December
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1 December 1761 – birth of Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founder of Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. Died 16 April 1850.
1 December 1901 – Britain and Russia in conflict over parts of Afghanistan, establish boundaries which eventually form modern Afghanistan.
1 December 1913 – Ford introduces the continuous moving assembly line which could produce a complete car every 2.5 minutes. This was a revolutionary change to car manufacturing and ultimately impacted on all manufacturing processes.
1 December 1919 – American-born Lady Astor is sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament. Lady Astor was not the first woman elected to Parliament however. The first was Constance Markiewicz, an Irish woman, who refused to take her seat because of her Irish nationalist views. Lady Astor and Sir Winston Churchill developed a love/hate relationship which resulted in many famous quotes from their repartee. For instance, Lady Astor once said to Churchill, ‘If you were my husband, I’d poison your tea‘. Churchill replied with, ‘If you were my wife, I’d drink it‘. Another famous exchange reportedly occurred when Lady Astor remarked on Churchill’s drunken state, ‘Mr Prime Minister, you are drunk. You are disgustingly drunk‘. Churchill, drunk but still quick with a quip, replied, ‘Lady Astor, you are ugly. You are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you shall still be disgustingly ugly‘. Some reports claim this latter exchange was between Churchill and socialist MP, Bessie Braddock.
1 December 1942 – British Government accepts the Beveridge Report that proposed the establishment of a welfare system to provide care for all people from cradle to grave.
1 December 1943 – conclusion of the ‘Tehran Conference’ during World War 2, in which the leaders of the three major allied powers, Churchill (Britain), Stalin (USSR) and Roosevelt (USA) met in Iran to discuss opening a second allied front against Germany. The conference also addressed Turkey, Iran, Yugoslavia and Japan, as well as post-war settlements between the three nations.
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2 December – International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.
2 December 1972 – death of Yip Man, Wing Chun Kung Fu grand-master. Immortalised in the movie, Ip Man. Born 1 October 1893.
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3 December – International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
3 December 1854 – the Eureka Rebellion (Battle of the Eureka Stockade) in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Gold miners, led by Peter Lalor and Henry Ross, revolted against the oppression of the British colonial powers as well as the excessive charges for miners licences. Between 22 and 60 people were killed in the rebellion and around 120 were arrested. The rebellion resulted in the right to vote for men and so is often seen as the birth of democracy in Australia.
3 December 1944 – Civil war breaks out in Greece following its liberation during World War II, when communist rebels fight democratic forces for control.
3 December 1948 – birth of Ozzy Osbourne, legendary British rocker, former lead singer of Black Sabbath, who has also had a successful solo career. He was born as John Michael Osbourne.
3 December 1984 – Bhopal Union Carbide accident in India in which thousands of people die from toxic gases that leaked from the factory when safety systems failed.
3 December 1992 – the world’s first SMS is sent. This monumental event occurred in the United Kingdom when Neil Papworth of the SEMA Group used a PC to send the message over a Vodafone GSM network to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone, who was using an Orbitel 901 phone. The message was ‘Merry Christmas’.
3 December 1993 – death of Frank Zappa, American revolutionary musician. Born 21 December 1940.
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4 December 1952 – A deadly smog in London caused by soot and sulphur dioxide from factories, cars and home coal-fires. It continues for four days and kills at least 4,000 people.
4 December 1954 – the first franchised Burger King store is opened in Miami, Florida by James McLamore and David Edgerton.
4 December 1961 – the birth control contraceptive pill (‘the pill’) available publicly through the National Health Service.
4 December 1969 – 14 police shoot dead two members of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton and Mary Clark, who were asleep in their apartment. The Black Panther Party was committed to racial equality and rights for African Americans.
4 December 1971 – Montreux Casino in Switzerland burns to the ground, becoming the inspiration for rock’s most identifiable riff, Smoke on the Water. Savvy listeners will hear the song refer to Montreux, the Gambling House, a flare gun and of course, the brilliant, Frank Zappa & the Mothers. Deep Purple was in Montreux, on Lake Geneva, recording their legendary album, Machine Head, in the Rolling Stones Mobile Recording Studio (or ‘truck thing’ as they call it in the song) and penned arguably the greatest riff of all time after the gambling house went up in flames during a Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention concert. The fire began when someone fired a flare gun into the rattan ceiling during the Zappa song, ‘King Kong’. This link is footage of the actual concert that Frank Zappa & the Mothers were playing in the Montreux Casino on the Lake Geneva shoreline when ‘some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground’ causing smoke on the water & fire in the sky … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lpFeopjJhI
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5 December – International Volunteer Day
5 December 1791 – death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer. Born 27 January 1756.
5 December 1870 – death of Alexandré Dumas, French author of celebrated works such as ‘Count of Monte Christo‘, ‘The Three Musketeers‘, ‘The Black Tulip‘. Born 24 July 1802.
