Boxing Day seems to be a day when a lot happens. King Lear was first performed on this day in 1606 for king James I. I’m not a fan of King James. He had my ancestor Sir Anthony Standen imprisoned in the Tower of London. You can read all about it in The Spy who Sank the Armada, the first book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures.
Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. played the first inter-club football match on 26th December 1860. Sheffield is the oldest football club and Hallam is the second oldest, so I suppose that makes sense. Curiously Sandygate Road, the Hallam ground, is the world’s oldest football ground and is where that first Boxing Day match was played.
Appropriately for Boxing Day, African-American boxer Jack Johnson, stopped Tommy Burns in the 14th round to become the first black man to win the world heavyweight title on Boxing Day 1908. Staying in America for a while, The Philadelphia Story was released on Boxing Day in 1940, starring Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn, and James Stewart. Stewart was awarded the best actor Oscar the following year. In 1941 Winston Churchill became the first British Prime Minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. The African Queen was released on Boxing Day 1951. Humphrey Bogart won his only Oscar for The African Queen. Hepburn had won her first Oscar in 1933 for Morning Glory. The Exorcist premiered on Boxing Day 1973. It was the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture. It was beaten by The Godfather.
The term Boxing Day, as the day after Christmas Day, is understood to have originated around 1743. Tradespeople and employees would receive gifts (or Christmas boxes) of money on this day. Samuel Pepys refers to Christmas boxes in his diary.