1642 Sir Isaac Newton - British mathematician and founder of modern physics, born at Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire. He began research into gravity in 1666, and published his theory of gravitation in 1685
1771 Dorothy Wordsworth – Younger sister of the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. She spent her life writing journals chronicling the lives of her and her brother. The journals, which were published posthumously, give a detailed and intimate description of their lives
1889 Lila Bell Acheson Wallace – Canadian philanthropist, publisher and editor. She was born in the small town of Virden, Manitoba, and founded the Readers Digest magazine with her husband Dewitt Wallace
1892 Dame Rebecca West – Irish-born British author (The Return of the Soldier, The Fountain Overflows, The Meaning of Treason) She had a son by H.G. Wells, with whom she had a ten year relationship
1899 Humphrey Bogart – Actor (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Caine Mutiny, The African Queen, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Big Sleep)
1907 Andrew Cruikshank – Scottish stage and screen actor (Dr Findlay’s Casebook, The Master Builder, Dial M for Murder, Miss Marple: The Body in the Library, El Cid)
1907 Cab (Cabell) Calloway the 'Highness of Hi-De-Ho' - Bandleader, singer (Minnie the Moocher, Blues in the Night, The Scat Song) He also appeared in films (Stormy Weather, St Louis Blues, The Cotton Club Comes to the Ritz, The Blues Brothers)
1914 Tony Martin - Singer (It's a Blue World, To Each His Own, Kiss of Fire, Stranger in Paradise, Deep in My Heart) He was married to dancer Cyd Charisse
1924 Rod Serling - Scriptwriter (The Twilight Zone, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Planet of the Apes, Seven Days in May)
1932 Mabel King – Actress (The Jerk, Scrooged, The Wiz, What’s Happening!, Scott Joplin)
1945 Gary Sandy – Actor (WKRP in Cincinnati, The Insider, The Nashville Grab)
1946 Stuart Wilson – British actor (The Mask of Zorro, Enemy of the State, Lethan Weapon 3, Hot Fuzz, Second Sight, The Age of Innocence, The Jewel in the Crown) He played Trelawney Hope in the Sherlock Holmes episode The Second Stain He also appeared in The Sweeney episodes Latin Lady and Abduction
1946 Jimmy Buffett - Songwriter, singer (Come Monday, Margaritaville, Changes in Latitudes - Changes in Attitudes)
1948 Barbara Mandrell – Country singer (Standing Room Only, I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool, Sleeping Single in a Double Bed, If Loving You Is Wrong)
1949 Sissy Spacek - Actress (Coal Miner's Daughter, Missing, The River, Carrie, The Migrants)
1952 CCH Pounder – Guyanese-born actress (The Shield, Avatar, Warehouse 13, End of Days, Millenium, NCIS: New Orleans)
1954 Annie Lennox – Scottish singer with The Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams, Missionary Man)
1971 Justin Trudeau – Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. He is the son of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada’s 15th Prime Minister. His election marked the first time the child of a previous Prime Minister was elected to the office
Died this Day
1635 Samuel de Champlain, age 68 – French explorer of North America. He died in Quebec City, of complications from a stroke which paralysed him in October. His remains are buried under Champlain Chapel near Notre-Dame-de-Québec
1946 W.C. Fields, age 66 – US comedian and actor (My Little Chickadee, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, David Copperfield)
1977 Sir Charlie Chaplin, age 88 – British born silent screen star and director (The Tramp, The Pawnshop, The Kid, Modern Times, The Circus, The Great Dictator) He died in Switzerland
1995 Dean Martin, age 78 – US singer (Memories are Made of This, Everybody Loves Somebody) and actor (Airport, The Dean Martin Show, The Sons of Katie Elder, Robin and the 7 Hoods, Ocean's Eleven) He starred as Matt Helm in many movies, and as the straight man to Jerry Lewis in numerous movies
On this Day
5 BC On or about this day it is speculated that Christ was born, but although December 25 is celebrated as the birthday of Christ, no one in the first two Christian centuries claimed any knowledge of the exact day or year in which he was born. Most Christians were more interested with the story of his death and resurrection. The precise reason why Christmas came to be celebrated on December 25 remains obscure, but most researchers believe that Christmas originated as a Christian substitute for various celebrations of the winter solstice. As Christianity began to take hold in the Roman world early in the fourth century, church leaders had to contend with a popular Roman pagan holiday commemorating the birthday of the unconquered sun. Every winter, Romans honoured the pagan god Saturn, the god of agriculture, with a festival that began on December 17 and usually ended on or around December 25 with a winter-solstice celebration in honour of the beginning of the new solar cycle. This festival was a time of merrymaking, and families and friends would exchange gifts. At the same time, Mithraism was popular in the Roman army. That cult worshipped Mithras, the ancient Persian god of light, and