December 26

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, 361st in leap years. There are 5 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 Other annual occurrences
6 External links

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Events

1481 - Battle of Westbroek - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht
1606 - King Lear performed in the Court of England
1620 - Elizabeth Báthory's crimes are uncovered
1620 - Pilgrim Fathers land of what becomes New Plymouth in Massachusetts
1776 - American Revolutionary War: The British were defeated in the Battle of Trenton
1790 - Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution
1792 - Final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris
1793 - Battle of Geisberg - French defeat Austrians
1793 - Wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
1806 - Battle of Pultusk - indecisive battle between Napoleon and the Russians
1812 - Delaware and Chesapeake blockaded during the War of 1812
1825 - Several Imperial Russia army officers lead circa 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising
1825 - The Erie Canal opens
1861 - Confederate diplomatic envoys James Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain
1862 - 38 starving and angry Lakota men are hanged for killing white people after a brief rebellion
1862 - American Civil War: Start of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou.
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium
1908 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia
1916 - Joseph Joffre is made Marshal of France
1925 - Communist Party of India founded
1925 - Turkey adopts Gregorian Calendar
1931 - Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity was founded
1933 - The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan
1933 - FM radio is patented
1943 - The German warship Scharnhorst sinks off the coast of North Cape in Norway after being attacked by the British Royal Navy late the previous evening.
1944 - The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
1944 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne
1945 - CFP franc and CFA franc are created
1946 - Flamingo Hotel opens in Las Vegas
1947 - 26 inches of snowfall in 16 hours in New York City
1948 - Cardinal Mindszenty arrested in Hungary
1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach
1973 - Comet Kohoutek reaches perihelion but is not such a display as expected
1973 - Soyuz 13 lands
1974 - Salyut 4 launched
1975 - Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union
1976 - Foundation of the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist).
1979 - Soviet Special forces troops take over presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan
1980 - Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
1982 - TIME magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a non-human; the personal computer
1984 - Princess Astrid of Belgium marries Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este
1986 - The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air
1988 - Start of the Nanjing Anti-African protests
1991 - Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR
1996 - JonBenét Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen, was found murdered in her family's basement in Boulder, Colorado
1996 - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force
1998 - Iraq announced its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones"
1998 - Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland. Widespread disruption, widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland
1999 - On the 26-28th, France and countries to east hit by severe storms and rain. Over 100 people were killed, and the storm caused extensive damage to property and trees and the French national power grid.
2002 - French Raelian scientist Brigitte Boisselier says Clonaid has delivered the first of a supposed five clone babies through cesarean section
2003 - Major earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands; citadel of Arg-é Bam is destroyed.
2004 - A massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter magnitude scale creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean. The death toll is currently estimated at more than 300,000. Officials say the true toll may never be known, due to rapid burials. Indonesia was worst affected with as many as 219,000 people killed.

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Births

1194 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
1532 - Guilielmus Xylander, German classical scholar (d. 1576)
1536 - Yi I, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1584)
1646 - Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)
1687 - Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (d. 1755)
1716 - Thomas Gray, English writer (d. 1771)
1716 - Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (d. 1803)
1737 - Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (d. 1815)
1751 - Clement Hofbauer, Austrian missionary and saint (d. 1820)
1780 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)
1791 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (d. 1871)
1819 - E. D. E. N. Southworth, American novelist (d. 1899)
1822 - Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
1837 - George Dewey, U. S. admiral (d. 1917)
1853 - René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
1872 - Norman Angell, British politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1967)
1873 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
1883 - Maurice Utrillo, French painter (d. 1955)
1890 - Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (d. 1992)
1891 - Henry Miller, American writer (d. 1980)
1893 - Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician (d. 1976)
1903 - Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
1904 - Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
1914 - Richard Widmark, American actor
1921 - Steve Allen, American actor, comedian, composer, and author (d. 2000)
1927 - Alan King, American comedian and actor (d. 2004)
1927 - Denis Quilley, British actor (d. 2003)
1933 - Ugly Dave Grey, Australian television personality
1940 - Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 - Phil Spector, American music producer
1942 - Gray Davis, Governor of California
1945 - John Walsh, American talk show host
1947 - Carlton Fisk, baseball player
1949 - José Ramos Horta, Foreign Minnister of East Timor, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
1954 - Ozzie Smith, baseball player
1956 - David Sedaris, American essayist
1959 - Koji Morimoto, Japanese animated film director
1963 - Lars Ulrich, American drummer (Metallica)
1971- Jonathan M. Parisen Film Director
1971 - Jared Leto, American actor
1976 - Lea De Mae, Czech actress (d. 2004)

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Deaths

268 - Pope Dionysius
418 - Pope Zosimus
1458 - Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1393)
1476 - Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1444)
1530 - Babur, Emperor of the Mogul empire (b. 1483)
1574 - Charles of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1524)
1624 - Simon Marius, German astronomer (b. 1573)
1731 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (b. 1672)
1771 - Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
1780 - John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)
1784 - Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (b. 1743)
1786 - Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (b. 1713)
1869 - Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1797)
1890 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
1909 - Frederic Remington, American artist (b. 1861)
1933 - Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian literary critic and politician (b. 1875)
1960 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)
1963 - George Wagner, American professional wrestler and television personality (b. 1915)
1972 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
1973 - Harold B. Lee, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
1974 - Jack Benny, American comedian (b. 1894)
1977 - Howard Hawks, American film director and writer (b. 1896)
1985 - Dian Fossey, American gorilla specialist (b. 1932)
1986 - Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (b. 1902)
1999 - Curtis Mayfield, American musician (b. 1942)
1999 - Shankar Dayal Sharma, President of India (b. 1918)
2000 - Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
2001 - Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
2002 - Herb Ritts, American photographer (b. 1952)
2002 - Armand Zildjian, American cymbal manufacturer (b. 1921)
2003 - Sir Alan Bates, British actor (b. 1934)
2003 - Hope Lange, American television actress (b. 1931)
2004 - Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
2004 - Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian mediator (b. 1945)
2004 - Aki Sirkesalo, Finnish musician (b. 1962)

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Holidays and observances

December 26 is a public holiday in most Christian countries, a notable exception being the United States.

Boxing Day in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The second day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Czech Republic
Day of Goodwill, a public holiday in South Africa
First day of Kwanzaa
Feast day of Saint Stephen (in the western Christian church), holiday in Croatia.
Independence Day in Slovenia
Mandala Pooja at Sabarimala in Kerala, India

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Other annual occurrences

Period of Ursids meteor shower ends
Wrenboys celebrate Wren in Ireland
First day of Junkanoo street parade in the Bahamas (the second day is on the New Year's Day)

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