Calendar for December 29th, 2012

2001: Islamic New Year

1170: Saint Thomas Becket was murdered by four knights

Born 1766: Charles Macintosh (chemist & inventor)

Born 1800: Charles Goodyear (inventor)

Born 1808: Andrew Johnson (17th U.S. president)

1845: Texas admitted to the Union as the 28th state

1848: Gaslights were first used at the White House

1919: American Meteorological Society founded at St. Louis, Missouri

1921: William Lyon Mackenzie King became first Prime Minister of Canada

1930: Fred Newton became the first and only person to swim the length of the Mississippi River. It took him about six months to cover the 1,826 miles from Minnesota to New Orleans. He was in the water for 742 hours and was protected from the cold water by a layer of axle grease on his body

1931: The discovery of deuterium was publicly announced

Born 1934: Ed Flanders (actor)

Born 1936: Mary Tyler Moore (actress)

Born 1947: Ted Danson (actor)

Born 1959: Patricia Clarkson (actress)

Born 1970: Kevin Weisman (actor)

Born 1972: Jude Law (actor)

Died 2003: Earl Hindman (actor)

2003: Ashrita Furman stood on a Swiss ball for 3 hours, 38 minutes, and 30 seconds

2007: Tom Brady of the New England Patriots broke Peyton Mannings's single-season touchdown pass record when he threw his 50th of the season against the New York Giants

2007: Randy Moss of the New England Patriots set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches

2007: The New England Patriots set an NFL record by winning 16 out of 16 games in the regular season