Events

Pre-1600

• AD 69 Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.

• 944 Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos is arrested by two of his sons, forced to abdicate and to live as a monk for the rest of his life.

• 1046 Emperor Henry III convenes the synod of Sutri to mediate between different claimants to the papacy.

• 1192 Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.

• 1334 Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII.

1601–1900

• 1803 The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

• 1808 Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.

• 1832 HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.

• 1848 French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.

• 1860 South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession.

1901–present

• 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.

• 1940 Captain America Comics #1, containing the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published.

• 1941 World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China.

• 1942 World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.

• 1946 It's a Wonderful Life premieres at the Globe Theatre in New York to mixed reviews.

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• 1946 An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes.

• 1948 Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.

• 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 of the 115 people on board.

• 1955 Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.

• 1957 The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.

• 1960 Vietnam War: The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, popularly known as the Viet Cong, is formally established in Tân Lập village, present day Tây Ninh province.

• 1968 The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.

• 1970 Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.

• 1973 Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.

• 1977 With the approval of the State Council, China's two largest newspapers, the People's Daily and the Guangming Daily, publish in full for the first time the Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme.

• 1984 The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.

• 1984 Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head."

• 1985 Pope John Paul II announces the creation of World Youth Day.

• 1987 In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).

• 1988 War on drugs: The United Nations agrees upon and promulgates the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, one of three major drug control treaties currently in force.

• 1989 The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

• 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 American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159 of the 163 people on board.

• 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.

• 2007 Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.

• 2007 The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. Both will be recovered a few weeks later.

• 2016 Aerosucre Flight 157 crashes during takeoff from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, killing five people.

• 2019 The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

• 2024 Six people are killed and over 200 are injured when an anti-Islam activist drives a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

• 2024 – A mass stabbing occurs in a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia, in which a 7-year-old pupil is killed and six more are injured by a knife-wielding 19-year-old male.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1494 Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (died 1555)

• 1496 Joseph ha-Kohen, historian and physician (died 1575)

• 1537 John III, king of Sweden (died 1592)

• 1576 John Sarkander, Moravian priest and saint (died 1620)

1601–1900

• 1626 Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German scholar and politician (died 1692)

• 1629 Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (died 1684)

• 1641 Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist, geologist, and physician (died 1724)

• 1740 Arthur Lee, American physician and diplomat (died 1792)

• 1786 Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (died 1853)

• 1792 Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, French painter and educator (died 1845)

• 1806 Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (died 1871)

• 1812 Laura M. Hawley Thurston, American poet and educator (died 1842)

• 1838 Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian, author, and educator (died 1926)

• 1841 Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1932)

• 1851 Knut Wicksell, Swedish economist (died 1926)

• 1861 Ferdinand Bonn, German actor (died 1933)

• 1861 Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (died 1926)

• 1865 Elsie de Wolfe, American actress and interior decorator (died 1950)

• 1868 Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (died 1938)

• 1869 Charley Grapewin, American actor (died 1956)

• 1871 Henry Kimball Hadley, American composer and conductor (died 1937)

• 1873 Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian, author, and academic (died 1948)

• 1873 Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, academic, and politician (died 1936)

• 1874 Mary Ann Bevan, English nurse who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world" (died 1933)

• 1881 Branch Rickey, American baseball player and manager (died 1965)

• 1884 Ruhana Kuddus, Indonesian activist and journalist (died 1972)

• 1886 Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player and businessman (died 1974)

• 1888 Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian and academic (died 1980)

• 1888 Fred Merkle, American baseball player and manager (died 1956)

• 1890 Yvonne Arnaud, French pianist, actress and singer (died 1958)

• 1890 Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967)

• 1891 Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper (died 1971)

• 1894 Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1978)

• 1898 Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician, 156th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1973)

• 1898 Irene Dunne, American actress and singer (died 1990)

• 1899 Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Welsh preacher and physician (died 1981)

• 1900 Lissy Arna, German actress (died 1964)

• 1900 Gabby Hartnett, American baseball player and manager (died 1972)

1901–present

• 1901 Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic, invented the Van de Graaff generator (died 1967)

• 1902 Prince George, Duke of Kent (died 1942)

• 1902 Sidney Hook, American philosopher and author (died 1989)

• 1904 Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 1984)

• 1904 Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian author (died 1977)

• 1905 Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (died 1992)

• 1907 Paul Francis Webster, American soldier and songwriter (died 1984)

