Born on this day 26th December
1891 Henry Miller
1893 Mao Tse-Tung
1927 Denis Quilley
1914 Richard Widmark
1921 Steve Allen
1930 Donald Moffat
1940 Phil Spector
1944 Jane Lapatoire
1962 Mark Starr
1972 Shane Meadows
1972 Robert Muchamore
1973 Steve Prescott
1982 Roxanne Pallett
1986 Kit Harington
1987 Adam Walker

Music
1956 Conway Twitty reached the top of the UK singles chart with ‘Its Only Make Believe’ knocking Lord Rockingham’s XI off the Number 1 position
1968 Sitting at the top of the charts for the UK Christmas No.1 were The Scaffold with ‘Lily The Pink’ while in the US Marvin Gaye was No. 1 with ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’
1988 Michael Jackson’s ‘Moonwalker’ movie was released in Britain

Sport
1908 Jack Johnson became the firstcoloured boxer to win the world heavyweight title when he knocked out Tommy Burns in the 14th round of their fight in Sydney, Australia
1935 The League game between Tranmere Rovers and Oldham Athletic at Preston Park produced a record total of goals, ending a 13-4 victory for Tranmere
1990 27 year old Gary Kaparov retained the world chess championship over his Soviet rival Anatoly Karpov

People & Showbiz
1717 The first English pantomime ‘Harlequin Executed’ was presented by John Rich at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in London
1969 A BBC poll named Harold Wilson ‘Man of the Decade’ with Enoch Powell lying in second
1997 Spiceworld:The Movie’ went on general release

General Events
1959 The first recorded charity walk took place, along the Icknield Way, in aid of the World Refugee Fund
1992 Clive Budgen from Fairford, Gloucestershire, coaxed his dog into the arms of a recuer who held a walkie-talkie after it fell forty foot down a cliff near Ilfracombe, Devon