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December 24 Dateline

Birthdays


1167 (or 1166?) - John, King of England, son of Henry II, is born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford. He becomes the king of England and Ireland. He is most famous for being forced to seal the Magna Carta.

1837 - Empress Elisabeth of Austria (born Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, nicknamed Sissi or Sisi), Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary by marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I. She was born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. She enjoyed an informal upbringing before marrying Emperor Franz Joseph I at the age of 16. The marriage thrust her into the more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was unprepared. Early in the marriage she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie (also her aunt). The birth of the heir apparent, Crown Prince Rudolf, improved her standing at court, but her health suffered under the strain. She came to develop a deep kinship with Hungary, and helped to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria–Hungary in 1867. The death of her only son and his mistress Mary Vetsera in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which Elisabeth never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family. In 1890, she had a palace built on the Greek Island of Corfu that she visited often. In 1897, her favourite sister, Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, died in an accidental fire at the "Bazar de la Charité" in Paris. While travelling in Geneva in 1898, she was mortally wounded by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. Elisabeth was the longest serving Empress of Austria at 44 years. (Empress Elisabeth (Sisi) of Austria 1837-1898. Uploaded by Rebecca Pattison. Accessed December 24, 2019.  Sisi - Empress Elisabeth of Austria - Vienna/Now. Uploaded: Vienna. Accessed December 24, 2019.)

1905 - Howard Robard Hughes Jr., American business magnate, record-setting aviator, engineer, film director, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful individuals in the world. (Howard Hughes: The Man and the Madness (Documentary / Biography). Uploaded by Karen Ek. Accessed December 24, 2016.)

1971 - Ricky Martin, (born Enrique Martín Morales), Puerto Rican singer, actor, and author who is known as the "King of Latin Pop" and "Latin Music King". His first English-language album (titled Ricky Martin), sold 15 million copies and is his best selling album to date. Martin also acted on stage and TV in Mexico, where he achieved modest fame in the early 1990s. In 1994, he appeared on the US TV soap opera General Hospital as a Puerto Rican singer. In 2018, he portrayed Antonio D'Amico in the miniseries The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, which earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

Leftie:
Ricky Martin 

 
More birthdays and historical events, December 24 - On This Day

 

Historical Events


1851 - Fire got through the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington D.C., destroying 35,000 volumes, including most of Thomas Jefferson's personal collection, acquired in 1815.

1865 - Six confederate veterans of the American Civil War establish the Ku Klux Klan, in Pulaski, Tennessee.  

1920 - Enrico Caruso appears in his last opera performance at the Met, also his last public appearance—his 607th performance with the Metropolitan Opera—was as Eléazar in La Juive. Caruso became the most celebrated and highest paid of his contemporaries worldwide. Two weeks earlier a throat hemorrhage needed efforts to arrest pleurisy but months later he eventually succumbed to the illness. (Enrico Caruso - La Juive (Rachel, quand du Seigneur) - enhanced. Accessed October 24, 2011.  Enrico Caruso - Core 'ngrato. Digitally remastered. Accessed October 24, 2018. Uploaded by Tom Froekyaer.)

1914 - The first German air raid on British mainland takes place. An FF29 seaplane scored one hit on a church in Dover. Although there were no casualties, some windows were broken and the gas-stove in a green house was extinguished.  

1951 - Gian Carlo Menotti's television opera Amahl and the Night Visitors is first produced on NBC, becoming an annual Christmas-time event.  (Suggested link: Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian-Carlo Menotti)

1968 - The Apollo 8 astronauts are the first human beings to orbit the Moon, flying 69 miles (110 km) away from its surface. 
   
2003 - America's first suspected outbreak of BSE (mad cow disease), in Washington State, prompts several countries to ban imports of U.S. beef.      



Resources:
 
1. Asiado, Tel. The World's Movers and Shapers. New Hampshire: Ore Mountain Publishing House (2005)
2. Britannica. www.britannica.com
3. Chambers Biographical Dictionary, 19th Ed. London: Chambers Harrap, 2011
4. Dateline. Sydney: Millennium House, (2006)
5. Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History, New 3rd Revised Ed. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone (1991)
6. Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org


 
(c) June 2006. Updated December 24, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

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