On This Day in History December 18

December 18 – Events:

• 218 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal’s Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
• 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan,” officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China.
• 1620 – The Mayflower lands in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts delivering 102 Pilgrims.
• 1642 – Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.
• 1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, celebrating the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October
• 1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
• 1793 – Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
• 1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Lexington, General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union force under Colonel Robert Ingersoll.
• 1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified by Georgia, fulfilling the two-thirds requirement for ratification, and abolishing Slavery in the United States.
• 1878 – John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania.
• 1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.
• 1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the new land speed record going 39.245 mph, in a Jeantaud electric car. This is the first recognized land speed record.
• 1900 – The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic.
• 1912 -The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is supposedly found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.
• 1915 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.
• 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when forces under Chief of Staff Erich Von Falkenhayn suffers 337,000 casualties by the French.
• 1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the first ever NFL Championship Game. Because of a blizzard, the game was moved from Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the field measuring 80 yards long.
• 1935 – The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
• 1941 – Japan invades Hong Kong after British governor of Hong Kong, Mark Aitchison Young refuses to surrender to Japanese forces.
• 1944 – World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.
• 1961 – Indonesia invades Netherlands New Guinea.
• 1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
• 1969 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan’s motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years, is carried by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
• 1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
• 1982 – A large Tacoa power plant starts burning in Venezuela, eventually killing 128.
• 1987 – Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language.
• 1987 – Ivan Boesky is sentenced to three years in prison for insider trading.
• 1996 – The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring “Ebonics” a language or dialect.
• 1997 – HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
• 1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
• 2002 – 2003 California recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.

December 18 – Birthdays:

• 1507 – Ouchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (d. 1551)
• 1602 – Simonds d’Ewes, English antiquarian and politician (d. 1650)
• 1610 – Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (d. 1688)
• 1615 – Kasandra Kulas Serbian Warrior (d. 1701)
• 1620 – Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)
• 1661 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
• 1662 – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (d. 1711)
• 1707 – Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist (d. 1788)
• 1725 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (d. 1791)
• 1825 – Charles Griffin (general), American general (d. 1876)
• 1835 – Lyman Abbott, American author (d. 1922)
• 1847 – Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
• 1851 – Graciano Lopez Jaena, Filipino hero, orator and satirist (d. 1896)
• 1856 – Sir J. J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
• 1860 – Edward MacDowell, American composer and pianist (d. 1908)
• 1863 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
• 1870 – Saki, English writer (d. 1916)
• 1873 – Francis Burton Harrison, American political figure (d. 1957)
• 1878 – Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953) 
• 1879 – Paul Klee, Swiss-born painter (d. 1940)
• 1886 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player (d. 1961)
• 1888 – Dame Gladys Cooper, English actress (d. 1971)
• 1888 – Robert Moses, American public works official (d. 1981)
• 1890 – Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (d. 1954)
• 1897 – Fletcher Henderson, American arranger and composer (d. 1952)
• 1904 – George Stevens, American film director (d. 1975)
• 1907 – Bill Holland, American auto racer (d. 1984)
• 1908 – Paul Siple, American Antarctic explorer (d. 1969)
• 1910 – Abe Burrows, American playwright (d. 1985)
• 1911 – Jules Dassin, American film director
• 1912 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American General (d. 2002)
• 1913 – Alfred Bester, American author (d. 1987)
• 1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)
• 1913 – Ray Meyer, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
• 1916 – Douglas Fraser, Scottish-born American trade unionist
• 1916 – Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973)
• 1917 – Ossie Davis, American actor and activist (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General
• 1927 – Roméo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada
• 1928 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal
• 1929 – Gino Cimoli, American baseball player
• 1930 – Moose Skowron, American baseball player
• 1931 – Allen Klein, American rock and roll business manager
• 1931 – Alison Plowden, English historian (d. 2007)
• 1932 – Roger Smith, American actor
• 1933 – Arthur Leigh Allen, Suspected Zodiac serial killer (d. 1992)
• 1934 – Boris Volynov, Soviet cosmonaut
• 1935 – Jacques Pépin, French chef
• 1936 – Malcolm Kirk, English professional wrestler (d. 1987)
• 1938 – Chas Chandler, English musician (The Animals) (d. 1996)
• 1938 – Joel Hirschhorn, American songwriter and composer (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Roger E. Mosley, American actor
• 1939 – Michael Moorcock, English author
• 1939 – Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, Nobel laureate
• 1940 – Bramwell Morrison, member of Sharon, Lois & Bram
• 1941 – Wadada Leo Smith, American trumpeter and composer
• 1942 – Harvey Atkin, Canadian actor
• 1943 – Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones)
• 1943 – Alan Rudolph, American film director and screenwriter
• 1945 – Jean Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1946 – Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
• 1946 – Steven Spielberg, American film director
• 1948 – Bill Nelson, English musician (Be Bop Deluxe)
• 1948 – Laurent Voulzy, French singer and composer
• 1949 – David A. Johnston, American volcanologist, first to report 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens (d. 1980)
• 1950 – Gillian Armstrong, Australian film director
• 1950 – Randy Castillo, American drummer (Ozzy Osbourne) (d. 2002)
• 1950 – Leonard Maltin, American film critic
• 1953 – Elliot Easton, American guitarist (The Cars)
• 1953 – Khas-Magomed Hadjimuradov, Chechen bard
• 1955 – Ray Liotta, American actor
• 1956 – Ron White, American comedian
• 1960 – Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
• 1961 – Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater
• 1963 – Karl Dorrell, American football coach
• 1963 – Charles Oakley, American basketball player
• 1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor
• 1963 – Pauline Ester, French singer
• 1964 – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, American professional wrestler
• 1964 – Don Beebe, American football player
• 1964 – Robson Green, English actor and singer
• 1965 – Mick Collins, American musician (The Gories, The Dirtbombs)
• 1965 – Tommy Davidson, American actor
• 1966 – Makiko Esumi, Japanese actress
• 1966 – Mille Petrozza, German singer (Kreator)
• 1967 – Toine van Peperstraten, Dutch sports journalist
• 1968 – Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
• 1968 – Alejandro Sanz, Spanish singer
• 1968 – Casper Van Dien, American actor
• 1969 – Santiago Cañizares, Spanish footballer
• 1969 – Justin Edinburgh, English footballer
• 1969 – Akira Iida, Japanese racing driver
• 1970 – Anthony Catanzaro, American fitness model
• 1970 – Cowboy Troy, American rapper
• 1970 – DMX, American rapper and actor
• 1970 – Miles Marshall Lewis, American author
• 1970 – Victoria Pratt, Canadian actress and fitness model
• 1970 – Rob Van Dam, American professional wrestler
• 1970 – Johnny Yeo, English artist
• 1971 – Barkha Dutt, Indian journalist
• 1971 – Noriko Matsueda, Japanese composer
• 1971 – Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
• 1972 – DJ Lethal, Latvian-born American DJ (House of Pain, Limp Bizkit)
• 1972 – Raymond Herrera, American drummer (Fear Factory) and businessman
• 1974 – Peter Boulware, American football player
• 1974 – Kari Byron, artist and television personality
• 1974 – Euroboy, Norwegian musician (Turbonegro)
• 1975 – Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1975 – Masaki Sumitani, Japanese comedian
• 1976 – Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
• 1977 – José Acevedo, Dominican baseball player
• 1978 – Daniel Cleary, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1978 – Ali Curtis, American soccer player
• 1978 – Katie Holmes, American actress
• 1979 – Carlos, Portuguese footballer
• 1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer
• 1982 – Dave Luetkenhoelter, American bassist (Kutless)
• 1983 – Darren Carter, English footballer
• 1985 – Tara Conner, 2006 Miss USA
• 1985 – Hana Soukupová, Czech supermodel
• 1987 – Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater
• 1987 – Ayaka, Japanese singer
• 1987 – Fernando Jara, Panamanian-American jockey
• 1989 – Ashley Benson, American actress
• 1989 – Ashley Slanina-Davies, Hollyoaks actress

December 18 – Deaths:

• 821 – Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans
• 1133 – Hildebert, French writer
• 1290 – King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
• 1442 – Pierre Cauchon, French Catholic bishop (b. 1371)
• 1495 – King Alphonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
• 1692 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (b. 1626)
• 1737 – Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (b. 1644)
• 1787 – Francis William Drake, British Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
• 1787 – Soame Jenyns, English writer (b. 1704)
• 1799 – Jean-Étienne Montucla, French mathematician (b. 1725)
• 1803 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (b. 1744)
• 1829 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (b. 1744)
• 1843 – Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, British Viceroy of India (b. 1748)
• 1848 – Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1781)
• 1869 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (b. 1829)
• 1880 – Michel Chasles, French mathematician (b. 1793)
• 1936 – Andrija Mohorovicic, Austro-Hungarian-born Yugoslav seismologist (b. 1857)
• 1966 – Tara Browne, British socialite (b. 1945)
• 1971 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
• 1971 – Diana Lynn, American actress (b. 1926)
• 1973 – Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher (b. 1908)
• 1974 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player (b. 1887)
• 1975 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist (b. 1900)
• 1980 – Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the USSR (b. 1904)
• 1982 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German pilot (b. 1916)
• 1985 – Xuân Diu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1916)
• 1987 – Conny Plank, German record producer and musician (b. 1940)
• 1990 – Anne Revere, American actress (b. 1903)
• 1990 – Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (b. 1914)
• 1991 – George Abecassis, English Formula 1 driver (b. 1913)
• 1992 – Mark Goodson, American game show producer (b. 1915)
• 1993 – Charizma, American rapper (b. 1973)
• 1993 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1994 – Roger Apéry, Greek-French mathematician (b. 1916)
• 1995 – Konrad Zuse, German engineer and computing pioneer (b. 1910)
• 1996 – Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (b. 1904)
• 1997 – Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
• 1998 – Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
• 1999 – Robert Bresson, French film director (b. 1907)
• 2000 – Stan Fox, American race car driver (b. 1952)
• 2000 – Randolph Apperson Hearst, son of W. Randolph Hearst and father of Patty (b.

1915)

• 2000 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer and songwriter (b. 1959)
• 2001 – Gilbert Bécaud, French singer (b. 1927)
• 2001 – Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer (b. 1914)
• 2002 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1934)
• 2002 – Wayne Owens, former U.S. Congressman (D-Utah) (b. 1937)
• 2004 – Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b. 1926)
• 2005 – Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
• 2006 – Ruth Bernhard, American photographer (1905)
• 2006 – Mike Dickin, British radio broadcaster (b. 1943)
• 2006 – Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani author, journalist and political activist (b. 1923)
• 2007 – Gerald Le Dain, Canadian Supreme Court judge (b. 1924)
• 2007 – Jack Linkletter, American television host, son of Art Linkletter (b. 1937)
• 2007 – Bill Strauss, American writer on generations, satirist, and founder of the Capitol Steps (b. 1947)

December 18 – Holidays:

• New Jersey Day – A celebration to New Jersey’s admission to the union
• Roman festivals – Feast of Epona (during Saturnalia)
• R.C. Saints – Gatianus of Tours, O Adonai, Our Lady of Expectation
• Niger – Republic Day (autonomous in 1958)
• Greek Orthodox Church – Feast of Sebastian the Martyr

On This Day in History December 17

December 17 – Events:

• 546 – Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
• 920 – Romanos I is crowned as co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII.
• 942 – Assassination of William I of Normandy.
• 1398 – Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud’s armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
• 1531 – Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
• 1577 – Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I.
• 1586 – Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
• 1600 – Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de’ Medici.
• 1637 – Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.
• 1718 – Great Britain declares war on Spain.
• 1807 – France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
• 1819 – Simón Bolívar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
• 1834 – The Dublin and Kingstown Railway the first public railway on the island of Ireland, opens in Ireland.
• 1862 – American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
• 1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• 1919 – Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1926 – Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania via a coup d’état?
• 1935 – First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
• 1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
• 1941 – World War II: Beginning of the Siege of Sebastopol.
• 1941 – World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – Malmedy massacre – American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
• 1957 – The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• 1961 – History of Goa: Operation Vijay – India seizes Goa from Portugal.
• 1967 – Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned.
• 1969 – The SALT I talks begin.
• 1969 – Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of “A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects.”
• 1970 – Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
• 1973 – Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
• 1978 – The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
• 1981 – Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.
• 1981 – The Senegambia Confederation is founded.
• 1983 – The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people.
• 1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timisoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party’s District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
• 1989 – First free elections in Brazil in 25 years.
• 1989 – The longest-running American sitcom The Simpsons had its debut.
• 1999 – The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution 54/134 designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
• 2002 – Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
• 2003 – The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
• 2003 – SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
• 2005 – Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

December 17 – Birthdays:

