December 24
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December 24 is the 358th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (359th in leap years). There are 7 days remaining in the year. In the Northern Hemisphere on December 24, it is the first day of the winter season, but in the Southern Hemisphere, the first day of the summer season.
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[edit] Events
- 640 - John IV becomes Pope.
- 1294 - Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had abdicated.
- 1515 - Thomas Wolsey is named the English Lord Chancellor.
- 1715 - Swedish troops occupy Norway.
- 1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook.
- 1800 - Assassination attempt on Napoleon Bonaparte's life.
- 1814 - The Treaty of Ghent was signed which ended the War of 1812.
- 1818 - "Silent Night" composed by Franz Xaver Gruber.
- 1851 - Library of Congress burns.
- 1865 - Several US Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan.
- 1906 - The first radio program, consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech, is broadcast.
- 1914 - World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.
- 1924 - Albania becomes a republic.
- 1929 - Assassination attempt of Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
- 1941 - Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.
- 1941 - Wake Island is conquered by Japanese forces.
- 1941 - Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
- 1942 - French monarchist, Ferdinand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates French Vichy admiral Darlan in Algiers
- 1943 - US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the supreme Allied commander.
- 1946 - France's Fourth Republic founded.
- 1951 - Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
- 1953 - Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge collapse at Tangiwai, New Zealand sends a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, killing 153 people.
- 1953 - NBC's Dragnet becomes the first network-sponsored television program.
- 1954 - Laos becomes independent.
- 1966 - A Canadair CL44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
- 1968 - The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.
- 1968 - The crew of Apollo 8 enter into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so.
- 1969 - Curt Flood writes to Bowie K. Kuhn, the Commissioner of Baseball, asking to be declared a free agent .
- 1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
- 1979 - The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to support the country's Marxist government.
- 1979 - The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
- 1985 - A black bull blocks the Cross Harbour Tunnel in Hong Kong for three hours.
- 1987 - Japanese legendary rock band BOØWY declares their breakup at the Shibuya Kokaido.
- 1997 - The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
- 1997 - The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 2000 - The Texas 7 holds up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery.
- 2002 - The New Delhi Metro opens.
- 2003 - The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
- 2004 - The 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm delivers an extremely unusual snowfall to the southern United States.
[edit] Births
- 1166 - King John of England (d. 1216)
- 1389 - John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)
- 1475 - Thomas Murner, German writer (d.c. 1537)
- 1491 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (d. 1556)
- 1508 - Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)
- 1609 - Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (d. 1683)
- 1698 - William Warburton, English Bishop of Gloucester (d. 1779)
- 1724 - Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (d. 1811)
- 1754 - George Crabbe, English poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
- 1761 - Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831)
- 1798 - Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)
- 1809 - Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)
- 1812 - Karl Eduard Zachariae, German jurist (d. 1894)
- 1818 - James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)
- 1822 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (d. 1888)
- 1837 - Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)
- 1845 - King George I of Greece (d. 1913)
- 1867 - Kantaro Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
- 1868 - Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
- 1880 - Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children's book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann (d. 1939)
- 1881 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1886 - Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (d. 1962)
- 1895 - E. Roland Harriman, American financier (d. 1978)
- 1898 - Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1967)
- 1898 - Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (d. 1959)
- 1905 - Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)
- 1910 - Fritz Leiber, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1914 - Herbert Reinecker, German writer
- 1920 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- 1922 - Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1923 - George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Michael DiBiase, American wrestler (d. 1969)
- 1924 - Lee Dorsey, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1925 - Mohd. Rafi, Indian actor and playback singer (d. 1980)
- 1929 - Mary Higgins Clark, American author
- 1931 - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer
- 1937 - Félix Miéli Venerando, Brazilian football player
- 1941 - John Levene, British actor
- 1943 - Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
- 1945 - Lemmy Kilmister, British singer, bassist (Motörhead)
- 1945 - Nicholas Meyer, American author
- 1946 - Brenda Howard, American bisexual activist (d. 2005)
- 1949 - Randy Neugebauer, American politician
- 1950 - Dana Gioia, American poet
- 1951 - John D'Acquisto, baseball player
- 1954 - José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President 1994-1998
- 1955 - Clarence Gilyard, American actor
- 1957 - Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
- 1959 - Keith Deller, darts player
- 1960 - Carol Vorderman, British television presenter
- 1963 - Mary Ramsey, American singer (10,000 Maniacs)
- 1966 - Diedrich Bader, American actor
- 1968 - Doyle Bramhall II, American guitarist
- 1969 - Mark Millar, Scottish comic book writer
- 1970 - Will Oldham, American songwriter
- 1971 - Christopher Daniels, American professional wrestler
- 1971 - Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer
- 1972 - Alvaro Mesen, Costa Rican footballer
- 1973 - Eddie Pope, American soccer player
- 1974 - Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
- 1974 - Ryan Seacrest, American television host
- 1981 - Dima Bilan, Karachay-Russian pop artist
- 1982 - Aiba Masaki, Japanese singer and actor
[edit] Deaths
- 427 - Archbishop Sisinnius I of Constantinople
- 820 - Leo V, Byzantine Emperor (assassinated) (b. 775)
- 1257 - John I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1218)
- 1453 - John Dunstable, English composer (bc. 1390)
- 1524 - Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (bc. 1469)
- 1660 - Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631)
- 1707 - Noël Coypel, French painter (b. 1628)
- 1813 - Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan, (b.1740)
- 1863 - William Makepeace Thackeray, English writer (b. 1811)
- 1865 - Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, English painter and writer (b. 1793)
- 1868 - Adolphe d'Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist (b. 1802)
- 1873 - Johns Hopkins, Baltimore philanthropist and businessman (b. 1795)
- 1889 - Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (b. 1819)
- 1898 - Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI (b. 1828)
- 1914 - John Muir, Scottish-born naturalist (b. 1838)
- 1935 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer (b. 1885)
- 1938 - Bruno Taut, German architect (b. 1880)
- 1941 - Siegfried Alkan, German composer (b. 1858)
- 1942 - François Darlan, vice-premier of Vichy France (b. 1881)
- 1957 - Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)
- 1972 - Gisela Richter, English art historian (b. 1882)
- 1975 - Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (b. 1911)
- 1977 - Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (b. 1917)
- 1980 - Karl Dönitz, President of Germany (b. 1891)
- 1980 - Siggie Nordstrom, model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
- 1982 - Louis Aragon, French writer (b. 1897)
- 1984 - Peter Lawford, English actor (b. 1923)
- 1986 - Gardner Fox, American writer (b. 1911)
- 1987 - Joop den Uyl, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1919)
- 1992 - Peyo, Belgian comics artist, and creator of The Smurfs (b. 1928)
- 1993 - Norman Vincent Peale, American writer (b. 1898)
- 1994 - John Boswell, American historian (b. 1947)
- 1997 - Toshirô Mifune, Japanese actor (b. 1920)
- 1999 - João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- 2002 - Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- 2004 - Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Michael Vale, American commercial actor (b. 1922)
[edit] Holidays and observances
- December 24 is celebrated as the day before Christmas, thus called Christmas Eve.
- It is the day when food is traditionally set out for Santa Claus and his reindeer. Children around the world are urged to go to bed early so they are not awake when he arrives.
- In Germany, Hungary, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia among others, this is the day that presents are exchanged and opened.
- The Declaration of Christmas Peace takes place in the Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City, according to old traditions dating back to the Middle Ages.
[edit] External links
December 23 - December 25 - November 24 - January 24 -- listing of all days
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