December 28

Events
Up to 1900
418 - St. Boniface I becomes Pope.
457 - Majorian is crowned West Roman Emperor.
484 - Alaric II becomes King of the Visigoths.
856 - A Viking attack on Paris occurs.
893 - An earthquake destroys the city of Dvin, Armenia.
1065 - Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
1308 - The reign of Emperor Hanazono, the 95th imperial ruler of Japan, began.
1612 - Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when it was in conjunction with Jupiter, yet there is dispute as to whether he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic at that time. Neptune was not officially discovered until 1846, about 234 years after Galileo first sighted it with his telescope.
1768 - Taksin is crowned King of Siam.
1832 - John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice President of the United States to resign.
1835 - Osceola led his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the U.S. Army.
1836 - South Australia and Adelaide are founded
1836 - Spain recognizes independence of Mexico.
1846 - Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
1867 - The United States claims Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, northwest of Hawaii. This is the first US annexation of territory outside the North American continent.
1879 - The Tay Rail Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passes over it, killing 75.
1885 - The Indian National Congress is founded.
1895 - The Lumiere brothers have their first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard des Capucines--this date is commonly considered the debut of the cinema.
1895 - Wilhelm Roentgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation later known as X-Rays.
1897 - The play Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand, premieres in Paris.
1901 2000
1902 - The first indoor professional American football game is played in New York City at Madison Square Garden.
1904 - Alphonse Louis Nicolas Borrelly discovers a comet that is named after him.
1908 - An earthquake rocks Messina, Sicily, killing over 75,000 people.
1918 - Constance Markievicz, while detained at Holloway prison, becomes the first woman to be elected an MP in the British House of Commons.
1935 - Pravda publishes a letter by Pavel Postyshev, who revives the New Year tree tradition in the Soviet Union.
1944 - Maurice Richard becomes the first player to score eight goals in a single ice hockey match.
1945 - The U.S. Congress officially recognizes the Pledge of Allegiance.
1948 - The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50 miles south of Miami, Florida.
1950 - The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
1958 - Greatest Game Ever Played: The Baltimore Colts win in overtime against the New York Giants.
1972 - Having already led the country since the late 1940s, Kim Il-Sung is declared President of North Korea.
1973 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn publishes The Gulag Archipelago.
1973 - The US Endangered Species Act is passed in the US.
1974 - A magnitude 6.2 earthquake strikes Pakistan.
1978 - Heavy snowfall affects Northern Europe.
1981 - The first American test-tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, is born (Norfolk, Virginia).
1984 - The Indian National Congress wins elections in India.
1989 - A magnitude 5.6 earthquake strikes Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
1991 - Nine are crushed while a crowd pushes their way into a basketball game at City College of New York.
1991 - Sonic the Hedgehog Game Gear version is released in Japan.
1995 - CompuServe sets a precedent by blocking access to sex-oriented newsgroups after being pressured by German prosecutors.
1998 - Claudia Benton of West University Place, Texas is murdered in her home by Angel Maturino Resendiz. This is Angel's third victim in his third incident.
1999 - Saparmurat Niyazov is proclaimed President for Life in Turkmenistan.
2000 - Adrian Nastase becomes the Prime Minister of Romania.
2000 - U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.
From 2001
2007 - Nepal announces its intention to become a Republic.
2008 - War in Somalia: Militaries of Somalia's transitional federal government take Mogadishu unopposed.
2008 - The Detroit Lions become the first team with no wins and 16 losses after their loss to the Green Bay Packers in week 17.
2009 - 43 people are killed in a suicide bombing in Karachi.
2010 - Arab Spring: Protests begin in Algeria.
2011 - Turkish war planes bomb 34 Kurds of Turkish nationality in the district of Uludere.
2012 - Jiroemon Kimura surpasses Christian Mortensen's record as the oldest-recorded man ever.
2014 - Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 disappears on a flight from Surabaya, Java, Indonesia to Singapore, with 162 people on board. It is now known to have crashed with the loss of all of the people on board.
2014 - A ferry travelling from Patras, Greece to Ancona, Italy, catches fire in the Adriatic Sea west of the island of Corfu. Five people are killed, while hundreds are rescued in difficult weather conditions.
2015 - War in Iraq: Iraqi forces retake the city of Ramadi from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces.
2017 - Anti-government protests begin across Iran.
2017 - 41 people are killed in a bomb attack in Kabul, Afghanistan.
2017 - A fire at an apartment block in The Bronx, New York City, kills 12 people.
