the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
1949 - Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, British journalist and author
1949 - David Perdue, American politician, United States Senator for Georgia
1951 - Ellen Nikolaysen, Norwegian singer and actress
1952 – Clive Anderson, British television presenter
1952 - Susan Dey, American actress and producer
1952 - Greg Mortimer, Australian mountaineer
1952 - Bernd Jakubowski, German footballer (d. 2007)
1953 - Friedhelm Funkel, German footballer and manager
1954 – Florentin Smarandache, Romanian artist and writer
1955 - Ana Gabriel, Mexican singer
1955 - Sonya Leite, American voice actress
1956 – Rod Blagojevich, 40th Governor of Illinois
1957 - Michael Clarke Duncan, American actor (d. 2012)
1957 - Paul Hardcastle, British musician
1958 - Cornelia Funke, German author
1959 - Mark Aguirre, American basketball player and coach
1960 – Kenneth Branagh, Northern Irish actor
1962 - Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakhstani politician (d. 2015)
1962 – John de Wolf, Dutch footballer
1963 – Jahangir Khan, Pakistani squash player
1964 - Edith González, Mexican actress (d. 2019)
1965 – Greg Giraldo, American comedian (d. 2010)
1965 - Stephanie Morgenstern, Swiss-Canadian actress, producer and screenwriter
1969 - Rob Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1972 – Brian Molko, Belgian-born singer and guitarist (Placebo)
1973 - Arden Myrin, American comedienne and actress
1974 – Meg White, American drummer
1975 – Josip Skoko, Australian footballer
1975 – Kristel Verbeke, Flemish singer, actress and host
1977 - Andrea Henkel, German biathlete
1978 - Summer Phoenix, American actress
1981 – Fábio Rochemback, Brazilian footballer
1982 - Sultan Kösen, Turkish world's tallest man
1983 - Patrick Flueger, American actor
1983 - Zé Kalanga, Angolan footballer
1983 - Xavier Samuel, Australian actor
1983 – Katrin Siska, Estonian singer (Vanilla Ninja)
1985 – Charlie Adam, Scottish footballer
1985 - Raven-Symoné, American actress, singer and dancer
1985 - Le Cong Vinh, Vietnamese footballer
1987 – Gonzalo Higuaín, Argentine footballer
1988 - Wilfried Bony, Ivorian footballer
1988 - Neven Subotic, Serbian footballer
1989 - Ng Chee Yang, Singaporean singer-songwriter, dancer and actor
1990 – Shoya Tomizawa, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2010)
1993 - Alicia von Rittberg, German actress
1993 - Rachel Trachtenburg, American singer and actress
1994 - Matti Klinga, Finnish footballer
2014 - Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès
2014 - Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco
949 - Herman I, Duke of Swabia
1041 – Michael IV the Paphlagonian, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1010)
1198 - Averroes, Spanish astronomer, physicist and philosopher (b. 1126)
1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1451)
1603 – William Gilbert, English scientist (b. 1544)
1626 - Edmund Gunter, English mathematician and academic (b. 1581)
1665 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian organist, violinist and composer (b. 1594)
1796 - José Leonardo Chirino, Venezuelan revolutionary (b. 1754)
1850 – Jozef Bem, Polish general (b. 1794)
1850 - François Sulpice Beudant, French mineralogist (b. 1787)
1851 - Karl Drais, German inventor (b. 1785)
1865 – King Leopold I of Belgium (b. 1790)
1896 – Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor (b. 1833)
1909 – Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota Sioux chief (b. 1822)
1911 – Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist (b. 1817)
1917 – Mackenzie Bowell, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1823)
1926 - Nikola Pasic, Serbian politician and Prime Minister (b. 1845)
1928 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish artist, designer and architect (b. 1868)
1932 - Joseph Carruthers, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1857)
1936 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer (b. 1867)
1937 - Richard Ponsonby-Fane, British japanologist (b. 1878)
1948 - Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet and painter (b. 1896)
1967 – Otis Redding, American singer (b. 1941)
1968 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (b. 1886)
1972 - Mark Van Doren, American poet, critic and academic (b. 1894)
1977 – Adolph Rupp, American basketball coach (b. 1901)
1978 - Ed Wood, American director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1979 - Ann Dvorak, American actress and singer (b. 1912)
1982 - Freeman Gosden, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1899)
1986 – Kate Wolf, American singer (b. 1942)
1991 – Headman Shabalala, South African singer (b. 1945)
1994 - Keith Joseph, English politician (b. 1918)
1999 – Franjo Tudjman, President of Croatia (b. 1922)
2000 - Marie Windsor, American actress (b. 1919)
2001 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
2005 – Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (b. 1940)
2005 – Eugene McCarthy, American politician (b. 1916)
2006 – Augusto Pinochet, former President of Chile (b. 1915)
2006 - Salvatore Pappalardo, Italian cardinal (b. 1918)
2010 – John Bennett Fenn, American chemist (b. 1917)
2012 - Lisa Della Casa, Swiss operatic soprano (b. 1919)
2012 - Iajuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh (b. 1931)
2013 - Jim Hall, American musician (b. 1930)
2014 - Ralph Giordano, German writer and publicist (b. 1923)
2014 - Judy Baar Topinka, American politician (b. 1944)
2014 - Robert B. Oakley, American diplomat (b. 1931)
2014 - Robert Wolfe, American historian and World War II veteran (b. 1921)
2014 - Bob Solinger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
2015 - Ron Bouchard, American NASCAR driver (b. 1948)
2015 - Dolph Schayes, American basketball player (b. 1928)
2015 - Arnold Peralta, Honduran footballer (b. 1989)
