Events from History on December 21
1163 : Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
1561 : Archbishop Granvelle installed
1582 : Flanders adopts Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is Jan 1 1583
1620 : 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock [OS=Dec 11]
1650 : Johan de Witt installed as Dutch pension advisor of Dordrecht
1688 : Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham
1762 : James Cook marries Elizabeth Batts
1784 : John Jay becomes 1st US secretary of state (foreign affairs)
1788 : Hue Tay Son becomes emperor Quang Trung of Vietnam
1829 : 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
1835 : HMS Beagle sails into Bay of Islands (New Zealand)
1849 : 1st US skating club formed (Phila)
1864 : Gen Sherman conquers Savannah
1866 : Cheyennes, Arapho's, Sioux, Fetterman Massacre
1890 : Pim Mulier 1st & only trip to "Alvesteddetocht"
1898 : Scientists Pierre & Marie Curie discovers radium
1900 : Gerhart Hauptmann's "Michael Kramer," premieres in Berlin
1907 : Dutch govt of De Master falls due to war budget
1909 : 1st junior high school established (Berkeley Calif)
1909 : Clyde Fitch' "City," premieres in NYC
1909 : U of Coopenhagen rejects Cook's claim that he was 1st to North Pole
1910 : Explosion in coal mine in Hulton England, 344 mine workers dies
1912 : Denmark, Norway & Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
1913 : 1st crossword puzzle (with 32 clues) printed in NY World
1914 : "Tillie's Punctured Romance," 1st six-reel feature comedy debuts
1914 : 1st feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's Punctured Romance"
1914 : released. (Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand & Charles Chaplin)
1915 : 10.17" (25.83 cm) of rainfall, Glenora, Oregon (state record)
1918 : Ray Caldwell & Slim Love, Frank Gilhooey, Al Walters & $15,000
1918 : Red Sox trade Dutch Leonard, Ernie Shore & Duffy Lewis to Yankees for
1919 : J Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma Goldman to Russia
1920 : Jerome Kern/BG DeSylva's musical "Sally," premieres in NYC
1921 : Supreme Court rules labor injunctions & picketing unconstitutional
1923 : Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
1925 : Eisenstein's movie Potemkin premieres in Moscow
1925 : Stork Hendry scores 325 for Victoria against NZ
1926 : Soccer team DOS Struggle forms
1929 : 1st group hospital insurance plan offered (Dallas Tx)
1932 : Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying Down to Rio)
1932 : Giants sign former outfielder Billy Southworth as a coach
1933 : Dried human blood serum 1st prepared, Univ of Pennsylvania
1933 : Fox signs Shirley Temple, 5, to a studio contract
1933 : Newfoundland reverts to being a crown colony
1937 : 1st feature-length color & sound cartoon premieres (Snow White)
1939 : Hitler named Adolf Eichmann leader of "Referat IV B"
1941 : David Diamond's 1st Symphony, premieres
1941 : German submarine U-567 sinks
1942 : US Supreme court declares Nevada separation legal
1944 : Cards' Marty Marion wins NL MVP
1945 : "Billion Dollar Baby" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 219 performances
1945 : Gould/Comden/Green's "Billion Dollar Baby," premieres in NYC
1946 : "If the Shoe Fits" closes at Century Theater NYC after 20 performances
1946 : Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086
1946 : Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life," premieres
1946 : Morton Gould's "Minstrel Show," premieres in Indianapolis
1948 : O'Neil Place in the Bronx erronously renamed O'Neill Place
1948 : State of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1949 : Dutch 1st Chamber accept soeveregnty of Indonesia
1950 : "Out of This World" opens at New Century Theater NYC for 157 perfs
1950 : Cole Porter's musical "Out of this World," premieres in NYC
1951 : Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement
1952 : Broadway Tunnel opens in SF
1952 : WSBT TV channel 22 in South Bend, IN (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 : KOMU TV channel 8 in Columbia, MO (NBC/PBS) begins broadcasting
1954 : Dr Sam Sheppard's wife Marilyn is murdered (he is accused of crime)
1957 : Indonesia proclaims end to state of war
1958 : Charles De Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st pres of 5th Rep of France
1959 : 10th largest snowfall in NYC history (13.7")
1959 : Citizens of Deerfield Ill block building of interracial housing
1959 : Shah of Persia marries Farah Diba
1959 : Tom Landry accepts coaching job with Dallas Cowboys (stays until 1988)
1961 : Beatles record "Sweet Georgia Brown" & "Ready Teddy"
1961 : JFK & British PM MacMillan meet in Bermuda
1962 : Angolin leaves Comecon
1962 : US & Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
1966 : USSR launches Luna 13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
1968 : Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell & Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
1968 : David Crosby, Stephen Stills & Graham Nash premiere together in Calif
1969 : Diana Ross final TV appearance as a Supreme (Ed Sullivan Show)
1969 : Vince Lombardi (Redskins) coaches his last football game, losing
1970 : WUTV TV channel 29 in Buffalo, NY (IND) begins broadcasting
1971 : UN Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th secretary General
1972 : Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
1973 : Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US & USSR meet in Geneva
1975 : "Hello, Dolly" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 51 performances
1975 : "Very Good Eddie" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 307 performances
1975 : 1st NY Jet to gain 1,000 yards rushing (John Riggins)
1975 : Madagascar adopts constitution
1975 : scoring 5 goals vs Washington Caps in 4:57
1976 : 20th Islander shut-out opponent-Billy Smith 3-0 vs Bruins
1976 : Patricia R Harris named secretary of HUD
1976 : UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year of Child
1976 : US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1978 : "Broadway Musical" opens/closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC
1978 : Police in Des Plaines Ill, arrest John Wayne Gacy Jr for murder
1979 : USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1979 : Zimbabwe adopts constitution
1981 : Cincinnati beats Bradley 75-73 in 7 OTs (NCAA record)
1983 : "Tap Dance Kid" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 669 performances
1983 : Loretta Swit weds Dennis Holahan
1983 : Musical "Tap Dance Kid" with H Battle premieres in NYC
1984 : Islander Kelly Hrudy's 1st shut-out win-Whalers 1-0
1984 : USSR launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley's Come
1985 : ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
1985 : Heart's "Heart," album goes #1
1987 : 3 white NY teens convicted of manslaughter in death of a black man
1987 : Soyuz TM-4 launches 3 cosmonauts to space station Mir
1987 : Vladimir Titov & Musa Manarov launched
1988 : Drexel agrees guilt to security felonies, pays a $650 million fine
1988 : NY bound Pan Am jumbo jet explodes over Scotland all 258 aboard die
1988 : Vladimir Titov & Musa Manarov return to earth (a year) with Chretien
1989 : Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's final speech (executed 12/25)
1989 : VP Quayle sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon
1990 : Steve & Mark Waugh complete 464* partnership for NSW v WA
1991 : 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery (#47996)
1991 : El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir Kahane
1991 : Soviet Union formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty
1991 : US actress Jane Fonda marries CNN-director Ted Turner
1991 : forming Commonwealth of Independent States
1992 : Dutch DC-10 in fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
1994 : Bomb goes off on #4 train on Fulton Street NYC
1995 : Martina Ertl of Germany wins her 3rd giant slalom world cup
1995 : SF Giants announce plans to build a new stadium to open in 2000
1996 : Pakistan all out 67 to lose to Tasmania by an inning
1997 : Detroit Lions Barry Sanders is 3rd to run for 2,000 yards in a season
1997 : Detroit Lions linebacker Reggie Brown, knocked unconscious in game
1997 : Wendy's Three-Tour LPGA Challenge