December 20

## Events 
### Up to 1950 
* 69 &ndash; Vespasian enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.
* 1192 &ndash; Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria.
* 1522 &ndash; Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re–settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
* 1606 &ndash; The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and set sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
* 1803 &ndash; Louisiana Purchase is completed.
* 1808 &ndash; Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
* 1860 &ndash; South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.
* 1870 &ndash; The Cape Blanco lighthouse goes into operation at the western tip of Oregon.
* 1915 &ndash; The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli during World War I.
* 1917 &ndash; Cheka, first Soviet secret police, is founded.
* 1924 &ndash; Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.
* 1942 &ndash; World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta.
* 1942 &ndash; A magnitude 7.3 earthquake in Erbaa, Turkey, kills around 3,000 people.
* 1946 &ndash; The popular Christmas movie ''It's a Wonderful Life'' is first released in New York City.
* 1946 &ndash; The Tonankai earthquake in Japan kills around 1,300 people.

### 1951 &ndash; 2000 
* 1951 &ndash; The EBR in Arco, Idaho, becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity.
* 1952 &ndash; United States Air Force C–124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87.
* 1955 &ndash; Cardiff is officially proclaimed as the capital city of Wales.
* 1957 &ndash; The European Nuclear Energy Agency is founded.
* 1957 &ndash; The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
* 1960 &ndash; National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
* 1961 &ndash; The Dominican Republic holds its first elections.
* 1967 &ndash; A Pennsylvania Railroad metroliner reaches over the limit of 155 miles per hour in speed on its New York Division.
* 1968 &ndash; The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
* 1971 &ndash; Zulfikar Ali Bhutto becomes the 4th President of Pakistan.
* 1973 &ndash; Spanish Prime Minister Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco is assassinated by a car bomb in Madrid.
* 1977 &ndash; Djibouti and Vietnam join the UN.
* 1984 &ndash; The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines, England.
* 1985 &ndash; Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day.
* 1988 &ndash; The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
* 1989 &ndash; Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
* 1991 &ndash; Paul Keating becomes the 24th Prime Minister of Australia.
* 1995 &ndash; The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
* 1995 &ndash; An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50&nbsp;km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
* 1999 &ndash; Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
* 1999 &ndash; Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
* 1999 &ndash; NASA starts the ACRIMSat satellite to study the Sun.

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
* 2004 &ndash; A gang of thieves steal 26.5 million pounds from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
* 2007 &ndash; Elizabeth II overtakes Queen Victoria as the UK's oldest–ever monarch, having reached an age of 81 years, 7 months and 29 days. As of December 2014, Elizabeth is 88 years of age.
* 2015 &ndash; Spain holds its parliamentary election, with no party winning overall control.
* 2016 &ndash; A fireworks market explosion near Mexico City kills at least 30 people.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 1537 &ndash; King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
* 1579 &ndash; John Fletcher, English dramatist (d. 1625)
* 1629 &ndash; Pieter de Hooch, painter (d. 1684)
* 1633 &ndash; Abbas II of Persia (d. 1666)
* 1648 &ndash; Tommaso Ceva, Italian poet and mathematician (d. 1736)
* 1717 &ndash; Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French politician and diplomat (d. 1787)
* 1740 &ndash; Arthur Lee, American diplomat (d. 1792)
