History of 3rd December

741 - St Zachary begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Gregory III
1347 - Pope Clemens VI declares Roman tribunal Coke di Rienzo as heretics
1557 - 1st Covenant of Scottish protestants form
1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, from Colombia
1621 - Galileo invents telescope
1639 - 1st annulment by court decree passes
1676 - Battle at Lund: Sweden beats Denen
1678 - Edmund Halley receives MA from Queen's College, Oxford
1685 - Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm Sweden
1694 - English parliamentary election set for every 3 years
1699 - Baron Jacob Hop appointed treasurer-general of the Hague
1775 - 1st official US flag raising (aboard naval vessel Alfred)
1818 - Illinois becomes 21st state USA (Admission day)
1828 - Andrew Jackson elected 7th president of US
1833 - Oberlin College in Oh, 1st truly coeducational college opens
1834 - 1st US dental society organized (NY)
1835 - 1st US mutual fire insurance company issues 1st policy (RI)
1844 - RC Society Apostole of Prayer forms
1847 - Frederick Douglass publishes 1st issue of his newspaper "North Star"
1854 - Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.
1863 - Longstreet abandons his siege at Knoxville, TN
1864 - Skirmish at Thomas' Station, Georgia
1866 - Paid fire dept replaces volunteer companies
1868 - Trial of Jefferson Davis starts; 1st blacks on US trial jury
1878 - Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah Israel
1881 - Henry M Stanley finds Leopoldville/Kinshasa
1883 - 48th Congress (1883-85) convenes
1893 - Ndebeles destroy Rhodesia
1901 - Milwaukee is dropped from the AL & replaced by St Louis Browns
1903 - Panglima Polim surrenders to Capt Colijn at Atjeh
1907 - George Cohans musical "Talk of the Town," premieres in NYC
1908 - Edward Elgar's 1st Symphony in A, premieres
1910 - Neon lights, 1st publically seen (Paris Auto Show)
1912 - Gerrit Brinkman becomes 1st Dutch traffic officer
1912 - Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro, Greece & Bulgaria sign weapons pact
1912 - First Balkan War: The Naval Battle of Elli takes place.
1914 - Neth army shoots up geïnterneerde Belgian soldiers: 8 killed
1917 - After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic.
1920 - Turkey & Armenia agree to peace treaty
1921 - 9th CFL Grey Cup: Toronto Argonauts defeats Edmonton Eskimos, 23-0
1922 - 1st successful technicolor movie (Tall of the Sea), shown in NYC
1923 - 1st Congressional open session broadcast via radio (Wash DC)
1926 - Manchester Guardian (German Reichswehr/Red Army work together)
1929 - Boston Bruins begins then NHL record 14 game winning streak
1930 - Air-borne chemicals combine with fog to kill 60 (Meuse Valley Belgium)
1930 - Otto Ender forms Austrian govt
1930 - Richard Rodgers/L Hart's musical "Evergreen," premieres in London
1931 - Alka Seltzer goes on sale
1932 - 20th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Regina Roughriders, 25-6
1932 - Gen Kurt von Schleicher becomes chancellor of Germany
1933 - Connie Mack sells Mickey Cochrane to Det Tigers for $100,000
1933 - Joe Lilliard QBs Chic Cardinals; last NFL black until 1946
1934 - Italian colonial Tripoli & Cyrenaica annexed to Libya
1934 - KYW-AM in Chicago Ill moves to Phila Penn
1938 - AAU's decides to continue linear measuring system over metric
1939 - Dmitri Sjostakovitsj's 6th Symphony, premieres
1941 - Hitler views Poltava Ukraine
1943 - 9th Heisman Trophy Award: Angelo Bertelli, Notre Dame (QB)
1943 - Battle of Monte Cassino, Italy begins
1943 - Howard Hanson's 4th Symphony, premieres
1943 - Strike of Monte Cassino, Italy begins
1944 - British order to disarm, causes general strike in Greece
1944 - Hungarian death march of Jews ends
1944 - Mussert puts Seyss-Inquart plan for small Nazi-Europe
1944 - NFL Cardinals-Pitts merger disolves
1944 - US 5th Armour division occupies Brandenburg Hurtgenwald
1944 - The Greek Civil War breaks out in a newly-liberated Greece, between communists and royalists.
