Clem Hill (1877 - 1945) was an Australian cricketer who played 49 Test matches as a specialist batsman between 1896 and 1912. He captained the Australian team in ten Tests, winning five and losing five. A prolific run scorer, Hill scored 3,412 runs in Test cricket—a world record at the time of his retirement—at an average of 39.21 per innings, including seven centuries. In 1902, Hill was the first batsman to make 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year, a feat that would not be repeated for 45 years. His innings of 365 scored against New South Wales for South Australia in 1900–01 was a Sheffield Shield record for 27 years. His Test cricket career ended in controversy after he was involved in a brawl with cricket administrator and fellow Test selector Peter McAlister in 1912. He was one of the "Big Six", a group of leading Australian cricketers who boycotted the 1912 Triangular Tournament in England when the players were stripped of the right to appoint the tour manager. The boycott effectively ended his Test career. After retiring from cricket, Hill worked in the horse racing industry as a stipendiary steward and later as a handicapper for races including the Caulfield Cup.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a novella about Ebenezer Scrooge, was first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol)

NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt aboard Apollo 17 returned to Earth. No human has visited the Moon since.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17)

The People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration)

Titanic is released in theaters. This movie would become the most financially successful movie in U.S. history, grossing approximately $1.8 billion worldwide.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film))

The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. They then proceed to establish the Republic of Lakotah, with an ongoing process of international recognition as a separate country.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakotah)

hymnody (n)      1. The writing, composing, or singing of hymns or psalms.
                        2. The hymns of a particular church or of a particular time.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hymnody)

In such an ugly time the true protest is beauty.