2016 - Ken Hechler, American politician (b. 1914)
2016 - A. A. Gill, English writer and critic (b. 1954)
2017 - Angry Grandpa, American internet personality (b. 1950)
2017 - Simeon Booker, American journalist (b. 1918)
2017 - Manno Charlemagne, Haitian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948)
2017 - Max Clifford, British publicist (b. 1943)
2017 - Lalji Singh, Indian biologist and zoologist (b. 1947)
2017 - Eva Todor, Hungarian-Brazilian actress (b. 1919)
2017 - Viktor Potapov, Russian sailor (b. 1947)
2017 - Antonio Riboldi, Italian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1923)
2018 - C. N. Balakrishnan, Indian politician (b. 1934)
2018 - Chiang Pin-kung, Taiwanese politician (b. 1932)
2018 - Robert Spaemann, German Roman Catholic philosopher (b. 1927)
2018 - Xavier Tilliette, French philosopher and theologian (b. 1921)
2019 - Barrie Keeffe, English screenwriter (b. 1945)
2019 - Yury Luzhkov, Russian politician, former Mayor of Moscow (b. 1936)
2019 - Gershon Kingsley, German-American composer (b. 1922)
2019 - Philip McKeon, American actor (b. 1964)
2019 - Jim Smith, English footballer and manager (b. 1940)
Nobel Prize Day
Constitution Day (Thailand)
Human Rights Day (United Nations)
627 – Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeated Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.
1098 – First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan – Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 of the people living in it.
After finding themselves without enough food, they resort to cannibalism.
1531 – Vision of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico City.
1719 – The Boston Gazette is published for the first time.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant – A Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt in HMS Victory, defeats a French fleet.
1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the 2nd state to make the United States Constitution official.
1812 – French invasion of Russia comes to an end.
1862 – USS Cairo sank on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.
1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.
1897 – Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, is made official.
1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
1911 – Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.
1911 - George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck are crowned Emperor and Empress of India.
1913 - The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, stolen from the Louvre two years earlier, is found in Florence, Italy.
1914 – The largest one-day percentage drop in the history of Dow Jones Industrial Average, down 24.39%.
1915 – President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai tells that he is going to make himself the Emperor of China.
1917 – In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.
1918 - The Flag of Estonia is first raised on Pikk Hermann in Tallinn.
1925 – The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Persia.
1936 – Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.
1937 – Panay incident: Japanese aircraft shell and sink US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River in China.
1939 – Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi – Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.
1939 - The ship HMS Duchess sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland.
1940 – Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield as a result of a German air raid.
1941 – World War II: Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines.
Jesus Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; Cesar Basa is killed.
1941 – World War II: United States Marine Corps F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.
1941 – World War II: Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria.
Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
India declares war on Japan.
1942 – A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland kills 100 people.
1946 – A fire at a New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.
1948 – Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre – 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.
1950 – Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.
1958 – Guinea joins the UN.
1963 – Kenya becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1964 – Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
1969 – Strategia della tensione: Piazza Fontana bombing – The offices of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.
1970 - NASA sends the Uhuru satellite into space.
1979 – Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean military officer Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.
1979 – Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq conferred Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.
1979 – Rhodesia changes its name to Zimbabwe.
1982 – Women's peace protest at Greenham Common – 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.
1984 – Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya become the third president of Mauritania after coup d'état against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.
Taya was ousted in March 2005 by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall in another coup.
1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
1988 – Clapham Junction rail crash killed 35 and injured 100's after two collisions of three commuter trains.
One of the worst train crashes in Britain.
1991 – Russian Federation becomes independent from the USSR.
1992 – An earthquake on the island of Flores kills around 2,500 people.
1996 – Uday Hussein is seriously injured in an assassination attempt.
2000 – The United States Supreme Court released its decision in Bush v. Gore.
2000 - Ethiopia and Eritrea end a border war.
