Events

Up to 1900 
 3340 BC – Earliest believed record of an eclipse.
 1700 – Battle of Narva: A Swedish army of 8,500 men under Charles XII of Sweden defeats a much larger Russian army at Narva (present-day Estonia, next to Russian border).
 1707 – The Second Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
 1718 – Charles XII of Sweden dies during a siege of the fortress of Fredriksten, Norway.
 1731 – An earthquake in Beijing kills thousands of people.
 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris – In Paris, representatives of the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace agreements – they later become official in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
 1786 – The Grand Duchy of Tuscany, under the future Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, becomes the first modern state to ban the death penalty. 
 1803 – In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transfer Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.
 1853 – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop – The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman Empire fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, present-day Turkey.
 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
 1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow on Saint Andrew's Day, between Scotland and England. It ends 0–0.
 1886 – The Folies Bergere in Paris stages its first performance.

1901  2000 
 1908 – 154 miners are killed in a mining explosion in Marianna, Pennsylvania.
 1916 – Costa Rica signs the Buenos Aires Copyright Convention.
 1920 – Liberato Ribeiro Pinto becomes Prime Minister of Portugal.
 1934 – The LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman becomes the first steam locomotive known to have reached a speed of 100 miles per hour.
 1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.
 1939 – Winter War: Soviet forces invade Finland and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
 1940 – Actress Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.
 1942 – World War II: Battle of Tassafaronga – A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizo Tanaka defeats a US cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.
 1943 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin agree to the planned June 1944 invasion of Europe code-named Operation Overlord.
 1953 – Edward Mutesa II, the last King of Buganda, is deposed and exiled to London by Andrew Cohen, British Governor of Uganda.
 1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, an 8.5 lb (3.86 kg) sulfide meteorite crashes through a roof and hits Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges in her living room after bouncing off her radio. She got a bad bruise. This is the only known case of a human being hit by a rock from space.
 1956 – Floyd Patterson becomes heavyweight world boxing champion against Archie Moore.
 1958 – French Equatorial Africa splits up into the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Chad and the Central African Republic, all of which becomes fully independent in 1960.
 1966 – Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
 1967 – The People's Republic of South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
 1967 – Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
 1975 – Dahomey is renamed the "People's Republic of Benin".
 1981 – Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17).
 1982 – A parcel bomb is delivered to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street.
 1982 – Michael Jackson releases his hit, "Thriller".
 1989 – Richard Mallory of Palm Harbor, Florida becomes serial killer Aileen Wuornos's first victim.
 1989 – German banker Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a Red Army Faction bomb. He was a board member at Deutsche Bank.
 1993 – Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List is first shown, in Washington, DC.
 1994 – The ship MS Achille Lauro catches fire off Somalia.
 1995 – Official end of Operation Desert Storm.
 1995 – Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland, as the first US President to do so.
 1996 – The Stone of Scone is installed at Edinburgh Castle on its official return to Scotland from England.
 1998 – Exxon and Mobil sign an agreement to merge.
 1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems.

From 2001 
 2001 – Green River Killer Gary Ridgway is arrested in Renton, Washington, ending a killing spree in which 49 people were murdered.
 2004 – Lion Air Flight 538 crash-lands in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 26 people.
 2004 – Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with $2,520,700 USD, television's all-time biggest game show haul.
 2005 – John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England when he becomes Archbishop of York.
 2006 – Typhoon Durian causes a mud avalanche from the Mount Mayon volcano on Luzon, Philippines, killing 300 people.
 2013 – Actor Paul Walker, star of the "Fast and Furious", is killed in a car crash.
 2015 – Climate change talks begin in Paris.
 2017 – Katrín Jakobsdóttir becomes Prime Minister of Iceland, leading a three-party coalition.

