On this day

December 15th

1890 - USA: Sitting Bull chief of the Sioux Indians is killed in a skirmish with US soldiers along the Grand River in South Dakota.

1906 - UK: The Education Bill is withdrawn after amendments by the House of Lords.

1913 - Glasgow: HMS Tiger, the world's biggest battle-cruiser is launched.

1915 - Western Front: Death Toll figures for the Verdun offensive show 364,000 Allied Deaths and 338,000 for Germany.

1919 - USA: Abraham Lincoln by John Drinkwater, the British playwright, opened at the Cort Theatre in New York City. With Frank McGlynn in the lead role, the play was praised by critics as the best of the season.

1920 - Geneva: China and Austria are admitted to the League of Nations.

1926 - Italy: The Roman fasces, aymbol of authority and origin of the name "Fascist" is adopted as national emblem.

1930 - London: A Commons Select Committee recommends an end to the death penalty.

1931 - UK: Following experiments in London, it is announced traffic lights are to be used all over Britain.

1933 - USA: A black man freed by a Court in Tennessee is lynched by a mob.

1939 - France: Neville Chamberlain visits the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front.

1941 - Paris: The Germans execute the Communist leader Gabriel Peri and 100 hostages.

1942 - Scotland: Convoy JW-51A sails from Loch Ewe for Kola Bay in the USSR reopening the Arctic convoy route.

1943 - Europe: Allied Bombers raid Piraeus harbour and Greek airfields, and attack Innsbruck and Bolzano in the Tyrol.

1948 - USA: Alger Hiss, a former State Department official, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of perjury. Hiss who had worked in the State Department in 1937 and 1938, denied giving official documents to Whittaker Chambers, a self-proclaimed courier for a communist spy group. He also denied ever meeting Chambers after January 1st 1937.

1951 - The Hague: Britain and France ask the World Court to settle an ancient row over the uninhabited Channel Island


1964 - Canada: The parliament adopts the Maple leaf as the national flag.

1965 - USA: Gemini 6 piloted by Captain Walter Schirra and Major Thomas Stafford was launched from Cape Kennedy. It made the first successful rendezvous with Gemini 7, some 185 miles above the Earth. During its 14-orbit flight, it came within six feet of Gemini 7 and travelled in close formation with the sister ship.

1967 - USA: A collapse during rush hour of the Silver Bridge on the Ohio River between Point Pleasant and Kanauga killed 46 people.

1971 - London: The Jordanian ambassador escapes a machine-gun attack on his car by Black September Guerrillas.

1976 - USA: A major oil spill began when the Liberian registered Tanker Argo Merchant ran aground near Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, leaking its 7,700,000 gallon oil cargo.

1982 - Gibraltar: The border with Spain is re-opened after 13 years.

1986 - USA: America's most famous music auditorium "Carnegie Hall" in New York City, re-opened with a gala concert featuring many noted musicians. It had been closed for seven months for a $50,000,000 remodelling.

1990 - Pakistan: More than 38 people are killed by a bomb blast in Hyderabad.

1994 - London: Diane Modahl, the former 800 metres Commonwealth gold medallist, is banned for four years after failing drug tests.

1995 - Madrid: European Community Leaders decide on "Euro" as the name for the single currency.

1997 - UAE: 85 people are killed as a passenger aircraft from Tajikistan crashes at Sharjah airport.

2005 - Australia: Bradley John Murdoch the convicted murderer of British backpacker Peter Falconio is sentenced to a non-parole period of 28 years in prison.

2009 - USA: The Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" wide-body passenger airliner has its maiden flight, travelling from Prairie Field to Boeing Field in Washington State.

2010 - France: The Mummified remains of the head of King Henri IV of France are discovered in the garage of a French retiree.

2011 - Russia: Russia circulates a draft resolution condemning the violence in Syria.

December 16th

1773 - USA: In the celebrated Boston Tea Party, a group of men dressed as Indians boarded three British Ships in Boston Harbour and threw their cargoes of tea, 342 chests worth £18,000 into the water. The action was the climax of growing colonial opposition to the Tea Act.

1811 - USA: One of the greatest earthquakes in history occurred, centering on New Madrid, Missouri, changing the topography of an area of a 30,000 square-miles. The quake raised and lowered parts of the Mississippi Valley region by as much as 15ft.

1851 - USA: The first patent for a process of shaping brass into bowls was issued to Hiram Hayden of Waterbury, Connecticut. Dishes of brass, fastened to spinning dies, were pressed to the shape of the die.

1902 - Central Asia: A huge earthquake in Turkestan kills around 4,000 people.

1909 - Nicaragua: President Jose Zelaya resigns, under pressure from US Marines.

1914 - Cairo: The UK declares Egypt a protectorate.

