December 24
It’s National Egg Nog Day and National Chocolate Day
ON THIS DAY…
1814 The War of 1812 officially ended as the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium
1818 “Silent Night” is composed by Franz Xaver Gruber and Josef Mohr
1851 Fire devastated the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000 volumes
1865 Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, TN called the Ku Klux Klan
1906 Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio
1953 NBCs Dragnet becomes the first network-sponsored TV program
1955 Aldous Huxley takes LSD for the first time
1968 The crew of Apollo 8 (crewed by Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders) enter into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so
BORN:
1809 Christopher “Kit” Carson, Union Brigadier-General/trapper/frontiersman
1880 Johnny Gruelle, cartoonist/children’s book writer/creator of Raggedy Ann
1886 Michael Curtiz, film director (Casablanca, Angels with Dirty Faces, The Adventures of Robin Hood)
1905 Howard Hughes, reclusive billionaire/inventor/aviator/engineer/industrialist/film producer/film director (Hell’s Angels, Scarface, The Outlaw)
1910 Fritz Leiber, author (The Swords of Lankhmar, Our Lady of Darkness)
1922 Ava Gardner, actress (On the Beach, Night of the Iguana)
1927 Mary Higgins Clark, author (A Cry in the Night, Stillwatch)
1941 John Levene, actor (Doctor Who)
1945 Lemmy, musician (Motörhead)
1945 Nicholas Meyer, writer/director (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Seven Percent Solution)
1963 Caroline Aherne, comedienne/writer/actress (The Royle Family, The Fast Show)
1966 Deidrich Bader, actor (The Drew Carey Show, Office Space)
1969 Mark Millar, comic book writer (Wanted, Civil War, Judge Dredd)
1971 Ricky Martin, singer/actor (General Hospital, Les Miserables)
According to Russian folklore, people born on this day are believed to become werewolves.
DIED:
1914 John Muir, preservationists/environmentalist/writer dies at 76
1957 Norma Talmadge, actress (Smilin’ Through, Secrets), dies at 60
1975 Bernard Herrmann, Academy Award-winning film composer (The Devil and Daniel Webster, Psycho, Citizen Kane), dies at 64
1984 Peter Lawford, actor (Ocean’s Eleven, Easter Parade), dies at 61
1984 Ian Hendry, actor (Get Carter, The Avengers), dies at 53
1986 Gardner Fox, comic book writer/creator of The Flash and Hawkman, dies at 75
1997 Toshiro Mifune, actor (Rashomon, Seven Samurai), dies at 77
2005 Michael Vale, actor (“Fred the Baker” for Dunkin’ Donuts commercials, Marathon Man), dies at 83
2007 Michael Kidd, Tony-winning choreographer (Guys and Dolls, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers) dies at 92