This day in history December 26, 2026. Today: Boxing Day is celebrated as a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. 2006: American politician Gerald R. Ford--who was the 38th president of the United States (1974-77) and the countrys only chief executive who was not elected as either president or vice president--died in California. 2004: On this day, a large earthquake shook the Indian Ocean floor west of the island of Sumatra, triggering a devastating tsunami that swamped coastal areas from Thailand to Africa and killed more than 200,000 people. 1985: The slain body of American zoologist Dian Fossey--the worlds leading authority on the mountain gorilla--was found in Rwanda; it was widely suspected that she was killed by poachers. 1943: The German battle cruiser Scharnhorst was sunk by the British battleship Duke of York during World War II. 1908: American boxer Jack Johnson defeated Tommy Burns in Sydney to become the first black fighter to win the world heavyweight championship. 1893: Mao Zedong, chairman of the Peoples Republic of China, was born. 1891: American writer Henry Miller, born this day, was a perennial bohemian with a gift for comedy whose autobiographical novels achieved a candour that was considered liberating by many mid-20th-century readers. 1805: Napoleon enforced harsh penalties on Austria with the signing of the Treaty of Pressburg. 1791: English mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage, who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer, was born. 1647: Charles I and the Scots reached a secret agreement, whereby the Scots offered to support the kings restoration to power in return for his acceptance of Presbyterianism in Scotland and its establishment in England for three years.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:53:55 +0000
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