1922 - Warsaw: President Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated after only two days in office.

1936 - Buenos Aries: The Pan-American Peace Conference adopts pacts to maintain peace in the Americas.

1939 - Rome: Count Galeazzo Ciano, Mussolini's foreign minister, verbally attacks Russia in a speech to the Fascist Assembly.

1940 - Germany: RAF planes attempt the area bombing of Mannheim, as revenge for recent German raids on Coventry and other cities. But they cause very little damage.

1941 - Borneo: The Japanese land at Miri and Seria, meeting little opposition, but finding the oil fields sabotaged.

1942 - Berlin: Heinrich Himmler orders every person of gypsy or mixed gypsy blood to be sent to Auschwitz.

1943 - Italy: US troops capture Monte Lungo, leaving San Pietro exposed: the Germans launch strong counter-attacks to mask their withdrawal.

1944 - Indian Ocean: British Navel aircraft attack Japanese oil installations at Balawan-Deli on Sumatra.

1948 - Indochina: France grants Cambodia independence.

1952 - Paris: NATO approves the appointment of Lord Louis Mountbatten as chief of Allied Forces in the Mediterranean.

1953 - Moscow: Ex-secret police chief Lavrenti Beria confesses to "state crimes" and is committed to trial for treason.

1960 - USA: The worst air disaster to date occurred when a United Air Lines DC-8 Jet and a Trans World Airlines Lockheed Super-Constellation collided in fog over New York Harbour. 132 people are killed.

1961 - USA: President John F. Kennedy begins a tour of Latin America.

1962 - Paris: Talks between Charles De Gaulle and Harold Macmillan over Britain's entry into the EEC ends in deadlock.

1964 - USA: In the first long term contract settlement in the union's 92-year history, agreement was reached on a four year contract by the International Longshoreman's Association and the New York Shipping Association. Before ratification of the agreement, a series of wildcat strikes broke out in New York.

1965 - UK: The Beatles double A-side single "Day Tripper/"We Can Work It Out" becomes their ninth UK No.1 and their third Christmas chart topper in a row.

1971 - London: Frank Zappa's Movie "200 Motels" opens at the Piccadilly Classic Cinema.

1972 - USA: Billy Paul begins a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with "Me And Mrs Jones."

1976 - USA: The Swine flu immunization program was halted after it was reported that 51 people had suffered temporary paralysis after getting the vaccine. Some 350,000,000 had been inoculated.

1978 - Glasgow: Alex Harvey appeared at the Glasgow Apollo.

1979 - Northern Ireland: Two remote control bombs kill five troops.

1980 - London: IRA bomber Gerard Tuite and two others escape from Brixton Prison.

1983 - London: Judas Priest play the first of two sold-out nights at the Hammersmith Odeon.

1989 - UK: Jive Bunny and the Mastermixes get their final UK No.1 single with "Let's Party."

1991 - USA: Chubby Checker files a lawsuit against McDonald's in Canada seeking $14 million over its alleged use of an imitation of his voice on "The Twist" in a French fries commercial.

1993 - UK: Verve appeared at "The Krazy Horse" in Liverpool, supported by "Oasis."

1997 - South Africa: Nelson Mandela resigns after five years as South Africa's first black president.

2001 - UK: Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman begin a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Frank and Nancy Sinatra 1967 hit "Somethin Stupid."

2001 - Hawaii: Stuart Adamson, lead singer of Big Country is found dead in a hotel room in Hawaii, a month after disappearing from his home in the US. The 43 year-old musician had fought a long battle against alcoholism.

2007 - Japan: AC Milan beat Boca Juniors 4-2 to win the FIFA Club World Cup.

2008 - Israel: 24 Russian tourists are killed after their bus plunges into a ravine near Eliat in Southern Israel.

2009 - USA: Roy Edward Disney, who played a major role in the revitalisation of the Walt Disney Co, dies in a Newport Beach, California hospital aged 79, after a yearlong battle with stomach cancer.

2011 - Russia: Customs officers apprehend radioactive material bound for Iran.

December 17th

1878 - USA: "Greenbacks" reached par value on the Wall Street Exchange for the first time since 1862.

1923 - UK: An agreement is reached on the formation of the Imperial Air Transport Company.

1927 - USA: In a submarine disaster, the entire crew of 40 of the US submarine S-4 are killed after the craft, attempting to surface off Provincetown, Massachusetts, collided with the Coast Guard destroyer Paulding and sank. Divers said they heard tappings on the inside of the submarine and pleas for food and water for three days, but were helpless to free the trapped men. The First bodies were removed on January 4th.

1935 - USA: The Douglas DC-3 makes its maiden flight.

1939 - UK: The admiralty announces that 61 men of HMS Exeter's crew died during the Battle of the River Plate.