1946 - 12th Heisman Trophy Award: Glenn Davis, Army (HB)
1946 - US govt asks UN to order dictator Franco out of Spain
1947 - Tennessee Williams' "Streetcar Named Desire," premieres in NYC
1948 - "Pumpkin Papers" come to light (claimed to be from Alger Hiss)
1948 - 1st US woman army officer not in medical corps sworn-in
1948 - Bradman scores his last century, 123 in his own testimonial
1948 - Chinese refugee ship "Kiangya" explodes in E China Sea, killing 1,100
1949 - KRLD (now KDFW) TV channel 4 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (CBS) begins
1950 - Cleve Browns last NFL team with no-pass game (beat Phila 13-7)
1950 - Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast
1950 - Cleveland Browns' Horace Gillom sets club record with 12 punts
1952 - 1st TV broadcast in Hawaii
1952 - Marcos Perez Jiménez elected president of Venezuela
1953 - "Kismet" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 583 performances
1953 - Eisenhower criticizes McCarthy for saying communists are in Rep party
1953 - Premier of Dmitri Shostakovitch' 5th String Quartet
1954 - Samuel Barber's "Prayers of Kierkegaard," premieres
1954 - William Walton's opera "Troilus & Cressida," premieres in London
1955 - KTVE TV channel 10 in Monroe-El Dorado, LA (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - England & France pull troops out of Egypt
1956 - KFSA (now KFSM) TV channel 5 in Ft Smith, AR (CBS) 1st broadcast
1956 - Wilt Chamberlain's 1st collegiate basketball game (scores 52)
1957 - 23rd Heisman Trophy Award: John Crow, Texas A&M (HB)
1958 - Indonesian parliament accepts nationalisation of Dutch businesses
1959 - State of emergency on Cyprus ends
1960 - "Camelot" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 873 performances
1960 - Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner's "Camelot," premieres in NYC
1961 - Anton Geesink becomes 1st not-Japanese judo world champion
1961 - Beatles meet future manager Brian Epstein
1961 - George Blanda of Houston Oilers kicks 55-yard field goal
1961 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1962 - Edith Spurlock Sampson sworn-in as 1st US black female judge
1962 - Pravda criticizes western art

1964 - "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" 1st airs on TV
1964 - KHQL (now KCAN) TV channel 8 in Albion, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
1964 - Police arrests 800 sit-in students at U of Cal at Berkeley
1965 - Beatles begin final UK concert tour in Glasgow
1965 - USSR launches Luna 8; crashes on Moon
1966 - US performs underground nuclear test at Hattiesburg Miss
1967 - 1st human heart transplant performed (Dr Christian Barnard, S Africa)
1967 - Derek Clayton runs world record marathon (2:09:36.4)
1967 - Ex-president Sukarno under house arrest in Indonesia
1967 - Final run of "20th Century Limited," famed NY-Chicago luxury train
1968 - Pitcher's mound drops from 15" to 10" & strike zone reduced from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits, to help hitters
1969 - John Lennon is offered role of Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar
1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1971 - Miss Teenage America Pageant
1971 - Pres Nixon commutes Jimmy Hoffa's jail term
1971 - Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: India invades West Pakistan and a full scale war begins claiming hundreds of lives.
1972 - Convair 990A charter crashes in Tenerife Canary Island, 155 die
1973 - Pioneer 10 passes Jupiter (1st fly-by of an outer planet) [Dec 4-GMT]
1975 - Laos falls to communist forces; Lao People's Democratic Rep proclaimed
1976 - Dr Patrick J Hillery elected president of Iraq
1978 - "King of Hearts" closes at Minskoff Theater NYC after 48 performances
1978 - Pat Bradley/Lon Hinkle wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1979 - 11 trampled to death at Cincinnati Who concert
1979 - 45th Heisman Trophy Award: Charles White, Southern Cal (RB)
1979 - Christies auctions a thimble for a record $18,400
1979 - Iran accepts constitution
1979 - Shadow Traffic begins broadcasting in the New York City metropolitan area.
1980 - NY Federal jury finds Reps Thompson D-NJ & Murphy, D-NY, guilty
1981 - Beth Daniel/Tom Kite wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1981 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1982 - 1st NJ Devil hat-trick (Steve Tambellini) defeat Hartford 5-4
1982 - 35.7 cm rainfall at Big Fork, Arkansas (state record)
1982 - 77°F highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in Dec
1982 - NJ Devils 1st hat trick (Steve Tambellini)
1982 - Tommy Hearns wins WBC Welterweight title in decision over Benitez
1983 - "Marilyn: An American Fable" closes at Minskoff NYC after 16 perfs
1983 - 49th Heisman Trophy Award: Mike Rozier, Nebraska (RB)
1983 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1984 - 2,000 die from Union Carbide poison gas emission in Bhopal, India
1984 - Oldest groom - Harry Stevens, 103, weds Thelma Lucas, 83, in Wisc
1985 - 23rd Shuttle Mission (61-B)-Atlantis 2-lands at Edwards AFB
1986 - Sri Lanka all out 55 v WI in one-dayer Walsh 5-1 in 4 3 overs
1988 - 54th Heisman Trophy Award: Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State (RB)
1988 - NY Lotto pays $45 million to twelve winner (#s are 1-8-13-18-28-48)
1989 - Pat Bradley/Bill Glasson wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1990 - NL batting champ Willie McGee signs as a free agent with SF Giants
1991 - Hulk Hogan defeats Undertaker to become 4th time WWF champion
1991 - Muslim Shites release US hostage Alan Steen
1991 - White House Chief of Staff John Sununu resigns
1992 - UN Security Council votes unanimous for US led forces to enter Somalia
1992 - The Greek oil tanker Aegean Sea, carrying 80,000 tonnes of crude oil, runs aground in a storm while approaching La Coruña, Spain, and spills much of its cargo.
1995 - "Company" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 68 performances
1995 - "Holiday" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 49 performances
1995 - 84th Davis Cup: USA beats Russia in Moscow (3-2)
1995 - Beth Daniels/Davis Love III wins LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic
1995 - Jack Russell takes 11 catches in Test Cricket v S Africa, a record
1995 - Naeem Akhtar takes 10-28 for Rawalpindi B against Peshawar
1995 - Northwestern South Carolina begins using new area code 864
1997 - "1776," opens at Gershwin Theater NYC
1997 - Golden State Warrior guard Latrell Sprewell, four-year, $32 million, contract terminated for attacking his coach P J Carlesimo
1999 - NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere.
2005 - XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California.
2007 - Devastating winter storms caused the Chehalis River to flood many cities in Lewis County, Washington, also closing a 20-mile portion of Interstate 5 for several days. At least eight deaths and billions of dollars of damaged are blamed on the floods.