Events

Up to 1900 
 1170 – Thomas Becket, is slain in his own cathedral on orders from Henry II of England.
 1778 - American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia, US.
 1786 - French Revolution: The Assembly of the Notables is convened.
 1813 – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.
 1837 – The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, is destroyed by fire.
 1845 – Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.
 1851 – The first American-based YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts
 1860 – The first British seagoing iron-clad warship, the HMS Warrior is launched.
 1874 - Alfonso XII of Spain is declared as King.
 1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, 64 injured, 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.
 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre: The United States soldiers massacre over 400 men, women and children of the Great Sioux Nation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.
 1891 – Thomas Edison patents the radio.
 1893 - French astronomer Stéphane Javelle discovers the pair of galaxies named IC 298.

1901  2000 
 1911 – Sun Yat-sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China.
 1911 – Mongolia becomes independent.
 1913 – The first movie serial, The Unwelcome Throne is released by Seligs Polyscope Company.
 1921 – William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada for the first time.
 1930 - Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for what would become Pakistan.
 1934 – The first college basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York City is played, between the University of Notre Dame and New York University.
 1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.
 1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland when a new constitution is adopted.
 1940 – Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians .
 1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.
 1959 - The Lisbon Metro begins operating.
 1972 – An Eastern Airlines Lockheed Tristar crashed on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101
 1975 – A bomb explodes at New York City's LaGuardia Airport killing 11.
 1978 – The first post-Franco constitution in Spain becomes effective.
 1981 - Singapore Changi Airport opens.
 1987 – Yuri Romanenko of USSR remained in outer space for 326 days and came back to Earth on this day that year.
 1989 – Václav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia
 1989 – Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.
 1989 – On the final day of trading for the year and decade, the Japanese Nikkei 225 Average closes at an all-time high of 38,915.87.
 1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, President of Brazil, resigns.
 1993 – Construction of the Tian Tan Buddha, the world's tallest outdoor bronze statue of the seated Buddha, is completed.
 1993 – Garry Kasparov wins the world champion chess title from Anatoly Karpov.
 1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord that ends a 36-year civil war.
 1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
 1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives in the 1970s.

From 2001 
 2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda Shopping Centre in Lima, Peru, kills 292 people.
 2003 – The last speaker of the Akkala Sami language dies, making the language extinct.
 2007 - The New England Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38-35 and became the first team with 16 wins and no losses.
 2009 – Akmal Shaikh becomes the first citizen of a present-day European Union country to be executed in the People's Republic of China for over 50 years.
 2011 – This date is followed by December 31 in Samoa and Tokelau, as the International Date Line is shifted.
 2012 - 2012 Delhi gang rape case: A 23-year-old student attacked on a bus on December 16 dies of her injuries.
 2013 - A suicide bomb attack on a train station in Volgograd, southern Russia, kills at least 16 people.
 2013 - Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is severely injured in a skiing accident in the French Alps.
 2014 - Politicians in Greece are unable to elect a President, with main candidate Stavros Dimas failing to get enough votes. New elections are called for January 2015.
 2016 - The Duge Bridge in Luipanshui, People's Republic of China, the tallest bridge in the world, is opened to traffic.
 2016 - Barack Obama's administration expels 35 Russian diplomats in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
 2017 - A fire at a hotel and restaurant complex in Mumbai kills 14 people.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1019 - Munjong of Goryeo, Korean monarch (d. 1083)
 1709 – Empress Elizabeth of Russia (d. 1762)
 1721 – Madame de Pompadour, mistress to King Louis XV of France (d. 1764)
 1766 - Charles Macintosh, Scottish inventor (d. 1843)
 1778 – Friedrich Ast, German philosopher (d. 1841)
 1788 - Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish historian (d. 1865)
 1788 - Tomas de Zumalacarregui, Spanish general (d. 1835)
 1796 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist (d. 1877)
 1800 – Charles Goodyear, American inventor of the vulcanization of rubber (d. 1860)
 1808 – Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (d. 1875)
 1809 – William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1897)
 1809 - Albert Pike, American attorney, soldier and writer (d. 1891)
 1813 - Alexander Parkes, English metallurgist and inventor (d. 1890)
 1813 - Karel Sabina, Czech journalist, politician and writer (d. 1877)
 1816 - Carl Ludwig, German physician (d. 1895)
 1838 - Walter Runeberg, Finnish sculptor (d. 1920)
 1840 – Anton Dohrn, zoologist (d. 1909)
 1843 - Elisabeth of Wied, Queen of Romania and novelist (d. 1916)
 1844 - Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, Indian barrister and first President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1906)
 1856 - Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch-French mathematician and academic (d. 1894)
 1859 – Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (d. 1920)
 1871 - William Thomas Calman, Scottish zoologist (d. 1952)
 1871 - Giuseppe Motta, Swiss politician (d. 1940)
 1876 – Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (d. 1973)
 1879 – Billy Mitchell, United States Army officer, United States Air Force pioneer (d. 1936)
 1881 – Jess Willard, boxing champion (d. 1968)
 1888 - Josef Beran, Czech cardinal (d. 1969)
 1890 – Käthe Dorsch, German actress (d. 1957)
 1899 - Nie Rongzhen, Chinese Communist leader (d. 1992)

