For Orthodox Christians, this is when Christmas is celebrated.

Events

Up to 1900 
 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
 1350 - Guttorm Palsson, Bishop of Stavanger in Norway, dies, as the last known death from Europe's 1347-1350 plague epidemic.
 1558 – France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England.
 1566 – Pius V becomes Pope.
 1598 – Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia.
 1601 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex leads revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth I of England.
 1608 - Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
 1610 – Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons.
 1782 – The first American commercial bank opens (Bank of North America).
 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England to Calais, France in a gas balloon, becoming the first to cross the English Channel by air.
 1789 - George Washington is elected the first President of the United States, taking office on April 30.
 1797 – The parliament of the Repubblica Cisalpina adopts the Italian green-white-red tricolour as the official flag. It is the birthday of the flag of Italy.
 1835 – HMS Beagle anchors off the Chonos Archipelago.
 1894 – W.K. Dickson receives a patent for movie film.
 1896 – Fannie Farmer publishes her first cookbook.

1901  1950 
 1901 – Alferd Packer is released from prison after serving 18 years for cannibalism.
 1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS."
 1911 – Mary Pickford marries Owen Moore.
 1919 - Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation (take-over) of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.
 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64-57 votes.
 1924 – George Gershwin completes "Rhapsody in Blue".
 1926 – George Burns marries Gracie Allen.
 1927 – First international telephone call – New York City to London.
 1927 – The Harlem Globetrotters play their first basketball game.
 1931 - Guy Menzies becomes the first person to, on his own, fly non-stop from Australia to New Zealand in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand's west coast after crossing the Tasman Sea.
 1935 – World War II: Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Italo-French agreements.
 1940 - Winter War: The Finnish 9th Division stops and completely destroys the overwhelming Soviet forces  on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
 1942 – World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.
 1945 – British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge.
 1950 – A fire at Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa kills 41 people.

1951  2000 
 1953 – President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb.
 1954 – The first public demonstration of a machine translation system was held in New York at the head office of IBM.
 1955 - Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first African American person to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
 1958 - Walter Hallstein becomes the first President of the European Commission.
 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
 1960 - The UGM-27 Polaris missile is test-launched.
 1968 - The Surveyor 7 spacecraft is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
 1972 - While landing on Ibiza, a Sud Caravelle airplane of the Iberia airline crashes, killing 104 people.
 1973 - Mark Essex shoots 10 people dead and injures 13 at a Howard Johnson's hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot dead by police.
 1975 – OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.
 1979 – Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia are overthrown by Vietnamese troops.
 1980 – US President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation.
 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
 1989 – Long-serving Japanese Emperor Hirohito dies aged 87; His son Akihito becomes Emperor of Japan.
 1990 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns.
 1991 – Roger Lafontant attempts a coup in Haiti.
 1993 - The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated, with Jerry Rawlings as President.
 1993 - The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack on the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
 1996 – One of the worst blizzards in American history hits eastern states killing more than 100.
 1997 – A team of programmers at the University of Regensburg, Germany releases Tibia, one of the earliest graphical MMORPGs.
 1999 – The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins.
 1999 - A series of landslides in Indonesia kills over 100 people.

From 2001 
 2006 - In the UK, Charles Kennedy resigns as leader of the Liberal Democrats, having come under pressure after admitting that he had a drink problem.
 2010 - Muslim gunmen in Egypt open fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians, killing 8 of them and one Muslim bystander.
 2012 - A hot-air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.
 2015 - A bomb attack in Sana'a, Yemen, kills at least 30 people.
 2015 - Charlie Hebdo shooting: Islamic extremist gunmen storm the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people, including 2 police officers and several prominent French journalists and cartoonists. 11 people are seriously injured.

