December 25th in History

British and German troops play football (soccer) during the Christmas Truce, December 25, 1914

Today in History

  • First documented celebration of Christmas in Rome (336)
  • Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor (800)
  • William the Conqueror is crowned King of England (1066)
  • Christopher Columbus’s ship Santa Maria runs aground (1492)
  • The first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time, Halley’s Comet, is sighted (1758)
  • Washington crosses the Delaware to attack Hessian forces (1776)
  • The Eggnog Riot at West Point concludes (1826)
  • The Great Jamaican Slave Revolt begins (1831)
  • US President Andrew Johnson pardons all Confederate veterans (1868)
  • An unofficial “Christmas Truce” breaks out along the Western Front of World War I (1914)
  • The Stone of Scone is stolen from Westminster Abbey (1950)
  • Apollo 8 leaves lunar orbit to return to Earth (1968)
  • Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (1991)

Birthdays

  • Sir Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician (1642 O. S., 4 January 1643 N. S.*)
  • Clara Barton, nurse, founder of the American Red Cross (1821)
  • Helena Rubenstein, cosmetics tycoon (1870)
  • Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistani leader (1876)
  • Louis Chevrolet, race car driver and co-founder of Chevrolet (1878)
  • Evelyn Nesbit, model and actress (1884)
  • Kid Ory, jazz trombonist (1886)
  • Conrad Hilton, hotelier (1887)
  • Lila Bell Wallace, co-founded Reader’s Digest (1889)
  • Robert Ripley, publisher of Ripley’s Believe It or Not (1890)
  • Humphrey Bogart, actor (1899)
  • Cab Calloway, musician (1907)
  • Anwar Sadat, Egyptian leader (1918)
  • Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone (1924)
  • Carlos Castaneda, shaman and author (1925)
  • Jimmy Buffett, musician (1946)
  • Barbara Mandrell, country musician (1948)
  • Sissy Spacek, actress (1949)

* Because of the conversion from the “old style” Julian calendar to the “new style” Gregorian calendar, some historical figures have their dates of birth and death listed using both calendar systems.

Deaths

  • Young Tom Morris, golfer (1875)
  • Karel Capek,playwright (1938)
  • W. C. Fields, comedian and actor (1946)
  • Leon Schlesinger, producer of Looney Toons and Merrie Melodies cartoons (1949)
  • Charlie Chaplin, actor and filmmaker (1977)
  • Joan Miró, painter and sculptor (1983)
  • Dean Martin, singer and actor (1995)
  • Denver Pyle, actor (1997)
  • James Brown, “godfather of soul” (2006)
  • Eartha Kitt, singer (2008)
  • George Michael, singer (2016)

Holidays and Celebrations

  • Christmas
  • Children’s Day (numerous African nations)
  • Constitution Day (Taiwan/Republic of China)
  • Day of the Unconquered Sun (ancient Rome)
  • Good Governance Day (India)
  • National Pumpkin Pie Day (US)
  • National “Kiss the Cook” Day (US)
  • Quaid-e-Azam Day (Pakistan)
  • Takanakuy (Chumbivilcas province, Peru)

December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years). There are six days remaining until the end of the year.