December 25, 1914: The Christmas Truce

A recreation of the match for the BBC's Centennial coverage, 2014

December 25, 1914: Upon hearing German soldiers sing Christmas carols in their trench on the Western Front of what was then called The Great War (later World War I), the British soldiers start to do so in theirs. Soon, the men on both sides come out of their trenches, and stop treating each other as enemies for a few hours, exchanging food, drinks, and trinkets. It becomes known as the Christmas Truce.

Legend has it that there was even a soccer game. Sorry, forgot to "speak English" there: A football match. It's not clear which side produced the ball, but according to most accounts that discuss the match, the Germans beat the English, 3-2.

This is the 1st time that Englishmen would be defeated by Germans at their national game. There have been many more. But, as England manager Alf Ramsey pointed out before the 1966 World Cup Final, twice in the 20th Century, the English (well, the British, and their allies) would beat the Germans at their national game (war), and on their soil no less.

Military historian Andrew Robertshaw, a technical advisor for the film version of the World War I story War Horse, says such a truce would have been unthinkable a year later: "This was before the poisoned gas, before aerial bombardment. By the end of 1915, both sides were far too bitter for this to happen again."

In 1997, Garth Brooks and Joe Henry wrote a song titled "Belleau Wood" for Brooks' album Sevens.  It describes a Christmas truce between American and German soldiers at Belleau Wood in 1917. But this is fiction, as the battle of Belleau Wood took place in June 1918, in Aisne, Picardy, France.

The Football League did not suspend operations until the conclusion of the 1914-15 season. On Christmas, Arsenal began a home-and-home series, defeating Leicester Fosse away 4-1 on the 25th, and 6-0 at home on the 26th.

December 25, 1914 was a Sunday. Baseball was in the off-season. American football had just ended its season. Professional basketball barely existed. And the National Hockey Association didn't start their 1914-15 season until the day after Christmas. So there were no scores in North America on this historic day.

December 22, 1944: General McAuliffe Says, "Nuts!"

December 22, 1944: Seven days after beginning their last stand on the Western Front, and sensing victory, Nazi Germany sends a surrender demand to the American commander. They got a response they did not expect.

With the Allies having liberated France, and marching toward Germany itself from the West, and the Soviet Union's Red Army marching from the East, the Nazis needed a win, somewhere. On December 15, they attacked in the Ardennes Forest, which stretches over France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and even part of Germany.

They pushed forward, and formed a "bulge" in the American line, leading to the conflict being known as "The Battle of the Bulge." By the 22nd, they had the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, then stationed in Bastogne, Belgium, virtually surrounded.

One of the reasons the attack was launched when it was is that the 101st's commanding officer, Major General Maxwell D. Taylor, was away, attending a staff conference. In temporary command was Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe.

(In the Army, the Marine Corps, and, since its separation from the Army in 1947, the Air Force, A Brigadier General wears one star, a Major General two, a Lieutenant General three, a full General four, and a General of the Army five. In the Navy, the equivalent ranks are, respectively: Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral, and Admiral of the Fleet. However, the Navy discontinued the rank of Commodore in 1985.)

On December 22, the Nazi commander, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Diepold Georg Freiherr von Lüttwitz, sent a major under a flag of truce, and delivered this message to McAuliffe:

To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.

There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.

If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term.

All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.

The German Commander. 

According to those present when McAuliffe received the German message, he read it, crumpled it into a ball, threw it in a wastepaper basket, and muttered, "Aw, nuts." The officers in McAuliffe's command post were trying to find suitable language for an official reply when Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe's first response summed up the situation pretty well, and the others agreed. The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper. It read as follows:

To the German Commander.
NUTS!
The American Commander.

The German major appeared confused, and asked Harper what the message meant. Harper said, "In plain English? 'Go to Hell.'"

The choice of "Nuts!" rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe. Captain Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that "General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary."

The artillery fire did not materialize, although several infantry and tank assaults were directed at the positions of the 327th Glider Infantry. In addition, the German Luftwaffe attacked the town, bombing it nightly. The 101st held off the Germans until the 4th Armored Division arrived on December 26 to provide reinforcement.

The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle ever to involve American troops, with 705,000 men eventually taking on a peak of 449,000 Germans. Losses: 75,000 Americans, 104,000 Germans. Among the Americans serving, and earning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, was Warren Spahn, who would survive the war and pitch his way into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Once the American reinforcements arrived, the Nazis were doomed, both on the Western Front and overall. By January 28, 1945, they were in retreat.

A 1919 West Point graduate, McAuliffe would be awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star and 2 Bronze Stars over the course of his career. After General Taylor returned, McAuliffe was given command of the 103rd Infantry Division, which liberated the Kaufering concentration camp and the Austrian city of Innsbruck. He was named Commander of the Seventh Army in 1953. In 1955, he was promoted to a full General, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army Europe. He retired in 1956, and lived until 1975.

Harry Kinnard, who recommended the response of "Nuts!", had already received the Distinguished Service Cross for his service in Operation Market Garden earlier in the year. He remained in the Army. During the Vietnam War, he came up with the "airmobile" concept: Using helicopters to send troops into battle and then get them out. He retired as a Lieutenant General, and lived until 2009.

Freiherr von Lüttwitz was captured in the Battle of the Ruhr Pocket on April 16, 1945, and was held as a prisoner of war until July 1, 1947. He was not charges with war crimes, was permitted to retire in peace, and lived until 1969.

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December 22, 1944 was a Friday. Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton was born on this day.

Baseball was in the off-season. The NFL Championship Game was played 5 days earlier, with the Green Bay Packers beating the New York Giants, 14-7 at the Polo Grounds in New York. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And, while the NHL was in-season, no games were scheduled for that day. So there are no scores on this historic day.