Births

Up to 1900 
 889 - Li Bian, Emperor of Southern Tang, China (d. 943)
 1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester (d. 1397)
 1434 - Adolf, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1441)
 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
 1528 – Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (d. 1572)
 1624 - Guarino Guarini, Italian architect (d. 1683)
 1634 - Adam Krieger, German composer (d. 1666)
 1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish agriculture and industry pioneer (d. 1761)
 1713 - Giovanni Battista Locatelli, Italian opera director and impresario (d. 1785)
 1718 - Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1790)
 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples (d. 1844)
 1796 – Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (d. 1817)
 1797 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican military and politician (d. 1849)
 1800 – Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
 1800 - Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, German painter (d. 1882)
 1827 – Sandford Fleming, Canadian engineer (d. 1915)
 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, German-American painter (d. 1902)
 1831 - Heinrich von Stephan, German postman, founded the Universal Postal Union (d. 1897)
 1832 - James Munro, Australian politician, Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)
 1833 - Josep Manyanet i Vives, Catalan priest (d. 1901)
 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor (d. 1874)
 1837 - Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman (d. 1899)
 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French saint (d. 1879)
 1845 – Ludwig III of Bavaria (d. 1921)
 1858 - Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Russian-Israeli journalist and promoter of Hebrew (d. 1922)
 1860 - Emanuil Manolov, Bulgarian composer (d. 1902)
 1864 - Seo Jae-pil, Korean-American journalist and activist (d. 1951)
 1871 - Emile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)
 1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian producer (d. 1976)
 1875 - Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1963)
 1875 - Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)
 1877 - William Clarence Matthews, American athlete and lawyer (d. 1928)
 1880 - Santiago Copello, Archbishop of Buenos Aires (d. 1967)
 1883 - Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope, British admiral (d. 1963)
 1885 - Edwin Swatek, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1966)
 1887 - Oskar Luts, Estonian author and playwright (d. 1953)
 1888 – Vera de Bosset, Russian artist (d. 1915)
 1891 - Zora Neale Hurston, American writer (d. 1960)
 1895 - Clara Haskill, Romanian pianist (d. 1960)
 1895 - Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founder of Qantas (d. 1974)
 1896 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (d. 1984)
 1899 - Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)

1901  1950 
 1903 - Alan Napier, British actor (d. 1988)
 1903 - Carlos Di Sarli, Argentine tango musician (d. 1960)
 1907 – Nicanor Zabaleta, Spanish harpist (d. 1993)
 1908 - Red Allen, American trumpeter (d. 1967)
 1910 - Frank Lubin, American-Lithuanian basketball player (d. 1999)
 1910 – Orval Faubus, American politician, Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
 1911 - Butterfly McQueen, American actress (d. 1995)
 1912 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist (d. 1988)
 1915 - Chano Poco, Cuban singer, dancer and jazz musician (d. 1948)
 1916 - Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (d. 1975)
 1916 – Elena Ceausescu, First Lady of Romania (d. 1989)
 1918 - Alessandro Natta, Italian politician (d. 2001)
 1920 - Vincent Gardenia, American actor (d. 1992)
 1922 – Francisco Aramburu, Brazilian footballer (d. 1997)
 1922 - Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flautist (d. 2000)
 1922 - Eric Jupp, British-born Australian composer, arranger and conductor (d. 2003)
 1922 - Alvin Dark, American baseball player (d. 2014)
 1924 - Ralph Miliband, Belgian-born sociologist, father of David and Ed Miliband (d. 1994)
 1924 - Edwin Reinecke, American politician (d. 2016)
 1925 – Gerald Durrell, British naturalist and writer (d. 1995)
 1925 - Robert Cormier, American writer (d. 2000)
 1926 - Kim Jong-pil, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea
 1928 - William Peter Blatty, American writer, screenwriter and director (d. 2017)
 1929 - Terry Moore, American actress
 1930 - Eddie LeBaron, American football player (d. 2015)
 1931 - Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (d. 2013)
 1932 - Tormod Knutsen, Norwegian Nordic combined athlete 
 1934 – Tassos Papadopoulos, President of Cyprus (d. 2008)
 1934 - Charles Jenkins Sr., American sprinter
 1935 - Valeri Kubasov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2014)
 1936 - Hunter Davies, Scottish author and journalist
 1937 - Ali Soilih, President of the Comoros (d. 1978)
 1937 - Carlos Westendorp, Spanish diplomat
 1938 - Patrick John, 2nd Prime Minister of Dominica
 1938 - Paul Revere, American musician (Paul Revere and the Raiders) (d. 2014)
 1939 – Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
 1939 - Tom Kiernan, Irish rugby player and coach
 1941 – John E. Walker, British chemist
 1941 - Frederick D. Gregory, American astronaut
 1942 – Vasily Alekseyev, Russian weightlifter (d. 2011)
 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese victim of the Hiroshima atomic bomb (d. 1955)
 1943 - Richard Armstrong, English conductor
 1944 – Mario Bertini, Italian footballer
 1945 – Raila Odinga, Kenyan politician, former Prime minister of Kenya
 1945 - Jay Lynch, American cartoonist (d. 2017)
 1946 – Vann Nath, Cambodian painter (d. 2011)
 1946 - Jann Wenner, American publisher
 1947 - Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Iranian classical musician (d. 2014)
 1948 – Ichiro Mizuki, Japanese singer
 1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer
 1950 - Erin Gray, American actress
 1950 - Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer and composer (d. 2016)

