11th DECEMBER
Leo X (d. OS 1475)
Hector Berlioz (b. 1803)
Robert Koch (b. 1843)
Max Born (b. 1882)
Ursula Bloom (b. 1892)
Carlo Ponti (b. 1910)
Jean Marais (b. 1913)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)
Big Mama Thornton (b. 1925)
Sir Kenneth MacMillan (b. 1929)
Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (b. 1931)
Ananda Shankar (b. 1942)
Christina Onassis (b. 1950)
Roger of Salisbury (d. 1139)
Llewelyn Ap Gruffydd (d. 1282)
Sir Roger L'Estrange (d. 1709)
Francis Dashwood (d. 1781)
Oliver Fisher Winchester (d. 1880)
Richard Doyle (d. 1883)
Aleister Crowley (d. 1947)
Sam Cooke (d. 1964)
Ed Murrow (d. 1965)
Jascha Heifetz (d. 1987)
Arthur Mullard (d. 1995)
Robert Shelton (d. 1995)
Willie Rushton (d. 1996)
Pilgrim fathers land from Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, OS 1620
James II abdicates and flees from England, 1688
Venetian blinds patented by Edward Beran, London, 1769
Indiana, the Hoosier State, becomes 19th state of the Union, 1816
Nitrous oxide 1st used for tooth extraction, 1844
Napoleon elected president, French Republic, 1848
Pinckney Pinchback becomes 1st black US governor, Louisiana, 1872
1st Motor Show opened, Champs-Elysées, Paris, 1894
1st wildlife preservation society in UK opened, 1903
Public buildings worth £3m burnt, Dublin, 1920
British Commonwealth becomes independent, Statute of Westminster, 1931
Edward VIII abdicates and George VI accedes to throne, UK, 1936
US declares war on Germany and Italy, 1941
New Waterloo Bridge opened, 1945
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund established, 1946
Derek Bentley and Christopher Craig found guilty of murder, 1952
Frank Sinatra Jr released, after payment of $240,000, 1963
Concorde prototype 1st shown, Toulouse, 1968
Apollo 17 makes final Moon landing of Apollo program, 1972
The Jam play final concert, Brighton, 1982
Astra satellite launched, Kourou, French Guiana, 1988
Electricity shares begin trading, 1990
Gerry Adams meets Tony Blair for talks, Downing St, 1997

12th DECEMBER
Anne, Queen of Denmark (b. 1574)
Admiral Samuel Hood (b. 1724)
Anna Seward (b. 1747)
Sir William Beechey (b. 1753)
Henry Wells (b. 1805)
Gustave Flaubert (b. 1821)
Edvard Munch (b. 1863)
Isabelle Pagan (b. 1867)
Edward G Robinson (b. 1893)
Frank Sinatra (b. 1915)
Joe Williams (b. 1918)
John Osborne (b. 1929)
Gwyneth Dunwoody (b. 1930)
Mike Smith (b. 1943)
Rob Tyner (b. 1944)
Tony Williams (b. 1945)
John Craig (d. 1600)
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (d. 1849)
Robert Browning (d. 1889)
Douglas Fairbanks Snr (d. 1939)
Tallulah Bankhead (d. 1968)
Sonja Henie (d. 1969)
Lady (Clementine) Spencer-Churchill (d. 1977)
Anne Baxter (d. 1985)
Clifton Chenier (d. 1987)
Myrna Loy (d. 1993)
Vance Packard (d. 1996)
Ahmet Ertegun (d. 2006)
Ike Turner (d. 2007)
Judge Jeffreys takes refuge from mob, Tower of London, 1688
Pennsylvania, the Keystone State, becomes 2nd state of the Union, 1787
Spain declares war on UK, 1804
Labrador duck declared extinct, Canada, 1878
George Eastman produces 1st roll of celluloid film, US, 1889
Marconi receives 1st transatlantic radio signal, UK-Newfoundland, 1901
George V holds Coronation Durbar, Delhi, 1911
Junkers 1st test-flights J1, 1st all-metal aircraft, Dessau, 1915
543 die in world's worst railway accident, Modane, France, 1917
Martial law declared in Cork, Tipperary, Kerry & Limerick, 1920
