Events

Pre-1600

• AD 69 The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.

• 1124 Pope Honorius II is consecrated, having been elected after the controversial dethroning of Pope-Elect Celestine II.

• 1140 After a siege of several weeks, the city of Weinsberg and its castle surrender to Conrad III of Germany.

• 1237 The city of Ryazan is sacked by the Mongol army of Batu Khan.

• 1361 The Battle of Linuesa is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the forces of the Emirate of Granada and the combined army of the Kingdom of Castile and of Jaén resulting in a Castilian victory.

• 1598 Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile.

1601–1900

• 1620 Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land near what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

• 1826 American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.

• 1832 Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeat Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya.

• 1844 The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.

• 1861 Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

• 1872 Challenger expedition: , commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth, England.

• 1879 the fictional character of Nora Helmer is first portrayed by Betty Hennings at a showing of A Doll's House at the Royal Danish Theatre.

• 1883 The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment, the first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army, are formed.

1901–present

• 1907 The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile.

• 1910 An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.

• 1919 American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.

• 1923 United Kingdom and Nepal formally sign an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.

• 1934 Lieutenant Kijé, one of Sergei Prokofiev's best-known works, premiered.

• 1941 World War II: A Thai-Japanese Pact of Alliance is signed.

• 1946 An 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, kills over 1,300 people and destroys over 38,000 homes.

• 1963 "Bloody Christmas" begins in Cyprus, ultimately resulting in the displacement of 25,000–30,000 Turkish Cypriots and destruction of more than 100 villages.

• 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is adopted.

• 1967 Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a human-to-human heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.

• 1968 Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.

• 1973 The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.

• 1979 Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.

• 1988 A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270. This is to date the deadliest air disaster to occur on British soil.

• 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The leaders of 11 now effectively autonomous Soviet republics sign the Alma-Ata Protocol establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States in place of the collapsing Soviet Union.

• 1992 A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, Portugal, killing 56.

• 1995 The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

• 1999 The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain.

• 1999 Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 overshoots the runway at La Aurora International Airport, killing 18.

• 2004 Iraq War: A suicide bomber kills 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers in Iraq.

• 2012 2012 phenomenon: Festivities are held in parts of Mesoamerica to commemorate the conclusion of b'ak'tun 13, a roughly 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar whose passing many New Age spiritualists had earlier held to portend a variety of cataclysmic or transformative events.

• 2020 A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees. This is the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623.

• 2022 – A Vega C rocket carrying two Pléiades Neo satellites fails after liftoff.

• 2023 Fourteen people are killed and 25 others injured during a mass shooting at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Births

Pre-1600

• 968 Minamoto no Yorinobu, Japanese samurai (died 1048)

• 1401 Masaccio, Italian painter (died 1428)

• 1468 William Conyers, 1st Baron Conyers, English baron (died 1524)

• 1505 Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician (died 1550)

• 1538 Luigi d'Este, Catholic cardinal (died 1586)

• 1542 Thomas Allen, English mathematician and astrologer (died 1632)

• 1550 Man Singh I, Mughal noble (died 1614)

• 1596 Peter Mohyla, Ruthenian Orthodox metropolitan and saint (died 1646)

1601–1900

• 1603 Roger Williams, English minister, theologian, and politician, 9th President of the Colony of Rhode Island (died 1684)

• 1615 Benedict Arnold, Rhode Island colonial governor (died 1678)

• 1672 Benjamin Schmolck, German pastor and composer (died 1737)

• 1714 John Bradstreet, Canadian-English general (died 1774)

• 1728 Hermann Raupach, German harpsichord player and composer (died 1778)

• 1778 Anders Sandøe Ørsted, Danish jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Denmark (died 1860)

• 1795 Jack Russell, English priest, hunter, and dog breeder (died 1883)

• 1795 Leopold von Ranke, German historian, author, and academic (died 1886)

• 1803 Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (died 1894)

• 1804 Benjamin Disraeli, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1881)

• 1805 Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist and academic (died 1869)

• 1811 Archibald Tait, Scottish-English archbishop (died 1882)

• 1815 Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (died 1879)

• 1820 William H. Osborn, American businessman (died 1894)

• 1830 Bartolomé Masó, Cuban soldier and politician (died 1907)

• 1832 John H. Ketcham, American general and politician (died 1906)

• 1840 Ernest de Munck, Belgian cellist and composer (died 1915)

• 1840 Namık Kemal, Turkish journalist, playwright, and activist (died 1888)

• 1843 Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealander journalist, poet, and politician (died 1898)

• 1850 Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer and poet (died 1900)