• 1908 Dennis Morgan, American actor and singer (died 1994)

• 1909 Vakkom Majeed, Indian journalist and politician (died 2000)

• 1911 Hortense Calisher, American author (died 2009)

• 1914 Harry F. Byrd Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (died 2013)

• 1915 Aziz Nesin, Turkish author and poet (died 1995)

• 1916 Michel Chartrand, Canadian trade union leader and activist (died 2010)

• 1917 David Bohm, American-English physicist, neuropsychologist, and philosopher (died 1992)

• 1917 Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (died 1997)

• 1917 Audrey Totter, American actress (died 2013)

• 1918 Jean Marchand, Canadian trade union leader and politician, 43rd Secretary of State for Canada (died 1988)

• 1920 Väinö Linna, Finnish author (died 1992)

• 1921 George Roy Hill, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2002)

• 1922 Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter (died 2020)

• 1922 William Soeryadjaya, Chinese-Indonesian businessman and co-founder of Astra International (died 2010)

• 1924 Charlie Callas, American actor and comedian (died 2011)

• 1924 Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 42nd Secretary of State for Canada (died 1980)

• 1925 Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (died 2007)

• 1926 Marcel Douzima, Central African lawyer and politician (died 2012)

• 1926 Geoffrey Howe, Welsh lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 2015)

• 1926 Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Economics (died 2009)

• 1927 Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark, English engineer and politician (died 2016)

• 1927 Jim Simpson, American sportscaster (died 2016)

• 1927 Kim Young-sam, South Korean soldier and politician, 7th President of South Korea (died 2015)

• 1927 James Lawrence King, American jurist (died 2026)

• 1928 John Menkes, Austrian-American pediatric and writer (died 2008)

• 1929 Don Sunderlage, American basketball player (died 1961)

• 1931 Mala Powers, American actress (died 2007)

• 1931 Hristina Obradović, Serbian hegumenia and abbess (died 2026)

• 1932 Antoine Mbary-Daba, Central African politician, bureaucrat, and diplomat (died ).

• 1932 John Hillerman, American actor (died 2017)

• 1933 Olavi Salonen, Finnish runner (died 2025)

• 1933 Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist (died 2024)

• 1935 Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster (died 2024)

• 1939 Kathryn Joosten, American actress (died 2012)

• 1939 Kim Weston, American soul singer

• 1942 Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (died 2015)

• 1942 Bob Hayes, American sprinter and football player (died 2002)

• 1942 Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist

• 1942 Roger Woodward, Australian classical pianist, composer, conductor, teacher and human rights activist.

• 1944 Ray Martin, Australian television host and journalist

• 1945 Peter Criss, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer

• 1945 Sivakant Tiwari, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and author (died 2010)

• 1946 Uri Geller, Israeli-English magician and psychic

• 1946 Bill Hosket Jr., American basketball player

• 1946 Sonny Perdue, American politician, 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture, 81st Governor of Georgia

• 1946 Dick Wolf, American director, producer, and screenwriter

• 1947 Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer-songwriter

• 1948 Alan Parsons, English keyboard player and producer

• 1948 Mitsuko Uchida, Japanese pianist

• 1949 Soumaïla Cissé, Malian engineer and politician (died 2020)

• 1949 Cecil Cooper, American baseball player and manager

• 1950 Arturo Márquez, Mexican-American composer

• 1951 Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, Northern Irish academic and police ombudsman

• 1951 Marta Russell, American author and activist (died 2013)

• 1952 Jenny Agutter, English actress

• 1954 Michael Badalucco, American actor

• 1954 Sandra Cisneros, American author and poet

• 1955 Martin Schulz, German politician

• 1955 Binali Yıldırım, Turkish lawyer and politician, Turkish Minister of Transport

• 1956 Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritanian general and politician, President of Mauritania

• 1956 Guy Babylon, American keyboard player and songwriter (died 2009)

• 1956 Blanche Baker, American actress and screenwriter

• 1956 Junji Hirata, Japanese wrestler

• 1956 Andrew Mackenzie, Scottish geologist and businessman

• 1956 Anita Ward, American disco/R&B singer

• 1957 Billy Bragg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1957 Anna Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actress

• 1957 Mike Watt, American singer-songwriter and bass player

• 1958 Doug Nordquist, American high jumper

• 1958 James Thomson, American biologist and academic

• 1959 George Coupland, Scottish scientist

• 1959 Hildegard Körner, German runner

• 1959 Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polish physicist and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Poland

