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46 BC - Titus Labienus bloodily defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.

871 - Battle of Reading - Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.

1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World, ending his first journey.

1642 - English Civil War: King Charles I of England attacks Parliament.

1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, is destroyed by fire.

1717 - The Netherlands, England, and France sign the Triple Alliance.

1762 - England declares war on Spain and Naples.

1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

1854 - The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.

1865 - The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

1884 - The Fabian Society is founded in London.

1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by Dr. William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.

1896 - Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

1912 - The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.

1936 - Mickey's Polo Team, a short animated film featuring Charlie Chaplin, Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, and Harpo Marx in a polo match against various Disney characters, is first released.

1936 - Billboard magazine publishes its first pop music charts.

1941 - The animated short Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released. It marks the second appearance of Bugs Bunny and the first to have his name on a title card.

1944 - World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino begins.

1948 - Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1951 - Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.

1957 - After 69 years the last issue of Collier's Weekly magazine is published.

1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit (launched on October 4, 1957).

1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

1962 - New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.

1965 - United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his "Great Society" during his State of the Union address.

1970 - The Beatles record as a band for the last time.

1972 - Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.

1974 - United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

1987 - An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, DC, collides with Conrail engines, killing 16 people (Chase, Maryland rail wreck).

1989 - A pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.

1990 - A crowded passenger train collides with a standing freight train in Pakistan's Sindh province, killing 300 people.

1998 - Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria; over 170 are killed in three remote villages.

1999 - Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

1999 - Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.

2001 - RuneScape (Now known as RuneScape Classic) was released.

2004 - Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili is elected the President of Georgia.

2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

2004 - Leicester City footballers Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie, and Frank Sinclair are arrested in Spain over sexual assault allegations. The charges were later dropped.

2006 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

2006 - Many American media outlets erroneously report that 12 miners have been found alive in the Sago Mine Disaster.

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1077 - Emperor Zhezong of Song Dynasty in China (d. 1100)

1334 - Amadeus VI of Savoy (d. 1383)

1581 - James Ussher, Irish Anglican archbishop (d. 1656)

1643 - Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and natural philosopher (d. 1727)

1664 - Lars Roberg, Swedish physician (d. 1742)

1672 - Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (d. 1742)

1710 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (d. 1736)

1720 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer (d. 1774)

1785 - Jakob Grimm, German philologist and folklorist (d. 1863)

1809 - Louis Braille, French inventor of Braille (d. 1852)

1832 - George Tryon, British admiral (d. 1893)

1838 - Charles Sherwood Stratton, American circus performer (d. 1883)

1839 - Carl Humann, German engineer (d. 1896)

1848 - Katsura Taro, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913)

1869 - Tommy Corcoran, baseball player (d. 1960)

1874 - Josef Suk, Czech composer (d. 1935)

1881 - Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (d. 1919)

1882 - Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist (d. 1943)

1883 - Max Eastman, American writer (d. 1969)

1894 - Manuel de Abreu, Brazilian physician (d. 1962)

1896 - Everett Dirksen, American politician (d. 1969)

1896 - André Masson, French artist (d. 1987)

1900 - James Bond, American ornithologist (d. 1989)

1901 - C. L. R. James, writer and journalist (d. 1989)

1905 - Sterling Holloway, American actor (d. 1992)

1913 - Malietoa Tanumafili II, Sovereign Ruler of Samoa

1914 - Jane Wyman, American actress

1914 - Herman Franks, baseball player

1920 - William Colby, American CIA director (d. 1996)

1924 - Sebastian Kappen, Indian theologian (d. 1993)

1925 - Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier (d. 2003)

1929 - Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist, sculptor

1930 - Sorrell Booke, American actor (d. 1994)

1930 - Don Shula, American football coach

1931 - Adi Lady Lala Mara, First Lady of Fiji

1935 - Floyd Patterson, American boxer (d. 2006)

1937 - Grace Bumbry, American singer

1937 - Dyan Cannon, American actress

1940 - Helmut Jahn, German architect

1940 - Brian David Josephson, Nobel laureate

1940 - Gao Xingjian, Nobel laureate

1941 - Maureen Reagan, American political activist (d. 2001)

1943 - Doris Kearns Goodwin, American writer

1945 - Richard R. Schrock, Nobel laureate

1945 - Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish entertainer

1950 - John Louis Evans, convicted murderer (d. 1983)

1953 - Norberto Alonso, Argentine footballer

1953 - George Tenet, American CIA director

1956 - Bernard Sumner, English musician (New Order)

1957 - Patty Loveless, American singer

1958 - Matt Frewer, American actor

1959 - Yoshitomo Nara, Japanese pop artist

1958 - Gary Jones, Welsh-born actor

1960 - Michael Stipe, American singer (R.E.M.)