1940 - Washington: President Roosevelt outlines the Lend-Lease Scheme to supply Britain with arms and equipment telling pressmen: "We should do everything to help the British Empire defend itself."

1941 - USA: Chester Nimitz succeeds Husband Kimmel as Admiral of the Pacific Fleet.

1942 - Mediterranean: The British Submarine Splendid sinks the Italian destroyer Aviere off Bizerta.

1943 - USA: A bill repealing the Chinese Exclusion Acts and setting an annual immigration quota of 105 Chinese was signed by President Roosevelt. On the next day in Chicago, Edward Bing Kan filed an application for citizenship. On January 18 1944, he became the first Chinese to be naturalised under the new law.

1952 - UK: Lord Nuffield at 75 resigns his directorships of the British Motor Company and Morris Motors.

1956 - USA: The worst single US automobile accident to date occurred near Phoenix, Arizona. Twelve of the vehicles 13 passengers were killed.

1961 - India: Indian troops invade the Portuguese enclaves of Goa, Daman and Diu.

1962 - USA: The US Communist Party is convicted by a federal jury in Washington D.C. of failing to register as an agent of the USSR. It was fined $10,000 on each of 12 counts.

1969 - USA: Singer Tiny Tim, born Herbert Buckingham Khaury, and Miss Vicki, born Victoria May Budinger - he in his mid 40's and she 17-are married in a ceremony on Johnny Carson's TV show, "Tonight".

1973 - UK: Slade are at No.1 on the UK singles charts "Merry Christmas Everybody", the bands sixth chart topper.

1976 - London: Ian Trethowan is appointed Director-General of the BBC.

1977 - UK: George Harrison plays an unannounced live set for the regulars at his local pub in Henley-on-Thames.

1980 - USA: Amadeus, a play by Peter Shaffer, starring Tim Curry as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ian McKellan as Antonio Salieri, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.

1981 - Poland: Seven people are reported killed when troops open fire on demonstrating workers.

1984 - UK: Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Big Country, Ultravox, Paul Young, Wham, and Duran Duran appear on the Razzmatazz Solid Gold Christmas Special.

1986 - Detroit: John De Lorean is cleared of embezzlement.

1991 - Netherlands: EC foreign ministers bow to German pressure to recognize the independence of Croatia and Slovenia.

1995 - Lithuania: A statue of the late Frank Zappa is unveiled in the capital Vilnius. It was organised by Zappa fan Saulius Pauksty.

1996 - Grozny: The Red Cross pulls all foreign staff out of Chechnya following the deaths of five nurses who were shot in their sleep by masked gunmen.

1998 - London: The House of Lords announces it is to review the legality of the arrest of General Pinochet the previous month.

2004 - USA: Lisa Marie Presley agrees to sell 85% of her father Elvis Presley's estate to businessman Robert Sillerman in a deal worth $100 million. Sillerman would run Presley's Memphis home Graceland and own Elvis's name, and the rights to all revenue from his music and films. In the deal Lisa Marie would retain possession of Graceland and many of her fathers "personal effects."

2006 - Iraq: A roadside bomb kills three US Army soldiers and wounds another, north of Baghdad.

2008 - Peru: Ruins of an entire ancient city belonging to the "Wari" culture is discovered in Northern Peru.

2010 - Cuba: Cuba is hit by a cold wave, with some regions registering 50 year record low temperatures.

2012 - Fiji: Cyclone Evan hits Fiji with high winds of up to 230mph.

December 18th

1787 - USA: New Jersey ratified the constitution and became the third state of the Union.

1860 - USA: The Crittenden Compromise, a last minute attempt to persuade the southern states to remain in the union, was proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky. He proposed constitutional amendments extending the Missouri Compromise line across the country, and allowing slavery south of the line. President-elect Lincoln opposed the plan.

1907 - France: Louis Bleriot's demonstration of his new aeroplane at Issy ends after it is destroyed after crashing.

1911 - USA: President William Howard Taft informed Russia that the 1832 treaty with Russia would be abrogated because of Russia's refusal to recognize US passports held by Jews, and clergymen of certain evangelical denominations.

1913 - London: Lord Plymouth donates £35,000 to allow the Crystal Palace to be bought for the nation for £230,000.

1916 - USA: In identical peace notes to the belligerent nations in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson asked each nation to state its war aims. He stated the US was as interested in peace as the warring states and that steps should be taken not only to end the war but "to secure the future peace of the world."

1917 - USA: The Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, outlawing manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic liquors, was passed by Congress and submitted to the states for ratification. It was ratified on January 29, 1919.

1918 - UK: An 11-day strike by Lancashire cotton workers ends.

1925 - Moscow: The Party Congress advocates a gradual "single country" growth of Communism.