1st motel opens, California, 1925
China declares war on Japan, 1936
Conscription introduced for 18-26 year old men, 1948
1984 1st televised, BBC, 1954
1st hovercraft patented, 1955
Kenya becomes independent, 1963
Kenya becomes a republic, 1964
Francis Chichester arrives from Plymouth after 107 days, Sydney, 1966
Jim Morrison makes last live appearance with the Doors, New Orleans, 1970
Women members 1st elected to Jockey Club, 1977
34 die in 3-train collision, Clapham, 1988
Horse races 1st broadcast by satellite to betting shops, London, 1988
Princess Royal & Cdr Tim Laurence marry, Crathie, 1992
Magnetically levelled train carrying 7 people sets record 329.2 mph, Tokyo, 1997

13th DECEMBER
William Drummond of Hawthornden (b. 1585)
Sir William Hamilton (b. 1730)
Heinrich Heine (b. 1797)
Lucien Guitry (b. 1860)
John Piper (b. 1903)
Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
Sir Laurens van der Post (b. 1906)
Kenneth Patchen (b. 1911)
Curt Jurgens (b. 1912)
Maimonides (d. 1204)
Donatello (d. 1466)
Jan Vermeer (d. 1675)
Samuel Johnson (d. 1784)
Thomas Watson (d. 1934)
Wassily Kandinsky (d. 1944)
Grandma Moses (d. 1961)
Cornelius Cardew (d. 1981)
Mary Renault (d. 1983)
Ian Stewart (d. 1985)
Edward Blishen (d. 1996)
Stubby Kaye (d. 1997)
Lord (Lew) Grade of Elstree (d. 1998)
Joseph Heller (d. 1999)
Homesick James Williamson (d. 2006)
St Celestine V becomes 1st pope to abdicate, 1294
Tasman discovers New Zealand, 1642
Barebones Parliament ends, 1653
Dartmouth College receives its charter, New Hampshire, 1769
1st Smithfield Show takes place, 1779
1st meteorite to be recognised in UK falls near Wold Cottage, Bridlington, 1795
Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862
Gershwin's An American In Paris premiered, Carnegie Hall, New York NY, 1862
1st ice-cream cone patented, US, 1903
1st electric train runs on the underground, Baker St, 1904
Germany sends peace note to Allies, 1916
1st sound-on-film moving picture shown, US, 1923
Battle of River Plate, 1939
Jimi Hendrix Experience 1st appear on Ready Steady Go!, 1966
The Who play Tommy, London Coliseum, 1969
Dennis Thatcher and Margaret Roberts marry, Wesley's Chapel, London, 1971
Malta proclaimed a republic, 1974
1st US coin to honour a woman, Susan B Anthony, issued, 1978
British Airways incorporated, UK, 1983
Endeavour completes 11-day mission to repair Hubble Space Telescope, 1993
George W Bush elected President 36 days after voting day, 2000
Melody Maker published for final time, UK, 2000
Saddam Hussein arrested, Tikrit, Iraq, 2003

14th DECEMBER
Michel Nostradamus (b. 1503)
Tycho Brahe (b. 1546)
James Bruce (b. 1730)
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (b. 1824)
Roger Fry (b. 1866)
Wilhelm Keppler (b. 1882)
Paul Eluard (b. 1895)
George VI, King of Gt Britain (b. 1895)
Budd Johnson (b. 1910)
Spike Jones (b. 1911)
Rosemary Sutcliffe (b. 1920)
Charlie Rich (b. 1932)
Lee Remick (b. 1935)
Lester Bangs (b. 1948)
Sir John Oldcastle (d. OS 1417)
James V, King of Scotland (d. OS 1542)
St John of the Cross (d. 1591)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (d. 1788)
George Washington (d. 1799)
Albert, Prince Consort (d. 1861)
George Hudson (d. 1871)
John Harvey Kellogg (d. 1943)
Stanley Baldwin, Earl of Bewdley (d. 1947)
Will Fyffe (d. 1947)
Sir Stanley Spencer (d. 1959)
Dinah Washington (d. 1963)
