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 easy to research, and you can easily turn them into newspaper and magazine articles, films, TV/radio/theater shows, and more.
Here are 31 newsworthy and notable historical anniversaries coming up in December 2022 (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 2022. You’ll find hundreds more in the book. The 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are also available if you work further ahead, and the 2027 edition will be available from August 2022.
Dec 1, 1942 – 80 years ago
The British Government published the Beveridge Report, which formed the basis of the welfare state.
Dec 2, 1942 – 80 years ago
The first man-made self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved at the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA by Enrico Fermi and his team.
They used Chicago Pile-1, the world’s first nuclear reactor.
Dec 3, 1947 – 75 years ago
Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire opened on Broadway.
Dec 4, 1872 – 150 years ago
The U.S. cargo ship Mary Celeste was spotted sailing erratically near the Azores. It was found to be disheveled but seaworthy, had ample supplies, and the crews’ personal belongings were untouched. The lifeboat was missing, and the crew had apparently abandoned the ship nine days earlier, for an unknown reason. They were never heard from again.
Dec 5 – 8, 1952 – 70 years ago
The Great Smog of London. Dense, cold, smoke-filled fog brought the city to a standstill for four days. More than 4,000 people died.
Dec 6, 1922 – 100 years ago
The Irish Free State was established. It became the Republic of Ireland in 1937.
Dec 7, 1982 – 40 years ago
American murderer Charles Brooks Jr. became the first person in the USA to be executed by lethal injection, at the Texas State Penitentiary, Huntsville.
Dec 8, 1952 – 70 years ago
Death of Charles Lightoller, British naval commander. Second officer on the Titanic. The most senior officer to survive, and last survivor to be rescued.
Dec 9, 1962 – 60 years ago
Petrified Forest National Park was established in Arizona, USA.
Dec 10, 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II: the first test flight of Germany’s V-1 flying bomb (also known as the doodlebug or buzz bomb).
Thousands of V-1s were launched into England between June and October 1944, and then into Belgium between October 1944 and March 1945.
Dec 11, 1922 – 100 years ago
Gabriel Narutowicz became the first President of the Republic of Poland. He was assassinated five days later.
Dec 12, 1982 – 40 years ago
30,000 women joined hands around the Greenham Common RAF base in Berkshire, UK to protest against the siting of U.S. Cruise missiles there.
Dec 13, 1962 – 60 years ago
NASA launched Relay 1, the first communications satellite to transmit TV broadcasts across the Pacific.
It also transmitted fax, telephone and teleprinter signals. It continued operating until February 1965.
Dec 14, 1947 – 75 years ago
NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) was founded at Daytona Beach, Florida, USA.
The first race was held on February 15, 1948.
Dec 15, 1942 – 80 years ago
World War II – the Guadalcanal campaign – the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse (also known as the Battle of the Gifu). Allied victory.
Dec 16, 1947 – 75 years ago
American physicists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain invented the transistor at Bell Telephone Laboratories, New Jersey.
They, along with William Shockley who further refined the invention, were awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Dec 17, 1997 – 25 years ago
Handguns were banned in the UK.
Dec 18 – 29, 1972 – 50 years ago
Vietnam War – Operation Linebacker II. The USA’s heaviest bombing of North Vietnam during the war.
This extension to Operation Linebacker (May – October 1972) used heavy bomber aircraft rather than small tactical aircraft.
Dec 19, 1932 – 90 years ago
The BBC World Service was launched (as the BBC Empire Service).
Dec 20, 1957 – 65 years ago
American singer Elvis Presley received his draft papers at the height of his fame.
He was granted a deferment to complete work on the film musical King Creole, and was inducted into the U.S. Army for two years’ service on March 24, 1958.
Dec 21, 1872 to 1876 – 150 years ago
The Challenger expedition. A British expedition to explore the world, led by Captain George Nares on HMS Challenger. The expedition made many advances and discoveries, catalogued more than 4,000 new species, and laid the foundations for the field of oceanography.
Dec 22, 1962 to Mar 5, 1963 – 60 years ago
The Big Freeze in Britain – one of the coldest winters on record. On December 29th – 30th the southwest of England and Wales were hit by a blizzard, with snow drifts more than 20 feet deep.
Dec 23, 1972 – 50 years ago
Death of Andrei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer
Dec 24, 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Ava Gardner, American movie actress (Mogambo, The Barefoot Contessa, The Night of the Iguana, and many more). (Died 1990.)
Dec 25, 1932 – 90 years ago
The first Royal Christmas Message was broadcast on the radio in the UK. King George V addressed the nation live from Sandringham.
Dec 26, 1982 – 40 years ago
Time magazine’s Man of the Year award was given to a machine: the computer.
Dec 27, 1822 – 200 years ago
Birth of Louis Pasteur, French biologist, microbiologist and chemist. One of the fathers of germ theory.
Best known for his discoveries relating to the prevention of diseases, including the pasteurization process which is named in his honor.
Dec 28, 1922 – 100 years ago
Birth of Stan Lee, American comic book writer, editor and publisher (Marvel Comics). He co-created numerous superhero characters including SpiderMan, the X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow, the Fantastic Four, Ant-Man, and more. (Died 2018.)
Dec 29, 1952 – 70 years ago
The first commercial product to use a transistor went on sale in the USA: the Sonotone 1010 hearing aid.
It was a hybrid device because it also included two miniature vacuum tubes. All-transistor models were introduced a few years later when the technology had improved and transistors produced less electrical noise.
Dec 30, 1922 – 100 years ago
The Soviet Union was founded. (Officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – USSR.) It was dissolved in 1991.
Dec 31, 1997 – 25 years ago
Quaker Oats and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) agreed to pay $1.85 million to the former residents of a state school in Massachusetts, USA. They were used in radioactivity and nutrition experiments in the 1940s and 1950s. As students they were fed radiation-laced breakfast cereal without their knowledge or consent.
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for this month in The Date-A-Base Book 2022. The 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 editions are also available if you work further ahead, and the 2027 edition will be available from August 2022.
Find out more at ideas4writers.com.
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