On this day: December 31
POSTED: 02:25 AM PST Dec 29, 2012
UPDATED: 11:00 PM PST Dec 30, 2012
Times Square holds its first New Year's Eve celebration, the board game Monopoly is patented, "Calvin and Hobbes" say goodbye, and the U.S. relinquishes control of the Panama Canal, all on this day.
Imperial Records
1985: Ricky Nelson, the former teen idol who rose to fame thanks to his role along with his family on "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," dies when his private plane makes an emergency landing and hits some trees near De Kalb, Texas. Nelson, who was one of seven killed in the incident, was 45 at the time.