Births
Up to 1900
1164 - Emperor Rokujo, Japanese Emperor (d. 1176)
1522 - Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (d. 1583)
1550 - Vicente Espinel, Spanish writer, musician and priest (d. 1624)
1635 - Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England (d. 1650)
1651 - Johann Krieger, German composer and organist (d. 1735)
1655 - Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, English politician (d. 1698)
1665 - George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (d. 1716)
1769 - Alexander John Forsyth, Scottish clergyman and inventor (d. 1843)
1789 - Thomas Ewing, American politician (d. 1871)
1798 - Thomas James Henderson, Scottish astronomer (d. 1844)
1818 - Carl Remigius Fresenius, German chemist (d. 1897)
1835 - Archibald Geikie, Scottish geologist and writer (d. 1924)
1842 - Calixa Lavallee, Canadian composer (d. 1891)
1849 - Herbert von Bismarck, German politician (d. 1904)
1851 - Joseph Mackey Brown, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 1932)
1852 - Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, Spanish mathematician and inventor (d. 1936)
1856 - Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States (d. 1924)
1865 - Felix Vallotton, Swiss-French artist (d. 1925)
1866 - Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian and diplomat (d. 1935)
1870 - Charles Bennett, British athlete (d. 1949)
1872 - Pio Baroja, Spanish writer (d. 1956)
1879 - Billy Mitchell, American military aviation pioneer (d. 1936)
1882 - Arthur Stanley Eddington, British astrophysicist (d. 1942)
1882 - Lili Elbe, Danish artist and model (d. 1931)
1887 - Werner Kolhorster, German physicist (d. 1946)
1887 - Walter Ruttmann, German cameraman and film director (d. 1941)
1888 - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, German-American movie director (d. 1931)
1890 - Gosta Ekman, Swedish actor (d. 1938)
1896 - Roger Sessions, American composer (d. 1985)
1898 - Carl-Gustaf Rossby, Swedish meteorologist (d. 1957)
1898 - Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (d. 1947)
1899 - Eugeniusz Bodo, Polish actor (d. 1943)
1901 1950
1901 - Thomas Cooray, Sri Lankan cardinal (d. 1988)
1902 - Mortimer Adler, American philosopher (d. 2001)
1902 - Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (d. 1988)
1903 - John von Neumann, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1957)
1903 - Earl Hines, American musician (d. 1983)
1904 - Sergei Yutkevich, Russian movie director (d. 1985)
1905 - Cliff Arquette, American actor (d. 1973)
1905 - Fulvio Bernardino, Italian footballer (d. 1984)
1907 - Erich Mielke, East German politician (d. 2000)
1908 - Lew Ayres, American actor (d. 1996)
1910 - Billy Williams, American singer (d. 1972)
1913 - Lou Jacobi, Canadian actor (d. 2009)
1915 - Pops Staples, American musician (d. 2000)
1917 - Ellis Clarke, 1st President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2010)
1917 - Mouloud Mammeri, Algerian writer, poet, anthropologist and linguist (d. 1989)
1920 - Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy, Monegasque royal (d. 2011)
1920 - Steve Van Buren, American football player (d. 2012)
1921 - Johnny Otis, American songwriter (d. 2012)
1921 - Al Wistert, American football player (d. 2016)
1922 - Stan Lee, American comic writer
1924 - Girma Wolde-Giorgis, former President of Ethiopia
1925 - Milton Obote, President of Uganda (d. 2005)
1925 - Hildegard Knef, German actress (d. 2002)
1926 - Donna Hightower, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1927 - Edward Babiuch, Polish politician
1929 - Terry Sawchuk, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1970)
1930 - Franzl Lang, German singer and musician (d. 2015)
1931 - Guy Debord, French writer (d. 1994)
1931 - Martin Milner, American actor (d. 2015)
1932 - Nichelle Nichols, American actress
1932 - Manuel Puig, Argentine writer (d. 1990)
1932 - Roy Hattersley, British politician
1932 - Cornelius Gurlitt, German art collector (d. 2014)
1932 - Dorsey Burnette, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
1933 - John Y. Brown Jr., 55th Governor of Kentucky
1934 - Alasdair Gray, Scottish writer and artist
1934 - Rudi Fassnacht, German football manager (d. 2000)
1934 - Maggie Smith, British actress
1936 - Lawrence Shiller, American journalist, director and producer
1936 - Jacques Mesrine, French criminal (d. 1979)
1937 - Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist
1938 - Frank Kelly, Irish actor (d. 2016)
1938 - Lagumot Harris, Nauruan politician (d. 1999)
1938 - Dick Sudhalter, American jazz musician (d. 2008)