• 1239 – Kujo Yoritsugu, Japanese Shogun (d. 1256)
• 1267 – Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (d. 1324)
• 1619 – Prince Rupert of the Rhine, commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682)
• 1632 – Anthony Wood, English antiqurian (d. 1695)
• 1685 – Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)
• 1706 – Émilie du Châtelet, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749)
• 1734 – Maria I of Portugal, Portuguese queen (d. 1816)
• 1749 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
• 1770 – (Baptism) – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (d. 1827)
• 1778 – Sir Humphry Davy, English chemist and physicist (d. 1829)
• 1796 – Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)
• 1807 – John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)
• 1830 – Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)
• 1835 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, American scientist; son of Louis Agassiz (d. 1910)
• 1847 – Émile Faguet, French writer and critic (d. 1916)
• 1853 – Émile Roux, French physician (d. 1933)
• 1859 – Paul César Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)
• 1873 – Ford Madox Ford, English writer (d. 1939)
• 1874 – William Lyon Mackenzie King, 10th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)
• 1883 – Raimu, French actor (d. 1946)
• 1887 – Josef Lada, Czech painter (d. 1957)
• 1887 – Hermine Reuss, Empress of Germany and Duchess of Bohemia (d. 1947)
• 1888 – King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
• 1892 – Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d. 1950)
• 1893 – Erwin Piscator, German film director (d. 1966)
• 1894 – Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
• 1900 – Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (d. 1998)
• 1900 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (d. 1973)
• 1903 – Erskine Caldwell, American author (d. 1987)
• 1903 – Ray Noble, English bandleader and actor (d. 1978)
• 1904 – Paul Cadmus, American artist (d. 1999)
• 1905 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish sniper (d. 2002)
• 1905 – Érico Lopes Veríssimo, Brazilian writer (d. 1975)
• 1906 – Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer and musicologist (d. 1994)
• 1908 – Willard Frank Libby, American chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1980)
• 1910 – Sy Oliver, American jazz arranger and bandleader (d. 1988)
• 1915 – André Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)
• 1916 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer (d. 2000)
• 1920 – Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist (d. 2004)
• 1922 – Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian (d. 2006)
• 1926 – Ray Jablonski, American baseball player (d. 1985)
• 1927 – Richard Long, American actor (d. 1974)
• 1929 – Jacqueline Hill, English actress (d. 1993)
• 1929 – William Safire, American columnist
• 1930 – Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher
• 1930 – Bob Mathias, American decathlete and congressman (d. 2006)
• 1930 – Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
• 1931 – Dave Madden, Canadian-born American actor
• 1934 – Ray Wilson, English footballer
• 1935 – George Lindsey, American actor
• 1935 – Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball coach (d. 1999)
• 1936 – Tommy Steele, English singer and actor
• 1937 – Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)
• 1937 – John Kennedy Toole, American novelist (d. 1969)
• 1937 – Calvin Waller, US Army general (d. 1996)
• 1938 – Carlo Little, English drummer (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Peter Snell, New Zealand runner
• 1939 – Eddie Kendricks, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1992)
• 1940 – Kåre Valebrokk, Norwegian journalist
• 1942 – Paul Butterfield, American musician (d. 1987)
• 1943 – Mary Brunner, American former “Manson Family” member
• 1943 – Ron Geesin, Scottish musician and composer
• 1944 – Jack L. Chalker, American novelist (d. 2005)
• 1944 – Bernard Hill, English actor
• 1945 – Ernie Hudson, American actor
• 1945 – Chris Matthews, American journalist
• 1945 – Jacqueline Wilson, English author
• 1946 – Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
• 1947 – Wes Studi, American actor
• 1949 – Sotiris Kaiafas, Cypriot footballer
• 1949 – Paul Rodgers, English singer (Free; Bad Company)
• 1950 – Laurence F. Johnson, American educator
• 1951 – Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
• 1951 – Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet athlete
• 1953 – Samuel Hadida, film distributor
• 1953 – Barry Livingston, American actor
• 1953 – Bill Pullman, American actor
• 1955 – Brad Davis, American basketball player
• 1956 – Peter Farrelly, American film director
• 1957 – Earl Hudson, American drummer (Bad Brains)
• 1958 – Mike Mills, American musician (R.E.M.)
• 1960 – Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist
• 1961 – Sara Dallin, English singer (Bananarama)
• 1962 – Paul Dobson, English footballer
• 1962 – Richard Jewell, falsely accused in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing (d. 2007)
• 1962 – Rocco Mediate, American golfer
• 1964 – Ginger, English singer and guitarist (The Wildhearts)
• 1964 – Frank Musil, Czech ice hockey player
• 1964 – Michele Tafoya, American sportscaster
• 1965 – Craig Berube, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1966 – Tracy Byrd, American musician
• 1966 – Valeri Liukin, Soviet gymnast
• 1966 – Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician
• 1967 – Gigi D’Agostino, Italian DJ and musician
• 1967 – Vincent Damphousse, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1968 – Andrey Golovatiuk, Russian politician
• 1968 – Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
• 1969 – Chuck Liddell, American mixed martial artist
• 1969 – Chris Mason, English darts player
• 1970 – Sean Patrick Thomas, American actor
• 1971 – Alan Khan, South African radio disc jockey
• 1971 – Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
• 1972 – John Abraham, Indian actor
• 1972 – Laurie Holden, American actress
• 1973 – Konstadinos Gatsioudis, Greek javelin thrower
• 1973 – Paula Radcliffe, English runner
• 1974 – Duff Goldman, American chef
• 1974 – Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
• 1975 – Nick Dinsmore (Eugene), American professional wrestler
• 1975 – Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress
• 1975 – Sarah Paulson, American actress
• 1975 – Bree Sharp, American singer/songwriter
• 1976 – Éric Bédard, Canadian speed skater
• 1976 – Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born porn actress
• 1976 – Patrick Müller, Swiss footballer
• 1976 – Takeo Spikes, American football player
• 1977 – Arnaud Clement, French tennis player
• 1978 – Alex Cintrón, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1978 – Riteish Deshmukh, Indian actor
• 1978 – Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer
• 1978 – Neil Sanderson, Canadian drummer (Three Days Grace)
• 1978 – Chase Utley, American baseball player
• 1979 – Jaimee Foxworth, American actress and porn star
• 1979 – Ryan Key, American musician and songwriter (Yellowcard)
• 1979 – Matt Murley, American ice hockey player
• 1980 – Ryan Hunter-Reay, American race car driver
• 1980 – Eli Pariser, American political activist (MoveOn.org)
• 1982 – Josh Barfield, American baseball player
• 1982 – Craig Kielburger, Canadian labour activist
• 1982 – Stephane Lasme, Gabonese basketball player
• 1982 – Ryan Moats, National Football League running back
• 1984 – Andrew Davies, English footballer
• 1985 – Ryuichi Ogata, member of Japanese boy band.
• 1986 – Vanessa Zima, American actress
• 1992 – Thomas Law, English Actor
• 1994 – Nat Wolff, American Singer, actor and songwriter
• 2007 – James Windsor, Viscount Severn, son of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex

December 17 – Deaths:

• 942 – William Longsword
• 1187 – Pope Gregory VIII
• 1195 – Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)
• 1273 – Rumi (b.1207)
• 1663 – Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)
• 1721 – Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)
• 1830 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan-born liberator, six nations (b. 1783)
• 1833 – Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)
• 1847 – Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, second wife of Napoleon (b. 1791)
• 1907 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (b. 1824)
• 1909 – Léopold II of Belgium (b. 1835)
• 1917 – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician (b. 1836)
• 1917 – Frank Gotch, American professional wrestler (b. 1878)
• 1929 – Manuel Gomes da Costa, 96 Prime Minister of Portugal and 10 President of Portugal (b. 1863)
• 1933 – Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)
• 1940 – Alicia Boole Stott, Irish mathematician (b. 1860)
• 1957 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English writer (b. 1893)
• 1962 – Thomas Mitchell, American actor (b. 1892)
• 1964 – Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1883)
• 1967 – Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister (b. 1908)
• 1967 – Jack Perrin, American actor (b. 1896)
• 1978 – Don Ellis, American jazz band leader (b. 1934)
• 1982 – Homer S. Ferguson, American politician (b. 1889)
• 1987 – Linda Wong, American porn star (b. 1951)
• 1987 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)
• 1999 – Rex Allen, American actor, singer and songwriter (b. 1920)
• 1999 – Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (b. 1943)
• 2002 – James Hazeldine, English actor (b. 1947)
• 2003 – Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Tom Wesselmann, American collage artist (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Jack Anderson, American journalist (b. 1922)
• 2005 – Marc Favreau, French Canadian humourist (Sol) (b. 1929)
• 2006 – Larry Sherry, American baseball player (b. 1935)

December 17 – Holidays:

• Bhutan – National Day (1907)
• Greek Orthodox Church-Saint Barbaras day – Feast of Daniel the Prophet
• International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
• R.C. Saints – O Sapientia ; Saint Lazarus
• Roman festivals – Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, began
• USA – Wright Brothers Day (by Presidential Proclamation)

On This Day in History December 16

December 16 – Events:

• 755 – An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty of China.
• 1392 – Nanboku-cho – Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
• 1431 – Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.
• 1497 – Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
• 1598 – Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point – The final battle of the Seven Year War is fought between the Korean and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive Korean victory.
• 1653 – English Interregnum: The Protectorate – Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• 1689 – Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
• 1707 – Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
• 1761 – Seven Years’ War: After four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg.
• 1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party – Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
• 1811 – The first two in a series of severe earthquakes occurs, in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri.
• 1826 – Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
• 1838 – Battle of Blood River: Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius combat Zulu impis, led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
• 1850 – History of New Zealand: The Charlotte-Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Army of Tennessee.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Franklin-Nashville Campaign – Battle of Nashville – Major General George H. Thomas’s Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee.
• 1893 – Antonín Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, “From The New World” was given its world premiere at Carnegie Hall.
• 1907 – Great White Fleet started its circumnavigation of the world
• 1910 – During a ground test of his Coanda-1910 plane, Henri Coanda, caught unaware

by the power of the engine, finds himself briefly airborne and loses control of the machine which crashes to the ground.

• 1914 – World War I: German battleships under Franz Von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
• 1920 – A magnitude 8.5 earthquake rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.
• 1922 – President of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski at the Zacheta Gallery in Warsaw.
• 1925 – Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity is founded at Lafayette College.
• 1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
• 1941 – World War II: Japanese occupy Miri, Sarawak
• 1942 – Holocaust: Porajmos – Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s allied forces and Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt’s German army engage in the Belgian Ardennes.
• 1946 – Léon Blum becomes Prime Minister of France.
• 1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point contact transistor.
• 1949 – Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, later knows as SAAB, is founded in Sweden.
• 1950 – President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight with communist North Korea in the Korean War.
• 1957 – Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
• 1960 – 1960 New York air disaster: While approaching New York’s Idlewild Airport, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation in a blinding snowstorm over Staten Island, killing 134.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966.
• 1971 – Bangladesh War of Independence and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan army brings an end to both conflicts.
• 1971 – Independence Day of the State of Bahrain from British Protectorate Status
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Henry Kissinger announces that North Vietnam has left private peace negotiations, in Paris.
• 1978 – Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.
• 1979 – Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.
• 1982 – The Federal Reserve announces that the operating capacity of factories has gone down to 67.8%.
• 1985 – Mafia: In New York City, Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of the Gambino family.
• 1986 – Revolt in Kazakhstan against Communist party, known as Zheltoksan, which becomes the first sign of ethnic strife during Gorbachev’s tenure.
• 1989 – Protest breaks out in Timisoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor, László Tokés.
• 1989 – Walter LeRoy Moody begins his terrorist bombing streak when he sends Judge Robert Smith Vance a bomb in the mail, instantly killing him near his house in Birmingham, Alabama.
• 1991 – United Nations General Assembly: UN General Assembly Resolution 4686 revokes UN General Assembly Resolution 3379 after Israel makes revocation of resolution 3379 a condition of its participation in the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991.
• 1991 – Independence of The Republic of Kazakhstan.
• 1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox – The United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq.

December 16 – Birthdays:

