December 26

December 26 is the 360th day of the year (361st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are five days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1481 – Battle of Westbrook – Holland defeats troops of Utrecht.
• 1613 – Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, marries Frances Howard.
• 1620 – Pilgrim Fathers land at what becomes Plymouth in Massachusetts.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The British are 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 – The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris.
• 1793 – Battle of Geisberg: French defeat Austrians.
• 1793 – The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.
• 1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
• 1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
• 1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
• 1825 – Several Imperial Russia army officers lead circa 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising.
• 1848 – The Phi Delta Theta fraternity is founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
• 1860 – The first ever inter-club football match takes place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England.
• 1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.
• 1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
• 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die.
• 1870 – The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
• 1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
• 1883 – The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.
• 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
• 1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
• 1925 – Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
• 1931 – Phi Iota Alpha, the Oldest Latino Fraternity in Existence, was founded in Troy, NY.
• 1933 – FM radio is patented.
• 1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
• 1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
• 1944 – World War II: Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
• 1945 – CFP franc and CFA franc are created.
• 1948 – Cardinal Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
• 1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
• 1975 – The Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union.
• 1976 – The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.
• 1980 – Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
• 1982 – Time Magazine's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
• 1986 – The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air.
• 1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the USSR.
• 1996 – Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.
• 1996 – Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.
• 1997 – The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
• 1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
• 2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
• 2004 – A 9.3 magnitude earthquake 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, killing over 250,000 people including over 1700 on a moving train
• 2005 – Boxing Day shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto.
• 2006 – The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hit Taiwan.

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)
• 1542 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, unifier of Japan and first Tokugawa Shogun (d. 1616)
• 1646 – Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)
• 1666 – Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru of Sikhism (d. 1708)
• 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)
• 1723 – Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm, German writer (d. 1807)
• 1737 – Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (d. 1815)
• 1751 – Clement Hofbauer, Austrian missionary and saint (d. 1820)
• 1771 – Julie Clary, queen consort of Naples (d. 1845)
• 1780 – Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)
• 1782 – Filaret Drozdov, Metropolitan of Moscow (d. 1867)
• 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)
• 1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American politician and baseball commissioner (d. 1922)
• 1853 – René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
• 1859 – William Stephens, U.S. political figure (d. 1944)
• 1872 – Norman Angell, British politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
• 1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
• 1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French artist (d. 1955)
• 1887 – Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army officer (d. 1966)
• 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)
• 1894 – Jean Toomer, American writer (d. 1967)
• 1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter (d. 1980)
• 1903 – Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
• 1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
• 1905 – William Loeb, American newspaper publisher, (d. 1981)
• 1906 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2003)
• 1907 – Albert Gore Sr., American Politician (d. 1998)
• 1911 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino politician and sportswriter (d. 1962)
• 1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
• 1914 – Annemarie Wendl, German actress (d. 2006)
• 1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1918 – George Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
• 1921 – Steve Allen, American comedian (d. 2000)
• 1922 – Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
• 1924 – Frank Broyles, American athlete, long time athletic director of the University of Arkansas.
• 1926 – Gina Pellón, Cuban painter
• 1927 – Alan King, American comedian (d. 2004)
• 1927 – Stu Miller, American baseball player
• 1927 – Denis Quilley, British actor (d. 2003)
• 1929 – Régine, French singer and nightclub owner
• 1930 – Donald Moffat, English-born actor
• 1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer and songwriter
• 1933 – Ugly Dave Gray, Australian television personality
• 1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer
• 1935 – Abdul "Duke" Fakir, American singer (The Four Tops)
• 1935 – Norm Ullman, Canadian hockey player
• 1937 – John Horton Conway, British mathematician
• 1937 – Jay Heimowitz, American poker player
• 1938 – Bahram Beizai, Iranian playwright and film director
• 1938 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi film director (d. 1989)
• 1939 – Fred Schepisi, Australian film director
• 1939 – Phil Spector, American music producer
• 1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel laureate
• 1940 – Ray Sadecki, American Major league baseball pitcher
• 1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss film director (d. 2006)
• 1942 – Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, Guatemalan president
• 1942 – Gray Davis, former Governor of California
• 1944 – Jane Lapotaire, British actress
• 1945 – John Walsh, American talk show host
• 1947 – James T. Conway, 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
• 1947 – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
• 1947 – Richard L. McCormick, President of Rutgers University
• 1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist
• 1949 – José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, Nobel laureate
• 1951 – Richard Skinner, British radio presenter
• 1951 – John Scofield, American jazz guitarist
• 1953 – Leonel Fernández, Dominican politician and current President of the Dominican Republic
• 1953 – Henning Schmitz, German musician (Kraftwerk)
• 1953 – Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia
• 1954 – Peter Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer
• 1954 – Ozzie Smith, American baseball player
• 1954 – Steve Steen, English actor
• 1954 – Tony Rosato, Italian-Canadian actor
• 1955 – Evan Bayh, American politician
• 1956 – David Sedaris, American essayist
• 1957 – Dermot Murnaghan, British broadcaster
• 1958 – Adrian Newey, British engineer
• 1959 – Koji Morimoto, Japanese animated film director
• 1960 – Temuera Morrison, New Zealand actor
• 1960 – Jim Toomey, American syndicated cartoonist
• 1960 – Tina Wesson, Winner of Survivor: The Australian Outback
• 1961 – Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer
• 1961 – John Lynch, Irish actor
• 1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-born drummer (Metallica)
• 1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
• 1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
• 1966 – Tim Legler, American basketball player
• 1966 – Sandra Taylor, American model and actress
• 1968 – Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler
• 1970 – James Mercer, American musician (The Shins)
• 1970 – Krissada Terrence, Thai singer and actor
• 1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and singer (30 Seconds to Mars)
• 1971 – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
• 1971 – Jonathan M. Parisen, American film director
• 1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentine footballer
• 1972 – Robert Muchamore, English children's author
• 1973 – Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player
• 1973 – Reichen Lehmkuhl, American television personality
• 1974 – Josie Ho, Hong Kong singer and actor
• 1974 – Joshua John Miller, American actor
• 1974 – Tiffany Brissette, American TV actress
• 1975 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
• 1976 – Simon Goodwin, Australian rules footballer
• 1976 – Lea De Mae, Czech actress (d. 2004)
• 1976 – Nadia Litz, Canadian actress
• 1978 – Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
• 1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
• 1979 – Chris Daughtry, American singer
• 1979 – Mzbel, Ghanaian singer
• 1979 – Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
• 1979 – Craig Wing, Australian Rugby League Player
• 1980 – Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
• 1981 – Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-born Italian rugby player
• 1982 – Kenneth Darby, American football player
• 1982 – Oguri Shun, Japanese actor/model
• 1982 – Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier
• 1984 – Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player
• 1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
• 1985 – Yuu Shirota, Japanese Idol
• 1986 – Hugo Lloris, French goalkeeper
• 1987 – Adam Walker, British flautist
• 1989 – Jennica Garcia, Filipina actress
• 1990 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican racing driver
• 1990 – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
• 1995 – Zach Mills, American actor
• 2000 – Samuel Sevian, American chess player