1931 - New York: Gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond is shot dead while he was sleeping in the state capital Albany.

1933 - Newfoundland: The Dominion reverts to Crown Colony status and directs British rule to avert financial collapse.

1934 - Switzerland: The Fascist Conference opens at Montreux, attended by 16 nations.

1939 - Washington: The US Navy agrees to send 40 planes to Finland.

1940 - Harrow: Winston Churchill visits his bomb-damaged old school.

1941 - Borneo: The Japanese destroyerShinomone is sunk by a mine.

1942 - New Guinea: The Australians attack Japanese positions at Napapo and Sanananda.

1943 - China: Japanese aircraft raid Kunming, in Yunnan Province, as part of a strategy to weaken the Allies prior to an attack on India.

1944 - Philippine Sea: A typhoon capsizes three destroyers of the US Third Fleet, drowning 757 out of 831 sailors, and sweeping 150 aircraft off the decks of the carriers.

1951 - Korea: The Communists hand the UN a list of 3,100 UN prisoners of war.

1954 - New York: 26 people are killed when an Italian Airways airliner crashes at Idlewild Airport.

1958 - UK: John Betjeman wins the Duff Cooper Prize for his "Collected Poems."

1964 - South Africa: British academic David Kitson is jailed for "revolutionary conspiracy."

1967 - Moscow: British traitor Kim Philby is hailed as a hero of the USSR.

1970 - West Germany: Thalidomide victims are awarded over £11 million in compensation.

1972 - North Vietnam: US B-52 bombers begin a massive bombing raid on Hanoi.

1974 - USA: In a massive auto-industry layoff forced by sharply reduced car sales, some 142,000 workers lose their jobs, and another 76,000 were temporarily thrown out of work.

1979 - Paris: Joy Division played what would be their only ever gig in Paris when they appeared at the Les Bains Club.

1982 - USA: Hall and Oates begin a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with "Maneater."1

1983 - USA: Ex-President Gerald Ford makes his acting debut in the US soap opera "Dynasty."

1984 - London: The Government announces the privatisation of the Trustee Savings Bank.

1997 - South Korea: Kim Dae Jung is voted new president of South Korea as the country continues to face an economic crisis.

2004 - USA: A guitar played by George Harrison and John Lennon sold for $570,000 at an auction in New York. The Gibson SG guitar was used by Harrison from 1966 to 1969 including the recording of "Revolver", and by Lennon during the "White Album sessions".

2007 - Alelutian Islands: An earthquake of 7.2 magnitude hits the islands 125 miles of Adak, Alaska.

2008 - Russia: Russian Television news channels air repeated coverage of a UFO shaped like a pyramid and similar to an Imperial cruiser from Star Wars, hovering over the Kremlin.

2011 - Japan: FC Barcelona win the final of the 2011 Fifa Club World Cup beating Santos 4-0 in Yokohama.

December 19th

1732 - USA: Poor Richard's Almanack was first published by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In continuous production for 25 years, Franklin's Almanack sold on average more than 10,000 copies yearly, making it one of the most popular writings of Colonial America.

1829 - USA: The state of Georgia issued a law that extended state boundaries over a sizeable section of the Cherokee Indian Nation. The law stated that anyone within this area after June 1 1830, was subject to Georgia laws, with all Cherokee laws becoming null after that date. It also stated that an Indian could not be a witness in any court in the state.

1901 - London: Anglo-German talks about alliance are suspended after Joseph Chamberlain's anti-German remarks.

1919 - Dublin: Lord French, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, escapes an attempt on his life outside Phoenix Park.

1923 - Paris: The Chamber of Deputies grants Marie Curie an annual pension of 40,000 francs (£530)

1927 - China: 600 alleged Communists are executed by Nationalists.

1930 - London: The government introduce a bill to relax curbs on picketing.

1932 - UK: The BBC makes its first Empire broadcast via its new Daventry transmitter.

1936 - London: Anthony Eden urges Germany to stop sending troops to Spain.

1939 - Atlantic: The German liner Columbus closely followed by the US cruiser Tuscaloosa is scuttled. 577 survivors are taken to Ellis Island in New York Harbour.

1941 - Tripoli: The Cruiser HMSNeptune and destroyer HMS Kandahar are sunk after sailing into a minefield.

1942 - USSR: The Russians retake Kantemirovka, between the Don and Donets Rivers.

1944 - Belgium: SS troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Joachim Peiper massacre 130 civilians, who they claim were harbouring US soldiers.

1947 - Belgrade: Yugoslavia signs a friendship treaty with Romania.

1950 - USA: General Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed supreme commander of the Western European defence forces by the North Atlantic Council.

1954 - London: Labour MP Anthony Wedgwood Benn, states he wants to renounce his title of Viscount Stansgate.

