Merry Christmas to one and all!

December 25th in History

333 - Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.

336 - First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in ancient Rome

496 - Clovis I, King of the Franks, is Baptised into the Catholic faith at Rheims, by Saint Remigius.

597 - Augustine of Canterbury and his fellow-labourers baptises in Kent more than 10,000 Anglo-Saxons.

800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.

1000 - The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.

1066 - William the Conqueror is crowned King of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

1100 - Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.

1130 - Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily

1643 - Christmas Island found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary.

1776 - George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day.

1868 - US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

1926 - Emperor Taishō of Japan dies. His son, Prince Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor Shōwa.

1941 - World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong.

1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.

1950 - The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11th, 1951.

1989 - Nicolae Ceauşescu, former communist President of Romania and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.

2003 - The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.

Famous Birthdays

Circa 7-2 BC - Jesus Christ - Son of God / Christian messiah

1137 - Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria

1250 - John IV Laskaris, Byzantine Emperor

1461 - Christina of Saxony, Queen consort of Denmark, Norway and Sweden

1584 - Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain and Portugal

1642 - Sir Isaac Newton, scientist and mathematician

1821 - Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross

1865 - Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army

1876 - Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan

1901 - Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester

1924 - Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India

1936 - HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy

1948 - Alia al Hussein, of Jordan, Queen consort of Jordan and the third spouse of King Hussein of Jordan until her death.

1954 - Annie Lennox, singer

1981 - Katie Wright, actress

1988 - Eric Gordon, basketball player

1990 - Conny Perrin, tennis player

December 24th in History

640 - Pope John IV is elected.

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

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

1851 - The Library of the US Congress burns

1865 - The Ku Klux Klan is formed.

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

1924 - Albania becomes a republic.

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

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.

1951 - Libya becomes independent from Italy. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

1955 - NORAD Tracks Santa Claus for the first time in what will become an annual Christmas Eve tradition.

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.

1973 - District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.

2005 - Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against Sudan following a December 18th attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

Famous Birthdays:

3 BC - Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman Emperor

1166 - King John of England

1389 - John VI, Duke of Brittany

1784 - Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia

1845 - King George I of Greece

1879 - Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Consort to Christian X

1943 - Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland

1973 - Stephenie Meyer, author

1974 - Ryan Seacrest, television host

1981 - Shane Tuck, footballer

1991 - Louis Tomlinson, singer

December 23rd in History

1688 - As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees England to Paris, France after being deposed in favor of his nephew, William of Orange and his daughter Mary.

1783 - George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland.

1914 - World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops arrive in Cairo, Egypt.

1916 - World War I: Battle of Magdhaba – Allied forces defeat Turkish forces in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

1941 - World War II: After 15 days of fighting, the Imperial Japanese Army occupies Wake Island.

1948 - Seven Japanese convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

1986 - Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the first aircraft to fly non-stop around the world without aerial or ground refuelling.

1990 - History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

2007 - An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state

Famous Birthdays:

1173 - Louis I, Duke of Bavaria

1750 - King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony

1777 - Tsar Alexander I of Russia

1907 - James Roosevelt, American politician, soldier and son of Franklin D. Roosevelt

1918 - Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of Germany

1933 - His Imperial Majesty Akihito, Emperor of Japan

1943 - Her Majesty Queen Silvia of Sweden

1953 - Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia

1967 - Carla Bruni, singer-songwriter and model

1985 - Harry Judd, drummer

December 22nd in History

69 - Emperor Vitellius is captured and murdered at the Gemonian stairs in Rome.

1135 - Stephen of Blois becomes King of England

1769 - Sino-Burmese War (1765–1769) ends with an uneasy truce.

1885 - Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.

1939 - Indian Muslims observe a "Day of Deliverance" to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II with the United Kingdom.

1942 - World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge – German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: "Nuts!"

1974 - The house of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.

1989 - Berlin's Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

1990 - The Parliament of Croatia adopts the current Constitution of Croatia.

1992 - The Archives of Terror are discovered.

2010 - The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Famous Birthdays

244 - Diocletian, Roman Emperor

1095 - Roger II of Sicily, King of Sicily

1178 - Emperor Antoku of Japan

1819 - Franz Abt, composer

1912 - Lady Bird Johnson,wife of Lyndon B. Johnson, 38th First Lady of the United States

1951 - His Grace Gerald Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster

1968 - Lauralee Bell, actress

1984 - Jonas Altberg (Basshunter), singer

1989 - Logan Huffman, actor

1992 - Michaela Hončová, tennis player

December 21st in History

69 - The Roman Senate declares Vespasian as Roman Emperor, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.

72 - St Thomas the Apostle dies.

1598 - Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile.

1620 - Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

1832 - Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeat Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya.

1907 - The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile.

1937 - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premiers at the Carthay Circle Theater.

1941 - World War II: A formal treaty of alliance between Thailand and Japan is signed in the presence of the Emerald Buddha in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.

1951 - Libya became an independent country.

1967 - Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, after living for 18 days after the transplant.

1968 - Apollo program: Apollo 8 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

1988 - A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK killing 270.

1995 - The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

2004 - Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the forward operating base next to the main US military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.

Famous Birthdays:

1118 - St. Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury, saint

1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1818 - Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece

1850 - William Wallace Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln

1866 - Maud Gonne, activist

1918 - Kurt Waldheim, 9th President of Austria

1937 - Jane Fonda, actress

1942 - Hu Jintao, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the People's Republic of China

1948 - Samuel L. Jackson, actor and producer

1953 - Betty Wright, singer

1957 - Ray Romano, comedian and actor

1966 - Kiefer Sutherland, actor

1978 - Mike Vitar, actor

1980 - Michele Di Piedi, footballer

1982 - Tom Payne, actor

1987 - Brad Howard, footballer

1989 - Mark Ingram, Jr, football player

1994 - Eva Paalma, tennis player

December 20th in History

69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.

217 - The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.

1192 - Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third crusade.

1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

1915 - World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.

1917 - Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is founded.

1924 - Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison

1942 - World War II: Bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese.

1955 - Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.

1977 - Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.

1987 - History's worst peacetime sea disaster, when the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people

1989 - United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega. This is also the first combat use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft.

1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.

2007 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

Famous Birthdays:

1537 - King John III of Sweden

1717 - Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, statesman and diplomat

1886 - Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, tennis player

1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia

1902 - Prince George, Duke of Kent

1922 - George Roy Hill, film director

1944 - Jean Fergusson, actress

1956 - President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania

1963 - HRH Infanta Elena of Spain, the Duchess of Lugo, elder daughter of His Majesty King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain, fourth in the line to the Spanish throne.

1979 - Michael Rogers, cyclist

1982 - David Wright, baseball player

1983 - Jonah Hill, actor