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What happened in history on this day: December 12?
Since 1995, I have been collecting information on a variety of topics,
creating several timelines of history.
Here you will find specific events from those databases
for this day, on the topics of personal computers, video games, the Walt Disney Company,
Chevrolet Corvettes, A&W Root Beer, Sweden, and Canadian coins.
On December 12 in ...
- 1980 - Apple Computer becomes a publicly held company, selling 4.6 million shares at US$22 per share. More than 40 Apple employees and investors become instant millionaires. With the stock value closing at $29, the market capotalization puts the company's worth at $1.778 billion. Stock held by Steve Jobs is worth $217 million, Steve Wozniak $116 million, and Mike Markkula $203 million. This is the largest initial public offering in the US since Ford Motor Company in 1956.
- 2001 - The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Fairly Oddparents TV show in the US.
- Santa's computer says "You've got magic!", a reference to the America Online software saying "You've got mail".
- A personal computer appears among Christmas presents.
- A portable computer is used to send a message via the Internet.
- Santa Claus' assistant uses a personal computer to record that a child is getting coal.
- Santa's computer says "You've got coal".
- 2004 - The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the US. A character is shown using a personal computer to access the Internet.
- 2007 - Bolivia issues a 3b postage stamp depicting a personal computer in a classroom.
- 2010 - The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the US. A laptop computer is used to show disguising a person in software.
- 1927 - Universal Pictures releases the 12th Oswald the Lucky Rabbit film, Empty Socks.
- 1931 - Disney completes the Silly Symphony film The Ugly Duckling.
- 1937 - A new Sunday color comic strip is published, featuring the animated characters from the feature films. The first edition is "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".
- 1941 - Disney delivers the animated film 7 Wise Dwarfs to the National Film Board of Canada. It stars the dwarfs from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
- 1952 - The Goofy film How to Be a Detective is released.
- 1956 - The ABC TV network airs the Disneyland TV show, entitled Pluto's Day.
- 1958 - The ABC TV network airs the Walt Disney Presents TV show, featuring the fourth "Elfego Baca" episode, Law and Order, Incorporated.
- 1965 - The NBC TV network airs the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color show, featuring Summer Magic, part two.
- 1979 - Grenada Grenadines issues ten postage stamps depicting various Disney characters, marking the International Year of the Child.
- 1981 - The CBS TV network airs the Walt Disney show, entitled Walt Disney ... One Man's Dream. The show is a two-hour documentary.
- 1989 - Disneyland raises entrance gate prices by US$2 to US$25.50 for adults and US$20.50 for children.
- 1991 - Guyana issues ten postage stamps depicting various Disney characters in Olympic sports.
- 1991 - Disney decides which of its two large California projects it will go ahead with. It will develop the site adjacent to Disneyland for its next theme park. The project is called the Disneyland Resort, which will include Westcot Center, hotels, a lake, and a shopping mall.
- 1993 - The last show of the TV series Countdown at the Neon Armadillo airs.
- 1996 - St. Vincent issues 27 postage stamps depicting scenes from the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
- 1996 - Disney announces the resignation of Michael Ovitz as president of the Walt Disney Company. His total compensation package totals US$140 million.
- 2000 - Disney releases the film Air Bud: World Pup on videocassette and DVD in the USA.
- 2004 - The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the US. A t-shirt salesman tells another character he sold the t-shirt design rights to the Disney company.
- 2006 - Disney releases the film Air Buddies on DVD in the USA.
- 2010 - ABC Family premieres the Christmas Cupid movie.
- 1952 - The body for the first Motorama Corvette is completed.
- 1981 - Chevrolet introduces the 1982 model Corvette.
- 1986 - Troma Entertainment releases the film Class of Nuke 'Em High to theaters in the USA.
- A custom 1978-82 Corvette appears during the opening title credits.
- A red 1968-73 Corvette Convertible appears briefly.
- A blue 1968 Corvette Convertible appears.
- 1992 - The National Broadcasting Company airs the Cheers TV show in the USA. The main story line is about the main character buying back his Corvette from the widow of the previous owner.
- 1939 - Soviet forces capture Salla, Finland.
- 1941 - (morning) Two Japanese Kawanishi flying boats attack Wake Island. One is shot down.
