Calendar for December 1st, 2012

World AIDS Day

2001: Advent Sunday

Month of DecemberDecember comes from the Latin word decem, meaning "ten," because it was the tenth month of the early Roman calendar.

1831: New York's Erie Canal closed due to weather.

Born 1846: William Henry Holmes (archaeologist)

Born 1886: Rex Stout (novelist)

1909: The Christmas Club savings account began

1913: First drive-in gasoline service station opened, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1919: Lt. Harry Colebourn officially donated Winnie (the bear Christopher Robin Milne named his bear after) to the London Zoo

Born 1929: David Fitzgerald Doyle (actor)

Born 1935: Woody Allen (actor & producer)

Born 1939: Lee Trevino (golfer)

Born 1940: Richard Pryor (comedian & actor)

Born 1945: Bette Midler (singer & actress)

1955: Rosa Parks, a seamstress in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger

1959: The Antarctic Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., guaranteeing peaceful international use of the continent

1959: First 12 nations signed the Antarctic Treaty

Died 1973: David Ben-Gurion (1st Prime Minister of Israel)

Born 1977: Brad Delson (guitarist of Linkin Park)

Died 1987: James Baldwin (author)

Born 2001: Princess Aiko (first child of Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako)

Died 2002: Capt. Edward L. Beach (author of Run Silent, Run Deep)

Died 2002: Eugene "Bob" Gregoire (first design chief of Ford, creator of the Lincoln Continental)

2004: News anchor, Tom Brokaw, signed off after 23 years of bringing news to viewers