December 3rd 1988

New York Lotto pays $45 million to twelve winner (#s are 1-8-13-18-28-48)

December 4th 1829

Britain abolished ‘Sati’ in India, widow burning herself to death on her husband’s funeral pyre

December 5th 1990

Salman Rushdie, author, ordered to death by Iran for blasphemy, appears in public for 1st time in 2 years

December 6th 1988

Nelson Mandela is transferred to Victor Vester Prison, Capetown

December 7th 1968

Richard Dodd returns a library book his great grandad took out in 1823

December 8th 1813

Ludwig von Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in A premieres

December 9th 1992

Operation Restore Hope - U.S. Marines land in Somalia

December 10th 1954

Albert Schweitzer receives Nobel Peace Prize

December 11th 1981

Muhammad Ali’s 61st and last fight, losing to Trevor Berbick

December 12th 1957

Jerry Lee Lewis weds his cousin Myra Gale Brown, 13, while still married to his 1st wife Jane Mitcham

December 13th 2001

Terrorists break into parliament building in New Delhi, murder at least 12

December 14th 1911

South Pole 1st reached, by Norwegian Roald Amundsen

December 15th 1891

James Naismith invents game of basketball

December 16th 1915

Albert Einstein publishes the General Theory of Relativity

December 17th 1907

Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan

December 18th 1987

Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s future president, marries Asif Ali Zardari

December 19th 1918

Robert Ripley began his “Believe It or Not” column (New York Globe)

December 20th 1957

Elvis Presley given draft notice to join U.S. Army for National Service

December 21st 1620

Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock

December 22nd 1989

After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts Nicolea Ceausescu

December 23rd 1961

Fidel Castro announces Cuba will release 1,113 prisoners from failed 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion for $62M worth of food and medical supplies

December 24th 1865

Several Confederate veterans form Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee

December 25th 1991

Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigned as President of U.S.S.R.

December 26th 1978

India’s former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, released from jail

December 27th 1945

International Monetary Fund established - World Bank founded

December 28th 1972

Hitler’s deputy Martin Bormann’s skeleton found in Berlin

December 29th 1891

Thomas Edison patents “transmission of signals electrically” (radio)

December 30th 1985

Pakistan restores constitution

December 31st 1911

Marie Curie receives her 2nd Nobel Prize