2003 – Paul Martin becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
2006 – Peugeot produce their last car at the Ryton Plant signalling the end of mass car production in Coventry, formerly a major centre of the British motor industry.
2012 - North Korea launches the Kwangmyongsong-3 Unit 2 satellite.
2013 - Jang Sung-taek, previously a powerful uncle of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is executed, just days after being removed from his position.
2015 - Confenerce on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change makes Paris Agreement on reduction of CO2 after Kyoto Protocol.
2016 - Bill English becomes the 39th Prime Minister of New Zealand, replacing John Key.
1298 – Albert II of Austria (d. 1358)
1418 – Albert VI of Austria
1574 – Anne of Denmark, wife of James I of England (d. 1619)
1610 – Saint Vasilije (d. 1671)
1612 - Nicholas Francis, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1670)
1659 – Francesco Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (d. 1739)
1685 - Lodovico Giustini, Italian composer and pianist (d. 1743)
1712 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (d. 1780)
1724 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (d. 1816)
1731 - Erasmus Darwin, English physician and poet (d. 1802)
1745 – John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1829)
1779 – Madeleine Sophie Barat, French saint (d. 1865)
1783 – Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (d. 1857)
1786 – William L. Marcy, American statesman (d. 1857)
1791 - Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (d. 1847)
1792 - Andreas Ypsilantis, Greek-Russian prince, general and rebel (d. 1828)
1799 – Karl Briullov, Russian painter (d. 1852)
1801 - King John I of Saxony (d. 1873)
1805 – William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist (d. 1879)
1806 – Stand Watie, American Confederate general (d. 1871)
1812 - John Sandfield Macdonald, 1st Premier of Ontario (d. 1872)
1814 - Don Juan Prim, 1st Marquis of Castillejos, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1870)
1821 – Gustave Flaubert, French writer (d. 1880)
1843 - William P. Dillingham, Governor of Vermont (d. 1923)
1845 – Bruce Price, American architect (d. 1903)
1845 - Fanny Churberg, Finnish painter (d. 1892)
1849 – William Kissam Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1920)
1850 - Martin Frederick Ansel, Governor of South Carolina (d. 1945)
1862 - J. Bruce Ismay, British entrepreneur (d. 1937)
1863 – Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (d. 1944)
1864 – Paul Elmer More, American essayist (d. 1937)
1866 – Alfred Werner, Swiss Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)
1870 – Walter Benona Sharp, American oil baron (d. 1912)
1875 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (d. 1953)
1876 – Alvin Kraenzlein, Olympic gold medalist (d. 1928)
1879 - Laura Hope Crews, American actress (d. 1942)
1881 - Harry Warner, Polish-American studio executive (d. 1958)
1887 – Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)
1892 – Herman Potočnik Noordung, Croatia, Pula - rocket engineer (d. 1972)
1893 – Edward G. Robinson, American actor (d. 1973)
1900 – Sammy Davis, Sr.,
American dancer (d. 1988)
1903 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer (d. 1976)
1903 – Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese movie director (d. 1963)
1904 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor and socialite (d. 1981)
1905 – Mànes Sperber, Austro-Hungarian-born writer (d. 1984)
1907 – Roy Douglas, British composer and orchestrator
1909 – Karen Morley, American actress (d. 2003)
1911 - Boun Oum, Prime Minister of Laos (d. 1980)
1912 – Thorbjorn Egner, Norwegian writer (d. 1990)
1912 - Boun Oum, Lao nobleman and politician (d. 1980)
1912 - Henry Armstrong, American boxer (d. 1988)
1913 - George Whitman, American bookstore owner (d. 2011)
1914 – Patrick O'Brian (Richard Patrick Russ), British writer (d. 2000)
1915 – Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)
1918 – Joe Williams, American singer (d. 1999)
1918 - Igor Ansoff, Russian-American economist and mathematician (d. 2002)
1919 - José Villalonga, Spanish football manager (d. 1973)
1919 - Paavo Aaltonen, Finnish sportsman (d. 1962)
1919 – Olivia Barclay, British astrologer (d. 2001)
1919 – Dan DeCarlo, American cartoonist (d. 2001)
1920 - Fred Kida, American comic artist (d. 2014)
1923 – Bob Barker, American television game show host
1924 – Ed Koch, 105th Mayor of New York City (d. 2013)
1925 – Vladimir Shainsky, Soviet and Russian composer (d. 2017)
1927 – Honor Blackman, British actress
1927 – Robert Noyce, American inventor (d. 1990)
1928 – Chinghiz Aitmatov, Soviet-born Kyrgyz writer (d. 2008)
1928 - Lionel Blair, British actor and choreographer
1928 - Helen Frankenthaler, American painter (d. 2011)
1929 – John Osborne, British dramatist and screenwriter (d. 1994)
1929 – Toshiko Akiyoshi, Japanese musician
1930 – Bill Beutel, American journalist
1930 - Gwyneth Dunwoody, British politician (d. 2008)
1930 - Silvio Santos, Brazilian television host
1932 – Bob Pettit, American basketball player