5 December 1972 – Gough Whitlam appointed Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to its first victory since 1949. The results of some electoral seats had not been finalised, so Whitlam and Deputy Prime Minister, Lance Barnard ran a duumvirate government by taking on all 27 ministerial portfolios between them for two weeks, until Whitlam could select his ministry. Labor had won control of the House of Representatives but failed to gain control of the Senate, which resulted in numerous bills being blocked by the Upper House. With the Senate threatening to block supply (failing to vote in favour of the budget), Whitam introduced a bill that was defeated twice in the Senate, leading to a double dissolution of parliament. Labor was reelected at the subsequent election and continued to control the House of Representatives with a reduced majority. In the Senate, Labor and Liberal both won 29 seats, with the balance of power held by two independents. Even with the almost paralysed government that he led, Whitlam managed a number of crucial achievements including abolition of the White Australia policy, withdrawing Australian troops from Vietnam and ended conscription in 1972, granting independence to Papua New Guinea, Medibank, multi-culturalism, abolition of university tuition fees, establishing a new government department for Aboriginal Affairs and one for Environment, Aboriginal Land Fund Commission, Australian Legal Aid Office, National Employment and Training Scheme, Trade Practices Act 1975, Racial Discrimination Act 1975, National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975, Family Law Act 1975. In October 1975, opposition leader Malcolm Fraser again threatened to block supply which would have seen the government’s budget run out on 10 November 1975. A compromise couldn’t be reached and on 11 November 1975, Governor-General Kerr sacked the Whitlam government and appointed Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister.
5 December 2013 – death of Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician. Born 18 July 1918.
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6 December 1790 – The United States Capitol is relocated from New York to Philadelphia. Ten years later, the District of Columbia is completed and the capitol permanently relocates there.
6 December 1922 – Creation of the Irish Free State as a dominion under the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Northern Ireland was included in the State, but chose not to join.
6 December 1928 – Chiquita Banana massacre. On 12 November 1928, workers for the American- owned United Fruit Company in Columbia went on strike. To protect UFC’s interests, the United States positioned Naval vessels off the coast of Columbia, threatening to invade if the Columbian government didn’t bring the strike under control. On 6 December, Columbian Army troops opened fire on the strikers, killing up to 3,000 people.
6 December 1956 – birth of Randy Rhoads, American heavy metal guitarist, played with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot. Rhoads was on tour with Ozzy Osbourne, heading to Orlando, Florida when their bus broke down near an airstrip at Leesburg, Florida. While some of the band continued sleeping in the van, the driver (an ex-commercial pilot) took one of the light planes for joy-rides with some of the band members. He didn’t have permission for the flights. Randy Rhoads and make-up artist, Rachel Youngblood were on the second flight. The pilot thought it would be funny to buzz the tour bus by flying as close as possible to it. On the third pass, the plane’s wing clipped the bus causing the plane to spiral out of control and for Rhoads and Youngblood’s heads to smash through the plane’s windshield. The plane severed the top of a pine tree before crashing into a garage at a nearby mansion. Rhoads, Youngblood and the pilot (Andrew Aycock) died instantly, all burnt beyond recognition. In 1987, Ozzy Osbourne released a live album in memory of Rhoads, called ‘Tribute’, it featured Osbourne and Rhoad’s work together. Died 19 March 1982.
6 December 1962 – a deadly smog, mainly containing sulfur dioxide, kills 90 people in London.
6 December 1969 – The Rolling Stones organise a free concert at the disused Altamont Speedway, Livermore, California, featuring themselves, as well as Jefferson Airplane, Santana, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Hell’s Angels were used as security, but the concert was marred by the deaths of four people, including one who was stabbed by a member of the Hell’s Angels.
