Author: Buzznews

The World Health Organization says 208 countries, territories and communities have reported H1N1 cases, including at least 12,220 deaths.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated by a suicide bomber in Rawalpindi.

Mario Lemeiux (Pittsburgh Penguins) returned to the National Hockey League (NHL) as a player after over 3 years of retirement.

Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers) scored his 100th point in the 34th game of the season.

Spain adopted a new constitution and became a democracy after 40 years of dictatorship.

Leonard Cohen releases his debut album “Songs of Leonard Cohen” on Columbia Records.

The Supremes 1st appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” singing “Come See About Me”.

The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.

Shah of Persia Mohammad Reza Pahlavi declares Persia now Iran.

James Barrie’s play “Peter Pan” premiered in London.

Charles Darwin set out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin’s discoveries during the voyage helped him form the basis of his theories on evolution.

American Colin O’Brady is the first person to cross Antarctica solo and unassisted after 54 days at the Ross Ice Shelf.

Under the Indian Ocean, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake sent 500-mph waves across the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal. The tsunami killed at least 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Sumatra, Thailand and India.

Doug Jarvis, 31, sets NHL record of 916 consecutive games.

Time’s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.

Horror film “The Exorcist” based on book by William Peter Blatty, starring Linda Blair, premieres – 1st horror film to be nominated for Best Picture

The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “I Saw Her Standing There” are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.

First known performance of William Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear” before the court of King James I at Whitehall, London.

New Orleans running back Alvin Kamara equals Ernie Nevers 1929 NFL record of 6 touchdowns in a match.

Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as leader of a Communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.

Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising.

Opening of the Boulevard Métropolitain for traffic; Montreal’s cross-town artery.

Richard Starkey (later better known as Ringo Starr) receives his first drum set

New cross on Mount Royal first illuminated.

Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale.

Samuel de Champlain dies at Quebec, age 68.

1st definite date Christmas was celebrated on Dec 25th

Panama’s dictator, Manual Noriega, seeks asylum at Vatican embassy.

Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in support of the country’s Marxist government.

Walt Disney’s “Aristocats” is released.

For the first time ever, a midnight Mass was broadcast on television. It was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

Henry Ford completes his first useful petrol / gasoline fuelled engine

Giusseppi Verdi’s “Aida” opera premieres in Cairo.

Several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, TN, called the Ku Klux Klan.

Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany composed the music for “Silent Night” to words written by Josef Mohr.

Sieur de Maisonneuve climbs Mount Royal and plants a cross on the summit.

16 plane crash survivors rescued from Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 after 72 days on the Andean Mountains, after only surviving through cannibalism

NYC World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m).

Quebec government creates Loto-Québec.

Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders become the 1st men to orbit the Moon (Apollo 8)

The first human kidney transplant is performed by Dr. Joseph E. Murray at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Walt Disney movie “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” was released.

A National Football League (NFL) championship game was televised nationally for the first time. The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cleveland Browns 24-17.

The Engelbert Humperdinck opera “Hansel und Gretel” was first performed, in Weimar, Germany.

Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

Argentine soccer superstar Lionel Messi scores his 644th goal for FC Barcelona during 3-0 win over Real Valladolid to break Pele’s record for most goals for one club; Pele, 643 goals for Santos 1956-74.

Scotty Bowman’s Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 giving him 200 wins with Detroit, and making him the first NHL coach to record 200 wins with 3 different teams; also Montreal and Buffalo

Brett Hull scores his 500 career goals; with father Bobby Hull, first father/son combo to each record 500 goals

Lech Walesa was sworn in as Poland’s first popularly elected president.

Romania’s hard-line Communist ruler, Nicolae Ceausescu, was overthrown in a popular uprising.

Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” single goes #1 for 6 weeks.

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers 1st joint movie “Flying Down to Rio,” directed by Thornton Freeland, premieres in NYC.

German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen made the first X-ray, of his wife’s hand.

Claude Debussy’s first orchestral masterpiece “Prélude à l’apres-midi d’un faune” premieres in Paris

1st string of Christmas tree lights created by Thomas Edison.

Formerly a branch of the Université Laval de Québec, the Université de Montréal officially opened its door.

Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself) and Choral Fantasy (with Beethoven at the piano).

The French Academy of Sciences, founded by Louis XIV with Jean-Baptiste Colbert first meets in the Kings Library

US begins vaccinating for COVID-19 using the Moderna vaccine.

“Gangnam Style” by Psy becomes the first video to reach one billion views on YouTube.

“The Sign” single released in the US by Ace of Base (Billboard Song of the Year 1994).

Montreal Machine football team play first CFL game.

270 people were killed when Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, due to a terrorist attack.

David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash) premiere together in California.

Charles de Gaulle was elected to a seven-year term as the first president of the Fifth Republic of France.

Walt Disney debuted the first, full-length, animated feature in Hollywood, CA. The movie was “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

French film “Zouzou” premieres in Paris, starring Josephine Baker; 1st black woman to star in a major motion picture

French Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium.

Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” was first performed in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a revised happy ending.