History of 15th December

533 - Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.
687 - St Sergius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Conon
1124 - Chancellor Haimeric selects pope (Lamberto becomes Honorius II)
1167 - Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.
1256 - Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
1467 - Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.
1488 - Bartholomeus Diaz returns to Portugal after sailing round Cape of Good Hope
1569 - Westmoreland flees to Scotland
1582 - Leidse university names Rembert Dodoens prof of botany/medicine
1582 - Spanish Netherlands/Denmark/Norway adopt Gregorian calendar
1586 - Laevinus Torrentius, becomes bishop of Antwerp
1593 - State of Holland grants patent on windmill with crankshaft
1612 - Simon Marius, is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope
1640 - Duke of Braganca crowned King Johan IV of Portugal
1660 - Philippines: Andres Malongs rebels plunders Bagnotan
1664 - English colonizing Connecticut
1667 - Brandenburg declares himself neutral in Devolutie War
1680 - Tax revolt on Terschelling due to tax on cereal
1688 - Lord Delamere sides with King James II [NS 12/25]
1745 - Battle at Kesseldorf: Prussia beats Saksen & Austria
1791 - 1st US law school established at University of Pennsylvania
1791 - Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gave its approval
1792 - 1st life insurance policy issued in US (Phila)
1794 - Revolutionary Tribunal abolished in France
1810 - 1st Irish magazine in US, Shamrock, is published
1811 - Earthquake hits New Madrid, Missouri
1815 - Rossini gets assignment for Il barbiere di Siviglia
1820 - 1st General pharmacopoeia in US published, Boston
1836 - Patent Office burns in Wash, DC
1854 - 1st street-cleaning machine in US 1st used in Philadelphia
1859 - GR Kirchoff describes chemical composition of Sun
1863 - Skirmish at Bean's Station, Tennessee (Knoxville Campaign)
1863 - Romania is using for the first time a mountain railway (from Anina to Oravita).
1864 - Battle of Nashville, TN
1864 - Raid on Stoneman: Abingdon & Glade Springs, VA
1868 - Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaidō.
1874 - 1st reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) received by Pres Grant
1877 - Thomas Edison patents phonograph
1891 - James Naismith invents basketball (Canada)
1893 - Dvoráks "From the New World" premieres at Carnegie Hall NYC
1894 - Cricket day 2 1st T Aus v Eng Aus 586 (Gregory 201) England 3-130
1899 - Battle at Colenso, South Africa (Boers-British army)
1905 - The Pushkin House is established in St. Petersburg to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin
1909 - Thomas J Lynch becomes president of baseball's National League
1913 - Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1914 - Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
1914 - British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea
1914 - Swedish troops over run Belgrade in Austria-Hungary
1916 - French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun
1917 - Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia
1917 - World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.
1918 - American Jewish Congress holds it's 1st meeting
1919 - Edna St Vincent Millay's "Aria da Capo," premieres in NYC
1919 - Fiume (Rijeka) declares it's Independence
1922 - IVVV (association) peace congress on war forms in Hague
1925 - 1st hockey game at Madison Sq Garden, Mont Candiens 3, NY Americans 1
1925 - 1st road with a depressed trough (Texas) opens to traffic
1926 - Facist national symbol elevated in Italy
1927 - Ed Hickman kidnaps child he later beheads
1929 - Walter Mittelholzer flies as 1st about the Kilimanjaro
1930 - Don Bradman takes his 1st Test Cricket wicket (Ivan Barrow, WI, lbw)
1933 - Baseball owners agree to ban Sunday doubleheaders until after June 15
1934 - Fokker F18 Snip flies to Neth West Indies
1935 - Detroit Lions win NFL championship
1935 - Max Euwe becomes world champ chess beating Alexander Aljechin
1936 - KVL-AM in Seattle Wash changes call letters to KEEN (now KING)
1938 - Groundbreaking begins for Jefferson Memorial in Wash DC
1939 - "Gone With the Wind" premieres in Atlanta
1939 - 1st commercial manufacture of nylon yarn, Seaford, Delaware
1939 - Snip departs for 1st flight to Paramaribo/Curacao
1941 - Gas/electrical use restricted in Holland
1941 - German submarine U-127 sinks
1941 - Nazi's transfers 100 Czech citizens/Heinrich Himmler falls faint
1941 - North Africa: allied assault up Italians Gazala-posing
1941 - USS Swordfish becomes 1st US sub to sink a Japanese ship
1941 - The American Federation of Labor adopts a no-strike policy in war industries.
