WORLD EVENTS: Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800; William the Conqueror was crowned King of England in 1066; Captain Cook discovered Christmas Island in 1777; Britain's first recorded Christmas tree was put up by Queen Charlotte at Queen's Lodge, Windsor; the first organised Christmas morning swim in the Serpentine, Hyde Park, took place in 1864; British and German troops declared an unofficial truce in 1914 and played football on the Western Front; King George V made the first official Christmas radio broadcast to the Empire in 1932; the Queen made her first Christmas television broadcast in 1957. In 2000, her speech was first simulcast on the web.

THE BEATLES: Ringo Starr got his first drum kit in 1959; Paul McCartney announced his engagement to Jane Asher in 1964. The same year, George Harrison's girlfriend Patti Boyd was attacked by fans. In 1981, a phone call from Michael Jackson to Paul McCartney resulted in their joint work, The Girl is Mine.

BORN: Isaac Newton, famous for experimenting with apples, in 1642; actor Humphrey Bogart in 1899; Anwar Sadat, former Egyptian president, in 1918; actress Sissy Spacek in 1949; singer Annie Lennox in 1954 and footballer Gary McAllister in 1964.

DIED: Actor Charlie Chaplin, in 1977; Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauscescu was executed in 1989.

December 21, 2001 16:00