History of 13th December

863 - Boudouin with the Iron Arm weds Charles de Kales' daughter Judith
1294 - Pope Coelestinus V ends term
1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
1545 - Council of Trent (19th ecumenical council) opens
1545 - Pope Paul III opens council of Trente
1570 - Sweden/Denmark signs Peace of Stettin
1572 - Spanish army beats Geuzen fleet under admiral Lumey
1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around world
1621 - Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree
1636 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.
1642 - New Zealand discovered by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman
1643 - English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
1668 - Jean Racines "Britannicus," premieres in Paris
1734 - England & Russia sign trade agreement
1742 - Willem KH Friso tests his mothers potatoes
1759 - 1st music store in America opens (Phila)
1769 - Dartmouth College in New Hampshire received its charter
1774 - 1st incident of Revolution-400 attack Ft William & Mary, NH
1816 - Patent for a dry dock issued to John Adamson, Boston
1823 - Gioacchino Rossini arrives in London
1833 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin arrives in Port Deseado, Patagonia
1843 - "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens published, 6,000 copies sold
1861 - Battle of Alleghany Summit, WV
1862 - Battle of Fredericksburg, VA (Marye's Heights)
1864 - Battle of Ft McAllister, GA
1879 - 1st federal fish hatching steamer lauched (Wilmington Delaware)
1889 - Belgium rules on women/child labor law
1895 - 1st complete execution of Gustav Mahlers 2nd Symphony
1900 - Battle at Nooitgedacht: generals The la Rey/Smuts beat Britten
1901 - Test debut of S F Barnes v Aust SCG, took 5-65 in 1st innings
1903 - Italo Marcioni patents ice cream cone (NJ)
1903 - Wright Bros make 1st flight at Kittyhawk
1906 - German chancellor Bernhard von Bulow disbands the Parliament
1907 - George Gunn scores 119 on Test debut v Australia SCG
1907 - German emperor Wilhelm II visits Amsterdam
1913 - Mona Lisa stolen in Aug 1911 returned to Louvre
1916 - Avalanche kills 10,000 Austrian & Italian troops in 24 hrs in Tyrol
1916 - Esme Stuart Lennox Robinsons premieres in Dublin
1916 - French chief of staff Joffre replaced by Nivelle
1918 - US army of occupation crosses Rhine, enters Germany
1918 - Wilson, becomes 1st to make a foreign visit as president (France)
1919 - Ross & Smith land in Australia from a flight from London
1920 - F Pease's interferometer measures 1st stellar diameter (Betelgeuse)
1920 - League of nations establishes Intl Court of Justice in The Hague
1920 - Netherland breaks contact with kingdom of Serbia, Croatia & Slavia
1922 - Charles Ebbets proposes putting numbers on players' sleeves or caps
1924 - KOA-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
1928 - Clip-on tie designed
1928 - George Gershwin's "An American In Paris" premieres (NYC)
1930 - George Sisler's career ends when Boston Braves release him
1930 - Theodore Steeg forms French govt
1934 - Mark Hellinger Theater (Warner Bros) opens at 237 W 51st St NYC
1936 - Final Boston Redskin NFL game, lose to Packers 21-6, move to Wash DC
1936 - Green Bay Packers win NFL championship
1938 - Los Angeles freezes at 28°F
1939 - Battle at La Plata - 3 British cruisers vs German Graf Spee
1941 - German occupiers forbid National Front & Netherland Union
1941 - Lawine battlers destroy Haaraz, Peru; about 3,000 die
1941 - U-81 torpedoes British aircraft carrier Ark Royal
1942 - Seyss-Inquart allows Dutch Nazi Anton Mussert to call himself Leader
1942 - Washington Redskins defeat Chic Bears 14-6, to win NFL title
1943 - 150 US Marauders bomb Schiphol
1944 - Japanese kamikaze crashes into US cruiser Nashville, kills 138
1944 - Norman Krasna's "Dear Ruth," premieres in NYC
1946 - Leon Blum elected French premier
1947 - "Caribbean Carnival" closes at International NYC after 11 perfs
1947 - Maine Turnpike opens to traffic
1949 - AL votes down proposal to revive spitball
1949 - Knesset votes to transfer Israel's capital to Jerusalem
1950 - "Let's Make an Opera" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 5 perfs
1950 - James Dean begins his career with an appearance in a Pepsi commercial
1951 - Future British PM Margaret Roberts Thatcher marries Denis Thatcher
1953 - KOAM TV channel 7 in Pittsburg-Joplin, KS (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 - Dodgers trade Jackie Robinson to Giants for pitcher Dick Littlefield & $35,000 Robinson retires
1959 - Archbishop Makarios elected 1st president of Cyprus
1960 - Italy beats US in Davis cup (1st time in 24 years US not in finals)
1960 - Laos General Fumi Nosavang occupies Vientiane
1961 - Beatles sign a formal agreement to be managed by Brian Epstein
1961 - Gideon Hausner in Jerusalem demands death penalty for Adolf Eichmann
1961 - Jimmy Dean's Big Bad John album is country music 1st million $ seller
1962 - Relay 1 communication satellite launched
1963 - Capital records signs right of 1st refusal agreement with Beatles
1964 - Shirley Englehorn & Sam Snead wins Haig & Haig Mixed Foursome Golf
1964 - In El Paso, Tx, LBJ & Mexican Pres Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion diverting Rio Grande, to reshape US-Mexico border
1965 - Algerian president Boumedienne visits Moscow
1966 - 1st US bombing of Hanoi
1966 - 1st battle for Bijlmer flats Amsterdam
1966 - Test debut of Clive Lloyd, v India Bombay, 82 & 78
1966 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 - United Soccer Assn & Natl Pro Soccer League merge into NASL
1967 - Unsuccessful coup against Greek King Constantine II
1967 - San Diego, CA records snow at a zero elevation after temperatures plunge 19 degrees (F) in eight hours.
