Born On This Day:

• Jesus Christ (trad.), 4 BC
• Sir Isaac Newton, 1642
• Pope Pius VI, 1717
• Clara Barton, 1821
• Maurice Utrillo, 1883
• Kid Ory, 1886
• Conrad Hilton, 1887
• Dame Rebecca West, 1892
• Robert Ripley, 1893
• Lord Lew Grade, 1906
• Clark Clifford, 1906
• Cab Calloway, 1907
• Quentin Crisp, 1908
• Tony Martin, 1913
• Anwar Sadat, 1918
• Rod Serling, 1924
• Ismail Merchant, 1936
• Jimmy Buffett, 1946
• Larry Csonka, 1946
• Barbara Mandrell, 1948
• Sissy Spacek, 1949
• Annie Lennox, 1954

Died On This Day:

• Saint Peter Nolasco, 1249
• Empress Elizabeth of Russia, 1761
• Linus Yale, 1868
• Karel Capek, 1938
• W. C. Fields, 1946
• Charles Chaplin, 1977
• Joan Blondell, 1979
• Joan Miró, 1983
• Billy Martin killed, 1989
• Nicolae Ceausescu executed, 1989
• Dean Martin, 1995
• Birgit Nilsson, 2005
• James Brown, 2006
• Eartha Kitt, 2008
• George Michael, 2016

Today's Events:

• AD 337 - Celebration of Christmas takes permanent hold in Western world; Rome officializes Christianity.
• AD 800 - Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor of West by Pope Leo III in Rome.
• 1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror in Westminster Abbey, London.
• 1497 - Natal discovered by Vasco da Gama.
• 1745 - Treaty of Dresden between Prussia and Austria lets Prussia keep Silesia.
• 1758 - Sixteen years after Edmund Halley's death, his prediction of return of Halley's Comet proved true.
• 1855 - Ice hockey first played in North America at Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
• 1917 - 'Why Marry?' by Jesse Lynch Williams, first play to win Pulitzer prize, opens.
• 1932 - King George V of Britain delivers first royal Christmas broadcast; chair collapsed under his weight.
• 1937 - NBC symphony orchestra premieres with first radio broadcast under conductor Arturo Toscanini.
• 1941 - Hong Kong surrenders to Japanese. WWII
• 1957 - Queen Elizabeth II delivers first royal Christmas message on television.
• 1974 - Cyclone hits Darwin, Australia.
• 2000 - Deadliest nightclub fire in history kills 309 in Luoyang, China.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Anastasia
• Eugenia

Holiday:

• CHRISTMAS DAY
• Constitution Day in Republic of China/Taiwan
• Taisho Tenno-Sai (Anniversary of Death of Emperor Taisho) in Japan

Non-Specific Holiday:

• ADVENT SUNDAY, Sunday nearest to feast of Saint Andrew (Nov. 30) whether before or after.
• CHANUKKA (Jewish Feast of Lights), eight day holiday beginning on 25th day of lunar month Kislev.
• TSAO CHÜN, Festival of the Kitchen God in China (23rd day of the twelfth moon (or 24th in Kwantung)
• CH'U HSI, Night of the Thirtieth (29th day of the twelfth moon)
• KWANZAA - African American Heritage celebrated December 26 - January 1