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7 December 43BC – death of Marcus Tullius Cicero (sometimes Anglicised as Tully), Roman statesman, politician, philosopher, orator. Tully’s influence on Latin and other European languages was immense and still felt up to the 19th century. The history of prose in Latin and other languages was said to be either a reaction against, or a return to, his style. Born 3 January 106BC .
7 December 1941 – bombing of Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. The bombing was a major tactical victory for Japan and led to the United States entering World War II. The USA suffered 2403 deaths, including 68 civilians, and 1178 wounded. Japan lost 64 lives.
7 December 1941 – At the same time as Pearl Harbour, Japan attacked British and Australian forces in Malaysia and Singapore, British forces in Hong Kong and US forces in the Philippines. British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill declared war on Japan as a result. Singapore fell to Japan on 15 February 1942. US General Douglas MacArthur escaped the Philippines in March 1942 as the country fell to Japan. He relocated his headquarters to Brisbane, Australia, and became the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in the Pacific, with forces from the United States, Australia, Netherlands, Britain and other countries coming under his command.
7 December 1987 – USSR President Mikael Gorbachev arrives in the USA for an arms control summit with US President Ronald Reagan. The summit resulted in the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty (INF) which called for elimination of all cruise and ballistic missiles and launchers in Europe that had a range of 320 to 3,400 miles. This was one of the most significant arms treaties of the Cold War.
7 December 1988 – An earthquake registering 7.2 on the richter scale, completely destroys the Armenian city of Spitak, in the Soviet Union, killing 50,000.
7 December 2001 – the Taliban regime surrenders 61 days after commencement of US-led war in Afghanistan.
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8 December 1943 – birth of Jim Morrison, lead singer and song writer for the Doors. Died 3 July 1971.
8 December 1980 – Murder of John Lennon. English guitarist and singer-songwriter for the Beatles. Born 9 October 1940.
8 December 1991 – the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus sign the Belavezha Accords declaring the Soviet Union dissolved and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States. The legality of this accord was questionable, however, it was ratified by leaders of all other Soviet republics (except Georgia) on 21 December 1991.
8 December 2004 – death of Dimebag Darrell, (born Darrell Lance Abbott on 20 August 1966), American musician, founding member of Pantera. Dimebag was shot dead on stage while playing for Damageplan.
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9 December 1906 – birth of Sir Douglas Nichols KCVO, OBE. Aboriginal activist, raising awareness of aboriginal issues, including treating aborigines with dignity and as people. He played for Carlton football club in the A-grade Victorian Football League (VFL), leaving after racist treatment and joining the Northcote football club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). Nicholls became a minister and social worker. In 1957, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 1972 he was the first aborigine to be knighted. In 1976, he became the 28th governor of South Australia, the first aborigine to be appointed to a vice-regal position. He died on 4 June 1988.
9 December 1947 – Deputy Prime Minister of India, Sandar Valiabbhai Patel announces that India and Pakistan have reached an agreement on the borders of the two countries following partition … except for the issue of Kashmir, which is unresolved to this day.
9 December 1990 – Polish dissident, Solidarity union leader and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lech Walesa wins Polish presidential election in a landslide. Solidarity was the Soviet Bloc’s first independent trade union. Walesa presided over Poland’s transition from a communist state to a post-communist state.
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10 December 1896 – death of Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish chemist and armaments manufacturer, inventor of dynamite and the Nobel Prizes. Was known as the ‘Merchant of Death’. A newspaper stated that he ‘became rich by finding ways to kill people faster than ever before‘. As a result, he decided to leave a better legacy than that and used his estate to establish and fund the Nobel Prizes, which included the Nobel Peace Prize. Born 21 October 1833.
10 December – Human Rights Day.
10 December 1948 – Universal Declaration of Human Rights is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
10 December 1959 – James Coburn (star of ‘The Great Escape‘, ‘The Magnificent Seven‘) takes 200 micrograms of LSD-25 for the first time as part of a controlled experiment conducted by Dr Janiger. Other famous people who participated in Janiger’s experiments include Cary Grant (‘North by Northwest‘, ‘An Affair to Remember‘) who took over 100 acid trips, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, and author Anais Nin (refer: http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/lsd/lsd_history6.pdf and http://www.carygrant.net/autobiography/autobiography14.html)
10 December 1967 – Soul singer, Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays band are killed when the plane they are travelling on crashes into Lake Monona, Madison, Wisconsin.
