This date in history

[Mr Quatro]

On this date in history December 24th, 2016

The Cleveland Browns won their first game of the season 20 to 17 against the San Diego Chargers to go 1-14

[Aktungbby]

1066: William I Duke (William the Bastard) of Normandy is crowned King of England. He becomes William the Conqueror! Illegitimate at birth , no one (sober) calls him a 'bastard' again- a useful political Xmas gift indeed(it's good 2 B king) 4 those who like a happy ending: < and don't mind a little re-embroidery of history: http://www.alderneybayeuxtapestry.com/

[Jimbuna]

1066 Duke William of Normandy ('William the Conqueror) crowned King of England.

1868 Despite bitter opposition, US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War).

1914 Legendary "Christmas Truce" takes place on the battlefields of WWI between British and German troops. Instead of fighting, soldiers exchange gifts and play football.

1939 Montgomery Ward introduces Rudolph the 9th reindeer.

1941 Japan announces surrender of British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong.

1941 Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi/Kagu back in Kure, Japan.

[Jimbuna]

1914 US Government protests British interference with American merchant ships at sea, on the same day Germans announce they will treat food as contraband, subject to seizure; weakens America's protest.

1941 Winston Churchill becomes first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the US Congress, warning that Axis would "stop at nothing".

1943 Royal Navy sink German battle cruiser Scharnhorst.

1943 Earl Claus von Stauffenberg vain with bomb to Hitlers headquarters.

1944 Battle of Bastogne: US General Patton's 3rd Army repulses Germans.

[Jimbuna]

2012 NASA unveils plans to capture a 500 ton asteroid in 2025

[Jimbuna]

1950 Chinese troops cross 38th Parallel, into South Korea.

1972 Kim Il-song, becomes president of North Korea.

1972 Martin Bormanns skeleton found in Berlin (Hitlers deputy).

[Jimbuna]

1812 The USS Constitution under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures the HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three hour battle.

1939 First flight of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber prototype.

1940 Germany drops its 1st incendiary bombs on London during the Blitz.

1972 Life magazine ceases publication.

[Aktungbby]

1170: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is murdered in his own church...during Vespers fer Christsake! by four wicked Norman knights; carrying out the perceived will of Henry II (father of Richard the Lion Heart). Considering 'politics by other means' in this day and age; at mosques, temples, and churches, nothing has gone out of style: an eye-witness account Edward Grim, who was wounded in the attack. This is part of the account from Edward Grim:

The wicked knight (belived to be De Breton) leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top of the crown which the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying in a low voice, "For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I am ready to embrace death." But the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of his head was separated from the head in such a way that the blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the brains and blood about the pavements, crying to the others, 'Let us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more.

Henry did public penance to quell a rebellion of his own three sons as a penalty for the murder 1174. The four knights: Reginald FitzUrse, Hugh de Morville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton escaped temporarily to de Moreville's Knaresborough Castle in Yorkshire and were summarily excommunicated. By then 'penitent', they were not arrested and neither did Henry confiscate their lands, but he failed to help them when they sought his advice in August 1171. With no help from Henry II and seeking pardon: all four were then sent to the Holy land for fourteen years by the Pope 'to serve as knights'...none returned alive. So much for 'chivalry' BBY! http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/becket.htm

[Jimbuna]

1959 George Washington, 1st ballistic missile sub commissioned.

1972 US President Richard Nixon halts bombing of North Vietnam & announces peace talks.

2016 A ceasefire organised by Russia, Iran and Turkey between Syria's government and opposition groups takes effect.

[ABBAFAN]

1460. Lancastrian forces destroy Yorkist army at Sandal Castle near Wakefield. Richard of York, usurpation attempter, is slain. .

[Jimbuna]

1775 Battle of Quebec in American Revolutionary War; Americans defeated trying to take British stronghold.

1939 25 U boats sunk this month (81,000 ton).

1940 37 U boats sunk this month (213,000 ton).

1942 60 U boats sunk this month (330,000 ton).

1946 US President Harry Truman officially proclaims end of WW II.

[Jimbuna]

1941 World War II: The U.S. government announces its Liberty ship program to build freighters in support of the war effort.

1942 WWII: the 28 nations at war with Axis powers pledge to make no separate peace deals.

1944 1st use of helicopters during warfare (British Atlantic patrol).

[Jimbuna]

1944 World War II: Top Ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Zero.

1945 Admiral Chester W. Nimitz begins planning assaults on Okinawa and Iwo Jima in Japan.

[Jimbuna]

1967 Donald Campbell is killed while driving a Bluebird K7, a jet-powered boat, on Coniston Water; Campbell was trying to beat his own speed record.

[Jimbuna]

1919 National Socialist Party (Nazi) forms as German Farmers' Party.

1930 Bonnie Parker meets Clyde Barrow for the first time at Clarence Clay's house.

1971 Globetrotters lose 100-99 to NJ Reds, ending 2,495-game win streak.

1981 British police arrest Peter Sutcliffe, a truck driver later convicted of "Yorkshire Ripper" murders of 13 women.