December 30

December 30 is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 1 day remaining.

Events

• 1460 – Wars of the Roses: The Duke of York is defeated at the Battle of Wakefield
• 1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest
• 1853  – 20-strong dinner party held inside life-size model of Iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London.
• 1862 – USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
• 1879 – The Pirates of Penzance is first performed (Paignton, Devon, England)
• 1880 – The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger, its first president
• 1896 – José Rizal was executed by firing squad in Manila.
• 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.
• 1927 – The Ginza Line, the oldest subway line in Asia, opened in Tokyo.
• 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.
• 1981 – Wayne Gretzky scores his 50th goal in 39 games, an NHL record to this day.
• 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, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997, 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 – Roman Emperor Titus (d. 81)
• 1819 – Theodor Fontane, German writer (d. 1898)
• 1865 – Rudyard Kipling, British writer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1907 (d. 1936)
• 1873 – Al Smith, American politician (d. 1944)
• 1884 – Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
• 1897 – Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (d. 1976)
• 1899 – Helge Ingstad, Norwegian explorer (d. 2001)
• 1906 – Johann Adolf Graf von Kielmannsegg, general
• 1906  – Carol Reed, film director (d. 1976)
• 1910 – Paul Bowles, composer and author (d. 1999)
• 1911 – Jeanette Nolan, actress (d. 1998)
• 1914 – Bert Parks, television host (d. 1992)
• 1917 – Seymour Melman, industrial engineer (d. 2004)
• 1920 – Jack Lord, actor (d. 1998)
• 1923 – Sara Lidman, Swedish writer (d. 2004)
• 1928 – Bo Diddley, singer and musician
• 1931 – Skeeter Davis, singer (d. 2004)
• 1934 – Del Shannon, singer (d. 1990)
• 1934  – Russ Tamblyn, actor, dancer, and singer
• 1934  – Joseph P. Hoar, U.S. general
• 1935 – Sandy Koufax, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1935  – Omar Bongo, President of Gabon
• 1937 – John Hartford, musician (d. 2001)
• 1937  – Jim Marshall, American football player
• 1937  – Paul Stookey, singer
• 1938 – Joseph Bologna, actor
• 1941 – Mel Renfro, American football player
• 1942 – Vladimir Bukovsky, author and civil rights activist
• 1942  – Michael Nesmith, singer and musician (The Monkees)
• 1942  – Fred Ward, actor
• 1945 – Davy Jones, singer (The Monkees)
• 1946 – Patti Smith, singer
• 1947 – Jeff Lynne, singer and musician (ELO)
• 1956 – Suzy Bogguss, country music singer
• 1957 – Matt Lauer, newscaster
• 1959 – Tracey Ullman, actress and singer
• 1961 – Douglas Coupland, author
• 1961  – Sean Hannity, talk radio host and political commentator
• 1961  – Ben Johnson, Canadian athlete
• 1963 – Chandler Burr, author
• 1965 – Heidi Fleiss, celebrity prostitute
• 1969 – Dave England, television personality
• 1969  – Jay Kay, musician and singer (Jamiroquai)
• 1972 – Kerry Collins, American football player
• 1973 – Jason Behr, actor
• 1973  – Ato Boldon, Trinidad and Tobago athlete
• 1975 – Tiger Woods, golfer
• 1976 – Meredith Monroe, actress
• 1977 – Laili Ali, boxer
• 1978 – Tyrese, singer
• 1980 – Eliza Dushku, actress
• 1982 – Kristin Kreuk, actress
• 1984 – LeBron James, basketball player

Deaths

• 1460 – Richard, Duke of York (b. 1411)
• 1591 – Pope Innocent IX (b. 1519)
• 1662 – Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, Regent of the Tyrol and Further Austria
• 1691 – Robert Boyle (b. 1627), Irish philosopher, physicist, and chemist (discovered Boyle's law)
• 1896 – José Rizal, national hero, Philippines (b. 1861)
• 1941 – El Lissitzky, Russian artist and architect (b. 1890)
• 1944 – Romain Rolland, French writer
• 1967 – Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada
• 1968 – Trygve Lie, the first United Nations Secretary General (b. 1896)
• 1970 – Sonny Liston, boxing champion (b. 1932)
• 1971 – Melba Rae, American soap opera actress (b. 1922)
• 1979 – Richard Rodgers, composer (b. 1902)
• 1982 – John Main, Benedictine monk, meditation teacher
• 1995 – Doris Grau, actress, script supivisor and voice actress
• 1996 – Lew Ayres, actor (b. 1908)
• 1998 – Joan Brossa, Catalan poet
• 2001 – Eileen Heckart, American actress
• 2002 – Mary Wesley, novelist (b. 1912)
• 2003 – John Gregory Dunne, American novelist and screenwriter
• 2003 – Anita Mui, singer, actress (b. 1963)
• 2004 – Artie Shaw (Arthur Jacob Arshawsky) American jazz clarinetist, composer and bandleader (b. 1910)

Holidays and observances

• The fifth day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
• Philippines – Rizal Day

External links

• BBC: On This Day

December 29 – December 31 – November 30 – January 30 — listing of all days