What happened on December 25? There are more than 312 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About December 25
December 25 is the 360th day of the year 2024. There are 6 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 52nd week of the year 2024.
On this day in Clio, California 96106 sunrise will occur at 07:20 AM and sunset will occur at 04:45 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Capricorn. The modern birthstone for this month is Turquoise while the mystical birthstone is Onyx.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 35 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For December 25
- 333Emperor Constantine the Great elevates his youngest son Constans to the rank of Caesar.
- 350Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar). Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.
- 800Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome.
- 1000The foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary: Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
- 1066William the Conqueror is crowned king of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.
- 1100Baldwin of Boulogne is crowned the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity.
- 1130Count Roger II of Sicily is crowned the first King of Sicily.
- 1261John IV Lascaris of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler Michael VIII Palaeologus.
- 1553Battle of Tucapel: Mapuche rebels under Lautaro defeat the Spanish conquistadors and executes the governor of Chile, Pedro de Valdivia.
- 1599The city of Natal, Brazil is founded.
- 1643Christmas Island found and named by Captain William Mynors of the East India Company vessel, the Royal Mary.
- 1776George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River to attack the Kingdom of Great Britain’s Hessian mercenaries in Trenton, New Jersey.
- 1826The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy concludes after beginning the previous evening.
- 1837Battle of Lake Okeechobee.
- 1850Jagannath Temple, Nayagarh is built.
- 1868U.S. President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
- 1914World War I: Known as the Christmas truce, German and British troops on the Western Front temporarily cease fire.
- 1926Emperor Taishō of Japan dies. His son, Prince Hirohito succeeds him as Emperor Shōwa.
- 1927The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.
- 1932A magnitude 7.6 earthquake in Gansu, China kills 275 people.
- 1941Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.
- 1941Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet
- 1941World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong.
- 1946The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet nuclear reactor F-1.
- 1947The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.
- 1950The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students. It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.
- 1963Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.
- 1965The Yemeni Nasserite Unionist People’s Organisation is founded in Taiz
- 196842 Dalits are burned alive in Kilavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, India, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit labourers.
- 1968Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans Earth Injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.
- 1974Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Northern Territory Australia.
- 1974Marshall Fields drives a vehicle through the gates of the White House, resulting in a four-hour standoff.
- 1977Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with President of Egypt Anwar Sadat.
- 1989Nicolae Ceauşescu, former communist President of Romania and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena are condemned to death and executed after a flawed and summary trial.
- 1990The first successful trial run of the system which would become the World Wide Web.
- 1991Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine’s referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
- 2000Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law that officially establishes a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.
- 2003The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express Spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.
- 2004Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn’s moon Titan on January 14, 2005.
- 2007A tiger at the San Francisco Zoo escapes from its enclosure and attacks three people, killing one.
- 2009Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab unsuccessfully attempts a terrorist attack against the US while on board a flight to Detroit Metro Airport Northwest Airlines Flight 253
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Who Were Born On December 25?
- 1250John IV Laskaris, Byzantine Emperor (d. c. 1305)
- 1461Christina of Saxony, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1521)
- 1583Orlando Gibbons, English composer (d. 1625)
- 1584Margaret of Austria, queen of Spain and Portugal (d. 1611)
- 1628Noël Coypel, French painter (d. 1707)
- 1642Isaac Newton, English scientist and mathematician (d. 1727)
- 1652Archibald Pitcairne, Scottish physician (d. 1713)
- 1665Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
- 1667Ehrengard von der Schulenburg, English royal mistress (d. 1743)
- 1674Thomas Halyburton, Scottish theologian (d. 1712)
- 1700Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (d. 1758)
- 1711Jean Joseph de Mondonville, French composer (d. 1772)
- 1716Johann Jakob Reiske, German scholar and physician (d. 1774)