• 1485 – Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (d. 1536)
• 1584 – John Selden, English jurist and oriental scholar (d. 1654)
• 1614 – Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1674)
• 1714 – George Whitefield, English-born Methodist leader (d. 1770)
• 1716 – Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini, Duc de Nivernais, French diplomat and writer (d. 1798)
• 1717 – Elizabeth Carter, English writer (d. 1806)
• 1742 – Gebhard Fürst Blücher von Wahlstatt, German Field Marshal (d. 1819)
• 1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (d. 1827)
• 1775 – Jane Austen, English writer (d. 1817)
• 1775 – François-Adrien Boïeldieu, French composer (d. 1834)
• 1776 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist (d. 1810)
• 1790 – King Léopold I of Belgium (d. 1865)
• 1804 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1889)
• 1834 – Léon Walras, French economist (d. 1910)
• 1861 – Antonio de La Gandara, French painter (d. 1917)
• 1863 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher and writer (d. 1952)
• 1865 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (d. 1918)
• 1866 (N.S.) – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French abstract painter (d. 1944)
• 1867 – Amy Carmichael, missionary in Dohnavur, India (d. 1951)
• 1869 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1952)
• 1872 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general (d. 1947)
• 1882 – Sir Jack Hobbs, English cricketer (d. 1963)
• 1882 – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer (d. 1967)
• 1882 – Walther Meissner, German physicist (d. 1974)
• 1883 – Max Linder, French pioneer of silent film (d. 1925)
• 1888 – King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
• 1888 – Alphonse Juin, Marshall of France (d. 1967)
• 1899 – Sir Noel Coward, English playwright, actor and composer (d. 1973)
• 1900 – V. S. Pritchett, English author and critic (d. 1997)
• 1901 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978)
• 1902 – Rafael Alberti, Spanish poet (d. 1999)
• 1905 – Piet Hein, Danish mathematician and inventor (d. 1996)
• 1906 – Barbara Kent, Canadian actress
• 1915 – Turk Murphy, American trombonist (d. 1987)
• 1917 – Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Sindhi scholar
• 1917 – Sir Arthur C. Clarke, English writer
• 1918 – Pierre Delanoë, French songwriter and lyricist (d. 2006)
• 1922 – Cy Leslie, American music and video executive (d. 2008)
• 1926 – James McCracken, American tenor (d. 1988)
• 1927 – Randall Garrett, American writer (d. 1987)
• 1928 – Philip K. Dick, American writer (d. 1982)
• 1929 – Nicholas Courtney, English actor
• 1932 – Rodion Shchedrin, Soviet/Russian composer
• 1934 – Elgin Gay Baylor, NBA Hall of Famer
• 1936 – Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center
• 1937 – Joyce Bulifant, American actress
• 1938 – Frank Deford, American sportswriter
• 1938 – Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
• 1941 – Lesley Stahl, American journalist
• 1943 – Steven Bochco, American television producer and writer
• 1943 – Tony Hicks, English guitarist (The Hollies)
• 1945 – Patti Deutsch, American actress and Match Game panelist
• 1945 – Bobby George, English professional darts player
• 1945 – Yukio Hattori, Japanese Iron Chef commentator
• 1946 – Benny Andersson, Swedish musician, singer and songwriter (ABBA)
• 1946 – Trevor Pinnock, English conductor and harpsichordist
• 1947 – Ben Cross, English actor
• 1947 – Vincent Matthews, American sprinter
• 1948 – Christopher Biggins, English actor
• 1949 – Billy Gibbons, American guitarist (ZZ Top)
• 1950 – Claudia Cohen, American gossip columnist and socialite (d. 2007)
• 1950 – Roy Schuiten, Dutch cyclist (d. 2006)
• 1951 – Robben Ford, American guitarist
• 1952 – Joel Garner, Barbadian West Indies cricketer
• 1952 – Francesco Graziani, Italian footballer
• 1955 – Xander Berkeley, American actor
• 1955 – Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
• 1960 – Pat van den Hauwe, Belgian footballer
• 1961 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (d. 1994)
• 1961 – Jon Tenney, American actor
• 1962 – Maruschka Detmers, Dutch actress
• 1962 – William “The Refrigerator” Perry, American football player
• 1963 – Benjamin Bratt, American actor
• 1963 – Jeff Carson, American singer
• 1963 – James Mangold, American film director and screenwriter
• 1964 – Heike Drechsler, East German-born sprinter
• 1964 – Georgie Parker, Australian actress
• 1964 – Billy Ripken, American baseball player
• 1965 – Chris Jones, American baseball player
• 1965 – Melanie Sloan, American attorney
• 1965 – Nancy Valen, American actress
• 1966 – Clifford Robinson, American basketball player
• 1966 – Dennis Wise, English footballer
• 1967 – Donovan Bailey, Jamaican-born Canadian sprinter
• 1967 – Miranda Otto, Australian actress
• 1971 – Michael McCary, American singer (Boyz II Men)
• 1971 – Paul van Dyk, German DJ
• 1972 – Angela Bloomfield, New Zealand actress
• 1972 – Charles Gipson, American baseball player
• 1972 – Željko Kalac, Australian soccer player
• 1973 – Themba Mnguni, South African footballer
• 1973 – Scott Storch, Canadian-American hip-hop producer
• 1974 – Frida Hallgren, Swedish actress
• 1975 – Valentin Badoi, Romanian footballer
• 1975 – Nawo Kawakita, Japanese drummer (Maximum the Hormone)
• 1975 – Benjamin Kowalewicz, Canadian musician (Billy Talent)
• 1975 – Jonathan Scarfe, Canadian actor
• 1977 – Éric Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1977 – Sylvain Distin, French footballer
• 1978 – Gunter Van Handenhoven, Belgian footballer
• 1978 – Kaine, American rapper (Ying Yang Twins)
• 1979 – Mihai Traistariu, Romanian singer
• 1979 – Jessie Ward, American professional wrestler
• 1979 – Trevor Immelman, South African golfer
• 1981 – Flo Rida, American rapper
• 1981 – Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer
• 1981 – Took Leng How, Malaysian criminal (d. 2006)
• 1981 – Gareth Williams, Scottish footballer
• 1982 – Garnon Davies, Welsh actor
• 1983 – Kelenna Azubuike, English basketball player
• 1983 – Danielle Lloyd, English model
• 1983 – Antrel Rolle, National Football League defensive back
• 1985 – Keita Tachibana, member of Japanese boy band w-inds.
• 1985 – Girish Swami from bhandup mumbai india
• 1987 – Hallee Hirsh, American actress
• 1988 – Anna Popplewell, English actress
• 1992 – Blake Falls, footballplayer

December 16 – Deaths:

• 705 – Empress Wu of Zhou (b. 625)
• 714 – Pippin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia
• 867 – Eberhard of Friuli
• 999 – Saint Adelaide of Italy (b. 931)
• 1325 – Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France (b. 1270)
• 1378 – Otto III of Montferrat
• 1379 – John Fitzalan, Marshal of England
• 1470 – John II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1425)
• 1515 – Afonso de Albuquerque Portuguese naval general (b. 1453)
• 1598 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral (b. 1545)
• 1669 – Nathaniel Fiennes, English politician (b. circa 1608)
• 1687 – William Petty, English scientist and philosopher (b. 1623)
• 1751 – Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (b. 1700)
• 1765 – Peter Frederick Haldimand, Swiss military officer and surveyor
• 1774 – François Quesnay, French economist (b. 1694)
• 1783 – Johann A. Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)
• 1783 – Sir William James, British naval commander (b. 1720)
• 1809 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (b. 1755)
• 1859 – Wilhelm Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1786)
• 1897 – Alphonse Daudet, French novelist and short story writer (b. 1840)
• 1898 – Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and art collector (b. 1832)
• 1914 – Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer (b. 1832)
• 1921 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French composer (b. 1835)
• 1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz, first President of Poland (b. 1865)
• 1928 – Elinor Wylie, American poet and writer (b. 1885)
• 1935 – Thelma Todd, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1940 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player (b. 1866)
• 1945 – Giovanni Agnelli, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1866)
• 1945 – Fumimaro Konoye, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1891)
• 1949 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian film director (b. 1873)
• 1956 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh artist (b. 1890)
• 1965 – W. Somerset Maugham, English writer (b. 1874)
• 1976 – Réal Caouette, French Canadian politician (Social Credit Party of Canada) (b. 1917)
• 1977 – Risto Jarva, Finnish filmmaker (b. 1934)
• 1980 – Colonel Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1890)
• 1980 – Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
• 1982 – Colin Chapman, English engineer and automobile manufacturer, founder of Lotus
• Cars (b. 1928)
• 1984 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (b. 1907)
• 1985 – Thomas Bilotti, American mafioso (b. 1940)
• 1985 – Paul Castellano, American mafioso (b. 1915)
• 1988 – Sylvester, American singer (b. 1948)
• 1989 – Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentine racing driver (b. 1913)
• 1989 – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
• 1989 – Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
• 1989 – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
• 1990 – Douglas Campbell, American pilot (b. 1896)
• 1992 – Blake Falls (football player)
• 1993 – Moses Gunn, American actor (b. 1929)
• 1993 – Tanaka Kakuei, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1918)
• 1995 – Johnny Moss, American poker player (b. 1907)
• 1995 – Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (b. 1939)
• 1996 – Quentin Bell, English art historian (b. 1910)
• 1997 – Nicolette Larson, American singer (b. 1952)
• 1998 – William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)
• 2001 – Stuart Adamson, English-born Scottish musician (The Skids, Big Country) (b. 1958)
• 2001 – Stefan Heym, German author (b. 1913)
• 2003 – Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Gary Stewart, American musician and songwriter (b. 1945)
• 2004 – Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (b. 1933)
• 2005 – Kenneth Bulmer, English author (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Ed Hansen, American film director and editor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – John Spencer, American actor (b. 1946)
• 2006 – Don Jardine, Canadian professional wrestler (b. 1940)
• 2006 – Taliep Petersen, South African singer and composer (b. 1950)
• 2006 – Pnina Salzman, Israeli pianist (b. 1922)
• 2007 – Dan Fogelberg, American singer/songwriter (b. 1951)

December 16 – Holidays:

• Bahrain – National Day
• Bangladesh – Victory Day
• India – Vijay Divas (Victory Day)
• Kazakhstan – Independence Day
• South Africa – Day of Reconciliation
• Afrikaners (South Africa) – Day of the Vow
• Mexico – First day of Las Posadas
• Philippines – First day of Misa de Gallo
• St. Adelaide
• St. Eusebius of Vercelli

On This Day in History December 15

December 15 – Events:

• 533 – Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals, commanded by King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron.
• 1167 – Sicilian chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent a rebellion.
• 1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia.
• 1467 – Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being  injured thrice, at the Battle of Baia.
• 1791 – The United States Bill of Rights becomes law when ratified by the Virginia legislature.
• 1864 – In the Battle of Nashville, Union forces under George H. Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John B. Hood.
• 1868 – Shogunate rebels found Ezo Republic in Hokkaido.
• 1891 – James Naismith introduces the first version of basketball, with thirteen rules, a peach basket nailed to either end of his school’s gymnasium, and two teams of nine players.
• 1913 – Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1914 – World War I: The Serbian Army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Austro- Hungarian Army.
• 1914 – Gas explosion at Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyushu, Japan, 687 killed. This accident is the worst coal mine disaster in Japanese history.
• 1915 – World War I: Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig replaces John French, 1st Earl of Ypres as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force.
• 1917 – World War I: An armistice is reached between the new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.
• 1941 – Annihilation of Jews in Kharkiv, Ukraine: at temperatures of -15 degrees C below zero near the Rogan works, 8 km away from Kharkiv in “Drobitsky Ravine” (Drobitsky Yar), over 15 000 Jews are shot.
• 1941 – The American Federation of Labor adopts a no-strike policy in war industries.
• 1945 – Occupation of Japan: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as state religion of Japan.
• 1960 – King Baudouin of Belgium marries Fabiola Fernanda María de las Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón in Brussels.
• 1960 – Richard Paul Pavlick is arrested for attempting to blow up and assassinate the U.S. President-Elect, John F. Kennedy only four days earlier.
• 1961 – In Jerusalem, Adolph Eichmann is sentenced to death after being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.
• 1965 – Gemini program: Gemini 6A, crewed by Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford, is launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Four orbits later, it achieved the first space rendezvous with Gemini 7.
• 1967 – The Silver Bridge collapses, killing 46 people.
• 1970 – Illinois State Constitution is adopted at a special election.
• 1970 – South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsized off Korean Strait, 308 killed.
• 1973 – John Paul Getty III, grandson of J. Paul Getty, American billionaire is found alive near Naples, Italy, after being kidnapped by an Italian gang on July 10, 1973
• 1976 – Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
• 1978 – President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People’s Republic of China and cutoff all relations with Taiwan
• 1993 – History of Northern Ireland: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
• 1994 – Palau becomes a member of the UN.
• 1995 – The European Communities Court of Justice hands down the “Bosman ruling,” giving EU footballers the right to a free transfer at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they are transferring from one UEFA Federation to another.
• 1997 – A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
• 2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after 11 years and $27,000,000 to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
•  2005 – Latvia amends its constitution to eliminate possibility of gays and lesbians being entitled to marry.
• 2005 – Argentina’s president Néstor Kirchner announces the early repayment of its external debt to the IMF.
• 2005 – Introduction of the F-22 Raptor into USAF active service.
• 2005 – The 2005 Atlantic Power Outage began.
• 2006 – First flight of the F-35 Lightning II.

December 15 – Birthdays:

