Calendar for December 19th, 2012

1686: Fictional Robinson Crusoe left island after 28 years. Daniel Defoe's story is based on an actual person, Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, who was found on an island where he had been stranded for 52 months. (He was rescued on Feb. 1, 1709)

Died 1848: Emily Brontë (writer)

1871: Mark Twain received a patent for suspenders

Born 1885: Joe "King" Oliver (jazz musician)

Born 1888: Fritz Reiner (conductor)

1917: The National Hockey League began its first professional season with four teams

1918: Robert Ripley's column, "Believe It or Not!," first appeared in The New York Globe

Born 1933: Cicely Tyson (actress)

Born 1944: Tim Reid (actor)

1958: The first known radio broadcast from outer space was transmitted when President Eisenhower's recorded voice issued a holiday greeting for the whole world from the Atlas satellite which was launched the previous day

Died 1959: Walter Williams (age 117: last known Civil War vet)

1961: New transatlantic submarine cable, CANTAT-1, between Britain and Canada (first link in a proposed around-the-world Commonwealth system) is inaugurated by a telephone conversation between Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Diefenbaker of Canada

Born 1963: Jennifer Beals (actress)

Born 1967: Criss Angel (illusionist)

Born 1972: Alyssa Milano (actress)

Born 1980: Jake Gyllenhaal (actor)

Born 1980: Marla Sokoloff (actress)

Died 2003: Hope Lange (actress)