- 1730Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1816)
- 1742Charlotte von Stein, German friend of Goethe (d. 1827)
- 1745Chevalier de Saint-Georges – “Black Mozart”, African–French Swordsman, Soldier of Fortune, and Composer (d. 1799)
- 1757Benjamin Pierce, U.S. politician (d. 1839)
- 1763Claude Chappe, French telecommunications pioneer (d. 1805)
- 1771Dorothy Wordsworth, English diarist and sister of William Wordsworth (d. 1855)
- 1776Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan), Irish writer (alleged date of birth) (d. 1859)
- 1810Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves, Greek poet and statesman (d. 1892)
- 1821Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross (d. 1912)
- 1829Patrick Gilmore, Irish-American composer (d. 1892)
- 1856Hans von Bartels, German painter (d. 1913)
- 1856Pud Galvin, American professional baseball pitcher (d. 1902)
- 1860Manwel Dimech, Maltese philosopher and social reformer (d. 1921)
- 1861Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian founder of Banaras Hindu University (d. 1946)
- 1864Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach (d. 1951)
- 1865Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1950)
- 1870Helena Rubinstein, Polish-born American cosmetics industrialist (d. 1965)
- 1873Otto Frederick Hunziker, Swiss-born American dairy educator (d. 1959)
- 1874Lina Cavalieri, Italian soprano (d. 1944)
- 1875Theodor Innitzer, Austrian cardinal (d. 1955)
- 1876Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1959)
- 1876Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan (d. 1948)
- 1878Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-born race car driver (d. 1941)
- 1883Hugo Bergmann, German and Israeli Jewish philosopher (d. 1975)
- 1884Evelyn Nesbit, American actress (d. 1967)
- 1886Kid Ory, American musician (d. 1973)
- 1887Conrad Hilton, American hotelier (d. 1979)
- 1889Lila Bell Wallace, American magazine publisher (Reader’s Digest) (d. 1984)
- 1890Noel Odell, British mountaineer (d. 1987)
- 1890Robert Ripley, collector of odd facts (d. 1949)
- 1891Clarrie Grimmett, Australian cricketer (d. 1980)
- 1899Humphrey Bogart, American actor (d. 1957)
- 1901Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (d. 2004)
- 1902Barton MacLane, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1904Gerhard Herzberg, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
- 1906Ernst Ruska, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
- 1906Lew Grade, Ukrainian-born film producer (d. 1998)
- 1907Cab Calloway, American bandleader (d. 1994)
- 1907Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (d. 1988)
- 1907Mike Mazurki, Ukrainian-born actor (d. 1990)
- 1908Ernest L. Massad, U.S. Army general (d. 1993)
- 1908Jo-Jo Moore, baseball player (d. 2001)
- 1908Quentin Crisp, English author (d. 1999)
- 1908Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-American automotive engineer (d. 1996)
- 1911Louise Bourgeois, French American sculptor (d. 2010)
- 1912Natalino Otto, Italian singer (d. 1969)
- 1912Tony Martin, American singer and actor
- 1913Henri Nannen, German journalist (d. 1966)
- 1914James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand industrialist (d. 2007)
- 1915Pete Rugolo, Italian-born composer (d. 2011)
- 1918Ahmed Ben Bella, politician, first President of Algeria
- 1918Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, Nobel laureate (d. 1981)
- 1919Naushad Ali, Indian music director (d. 2006)
- 1919Noele Gordon, English actress (d. 1985)
- 1919Paul David, Canadian cardiologist, founder of the Montreal Heart Institute (d. 1999)
- 1921Zaib-un-Nissa Hamidullah, Pakistani journalist (d. 2000)
- 1923Rene Girard, French historian, literary critic and philosopher
- 1924Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Prime Minister of India
- 1924Rod Serling, American television writer (d. 1975)
- 1925Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-born author (d. 1998)
- 1925Ned Garver, American baseball player
- 1926Enrique Jorrín, Cuban composer and musician (d. 1987)
- 1927Nellie Fox, baseball player (d. 1975)
- 1927Ram Narayan, Indian sarangi player
- 1928Dick Miller, American actor
- 1929Chris Kenner, American singer and songwriter (d. 1976)
- 1929Stuart Hall, British radio and television presenter
- 1930Emmanuel Agassi, Iranian boxer and father of Andre Agassi
- 1930Salah Jaheen, Egyptian poet and cartoonist (d. 1986)
- 1932Mabel King, American actress (d. 1999)
- 1935Al Jackson, American baseball player
- 1935Anne Roiphe, American author and feminist
- 1935Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, American politician (d. 2007)
- 1935Sadiq al-Mahdi, Prime Minister of Sudan
- 1935Stephen Barnett, American legal scholar who opposed the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 (d. 2009)
- 1936HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
- 1936Ismail Merchant, Indian-born film producer (d. 2005)
- 1937O'Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (d. 1986)
- 1938Duane Armstrong, American painter
- 1938Noel Picard, Quebec ice hockey player
- 1939Bob James, American composer and musician
- 1940Pete Brown, English poet and lyricist
- 1942Enrique Morente, Spanish flamenco singer (d. 2010)
- 1942Francoise Durr, French tennis player
- 1943Hanna Schygulla, German actress
- 1943Wilson Fittipaldi Júnior, Brazilian racing driver
- 1944Henry Vestine, American musician (d. 1997)
- 1944Jairzinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1944Kenny Everett, British entertainer (d. 1995)
- 1944Nigel Starmer-Smith, English Rugby Union commentator.