1968 - Playland at Beach reopens
1968 - Pres Da Costa e Silva disbands parliament/grabs power
1969 - Arlo Guthrie releases "Alice's Restaurant"
1969 - Billy Martin fired as Twins' manager
1970 - Greg Chappell scores 108 on Test debut v England at the WACA
1970 - Neil Simon's "Gingerbread Lady," premieres in NYC
1971 - John Sinclair (sentence: 10 yrs, sold 2 marijuana joints) is freed
1973 - MPLA/FNLA accord about combat against Portuguese Libya

1973 - World Football League grants 1st franchise (Detroit)
1974 - Jim "Catfish" Hunter wins free agent claim against A's owner Finley
1974 - Malta becomes a republic
1975 - 1st time Saturday Night Live uses a time delay (Richard Pryor hosts)
1975 - Australian Conservatives & Liberals win parliamentary election
1975 - Jane Blalock wins LPGA 14 Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament
1975 - Roy Fredericks hits 169 v Aust at WACA, hundred in 71 balls
1975 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1976 - Golden Gate Bridge District starts ferry service to Larkspur
1976 - Longest non-stop passenger airflight (Sydney to SF 13h14m)
1977 - 14 University of Evansville basketball players die in plane crash
1978 - Susan B Anthony dollar, 1st US coin to honor a woman, issued
1979 - "Oklahoma!" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 301 performances
1979 - Strikes against price increases in Gdansk Poland
1980 - "Perfectly Frank" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 16 perfs
1981 - 70th Davis Cup: USA beats Argentina in Cincinnati (3-1)
1981 - Polish govt declares martial law, arrests Solidarity activists
1982 - 71st Australian Mens Tennis: Johan Kriek beats Steve Denton (63 63 62)
1982 - Earthquake hits Northern Yemen; 2,000 die
1983 - 9,655 see highest-scoring NBA game: Detroit 186, Denver 184 (3 OT)
1983 - British Airways incorporates
1983 - Islander's Butch Goring scorings 4 goals against Oilers
1983 - KYA-AM in San Francisco CA changes call letters to KOIT
1983 - Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's 1st female governor
1984 - Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers 1st stroke
1985 - David Boon's 1st Test century, 123 v India at Adelaide
1985 - Test debut of Merv Hughes, Geoff Marsh & Bruce Reid (v India)
1987 - Belgium Christian Democrats (CVP) loses parliamentary election
1987 - Browns set club record for most points scored in a quarter, 28
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1988 - 3 men end 29-hr all-466-station subway ride in NYC
1988 - Arafat addresses UN in Geneva
1989 - Walter Davis (Denver) ends NBA free throw streak of 53 games
1989 - The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden.
1990 - "Peter Pan" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 45 performances
1990 - Heavy earthquake strikes Sicily, 18 die
1990 - Pres De Klerk of S Afr meets with Mandela to talk of end of apartheid
1991 - Both Koreas sign an accord calling for reconcilliation
1991 - NY assembly speaker Mel Miller is convicted of federal mail fraud
1991 - Ricky Pierce (Seattle) ends NBA free throw streak of 75 games
1992 - "Show Off" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 45 performances
1992 - Dawn Coe-Jone wins Pizza-La LPGA Match Play Golf Championship
1992 - FCC fines Infinity Broadcasting $600,000
1993 - Deadline for Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, they don't
1993 - Dow Jones hits record 3764.43
1993 - Fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, 60 killed
1993 - Space shuttle STS-61 (Endeavour 5), lands
1994 - American Eagle commuter plane crashes in NC, killing 15
1995 - Christopher Reeves released from physical rehab center
1995 - US Federal Court votes that Cable companies must carry local stations
1996 - Free agent Roger Clemens signs with Toronto Blue Jays
1996 - Kofi Annan is elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
1997 - 63rd Heisman Trophy Award: Charles Woodson, Michigan (CB)
2000 - The "Texas 7" escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.
2000 - American Vice President Al Gore delivers his concession speech effectively ending his hopes of becoming the 43rd President of the United States.
2001 - the Indian Parliament Sansad is attacked by terrorists. 15 people are killed, including all the terrorists.
2002 - Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
2003 - Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).
2004 - Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
2006 - The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, announced as extinct.
2007 - The Mitchell Report is publicly released listing the names of 89 Major League Baseball players that have presumably used anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. Notable players to be named include Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejada.