Monday 25th of December 0795

95th Pope Hadrianus I dies of unknown causes at the age of 95 in Vatican City, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Thursday 25th of December 1642

Mathematician, physicist, astronomer and theologian Isaac Newton is born in Woolsthorpe Manor, Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, United States.

Wednesday 25th of December 1872

Cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Chaja Rubinstein is born in Kraków, Województwo Małopolskie, Poland.

Wednesday 25th of December 1878

Racer and automobile manufacterer Louis-Joseph Chevrolet is born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

Friday 25th of December 1885

Actor John Bowers is born as John E. Bowersox in Garrett, Indiana, United States.

Sunday 25th of December 1887

Hotelier Conrad Nicholson Hilton is born in San Antonio, New Mexico, United States.

Friday 25th of December 1891

Julia Connor is murdered by serial killer Henry Howard Holmes aka The Torture Doctor in Holmes Castle, S. Wallace and W. 63rd Street, Chicago, Englewood, Illinois, United States.

Connor died of chlorophorm poisoning in an abortion attempt. Holmes also killed Connor's 8-year-old daughter Pearl.

Monday 25th of December 1893

Murderess Edith Jessie Thompson is born as Graydon in 97 Norfolk Road, London, Dalston, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Saturday 25th of December 1897

38-year-old Mary Isabella Spink is poisoned with tartar-emetic by serial poisoner George Chapman aka The Borough Poisoner in London, Leytonstone, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 25th of December 1899

Actor Humphrey DeForest Bogart is born in New York City, New York, United States.

Friday 25th of December 1908

Raconteur Quentin Crisp is born as Denis Charles Pratt in Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom.

Pratt changed his name to Quentin Crisp in his twenties after leaving home and cultivating his effeminate appearance to a standard that both shocked contemporary Londoners and provoked homophobic attacks.

Monday 25th of December 1911

Artist Louise Joséphine Bourgeois aka Spiderwoman is born in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Friday 25th of December 1914

Murderer Grady B. Cole is born in Mississippi, United States.

Wednesday 25th of December 1918

3rd President of Egypt Anwar Sadat is born as Muḥammad Anwar as-Sādāt in Mit Abu al-Kum, el-Menofeyya, Egypt.

Thursday 25th of December 1924

Screenwriter, television producer and narrator Rod Rodman Edward Serling known from The Twilight Zone is born in Syracuse, New York, United States.

Friday 25th of December 1925

Writer Carlos Castaneda is born in Cajamarca, Cajamarca, Peru.

Wednesday 25th of December 1946

Comedian, actor and juggler W. C. Fields dies of alcohol-related gastric hemorrhage at the age of 66 in Las Encinas Sanatorium, 2900 E Del Mar Blvd, Pasadena, California, United States.

Carlotta Monti wrote that in Fields' final moments she used a garden hose to spray water onto the roof over his bedroom to simulate his favorite sound of falling rain.

Thursday 25th of December 1947

Victim of Norman John Collins aka The Michigan Coed Killer Alice Elizabeth Kalom is born in Middlebury, Indiana, United States.

Sunday 25th of December 1949

Actress Sissy Mary Elizabeth Spacek is born in Quitman, Texas, United States.

Thursday 25th of December 1952

47-year-old Murderess Winnie Ruth Judd aka The Trunk Murderess escapes in Arizona State Hospital, 2500 E. Van Buren, Phoenix, Arizona, United States.

It was Judd's sixth attempt to escape and she was recaptured 46 hours later.

Wednesday 25th of December 1957

Film pioneer Charles Pathé dies of natural causes at the age of 94 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco.

Monday 25th of December 1961

Son of Joseph Kallinger aka The Shoemaker Michael Kallinger is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

Saturday 25th of December 1971

167 die in Taeyunkak Hotel fire in Seoul, Seoul National Capital Area, South Korea.

Sunday 25th of December 1977

Actor and film director Charles Spencer Chaplin dies of a stroke at the age of 88 in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland.

Sunday 25th of December 1977

Doctor and a double agent suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi aka Abu Dujana al-Khurasani is born in Kuwait City, Kuwait.

Saturday 25th of December 1982

25-year-old John R. Johnson is beaten and stabbed to death by serial killer Larry Eyler aka The Leather Boy Killer in Belshaw, Indiana, United States.