• 37 – Nero, Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (d. 68)
• 1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect (Eiffel tower) (d. 1923)
• 1852 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1908)
• 1859 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish initiator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
• 1860 – Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician, Nobel laureate (d. 1904)
• 1860 – Abner Powell, American baseball player (d. 1953)
• 1861 – Charles Duryea, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
• 1878 – Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)
• 1888 – Maxwell Anderson, American writer (d. 1959)
• 1892 – J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)
• 1896 – Betty Smith, American author (d. 1972)
• 1899 – Harold Abrahams, English sprinter (d. 1978)
• 1902 – Robert F. Bradford, 57 Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1983)
• 1907 – Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect
• 1910 – John H. Hammond, American musician (d. 1987)
• 1911 – Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Ray Eames, American designer (d. 1988)
• 1913 – Roger Gaudry, French Canadian chemist, businessman and corporate director (d. 2001)
• 1913 – Muriel Rukeyser, American poet (d. 1980)
• 1916 – Buddy Cole, American pianist (d. 1964)
• 1916 – Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2004)
• 1917 – Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, linguist and writer of Pakistan (d. 2005)
• 1918 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (d. 1961)
• 1919 – Max Yasgur, owner of the Woodstock Festival site (d. 1973)
• 1920 – Kurt Schaffenberger, American comics artist (d. 2002)
• 1921 – Alan Freed, American disc jockey (d. 1965)
• 1923 – Freeman Dyson, English-born American physicist
• 1923 – Uziel Gal, Israeli firearm designer (d. 2002)
• 1923 – Valentin Varennikov, Russian general and statesman
• 1925 – Sam Pollock, Canadian ice hockey general manager
• 1925 – Kasey Rogers, American actress (d. 2006)
• 1928 – Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Austrian artist (d. 2000)
• 1928 – Jerry Wallace, American singer
• 1929 – Barry Harris, American bebop jazz pianist
• 1930 – Edna O’Brien, Irish novelist and short story writer
• 1932 – Jesse Belvin, American musician (d. 1960)
• 1933 – Bapu, Indian cartoonist, designer and film director
• 1933 – Tim Conway, American actor and comedian
• 1933 – Donald Woods, South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist (d. 2001)
• 1938 – Billy Shaw, American football player
• 1939 – Cindy Birdsong, American singer (The Supremes)
• 1940 – Nick Buoniconti, American football player
• 1942 – Dave Clark, English musician (The Dave Clark Five)
• 1943 – Kathleen Blanco, American politician
• 1943 – Lucien den Arend, Dutch artist
• 1944 – Jim Leyland, American baseball manager
• 1944 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian campaigner (d. 1988)
• 1945 – Thaao Penghlis, Australian actor
• 1946 – Art Howe, American baseball player and manager
• 1948 – Melanie Chartoff, American actress
• 1948 – Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (d. 1991)
• 1949 – Don Johnson, American actor
• 1952 – Allan Simonsen, Danish footballer
• 1952 – Julie Taymor, American director
• 1953 – J. M. DeMatteis, American comic book writer
• 1955 – Paul Simonon, English bassist (The Clash)
• 1957 – Mario Marois, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1957 – Mike McAlary, American journalist (d. 1998)
• 1957 – Yuuichi Nagashima, Japanese voice actor
• 1957 – Laura Molina, American artist, musician and actress
• 1960 – Walter Werzowa, Austrian composer
• 1961 – Karin Resetarits, Austrian journalist
• 1963 – Andrew Luster, Max Factor heir
• 1963 – Helen Slater, American actress
• 1966 – Manos Papayiannis, Greek fashion model and actor
• 1967 – David Howells, English footballer
• 1967 – Mo Vaughn, American baseball player
• 1968 – Javid Hussain, Indian film producer
• 1968 – Osama Ali Maher, Swedish politician
• 1968 – Garrett Wang, American actor
• 1969 – Chantal Petitclerc, Canadian wheelchair athlete
• 1970 – Frankie Dettori, Italian jockey
• 1970 – Michael Shanks, Canadian actor
• 1972 – Rodney Harrison, American football player
• 1972 – Stuart Townsend, Irish actor
• 1973 – Surya Bonaly, French-born American figure skater1973 – Ryu Seung-wan, South Korean actor and director
• 1976 – Baichung Bhutia, Indian footballer
• 1976 – Aaron Miles, American baseball player
• 1976 – Elix Skipper, American professional wrestler
• 1978 – Mark Jansen, Dutch guitarist (Epica) 1978 – Jerome McDougle, American football player
• 1979 – Adam Brody, American actor
• 1979 – Eric Young, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1980 – Sergio Pizzorno, English guitarist (Kasabian)
• 1981 – Najoua Belyzel, French singer
• 1981 – Brendan Fletcher, Canadian actor
• 1981 – Andy González, Puerto Rican baseball player
• 1981 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (d. 2005)
• 1981 – Creighton Lovelace, American Baptist minister
• 1982 – Charlie Cox, English actor
• 1982 – Borja García, Spanish racing driver
• 1982 – George O. Gore II, American actor
• 1983 – René Goguen (René Duprée), Canadian professional wrestler
• 1983 – Ronnie Radke, American singer (Escape the Fate)
• 1983 – Wang Hao, Chinese table tennis player
• 1984 – Joshua Third, British Guitarist in The Horrors.
• 1986 – Snejana Onopka, Ukrainian supermodel
• 1991 – Eunice Cho, American actress

December 15 – Deaths:

• 1025 – Basil II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 958)
• 1072 – Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan in Persia (b. 1029)
• 1230 – King Otakar I of Bohemia
• 1263 – King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
• 1598 – Philips van Marnix, lord of Sint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)
• 1621 – Charles de Luynes, Constable of France (b. 1578)
• 1673 – Margaret Cavendish, English writer (b. 1623)
• 1675 – Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter (b. 1632)
• 1683 – Izaak Walton, English writer (b. 1593)
• 1688 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)
• 1715 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (b. 1642)
• 1753 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (b. 1694)
• 1792 – Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (b. 1756)
• 1855 – Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician (b. 1803)
• 1890 – Sitting Bull, Sioux nation leader (b. circa 1831)
• 1943 – Fats Waller, American musician (b. 1904)
• 1944 – Glenn Miller, American musician (later declared dead on this date, exact date of death unknown) (b. 1904)
• 1947 – Arthur Machen, Welsh author (b. 1863)
• 1950 – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian political leader, Iron Man of India (b. 1875)
• 1958 – Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1900)
• 1962 – Charles Laughton, English actor (b. 1899)
• 1966 – Walt Disney, American animator (b. 1901)
• 1968 – Antonio Barrette, Canadian politician, premier of Quebec (b. 1899)
• 1968 – Jess Willard, American boxer (b. 1881)
• 1971 – Paul Pierre Lévy, French mathematician (b. 1886)
• 1974 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born screenwriter and film producer (b. 1902)
• 1977 – Wilfred Kitching, the 7th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1893)
• 1978 – Chill Wills, American actor (b. 1903)
• 1984 – Lennard Pearce, English actor (b. 1915)
• 1984 – Jan Peerce, American tenor (b. 1904)
• 1989 – Arnold Moss, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1989 – Edward Underdown, English actor (b. 1908)
• 1991 – Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev, Soviet sniper (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Russ Haas, American professional wrestler (b. 1974)
• 2001 – Rufus Thomas, American musician (b. 1917)
• 2003 – George Fisher, American political cartoonist (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1947)
• 2004 – Pauline Gore, mother of Al Gore (b. 1912)
• 2005 – Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (b. 1915)
• 2005 – William Proxmire, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (b. 1915)
• 2005 – Darrell Russell, American football player (b. 1976)
• 2006 – Clay Regazzoni, Swiss Formula One driver (b. 1939)
• 2007 – John Berg (actor), American actor (b. 1949)
• 2007 – Julia Carson, U.S. Congresswoman from Indiana (b. 1938)

December 15 – Holidays :

• Roman festivals – Consualia in honor of Consus is held.
• Bill of Rights Day, as stated by Franklin Roosevelt.

On This Day in History December 14

December 14 – Events:

• 1287 – St. Lucia’s flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over  50,000 people.
• 1542 – Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland.
• 1702 (according to the old calendar; January 30, 1703 by the new calendar) – The Fortyseven Ronin, under the command of Oishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master.
• 1751 – The Theresian Military Academy is founded as the first Military Academy in the world.
• 1782 – The Montgolfier brothers first balloon lifts on its first test flight.
• 1819 – Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state.
• 1825 – Advocates of Liberalism in Russia rise up against Tsar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist Revolt in St. Petersburg.
• 1836 – The Toledo War unofficially ends.
• 1896 – The Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
• 1900 – Quantum Mechanics: Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his  blackbody radiation law.
• 1902 – The Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first Pacific telegraph cable, from Ocean Beach, San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii.
• 1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
• 1907 – The schooner Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and founders near the Hellweather’s Reef within the Scilly Isles in a gale. The pilot and 15 seamen die.
• 1911 – Roald Amundsen’s team, comprising himself, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel, and Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the South Pole.
• 1914 – Lisandro de la Torre and others found the Democratic Progressist Party (Partido Demócrata Progresista, PDP) at the Hotel Savoy, Buenos Aires.
• 1918 – Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounces the Finnish throne.
• 1939 – Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations.
• 1941 – German military commander of Kharkiv, Ukraine issues an order, under which the Jewish population was to move to the city periphery within 2 days, into the barracks of the works of a machine factory. In the next days 15,000 Jews are shot at Drobitsky Yar.
• 1941 – World War II: Japan signs treaty of alliance with Thailand.
• 1946 – The UN General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City.
• 1947 – The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is founded in Daytona Beach, Florida.
• 1955 – Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Portugal, Romania and Spain join the United Nations.
• 1958 – The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first expedition to reach The Pole of Relative Inaccessibility in the Antarctic.
• 1962 – NASA’s Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
• 1964 – American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States – The United States Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Congress can use its Commerce Clause power to fight discrimination.
• 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan is the last person to walk on the moon, after he and Harrison Schmitt complete the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of Apollo 17. This was the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th century.
• 1981 – Arab-Israeli conflict: Israel’s Knesset passes The Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the area of the Golan Heights.
• 1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris by leaders of various governments.
• 2003 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
• 2004 – The Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, near Millau, France is officially opened.

December 14 – Birthdays:

• 1009 – Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (d. 1045)
• 1503 – Nostradamus, French astrologer (d. 1566)
• 1546 – Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and alchemist (d. 1601)
• 1625 – Barthélemy d’Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (d. 1695)
• 1631 – Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway, English philosopher (d. 1679)
• 1640 – (baptism date) – Aphra Behn, English playwright and novelist (d. 1689)
• 1678 – Daniel Neal, English historian (d. 1743)
• 1720 – Justus Möser, German statesman (d. 1794)
• 1775 – Philander Chase, American founder of Kenyon College (d. 1852)
• 1775 – Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral (d. 1860)
• 1784 – Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias (d. 1806)
• 1787 – Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este, Empress of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (d. 1816)
• 1824 – Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, French painter (d. 1898)
• 1866 – Roger Fry, English artist and art critic (d. 1934)
• 1870 – Karl Renner, President of Austria (d. 1950)
• 1881 – Katherine MacDonald, American actress and film producer (d. 1956)
• 1884 – Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (d. 1950)
• 1895 – Paul Eluard, French poet (d. 1952)
• 1895 – King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 1952)
• 1896 – Jimmy Doolittle, American General (d. 1993)
• 1897 – Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d. 1995)
• 1897 – Kurt Schuschnigg, Austrian politician (d. 1977)
• 1902 – Frances Bavier, American actress (d. 1989)
• 1908 – Morey Amsterdam, American comedian and actor (d. 1996)
• 1908 – Claude Davey, Welsh rugby union footballer
• 1908 – Mária Szepes, Hungarian authoress (d. 2007)
• 1909 – Edward Tatum, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (d. 1975)
• 1911 – Spike Jones, American comedian and musician (d. 1965)
• 1911 – Hans von Ohain, German/American aerospace engineer (d. 1998)
• 1913 – Dan Dailey, American actor (d. 1978)
• 1914 – Karl Carstens, President of Germany (d. 1992)
• 1914 – Attila Petschauer, Hungarian fencer (d. 1943)
• 1914 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (d. 2003)
• 1916 – Shirley Jackson, American writer (d. 1965)
• 1917 – C.-H. Hermansson, Swedish communist leader
• 1917 – June Taylor, American choreographer (d. 2004)
• 1917 – Elyse Knox, American Actress
• 1918 – James T. Aubrey, American television executive (d. 1994)
• 1918 – B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga advocate
• 1920 – Clark Terry, American trumpeter
• 1922 – Nikolay Basov, Soviet physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Don Hewitt, American creator of 60 Minutes
• 1923 – Gerard Reve, Dutch writer
• 1924 – Raj Kapoor, Indian actor (d. 1988)
• 1925 – Sam Jones, American baseball player (d. 1971)
• 1927 – Richard Cassilly, American tenor (d.1998)
• 1931 – Jon Elia, Pakistani scholar, poet and philosopher (d. 2002)
• 1932 – Abbe Lane, American singer and actress
• 1932 – Charlie Rich, American musician (d. 1995)
• 1935 – Lewis Arquette, American film actor, writer and producer (d. 2001)
• 1935 – Lee Remick, American actress (d. 1991)
• 1938 – Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian
• 1939 – Ernie Davis, American football player (d. 1963)
• 1940 – Lex Gold, Scottish football administrator
• 1941 – Karan Armstrong, American soprano
• 1941 – Ellen Willis, American journalist (d. 2006)
• 1942 – Zoe Laskari, Greek actress
• 1943 – Emmett Tyrrell, American magazine publisher
• 1946 – Jane Birkin, English-born French actress and singer
• 1946 – Patty Duke, American actress
• 1946 – Ruth Fuchs, East German athlete
• 1946 – Michael Ovitz, American film producer
• 1946 – Stan Smith, American tennis player
• 1946 – Joyce Vincent Wilson, American singer (Tony Orlando and Dawn)
• 1947 – Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
• 1947 – Linda Sutton, English artist
• 1948 – Lester Bangs, American music journalist (d. 1982)
• 1948 – Dee Wallace-Stone, American actress
• 1949 – Bill Buckner, American baseball player
• 1949 – Cliff Williams, English bassist (AC/DC)
• 1951 – Jan Timman, Dutch chess grandmaster
• 1952 – Germain Houde, French Canadian actor
• 1953 – Vijay Amritraj, Indian tennis player
• 1953 – René Eespere, Soviet-born Estonian composer
• 1953 – Vangelis Meimarakis, Greek lawyer and politician
• 1953 – Mikael Odenberg, Swedish politician
• 1954 – James Horan, American actor
• 1954 – Alan Kulwicki, American NASCAR driver (d. 1993)
• 1954 – Steven MacLean, Canadian astronaut
• 1956 – Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein skier
• 1957 – Gary Ferris, American author
• 1958 – Mike Scott, Scottish singer-songwriter (The Waterboys)
• 1958 – Spider Stacy, English musician (The Pogues)
• 1959 – Jorge Vaca, Mexican boxer
• 1960 – Bob Paris, American bodybuilder and gay rights advocate
• 1960 – Chris Waddle, English footballer
• 1962 – Ginger Lynn (Ginger Lynn Allen), American adult film actress
• 1963 – Cynthia Gibb, American actress
• 1965 – Craig Biggio, American baseball player
• 1965 – Ken Hill, American baseball player
• 1966 – Fabrizio Giovanardi, Italian racecar driver
• 1966 – Bill Ranford, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1966 – Tim Skold, Swedish/American musician
• 1967 – Ewa Bialolecka, Polish writer
• 1969 – Scott Hatteberg, American baseball player
• 1970 – Nadine Garner, Australian actress
• 1970 – Anna Maria Jopek, Polish singer
• 1970 – Beth Orton, English singer-songwriter
• 1971 – Natascha McElhone, English actress
• 1972 – Eric Anderson, American musical theatre actor
• 1972 – Marcus Jensen, American baseball player
• 1973 – Tomasz Radzinski, Polish-born Canadian soccer player
• 1973 – Tia Texada, American actress and singer
• 1973 – Thuy Trang, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1974 – Billy Koch, American baseball player
• 1975 – Justin Furstenfeld, American rock singer
• 1976 – Leland Chapman, American bounty hunter
• 1976 – André Couto, Portuguese racing driver
• 1976 – Santiago Ezquerro, Spanish footballer
• 1977 – KaDee Strickland, American actress
• 1978 – Kim St-Pierre, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1978 – Radu Sârbu, Moldovan singer (O-Zone)
• 1978 – Patty Schnyder, Swiss tennis player
• 1979 – Sophie Monk, Australian actress, singer, and model
• 1979 – Michael Owen, English footballer
• 1980 – Frankie J, American singer
• 1980 – Tata Young, Thai-American singer
• 1980 – Didier Zokora, Ivorian footballer
• 1981 – Amber Chia, Malaysian model and actress
• 1981 – Emilie Heymans, Canadian diver
• 1981 – Johnny Jeter, American professional  wrestler
• 1981 – Shaun Marcum, American baseball player
• 1982 – Josh Fields, American baseball player
• 1982 – Steve Sidwell, English footballer
• 1982 – Anthony Way, English singer and actor
• 1984 – Chris Brunt, Northern Irish footballer
• 1984 – Edward Rainsford, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1985 – Jakub Blaszczykowski, Polish footballer
• 1985 – Julio Pimentel, Dominican baseball player
• 1985 – Tom Smith, Welsh rugby union footballer
• 1985 – Nonami Takizawa, Japanese actress
• 1988 – Nicolas Batum, French basketball player
• 1988 – Vanessa Hudgens, American singer and actress
• 1989 – Pedro Silva, Brazilian footballer
• 1992 – Tori Kelly, American singer
• 1995 – Princess Olimpia Preslavska of Bulgaria

