^B{^#!16!25 December^N! Christmas Day. Feast day of The Martyrs of Nicomedia, St Eugenia, St Alburga, and St Anastasia of Sirmium.
^B{800^B} Charlemagne was crowned first Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Leo III. ^B{1066^B} William the Conqueror was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey. ^B{1914^B} During World War I, British and German troops observed an unofficial truce, even playing football together on the Western Front's 'no man's land'. ^B{1926^B} Hirohito succeeded his father Yoshihito as emperor of Japan. ^B{1941^B} Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese. ^B{1972^B} The Nicaraguan capital Managua was devastated by an earthquake which killed over 10,000 people. ^B{1989^B} Dissident playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia. ^B{1991^B} Unable to maintain control over a disintegrating Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation as president.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Isaac Newton, English scientist, ^B{1642^B}; Maurice Utrillo, French painter, ^B{1883^B}; Humphrey Bogart, US film actor, ^B{1899^B}; Anwar Sadat, Egyptian statesman, ^B{1918^B}; Sissy Spacek, US film actress, ^B{1949^B}; Annie Lennox, British pop singer, ^B{1954^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}Karel Capek, Czech dramatist, ^B{1938^B}; W C Fields, US actor and screenwriter, ^B{1946^B}; Charlie Chaplin, English actor and director, ^B{1977^B}; Joan Mir≤, Spanish artist, ^B{1983^B}; Nicolae Ceausτescu, Romanian politician, executed, ^B{1989^B}.