1933 - Manu Dibango, Cameroonian musician and songwriter
1934 – Miguel de la Madrid, President of Mexico (d. 2012)
1936 - Denise Coffey, English actress and dancer
1936 - Iolanda Balas, Romanian high jumper (d. 2016)
1937 – Michael Jeffery, former Governor-General of Australia (2003-2008)
1938 – Connie Francis, American singer
1940 – Sharad Pawar, Indian politician
1940 – Dionne Warwick, American singer
1941 - Tim Hauser, American singer (d. 2014)
1943 – Dickey Betts, American musician (The Allman Brothers)
1943 – Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)
1944 – Kenneth Cranham, Scottish actor
1944 – Jean Doré, Quebec politician, Mayor of Montreal (d. 2015)
1945 – Portia Simpson-Miller, former Prime Minister of Jamaica
1945 - Luciano Castellini, Italian footballer
1946 – Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian racing driver, two-time Formula 1 World Champion
1946 – Paula Wagner, American movie executive
1948 - Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal
1948 – Tom Wilkinson, English actor
1949 – Rajnikanth, Indian actor
1949 – Bill Nighy, English actor
1949 – Marc Ravalomanana, former President of Madagascar
1949 - Chris Baillieu, English rower
1949 - Gopinath Munde, Indian politician (d. 2014)
1950 – Billy Smith, National Hockey League goaltender
1951 - Anatoly Alyabyev, Russian biathlete
1951 - Rehman Malik, Pakistani politician
1952 – Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, Canadian politician
1952 – Peter Haber, Swedish actor
1952 – Cathy Rigby, American gymnast
1952 - Manuel Rosales, Venezuelan politician
1953 – Bruce Kulick, American guitarist (Kiss)
1954 – Liz Claman, American television anchor
1955 – Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Greek businesswoman, President of the organizing committee for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens
1956 – Johan van der Velde, Dutch cyclist
1957 – Sheila E., American musician
1957 – Robert Lepage, Quebec playwright
1959 – Jasper Conran, British fashion designer
1960 - Volker Beck, German politician
1962 – Tracy Austin, American tennis player
1962 – Mike Golic, former NFL football player
1963 - Juan Carlos Varela, President of Panama
1964 – Sabu, American professional wrestler
1964 - Reeta Chakrabarti, English journalist
1965 – Will Carling, English rugby player
1966 – Maurizio Gaudino, German footballer
1966 – Royce Gracie, Brazilian martial artist
1966 - Ian Paisley, Jr., Northern Irish politician
1966 - Selen, Italian actress and television presenter
1967 - Walter Kogler, Austrian footballer
1967 – John Randle, American football player
1968 – Laurie Williams, Indian cricketer
1968 – Kate Humble, British television presenter
1969 - Wilfred Kirochi, Kenyan middle-distance runner
1969 - Sophie Kinsella, British author
1970 – Jennifer Connelly, American actress
1970 – Madchen Amick, American actress
1970 – Regina Hall, American actress
1970 - Wilson Kipketer, Kenyan-Danish athlete
1972 – Hank Williams III, grandson of Hank Williams
1972 – Nicky Eaden, English footballer
1972 – Kevin Parent, Quebec singer and songwriter
1972 – Yeoryios Theodoridis, Greek sprinter
1972 – Brandon Teena, American hate crime victim (d. 1993)
1973 – William Hutton, American engineer
1973 – Walter Otta, Argentine footballer
1973 - Dagur Kari, Icelandic moviemaker
1974 – Nolberto Solano, Peruvian footballer
1975 – Mayim Bialik, American actress
1975 – Craig Moore, Australian footballer
1976 – Dan Hawkins, British guitarist (The Darkness)
1977 – Orlando Hudson, American baseball player
1977 – Bridget Hall, American supermodel
1977 – Colin White, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 - Dean Macey, British athlete
1978 – Monica Barladeanu, Romanian actress
1978 – Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm, American triplet Playboy models
1978 – Evren Genis, Turkish composer
1979 – Garrett Atkins, American baseball player
1979 – Nate Clements, American football player
1979 – Sharin Foo, Danish singer and bassist
1980 - Dorin Goian, Romanian footballer
1981 – Jeret Peterson, American aerial skier (d. 2011)
1981 – Ronnie Brown, American football player
1981 – Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricket player
1981 – Stephen Warnock, British footballer
1981 – Pedro Ríos, Spanish footballer
1982 – Dmitry Tursunov, Russian tennis player
1983 – Katrina Elam, American singer
1983 – Brad Smith, American football player
1984 – Daniel Agger, Danish footballer
1986 – Thomas Wansey, English television actor
1986 – Perparim Hetemaj, Finnish footballer
1987 – Kate Todd, Canadian actress
1988 - Ham Eun-jung, South Korean singer and actress
1989 – Harry Eden, British actor
1990 – Tommy Lane, British football player
1990 – Victor Moses, Nigerian-British footballer
1991 – Daniel Magder, Canadian actor
1994 - Otto Warmbier, American student (d. 2017)
884 – Carloman, King of the West Franks
894 - Guy III of Spoleto, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor
1212 – Geoffrey, Archbishop of York
1569 – Metropolitan Philip of Moscow (b. 1507)
1574 – Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1524)
1586 – Stefan Batory, King of Poland (b. 1533)
