ON CHRISTMAS DAY

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 352
Christmas was celebrated on December 25th.for the first time.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 597 England adopted the Julian calendar
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1100
Boudouin I of Boulogne was crowned king of Jerusalem
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 800
Pope Leo III crowned Charles the Great of the Franks, Charlemagne, Roman emperor.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1024
Boleslaw I Chrobry was crowned as the first king of Poland.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1492
Christopher Columbus' ship the Santa Maria docked in what was to become the Dominican Republic.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1599
The city of Natal was founded in Brazil.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1651
The Massachusetts General Court ordered a fine of five shillings for anyone who observed the day of Christmas.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1717
Floods ravaged the Dutch coastal provinces and many thousands were killed.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1741The Astronomer Anders Celsius introduced the Centigrade temperature scale.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1758
Farmer and amateur astronomer Johann George Palitzsch was the first to sight
Halley's Comet on its first predicted return.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1776
George Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised and defeated 1,400 Hessians.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1831
Louisiana and Arkansas were the first states to observe Christmas as holiday.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1837
The United States forces defeated the Seminole Indians at the Battle of Okeechobee.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1868
Despite bitter opposition United States President Andrew Johnson granted unconditional pardons to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1896
John Philip Sousa wrote "Stars & Stripes Forever".
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1901
The Boers launched a surprise attack against the British forces in the Orange-Free state at the Battle at Tweefontein.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1868
The Ezo Republic was founded in Hokkaido by Shogunate rebels.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1918
Just after midnight on Christmas morning the unofficial "Christmas Truce" began, German troops ceased firing their guns and artillery and then started singing Christmas carols. Later in the day men from both sides left their trenches and met in No man's land where they traded gifts with the enemy. The truce lasted for three days.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1926
Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding the Taisho Emperor.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1932
An earthquake measuring 7.6 struck Gansu in China killing
70,000 people.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1932
While King George V was delivering his Christmas dinner speech his chair collapsed.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1938
The great American film director, George Cukor, announced that Vivien Leigh would play Scarlett O'Hara in the epic Gone with the Wind.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1939
Charles Dickens' story of redemption “A Christmas Carol” was read on radio for the first time. It was broadcast on CBS radio.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1939
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was introduced by Montgomery Ward stores to become the 9th reindeer.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1941
Japan announced the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison in Hong Kong to the forces of Japan.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1947
The Constitution of the Republic of China went into effect.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1950
The Coronation Stone, taken from Scone in Scotland by Edward I in 1296, was stolen from Westminster Abbey and smuggled back to Scotland.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1953
An Avalanche of lava killed 150 people after the volcano Ruapehu erupted in New Zealand.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1971
The Worst hotel fire in history killed 163 people at the Taeyokale Hotel in the South Korean capital Seoul.
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1974
Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Australia causing unprecedented damage.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1976
Takeo Fukuda became the Japanese premier.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1977
The Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin met in Egypt with the President of Egypt Anwar Sadat

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1991
Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as president of the Soviet Union and the Union was formally dissolved the next day.

ON CHRISTMAS DAY 2004
The Cassini orbiter launched the Huygens probe towards titan, Saturn's moon.

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 1

Princess Alexandra was born on Christmas day 1936 at 3, Belgrave Square in London.Conrad Hilton the founder of the hotel chain was born 1887
Dorothy Wordsworth the English prose writer and younger sister of poet William Wordsworth was born in 1771 in Cockermouth Cumbria.
Sir Isaac Newton the renowned scientist was born near Grantham in Lincolnshire, on December 25, 1642
And Humphrey Deforest Bogart was born on Christmas day in 1899 in New York.

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 2

Born on christmas day 1901 was Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester.
While on christmas day 1742 Charlotte von Stein the girlfriend of Goethe was born.
The telecommunications pioneer Claude Chappe the inventor of semaphore lines was born on christmas day 1763
Christmas day 1821 Clara Barton the founder of the American Red Cross was born.
While on December 25th 1886 Kid Ory, jazz musician made his first entrance and.
Noel Redding, bassist with The Jimi Hendrix Experience was born 1945.

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 3

The famous German painter Hans von Bartels was born on christmas day in 1856 and another artist was born the same day in
1883, Maurice Utrillo, one of the "Montmartre" artist’s.
Bandleader Cab Calloway way born on the savior’s day in 1907
Sir Lew Grade the famous film producer was first produced on christmas day 1906 and fellow movie producer Ismail Merchant made his festive debut in 1936.

POLITICAL FIGURES BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY

Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan 1876
Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president 1918
Atal Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India 1924
Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator 1961

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 4

On christmas day 1908 the actress Helen Twelvetrees made her first appearance and in 1943 another actress Hanna Schygulla did the same.
In 1945 actor Gary Sandy made his Christmas debut and in 1949 Sissy Spacek arrived in time for Christmas lunch.

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 5

Quite a few singers have had their first releases on Christmas day
In 1912 it was Tony Martin, 1932 rock and roll legend Little Richard, singer, songwriter Jimmy Buffett in 1946 two years later in 1948 it was the turn of actress and singer Barbara Mandrell. UB40 singer and guitarist Robin Campbell was born on christmas day 1954 as was Annie Lennox, singer with the Eurythmics, then on the holy day in 1971 it was the singer Dido.

BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 6

On christmas day 1908 Quentin Crisp, gay author and activist for homosexuals was born while fellow author Carlos Castaneda arrived in 1925.
Rod Serling scriptwriter and the host of The Twilight Zone was born christmas day 1924 and in 1913 it was Henri Nannen, journalist and publisher.

SPORTSMEN BORN ON CHRISTMAS DAY

Kenny Stabler, American football born 1945
Larry Csonka, American football born 1946
Rickey Henderson, baseball born 1958

DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 1

W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield) died December 25, 1946 aged 66 in Pasadena.
Paul Bourget the French novelist and critic died 1935.The comic film star Charles Spencer Chaplin died at his home in Switzerland in 1977 aged 88.
And in 1995 entertainer Dean Martin died at his Beverly Hills home at the age of 78.

DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 2

Adrian I a well regarded Pope and friend to Charlemagne died christmas day 795.
Samuel de Champlain the French explorer and founder of Quebec City died in Canada in 1635.
Czech author and inventor of the word robot Karel Čapek died December 25th 1938
Harry T. Moore the black civil rights activist was murdered along with his wife Harriet in their home in Florida christmas day 1951.
English snooker player John Pulman passed away on December 25th 1998.

DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY # 3

Ismet Inonu Turkish statesman died at his home on 1973.
Tristan Tzara, poet and essayist and founder of Dada, the nihilistic revolutionary movement in the arts died in Paris1963
Joan Miró, Spanish Surrealist Painter and Sculptor died on Christmas day 1983.
Nicolae Ceauşescu the Romanian dictator was executed in his palace in 1989.
American baseball player and manager Billy Martin died on December 25th 1989.