December 24, 1968: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures. The three-astronaut crew were the first humans to witness and photograph an Earthrise.
**December 25, 1890 **: LeRoy Robert Ripley is born. Believe it or not.
December 25, 1758: Halley’s Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley’s prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time.
December 26, 1991: The Soviet Union is formally dissolved, ending the Cold War.
December 28, 169 B.C.: The menorah is lit to rededicate the Holy Temple of Jerusalem after two centuries of foreign rule and religious oppression and a seven-year revolt. Though the Maccabees have enough oil for merely one day, The menorah burns for eight days, birthing the holiday Hanukkah.
December 29, 1997: Hong Kong begins to kill all the city’s 1.25 million chickens, in order to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
December 29, 1972: Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashes in the Everglades killing 101. Amazingly, 75 on board survive. This crash is also remembered for the supposed ghost sightings that followed.
Dec 29, 1800: Charles Goodyear rolls into the world.
December 30, 1916: Rasputin is murdered.
December 31, 1853: A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England.
December 31, 1986: The Dupont Hotel Fire in Puerto Rico kills 96 and injures another 140. This is the second deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history. The cause is determined to be arson.
January 1, 1978: Air India Flight 855 crashes into the Arabian Sea killing all 213 on board.
January 2, 1898: New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
January 3, 1977: Apple Computer is incorporated.
January 4, 1965: T.S. Eliot dies.
January 4, 1903: Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by the owners of Luna Park, Coney Island. The Edison film company records the film Electrocuting an Elephant of Topsy’s death.
January 5, 1875: The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated in Paris.
January 8, 1297: François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco. Today, 722 years later, the House of Grimaldi still reigns in Monaco.
January 9, 1349: The entire Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated.
January 10, 1949: Throats get a little deeper because Linda Lovelace is born.