Births

Up to 1800 
 539 – Gregory of Tours, French bishop and historian (d. 594)
 1327 – Andrew, Duke of Calabria (d. 1345)
 1340 – John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (d. 1416)
 1427 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland (d. 1492)
 1466 – Andrea Doria, Genoese naval officer (d. 1560)
 1498 – Andres de Urdaneta, Spanish friar, sail-captain and explorer (d. 1568)
 1508 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (d. 1580)
 1554 – Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier and writer (d. 1586)
 1602 – Otto von Guericke, German politician, jurist, physicist and inventor (d. 1686)
 1642 – Andrea Pozzo, Italian painter and architect (d. 1709)
 1645 – Andreas Werckmeister, German organist, theorist and composer (d. 1706)
 1667 – Jonathan Swift, Irish writer (d. 1745)
 1670 – John Toland, Irish philosopher (d. 1722)
 1719 – Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (d. 1772)
 1723 – William Livingston, revolutionary Governor of New Jersey (d. 1790)
 1761 – Smithson Tennant, English chemist (d. 1815)
 1768 – Jedrzej Sniadecki, Polish writer, physician, chemist and biologist (d. 1838)
 1781 – Alexander Berry, Scottish surgeon, merchant and explorer (d. 1873)
 1791 – Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, Austrian soldier and statesman (d. 1848)
 1796 – Carl Loewe, German composer (d. 1869)

1801  1900 
 1813 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (d. 1890)
 1813 – Claude-Valentin Alkan, French composer (d. 1888)
 1817 – Theodor Mommsen, German historian and writer (d. 1903)
 1821 – Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1902)
 1825 – William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French painter (d. 1905)
 1835 – Mark Twain, American writer (d. 1910)
 1836 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician (d. 1882)
 1847 – Afonso Augusto Moreira, 6th President of Brazil (d. 1909)
 1858 – Jagadish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist (d. 1937)
 1866 – Andrey Lyapchev, Bulgarian politician (d. 1933)
 1869 – Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist (d. 1937)
 1872 – John McCrae, Canadian poet (d. 1918)
 1874 – Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1965)
 1874 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian writer (d. 1942)
 1875 – Otto Strandman, 2nd Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1941)
 1887 – Andrej Gosar, Slovenian-Yugoslavian politician, economist and theorist (d. 1970)
 1887 – Beatrice Kerr, Australian swimmer, diver and aquatic performer (d. 1971)
 1889 – Edgar Douglas Adrian, English doctor, won the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1977)

1901  1950 
 1904 – Clyfford Still, American painter (d. 1980)
 1906 – John Dickson Carr, American author (d. 1977)
 1907 – Jacques Barzun, French-American historian and author (d. 2012)
 1909 – Robert Nighthawk, American musician (d. 1967)
 1911 – Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1953)
 1912 – Gordon Parks, American photographer, musician, writer and movie director (d. 2006)
 1915 – Henry Taube, Canadian-American physicist (d. 2005)
 1918 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (d. 2014)
 1920 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (d. 2005)
 1924 – Klaus Huber, Swiss composer (d. 2017)
 1924 – Shirley Chisholm, American politician (d. 2005)
 1926 – Andrew W. Schally, Polish-Canadian Nobel Prize winner in medicine
 1927 – Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)
 1928 – Takako Doi, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 2014)
 1928 – Karin Söder, Swedish politician (d. 2015)
 1929 – Dick Clark, American entertainer (d. 2012)
 1929 – Joan Ganz Cooney, American television presenter
 1930 – G. Gordon Liddy, American Watergate scandal operative and talk show host
 1930 – Jacques Hamel, French priest (d. 2016)
 1931 – Bruce C. Murray, American geologist (d. 2013)
 1933 – Tsai Chin, Chinese-English actress
 1936 – Dmitri Anosov, Russian mathematician (d. 2014)
 1936 – Abbie Hoffman, American political and social activist (d. 1989)
 1937 – Tom Simpson, English cyclist (d. 1967)
 1937 – Ridley Scott, English movie director
 1937 – Frank Ifield, English-Australian singer
 1938 – Margarita Salas, Spanish biochemist and molecular geneticist (d. 2019)
 1939 – Chandra Bahadur Dangi, Nepalese shortest-man-ever record holder (d. 2015)
 1943 – Terrence Malick, American movie producer
 1944 – George Graham, Scottish footballer
 1945 – Hilary Armstrong, English politician
 1945 – Roger Glover, Welsh bassist (Deep Purple)
 1945 – Radu Lupu, Romanian pianist
 1945 – Pita Paraone, New Zealand politician (d. 2019)
 1947 – Stuart Baird, English movie editor, producer and director
 1947 – David Mamet, American director and writer
 1950 – Wolfgang Niersbach, German journalist and football official