Sunday 25th of December 1983

Son of Manson Family member Tex Watson Benjamin Charles Watson is born in San Luis Obispo, California, United States.

Sunday 25th of December 1983

Artist Joan Miró dies of heart failure at the age of 90 in Palma de Mallorca, Islas Baleares, Spain.

Monday 25th of December 1989

General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party Nicolae Ceaușescu aka The Genius of the Carpathians is executed by the firing squad at the age of 71 in Târgoviște, Dâmbovița, Romania.

Ceaușescu and his 70-year-old wife Elena had been sentenced to death by a People’s Court. The Ceaușescus were executed by a gathering of soldiers including Captain Ionel Boeru, Sergeant-Major Georghin Octavian and Dorin-Marian Cîrlan.

Monday 25th of December 1995

Singer and actor Dean Martin aka The King of Cool dies of acute respiratory failure resulting from emphysema at the age of 78 in Beverly Hills, California, United States.

Wednesday 25th of December 1996

Child beauty queen JonBenét Patricia Ramsey is found killed by strangulation and a skull fracture at the age of 6 in 749 15th Street, Boulder, Colorado, United States.

JonBenét was found covered in her special white blanket. There was a nylon cord around her neck, her wrists were tied above her head and her mouth was covered by duct tape. A garrote made from a length of cord and the broken handle of a paintbrush had been used to strangle JonBenét. The crime was never solved.

Friday 25th of December 1998

53-year-old Serial killer Dennis Andrew Nilsen aka Killing For Company is found drunk in his cell in Whitemoor Prison, March, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

It is thought Nilsen had been bingeing on homemade moonshine.

Saturday 25th of December 1999

Audio junkies repairing cassetteplayers, televisions, videorecorders and all kinds of electronic equipment in makeshift stalls on Thanon Damrong in Bangkok, Central Thailand, Thailand.

Monday 25th of December 2000

309 die in Dongdu building fire in Luoyang, Henan, China.

Monday 25th of December 2006

Singer-songwriter, dancer and bandleader James Joseph Brown aka The Godfather of Soul dies of congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia at the age of 73 in Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Monday 25th of December 2006

Double murderer Yoshio Fujinami is executed by hanging at the age of 74 in Tokyo Detention House, Tokyo, Katsushika, Kantō, Japan.

Unable to walk, Fujinami was taken to the gallows in a wheelchair.

Monday 25th of December 2006

Murderer Yoshimitsu Akiyama is executed by hanging at the age of 77 in Tokyo Detention House, Tokyo, Katsushika, Kantō, Japan.

Struggling to walk and partially blind, Akiyama had to be helped by prison guards to the execution chamber

Monday 25th of December 2006

Serial killer Hiroaki Hidaka is executed by hanging at the age of 44 in 2-6 Kamihatchobori, Hiroshima, Naka-ku, Chūgoku, Japan.

Monday 25th of December 2006

Multiple murderer Michio Fukuoka is executed by hanging at the age of 63 in Osaka, Kinki, Japan.

Friday 25th of December 2009

23-year-old Terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab aka Omar Farooq al-Nigeri aka The Underwear Bomber attempts to detonate PETN and TAPN plastic explosives hidden in his underwear aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam in Denver, Colorado, United States.

Abdulmutallab spent about 20 minutes in the toilet as the flight approached Detroit and then covered himself with a blanket after returning to his seat. Other passengers then heard popping noises, smelled a foul odour and some saw Abdulmutallab's trouser leg and the wall of the plane on fire. Fellow passenger Jasper Schuringa jumped on Abdulmutallab and subdued him as flight attendants used fire extinguishers to douse the flames. Two days after the attack Abdulmutallab was released from a hospital where he had been treated for first and second degree burns to his hands, and second degree burns to his right inner thigh and genitalia.

Friday 25th of December 2020

Suicide bomber Anthony Quinn Warner dies in a suicide bombing at the age of 63 in 166 Second Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

Warner blew himself to pieces in his Thor Motor Coach Chateau recreational vehicle, injuring eight people and damaging dozens of buildings. A broadcast from loudspeakers on the vehicle warned that there was a bomb inside and played snippets from the 1964 song 'Downtown' by Petula Clark. Prior to the explosion a 15-minute countdown was broadcast.