History of 11th December

359 - Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office.
384 - St Damasus I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1282 - Llywelyn the Last (b. c.1228), the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales.
1419 - Heretic Nicolaas Serrurier exiled from Florence
1477 - Duchess Maria van Bourgondie ends Great Privilegie
1572 - Spanish troops begin siege of Haarlem
1602 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. Commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.
1618 - Russia & Poland signs Peace treaty of Dailino
1620 - 103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock (12/21 NS)
1665 - "Messiah" Sjabtai Tswi festival in Smyrna
1688 - King James II arrested
1710 - Battle of Villa Viciosa (France beat Habsburgers)
1718 - Battle at Frederikshall Norway
1719 - 1st recorded display of Aurora Borealis in US (New England)
1730 - Voltaire's "Brutus," premieres in Paris
1792 - France's King Louis XVI went on trial, accused of treason
1812 - 1st newspaper on Curacao (Curacao Gazette & Commercial Advertiser)
1816 - Citizens of Geneva thwarted Savoyard invaders
1816 - Indiana becomes 19th state
1844 - 1st dental use of nitrous oxide, Hartford, Ct
1866 - 1st yacht race across Atlantic Ocean
1872 - 1st black US gov took office, Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback (La)
1882 - Boston's Bijou Theatre, 1st American playhouse lit exclusively by electricity, 1st performance, Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe"
1882 - Victorien Sardous "Fedora," with Sarah Bernhardt, premieres in Paris
1888 - French Panama Canal company fails
1893 - 11 fishing ships wash up at Wadden Sea, 22 killed
1899 - Battle of Magers' fountain - Boer leader Cronjé vs Gen Methuen
1901 - Marconi sends 1st transatlantic radio signal, Cornwall to Nfld
1903 - British forces under MacDonald & Young march into Tibet
1905 - 120°F (49°C), Rivadavia, Argentina (South American record)
1905 - British govt of Campbell-Bannerman forms
1905 - A workers uprising occurs, establishing the Shuliavka Republic in Kiev.
1906 - US president Roosevelt attacks abuses in the Congo
1907 - New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire.
1908 - Frederick Delius' "In a Summer Garden," premieres
1909 - Colored moving pictures demonstrated at Madison Square Garden, NYC
1909 - Canadian Football exhibition game played in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, Hamilton Tigers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 11-6 before 15,000
1914 - Stockton Street Tunnel (SF) completed
1916 - David Lloyd George forms British war govt
1917 - 13 black soldiers hanged for alleged participation in Houston riot
1917 - German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
1919 - Boll weevil monument dedicated in Enterprise, Ala
1925 - Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Quas Primas
1926 - Josephine Baker goes up in Amsterdam
1926 - Queensland win their 1st Sheffield Shield cricket match, v NSW
1928 - Buenos Aires police thwart an attempt on Pres-elect Herbert Hoover
1928 - NL Pres John Heydler proposes designated hitter for pitchers
1930 - Bank of the United States opens in NYC
1931 - Japan leaves the Golden Standard
1931 - Brit Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Ireland, Newfndlnd
1932 - SF's coldest day (27°F) - it snows
1934 - 1935 All-Star Game is assigned to Cleveland
1934 - 1st Toronto Maple Leaf penalty shot, Conacher unsuccessful vs Rangers
1934 - Ford C Frick becomes president of baseball's National League
1934 - NL votes to permit night baseball (up to 7 games per home team)
1936 - King Edward VIII marries Mrs Wallis Simpson; abdicates throne Duke of York becomes King George VI
1937 - 25th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Winn Blue Bombers, 30-7
1937 - Italy withdraws from League of Nations
1938 - NY Giants win NFL championship
1939 - New anti Jewish measurements in Poland, proclaimed
1940 - Russian general Zhukov warns of German assault
1941 - Dutch government in London declares war on Italy
1941 - Germany & Italy declare war on US
1941 - Giants acquire Johnny Mize from Cards for 3 players & $50,000
1941 - Japanese attack Wake Island (only failed WW II-landing)
1941 - Japanese occupy Guam
1942 - Australian/Dutch guerrilla troops evacuated to Timor near Australia
1944 - Surprise attack on House of Keeping Axe, 29 prisoners freed
1945 - Het Parool publishes 1st Captain Rob-strip
1946 - Hank Williams begins to record on Sterling label
1946 - Spain suspended from UN
1946 - UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) established (Nobel 1965)
1947 - "Angel in the Wings" opens at Coronet Theater NYC for 308 performances
1947 - Bob Hilliard/Carl Sigman's musical "Angel in Wings," premieres in NYC
1947 - Pacific Coast League application for major league status rejected
1948 - WHEN (now WTVH) TV channel 5 in Syracuse, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
1948 - WMC TV channel 5 in Memphis, TN (NBC) begins broadcasting
1949 - Chic Bear Johnny Lujack passes for 6 touchdowns vs Chic Cards (52-29)
1949 - Cleveland Browns beat SF '49ers 21-7 in final AAFC championship game
1949 - WOAI (now KMOL) TV channel 4 in San Antonio, TX (NBC) 1st broadcast
1950 - Baseball owners vote 9-7 not to renew Commissioner Chandler's contract
1950 - Hindemiths Concerto for clarinet, premieres
1951 - Joe DiMaggio announces his baseball retirement
1953 - KTVA TV channel 11 in Anchorage (CBS) becomes Alaska's 1st TV station
1954 - Phillies purchase Connie Mack Stadium
1954 - USS Forrestal christened in Newport News, Va
1956 - Anti-Russian demonstrates in Stettin & Wroclaw Poland
1957 - Jerry Lee Lewis weds Myra
1958 - 4th (last) Dutch govt of Drees falls
1958 - Archibald MacLeish's "JB," premieres in NYC
1958 - Upper Volta (now Bourkina Fasso) gains autonomy from France
1959 - Yanks trade Marv Thronberry, Don Larsen, Hank Bauer & Norm Seibern for Roger Maris, Kent Hadley & Joe Deaestri
1960 - Black Sunday - Riot in Algiers, 114 die
1960 - Coleman/Leigh's musical "Wildcat" with Lucille Ball premieres in NYC
1960 - Cleveland's Bernie Parrish sets club record for longest interception return with a 92 yard run
1961 - "Please, Mr. Postman" by Marvelettes, released
1961 - Adolf Eichmann is found guilty of war crimes, in Israel
1961 - Elvis Presley's "Blue Hawaii," album goes to #1 & stays #1 for 20 wks
1961 - JFK provides US miltary helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
1964 - Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech.

