On This Day:
Friday December 26, 2014 This is the 360th day of the year, with 5 days remaining in 2014. Fact of the Day: Bert and Ernie The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life".
Holidays Boxing Day in the UK and the Commonwealth.
Scotland: Handsel Day.
Feast day of St. Stephen, St. Dionysius, pope, St. Archelaus of Kashkar, St. Vicentia Lopez, St. Zosimus, pope, and St. Tathai or Athaeus.
Bahamas: Junkanoo.
Kwanzaa starts.
South Africa: Day of Goodwill.
Events 1492 - Christopher Columbus established the first Spanish settlement in the Americas on the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti.
1776 - The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War.
1865 - James H. Nason of Franklin, Massachusetts, received a patent for a coffee percolator.
1898 - Scientists Pierre Curie and Marie Curie announced their discovery of the radioactive element radium.
1917 - During World War I, the U.S. government took over operation of the nation's railroads.
1941 - Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress, just three weeks after the U.S. entered World War II.
1966 - The first Kwanzaa celebration was organized in Los Angeles, California, by Dr. Maulana Karenga, chairman of Black Studies at California State University at Long Beach. Kwanzaa is a non-religious African-American holiday that celebrates family, community, and culture for seven days.
1979 - The Soviet Union began a massive airlift of men into Kabul, Afghanistan, in an effort to reinstate Communist rule in the nation.
1995 - Israel turned dozens of West Bank villages over to the Palestinian Authority in a smooth transfer of power.
2004 - A tsunami triggered by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean, left more than 275,000 people dead or missing, while inundating coastal communities across South and Southeast Asia.
Births 1716 - Thomas Gray, English poet.
1792 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician.
1837 - Commodore George Dewey, American naval hero of the Spanish-American War.
1891 - Henry Miller, American novelist.
1893 - Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung (or Zedong or Zhedong).
1921 - Steve Allen, American comedian, author, musician, composer, TV host.
1940 - Phil Spector, American music producer.
Deaths 1972 - Harry S Truman, 33rd President of the United States.
1974 - Jack Benny (Benjamin Kubelsky), American comedian, vaudeville performer, and radio, television, and film actor.
1996 - Jon Benet Ramsey, Colorado child beauty contestant, murdered at age 6.
2000 - Jason Robards, American actor.
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