Thursday Thirteen #8

THIRTEEN NOTABLE
DECEMBER 25TH HISTORICAL EVENTS

1. 1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror as king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

2. 1223 - St. Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene.

3. 1643 - Christmas Island founded and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Ship Company vessel, the Royal Mary.

4. 1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria.

5. 1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.

6. 1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City.

7. 1950 - The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students.

8. 1968 - Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

9. 1971 - In the longest game in NFL history (82m 40s of game time), the Miami Dolphins defeat the Kansas City Chiefs at Kansas City Municipal Stadium 27-24.

December 25 Births of Note:

10. 1642 (O.S.) - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (d. 1727)

11. 1918 - Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)

12. 1924 - Rod Serling, American television writer (d. 1975)

13. 1971/1973 - Justin Trudeau, and his brother Alexandre Trudeau, sons of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau

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