1999
Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin was designated acting president.
1988
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Mario Lemieux becomes the only National Hockey League player to score goals in five different ways: even strength, shorthanded, power play, penalty shot, and empty net, during an 86 win over the New Jersey Devils.
1984
Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen loses his arm in a car crash.
1967
Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump the Caesar’s Palace Fountain, Las Vegas, breaking his pelvis, femur, wrist, hip and both ankles
1961
The Beach Boys play their debut gig under that name
1946
U.S. President Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.
1935
Charles Darrow patents the board game Monopoly, goes on to be the 1st millionaire game designer.
1923
In London, the BBC first broadcast the chimes of Big Ben.
1911
Marie Curie receives her second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry, for her work with radioactivity
1904
First New Year’s Eve celebration held in Times Square (then Longacre Square), in New York City.
1857
Queen Victoria chooses the town of Ottawa as the new capital of Canada.