December 14 – Deaths:

• 1460 – Guarino da Verona(b. 1370)
• 1476 – Vlad III the Impaler (b. 1431)
• 1510 – Friedrich of Saxony (b. 1473)
• 1542 – King James V of Scotland (b. 1512)
• 1553 – Hanibal Lucic, Croatian writer (b. 1485)
• 1591 – Saint John of the Cross, Spanish friar and poet (b. 1542)
• 1624 – Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman (b. 1536)
• 1651 – Pierre Dupuy, French scholar (b. 1582)
• 1713 – Thomas Rymer, English historian (b. 1641)
• 1715 – Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1636)
• 1735 – Thomas Tanner, English bishop and antiquarian (b. 1674)
• 1741 – Charles Rollin, French historian (b. 1661)
• 1788 – Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b. 1714)
• 1788 – King Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
• 1799 – George Washington, first President of the United Statesdies in his residence Mount Vernon due to throat infection (b. 1732)
• 1838 – Jean-Olivier Chénier, French Canadian physician and Patriote (b. 1806)
• 1860 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1784)
• 1861 – Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, consort of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)
• 1865 – Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish geologist (b. 1794)
• 1873 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born American zoologist and geologist (b. 1807)
• 1902 – Julia Grant, wife of President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant (b. 1826)
• 1920 – George Gipp, American football player (b. 1895)
• 1927 – Yulian Vasilievich Sokhotski, Russian mathematician (b. 1842)
• 1935 – Stanley G. Weinbaum, American science-fiction author (b. 1902)
• 1947 – Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
• 1947 – Edward Higgins, General of The Salvation Army (b. 1864)
• 1956 – Juho Kusti Paasikivi, president of Finland (b. 1870)
• 1963 – Dinah Washington, American singer (b. 1924)
• 1964 – William Bendix, American actor (b. 1906)
• 1970 – Franz Schlegelberger, German Nazi politician (b. 1876)
• 1971 – Dick Tiger, Nigerian-born boxer (b. 1929)
• 1974 – Walter Lippman, American writer, journalist, and political commentator (b. 1889)
• 1975 – Arthur Treacher, English actor (b. 1894)
• 1978 – Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish diplomat, writer, historian and pacifist (b. 1886)
• 1984 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer and Nobel laureate (b. 1898)
• 1985 – Catherine Doherty, social justice activist (b. 1896)
• 1985 – Roger Maris, American baseball player (b. 1934)
• 1989 – Jock Mahoney, American actor and stuntman (b. 1919)
• 1989 – Andrei D. Sakharov, Russian physicist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1921)
• 1990 – Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
• 1993 – Jeff Alm, American football player (b. 1968)
• 1993 – Myrna Loy, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1910)
• 1996 – Gaston Miron, French Canadian poet and editor (b. 1928)
• 1997 – Stubby Kaye, American actor (b. 1918)
• 1997 – Kurt Winter, Canadian musician (The Guess Who) (b. 1946)
• 1998 – Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924)
• 1998 – Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr., American civil rights activist and author (b. 1928)
• 1998 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist (b. 1924)
• 2001 – W. G. Sebald, German writer (b. 1944)
• 2003 – Jeanne Crain, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Blas Ople, foreign minister of the Philippines (b. 1927)
• 2004 – Rod Kanehl, American baseball player (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino actor and presidential candidate (b. 1939)
• 2005 – Trevanian, American author (b. 1931)
• 2006 – Anton Balasingham, chief political strategist of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1938)
• 2006 – Ahmet Ertegün, co-founder of Atlantic Records (b. 1923)
• 2006 – Mike Evans, American actor (b. 1949)
• 2007 – Ali Shafeya, Iraqi journalist (b. 1984)

December 14 – Holidays or Events:

• You know, I couldn’t find any for this date!

On This Day in History December 13

December 13 – Events:

• 1294 – Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months; Celestine hoped to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.
• 1545 – Council of Trent begins.
• 1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.
• 1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.
• 1642 – Abel Janszoon Tasman reaches New Zealand.
• 1643 – English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
• 1769 – Dartmouth College is founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, with a Royal Charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth.
• 1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside.
• 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing – Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese.
• 1937 – Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.
• 1938 – The Holocaust: 100 deportees from Sachsenhausen build the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.
• 1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.
• 1941 – World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
• 1943 – World War II: 710 Bombers of U.S. 8th Air Force attack Kiel, Germany.
• 1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.
• 1959 – Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus.
• 1951 – Margaret Thatcher (Roberts) marries Denis Thatcher at City Methodist in London.
• 1962 – NASA “Relay 1″ launch, first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
• 1967 – Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels
• 1967 – San Diego, CA records snow at a zero elevation after temperatures plunge 19 degrees (F) in eight hours.
• 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. This was the last manned mission to the moon of the 20th century.
• 1974 – Malta becomes a republic.
• 1977 – A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.
• 1979 – The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Joe Clark is defeated in the House of Commons, prompting the 1980 Canadian election.
• 1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.
• 1989 – The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden.
• 1996 – Kofi Annan is elected as Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• 2000 – The “Texas 7″ escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.
• 2000 – American Vice President Al Gore delivers his concession speech effectively ending his hopes of becoming the 43rd President of the United States.
• 2001 – the Indian Parliament Sansad is attacked by terrorists. 15 people are killed, including all the terrorists.
• 2002 – Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.
• 2003 – Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.
• 2004 – Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.
• 2006 – The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, announced as extinct.
• 2007 – The Mitchell Report is publicly released listing the names 89 Major League Baseball players that have presumably used anabolic steroids and human growth hormones.

December 13 – Birthdays:

• 1521 – Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)
• 1533 – King Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577)
• 1553 – King Henry IV of France (d. 1610)
• 1585 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (d. 1649)
• 1640 – Robert Plot, English naturalist (d. 1696)
• 1662 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1729)
• 1678 – Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
• 1720 – Carlo Gozzi, Italian dramatist (d. 1804)
• 1724 – Franz Aepinus, German scientist (d. 1802)
• 1784 – Archduke Louis of Austria (d. 1864)
• 1797 – Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
• 1804 – Joseph Howe, Canadian politician (d. 1873)
• 1816 – Ernst Werner von Siemens, German engineer, inventor, and industrialist (d. 1892)
• 1818 – Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
• 1836 – Franz von Lenbach, German painter (d. 1904)
• 1856 – Svetozar Boroevic, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1920)
• 1860 – Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
• 1864 – Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
• 1867 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (d. 1917)
• 1870 – Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (d. 1940)
• 1871 – Emily Carr, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
• 1874 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian-born pianist (d. 1944)
• 1883 – Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer and archivist (d. 1950)
• 1887 – George Polya, Hungarian-born mathematician (d. 1985)
• 1887 – Alvin York, American soldier & Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
• 1897 – Drew Pearson, American journalist (d. 1969)
• 1903 – Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist (d. 1993)
• 1906 – Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968)
• 1906 – Sir Laurens van der Post, South African author (d. 1996)
• 1910 – Van Heflin, American actor (d. 1971)
• 1911 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and Bank of Sweden Prize winner (d. 1999)
• 1911 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (d. 1972)
• 1913 – Arnold Brown, the 11th General of The Salvation Army (d. 2002)
• 1913 – Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
• 1915 – Curd Jürgens, German-born Austrian actor (d. 1982)
• 1915 – Ross Macdonald, American-born author (d. 1983)
• 1915 – B. J. Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa 1966-1978 (d. 1983)
• 1917 – John Hart, American actor
• 1919 – Hans-Joachim Marseille, German flying ace of World War II (d. 1942)
• 1920 – George Shultz, United States Secretary of State 1982-1989
• 1923 – Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1923 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (d. 2003)
• 1925 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor and comedian
• 1926 – George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
• 1929 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor
• 1930 – Robert Prosky, American actor
• 1934 – Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer
• 1935 – Joe Christopher, American baseball player
• 1935 – Ken Hall, American football player
• 1935 – Lindy McDaniel, American baseball player
• 1936 – His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan (Aga Khan IV), Imam (leader) of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims
• 1936 – J. C. Martin, American baseball player
• 1937 – Ron Taylor, Canadian baseball player
• 1938 – Alvin Curran, American composer
• 1939 – Eric Flynn, British actor and singer (d. 2002)
• 1941 – John Davidson, American actor and game show host
• 1942 – Anna Eshoo, American politician
• 1943 – Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
• 1943 – Gösta Winbergh, Swedish tenor (d. 2002)
• 1944 – Hwang Jang Lee, Korean martial artist and film actor
• 1945 – Kathy Garver, American actress
• 1945 – Brian McGuire, Australian racing driver (d. 1977)
• 1947 – Darlene Cates, American actress
• 1947 – Dave Hamilton, American baseball player
• 1948 – Jeff Baxter, American guitarist (Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers)
• 1948 – Ted Nugent, American guitarist
• 1948 – Brian Wilson, Scottish politician
• 1949 – Tom Verlaine, American singer/guitarist of Television
• 1949 – Randy Owen, lead vocals, rhythm guitar for Alabama
• 1949 – Paula Wilcox, English actress
• 1950 – Wendie Malick, American actress
• 1950 – Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa
• 1952 – Sylvester Ritter (Junkyard Dog), American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
• 1953 – Ben Bernanke, American economist and United States Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• 1953 – Bill Castro, Dominican baseball player
• 1953 – Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1954 – John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
• 1954 – Tamora Pierce, American author
• 1956 – Dale Berra, American baseball player
• 1957 – Steve Buscemi, American actor
• 1957 – Morris Day, American singer (The Time)
• 1957 – Jean-Marie Messier, French businessman
• 1958 – Lynn-Holly Johnson, American figure skater and actress
• 1959 – Jim Barrell, American professional wrestler
• 1959 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor
• 1960 – Daggubati Venkatesh, Indian actor
• 1961 – Harry Gregson-Williams, English composer
• 1961 – Irene Saez, Miss Universe 1981 and Venezuelan politician
• 1961 – Gary Zimmerman, former NFL offensive lineman
• 1962 – Roger Ilegems, Belgian track cyclist and road bicycle racer
• 1962 – Kendra Slewenski, English netballer
• 1964 – Hide, Japanese musician (X Japan) (d. 1998)
• 1965 – Marko Mäetamm, Estonian artist
• 1966 – Ross Burden, New Zealand celebrity chef
• 1966 – Don Roff, American writer and filmmaker
• 1967 – Jamie Foxx, American actor
• 1967 – Bo Pelini, American football coach
• 1968 – Tony Curran, Scottish actor
• 1969 – Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1969 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer (d. 2007)
• 1973 – Christie Clark, American actress
• 1974 – Sara Cox, English TV and radio presenter
• 1974 – Nicholas McCarthy, English guitarist (Franz Ferdinand)
• 1975 – Bates Battaglia, National Hockey League player
• 1975 – Tom DeLonge, American guitarist (blink-182, Angels & Airwaves)
• 1975 – Matthew LeCroy, American baseball player
• 1976 – Josh Fogg, American baseball player
• 1976 – Radoslaw Sobolewski, Polish footballer
• 1976 – Søren Friis, Danish footballer
• 1977 – Peter Stringer, Irish rugby union footballer
• 1978 – Ryo Kawakita, Japanese guitarist (Maximum the Hormone)
• 1981 – Amy Lee, American singer/songwriter (Evanescence)
• 1982 – Anthony Callea, Australian singer/songwriter
• 1982 – Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player
• 1982 – Tuka Rocha, Brazilian racing driver
• 1982 – Freddie Weinke, American football player
• 1982 – Dominik Werling, German footballer
• 1983 – Matt Deis, American bassist
• 1983 – Otylia Jedrzejczak, Polish swimmer
• 1988 – Darcy Blake, Welsh footballer
• 1989 – Taylor Swift, American singer/songwriter
• 1991 – Jay Greenberg, American composer
• 2005 – Prince Aymeric of Belgium
• 2005 – Prince Nicolas of Belgium

