History Blog

December 27

Happy Birthday Cokie Roberts-68 Gerard Depardieu-63 Wilson Cruz-38  RIP Marlene Dietrich(1901-1992)  ; 1932 Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

December 25

Happy Birthday Tony Martin-98 Gary Sandy-66 Jimmy Buffet-65 Barbara Mandrell-63 Sissy Spacek-62 Florian “Dido” Armstrong-40 Annie Lennox-57

December 24

Happy Birthday Mary Higgins Clark-84 Diedrich Bader-45 Ricky Martin-40 Ryan Seacrest-37 ; 1906 Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, Mass.

December 23

Happy Birthday Japanese Emperor Akihito-78 Bob Kahn-73 Harry Shearer-68 Susan Lucci-65 Eddie Vedder-47 RIP Corey Haim (1971-2010) ; 1913 – The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve.

December 21

Happy Birthday Phil Donahue-76 Jane Fonda-74 Samuel L. Jackson-63 Ray Romano-54 Andy Dick-46 Kiefer Sutherland-45 ; 1913 The first crossword puzzle was published, in New York World.

December 19

Happy Birthday Cicely Tyson-78 Elaine Joyce-68 Tim Reid-67 Mike Lookinland-51 Jennifer Beals-48 Tilman Schweiger-48 Kristy Swanson-42 Alyssa Milano-39 Rosa Blasi-39 Jake Gyllenhaal-31 ; 1984, Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997.

December 17

Happy Birthday Ernie Hudson-66 Eugene Levy-65 Paul Rodgers-62 Barry Livingston-58 Bill Pullman-58 Giovanni Ribisi-37 Milla Jovovich-36 ; 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

December 16

Happy Birthday Lesley Stahl-70 Billy Gibbons-62 Benjamin Bratt-48 Anna Popplewell-23 ; 1773 Boston Tea Party took place as American colonists boarded a British ship and dumped more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.