- 1941 - British Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the diversion of British 18th Division and four squadrons of fighter planes to Bombay, India, to increase the strength of the Indian Divisions on the Burma frontier.
- 1941 - Adolf Hitler addresses about 50 leading Nazis in the chancellery, telling them that the time had come to annihilate the Jews in Europe.
- 1941 - Over 100 Japanese bombers and fighters attack over Luzon, Philippines, to little resistance.
- 1941 - A second Japanese force lands on northern Luzon.
- 1941 - Japanese forces capture Canadian merchant ship Shinai off North Borneo.
- 1941 - British forces on the Hong Kong mainland begin an evacuation to Hong Kong island, except Devil's Peak.
- 1941 - (evening) Japanese forces capture Tuguegarao airfield.
- 1942 - An attempt to relieve the German 6th Army in Stalingrad fails.
- 1942 - Erich von Manstein launches Operation Winter Tempest, with 57th Panzer Corps of 4th Panzer Army from Kotelnikovo attacking toward Stalingrad.
- 1945 - At the International Military Tribunal, British prosecutors begin presenting their case.
- 1994 - Tanzania issues postage stamps to mark the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Europe.
- 1988 - Atari Games files a lawsuit against Nintendo in US District Court in San Francisco, California, claiming Nintendo used monopolistic and exclusionary business practices by their security chips in the Nintendo Entertainment System and game cartridges. Atari Games claims US$100 million in damages, and says they have developed a compatible security chip so Atari Games and Tengen could compete with Nintendo in cartridge production.
- 2004 - Sony Computer Entertainment releases the PlayStation Portable in Japan. It features Memory Stick port, USB port, UMD drive, 4.3-inch 16:9 ratio 480x272 pixel display, Wi-Fi wireless connectivity, headphone jack, speaker. Batteries power the unit for about four hours. Price is 19800 yen (about US$185).
- 2004 - Namco releases the Ridge Racers video game for the PlayStation Portable in Japan.
- 2005 - US Senators Hillary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman introduce a bill, tentatively titled the Family Entertainment Protection Act, in the Senate. The bill proposes to prohibit the sale of "mature" video games to anyone younger than 18 years old, to order the Federal Trade Commission to "investigate misleading ratings" on video games, to solicit public complaints about video games, and to require an "annual, independent analysis of game ratings".
- 2005 - Square Enix releases the Final Fantasy Advance video game for the Game Boy Advance in the US. This is a port of Final Fantasy IV.
- 2009 - The Spike Video Game Awards show is held in Los Angeles, California, USA. Some award winners:
- Game of the Year: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,
- Studio of the Year: Rockstar Studios,
- Best Xbox 360 Game: Left 4 Dead 2,
- Best PlayStation 3 Game: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves,
- Best Nintendo Wii Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii,
- Best Handheld Game: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
- 1631 - The Spanish garrison of Mainz surrenders to the Swedish army.
- 1654 - The Council resolves to recommend full armament to the King, and make demands of Poland, to help it against Russia, or attack it.
- 1996 - Svenska Handelsbanken offers 23 billion kronor (about US$3.37 billion) to buy the Swedish Government's 34 percent of Stadshypotek AB, the country's largest mortgage provider.
- 2004 - Laos issues a postage stamp marking the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Sweden.
- 1978 - A & W International's "GREAT ROOTBEAR" is registered as a service mark.
- 1858 - The decimal coins of Canada are released. Of the order for 10 million 1-cent coins, only 421,000 1-cent coins are ready.
- 1973 - Banks across Canada begin making individual $5 and $10 Olympic coins available at face value.
- 1796 - Mint Director Elias Boudinot acquires unissued copper tokens of Talbot, Allum & Lee, for recoinage as half cents.
- 1963 - The US Mint makes first trial strikes of the reverse of the President John Kennedy half dollar.
- 1884 - First Cricket Test match played at the Adelaide Oval.
- 1898 - First first-class game between New South Wales and Tasmania.
- 1899 - George F Grant of Boston, Massachusetts, USA patents the wooden golf tee.
- 1930 - Baseball Rules Committee greatly revises the rule book, when a ball bounces into stands now a double, not a homerun.
