1873 – Composer Marie-Alphonse-Nicolas-Joseph Jongen was born.

1901 – The first table tennis tournament was held. It was a the London Royal Aquarium.

1963 – Dinah Washington died of a drug overdose at the age of 39. She had 34 top 10 hits on the Billboard R&B charts.

1966 – The Elvis Presley film “Spinout” premiered.

1966 – Chad & Jeremy and Don Ho guest on ABC-TV’s “Batman.”

1967 – Dick Clark announced that he was making a film, “The Love Children,” about hippies.

1968 – Tommy James and the Shondells released “Crimson & Clover.”

1972 – Alexander’s department store in New York stayed open late so Alice Cooper could do his Christmas shopping.

1972 – The Ringo Starr film about U.K. rocker Marc Bolan, “Born to Boogie,” debuted in London. The film stars Elton John.

1974 – Styx’ “Lady” was released.

1977 – “Saturday Night Fever” premiered in New York City.

1980 – Yoko Ono called for a 10-minute silent vigil around the world for John Lennon, her husband, who was shot to death six days earlier. Over 100,000 people went to Central Park in New York to honor the request.

1985 – James Taylor married actress Kathryn Walker.

1986 – Elton John recorded a live version of “Candle in the Wind” that would later be released as a single.

1991 – Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s pop albums chart.

1992 – Merle Haggard and his wife Theresa Lane have a baby that they name Binion Louis Haggard.

1992 – Merle Haggard filed for bankruptcy protection.

1995 – Classified documents from the White House were released that revealed the FBI had spied on John Lennon and his anti-war activities during the early ’70s in a possible attempt to have Lennon deported.

1995 – “Frank Sinatra: 80 Years My Way” aired on ABC-TV.

1998 – Billy Preston pled guilty to insurance fraud and agreed to testify against other defendants.

1999 – Paul McCartney played a show at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. It was the first time that McCartney had played at the club since 1963.

http://www.on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/music/dec14.htm