On this Day...

[JVKn'CVO 11]

From Wiki

563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is inaugurated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

640 - John IV becomes Pope.

1294 - Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine V, who had abdicated.

1515 - Thomas Wolsey is named Lord Chancellor.

1777 - Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.

1800 - Assassination attempt on Napoleon Bonaparte.

1814 - The Treaty of Ghent is signed ending the War of 1812.

1818 - "Silent Night" is composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and Josef Mohr.

1851 - Library of Congress burns.

1865 - Several U.S. Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan.

1888 - Vincent Van Gogh cuts off his ear during some sort of seizure.

1906 - Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

1914 - World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.

1924 - Albania becomes a republic.

1929 - Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.

1939 - World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.

1941 - World War II: Hong Kong falls to the Japanese Imperial Army.

1941 - World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.

1942 - World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers.

1943 - World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.

1946 - France's Fourth Republic is 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 sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River and killing 153 people.

1953 - NBC's Dragnet becomes the first network-sponsored television program.

1954 - Laos becomes independent.

1966 - A Canadair CL-44 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 - Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.

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.

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 hold 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.

Enjoy Christmas' eve everyone!

Saludos,

Caro