Browsing: December 22

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on December 22nd.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On December 22, 69 AD, the reigning Emperor of Rome, Vitellius, was captured and murdered on the Gemonian Stairs in Rome, proving once again how dangerous it was to be a Roman Emperor. On December 22, 1880, English writer George Eliot, author of such novels as Adam Bede and Silas Marner, died at the age of 61 of a throat infection and…

A Brief History On December 22, 1975, President Gerald Ford ordered a national stockpile of oil, or petroleum if you prefer, be created in underground storage located in Texas and Louisiana.  The stockpile would consist of as many as 714 million barrels of oil and would be there if a national crisis mandated its use. Digging Deeper During the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Arab and Muslim oil producing countries followed Saudi Arabia’s lead to embargo oil from nations aiding Israel, most notably the United States.  International oil prices soared from an average of $3 per barrel to $12 per barrel…

A Brief History On December 22, 1965, a 70 mph speed limit was set on all British rural roads.  Prior to this law, there had been no speed limit in Great Britain, a country that had the most cars per mile of road than any other country in the world.  Alas, no more unlimited speed and no more bragging rights about car density. Digging Deeper Plus, the once mightiest empire on Earth is virtually gone, and the mighty Royal Navy no longer rules the seas (though it is still strong). But Britain has some great things about it, too!  Great…

A Brief History On December 22, 1984, the tables got turned on criminals when their victim shot them!  Bernhard Goetz, a 37-year-old man, riding a New York subway believed himself threatened when approached by four men ages 18 and 19, each of whom previously had been arrested and convicted at least once.  In an instant after initial contact, five shots rang out in rapid succession and all four young men were shot.  This famous incident of vigilante “justice” became a cause célèbre in the United States which has a staggering private gun ownership of well over one gun for every…

A Brief History On December 22, 2001, Richard Colvin Reid, age 28, of London, England, attempted to destroy an airliner in flight on its way to Miami, Florida by the use of explosives hidden in his shoe.  The comically inept terrorist failed to ignite his bomb when he was interrupted while attempting to light the fuse with a match during the flight.  Ever since, this career petty criminal turned radical Islamist has been known as “The Shoe Bomber.” Digging Deeper Reid was born in London in 1973 to a White English mother and a father of mixed heritage (Jamaican/African/White).  He…