- 1945Gary Sandy, American actor
- 1945Ken Stabler, Oakland Raiders quarterback
- 1945Mike Pringle, Scottish politician
- 1945Noel Redding, English musician (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) (d. 2003)
- 1945Rick Berman, Star Trek producer
- 1946Gene Lamont, American baseball player and manager
- 1946Jimmy Buffett, American singer and songwriter
- 1946Larry Csonka, American football player
- 1947Twink Caplan, American actress and comedian
- 1948Alia al Hussein, of Jordan (d. 1977)
- 1948Barbara Mandrell, American singer and actress
- 1948Joel Natalino Santana, Brazilian soccer coach
- 1949Joe Louis Walker, American musician
- 1949Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1949Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira, Singer and icon of the Brazilian music
- 1949Sissy Spacek, American actress
- 1950Karl Rove, former American presidential advisor
- 1950Manny Trillo, baseball player
- 1950Peter Boardman, British mountaineer (d. 1982)
- 1950Yehuda Poliker, Israeli singer-songwriter
- 1952CCH Pounder, Guyana-born actress
- 1952Desireless, French singer
- 1954Annie Lennox, Scottish singer
- 1954Steve Wariner, American country music singer
- 1955Alannah Myles, Canadian singer
- 1957Chris Kamara, English footballer and commentator
- 1957Shane MacGowan, Irish musician
- 1958Cheryl Chase, American voice actor
- 1958Hanford Dixon, American football player
- 1958Konstantin Kinchev, Russian singer (Alisa)
- 1958Martin Wiesner, German footballer
- 1958Rickey Henderson, baseball player
- 1959Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (d. 2003)
- 1960Ron Bottitta, British actor
- 1961Ingrid Betancourt, Colombian senator
- 1962Darren Wharton, British keyboardist (Thin Lizzy and Dare)
- 1962Dean Cameron, American actor
- 1964Bob Stanley, English musician (Saint Etienne), filmmaker and journalist
- 1964Gary McAllister, Scottish footballer
- 1964Tim Royes – Music Video Director and Editor
- 1965David Rath, Czech politician
- 1966Toshihiro Arai, Japanese rally driver
- 1967Jason Thirsk, American bass player (d. 1996)
- 1968Helena Christensen, Danish model
- 1968Jim Dowd, American ice hockey player
- 1970Emmanuel Amuneke, Nigerian footballer
- 1970Nagma, Indian actress
- 1971Dido, English singer
- 1971Justin Trudeau, Canadian media personality and politician
- 1971Noel Hogan, Irish musician
- 1972Josh Freese, American drummer
- 1972Mac Powell, American musician, singer/songwriter (Third Day)
- 1973Alexandre Trudeau, Canadian journalist
- 1973Chris Harris, American professional wrestler
- 1973Robbie Elliott, English footballer
- 1975Choi Sung-Yong, South Korean footballer
- 1975Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball player
- 1975Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer
- 1975Rob Mariano, American reality show contestant
- 1976Armin van Buuren, Dutch DJ & Producer
- 1976Tuomas Holopainen, Finnish keyboardist and songwriter (Nightwish)
- 1977Israel Vasquez, Mexican boxer
- 1977Uhm Ji-won, South Korean actress
- 1978Joel Porter, Australian footballer
- 1978Simon Jones, English cricketer
- 1979Hyun Young-Min, South Korean footballer
- 1979Rob Huff, British racing driver
- 1980Laura Sadler, British actress (d. 2003)
- 1980Locó, Angolan footballer
- 1980Marcus Trufant, American football player
- 1980Reika Hashimoto, Japanese actress
- 1981Katie Wright, American actress
- 1981Trenesha Biggers, American professional wrestler
- 1981Willy Taveras, baseball player
- 1982Dev, Indian actor
- 1982Rob Edwards, Welsh footballer
- 1982Shawn Andrews, American football player
- 1982Shystie, British rapper-songwriter
- 1984Alastair Cook, English cricketer
- 1984Chris Cahill, Samoan footballer
- 1984Georgia Moffett, British actress
- 1984The Veronicas, Australian singers (twin sisters)
- 1985Leon Pisani, Welsh singer
- 1985Perdita Weeks, British actress
- 1986Doug Loft, English footballer
- 1987Jorgie Porter, English actress
- 1987Justin Sweeney, Australian rules footballer
- 1988Eric Gordon, American basketball player
- 1988Lukas Hinds-Johnson, German rugby player
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Who Died On December 25?
