On this day in History - Dec. 25
- 0001 -BC- Jesus of Nazareth religious leader/philosopher (estimated date) birth of Jesus (d. circa 30), considered to be the Son of God (by Christians); also considered an ascetic prophet of Islam. The date of Jesus' birth is celebrated on several different days worldwide. Of those scholars who believe in a historical Jesus, the vast majority of them agree that the precise birthdate is unknown.
- 0274 - Roman Emperor Aurelian has a temple dedicated to Sol Invictus on the supposed day of the solstice and day of rebirth of the Sun.
- 0336 - A primeira celebração de Natal no dia 25 de dezembro ocorre em Roma.
- 0795 - Pope Adrian I dies
- 1066 - William the Conqueror was crowned King of England.
- 1156 - Peter the Venerable dies (b.c. 1092). Benedictine abbot of Cluny.
- 1250 - John IV Lascaris was born (d. cieca 1305). Eastern Roman Emperor
- 1261 - John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus.
- 1524 - Vasco da Gama dies on Cochim, India (b. 1468 ?). Portugese explorer and navigator.
- 1582 - Zealand / Brabant adopts Gregorian calendar, yesterday was Dec 14th
- 1583 - Orlando Gibbons was born (d. 1625). English composer.
- 1599 - The city of Natal, capital of Grande Rio do Norte is founded.
- 1628 - Noël Coypel was born (d. 1707). French painter.
- 1635 - Samuel de Champlain dies (b. 1567). French explorer and founder of Quebec City
- 1642 - Sir Isaac Newton was born (d. 1727). Physicist, mathematician ans astronomer.
- 1643 - Christmas Island founded and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
- 1652 - Archibald Pitcairne was born (d. 1713). Scottish physician.
- 1665 - Lady Grizel Baillie was born (d. 1746). Scottish songwriter.
- 1667 - Ehrengard von der Schulenburg was born (d. 1743). English royal mistress.
- 1674 - Thomas Halyburton was born (d. 1712). Scottish theologian.
- 1676 - Matthew Hale dies (b. 1609). Lord Chief Justice of England.
- 1676 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle dies (b. 1592). English soldier.
- 1683 - Kara Mustafa dies (b. 1634). Ottoman general.
- 1711 - Jean Joseph de Mondonville was born (d. 1772). French composer.
- 1716 - Johann Jakob Reiske was born (d. 1774). German scholar and physician.
- 1742 - Charlotte von Stein was born (d. 1827). German friend of Goethe.
- 1757 - Benjamin Pierce was born (d. 1839). American politician.
- 1758 - James Hervey dies (b. 1714). English clergyman.
- 1761 - Elisabeth Petrovna dies. Tsarina of Russia (1741-62).
- 1763 - Claude Chappe was born (d. 1805). French telecommunications pioneer.
- 1771 - Dorothy Wordsworth was born (d. 1855). English diarist and sister of William Wordsworth.
- 1776 - George Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised the Hessians.
- 1784 - Yosa Buson dies (b. 1716). Japanese painter.
- 1818 - Handel's Messiah, US premieres in Boston.
- 1821 - Clara Barton was born (d. 1912). Founder of the American Red Cross.
- 1824 - Barbara Juliana, Baroness von Krüdener dies (b. 1764). Russian writer.
- 1830 - The first regularly scheduled passenger train in the United States began operation. hartered in 1827, the same year as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company steamed out of Charleston along a six mile line of track. According to the previous day's Charleston Mercury regular times for leaving the station would be "8 o'clock, at 10 A.M., at 1, and at half past 3. (Source: Library of Congress)
- 1830 - Hector Berlioz's "Symphony Fantastic," premieres
- 1837 - Battle of Okeechobee - United States forces defeat Seminole Indians.
- 1856 - Hans von Bartels was born (d. 1913). German painter.
- 1861 - Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was born (d. 1946). Indian founder of Banaras Hindu University.
- 1863 - Charles Pathé was born (d. 1957). French pioneer of film and record industries.
- 1865 - Evangeline Booth was born (d. 1950). The 4th General of The Salvation Army
- 1868 - Ezo Republic founded in Hokkaido by Shogunate rebels.