* 1786 &ndash; Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
* 1792 &ndash; Nicolas Charlet, painter (d. 1845)
* 1805 &ndash; Thomas Graham, Father of colloid chemistry (d. 1869)
* 1833 &ndash; Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1883)
* 1838 &ndash; Edwin Abbott Abbott, schoolmaster/theologian/writer of Flatland (d. 1926)
* 1841 &ndash; Ferdinand Buisson, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1927 (d. 1932)
* 1856 &ndash; Ferdinand Avenarius, writer (d. 1923)
* 1858 &ndash; Kuno Meyer, German scholar (d. 1919)
* 1860 &ndash; Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
* 1861 &ndash; Ivana Kobilca, Slovene painter (d. 1926)
* 1865 &ndash; Elsie De Wolfe, aka Lady Mendl, actress & interior decorator (d. 1950)
* 1868 &ndash; Arturo Alessandri, President of Chile (d. 1950)
* 1868 &ndash; Harvey Firestone, automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
* 1873 &ndash; Mahmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, writer, academic and politician (d. 1936)
* 1876 &ndash; Walter Sydney Adams, American astronomer (d. 1956)
* 1881 &ndash; Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
* 1886 &ndash; Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis star (d. 1974)
* 1890 &ndash; Yvonne Arnaud, French actress (d. 1958)
* 1890 &ndash; Jaroslav Heyrovský, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1967)
* 1891 &ndash; Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1971)
* 1893 &ndash; Charlotte Bühler, psychologist
* 1894 &ndash; Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
* 1898 &ndash; Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
* 1898 &ndash; Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician (d. 1973)
* 1899 &ndash; Martin Lloyd-Jones, Welsh preacher and physician (d. 1981)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; Robert Van de Graaff, physicist, inventor (d. 1967)
* 1902 &ndash; Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
* 1902 &ndash; Max Lerner, American educator (d. 1992)
* 1902 &ndash; George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
* 1904 &ndash; Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer (d. 1977)
* 1908 &ndash; Dennis Morgan, American actor (d. 1994)
* 1914 &ndash; Harry F. Byrd, Jr., American politician (d. 2013)
* 1916 &ndash; Gonzalo Rojas, Chilean poet (d. 2011)
* 1917 &ndash; David Bohm, American–born philosopher, physicist and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
* 1918 &ndash; Audrey Totter, American actress (d. 2013)
* 1918 &ndash; Jean Marchand, Canadian trade union leader and politician (d. 1988)
* 1922 &ndash; George Roy Hill, American movie director (d. 2002)
* 1923 &ndash; James Leasor, mystery writer
* 1924 &ndash; Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer and politician (d. 1980)
* 1924 &ndash; Friederike Mayröcker, writer
* 1924 &ndash; Charlie Callas, American comedian (d. 2011)
* 1925 &ndash; Benito Lorenzo, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
* 1926 &ndash; Sir Geoffrey Howe (Lord Howe of Aberavon), British politician (d. 2015)
* 1926 &ndash; Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician (d. 2009)
* 1927 &ndash; Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea (d. 2015)
* 1927 &ndash; Jim Simpson, American sportscaster (d. 2016)
* 1927 &ndash; Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark (d. 2016)
* 1930 &ndash; Noel Ferrier, producer and actress
* 1932 &ndash; John Hillerman, American actor (d. 2017)
* 1933 &ndash; Jean Carnahan, US Senator
* 1934 &ndash; Julius Darmaatmadja, Indonesian cardinal
* 1939 &ndash; Kathryn Joosten, American actress (d. 2012)
* 1942 &ndash; Jean-Claude Trichet, French economist and banker
* 1942 &ndash; Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (d. 2002)
* 1944 &ndash; Bobby Colomby, American drummer and producer
* 1945 &ndash; Peter Criss, American musician
* 1945 &ndash; Tom Tancredo, American politician
* 1945 &ndash; Pierre Bürcher, Swiss bishop
* 1946 &ndash; Dick Wolf, American TV drama series creator
* 1946 &ndash; Uri Geller, Israeli–British psychic TV presenter
