Today in History

On this Day - 19th December:
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- Elvis Presley


1957 = Elvis Presley had his draft notice served on him for the US Army.
He went on to join the 32nd Tank Battalion third Armor Corps based in Germany.
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1979 = Elvis Presley's personal physician, George Nichopoulos, was charged with 'illegally and indiscriminately' prescribing over 12,000 tablets of uppers, downers, and painkillers for the star during the 20 months preceding his untimely death.
Although he was acquitted this time, he was charged again in 1980 and again in 1992 and was stripped of his medical license in July 1995.

 

On this Day - 19th December:
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- Elton John
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1970 =Elton John's first US hit, ‘Your Song’ entered the Billboard Hot 100, where it went on to reach number eight.
The Hollies had been offered the song and Three Dog Night had already recorded a version which was included on their ‘It Ain't Easy’ album.

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2005 = Sir Elton John turned down £5.7m for the exclusive rights to his civil union to his partner David Furnish.
The couple had considered the offer from a US television channel, putting the money in the Elton John Aids Foundation, but they told Attitude magazine they had decided to keep the day private.

 

On this Day - 19th December:
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- Pink Floyd
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2006 = Two giant eyeballs donated by Pink Floyd raised £16,500 for the homeless charity Crisis.

The 6ft-high props, made to promote the Pulse DVD, were on the auction site eBay for a week and attracted 46 bids.
Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, a vice-president of Crisis, said extra help was needed in the winter months.

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2012 = Pink Floyd's Nick Mason stepped in to help save Foote's, the historic London music shop where he bought his first ever drum kit.
The Pink Floyd drummer, along with the store's sales director, Rob Wilson, were buying the business (which will now re-open in a new location at 41 Store Street, Bloomsbury, London) from the family who has owned it since the '30s.

 

On this Day - 19th December:
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1783 William Pitt the Younger


He became the youngest prime minister of Great Britain in 1783 at the age of 24 and the first prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as of January 1801. He left office in March 1801, but served as prime minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806.

William Pitt the Younger - Wikipedia
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1843 "A Christmas Carol"


"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is published - 6,000 copies sold

A Christmas Carol - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 19th December:

1861 Battle of Black Water (American Civil War) = Skirmish at Blackwater Creek - Wikipedia
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Testwatch:

• 1978 France performs nuclear test
• 1984 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC

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On this Day - 20th December:
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1812 "Grimm's Fairy Tales"

or "Children's and Household Tales" by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm is first published
- - - - - . .

Grimms' Fairy Tales - Wikipedia
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On this Day - 20th December:
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TESTWATCH

• 1966 Nuclear Planning Group forms in Brussels
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• 1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1984 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

 

On this Day - 20th December:
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GOD SAVE THE QUEEN:
2007 =
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=
Queen of the United KingdomElizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom,
In doing so, she surpasses Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.

Elizabeth II - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 20th December:
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1946 Christmas classic "It's a Wonderful Life" film premieres in New York, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore



It's a Wonderful Life - Wikipedia
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1950 "Harvey" starring James Stewart premieres in New York



Harvey (1950 film) - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 21st December:
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1967 - Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd appeared at the Speakeasy Club, London, England. Situated at 48 Margaret Street in the centre of London, the Speakeasy was a late-night haunt for the music industry from 1966 right up to to the late 1970s.
It was managed by Laurie O'Leary (a lifelong friend of the Kray twins) from 1968 to 1977 and Roy Flynn, who was also the first manager of Yes

1970 - Elvis Presley
A stretch limousine carrying Elvis Presley pulled up outside the White House in Washington, D.C. The driver handed over a letter from Elvis addressed to President Nixon requesting a meeting to discuss how the King of Rock and Roll could help Nixon fight drugs.
The President agreed to give Presley a Narcotics Bureau badge - but only after learning that the chief of the narcotics bureau had turned down the same request earlier that day and told Presley the only person who could overrule his decision was the President. At Elvis' request, the meeting remained secret for more than a year, until the Washington Post broke the story on January 27th, 1972.

2003 - Eminem
Eminem's ex-wife Kimberley Mathers pleaded guilty to a drug and driving offences. Mathers had been pulled by traffic police in June and was charged with possession of cocaine, two other charges driving with a suspended license and maintaining a drug house in which police discovered marijuana and Ecstasy were dropped.
The 28 year-old mother appeared in a Michigan court after turning herself in, having previously failed to attend a November 1 hearing and removed an electronic tagging device used to monitor her movements

 

On this Day - 21st December:
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1866 Fetterman Massacre:



Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians kill all 81 US Army soldiers in the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. Army on the Great Plains

Fetterman Fight - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 21st December:
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1872 Phileas Fogg completes his round the world trip in 80 days, in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"
= Novelist Jules Verne

Around the World in Eighty Days - Wikipedia
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1898 Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium



The Curies Discover Radium | History Today
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1937 SNOW WHITE:



The first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 22nd December:
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1932 "The Mummy"



Directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff is released in the USA - It is the 1st "Mummy" Horror film

The Mummy (1932 film) - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 22nd December:

• 1961 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1962 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1971 USSR performs underground nuclear test

 

On this Day - 22nd December:

2018 TSUNAMI



..... hits Indonesia's Sunda Strait killing over 400 after part of the Anak Krakatoa volcano slips into the sea



2018 Sunda Strait tsunami - Wikipedia

 

On this Day - 23rd December:

1888 Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear with a razor,

. .
Vincent van Gogh . . . . . . . . . . .
Paul Gauguin

After an argument with fellow painter Paul Gauguin, he sends to a prostitute for safe keeping while living in Arles, France.
He later documented the incident in a painting entitled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear
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1954 The first human kidney transplant


Born - Joseph Edward Murray
. . .is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts
Murray performed the world's first successful renal transplant between the identical Herrick twins at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (later Brigham and Women's Hospital), an operation that lasted five and a half hours. He was assisted by Dr. J. Hartwell Harrison and other noted physicians.

 

On this Day - 23rd December

• 1970 USSR performs nuclear test
• 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

 

On this Day - 23rd December

1959 - Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry was arrested after taking 14 year old Janice Norine

(who unbeknown to Berry was working as a prostitute), across a state line. He was sentenced to 5 years jail but after racist comments by the judge Berry was freed

On December 23, 1959 — 62 years ago — Chuck Berry was arrested in St. Louis on charges relating to his transportation of a 14-year-old girl across state lines for allegedly "immoral purposes" - Frank Beacham's Journal (beachamjournal.com)

 

On this Day - 23rd December

1966 - Ready, Steady Go!
ITV (Redifusion) broadcast Ready, Steady Go! for the last time, after the Musicians Union enforced a ban on miming.
The special guests for the farewell show were Mick Jagger, The Who, Eric Burdon, The Spencer Davis Group, Donovan and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.

Ready Steady Go! - Wikipedia

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2019 - Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey was being sued by a former nanny who was seeking compensation for “emotional distress” after working for the singer. Maria Burgues filed the lawsuit claiming that she was fired after complaining about her working conditions. Burgues alleged that she was paid $25 (£19) an hour to look after Carey’s children and had to travel with them when the singer went on tour – but wasn’t paid for the extra work. She also claimed that the bodyguard of Carey’s children, Marcio Moto, used to make her feel threatened by shouting at her.

 

On this Day - 23rd December

• 1972 16 plane crash survivors rescued from Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 after 72 days on the Andean Mountains, after only surviving through cannibalism

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Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 - Wikipedia