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283 - St Gaius becomes Pope.

384 - St Siricius becomes Pope.

546 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome bribing the Byzantine garrison.

1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.

1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.

1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published.

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 the first powered heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

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.

1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.

1961 - History of Goa: Operation Vijay - India seizes Goa from Portugal.

1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria.

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 hundreds.

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.

1983 - The IRA bomb Harrods Department Store in London, killing seven people.

1989 - The first episode of The Simpsons airs on FOX.

1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timişoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.

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 prrresidential elections within two years.

2003 - SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes the first privately-funded manned supersonic flight.

2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is released worldwide.

2005 - Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

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1239 - Kujo Yoritsugu, Japanese Shogun (d. 1256)

1267 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (d. 1324)

1619 - Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Royalist 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, British chemist and physicist (d. 1829)

1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)

1799 - Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)

1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)

1830 - Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)

1853 - Émile Roux, French physician (d. 1933)

1859 - Paul César Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)

1873 - Ford Madox Ford, British writer (d. 1939)

1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)

1883 - Raimu, French actor (d. 1946)

1887 - Josef Lada, Czech painter (d. 1957)

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)

1901 - Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor and director (d. 1982)

1903 - Erskine Caldwell, American author (d. 1987)

1903 - Ray Noble, British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor (d. 1978)

1905 - Simo Häyhä, Finnish sniper (d. 2002)

1906 - Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer and musicologist (d. 1994)

1908 - Willard Frank Libby, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)

1915 - André Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)

1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald, British writer (d. 2000)

1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist

1922 - Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (d. 2005)

1923 - Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian

1926 - Ray Jablonski, baseball player (d. 1985)

1929 - Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)

1929 - William Safire, American columnist

1930 - Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher

1930 - Bob Mathias, American decathlete and congressman

1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor

1934 - Ray Wilson, English footballer

1936 - Tommy Steele, British singer and actor

1937 - Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)

1938 - Peter Snell, New Zealander runner

1938 - Carlo Little, UK influential rock and roll drummer (d. 2005)

1939 - Eddie Kendricks, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1992)

1940 - Kåre Valebrokk, Norwegian journalist

1941 - Gene Clark, American singer and songwriter (The Byrds) (d. 1991)

1942 - Paul Butterfield, American harmonica player (d. 1987)

1943 - Ron Geesin, British musician and composer

1944 - Jack L. Chalker, American novelist

1944 - Bernard Hill, British actor

1945 - Ernie Hudson, American actor

1945 - Jacqueline Wilson, British author

1946 - Eugene Levy, Canadian actor

1949 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free & Bad Company)

1950 - Laurence F. Johnson, American futurist and educator

1951 - Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach

1951 - Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet athlete

1953 - Bill Pullman, American actor

1955 - Brad Davis, American basketball player

1956 - Mike Mills, American bassist (R.E.M.)

1960 - Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist

1962 - Rocco Mediate, American golfer

1962 - Paul Dobson, English footballer

1966 - Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician

1966 - Valeri Liukin, Former Soviet Union Gymnast

1967 - Vincent Damphousse, Canadian ice hockey player

1968 - Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver

1969 - Chuck Lidell, UFC Fighter

1970 - Joshua Seth, American voice actor

1971 - Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player

1971 - Alan Khan, South African radio disc jockey

1972 - John Abraham, Indian actor and model

1973 - Paula Radcliffe, British runner

1975 - Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler

1975 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress and model

1976 - Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born porn actress and nude model

1976 - Patrick Müller, Swiss footballer

1976 - Takeo Spikes, NFL Pro Bowl linebacker

1978 - Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer

1978 - Chase Utley, baseball player

1982 - Craig Kielburger, child labour activist

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942 - William Longsword

1187 - Pope Gregory VIII

1195 - Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)

1663 - Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)

1721 - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)

1830 - Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan-born libertator, six nations (b. 1783)

1833 - Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)

1897 - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)

1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (b. 1824)

1909 - Léopold II of Belgium (b. 1835)

1917 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, British physician (b. 1836)

1917 - Frank Gotch, wrestler (b. 1878)

1933 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)

1940 - Alicia Boole Stott, Irish mathematician (b. 1860)

1987 - Linda Wong, Adult film actress (b. 1951)

1957 - Dorothy L. Sayers, British writer (b. 1893)

1964 - Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)

1967 - Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister (b. 1908)

1982 - Homer S. Ferguson, United States Senator (b. 1889)

1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)

1992 - Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)

1998 - Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)

1999 - Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (b. 1943)

2003 - Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)

2003 - Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)

2005 - Jack Anderson, American journalist (b. 1922)

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Roman festivals – Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, began.

R.C. Saints – O Sapientia

Saint Lazarus

Greek Orthodox Church-Saint Barbaras day – Feast of Daniel the Prophet

Bhutan – National Day (1907)

USA – Wright Brothers Day (by Presidential Proclamation)