1901  1950 
 1904 - Kuvempu, Indian Kannada writer (d. 1994)
 1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian (d. 1993)
 1910 – Ronald Coase, British economist (d. 2013)
 1910 – Gunnar Thoroddsen, Icelandic politician, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1983)
 1911 – Klaus Fuchs, German-British theoretical physicist and atomic spy (d. 1988)
 1913 – Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 2002)
 1914 – Billy Tipton, American jazz musician (d. 1989)
 1914 – Albert Tucker, Australian artist (d 1999)
 1917 – Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles, California (d. 1998)
 1919 - Alfred de Grazia, American political scientist and author (d. 2014)
 1919 - Roman Vlad, Romanian-Italian composer (d. 2013)
 1920 – Ratu Iosefa Iloilo, President of Fiji (d. 2011)
 1920 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish actress (d. 1995)
 1921 - Dobrica Cosic, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (d. 2014)
 1921 - Robert C. Baker, American chef, inventor of the Chicken nugget (d. 2006)
 1923 - Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegalese historian, anthropologist and physicist (d. 1986)
 1923 - Dina Merrill, American actress (d. 2017)
 1925 - Luis Alberto Monge, President of Costa Rica (d. 2016)
 1926 - John Spellman, American politician, Governor of Washington (d. 2018)
 1927 – Andy Stanfield, American athlete (d. 1985)
 1928 - Bernard Cribbins, English actor
 1931 – Prince Gu of Korea (d. 2005)
 1932 - Inga Swenson, American actress
 1934 – Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)
 1936 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore) (d. 2017)
 1936 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
 1937 – Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former President of the Maldives
 1937 – Dieter Thomas Heck, German singer and entertainer
 1937 – Barbara Steele, British actress
 1938 - Michael Hill, New Zealand businessman
 1938 – Jon Voight, American actor
 1941 - Daphne Arden, English athlete
 1941 - Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter (d. 2018)
 1942 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor (d. 2012)
 1942 – Rick Danko, Canadian musician ("The Band") (d. 1999)
 1942 - Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Honduran cardinal
 1943 - Atsutoshi Nishida, Japanese business executive (d. 2017)
 1946 – Marianne Faithfull, British singer
 1947 – Ted Danson, American actor
 1947 - Cozy Powell, English musician (d. 1998)
 1948 – Peter Robinson, Northern Irish politician, former First Minister of Northern Ireland
 1949 - Grant McBride, Australian politician (d. 2018)
 1950 - Jon Polito, American actor (d. 2016)

1951  1975 
 1951 – Mike deGruy, American documentary movie maker (d. 2012)
 1951 - Yvonne Elliman, American singer, songwriter and actress
 1952 – Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
 1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress
 1953 - Thomas Bach, German fencer and IOC President
 1953 - Matthias Platzeck, German politician
 1953 - Alan Rusbridger, British newspaper editor
 1954 – Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter
 1954 – Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
 1954 – Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician
 1956 - Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian and radio presenter
 1957 - Iain Paxton, Scottish rugby player and coach
 1957 – Bruce Beutler, American Nobel Prize-winning immunologist
 1957 - Oliver Hirschbiegel, German movie director
 1958 - Nancy J. Currie, American colonel, engineer and astronaut
 1959 – Patricia Clarkson, American actress
 1959 - Keith Crossan, Irish rugby player
 1959 - Paula Poundstone, American comedienne, actress and author
 1960 - Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Congolese militia leader
 1961 - Jim Reid, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1962 – Wynton Rufer, New Zealand footballer
 1962 - Carles Puigdemont, Catalan politician
 1963 - Dave McKean, English artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician
 1965 – Dexter Holland, American singer and musician
 1966 - Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer and manager
 1966 - Chris Barnes, American singer
 1967 - Evan Seinfeld, American actor and musician
 1967 – Andy Wachowski, American director (The Matrix)
 1969 - Jennifer Ehle, American actress
 1969 – Allan McNish, Scottish racing driver
 1970 – Aled Jones, Welsh singer
 1970 – Kevin Weisman, American actor
 1970 – Enrico Chiesa, Italian footballer
 1971 - Dominic Dale, Welsh snooker player
 1972 – Jason Kreis, American soccer player
 1972 – Jude Law, British actor
 1973 - Pimp C, American rapper (d. 2007)
 1974 – Richie Sexson, American Major League Baseball All-Star
 1974 - Mekhi Phifer, American actor and producer

