218 BC Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal’s Carthaginian army heavily defeat Roman forces on Italian soil
1271 Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China
1555 Martyrdom of John Philpot, archdeacon of Winchester. As he was going to the stake in Smithfield, the sheriff’s men offered to carry him over a muddy spot, but Philpot declined, saying “I am content to go to my journey’s end on foot.” He knelt and kissed the stake, recited three psalms and then submitted to the flame. Years earlier he had been one of the religious leaders who condemned Joan of Kent to a similar fate.
1603 First fleet of the Dutch East India Company under Admiral Steven van der Haghen departs for the East-Indies
1642 Abel Tasman’s expedition sails around Farewell Spit and into Golden Bay, first sighting local Māori in New Zealand
1821 Young George Müller is jailed at Wolfenbüttel Castle (in Germany) on theft charges and will remain imprisoned until 22 January the following year. After his conversion, he will become a faithful steward of contributions to Christian charities.
1917 The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing prohibition of alcohol, is approved by the US congress and sent to the states for ratification
1957 World’s 1st full scale nuclear power plant, for peacetime use only, begins to generate electricity at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania
2019 US House of Representatives votes to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power (230-197) and obstruction of Congress (229-198)
Today’s Historical Events
Today In Film & Tv
2009 James Cameron’s “Avatar” starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver, released in the US, becomes highest-grossing film of all time
Today In Music
1892 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” premieres in Saint Petersburg, Russia, now the world’s most performed ballet; his final opera “Isolanta” also premieres
Do You Know This Fact About Today? Did You Know?
1719 Thomas Fleet publishes “Mother Goose’s Melodies For Children” in Boston, Massachusetts
Would You Believe This Fact About Today? Would You Believe?
1958 Project SCORE, world’s 1st communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral