[Edit]

top

1463 - Poet François Villon is banned from Paris.

1477 - Battle of Nancy: Charles the Bold is killed and Burgundy becomes part of France.

1500 - Duke Ludovico Sforza conquers Milan.

1527 - Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, was executed by drowning.

1554 - A great fire occurs in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

1675 - Battle of Colmar: the French army beats Brandenburg.

1757 - Louis XV of France survives the assassination attempt by Robert–François Damiens, the last person to be executed in France with the traditional and gruesome form of death penalty used for regicides.

1759 - George Washington marries Martha Dandridge Custis.

1781 - American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia, is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.

1846 - The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom.

1854 - The San Francisco steamer sinks, killing 300 people.

1895 - Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.

1896 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.

1900 - Irish leader John Edward Redmond calls for a revolt against British rule.

1909 - Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.

1912 - Prague Party Conference.

1914 - Ford Motor Company announces an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage of $5 for a day's labor.

1919 - Free Committee for a German Workers Peace founded, which would become the Nazi party.

1925 - Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes the first female governor in the United States.

1933 - Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins in San Francisco Bay.

1940 - FM radio is demonstrated to the FCC for the first time.

1944 - The Daily Mail becomes the first transoceanic newspaper.

1945 - The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland.

1948 - Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).

1957 - Major league baseball player Jackie Robinson retires.

1964 - Pope Paul VI meets the Greek patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem: the first meeting of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity leaders since 1439.

1968 - Alexander Dubček comes to power: "Prague Spring" begins in Czechoslovakia.

1970 - Soap opera: All My Children premieres.

1972 - President of the United States Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.

1974 - An earthquake in Lima, Peru, kills six people, and damages hundreds of houses.

1975 - The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, is struck by the bulk ore carrier Lake Illawarra, killing twelve people.

1976 - Cambodia is renamed Democratic Campuchea.

1984 - Richard Stallman starts developing GNU.

1993 - The oil tanker MV Braer runs aground on the coast of the Shetland Islands, spilling 84,700 tons of crude oil.

1993 - Washington state executes Westley Allan Dodd by hanging (the first legal hanging in America since 1965).

1996 - Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone.

1997 - Russian forces withdraw from Chechnya.

2000 - The first day of the 2000 Al Qaeda Summit.

2005 - Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, was discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken on October 21, 2003, at the Palomar Observatory.

2006 - Independence Air ceases operations.

top

1209 - Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1272)

1548 - Francisco Suarez, Spanish theologian (d. 1617)

1587 - Xu Xiake, Chinese geographer (d. 1641)

1592 - Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1666)

1614 - Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, (d. 1662)

1717 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (d. 1793)

1779 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (d. 1820)

1779 - Zebulon Pike, American explorer (d. 1813)

1838 - Camille Jordan, French mathematician (d. 1922)

1846 - Rudolf Christoph Eucken, German writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1926)

1855 - King Camp Gillette, American inventor (d. 1932)

1864 - Bob Caruthers, baseball player (d. 1911)

1865 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (d. 1920)

1874 - Joseph Erlanger, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)

1876 - Konrad Adenauer, German statesman (d. 1967)

1879 - Hans Eppinger, Austrian physician (d. 1946)

1880 - Nikolay Medtner, Russian composer (d. 1951)

1893 - Zoltán Böszörmény, Hungarian Nazi politician, (d. unknown)

1893 - Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (d. 1952)

1895 - Elizabeth Cotten, American musician (d. 1987)

1900 - Yves Tanguy, French painter (d. 1955)

1902 - Stella Gibbons, English novelist (d. 1989)

1904 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (d. 1997)

1908 - George Dolenz, American actor (d. 1963)

1909 - Stephen Kleene, American mathematician (d. 1994)

1910 - Hugh Brannum, American actor (d. 1987)

1910 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (d. 1949)

1913 - Jean-Pierre Aumont, French actor (d. 2001)

1914 - George Reeves, American actor (d. 1959)

1914 - Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (d. 1955)

1915 - Arthur H. Robinson, Canadian-born cartographer (d. 2004)

1920 - Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (d. 1995)

1921 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (d. 1990)

1921 - Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

1923 - Sam Phillips, American music producer (d. 2003)

1926 - Hosea Williams, American activist (d. 2000)

1928 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani statesman (d. 1979)

1928 - Walter Mondale, American politican

1931 - Alvin Ailey, American choreographer (d. 1989)

1931 - Alfred Brendel, Austrian pianist

1931 - Robert Duvall, American actor

1932 - Umberto Eco, Italian writer

1932 - Chuck Noll, American football coach

1936 - Florence King, American humorist

1938 - King Juan Carlos I of Spain

1938 - Jim Otto, American football player

1938 - Ngugi wa Thiongo, Kenyan writer

1940 - Michael O'Donoghue, American writer (d. 1994)