1951  1975 
 1952 – Mandy Patinkin, American actor and musician
 1952 – Keith Griffen, American comic book writer and artist
 1953 – Shuggie Otis, American musician, composer and producer
 1953 – June Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters) (d. 2006)
 1954 – Simonetta Stefanelli, Italian actress
 1954 – Lawrence Summers, American economist and academic
 1955 – Billy Idol, English musician
 1955 – Richard Burr, American politician
 1955 – Andy Gray, Scottish footballer
 1957 – Richard Barbieri, English keyboardist and composer
 1957 – Patrick McLoughlin, English politician
 1957 – Colin Mochrie, Scottish-Canadian actor and comedian
 1957 – Margaret Spellings, American politician
 1957 – Gary Lewis, Scottish actor
 1958 – Stacey Q, American singer, actress and dancer
 1959 – Cherie Currie, American musician, singer, songwriter and actress
 1959 – Lorraine Kelly, Scottish television presenter
 1960 – Gary Lineker, English footballer
 1960 – Bob Tewksbury, American baseball player
 1961 – Innocent Egbunike, Nigerian sprinter and coach
 1962 – Daniel Keys Moran, American computer programmer and author
 1965 – Ben Stiller, American actor and comedian
 1965 – Prince Akishino of Japan
 1965 – Aldair, Brazilian footballer
 1965 – David Laws, British politician
 1966 – David Berkoff, American swimmer
 1966 – John Bishop, English comedian
 1966 – Mika Salo, Finnish racing driver
 1968 – Des'ree, English R&B singer
 1968 – Laurent Jalabert, French cyclist
 1969 – Amy Ryan, American actress
 1973 – Kate Fischer, Australian model and actress
 1974 – Sébastien Tellier, French singer
 1975 – Ben Thatcher, English-Welsh footballer
 1975 – Mindy McCready, American country music singer (d. 2013)

From 1976 
 1976 – Josh Lewsey, English rugby player
 1976 – Paul Nuttall, English politician, former leader of UKIP
 1977 – Kozumi Saito, Japanese baseball player
 1978 – Clay Aiken, American singer
 1978 – Gael García Bernal, Mexican actor
 1981 – Otto Fredrikson, Finnish footballer
 1982 – Jason Pominville, Canadian ice hockey player
 1983 – David Carney, Australian footballer
 1983 – Adrian Cristea, Romanian footballer
 1984 – Alan Hutton, Scottish footballer
 1984 – Nigel de Jong, Dutch footballer
 1984 – Francisco Sandaza, Spanish footballer
 1985 – Kaley Cuoco, American actress
 1985 – Chrissy Teigen, American model
 1985 – Luis Valbuena, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 2018)
 1986 – Jordan Farmar, American basketball player
 1987 – Dougie Poynter, English singer and musician (McFly)
 1987 – Ian Hecox, American comedian
 1987 – Naomi, American dancer, model, singer and professional wrestler
 1987 – Victoria Thornley, Welsh cyclist
 1988 – Phillip Hughes, Australian cricketer (d. 2014)
 1988 – Vitaliy Polyanskyi, Ukrainian footballer
 1989 – Vladimir Weiss, Slovakian footballer
 1990 – Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess player
 1993 – Yuri Chinen, Japanese actor and singer
 1994 – William Melling, English actor

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 30 BC – Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt (b. 69 BC)
 1016 – Edmund II, King of England (b. 989)
 1580 – Richard Farrant, English composer and playwright (b. 1530)
 1600 – Nanda Bayin, King of Burma (b. 1535)
 1626 – Thomas Weelkes, English organist and composer (b. 1576)
 1703 – Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (b. 1672)
 1705 – Catherine of Braganza, Queen-Consort of King Charles II of England and Scotland (b. 1638)
 1718 – King Charles XII of Sweden (b. 1682)
 1873 – Alexander Berry, Scottish surgeon, merchant and explorer (b. 1781)
 1892 – Dimitrios Valvis, 69th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1814)
 1894 – Joseph E. Brown, American politician, Governor of Georgia (b. 1821)
 1900 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)

