December 14

Events
Up to 1900
557 - Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake.
1287 - The St. Lucia's flood in the Netherlands kills around 50,000 people.
1542 - Mary, Queen of Scots inherits the throne of Scotland at the age of just 6 days, following the death of her father, King James V of Scotland.
1782 - The Montgolfier brothers' first balloon makes its first test flight.
1812 - Napoleonic Wars: France's invasion of Russia ends.
1814 - War of 1812: The Royal Navy seizes control of Lake Borgne, Louisiana.
1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd State of the United States.
1836 - The Toledo War, a boundary dispute between Ohio and the Territory of Michigan, unofficially ends.
1861 - Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria, dies aged 42. Following this, Queen Victoria withdraws from public life, in mourning for Prince Albert.
1896 - The Glasgow Underground Railway opens.
1900 - Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law.
1901 2000
1902 - The first Pacific Ocean telegraph cable is laid from San Francisco to Honolulu.
1907 - Schooner (a type of sailing boat) Thomas W. Lawson runs aground and sinks off the Isles of Scilly in a gale, killing its captain and 15 seamen.
1911 - Roald Amundsen of Norway becomes the first person to reach the South Pole.
1918 - President of Portugal Sidonio Pais is assassinated.
1918 - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, a German prince elected by the parliament of Finland to become the country's first King, titled Vaino I, resigns without setting foot in Finland, following Germany's defeat in World War I. Finland becomes a republic.
1939 - Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
1941 - World War II: Japan signs a treaty of alliance with Thailand.
1946 - The United Nations General Assembly votes to base its permanent headquarters in New York City.
1947 - The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium holds its first football match. It is the home of Real Madrid.
1955 - The UN is joined by Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Libya, Nepal, Portugal, Spain and Sri Lanka.
1958 - The 3rd Soviet Antarctica expedition becomes the first to access the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility.
1960 - Convention against Discrimination in Education is adopted by UNESCO
1961 - Tanganyika joins the UN.
1962 - NASA's Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
1963 - The dam containing the Baldwin Hills reservoir bursts, killing 5 people and damaging hundreds of homes in Los Angeles, California.
1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War: Over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals are executed by the Pakistan army and local allies.
1972 - Eugene Cernan of Apollo 17 becomes the last person to-date to have walked on the Moon.
1981 - Arab-Israeli conflict: Israel extends its area of law into the Golan Heights.
1989 - Patricio Aylwin is elected President of Chile during Chile's return to democracy following the rule of Augusto Pinochet.
1992 - Abkhazia War: A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, killing 52 people, including 25 children.
1994 - Construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China.
1995 - Yugoslav Wars: The Dayton Agreement is signed in Paris.
1999 - Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga join the UN.
1999 - Torrential rains cause flash flooding in Vargas, Venezuela.
From 2001
2003 - President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
2004 - In France, the Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world, is opened to traffic.
2004 - The leaders of Cuba and Venezuela create the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.
2008 - Muntadhar al-Zaidi almost strikes US President George W. Bush with two shoes, as a form of protest, at a news conference in Baghdad. This was Bush's last visit to Iraq as president.
2012 - Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: 20-year-old Adam Lanza shoots and kills his mother at his home in Newtown, Connecticut, before shooting and killing 20 children and 5 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He then turns the gun on himself.
2013 - Chinese spacecraft Chang'e 3, carrying the Yutu rover, becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since 1976.
2017 - Walt Disney Co. announces its intention to buy 21st Century Fox for 52 billion US dollars.
2017 - Scientists announce that the star Kepler-90b has the same number of known planets as the Solar System, eight.