From 1976 
 1976 - Danny McBride, American actor, screenwriter and producer
 1977 - Katherine Moennig, American actress
 1978 – Kieron Dyer, English footballer
 1978 - Danny Higginbotham, English footballer
 1979 - Diego Luna, Mexican actor
 1981 – Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
 1982 - Alison Brie, American actress
 1983 – Dereck Chisora, British boxer
 1983 - Angela Scanlon, Irish television presenter
 1983 – Gonzalo Olave, Chilean actor (d. 2009)
 1985 – Alexa Ray Joel, American musician
 1987 - Iain De Caestecker, Scottish actor
 1989 - Jane Levy, American actress
 1989 - Kei Nishikori, Japanese tennis player
 1990 - Allen Kim, South Korean singer, dancer and actor (U-KISS)
 1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan
 1995 - Rina Ikoma, Japanese singer
 1995 - Ross Lynch, American actor and singer
 1996 - Dylan Minnette, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 721 – Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)
 1170 – Thomas Becket, English bishop (assassinated) (b. 1118)
 1565 - Queen Munjeong of Korea (b. 1501)
 1605 - John Davis, English explorer (b. 1550)
 1634 - John Albert Vasa, Polish cardinal (b. 1612)
 1661 - Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
 1689 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
 1731 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1624)
 1743 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (b. 1659)
 1785 – Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
 1825 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
 1886 - A. C. Gibbs, American politician, Governor of Oregon (b. 1825)
 1891 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (b. 1823)
 1894 – Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
 1897 - William James Linton, English-American painter, author and activist (b. 1812)

1901  2000 
 1910 - Reginald Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1872)
 1916 – Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
 1924 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer (b. 1845)
 1925 - Félix Vallotton, Swiss-French artist (b. 1865)
 1926 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)
 1929 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)
 1934 - Alma Tell, American actress (b. 1898)
 1937 – Don Marquis, writer (b. 1878)
 1941 - Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician (b. 1873)
 1952 - Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, composer and bandleader (b. 1897)
 1960 – Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
 1967 – Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)
 1972 - Joseph Cornell, American sculptor, painter and filmmaker (b. 1903)
 1976 – Ivo van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954)
 1980 – Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
 1980 – Tim Hardin, musician (b. 1941)
 1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (b. 1932)
 1986 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
 1995 - Lita Grey, American actress (b. 1908)
 1996 - Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906)

From 2001 
 2003 – Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
 2003 – Bob Monkhouse, British comedian (b. 1928)
 2004 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient (b. 1912)
 2004 – Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1945)
 2005 - Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-English psychotherapist and author (b. 1922)
 2007 – Phil O'Donnell, Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
 2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American musician (b. 1938)
 2009 – Akmal Shaikh, British citizen executed for drug trafficking in China (b. 1956)
 2010 – Avi Cohen, Israeli footballer (b. 1956)
 2011 – Leopold Hawelka, Austrian cafetier (b. 1911)
 2012 - Paulo Rocha, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
 2012 - Mike Auldridge, American singer and guitarist (b. 1938)
 2012 - Tony Greig, South African-born cricketer (b. 1946)
 2013 - Wojciech Kilar, Polish composer (b. 1932)
 2013 - Mary Wibberley, English novelist (b. 1934)
 2014 - Odd Iversen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1945)
 2015 - Pavel Srnicek, Czech footballer (b. 1968)
 2015 - Elzbieta Krzesinska, Polish athlete (b. 1934)
 2015 - Om Prakash Malhotra, Indian politician, 25th Governor of the Punjab (b. 1922)
 2015 - Frank Malzone, American baseball player (b. 1930)
 2015 - Kim Yang-gon, North Korean politician (b. 1942)
 2016 - Ferdinand Kübler, Swiss cyclist (b. 1919)
 2016 - Néstor Gonçalves, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1936)
 2017 - Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco, Spanish noble (b. 1926)
 2017 - John C. Portman Jr., American architect (b. 1924)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Mongolia)
 Constitution Day (Republic of Ireland)
 Start of the Four Hills Ski jumping tournament (Germany and Austria)

Days of the year