1901  2000 
 1901 – Edward John Eyre, English explorer (b. 1815)
 1908 – Nishinoumi Kajiro I, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1855)
 1920 – Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian general (b. 1867)
 1930 – Pannambalam Ramanathan, Ceylonese Tamil statesman (b. 1851)
 1934 – Helene Boucher, French pilot (b. 1908)
 1934 – Roy Turk, American songwriter (b. 1892)
 1935 – Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (b. 1888)
 1938 – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, Romanian leader of the far-right Iron Guard (b. 1898)
 1939 – Bela Kun, Hungarian politician (b. 1886)
 1944 – Paul Masson, French cyclist (b. 1876)
 1947 – Ernst Lubitsch, German actor and director (b. 1892)
 1953 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (b. 1879)
 1954 – Wilhelm Furtwangler, German conductor (b. 1886)
 1957 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)
 1958 – Hubert Wilkins, Australian soldier, explorer and photographer (b. 1888)
 1970 – Nina Ricci, Italian-French fashion designer (b. 1883)
 1972 – Compton Mackenzie, Scottish novelist, actor and political activist (b. 1883)
 1977 – Terence Rattigan, English playwright (b. 1911)
 1979 – Zeppo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1901)
 1989 – Alfred Herrhausen, German banker (b. 1930)
 1989 – Ahmadou Ahidjo, 1st President of Cameroon (b. 1924)
 1994 – Guy Debord, French theorist and author (b. 1931)
 1994 – Lionel Stander, American actor (b. 1908)
 1995 – Stretch, American rapper, producer and actor (b. 1968)
 1996 – Tiny Tim, American entertainer (b. 1932)
 1999 – Charlie Byrd, American guitarist (b. 1925)

From 2001 
 2003 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1906)
 2004 – Seung Sahn, South Korean spiritual leader (b. 1927)
 2005 – Jean Parker, American actress (b. 1915)
 2005 – Nora Denney, American actress (b. 1927)
 2007 – Evel Knievel, American daredevil and stuntman (b. 1938)
 2008 – Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese drummer and producer (b. 1958)
 2009 – Milorad Pavic, Serbian writer (b. 1929)
 2009 – Paul Naschy, Spanish actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1934)
 2011 – Leka, Crown Prince of Albania, Albanian royal and pretender (b. 1939)
 2011 – Zdenek Miler, Czech animator (b. 1921)
 2012 – I. K. Gujral, Prime Minister of India (b. 1919)
 2013 – Jean Kent, English actress (b. 1921)
 2013 – Yury Yakovlev, Russian actor (b. 1928)
 2013 – Paul Walker, American actor (b. 1973)
 2014 – Go Seigen, Chinese-Japanese Go player (b. 1914)
 2014 – Qayyum Chowdhury, Bangladeshi painter (b. 1932)
 2014 – Fred Catherwood, English politician and writer (b. 1925)
 2014 – Martin Litton, American environmentalist (b. 1917)
 2014 – Jarbom Gamlin, Indian politician (b. 1950)
 2015 – Eldar Ryazanov, Russian movie director (b. 1927)
 2015 – Gerrit Holdijk, Dutch politician (b. 1944)
 2015 – Greg Fisk, American politician (b. 1945)
 2017 – Alfie Curtis, British actor (b. 1930)
 2017 – Dick Gernert, American baseball player (b. 1928)
 2017 – Colin Groves, British-Australian biologist and professor (b. 1942)
 2017 – Jim Nabors, American actor, singer and comedian (b. 1930)
 2017 – Surin Pitsuwan, Thai politician and diplomat (b. 1949)
 2017 – Marina Popovich, Soviet-Russian air force colonel, engineer and test pilot (b. 1931)
 2017 – Vincent Scully, American architecture historian (b. 1920)
 2018 – Palden Gyatso, Tibetan Buddhist monk (b. 1933)
 2018 – George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States (b. 1924)
 2019 – Michael Howard, English historian (b. 1922)
 2019 – Mariss Jansons, Latvian conductor (b. 1943)
 2019 – Petr Málek, Czech sport shooter (b. 1961)
 2019 – Harold Rahm, American-Brazilian Roman Catholic priest and humanitarian (b. 1919)
 2019 – Milagrosa Tan, Filipina politician (b. 1958)
 2019 – Brian Tierney, English historian (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances 
 Barbados – Independence Day (from the United Kingdom, 1966)
 Official end of the North Atlantic hurricane season
 Saint Andrew's Day – Christian apostle, and patron saint (several countries including Scotland and Barbados)
 Cities for Life Day
 National Day (Benin)
 Regina Mundi Day (South Africa)

Days of the year