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December 26 is the 360th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, 361st in leap years. There are 5 days remaining.
Events
1481 - Battle of Westbroek - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht
1606 - King Lear performed in the Court of England
1620 - Elizabeth Bathory's crimes are uncovered
1620 - Pilgrim Fathers land of what becomes New Plymouth in Massachusetts
1776 - American Revolutionary War: The British were defeated in the Battle of Trenton
1790 - Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution
1792 - Final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris
1793 - Battle of Geisberg - French defeat Austrians
1793 - Wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
1806 - Battle of Pultusk - indecisive battle between Napoleon and the Russians
1812 - Delaware and Chesapeake blockaded during the War of 1812
1825 - The Erie Canal opens
1861 - Confederate diplomatic envoys James Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain
1862 - 38 starving and angry Dakota men are hanged for killing white people after a brief rebellion
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium
1908 - Jack Johnson becomes the first African American heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia
1916 - Joseph Joffre is made Marshal of France
1925 - Communist Party of India founded
1925 - Turkey adopts Gregorian Calendar
1931 - Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity was founded
1933 - The Nissan Motor Company was organized in Tokyo, Japan
1933 - FM radio is patented
1944 - The play The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams was first publicly performed.
1944 - American troops repulse German forces at Bastogne
1945 - CFP franc and CFA franc are created
1946 - Flamingo Hotel opens in Las Vegas
1947 - 26 inches of snowfall in 16 hours in New York City
1948 - Cardinal Mindszenty arrested in Hungary
1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach
1973 - Comet Kohoutek reaches perihelion but is not such a display as expected
1973 - Soyuz 13 lands
1974 - Salyut 4 launched
1975 - Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union
1979 - Soviet Special forces troops take over presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan
1980 - Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
1982 - TIME magazine's Man of the Year was for the first time given to a non-human; a computer
1984 - Princess Astrid of Belgium marries Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este
1986 - The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air
1988 - Start of the Nanjing Anti-African protests
1991 - Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR
1996 - JonBenét Ramsey, a six-year-old beauty queen, was found murdered in her family's basement in Boulder, Colorado
1996 - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force
1998 - Iraq announced its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern "no-fly zones"
1998 - Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland. Widespread disruption, widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland
1999 - On the 26-28th, France and countries to east hit by severe storms and rain. Over 100 people were killed, and the storm caused extensive damage to property and trees and the French national power grid.
2002 - French Raelian scientist Brigitte Boisselier says Clonaid has delivered the first of a supposed five clone babies through cesarean section
2003 - Major earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, with up to 43,300 killed, and 90,000 homeless; the citadel of Arg-é Bam destroyed.
2004 - A major earthquake and ensuing tsunami causes devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, The Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean. The death toll is currently estimated at around 226,000. Officials say the true toll may never be known, due to rapid burials.
Births
1194 - Frederick II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1250)
1532 - Guilielmus Xylander, German classical scholar (d. 1576)
1536 - the Confucian scholar Yi I (Yulgok) of Joseon (d. 1584)
1716 - Thomas Gray, poet and letter-writer (d. 1771)
1735 - Prince Josias of Coburg, Holy Roman Empire general (d. 1815)
1751 - Clement Mary Hofbauer, Redemptorist missionary (d. 1820)
1780 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, UK mathematician (d. 1872)
1791 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor of computing machines (d. 1871)
1819 - E. D. E. N. Southworth, US novelist (d. 1899)
1822 - Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
1837 - George Dewey, Admiral in the United States Navy (d. 1917)
1853 - René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
1883 - Maurice Utrillo, painter (d. 1955)
1891 - Henry Miller, writer (d. 1980)
1893 - Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician (d. 1976)
1903 - Elisha Cook Jr., actor (d. 1995)
1914 - Richard Widmark, actor
1921 - Steve Allen, actor, comedian, composer, author (d. 2000)
1927 - Alan King, comedian, actor (d. 2004)
1940 - Phil Spector, music producer
1942 - Gray Davis, former Governor of California
1945 - John Walsh, talk show host, television presenter
1947 - Carlton Fisk, Baseball Hall of Famer
1949 - José Ramos Horta, East Timorean Human Rights activist
1954 - Ozzie Smith, Baseball Hall of Famer
1956 - David Sedaris, essayist
1971 - Jared Leto, actor
Deaths
268 - Pope Dionysius
418 - Pope Zosimus
1458 - Arthur III, the Justicier, Duke of Brittany
1530 - Babur, first of the Mogul dynasty (b. 1483?)
1624 - Simon Marius, German astronomer
1771 - Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher
1869 - Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1797)
1890 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
1909 - Frederic Remington, artist (b. 1861)
1960 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese ethicist and philosopher (b. 1889)
1963 - Gorgeous George, professional wrestler, television personality
1972 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States (b. 1884)
1973 - Harold B. Lee, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (b. 1899)
1974 - Jack Benny, comedian (b. 1894)
1977 - Howard Hawks, film director, writer (b. 1896)
1985 - Dian Fossey, anthropologist (b. 1932)
1986 - Elsa Lanchester, actress (b. 1902)
1999 - Curtis Mayfield, musician (b. 1942)
2000 - Jason Robards, actor (b. 1922)
2001 - Nigel Hawthorne, actor (b. 1929)
2002 - Herb Ritts, celebrity photographer (b. 1952)
2002 - Armand Zildjian, cymbal manufacturer
2003 - Sir Alan Bates, British actor
2003 - Hope Lange, television actress
2004 - Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
2004 - Sir Angus Ogilvy, husband of HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent (b. 1928)
2004 - Dr. Marianne Heiberg, Oslo accords mediator (b. 1945)
Holidays and observances
December 26 is a public holiday in most Christian countries, a notable exception being the United States.
Boxing Day in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia
The first day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Czech Republic
First day of Kwanzaa
Feast day of Saint Stephen (in the western Christian church), holiday in Croatia.
Independence Day in Slovenia
Mandala Pooja at Sabarimala in Kerala, India
Other annual occurrences
Period of Ursids meteor shower ends
Wrenboys celebrate Wren in Ireland
First day of Junkanoo street parade in the Bahamas (the second day is on the New Year's Day)
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December 25 - December 27 - November 26 - January 26 -- listing of all days
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