- 1868 - Linus Yale, Jr. dies (b. 1821). American mechanical engineer and inventor.
- 1875 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer was born (d. 1955). Austrian Catholic archbishop.
- 1876 - Muhammad Ali Jinnah was born (d. 1948). Founder of Pakistan.
- 1876 - Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus was born (d. 1959). German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
- 1878 - Louis Chevrolet was born (d. 1941). Swiss-born race car driver and automotive pioneer.
- 1880 - Fridolin Anderwert dies (b. 1828). Swiss Federal Councilor.
- 1883 - Maurice Utrillo was born (d. 1955). French artist.
- 1884 - Evelyn Nesbit was born (d. 1967). American actress.
- 1884 - Francisco Pulido Valente was born. Portuguese physician.
- 1886 - Kid Ory was born (d. 1973). American musician
- 1887 - Conrad Nicholson Hilton was born (d. 1979). American hotelier.
- 1890 - Robert Ripley was born (d. 1949). World traveler and collector of odd facts and artifacts.
- 1892 - Irene Lisboa was born. Portuguese writer.
- 1895 - Raul D'Ávila Pompeia dies in Rio de Janeiro - suicide - (b. 12 Apr 1863). Brazilian writer.
- 1899 - Humphrey Bogart was born (d. 1957). Actor.
- 1901 - Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester was born (d. 2004).
- 1902 - Barton MacLane was born (d. 1969). American actor.
- 1904 - Gerhard Herzberg was born (d. 1999). German-born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
- 1906 - Sir Lew Grade was born (d. 1998). Ukrainian-born film producer.
- 1906 - Ernst Ruska was born (d. 1988). German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
- 1907 - Cab Calloway was born (d. 1994). American bandleader.
- 1907 - Glenn McCarthy was born (d. 1988). American oil tycoon and businessman.
- 1907 - Mike Mazurki was born (d. 1990). Ukrainian-born actor.
- 1908 - Jo-Jo Moore was born (d. 2001). Baseball player.
- 1908 - Zora Arkus-Duntov was born (d. 1996). Belgian-American automotive engineer.
- 1908 - Quentin Crisp was born (d. 1999). English author and activist.
- 1908 - Helen Twelvetrees was born (d. 13 Feb 1958). American actress.
- 1912 - Tony Martin was born. American singer
- 1912 - Natalino Otto was born. Italian singer
- 1913 - Henri Nannen was born (d. 1966). German journalist and publisher.
- 1914 - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops on the Western Front cease firing their guns and artillery and start singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they trade gifts with the enemy forces that face them. The Christmas truce lasts for several days, depending on the location.
- 1915 - Pete Rugolo was born. Italian-born composer and arranger.
- 1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City
- 1918 - Ahmed Ben Bella was born. Politician, first President of Algeria
- 1919 - Paul David was born (d. 1999). French Canadian cardiologist, founder of the Montreal Heart Institute.
- 1920 - Artur Agostinho was born. Portuguese sportive journalist, actor and radio personality.
- 1921 - Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah was born (d. 2000). Pakistani journalist.
- 1921 - Vladimir Korolenko dies (b. 1853). Russian writer.
- 1924 - Rod Serling was born (d. 1975). American television scriptwriter.
- 1924 - Atal Behari Vajpayee was born. Prime Minister of India
- 1925 - Carlos Castaneda was born (d. 1998). Peruvian-born author
- 1925 - Karl Abraham dies (b. 1877). German psychoanalyst.
- 1926 - Taisho Emperor dies (b. 1879). Japanese emperor.
- 1927 - Nellie Fox was born (d. 1975). Baseball player.
- 1928 - Dick Miller was born. American actor.
- 1929 - Chris Kenner was born (d. 1976). American singer and songwriter.
- 1930 - Hermes Fontes dies in Rio de Janeiro - suicide (b. 28 Aug 1888). Brazilian poet, journalist and composer.
- 1931 - New York’s Metropolitan Opera broadcast an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck.
- 1933 - Francesc Macià dies (b. 1859). Catalonian statesman.
- 1935 - Al Jackson was born. Baseball player.
- 1935 - Gilda Nery was born (d. 2004). Brazilian actress.
