640: POPE JOHN IV IS ELECTED.
Leave it to a Pope to try and upstage Baby Jesus.
759: TANG DYNASTY POET DU FU DEPARTS FOR CHENGDU, WHERE HE IS HOSTED BY FELLOW POET PEI DI.
Wa Da Fu.
1294: POPE BONIFACE VIII IS ELECTED POPE, REPLACING ST. CELESTINE V, WHO HAD RESIGNED.
Probably caught the guy stealing from the Vatican Christmas Club at the bank.
1777: KIRITIMATI, ALSO CALLED CHRISTMAS ISLAND, IS DISCOVERED BY JAMES COOK.
Technically, shouldn't it be called Christmas Eve Island?
1818: THE FIRST PERFORMANCE OF "SILENT NIGHT" TAKES PLACE IN A CHURCH IN AUSTRIA.
We'd hear it again.
1826: THE EGGNOG RIOT AT THE US MILITARY ACADEMY BEGINS THAT NIGHT.
It's all fun and games until somebody throws around some eggnog.
1851: THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS BURNS.
All late fines are cancelled.
1865: THE KLU KLUX KLAN IS FORMED.
Just in time for the holidays.
1871: AIDA OPENS IN CAIRO, EGYPT.
I wish her last name was Lot.
1886: DIRECTOR MICHAEL CURTIZ IS BORN.
"Miss Veda makes me wear this when I answer the door."
1906: REGINALD FESSENDEN TRANSMITS THE FIRST RADIO BROADCAST, CONSISTING OF A POETRY READING, A VIOLIN SOLO, AND A SPEECH.
No commercials yet?
1911: THE LACKAWANNA CUT-OFF RAILWAY OPENS IN NEW JERSEY AND PENNSYLVANIA.
And immediately adopts a holiday schedule.
1914: DURING WORLD WAR I, THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE BEGINS.
Yeah, that lasted.
1922: ACTRESS AVA GARDNER IS BORN.
Now that's a Christmas present.
1929: ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON ARGENTINE PRESIDENT HIPOLITO YRIGOYEN.
Now there's a name you can try and pronounce around the Christmas Eve yule log.
1939: POPE PIUS XII MAKES A CHRISTMAS EVE APPEAL FOR PEACE.
As well as some offerings in the plate.
1943: DURING WORLD WAR II, GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER IS NAMED SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER FOR THE NORMANDY INVASION.
Don't make any vacation plans for June next year.
1955: NORAD TRACKS SANTA FOR THE FIRST TIME IN WHAT WILL BECOME AN ANNUAL CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITION.
Let's think about the impossible logistics of Santa delivering toys like this. Seriously.
1968: THE CREW OF APOLLO 8 ENTERS INTO ORBIT AROUND THE MOON, BECOMING THE FIRST HUMANS TO DO SO. THEY TRANSMIT PHOTOS OF EARTH ON THIS NIGHT TO A TV AUDIENCE.
Probably impossible to put up a Christmas tree in that capsule.
1969: CHARLES MANSON IS ALLOWED TO DEFEND HIMSELF AT THE TATE-LABIANCA MURDER TRIAL.
Yeah, how did that work out for you, creep?
1973: THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA HOME RULE ACT IS PASSED, ALLOWING RESIDENTS OF WASHINGTON DC TO ELECT THEIR OWN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
As if this is a good thing.
1974: TV HOST RYAN SEACREST IS BORN.
On this holiday, an elf is born.
1975: COMPOSER BERNARD HERRMANN DIES.
The true star of many Hitchcock movies.
1984: ACTOR PETER LAWFORD DIES.
Hiccup.
1993: MINISTER NORMAN VINCENT PEALE DIES.
No sermon at midnight.
1994: AIR FRANCE FLIGHT 8969 IS HIJACKED IN ALGERIA.
One more holiday travel delay.
1997: ACTOR TOSHIRO MIFUNE DIES.
Sayonara.
1999: INDIAN AIRLINES FLIGHT 814 IS HIJACKED.
Apparently this is now a holiday tradition.
2012: ACTOR CHARLES DURNING DIES.
I once flew back to LA with him. He was in First Class. I wasn't. He's dead now. I'm not.
2012: ACTOR JACK KLUGMAN DIES.
Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.
Dinner last night: Had a big lunch, so nothing really.
No comments:
Post a Comment