Willam Bendix (d. 1964)
Anatole Litvak (d. 1974)
Andrei Sakharov (d. 1989)
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (d. 1990)
John Arlott (d. 1991)
Jeanne Crain (d. 2003)
Mary, Queen of Scots accedes to Scottish throne, 1542
Luddite riots begin, 1811
Alabama, the Heart of Dixie or Cotton State, becomes 22nd State of the Union, 1819
Max Planck 1st proposes quantum theory, 1901
Roald Amundsen becomes 1st to reach South Pole, 1911
1st woman surgeon admitted to Royal College of Surgeons, 1911
Countess Markievicz becomes 1st woman elected to Parliament, UK, 1914
Women (over 30) 1st vote in General Election, UK, 1918
Pines of Rome, 1st orchestral work to incorporate recorded sound, debuted, Rome, 1924
1st stereo sound system patented for EMI by Alan Blumlein, 1931
Women granted the vote, Turkey, 1934
USSR expelled from League of Nations, 1939
Archbishop Makarios becomes 1st President, Republic of Cyprus, 1959
1st close-up pictures of Venus sent back, by Mariner 2, 1962
New road speed limits imposed, UK, 1974
Wilma Mankiller 1st woman to lead major American Indian tribe, Cherokee Nation OK, 1985
Yasser Arafat renounces all forms of terrorism, PLO, 1988
Lennox Lewis beats Riddick Bowe to become world heavyweight champion, 1992
Bosnian peace agreement signed, Paris, 1995

15th DECEMBER
David Teniers the Younger (b. 1610)
George Romney (b. OS 1734)
Gustave Eiffel (b. 1832)
LL Zamenhof (b. 1859)
Charles Edgar Duryea (b. 1861)
Josef Hoffman (b. 1870)
Jean Paul Getty (b. 1892)
John Hammond Jr (b. 1910)
Stan Kenton (b. 1911)
Dolly Good (b. 1915)
Jeff Chandler (b. 1918)
Alan Freed (b. 1922)
Philip K Dick (b. 1928)
Jesse Belvin (b. 1933)
Johnny Moore (b. 1934)
Shehzad Tanweer (b. 1982)
Izaak Walton (d. 1683)
Chief Sitting Bull (d. 1890)
Fats Waller (d. 1943)
Alice Bailey (d. 1949)
Wolfgang Pauli (d. 1958)
Charles Laughton (d. 1962)
Walt Disney (d. 1966)
Edgar Lustgarten (d. 1978)
Jackie Brenston (d. 1979)
Sir Laurens van der Post (d. 1996)
George Alcock (d. 2000)
Rufus Thomas (d. 2001)
1st meteorological recordings made, Tuscany, 1654
Maria Fitzherbert secretly marries Prince of Wales, 1785
US Bill of Rights ratified, 1791
Napoleon enters Warsaw, 1806
Napoleon's remains interred, Les Invalides, Paris, 1840
Charles Duryea & brother invent 1st automobile to be built and operated in US, 1861
Battle of Colenso, 1899
Piccadilly Line opened, Finsbury Pk-Hammersmith, 1906
Battle of Verdun ends, 1916
Russo-German armistice agreed, 1917
Box and Cox, 1st play on TV, transmitted, 1928
Commonwealth of the Philippines inaugurated, 1935
Nylon 1st produced commercially, by DuPont, Delaware, 1939
Plutonium 1st created, San Francisco CA, 1940
Glenn Miller's aircraft lost over English Channel, 1944
Last steam locomotive completed, Crewe, 1958
Adolf Eichmann found guilty of crimes to Jewish people, Israel, 1961
Maple leaf adopted as national flag, Canada, 1964
Gemini 6 launched, US, 1965
Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 make 1st rendezvous in space, 1965
Swansea achieves city status, 1969
Food riots break out, Poland, 1970
Jean-Paul Getty III released by kidnappers, 1973
Chris Haney & Scott Abbott invent a game called Trivial Pursuits, Canada, 1979
Boring of Channel Tunnel begins, 1987
1st European sighting of American bald eagle, County Kerry, 1987
James Brown sentenced to 6 years in prison, 1988
