20 December

The **20t o December** is the 354t day o the year (355t in lowp years) in the Gregorian Calendar, wi 11 days bidin.

## Events

* 69 - Vespasian enters Roum tae claim the title o Emperor.
* 1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completit.
* 1860 - Sooth Carolina becomes the first state tae secede frae the Unitit States.
* 1915 - Warld War I: The last Australie troops are evacuatit frae Gallipoli, Turkey.
* 1946 - The film "It's a Wonderful Life" has its premiere in New York Ceety.
* 1946 - A yirdquauk in Japan kills 1,300 fowk.
* 1955 - Cairdiff is proclaimed the caipital ceety o Wales.
* 1977 - Djibouti an Vietnam jyn the Unitit Naitions.
* 1989 - Unitit States invasion o Panama: The Unitit States sends troops intae Panama tae overthrow the govrenment o Manuel Noriega.
* 1991 - Paul Keating becomes the 24t Prime Meenister o Australie.
* 1999 - Portugal hands Macau back tae Cheenae.
* 2007 - Elizabeth II becomes the auldest Breetish monarch, overtakin Queen Victoria's age o 81 year, 7 month, 29 days.
* 2015 - Spain haulds its general election, wi an inconclusive result.
* 2016 - A fireworks mercat splosion near Mexico Ceety kills ower 30 fowk.

## Births

*1537 &ndash; John III o Swaden (d. 1592)
*1789 &ndash; William Burn, Scots airchitect (d. 1870)
*1841 &ndash; Ferdinand Buisson, French academic an politeecian, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
*1894 &ndash; Robert Menzies, 12t Prime Meenister o Australie (d. 1978)
*1914 &ndash; Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (d. 2013)
*  1914   &ndash; Robert Colquhoun, Scots penter (d. 1962)
*1926 &ndash; Geoffrey Howe, Breetish politeecian (d. 2015)
*1927 &ndash; Kim Young-sam, Sooth Korean sodger an politeecian, 7t Preses o Sooth Korea (d. 2015)
*1942 &ndash; Jean-Claude Trichet, French economist an banker
*1950 &ndash; Billy Brown, Scots fitbawer
*1951 &ndash; Lynne Featherstone, Inglis blogger an politeecian
*  1951   &ndash; Peter May, Scots writer
*1952 &ndash; Jenny Agutter, Inglis actress
*1955 &ndash; Binali Yıldırım, Turkis lawyer an politeecian, Prime meenister o Turkey
*  1955   &ndash; Martin Schulz, German politeecian
*1957 &ndash; Anna Vissi, Cypriot sangster-sangwriter an actress 
*  1957   &ndash; Billy Bragg, Inglis sangster-sangwriter
*1961 &ndash; Keith Brown, Scots politeecian
*1980 &ndash; Ashley Cole, Inglis fitbawer
*  1980   &ndash; Martín Demichelis, Argentinian fitbawer
*1981 &ndash; Julien Benneteau, French tennis player
*1983 &ndash; Jonah Hill, American actor
*1990 &ndash; JoJo, American sangster

## Daiths
* 217 &ndash; Pape Zephyrinus
*1722 &ndash; Kangxi Emperor o Cheenae (b. 1654)
*1937 &ndash; Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
*1968 &ndash; John Steinbeck, American novelist an short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
*1971 &ndash; Roy O. Disney, American banker an businessman, co-foondit The Walt Disney Company (b. 1893)
*1996 &ndash; Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astropheesicist, an cosmologist (b. 1934)
*2001 &ndash; Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet an politeecian, 1st Preses o Senegal (b. 1906)
*2009 &ndash; Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
*2017 &ndash; Archie Duncan, Scots historian (b. 1926)
*2019 &ndash; Matti Ahde, Finnish politeecian (b. 1945)

## Halidays
* Internaitional Day o Human Solidarity