EVENTS:
- 1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.
- 1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
- 1907 – The first New Year’s Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York.
- 1909 – Manhattan Bridge opens.
- 1955 – General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.
- 1961 – RTÉ, Ireland’s state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.
- 1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
- 1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ended after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.
- 2009 – Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.
- 2011 – NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.
- 2014 – A New Year’s Eve celebration stampede in Shanghai kills at least 36 people and injures 49 others.
- 2015 – A fire broke out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates located near the Burj Khalifa 2 hours before the fireworks display was due to commence. 16 injuries were reported 14 with minor injuries 1 had a heart attack and 1 had a major injury.
- 2017 – Starting date of Valletta as European Capital of Culture.
BIRTHS:
- 1738 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, English general and politician, 3rd Governor-General of India (d. 1805)
- 1912 – John Frost, Indian-English general (d. 1993)
- 1925 – Sri Lal Sukla, Indian author (d. 2011)
- 1931 – Ray Graves, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Don James, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan, Indian scholar, author, and poet
- 1937 – Avram Hershko, Hungarian-Israeli biochemist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1960 – Steve Bruce, English footballer and manager
- 1965 – Tony Dorigo, Australian-English footballer and sportscaster
- 1970 – Jorge Alberto da Costa Silva, Brazilian footballer
- 1976 – Matthew Hoggard, English cricketer
- 1981 – Jason Campbell, American football player
- 1981 – Matthew Pavlich, Australian footballer
- 2005 – Lakshmi Tatma, Indian deformed girl
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- International Solidarity Day (Azerbaijan)
- New Year’s Eve (International observance), and its related observances:
- Last Day of the Year or Bisperás ng Bagong Taón, special holiday between Rizal Day and New Year’s Day (Philippines)
- Ōmisoka (Japan)
- The first day of Hogmanay or “Auld Year’s Night” (Scotland)
- The seventh of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
