4 in Windows
In 867 Adrian II began his reign as Pope
872 (just five years later to the day) John VIII began as a new Pope
1124 Theobald Buccapecus was elected as Pope Coelestinus II, he refuses the office.
1287 The Zuider Zee sewall collapses, killing some 50,000
1575 The Polish Parliament selects Istvan Bathory as The King of Poland.
1582 Zealand/Brabant Netherlands adopt the Gregorian calendar, tomorrow will be December 25...children born on December 15-24, devestated by lack of birthday wishes (made that part up).
1600 Oliver Van Noort sinks the Spanish galleon Sand Diego at Bay of Manila, 350 dead.
1656 Artificial pearls first manufactured by M. Jacquin of Paris, made of gypsum and fish scales.
1774 Massachusetts militiamen successfully attack the arsenal of Fort William & Mary.
1782 Charleston South Carolina evacuated by the British.
1793 the first State road is authorized, it runs from Frankfort, Kentucky to Cinciannati, Ohio.
1798 David Wilkinson of Rhode Island patents a nuts and bolt machine.
1825 The Decembrist uprising in Russia against Tsar Nicholas I begins.
1911 South Pole first reached by Roald Amundsen
1913 Greece formally takes possession of Crete.
1924 Chiang Kai-Shek occupies Hankou
1927 Iraq gains independence from Britain, British troops remain.
1929 Alexander Zaimis elected President of Greece
1933 Josephine Bakers performs in Amsterdam
1937 Japanese troops conquer and plunder Nanjing
1955 Tappan Zee Bridge opens to traffic accross the Hudson River
1961 Big Bad John by Jimmy Dean first country song to get a gold record.
1977 Saturday Night Fever premieres in New York City
1977 Red Sox trade Fergie Jenkins to the Rangers for John Poloni (and some cash)
1984 Howard Cosell retires from Monday Night Football.
Today is Monday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2006. There are 342 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Jan. 23, 1973, President Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War.
On this date:
In 1789, Georgetown University was established in present-day Washington, D.C.
In 1845, Congress decided all national elections would be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
In 1920, the Dutch government refused demands from the victorious Allies to hand over the ex-kaiser of Germany.
In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1943, critic Alexander Woollcott suffered a fatal heart attack during a live broadcast of the CBS radio program "People's Platform."
In 1950, the Israeli Knesset approved a resolution proclaiming Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
In 1964, the 24th amendment to the Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified.
In 1968, North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo, charging its crew with being on a spying mission. (The crew was released eleven months later.)
In 1985, debate in Britain's House of Lords was carried on live television for the first time.
In 1987, Spidergal was born.
spidergal wrote:Today is Monday, Jan. 23, the 23rd day of 2006. There are 342 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
In 1987, Spidergal was born.
Happy Birthday Spidergal! May it be all you want and may the years to come be full of happiness and joy.
January 26, 2006
On this day in 1950 the Republic of India was born as the Indian Constitution took effect creating the most populous Democracy in the world.
1699...The Treaty of Karlowitz ends the war between Austria and The Turks.
1720...Guilio Alberoni is ordered out of Spain after an abortive attempt to restore his country's empire.
1861...Louisiana secedes from the Union
1863...President Lincoln names General Hooker to replace Burnside as commander of the Army of The Potomac.
1875...Pinkerton agents hunting for Jesse James, kill his half brother and injure his mother.
1885...General "Chinese" Gordon is killed on the palace steps in Khartoum by Sudanese Mahdists.
1924...The city of Petrograd is renamed Leningrad.
1934...Germany signs 10 year non-aggression pact with Poland, breaking their alliance with France.
1943...First OSS agent parachutes behind Japanese lines in Burma.
1964...84 persons are arrested in segregation protest in Atlanta, Georgia.
1969...California declared a disaster area following 2 days of flooding and mudslides.
Today's Birthdays include
Julia Dent Grant...wife of Ulysses S. Grant, born in 1826.
Douglas MacArthur...United States general in World Wars I and II and also Korean conflict, born in 1880.
Bessie Coleman...pioneer aviator, born in 1893.
Paul Newman...actor/racecar driver/salad dressing and popcorn mogul, born in 1925.
Jules Feiffer...cartoonist, born in 1929.
Scott Glenn...actor, born in 1942.
Angela Davis...activist, born in 1944
Bert Heerink...rock vocalist, born in 1953.
Eddie VanHalen of VanHalen...guitarist, born in 1957.
Wayne Gretzky...hockey player, born in 1961.
On this day in 1949, Victor Fleming the director of The Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind; died at age 65.
thanks for reminding........its our Republic DAy.
Globemaster Crash, June 18, 1953 (Tachikawa, Japan)
Everyone on board (129) perished, making this the worst fatal airplane crash in history at that time.
Thank you for the heads-up, littlek. We all need an occasional reminder.
