December 24

Facts & Historical Events On This Day

2012

Eleven kindergarten children were killed after a minivan plunged into a roadside pond in Jiangxi, China.

2001

Rudy Giuliani was named 'Person of the Year' by Time Magazine.

2000

The Texas Seven held up a sports store.

1970

Walt Disney's 'Aristocats' was released.

1968

The crew of NASA's Apollo 8 became the first humans to enter the Moon's orbit.

1914

Unofficial ceasefires sprang up across World War I’s Western Front.

1868

King George I established the Greek Presidential Guard as the royal escort.

1865

Several Confederate veterans formed the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee.

1849

The first great fire of early San Francisco started on the east side of the Plaza.

1818

The Christmas carol 'Silent Night' composed by Franz Xaver Gruber was first sung at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, Austria.

1814

The Treaty of Ghent was signed, which ended the War of 1812 between the US, the UK, and their allies.

1800

A plot to blow up Napoleon Bonaparte with a barrel of gunpowder failed.

1777

James Cook visited Christmas Island.

1651

Jan van Riebeeck departed for Cape of Good Hope to found the first permanent European settlement.