December 21, 1918: The Death of Hobey Baker

December 21, 1918: Hobey Baker, America's 1st great hockey player, is killed in a plane crash. He was only 26 years old.

Hobart Amory Hare Baker was born on January 15, 1892 outside Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. His family was rich, and could have gotten him into any college he wanted. Instead of the nearby University of Pennsylvania, he chose Princeton University, helping them win National Championships in football in 1911, and in hockey in 1912 and 1914.

He graduated in 1914, and moved to New York where he went to work for J.P. Morgan Bank and helped the St. Nicholas Hockey Club win the national amateur championship in 1915.

In 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service, a precursor of the U.S. Air Force. By the time the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, he held the rank of Captain, and was commander of the 141st Aero Squadron.

On December 21, 1918, 40 days after the Armistice, and the day before he was set to return to America, he was test-piloting a plane in Toul, France, when the engine failed, and crashed nose-first. He was pulled out of the wreckage, but died in the ambulance.

In 1921, Princeton opened the Hobey Baker Memorial Rink. He was the only American among the 1st 9 inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1945. In 1975, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1980, the Hobey Baker Award was introduced, a hockey version of the Heisman Trophy.

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December 21, 1918 was a Saturday. Born on this day were Kurt Waldheim, the Austrian diplomat who served as Secretary-General of the United Nations 1972 to 1981, and President of Austria from 1986 to 1992, but was later exposed as having committed war crimes during World War II; and Donald Regan, who served President Ronald Reagan as Secretary of the Treasury during his 1st term and White House Chief of Staff for the 1st half of his 2nd, before his resignation over the Iran-Contra scandal.

Baseball was in the off-season. Football season was also over, except for the Rose Bowl, which was an all-military affair: George Halas led the Great Lake Naval Training Station, north of Chicago, to a 17-0 win over the Mare Island Marines, based outside San Francisco, led by former Washington State quarterback Dick Hanley. Both teams went into the game undefeated. Hanley would coach Marine teams in World War II. Halas, of course, went on to found the team that became the Chicago Bears, and co-found the NFL.

There was no serious professional basketball league. But the NHL season opened on this date, with 1 game: The Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2 at the Jubilee Arena in Montreal.

December 18, 2022: The Crowning of Lionel Messi

December 18, 2022: A controversial World Cup comes to an end with a classic Final, won by Argentina, lifting its biggest star, Lionel Messi, into a legitimate place in the discussion for the title of the greatest player in the history of soccer.

The tournament never should have been given to Qatar. We all know that this country -- bigoted toward women, Jews and gays -- never should have been considered, let alone given the tournament. But the country's royal family guaranteed FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, its most profitable World Cup ever, and got it. As with Russia 2018, it was a bribe.

Throw in the moving of the tournament from late Spring and early Summer to late Autumn, due to the intense Middle East heat, the fact that the construction of these stadiums was a reminder of the plight of migrant labor, and even a reminder that there are places in this world where slavery still exists, and it was, clearly, the worst World Cup ever, from an administrative standpoint, surpassing the ones hosted by fascist governments in Italy in 1934, Argentina in 1978, and Russia in 2018.

The time zone differences were a minor issue. Certainly, it was more workable than in 2002, when Japan and South Korea teamed to hold it. If Australia -- with or without New Zealand stepping in as co-hosts -- want to host it in 2030 or beyond, that will have to be dealt with. The tournament has to be convenient for the hosts, but the rest of the world's needs also need to be taken into consideration. (At least Australia is a free country, and, due to having held the Olympics in 2000, and having a thriving A-League, would have the infrastructure already in place.)

(UPDATE: In 2023, FIFA awarded the World Cup for 2030 to a joint effort by the neighboring nations of Spain, Portugal and Morocco, because it was Europe's "turn," and Morocco was a bone thrown to Africa, which lasted hosted in South Africa in 2010. And they awarded the 2034 edition to Saudi Arabia, for the same reason as in 2018 and 2022: Money.)

Fox broadcast the tournament in America. A defeat during the Group Stage doesn't necessarily mean disaster. Argentina were upset by Saudi Arabia. It ended up not mattering, any more than did the most embarrassing Group Stage loss ever, West Germany falling to political (if not footballing) arch-rival East Germany on West German soil in 1974.

The English love to remind the Americans of certain things. "It's called 'football,' not 'soccer.'" The English love to remind us that they invented the sport. They did not. They invented its organization, but even that was a co-invention with the Scots. They love to remind us that they've won the World Cup, and we haven't. Well, we've won 4 World Cups. When they hear that, They say the women's game doesn't count. Then that means that their women's team, which has been more successful recently than their men's team, gets insulted.

And England claiming superiority because they've won 1 of the 17 World Cups, and that 1 being 56 years ago, is like Toronto Maple Leafs fans claiming 13 Stanley Cups, when they haven't even made the Finals since 1967. At least the New York Yankees have won 7 of their 27 World Series since England '66 and Toronto '67, and that's still the most since then, as well as overall.

And when the game was played, the U.S. did not play well, and England controlled the game most of the way. And still, it ended 0-0. It had all the markings of a Premier League game where Arsenal dominate but still can't find a win. England were better, but couldn't prove it on the scoreboard.

It was better for England than the 2010 match in South Africa, which became a 1-1 draw thanks to Rob Green's "Hand of Clod" mishandling of a Clint Dempsey shot. That was reminiscent of an Arsenal failure to win because of a fluke goal that never should have happened. For the vast majority of English fans, who like to mock Arsenal, the shoe seems to go on the other foot every 4 years.

