HISTORY
On this day December 22-28 (week 52)
December 22, 2024 - December 28, 2024 - Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week. This week features Romania's communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, the Hansom cab, Portuguese explore Vasco da Gama, the unofficial Christmas truce of WWI, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia and British actress Maggie Smith.
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On this day December 29-31, 2024
On this day December 15-21 (week 51)
On this day December 8-14 (week 50)
On this day December 1-7 (week 49)
On this day November 24-30 (week 48)
On this day November 17-23 (week 47)
On this day November 10-16 (week 46)
On this day November 3 - 9 (week 45)
On this day October 27 - November 2 (week 44)
On this day October 20-26 (week 43)
On this day October 13-19 (week 42)
On this day October 6-12 (week 41)
On this day September 29-October 5 (week 40)
On this day September 22-28 (week 39)
On this day September 15-21 (week 38)
On this day September 8-14 (week 37)
On this day September 1-7 (week 36)
On this day August 25-31 (week 35)
On this day August 18-24 (week 34)
On this day August 11-17 (week 33)
On this day August 4-10, 2024 (week 32)
On this day July 28-August 3, 2024 (week 31)
On this day July 21-27, 2024 (week 30)
On this day July 14-20, 2024 (week 29)
On this day July 7-13, 2024 (week 28)
On this day June 30 - July 6, 2024 (week 27)
On this day June 23-29, 2024 (week 26)
On this day June16-22, 2024 (week 25)
On this day June 9-15, 2024 (week 24)
On this day June 2-8, 2024 (week 23)
December 22, 1989: Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania’s communist dictator, was ousted after 24 years of hardline rule. He and his wife were put on trial and executed within days
December 23, 1834: Englishman Joseph Hansom patented his “safety cab”. Light enough to be pulled by a single horse, the cab became popular in major cities around the globe
December 24, 1524: Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer and navigator who discovered the sea route to India via the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, died from malaria
December 25, 1914: British and German soldiers exchanged cigarettes and played football as they took part in an unofficial Christmas truce in the trenches of World War I
December 26, 2004: A magnitude 9.1 earthquake under the Indian Ocean triggered devastating tsunamis which killed around 230,000 people from Indonesia to the coast of Africa
December 27, 537: Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia was inaugurated. It has been a Greek Orthodox cathedral, then a mosque, a museum, and in July 2020 it became a mosque again
December 28, 1934: British actress Maggie Smith, who died in September, was born. Latterly best known as Downton Abbey’s waspish family matriarch, she would have been 90 today