December 25, 2010

1,210 years ago
800

Europeana
Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III at St. Peter’s basilica in Rome.

1,190 years ago
820

Died on this date
Leo V, 65 (?). Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, 813-820. Leo V "the Armenian", the son of a patrician, was a senior general who seized the throne when he forced Michael I to abdicate. Emperor Leo ended the decade-long war with the Bulgars and initiated the second period of Byzantine Iconoclasm, but was assassinated in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople by supporters of one of his most trusted generals, Michael the Amorian, who succeeded him as Emperor Michael II.

1,010 years ago
1000

Europeana
Hungary was established as a Christian kingdom under Stephen I.

910 years ago
1100

Asiatica
Baldwin I was crowned the first king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

880 years ago
1130

Italiana
Ruggero II was crowned King of Sicily by Antipope Anacletus II in Palermo.

875 years ago
1135

Britannica
Stephen was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in London.

180 years ago
1830

Transportation
The Best Friend of Charleston became the first regularly scheduled steam locomotive passenger train in the United States, making its initial run on the first six miles of track of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company.

130 years ago
1880

Died on this date
Fridolin Anderwert, 52. President-elect of the Swiss National Council, 1880. Mr. Anderwert was a district judge (1853-1856) before serving on the Thurgau Grand Council and the National Council, holding the presidency of the latter (1870-1871). He was regarded as a radical of the left, and was significantly involved in the total revision of the Swiss Federal Constitution. Mr. Anderwert became a member of the Swiss Federal Council in 1875, served as Minister of Justice, and on December 7, 1880, was elected President of the National Council for 1881. Immediately upon his election, Mr. Anderwert was subjected to attacks in the press, which included allegations that he was a regular guest at brothels. Mr. Anderwert committed suicide by shooting himself; according to the autopsy, a significant enlargement of the heart had seriously affected his health, probably triggering severe depression.

70 years ago
1940

Died on this date
Agnes Ayres, 48. U.S. actress. Miss Ayres, born Agnes Eyre Henkel, achieved popularity in silent movies from the late 1910s through the mid-'20s. Her career was aided by her affair with Paramount Pictures founder Jesse Lasky, and declined after the relationship ended in 1923. Miss Ayres was best known for playing Lady Diana Mayo in The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926). She died from a cerebral hemorrhage.

War
General Andrew McNaughton organized the First Canadian Corps with two divisions in Aldershot, England. Reports from Hungary indicated that more than 150,000 German troops had been transported by train through Hungary to Romania in the past two days. British officials estimated that Malta had withstood 203 Italian air attacks, and that 35 Italian bombers had been shot down there since Italy had entered the war in June 1940. Verne Marshall of the U.S. No Foreign Wars Committee said that war would not have broken out in Europe were it not for "unwritten" foreign commitments made by the U.S.A.

Defense
Official estimates placed the world's current combatant naval strength at 1,600 units, exceeding 5 million tons, with the United States building 329 craft--more than Germany, Italy, and Japan combined. U.S. Senator Burton K. Wheeler (Democrat--Montana) said that President Franklin D. Roosevelt should make a determined effort to bring peace to Europe before additional aid was granted to the United Kingdom, and criticized plans to send equipment to Britain as "an evasion of our Neutrality Act."

Law
Panamanian President Arnulfo Arias issued a decree abrogating the 1904 constitution, replacing it with the new one adopted by the National Assembly in November 1940 and accepted in a plebiscite on December 15.

Business
American Magnesium Corporation denied that the German I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G. controlled magnesium patents in the United States, and was thus able to restrict production.

Football
NCAA
Earl "Red" Blaik, head coach at Dartmouth College since 1934, was named head coach at the United States Military Academy.

60 years ago
1950

On television tonight
Lights Out, on NBC
Tonight's episode: Jasper, starring Janis Carter, Johnny Johnston, Meg Mundy, and Howard Freeman



World events
Tibet reported that the Dalai Lama had left Lhasa for India with a caravan guarded by 600 soldiers in a trip that would take several weeks.

