Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 22

2001
Shoe Bomber: Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.

2001
Cloning: The first cloned pet, Cc the cat is born.

1984
Subway Vigilante: Bernhard Goetz shoots four black youths in a N.Y. subway car. He claimed he was frightened when they asked for five dollars. He was convicted (1987) of carrying an unlicensed concealed weapon, fined $5,000 and sentenced to six months in jail.

1973
55 mph: The speed limit is reduced to 55 mph.

1968
The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by the North Koreans. They had been captured in January.

1961
First American soldier killed in battle during the Vietnam war, Army Specialist 4 James Davis.

1956
First gorilla born in captivity: Colo is born at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1894
United States Golf Association (USGA) is formed.

1769
Daniel Boone is captured by Indians. He later escaped.

1949
Robin and Maurice (d. 2003) Gibb, British singers, songwriters, with the Bee Gees. Music: Stayin' Alive (1977) and Night Fever (1977, #1).

1945
Diane Sawyer, American news correspondent. TV: 60 Minutes and PrimeTime Live.

1924     d. 1999
Ruth Roman (Norma Roman), American actress.  She played the title role in the 1945 thirteen-episode serial Jungle Queen. TV: Knots Landing (Sylvia Lean).

1922
Barbara Billingsley (Barbara Lillian Combes), American actress. TV: Leave It to Beaver (June Cleaver).

1917
Gene Rayburn, American TV personality. TV: The Match Game (emcee).

1912
Lady Bird Johnson (Claudia Johnson), American first lady, wife of Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson.

1869     d. 1935
Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet, 3-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, known for his short character sketches such as Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy.

1854     d. 1924
Giacomo Puccini, Italian operatic composer, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.

1727     d. 1820
William Ellery, American patriot, signer of the Declaration of Independence.

1696     d. 1785
James Edward Oglethorpe, English general, colonized Georgia and founded the city of Savannah (1733).

1993     b. 1917
Don DeFore, American actor. TV: The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (next-door neighbor "Thorny" Thornberry) and Hazel (Mr. Baxter).

1979     b. 1902
Darryl Francis Zanuck, American movie producer and executive, co-founder of 20th Century Pictures (1933).

1959     b. 1901
Gilda Gray, Polish-born dancer, singer. She created the Shimmy dance of the Roaring Twenties.

1930     b. 1865
Charles Kassell Harris, American songwriter. He wrote After the Ball (1892), the first million-seller song. Sold as sheet music, it eventually sold 10 million copies.

1917     b. 1850
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrina, patron saint of Emigrants, first American to be declared a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church (1946). She founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

1902     b. 1840
Baron Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German physician, neurologist, pioneer in clinical psychology. His Psychopathia Sexualis (1886) became a standard text and has been translated into seven languages.

1668     b. circa 1594
Stephen Daye, American printer. He was the first printer in British America with Freeman's Oath (1639). He also printed the Bay Psalm Book (1640), the first book printed in America in English.

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