• 1851 Thomas Chipman McRae, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Arkansas (died 1929)

• 1857 Joseph Carruthers, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (died 1932)

• 1859 Gustave Kahn, French poet and critic (died 1936)

• 1866 Maud Gonne, Irish nationalist and political activist (died 1953)

• 1868 George W. Fuller, American chemist and engineer (died 1934)

• 1872 Trevor Kincaid, Canadian-American zoologist and academic (died 1970)

• 1872 Lorenzo Perosi, Italian priest and composer (died 1956)

• 1872 Albert Payson Terhune, American journalist and author (died 1942)

• 1876 Jack Lang, Australian lawyer and politician, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (died 1975)

• 1877 Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (died 1954)

• 1878 Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish-Irish mathematician and philosopher (died 1956)

• 1884 María Cadilla, Puerto Rican writer, educator, women's rights activist (died 1951)

• 1885 Frank Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1960)

• 1888 Jean Bouin, French runner and rugby player (died 1914)

• 1889 Sewall Wright, American geneticist and biologist (died 1988)

• 1890 Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967)

• 1891 John William McCormack, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (died 1980)

• 1892 Walter Hagen, American golfer (died 1969)

• 1892 Rebecca West, English journalist and author (died 1983)

• 1896 Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union during World War II (died 1968)

• 1900 Luis Arturo González López, Guatemalan supreme court judge and briefly acting president (died 1965)

1901–present

• 1905 Käte Fenchel, German mathematician (died 1983)

• 1905 Anthony Powell, English author (died 2000)

• 1909 Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese journalist and author (died 1992)

• 1911 Josh Gibson, American baseball player (died 1947)

• 1913 Arnold Friberg, American illustrator and painter (died 2010)

• 1914 Frank Fenner, Australian microbiologist and virologist (died 2010)

• 1917 Heinrich Böll, German novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1985)

• 1918 Donald Regan, American colonel and politician, 11th White House Chief of Staff (died 2003)

• 1918 Kurt Waldheim, Austrian colonel and politician; 9th President of Austria (died 2007)

• 1919 Doug Young, American voice actor (died 2018)

• 1920 Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina and choreographer, founded the Cuban National Ballet (died 2019)

• 1920 Adele Goldstine, American computer programmer (died 1964)

• 1920 Iris Cummings, American swimmer and aviator (died 2025)

• 1922 Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (died 1989)

• 1922 Cécile DeWitt-Morette, French mathematician and physicist (died 2017)

• 1922 Paul Winchell, American actor, voice artist, and ventriloquist (died 2005)

• 1923 Wat Misaka, American basketball player (died 2019)

• 1926 Champ Butler, American singer (died 1992)

• 1926 Arnošt Lustig, Czech author and playwright (died 2011)

• 1926 Joe Paterno, American football player and coach (died 2012)

• 1927 Charles Bailleul, French linguist and missionary (died 2026)

• 1930 Phil Roman, American animator

• 1932 U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian author, poet, and critic (died 2014)

• 1932 Edward Hoagland, American author and critic

• 1933 Jackie Hendriks, Jamaican cricketer

• 1933 Robert Worcester, American businessman and academic, founded MORI (died 2025)

• 1934 Giuseppina Leone, Italian sprinter

• 1934 Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (died 2016)

• 1935 John G. Avildsen, American director, producer, and cinematographer (died 2017)

• 1935 Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver (died 1967)

• 1935 Phil Donahue, American talk show host and producer (died 2024)

• 1935 Stela Popescu, Romanian actress (died 2017)

• 1935 Edward Schreyer, Canadian academic and politician, Governor General of Canada

• 1935 Janet Metcalf, American politician (died 2025)

• 1937 Jane Fonda, American actress and activist

• 1938 Larry Bryggman, American actor

• 1939 Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian academic and politician, 2nd Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs

• 1939 Wafic Saïd, Syrian-Saudi Arabian financier, businessman and philanthropist

• 1940 Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer (died 1993)

• 1942 Hu Jintao, Chinese engineer and politician, 5th Paramount leader of China

• 1942 Carla Thomas, American singer

• 1943 Albert Lee, English guitarist and songwriter

• 1943 Walter Spanghero, French rugby player

• 1944 Michael Tilson Thomas, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 2026)

• 1944 Zheng Xiaoyu, Chinese diplomat (died 2007)

• 1945 Doug Walters, Australian cricketer

• 1946 Roy Karch, American director, producer, and screenwriter

• 1946 Carl Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1998)

• 1947 Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (died 2014)

• 1948 Barry Gordon, American actor and voice artist; longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild (1988–95)

