ThisDayThatYear.com - Events from History on December 31

Events from History on December 31

1492 : 100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily
1502 : Cesare Borgia (son of pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino
1564 : Willem van Orange demands freedom of conscience/religion
1600 : British East India Company chartered
1604 : Admiral Steven van der Haghen's fleet reaches Bantam
1621 : Hungarian King Bethlen G bor/Ferdinand II sign Treaty of Mikulov
1669 : France & Brandenburg sign secret treaty
1670 : France & England sign Boyne-treaty
1680 : Amsterdam opera at Leidsegracht opens
1687 : 1st Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope
1688 : Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham [OS=Dec 21]
1700 : Frisia/Groningen adopt Gregorian calendar, tomorrow is 1/12/1701
1708 : Great Alliance captures Bridge
1711 : Duke of Marlborough fired as English army commander
1744 : James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble)
1745 : Bonnie Prince Charlies army meets with de Esk
1756 : Russia joins the Alliance of Versailles
1758 : British expeditionary army occupies Goree (Dakar) Senegal
1762 : Mozart family moves from Vienna to Salzburg
1775 : Battle of Qu‚bec; Americans unable to take British stronghold
1776 : Limit is 70› a day for carpenters, 42› for tailors
1776 : Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation:
1779 : English fleet beat Dutch Merchant vessels
1781 : Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
1783 : Import of African slaves banned by all of the Northern states
1805 : End of French Republican calendar; France returns to Gregorianism
1841 : Alabama becomes 1st state to license dental surgeons
1852 : Future president & Mrs Rutherford B Hayes marry
1857 : Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada
1859 : Dutch colony in Dutch Indies counts 4,800 slaves
1861 : 22,990 mm of rain falls in Cherrapunji Assam in 1861, world record
1862 : -Jan 20th) Battle of Stone's River, TN (Stone River, Monfreesboro)
1862 : Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee
1862 : Pres Lincoln signs act admitting West Virginia to Union
1862 : Skirmish at Parker Cross Roads, Tennessee
1862 : Union ironclad ship "Monitor" sank off Cape Hatteras, NC
1870 : J D Schneiter patents rocket mail in France, (not done)
1879 : Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace
1879 : Cornerstone laid for Iolani Palace (only royal palace in US)
1879 : Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp
1879 : Gilbert/Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance," premieres in NYC
1879 : Opera "Pirates of Penzance" is produced (NYC)
1890 : Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot
1896 : 25th auto built in US
1897 : Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898)
1902 : Boers & British army sign peace treaty
1906 : French/British/Italian treaty concerning rights on Abyssinia
1907 : For 1st time a ball drops at Times Square to signal new year
1907 : G Mahler conducts the Metropolitan Opera
1910 : US tobacco industry produced 9 billion cigarettes in 1910
1911 : Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize
1914 : Colonel Jacob Ruppert & Cap Huston purchase NY Yankees for $460,000
1917 : Dutch Social-democratic trade union NVV counts 159,450 members
1918 : Kid Gleason replaces Pants Rowland as White Sox manager
1921 : Last San Francisco firehorses retired
1923 : 1st transatlantic radio broadcast of a voice, Pittsburgh-Manchester
1923 : BBC begins using Big Ben chime ID
1923 : H Tierney/J McCarthy's musical "Kid Boots," premieres in NYC
1924 : Hubble announces existence of distant galaxies
1925 : 14th congress of CPSU decides to accelerate industry
1927 : Ponsford scores 336 against SA, giving him 1146 for month
1929 : Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini illius magistri
1930 : Pontifical encyclical Casti connubii against mixed marriages
1930 : US tobacco industry produced 123 billion cigarettes in 1930
1932 : John P O'Brien sworn-in as mayor of NYC
1934 : Helen Richey becomes 1st woman to pilot an airmail transport
1935 : CPH becomes Dutch Communist Party
1935 : Charles Darrow patents Monopoly
1938 : Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer," 1st breath test, introduced in Indiana
