25 December

Events

• 800 - Coronation of Charlemagne.
• 1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror at Westminster Abbey.
• 1223 - Saint Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene
• 1776 - George Washington crosses the Delaware River
• 1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" (Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria)
• 1837 - Battle of Okeechobee - United States forces defeat Seminole Indians
• 1868 - US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.
• 1914 - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops cease firing their guns and artillery and start singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they trade gifts with the enemy forces that face them. The truce lasts for three days.
• 1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City
• 1926 - Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, replacing the Taisho Emperor.
• 1932 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills ~70,000 people
• 1939 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was read on radio for the first time (CBS radio)
• 1939 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is introduced by Montgomery Ward stores
• 1941 - Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese
• 1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
• 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze
• 1974 - A cyclone devastates Darwin, Australia
• 1977 - Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat
• 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).

Births

• 1 BC (observed): birth of Jesus Christ, considered to be the Son of God (by Christians); also considered an ascetic prophet of Islam. The date of Christ's birth is celebrated on several different days, worldwide.
• 1642 - Sir Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician (d. 1727)
• 1742 - Charlotte von Stein, girlfriend of Goethe (d. 1827)
• 1763 - Claude Chappe, telecommunications pioneer semaphore lines (d. 1805)
• 1771 - Dorothy Wordsworth, diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
• 1821 - Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
• 1856 - Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
• 1863 - Charles Pathé, movie producer
• 1876 - Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan (disputed) (d. 1948)
• 1883 - Maurice Utrillo, a "Montmartre" artist (d. 1955)
• 1886 - Kid Ory, jazz musician (d. 1973)
• 1887 - Conrad Nicholson Hilton, hotelier (d. 1979)
• 1899 - Humphrey Bogart, actor (d. 1957)
• 1901- Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
• 1906 - Sir Lew Grade, film producer (d. 1998)
• 1907 - Cab Calloway, bandleader (d. 1994)
• 1908 - Quentin Crisp, author, activist for homosexuals (d. 1999)
• 1908 - Helen Twelvetrees, actress (d. 1958)
• 1912 - Tony Martin, singer
• 1913 - Henri Nannen, journalist and publisher (d. 1966)
• 1915 - Pete Rugolo, bandleader
• 1918 - Anwar Sadat, Egyptian president (d. 1981)
• 1924 - Rod Serling, scriptwriter, host of The Twilight Zone) (d. 1975)
• 1925 - Carlos Castaneda, author (d. 1998)
• 1932 - Little Richard, singer
• 1936 - Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent
• 1936 - Ismail Merchant, movie producer
• 1943 - Hanna Schygulla, actress
• 1945 - Noel Redding, bassist: The Jimi Hendrix Experience (d. 2003)
• 1945 - Gary Sandy, actor
• 1945 - Kenny Stabler, American football player
• 1946 - Jimmy Buffett, singer, songwriter
• 1946 - Larry Csonka, American football player
• 1948 - Barbara Mandrell, singer, actress
• 1949 - Sissy Spacek, actress
• 1954 - Robin Campbell, guitarist and singer of UB40
• 1954 - Annie Lennox, singer of Eurythmics
• 1958 - Rickey Henderson, baseball player
• 1971 - Dido, singer

Deaths

• 795 - Pope Adrian I
• 1635 - Samuel de Champlain - French explorer, founder of Quebec City. (b. 1567)
• 1683 - Kara Mustafa, Ottoman pasha and general who lost the Battle of Vienna. (b. 1634)
• 1880 - Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1828)
• 1933 - Francesc Macià, President of Generalitat, Autonomous government of Catalonia (b. 1859)
• 1938 - Karel Capek, Czech author, inventor of the word robot (b. 1890)
• 1946 - W. C. Fields, actor, comedian (b. 1880)
• 1951 - Harry T. Moore, civil rights activist: assassinated
• 1957 - Charles Pathé, movie producer
• 1963 - Tristan Tzara, poet and essayist (b. 1896)
• 1973 - Ismet Inonu, statesman (b. 1884)
• 1977 - Charlie Chaplin, actor (b. 1889)
• 1983 - Joan Miró, painter (b. 1893)
• 1989 - Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator (executed) (b. 1918)
• 1989 - Billy Martin, baseball player, manager (b. 1928)
• 1995 - Dean Martin, singer, actor (b. 1917)
• 1996 - JonBenét Ramsey, murder victim (b. 1990)
• 2002 - Iñigo Cavero, Spanish politician
• 2003 - Phil Goldman, co-founder of WebTV Networks, Inc.

Holidays and Observances

• The Christmas holiday is celebrated on this day in Western Christianity. This day always falls on the same day of the week as New Years Day (January 1).

See Also

December 24 - December 26 - November 25 - January 25 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By