December 30 in Pop Culture History

December 30th History, Trivia, and Fun Facts

December 30th History Highlights

  • 1903 – A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois killed at least 605 people.
  • 1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was murdered by a group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially-trussed body was found in a Moscow river three days later.
  • If you were born on December 30th,
    You were likely conceived the week of… April 7th (same year)

December 30th is…

Bacon Day
Falling Needles Family Fest Day
Festival of Enormous Changes @ The Last Minute
National Bicarbonate of Soda Day

December 30th Birthday Quotes

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too…
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And- which is more- you’ll be a Man, my son!
– Rudyard Kipling

I thank you in advance for the great round of applause I’m about to get.
– Bo Diddley

I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through and left me holding the knob.
– Bo Diddley

Don’t let your mouth write a check that your tail can’t cash.
– Bo Diddley

December 30th Birthdays

1865 – Rudyard Kipling, Indian-English author (died in 1936)
1876 – Simon Guggenheim, American businessman (died in 1941)
1914 – Bert Parks, American actor and beauty pageant host (died in 1992)
1928 – Bo Diddley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died in 2008)
1931 – Skeeter Davis, American singer-songwriter (died in 2004)
1934 – Joseph Bologna, American actor (died in 2017)
1934 – Del Shannon, American singer-songwriter(died in 1990)
1935 – Jack Riley, American actor (died in 2016)
1937 – Paul Stookey, American singer-songwriter
1942 – Michael Nesmith, American singer-songwriter, Monkee
1942 – Fred Ward, American character actor
1945 – Davy Jones, English singer-songwriter and actor, Monkee (died in 2012)
1946 – Patti Smith, American singer-songwriter and poet
1947 – Jeff Lynne, English singer-songwriter
1953 – Meredith Vieira, American journalist
1959 – Tracey Ullman, English-American actress
1961 – Sean Hannity, American radio and television host
1973 – Jason Behr, American actor
1975 – Tiger Woods, American golfer
1980 – Eliza Dushku, American actress
1982 – Kristin Kreuk, Canadian actress
1986 – Caity Lotz, American actress
1992 – Carson Wentz, American football player

December 30th History

1610 – Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who had tortured and killed possibly hundreds of young girls for over a dozen years, was captured. She believed eating flash and bathing in their blood would keep her youthful.

1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the united Ottawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi Indian tribes was proclaimed.

1825 – The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation was proclaimed.

1916 – Russian Mystic and political advisor Rasputin was murdered. He was a family friend and confidant of Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra.

1922- Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation formed the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).

1948 – Broadway Show – Kiss Me, Kate (Musical) December 30, 1948. It was based on Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew.

1950 – #1 Hit December 30, 1950 – March 2, 1951: Patti Page – The Tennessee Waltz

1951 – The Roy Rogers TV Show debuted on NBC.

1953 – The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando was released.

1967 – #1 Hit December 30, 1967 – January 19, 1968: The Beatles – Hello, Goodbye

1968 – The Gonzaga ’68 bootleg was recorded at a western Washington State gym. The music was of the opening act, Vanilla Fudge, and was one of the earliest performances by Led Zeppelin. They were locally advertised as ‘Len Zefflin.’

1993 – Israel and Vatican City establish diplomatic relations.

1994 – Anti-abortionist John Salvi III killed two people and injured five more at an abortion clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts.

2011 -If you happened to be in Samoa at the end of 2011, you never experienced December 30, 2011. The country decided to change timezones, thus switching sides of the international date line and skipping December 30th altogether.

Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts

A group of Swans (at rest) is called a Bevy or Bank or Herd. A group of Swans (in flight) is called a Wedge or Flight.

In 2011, a copy of Action Comics No 1 (the first comic featuring Superman) was found in an abandoned storage unit, estimated to be worth over $1 million. The comic actually belonged to Nicholas Cage, who had it stolen from his house 11 years earlier, and was returned to him.

The names Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint sound more made-up than Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

Robert Stack (original host of the popular Unsolved Mysteries television show) was extremely skeptical about the segments involving paranormal occurrences. While recording his famous narrations, he would often turn to his producer in between takes and exclaim: “Oh, come on, Raymond!”

A group of Tasks is an Agenda.

In 1910, a series of books were published featuring a fictional boy-inventor by the name of Tom Swift. One of these books was titled “Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle.” Many years later, this led to the naming of the TASER that police now carry: “Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle”

If you do something which you are sure will meet with everyone’s approval, somebody won’t like it.

In 458 BC Roman farmer Lucius Cincinnatus was named absolute dictator of Rome during a crisis. After achieving victory he resigned and returned power to the senate.

His resignation of absolute authority is often cited as an example of outstanding leadership, serving the greater good and civic virtue.

More Pop Culture History Resources