Births
Up to 1900
1009 - Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (d. 1045)
1332 - Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia (d. 1381)
1503 - Nostradamus, French astrologer and mathematician (d. 1566)
1546 - Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and alchemist (d. 1601)
1607 - Janos Kemeny, Hungarian aristocrat and writer (d. 1662)
1631 - Anne Conway, English philosopher (d. 1679)
1640 - Aphra Behn, English playwright and novelist (d. 1689)
1720 - Justus Moser, German statesman (d. 1794)
1730 - James Bruce, Scottish naturalist and adventurer (d. 1794)
1775 - Philander Chase, American bishop and educator (d. 1852)
1775 - Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, Scottish admiral and adventurer (d. 1860)
1784 - Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (d. 1806)
1787 - Maria Ludovika of Austria-Este (d. 1816)
1794 - Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (d. 1872)
1796 - Lilburn Boggs, Governor of Missouri (d. 1860)
1829 - John Mercer Langston, American politician (d. 1897)
1852 - Watson Cheyne, Scottish surgeon and bacteriologist (d. 1932)
1853 - Errico Malatesta, Italian anarchist (d. 1932)
1866 - Roger Fry, English artist and art critic (d. 1934)
1867 - Ingibjorg H. Bjarnason, Icelandic politician, schoolteacher and gymnast, first female member of the Althing (d. 1941)
1870 - Karl Renner, President of Austria (d. 1950)
1875 - Paul Lobe, German politician (d. 1967)
1881 - Katherine MacDonald, American actress and movie producer (d. 1956)
1881 - Howard Valentine, American sprinter (d. 1932)
1883 - Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist (d. 1969)
1884 - Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (d. 1950)
1887 - Xul Solar, Argentine painter and sculptor (d. 1963)
1895 - Paul Eluard, French poet (d. 1952)
1895 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 1952)
1897 - Jimmy Doolittle, American general (d. 1993)
1897 - Kurt Schuschnigg, Chancellor of Austria (d. 1977)
1901 1950
1901 - King Paul of Greece (d. 1964)
1902 - Frances Bavier, American actress (d. 1989)
1902 - Herbert Feigl, Austrian philosopher (d. 1988)
1908 - Morey Amsterdam, American comedian and actor (d. 1996)
1908 - Claude Davey, Welsh rugby player (d. 2001)
1909 - Edward Tatum, American geneticist (d. 1975)
1911 - Spike Jones, American comedian and musician (d. 1965)
1911 - Hans von Ohain, German-American engineer (d. 1998)
1914 - Karl Carstens, President of Germany (d. 1992)
1914 - Nam Phuong, Empress of Vietnam (d. 1963)
1914 - Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (d. 2003)
1915 - Rashid Behbudov, Georgian-Russian singer and actor (d. 1969)
1916 - Shirley Jackson, American author (d. 1965)
1917 - Tove Ditlevsen, Danish poet and author (d. 1976)
1918 - James Thomas Aubrey, Jr., American television and movie executive (d. 1994)
1918 - B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga instructor and author (d. 2014)
1920 - Clark Terry, American jazz musician and composer (d. 2015)
1922 - Nikolay Basov, Soviet-Russian physicist (d. 2001)
1922 - Don Hewitt, American television producer (d. 2009)
1924 - Raj Kapoor, Indian actor (d. 1988)
1932 - Charlie Rich, American singer (d. 1995)
1932 - Abbe Lane, American singer and actress
1933 - Hisataka Okamoto, Japanese footballer
1934 - Shyam Benegal, Indian director and screenwriter
1935 - Lewis Arquette, American actor, writer and producer (d. 2001)
1935 - Lee Remick, American actress (d. 1991)
1936 - Robert A. Parker, American astronaut
1937 - Anna Lindblom, Swedish actress and singer
1938 - Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian
1939 - Stephen Cook, American computer programmer
1941 - Karan Armstrong, American soprano and actress
1942 - Chris Harris, English actor (d. 2014)
1942 - Dick Wagner, American guitarist, songwriter and author (d. 2014)
1943 - Emmett Tyrrell, American journalist, author and publisher