1951  1975 
 1951 - Talgat Musabayev, Kazakhstani cosmonaut
 1951 - Helen Worth, English actress
 1953 - Jenis av Rana, Faroese physician and politician
 1953 - Dieter Hoeness, German footballer
 1956 – Uwe Ochsenknecht, German actor and singer
 1956 – David Caruso, American actor
 1957 – Katie Couric, American newscaster
 1958 – Linda Kozlowski, American actress
 1959 - Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon, English politician
 1960 - Loretta Sanchez, American politician
 1962 – Abigail Johnson, American businesswoman
 1963 - Rand Paul, American politician
 1964 - Christian Louboutin, French fashion designer
 1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
 1965 - Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian hurdler
 1965 - John Ondrasik, American singer-songwriter
 1965 - José Manuel Imbamba, Angolan archbishop
 1966 - Corrie Sanders, South African boxer (d. 2012)
 1966 – Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American publicist (d. 1999)
 1967 – Nick Clegg, British politician, former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
 1967 - Guy Hebert, American ice hockey player
 1967 - Mark Lamarr, English comedian and radio host
 1969 - David Yost, American actor
 1970 – Andy Burnham, British politician, Mayor of Greater Manchester
 1970 – Doug E. Doug, American actor
 1970 – Joao Ricardo, Angolan footballer
 1971 – DJ Otzi, Austrian DJ, musician and rapper
 1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor and singer
 1971 - David Longoria, American trumpeter, composer, producer and songwriter
 1972 – Donald Brashear, American-Canadian ice hockey player

From 1976 
 1976 – Marcelo Bordon, Brazilian footballer
 1977 – Dustin Diamond, American actor
 1977 - Sofi Oksanen, Finnish author
 1978 – Emilio Palma, first person to be born on the continent of Antarctica
 1978 – Jean Charles de Menezes, Brazilian electrician, shot dead by police in London (d. 2005)
 1979 - Christian Lindner, German politician
 1982 - Lauren Cohan, American actress
 1982 - Camilo Villegas, Colombian golfer
 1983 – Natalie Gulbis, American golfer
 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English racecar driver, two-time Formula One world champion
 1985 - Wayne Routledge, English footballer
 1986 – Grant Leadbitter, English footballer
 1987 - Davide Astori, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
 1987 - Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
 1988 - Haley Bennett, American singer and actress
 1988 - Hardwell, Dutch DJ and producer
 1989 - Emiliano Insua, Argentine footballer
 1990 – Liam Aiken, American actor
 1990 – Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater
 1990 – Camryn Grimes, American actress
 1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
 1991 – Caster Semenya, South African athlete
 1991 - Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer
 1991 - Max Morrow, Canadian actor
 1991 - Roberto Pereyra, Argentine footballer
 1992 - Erik Gudbranson, Canadian ice hockey player
 1997 - Ayumi Ishida, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 312 – Lucianus of Antioch, theologist/saint
 672 - Emperor Tenji of Japan (b. 626)
 1131 - Canute Lavard, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and saint (b. 1096)
 1285 - King Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)
 1325 – King Dinis of Portugal (b. 1261)
 1355 - Ines de Castro, Castilian royal (b. 1320)
 1451 - Antipope Felix V (b. 1383)
 1536 – Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (b. 1485)
 1609 - Nicholas Hilliard, English painter (b. 1547)
 1625 - Ruggiero Giovanelli, Italian composer (b. 1560)
 1655 - Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
 1658 - Theophilus Eaton, American farmer and politician (b. 1590)
 1730 - Arni Magnusson, Icelandic scholar (b. 1663)
 1758 - Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet (b. 1686)
 1770 - Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician (b. 1695)
 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter (b. 1769)
 1830 - Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen of Portugal (b. 1775)
 1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
 1872 – James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834)
 1882 - Ignacy Lukasiewicz, Polish inventor and chemist (b. 1822)
 1892 - Tewfik Pasha, Khedive (ruler) of Egypt (b. 1852)
 1893 – Jožef Stefan, Slovene physicist, mathematician and poet (b. 1835)