10 December 1981 – An epidemic comprising of two diseases, skin cancer and pneumonia, spreads throughout the United States since July, killing 75 people, 92% of whom are gay men. The disease is eventually identified as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
10 December 1983 – Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
10 December 1992 – Prime Minister Paul Keating delivers the historic ‘Redfern Speech’ at Redfern Park, New South Wales. It is regarded as one of the greatest Australian speeches and was the first time a Prime Minister had acknowledged the role that European settlement had in the murders and other travesties inflicted on the indigenous population. In 2007, Radio National listeners voted the speech as the third most unforgettable speech in the world, behind Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech (first) and Jesus’s ‘Sermon on the Mount (second). The speech can be heard here: Redfern Speech – audio or on YouTube. The text is available here: Redfern Speech – Text.
10 December 2002 – Former US President Jimmy Carter is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomatic efforts in solving the Middle East crisis in the 1970s.
10 December 2009 – President Barack Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his ‘extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples‘.
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11 December 1941 – Hitler and Mussolini declare war on the United States. The USA responds in kind.
11 December 1946 – establishment of UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) to provide food and healthcare to children in countries devastated by World War II.
11 December 1918 – birthday of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian dissident writer, ‘The Gulag Archipelago‘, ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich‘, ‘The First Circle‘. Died 3 August 2008.
11 December 1958 – birth of Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jnr, otherwise known as Nikki Sixx, bassist and founding member of American rock band, Mötley Crüe.
11 December 1961 – America’s first direct involvement in the Vietnam civil war, when a US aircraft carrier arrives in Saigon.
11 December 1975 – The Cod War in Iceland continues when an Iceland gun boat fires on unarmed British fishing vessels. Iceland had expanded its fishing zone from 50nm to 200nm from its coast.
11 December 1979 – The Rhodesian government returns power of the country to Great Britain until democratic elections are held. Following the elections, Rhodesia is renamed Zimbabwe.
11 December 1997 – The Kyoto Protocol is agreed to by 150 countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat anthropogenic global warming.
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12 December 1901 – Italian inventor, Guglielmo Marconi sends the world’s first wireless transmission over 2,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Poldhu, Cornwall, England to Newfoundland, Canada. The message he sent was the letter ‘s’ in morse code, represented by three dots …
12 December 1913 – the Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence, two years after being stolen from the Louvre in Paris.
12 December 1925 – the world’s first motel, the Milestone Mo-Tel, opens in San Luis Obispo, California. The motorists-hotel enabled visitors to park their cars outside their rooms.
12 December 1946 – John D. Rockefeller donates six blocks of Manhattan to the United Nations, which is now the site of UN Headquarters.
12 December 2003 – Keiko, the killer whale from the movie, ‘Free Willy’, dies in Norway.
12 December 2007 – International Chess Grand-Master, Garry Kasparov announces that he is withdrawing from running for the presidential election. Kasparov’s party, Other Russia, had faced difficulty in meeting the electoral requirements for supporters to meet in Moscow.
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13 December 1937 – Nanking, China, is captured by Japanese forces. The Japanese General Matsui orders the destruction of the city, resulting in the massacre of more than 200,000 people, and rape and mutilation of around 20,000 women and girls.
13 December 1939 – Premier of the classic movie, Gone With The Wind, starring Clark Gable and Vivienne Leigh.
13 December 1995 – Thousands of people riot in Brixton, England, ransacking shops and attacking police.
13 December 2003 – US forces capture Saddam Hussein at a compound near Tikrit. He was executed by hanging on 30 December 2006 after being found guilty of the 1982 murder of 148 Iraqi Shi’ites.
13 December 2006 – Belgians react angrily to the news that their country is to be divided in two, with the Dutch speaking component of the country declaring their independence. The news was a joke propagated by Belgian public television station, R.T.B.F.
13 December 2007 – Pakistani President, Pervez Musharaff, moves responsibility for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from the Prime Minister to the President amid fears of it falling into the hands of Islamic extremists.
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14 December 1972 – The last men to walk on the moon are Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan during the Apollo 17 mission. In all, 12 men walked on the moon between 1969 and 1972.
14 December 2008 – Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist, throws his shoes at US President George W. Bush who was in a press-conference in Iraq.
