December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year.
[edit] Events
- 69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.
- 217 – The papacy of Zephyrinus ends. Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, but is opposed by the theologian Hippolytus who accuses him of laxity and of being a Modalist, one who denies any distinction between the three persons of the Trinity.
- 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade.
- 1522 – Siege of Rhodes: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
- 1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
- 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
- 1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
- 1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
- 1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
- 1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison
- 1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
- 1942 – World War II: the Japanese bomb Calcutta.
- 1946 – The popular Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life is first released in New York, New York.
- 1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
- 1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
- 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
- 1959 – Unknown attackers murder the Walker family in Osprey, Florida.
- 1960 – The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
- 1968 – The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
- 1971 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto takes over as the fourth President of Pakistan.
- 1973 – The Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
- 1977 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.
- 1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England in the Pennines.
- 1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
- 1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna, Austria.
- 1989 – United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega. This is also the first combat use of purpose-designed stealth aircraft.
- 1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
- 1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
- 1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
- 1996 – NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
- 1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.
- 2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.
- 2005 – Aleksandër Moisiu University was founded in Durrës, Albania.
- 2005 – US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling in Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
- 2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
- 2007 – The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art.
[edit] Births
- 1494 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician (d. 1555)
- 1537 – John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
- 1626 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German politician (d. 1692)
- 1629 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
- 1717 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French politician and diplomat (d. 1787)
- 1740 – Arthur Lee, American diplomat (d. 1792)
- 1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
- 1792 – Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, French painter (d. 1845)
- 1833 – Samuel Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
- 1838 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, English educator, theologian, and author (d. 1926)
- 1841 – Ferdinand Buisson, French politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
- 1860 – Dan Leno, English actor (d. 1904)
- 1861 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
- 1865 – Elsie de Wolfe, American actress and interior decorator (d. 1950)
- 1868 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (d. 1938)
- 1869 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (d. 1956)
- 1873 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian (d. 1948)
- 1874 – Frederick Steep, Canadian soccer player (d. 1956)
- 1881 – Branch Rickey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
- 1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
- 1888 – Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian (d. 1980)
- 1888 – Fred Merkle, American baseball player (d. 1958)
- 1890 – Yvonne Arnaud, French-English actress and singer (d. 1958)
- 1890 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
- 1894 – Robert Menzies, Australian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1973)
- 1898 – Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist, invented the Van de Graaff generator (d. 1967)
- 1902 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
- 1902 – Sidney Hook, American author (d. 1989)
- 1904 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian philosopher (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricketer (d. 1992)
- 1907 – Paul Francis Webster, American songwriter (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Dennis Morgan, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
- 1909 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian politician (d. 2000)
- 1911 – Hortense Calisher, American author (d. 2009)
- 1914 – Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American politician
- 1915 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish author (d. 1995)
- 1916 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian union leader (d. 2010)
- 1917 – David Bohm, American-English physicist, philosopher, and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- 1918 – Jean Marchand, Canadian trade unionist and politician (d. 1988)
- 1918 – Audrey Totter, American actress
- 1922 – George Roy Hill, American director (d. 2002)
- 1922 – Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter
- 1924 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian politician, author, and broadcaster (d. 1980)
- 1925 – Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Geoffrey Howe, Welsh politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1926 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (d. 2009)
- 1927 – Charlie Callas, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1927 – Kim Young-sam, South Korean politician, 7th President of South Korea
- 1931 – Mala Powers, American actress (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Terry Sanders, American director and producer
- 1932 – Leslie Adams, American composer and educator
- 1932 – John Hillerman, American actor