1938 : Dutch national debt hits Ÿ3,986,629,805.70
1939 : 25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton)
1939 : Dutch national debt hits Ÿ4,218,553,180.99
1940 : 37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton)
1941 : Young Park (2) in the Bronx named in honor of Samuel Young
1942 : 60 U boats sunk this month (330,000 ton)
1942 : Battle in Barents Sea
1942 : Potatoes rationed in Holland
1943 : NYC's Times Square greets Frank Sinatra at Paramount Theater
1944 : 48 people die in a train accident in Ogden, Utah
1944 : Japanese army evacuates harbor city Akyab
1945 : Bradman scores 112, his 1st post-War century, SA v Aust Services
1945 : Ratification of UN Charter completed
1946 : French troops leave Lebanon
1946 : Pres Truman officially proclaims end of WW II
1948 : Dutch police actions up Java gone on strike
1949 : 18 countries recognize Republic Indonesia
1950 : Jockeys W Shoemaker & Joe Culmone set record of 388 wins in a year
1951 : 1st battery to convert radioactive energy to electrical announced
1953 : Hulan Jack sworn in as Manhattan Borough president
1953 : WFBC (now WYFF) TV channel 4 in G'ville-Spartanburg, SC (NBC) begins
1953 : Willie Shoemaker shatters record, riding 485 winners in a year
1955 : "Vamp" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 60 performances
1957 : AAU awards Bobby Morrow, James Sullivan Memorial Trophy
1958 : Cubans dictator Batista flees
1958 : International Geophyscial Year ends
1958 : Willie Shoemaker 1st jockey to win national riding championship 4X
1961 : "lrma La Douce" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 527 performances
1961 : 1st performance of Beach Boys
1961 : Beach Boys play their debut gig under that name
1961 : Failed coup by Syrian group in Lebanon
1961 : Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion
1962 : "Match Game" debuts on NBC with host Gene Rayburn
1962 : American Basketball League announces suspension of operation
1962 : Dutch leave New Guinea
1962 : Katanga becomes part of Democratic Republic of Congo
1962 : Ohio ends suit against Reds when they agree to stay in Cin for 10 yrs
1963 : Dear Abby show premieres on CBS radio (runs 11 years)
1963 : Jerry Garcia & Bob Weir played music together for the 1st time
1964 : Donald Campbell (UK) sets world water speed record (276.33 mph)
1964 : Indonesia proclaims expelled from the UN
1966 : Monkee's "I'm a Believer" hits #1 & stays there for 7 weeks
1966 : Pirate Radio 390 (Radio Invicata) off England, resumes transmitting
1966 : Toboggan Chutes begin operation in Cleveland Metroparks
1967 : "Henry, Sweet Henry" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 80 perfs
1967 : Oakland Raiders beat Houston Oilers 40-7 in AFL championship game
1968 : 1st supersonic airliner flown (Russian TU-144)
1968 : 1st test flight of Tupolev TU 144
1968 : NY Jets win AFL championship
1969 : Congo-Brazzaville becomes People's republic, under major Ngouabi
1970 : Congress authorizes Eisenhower dollar coin
1970 : Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to disolve Beatles
1970 : President Allende nationalizes Chilean coal mines
1971 : KAID TV channel 4 in Boise, ID (PBS) begins broadcasting
1971 : Lt Gen Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1972 : 39th Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma 14 beats Penn State 0
1972 : Leap second day; also in 1973-79, 1987
1972 : Miami Dolphins beat Pitts Steelers 21-7 in AFC championship game
1972 : Washington Redskins beat Dallas Cowboys 26-3 in NFC championship game
1973 : 40th Sugar Bowl: Notre Dame 24 beats Alabama 23
1973 : Johan Cruyff chosen European soccer Player of year
1974 : 41st Sugar Bowl: Nebraska 13 beats Florida 10
1974 : Free agent pitcher Catfish Hunter signs $3M 5 year NY Yank contract
1974 : Gold legal in US, Franklin Mint strikes Panama's Gold 100 balboa coin
1974 : Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks join Fleetwood Mac
1974 : NY Yankees sign Jim "Catfish" Hunter to 5 yrs for record $3.75 million
1974 : Popular Electronics displays Altair 8800 computer
1975 : 42nd Sugar Bowl: Alabama 13 beats Penn State 6
1976 : TV soap "Somerset" ends 6 year run
1976 : The Cars played their 1st gig
1977 : "Bubbling Brown Sugar" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 766 perfs