• 1948 Samuel L. Jackson, American actor and producer

• 1948 Dave Kingman, American baseball player

• 1949 Thomas Sankara, Burkinabé captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (died 1987)

• 1949 Nikolaos Sifounakis, Greek lawyer and politician

• 1950 Jeffrey Katzenberg, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded DreamWorks Animation

• 1950 Max Maven, American magician and mentalist (died 2022)

• 1950 Lillebjørn Nilsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2024)

• 1951 Steve Perryman, English footballer and manager

• 1952 Joaquín Andújar, Dominican baseball player (died 2015)

• 1952 Dennis Boutsikaris, American actor

• 1952 Steve Furniss, American swimmer

• 1953 András Schiff, Hungarian-English pianist and conductor

• 1953 Betty Wright, American singer-songwriter (died 2020)

• 1954 Chris Evert, American tennis player and coach

• 1955 Jane Kaczmarek, American actress

• 1955 Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player

• 1956 Dave Laut, American shot putter (died 2009)

• 1957 Ray Romano, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

• 1957 Tony Lewis, English singer and songwriter (died 2020)

• 1958 Tamara Bykova, Russian high jumper

• 1959 Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter and actress (died 1998)

• 1959 Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Indian cricketer

• 1960 Sherry Rehman, Pakistani journalist, politician, and diplomat, 25th Pakistan Ambassador to the United States

• 1961 Ryuji Sasai, Japanese bass player and composer

• 1963 Govinda, Indian actor, singer, and politician

• 1964 Kunihiko Ikuhara, Japanese director and illustrator

• 1964 Joe Kocur, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

• 1965 Glenn Coleman, Australian rugby league player

• 1965 Andy Dick, American actor and comedian

• 1965 Anke Engelke, Canadian-German actress, director, and screenwriter

• 1966 Michelle Hurd, American actress

• 1966 William Ruto, 5th President of Kenya

• 1966 Kiefer Sutherland, British-Canadian actor, director, and producer

• 1967 Terry Mills, American basketball player and coach

• 1967 Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Georgia

• 1969 Julie Delpy, French model, actress, director, and screenwriter

• 1969 Mihails Zemļinskis, Latvian footballer, coach, and manager

• 1971 Matthieu Chedid, French singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1971 Natalie Grant, American singer-songwriter and author

• 1972 Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Indian politician, 17th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

• 1973 Irakli Alasania, Georgian colonel and politician, Georgian Minister of Defense

• 1973 Matías Almeyda, Argentine footballer and manager

• 1974 Karrie Webb, Australian golfer

• 1975 Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballerina

• 1977 Buddy Carlyle, American baseball player

• 1977 Corey Collymore, Barbadian cricketer

• 1977 Leon MacDonald, New Zealand rugby player

• 1977 Emmanuel Macron, French politician, 25th President of France

• 1977 Freddy Sanchez, American baseball player

• 1978 Emiliano Brembilla, Italian swimmer

• 1978 Charles Dera, American pornographic actor, dancer, model, and mixed martial arts fighter

• 1978 Shaun Morgan, South African musician, singer, and guitarist

• 1978 Rutina Wesley, American actress

• 1979 Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2015)

• 1981 Marta Fernández, Spanish basketball player

• 1981 Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer

• 1982 Primo Colón, Puerto Rican wrestler

• 1982 Philip Humber, American baseball player

• 1982 Tom Payne, English actor

• 1983 Taylor Teagarden, American baseball player

• 1983 Steven Yeun, American actor

• 1985 Tom Sturridge, English actor

• 1987 Khris Davis, American baseball player

• 1988 Danny Duffy, American baseball player

• 1988 Perri Shakes-Drayton, English sprinter and hurdler

• 1989 Mark Ingram II, American football player

• 1989 Tamannaah, Indian actress

• 1991 Nic Maddinson, Australian cricketer

• 1991 Otis, American wrestler

• 1991 Riccardo Saponara, Italian footballer

• 1992 Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, American football player

• 1992 Jamie Oleksiak, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1994 Luke Brooks, Australian rugby league player

• 1996 Ben Chilwell, English footballer

• 1996 Kaitlyn Dever, American actress

• 1997 Madelyn Cline, American actress and model

• 1997 Charlie McAvoy, American ice hockey player

• 2002 Clara Tauson, Danish tennis player

• 2006 Cooper Flagg, American basketball player

Deaths

Pre-1600

• AD 72 Thomas the Apostle, Roman martyr and saint (born 1 AD)

• 882 Hincmar, French archbishop and historian (born 806)

• 956 Sun Sheng, Chinese chancellor

• 975 Al-Mu'izz, Fatimid caliph (born 932)

