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• On Dec. 25, A.D. 336, the first recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25 took place in Rome.
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• On this date:
• In 1066, William the Conqueror was crowned king of England.
• In 1776, Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J.
• In 1868, President Andrew Johnson granted an unconditional pardon to all persons involved in the Southern rebellion that resulted in the Civil War.
• In 1887, Conrad Hilton, founder of the hotel chain bearing his name, was born in San Antonio, Territory of New Mexico.
• In 1926, Hirohito became emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito.
• In 1931, New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcast an entire live opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck.
• In 1937, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, led for the first time by conductor Arturo Toscanini, performed a Christmas concert featuring works by Vivaldi, Mozart and Brahms.
• In 1941, during World War II, Japan announced the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong.
• In 1962, the movie version of "To Kill a Mockingbird," adapted from the Harper Lee novel and starring Gregory Peck, opened in Los Angeles.
• In 1989, ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu (chow-SHES'-koo) and his wife, Elena, were executed following a popular uprising.
• In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev went on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a communist superpower that had already gone out of existence.
• In 2009, passengers aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 253 foiled an attempt to blow up the plane as it was landing in Detroit by seizing a man who tried to set off explosives in his underwear.
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• Ten years ago: Pope John Paul II delivered a Christmas message in which he said war had to be and could be avoided even in a world made fearful by terrorism. A major storm made for a white Christmas in parts of the U.S.; the severe weather ultimately was blamed for some two dozen deaths. Katie Hnida (huh-NAY'-duh) became the first woman to play in a Division I-A football game when she attempted an extra point following a New Mexico touchdown in the Las Vegas Bowl. (Hnida, a

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