December 21st History, Trivia, and Fun FactsTable of Contents |
December 21st History Highlights |
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Elvis Meets With President Richard Nixon |
On December 21, 1970, rock star Elvis Presley is greeted at the White House by President Richard M. Nixon. Presley’s visit was not just a social call: He wanted to meet Nixon in order to offer his services in the government’s war on drugs. Elvis was convinced that he could help the government in its war on drugs, and during the meeting, he made his case to Nixon. He told Nixon that he had seen how drugs were tearing apart America’s youth, and he wanted to do something about it. Nixon apparently wasn’t interested in Elvis’ offer – after all, the president already had a team of people working on the war on drugs – but he didn’t reject it outright. Despite not being able to convince Nixon to enlist him in the fight against drugs, Elvis’ visit to the White House was still a huge success. It generated headlines across the country, and everyone wanted to know what Elvis had said to the president. It was also one of Presley’s only interactions with a member of the president’s staff. They also took some photos together for posterity: Elvis was very excited about his visit to the White House, but he didn’t think that it would result in any sort of job offer from President Nixon or anyone else. |
Winter Solstice |
The Winter Solstice falls on or around December 21st. On this day in the Northern Hemisphere, the earth is tilted away from the sun as far as it can get. As the shortest day of the year and the absolute height of winter (astronomically speaking), the Solstice was an important ritual day in many ancient religions. |
December 21st is… |
Celebrate Short Fiction Day Don’t Make Your Bed Day Forefather’s Day International Dalek Remembrance Day National French Fried Shrimp Day National Look on The Bright Side Day National Short Story Day Old Colony Day (Forefathers Day) Ribbon Candy Day |
Crossword Puzzle Day |
Put on your thinking caps because December 21st is Crossword Puzzle Day! If you love to sit, with a cup of coffee on the table, pencil in hand, pondering clue after clue, you have Arthur Wynne to thank. HistoryArthur created the first crossword puzzle for the New York World Newspaper on, you guessed it, December 21st in 1913. Wynne’s puzzle looked a bit different than the one you struggle with every day. His was diamond shaped and had no black squares, but the idea was the same. Originally it was published in the “Fun” section of the paper and was called “Fun’s Word-Cross Puzzle.” A few weeks later a typographical error transposed the title to “Cross-Word,” and the name stuck. People loved his puzzle and within 10 years, nearly every American newspaper featured a crossword puzzle. It has been a fan favorite ever since, sparking conversation, debate, and even a national tournament. In 1978, Will Shortz founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and still directs it even today. 2019 was a record-setting year with 741 total competitors, including more than 200 newbies. Even a computer named Dr. Fill competes! Oddly enough, however, the tournament isn’t played in December. Instead, it is played in the Spring but since it’s played in Brooklyn, it only makes sense to play when everyone has thawed out from the winter. The word to describe a crossword fan is cruciverbalist (say that ten times fast!) and there are a lot of them out there. An estimated 50 million people have made solving, or attempting to solve, the daily crossword puzzle a part of their life. This stands to reason as the New England Journal of Medicine has published a study showing that a person who regularly attempts to solve a crossword puzzle tends to show a slower decline in cognitive impairment. How To CelebrateAs the winter solstice approaches and the days get shorter, do yourself a favor, and quite possibly your brain as well… pick up a copy of the paper and take the time to fill in the daily crossword. You just may become a cruciverbalist yourself! |
December 21st Birthday Quotes |
“If you’re a champion, you have to have it in your heart.” “Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” “All of us encounter, at least once in our life, some individual who utters words that make us think forever. There are men whose phrases are oracles; who condense in one sentence the secrets of life; who blurt out an aphorism that forms a character or illustrates an existence.” “A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” “Conventional is not for me. I like things that are uniquely Flo. I like being different.” “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.” “Believe deep down in your heart that you’re destined to do great things.” |
December 21st Birthdays |
1401 – Masaccio, Italian painter (died in 1428) 1795 – Jack Russell, English dog breeder (died in 1883) 1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died in 1881) 1879 – Joseph Stalin, Russian politician (died in 1953) 1915 – Werner von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (died in 2007) 1922 – Paul Winchell, American actor, and ventriloquist (died in 2005) 1926 – Joe Paterno, American Penn State football coach (died in 2012) 1935 – Phil Donahue, American talk show host 1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress 1940 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died in 1993) 1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor 1953 – Betty Wright, American singer-songwriter 1954 – Chris Evert, American tennis player 1955 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress 1959 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter (died in 1998) 1965 – Andy Dick, American comedian 1969 – Julie Delpy, French actress 1977 – Emmanuel Macron, French politician |
December 21st History |
1620 William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on (now known as Plymouth Rock) in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 1913 1937 1951 1968 1970 1974 1975 1984 1985 Pope John Paul II announced the institution of ‘World Youth Day’. 1988 1989 1994 1996 2001 A Beautiful Mind, starring Russell Crowe, had a limited release; the film’s wide release was January 4, 2002. 2007 2012 2013 2019 |
Today’s Random Trivia and Shower Thoughts |
Cheops’s Law: Nothing ever gets built on schedule or within budget. When an app asks me to rate it whilst I’m using it – I always select “ask me later” NOT “never” because I don’t want the app to hate me. Minnie Mouse’s full name is Minerva Mouse. Otis Day and the Knights, famous for the song Shout were a fictional band created for the movie National Lampoon’s Animal House. “Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis. (Whatever advice you give, be brief.)” – Horace “Warning, this show contains scenes of graphic stupidity among four lifelong friends who compete to embarrass each other. Viewer Discretion is advised.” – The Narrator Willie the ‘Kool cigarettes’ penguin has a wife named Millie. In the song 12 Days if Christmas the singer is gifted 184 birds in total. The biggest film of 1923: The Covered Wagon earned ~ $3,800,000 Pragmatism – a word invented by C.S. Pierce, in 1875. “The #1 movie in America was called ‘Ass’ And that’s all it was for 90 minutes. It won eight Oscars that year, including best screenplay.” #Idiocracy #moviequotes A group of Spiders is called a Cluster or Clutter. I used to freeze and be vewwy quiet when I heard an unexpected knock on the door. Now I get excited to see what surprise the Amazon delivery man brings me. “Man was made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.” – Mark Twain |
More Pop Culture History Resources |