December 13 – Deaths:

• 1048 – Al-Biruni, Persian mathematician (b. 973)
• 1124 – Pope Callixtus II
• 1126 – Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria
• 1204 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
• 1250 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)
• 1404 – Albert, Count of Holland (b. 1336)
• 1466 – Donatello, Florentine artist and sculptor (b. 1386)
• 1516 – Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (b. 1462)
• 1521 – Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)
• 1557 – Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician
• 1565 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (b. 1516)
• 1603 – François Viète, French mathematician (b. 1540)
• 1621 – Katarina Stenbock, Queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1535)
• 1716 – Charles de La Fosse, French painter (b. 1640)
• 1721 – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway (b. 1676)
• 1729 – Anthony Collins, English philosopher (b. 1676)
• 1754 – Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
• 1769 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)
• 1783 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)
• 1784 – Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (b. 1709)
• 1814 – Charles Joseph, Prince de Ligne, Belgian-born Austrian field marshal (b. 1735)
• 1835 – John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1760)
• 1837 – Herman of Alaska, Russian Orthodox hermit (b. 1756)
• 1863 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (b. 1813)
•  1868 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist (b. 1794)
• 1881 – August Senoa, Croatian writer (b. 1838)
• 1883 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
• 1895 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist (b. 1800)
• 1919 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist (b. 1850)
• 1922 – Hannes Hafstein, Icelandic politician and poet (b. 1861)
• 1924 – Samuel Gompers, American labor and political leader, founder of AFL (b. 1850)
• 1930 – Fritz Pregl, Slovenian/Austrian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)
• 1931 – Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1840)
• 1932 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (b. 1853)
• 1934 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (b. 1854)
• 1935 – Victor Grignard, French chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1871)
• 1940 – Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval, French physicist (b. 1851)
• 1940 – George Regas, Greek actor (b. 1890)
• 1942 – Wlodimir Ledochowski, Polish-Austrian director of the Society of Jesus (b. 1866)
• 1944 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French artist (b. 1866)
• 1944 – Lupe Vélez, Mexican actress (b. 1908)
• 1945 – Irma Grese, Nazi war criminal (b. 1923)
• 1945 – Josef Kramer, commandant of Bergen Belsen concentration camp (b. 1906)
• 1945 – Elisabeth Volkenrath, supervisor at concentration camps (b. 1919)
• 1947 – Nicholas Roerich, Russian-born painter (b. 1874)
• 1950 – Abraham Wald, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1902)
• 1954 – John Raymond Hubbell, American writer (b. 1879)
• 1955 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, Nobel laureate (b. 1874)
• 1958 – Tim Moore, American actor (b. 1887)
• 1961 – Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)
• 1962 – Harry Barris, American popular singer (b. 1905)
• 1969 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral (b. 1886)
• 1969 – Spencer Williams, Jr., American actor (b. 1893)
• 1973 – Henry Green, English author (b. 1905)
• 1979 – Jon Hall, American actor (b. 1915)
• 1981 – Pigmeat Markham, American entertainer (b. 1904)
• 1983 – Alexander Schmemann, Orthodox Christian priest and theologian (b. 1921)
• 1983 – Nichita Stanescu, Romanian poet (b. 1933
• 1992 – K.C. Irving, Canadian industrialist (b. 1899)
• 1992 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and heir (b. 1899)
• 1993 – Vanessa Duriès, French novelist (b. 1972)
• 1994 – Norman Beaton, Guyanese actor (b. 1934)
• 2001 – Chuck Schuldiner, American musician (Death) (b. 1967)
• 2002 – Zal Yanovsky, Canadian musician (The Lovin’ Spoonful) (b. 1945)
• 2003 – William V. Roth, Jr., U.S. Senator (b. 1921)
• 2004 – Andre Rodgers, Bahamian baseball player (b. 1934)
• 2004 – David Wheeler, English computer scientist (b. 1927)
• 2005 – Timothy Jordan II, American musician (The All American Rejects, Jonezetta) (b. 1981)
• 2005 – Stanley Tookie Williams, co-founder of the Crips (b. 1953)
• 2006 – Lamar Hunt, American sports executive (b. 1932)
• 2007 – Floyd Red Crow Westerman, American actor (b. 1936)
• 2007 – Mark Partridge, Rhodesian politician

December 13 – Holidays:

• Roman festivals – Tellus was worshipped in the district Carinae at the Esquiline Hill, and a lectisternium or table was spread for Ceres.
• In the Julian calendar before the Gregorian reform, this was the shortest day and longest night, and widely celebrated as such.
• Malta – Republic Day (since 1974)
• Saint Lucy’s Day in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and some regions of Italy, mainly Sicily, Veneto and Trentino.

The Thanksgiving Challenge Update

Here’s a quick update on the annual Thanksgiving Challenge (you can click here or type in http://smarturl.it/7pk3ue into your web browser in case you missed the post or want to read it again): thanks to your generosity, we have raised enough money to provide approximately 3,000 meals to people who have no idea where or what their next meal will be.  Wow!

For each of you who participated, several hundred people and I appreciate it!

Best regards and Merry Christmas!

Michael

 

On This Day in History December 12

December 12 – Events:

• 627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II’s Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
• 1098 – First Crusade: Massacre of Ma’arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breach the town’s walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.
• 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant – A Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt in HMS Victory, defeats a French fleet.
• 1812 – French invasion of Russia comes to an end.
• 1862 – USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
• 1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.
• 1897 – Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, is founded.
• 1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland.
• 1911 – Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
• 1914 – The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%.
• 1915 – President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.
• 1917 – In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.
• 1925 – The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.
• 1936 – Xi’an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek is kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
• 1937 – Panay incident: Japanese aircraft shell and sink US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River in China.
• 1939 – Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi – Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.
• 1940 – World War II: Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield as a result of a German air raid.
• 1941 – World War II: Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesus Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; Cesar Basa is killed.
• 1941 – World War II: USMC F4F “Wildcats” sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
• 1941 – World War II: Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.
• 1942 – A fire in a hostel in St. John’s, Newfoundland kills 100 people.
• 1946 – A fire at a New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
• 1948 – Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre – 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
• 1950 – Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
• 1956 – Commencement of the Irish Republican Army’s Border Campaign.
• 1963 – Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1964 – Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
• 1969 – Strategia della tensione: Piazza Fontana bombing – The offices of Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.
• 1979 – Coup d’état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun  Doohwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
• 1979 – President of Pakistan, Zia-ul-Haq, confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
• 1979 – Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe.
• 1982 – Women’s peace protest at Greenham Common – 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
• 1984 – Maaouiya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya becomes the third president of Mauritania after a coup d’etat against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the latter was attending a summit. Taya was ousted in March 2005 by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall in another coup.
• 1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.
• 1988 – The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains – one of the worst train crashes in Britain.
• 1991 – Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.
• 2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore

December 12 – Birthdays:

• 1298 – Albert II of Austria (d. 1358)
• 1418 – Albert VI of Austria (d. 1463)
• 1574 – Anne of Denmark, queen consort of James I of England (d. 1619)
• 1610 – Saint Vasilije (d. 1671)
• 1659 – Francesco Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (d. 1739)
• 1712 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (d. 1780)
• 1724 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (d. 1816)
• 1745 – John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1829)
• 1779 – Madeleine Sophie Barat, French saint (d. 1865)
• 1783 – Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (d. 1865)
• 1786 – William L. Marcy, American statesman (d. 1857)
• 1791 – Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, second wife of Napoleon (d. 1847)
• 1799 – Karl Briullov, Russian painter (d. 1852)
• 1805 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist (d. 1879)
• 1805 – Henry Wells, Founder of American Express (d. 1878)
• 1806 – Stand Watie, American Confederate general (d. 1871)
• 1821 – Gustave Flaubert, French writer (d. 1880)
• 1845 – Bruce Price, American architect (d. 1903)
• 1849 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1920)
• 1863 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (d. 1944)
• 1864 – Paul Elmer More, American essayist (d. 1937)
• 1866 – Alfred Werner, Swiss chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1919)
• 1870 – Walter Benona Sharp, American oil baron (d. 1912)
• 1875 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (d. 1953)
• 1876 – Alvin Kraenzlein, Olympic gold medalist (d. 1928)
• 1887 – Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)
• 1892 – Herman Potocnik aka Hermann Noordung, Slovenian rocket engineer (d. 1929)
• 1893 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (d. 1973)
• 1900 – Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)
• 1902 – Koloman Sokol, Slovak painter (d. 2003)
• 1903 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer (d. 1976)
• 1903 – Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese film director (d. 1963)
• 1904 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor and socialite (d. 1981)
• 1905 – Manès Sperber, Austrian-born writer (d. 1984)
• 1907 – Roy Douglas, English composer and orchestrator
• 1909 – Karen Morley, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1914 – Patrick O’Brian, English author (d. 2000)
• 1915 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)
• 1918 – Joe Williams, American singer (d. 1999)
• 1919 – Olivia Barclay, English astrologer (d. 2001)
• 1919 – Dan DeCarlo, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
• 1920 – Fred Kida, American comics artist
• 1923 – Bob Barker, American television game show host
• 1923 – Ken Kavanagh, Australian racing driver
• 1924 – Ed Koch, Mayor of New York City
• 1925 – Vladimir Shainsky, Soviet and Russian composer
• 1925 – Ahmad Shamlou, Iranian poet (d. 2000)
• 1927 – Honor Blackman, English actress
• 1927 – Robert Noyce, American inventor (d. 1990)
• 1928 – Chinghiz Aitmatov, Soviet-born Kyrgyz writer
• 1929 – Toshiko Akiyoshi, Japanese musician
• 1929 – John Osborne, English dramatist (d. 1994)
• 1930 – Bill Beutel, American journalist (d. 2006)
• 1931 – Lionel Blair, English actor and choreographer
• 1932 – Bob Pettit, American basketball player
• 1934 – Miguel de la Madrid, President of Mexico
• 1937 – Buford Pusser, American sheriff (d. 1974)
• 1938 – Connie Francis, American singer
• 1940 – Sharad Pawar, Indian politician
• 1940 – Dionne Warwick, American singer
• 1943 – Dickey Betts, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band)
• 1943 – Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)
• 1944 – Kenneth Cranham, Scottish actor
• 1944 – Jean Doré, Canadian politician, mayor of Montreal
• 1945 – Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (d. 1997)
• 1946 – Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver and two-time F1 world champion
• 1946 – Paula Wagner, American film executive
• 1948 – Tom Wilkinson, English actor
• 1949 – Bill Nighy, English actor
• 1950 – Rajnikanth, Indian actor
• 1950 – Billy Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1952 – Herb Dhaliwal, Canadian politician
• 1952 – Cathy Rigby, American gymnast and actress
• 1953 – Bruce Kulick, American guitarist (Kiss)
• 1954 – Liz Claman, American television anchor
• 1955 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek businesswoman
• 1956 – Johan van der Velde, Dutch cyclist
• 1957 – Sheila E., American musician
• 1957 – Robert Lepage, French Canadian playwright
• 1958 – Sheree J. Wilson, American actress
• 1962 – Tracy Austin, American tennis player
• 1962 – Mike Golic, American football player
• 1964 – Sabu, American professional wrestler
• 1965 – Will Carling, English rugby union footballer
• 1966 – Royce Gracie, Brazilian martial artist
• 1967 – Yuzo Koshiro, Japanese composer
• 1967 – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Japanese composer
• 1967 – John Randle, American football player
• 1968 – Kate Humble, English television presenter
• 1968 – Rory Kennedy, American documentarian
• 1968 – Laurie Williams, Jamaican West Indies cricketer (d. 2002)
• 1969 – Carrie Westcott, American model and actress
• 1970 – Mädchen Amick, American actress
• 1970 – Jennifer Connelly, American actress
• 1970 – Regina Hall, American actress
• 1972 – Nicky Eaden, English footballer
• 1972 – Wilson Kipketer, Danish middle-distance runner
• 1972 – Kevin Parent, French Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1972 – Brandon Teena, American hate crime victim (d. 1993)
• 1972 – Yeoryios Theodoridis, Greek sprinter
• 1972 – Hank Williams III, American musician, grandson of Hank Williams
• 1973 – William Hutton, American engineer
• 1973 – Walter Otta, Argentine footballer
• 1974 – Nolberto Solano, Peruvian footballer
• 1975 – Mayim Bialik, American actress
• 1975 – Craig Moore, Australian footballer
• 1976 – Dan Hawkins, English guitarist (The Darkness)
• 1977 – Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm, American triplet Playboy models
• 1977 – Bridget Hall, American supermodel
• 1977 – Orlando Hudson, American baseball player
• 1977 – Colin White, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1978 – Monica Barladeanu, Romanian actress
• 1978 – Jennifer Rovero Playboy Playmate
• 1978 – Evren Genis, Turkish composer
• 1979 – Garrett Atkins, American baseball player
• 1979 – Nate Clements, American football player
• 1979 – Sharin Foo, Danish singer and bassist
• 1981 – Ronnie Brown, American football player
• 1981 – Shane Costa, American baseball player
• 1981 – Pedro Ríos, Spanish footballer
• 1981 – Jeret Peterson, American aerial skier
• 1981 – Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricketer
• 1981 – Stephen Warnock, English footballer
• 1982 – Dmitry Tursunov, Russian tennis player
• 1983 – Katrina Elam, American singer
• 1984 – Daniel Agger, Danish footballer
• 1986 – Perparim Hetemaj, Finnish footballer
• 1986 – Thomas Wansey, English actor
• 1991 – Daniel Magder, Canadian actor