1685 – John Pell, English mathematician (b. 1610)
1751 – Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman and philosopher (b. 1678)
1754 – Wu Jingzi, Chinese writer (b. 1701)
1766 – Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (b. 1700)
1789 – John Ponsonby, Irish politician (b. 1713)
1790 – Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer (b. 1733)
1843 – King William I of the Netherlands (b. 1772)
1858 – Jacques Viger, antiquarian and archeologist, first Mayor of Montreal (b. 1787)
1889 – Robert Browning, British poet (b. 1812)
1889 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1804)
1894 – Sir John Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)
1912 - Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria (b. 1821)
1913 – Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (b. 1844)
1923 – Raymond Radiguet, French writer (b. 1903)
1926 – Jean Richepin, French poet (b. 1849)
1929 – Charles Goodnight, American cattle baron (b. 1836)
1934 - Thorleif Haug, Norwegian skier (b. 1894)
1939 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (b. 1883)
1941 – Cesar Basa, Philippine Air Force and World War II hero (b. 1915)
1950 - Peter Fraser, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1884)
1952 – Bedřich Hrozný, Austro-Hungarian-born Czechoslovak orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)
1963 – Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese movie director (b. 1903)
1963 – Theodor Heuss, first President of the Federal Republic of Germany (b. 1884)
1968 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)
1970 – Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)
1971 – David Sarnoff, Russian-born American General Manager of RCA (b. 1891)
1976 – Jack Cassidy, American actor (b. 1921)
1976 – Vinko Zganec, Croatian ethnomusicologist (b. 1890)
1977 – Lady Spencer Churchill, wife of Winston Churchill (b. 1885)
1980 – Jean Lesage, French-Canadian politician, premier of Quebec (b. 1912)
1985 – Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)
1985 – Ian Stewart, Scottish musician (b. 1938)
1992 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian esssayist, novelist and playwright (b. 1901)
1993 – József Antall, Hungarian politician (b. 1932)
1994 – Stuart Roosa, American astronaut (b. 1933)
1996 – Vance Packard, American writer (b. 1914)
1997 – Yevgeniy Landis, Russian mathematician (b. 1921)
1998 – Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (b. 1930)
1999 – Joseph Heller, American writer (b. 1923)
2000 – George Montgomery, American actor
2001 – Jean Richard, French actor (b. 1921)
2002 – Dee Brown, American writer (b. 1908)
2002 – Jay Wesley Neill, American convicted murderer (b. 1965)
2002 – Brad Dexter, American actor (b. 1917)
2003 – Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan (b. 1923)
2003 – Joseph Anthony Ferrario, American Catholic prelate (b. 1926)
2005 – Gebran Tueni, Lebanese politician (b. 1957)
2005 – Annette Vadim, Danish actress (b. 1956)
2006 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (b. 1928)
2006 – Peter Boyle, American actor (b. 1956)
2006 – Al Shugart, pioneering American computer engineer and co-founder of Seagate Technology (b. 1930)
2006 – Raymond P. Shafer, 38th Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1917)
2007 – Ike Turner, American musician (b. 1931)
2008 – Tassos Papadopoulos, President of Cyprus (b. 1934)
2010 – Tom Walkinshaw, British racing team owner (b. 1946)
2011 - Malina Olinescu, Romanian singer (b. 1974)
2012 - Nityanand Swami, Indian politician (b. 1927)
2013 - Abdul Quader Molla, Bangladeshi politician (b. 1948) (executed)
2013 - Jang Sung-taek, North Korean politician (b. 1946) (executed)
2013 - Audrey Totter, American actress (b. 1917)
2014 - Norman Bridwell, American writer, cartoonist and philanthropist (b. 1928)
2014 - Ivor Grattan-Guinness, English historian of mathematics (b. 1941)
2014 - John Persen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1941)
2014 - John Baxter, Scottish footballer (b. 1936)
2015 - Evelyn S. Lieberman, American public affairs professor (b. 1944)
2015 - Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (b. 1981)
2016 - E. R. Braithwaite, Guyanese novelist and diplomat (b. 1912)
2017 - Pat DiNizio, American singer and musician (b. 1955)
2017 - Alessandro Kokocinski, Italian-Argentine artist and sculptor (b. 1948)
2017 - Ed Lee, American politician, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1952)
2017 - Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, Israeli rabbi (b. 1913)
2017 - Zarley Zalapski, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1968)
2020 - Charley Pride, American country singer (b. 1934)
R.C. Saints – optional memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Bahá'í Faith – Feast of Masá'il (Questions) – First day of the 15th month of the Bahá'í Calendar
Kenya – Jamhuri Day: Independence Day (from Britain, 1963)
Russia - Constitution Day
Japan - Kanji Day
Turkmenistan - Neutrality Day
The New York Times: On This Day
On This Day in Canada
1294 - Pope Celestine V resigns from the papacy after only five months.