Deaths

• 268 – Pope Dionysius
• 418 – Pope Zosimus
• 1350 – Jean de Marigny, French bishop
• 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)
• 1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German Nazi politician (b. 1868)
• 1931 – Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey decimal classification (b. 1851)
• 1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian literary critic and politician (b. 1875)
• 1933 – Henry Watson Fowler, English schoolmaster and lexicographer (b. 1858)
• 1957 – Charles Pathé, French film pioneer (b. 1863)
• 1960 – Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)
• 1963 – George Wagner (Gorgeous George), American professional wrestler and television personality (b. 1915)
• 1966 – Herbert Otto Gille, German SS officer (b. 1897)
• 1970 – Lillian Board, British track and field athlete (b. 1948)
• 1972 – Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
• 1973 – Harold B. Lee, 11th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
• 1974 – Farid al-Atrash, Arab composer (b. 1915)
• 1974 – Jack Benny, American comedian (b. 1894)
• 1977 – Howard Hawks, American film director and writer (b. 1896)
• 1980 – Tony Smith, American sculptor (b. 1912)
• 1981 – Savitri, Indian actress (b. 1937)
• 1981 – Amber Reeves, British feminist writer (b. 1887)
• 1983 – Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
• 1985 – Dian Fossey, American gorilla specialist (b. 1932)
• 1985 – Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1928)
• 1986 – Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (b. 1902)
• 1988 – Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (b. 1907)
• 1989 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)
• 1990 – Gene Callahan, American film art and production designer (b. 1923)
• 1992 – Nikita Magaloff, Russian pianist (b. 1912)
• 1994 – Parveen Shakir, Pakistani poetess (b. 1952)
• 1997 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher and economist (b. 1922)
• 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)
• 2004 – Sir Angus Ogilvy, British businessman (b. 1928)
• 2004 – Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian mediator (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African heart surgeon (b. 1959)
• 2004 – Sigurd Køhn, Norwegian jazz musician (b. 1959)
• 2004 – Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
• 2004 – Aki Sirkesalo, Finnish musician (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Mieszko Talarczyk, Polish-born Swedish musician (Nasum) (b. 1974)
• 2004 – Troy Broadbridge, Australian rules footballer (b. 1980)
• 2004 – Khun Bhumi Jensen, Thai Royal Family member (b. 1983)
• 2005 – Erich Topp, German submarine commander (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2006 – Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier (b. 1951)
• 2007 – John A. Garraty, American author (b. 1920)
• 2007 – Stu Nahan, American sportscaster (b. 1926)
• 2007 – Joe Dolan, Irish entertainer (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Gösta Krantz, Swedish actor (b. 1925)
• 2009 – Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances

• Boxing Day, except when 26 December is a Sunday Boxing Day is transferred to 27 December by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations)
• Christian Feast Day
  • Abadiu of Antinoe (Coptic Church)
  • James the Just (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • Stephen (Western Church)
• Day of Good Will (South Africa)
• Independence and Unity Day (Slovenia)
• Mauro Hamza Day (Houston, Texas)
• Mummer's Day (Padstow, Cornwall)
• Proclamation Day, celebrates the founding of the state of South Australia on December 28, 1836; commemorated on the day after Christmas day (South Australia)
• Synaxis of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Church)
• St. Stephen's Day (a public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovakia)
• Thanksgiving (Solomon Islands)
• The first day of Kwanzaa
• The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day (the Bahamas)
• The second of the twelve days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
• Wren Day (Ireland and the Isle of Man)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada