26 December

Events

• 1620 - Elizabeth Bathory's crimes are uncovered
• 1776 - American Revolutionary War: The British were defeated in the Battle of Trenton
• 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 Great Britain
• 1908 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia
• 1933 - The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan
• 1933 - FM radio is patented
• 1944 - The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
• 1944 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne
• 1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach
• 1982 - TIME magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a non-human; a computer.
• 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.
• 1998 - Iraq announced its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones".
• 2003 - Major earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city, at least 5,000 killed, and 30,000 injured

Births

• 1194 - Frederick II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1250)
• 1716 - Thomas Gray, poet and letter-writer (d. 1771)
• 1751 - Clement Mary Hofbauer, Redemptorist missionary (d. 1820)
• 1791 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor of computing machines (d. 1871)
• 1837 - George Dewey, Admiral in the United States Navy (d. 1917)
• 1883 - Maurice Utrillo, painter (d. 1955)
• 1891 - Henry Miller, writer (d. 1980)
• 1893 - Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader, politician and dictator (d. 1976)
• 1903 - Elisha Cook Jr., actor (d. 1995)
• 1914 - Richard Widmark, actor
• 1921 - Steve Allen, actor, comedian, composer, author (d. 2000)
• 1927 - Alan King, comedian, actor
• 1940 - Phil Spector, music producer
• 1942 - Gray Davis, former Governor of California
• 1945 - John Walsh, talk show host, television presenter
• 1954 - Ozzie Smith, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1956 - David Sedaris, essayist
• 1971 - Jared Leto, actor

Deaths

• 1890 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
• 1909 - Frederic Remington, artist (b. 1861)
• 1963 - Gorgeous George, professional wrestler, television personality
• 1972 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States (b. 1884)
• 1974 - Jack Benny, comedian (b. 1894)
• 1977 - Howard Hawks, film director, writer (b. 1896)
• 1985 - Dian Fossey, anthropologist (b. 1932)
• 1986 - Elsa Lanchester, actress (b. 1902)
• 1999 - Curtis Mayfield, musician (b. 1942)
• 2000 - Jason Robards, actor (b. 1922)
• 2001 - Nigel Hawthorne, actor (b. 1929)
• 2002 - Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances

• Boxing Day in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia
• The second day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
• St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland
• First day of Kwanzaa
• Feast day of Saint Stephen (in the western Christian church), holiday in Croatia.

December 25 - December 27 - November 26 - January 26 -- listing of all days

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

Referenced By