1957 - Paris: The first NATO conference ends with agreement to accept US nuclear missile bases in Europe.

1959 - USA: The last Civil War veteran, Walter Williams, passes away in Houston, Texas, at the age of 117.

1964 - UK: The Beatles fourth alum "Beatles For Sale" begins a seven-week stint at No.1 on the UK album chart.

1967 - Australia: John McEwen is sworn in as acting Prime Minister.

1969 - London: Mick Jagger is fined £200 at Marlborough Magistrates Court for illegal possession of cannabis.

1974 - USA: Nelson A. Rockefeller is sworn in as vice-President of the USA.

1975 - USA: US covert aid to factions in Angola was cut by the Senate, despite warnings that US security was at stake in the resolution of the civil war. The war had broken out after Portugal granted independence to Angola.

1978 - New Delhi: Indian MP's vote to jail Mrs Ghandi for contempt of the chamber.

1982 - UK: Townsend Thoresen's European Gateway car ferry collides with another ship near Harwich, killing five people.

1984 - Beijing: Britain and China sign the treaty that will return Hong Kong to China in 1997.

1985 - USA: The first woman to receive an artificial heart was Mary Lund of Kensington Minneapolis, who was given a small version of the Jarvik-7 pump at the Abbot North-western Hospital, to keep her alive until a human donor could be found.

1994 - London: The Manic Street Preachers play the first of three nights at the Astoria in London, the last shows Richie James made with the band before disappearing.

1996 - Bologna, Italy: F1 team owner Frank Williams is charged with manslaughter over the death of driver Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.

2000 - USA: Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard is returned to New York from Philadelphia in police custody in order to face outstanding drug charges for possessing crack cocaine.

2007 - Pakistan; An express train derailment in Southern Pakistan kills around 40 people, and injures 269.

2010 - London: Flights in and out of Heathrow Airport come to a standstill as severe weather conditions continue across the UK.

2011 - Cairo: Fighting continues in Tahir Square for the fourth successive day.

December 20th

1860: USA: South Carolina seceded from the Union, becoming the first state to do so. Its action was taken as a consequence of Lincoln's election.

1885 - USA: A weightlifting feat of incredible proportions was accomplished by William B. Curtis, who was reported to have lifted with a harness 3239lbs.

1909 - London: Eight people are killed in a fire at Arding and Hobbs department store at Clapham Junction.

1910 - UK: The general election produces a tie between the Liberals and the Tories with 272 seats each.

1915 - London: In a laconic single-sentence communique, the War Office revealed that the ill-fated Gallipoli expedition had been abandoned after ten months of bad luck, muddle, indecisiveness, - and outstanding heroism by British, New Zealand and Australian troops.

1936 - Spain: Rebel leader Antonio Primode Rivera, is executed by Republicans in Alicante.

1939 - Buenos Aries: Hans Langsdorff, commander of the Graf Spee, commits suicide in his hotel room.

1940 - Bulgaria: Laws to crack down on Jews and Freemasons are introduced.

1941 - USSR: The Red Army liberates Volokolamsk.

1942 - Eas Indies: Allied planes raid Japanese targets on Sumatra.

1944 - Belgium: As German Troops encircle the US 101st Airbourne and 9th and 10th armoured divisions at Bastogne, the Allies impose a blackout on all news from the Ardennes fighting, which is now being called the Battle of the Bulge.

1945 - USA: Tyre rationing is ended.

1951 - USA: The first atomic-powered generator began producing electricity at the US Reactor Testing Station in Idaho.

1956 - Tel Aviv: Israel announces it will not return Gaza to Egypt.

1957 - USA: Elvis Presley is called up to join the Army.

1959 - UK: Emile Ford and the Checkmates are at No.1 on the UK singles charts with "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For."

1960 - West Germany: Richard Baer, the last commandant of Auschwitz is arrested.

1962 - USA: The Osmonds appeared for the first time on the NBS-TV Andy Williams Show, performing the song "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas."

1967 - Vietnam: US troop strength in Vietnam reaches 474,300.

1969 - USA: Peter, Paul, And Mary, hit No.1 on the US singles charts with "Leavin On A Jet Plane."

1979 - London: Dire Straits appear at the "Rainbow" in London.

1979 - London: The Housing Bill, obliging councils to sell their houses to tenants who want to buy them, is published.

1981 - USA: "Dreamgirls" a musical by Tom Eyern and Henry Kreiger, directed by Michael Bennett opened at the Imperial Theatre in New York City. It starred Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jennifer Holliday and Loretta Devine as a up-and coming musical group reminiscent of the Supremes.

1984 - USA: Development of the long awaited megabit memory chip, able to store more than 1,000,000 bits of electronic data, was announced by Bell Laboratories. The chip could store four times as much information as the most powerful chip heretofore available. It was stated that mass production could begin in around a year.