1943 - Britt Allcroft, English filmmaker
1946 - Sanjay Gandhi, Indian politician (d. 1980)
1946 - Stan Smith, American tennis player
1946 - Patty Duke, American actress (d. 2016)
1946 - Ruth Fuchs, German javelin thrower and politician
1946 - Peter Lorimer, Scottish footballer
1947 - Dilma Rousseff, former President of Brazil
1948 - Kim Beazley, Australian politician and diplomat
1949 - Cliff Williams, British musician (AC/DC)
1950 - Christiane Krause, German athlete
1951 1975
1953 - Vangelis Meimarakis, Greek lawyer and politician
1953 - Vijay Amritraj, Indian tennis player, actor and businessman
1954 - James Horan, American actor
1954 - Steve MacLean, Canadian astronaut
1956 - Linda Fabiani, Scottish politician
1958 - Mike Scott, Scottish musician and singer-songwriter (The Waterboys)
1958 - Spider Stacy, British musician (The Pogues)
1959 - Jorge Vaca, Mexican boxer
1960 - Chris Waddle, English footballer
1960 - Don Franklin, American actor
1960 - James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
1961 - Jeff Robinson, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1962 - Bela B, German musician
1964 - Rebecca Gibney, New Zealand-born Australian actress
1965 - Ted Raimi, American actor
1966 - Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Prime Minister of Denmark
1966 - Anthony Mason, American basketball player (d. 2015)
1967 - Hanne Haugland, Norwegian ski jumper
1969 - Greg Hemphill, Scottish actor, comedian and writer
1969 - Archie Kao, American actor and producer
1969 - Natascha McElhone, English actress
1970 - Anna Maria Jopek, Polish singer-songwriter, pianist and producer
1972 - Miranda Hart, English comedienne
1975 - Andres Scotti, Uruguayan footballer
From 1976
1976 - Petter Hansson, Swedish footballer
1977 - Jamie Peacock, English Rugby League player
1978 - Patty Schnyder, Swiss tennis player
1979 - Michael Owen, English footballer
1979 - Jean-Alain Boumsong, French footballer
1979 - Sophie Monk, English-Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1980 - Didier Zokora, Ivorian footballer
1980 - Samuel Aiken, American football player
1981 - Liam Lawrence, Irish footballer
1982 - Steve Sidwell, English footballer
1983 - Leanne Mitchell, English singer-songwriter
1984 - Chadli Amri, Algerian footballer
1984 - Chris Brunt, Irish footballer
1984 - Jackson Rathbone, American actor and musician
1985 - Nonami Takizawa, Japanese actress and singer
1985 - Jakub Blaszczykowski, Polish footballer
1985 - Chris Czekaj, Welsh rugby player
1986 - Jang Jae-Ho, South Korean professional gamer
1988 - Vanessa Hudgens, American singer and actress
1988 - Nicolas Batum, French basketball player
1988 - Hayato Sakamoto, Japanese baseball player
1989 - Onew, South Korean singer
1989 - Pedro Roberto Silva Botelho, Brazilian footballer
1991 - Samantha Paszek, American gymnast
1992 - Ryo Miyaichi, Japanese footballer
1992 - Tori Kelly, American singer-songwriter
1993 - Thanawat Thirapongpaibon, Thai snooker player
1994 - Jason Lowndes, Australian racing cyclist (d. 2017)
1999 - Karley Scott Collins, American actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
872 - Pope Adrian II (b. 792)
1460 - Guarino de Verona, Italian scholar (b. 1370)
1476 - Vlad III the Impaler, ruler of Transylvania (b. 1430)
1510 - Frederick of Saxony (b. 1473)
1542 - James V, King of Scotland (b. 1512)
1591 - Saint John of the Cross, Spanish friar and poet (b. 1542)
1651 - Pierre Dupuy, French scholar (b. 1582)
1715 - Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1636)
1741 - Charles Rollin, French historian (b. 1661)
1788 - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b. 1714)
1788 - Charles III, King of Spain (b. 1716)
1799 - George Washington, first President of the United States (b. 1732)
1806 - John Breckinridge, American politician (b. 1760)
1860 - George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1784)
1861 - Albert, Prince Consort (b. 1819)