He was the last pope to resign voluntarily until Pope Benedict XVI did so in 2013.
1545 - The Council of Trent begins.
1577 - Francis Drake sets sail on his global voyage from Plymouth, Southwest England, on the ship The Golden Hind.
1642 - Abel Tasman reaches New Zealand.
1643 - English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.
1675 - The Swedish-controlled North German city of Wismar is attacked by Danish troops during the Scanian War.
1758 - English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean, killing over 360 people.
1769 - Dartmouth College is founded in New Hampshire.
1862 - American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats Union General Ambrose Burnside.
1864 - Paraguay declares war on Brazil.
1937 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking - Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese.
This is followed by the Nanking Massacre committed by Japanese forces against local civilians.
1939 - Holocaust: Neuengamme Concentration Camp opens.
1939 - World War II: The Battle of River Plate takes place between the German Navy and the British Royal Navy.
1941 - World War II: The Kingdoms of Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.
1941 - A glacier breaks apart at Palcacocha Lake in the Peruvian Andes, resulting in a mud avalanche that kills around 6,000 people in the city of Huaraz.
1943 - World War II: Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
1949 - Israel's parliament, the Knesset, votes to make Jerusalem the capital city of Israel.
1959 - Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.
1960 - Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie is removed from power while on a visit abroad, in Brazil.
1962 - NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
1967 - The deposed King Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful coup against the Regime of the Colonels.
1967 - The Pioneer 8 space probe is launched.
1972 - Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan become the last people to-date to have set foot on the Moon.
1974 - Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1977 - A DC-3 aircraft chartered from Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport in Indiana, killing 29 people, including the entire University of Evansville basketball team.
1979 - Joe Clark's Canadian government is defeated in a vote of confidence.
A new election in early 1980 brings Pierre Trudeau back as Prime Minister of Canada, less than a year after being voted out of the post.
1981 - General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares Martial Law in Poland.
1982 - The Arabian peninsula is struck by magnitude 6 earthquake, killing around 2,800 people.
1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes in Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, killing all 256 people on board.
1989 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out an attack at the Derryard Checkpoint in Northern Ireland, killing 2 British soldiers.
1996 - Kofi Annan is chosen as UN Secretary-General.
He succeeds Boutros Boutros-Ghali on January 1, 1997.
2000 - The "Texas Seven" escape from the John B. Connally Unit near Kennedy, Texas and go an a robbery spree.
2001 - The Indian parliament building in New Delhi is attacked by terrorists.
2002 - The EU announces that ten new member states are to join on May 1, 2004.
2003 – Saddam Hussein is captured by United States-led forces near his home town of Tikrit.
2006 - Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is adopted.
2007 - Treaty of Lisbon is adopted.
2011 - Gunman Nordine Amrani shoots six people dead at a Christmas market in Liege, Belgium, before killing himself.
2014 - A landslide in Java, Indonesia, kills at least 18 people and leaves 90 missing.
2016 - Syrian civil war: Government forces take control of the city of Aleppo.