- 1930 - Start of the first Australia versus West Indies cricket Test (at Adelaide).
- 1937 - Washington Redskins win NFL championship.
- 1949 - American League votes 7-1 rejecting legalizing the spitball.
- 1950 - 16th Heisman Trophy Award: Vic Janowicz, Ohio State (Half Back).
- 1950 - US Major League Baseball owners vote to drop four-year-old bonus and high school rule.
- 1952 - Dallas Texans (former Boston Yankees) play last game, last original team.
- 1958 - Fergie Gupte takes 9-102 with leggies versus West Indies at Kanpur.
- 1959 - (to December 17) In Bangkok, Thailand, the South-East Asia Peninsula Games are held.
- 1964 - Cleveland Browns' Frank Ryan sets club record of five touchdown passes.
- 1965 - Doug Walters makes maiden Test ton in first Test, goes on to 155.
- 1965 - Gale Sayers of Chicago Bears scores six touchdowns, ties NFL record.
- 1966 - US Supreme Court votes 4-3 allowing Braves baseball team to move to Atlanta.
- 1969 - Bill Toomey achieves track and field world record-score (8417 points).
- 1973 - Canada begins selling Olympic coins ($5 and $10 silver coins).
- 1973 - San Diego files anti-trust against National League (stopping San Diego Padres move to Washington DC).
- 1976 - Quarterback Joe Namath's last game with New York Jets.
- 1977 - New York Yankees purchase Andy Messersmith from Atlanta Braves.
- 1982 - 57th Australian Women's Tennis: Chris Evert beats Martina Navratilova (6-3, 2-6, 6-3).
- 1982 - Joanne Carner/John Mahaffey win LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic.
- 1986 - David Boon's fourth Test century, 103 versus England at Adelaide.
- 1986 - James "Bone Crusher" Smith TKOs WBA champion Tim Witherspoon at Madison Square Garden.
- 1987 - Mookie Blaylock sets NBA record of 13 steals in a game.
- 1987 - Oklahoma sets NCAA record of 33 steals versus Centenary.
- 1987 - Rollermania at Madison Square Garden, Eastern Express beats Midwest Pioneers.
- 1991 - New Jersey Nets set NBA record of 22 blocks beating Denver Nuggets 121-81.
- 1991 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers' player Dexter Manley retires after failing drug test.
- 1992 - 58th Heisman Trophy Award: Gino Torretta, Miami Florida (quarterback).
- 1992 - New York Giants lose 19-0 to Phoenix Cardinals.
- 1995 - NBA referees return to work after striking.
- 1996 - Florida Marlins sign their 6th free-agent since November 22, Moises Alou.
- 1997 - Florida Marlins release Alex Arias, the last original Marlins player.
- 1997 - Boston Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to record six year $69 million contract.
- 1998 - Pitcher Kevin Brown becomes baseball's first US$100+ million dollar man as he signs a seven-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for US$105 million.
- 2021 - At Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, NHL regular season game: Vancouver Canucks beats Carolina Hurricanes by score 2-1.
- 2021 - At T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, NHL regular season game: Vegas Golden Knights beats Minnesota Wild by score 6-4.
- 2021 - At Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado, USA, NHL regular season game: Colorado Avalanche beats Florida Panthers by score 3-2.
- 2021 - At Enterprise Center in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA, NHL regular season game: Anaheim Ducks beats Saint Louis Blues by score 3-2.
- 2021 - At Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, USA, NHL regular season game: Nashville Predators beats New York Rangers by score 1-0.
- 1871 - Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum.
- 1959 - United Nations Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established.
- 1961 - Ham radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36.
- 1967 - US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit.
- 1970 - Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays.
- 1985 - NASA launches space vehicle S-207.
- 2008 - The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. The Moon appears to be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the year's other full moons.
- 1939 - Soviet prison ship Indigirka, carrying 2,500 prisoners capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 2,470 die.
- 1776 - The Continental Congress authorizes Robert Morris to borrow money for the navy.
- 1787 - Pennsylvania is second state to ratify US Constitution.
- 1791 - The Bank of the United States opens for business.
- 1800 - Washington, District of Columbia, is established as capital of USA.
- 1822 - US government officially recognizes Mexico as an independent nation.
