Today In History - December 20

69 General Vespasianus occupies Rome
1046 Synod of Sutri: German king Henry III removes Popes Gregory VI,
1046 Benedictus IX and Silvester III and names Bishop Siutger, Pope Clemens II
1192 Richard the Lionhearted captured in Vienna
1448 Pope Nicolaas V named Utrechts bishop Rudolf of Diepholt, cardinal
1585 English fleet and earl Robert Dudley van Leicester reach Vlissingen
1600 Ottario Rinuccini/Giulio Caccini's opera "Euridice" published
1606 Virginia Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown Va
1626 Emperor Ferdinand II/Transylvanian monarch Gabor Betlen signs Peace of Pressburg
1661 Corporation Act enforced in England
1688 Prince Willem III's troops pull into London
1694 Frederik van Brandenburg flees Schweiben
1699 Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed-Sept 1 to Jan 1
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's army meets de Esk
1780 England declares war on Netherlands
1790 1st successful U.S. cotton mill to spin yarn (Pawtucket, RI)
1803 Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to U.S. for $27M
1820 Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21 and 50
1823 Franz Schuberts "Ballet-Musik aus Rosamunde," premieres in Vienna
1830 England, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia recognize Belgium
1850 Hawaiian post office established
1861 Battle of Dranesville, VA
1862 Brig-gen Nathan B Forrest occupies Trenton, Kentucky
1879 Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park
1880 Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
1880 NY's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great White Way"
1883 International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls
1892 Phileas Fogg completes around world trip, according to Verne
1892 Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse, New York
1893 1st state anti-lynching statue approved, in Georgia
1891 Strongman Louis Cyr withstands pull of 4 horses
1959 Jasu Patel takes 9-69, India vs. Australia at Kanpur
1900 Giacobini discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited by spacecraft)
1937 Bill O'Reilly takes 9-41 for NSW against South Australia
1894 England beat Australia by 10 runs in the 1st six-day Test Cricket
1906 Venezuela (under vice-president Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
1912 J Hartley Manners' "Peg O' My Heart," premieres in New York City
1912 Paul Claudels "L'Annonce Faote Maroe," premieres in Paris
1915 Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia
1917 Russian secret police in Czech forms under Felix Dzerzjinski
1918 Eugene O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees," premieres in New York City
1919 Canadian National Railways established (North America's longest, 50,000 KM)
1919 U.S. House of Representatives restricts immigration
1920 Bob Hope became an American citizen
1922 Polish parliament selects Stanislaw Wojcieckowski as president
1924 Adolf Hitler freed from jail early
1926 Cards trade Rogers Hornsby to Giants for Frankie Frisch and Jimmy Ring
1926 Pope Pius XI convicts fascist pursuit in Italy
1926 Sidney Howard's "Silver Cord," premieres in New York City
1929 Heinie Wagner replaces Bill Carrigan as Red Sox manager
1929 Mount Davidson dedicated as a San Francisco city park
1928 1st internationsl dogsled mail leaves Minot, Maine for Montreal, Que
1933 Bolivia and Paraguay sign weapon cease fire
1935 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Ad Catholici Sacerdotii
1922 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (U.S.S.R.)