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15 December 533 – Vandalic War: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Tricamarum.
15 December 1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect, co-designed the Eiffel Tower. Died 27 December 1923.
15 December 1890 – death of Sitting Bull, Native American tribal chief. Born as ‘Jumping Badger’ in 1831.
15 December 1917 – World War I: An armistice between Russia and the Central Powers is signed.
15 December 1933 – The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution officially becomes effective, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment that prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.
15 December 1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.
15 December 1946 – U.S.-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, putting an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.
15 December 1954 – The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands is signed.
15 December 1970 – Russia’s Venera 7 spacecraft lands on Venus, the first man-made object to land on the planet. It was launched on 15 August 1970.
15 December 1973 – The American Psychiatric Association votes 13–0 to remove homosexuality from its official list of psychiatric disorders, the DSM-II.
15 December 1974 – birth of Pooh, Filipino actor and comedian, star of Banana Split, famous for his impersonations, including that of Filipino boxer, Manny Pacquiao. Pooh’s real name is Reynold Garcia.
15 December 1981 – A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq’s ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.
15 December 2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 spent to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
15 December 2010 – A boat carrying 90 asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people.
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16 December 1980 – death of Harlan Sanders who eventually becomes a Colonel and chickens throughout Kentucky, and ultimately the rest of the world, are never the same again as he invents Kentucky Fried Chicken. Born 9 September 1890.
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17 December 1770 – baptism of Ludwig von Beethoven, German composer. One of the world’s most influential composers. He composed 9 symphonies, 5 concertos for piano, 32 piano sonatos and 16 string quartets. Died 26 March 1827.
17 December 1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright makes the world’s first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air flight.
17 December 2010 – death of Don Van Vliet, American singer, songwriter, musician and artist, best known as Captain Beefheart. He used a rotating ensemble of musicians, called the Magic Band. Beefheart’s music was very avant-garde, blending jazz, psychedelia, blues and rock. He was friends with Frank Zappa and sometimes collaborated with him. His experimental and unrestrained style of music complimented Zappa’s often experimental but highly disciplined work. English DJ, John Peel, describe Captain Beefheart as, ‘a psychedelic shaman who frequently bullied his musicians and sometimes alarmed his fans, Don somehow remained one of rock’s great innocents‘. Born 15 January 1941.
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18 December 1655 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there was no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.
18 December 1878 – birth of Joseph Stalin, Georgian-Russian marshal and politician, 4th Premier of the Soviet Union, died from suspected poisoning 5 March 1953.
18 December 1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
18 December 1942 – U.S. B24 Liberator bomber crashes into Mt Straloch on Hinchinbrook Island, North Queensland. All 29 persons on board were killed. Because of the rugged terrain and monsoonal ‘wet’ season, the bodies were not recovered for some months. The plane had flown from Amberley air base, near Brisbane, to Garbutt air base in Townsville to pick up passengers. The plane crashed during a violent storm, shortly after departure from Garbutt. It was on its way to Iron Range air base, near Lockhardt River, North Queensland.
18 December 1943 – birth of Keith Richards, English guitarist, singer, songwriter and founding member of the classic rock band, The Rolling Stones.
18 December 1963 – birth of Brad Pitt, American actor.
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19 December 1847 – death of Emily Bronte, author of the novel, ‘Wuthering Heights‘. Born 30 July 1818.
19 December 1915 – birth of Édith Piaf, French singer. Born Édith Giovanna Gassion, died 10 October 1963.
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20 December – International Human Solidarity Day – celebrating unity in diversity, as well as reminding people of the importance of solidarity in working towards eradicating poverty.
20 December 1973 – Basque Nationalists kill Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco in a car-bombing in Madrid.
20 December 1989 – Operation ‘Just Cause’ in which President George Bush orders 27,684 U.S. troops into Panama in an effort to oust Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega. Noriega surrendered on 3 January 1990.
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21 December 1913 – American newspaper, New York World, publishes the world’s first crossword puzzle. It was created by English journalist, Arthur Wynne.
21 December 1940 – birth of Frank Zappa, American revolutionary musician. Died 3 December 1993.
21 December 1991 – representatives of all Soviet Republics, except Georgia, signed the Alma-Ata Protocol which confirmed the Belavezha Accords of 8 December 1991 that declared the Soviet Union dissolved.