Throw in the biggest upset in World Cup history, America's 1950 win over England in Brazil, and the record is as follows: American wins, 1; draws, 2; England wins, exactly none. For all their braggadocio, England have never beaten America at the World Cup.

The draw with England was encouraging, but it followed a draw with England's neighbors, Wales. That was depressing: We led 1-0 after 80 minutes, but indiscipline took over, and we gave away a stupid penalty.

This put us in a position where we had to beat Iran, which had the world supporting them as their people finally seem to have taken the initiative in challenging their evil religious-fanatic government. We won, but it was a very sluggish 1-0, and we felt like the least deserving team in the last 16.

And then we had to play the Netherlands, one of the teams that always seems to grab the world's attention at the World Cup. Haji Wright's goal to pull us within 2-1 was quickly canceled out, and the Dutch won, 3-1.

After not making the tournament at all the time before, making the knockout stage this time was a success. But the Dutch showed us that the difference between Top 16 and Top 8 is big. Manager Gregg Berhalter earned the right to be the man to bridge that difference, but, bridge it, he must, if we are to go any further than this on home soil in 2026.

To go with superstar midfielder Christian Pulisic, we need an out-and-out scorer, and we need stronger defenders. And it's not like "club football," where we can just go out and buy them. They have to be trained. Maybe Berhalter can bring Arsène Wenger in as a consultant, to help them develop "the quality" and "the mental strength." Because, for now, as to either one, we can truthfully say, "I did not see it."

One person who will never get to see it is Grant Wahl, a journalist who did as much as anyone in the MLS era to spread knowledge of soccer through America. The 49-year-old native of the Kansas side of the Kansas City area, a Princeton graduate, wrote the 2002 Sports Illustrated cover story that introduced the world to a high school basketball star named LeBron James, and continued to write for SI on the subject of soccer, for which Fox Sports hired him as a studio analyst.

He was in the press box watching the Quarterfinal between Argentina and the Netherlands, which Argentina won on penalties (of course: When it comes to penalties, the Dutch are famously as useless as the English), when he collapsed in his seat. Despite his detainment by Qatari authorities after flouting their rules against political statements, and subsequent death threats, it was quickly determined that his claims of feeling unwell were due to an aortic aneurysm, which ruptured.

After showing Senegal the difference between Teams 1 through 8 and Teams 9 through 16, England had to face France, and were lucky to be level going into the 78th minute, when former Arsenal star Olivier Giroud scored for France.

In the 84th minute, the Three Lions were awarded a penalty, and, of course, it would be Harry Kane, golden boy for England and Tottenham Hotspur, who took it. But his former Tottenham teammate, France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, stopped him. After his giveaway performance in Russia 2018, and now this, any discussion of whether Kane, a known diver for penalties, is "world class" needs to end.

Of course, Kane wasn't the only choker. England haven't had a good defense in 30 years, and, once again, their attack tightened up after falling behind. For England, at least historically, the difference between Teams 1 through 4 and Teams 5 through 8 might be bigger than the U.S.'s difference between Teams 1 through 8 and Teams 9 through 16.

No team from the African continent had ever reached a World Cup Semifinal. The only Muslim-majority country to have done so was Turkey in 2002. But Morocco won Group F. Then, avenging their geopolitical defeat of the Middle Ages, they beat Spain on penalties after a 0-0 draw, with goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stopping 3 penalties. "Bono" then played his club soccer in Spain, for Sevilla.

They faced Portugal in the Quarterfinal. Portugal were expected to play hard in what was to be the last World Cup for Cristiano Ronaldo. But Morocco held them, and Bounou's Sevilla teammate Youssef En-Nesyri scored in the 42nd minute, and Morocco were through to the Semifinal.

Which meant that they would face their former colonial overlords, France, the defending Champions. The dream ended quickly, as France scored in the 5th minute, and Morocco never looked like scoring. France added a goal to make the final 2-0.

As Croatia had done in the previous tournament by reaching the Final and holding their own in it, Morocco had won the world's hearts, but someone else would win the World Cup. It would be between, France, Les Bleus, and Argentina, La Albiceleste (the Sky Blues), at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, in Lusail, outside the Qatari capital of Doha. 

Only once before had a player scored 3 goals -- known among hockey fans as a "hat trick," and the term has drifted to soccer -- in a World Cup Final. That was Geoff Hurst of England in 1966, and the 2nd of those goals remains controversial.

Kylian Mbappé was a big reason why France won in 2018. He stood to be an even bigger reason why France won in 2022, had they done so. For the 1st 80 minutes of the Final, France did practically nothing in attack. They couldn't: Argentina just controlled the ball the whole way. There was no doubt in my mind that Argentina were the better team.

That said, it was a very rough game. Argentina have been accused of dirty tactics by the world's English-language media since their performance in England in 1966, and this game was no exception. Eventually, the French began replying with their own roughhousing.

I watched the game at Jack Doyle's, a bar in Midtown Manhattan, supporting France but surrounded by Argentina fans. A few of them had been in America long enough to get the joke, adapted from comedian Rodney Dangerfield's line about going to a prizefight: "I went to the World Cup, and a hockey game broke out!" The fact that this bar was only 2 blocks from Madison Square Garden deepened the connection.

Argentina's 1st goal was a penalty, given after an obvious dive by Ángel Di María. No surprise there, because he's spent most of his career at teams where cheating is the norm: Real Madrid, Manchester United, and was then with Juventus. Of course, the penalty was taken by their premier player, Messi.

It would have been hard to say Argentina cheated their way to victory, though, had the subsequent score of 2-0 held up: In the 36th minute, they had a strong setup, leading to a very nice goal by Di María, totally legit. "Ballgame," I said at the time. "France are not coming back from this."