1272 - Frederick III of Sicily (d. 1337)
1521 - Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)
1533 - King Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577)
1553 – King Henry IV of France (d. 1610)
1560 - Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, French statesman (d. 1641)
1640 - Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (d. 1696)
1662 - Francesco Bianchini, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1729)
1678 - Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
1684 - Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian historian, philosopher and author (d. 1754)
1720 - Carlo Gozzi, Italian dramatist (d. 1804)
1780 - Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, German chemist (d. 1849)
1784 - Archduke Louis of Austria (d. 1864)
1790 - Giuseppe Marco Fieschi, conspirator against Louis Philippe I of France (d. 1836)
1797 - Heinrich Heine, German poet (d. 1856)
1804 - Joseph Howe, 5th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1873)
1816 - Ernst Werner von Siemens, German engineer, inventor and industrialist (d. 1892)
1818 - Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
1836 - Franz von Lenbach, German painter (d. 1904)
1846 - Henri-Paul Motte, French painter (d. 1922)
1854 - Herman Bavinck, Dutch theologian and churchman (d. 1921)
1860 - Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
1864 - Emil Seidel, Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
1867 - Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian explorer and scientist (d. 1917)
1870 - Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (d. 1914)
1871 - Emily Carr, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
1874 - Josef Lhevinne, Russian pianist and professor (d. 1944)
1883 - Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian, bibliographer and archivist (d. 1950)
1887 - Alvin York, American soldier (d. 1964)
1894 - Fernando de Fuentes, Mexican movie director (d. 1958)
1897 - Albert Aalbers, Dutch architect (d. 1961)
1900 - Jonel Perlea, Romanian conductor (d. 1970)
1902 - Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1986)
1902 - Talcott Parsons, American sociologist (d. 1979)
1903 - Ella Baker, American Civil Rights activist (d. 1986)
1903 - Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist (d. 1993)
1906 - Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (d. 1968)
1906 - Laurens van der Post, South African writer (d. 1996)
1911 - Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist (d. 1999)
1913 - Arnold Brown, 11th General of the Salvation Army (d. 2002)
1913 - Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
1915 - B. J. Vorster, Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1983)
1915 - Curd Jürgens, German-Austrian actor (d. 1982)
1916 - Archie Moore, American boxer (d. 1998)
1918 - Kim Won-kwon, Korean athlete
1918 - Rosalia Lombardo, Italian pneumonia victim (d. 1920)
1920 - George Shultz, 60th United States Secretary of State
1923 - Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist
1923 - Antoni Tapies, Catalan artist (d. 2012)
1923 - Edward Clancy, Australian cardinal (d. 2014)
1923 - Frankie Fraser, English gangster (d. 2014)
1924 - Maria Riva, American actress
1925 - Dick Van Dyke, American actor
1926 - George Rhoden, Jamaican athlete
1927 - Geneviève Page, French actress
1928 - Nati Mistral, Spanish actress (d. 2017)
1928 - Jack Tramiel, Polish-born American businessman (d. 2012)
1929 - Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor
1933 - Doug Mohns, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
1934 - Richard D. Zanuck, American movie producer (d. 2012)
1936 - Shah Karim al-Husseini, Agha Khan IV
1937 - Robert Gernhardt, German poet (d. 2006)
1938 - Heino, German folk singer
1941 - John Davidson, American actor and game show host
1942 - Howard Brenton, English playwright and screenwriter
1942 - Arne Treholt, Norwegian politician
1942 - Anna Eshoo, American politician
1942 - Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player
1943 - Nikhil Baran Sengupta, Indian art director, producer and designer (d. 2014)
1945 - Herman Cain, American businessman and politician
1946 - Pierino Prati, Italian footballer
1947 - Luis Angelo Gonzalez Macchi, former President of Paraguay
1948 - Ted Nugent, American musician
1948 - Lillian Board, British athlete (d. 1970)
1949 - Robert Lindsay, British actor
1949 - Manfred Bleskin, German journalist (d. 2014)
1950 - Tom Vilsack, 40th Governor of Iowa
1952 - Sylvester Ritter, American professional wrestler (d. 1998)
1953 - Ben Bernanke, American economist
1953 - Thomas Kurzhals, German keyboardist and songwriter (d. 2014)
1953 - Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player
1956 - Majida El Roumi, Lebanese soprano
1956 - Phil Hubbard, American basketball player
1957 - Steve Buscemi, American actor
1958 - Lynn-Holly Johnson, American figure skater
1959 - Johnny Whitaker, American actor and singer
1960 - José Eduardo Agualusa, Angolan writer
1961 - Harry Gregson-Williams, British movie score composer, music producer and conductor
1961 - Toru Yoshikawa, Japanese footballer
1962 - Roger Ilegems, Belgian cyclist
1964 - Hide, Japanese musician (d. 1998)
1964 - Dieter Eilts, German footballer
1966 - Craig Brewster, Scottish footballer
1967 – Jamie Foxx, American actor and singer
1967 - Noel Fitzpatrick, Irish veterinarian
1969 - Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player