1938 Vladimir K Zworykin (Penn) receives patent on Iconoscope TV system
1939 Radio Australia begins overseas shortwave service
1940 Connie Mack acquires controlling interest in the Athletics for $42,000
1941 Free France under adm Muselier occupies St-Pierre et Miquelon
1941 Japanese troops lands on Mindanao
1943 "International" is no longer U.S.S.R. National Anthem
1942 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta
1944 Archbishop De Young and bishop Huibers condemn black market
1944 Bishop forbids membership in non Catholic unions
1944 Terence Rattigans "O Mistress Mine," premieres in London
1945 Rationg of auto tires ends in US
1946 Darius Milhaud's 2nd Symphony, premieres
1949 Maurice Ravel/John Cranko's ballet "Beauty and the Beast," premieres
1950 "Harvey," starring James Stewart, premieres in NY
1948 Second Chamber accept 2nd Police Action in Indonesia
1956 Military coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra
1956 Montgomery, Ala, removed race-based seat assignments on its buses
1957 Elvis Presley given draft notice to join U.S. Army for National Service
1953 KID (now KIDK) TV channel 3 in Idaho Falls, ID (CBS) 1st broadcasting
1952 KHQ TV channel 6 in Spokane, WA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1960 Auschwitz commandant Richard Bar arrested in German FR
1962 D Sjostakovitz opera "Katerina Ismailova," premieres in Moscow
1962 Osmond brothers debut on Andy Williams Show
1953 KWTV TV channel 9 in OKC, OK (CBS) begins broadcasting
1963 Massemba-Debate elected President of Congo-Brazzaville
1964 Levi Eshkol forms Israeli government
1963 Berlin Wall opens for 1st time to West Berliners
1966 Brussels: Nuclear Planning Group established
1966 Nuclear Planning Group forms in Brussels
1966 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 "Graduate," starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, premieres
1967 Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick form rock group Jethro Tull
1969 Peter, Paul and Mary's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" reaches #1
1971 Pakistan president Yahya Khan resigns
1983 New York Islanders score their most goals (11) vs Pitts Penguins
1972 Neil Simons "Sunshine Boys," premieres in New York City
1973 AL President Joe Cronin refuses to allow Dick Williams to mgr Yankees
1973 Dutch Antillean government of Evertsz forms
1974 Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state
1974 George Harrison releases his "Dark Horse" album in UK
1975 Joe Walsh recruited to join Eagles
1975 Pope Paul VI named J Willebrands archbishop of Utrecht
1976 Israel's PM Yitzhak Rabin resigns
1978 H R Haldeman, Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail
1977 1st Space walk made by G Grechko from Salyut
1980 U.S.S.R. formally announces death of Alexei Kosygin
1981 Harry Krieger/Tom Eyen's musical "Dreamgirls," premieres in NYC
1983 El Salvador adopts constitution
1984 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1976 "Music Is" opens at St. James Theater New York City for 8 performances
1963 Trial against 21 camp guards of Auschwitz begins
1985 Position of American Poet Laureate established (Robert Warren is 1st)
1986 White teenagers beat blacks in Howard Beach, New York
1981 Doug Small (Winnipeg Jets) ties NHL record scoring at 5 second mark
1987 "Nuts" with Barbra Striesand premieres
1987 Nancy Lopez/Miller Barber wins LPGA Mazda Golf Championship
1980 NBC broadcasts New York Jets' 24-17 win over Dolphins without audio
1988 Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's department store, London
1988 Premier Ranasinghe Premadasa elected President of Sri Lanka
1989 Premier Lubbers sees CDA-party leader Elco Brinkman as successor
1989 US troops invade Panama and oust Manuel Noriega, but don't catch him
1990 Pentagon warns Saddam that U.S. air power is ready to attack on 1/15
1990 Robert F X Sillerman purchases WAFL NY-New Jersey Knights for $11 million
1990 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns
1991 NHL grants permanent membership to Tampa Lightning and Ottawa Senators
1991 Paul Keating installed as premier of Australia
1992 Northwest and KLM introduce a new joint logo "Worldwide Reliability"
1992 Slobodan Milosevic re-elected president of Serbia
1995 "Paul Roebson" opens at Longacre Theater New York City for 14 performances
1998 Wendy's Three-Tour Golf Challenge
1907 Explosion at Yolande Alabama, coal mine kills 91
1999 Portugal returns Macau to China
1985 Howard Cosell retires from television sports after 20 years with ABC
1984 33 unknown Bach keyboard works found in Yale library
1988 NBC signs lease to stay in New York City, 33 more years
1920 Bert Collins scores 104 on Test Cricket debut vs. England SCG
1932 Queensland all out 74 vs. Victoria, Ironmonger (age 50) 7-13
1981 "Dreamgirls" opens at Imperial Theater New York City for 1522 performances
1928 Ethel Barrymore Theater opens at 243 W 47th St. New York City
1987 Dona Paz ferry sinks after crash with oil tanker Vector, 4386 die
1983 Guy Lafleur, Montreal, became 10th NHLer to score 500 goals
1973 Montreal Canadien Henri Richard scores his 1,000th NHL point
1995 American Flight 965 crashes in Columbia, 159 die, 5 survive
1983 PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon
1967 474,300 U.S. soldiers in Vietnam

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