1965 - "Anya" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 16 performances
1965 - "Yearling" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 3 performances
1966 - Al Nelson sets NFL record returning missed field goal, 100 yards
1967 - 6.5 earthquake in West India, 170 killed
1967 - Beatles' Apple Music signs its 1st group-Grapefruit
1967 - People's front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) established
1967 - SST prototype "Concorde" 1st shown (France)
1968 - KECC (now KECY) TV channel 9 in El Centro, CA (CBS) 1st broadcast
1968 - US Soccer Football Assoc refuses to let NASL disband
1969 - Libya adopts constitution
1970 - John Lennon releases an album that contains songs with word "fuck"
1970 - Start of the 1st Test match at the WACA, v England
1970 - Test Cricket debut of Gregory Stephen Chappell
1971 - The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed.
1972 - Astronauts Cernan & Harrison become 11th & 12th on Moon
1972 - Jet's Don Maynard becomes all time pro reception leader (632)
1973 - Houston Astro Caesar Cedino jailed in death of 19 year old woman
1973 - NA Soccer League awards LA, SF, Seattle & Vancouver franchises
1973 - Ron Santo becomes 1st to invoke no-trade clause of 10-year-1-club vet
1973 - West German chancellor Willy Brandt normalizes trade with Czech
1975 - 1st class postage rises from 10 cents to 13 cents
1975 - Great Yankee trade getting Willie Randolph, Dock Ellis & Ken Brett from Pirates for George "Doc" Medich
1978 - 6 masked men bound 10 employees at Lufthansa cargo area at NY Kennedy Airport & made off with $5.8 M in cash & jewelry
1979 - Geoff Boycott scores cricket century in a limited-over international
1979 - Great Britain grants independence to Zimbabwe (Rhodesia)
1980 - Dirk Wellham scores 100 on 1st-class debut, NSW v Victoria
1980 - The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
1981 - Argentine president/gen Roberto Viola flees
1981 - Muhammad Ali's 61st & last fight, losing to Trevor Berbick
1981 - Peru's Javier Perez de Cuellar becomes sec-gen of UN
1981 - Spacelab I arrives at Kennedy Space Center
1981 - UN Sec Council chose Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as 5th Sec Genl
1981 - Wash Capitals biggest margin of victory (9) beating Toronto 11-2
1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
1983 - 1st visit to Lutheran church by a pope (John Paul II in Rome)
1983 - 72nd Australian Mens Tennis: Mats Wilander beats Ivan Lendl (61 64 64)
1983 - Jan Stephens/Fred Couples wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1984 - "Doug Henning & His World..." opens at Lunt-Fontanne NYC for 60 perf
1984 - Mauretania military coup under Col Maawiya Ould Sid'ahmed Taya
1985 - Computer store owner in Sacramento Calif killed by package bomb
1985 - Dow Jones closes above 1,500 for 1st time (1,511.70)
1985 - General Electric acquires RCA Corp & its subsidiary, NBC
1985 - NHL Record 62 points scored, Edmonton (36) beats Chicago (26) 12-9 & ties record of 21 goals
1986 - A Bartlett Giamatti becomes president of baseball's National League
1986 - South Africa censors press
1987 - Test debut of Carl Hooper, WI v India at Bombay
1989 - "City of Angels" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 878 performances
1989 - Mark Davis signs record $3.25 million per year KC Royals contract
1990 - 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga Tn I-75, due to fog
1990 - US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) returns from space
1991 - William Kennedy Smith found not guilty of rape
1992 - Nor'easter storm hits NY, doing $ Billion worth of damage
1992 - WNEW AM radio on 1130 in NYC ends transmitting after 58 years
1993 - 59th Heisman Trophy Award: Charlie Ward, Florida State (QB)
1993 - Eduardo Frei elected president of Chile
1994 - Kelly Robbins & Tammie Green wins LPGA Diner's Club Golf Matches
1994 - Russian troops pull inside Tsjetsjenie
1995 - Thomas O Hicks buys NHL Dallas Stars for $84 million
1997 - "Sunshine Boys," opens at Lyceum Theater NYC
1997 - Fed judge orders Microsoft not to bundle IE4 in Windows
1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
2005 - The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
2005 - Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
2006 - The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
2007 - Two car bombs go off at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
2008 - Bernard Madoff arrested and charged with securities fraud in $50 billion Ponzi scheme.