Major and Reynolds sign Anglo-Irish Declaration, Northern Ireland, 1993
Leaning Tower of Pisa re-opened to public, 2001

16th DECEMBER
Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
Ludwig van Beethoven (b. 1770)
Jane Austen (b. 1775)
Mary Russell Mitford (b. 1787)
Giovanni Battista Donati (b. 1826)
George Santayana (b. 1863)
Zoltán Kodály (b. 1882)
Sir Jack Hobbs (b. 1883)
Sir Noel Coward (b. 1889)
Sir Victor Pritchett (b. 1900)
Margaret Mead (b. 1901)
Sir Arthur C Clarke (b. 1917)
Karl Denver (b. 1934)
Bill Hicks (b. 1961)
St Adelaide (d. 999)
Wilhelm Grimm (d. 1859)
Camille Saint-Saëns (d. 1921)
Glenn Miller (d. 1944)
William Somerset Maugham (d. 1965)
Lee Van Cleef (d. 1989)
Silvana Mangano (d. 1989)
Ruby Murray (d. 1996)
Quentin Bell (d. 1996)
Nicolette Larson (d. 1997)
Stuart Adamson (d. 2001)
Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, 1653
Boston Tea Party begins War of Independence, 1773
13-year marriage between Napoleon & Josephine dissolved, being childless, 1809
Boers defeat Zulus under Dingaan, Blood River, 1838
Transvaal Republic founded, 1879
Manchester Ship Canal completed, 1893
Variety 1st published, 1905
Hartlepool, Whitby & Scarborough bombarded by German cruisers, 1914
180,000 die in landslide, Kansu province of China, 1920
Construction work on Mersey Road Tunnel begins, 1925
UK airship R100 1st flies on trial, 1929
Battle of the Bulge commences, Ardennes, 1944
1st synthetic diamonds produced, GEC laboratory, US, 1954
New airport terminal buildings opened, Heathrow, 1955
Bangladesh comes into being, 1977
Panama Canal re-opened, 1980
The Who officially disband, 1983
Edwina Currie resigns over salmonella in eggs claim, UK, 1988
Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected 1st democratically elected president, Haiti, 1990
Stella Remington named as 1st woman head of MI5, 1991
Sale of beef on the bone banned, UK, 1997

17th DECEMBER
Nero (b. OS 0037)
Paracelsus (b. 1493)
Sir Roger L'Estrange (b. 1616)
Domenico Cimarosa (b. 1749)
Sir Humphrey Davy (b. 1778)
Ford Madox Ford (b. 1873)
Alison Uttley (b. 1884)
J Robertson Hare (b. 1891)
Arthur Fiedler (b. 1894)
Ray Noble (b. 1903)
Erskine Caldwell (b. 1903)
Sy Oliver (b. 1910)
Kerry Packer (b. 1937)
Eddie Kendricks (b. 1939)
James Booker (b. 1939)
Paul Butterfield (b. 1942)
Carlton (Carly) Barrett (b. 1950)
Simón Bolivar (d. 1830)
Kaspar Hauser (d. 1833)
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (d. 1917)
Peter Warlock (d. 1930)
Hound Dog Taylor (d. 1975)
Don Ellis (d. 1978)
Big Joe Williams (d. 1982)
Dana Andrews (d. 1992)
Irving Caesar (d. 1996)
Grover Washington Jr (d. 1999)
Dick Heckstall-Smith (d. 2004)
Tom Wesselmann (d. 2004)
Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII, 1538
Drake sets sail on 1st world voyage, Pelican, Plymouth, 1577
1st one way street introduced, New York NY, 1791
Bolivar becomes president of Colombia, 1819
Dickens' A Christmas Carol published, UK, 1843
Schubert's Unfinished Symphony discovered, 1865
Lyric Theatre opened, London, 1888
Orville Wright makes 1st powered flight, Kitty Hawk NC, 1903
Graf Spee scuttled, Montevideo, 1939
Malmedy massacre, Battle of the Bulge, 1944
27" of snow left after blizzard, New York NY, 1947
Petrol rationing imposed in UK, 1956
On The Beach 1st film to open simultaneously worldwide, 1959
Carroll James Jr is 1st DJ to play Beatles in US, WWDC Radio, Washington DC, 1963
