A HOLIDAY RESPITE
In this season of reflection and shared joy we could use a break from political rhetoric and scientific examination. So, I offer this just for enjoyment.
WHAT EVENTS HAVE HAPPENED ON CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY?
On Christmas Eve
1814: War of 1812 ends as The Treaty of Peace and Amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America is signed by British and American representatives at Ghent, Belgium.
1865: In Pulaski, TN, a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a new secret society that they call the “Ku Klux Klan”.
1943: Dwight Eisenhower is appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force
1979: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan
Famous Births
1503: Nostradamus
1546: Tycho Brahe
1809: Kit Carson
1886: Michael Curtiz
1905: Howard Hughes
1922: Ava Gardner
1927: Mary Higgins Clark
1940: Anthony Fauci
1957: Hamid Karzai
1961: Elvis Presley
1962: Kate Spade
1971: Ricky Martin
Famous Deaths
1873: Johns Hopkins
1914: John Muir
1957: Norma Talmadge
1972: Charles Atlas
1984: Peter Lawford
1993: Norman Vincent Peale
1994: Rossano Brazzi
1997: Toshiro Mifune
2008: Harold Pinter
2012: Charles Durning
2012: Jack Klugman
Famous Weddings
1914: Agatha Miller marries Archibald Christie
1936: Mary Nicol marries Louis Leakey
1943: Carl Reiner marries Estelle Lebost
1990: Tom Cruise marries Nicole Kidman
1997: Woody Allen marries Soon-Yi Previn
On Christmas day
800: Charlemagne crowned as the first Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
1066: William I (William the Conqueror) was crowned
1776: Washington crosses the Delaware to attack British troops in Trenton
Famous Births
4 BC: Jesus of Nazareth
1717: Pope Pius VI
1821: Clara Barton
1870: Helena Rubinstein
1887: Conrad Hilton
1899: Humphrey Bogart
1907: Cab Calloway
1918: Anwar Sadat
1925: Carlos Casteneda
1925: Louis Chevrolet
1946: Jimmy Buffett
1946: Larry Czonka
1950: Karl Rove
1949: Sissy Spacek
1954: Annie Lennox
1958: Rickey Henderson
1971: Justin Trudeau
Famous Deaths
1406: Henry III
1635: Samuel de Champlain
1875: Young Tom Morris
1926: Yoshihito, emperor of Japan
1938: Karel Capek
1946: W.C. Fields
1953: Lee Shubert
1957: Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.
1977: Charlie Chaplin
1979: Joan Blondell
1983: Joan Miro
1985: Dean Martin
1989: Billy Martin
1989: Nicolae Ceausescu
2005: Birgit Nilsson
2006: James Brown “godfather of soul”
2008: Eartha Kitt
2016: George Michael
Famous Weddings:
1949: Cary Grant marries Betsy Drake
1950: Dick Tracy marries Tess Truehart
Some Christmas humor:
I was speaking to a friend the other day. He lives down here in the winter, but way up north in the summer in a place called the North Pole. I visited him last summer and while there I saw Santa. Santa was walking backwards and saying “Oh, Oh, Oh.” When Santa approached, he was complaining about all of his helpers, little people he called “Subordinate Clauses.” He told me about Sno-Slay, a young singing elf (a Wrapper).
I asked Santa what to do about those people who don’t believe in him, the Claustrophobics? He said that he calls a kid that doesn’t believe, a Rebel without a Claus.
I told him that I heard some people complain that Christmas was like their jobs: They do all the work and the fat guy in the suit gets all the credit.
In parting, Santa gave me this sex tip: “Wrap your package before you shove it down the chimney!”