- 795Pope Adrian I
- 820Leo V, Byzantine Emperor (b. 775)
- 1156Peter the Venerable, French Benedictine abbot of Cluny (b. c.1092)
- 1635Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (b. 1567)
- 1676Matthew Hale, English jurist (b. 1609)
- 1676William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English soldier (b. 1592)
- 1683Kara Mustafa, Ottoman general (b. 1634)
- 1758James Hervey, English clergyman (b. 1714)
- 1763Suraj Mal, Sinsiwar Jat ruler of Bharatpur (b. 1707)
- 1765Václav Prokop Diviš, Czech theologian and natural scientist (b. 1698)
- 1784Yosa Buson, Japanese painter (b. 1716)
- 1824Barbara Juliana, Baroness von Krüdener, Russian writer (b. 1764)
- 1868Linus Yale, Jr., American mechanical engineer and inventor (b. 1821)
- 1875Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (b. 1851)
- 1880Fridolin Anderwert, Swiss jurist (b. 1828)
- 1916St. Albert Chmielowski, Polish Catholic saint (b. 1845)
- 1921Vladimir Korolenko, Russian writer (b. 1853)
- 1925Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst (b. 1877)
- 1926Emperor Taishō of Japan (b. 1879)
- 1933Francesc Macià i Llussà, Catalonian statesman (b. 1859)
- 1935Paul Bourget, French novelist and critic (b. 1852)
- 1938Karel Čapek, Czech author (b. 1890)
- 1940Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)
- 1944George Steer, British journalist (b. 1909)
- 1946W. C. Fields, American comedian (b. 1880)
- 1947Gaspar G. Bacon, American politician (b. 1886)
- 1949Leon Schlesinger, American film producer (b. 1884)
- 1950Neil Francis Hawkins, British fascist (b. 1903)
- 1952Margrethe Mather, photographer (b. 1886)
- 1953Patsy Donovan, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1865)
- 1954Johnny Ace, American singer (b. 1929)
- 1956Robert Walser, Swiss writer (b. 1878)
- 1957Charles Pathé, French pioneer of film and record industries (b. 1863)
- 1961Otto Loewi, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1873)
- 1961Owen Brewster, American politician (b. 1888)
- 1963Tristan Tzara, Romanian writer (b. 1896)
- 1973İsmet İnönü, Turkish statesman (b. 1884)
- 1973Gabriel Voisin, French aviator (b. 1880)
- 1975Gaston Gallimard, French publisher (b. 1881)
- 1977Charlie Chaplin, English actor and film director (b. 1889)
- 1979Joan Blondell, American actress (b. 1906)
- 1979Jordi Bonet, Quebec muralist and sculptor (b. 1932)
- 1983Joan Miró, Catalan painter (b. 1893)
- 1988Edward Pelham-Clinton, 10th Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (b. 1920)
- 1988Ooka Shohei, Japanese novelist (b. 1909)
- 1989Billy Martin, American baseball manager (b. 1928)
- 1989Elena Ceauşescu, Romanian politician (b. 1916)
- 1989Nicolae Ceauşescu, former President of S.R.Romania (b. 1918)
- 1992Monica Dickens, British writer (b. 1915)
- 1993Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist (b. 1899)
- 1994Zail Singh, President of India (b. 1916)
- 1995Dean Martin, American singer (b. 1917)
- 1995Emmanuel Levinas, French philosopher (b. 1906)
- 1996Bill Hewitt, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1928)
- 1996JonBenét Ramsey, American beauty queen and murder victim (b. 1990)
- 1997Anatoli Boukreev, Kazakh mountaineer (b. 1958)
- 1997Denver Pyle, American actor (b. 1920)
- 1998Bryan MacLean, American musician and songwriter (Love) (b. 1946)
- 1998John Pulman, English snooker player (b. 1926)
- 1999Peter Jeffrey, English actor (b. 1929)
- 2000Neil Hawke, Australian cricketer and footballer (b. 1939)
- 2000Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher (b. 1908)
- 2002William T. Orr, American television producer (b. 1917)
- 2003Nicholas Mavroules, American politician (b. 1929)
- 2004Gennady Strekalov, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1940)
- 2005Birgit Nilsson, Swedish opera singer (b. 1918)
- 2005Derek Bailey, English guitar virtuoso (b. 1930)
- 2005Robert Barbers, Philippine senator (b. 1944)
- 2006Hiroaki Hidaka, Japanese serial killer (b. 1962)
- 2006James Brown, American singer (b. 1933)
- 2007Desmond Barrick, English Cricketer (b. 1927)
- 2007Jim Beauchamp, American baseball player (b. 1939)
- 2007Mighty King Kong, Kenyan reggae musician (b. 1973)
- 2008Eartha Kitt, American actress and singer (b. 1927)
- 2009Vic Chesnutt, American singer and songwriter (b. 1964)
- 2010Carlos Andrés Pérez, former President of Venezuela (b. 1922)
- 2011Ben Breedlove, YouTube Celebrity (b. 1993)
- 2011Giorgio Bocca, Italian journalist (b. 1920)
- 2011Jim Sherwood, Musician (b. 1942)
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