Radio North Sea pirate radio/TV station is closed by Dutch authorities, 1964
Alec Rose completes 5 month solo voyage in Lively Lady, Portsmouth-Melbourne, 1967
USAF Blue Book Project finds no extraterrestrial evidence behind UFO sightings, 1969
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes prime minister of Pakistan, 1971
Oz raid leading to Oz Trial takes place, London, 1971
Yeti stalks Arum Valley Wildlife Expedition, Kongmaa La, Himalayas, 1972
31 die in Arab hijacking, Rome airport, 1973
Lynette Fromme sentenced to life for attempting to assassinate Ford, 1975
David Ackroyd awarded gold disc when purchasing millionth Mull Of Kintyre, 1977
Elvis Costello performs banned Radio Radio, Saturday Night Live, US, 1977
George Harrison plays unannounced set in his local pub, Henley-On-Thames, 1977
Karen Carpenter makes last live appearance, Sherman CA, 1982
6 die in Harrods car bombing, 1983
Davina Thompson 1st to receive heart, lungs & liver transplant, Papworth, 1986
Eddie Shah's The Post closes after 17 editions, 1988
2000 die when Romanian Army quells protest, Timisoara, 1989
Celine Dion marries her manager Rene Angelil, Notre Dame Basilica, Montreal, 1994
Statue of Frank Zappa unveiled, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1995

18th DECEMBER
Charles Wesley (b. 1707)
Joseph Grimaldi (b. 1779)
Ty Cobb (b. 1866)
Hector Hugo Munro (Saki) (b. 1870)
Paul Klee (b. 1879)
Dame Gladys Cooper (b. 1888)
Edwin Armstrong (b. 1890)
Dame Celia Johnson (b. 1908)
EH Troinski (b. 1910)
Jules Dassin (b. 1911)
Willy Brandt (b. 1913)
Betty Grable (b. 1916)
Eddie (Cleanhead) Vinson (b. 1917)
Lord Merlyn-Rees (b. 1920)
Lord Lucan (Richard John Bingham)(b. 1934)
Chas Chandler (b. 1938)
Prince William of Gloucester (b. 1941)
Steve Biko (b. 1946)
Antonio Stradivari (d. 1737)
Sir John Alcock (d. 1919)
Dorothy L Sayers (d. 1957)
Alexei Kosygin (d. 1980)
Ben Travers (d. 1980)
Paul Tortelier (d. 1990)
Sam Wanamaker (d. 1993)
Robert Bresson (d. 1999)
Randolph A Hearst (d. 2000)
Clifford T Ward (d. 2001)
Joseph Barbera (d. 2006)
Battle of Clifton Moor, 1745
New Jersey, the Garden State, becomes 3rd state of the Union, 1787
Thomas Paine tried in absentia for publishing The Rights of Man, 1792
Freud's father born, 1815
Dentists ban kissing to prevent spread of trench disease, New Jersey, 1826
1st stones of Blackfriars Bridge laid, 1865
Slavery abolished in US with ratification of 13th Amendment, 1865
City & South London Railway passenger service begins, 1890
Charles Dawson announces Piltdown Man discovery, Sussex, 1912
International Zone of Tangier set up, 1923
1st Flower Pot Men broadcast, 1952
Japan admitted to the United Nations, 1956
Death penalty for murder formally abolished, UK, 1969
US begin bombing, Vietnam, 1972
Stanley Barrett breaks sound barrier on land at 739_6 mph, California, 1979
Keith Richards marries Patti Hensen, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, 1983
Ivan Boesky sentenced to 3 years in prison for insider-trading, US, 1987
Camillagate tape conversation allegedly takes place, 1989
Grottechauvet, prehistoric cave paintings discovered, near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, 1994

19th DECEMBER
Sir William Parry (b. 1790)
Sir Ralph Richardson (b. 1902)
Jean Genet (b. 1910)
Edith Piaf (b. 1915)
Prof Longhair (b. 1918)