1977 : "Man of La Mancha" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 124 performances
1977 : Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah becomes leader of Kuwait
1977 : Cambodia drops diplomatic relations with Vietnam
1977 : Donald Woods, a banned white editor flees South Africa
1977 : Ted Bundy escapes from jail in Colorado
1977 : WFAT (Bkln NY pirate radio station) begins broadcasting on 1620 AM
1978 : "Magic Show" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 1859 performances
1978 : "Runaways" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 199 performances
1978 : CIA director, Admiral Stansfield Turner retires from the Navy
1978 : Iran shah names Chapour Bakhtiar premier
1978 : Taiwan's final day of diplomatic relations with US
1979 : Winterland Rock Concert Hall in SF closes after 556 concerts
1980 : A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya is bombed killing 18
1980 : NY Islanders greatest shutout margin (9-0) vs Chicago Black Hawks
1980 : Senegal president Leopold Senghor resigns
1981 : CNN Headline News debuts
1981 : Lt Jerry Rawlings becomes head of Ghana, suspends constitution
1981 : Netherlands unemployment stands at record 475,000
1982 : CBS Mystery Theater final episode on radio after 8 years
1982 : NBC radio cancels almost all of its network daily features
1982 : TV soap "Doctors" ends 19 year run
1983 : Brunei gains complete independence from Britain
1983 : Jos‚ Happart installed as mayor of Voeren Belgium
1983 : Nigeria's National Assembly dissolves after military coup
1984 : Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash
1984 : NYC subway gunman Bernhard Goetz surrenders to police in NH
1984 : Rajiv Gandhi takes office as India's 6th PM succeeds his mom, Indira
1984 : US leaves UNESCO
1986 : Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in San Juan, Puerto Rico kills 97
1986 : Russian TU-144 flies for 1st time faster than sound
1986 : WIS-AM in Columbia SC changes call letters to WVOC (now WOMG)
1989 : "Me & My Girl" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 1420 performances
1989 : "Threepenny Opera" closes at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC after 65 perfs
1989 : Actress Annabella Sciorra (Jungle Fever) weds Joe Petruzzi
1989 : Fog Bowl: Heavy fog rolls in on Bears 20-12 victory over Eagles
1989 : Jockey Kent Desormeaux sets record with 598 wins in a year
1990 : Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds
1990 : Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV begins transmitting
1990 : United Somali Congress seizes Presidential Palace
1991 : CPN, Communist Party of Netherland, last day of existance
1991 : Daniel R McCarthy elected NY Yankee managing general partner
1991 : Dow Jones closes at record high 3168.83
1991 : J Donald Crump resigned as CFL Commissioner
1991 : USSR, last day of existence
1992 : Target date for Europe's single market
1992 : WCBS TV news anchor Carol Martin weds Joe Terry
1993 : Barbra Striesand does her 1st live public concert in 20 years
1993 : Loveboat actress Jill Whelan (27) weds Brad St John (33)
1994 : 1st snowless December in Baltimore Maryland
1994 : Anti Apartheid Group of Netherlands (AABN) disbands
1995 : "Danny Gans on Broadway" closes at Neil Simon NYC
1995 : "Having Our Say" closes at Booth Theater NYC after 308 performances
1995 : "Heiress" closes at Cort Theater NYC after 340 performances
1995 : "Paul Roebson" closes at Longacre Theater NYC after 14 performances
1995 : "Racing Demon" closes at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC after 48 perfs
1995 : "Tempest" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 71 performances
1995 : 62nd Sugar Bowl: Virginia Tech beats Texas
1995 : Cartoonist Bill Watterson ends his "Calvin & Hobbes" comic strip
1997 : Intel cuts price of Pentium II-233 MHz from $401 to $268
1997 : Marv Levy, retires as coach of Buffalo Bills
1997 : Microsoft buys Hotmail E-mail service
1997 : More Swedes died than were born in 1997, 1st time since 1809
1997 : Orlando Hernandez, half-brother of pitcher Livan, defects from Cuba
1997 : S Afr & US surgeons separate Zambian Siamese twins joined at the head
1998 : US movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for year
1999 : Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama

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