1969 Monty Python’s Flying Circus makes its debut
The British sketch comedy series lasted for a year on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The show was a commentary on daily life in Britain and had several recurring themes and characters played by Eric Idle, Graham Chapman John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones. The sketches are often thought to have had a strong influence on television comedy around the world.
1274 – Around 1,000 soldiers of the Mongol army land on the Japanese island of Tsushima, the first attack of Kublai Khan’s Mongol invasion of Japan
1450 – Jews are expelled from Lower Bavaria by order of Ludwig IX
1568 – Conference of York begins: trial against Mary, Queen of Scots
1693 – Haarlem people’s revolution due to food shortages
1789 – French Revolution: Women of Paris march to Versailles in the March on Versailles to confront Louis XVI about his refusal to promulgate the decrees on the abolition of feudalism, demand bread, and have the King and his court moved to Paris
1793 – French Revolution: Christianity is disestablished in France.
1813 – Chief Tecumseh of the Shawnee Indians was killed at the Battle of Thames when American forced defeated the British and the allied Indian warriors.
1857 – Mormon pioneer Captain Lot Smith and members of the Utah militia destroy US army supply wagon train in Wyoming during Utah War
1867 – Last day of Julian calendar in Alaska
1869 – A strong hurricane known as the Saxby Gale devastates the Bay of Fundy region in Maritime Canada. Incredibly British naval officer Stephen Martin Saxby predicted the storm 10 months earlier in December 1868 via astronomy.
1877 – Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians surrendered to the U.S. Army after a 1,000-mile retreat towards the Canadian border.
1910 – Portugal overthrows monarchy, proclaims republic
1916 – Adolf Hitler is wounded in the left thigh by an exploding shell during the Battle of the Somme
1919 – Norwegian population agrees to prohibition
1937 – U.S. President Roosevelt called for a “quarantine” of aggressor nations.
1942 – 5,000 Jews of Dubno, Russia massacred
1942 – Budy Massacre at Auschwitz sub-camp, 90 French-Jewish women beaten to death by prison guards
1943 – US air raid on Wake, Japanese execute 98 US prisoners in retaliation
1945 – Hollywood Black Friday: A six month strike by Hollywood set decorators turns into a bloody riot at the gates of Warner Brothers’ studios.
1947 – First televised presidential speech in the United States, Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the US, called on Americans to use less grain to help Europe which was still reeling from the effects of the Second World War. He asked people to avoid eating meat on Tuesdays and eggs and poultry on Thursdays, and to consume 1 less slice of bread every day.
1953 – The first documented recovery meeting of Narcotics Anonymous is held.
1962 – James Bond makes his theatrical debut, The fictional British spy with the code name 007 was featured on the big screen for the first time in Dr. No. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, the movie starred Sean Connery as James Bond.
1969 – A Cuban defector landed a Soviet-made MiG-17 at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. The plane entered U.S. air space and landed without being detected.
1969 Monty Python’s Flying Circus makes its debut
The British sketch comedy series lasted for a year on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The show was a commentary on daily life in Britain and had several recurring themes and characters played by Eric Idle, Graham Chapman John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones. The sketches are often thought to have had a strong influence on television comedy around the world.
1970 – Quebec separatists kidnap British trade commissioner James Cross
1970 – PBS becomes a US television network.
1974 – Guildford pub bombing by the IRA leaves 5 dead and 65 injured.
1984 – First Canadian to go into space, Marc Garneau flew as the payload specialist on STS-41-G, the 6th flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Challenger. The flight that launched on this day was also the first space mission to have 2 women – Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan.
1985 – An Egyptian policeman went on a shooting rampage at a Sinai beach. Seven Israeli tourists were killed. The policeman died in prison the following January of an apparent suicide.
1986 – Sandinista soldiers captured American Eugene Hasenfus after shooting him down over southern Nicaragua.
1988 – In a debate between candidates for vice president of the U.S., Democratic Lloyd Bentsen told Republican Dan Quayle, “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”
1988 – Chile votes in a referendum 56-44 against extending Augusto Pinochet’s regime by 8 years thus ending the dictator’s 16½ years in power
1992 – 1st overturn of a George H. W. Bush veto (cable bill)
1992 – NY senator Alphonse D’Amato filibusters for 15 hours 20 mins
1998 – The U.S. paid $60 million for Russia’s research time on the international space station to keep the cash-strapped Russian space agency afloat.
2000 – Bulldozer Revolution in former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, President Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown after hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Belgrade to protest against recently held elections. While largely peaceful, the protesters burnt down the Parliament building. Milosevic resigned and stepped down from his office two days later.
2001 – Robert Stevens becomes the first victim in the 2001 anthrax attacks.
2001 – Tom Ridge resigns as Governor of Pennsylvania to become President George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Advisor
2006 – Walmart rolled out its $4 generic drug program to the entire state of Florida after a successful test in the Tampa area.
2015 – Governor of California Jerry Brown signs a bill giving terminally ill patients the “right to die”
2017 – Iraqi forces claim victory and control over Islamic State’s last urban stronghold Hawija, Northern Iraq
2018 – US unemployment figures hit lowest level since 1969 – 3.7% according to Department of Labor
2020 – At least 14m tonnes of plastic pieces are at the bottom of the ocean, 30 times more than on the surface according to new research
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