1986 - UK: The Housemartins were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Caravan of Love."

1987 - UK: The Pet Shop Boys score their third UK No.1 single with "Always On My Mind."

1989 - Panama: American armed forces invade Panama in an attempt to overthrow and capture military dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega.

1990 - Thailand: Karyn Smith aged 19, is sentenced to 25 years for trafficking in heroin.

1994 - Prague: Czech police announce they have seized 6.6 pounds of smuggled weapons-grade uranium.

1997 - London: William Hague marries Ffion Jenkins at Westminster Hall.

2001 - USA: Tommy Lee brands his ex-wife Pamela Anderson an unfit mother. The drummer filed papers with the Los Angeles Superior Court alleging his sons told him "We Hate Mommy" and his son Brandon had been using the F-word, which her learned from his mum.

2008 - UK: Rage Against The Machine top the UK Xmas singles charts with "Killing In The Name". Arising from an Internet campaign to prevent X-Factor's Joe McEldery from topping the charts.

2011 - Philippines: The death toll from tropical storm Washi, rises to nearly a thousand.

December 21st

1620 - USA: The Pilgrims reached Plymouth Massachusetts, aboard the "Mayflower" after setting out from England on September 16th. The company consisted of 41 men and their families.

1790 - USA: The cotton mill of Almy, Brown, and Slater began operation in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, using British industrial methods. Samuel Slater had come to America with a thorough understanding of the new machinery invented in England by Richard Arkwright, Samuel Compton and James Hargreaves. His factory was manned by children aged between four and ten years of age. Slater was the first American Industrialist to break down the production process into simple parts, enabling child labour to out-produce skilled artisans.

1901 - Norway: Woman are allowed to vote for the first time, but only in local elections.

1902 - Canada: Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic telegraph message to King Edward VII in London.

1916 - USA: Trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange reached a 15-year high following Secretary of State Robert Lansing's statement that the US was being drawn into the war in Europe.

1920 - USA: "Sally" a musical extravaganza by Jerome Kern, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. It broke all box office records by grossing $38, 985 in one week.

1925 - USSR: The film "Battleship Potemkin" by Sergei Eisenstein opens

1929 - India: The All-India National Congress opens in Lahore.

1935 - Germany: Jewish doctors are forced to resign from private hospitals.

1938 - London: The government announces it plans to spend £200,000 on air-raid shelters.

1940 - Mediterranean: Aircraft from the British carrier Illustrious sink two Italian ships off Tunisia.

1941 - Minsk, USSR: Thousands of Soviet PoW's are thrown into a mass grave, having been frozen to death in sub-zero temperatures by Nazi Guards.

1943 - Auschwitz-Birkenau: Hersh Kurewaig and Stanislav Dorosiewicz escape from the camp after killing a guard.

1944 - France: SS Lieutenant-Colonel Otto Skorzeny lead the 150th Panzer brigade in a pre-dawn attack on Malmady.

1958 - UK: 21 anti-nuclear protesters are arrested at the Swaffham missile base.

1966 - UK: The Who play a gig at The Uppercut in London.

1968 - USA: Apollo 8 manned by Commander Frank Borman, James Lovell Jnr, and William Anders is launched from Cape Kennedy in Florida. It completed a pioneering five-day mission that included ten orbits of the moon (Dec 24-25) and yielded spectacular photographs of the Earth and the Moon.

1969 - USA: The Supremes made their last TV appearance together with Diana Ross on The Ed Sullivan Show, singing their last No.1 "Someday We'll Be Together."

1970 - USA: Reduction of the voting age in national elections to 18 years was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.

1974 - USA: Allegations of Illegal CIA activities were levelled by The New York Times. The newspaper reported that during the Nixon administration, the agency had maintained files on, and n some 10,000 US citizens and had engaged in illegal domestic operations, Against opponents of US policy in Vietmam as well as other dissidents.

1976 - USA: The highly publicized retrial of "Robin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis for the murders of three people in a Paterson New Jersey bar ended with conviction.

1977 - UK: The TUC narrowly votes to support the government's wage polices.

1983 - Beirut: 15 French troops are killed when a bomb-laden lorry is driven into their post.

1984 - UK: Frankie Goes to play the first of three sell-out nights at the Liverpool Royal Court.

1988 - Scotland: Former Cockney Rebel bass player Paul Jeffreys is one of the passengers killed by a terrorist bomb aboard Pan Am flight 103 when it crashed over Lockerbie.

1991 - UK: "Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Lives" starts a five-week run at No.1 on the UK singles charts, released as a tribute to the late Freddie Mercury.

1996 - UK: The charity record "Dunblane Throw These Guns Away" went to No.1 on the UK singles chart for a week.

