1. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 01/12/1959. Wally Lewis. Famous Australian & Queensland Rugby League player is born. 01/12/1987. World Health Organisation declares the 1 st. Aids day. 02/12/1804. Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of France

2. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 02/12/1972. Gough Whitlam becomes the 1 st. Labor Prime Minister of Australia in 23 years. 02/12/1976. Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba. 03/12/1854. The Eureka Stockade takes place in Victoria in which 20 miners are killed by State troopers over mining licences.

3. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 03/12/1967. Dr Christian Barnard a South African heart surgeon performs the 1 st. human heart transplant. 04/12/1795. Thomas Carlyle. Scottish author is born.

4. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 05/12/1839. U.S. General in the U.S Civil War George Custer of is born. 05/12/1901. Walt Disney. American film producer is born. 05/12/1955. The Montgomery Bus boycott began in Alabama.

5. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 05/12/2013. Nelson Mandela. The 1 st. Black President of South Africa & Nobel Peace Prize winner (1993) dies,

6. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 06/12/1768. The 1 st. Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica is published. 06/12/1865. The 13 th. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified banning slavery in America. 06/12/1917. Finland declares its independence from Russia.

7. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 07/12/1941. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour takes place in W.W.2. 08/12/1542. Mary Queen of Scots is born.

8. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 08/12/1854. Pope Pius 10 th. Proclaims the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception which states that the Virgin Mary was born free from original sin. 08/12/1934. The 1 st. weekly airmail service between England & Australia takes place.

9. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 08/12/1941. The U.S.A. Declares War on Japan. 08/12/1941. Sir Geoff Hurst. English Footballer & the only player ever to score 3 goals in a World Cup final is born. 08/12/1978. Golda Meir. The 1 st. Female Prime Minister of Israel dies. 08/12/1980. John Lennon is shot & killed in New York city..

10. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY December 09/12/1608. John Milton. English poet is born. 09/12/1929. Bob Hawke. The 23 rd. Prime Minister of Australia is born. 09/12/1979. Small Pox is eradicated making it the 1 st. & only disease driven to extinction.

11. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 10/12/1851. Melville Dewey who developed the Dewey Decimal Classification system was born. 10/12/1902. Women are given the right to vote in Tasmania.

12. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 10/12/1908. New Zealand born Lord Ernest Rutherford wins the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. 10/12/1919. Australian aviators Ross & Keith Smith complete the 1 st. ever flight from the U.K. to Australia. 10/12/1932. Thailand becomes a Constitutional Monarchy.

13. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 11/12/1912. Carlo Ponti. Italian film producer is born. 11/12/1918. Alexksander Solzhenitsyn. Russian author & Nobel Prize winner for literature is born. 11/12/1936. King Edward 7 th. abdicates the English Throne.

14. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 12/12/1915. U.S. Entertainer Frank Sinatra is born. 12/12/1963. Kenya becomes an independent nation. 12/12/1979. Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe.

15. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 13/12/1577. Sir Francis Drake leaves England to sail around the world attacking Spanish possessions. 13/12/1642. The Dutch Explorer Abel Tasman & his crew become the first Europeans to sight New Zealand. 13/12/2003. U.S. Troops capture former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

16. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 13/12/2015. John Bannon. the longest serving Labor Premier of South Australia dies.

17. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 14/12/1503.The French astrologer Nostradamus is born. 14/12/1799. George Washington - the first President of the U.S.A. dies. 14/12/1911. Roald Amundsen. The Norwegian explorer becomes the 1 st. person to reach the South Pole.

18. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 15/12/1791. The U.S. Bill of Rights comes into force.

19. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 15/12/1966. American film producer Walt Disney dies. 15/12/2013. Famous British/American Actress Joan Fontaine dies. 15/12/2014. A gunman takes 17 Hostages inside the Lindt Café in Sydney. He & 2 hostages die the next day when Police raid the café.

20. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 16/12/1653. Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector & ruler of England. 16/12/1689. The English Parliament passes the Bill of Rights. 16/12/1770. German composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born. 16/12/1773. The Boston Tea party takes place leading to the American Revolution.

21. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 16/12/1775. Jane Austen. English novelist is born. 16/12/1889. Sir Noel Coward. English actor & playwright is born. 16/12/1944. The Battle of the Bulge begins in W.W.2.

22. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 16/12/2014. Militants attack a Public school in Pakistan killing 145 people including 132 school children. 17/12/1538. Pope Paul 3 rd. excommunicates King Henry 8 th. of England. 17/12/1778. Sir Humphry Davy. English chemist is born

23. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 17/12/1936. Pope Francis is born. 17/12/1967. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears whilst swimming alone off Cheviot beach near Melbourne. 17/12/2014. The United States & Cuba re establish Diplomatic Relations after 56 years.

24. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 18/12/1642. Abel Tasman becomes the 1 st. European to visit New Zealand. 18/12/2013. Famous English Great Train Robber Ronald Biggs dies. 19/12/1946. The start of the 1 st. Indochina War.

25. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 20/12/1803. The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. 20/12/1894. Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister Sir Robert Gordon Menzies is born. 20/12/1915. The last Australian troops leave Gallipoli.

26. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 20/12/1968. American writer John Steinbeck dies. 21/12/1879. The Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin is born. 21/12/1945. U.S. General George S Patton is killed in a car accident. 21/12/1958. General Charles de Gaulle is elected President of France.

27. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 22/12/1858. Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini is born. 22/12/1899. British film producer J. Arthur Rank is born. 22/12/2014. Joe Cocker - famous English singer & songwriter dies.

28. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 23/12/1948. Hideki Tojo – Japanese Prime Minister in W.W.2. is executed as a War criminal.

29. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY. DECEMBER 24/12/1814. The Treaty of Ghent is signed ending the War of 1812. 24/12/1818. In Austria, the Christmas Carol Silent Night is performed for the 1 st. time. 24/12/1951. Libya becomes independent.

30. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 24/12/1973. Stephanie Meyer – author of the Twilight series of Vampire novels is born.

31. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER December 25 th. Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the birth of Jesus Christ. 25/12/1066. William the Conqueror is crowned King of England. 25/12/1642. English Scientist Sir Isaac Newton is born. 25/12/1974. Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin.

32. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 25/12/1991. The Soviet Union is dissolved. December 26 th. is celebrated as Boxing Day in various countries. 26/12/1791. Charles Babbage. British scientist known as: “the father of the computer” is born.

33. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 26/12/1893. Mao Zedong is born. 26/12/1898. Pierre & Marie Curie isolate radium. 26/12/1941. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs a Bill establishing the 4 th. Thursday in November in the U.S.A. as Thanksgiving Day.

34. THIS WEEK IN HISTORY. DECEMBER 27/12/1571. German astronomer Johannes Kepler is born. 27/12/1822. French chemist Louis Pasteur is born. 27/12/2012. U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf who led the U.S. Troops in the 1 st. Gulf War dies.

35. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 27/12/2015. Stevie Wright. Australian born lead singer of the 1960’s pop group “ The Easybeats” dies. 29/12/1170. St Thomas Becket is murdered in Canterbury England.

36. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 28/12/2014. Air flight Asia QZ 8501 disappears off the radar on a flight from Indonesia to Singapore and crashes into the ocean killing all 162 people on board. 29/12/2012. Tony Greig. Former England Cricket Captain & Channel 9 TV Cricket Broadcaster dies.

37. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 30/12/1865. Rudyard Kipling. British writer is born. 30/12/1965. Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines. 30/12/2006. Iraqi Dictator – Saddam Hussein is executed.

38. THIS MONTH IN HISTORY DECEMBER 31/12/1600. The Dutch East India Company is formed. 31/12/1869. Henri Matisse. French painter is born. 31/12/2015. Natalie Cole. Famous American singer, songwriter and actress dies.

39. QUOTE OF THE MONTH: “ Yesterday, December 7 th. 1941 – a day which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asking the U.S. Congress for a declaration of War on Japan: 8 th. December 1941