December 12 – Deaths:

• 884 – Carloman, King of the West Franks
• 1212 – Geoffrey, Archbishop of York
• 1569 – Metropolitan Philip of Moscow (b. 1507)
• 1574 – Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1524)
• 1586 – Stefan Batory, King of Poland (b. 1533)
• 1685 – John Pell, English mathematician (b. 1610)
• 1751 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman and philosopher (b. 1678)
• 1754 – Wu Jingzi, Chinese writer (b. 1701)
• 1766 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (b. 1700)
• 1789 – John Ponsonby, Irish politician (b. 1713)
• 1790 – Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer (b. 1733)
• 1817 – Emperor Tekle Giyorgis I of Ethiopia, (b. about 1751)
• 1843 – King William I of the Netherlands, (b. 1772)
• 1858 – Jacques Viger, antiquarian and archeologist, first mayor of Montreal (b. 1787)
• 1889 – Robert Browning, English poet (b. 1812)
• 1889 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1804)
• 1894 – Sir John Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)
• 1913 – Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (b. 1844)
• 1923 – Raymond Radiguet, French author (b. 1903)
• 1926 – Jean Richepin, French poet (b. 1849)
• 1929 – Charles Goodnight, American cattle baron (b. 1836)
• 1934 – Thorleif Haug, Norwegian Nordic skier (b. 1894)
• 1939 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (b. 1883)
• 1941 – Cesar Basa, Philippine Air Force and World War II hero (b. 1915)
• 1951 – Mildred Bailey, American jazz singer (b. 1907)
• 1952 – Bedrich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)
• 1963 – Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese film director (b. 1903)
• 1968 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
• 1970 – Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)
• 1971 – David Sarnoff, Russian-born American General Manager of RCA (b. 1891)
• 1976 – Jack Cassidy, American actor (b. 1927)
• 1976 – Vinko Zganec, Croatian ethnomusicologist (b. 1890)
• 1977 – Lady Spencer Churchill, wife of Winston Churchill (b. 1885)
• 1980 – Jean Lesage, politician, premier of Quebec (b. 1912)
• 1985 – Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
• 1985 – Ian Stewart, Scottish musician (b. 1938)
• 1987 – Enrique Jorrín, Cuban musician and composer (b. 1926)
• 1988 – Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano, American Mafia figure (b. 1917)
• 1992 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian esssayist, novelist and playwright (b. 1901)
• 1993 – József Antall, Hungarian politician (b. 1932)
• 1994 – Stuart Roosa, American astronaut (b. 1933)
• 1996 – Vance Packard, American author (b. 1914)
• 1997 – Yevgeniy Landis, Russian mathematician (b. 1921)
• 1998 – Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (b. 1930)
• 1998 – Marco Denevi, Argentine writer (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Mo Udall, American politician (b. 1922)
• 1999 – Paul Cadmus, American artist (b. 1904)
• 1999 – Joseph Heller, American author (b. 1923)
• 2000 – George Montgomery, American actor (b. 1916)
• 2001 – Jean Richard, French actor (b. 1921)
• 2002 – Dee Brown, American author (b. 1908)
• 2002 – Brad Dexter, American actor (b. 1917)
• 2002 – Jay Wesley Neill, American convicted murderer (b. 1965)
• 2003 – Joseph Anthony Ferrario, American Catholic prelate (b. 1926)
• 2003 – Keiko, orca, star of Free Willy (b. 1976)
• 2005 – Gebran Tueni, Lebanese politician (b. 1957)
• 2005 – Annette Vadim, Danish actress (b. 1936)
• 2005 – Robert F. Newmyer, American film producer (b. 1946)
• 2006 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (b. 1928) 
• 2006 – Peter Boyle, American actor (b. 1935)
• 2006 – Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist (b. 1935)
• 2006 – Raymond P. Shafer, 38th Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Al Shugart, pioneering American computer engineer and co-founder of Seagate Technology (b. 1930)
• 2007 – Ike Turner, American singer, former husband of Tina Turner (b. 1931)

December 12 – Holidays:

• Mexico – Our Lady of Guadalupe Day
• Kenya – Jamhuri Day: Independence Day (from Britain, 1963)

On This Day in History December 11

December 11 – Events:

• 359 – Honoratus, the first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, takes office.
• 1282 – Llywelyn the Last (b. c.1228), the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales.
• 1602 – A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. Commemorations / celebrations on Fête de l’Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.
• 1792 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
• 1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
• 1872 – P.B.S. Pinchback becomes the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• 1907 – New Zealand Parliament Buildings almost completely destroyed by fire.
• 1917 – British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire.
• 1925 – Quas Primas encyclical is promulgated, introducing the Feast of Christ the King.
• 1927 – Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker red guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
• 1931 – The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
• 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII’s abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India becomes effective.
• 1937 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.
• 1941 – World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
• 1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
• 1958 – Upper Volta gains self-government from France, and becomes an autonomous republic in the French Community.
• 1960 – A violent clash occurred with French forces cracking down on protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French president Charles de Gaulle.
• 1964 – Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. An unknown terrorist fires a mortar shell at the building during the speech. 
• 1971 – The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed.
• 1972 – Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.
• 1980 – The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
• 1981 – El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country’s civil war.
• 1993 – Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• 1994 – First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
• 1997 – The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
• 1998 – A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
• 2001 – The People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
• 2005 – The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
• 2005 – Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
• 2006 – The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust denier.
• 2007 – Two car bombs go off at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.

December 11 – Birthdays:

• 1465 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (d. 1489)
• 1475 – Pope Leo X (d. 1521)
• 1566 – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (d. 1650)
• 1680 – Emanuele d’Astorga, Italian composer (d. 1736)
• 1709 – Louise Elisabeth of Orléans, queen consort of Spain (d. 1742)
• 1712 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (d. 1764)
• 1725 – George Mason, American statesman (d. 1792)
• 1761 – Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (d. 1835)
• 1781 – Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist (d. 1868)
• 1801 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German writer (d. 1836)
• 1803 – Hector Berlioz, French composer (d. 1869)
• 1810 – Alfred de Musset, French poet (d. 1857)
• 1830 – Kamehameha V, Hawaiian king (d. 1872 on his birthday)
• 1838 – John Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer (d. 1915)
• 1843 – Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
• 1856 – Georgi Plekhanov, Russian revolutionary and Marxist theoretician (d. 1918)
• 1858 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (d. 1943)
• 1863 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (d. 1941)
• 1873 – Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician (d. 1967)
• 1880 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
• 1882 – Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (d. 1921)
• 1882 – Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
• 1882 – Fiorello LaGuardia, American statesman (d. 1947)
• 1883 – Victor McLaglen, English-born American actor (d. 1959)
• 1889 – Walter Knott, American farmer (d. 1981)
• 1890 – Carlos Gardel, tango singer (d. 1935)
• 1890 – Mark Tobey, American painter (d. 1976)
• 1905 – Robert Henriques, English writer (d. 1967)
• 1905 – Gilbert Roland, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1908 – Elliott Carter, American composer
• 1909 – John Wyer, English sports car racing team manager (d.1989)
• 1910 – Noel Rosa, Brazilian songwriter (d. 1937)
• 1911 – Val Guest, English film director (d. 2006)
• 1911 – Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2006)
• 1912 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (d. 2007)
• 1913 – Jean Marais, French actor (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban-born bandleader (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel laureate
• 1919 – Marie Windsor, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1922 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Dilip Kumar, Indian actor
• 1922 – Grace Paley, American writer (d. 2007)
• 1923 – Betsy Blair, American actress
• 1925 – Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist, Nobel laureate
• 1926 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer (d. 1984)
• 1927 – John Buscema, American comics artist (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress
• 1930 – Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actor
• 1931 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress
• 1931 – Pierre Pilote, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1931 – Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian guru (d. 1990)
• 1932 – Anne Heywood, English actress
• 1933 – Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician
• 1935 – Ron Carey, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1935 – Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
• 1935 – Elmer Vasko, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
• 1936 – Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
• 1937 – Jim Harrison, American writer
• 1938 – Enrico Macias, Algerian-born French singer
• 1938 – McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
• 1939 – Tom Hayden, American politician and activist
• 1939 – Thomas McGuane, American writer
• 1940 – David Gates, American musician (Bread)
• 1941 – Jean-Paul Parise, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1942 – Donna Mills, American actress
• 1943 – John Kerry, American politician
• 1944 – Teri Garr, American film actress
• 1944 – Jon Garrison, American tenor
• 1944 – Lynda Day George, American actress
• 1944 – Brenda Lee, American singer
• 1948 – Stamatis Spanoudakis, Greek composer
• 1950 – Christina Onassis, American heiress (d. 1988)
• 1953 – Bess Armstrong, American actress
• 1954 – Jermaine Jackson, American singer
• 1954 – Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson, Icelandic engineer
• 1956 – Lani Brockman, Playwright
• 1958 – Nikki Sixx, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
• 1959 – Lisa Gastineau, American reality show star
• 1961 – Marco Pierre White, English chef and restaurateur
• 1962 – Ben Browder, American actor
• 1962 – Paul Haslinger, Austrian-born composer
• 1962 – Nele Karajlic, Bosnian singer
• 1963 – Jon Brion, American musician/record producer
• 1964 – Michel Courtemanche, Quebec comedian
• 1964 – John Mark Karr, American who claimed involvement in JonBenét Ramsey case
• 1964 – David Schools, American musician (Widespread Panic)
• 1964 – Cosy Sheridan, American singer
• 1964 – Carolyn Waldo, Canadian synchronized swimmer
• 1966 – Gary Dourdan, American actor
• 1966 – Leon Lai, Cantonese singer/actor
• 1967 – Mo’Nique, American actress/comedienne
• 1967 – DJ Yella, American DJ and music producer (N.W.A)
• 1969 – Vishwanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster
• 1969 – Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
• 1969 – Sean Grande, American sportscaster
• 1972 – Daniel Alfredsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1972 – Sami Al-Jaber, Saudi Arabian footballer
• 1972 – Dana Macsim, Romanian television news reporter
• 1973 – Mos Def, American rapper and actor
• 1974 – Rey Mysterio, American professional wrestler
• 1974 – Ben Shephard, English TV personality
• 1975 – Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist
• 1975 – Tomoka Kurotani, Japanese actress
• 1976 – Shareef Abdur-Rahim, American basketball player
• 1977 – Mark Streit, Swiss ice hockey player
• 1979 – Rider Strong, American actor
• 1980 – Arya, Indian actor
• 1981 – Nikki Benz, Ukraine-born Canadian pornographic actress
• 1981 – Hamish Blake, Australian comedian
• 1981 – Paul Medhurst, Australian rules footballer
• 1981 – Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer
• 1981 – Zacky Vengeance, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
• 1982 – Pablo Pérez Companc, Argentine racing driver
• 1984 – Leighton Baines, English footballer
• 1987 – Natalia Gordienko, Moldovan singer and dancer
• 1988 – Murugan Thiruchelvam, English chess prodigy
• 1993 – Gina Miele, American singer and actress.