21 December 2012 – end of the world as predicted by the Ancient Mayans … or is it just the end of an age within their calendar? All was revealed … and it was a non-event …
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22 December 1880 – death of Mary Ann Evans. One of England’s greatest novelists, she published under the name ‘George Eliot’ in order to be taken seriously. Some of her novels include ‘Adam Bede’, ‘Mill on the Floss’, ‘Silas Marner’, and ‘Daniel Deronda’. Her novel, ‘Middlemarch’, was described as the greatest novel in the English language. Born 22 November 1819.
22 December 1936 – Italy sends thousands of troops to Spain to support the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War who were opposed to the democratically elected left-wing ‘Popular Front’ government which comprised of Trotskyists, communists and other left-wing groups.
22 December 1949 – birth of Maurice Gibb on the Isle of Man. Founded the Bee Gees with his brothers, Robin and Barry. Died 12 January 2003 in Miami, Florida.
22 December 1989 – The Brandenburg Gate opens for the first time in almost 30 years, allowing access between East and West Germany.
22 December 2002 – Death of Joe Strummer, co-founder, guitarist, lyricist and vocalist with UK punk band, The Clash. Born 21 August 1952.
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23 December 1947 – Bell Laboratories demonstrates the world’s first transistor radio.
23 December 1972 – 16 survivors of a plane-crash in the Andes, Argentina are rescued. The plane had crashed on 13 October 1972, carrying 45 people. A number of passengers were killed in the crash and some died later from exposure to the cold. Eight died in an avalanche. The survivors lived on chocolate bars, cabin food and the bodies of those who had died.
23 December 1982 – Israeli Consulate in Sydney and Hakoah Club in Bondi, Australia, bombings – both bombings were undertaken by the same three suspects. Two people were injured in the Israeli Consulate bombing and no injuries were recorded in the Hakoah bombing.
23 December 2005 – an earthquake in South-East Asia kills approximately 87,000 people, followed by a chemical spill that poisons China’s Songhue River, contaminating the water supply of millions of people.
23 December 2013 – death of Mikhail Kalashnikov, Soviet Union hero, inventor of the world’s most popular assault weapon, the AK-47, or ‘Kalashnikov’. The AK-47 stood for Kalashnikov Assault, 1947, the year it was designed. He was awarded the ‘Hero of Russia’ medal as well as Lenin and Stalin prizes. Kalashnikov invented the AK-47 to protect the national borders of the Soviet Union. The AK-47 has a simple design, which makes it very reliable and easy to replicate. Kalashnikov hadn’t patented the design internationally. As a result, of the estimated 100 million AK-47s in the world today, it is believed that at least half are copies. Although his weapon has been favoured by armies and guerillas across the globe, Kalashnikov claimed he never lost sleep over the numbers of people killed by it. He always maintained that he invented it to protect the ‘Fatherland’s borders’. He did however, rue the use of it by child soldiers. Kalashnikov was a World War II veteran who was wounded in 1941. While recovering in hospital he conceived the design. Born 10 November 1919.
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24 December 1865 – Ku Klux Klan formed by a group of confederate veterans who are opposed to civil rights for African-Americans.
24 December 1979 – The Soviet Army, comprised of 100,000 troops, invades Afghanistan in response to Afghan insurgents (armed by the United States) who had been attacking Soviet troops. The occupation lasts for 10 years and results in the deaths of between 600,000 and 2,000,000 Afghan civilians, as well as 6,000,000 refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran. The Soviets withdrew in 1989. The cost of the Afghan occupation is a significant factor that led to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet occupation, the United States funded Afghan resistance in the form of the Mujahideen and other militant Islamic groups, out of whom emerged Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The real victims in this war were the Afghan people, who continue to suffer and to comprise a significant portion of global refugee numbers because of the involvement of the USSR and the USA during this period.
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25 December 1876 – birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan. Leader of the Muslim League calling for the creation of Pakistan. Served as Pakistan’s first Governor-General from 15 August 1947 until his death on 11 September 1948. Pakistan celebrates his birthday with a national holiday.
25 December 1914 – Soldiers from Britain, Germany, Russia and France agree to a ‘Christmas’ truce. They crossed no-man’s land and wished each other ‘Merry Christmas’ in each nation’s language.