The Paraguayan government put down an attempted Christmas revolt by a dissident "red banner" faction of the ruling Colorado Party.

Politics and government
The South Korean National Assembly voted to move from Seoul to Pusan, but President Syngman Rhee said that the government was confident that Seoul could be held, and the government intended to remain there.

Britannica
Four Scottish university students removed the Stone of Scone, used in the coronations of Scottish and British monarchs, from Westminster Abbey in London.

Boxing
World welterweight champion Sugar Ray Robinson (121-1-2), fighting as a middleweight, concluded a series of five bouts in Europe within a month by scoring a technical knockout of Hans Stretz (30-3-5) in the 5th round at Haus der Technik in Frankfurt.

40 years ago
1970

Hit parade
#1 single in New Zealand (RIANZ): Joanne--Michael Nesmith & the First National Band

#1 single in Ireland (IRMA): I Hear You Knocking--Dave Edmunds

South Africa's Top 10 (Springbok Radio)
1 Looky Looky--Giorgio (2nd week at #1)
2 Cracklin' Rosie--Neil Diamond
3 Indiana Wants Me--R. Dean Taylor
4 Zanzibar--Wanda Arletti
5 Paranoid--Black Sabbath
6 Woodstock--Matthews Southern Comfort
7 You Can Get it if You Really Want--Desmond Dekker
8 Yo Yo--Chris Andrews
9 Burning Bridges--The Mike Curb Congregation
10 Cha-La-La, I Need You--Shuffles

Singles entering the chart were San Bernadino by Christie (#17); and See Me, Feel Me by the Who (#18).

Vancouver's Top 10 (CKVN)
1 My Sweet Lord--George Harrison (3rd week at #1)
2 Black Magic Woman--Santana
3 He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother--Neil Diamond
4 Immigrant Song--Led Zeppelin
5 Domino--Van Morrison
6 Be My Baby--Andy Kim
7 Stoned Love--The Supremes
8 One Less Bell to Answer--The 5th Dimension
9 Pay to the Piper--The Chairmen of the Board
10 Love the One You're With--Stephen Stills

Singles entering the chart were If I were Your Woman by Gladys Knight & the Pips (#27); Apeman by the Kinks (#28); Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson (#29); and The Green Grass Starts to Grow by Dionne Warwick (#30).

Terrorism
The Basque nationalist guerrillas who had kidnapped West German businessman and diplomat Eugen Biehl in San Sebastian on December 1 released him. They had kidnapped Mr. Biehl in protest against the court-martial of 16 fellow Basques.

30 years ago
1980

Died on this date
Fred Emney, 80. U.K. actor and comedian. Mr. Emney was a music hall entertainer before appearing in his first movie in 1935. He played character roles as the "posh fat bloke," usually gruff and wearing a monocle, in films such as Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965); Oliver! (1968); and The Italian Job (1969). Mr. Emney also had his own television show in the 1950s.

25 years ago
1985

Crime
Thieves entered the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City on the night of December 24-25 and stole 140 pre-Columbian artifacts made of gold, jade, obsidian, and turquoise. The unique and priceless objects had been made by Mayas, Aztecs, Mixtecs, and Zapotecs before the arrival of the Spaniards.

20 years ago
1990

At the movies
Five days after its premiere screening in Beverly Hills, California, The Godfather Part III opened in theatres, 16 years after the opening of The Godfather Part II. Violent incidents were reported outside several theatres showing the movie on opening night.

Alice, written and directed by Woody Allen and starring Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna, William Hurt, Blythe Danner, and Keye Luke, opened in theatres.



Technology
British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee introduced WorldWideWeb, the world's first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor.

10 years ago
2000

Russiana
Russian president Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill officially adopting a new national anthem, with music by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov originally composed for the anthem of the Soviet Union.