GMT

Today in History December 24

563
The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes.

1476
400 Burgundian soldiers freeze to death during siege of Nancy

1814
Treaty of Ghent signed, ending the War of 1812 between the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies

1851
Fire devastates US Library of Congress in Washington, destroys 35,000 volumes

1865
KKK founded In Pulaski, Tennessee, a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a secret society that they christen the “Ku Klux Klan.” The KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government’s progressive Reconstruction

1877
Thomas Edison files a patents for the phonograph

1895
George Vanderbilt opens Biltmore estate, the largest privately owned house in America at 178,926 square feet (16,622.8 m2) in Asheville, North Carolina

1901
Private companies allowed to use the word "postcard" in the US. Previously they were labelled "Private Mailing Cards" and known as "souvenir cards"

1941
First ships of admiral Nagumo's Pearl Harbor fleet return to Japan

1979
the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978.

1980
Americans remembered Iran hostages by shining lights for 417 seconds

2000
The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery

2003
Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.

2023
Beijing breaks its 1951 record for sub-zero December temperatures, recording more than 300 hours as a record cold spell affects the north and northeast of China

Born on December 24

1932
Cynthia Payne, English brothel madam, born in Bognor Regis, West Sussex

1940
Anthony Fauci(82nd Birthday)American Immunologist (White House COVID-19 taskforce), born in Brooklyn, New York City

1958
Michael Flynn(64th Birthday) American general and National Security Advisor (2017), born in Middletown, Rhode Island

JOTD

There was a blonde who just got sick and tired of all the blonde jokes. One evening, she went home and memorized all the state capitals. Back in the office the next day, some guy started telling a dumb blonde joke. She interrupted him with a shrill announcement, "I've had it up to here with these blonde jokes. I want you to know that this blonde went home last night and did something probably none of you could do. I memorized all the state capitals." One of the guys, of course, said, "I don't believe you. What is the capital of Nevada?" "N," she answered.