And, until the 80th minute, it looked like I was right. But Randal Kolo Mouani was brought down in the box. That gave France a penalty and a lifeline. Mbappé took it and scored, and France had a chance. Just 1 minute later, Mbappé scored brilliantly from open play. It was 2-2. Argentina had blown a game they had controlled for its 1st 87 percent. As the old English soccer saying goes, "Two-nil, and they fucked it up!"

The last 10 minutes were nervy. And, as usual, given the heat and the injury stoppages, there were 8 minutes of stoppage time, but neither team could find a 3rd goal. On to extra time.

In the 108th minute, Messi fired. The ball crossed the goal line, but was kicked out by a France player before it could reach the back of the next. VAR (Video-Aided Refereeing) showed that the goal was complete, and it was properly awarded. Argentina, again, had it won.

Except, again, they didn't. A handball in the box by Gonzalo Montiel meant another penalty for France. Mbappé took it, and it was 3-3. After 123 minutes -- 134 minutes, counting all the stoppage time -- referee Szymon Marciniak of Poland blew his whistle, and this insane game was not over yet. It went to penalties.

France won the toss, and elected to kick first, against Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, of Aston Villa of Birmingham, England -- and, formerly, of Arsenal. There was no question that Mbappé was going to take the 1st one for them, even if it wouldn't be credited as a record-breaking 4th goal in a Final. He made it. Likewise, there was no question that the 1st Argentine to shoot toward Lloris would be Messi. He made it.

But in the 2nd Round, Martínez stopped Kingsley Coman. Paulo Dybala made it 2-1 Argentina. And then, after having a great tournament for France, Real Madrid's Aurélien Tchouaméni missed the net completely, shooting wide left. Leandro Parades made it 3-1. Kolo Muani converted to keep France going, but Montiel, a right back for Sevilla in the club game, converted to give Argentina the 4-2 win, and their 3rd World Cup.

And to give Lionel Messi the World Cup that had previously been denied to him, as he'd been with Argentina as they lost to Germany in penalties at the 2006 Quarterfinals; were knocked out by Germany in regular time at the 2010 Quarterfinals; lost to Germany yet again, in extra time, in the 2014 Final; and were knocked out by France in the Round of 16 in 2018. Finally, the "GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time) had removed the only doubt as to that title, by winning the biggest trophy of all, the one that had, until now, eluded him.

Pelé -- whose illness prevented his attendance at the World Cup for the 1st time since 1954, and who died before the month was out -- won 3 World Cups, was definitively the best player in the world longer than the debate between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has raged; and, unlike Messi and Cristiano, never had to cheat, or to benefit from his teammates' cheating.

But Messi and Argentina had the World Cup. Although I didn't like the result, it was a great way to end a very shady tournament.

UPDATE: An article for ESPN.com, published after the 2026 World Cup, ranking all 23 tournaments, rated this one 11th, citing the shadiness of the background, but also the upsets, and the atmosphere brought by the fans of the upsetting teams.

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December 18, 2022 was a Sunday. As crazy as the World Cup Final was, in America, it was, beyond any doubt, the craziest weekend in NFL history, and I have a separate entry for that.

There were no college football bowl games. Baseball was out of season. There were 7 games in that NBA that day: 

* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 109-106 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-121 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Boston Celtics, 95-92 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Toronto Raptors, 126-110 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Chicago Bulls, 150-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Charlotte Hornets, 119-115 at the Ball Arena in Denver.

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Wizards, 119-117 at the Crypto.com Arena.

And there were 5 games played in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-1 at the United Center in Chicago. The Rangers pulled off the unusual feat of having 7 different scorers: Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin, Kaapo Kakko, Jacob Trouba, Vincent Trochck, Vitali Kravtsov and Jonny Brodzinski.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-2 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Calgary Flames beat the San Jose Sharks, 5-2 at the SAP Center in San Jose.

* And the Seattle Kraken beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-2 at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.

December 18, 1963: “The Pink Panther” Premieres

December 18, 1963: The film The Pink Panther premieres, directed by Blake Edwards. The cartoon character of the same name debuted in the film's opening sequence, with the classic theme song composed and conducted by Henry Mancini. You know the joke: What did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on an ant? "Dead ant, dead ant... "

But, within the film, the Pink Panther is not a character. Rather, it is the thing everyone is chasing, what film director Alfred Hitchcock called a "MacGuffin": A large pink diamond with a "flaw" in the shape of a leaping panther. It is owned by Princess Dala (played by the Tunisian-born Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, with her voice dubbed by Canadian singer Gale Garnett), an exiled royal whose country's new dictatorship wants it back, and the United Nations' World Court has sided with them, and they've offered a big reward for it.

And Inspector Jacques Clouseau (played by Peter Sellers), the incompetent, clumsy, accident-prone Paris police official who was, clearly, named for oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, isn't the hero of the movie. The hero is actually a criminal, a "gentleman thief" named Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. The Phantom (David Niven).

Cardinale, Niven and the Panther

To make matters worse, Clouseau's wife, Simone (the French actress Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre, a.k.a. Capucine) is having an affair with The Phantom. He shouldn't be the hero, but he has been treated as such, because, while he often played less-than-moral characters, the handsome, incredibly charming Niven was beloved, as if he were an earlier, English version of Paul Newman. Even my mother, a senior in high school when the film came out, adored Niven. She also liked Robert Wagner, who played Lytton's American-based and even less-moral nephew, George.

