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Christmas
Bing Crosby's 20-room mansion in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, is destroyed by fire after a short circuit causes a blaze to break out while the family is taking down its Christmas tree.
A new radio series Crazy People, begins on the BBC Home Srevice in the UK, featuring the comedy talents of Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe plus The Ray Ellington Quartet, Max Geldray and The Stargazers. The show will later be re-named The Goon Show, and many of the songs specially written for the show (The Ying Tong Song, I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas etc) will become comedy classics.
Victor Young, with The Jud Conlon Singers and The Singing Strings, records Littlest Angel's Christmas for Decca Records in New York City, USA.
Mario Lanza appears on the half-hour radio program The Music Room in the USA, to promote his new RCA Victor album, Mario Lanza Sings Christmas Songs. On the show he performs Silent Night, Adeste Fideles, Away In A Manger and other Christmas songs.
The Perry Como Show on CBS-tv in the USA features 13-year old guest artist Jimmy Boyd singing his hit I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. When first released, Boyd's record had been banned in Boston, Massachgusetts, by the Roman Catholic Church on the grounds that it mixed sex with Christmas.
British singing star Alma Cogan appears in a Christmas pantomime, Aladdin, at The Empress Theatre, Brixton, London, UK.
Chuck Berry releases a new single, Merry Christmas Baby/ Run Rudolph Run, on Chess Records in the USA.
The sixth day of deejay Alan Freed's ten-day long Christmas Rock'n'Roll Spectacular takes place at Loew's Theater, New York City, USA, starring Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Dion, Jackie Wilson, The Everly Brothers, Johnnie Ray, Frankie Avalon and The Moonglows.
Clay Cole's Christmas Rock'n'Roll Show plays the last of ten days at The Brooklyn Paramount, New York City, USA, featuring Neil Sedaka, Dion, Bo Diddley, The Drifters, Chubby Checker, Little Anthony, The Skyliners, Johnny Burnette, Bobby Vee and Dante And The Evergreens.
Brenda Lee plays the thirteenth night of a pre-Christmas season in The Congo Room of The Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.Paul Anka is playing throughout Christmas and New Year at The Caribe Room, Caribe Hilton Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Caribbean.
Ray Conniff, His Orchestra And Chorus record a medley of Christmas songs including Oh Come All Ye Faithful, The First Noel and We Wish You A Merry Christmas, in CBS Recording Studio, 6121 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Priscilla Beaulieu flies from Germany, Europe, to Idlewild Airport, New York State, USA, from where she travels on to Memphis, Tennessee, USA, to spend Christmas with Elvis Presley.
Johnny Cash records I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day and Gifts They Gave at Columbia Studio, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
On hearing that President Kennedy has been assassinated, Phil Spector recalls his newly-released multi-artist Christmas album, A Christmas Gift For You.With interest in The Beatles spreading fast, Alan Livingston, President of Capitol Records in the USA, decides to bring forward the release date of their single I Want To Hold Your Hand, from mid-January to boxing day. Christmas leave for the staff of Capitol Records is cancelled to cope with the extra work involved.
Elvis Presley's 1963 Christmas greetings cards are mailed out. One card bears the message from 'Elvis, Priscilla and Lisa', while the other is a blue paper fold-out Christmas card with photographs of Graceland and the words 'greetings from The Presleys'.
Organist Jimmy Smith records God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, We Three Kings Of Orient Are, The Christmas Song, White Christmas and Silent Night, with orchestral accompaniment at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.
A Christmas special edition of UK tv pop show Ready, Steady, Go! is pre-recorded in London, featuring The Searchers, Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders, Herman's Hermits, Sandie Shaw, The Nashville Teens, The Four Pennies and Dave Berry. 
Gerry And The Pacemakers, The Hollies, Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers, The Fourmost, Tommy Quickly, The Rustiks, The Remo Four and Danny Williams appear in the fourth night of Gerry's Christmas Cracker at The Odeon, Liverpool, UK.Gerry And The Pacemakers, The Hollies, Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers, The Fourmost, Tommy Quickly, The Rustiks, The Remo Four and Danny Williams appear in the fifth night of Gerry's Christmas Cracker at The Odeon, Liverpool, UK.
Burl Ives, with producer Owen Bradley, records Girl Sittin' Up In A Tree, Salt Water Guitar and Christmas Child in Columbia Recording Studio, 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Jimmy Dean records Yes, Patricia, There Is A Santa Claus in Columbia Recording Studio, 799 7th Avenue, New York City, USA.
The Four Aces play for the Christmas Dance at The Pilgrim, Haywards Heath, England, UK, Europe.
Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones is spending Christmas in the Virgin Islands with his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg.
UK harmony pop band The Ivy League lead a Christmas Day Carol Service from Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, UK, Europe.
Buck Owens And His Buckaroos record All I Want For Christmas Is My Daddy and Christmas Shopping, in Capitol Tower Recording Studio, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Frank Sinatra records Cycles, My Way Of Life and Whatever Happened To Christmas, for Reprise Records in New York City, USA.
Country Joe And The Fish, Dan Hicks And The Hot Licks, Cat Mother, Jamilla Salin-Tour and the Bal-Anat Dancers perform in the Second Annual Christmas Celebrations at Pacific High Recorders, San Francisco, California, USA.
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones is spending Christmas with Jerry Hall at the Savoy Hotel in London, England, UK. The Stones' guitarist, Keith Richards, back on heroin again, is spending Christmas in his new upstate New York home with Anita Pallenberg and their son Marlon. He takes them to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Midge Ure of Band Aid (and Ultravox) travels to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa, with the first shipment of relief supplies funded by sales of Do They Know It's Christmas.A Soulful Christmas, a concept concert featuring r'n'b/jazz multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson, plus Gerald Albright, Howard Hewett, Nick Colionne and Sheldon Reynolds, plays at The Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Rapper Jim Jones pleads not guilty in Manhattan's Criminal Court to assault charges stemming from his alleged brawl with members of R'n'B hitmaker Ne-Yo's entourage in New York City, USA, on Christmas Eve past.
Bob Dylan officially announces that he will release a Christmas album, Christmas In The Heart, later in the year.
Coldplay perform their new single, Christmas Lights, with a little help from Gary Barlow of Take That, live at the Royal Court, Liverpool, England, UK, Europe. The show, a fundraiser for Crisis, raises £250,000 to establish a new Crisis Centre for the homeless.
Christmas In Chicago, a show starring Donny And Marie Osmond, plays the second of nineteen nights at The Oriental Theatre, Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Justin Bieber, Cee Lo Green, Jennifer Hudson, The Band Perry and Victoria Justice perform for US President Obama and his family at the 30th annual Christmas in Washington concert, in the National Building Museum, Washington DC, USA.
Christmas In Chicago, a show starring Donny And Marie Osmond, plays the eighteenth of nineteen nights at The Oriental Theatre, in the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Justin Bieber spends Christmas at home with his family in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
Katy Perry and her new boyfriend John Mayer attend a performance of A Christmas Story: The Musical on Broadway in New York City, USA. This marks the first time the pair have appeared in public as a romantically-linked couple.Rihanna and Chris Brown attend the Los Angeles Lakers game together on Christmas Day at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
OutKast play on the last day of The CounterPoint 2014 festival, Kingston Downs, Rome, Georgia, USA. Also on today's bill are Thievery Corporation, Run The Jewels, Tycho, Sleigh Bells, Flux Pavilion and others.
Soundscan's list of the 25 top selling digital holiday songs between 2003 and 2014 shows Mariah Carey at No1 with All I Want For Christmas Is You.
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