St. Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland)

Father's Day in Bulgaria

The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day in The Bahamas

The second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas, a public holiday in the Netherlands, and Poland

If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! You share this day with…

1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (d. 1871)

1854 – José Yves Limantour, Mexican financier and politician, Mexican Secretary of Finance (d. 1935)

1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980)

1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Communist Party of China (d. 1976)

1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (d. 2000)

1939 – Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer

1942 – Gray Davis, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of California

1944 – William Ayers, American academic and activist

1956 – David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host

1966 – Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

· 1526 – Rose Lok, businesswoman and Protestant exile(d. 1613)

· 1618 – Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German princess, philosopher, and Calvinist (d. 1680)

· 1780 – Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (d. 1872)

· 1900 – Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George) (d. 1993) ^[3]

· 1910 – Marguerite Churchill, American actress (d. 2000)

· 1918 – Olga Lopes-Seale, Guyanese-Barbadian singer and radio host (d. 2011)

· 1929 – Kathleen Crowley, American actress (d. 2017)

· 1929 – Régine Zylberberg, Belgian-French singer and actress

· 1942 – Catherine Coulter, American author

· 1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist

· 1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author

· 1971 – Tatiana Sorokko, Russian-American model and journalist

· 1975 – María Vasco, Spanish race walker

· 1977 – Fatih Akyel, Turkish footballer and manager

· 1977 – Adrienn Hegedűs, Hungarian tennis player

· 1985 – Beth Behrs, American actress

· 1986 – Selen Soyder, Turkish actress and beauty queen

· 1991 – Eden Sher, American actress

· 1992 – Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player

…and on this day in history…

1862 – Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.

1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died.

1871 – Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.

1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.

2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis follows, affecting the coastal areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898.

2004 – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.

2009 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou

Almanac - Wednesday 12/26

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