- 1935 - Paul Bourget dies (b. 1852). French novelist and critic.
- 1936 - Princess Alexandra of Kent was born.
- 1936 - Ismail Merchant was born (d. 2005). Indian-born film producer.
- 1937 - O'Kelly Isley, Jr. was born (d. 1986). American singer (The Isley Brothers)
- 1938 - Guilherme Palmeira was born in Maceió, Alagoas. Brazilian politician.
- 1938 - Karel Capek dies (b. 1890). Czech author.
- 1939 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is read on the radio for the first time (CBS radio).
- 1939 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is introduced by Montgomery Ward stores.
- 1940 - Pete Brown was born. English poet and lyricist.
- 1940 - Agnes Ayres dies (b. 1898). American actress.
- 1941 - Admiral Chester W Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
- 1943 - Hanna Schygulla was born. German actress.
- 1943 - Wilson Fittipaldi was born. Brazilian racing driver.
- 1944 - Kenny Everett was born (d. 1995). British entertainer.
- 1944 - Jairzinho was born. Brazilian football player.
- 1945 - Noel Redding was born (d. 2003). English bassist (The Jimi Hendrix Experience)
- 1945 - Gary Sandy was born. American actor
- 1946 - Jimmy Buffett was born. American singer and songwriter
- 1946 - Larry Csonka was born. American football player
- 1946 - Gene Lamont was born. American baseball player and manager
- 1946 - W. C. Fields dies in Pasadena, California at age 66. American comedian.
- 1946 - Constitution accepted in Taiwan.
- 1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
- 1948 - Barbara Mandrell was born. American singer and actress.
- 1948 - Joel Santana was born. Brazilian football player and manager.
- 1949 - Nawaz Sharif was born. Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1949 - Sissy Spacek was born. American actress
- 1949 - Joe Louis Walker was born. American musician
- 1949 - Simone was born. Brazilian singer.
- 1950 - Manny Trillo was born. Baseball player
- 1950 - Karl Rove was born. American presidential advisor
- 1950 - Neil Francis Hawkins dies (b. 1903). British fascist.
- 1950 - Xavier Villaurrutia dies at 47. Mexican Poet (Nostalgia de la muerte)
- 1952 - CCH Pounder was born. Guyana-born actress
- 1952 - Desireless was born. French singer
- 1953 - Avalanche of lava kills 150 (Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand)
- 1953 - Patsy Donovan dies (b. 1865). Irish-born American baseball player.
- 1954 - Annie Lennox was born. Singer of Eurythmics.
- 1955 - Alannah Myles was born. Canadian singer
- 1956 - Chaim Ben Pesach was born. National Chairman of the Jewish Task Force
- 1957 - Chris Kamara was born. English footbal player and commentator
- 1957 - Shane MacGowan was born. Irish musician
- 1958 - Hanford Dixon was born. American football player
- 1958 - Rickey Henderson was born. Baseball player
- 1959 - Michael P. Anderson was born (d. 2003). Astronaut
- 1961 - Ingrid Betancourt was born. Colombian senator
- 1961 - Otto Loewi dies (b. 1873). Nobel laureate.
- 1961 - Owen Brewster dies (b. 1888). U.S. Senator from Maine.
- 1962 - Dean Cameron was born. American actor.
- 1963 - Tristan Tzara dies (b. 1896). Romanian-born writer.
- 1964 - Gary McAllister was born. Scottish football player.
- 1967 - Jason Thirsk was born. American bass player (Pennywise)
- 1967 - Paul McCartney & Jane Asher get engaged.
- 1968 - Helena Christensen was born. Danish model and actress.
- 1971 - Worst hotel fire in history kills 163 at Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul
- 1971 - In the longest game in NFL history (82m40s), the Miami Dolphins defeat the Kansas City Chiefs.
- 1971 - Noel Hogan was born. Rock musician (The Cranberries ).
- 1971 - Dido was born. English singer
- 1971 - Justin Trudeau was born. Son of former Canadian Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau
- 1971 - Maria Koepcke dies in an aviation crash (b. 1924). Ornithologist
- 1972 - Josh Freese was born. American drummer
- 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
- 1973 - Alexandre Trudeau was born. Canadian journalist
- 1973 - Robbie Elliott was born. English football player
- 1973 - Ismet Inonu dies (b. 1884). Turkish statesman.