1938 - Charles Neville, American musician
1939 - Frank McClintock, Scottish footballer
1940 - Don Francisco, Chilean television presenter
1941 - Intikhab Alam, Indian-Pakistani cricketer and coach
1942 - Roger Swerts, Belgian cyclist
1943 - Keith Floyd, British chef (d. 2009)
1943 - Richard Whiteley, British television presenter (d. 2005)
1943 - David Peterson, Canadian politician, 20th Premier of Ontario
1943 - Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Peruvian cardinal and Archbishop of Lima
1943 - Joan Ruddock, Welsh politician
1944 - Kary Mullis, American chemist
1944 - Johnny Isakson, American politician (d. 2021)
1945 - King Birendra of Nepal (d. 2001)
1946 - Edgar Winter, American rock musician
1946 - Mike Beebe, American politician
1946 - Tim Johnson, American politician
1946 - Barbara, Lady Judge, American-English lawyer and businesswoman
1947 - Mamphela Ramphele, South African politician
1947 - Spencer Bachus, American politician
1947 - Mark Washington, American football player
1947 - Mustafa Akinci, President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
1950 - Alex Chilton, American musician (d. 2010)
1950 - Hugh McDonald, American bass player
1951 1975
1951 - Ian Buruma, English-Dutch author and scholar
1952 - Arun Jaitley, Indian lawyer and politician
1952 - Bridget Prentice, British politician
1953 - Richard Clayderman, French pianist
1953 - Martha Wash, American singer (The Weather Girls)
1954 - Gayle King, American magazine editor
1954 - Denzel Washington, American actor
1955 - Liu Xiaobo, Chinese human rights activist (d. 2017)
1956 - Nigel Kennedy, English violinist
1958 - Terry Butcher, English footballer
1959 - Hansjorg Kunze, German athlete
1959 - Ana Torroja, Spanish singer
1960 - Ray Bourque, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 - Shinichi Morishita, Japanese footballer
1960 - James Caan, English entrepreneur
1961 - Kent Nielsen, Danish footballer
1962 - Michel Petrucciani, French pianist (d. 1999)
1962 - Rachel Z, American pianist
1962 - Abdi Bile, Somali athlete
1965 - Michael E. Mann, American climatologist and geophysicist
1965 - Kazuo Echigo, Japanese footballer
1967 - Chris Ware, American cartoonist
1968 - Akihiko Hoshide, Japanese astronaut
1969 - Linus Torvalds, Finnish computer scientist, creator of Linux
1970 - Elaine Hendrix, American actress
1971 - Frank Sepe, American bodybuilder
1972 - Roberto Palacios, Peruvian footballer
1972 - Patrick Rafter, Australian tennis player
1972 - Adam Vinatieri, American football player
1973 - Seth Meyers, American actor
1974 - Markus Weinzierl, German footballer and manager
From 1976
1977 - Vanessa Ferlito, American actress
1977 - Keremcem, Turkish singer-songwriter and actor
1978 - John Legend, American musician
1979 - James Blake, American tennis player
1979 - Noomi Rapace, Swedish actress
1980 - Lomana LuaLua, Congolese footballer
1981 - Khalid Boulahrouz, Dutch footballer
1981 - Sienna Miller, English actress
1981 - Elizabeth Jordan Carr, American test-tube baby
1981 - Frank Turner, English singer
1981 - Mika Vayrynen, Finnish footballer
1981 - Narsha, South Korean actress and singer
1982 - Cedric Benson, American football player
1984 - Martin Kaymer, German golfer
1984 - Leroy Lita, English footballer
1984 - Sean St Ledger, Irish footballer
1985 - Kamani Hill, American soccer player
1985 - Meredith Kercher, English student (d. 2007)
1986 - Tom Huddlestone, English footballer
1987 - Thomas Dekker, American actor
1988 - Ched Evans, Welsh footballer
1989 - Harry Arter, English-Irish footballer
1989 - George Blagden, English actor
1989 - Mackenzie Rosman, American actress
1989 - Salvador Sobral, Portuguese singer
1990 - David Archuleta, American singer
1990 - Ayele Abshero, Ethiopian runner
1993 - Travis Head, Australian cricketer
1994 - Adam Peaty, English swimmer
1998 - Jared Gilman, American actor
2000 - Larissa Maneola, Brazilian actress and singer
2001 - Madison De La Garza, American actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
300 - Theonas, Patriarch of Alexandria
1367 - Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shogun (b. 1330)
1446 - Antipope Clement VIII
1503 - Piero di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1471)
1547 - Konrad Peutinger, German jurist and humanist (b. 1465)
1622 - Francis de Sales, French bishop and saint (b. 1567)
1663 - Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1618)
1694 - Queen Mary II of England (b. 1662)
1703 - Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)
1706 - Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (b. 1647)