* 1946 &ndash; Sonny Perdue, American politician, former Governor of Georgia and 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture
* 1946 &ndash; John Spencer, American actor (d. 2005)
* 1947 &ndash; Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1951 &ndash; Kate Atkinson, English writer
* 1951 &ndash; Lynne Featherstone, English politician
* 1951 &ndash; Peter May, Scottish author and screenwriter
* 1951 &ndash; Christopher Le Brun, English painter and sculptor
* 1952 &ndash; Jenny Agutter, English actress
* 1952 &ndash; Sky Gilbert, Canadian drag queen performer, actor and producer
* 1954 &ndash; Michael Badalucco, actor
* 1954 &ndash; Sandra Cisneros, American writer
* 1955 &ndash; Lonesome Bob, singer, songwriter
* 1955 &ndash; Binali Yildirim, Prime Minister of Turkey
* 1955 &ndash; Martin Schulz, German politician, President of the European Parliament
* 1956 &ndash; Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania
* 1957 &ndash; Anna Vissi, Greek singer
* 1957 &ndash; Billy Bragg, English singer, songwriter
* 1957 &ndash; Mike Watt, bassist
* 1958 &ndash; Jürgen Raab, German footballer
* 1959 &ndash; Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, former Prime Minister of Poland
* 1960 &ndash; Nalo Hopkinson, science fiction writer
* 1963 &ndash; Infanta Elena of Spain
* 1963 &ndash; Mats Gren, Swedish footballer
* 1965 &ndash; Rich Gannon, American football quarterback
* 1970 &ndash; Nicole DeBoer, actress (*Star Trek: Deep Space Nine*, *The Dead Zone*)
* 1972 &ndash; Anders Odden, Norwegian musician
* 1975 &ndash; Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Aubrey Hoff, American baseball player
* 1976 &ndash; Nenad Vuckovic, Croatian footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Sonja Aldén, Swedish singer
* 1978 &ndash; Andrei Markov, Russian–Canadian ice hockey player
* 1978 &ndash; Bouabdellah Tahri, French runner
* 1979 &ndash; George Lamb, English television presenter
* 1980 &ndash; Ashley Cole, English footballer
* 1980 &ndash; Martin Demichelis, Argentine footballer
* 1981 &ndash; Julien Benneteau, French tennis player
* 1982 &ndash; David Cook, American singer
* 1982 &ndash; David Wright, American baseball player
* 1982 &ndash; Keny Arkana, French singer and rapper
* 1982 &ndash; Mohammed Asif, Pakistani cricketer
* 1983 &ndash; Lara Stone, Dutch model
* 1983 &ndash; Jonah Hill, American actor
* 1983 &ndash; Lucy Pinder, English model and actress
* 1983 &ndash; Mapei, Swedish–American singer
* 1987 &ndash; Michihiro Yasuda, Japanese footballer
* 1990 &ndash; Joanna Levesque, AKA JoJo, American singer
* 1990 &ndash; Marta Xargay, Spanish basketball player
* 1991 &ndash; Hunter Gomez, American actor
* 1992 &ndash; Ksenia Makarova, Russian–American figure skater
* 1995 &ndash; Feliks Zembegs, Australian speed cuber
* 1997 &ndash; Suzuka Nakamoto, Japanese singer and model
* 1998 &ndash; Kylian Mbappé, French footballer

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 69 &ndash; Vitellius, Roman Emperor
* 217 &ndash; Pope Zephyrinus
* 860 &ndash; Ethelbald of Wessex (b. 834)
* 910 &ndash; King Alfonso III of Leon (b. 848)
* 1022 &ndash; Elvira Mendes, Queen of Castile (b. 996)
* 1295 &ndash; Margaret of Provence (b. 1221)
* 1355 &ndash; Stefan Dusan, Emperor of Serbia (b. 1308)
* 1494 &ndash; Matteo Maria Boiardi, Italian poet (b. 1434)
* 1524 &ndash; Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician (b. 1460)
* 1539 &ndash; Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
* 1552 &ndash; Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (b. 1499)
* 1722 &ndash; Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
* 1765 &ndash; Louis, Dauphin of France, son of Louis XV of France (b. 1729)
* 1768 &ndash; Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (b. 1692)
* 1783 &ndash; Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (b. 1729)
* 1812 &ndash; Sacagawea, Native American member of the Lewis and Clark expedition (b. 1788)
* 1856 &ndash; Francesco Bentivegna, Italian revolutionary (b. 1820)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1915 &ndash; Upendrakishore Ray, Indian writer, painter and composer (b. 1863)