- 1973 - Gabriel Voisin dies (b. 1880). French aviation pioneer.
- 1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia
- 1974 - Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
- 1975 - Marcus Trescothick was born. English cricketer
- 1976 - Tuomas Holopainen was born. Finnish keyboardist and composer (Nightwish)
- 1976 - Armin van Buuren was born. Dutch keyboardist
- 1976 - Egyptian SS Patria sinks in Red Sea, about 100 killed
- 1976 - Takeo Fukuda becomes Japanese Premier
- 1977 - Charlie Chaplin dies in Switzerland at age 88. British-born American film actor, director and producer.
- 1978 - Joel Porter was born. Australian football player.
- 1978 - Simon Jones was born. English Cricketer.
- 1979 - Jim Greco was born. American skateboarder.
- 1979 - Joan Blondell dies (b. 1906). American actress.
- 1979 - Major restoration project for the sphinx starts in Egypt.
- 1980 - Reika Hashimoto was born. Japanese actress and model.
- 1980 - Marcus Trufant was born. American football player
- 1980 - Locó was born. Angolan football player
- 1981 - Katie Wright was born. American actress
- 1981 - Willy Taveras was born. Baseball player
- 1983 - Joan Miró dies (b. 1893). Spanish surrealist painter.
- 1984 - Jessica and Lisa Origliasso was born. Australian pop singers
- 1984 - Alastair Cook was born. English cricketer
- 1984 - Georgia Moffett was born. British actress
- 1986 - Doug Loft was born. English football player
- 1987 - In one of the highest-rated episodes in Coronation Street history, Hilda Ogden leaves her home of 23 years to be a char to her doctor in the country.
- 1988 - Ooka Shohei dies (b. 1909). Japanese novelist.
- 1989 - Vaclav Havel is elected President of Chekoslovakia.
- 1989 - Former Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu (b. 1916) and his wife Elena Ceauşescu, are executed
- 1989 - Billy Martin dies in a traffic accident in Fenton, N.Y. (b. 1928). American baseball manager.
- 1990 - "Godfather III" premieres
- 1991 - President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned following the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
- 1992 - Monica Dickens dies (b. 1915). British writer.
- 1993 - Sushant Singh was born. Brother of Nishant Singh
- 1993 - Pierre Victor Auger dies (b. 1899). French physicist.
- 1994 - A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a Jerusalem bus stop, injuring a dozen other people.
- 1994 - Pope John Paul II, in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" message, bemoaned "selfishness and violence" around the world.
- 1994 - Zail Singh dies (b. 1916). President of India.
- 1995 - Dean Martin dies (b. 1917). Singer, actor.
- 1997 - Denver Pyle dies (b. 1920). American actor.
- 1998 - John Pulman dies (b. 1926). English snooker player.
- 1999 - Space shuttle Discovery’s astronauts finished their repair job on the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 1999 - A Cuban airplane crashed in northern Venezuela, killing all 22 aboard.
- 1999 - Peter Jeffrey dies (b. 1929). English actor.
- 2000 - Osvaldo Polidoro dies (b. 05 Jun 1910). Brazilian medium.
- 2000 - Willard Van Orman Quine dies (b. 1908). American philosopher.
- 2003 - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf survived a second assassination bid in 11 days, but 17 other people were killed.
- 2003 - A plane crashed after taking off from Benin, killing at least 130 of the 161 people aboard.
- 2003 - Sixteen people were killed by mudslides that swept over campgrounds in California’s San Bernardino Valley.
- 2003 - The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe which was released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
- 2003 - Nicholas Mavroules dies (b. 1929). American politician.
- 2004 - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which will land on Saturn's moon, Titan on January 14 , 2005.
- 2005 - Birgit Nilsson dies (b. 1918). Swedish singer.
- 2005 - Robert Barbers dies (b. 1944). Philippine senator.
- Pakistan - Quaid-e-Azam's Day is celebrated as a national holiday in Pakistan in honour of the birth of Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
- Republic of China now based in Taiwan - Constitution Day
- Family Day/Christmas Day in Mozambique
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