December 28, 2020
Day 363 of 366

December 28th is the 363rd day of the year. It is King Taksin Memorial Day (วันที่ระลึกสมเด็จพระเจ้าตากสินมหาราช) in Thailand.

There are three days remaining in the year.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Short Film Day, National Chocolate Candy Day, National Card Playing Day, Holy Innocents Day, and Pledge of Allegiance Day.

Historical items of note:

• In 1832, John C. Calhoun became the first Vice President of the United States to resign.
• In 1895, the Lumière brothers performed for their first paying audience at the Grand Café in Boulevard des Capucines.
• Also in 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen published a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation. It would later be known as x-rays.
• In 1912, the first municipally owned streetcars began operation in San Francisco.
• In 1918, Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, became the first woman to be elected MP to the British House of Commons.
• In 1932, actress Nichelle Nichols was born.
• In 1934, English actress Maggie Smith was born.
• In 1954, actor, director, and producer Denzel Washington was born.
• In 1973, the United States Endangered Species Act was signed into law by President Richard Nixon.
• In 1979, Swedish actress Noomi Rapace was born.
• In 1981, British actress and fashion designer Sienna Miller was born.
• In 1987, actor Thomas Dekker was born.

December 28th is Proclamation Day in South Australia.

Proclamation Day celebrates the establishment of government in South Australia as a British province. The province itself was officially created and proclaimed in 1834 when the British Parliament passed the South Australia Act, which empowered King William IV to create South Australia as a British province and to provide for its colonization and government. It was ratified on February 19, 1836 when King William issued Letters Patent establishing the province, and the proclamation announcing the establishment of Government was made by Captain John Hindmarsh beside The Old Gum Tree at the present-day suburb of Glenelg North on December 28, 1836.

The proclamation specified the same protection under the law for the local native population as for the settlers. It was drafted aboard HMS Buffalo by Captain Hindmarsh’s private secretary, George Stevenson, and printed by Robert Thomas.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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