December 24

December 24 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There
are 9 days remaining, 9 in leap years.

Events:

   * 640 - John IV becomes Pope
   * 1814 - The Treaty of Ghent was signed which ended the War of 1812
   * 1818 - Silent Night composed by Franz Xaver Gruber
   * 1851 - Library of Congress burns
   * 1865 - Several US Civil War Confederate veterans form the Ku Klux Klan
   * 1906 - The first radio program, a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a
     speech, broadcasts
   * 1924 - Albania becomes a republic
   * 1943 - US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the supreme Allied
     commander
   * 1946 - France's Fourth Republic founded
   * 1951 - Libya becomes independent from Italy
   * 1953 - NBC's Dragnet becomes the first network-sponsored television
     program
   * 1954 - Laos becomes independent
   * 1968 - The crew of the USS Pueblo was released by North Korea after
     being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.
   * 1979 - The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan to support the country's
     Marxist government

Births:

   * 1166 - John, king of England
   * 1491 - Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit
     order)
   * 1809 - Kit Carson, American frontiersman (died 1868)
   * 1812 - Karl Eduard Zachariae, German expert on civil law
   * 1818 - James Prescott Joule, British physicist
   * 1837 - Elisabeth of Austria, Austrian empress (Sisi)
   * 1859 - Samuel Fischer, publisher
   * 1881 - Juan Ram—n JimŽnez, poet (died 1958)
   * 1886 - Michael Curtiz, director (died 1962)
   * 1905 - Howard Hughes, film producer, inventor, recluse (died 1976)
   * 1906 - Joseph Hšffner, cardinal and archbishop of Cologne
   * 1907 - Cab Calloway, musician
   * 1910 - Fritz Leiber, American science fiction writer (died 1992)
   * 1914 - Herbert Reinecker, screenplay writer
   * 1922 - Ava Gardner, American actress (died 1990)
   * 1927 - Mary Higgins Clark, author
   * 1931 - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer
   * 1945 - Lemmy Kilmister, British bass player
   * 1945 - Nicholas Meyer, author
   * 1971 - Ricky Martin, singer
   * 1983 - Irina Krush, American chess player

Deaths:

   * 1524 - Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer
   * 1863 - William Makepeace Thackeray, writer
   * 1935 - Alban Berg, Austrian composer
   * 1942 - Jean-Fran�ois Darlan, vice-president of Vichy France
   * 1957 - Norma Talmadge, actress
   * 1975 - Bernard Herrmann, composer
   * 1984 - Peter Lawford, actor
   * 1986 - Gardner Fox, American writer
   * 1993 - Norman Vincent Peale, writer
   * 1997 - Toshir™ Mifune, actor

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