Historical anniversaries are great for On This Day in History features and anniversary tie-ins. They’re popular with readers and viewers, editors and producers love them, they’re simple to research, and you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, films, TV/radio/theatre shows, and more.
Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in December 2020 (so you have time to write about them!)
We’ve randomly picked one anniversary for each day of the month from The Date-A-Base Book 2020. You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries in the book. The editions for 2021 and 2022 are also available.
1 Dec 1955 – 65 years ago
African American civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, violating the city’s racial segregation laws. This incident led to the Montgomery bus boycott (5th December 1955 – 20th December 1956) and the birth of the modern American civil rights movement.
2 Dec 1970 – 50 years ago
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began operating.
3 Dec 2010 – 10 years ago
The Nissan Leaf, one of the first mass-market electric cars, was launched.
It went on sale in the USA on 11th December, in Japan on 22nd December, and in the UK in March 2011.
4 Dec 1995 – 25 years ago
The first version of the computer programming language JavaScript was released.
It enables interactive web pages to be developed, and is now used by the majority of websites.
5 Dec 1945 – 75 years ago
Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. Navy bombers, disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle during a training flight.
6 Dec 1920 – 100 years ago
Birth of Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer.
Leader of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. (Died 2012.)
7 Dec 1970 – 50 years ago
Death of Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist.
Best known for his overly complicated machines that used convoluted processes to perform simple tasks.
8 Dec 1980 – 40 years ago
Death of John Lennon, British rock musician, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. A member of the Beatles.
(Shot dead, aged 40, outside his New York City apartment by Mark Chapman, a deranged fan.)
9 Dec 1960 – 60 years ago
The first episode of the television soap opera Coronation Street was broadcast in the UK.
10 Dec 1920 – 100 years ago
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end World War I and create the League of Nations.
11 Dec 1970 – 50 years ago
The U.S. première of Walt Disney’s animated film The Aristocats.
(Released: 24th December. UK: 27th December.)
12 Dec 1870 – 150 years ago
Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black person to take his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
13 Dec 1920 – 100 years ago
The Permanent Court of International Justice was established in The Hague, Netherlands.
It was superseded by the International Court of Justice in 1946.
14 Dec 1895 – 125 years ago
Birth of George VI, King of the United Kingdom (1936-52). Father of Queen Elizabeth II.
15 Dec 1970 – 50 years ago
The first spacecraft to successfully soft-land on another planet: the Soviet Union’s Venera 7 landed on Venus.
16 Dec 1770 – 250 years ago
Birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist.
17 Dec 1920 – 100 years ago
Major League Baseball managers banned the “spitball”.
Seventeen pitchers were exempted from the ban, the last retiring in 1934.
18 Dec 1870 – 150 years ago
Birth of Saki, (pen name of Hector Hugo Munro), Burmese-born British writer.
19 Dec 1920 – 100 years ago
King Constantine I of Greece was called out of exile and restored to the throne following the death of his son, Alexander I
20 Dec 1820 – 200 years ago
Missouri became the first U.S. state to impose a bachelor tax on unmarried men between the ages of 21 and 50. They were taxed $1 per year.
21 Dec 1620 – 400 years ago
The first landing party from the British ship Mayflower arrived at what would become Plymouth Colony (now Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA). They began building houses there on 23rd December.
22 Dec 1845 – 175 years ago
German-born American inventor Joseph Faber gave a public demonstration of his euphonia – a mechanical device that could produce human speech – at the Musical Fund Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Initially known as Faber’s “Fabulous Talking Machine”, the operator pressed piano keys to open and close components which replicated the mouth, throat, tongue and vocal cords.
23 Dec 1920 – 100 years ago
The Government of Ireland Act (also called the Fourth Home Rule Bill) came into effect. It was intended to establish separate governments in Northern and Southern Ireland, which would both remain part of the UK. The Act never took effect in Southern Ireland because of the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence. Most elements of the Act were suspended in Northern Ireland in 1972 following the outbreak of the Troubles.
24 Dec 1955 – 65 years ago
The NORAD Tracks Santa service was launched.
It began by accident when a Sears department store advertisement invited children to phone Santa Claus, but gave the wrong number. Calls went to NORAD instead, where staff gave Santa’s “current location” so as not to disappoint callers.
25 Dec 1620 – 400 years ago
At the Huguenot General Assembly in La Rochelle, France, the decision was made to defy King Louis XIII, who had established an all-Catholic government, and establish their own Calvinist Protestant state within France. This led to three Huguenot rebellions in 1620–22, 1625, and 1627–28, all of which were suppressed by the French state.
26 and 28 Dec 1980 – 40 years ago
Rendlesham Forest incident, Suffolk, England.
Witnesses reported sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, along with claims of UFO landings.
The incident is sometimes called “Britain’s Roswell”.
27 Dec 1945 – 75 years ago
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development were formally founded.
28 Dec 1945 – 75 years ago
The U.S. Congress formally recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.
It was written in 1892. Before 1945 it was known as the Pledge to the Flag. It was last revised in 1954 when the words “under God” were added.
29 Dec 1845 – 175 years ago
Texas was admitted as the 28th state of the USA.
30 Dec 1940 – 80 years ago
The Arroyo Seco Parkway (also known as the Pasadena Freeway) was officially opened in California, USA.
It is considered the first true freeway in the USA – though narrow by modern standards.
31 Dec 1720 – 300 years ago
Birth of Charles Edward Stuart, commonly known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie” or “The Young Pretender.”
Stuart claimant to the British throne.
Leader of the unsuccessful Jacobite rebellion of 1745–46.
Grandson of King James II of England and Ireland (also known as James VII of Scotland).
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2020. The 2021 and 2022 editions are also available if you need to work further ahead. Find out more at ideas4writers.com.