December 30

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 becomes 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 $1,175 (American dollars) .
• 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[?], United States politician (+ 1944)
• 1884 - Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (+ 1948)
• 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)
• 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
• 1942 - Vladimir Bukovsky[?], author and civil rights activist
• 1945 - Davy Jones, singer
• 1946 - Patti Smith, singer
• 1947 - Jeff Lynne, rock singer-musician
• 1956 - Suzy Bogguss[?], country singer
• 1957 - Matt Lauer[?], newscaster
• 1959 - Tracey Ullman, actress, singer
• 1961 - Douglas Coupland, author
• 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

Deaths:

• 1896 - José Rizal, national hero, Philippines
• 1968 - Trygve Lie, the first United Nations Secretary General
• 1970 - Sonny Liston, boxing champion
• 1979 - Richard Rodgers, composer
• 1985 - Rick Nelson, singer
• 1996 - Lew Ayres, actor
• 2002 - Mary Wesley, novelist

Holidays and observances:

• Philippines - Rizal Day

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