December
24
Independence
Day
Libya : December 24 1951
Events
December
24
563 – The
Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated
for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.
1294 – Pope Boniface VIII is elected Pope, replacing St. Celestine
V, who had resigned.
1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered
by James Cook.
1814 – The Treaty of Ghent is signed ending the War of 1812.
1818 – The first performance of "Silent Night" takes
place in the church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.
1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy
begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.
1851 – Library of Congress burns.
1865 – The Ku Klux Klan is formed.
1871 – Aida opens in Cairo.
1906 – Radio: Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast;
consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
1911 – Lackawanna Cut-Off railway line opens in New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
1913 – The Italian Hall Disaster ("1913 Massacre")
in Calumet, Michigan, results in the death of 73 Christmas party
goers held by striking mine workers, including 59 children.
1914 – World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.
1924 – Albania becomes a republic.
1929 – Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito
Yrigoyen.
1939 – World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal
for peace.
1941 – World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
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.
1953 – Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a
lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand,
sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River,
and killing 153 people.
1955 – NORAD Tracks Santa for the first time in what will become
an annual Christmas Eve tradition.
1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel
in Saigon to demonstrate they can strike an American installation
in the heavily guarded capital.
1966 – A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military
crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
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.
1972 Japan Airlines Flight 472, operated Douglas DC-8-53 landed
at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay.
1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing
residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
1979 – The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained
lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England,
an incident called "Britain's Roswell".
1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria
kills 50-100 people.
2000 – The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas.
Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is murdered during the robbery.
2003 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate
50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín
Station.
2005 – Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of war against
Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about
100 people dead.
2008 – Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins
a series of attacks on Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring
more than 400.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Adela and Irmina
Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances:
Aðfangadagskvöld, the day when the 13th and the last Yule Lad
arrives to towns. (Iceland)
Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italy)
Jul (Denmark, Norway and Sweden)
Nochebuena (Spain and Spanish-speaking countries)
The Declaration of Christmas Peace (Old Great Square of Turku,
Finland's official Christmas City)
For details, contact Datacentre
|
