Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining. Table of contents 1 Events 2 Births 3 Deaths 4 Holidays and observances Events 1460 - Wars of the Roses: The Duke of York is defeated at the Battle of Wakefield 1862 - USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina 1853 - Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest 1879 - The Pirates of Penzance is first performed (Paignton, Devon, England) 1880 - The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger, its first president 1897 - Natal annexes Zululand 1903 - A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago kills 600. 1919 - Lincoln's Inn in London admits its first female bar student. 1922 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is formed. 1924 - Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galaxies. 1936 - The United Auto Workers union stages its first sit-down strike. 1940 - California opens its first freeway: the Arroyo Seco Parkway. 1943 - Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair. 1944 - King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving his throne vacant 1947 - King Michael of Romania abdicates 1948 - The play Kiss Me Kate opens for the first of 1,077 performances. 1953 - The first color television sets go on sale for about USD $1,175. 1965 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines 1972 - Vietnam War: The US halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam. 1976 - The Smothers Brothers play their last show (Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas). 1980 - After 25 years, the longest-running prime-time TV series The Wonderful World of Disney is cancelled by NBC. 1993 - Israel and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations. 1996 - In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26. 1996 - Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel. 1997 - In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, 400 people are killed from four villages. 2000 - Rizal Day Bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a span of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred. Births 39 - Titus, Roman Emperor († 81) 1819 - Theodor Fontane, poet († 1898) 1865 - Rudyard Kipling, writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1907 († 1936) 1873 - Al Smith, U.S politician († 1944) 1884 - Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan († 1948) 1899 - Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer, discoverer of the only confirmed Viking settlement in America († 2001) 1906 - Carol Reed, film director († 1976) 1906 - Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmannsegg, general 1910 - Paul Bowles, composer, author († 1999) 1911 - Jeanette Nolan, actress († 1998) 1914 - Bert Parks, television host († 1992) 1917 - Seymour Melman, industrial engineer 1920 - Jack Lord, actor († 1998) 1928 - Bo Diddley, singer, musician 1931 - Skeeter Davis, singer 1934 - Russ Tamblyn, actor, dancer, singer 1934 - Del Shannon, singer († 1990) 1935 - Sandy Koufax, Baseball Hall of Famer 1937 - Paul Stookey, folk music singer 1937 - John Hartford, musician († 2001) 1938 - Joseph Bologna, actor 1942 - Fred Ward, actor 1942 - Michael Nesmith, singer, musician (The Monkees) 1942 - Vladimir Bukovsky, author and civil rights activist 1945 - Davy Jones, singer (The Monkees) 1946 - Patti Smith, singer 1947 - Jeff Lynne, rock singer-musician (ELO) 1956 - Suzy Bogguss, country singer 1957 - Matt Lauer, newscaster 1959 - Tracey Ullman, actress, singer 1961 - Douglas Coupland, author 1961 - Horacio Novello, creative 1965 - Heidi Fleiss, celebrity prostitute 1973 - Jason Behr, actor 1975 - Tiger Woods, golfer 1976 - Meredith Monroe, actress 1978 - Tyrese, singer 1980 - Eliza Dushku, actress 1982 - Kristin Kreuk, actress 1984 - LeBron James, basketball player Deaths 1460 - Richard, Duke of York 1896 - José Rizal, national hero, Philippines 1968 - Trygve Lie, the first United Nations Secretary General 1970 - Sonny Liston, boxing champion 1979 - Richard Rodgers, composer 1982 - John Main, Benedictine monk, meditation teacher 1985 - Rick Nelson, singer 1996 - Lew Ayres, actor 1998 - Joan Brossa, Catalan poet 2002 - Mary Wesley, novelist 2003 - Anita Mui, singer, actress Holidays and observances The sixth day of Christmas in Western Christianity. Philippines - Rizal Day See Also: December 29 - December 31 - November 30 - January 30 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.