25 December 1974 – Cyclone Tracy strikes Darwin, Northern Territory, killing 71 people and flattening 70% of the city, leaving 41,000 homeless (out of a population of 47,000). The cyclone had winds up to 240km/h, central pressure of 950 hectorpascals,
25 December 1991 – Soviet President Gorbachev resigns, declaring the Soviet presidency extinct, and hands power to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, effectively bringing an end to the Soviet Union.
25 December 2006 – death of James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. He was born 3 May 1933.
25 December 2008 – death of Eartha Kitt, American singer and actress. She played Catwoman in the 1960’s Batman TV series. Two of her more famous songs were ‘C’est Si Bon’ and ‘Santa Baby’. She was born on 17 January 1927.
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26 December – the second day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
26 December 1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
26 December 1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. a secular festival observed by many African Americans from 26 December to 1 January as a celebration of their cultural heritage and traditional values.
26 December 1982 – Time’s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
26 December 1991 – formal dissolution of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) when the Supreme Soviet dissolved itself following the Alma-Ata Protocol of 21 December 1991 and the resignation of President Gorbachev on 25 December 1991.
26 December 2004 – the Boxing Day tsunami originates in Indonesia and spreads across the Indian Ocean killing 230,000 people in 14 countries. It was triggered by a massive earthquake which registered a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3 and caused the entire planet to vibrate by up to 1cm and caused earthquakes as far away as Alaska.
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27 December – the third day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
27 December 1822 – birth of Louis Pasteur, French bacteriologist, one of the founders of microbiology. Invented the process for preventing milk and wine from causing sickness, known as pasteurisation. (Not entirely fool-proof, as over-imbibing wine still seems to cause sickness in some). Died 28 September 1895.
27 December 1923 – death of Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect, co-designed the Eiffel Tower. Born 15 December 1832.
27 December 1979 – Soviet Union overthrows the Afghan government, replacing President Hufizullah Amin with Babrak Karmal.
27 December 2007 – Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani Prime Minister, is assassinated by a suicide bomber immediately after shots were fired at her. Bhutto was the first female head of an Islamic nation. The bombing killed 24 other people.
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28 December – the fourth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
28 December 1945 – the United States Congress officially recognises the pledge of allegiance to the flag, which states, ‘I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all’.
28 December 1981 – the world’s first test-tube baby is born after being conceived in a lab dish. Her name is Elizabeth Jordan Carr and she weighed 5lb 12oz.
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29 December – the fifth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
29 December 1890 – Massacre at Wounded Knee. The last battle of the American Indian Wars was fought at Wounded Knee Creek, on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian reservation, South Dakota. The US 7th Cavalry Regiment opened fire on the Reservation, massacring around 300 people, including 200 women and children, and wounding 51. Twenty-five US soldiers died, most from friendly fire.
29 December 1998 – Six people die in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race as huge waves swamp the vessels during the 1167km race.
29 December 1998 – Former Khmer Rouge leaders apologise for the Pol Pot led genocide in Kampuchea (now known as Cambodia), which killed 1 million people between 1975 and 1979.
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30 December – the sixth day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
30 December 1896 – Death of Dr Jose Rizal, Filipino national hero. Rizal was an ophthalmologist by profession. He campaigned for reforms of the Spanish rule of the Philippines, writing numerous works critical of the Spanish government, which helped inspire the Philippine revolution. Following this Rizal was excecuted in Manila by the Spanish colonial government. Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna on 19 June 1861.
30 December 1922 – Lenin establishes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
30 December 1945 – birth of Davy Jones, singer with British 1960’s rock band, The Monkees. Died 29 February 2012.
30 December 2006 – Former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, hanged after being found guilty of committing crimes against humanity.
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31 December – the seventh day of the 12 days of Christmas (Western Christianity).
31 December 1948 – birth of Disco star, Donna Summer. Died 17 May 2012.
31 December 1967 – Evel Knievel unsuccessfully attempts a motorcycle jump over the fountains of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. He received concussion and numerous broken bones, which left him in a coma for 29 days.
31 December 2007 – Murder statistics in the United States reveal that murder rate is 0.055 per head of population, which is slightly less than it was in 1947, when the rate was 0.0551. The population in 1947 was 145,000,000 and there were 8,000 murders. In 2007, the population was 300,000,000 and there were 16,500 murders.
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