1167 King John of England was born on December 24, 1167 at Beaumont Palace, which had been built outside the north gate of Oxford to serve as a royal palace conveniently close to the royal hunting-lodge at Woodstock. John was born to Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine. He was his father's favorite son, though as the youngest, he could expect no inheritance (hence his nickname, "Lackland").
1294 Ten days after Celestine V vacated the papal throne, the conclave began on December 23, 1294 to elect a new pope. Benedetto Gaetani was elected pope the next day, taking the name Boniface VIII. Boniface VIII was the first pope to wear the zucchetto, a small skullcap that covers the tonsure. It has since been formally worn by the Pope and his cardinals and bishops down the centuries.
1524 Vasco da Gama was appointed viceroy (governor) of Calicut, a Portuguese colony. in India in 1524. He contracted malaria not long after arriving, and died in the city of Cochin on December 24, 1524, three months after his arrival. Vasco da Gama's tomb now lies in the Monastery of the Hieronymites, in Belém. The monastery was built to mark his discovery of a sea passage to India, near the launch point of Vasco da Gama's first journey.
1660 The mother of William of Orange (later William III of England) was Mary, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. The restoration of Charles II in England and Scotland greatly enhanced the position of Prince William and his mother in Holland. In September 1660, she returned to England. She died of smallpox there on December 24, 1660, when William was just ten years old.
1734 The Royal Alcázar ("Castle") of Madrid was built on the location of the Palacio Real de Madrid in the 16th century. It burned to the ground on December 24, 1734. King Philip V ordered a new palace built on the same site. Construction spanned the years 1738 to 1755 and Charles III first occupied the new Palacio Real de Madrid in 1764.
1779 Nashville was founded on Christmas Eve in 1779 on the banks of a river after two teams of pioneers left the Carolinas with that purpose in mind. It was named for Francis Nash, the American Revolutionary War hero. In 1843, Nashville was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee.
1797 In 1797 the author Sir Walter Scott met a beautiful French woman Charlotte Margaret Carpenter while vacationing in the Lake District. After three weeks of courtship, Scott proposed and they were married later in the year on Christmas Eve in St Mary's Church, Carlisle. They had five children together and the couple remained happy until the death of Charlotte after three decades of marriage on May 25, 1826.
1800 Queen Charlotte, the German wife of George III erected Britain’s first Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle on December 24, 1800 for a children's party. It was illuminated with wax candles and had sweets and small gifts hanging from the branches. The Christmas tree soon became wildly fashionable in high society, but it took 40 years for them to catch on with other classes in the UK.
1801 Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelling steam vehicle in 1801. Adapting French and American designs, he took six friends for a Christmas Eve drive through the streets of Camborne in his Puffing Devil road locomotive.
1818 The first ever performance of one of our best-known carols took place at St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. After the church organ broke down the curate, 26-year-old Josef Mohr, set to music a poem his friend, Franz Gruber, had given him as a present. Mohr played his guitar while the pair sung the song at the Christmas Eve service. It was the first public performance of "Stille Nacht" or "Silent Night."
1826 The Eggnog Riot occurred at the United States Military Academy between December 24-25 1826. Whiskey was smuggled into the barracks to make eggnog for a Christmas Day party. The incident resulted in the court-martialing of twenty cadets and one enlisted soldier.
1865 On Christmas Eve 1865, a young minister stood on the hill overlooking Bethlehem where the shepherds had watched their flocks on the night Jesus was born. The impression of that starry night never left Phillips Brooks. Three years later, when he was asked to write a hymn for the children of his Philadelphia parish for their Christmas service he wrote for "O Little Town Of Bethlehem." Brook’s church organist, Lewis Redner, set the words to music.
1871 Verdi's opera Aida premiered on December 24, 1871, to great acclaim at Cairo's Khedivial Opera House. However, Verdi was unhappy that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the European premiere, held at La Scala, Milan, to be its real premiere.
1905 American businessman and pilot Howard Hughes was born in Humble, Texas on December 24, 1905 to a rich family, As a boy, Howard showed an ability to build things with wires and scraps of metal. He first became prominent as a film producer, and then as an influential figure in the aviation industry. Hughes spent the last ten years of his life as a recluse living in hotels in many cities, always taking up residence in the top floor penthouse.
1912 Missionary to the Chinese, Lottie Moon, died on December 24, 1912 on board a ship returning home to the States. For 40 years "the cookie lady" taught and cared for Chinese children. She also wrote numerous letters back home to America, mobilizing many women to pray, give or to even become missionaries themselves. In her 70s, Lottie gave away all her money and possessions to help provide for the starving Chinese. At her death she weighed barely 50 lbs.
