On the 18th December 1892, Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker received its première performance at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

The Saturnalia festival was dedicated to Roman god, Saturn.

Shortly after 8am on the 16th December 1914, the German Imperial Navy attacked the British seaside towns of Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby.

Over 14,000 Australian gold miners gathered at Forest Creek in Victoria for a protest known as the Monster Meeting.

On the 14th December 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led a team of four others to become the first to reach the South Pole.

Æthelwold ætheling, a claimant to the Anglo-Saxon throne was defeated at the Battle of the Holme.

On the 12th December 1935, the Lebensborn registered association was established in Nazi Germany by the SS.

The United Nations General Assembly established UNICEF to provide help for children in countries affected by World War II.

On the 10th December 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine.

Thomas Midgeley Jr. discovered that adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline reduced knocking in automobile engines.

At 10:50pm on the 8th December 1980, former Beatle and political activist John Lennon was murdered outside his apartment block in New York.

The crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took the iconic Blue Marble photograph of the earth.

On the 6th December 1956, the “Blood in the Water” water polo match took place between the USSR and Hungary.

The Great Smog of London descended on the British capital due to a combination of air pollution and weather conditions.