The film was successful enough to lead to a series, with A Shot in the Dark premiering the following June, and Inspector Clouseau in 1968. The film also inspired the TV show Get Smart: NBC told the producers to combine Inspector Clouseau and James Bond, because they were the two biggest cultural phenomena in the world at the time. I guess they forgot about the Beatles.

The series resumed a few years later: The Return of the Pink Panther was released in 1975, The Pink Panther Strikes Again in 1976, and The Revenge of the Pink Panther in 1978. Sellers died in 1980. By that point, Niven was suffering from ALS, known in America as Lou Gehrig's disease. That didn't stop Blake Edwards: In 1982, he made The Trail of the Pink Panther, using a brief cameo from Niven and previously unused footage of Sellers, with Clouseau spending most of the film in a body-cast. And in 1983, all kinds of tricks, including the briefest of cameos from a dying Niven, were used for Curse of the Pink Panther.

In a way, in 1983, things came full circle: The cartoon Inspector Gadget premiered, with Don Adams, star of Get Smart, voicing the title role, a well-meaning but incompetent robot cop who dressed much like Inspector Clouseau, with a tan trenchcoat and a trilby hat, the kind also favored by another famous fictional cop, Telly Savalas on Kojak.

In 1993, Edwards tried again, with Son of the Pink Panther, with Italian actor Roberto Benigni as the title character, Gendarme Jacques Gambrelli. As it turns out, he is half of the result of a one-night stand between Clouseau and a different character played by Cardinale, the other being his twin sister, Jacqueline Gambrelli (Nicoletta Braschi).

The one constant through all these films was Czech-British actor Herbert Lom as the original Clouseau's beleaguered boss, Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus.

Capucine died in 1990, Edwards in 2010, Lom in 2012. As of December 18, 2022, Cardinale and Wagner are still alive. (UPDATE: Cardinale died in 2025.)

In 2006, Steve Martin starred in a reboot, with The Pink Panther 2 released in 2009.

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December 18, 1963 was a Wednesday. Basketball star Charles Oakley and actor Brad Pitt were born.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 133-111 at the Boston Garden.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-107 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit. For the Bullets, Gus Johnson scored 38 points, and Walt Bellamy scored 36. 

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 116-96 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Jerry West scored 30 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

* And the San Francisco Warriors beat the St. Louis Hawks, 104-96 at, sort of, a neutral site: The gymnasium at Sacramento High School, 88 miles northeast of downtown San Francisco. It was just another day at the office for Wilt Chamberlain: He scored 27 points, grabbed 27 rebounds, and had 11 assists. For the Hawks, Bob Pettit scored 29 points. Pettit was the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

And the NHL's entire "Original Six" were in action:

* The New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 1-1 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* And the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

December 15, 1944: Glenn Miller Disappears

December 15, 1944: Glenn Miller, the biggest name of the "Big Band" era of music, disappears.

Miller was a trombonist, and led The Glenn Miller Orchestra. In 1939, they had hits with "Moonlight Serenade" and "In the Mood." In 1940, he would record "Tuxedo Junction" and "PEnnsylvania 6-5000." In 1941 came "Chattanooga Choo Choo." In 1 day, May 20, 1942, he recorded "At Last" (now better known for the 1961 version by Etta James) and "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo."

So in a span of a little over 3 years, he recorded 7 iconic songs, which led to his band being featured in some movies. They became the biggest band of the World War II years (I'm talking about popularity, not just in number of members) -- bigger than Benny Goodman's, bigger than either Tommy Dorsey's or Jimmy Dorsey's, and (no doubt helped by the fact that he and his band were white) bigger than Duke Ellington's and Count Basie's.

Miller's career came to what was expected to be a temporary interruption when he joined the war effort. He was ready to give up a civilian income of $20,000 per week -- about $339,000 in 2022 money, or around $17 million a year, so it was comparable to today's biggest stars -- to put on a uniform and serve his country.

At 38, he was too old to be drafted by the U.S. Army. So he volunteered for the U.S. Navy. They told him they didn't need him. So he wrote to an Army General, suggesting that he "be placed in charge of a modernized Army band."

This was done, as he was assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force. This allowed his band members -- not the same ones he had in his Orchestra -- to fly to various U.S. installations and perform for their fellow troops.

On December 15, 1944, Major Glenn Miller boarded a single-engine UC-64 Norseman at Clapham, England, heading for recently-liberated Paris, where he would establish the headquarters his band intended to have for the duration of the War. With him were 2 other officers: Lieutenant Colonel Norman Baessell, who would supervise the construction of the HQ; and the pilot, Flight Officer John Morgan.

Left to right: Morgan, Miller, Baessell

The weather was bad the day before, leading to all planes being grounded. Miller was expected to be in Paris on the 16th, but on the 15th, Baessell made a guess that there would be enough of a break in the weather to fly. So the plane took off at 1:55 PM Greenwich Mean Time (8:55 AM on the U.S. East Coast).

No one was expecting the plane to arrive in Paris that afternoon, and so, when it didn't show up, no one thought to look for it. It was only when the rest of the band arrived at Paris' Orly Airport on December 18, and Miller wasn't there to meet them, that anybody realized that anything was wrong. The intended hotel was called, and Miller hadn't checked in.

It was only on December 24, Christmas Eve, that it was announced by the Army that Miller's plane was missing and presumed lost. No trace of it has ever been found. The band's deputy leader, Technical Sergeant Jerry Gray, led the band in that evening's performance in Miller's place.

Investigations turned up nothing solid, but the most common theory is that, given the weather, the plane's carburetor iced up, causing a crash that would have killed everybody on impact with the water. Suggestions of the Nazis shooting the plane down, or a horrible mistake of "friendly fire," or Miller having made it to Paris, dying in a brothel, and having the Army cover it up were dismissed as impossible.

