SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2019

1620-103 Mayflower pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock

1891-18 students play first basketball game (Springfield College)

1898-Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium

1910-Explosion in coal mine in Hulton, England; 344 mine workers dies

1923-Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation

1925-Eisenstein's movie Potemkin premieres in Moscow

1941-German submarine U-567 sinks

1946-Earthquake in South Japan kills 1,086

1951-Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement

1959-Shah of Persia marries Farah Diba

1972-Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany

1975-Madagascar adopts constitution

1979-Zimbabwe adopts constitution

1984-USSR launches Vega 2 for fly-by of Halley's Comet

1989-Romania's dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's final speech (he is executed Dec. 25)

1989-U.S. invades Panama and ousts Gen. Noriega