Éamonn Andrews (b. 1922)
Gordon Jackson (b. 1923)
Phil Ochs (b. 1940)
Emily Brontë (d. 1848)
Joseph MW Turner (d. 1851)
VC Andrews (d. 1986)
Stella Gibbons (d. 1989)
Michael Clarke (d. 1993)
Marcello Mastroianni (d. 1996)
Desmond Llewellyn (d. 1999)
Sir Laurence Whistler (d. 2000)
Kirsty MacColl (d. 2000)
Pops Staples (d. 2000)
Robert Buck (d. 2000)
Renata Tebaldi (d. 2004)
Henry II accedes to throne, 1154
Edward Balliol flees from supporters of David Bruce, Annan, 1332
Battle of Dreux, 1562
US recognises independence of Hawaii, 1842
Linoleum patented, 1863
1st emergency ambulance service begins, London, 1905
BBC World Service (as Empire Service) inaugurated, 1932
Maurice Ravel undergoes unsuccessful brain surgery, 1937
UK evacuates Penang, 1941
Le Monde 1st published, 1944
Artificial manure patented, 1951
Carl Perkins records Blue Suede Shoes, Memphis TN, 1955
London-Moscow air services inaugurated, 1957
Radio London begins transmitting from North Sea, 1964
Apollo 17 makes final splash down of Apollo moon landing program, Pacific Ocean, 1972
1st divorce issued by post, UK, 1973
All 8 Solomon Browne lifeboat crew members die during rescue attempt, Penlee, 1981
Return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 agreed by UK & China, 1984
Ted Hughes appointed Poet Laureate, 1984
William Hague marries Ffion Jenkins, Crypt Chapel, Palace of Westminster, 1997

20th DECEMBER
Pieter de Hooch (b. 1629)
Théo Marzials (b. 1850)
Dan Leno (b. 1860)
Margaret Dumont (b. 1889)
Yvonne Arnaud (b. 1892)
Sir Robert Menzies (b. 1894)
Robert Van de Graaff (b. 1901)
Irene Dunne (b. 1901)
George, Duke of Kent (b. 1902)
Sir Dick White (b. 1906)
Jess Yates (b. 1918)
George Roy Hill (b. 1922)
Pat Hare (b. 1930)
St Ignatius of Antioch (d. 107)
Ambroise Paré (d. 1590)
James Hilton (d. 1954)
Moss Hart (d. 1961)
John Steinbeck (d. 1968)
Bobby Darin (d. 1973)
Richard J Daley (d. 1976)
Ned Washington (d. 1976)
Artur Rubinstein (d. 1982)
Bill Brandt (d. 1983)
Gwen Berryman (d. 1983)
Albert King (d. 1992)
Carl Sagan (d. 1996)
Denise Levertov (d. 1997)
Juzo Itami (d. 1997)
Hank Snow (d. 1999)
Adrian Henri (d. 2000)
1st General Assembly of Church of Scotland, 1560
Peter the Great reforms Roman calendar, 1699
Last issue of original Spectator on sale, 1714
1st successful US cotton mill begins to operate, Pawtucket RI, 1790
Louisiana Purchase completed as territory formally transfers from France, US, 1803
South Carolina becomes 1st state to secede from Union, 1860
Edison privately demonstrates his incandescent lamp, Menlo Park NJ, 1879
1st stone of new Crown Courts of Justice laid, Old Bailey, 1902
Liberals & Tories tie in General Election, 1910
British Protectorate of Egypt established, 1914
14 republics of Russia form USSR, 1922
Harry Ramsden's 1st fish & chip restaurant opened, nr Bradford, 1928
Elvis Presley receives US Army call up papers, 1957
Lenin, 1st atomic ice-breaker, starts operating, 1959
The Who make final regular performance of Tommy, The Roundhouse, London, 1970
Admiral Carrero Blanco assassinated by car bomb, Madrid, 1973
Industrial action blacks out BBC television, 1978
Over 1500 die in Philippine ferry tanker collision, 1987
US troops depose Manuel Noriega, Panama, 1989
Eduard Shevardnadze resigns as Foreign Minister, USSR, 1990
Maerdy Colliery, last remaining pit in Rhondda, closed, 1990

Last updated: July 20, 2009