1914 During World War I there was an unofficial Christmas truce between British and German troops demonstrating the power for good that is inherent in the season. The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, when the two sides shouted Christmas greetings to each other and as word spread men from both sides of the Western Front ventured into no man's land to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs.
1951 From 1912 to 1927, the territory of Libya was known as Italian North Africa. It was then split into two colonies, Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania, run by Italian governors. In 1934, Italy adopted the name "Libya" (used by the Ancient Greeks for all of North Africa, except Egypt) as the official name of the colony. After World War II, Libya was under Allied occupation until December 24, 1951 when it declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya,
1968 On December 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts gazed beyond the barren moonscape at the beauty and color of the earth rising, The crew were the first humans to witness Earthrise. As they saw from a distance the separations of day and night and of land and water described in Genesis 1, the three were inspired to read the account in Genesis of God's creation of the earth during a Christmas Eve television broadcast. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever.
1969 The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea on December 24, 1969. Commercial exploitation began in 1971 with tankers and, after 1975, by a pipeline, first to Teesside, England and then, after 1977, also to Emden, Germany.
1971 A 17-year-old girl, Juliane Koepcke, was the sole survivor of 92 passengers and crew in the December 24 1971 crash of LANSA Flight 508 in the Peruvian rain forest. While still strapped to her seat, she fell 10,000 feet from the aircraft and landed down into the Amazon rain forest, where she trekked through the jungle for 10 days until she was rescued by local forestry workers.
1985 The (Abraham) Lincoln family line has been extinct since December 24, 1985, when its last undisputed descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died without any children. Beckwith never publicly acknowledged paternity for any child, making him the last confirmed descendant of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.
1990 Nicole Kidman's first major movie was Days of Thunder, (1990) which also starred Tom Cruise. They fell in love during the filming of that movie. The pair were married on December 24, 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. Kidman and Cruise's spokesperson announced their separation just over a decade later. The marriage was dissolved in August of that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences.
2010 On December 24, 2010, psychic Ocean Kinge of Aldershot, England was part of a syndicate of 15 that scooped exactly £1 million on the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle. She claimed she predicted the win several months earlier. Her share was £66,666.66.
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| King John Wikipedia |
1294 Ten days after Celestine V vacated the papal throne, the conclave began on December 23, 1294 to elect a new pope. Benedetto Gaetani was elected pope the next day, taking the name Boniface VIII. Boniface VIII was the first pope to wear the zucchetto, a small skullcap that covers the tonsure. It has since been formally worn by the Pope and his cardinals and bishops down the centuries.
1524 Vasco da Gama was appointed viceroy (governor) of Calicut, a Portuguese colony. in India in 1524. He contracted malaria not long after arriving, and died in the city of Cochin on December 24, 1524, three months after his arrival. Vasco da Gama's tomb now lies in the Monastery of the Hieronymites, in Belém. The monastery was built to mark his discovery of a sea passage to India, near the launch point of Vasco da Gama's first journey.
1660 The mother of William of Orange (later William III of England) was Mary, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. The restoration of Charles II in England and Scotland greatly enhanced the position of Prince William and his mother in Holland. In September 1660, she returned to England. She died of smallpox there on December 24, 1660, when William was just ten years old.
1734 The Royal Alcázar ("Castle") of Madrid was built on the location of the Palacio Real de Madrid in the 16th century. It burned to the ground on December 24, 1734. King Philip V ordered a new palace built on the same site. Construction spanned the years 1738 to 1755 and Charles III first occupied the new Palacio Real de Madrid in 1764.
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| 17th-century painting of the Real Alcázar de Madrid. |
1779 Nashville was founded on Christmas Eve in 1779 on the banks of a river after two teams of pioneers left the Carolinas with that purpose in mind. It was named for Francis Nash, the American Revolutionary War hero. In 1843, Nashville was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee.
1797 In 1797 the author Sir Walter Scott met a beautiful French woman Charlotte Margaret Carpenter while vacationing in the Lake District. After three weeks of courtship, Scott proposed and they were married later in the year on Christmas Eve in St Mary's Church, Carlisle. They had five children together and the couple remained happy until the death of Charlotte after three decades of marriage on May 25, 1826.
1800 Queen Charlotte, the German wife of George III erected Britain’s first Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle on December 24, 1800 for a children's party. It was illuminated with wax candles and had sweets and small gifts hanging from the branches. The Christmas tree soon became wildly fashionable in high society, but it took 40 years for them to catch on with other classes in the UK.