1942 - Massachusetts issues 1st US vehicular license plate tabs
1944 - Bandleader, Major Glenn Miller, lost over English Channel
1944 - Hizbu'allah (Arm forces for Allah) forms
1944 - US Congress gives General Eisenhower his 5th star
1944 - US troops lands on Mindoro
1945 - John J "Cardinal" O'Connor, ordained as a priest
1946 - Chic Bears beat NY Giants 24-14 in NFL championship game
1946 - Giants Filchock & Hapes suspended by NFL, didn't report bribe attempt
1948 - Former state dept official Alger Hiss indicted in NYC for perjury
1949 - Albert Camus' "Les Justes" premieres in Paris
1950 - Ezzard Charles KOs Nick Barone to retain heavyweight boxing title
1950 - NYC's Port Authority opens
1952 - "Two's Company" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 90 performances
1952 - Christine Jorgenson is 1st person to undergo a sex-change operation
1952 - KHON TV channel 2 in Honolulu, HI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1952 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Orientales Ecclesias
1953 - WJHG TV channel 7 in Panama City, FL (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
1954 - Fordham University scraps football team for financial reasons
1954 - Netherlands Antilles becomes co-equal part of Kingdom of Netherlands
1956 - Emergency crisis in North Ireland proclaimed after IRA strikes
1956 - KGW TV channel 8 in Portland, OR (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - WRAL TV channel 5 in Raleigh-Durham, NC (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 - Everly Brothers record "Let It Be Me"
1960 - King Boudouin of Belgium marries dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon

1961 - Adolf Eichmann convicted of crimes against humanity in Israel
1961 - Equal access rule, political parties get TV broadcasting time
1961 - JFK visits Puerto Rico
1961 - L J Suenens appointed archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels
1962 - Vaughn Meader's "1st Family," album goes #1 & stays #1 for 12 wks
1964 - 1st time 4 people in space
1964 - American Radio Relay League (organization for hams) founded
1964 - Canada adopts maple leaf flag
1965 - 3rd cyclone of year kills another 15,000 at mouths of Ganges River
1965 - Bangladesh windstorm kills 10,000
1965 - D Heneker & J Taylor's musical "Charlie Girl," premieres in London
1965 - Gemini 6 launched; makes 1st rendezvous in space (with Gemini 7)
1965 - Queen Juliana opens Zeeland Bridge to Oosterschelde
1965 - William Eckert replaces Ford Frick as 4th commissioner of baseball
1966 - "Joyful Noise" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 12 performances
1966 - Audouin Dollfus discovers 10th satellite of Saturn, Janus
1966 - John W Mecom Jr becomes 1st owner of New Orlean Saints
1967 - Beatles release "Christmas Time is Here Again"
1967 - Joe Garagiola joins Today Show panel
1967 - Silver Bay bridge (Oh-WV) collapes during afternoon rush hr, 34 die
1967 - The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.
1969 - Plastic Ono Band, play their only concert at London's Lyceum Ballroom
1969 - SF Fire Dept replaces leather helmets with plastic ones
1970 - Ferryboat capsized in Korean Strait drowning 261
1970 - S Korean ferry Namyong-Ho sinks in Strait of Korea, 308 killed
1970 - Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)
1970 - Illinois State Constitution is adopted at a special election.