- 1846 - American chargé d'affaires Benjamin Alden Bidleck signs a treaty with the government of President Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera of New Grenada, which in part guarantees to the US exclusive right of transit across the Isthmus of Panama.
- 1860 - Philip F. Thomas of Maryland is appointed Treasury Secretary.
- 1862 - Battle of Dumfries, Virginia, CSA.
- 1862 - Two electrically-detonated underwater torpedoes sink the USS Cairo ironclad battleship in the Yazoo River north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, CSA.
- 1878 - Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing Saint Louis Dispatch.
- 1901 - Marconi receives first transatlantic radio signal, England to US.
- 1906 - Oscar Straus is appointed US Secretary of Commerce.
- 1914 - The New York Stock Exchange re-opens (was closed four months). The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops from 71.42 to 54, a drop of 24 percent.
- 1916 - The USA purchases the Danish West Indies, for US$25 million.
- 1917 - Reverend Edward Flanagan founds Boys Town outside Omaha, Nebraska.
- 1937 - Japanese aircraft shell and sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologizes and eventually pays US $2.2 million in reparations).
- 1937 - NBC and RCA sends first mobile-TV vans onto the streets of New York.
- 1946 - United Nations accepts six Manhattan (New York) blocks as a gift from John D Rockefeller Junior.
- 1947 - United Mine Workers union withdraws from AFL.
- 1957 - Major Adrian Drew flies 1,943 kph in F-101 Voodoo.
- 1957 - US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond).
- 1961 - Ham radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36.
- 1961 - Martin Luther King Junior and 700 demonstrators arrested in Albany, Georgia, USA.
- 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1963 - Frank Sinatra Junior is returned 53 hours after being kidnapped, after payment of $240,000 ransom.
- 1967 - US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit.
- 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
- 1975 - Sara Jane Moore pleads guilty to trying to kill US President Gerald Ford.
- 1980 - Apple Computer becomes a publicly held company, selling 4.6 million shares at US$22 per share. More than 40 Apple employees and investors become instant millionaires. This is the largest initial public offering in the US since Ford's in 1956.
- 1980 - American oil tycoon Armand Hammer pays US$5.12 million at auction for a notebook containing writings by artist Leonardo da Vinci, written around 1508. The price is the highest paid for a manuscript to date.
- 1980 - USA's copyright law amended to include computer programs.
- 1982 - US$9.8 million in cash stolen from money transport car in New York City, New York.
- 1983 - A dump truck with 330kg of high explosives crashes through the US Embassy gate in Kuwait City, exploding, killing six. Then five bombs detonate by remote control at other locations in Kuwait. Total 7 dead, 84 injured.
- 1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285, a Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, killing 256, 248 of whom were U.S. servicemen returning to Fort Campbell, Kentucky from overseeing a peacekeeping force in Sinai.
- 1988 - New York City Subway system adds new stations (the Z line).
- 1990 - US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks.
- 1990 - US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell, leaves Kuwait.
- 1991 - Orion Pictures files for bankruptcy protection in the USA.
- 1995 - Amendment to make it illegal to physically desecrate the US flag turned down by senate 63-36 (need 66 votes).
- 1997 - Federal judge sentences Autumn Jackson, who claims to be Bill Cosby's daughter, to 26 months for trying to extort US$40 million from him.
- 1997 - SWAT team shoots John E Armstrong in Florida, freeing two young hostages.
- 2007 - The US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada, and the Swiss National Bank announce a joint plan to ease liquidity crisis in global money markets.
- 2008 - Former chairman of the Nasdaq Stock Market Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with allegedly running a $50 billion "Ponzi scheme", among the biggest fraud cases ever.
Other history:
- 1098 - First Crusaders capture and plunder Mara Syria.
- 1800 - Washington DC established as capital of US.
- 1917 - Worst train disaster ever, derailment near mouth of Mount Cenis tunnel, Modane, France - 543 French troops killed.
- 1957 - US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond).
- 1963 - Kenya (formerly British East Africa) declares independence from United Kingdom.
- 1980 - US's copyright law amended to include computer programs.
- 1992 - 6.8-7.5 earthquake strikes Flores Island (tsunami kills 3,000).
- 1997 - Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332 MPH.
- 2003 - Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.
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