1. Lots of Notable People Were Born
For at least 1,656 years , Jesus ’s natal day has been celebrated on Christmas day . As a result , those born on December 25 have complained that they only get one stage set of gifts each year . At least they have some beneficial company . Christmas mean solar day is also the birthday of ( among many other leading light ) scientist Isaac Newton , cosmetics tycoon Helena Rubenstein , Egypitian president Anwar Sadat , and Mohammad Ali Jinnah , the founder of Pakistan . It is also the natal day of several entertainers , including Cab Calloway , Rod Serling , Little Richard , Sissy Spacek , Annie Lennox " ¦ and Humphrey Bogart , star of movies likeCasablancaandThe African Queen .
It ’s dubious logic , of course " “ and the Sojourner Truth is that he really was a Christmas infant . all the same , many film writers and biographer have still fallen for the Hollywood myth that his Christmas birthday was a Hollywood myth . ( Got that ? )
2. Ten Days Went Missing
In type you think that Christmas sometimes fare too quickly , spare a mentation for the Dutch responsibility of Brabant , Zeeland and the Staten - Generaal , which adopted the common Gregorian calendar ( along with most of Europe ) in 1582 " “ and correct the date to provide for this . In those province , the last daytime of the old calendar was December 14 . When they awoke the next good morning , it was December 25 . Hopefully they had all finished their Christmas shopping .
The Gregorian calendar reform the late Julian calendar , which had been bring out by Julius Caesar in 46 BC . Though Caesar had base his calendar on astronomic data , his scientist had miscalculate the lunar and solar times , so that by the sixteenth century , the spring equinoctial point ( which include Easter ) was starting to seem a little wintry . To deal with this , Pope Gregory XIII tack a team of expert mathematicians and uranologist to make a new , official calendar . Among the reform , New Years Day was on , er , January 1 . antecedently , for reasons too complicated to explain , it had been celebrated in late March .
3. A Christmas Truce
Only six months into World War I , the weighing machine of slaughter was difficult to comprehend . 100 of K of German and British soldiers had already die ( only a fraction of the nine million life that would eventually be exact by the war ) . Yet if you want an example of the big businessman of Christmas , none would be more powerful than the scene in one corner of the Western Front on Christmas Day 1914 , when the foeman soldiers go up from the trenches and greet each other in the open , make no effort to shoot each other . The Germans extend cigar and ( verbalise French ) request English fruit press ( jelly ) . It was a brief " Christmas truce,“ in which they toy soccer , commute wine and photos , and sing each other carol in their native languages . Though the ill will would recommence by New Years Day , the British generals were appalled by this cease-fire , and ordered Christmas Eve artillery unit bombardment each twelvemonth for the eternal sleep of the war ( ensuring that nobody would have meter to make merry ) . But they could n’t completely finish the good will . A similar truce would hold in 1915 between German and Gallic troop , and an Easter truce would be apply in 1916 .
4. Washington Crosses the Delaware
In one of the most illustrious and decisive moments of the American Revolution , General George Washington lead his army across the Delaware River to Trenton , New Jersey , with the parole " Victory or Death . “ In the eve , they fascinate 1,000 Hessian soldier in a surprise plan of attack that raise morale in Washington ’s troop and turn the tide of the war .
5. Coronation Day
In Christian nations , Christmas has been a popular date for coronations " “ at least since 800 , when Charles the Great ( Charlemagne ) was crown Roman emperor moth by Pope Leo III , technically making his the rightful successor to Augustus Caesar . Over the next few hundred age , many popes , monarch butterfly and bishops have had Christmas enthronization . Among them was William the Conqueror , who was crowned mogul of England in 1066 , two months after defeating the Saxon US Army at the Battle of Hastings . But since then , the tradition has lost favor . Over 900 year later , William ’s descendant , Queen Elizabeth II , made it quite clean-cut in her 1991 Christmas Message ( televised , as every year , to millions of Britons ) that , despite rumors , she would not be stepping aside for her boy , Prince Charles .
6. Hirohito Ascends
Nipponese Emperor Yoshihito pall on Christmas Day 1926 , and was immediately substitute by his son Hirohito , who begin a record 62 - twelvemonth sovereignty ( far longer than any other Nipponese emperor butterfly , and the fifth longest - reigning monarch in Earth history ) . The official name of his sovereignty was Showa , the " prison term of crystallize peace,“ but it would see Japan become a more militaristic and aggressive force . After Japan ’s severe defeat in World War II , however , Hirohito learned the art of humbleness , and renouncing his traditional divinity . His subject area were now tolerate look him in the case .
7. Ceausescu’s Execution
8. Date with Disaster
If you thought burnt bomb and out - of - melodic line Christmas carol - vocalizing with the family was bad , think of all the terrible disasters that have go on on Christmas daytime . In 1717 , floods ravaged coastal province in Holland , obliterate thou . In 1953 , a caravan engulf into New Zealand ’s Wangaehu River , leaving 166 drained . In 1971 , a fire kill 163 at the Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul . In 1974 , Cyclone Tracy destroyed much of the city of Darwin , in northern Australia . Sixty - five people died , and Darwin was so damaged that fund - raisers , let in a hit song called " Santa Never Made it to Darwin , " raise 1000000 for reconstructive memory . In subject Australia need more Christmas disaster , a fire at a Sydney packer ' hotel left 13 all in on Christmas Day the very next yr .
A year after that , Egypt ’s SS Patria sank in the Red Sea , killing 100 . More recently , a 2004 earthquake in Dixie - east Asia , measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale , led to a devastating group of tsunamis the next day , which would at long last vote out over 200,000 people .
Rather than finish on such a scurvy note , rent ’s land up the Christmas list with one of the lighter moments " ¦
9. Dick Marries Tess
Dick Tracyhas been described as " the first realistic police force [ comic ] strip" , which sound odd for a strip where the crooks have names like Mr. Bribery , Pruneface and Boris Arson , and look as ridiculous as they fathom . withal , plainclothes cop Dick Tracy did a few thing that were amazingly genuine for a comic strip . For starters , he became one of the first comic strip Italian sandwich to espouse his sweetheart , Tess Truehart , on Christmas Day 1949 . True , they had been date for 18 years ( during which prison term they had n’t aged a day , of course of study ) , but as Superman and Lois Lane would take 58 years to tie the knot , and Popeye in the end married Olive Oyl after 70 years , that ’s not a bad waiting time . Their girl , Bonnie Braids , was born ( in the back of a squad car ) in 1951 .