- 1933 – Jean Carnahan, American politician
- 1933 – Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist
- 1935 – Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricketer
- 1938 – John Harbison, American composer
- 1940 – Pat Chapman, English author, founder The Curry Club
- 1941 – Tommy Cole, American actor, singer, and makeup artist
- 1942 – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan
- 1942 – Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
- 1944 – Bobby Colomby, American drummer (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
- 1944 – Jean Fergusson, English actress
- 1945 – Peter Criss, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer (Kiss, Wicked Lester, and Chelsea)
- 1945 – Sivakant Tiwari, Singaporean lawyer (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Uri Geller, Israeli psychic
- 1946 – Lesley Judd, English dancer and television host
- 1946 – Lloyd Mumphord, American football player
- 1946 – Sonny Perdue, American politician, 81st Governor of Georgia
- 1946 – John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)
- 1946 – Dick Wolf, American director, screenwriter, and producer
- 1947 – Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer-songwriter and journalist
- 1948 – Alan Parsons, English keyboard player and producer (The Alan Parsons Project)
- 1948 – Stevie Wright, English-Australian singer-songwriter (The Easybeats)
- 1949 – Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
- 1949 – Cecil Cooper, American baseball player
- 1949 – Oscar Gamble, American baseball player
- 1949 – Leigh Hamilton, New Zealand-American actress (d. 2012)
- 1950 – Arturo Márquez, Mexican composer
- 1951 – Peter May, Scottish author and scriptwriter
- 1951 – Gilbert Montagné, French singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1952 – Jenny Agutter, English actress
- 1952 – Sky Gilbert, Canadian drag queen performer, actor, and author
- 1954 – Michael Badalucco, American actor
- 1954 – Sandra Cisneros, American author
- 1955 – David Breashears, American mountaineer
- 1955 – Ed Kuepper, German-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Saints, Laughing Clowns, and The Apartments)
- 1955 – Rory Markas, American sportscaster (d. 2010)
- 1956 – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritanian general and politician, President of Mauritania
- 1956 – Guy Babylon, American keyboardist (d. 2009)
- 1956 – Blanche Baker, American actress
- 1957 – Stephen Bicknell, English organ builder (d. 2007)
- 1957 – Billy Bragg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1957 – Joyce Hyser, American actress
- 1957 – Anna Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actress (Epikouri)
- 1957 – Mike Watt, American singer-songwriter and bass player (Banyan, Minutemen, Dos, The Stooges, and Firehose)
- 1958 – James Thomson, American biologist
- 1959 – Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polish politician, 12th Prime Minister of Poland
- 1959 – Trent Tucker, American basketball player
- 1960 – Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian author
- 1960 – Kim Ki-duk, South Korean director
- 1961 – Mohammad Fouad, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actor
- 1961 – Mike Keneally, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Dethklok)
- 1961 – Freddie Spencer, American twice Grand Prix Motorcycle World Champion (1983 & 1985)
- 1963 – Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo
- 1963 – Joel Gretsch, American actor
- 1963 – Iqbal Theba, Pakistani actor
- 1964 – Mark Coleman, American mixed martial artist
- 1965 – Jim Carr, American educator
- 1965 – Robert Cavanah, Scottish actor
- 1965 – Rich Gannon, American football player
- 1966 – Matt Neal, English race car driver
- 1966 – Chris Robinson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Black Crowes, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Chris Robinson Brotherhood)
- 1968 – Joe Cornish, English comedian and actor
- 1968 – Karl Wendlinger, Austrian race car driver
- 1969 – Bobby Phills, American basketball player (d. 2000)
- 1970 – Nicole de Boer, Canadian actress
- 1970 – Grant Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1970 – Alister McRae, Scottish race car driver
- 1970 – Jörg Schmidt, German footballer
- 1971 – Roger J. Beaujard, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Mortician)
- 1972 – Anders Odden, Norwegian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Cadaver, Magenta, Satyricon, Celtic Frost, Apoptygma Berzerk, and Doctor Midnight & The Mercy Cult)
- 1973 – David Nedohin, Canadian curler
- 1973 – Cory Stillman, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1974 – Die, Japanese guitarist (Dir En Grey)
- 1975 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer
- 1975 – Jaydy Michel, Mexican model
- 1976 – Aubrey Huff, American baseball player
- 1976 – Jang Hyuk, South Korean actor
- 1976 – Adam Powell, Welsh game designer and businessman, co-founded Meteor Games
- 1976 – Ramon Stoppelenburg, Dutch author
- 1976 – Nenad Vučković, Croatian footballer
- 1978 – Andrei Markov, Russian-Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Geremi Njitap, Cameroon footballer
- 1979 – David DeJesus, American baseball player
- 1979 – George Lamb, English radio and television host
- 1979 – Ramón Rodríguez, Puerto Rican American actor
- 1979 – Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist
- 1980 – Israel Castro, Mexican footballer
- 1980 – Ashley Cole, English footballer
- 1980 – Anthony da Silva, French-Portuguese footballer
- 1980 – Martín Demichelis, Argentine footballer
- 1980 – Fitz Hall, English footballer
- 1981 – Royal Ivey, American basketball player
- 1981 – James Shields, American baseball player
- 1981 – Roy Williams, American football player
- 1982 – Keny Arkana, French rapper
- 1982 – Mohammad Asif, Pakistani cricketer
- 1982 – David Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Axium and Midwest Kings)
- 1982 – Kasper Klausen, Danish footballer
- 1982 – David Wright, American baseball player
- 1983 – Jonah Hill, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
- 1983 – Chelsea Johnson, American pole vaulter
- 1983 – Lucy Pinder, English model
- 1983 – Darren Sammy, St. Lucian cricketer
- 1983 – Lara Stone, Dutch model
- 1983 – Adrián Varela, Mexican singer
- 1984 – Nikolaos Karabelas, Greek footballer
- 1984 – David Tavaré, Spanish singer
- 1986 – Benjamin Brierley, English-German rugby player
- 1986 – Anoop Desai, American singer-songwriter
