Important Events

1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus
800 Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Roman Emperor
1066 William the Conqueror is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman conquest of England
1741 Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale
1868 Despite bitter opposition, US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War)
1991 Mikhail Gorbachev formally resigns as President of USSR in a televised speech

Today in Film & TV

1962 “To Kill a Mockingbird”, a film adaptation of the novel by Harper Lee, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck, is released (Gregory Peck – Best Actor Academy Awards 1963)

Today in Music

1896 “Stars & Stripes Forever” written by John Philip Sousa
Today in Sport
1862 40,000 watch Union army men play baseball at Hilton Head, South Carolina