December 9 ...

In 1608 English poet John Milton was born in London. In 1854 Alfred Lord Tennyson's famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England. In 1907 Christmas Seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, DE, post office; proceeds went to fight tuberculosis. In 1940 British troops opened their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II. In 1942 Chicago Bears Hall of Fame middle linebacker Dick Butkus was born in Chicago, IL. In 1958 the anti-Communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianapolis. In 1965 Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. In 1975 President Ford signed a $2.3 billion seasonal loan-authorization that officials of New York City and State said would prevent a city default. In 1984 the five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claimed the lives of two Americans ended as Iranian security men seized control of the plane, which was parked at Tehran airport. In 1990 Solidarity founder Lech Walesa won Poland's presidential runoff by a landslide. In 1992 Britain's Prince Charles and Princess Diana announced their separation. (The couple's divorce became final Aug. 28, 1996.)