• 1960 Nalo Hopkinson, Jamaican-Canadian author and educator

• 1960 Kim Ki-duk, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2020)

• 1961 Mohammad Fouad, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actor

• 1963 Joel Gretsch, American actor

• 1966 Veronica Pershina, Russian-American figure skater and coach

• 1966 Chris Robinson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1968 Karl Wendlinger, Austrian racing driver

• 1969 Alain de Botton, Swiss-English philosopher and author

• 1969 Zahra Ouaziz, Moroccan runner

• 1970 Nicole de Boer, Canadian actress

• 1970 Grant Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach

• 1970 Jörg Schmidt, German footballer

• 1972 Jan Čaloun, Czech ice hockey player

• 1972 Anders Odden, Norwegian guitarist, songwriter, and producer

• 1974 Die, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer

• 1975 Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer

• 1976 Nenad Vučković, Croatian footballer

• 1978 Yoon Kye-sang, South Korean singer

• 1978 Andrei Markov, Russian-Canadian ice hockey player

• 1978 Geremi Njitap, Cameroon footballer

• 1978 Bouabdellah Tahri, French runner

• 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

• 1981 Royal Ivey, American basketball player and coach

• 1981 James Shields, American baseball player

• 1982 Mohammad Asif, Pakistani cricketer

• 1982 David Cook, American singer-songwriter

• 1982 Kasper Klausen, Danish footballer

• 1982 David Wright, American baseball player

• 1983 Jonah Hill, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

• 1984 Bob Morley, Australian actor

• 1984 David Tavaré, Spanish singer and DJ

• 1986 Chay Genoway, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1987 Malcolm Jenkins, American football player

• 1990 JoJo, American singer and actress

• 1990 Marta Xargay, Spanish basketball player

• 1991 Rachael Boyle, Scottish footballer

• 1991 Jorginho, Brazilian footballer

• 1991 Jillian Rose Reed, American actress

• 1991 Fabian Schär, Swiss footballer

• 1992 Ksenia Makarova, Russian-American figure skater

• 1993 Andrea Belotti, Italian footballer

• 1993 Robeisy Ramírez, Cuban boxer

• 1994 Calvin Ridley, American football player

• 1995 Anžejs Pasečņiks, Latvian basketball player

• 1996 Jarrod Bowen, English football player

• 1997 De'Aaron Fox, American basketball player

• 1997 Suzuka Nakamoto, Japanese singer

• 1998 Kylian Mbappé, French footballer

• 2000 Gaboro, Assyrian Swedish rapper and songwriter (died 2024)

• 2001 Facundo Pellistri, Uruguayan footballer

• 2007 – Gavin McKenna, Canadian ice hockey player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 69 Titus Flavius Sabinus, a Roman politician and soldier

• 217 Zephyrinus, pope of the Catholic Church

• 910 Alfonso III, king of Asturias

• 977 Fujiwara no Kanemichi, Japanese statesman (born 925)

• 1295 Margaret of Provence, French queen (born 1221)

• 1326 Peter of Moscow, Russian metropolitan bishop

• 1340 John I, duke of Bavaria (born 1329)

• 1355 Stefan Dušan, emperor of Serbia (born 1308)

• 1539 Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (born 1506)

• 1552 Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (born 1499)

• 1590 Ambroise Paré, French physician and surgeon (born 1510)

1601–1900

• 1658 Jean Jannon, French designer and typefounder (born 1580)

• 1722 Kangxi, emperor of the Qing Dynasty (born 1654)

• 1723 Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (born 1652)

• 1740 Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (born 1675)

• 1765 Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France (born 1729)

• 1768 Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (born 1692)

• 1783 Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (born 1729)

• 1812 Sacagawea, American explorer (born 1788)

• 1820 John Bell, American farmer (born 1750)

• 1849 Kyai Maja, Javanese ulama and commander of Java War (born 1792)

• 1856 Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (born 1820)

• 1862 Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (born 1791)

• 1880 Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (born 1797)

• 1889 George F. Durand, Canadian architect (born 1850)

• 1893 George C. Magoun, American businessman (born 1840)

1901–present

• 1915 Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (born 1863)

• 1916 Arthur Morgan, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Queensland (born 1856)

• 1917 Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (born 1882)

• 1919 Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (born 1835)

• 1920 Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (born 1863)

• 1921 Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist (born 1852)

• 1925 João Ferreira Sardo, the founder of Gafanha da Nazaré, also known as Prior Sardo (born 1873).