1901  2000 
 1913 - Jack Boyle, American baseball player (b. 1866)
 1920 – Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
 1927 - Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Greek politician (b. 1851)
 1932 - André Maginot, French civil servant, soldier and politician (b. 1877)
 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor and electrical engineer (b. 1856).
 1944 - Lou Henry Hoover, First Lady of the United States (b. 1874)
 1945 - Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (b. 1870)
 1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian writer (b. 1886)
 1963 - Arthur Moore, Australian politician, Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
 1964 – Cyril Davies, blues musician (b. 1932)
 1972 – John Berryman, American poet (b. 1914)
 1973 - Mark Essex, American spree killer (b. 1949)
 1975 – Sinéad de Valera, wife of Irish statesman Éamon de Valera (b. 1878)
 1980 - Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist and producer (b. 1935)
 1984 - Alfred Kastler, French physicist (b. 1902)
 1986 - P. D. Eastman, American writer and illustrator (b. 1909)
 1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
 1989 – Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901)
 1989 - Frank Adams, English mathematician (b. 1930)
 1990 – Bronko Nagurski, American football player (b. 1908)
 1992 - Richard Hunt, American puppeteer (b. 1951)
 1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist (b. 1926)
 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist (b.1906)

2001  2015 
 2002 – Avery Schreiber, American actor (b. 1935)
 2004 - Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
 2005 – Pierre Daninos, French novelist (b. 1913)
 2005 – Rosemary Kennedy, third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy (b. 1918)
 2005 – Eileen Desmond, Irish politician, former Minister for Health & Social Welfare (b. 1932)
 2007 - Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic television presenter (b. 1929)
 2008 - Alwyn Schlebusch, South African politician (b. 1917)
 2013 - Carl Berner, German-American supercentenarian (b. 1902)
 2013 - Huell Howser, American television host (b. 1945)
 2013 - David R. Ellis, American director, actor and stuntman (b. 1952)
 2014 - Run Run Shaw, Hong Kong movie producer and entrepreneur (b. 1907)
 2015 - People killed in the Charlie Hebdo shooting:
Cabu, French cartoonist (b. 1938)
Elsa Cayat, French psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and columnist (b. 1960)
Charb, French cartoonist and journalist, Editor-in-Chief of Charlie Hebdo (b. 1967)
Philippe Honoré, French cartoonist (b. 1941)
Bernard Maris, French economist and journalist (b. 1946)
Tignous, French cartoonist (b. 1957)
Georges Wolinski, French cartoonist (b. 1934)
 2015 - Tadeusz Konwicki, Polish writer and filmmaker (b. 1926)
 2015 - Rod Taylor, Australian actor (b. 1930)
 2015 - Mompati Merafhe, former Vice President of Botswana (b. 1947)
 2015 - B. S. Abdur Rahman, Indian business executive (b. 1947)
 2015 - Arch A. Moore, Jr., American politician, 28th and 30th Governor of West Virginia (b. 1923)
 2015 - Jethro Pugh, American football player (b. 1944)
 2015 - J. P. Parisé, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1941)
 2015 - David Rolfe, Australian swimmer (b. 1964)
 2015 - José Arias, Spanish skier (b. 1922)

From 2016 
 2016 - Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian politician (b. 1936)
 2016 - Sergey Shustikov, Russian footballer (b. 1970)
 2016 - Robert M. Cundick, American organist and composer (b. 1926)
 2016 - Judith Kaye, American lawyer (b. 1938)
 2016 - Kitty Kallen, American singer (b. 1921)
 2016 - Klaas Bakker, Dutch footballer (b. 1926)
 2016 - Sol Polansky, American diplomat (b. 1926)
 2016 - Richard Libertini, American actor (b. 1933)
 2016 - Anton Srholec, Slovakian writer and priest (b. 1929)
 2016 - Ashraf Pahlavi, Iranian princess (b. 1919)
 2016 - Valerio Zanone, Italian politician (b. 1936)
 2017 - Mario Soares, President of Portugal (b. 1924)
 2017 - Nat Hentoff, American political philosopher, columnist and music critic (b. 1925)
 2017 - Jerzy Kossela, Polish guitarist and singer (b. 1942)
 2017 - Lech Trzeciakowski, Polish historian (b. 1931)
 2017 - Lelio Lagorio, Italian politician (b. 1925)
 2017 - Lucina da Costa Gomez-Matheeuws, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles (b. 1929)
 2017 - Ramanuja Devnathan, Indian Sanskrit scholar (b. 1959)
 2017 - John Deely, American philosopher (b. 1942)
 2018 - Jim Anderton, New Zealand politician (b. 1938)
 2018 - France Gall, French singer (b. 1947)
 2018 - Anna Mae Hays, American military officer and nurse (b. 1920)
 2018 - Markku Into, Finnish poet (b. 1945)
 2018 - Peter Sutherland, Irish businessman (b. 1946)
 2020 - Neil Peart, Canadian drummer (Rush) (b. 1952)
 2021 - Tommy Lasorda, American baseball player/manager for the L.A. Dodgers (b. 1927)

Observances
 Christmas in Eastern Orthodox Churches that still use the Julian calendar
 Tricolour Day (Italy)
 Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)

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