Miller was 39, and left behind a wife and 2 children. His wife, Helen, was given a Bronze Star awarded to him 3 months later.

Today, as with some of the other bands I mentioned, a "legacy band," authorized by the Miller estate, performs the Miller catalog. Trumpeter Ray Anthony was the last surviving member of the original Glenn Miller Orchestra. On January 20, 2022, he celebrated his 100th birthday.

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December 15, 1944 was also the day the Battle of the Bulge began in the Ardennes Forest of France, Belgium and Luxembourg, Nazi Germany's last stand on the Western Front. On December 22, the Nazis sent an officer to deliver a surrender demand to the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, then stationed in Bastogne, Belgium, and virtually surrounded. General Anthony McAuliffe, in command, sent him away with a one-word reply: "Nuts!"

The Nazis held the upper hand through Christmas, but the day after, the 4th Armored Division arrived with reinforcements, and turned the tide of the battle. Once that happened, the Nazis were doomed, both on the Western Front and overall.

It was also the day the first five-star Generals were promoted. I have a separate entry for that.

And it was the day the film Hollywood Canteen opened. I have a separate entry for that, too.

December 15, 1944 was a Friday. Baseball was in the off-season. The NFL Championship Game was played 2 days later, with the Green Bay Packers beating the New York Giants, 14-7 at the Polo Grounds in New York. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And, while the NHL was in-season, no games were scheduled for that day. So there are no scores on this historic day.

December 15, 1925: The Death of Battling Siki

December 15, 1925: The 1st fight card is held at the brand-new version of Madison Square Garden -- which will eventually become known as "The Old Garden," "The Mecca of Basketball," and "The Mecca of Boxing." This Garden would be replaced in 1968.

Battling Siki would never get to fight at this Garden. The same night, he was found shot and killed on 42nd Street, where the Port Authority Bus Terminal would later be built. He was 28, and may have been shot by a policeman for drunk and disorderly conduct.

He was born as Louis Mbarick Fall on September 16, 1897 in Saint-Louis, in Senegal, the West African land that had been a French colony since 1677, during the reign of King Louis XIV. He began boxing at the age of 14. When World War I broke out in 1914, he joined the French Army, serving in the 8th Colonial Infantry Regiment. He was decorated for bravery in battle with the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire.

After the war, he moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and resumed his boxing career, under the name Battling Siki. He was romantically involved with a Dutch woman, Lijntje van Appelteer, who became his common-law wife, and, in 1921, the mother of his son, Louis Fall Jr.

From 1919 to 1922, he was 43 out of 46 fights, with 1 loss and 2 draws. He earned a fight against the Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, a white Frenchman named Georges Carpentier, a war hero who had famously lost a bout for the Heavyweight Championship to Jack Dempsey in 1921.

The fight was set for September 24, 1922, at the Stade Buffalo in Paris. The venue, normally a cycling track or "velodrome," was named for Buffalo Bill Cody, who had brought his Wild West Show to the site many years before. Ernest Hemingway, not yet world-famous but already known to the Paris literati, was in attendance.

Siki claimed that he had agreed to take a dive, but when Carpentier knocked him down, he was outraged: Although he had agreed to throw the fight, he did not intend to get beat up doing so. In the 6th round, Siki hit Carpentier with a powerful right uppercut that appeared to put him down and out for the count.

The referee, however, claimed Siki had tripped Carpentier, and awarded the bout to the unconscious champion on a foul. Fearing a riot from the aroused crowd, the three ringside judges overruled the referee, and Siki was declared the champion.

Like many boxers before and after, Siki let his newfound fame go to his head. He would walk down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, wearing a tuxedo and top hat, and walking a pet lion. His carousing in postwar Paris knew no bounds, and his appetites for champagne and white women seemed endless. Had he acted like that in America, as had the 1st black Heavyweight Champion, Jack Johnson, his end might have come sooner.

He refused offers to come to America and fight boxers such as Dempsey and Harry Greb. He stayed in Europe, and lost his 1st title defense, to Mike McTigue, in Dublin, Ireland on March 17, 1923. He had been the champ for less than 6 months.

Later that year, he came to America, fighting at the soon-to-be-replaced Madison Square Garden at 26th Street and Madison Avenue, and also in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Memphis, New Orleans, Minneapolis, Rochester, Columbus, Syracuse and Baltimore. His partying had badly caught up with him: In 25 fights in America, he went 9-15-1.

He also married Lillian Werner, a white artist from Memphis who was 7 years older. His friends were under the impression that he was still married to Lijntje. With America under Prohibition, he would go into speakeasies, refuse to pay his tab, and fight his way out.

On December 15, 1925, a policeman saw him drunkenly staggering down 42nd Street. He told the cop he was on his way home, and walked off. That was the cop's story. Later that night, Siki was found dead, shot twice in the back at close range. No one was ever arrested for the crime.

He was buried in Flushing Cemetery in Queens. In 1993, his remains were repatriated to Senegal, which gained its independence from France in 1960.

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December 15, 1925 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. The NFL season ended 3 days earlier, with the Chicago Cardinals claiming the title amid controversy.

There were 2 games in the NHL. A few hours before the new, later "Old," Madison Square Garden held its 1st boxing card, it hosted a matinee of a brand-new hockey team, the New York Americans. In their 5th game, they lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1. I have a separate entry for that event. And the Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Boston Arena, now named the Matthews Arena.

And Hockey Hall of Fame executive Sam Pollock was born.

December 12, 1917: The Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne Derailment

December 12, 1917: A French troop train carrying at least 1,000 soldiers on their way home for leave from the Italian front in World War I derails in the French Alps. For the rest of the 20th Century, it was the worst rail disaster in human history.