2006 - USA: US military prosecutors charge three Marines with murder in connection with deaths in Haditha, Iraq.

2009 - Poland: Polish police arrest five men and recover the stolen Arbeit Macht Frei sign that hung over the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

2011 - UK: England Football Captain John Terry faces criminal charges over allegations he had used racist language towards a black player during a Premier League game.

25 years ago tonight, at 7.03pm, Pam Am Flight 103 was blown up by a terrorist bomb in the sky over Lockerbie.
243 passengers, 16 crew and 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed. There were no survivors from the plane.

Wreckage was scattered over 100's of square miles but the main wing section, loaded with fuel, landed in Sherwood Crescent, Lockerbie. The blast was felt over 10 miles away and registered on the Richter Scale. A large section of fuselage containing about 60 bodies landed in Park Place and 2 engines also hit the town. The cockpit was found in a field about 4 miles east of the town.

The remains of many of the ground casualties were never found and there is a grave in Lockerbie cemetery with the human remains that could not be identified. The headstone has 17 names on it.

December 22nd

1807 - USA: The Embargo Act was signed was by President Thomas Jefferson. Britain and France had refused to recognize U.S neutral rights and had hampered its shipping. The Act was a retaliatory measure based on Jefferson's idea of commercial exclusion; US exports to Britain and France were prohibited. This attempt to force France and England to remove restrictions on US trade was considered by many a "cure that killed" since it seriously crippled American commerce.

1900 - China: Preliminary peace terms are signed by China and the Allies.

1910 - China: Russia presents China with a project for a railway from Lake Baikal to Peking via the Gobi Desert.

1917 - Russia: Peace talks open between Russia's new Bolshevik regime and delegates of the central powers led by the German Foreign Minister Baron von Kuhlmann, at Brest-Litovsk.

1921 - Washington: Congress creates a $20 million fund to aid famine victims in Russia.

1931 - Rome: A falling roof wrecks the Vatican library.

1932 - Glasgow: 15 people are injured when jobless workers clash with police.

1933 - Leipzig: Dutchman Marinus van der Lubbe is sentenced to death for burning the Reichstag in Berlin.

1939 - UK: The government announces that it has seized 870,000 tons of goods destined for Germany, since the war began.

1940 - North Africa: Fifteen aircraft from the carrier HMS Illustrious bomb Tripoli.

1941- Philippines: Japanese soldiers land at Lingayen, with their main goal to reach Manila.

1942 - USSR: The Germans begin a swift retreat from their exposed positions in the Caucasus.

1943 - Warsaw: Gestapo police discover and execute 62 Jews hiding in a basement.

1944 - Hungary: A provisional government, under Soviet protection, is formed at Debrecen.

1956 - USA: The first gorilla born in captivity, a female weighing four and a half pounds, was born at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio.

1961 - South Vietnam: James Davis becomes the first US soldier to be killed by the Vietcong.

1962 - USA: The Tornados start a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with "Telstar."

1964 - USA: Oregon and four northern California countries were declared major disaster areas because of heavy snow, rain, and floods. At least 40 people had died as a result of weather conditions in Oregon, California, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada.

1965 - USA: The Dave Clark Five score their only US No.1 single with "Over And Over."

1967: "Christmas On Earth Continued" was held at the Olympia Halls in London, featuring The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Animals, Soft Machine, and the DJ John Peel. Tickets cost £1.

1968 - New York: President-elect Richard Nixon's younger daughter Julie married Dwight David Eisenhower II, grandson of the former president.

1972 - UK: Manchester United appoint Tommy Docherty as their new manager.

1973 - UK: Elton John began a two-week run on the UK album chart with "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

1979 - Iran: A state of emergency is declared in Baluchistan as fighting with rebels continues.

1983 - USA: a joint U.S-Japanese auto venture by General Motors and Toyota was approved by the Federal Trade Commission. The new plant in Fremont, California was expected to produce from 200,000 to 250,000 autos a year. Ford and Chrysler had both opposed the plan.

1987 - USA: A compromise Contra aid appropriation, authorizing $14,000,000 for non-lethal assistance to the Nicaraguan rebels, was signed by President Ronald Reagan.

1988 - New York: South Africa, Cuba, and Angola sign treaties for the phased withdrawal of Cuban troops from Angola.

1994 - Brussels: Belgium, Germany, France, Portugal, Luxembourg, Spain and the Netherlands agree to end border controls in March 1995.

2000 - Scotland: Madonna tied the knot with film director Guy Ritchie at Skibo Castle.

2002 - UK: "Pop Stars: The Rivals" winners Girls Aloud begin a four-week run at No.1 on the UK single charts with their debut release "Sound Of The Underground."