1734 - Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (b. 1671)
1736 - Antonio Caldera, Italian composer (b. 1670)
1795 - Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorean physician and lawyer (b. 1747)
1859 - Thomas Macaulay, British poet, historian, and politician (b. 1800)
1872 - James Van Ness, 7th Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1808)
1900 - Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese soldier and explorer (b. 1846)
1901 2000
1916 - Eduard Strauss, composer (b. 1835)
1918 - Olavo Bilac, poet (b. 1865)
1919 - Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (b. 1854)
1923 - Gustave Eiffel, French architect (b. 1832)
1924 - Leon Bakst, Russian painter and costume designer (b. 1866)
1937 - Maurice Ravel, French composer (b. 1875)
1938 - Florence Lawrence, American actress (b. 1886)
1942 - Alfred Flatow, German gymnast (b. 1869)
1945 - Theodore Dreiser, American writer (b. 1871)
1947 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (b. 1869)
1949 - Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete (b. 1910)
1952 - Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (b. 1879)
1952 - Fletcher Henderson, American jazz musician (b. 1897)
1959 - Ante Pavelic, Croatian leader (b. 1889)
1960 - Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, academic and diplomat (b. 1895)
1961 - Edith Bolling Wilson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1872)
1963 - Paul Hindemith, German composer (b. 1895)
1967 - Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (b. 1875)
1971 - Max Steiner, Austrian film score composer (b. 1888)
1981 - Allan Dwan, movie director (b. 1885)
1983 - William Demarest, actor (b. 1892)
1983 - Jimmy Demaret, golf champion (b. 1910)
1983 - Dennis Wilson, musician (The Beach Boys) (b. 1944)
1984 - Sam Peckinpah, American movie director (b. 1925)
1985 - Renato Castellani, Italian movie director (b. 1913)
1986 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian movie director (b. 1932)
1988 - Khin Kyi, Burmese politician and diplomat (b. 1912)
1989 - Hermann Oberth, German physicist (b. 1894)
1990 - Kiel Martin, American actor (b. 1944)
1991 - Cassandra Harris, Australian actress (b. 1952)
1993 - Howard Caine, American actor (b. 1926)
1993 - William L. Shirer, American writer and historian (b. 1904)
1999 - Clayton Moore, American actor (b. 1914)
From 2001
2001 - William X. Kienzle, American novelist (b. 1928)
2003 - Benjamin Hacker, U.S. admiral (b. 1935)
2003 - Dinsdale Landen, British actor (b. 1932)
2004 - Jerry Orbach, American actor (b. 1935)
2004 - Susan Sontag, American writer, feminist, activist (b. 1933)
2009 - James "The Rev" Sullivan, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold) (b. 1981)
2010 - Billy Taylor, American musician (b. 1921)
2012 - Vaclav Drobny, Czech footballer (b. 1980)
2012 - Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli football coach and manager (b. 1924)
2013 - Halton Arp, German-American astronomer (b. 1927)
2013 - Andrew Jacobs, Jr., American politician (b. 1932)
2013 - Joseph Ruskin, American actor (b. 1924)
2013 - Ilya Tsymbalar, Ukrainian-Russian footballer (b. 1969)
2014 - Leopoldo Federico, Argentine bandoneon player, arranger, director and producer (b. 1927)
2014 - Vahan Hovhannisyan, Armenian politician (b. 1956)
2014 - Javier Fragoso, Mexican footballer (b. 1942)
2014 - Frankie Randall, American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer (b. 1938)
2014 - Merrill Womach, American gospel singer (b. 1927)
2015 - Guru Josh, British musician (b. 1964)
2015 - Eloy Inos, Governor of the Northern Marianas (b. 1949)
2015 - Pierre-Marie Rudelle, French painter (b. 1932)
2015 - Joe Houston, American jazz and R&B saxophonist (b. 1926)
2015 - Ian Murdock, American software engineer (b. 1973)
2015 - Lemmy, English musician (Motorhead) (b. 1945)
2016 - Michel Deon, French writer (b. 1919)
2016 - Debbie Reynolds, American actress and singer (b. 1932)
2017 - Fernando Birri, Argentine filmmaker (b. 1925)
2017 - Jean-Francois Hory, French politician (b. 1949)
2017 - Recy Taylor American rape victim and civil rights activist (b. 1919)
2017 - Rose Marie, American actress (b. 1923)
2017 - Sue Grafton, American author (b. 1940)
2018 - June Whitfield, English actress (b. 1925)
2020 - Armando Manzanero, Mexican musician (b. 1935)
Observances
Proclamation Day (South Australia)
Christian feast day of the Holy Innocents, or Childermas, celebrated in Spain and parts of Latin America in a similar way to April Fools' Day
King Taksin Memorial Day (Thailand)
Republic Day (South Sudan)
Days of the year