On This Day

[Altobelli]

05 DECEMBER

771 Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman

1349 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots

1456 Earthquake strikes Naples; about 35,000 die

1492 Christopher Columbus discovers Hispaniola (El Espanola/Haiti)

1697 The first Sunday service was held in the new St Paul's Cathedral, London.

1717 English pirate Blackbeard ransacks the merchant sloop "Margaret" and keeps her captain, Henry Bostock prisoner for 8 hours before releasing him. Bostock later provides 1st record of Blackbeard's appearance, and the source for his name

1757 Seven Years' War: Battle of Leuthen – Frederick II of Prussia leads Prussian forces to victory over Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander

1766 James Christie, the founder of the famous auctioneers, held his first sale in London. Christie's main London salesroom is on King Street in St. James's, where it has been based since 1823.

1830 The birth of Christina Georgina Rossetti, the English poet who wrote a variety of romantic and children's poems. She also wrote the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.

1839 The postage rate in Britain was changed to a standard charge of 4d (4 old pence) a half ounce instead of being charged by distance.

1848 US President Polk triggers Gold Rush of 1849 by confirming gold discovery in California

1863 The rules of Association Football were published.

1879 1st automatic telephone switching system patented

1899 The death of Lancashire businessman and philanthropist Henry Tate (sugar refining and the Tate Gallery)

1905 The roof of Charing Cross Railway Station in London collapsed, killing five people.

1913 Britain forbade the selling of arms to Ireland.

1928 England beat Australia by a record 675 runs in the Test at Brisbane.

1932 German physicist Albert Einstein granted a visa to enter America

1933 21st Amendment to the US Constitution ratified, 18th Amendment (Prohibition of alcohol) repealed (5:32 PM EST)

1943 World War II: U.S. Army Air Force begins attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow

1944 German troops steal all the silver coin in Utrecht

1952 -8] worst smog in London ever, 4-8,000 die

1956 Miss Rose Heilbron QC was appointed Recorder of Burnley to become Britain’s first woman judge.

1958 The Queen dialled Edinburgh and spoke to the Lord Provost from Bristol, to inaugurate the first direct dialled trunk call, known as STD (Subscriber Trunk Dialling)

1958 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan opened the Preston bypass in Lancashire. It was the first stretch of motorway in Britain and is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.

1967 The Beatles' clothing store "Apple" opens at 94 Baker Street, London

1973 Paul McCartney & Wings release album "Band on the Run"

1973 During a petrol shortage, the government imposed a 50mph speed limit to save fuel.

1974 Final episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus airs on BBC TV

1985 Great Britain performs nuclear test

1989 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher defeated Sir Anthony Meyer in the first challenge to her leadership of the Conservative Party.

1991 Robert Maxwell's business empire collapsed with huge debts of more than £1bn and revelations about misappropriation of money in pension funds.

1993 The record by Mr Blobby, a pink-and-yellow spotted BBC television star, reached number one in the charts.

2005 The Civil Partnership Act came into effect in the United Kingdom. It gave same-*** couples rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage. In addition a formal process for dissolving partnerships was put in place, akin to divorce.

2007 Westroads Mall massacre: A gunman opens fire with a semi-automatic rifle at an Omaha, Nebraska, mall, killing eight people before taking his own life

2008 O.J. Simpson is sentenced to 33 years in prison for kidnapping and armed robbery

2012 The Audit Commission announced that English councils had increased their reserves by £4.5bn over the previous five years to £12.9bn despite cuts to funding. The money set aside was the equivalent of almost a third of their spending on services.

2013 Reforms in Chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement included that those in their twenties would have to work until they were 70, under sweeping changes to the basic state pension.

2013 The death, aged 95, of Nelson Mandela, the towering figure of Africa's struggle for freedom and a hero to millions around the world.There are more streets named after Nelson Mandela in the UK than anywhere in the world outside South Africa. He also shares one of London’s most high profile public spaces in Parliament Square, with his statue alongside great figures from British history, such as former prime ministers Winston Churchill and Robert Peel.

2014 Scotland lowered the legal drink-drive limit in Scotland, from 80mg to 50mg in every 100ml of blood, lower than elsewhere in the UK.

Famous Birthday's

Martin Van Buren
(1782 - 1862)



George Armstrong Custer
(1839 - 1876)



Walt Disney
(1901 - 1966)

George Savalas
(1924 - 1985)

Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards
54th Birthday

Famous Deaths



Wolfang Amadeus Mozart
(1756 - 1791)

Claude Monet
(1840 - 1926)

Alexandre Dumas, (French writer, The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo), dies at 68
(1802 - 1870)

Nelson Mandela
(1918 - 2013)

Famous Weddings

1926 Gangster Carlo Gambino (24) weds his first cousin Catherine Castellano

1932 "East of Eden" director Elia Kazan (23) weds playwright Molly Day Thatcher (25)

1943 Singer and actress Dinah Shore (27) weds actor George Montgomery (27)

1945 Actor Eddie Albert (39) weds actress Margo (28)

1947 "Spider-Man" creator Stan Lee (24) weds Joan Clayton Boocock