December 11 – Deaths:

• 384 – Pope Damasus I
• 1121 – Al-Afdal Shahanshah, Caliph of Egypt (b. 1066)
• 1226 – Robert de Ros, English politician (b. 1177)
• 1282 – Llywelyn the Last, Prince of Gwynedd
• 1282 – Michael VIII Palaiologos, Greek Byzantine Emperor (b. 1225)
• 1532 – Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1455)
• 1582 – Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (b. 1508)
• 1694 – Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1630)
• 1737 – John Strype, English historian (b. 1643)
• 1747 – Edmund Curll, English bookseller (b. ca. 1675)
• 1797 – Richard Brocklesby, English physician (b. 1722)
• 1840 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (b. 1771)
• 1872 – Kamehameha V, Hawaiian king (b. 1830)
• 1880 – Oliver Fisher Winchester, American businessman and politician (b. 1810)
• 1892 – William Milligan, Scottish theologian (b. 1821)
• 1909 – Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet (b. 1855)
• 1918 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b. 1876)
• 1920 – Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
• 1938 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869)
• 1941 – John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
• 1941 – Charles Émile Picard, French mathematician (b. 1856)
• 1945 – Charles Fabry, French physicist (b. 1867)
• 1950 – Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1893)
• 1957 – Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress (b. 1889)
• 1959 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player (b. 1900)
• 1964 – Sam Cooke, American singer (b. 1931)
• 1964 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (b. 1888)
• 1971 – Maurice “Mac” McDonald, American fast-food pioneer (b. 1902)
• 1975 – Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (b. 1908)
• 1978 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist and Nobel laureate (b. 1901)
• 1978 – Paul O’Dea, American baseball player (b. 1920)
• 1979 – James J. Gibson, American perceptual psychologist (b. 1904)
• 1983 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British General (b. 1897)
• 1984 – Oskar Seidlin, German-born American scholar (b. 1911)
• 1987 – G. A. Kulkarni, Indian (Marathi) writer (b. 1923)
• 1989 – Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (b. 1895)
• 1991 – Robert Q. Lewis, American game show host and actor (b. 1921)
• 1991 – Artur Lundkvist, Swedish author and critic (b. 1906)
• 1992 – Michael Robbins, English actor (b. 1930)
• 1993 – Elvira Popescu, Romanian-born French actress (b. 1894)
• 1994 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
• 1995 – Arthur Mullard, English comedy actor (b. 1910)
• 1996 – Willie Rushton, English cartoonist, satirist, comedian, actor, performer and cofounder of the Private Eye satirical magazine. (b. 1937)
• 1998 – André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b. 1915)
• 1998 – Lynn Strait, American singer (Snot) (b. 1968)
• 2000 – Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Pakistani politician, diplomat and author (b. 1915)
• 2000 – David Lewis, American actor (b. 1916)
• 2003 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927)
• 2004 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand running coach (b. 1917)
• 2004 – M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Elizabeth Bolden, American, oldest verified person in the world at the time of her death (b. 1890)
• 2007 – Christie Hennessy, Irish singer (b. 1945)
• 2007 – Grace Paley, American writer (b. 1922)
• 2007 – Ashleigh Aston Moore, Canadian Actress (b. 1981)

December 11 – Holidays:

• Roman festivals – One of the four Agonalia, this day in honour of Sol Indiges; also the Septimontium festival
• R.C. Saints – Pope Damasus I: optional memorial; Victoricus, Fuscian, and Gentian
• Argentina – Tango Day, Buenos Aires
• Burkina Faso – Republic Day (1958, Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community.)
• USA – Admission day for Indiana (19th state, 1816)
• USA – Governor Ralph Carr Day, Colorado’s State Holiday since 2002
• Wales – Remembrance Day of Llywelyn II
• Philippines – Pampanga Day, local official holiday

On This Day in History December 10

December 10 – Events:

• 1041 – Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V.
• 1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice.
• 1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg’s Elster Gate.
• 1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.
• 1684 – Isaac Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley. 1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state.
• 1836 – Emory College (now Emory University) is chartered in Oxford, Georgia.
• 1861 – American Civil War: the Confederate States of America accept a rival state government’s pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 13th state of the Confederacy.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman’s March to the Sea – Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union Army troops reach Savannah, Georgia.
• 1868 – The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red  and green gas lamps.
• 1869 – Wyoming grants women the right to vote.
• 1869 – The first American chapter of Kappa Sigma is founded at the University of Virginia.
• 1898 – Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict.
• 1898 – The first western pilgrims were welcomed at The House of `Abdu’lláh Páshá
• 1899 – The Delta Sigma Phi fraternity is founded at the City College of New York.
• 1901 – The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.
• 1902 – Women are given the right to vote in Tasmania.
• 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.
• 1907 – The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected.
• 1932 – Thailand adopts a Constitution and becomes a constitutional monarchy.
• 1935 – The Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later renamed the Heisman Trophy, was given to halfback Jay Berwanger of the University of Chicago. This award was given to the best college football player east the Mississippi River.
• 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication.
• 1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near Malaya.
• 1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines – Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on the Philippine mainland.
• 1948 – The UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today is also International Human Rights Day.
• 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People’s Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.
• 1968 – Japan’s biggest heist, the still-unsolved “300 million yen robbery,” occurs in Tokyo.
• 1978 – Arab-Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1981 – The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan’s proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia.
• 1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the assumption of President Raúl Alfonsín.
• 1989 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of Mongolia’s democratic movement that peacefully changed the second oldest communist country into a democratic society.
• 1994 – Theater fire in Karamay, notrhwestern Xinjiang Uygur, China, 324 killed.
• 1996 – Rwandan Genocide: Military advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the United Nations Maurice Baril recommends that the UN multi-national forces in Zaire stand down.
• 2006 – One million Lebanese opposition supporters gather in downtown Beirut, calling for the government to resign.

December 10 – Birthdays:

• 1394 – King James I of Scotland (d. 1437)
• 1452 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1531)
• 1588 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (d. 1637)
• 1750 – Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore (d. 1799)
• 1751 – George Shaw, English botanist and zoologist (d. 1813)
• 1787 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator (d. 1851)
• 1804 – Carl Gustav Jakob Jacobi, German mathematician (d. 1851)
• 1805 – Josef Skoda, Bohemian physician (d. 1881)
• 1815 – Ada Lovelace, English mathematician (d. 1852)
• 1820 – Princess Elizabeth of Clarence (d. 1821)
• 1821 – Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, Russian poet (d. 1877)
• 1822 – César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (d. 1890)
• 1824 – George MacDonald, Scottish writer and preacher (d. 1905)
• 1827 – Eugene O’Keefe, Canadian businessman and brewer (d. 1913)
• 1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (d. 1886)
• 1851 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, (d. 1931)
• 1855 – Marios Varvoglis, Greek Composer (d. 1967)
• 1870 – Mary Bonaparte, pretender to the French imperial throne (d. 1947)
• 1870 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect (d. 1933)
• 1870 – Pierre Louÿs, French author (d. 1925)
• 1878 – Rajaji, India’s freedom fighter and the first Governor General of independent India (d.1972)
• 1882 – Otto Neurath, Austrian philosopher (d. 1945)
• 1884 – Zinaida Serebriakova, Russian-born painter (d. 1967)
• 1891 – Sir Harold Alexander, British Army Field Marshal, first Earl of Tunis (d. 1969)
• 1891 – Nelly Sachs, German-born writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
• 1903 – Una Merkel, American actress (d. 1986)
• 1907 – Rumer Godden, English writer (d. 1998)
• 1907 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer (d. 2005)
• 1908 – Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (d. 1992)
• 1909 – Hermes Pan, American choreographer and dancer (d. 1990)
• 1911 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (d. 1974)
• 1912 – Philip A. Hart, U.S. Senator (d. 1976)
• 1913 – Morton Gould, American composer (d. 1996)
• 1913 – Harry Locke, English actor (d. 1987)
• 1914 – Dorothy Lamour, American actress (d. 1996)
• 1917 – Sultan Yahya Petra, King of Malaysia (d. 1979)
• 1918 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (d. 2003)
• 1918 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey coach (d. 1995)
• 1919 – Alexander Courage, American composer
• 1920 – Clarice Lispector, Ukrainian-Brazilian writer (d. 1977)
• 1920 – Reginald Rose, American writer (d. 2002)
• 1922 – Lucía Hiriart, First Lady of Chile (1974-1990), wife of Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet
• 1923 – Harold Gould, American actor
• 1924 – Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 1997)
• 1925 – Jean Byron, American actress (d. 2006)
• 1925 – Carolyn Kizer, American poet
• 1928 – Dan Blocker, American actor (d. 1972)
• 1928 – John Colicos, Canadian actor (d. 2000)
• 1933 – Mako, Japanese-born American actor (d. 2006)
• 1934 – Howard Martin Temin, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (d. 1994)
• 1935 – Terry Allcock, English footballer
• 1938 – Yuri Temirkanov, Russian orchestral conductor
• 1939 – Barry Cunliffe, English university professor
• 1941 – Fionnula Flanagan, Irish actress
• 1941 – Tommy Kirk, American actor
• 1941 – Tommy Rettig, American actor (d. 1996)
• 1941 – Chad Stuart, English singer (Chad and Jeremy)
• 1944 – Steve Renko, American baseball player
• 1946 – Thomas Lux, American poet
• 1947 – Douglas Kenney, American humorist (d. 1980)
• 1947 – Rainer Seifert, German field hockey player
• 1948 – Abu Abbas, founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (d. 2004)
• 1950 – Tom Towles, American actor
• 1951 – Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer
• 1952 – Clive Anderson, English television presenter
• 1952 – Susan Dey, American actress
• 1956 – Tim Kurkjian, American baseball writer and analyst for ESPN
• 1956 – Terry Glen Miller, Singer, Songwriter, Vocalist
• 1957 – Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor
• 1957 – Prem Rawat, known also as Maharaji
• 1960 – Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor and director
• 1962 – John de Wolf, former Dutch International footballer
• 1965 – J Mascis, American musician
• 1965 – Stephanie Morgenstern, Canadian actress
• 1966 – Mel Rojas, Dominican baseball player
• 1969 – Rob Blake, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1971 – Brian Nichols, American spree killer
• 1972 – Marcos di Palma, Argentine racing driver
• 1972 – Brian Molko, Belgian-born singer and songwriter (Placebo)
• 1972 – Dimitri Tikovoi, French-born record producer
• 1974 – Meg White, American drummer (The White Stripes)
• 1975 – Josip Skoko, Australian footballer
• 1977 – Emmanuelle Chriqui, Canadian actress
• 1978 – Brandon Novak, American skateboarder
• 1978 – Summer Phoenix, American actress
• 1978 – Donna Williams, co-founder of Neopets
• 1979 – Matt Bentley, American professional wrestler
• 1980 – Sarah Chang, American violinist
• 1980 – Ledley King, English footballer
• 1980 – Massari, Lebanese-born Canadian singer
• 1981 – Ryan Pini, Papua New Guinea swimmer
• 1981 – Fábio Rochemback, Brazilian footballer
• 1981 – Taufik Batisah, Singaporean singer
• 1982 – Tim Deegan, Canadian MuchMusic VJ
• 1982 – Shilpa Anand, an Indian film and television actress
• 1983 – Patrick Flueger, American actor
• 1983 – Habib Mohamed, Ghanaian footballer
• 1983 – Katrin Siska, Estonian singer
• 1983 – Zé Kalanga, Angolan footballer
• 1984 – Jayson Paul, American professional wrestler
• 1985 – T. J. Hensick, American ice hockey player
• 1985 – Raven-Symoné, American actress and singer
• 1986 – Matthew Bates, English footballer
• 1986 – Ryoichi Tsukada, Japanese acrobat
• 1987 – Gonzalo Higuaín, French-born Argentine footballer
• 1990 – Giulia Boverio, Italian actress

December 10 – Deaths:

• 949 – Herman I, Duke of Swabia
• 1041 – Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
• 1198 – Averroes, Arab physician and philosopher (b. 1126)
• 1508 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
• 1603 – William Gilbert, English scientist (b. 1544)
• 1618 – Giulio Caccini, Italian composer
• 1626 – Edmund Gunter, English mathematician (b. 1581)
• 1665 – Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer
• 1736 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Portuguese ruler of Malta (b. 1663)
• 1831 – Thomas Seebeck, Baltic German physicist (b. 1770)
• 1850 – François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist and geologist (b. 1787)
• 1865 – King Léopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
• 1896 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and founder of the Nobel Prize (b. 1833)
• 1911 – Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist (b. 1817)
• 1917 – Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
• 1920 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturing pioneer (b. 1868)
• 1928 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish architect, designer, and illustrator (b. 1868)
• 1936 – Bobby Abel, English cricketer (b. 1857)
• 1936 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1867)
• 1941 – Colin Kelly, American pilot (b. 1915)
• 1944 – John Henry Cound Brunt, Victoria Cross holder (b. 1922)
• 1945 – Theodor Dannecker, SS officer (b. 1913)
• 1946 – Walter Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1887)
• 1946 – Damon Runyon, American writer (b. 1884)
• 1951 – Algernon Blackwood, English writer (b. 1869)
• 1953 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-born scholar and translator (b. 1872)
• 1958 – Adolfo Camarillo, American horse breeder (b.1864)
• 1967 – Otis Redding, American soul singer (b. 1941)
• 1968 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
• 1968 – George Forrest, Northern Irish MP (b. 1921)
• 1968 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (b. 1915)
• 1973 – Wolf Vishniac, American microbiologist (b. 1922)
• 1977 – Adolph Rupp, American basketball coach (b. 1901)
• 1978 – Edward D. Wood, Jr., American filmmaker (b. 1924)
• 1979 – Ann Dvorak, American film actress (b. 1912)
• 1982 – Freeman Gosden, American actor (b. 1899)
• 1986 – Susan Cabot, American actress (b. 1927)
• 1986 – Kate Wolf, American folk singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
• 1987 – Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born violinist (b. 1901)
• 1988 – Richard S. Castellano, American actor (b. 1933)
• 1990 – Armand Hammer, American industrialist and art collector (b. 1898)
• 1991 – Greta Kempton, American artist (b. 1901)
• 1991 – Headman Shabalala, South African singer (Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (b. 1945)
• 1992 – Dan Maskell, English tennis commentator (b. 1908)
• 1994 – Keith Joseph, English politician (b. 1918)
• 1994 – Alexander Wilson, Canadian athlete (b. 1905)
• 1995 – Darren Robinson, American rapper (The Fat Boys) (b. 1967)
• 1996 – Faron Young, American singer (b. 1932)
• 1999 – Rick Danko, Canadian bassist and singer (The Band) (b. 1942)
• 1999 – Shirley Hemphill, American actress (b. 1947)
• 1999 – Franjo Tudman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
• 2000 – Marie Windsor, American film actress (b. 1919)
• 2001 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
• 2002 – Andres Küng, Swedish-Estonian politician, journalist (b. 1945)
• 2005 – Eugene McCarthy, U.S. Senator (b. 1916)
• 2005 – Richard Pryor, American comedian and actor (b. 1940)
• 2006 – Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator (b. 1915)
• 2007 – Aqsa Parvez, Canadian victim of an honor crime (b. 1991)

December 10 – Holidays:

• Human Rights Day – United Nations