2005 - Outer Space: Acetylene and Hydrogen Cyanide, precursors too life's ingredients (DNA and Proteins) are found around a star in the constellation Ophicuchus.

2009 - USA: The FBI release more than 300 pages of previously classified documents belonging o pop star Michael Jackson, after his death earlier in the year.

2011 - Tanzania: The worst floods since its independence in 1961 hit the city of Dar es Salaam, killing around 13 people.

December 23rd

1814 - USA: In north-western Florida, Major Uriah Blue led a force of American Militia against a Creek Indian village, near the Yellow River. Thirty Creek Indians were killed and 36 were captured.

1877 - USA: Settlers fought a group of Indians near Van Horn's Wells in Texas. Two settlers were killed.

1903 - USA: Around 60 people are killed in a head-on train collision in Pennsylvania.

1912 - India: A bomb was hurled at Lord Hardinge, the Governor-General of India, as he rode on the back of an elephant into Delhi to take part in a Durbar arranged to celebrate the handing over of the new capital. The Bomb exploded inside the howdah in which Lord & Lady Hardinge were riding. The Governor-General was seriously wounded and an attendant was killed. Lady Hardinge was unharmed.

1919 - London: Royal Assent is given to the Sex Disqualification Removal Bill, opening professions to women.

1921 - USA: The prison sentences of Eugene V. Debs and 23 others convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 were commuted by President Warren G. Harding, with the release of prisoners to take effect on Christmas Day. Debs had served two years and eight months of a ten-year sentence for seditious statements allegedly made at Canton, Ohio in 1918.

1933 - France: 190 people are killed when the Nancy express train collides with the Strasbourg express near Meaux.

1939 - South America: Several countries protest to Germany and the Allies about the Battle of the River Plate, which breached the Pan- American security zone.

1940 - France: Jacques Bonsergent, a 28 year-old engineer who had a fight with a German Sergeant, is the first Frenchmen to executed by the Nazis in Paris.

1941 - Pacific: Japan takes control of Wake Island, renaming it "Island of Birds."

1943 - Algiers: General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny arrives to take command of the French First Army.

1944 - Ardennes: US troops at Bastogne become completely surrounded by German forces.

1947 - UK: 220 Dartmoor inmates stage a protest against prison food.

1951 - USA: The NFL Championship was won by the Los Angeles Rams, who defeated the Cleveland Browns 24-17

1960 - Brussels: Fights break out in parliament amid nationwide strikes in protest at government austerity policies.

1962 - Cuba: The Cuban government began releasing prisoners captured in the Bay of Pigs Invasion under an agreement with a U.S committee of private citizens by which Cuba would get more than $50,000,000 in food and medical supplies.

1963 - Atlantic: 919 people are rescued from the blazing cruise liner "Lakonia". 117 people are feared dead.

1964 - USA: During a U.S Tour The Beach Boys Brian Wilson suffers a nervous breakdown in the middle of a flight from Los Angeles to Houston. Wilson left the band to concentrate on writing and producing.
Glen Campbell replaced Wilson for the band's upcoming live shows.

1970 - USA: The North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City was topped out, making it the tallest building in the world. At 1,350ft, it was 100ft taller than the Empire State Building.

1974 - USA: The constitution and bylaws of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin were amended.

1981 - Delhi: As Geoffrey Boycott took his score to 86 not out against India in Delhi, he became the most prolific run-scoring batsman in Test history, passing the record of 8,032 held by great West Indies all-rounder Gary Sobers.

1985 - South Africa: Six whites are killed in a bomb blast at a shopping centre near Durban.

1986 - USA: The first nonstop flight around the world without refuelling was completed when the experimental airplane Voyager landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, after a journey of 25,012 miles that took 9 days, 3mins, 44 sec. Made of plastic and stiffened paper, the fragile looking plane carried five times its weight in fuel. The Pilot was Richard G. Rutan, and the co-pilot Jeana Yeager.

1989 - UK: The second version of "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid II makes No.1 of the UK singles charts.

1992 - UK: "The Sun" publishes a leaked copy of Queen's Christmas Speech.

1995 - France: The bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple cult are found after an apparent mass suicide.

2000 - UK: Simply Red's Mick Hucknall is given a police caution for possessing cocaine and cannabis. The Class A and Class B drugs were found at his Surrey home by police after a woman falsely accused him of rape in November.

2005 - USA: Astronomers discover new rings and moons around Uranus using the Hubble Space Telescope.

2008 - Sri Lanka: Continuous heavy fighting takes place between the country's Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, around the City of Kilinochchi.

2010 - New Zealand: The New Zealand military release formally classified files regarding possible UFO sightings.

2011 - UK: Prince Philip receives treatment for a blocked coronary artery at Cambridge's Papworth Hospital.