1801 Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelling steam vehicle in 1801. Adapting French and American designs, he took six friends for a Christmas Eve drive through the streets of Camborne in his Puffing Devil road locomotive.
1818 The first ever performance of one of our best-known carols took place at St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, Austria on December 24, 1818. After the church organ broke down the curate, 26-year-old Josef Mohr, set to music a poem his friend, Franz Gruber, had given him as a present. Mohr played his guitar while the pair sung the song at the Christmas Eve service. It was the first public performance of "Stille Nacht" or "Silent Night."
1826 The Eggnog Riot occurred at the United States Military Academy between December 24-25 1826. Whiskey was smuggled into the barracks to make eggnog for a Christmas Day party. The incident resulted in the court-martialing of twenty cadets and one enlisted soldier.
1865 On Christmas Eve 1865, a young minister stood on the hill overlooking Bethlehem where the shepherds had watched their flocks on the night Jesus was born. The impression of that starry night never left Phillips Brooks. Three years later, when he was asked to write a hymn for the children of his Philadelphia parish for their Christmas service he wrote for "O Little Town Of Bethlehem." Brook’s church organist, Lewis Redner, set the words to music.
 |
| Author's manuscript of first stanza |
1871 Verdi's opera Aida premiered on December 24, 1871, to great acclaim at Cairo's Khedivial Opera House. However, Verdi was unhappy that the audience consisted of invited dignitaries and critics, but no members of the general public. He therefore considered the European premiere, held at La Scala, Milan, to be its real premiere.
1912 Missionary to the Chinese, Lottie Moon, died on December 24, 1912 on board a ship returning home to the States. For 40 years "the cookie lady" taught and cared for Chinese children. She also wrote numerous letters back home to America, mobilizing many women to pray, give or to even become missionaries themselves. In her 70s, Lottie gave away all her money and possessions to help provide for the starving Chinese. At her death she weighed barely 50 lbs.
1914 During World War I there was an unofficial Christmas truce between British and German troops demonstrating the power for good that is inherent in the season. The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, when the two sides shouted Christmas greetings to each other and as word spread men from both sides of the Western Front ventured into no man's land to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs.
1951 From 1912 to 1927, the territory of Libya was known as Italian North Africa. It was then split into two colonies, Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania, run by Italian governors. In 1934, Italy adopted the name "Libya" (used by the Ancient Greeks for all of North Africa, except Egypt) as the official name of the colony. After World War II, Libya was under Allied occupation until December 24, 1951 when it declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya,
1968 On December 24, 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts gazed beyond the barren moonscape at the beauty and color of the earth rising, The crew were the first humans to witness Earthrise. As they saw from a distance the separations of day and night and of land and water described in Genesis 1, the three were inspired to read the account in Genesis of God's creation of the earth during a Christmas Eve television broadcast. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever.
1969 The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea on December 24, 1969. Commercial exploitation began in 1971 with tankers and, after 1975, by a pipeline, first to Teesside, England and then, after 1977, also to Emden, Germany.
1971 A 17-year-old girl, Juliane Koepcke, was the sole survivor of 92 passengers and crew in the December 24 1971 crash of LANSA Flight 508 in the Peruvian rain forest. While still strapped to her seat, she fell 10,000 feet from the aircraft and landed down into the Amazon rain forest, where she trekked through the jungle for 10 days until she was rescued by local forestry workers.
1985 The (Abraham) Lincoln family line has been extinct since December 24, 1985, when its last undisputed descendant, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, died without any children. Beckwith never publicly acknowledged paternity for any child, making him the last confirmed descendant of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States.
1990 Nicole Kidman's first major movie was Days of Thunder, (1990) which also starred Tom Cruise. They fell in love during the filming of that movie. The pair were married on December 24, 1990 in Telluride, Colorado. Kidman and Cruise's spokesperson announced their separation just over a decade later. The marriage was dissolved in August of that year, with Cruise citing irreconcilable differences.
2010 On December 24, 2010, psychic Ocean Kinge of Aldershot, England was part of a syndicate of 15 that scooped exactly £1 million on the EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle. She claimed she predicted the win several months earlier. Her share was £66,666.66.
2012 Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield made history when he recorded "Jewel in the Night" whilst orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station - it was the first ever song to be recorded in outer space and was uploaded onto YouTube on December 24, 2012. Recording conditions evidently weren't perfect as when the folksy tune was uploaded onto YouTube. The crooning spaceman warned us we "might hear the slight buzz of the station's fans in the background."
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