1971 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1973 - American Psychiatric Assn declares homosexuality is not mental illness
1973 - Golf Resort (Disney Inn) opens
1973 - Pirates of Caribbean ride opens at Disneyland
1973 - Sandy Hawley becomes 1st jockey to win 500 races in 1 year
1973 - Tennessee beats Temple 11-6 in low scoring NCAA basketball game
1973 - US Psychiatrist say homosexuals are not mentally ill
1974 - A's Catfish Hunter is ruled a free agent (later signs with Yankees)
1976 - Argo Merchant tanker off Massachusetts' SE coast, spills 7.6 m gallons of crude when ship ran aground
1976 - Jamaica premier Manley wins elections
1976 - Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
1978 - Saint Maarten Patriotic Movement (SPM) forms under W James
1978 - Test Cricket debut of Malcolm Marshall, v India at Bangalore
1979 - Deposed Shah of Iran leaves US for Panama
1979 - World Court in Hague rules Iran should relase all US hostages
1980 - NY Yankee Dave Winfield becomes highest-paid player, 10 years $15M
1980 - Premier Queddei troops conquers Chad capital N'djamena
1980 - ZBZ Sangha registered after 5 yrs of administrative hassles in Warsaw
1981 - 4th Emmy Sports Award presentation
1981 - NASA launches Intelsat V satellite, no. 503
1982 - Bill Parcells becomes 12th head coach of NY Giants
1982 - Roy Williams, Teamsters pres, & 4 others convicted of bribery
1982 - Sao Tome & Principe constitution approved
1982 - Spain reopens border with Gibraltar
1983 - 3 KC Royals suspended due to cocaine usage
1983 - Columbia flies to Kennedy Space Center via El Paso, Kelly AFB
1983 - Last 80 US combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew
1983 - Wendy Wasserstein's "Isn't It Romantic," premieres in NYC
1984 - USSR launches Vega 1 for rendezvous with Halley's Comet
1985 - Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielson wed
1986 - 150 killed during race riot in Karachi
1986 - CIA director William Casey suffers a cerebral seizure
1986 - Carnegie Hall reopens after a $50 million facelift
1987 - "Les Miserables" opens at Shubert Theatre, Boston
1988 - Lori Davis of Long Island sues Mike Tyson for grabbing her buttocks
1990 - Rocker Rod Stewart marries super model Rachel Hunter
1991 - "Nick & Nora" closes at Marquis Theater NYC after 9 performances
1991 - Deb Richard wins JBP Cup LPGA Match Play Golf Championship
1992 - Arthur Ashe is named Sports Illustrated Sportman of Year
1992 - WNew AM (1130) NYC resigns air, replaced by WBBR
1993 - C-130 flies into a Philippines hill & explodes, 16 killed
1993 - Haitian premier Robert Malval resigns
1993 - John Williams final appearance as conductor of Boston Pops
1993 - Lee Aspen resigns as secretary of defense
1993 - Y-12 crashes at Phonesavanh, Laos: 18 killed
1993 - British premier Major/Irish premier Reynolds signs Downing Street Declaration concerning Northern Ireland self determination
1994 - "Tuna Christmas" opens at Booth Theater NYC for 20 performances
1994 - John Bruton becomes Ireland's premier
1994 - Liberia militia kills 48 inhabitants of Monrovia
1994 - Palau becomes a member of the UN.
1995 - Playboy goes back on sale after 36 year ban in Ireland
1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice hands down the "Bosman ruling", giving EU footballers the right to a free transfer at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they are transferring from one UEFA Federation to another.
1996 - Dottie Pepper & Juli Inkster win LPGA Diner's Club Golf Matches
1996 - Jim Colbert & Bob Murphy wins Diner's Club Senior PGA Golf Matches
1996 - Tom Lehman & Duffy Waldoff wins Diner's Club PGA Golf Matches
1997 - SF 49ers retire Joe Montana's #16
2001 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
2005 - Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate possibility of same-sex couples being entitled to marry.
2005 - Argentina's president Néstor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.
2005 - Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.
2005 - The 2005 Atlantic Power Outage began.
2006 - First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.