After passing through the Mont Cenis Tunnel, the train reached Modane station, where two additional cars were coupled to the train before the journey onward to Chambéry. From there, they were to disperse to join their families throughout France for 15 days of leave, covering the year-end holidays. The train stopped at Modane for 1 hour to allow other trains to pass. Most of the officers left the train during this stop, to take the Modane-Paris express.

The train consisted of 19 coaches of Italian construction: one baggage van at each end, 15 cars with bogies, and two fixed-axle coaches added at Modane. By official count, it was carrying 982 enlisted men of the 46th and 47th divisions. The cars were of wooden construction with metal chassis.

The train was overloaded for operation on the steep 3.3 percent grade between Modane and Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne, with too many cars relative to the braking power of the single locomotive. Such a train normally would have had two engines. However, the second assigned locomotive had been requisitioned for a munitions train by the officer in charge of dispatching. The driver objected to taking the heavy load with a single engine, but was overruled by the transport officer.

The train departed from Modane station at 11:15 PM, and descended into the valley. The driver began the downhill descent as slowly as possible, at 6 miles per hour on the first incline. But, from Freney onwards, a short distance from Modane, the train began accelerating to an eventual uncontrollable speed of 84 MPH, as measured by the locomotive's speed indicator. The driver applied the brakes to no effect, owing to the heavy load, and quickly lost control of the train. Lacking sufficient braking power for the downgrade, the train derailed.

The wooden coaches smashed into one another, and promptly caught fire, caused by the overheated brakes and lit candles which had been brought aboard due to faulty electric lighting. The fire was also fed by grenades and other explosives, carried without authorization by the soldiers returning home. The fire did not burn out until the evening of the following day. The derailment occurred at a point where the railway line passed through a narrow gap in the mountain terrain, leaving little room for heat from the fire to escape.

Only 183 men who had been on the train reported for roll-call on the next morning. More than 100 others either died in hospitals in the region, or while being transported to them, during the next 15 days. The stated number of fatalities varies between sources, ranging from at least 675 to about 800.

The accident remained a classified military secret for 90 years. At the time, to prevent harm to national morale, the French military enforced silence on the French press, which reported little or nothing about the accident because it implicated French officers. The daily Le Figaro devoted only 21 lines to the accident on December 17, 4 days after the accident.

It was the deadliest rail disaster in human history, until December 26, 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami caused a wreck on the island of Sri Lanka that killed more.

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December 12, 1917 was a Wednesday. This was also the day that Boys Town was founded by Father Edward J. Flanagan. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball and football were out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. And the National Hockey League started its 1st season 7 days later. So there were no scores on this historic day.

December 6, 1917: The Halifax Explosion

December 6, 1917: The French cargo ship SS Mont-Blanc collides with the Norwegian ship SS Imo in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Mont-Blanc was carrying high explosives, meant for the French forces in World War I. In the collision, it caught fire and exploded, destroying the Richmond district of Halifax.

Officially, between the initial explosion, the subsequent fires, building collapses, and people being hit by debris, the death toll was 1,782 people. It is widely believed that the true toll was over 2,000. It remains the largest disaster in Canadian history, and the largest human-made explosion up to that point, larger than the Black Tom explosion in New Jersey the year before, and the Morgan explosion, also in New Jersey, the year after. It was estimated to have the same effect as 2.9 kilotons of TNT. (For comparison's sake, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was estimated at 15 kilotons; the one dropped on Nagasaki, 21.)

The crew of the Mont-Blanc were under orders from the French government to carry her cargo from New York via Halifax to Bordeaux, France. The collision occurred at 8:45 AM. The impact damaged benzol barrels stored on deck, leaking vapors that were ignited by sparks from the collision. This set off a fire on board that grew out of control. At 9:04 AM, the Mont-Blanc exploded, wiping out all structures within a half-mile radius.

The Imo was washed ashore by the subsequent tsunami, and 7 of its crew, including its Captain, Haakon From, were killed. But on Mont-Blanc, only 1 crewman died, Yves Quequiner, a 20-year-old gunner. (That's the official story. I refuse to believe that, with an explosion of such a magnitude, only one man onboard died.) There was also widespread damage across the harbor, in the city of Dartmouth. The tsunami hit an area called Tufts Cove, killing all members of the Mi'kmaq First Nation tribe.

To make matters worse, the next day, December 7, 1917 -- a date which, like the one before it, lives in suffering, if not infamy -- a blizzard struck Canada's Maritime Provinces, impeding relief efforts, including trains and ships full of supplies and workers from inner Canada and the Northeastern U.S.

The initial judicial inquiry found the crew of Mont-Blanc to have been responsible for the disaster, but a later appeal determined that both vessels were to blame. The North End of Halifax has several memorials to the victims of the explosion.

Although Imo's superstructure was severely damaged by the blast, the ship was repaired, and returned to service in 1918. The ship was renamed Guvernøren (The Governor) in 1920. But perhaps it was cursed: On November 30, 1921 she ran aground off East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands of the coast of Argentina, and was abandoned.

The Hydrostone District was built after the war, to provide housing for people displaced by the explosion. Today, Halifax is a city of 350,000 people, with a metropolitan area of 465,000. (Aside from its 3 largest cities -- Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver -- Canada doesn't really do suburbs.)

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December 6, 1917 was a Thursday. This was also the day that Finland declared its independence from Russia. However, I do not have a separate entry for this event. Rather, I have one for the end of the Finnish Civil War the next year, because that secured the country's independence.

Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. Professional basketball barely existed. And the 1st season of the National Hockey League was 13 days away from beginning. So there were no scores on this historic day.

