What happened like today in Greece and the world.
1170: Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II of England. He would later be recognized as a saint and martyr by the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church.
1427: The Ming Dynasty army begins its retreat from Hanoi, ending Ming rule in Dai Viet.
1835: The first decision on the operation of the Piraeus municipal authority is taken.
1837: The first steam powered threshing machine receives a patent in America.
1845: Texas becomes the 28th US State.
1851: The first American Christian Fellowship of Youth opens in Boston.
1852: Emma Stonegrass is arrested in Boston for wearing pants.
1862: The only ball with holes, the bowling ball, is patented.
1890: The US 7th Cavalry kills 400 men and women and children at Wooded Knee Creek. It is the last major battle between Indians and American forces, during which the Sioux chief “Bigfoot” is also killed.
1891: Thomas Edison gets a patent for the wireless radio.
1901: Moliere’s comedy “The Librarian” is staged for the first time in Greece, at the Royal Theatre.
1916: Monk Gregory Rasputin is murdered by two Russian nobles in St. Petersburg, who had enormous influence in the Tsarist court and in particular on Tsarina Alexandra.
1924: By decree, the institution of the City Police in Athens, which had started in Corfu, came into force on January 15, 1925.
1940: The submarine “Proteus” sinks the Italian warship “Sardinia” east of Brindisi. But then it is rammed by an Italian torpedo boat and sinks. On the same day, the German air force “Luftwaffe” drops 10,000 bombs on London, in one of the most nightmarish nights for the British capital. 3,000 civilians are killed.
1944: World War II: The Battle of Budapest: The siege of the city begins as the Red Army and the Romanian Army surround the German and Hungarian forces. It will end on February 13, 1945 with the unconditional surrender of the city to the Soviets.
1951: The US Atomic Energy Commission announces that it has begun generating electricity using atomic energy.
1952: The first hearing aid based on a crystal amplifier (transistor) is released in the USA.
1953: The kilo instead of the ounce and the meter instead of the cubit are established in Greece.
1955: Barbra Streisand makes her first recording at the age of 13.
1958: OPAP is established, with Royal Decree 20, On the Establishment of a Football Prediction Organization.
1964: After 19 months of investigations, the Criminal Court of Athens indicts Gotzamanis and Emmanoulidis for the murder of Grigoris Lambrakis with the charge of intentional homicide and Yosmas and Kapelonis for moral complicity. Gendarmerie officers are cited for dereliction of duty.
1987: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko breaks the record for continuous stay in space with 326 days, 11 hours and 40 minutes when his spaceship touches down.
1989: Playwright and fighter for freedom and democracy, Vaclav Havel, is sworn in as the first democratically elected, non-communist President of Czechoslovakia.
1991: CNN founder Ted Turner is Time magazine’s man of the year.
1995: The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes advantage of the situation that has been created and delivers a verbatim communication in the corresponding Greek, in which it is stated that the Imia rock islands have been registered in the Mugla land register of the Bodrum (Halicarnassus) prefecture and belong to Turkey.
1996: A peace agreement is signed ending the 36-year civil war in Guatemala.
1997: 1.4 million chickens are being slaughtered in Hong Kong after four people died from bird flu.
1998: The Greek and Cypriot governments decide after strong reactions from Ankara to install the Russian-made S-300 anti-ballistic missiles in Crete.
1998: Khmer Rouge leaders are apologizing for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that killed more than a million people.
2001: Glaukos Cleridis repays Rauf Denktas with the December 5 dinner, hosting the Turkish Cypriot leader at his home in Nicosia. On the same day, more than 270 people die and around 100 are injured when a fire breaks out in a fireworks shop in a busy shopping center in the Peruvian capital, Lima.
2007: The police arrest eight people, during a major operation in Zoniana and Fodele, Heraklion, for ATM robberies and money transfers.
2008: Joseph Stalin is voted the third most popular historical figure in Russia. First Alexander Nevsky and second Pyotr Stolypin.
2013: Michael Schumacher suffers a serious head injury while skiing in the French Alps, in the resort of Meribel. The seven-time Formula 1 champion is being treated at a local hospital.
2014: The “Norman Atlantic” rescue operation continues under adverse weather conditions. A total of 211 people out of a total of 478 passengers (55 crew members) had been rescued – until the early hours of December 29th.
2021: A group of Greek divers led by Kostas Thoktaridis announces the discovery of the wreck of the Italian submarine Jantina south of Mykonos. The submarine sank on 5 July 1941 after being torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Torbay.
Births
1552 – Henry I of Bourbon, Prince of Comte
1709 – Elizabeth, Empress of Russia
1800 – Charles Goodyear, American inventor
1808 – Andrew Johnson, 17th US president
1809 – William Gladstone, English politician
1843 – Elizabeth of Wid, Queen of Romania
1893 – Vera Britten, English writer
1911 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and spy
1916 – Mary Aroni, Greek actress
1920 – Josepha Iloilo, president of Fiji
1921 – Dobrica Cosic, Serbian writer and politician
1937 – Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president of the Maldives
1938 – Jon Voight, American actor
1946 – Marianne Faithful, English singer
1947 – Cosey Powell, English drummer
1948 – Peter Robinson, Northern Irish politician
1948 – Dimitris Psarianos, Greek singer
1959 – Anne Demeulmeester, Belgian fashion designer
1969 – Alan McNeish, Scottish racing driver
1966 – Stefano Erranio, Italian football player
1972 – Jude Law, English actor
1989 – Kei Nishikori, Japanese player
Deaths
1703 – Mustafa II, Ottoman sultan
1825 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter
1877 – Dimitrios Voulgaris, Greek politician
1894 – Christina Rossetti, English poet
1916 – Grigory Rasputin, Russian monk
1924 – Carl Spiteller, Swiss poet
1926 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer
1935 – Photios II, Patriarch of Constantinople
1940 – Michael Hatjikonstantis, Greek soldier
1941 – Nikolaos Troulinos, Greek politician
1952 – Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, composer and conductor
1966 – Giorgos Moschos, Greek basketball player
1969 – Potis Tsibidaros, Greek journalist and politician
1972 – Chrysostomos Papasarandopoulos, Greek missionary
1986 – Harold Macmillan, English politician
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director
1993 – Lohengrin Filipelo, Swiss TV presenter
2004 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist
2006 – Marios Ploritis, Greek writer and journalist
2011 – Nikolaos Stavrou, Greek writer
2018 – Marianna Toli, Greek actress and singer
2020 – Pierre Cardin, Italian-French fashion designer.
Source: News Beast
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.