December 25 - Definition and Overview

December 25 is the 359th day of the year (360th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 6 days remaining. It is the 300th day counting from March 1, every year.

Events

• 800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
• 1066 - Coronation of William the Conqueror as king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
• 1223 - Saint Francis of Assisi assembles the first Nativity scene.
• 1599 - The city of Natal, Brazil is founded.
• 1776 - George Washington and his army cross the Delaware River to attack the monarchy's Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.
• 1818 - The first performance of "Silent Night" (Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorf, Austria).
• 1837 - Battle of Okeechobee - United States forces defeat Seminole Indians.
• 1868 - US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War rebels.
• 1868 - Ezo Republic founded in Hokkaido by Shogunate rebels.
• 1914 - Just after midnight on Christmas morning, German troops on the Western Front cease firing their guns and artillery and start singing Christmas carols. Crossing the No man's land, they trade gifts with the enemy forces that face them. The Christmas truce lasts for several days, depending on the location.
• 1917 - Why Marry?, first dramatic play to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre in New York City
• 1926 - Hirohito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding the Taisho Emperor.
• 1932 - A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills ~70,000 people
• 1939 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol was read on radio for the first time (CBS radio)
• 1939 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is introduced by Montgomery Ward stores
• 1941 - Hong Kong surrenders to the Japanese.
• 1947 - The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
• 1953 - A fire broke out in Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong.
• 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze.
• 1974 - Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia
• 1977 - Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat
• 1989 - Nicolae Ceausescu, former communist dictator of Romania, and his wife Elena were condemned to death and executed under a wide range of charges by a court perceived by many as illegitimate.
• 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day).
• 2002 - New Delhi Metro was introduced.
• 2004 - Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which will land on Saturn's moon, Titan on January 14, 2005.

Births

• Sometime between 7 BC to 4 BC - observed birthday of Jesus, considered by Christians to be the son of God, and by Muslims to be an ascetic prophet. The date of Jesus' birth is celebrated on several different days worldwide.
• 1642 - Sir Isaac Newton, physicist and mathematician (d. 1727)
• 1742 - Charlotte von Stein, girlfriend of Goethe (d. 1827)
• 1763 - Claude Chappe, telecommunications pioneer semaphore lines (d. 1805)
• 1771 - Dorothy Wordsworth, diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
• 1821 - Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
• 1856 - Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
• 1863 - Charles Pathé, movie producer
• 1865 - Fay Templeton, actress & singer, (d. 1939)
• 1875 - Theodor Cardinal Innitzer, Archbishop of Vienna from 1932-1955
• 1876 - Muhammed Ali Jinnah, first Governor-General of Pakistan (disputed) (d. 1948)
• 1878 - Louis Chevrolet, race car driver, automotive pioneer (d. 1941)
• 1883 - Maurice Utrillo, a "Montmartre" artist (d. 1955)
• 1884 - Evelyn Nesbit, actress (d. 1967)
• 1886 - Kid Ory, jazz musician (d. 1973)
• 1887 - Conrad Nicholson Hilton, hotelier (d. 1979)
• 1893 - Belle Baker American singer from 1920s & 30s, and an actress, big hit "If I Had A Talking Picture of You", (d. 1957)
• 1899 - Humphrey Bogart, actor (d. 1957)
• 1901 - Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
• 1906 - Sir Lew Grade, film producer (d. 1998)
• 1907 - Cab Calloway, bandleader (d. 1994)
• 1908 - Quentin Crisp, author, activist for homosexuals (d. 1999)
• 1908 - Helen Twelvetrees, actress (d. 1958)
• 1912 - Tony Martin, singer
• 1912 - Natalino Otto, Italian singer
• 1913 - Henri Nannen, journalist and publisher (d. 1966)
• 1915 - Pete Rugolo, bandleader
• 1918 - Antl Sadat, Egyptian president (d. 1981)
• 1924 - Rod Serling, scriptwriter, host of The Twilight Zone (d. 1975)
• 1924 - Antl Behari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India
• 1925 - Carlos Castaneda, author (d. 1998)
• 1927 - Nellie Fox, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1975)
• 1936 - Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent
• 1936 - Ismail Merchant, movie producer
• 1943 - Hanna Schygulla, actress
• 1944 - Jairzinho, football player
• 1945 - Noel Redding, bassist: The Jimi Hendrix Experience (d. 2003)
• 1945 - Gary Sandy, actor
• 1945 - Kenny Stabler, American football player
• 1946 - Jimmy Buffett, singer, songwriter
• 1946 - Larry Csonka, American football player
• 1948 - Barbara Mandrell, singer, actress
• 1949 - Sissy Spacek, actress
• 1949 - Joe Louis Walker, blues musician
• 1954 - Robin Campbell, guitarist and singer of UB40
• 1954 - Annie Lennox, singer of Eurythmics
• 1958 - Hanford Dixon, American football player
• 1958 - Rickey Henderson, baseball player
• 1961 - Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
• 1971 - Dido, singer
• 1980 - Reika Hashimoto, actress, model

Deaths

• 795 - Pope Adrian I
• 1635 - Samuel de Champlain - French explorer, founder of Quebec City. (b. 1567)
• 1683 - Kara Mustafa, Ottoman pasha and general who lost the Battle of Vienna. (b. 1634)
• 1880 - Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1828)
• 1933 - Francesc Macià, President of Generalitat, Autonomous government of Catalonia (b. 1859)
• 1938 - Karel Čapek, Czech author, inventor of the word robot (b. 1890)
• 1940 - Agnes Ayres, silent film actress (b. 1898)
• 1946 - W. C. Fields, actor, comedian (b. 1880)
• 1951 - Harry T. Moore, civil rights activist: assassinated
• 1954 - Johnny Ace, after losing Russian roulette on the previous day.
• 1957 - Charles Pathé, movie producer
• 1963 - Tristan Tzara, poet and essayist (b. 1896)
• 1973 - Ismet Inonu, statesman (b. 1884)
• 1977 - Charlie Chaplin, actor (b. 1889)
• 1983 - Joan Miró, painter (b. 1893)
• 1989 - Nicolae Ceauşescu, Romanian dictator (executed) (b. 1918)
• 1989 - Billy Martin, baseball player, manager (b. 1928)
• 1995 - Dean Martin, singer, actor (b. 1917)
• 1996 - JonBenét Ramsey, murder victim (b. 1990)
• 1998 - John Pulman, English snooker player
• 2002 - Iñigo Cavero, Spanish politician
• 2003 - Phil Goldman, co-founder of WebTV Networks, Inc. (now MSN TV)
• 2004 - Jane Muskie, widow of political figure Edmund Muskie

Holidays and observances

• The Christmas holiday is celebrated on this day in Christianity. However, some eastern Churches celebrate on their ecclesiastical December 25, which is January 7 in the civil calendar. Christmas day always falls on the same day of the week as New Years Day (January 1) of the next year.
• Catholicism - The Nativity of Christ
• One of the four Irish Quarter days in the Irish calendar.
• Pakistan - Birthday of Muhammad Ali Jinnah

December 24 - December 26 - November 25 - January 25 -- listing of all days