November 28, 1956: "And God Created Woman" Premieres

November 28, 1956: And God Created Woman -- in the original French, Et Dieu... créa la femme -- premieres in France. It is the 1st film directed by Roger Vadim, written by Vadim and Raoul Lévy, and stars Vadim's wife, Brigitte Bardot.

The film takes place in Saint-Tropez, on the French Riviera, 545 miles southeast of Paris, and 80 miles southwest of Monte Carlo. Bardot, then 22, played 18-year-old Juliette. She lies nude in her yard. She walks around barefoot in public. Her behavior enrages the local women, and excites the local men. She accepts a rich man's marriage proposal, but cheats on him with another man. At a bar, she makes a spectacle of herself dancing, and is shot at by the brother of the man she cheated with, who misses. He then slaps her repeatedly, but she laughs it all off. Finally, she walks off... with her attacker.

The movie makes a legend of Bardot, who becomes France's answer to Marilyn Monroe and Gina Lollobrigida, although another Italian, Sophia Loren, was hot on their heels (among other things). Bardot and Vadim were divorced the next year, but their stars continued to rise.

When the film was released in America the following year, the Executive Staff of the National Legion of Decency, the Catholic organization that had forced enforcement of the Hays Code upon movies since 1934, gave it a rating of "C," for "Condemned." "A-I" would have meant "Morally Objectionable for General Patronage," "A-II" would have meant "Morally Objectionable for Adults and Adolescents," "A-III" would have meant "Morally Objectionable for Adults," and "B" would have meant "Morally Objectionable in Part for All." But "C" was the worst rating they gave.

The Committee's explanation: "The theme and treatment of this film, developed in an atmosphere of sensuality, dwell without relief upon suggestiveness in costuming, dialogue and situations. In the field of motion picture entertainment the extent and intensity of the objectionability of this picture constitute an open violation of Christian and traditional morality."

The Committee gave these ratings from 1936 to 1959. Most of the films they gave "C" ratings to were foreign, and not limited by the Hays Code in their own countries. Most of those were French, Italian and Swedish.

Lévy became a tragic figure: He shot himself to death in 1966, shortly after the end of an affair that had wrecked his marriage, and a year after his film Marco the Magnificent, about medieval figure Marco Polo, had badly flopped, costing him his fortune. He was 44 years old.

By the early 1960s, Bardot began singing, recording albums in French. In 1964, she starred with Anthony Perkins in The Ravishing Idiot, released in America, with the James Bond films in mind, as Agent 38-24-36. She didn't make a film in America until 1965, in Dear Brigitte, with Jimmy Stewart.

By 1969, however, with both European and American films getting racier, and the Hays Code having fallen and been replaced by the Motion Picture Association of America's G, PG, R and X rating system, Bardot's style became passé.

In 1973, she made one more film with Vadim: Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman. She made one more film, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot, and retired from acting. She has married 4 times, and has 1 child, from her 2nd marriage, to French actor Jacques Charrier: Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, raised after the divorce by his father, built a life for himself in Norway, where he married, had 2 daughters, and, after a long estrangement, reconciled with her in 2014.

On the one hand, Bardot has used her retirement from show business to highlight the plight of animals, much like fellow entertainers Doris Day and Betty White. On the other hand, her 4th and current husband, Bernard d'Ormale, is a former adviser to the Le Pen family, the leader of French politics' right wing, and she shares their stances, disappointing many who once loved her. As of November 28, 2022, she is still alive, 88 years old, but has become a recluse: This 2007 image is the last known photograph of her.

Also as of November 28, 2022, not counting individuals implied as being part of a group, like the Beatles and the performers at Woodstock, Bardot is 1 of 4 people mentioned in Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire" who are still alive. The others are singers Chubby Checker and Bob Dylan, and 1984 New York "subway vigilante" Bernhard Goetz.

Roger Vadim, with that one post-divorce exception, moved on from her. In 1960, he made the film Et mourir de plaisir, meaning, "And die of pleasure." It is a vampire film, starring his next wife, Danish actress Annette Strøyberg, and Italian actress Elsa Martinelli. It was released in America under the title Blood and Roses.

In 1965, Vadim married Jane Fonda, and cast her in his 1968 science-fiction film Barbarella, which opened with her stripping in zero-gravity, and included a scene in which the villain, Durand Durand, tries to torture her by placing her in an "excessive machine," designed to pleasure a person to death, returning to an earlier Vadim theme. But she takes all the machine can give, and shorts it out, leading to her ultimate victory. (Durand Durand was played by Irish actor Milo O'Shea, and, yes, the British band Duran Duran named themselves after the character.)

The National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures, successor to the Legion of Decency, condemned Barbarella. By this point, though, not only had the Hays Code fallen, but Vatican II had happened: American Catholics now tended to make up their own minds, and so the Hollywood studios no longer gave a damn what the Church thought. The film was a success, and, since And God Created Woman is mainly thought of as Bardot's film, and Fonda has had many other hits, when people think of Vadim, Barbarella is the 1st film they think of.

Vadim continued to direct until 1997, and died in 2000. He married 5 times. With Strøyberg, he had a daughter, Nathalie Vadim. With Fonda, he had a daughter, Vanessa Vadim. Both Nathalie and Vanessa have become directors. With 4th wife Catherine Schneider, he had a son, Vania Vadim, a photographer and former actor.

UPDATE: Brigitte Bardot died on December 28, 2025, at the age of 91.

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November 28, 1956 was a Wednesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. One game was played in the NBA: The Boston Celtics beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 105-93 at the Boston Garden. And 1 game was played in the NHL: The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the old Madison Square Garden.