held some of its most important rituals on the winter solstice to celebrate the birth of Mithras. After the Roman Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity in 312 and sanctioned Christianity, church leaders made efforts to appropriate the winter-solstice holidays and thereby achieve a more seamless conversion to Christianity for the emperor's subjects. Christian church fathers designated December 25th as Jesus’ official birth date, which was to be observed at a holy mass, or "Christ's Mass." Also, in rationalising the celebration of Jesus' birthday in late December, church leaders may have argued that since the world was allegedly created on the spring equinox (late March), so too would Jesus have been conceived by God on that date. The Virgin Mary, pregnant with the son of God, would hence have given birth to Jesus nine months later on the winter solstice. The oldest existing record of a Christmas celebration is found in a Roman almanac that tells of a Christ's Nativity festival led by the church of Rome in 336 AD. From Rome, the Christ's Nativity celebration spread to other Christian churches to the west and east, and soon most Christians were celebrating Christ's birth on December 25. To the Roman celebration was later added other winter-solstice rituals observed by various pagan groups, such as the lighting of the Yule log and decorations with evergreens by Germanic tribes. The word Christmas entered the English language originally as Christes maesse, meaning "Christ's mass" or "festival of Christ" in Old English. A popular medieval feast was that of St. Nicholas of Myra, a saint said to visit children with gifts and admonitions just before Christmas. This story evolved into the modern practice of leaving gifts for children said to be brought by "Santa Claus," a derivative of the Dutch name for St. Nicholas, which was Sinterklaas
1066 William the Conqueror was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey
1223 St. Francis of Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio, Italy
1535 The first Christmas in Canada was celebrated in Stadacona, Québec by Jacques Cartier and his crew
1652 The British parliament officially abolished Christmas. And for the next eight years, just before Christmas, town criers reminded citizens that Christmas was not to be observed
1741 The Centigrade temperature scale was devised by Anders Celsius
1776 During the American Revolution, Patriot General George Washington crossed the Delaware River with 5,400 troops, hoping to surprise a Hessian force celebrating Christmas at their winter quarters in Trenton, New Jersey. The attack came after several months of substantial defeats for Washington's army. At about 11 pm on Christmas, Washington's army commenced its crossing of the half-frozen river at three locations, and his 2,400 soldiers successfully braved the icy and freezing river and reached the New Jersey side of the Delaware just before dawn. At approximately 8 am on the morning of the 26th, Washington's remaining force, separated into two columns, reached the outskirts of Trenton and descended on the unsuspecting Hessians. Trenton's 1,400 Hessian defenders were groggy from the previous evening's festivities, and Washington's men quickly overwhelmed the Germans' defences. By 9:30 am the town was surrounded. Although several hundred Hessians escaped, nearly 1,000 were captured at the cost of only four Patriot lives. However, because most of Washington's army had failed to cross the Delaware, he was without adequate artillery or men and was forced to withdraw from the town. The victory was not particularly significant from a strategic point of view, but news of Washington's initiative raised the spirits of the colonists, who previously feared that the Continental Army was incapable of victory
1800 The first Christmas tree in Britain was erected at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor by the German-born Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, who brought the idea over from Germany, where the first reports of Christmas trees go back to 1521
1864 The traditional swim in the ice-cold Serpentine in London’s Hyde Park was initiated
1914 Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I ceased firing their guns and artillery and commenced to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing. At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer. The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the old notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the bloody conflict of World War I erupted in all its technological fury, and the concept of another Christmas Truce became unthinkable
1932 King George V broadcast the first Christmas message carried by radio from a reigning monarch
1957 Queen Elizabeth delivered her first televised Christmas message
1990 Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau published the first website. It was the first successful communication between a web browser and server via the internet
2007 Fifty years after delivering her first televised Christmas message, Queen Elizabeth posted her first You Tube Christmas message
Merry Christmas Everyone!
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