• 1927 Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (born 1872)

• 1929 Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 8th President of France (born 1838)

• 1935 Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1882)

• 1937 Erich Ludendorff, German general (born 1865)

• 1938 Annie Armstrong, American missionary (born 1850)

• 1938 Lida Howell, American archer (born 1859)

• 1939 Hans Langsdorff, German captain (born 1894)

• 1940 Sarita Colonia, Peruvian folk saint (born 1914)

• 1941 Igor Severyanin, Russian-Estonian poet and author (born 1887)

• 1950 Enrico Mizzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1885)

• 1954 James Hilton, English-American author and screenwriter (born 1900)

• 1956 Ramón Carrillo, Argentinian neurologist and physician (born 1906)

• 1959 Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (born 1885)

• 1961 Moss Hart, American director and playwright (born 1904)

• 1961 Earle Page, Australian soldier and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1880)

• 1968 John Steinbeck, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)

• 1971 Roy O. Disney, American banker and businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (born 1893)

• 1972 Adolfo Orsi, Italian businessman (born 1888)

• 1973 Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (born 1904; assassinated)

• 1973 Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1936)

• 1974 Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (born 1896)

• 1974 André Jolivet, French composer and conductor (born 1905)

• 1976 Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (born 1902)

• 1976 Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo, Indonesian politician, 1st Governor of West Java (born 1890)

• 1981 Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (born 1899)

• 1982 Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and composer (born 1887)

• 1984 Stanley Milgram, American psychologist and academic (born 1933)

• 1984 Dmitry Ustinov, Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (1976–84) (born 1908)

• 1986 Joe DeSa, American baseball player (born 1959)

• 1991 Simone Beck, French chef and author (born 1904)

• 1991 Sam Rabin, English wrestler, singer, and sculptor (born 1903)

• 1991 Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (born 1942)

• 1993 W. Edwards Deming, American statistician, author, and academic (born 1900)

• 1993 Nazife Güran, Turkish composer and educator (born 1921)

• 1994 Dean Rusk, American lawyer, and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (born 1909)

• 1995 Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (born 1938)

• 1996 Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (born 1934)

• 1997 Denise Levertov, English-American poet and translator (born 1923)

• 1997 Dick Spooner, English cricketer (born 1919)

• 1997 Dawn Steel, American film producer (born 1946)

• 1998 Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)

• 1999 Riccardo Freda, Egyptian-Italian director and screenwriter (born 1909)

• 1999 Hank Snow, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1914)

• 2001 Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and politician, 1st President of Senegal (born 1906)

• 2005 Raoul Bott, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (born 1923)

• 2006 Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (born 1929)

• 2008 Adrian Mitchell, English author, poet, and playwright (born 1932)

• 2008 Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (born 1925)

• 2008 Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (born 1912)

• 2009 Brittany Murphy, American actress and singer (born 1977)

• 2009 Arnold Stang, American actor (born 1918)

• 2010 K. P. Ratnam, Sri Lankan academic and politician (born 1914)

• 2011 Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (born 1926)

• 2012 Stan Charlton, English footballer and manager (born 1929)

• 2012 Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (born 1929)

• 2012 Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist and educator (born 1919)

• 2013 Pyotr Bolotnikov, Russian runner (born 1930)

• 2014 Per-Ingvar Brånemark, Swedish surgeon and academic (born 1929)

• 2014 John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (born 1915)

• 2020 Fanny Waterman, British pianist (born 1920)

• 2020 Ezra Vogel, American sociologist (born 1930)

• 2022 Franco Harris, American football player (born 1950)

• 2024 Casey Chaos, American singer (born 1965)

• 2024 George Eastham, English footballer (born 1936)

• 2024 Rickey Henderson, American baseball player (born 1958)

Holidays and observances

• Abolition of Slavery Day, also known as Fête des Cafres (Réunion, French Guiana)

• Bo Aung Kyaw Day (Myanmar)

Christian feast day:

• Dominic of Silos

• Blessed Michał Piaszczyński

• O Clavis

• Philogonius

• Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne

• Katharina von Bora (Lutheran)

• December 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Earliest date for Winter solstice's eve (Northern Hemisphere), and its related observances:

• Yaldā (Iran)

• International Human Solidarity Day (International)

• Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Macau)

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day

• Historical Events on December 20