1961 - Lee Curreri, American actor

1962 - Peter Steele, American musician (Type O Negative)

1962 - Robin Guthrie, Scottish guitarist

1963 - Dave Foley, Canadian comedian and actor

1963 - Till Lindemann, German singer (Rammstein)

1965 - Beth Gibbons, English singer (Portishead)

1965 - Julia Ormond, English actress

1966 - Deana Carter, American singer

1971 - Junichi Kakizaki, Japanese artist, sculptor

1977 - Tim Wheeler, Irish singer (Ash)

1978 - Dwight Freeney, American football player

1978 - Dominik Hrbatý, Slovakian tennis player

1979 - Jeph Howard, American musician (The Used)

1982 - Richard Logan English footballer

1985 - Fernando Rees, Brazilian race car driver

1995 - María Isabel, Spanish singer

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1066 - Edward the Confessor, pre-Norman conquest English king (b. ca. 1004) (disputed)

1248 - King Sancho II of Portugal (b. 1207)

1564 - Hosokawa Ujitsuna, Japanese military commander (b. 1514)

1584 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and drawer (b. 1539)

1695 - François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, French general (b. 1628)

1752 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (b. 1704)

1761 - Stephen Hales, English physiologist (b. 1677)

1773 - Anton Losenko, Russian painter (b. 1737)

1782 - Ange-Jacques Gabriel, French architect (b. 1698)

1804 - Charlotte Lennox, English author and poet (bc. 1730)

1821 - Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (b. 1774)

1825 - King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1751)

1877 - Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)

1883 - Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (b. 1823)

1896 - Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German Old Catholic bishop (b. 1821)

1903 - Gulstan Ropert, Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1839)

1919 - Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1843)

1931 - Art Acord, American actor (b. 1890)

1941 - Henri Bergson, French philosopher, Nobel laureate (b. 1859)

1960 - Albert Camus, Algerian-born French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1913)

1961 - Erwin Schrödinger, Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1887)

1962 - Hans Lammers, German SS officer (b. 1879)

1965 - T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1888)

1967 - Donald Campbell, British motorboat racer (b. 1921)

1969 - Violet and Daisy Hilton, English conjoined twin actresses (b. 1908)

1970 - Jean-Étienne Valluy, French general (b. 1899)

1971 - Arthur Ford, American clairaudient b. 1896)

1985 - Brian Horrocks, British general (b. 1895)

1986 - Christopher Isherwood, English writer (b. 1904)

1986 - Phil Lynott, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy) (b. 1949)

1990 - Doc Edgerton, American electrical engineer (b. 1903)

1998 - Mae Questel, American actress (b. 1908)

1999 - Iron Eyes Cody, American actor (b. 1904)

2003 - Conrad Hall, American cinematographer (b. 1927)

2003 - Yfrah Neaman, Lebanese-born violinist (b. 1923)

2003 - Sabine Ulibarri, Mexican American writer (b. 1919)

2004 - Joan Aiken, English author (b. 1924)

2004 - Brian Gibson, English film director (b. 1944)

2004 - Jake Hess, American singer (b. 1927)

2004 - Jeff Nuttall, English writer (b. 1933)

2004 - John Toland, American historian (b. 1912)

2005 - Humphrey Carpenter, English author (b. 1946)

2005 - Ali al-Haidri, Iraqi governor of Baghdad (assassinated)

2005 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (b. 1921)

2005 - Robert Heilbroner, American economist (b. 1919)

2005 - Bud Poile, Canadian hockey player (b. 1924)

2005 - Alton Tobey, American artist (b. 1914)

2006 - Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai (b. 1946)

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Feast day of St Elizabeth Ann Seton

The eleventh night and tenth day of Christmas in Western Christianity

Ogoni Day