• 1001 Hugh of Tuscany, Italian margrave (born 950)

• 1215 Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid, Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma'ilism (born c. 1128)

• 1308 Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse (born 1244)

• 1338 Thomas Hemenhale, bishop of Worcester

• 1362 Constantine III, king of Armenia (born 1313)

• 1375 Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author and poet (born 1313)

• 1504 Berthold von Henneberg, German archbishop (born 1442)

• 1536 John Seymour, English courtier (born 1474)

• 1549 Marguerite de Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (born 1492)

• 1581 Jean de la Cassière, 51st Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (born 1502)

• 1597 Peter Canisius, Dutch priest and saint (born 1521)

1601–1900

• 1608 William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England (born c. 1541)

• 1610 Catherine Vasa, Swedish princess (born 1539)

• 1646 Sophie Axelsdatter Brahe, Danish noblewoman (born 1578)

• 1701 Sir Hugh Paterson, Baronet of Bannockburn (born 1659)

• 1807 John Newton, English soldier and minister (born 1725)

• 1824 James Parkinson, English physician and paleontologist (born 1755)

• 1869 Friedrich Ernst Scheller, German jurist and politician (born 1791)

• 1873 Francis Garnier, French admiral and explorer (born 1839)

• 1889 Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist and palaeontologist (born 1809)

1901–present

• 1920 Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, leader of the Dervish movement (born 1856)

• 1929 I. L. Patterson, American politician, 18th Governor of Oregon (born 1859)

• 1933 Knud Rasmussen, Greenlandic anthropologist and explorer (born 1879)

• 1935 Ted Birnie, English footballer and manager (born 1878)

• 1935 Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (born 1890)

• 1937 Violette Neatley Anderson, American judge (born 1882)

• 1937 Ted Healy, American comedian and actor (born 1896)

• 1937 Frank B. Kellogg, American lawyer and politician, 45th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1856)

• 1940 F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist and short story writer (born 1896)

• 1945 George S. Patton, American general (born 1885)

• 1948 Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (born 1878)

• 1952 Kenneth Edwards, American golfer (born 1886)

• 1953 Kaarlo Koskelo, Finnish-American wrestler and businessman (born 1888)

• 1957 Eric Coates, English viola player and composer (born 1886)

• 1958 H.B. Warner, English actor (born 1875)

• 1958 Lion Feuchtwanger, German-American author and playwright (born 1884)

• 1959 Rosanjin, Japanese calligrapher, engraver, and painter (born 1883)

• 1963 Jack Hobbs, English cricketer and journalist (born 1882)

• 1964 Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (born 1880)

• 1965 Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (born 1891)

• 1968 Vittorio Pozzo, Italian footballer, coach, and manager (born 1886)

• 1971 – Ásta Sigurðardóttir, Icelandic writer and visual artist (born 1930)

• 1974 Richard Long, American actor and director (born 1927)

• 1982 Abu Al-Asar Hafeez Jullundhri, Pakistani poet and composer (born 1900)

• 1983 Paul de Man, Belgian-born philosopher, literary critic and theorist (born 1919)

• 1988 Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907)

• 1992 Stella Adler, American actress and educator (born 1901)

• 1992 Albert King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1924)

• 1992 Nathan Milstein, Russian-American violinist and composer (born 1903)

• 1998 Ernst-Günther Schenck, German colonel and physician (born 1904)

• 2004 Autar Singh Paintal, Indian physiologist and neurologist (born 1925)

• 2006 Saparmyrat Nyýazow, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (born 1940) (date death announced)

• 2009 Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)

• 2009 Christos Lambrakis, Greek journalist and businessman (born 1934)

• 2010 Enzo Bearzot, Italian footballer and manager (born 1927)

• 2013 Edgar Bronfman Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (born 1929)

• 2013 John Eisenhower, American historian, general, and diplomat, 45th United States Ambassador to Belgium (born 1922)

• 2014 Udo Jürgens, Austrian-Swiss singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1934)

• 2014 Sitor Situmorang, Indonesian poet and author (born 1923)

• 2014 Billie Whitelaw, English actress (born 1932)

• 2017 Bruce McCandless II, US astronaut who conducted the first untethered spacewalk (born 1937)

• 2019 Andrew Clennel Palmer, British engineer (born 1938)

• 2024 Michelle Botes, South African actress (born 1962)

• 2024 Art Evans, American actor (born 1942)

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Philippines)

Christian feast day:

• O Oriens

• Peter Canisius

• Thomas the Apostle

• December 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Forefathers' Day (Plymouth, Massachusetts)

• São Tomé Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day

• Historical Events on December 21