* 1917 &ndash; Lucien Petit-Breton, French racing cyclist (b. 1882)
* 1927 &ndash; Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872)
* 1929 &ndash; Emile Loubet, French statesman (b. 1838)
* 1937 &ndash; Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
* 1941 &ndash; Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
* 1944 &ndash; Abbas II of Egypt (b. 1874)
* 1950 &ndash; Enrico Mizzi, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1885)
* 1961 &ndash; Earle Page, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
* 1961 &ndash; Moss Hart, American dramatist (b. 1904)
* 1968 &ndash; Max Brod, Austrian–Israeli writer and composer (b. 1884)
* 1968 &ndash; John Steinbeck, American writer (b. 1902)
* 1971 &ndash; Roy O. Disney, American entertainment industry executive (b. 1893)
* 1971 &ndash; Shigeyoshi Suzuki, Japanese footballer (b. 1902)
* 1973 &ndash; Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
* 1973 &ndash; Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish politician (b. 1904)
* 1976 &ndash; Richard J. Daley, American politician (b. 1902)
* 1982 &ndash; Arthur Rubinstein, Polish pianist (b. 1887)
* 1989 &ndash; Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
* 1994 &ndash; Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
* 1996 &ndash; Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
* 1997 &ndash; Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
* 1998 &ndash; Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1909)
* 1998 &ndash; Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British scientist (b. 1916)
* 2000 &ndash; Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Bangladeshi statesman and philanthropist (b. 1920)

### From 2001 
* 2001 &ndash; Leopold Sedar Senghor, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)
* 2009 &ndash; Brittany Murphy, American actress (b. 1977)
* 2010 &ndash; Brian Hanrahan, British journalist (b. 1949)
* 2011 &ndash; Hana Andronikova, Czech writer (b. 1967)
* 2012 &ndash; Jimmy McCracklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1921)
* 2013 &ndash; Nelly Omar, Argentine actress and singer (b. 1911)
* 2014 &ndash; John Freeman, English politician, diplomat and broadcaster (b. 1915)
* 2014 &ndash; Bob Lanier, American businessman and politician, Mayor of Houston (b. 1925)
* 2015 &ndash; Ray Mathews, American football player (b. 1929)
* 2015 &ndash; Patricia Elliott, American actress (b. 1938)
* 2016 &ndash; Michèle Morgan, French actress (b. 1920)
* 2017 &ndash; William Agee, American business executive (b. 1938)
* 2017 &ndash; Florence Bjelke-Petersen, Australian politician (b. 1920)
* 2017 &ndash; Henryk Cioch, Polish lawyer and politician (b. 1951)
* 2017 &ndash; Annie Goetzinger, French comic artist (b. 1951)
* 2017 &ndash; Bernard Francis Law, American cardinal (b. 1931)
* 2017 &ndash; Red Murrell, American basketball player (b. 1933)
* 2017 &ndash; Stan Pilecki, Polish–born Australian rugby player (b. 1947)
* 2017 &ndash; Randolph Quirk, British linguist and life peer (b. 1920)
* 2018 &ndash; F. W. Bernstein, German poet and cartoonist (b. 1938)
* 2018 &ndash; Klaus Hagerup, Norwegian author (b. 1946)
* 2018 &ndash; Donald Moffat, English–American actor (b. 1930)
* 2019 &ndash; Fazle Hasan Abed, Bangladeshi philanthropist (b. 1936)
* 2019 &ndash; Matti Ahde, Finnish politician (b. 1945)
* 2019 &ndash; Zilda Cardoso, Brazilian actress (b. 1936)
* 2019 &ndash; Thomas Chandy, Indian politician (b. 1947)
* 2019 &ndash; Junior Johnson, American racing driver (b. 1931)
* 2019 &ndash; Eduard Krieger, Austrian footballer (b. 1946)
* 2019 &ndash; Roland Matthes, German swimmer (b. 1950)
* 2019 &ndash; Yuri Pshenichnikov, Uzbek–Russian handball player (b. 1940)
* 2019 &ndash; Daniel Selvaraj, Indian writer (b. 1938)
* 2020 &ndash; Nicette Bruno, Brazilian actress (b. 1933)
* 2020 &ndash; Doug Anthony, Australian politician (b. 1929)
* 2020 &ndash; Fanny Waterman, British pianist (b. 1920)
* 2020 &ndash; Ezra Vogel, American sociologist (b. 1930)

## Observances 
* Earliest possible date for the December Solstice (usually on December 21 or 22)
* International Day of Human Solidarity