1865 - Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish geologist and mineralogist (b. 1794)
1873 - Louis Agassiz, Swiss geologist (b. 1807)
1878 - Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (b. 1843)
1901 2000
1902 - Julia Grant, First Lady of the United States (b. 1826)
1912 - Belgrave Edward Sutton Ninnis, English lieutenant and explorer (b. 1887)
1918 - Sidonio Pais, President of Portugal (b. 1872)
1927 - Julian Sochocki, Russian mathematician (b. 1842)
1940 - Anton Korosec, 10th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1872)
1943 - John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon and breakfast food manufacturer (b. 1852)
1947 - Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1867)
1947 - Edward Higgins, General, contributor to the Salvation Army (b. 1864)
1953 - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, American author (b. 1897)
1956 - Juho Kusti Paasikivi, President of Finland (b. 1873)
1963 - Dinah Washington, American singer (b. 1924)
1963 - Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (b. 1901)
1970 - Franz Schlegelberger, German politician (b. 1876)
1974 - Walter Lippmann, American journalist (b. 1889)
1978 - Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish diplomat (b. 1886)
1984 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (b. 1898)
1985 - Roger Maris, American baseball player (b. 1934)
1989 - Andrei Sakharov, Soviet-Russian scientist and activist (b. 1921)
1990 - Friedrich Durrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
1993 - Myrna Loy, American actress (b. 1905)
1994 - Orval Faubus, American politician, Governor of Arkansas (b. 1910)
1997 - Kurt Winter, Canadian musician (b. 1946)
1998 - Norman Fell, American actor (b. 1924)
From 2001
2001 - W. G. Sebald, German writer (b. 1944)
2006 - Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-American music executive (b. 1923)
2011 - Boris Chertok, Soviet-Russian rocket scientist and engineer (b. 1912)
2011 - George Whitman, American bookstore owner (b. 1913)
2012 - Kenneth Kendall, British television journalist (b. 1924)
2012 - Adam Lanza, American gunman (b. 1992)
2013 - George Rodrigue, American artist (b. 1944)
2013 - Peter O'Toole, Irish-British actor (b. 1932)
2013 - France Roche, French actress and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2014 - Louis Alphonse Koyagialo, Congolese politician (b. 1947)
2014 - Theo Colborn, American environmentalist and academic (b. 1927)
2014 - Bess Myerson, American model (b. 1924)
2015 - Vadym Tyshchenko, Ukrainian footballer (b. 1963)
2015 - Armando Cossutta, Italian politician (b. 1926)
2015 - Lillian Vernon, German-American businesswoman (b. 1927)
2016 - Bernard Fox, Welsh-American actor (b. 1927)
2016 - Paulo Evaristo Arns, Brazilian cardinal (b. 1921)
2016 - Halfdan T. Mahler, former Director-General of the World Health Organization (b. 1923)
2016 - Jean-Paul Pier, Luxembourgian mathematician (b. 1933)
2017 - Yurizan Beltran, American pornographic actress (b. 1986)
2017 - Bob Givens, American animator (b. 1918)
2017 - Karl-Erik Nilsson, Swedish wrestler (b. 1922)
2017 - R. C. Sproul, American theologian and author (b. 1939)
2017 - Neeraj Vora, Indian actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1963)
2017 - Marilyn Ware, American diplomat and businesswoman (b. 1943)
2017 - Lones Wigger, American sports shooter (b. 1937)
2017 - Yu Guangzhong, Taiwanese poet (b. 1928)
2018 - Matti Kassila, Finnish film director (b. 1924)
2018 - Remedios Loza, Bolivian politician (b. 1949)
2018 - Joe Osborn, American bass guitarist (b. 1937)
2018 - Edmond Simeoni, French politician (b. 1934)
2018 - Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, Belgian economist and politician; b. 1945
Twenty-nineteen - Yury Belyayev, Russian footballer; b. '34
Observances
Alabama Day
Day of the Martyred Intellectuals (Bangladesh)
Monkey Day
Days of the year