December 24
1524 - Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama died in Cochin, India.
1814 - The War of 1812 between the United States and Britain came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.
1818 - "Silent Night" was composed by Franz Joseph Gruber.
1851 - Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. destroying some 35,000 volumes (about two-thirds of the library's collection).
1865 - Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, which became the original version of the Ku Klux Klan.
1871 - Guiseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" premiered in Cairo, Egypt at the opening of the Suez Canal.
1913 - Seventy-three people, most of them children, died in a crush of panic after a false cry of "Fire!" during a Christmas party for striking miners and their families at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan.
1941 - During World War I, impromptu Christmas truces began to take hold along parts of the Western Front between British and German soldiers.
1943 - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.
1992 - President George H.W. Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
2013 - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon to code-breaker Alan Turing, who was criminally convicted of homosexual behavior in the 1950s.
Birthdays
26 - Corinna Brown (actress)
32 - Davante Adams (football player)
33 - Louis Tomlinson (singer)
38 - Ana Brenda Conteras (actress)
50 - Ryan Seacrest (TV/radio host)
51 - Stephanie Meyer (author)
53 - Ricky Martin (singer)
58 - Diedrich Bader (actor)
63 - Jay Wright (basketball coach)
64 - Carol Vorderman (TV host)
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Today in Sports History - December 24
1950 - The Cleveland Browns defeat the Los Angeles Rams 30-28 in the NFL Championship Game.
1961 - The Houston Oilers defeat the San Diego Chargers 10-3 in the AFL Championship Game.
1967 - Joe Namath (New York Jets) became the first pro football quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards.
1981 - Reggie Jackson announced that he would join Gene Autry’s California Angels for the 1982 season.
1982 - Chaminade, with an enrollment of just 850 students, upsets top-ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic.
2000 - More than 36 minutes after the game ended, both the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins were called back to the playing field; the teams had to play the final three seconds of the game, which the Dolphins had won 27-24.
1524 - Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama died in Cochin, India.
1814 - The War of 1812 between the United States and Britain came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.
1818 - "Silent Night" was composed by Franz Joseph Gruber.
1851 - Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. destroying some 35,000 volumes (about two-thirds of the library's collection).
1865 - Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, which became the original version of the Ku Klux Klan.
1871 - Guiseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" premiered in Cairo, Egypt at the opening of the Suez Canal.
1913 - Seventy-three people, most of them children, died in a crush of panic after a false cry of "Fire!" during a Christmas party for striking miners and their families at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan.
1941 - During World War I, impromptu Christmas truces began to take hold along parts of the Western Front between British and German soldiers.
1943 - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II.
1992 - President George H.W. Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others in the Iran-Contra scandal.
2013 - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II granted a posthumous pardon to code-breaker Alan Turing, who was criminally convicted of homosexual behavior in the 1950s.
Birthdays
26 - Corinna Brown (actress)
32 - Davante Adams (football player)
33 - Louis Tomlinson (singer)
38 - Ana Brenda Conteras (actress)
50 - Ryan Seacrest (TV/radio host)
51 - Stephanie Meyer (author)
53 - Ricky Martin (singer)
58 - Diedrich Bader (actor)
63 - Jay Wright (basketball coach)
64 - Carol Vorderman (TV host)
=======================================
Today in Sports History - December 24
1950 - The Cleveland Browns defeat the Los Angeles Rams 30-28 in the NFL Championship Game.
1961 - The Houston Oilers defeat the San Diego Chargers 10-3 in the AFL Championship Game.
1967 - Joe Namath (New York Jets) became the first pro football quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards.
1981 - Reggie Jackson announced that he would join Gene Autry’s California Angels for the 1982 season.
1982 - Chaminade, with an enrollment of just 850 students, upsets top-ranked Virginia 77-72 in a Honolulu holiday basketball classic.
2000 - More than 36 minutes after the game ended, both the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins were called back to the playing field; the teams had to play the final three seconds of the game, which the Dolphins had won 27-24.