1940 - Yuri Ershov, Russian mathematician

1941 - Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese film maker

1941 - Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian cricketer

1942 - Maurizio Pollini, Italian pianist

1942 - Charlie Rose, American talk show host

1945 - Roger Spottiswoode, Canadian-born film director

1946 - Diane Keaton, American actress

1948 - Ted Lange, American actor

1949 - George Brown, American drummer (Kool & The Gang)

1950 - Chris Stein, American guitarist (Blondie)

1950 - John Manley, Canadian politician

1950 - Ioan Petru Culianu, Romanian-born professor (d. 1991)

1950 - Charlie Richmond, Canadian entrepreneur

1951 - Steve Arnold, English footballer

1953 - Pamela Sue Martin, American actress

1954 - Alex English, American basketball player

1956 - Chen Kenichi, Japanese-born chef

1959 - Clancy Brown, American actor

1960 - Phil Thornalley, English bass guitarist (The Cure)

1960 - Steve Jones, aviator (Red Bull Air Race World Series)

1962 - Suzy Amis, American actress

1962 - Joe Monzo, American composer

1962 - Danny Jackson, baseball player

1963 - Jeff Fassero, baseball player

1964 - Grant Young, American drummer (Soul Asylum)

1965 - Vinnie Jones, British actor

1966 - Kate Schellenbach, American drummer (Luscious Jackson)

1967 - Joe Flanigan, American actor

1968 - Andrew Golota, Polish boxer

1968 - Ricky Paull Goldin, American actor

1969 - Marilyn Manson, American singer

1969 - Paul McGillion, Scottish actor

1971 - Mayuko Takata, Japanese actress

1972 - Sakis Rouvas, Greek singer

1975 - Mike Grier, American football player

1975 - Bradley Cooper, American actor

1975 - Kylie Bax, New Zealand model

1976 - Matt Wachter, American bassist (30 Seconds to Mars)

1978 - Franck Montagny, French Formula One driver

1979 - Kyle Calder, American hockey player

1981 - Corey Flynn, New Zealand rugby player

1982 - Janica Kostelić, Croatian skier

1984 - Amanda Hearst, American heiress

1985 - Richard Butler, English footballer

1985 - Michael Cuccione, Canadian actor (d. 2001)

top

842 - Al-Mu'tasim, Abbasid caliph (b. 794)

1400 - John Montacute, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English politician (executed) (bc. 1350)

1465 - Charles, Duke of Orléans, French poet (b. 1394)

1477 - Charles, Duke of Burgundy (killed in battle) (b. 1433)

1524 - Marko Marulić, Croatian poet (b. 1450)

1527 - Felix Manz, Swiss leader (executed) (b. 1498)

1588 - Qi Jiguang, Chinese general (b. 1528)

1589 - Catherine de Medici, queen of Henry II of France (b. 1519)

1655 - Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)

1740 - Antonio Lotti, Italian composer (b. 1667)

1762 - Empress Elizabeth of Russia (b. 1709)

1771 - John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (b. 1710)

1846 - Alfred Thomas Agate, American artist (b. 1812)

1858 - Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal (b. 1766)

1891 - Emma Abbott, American soprano (b. 1849)

1904 - Karl Alfred von Zittel, German palaeontologist (b. 1839)

1910 - Léon Walras, French economist (b. 1834)

1922 - Ernest Shackleton, Irish explorer (b. 1874)

1933 - John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., 30th President of the United States (b. 1872)

1937 - Marie Booth, child of William and Catherine Booth (b. 1864)

1941 - Amy Johnson, English aviator (b. 1903)

1943 - George Washington Carver, American educator (b. 1860)

1951 - Andrei Platonov, Russian writer (b. 1899)

1954 - Rabbit Maranville, baseball player (b. 1891)

1956 - Mistinguett, French singer (b. 1875)

1963 - Rogers Hornsby, baseball player (b. 1896)

1970 - Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)

1970 - Roberto Gerhard, Catalan composer (b. 1896)

1971 - Douglas Shearer, Canadian film engineer (b. 1899)

1979 - Charles Mingus, American musician (b. 1922)

1981 - Harold C. Urey, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1893)

1981 - Lanza del Vasto, Italian philosopher (b. 1901)

1982 - Hans Conried, American actor (b. 1917)

1988 - Pete Maravich, American basketball player (b. 1947)

1990 - Arthur Kennedy, American actor (b. 1914)

1991 - Vasko Popa, Yugoslav poet (b. 1922)

1994 - Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, American politician (b. 1912)

1996 - Yahya Ayyash, Palestinian terrorist (b. 1966)

1998 - Sonny Bono, American entertainer (b. 1935)

2001 - Nancy Parsons, American actress (b. 1942)

2003 - Roy Jenkins, British politician (b. 1920)

2003 - Jean Kerr, American author (b. 1923)

2004 - Tug McGraw, baseball player (b. 1944)

2005 - Danny Sugerman, American music manager (The Doors) (b. 1954)

top

The eleventh day of Christmas in Western Christianity, and the Twelfth Night of Christmas in Western Christianity.

Catholicism - Feast day of St. John Neumann.

Mungday (Discordianism)