- 1987 – Tariel Zintiridis, Greek martial artist
- 1988 – Andrés Bottiglieri Italian–Argentine footballer
- 1989 – Allan Hyde Danish actor
- 1990 – JoJo, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1991 – Hunter Gomez, American actor
- 1992 – Ksenia Makarova, Russian-American figure skater
[edit] Deaths
- 217 – Pope Zephyrinus
- 860 – Æthelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
- 1022 – Elvira Mendes, Portuguese wife of Alfonso V of León (b. 996)
- 1355 – Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (b. 1308)
- 1494 – Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet (b. 1434)
- 1524 – Thomas Linacre, English physician and scholar (b. 1460)
- 1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
- 1590 – Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
- 1722 – Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
- 1723 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (b. 1652)
- 1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and politician (b. 1675)
- 1765 – Louis, Dauphin of France (b. 1729)
- 1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
- 1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (b. 1729)
- 1812 – Sacagawea, American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (b. 1788)
- 1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (b. 1820)
- 1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
- 1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American soldier (b. 1797)
- 1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (b. 1863)
- 1916 – Louis de Champsavin, French horse rider (b. 1867)
- 1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French cyclist (b. 1882)
- 1920 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (b. 1863)
- 1921 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general (b. 1850)
- 1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872)
- 1929 – Émile Loubet, French politician, 8th President of France (b. 1838)
- 1935 – Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian soldier (b. 1882)
- 1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
- 1938 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850)
- 1938 – Matilda Howell, American archer (b. 1859)
- 1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
- 1954 – James Hilton, English author (b. 1900)
- 1956 – Ramón Carrillo, Argentine neuroscientist (b. 1906)
- 1961 – Moss Hart, American playwright (b. 1904)
- 1961 – Earle Page, Australian politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
- 1968 – John Steinbeck, American author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1971 – Roy O. Disney, American bussnessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (b. 1893)
- 1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (b. 1904)
- 1973 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
- 1974 – André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
- 1976 – Richard J. Daley, American politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
- 1981 – Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899)
- 1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist (b. 1887)
- 1984 – Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1946)
- 1986 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (b. 1959)
- 1988 – Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian businessman (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Kurt Böhme, German opera singer (b. 1908)
- 1991 – Simone Beck, French chef (b. 1904)
- 1991 – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, sculptor and singer (b. 1903)
- 1991 – Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942)
- 1994 – Dean Rusk, American diplomat, 54th United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
- 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer and author (b. 1934)
- 1997 – Denise Levertov, English-American poet (b. 1923)
- 1997 – Jūzō Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
- 1997 – Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
- 1998 – Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909)
- 1998 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist , Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
- 1998 – C. P. Lyons, Canadian historian and author (b. 1915)
- 1999 – Riccardo Freda, Italian director (b. 1909)
- 1999 – Hank Snow, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
- 2000 – Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Bangladeshi politician and philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 2001 – Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
- 2001 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese politician, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)
- 2002 – Bernard King, Australian actor and chef (b. 1934)
- 2005 – Maniam Moorthy, Malaysian mountaineer
- 2006 – Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (b. 1929)
- 2006 – Piergiorgio Welby, Italian poet and activist (b. 1945)
- 2006 – Shi Yuejun, Chinese spree killer (b. 1970)
- 2007 – Nataline Sarkisyan, American medical patient (b. 1990)
- 2008 – Adrian Mitchell, English poet (b. 1932)
- 2009 – Mairoon Ali, Trinidadian actress (b. 1954)
- 2009 – Jack Hixon, English sports scout (b. 1921)
- 2009 – Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
- 2009 – Arnold Stang, American actor (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Brian Hanrahan, English journalist (b. 1949)
- 2010 – Steve Landesberg, American actor and comedian (b. 1936)
- 2010 – James R. Mann, American lawyer and politician (b. 1920)
- 2011 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Stan Charlton, English football player and manager (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Leslie Claudius, Indian field hockey player (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Richard Crandall, American physicist and computer scientist (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Niall FitzGerald, Irish footballer (b. 1931)
- 2012 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Eagle Keys, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1923)
- 2012 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1929)
- 2012 – Jimmy McCracklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist (b. 1919)
- 2012 – Albert Renaud, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1920)
- 2012 – Kamil Sönmez, Turkish singer and actor (b. 1947)
- 2012 – Dennis Stevens, English footballer (b. 1933)
[edit] Holidays and observances
[edit] External links