1970 - Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, Austrian mountaineer
1971 - Leanne Wood, Welsh politician, leader of Plaid Cymru
1971 - Gloria Casarez, American activist (d. 2014)
1973 - Christie Clark, American actress
1974 – Sara Cox, English television and radio presenter
1974 - Nicholas McCarthy, British musician for Franz Ferdinand
1975 - Tom DeLonge, American musician
1976 - Radoslaw Sobolewski, Polish footballer
1977 - Sascha Kindred, German-born British Paralympic swimmer
1977 - Lauri Porra, Finnish musician
1977 - Peter Stringer, Irish rugby player
1978 - Kaspars Kambala, Latvian basketball player
1978 - Olav Bjortomt, British quiz player, crossword compiler
1980 - Satoshi Tsumabuki, Japanese actor
1980 - Agnieszka Wlodarczyk, Polish actress
1981 - Amy Lee, American singer-songwriter
1981 - Liam Lawrence, Irish footballer
1984 - Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer
1984 - Michal Kadlec, Czech footballer
1985 - Michael Bumpus, American football player
1987 - James Holmes, American mass shooter
1988 - Rickie Fowler, American golfer
1989 – Taylor Swift, American country singer
1989 - Dasha Kapustina, Russian model
1989 - Katherine Schwarzenegger, American author
1991 - Sénah Mongo, Togolese footballer
1995 - Marvin Friedrich, German footballer
558 - Childebert I, King of Paris (b. 496)
838 - Pepin I of Aquitaine (b. 797)
1048 - Abu Rahman al-Biruni, Persian scholar and polymath (b. 973)
1124 - Pope Callixtus II (b. 1065)
1126 - Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1075)
1204 - Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
1250 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)
1404 - Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1336)
1466 - Donatello, Florentine painter and sculptor (b. 1386)
1516 - Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer and historian (b. 1462)
1521 - King Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)
1557 - Niccolo Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician and engineer (b. 1500)
1565 - Conrad Gessner, Swiss botanist and physician (b. 1516)
1621 - Catherine Stenbock, Queen Consort of Sweden (b. 1535)
1721 - Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor and castaway, inspiration for Robinson Crusoe (b. 1676)
1729 - Anthony Collins, English philosopher (b. 1676)
1754 - Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1696)
1769 - Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet (b. 1715)
1783 - Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer (b. 1717)
1784 - Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (b. 1709)
1837 - Herman of Alaska, Russian missionary and saint (b. 756)
1863 - Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (b. 1813)
1868 - Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (b. 1794)
1883 - Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
1917 - Ebe W. Tunnell, Governor of Delaware (b. 1844)
1922 - Hannes Hafstein, 1st Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1861)
1924 - Samuel Gompers, English-American labor leader (b. 1850)
1930 - Fritz Pregl, Slovenian-Austrian chemist (b. 1869)
1931 - Gustave le Bon, French psychologist (b. 1841)
1932 - Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter (b. 1853)
1934 - Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (b. 1854)
1935 - Victor Grignard, French chemist (b. 1871)
1942 - Wlodimir Ledochowski, Austrian-Polish religious leader (b. 1866)
1944 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter (b. 1866)
1944 - Lupe Velez, Mexican actress (b. 1908)
1954 - John Raymond Hubbell, American director and composer (b. 1879)
1955 - Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon (b. 1874)
1961 - Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)
1962 - Harry Barris, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1905)
1969 - Spencer Williams, American actor and director (b. 1893)
1972 - Gustav Schwarzenegger, Austrian police chief and inspector (b. 1907)
1973 - Giuseppe Beltrami, Italian cardinal and Vatican City diplomat (b. 1889)
1974 – Betty Van Patter, member of the Black Panther Party, murdered.
1981 - Pigmeat Markham, American actor, singer and dancer (b. 1904)
1986 - Heather Angel, English actress (b. 1969)
1986 - Ella Baker, American Civil Rights activist (b. 1903)
1992 - Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman (b. 1899)
1994 - Antoine Pinay, Prime Minister of France (b. 1891)
2001 – Chuck Schuldiner, singer/guitarist of Death
2002 - Zal Yanovsky, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
2003 - William V. Roth, Jr., American politician (b. 1921)
2006 - Lamar Hunt, American businessman (b. 1932)
2008 - Kathy Staff, English actress (b. 1928)
2008 - Horst Tappert, German actor (b. 1923)
2009 - Paul Samuelson, American economist (b. 1918)
2010 - Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat (b. 1941)
2011 - Klaus-Dieter Sieloff, German footballer (b. 1942)
2012 - Maurice Herzog, French mountaineer (b. 1919)
2014 - Ernst Albrecht, German politician, Prime Minister of Lower Saxony (b. 1930)
2014 - Andreas Schockenhoff, German politician (b. 1957)
2014 - Bill Bonds, American news presenter (b. 1932)
2014 - Joan Barril, Spanish writer and journalist (b. 1952)
2015 - Benedict Anderson, American academic and writer (b. 1936)
2015 - John Bannon, Australian politician, Premier of South Australia (b. 1943)
2016 - Thomas Schelling, American economist (b. 1921)
2016 - Alan Thicke, Canadian actor (b. 1947)
2017 - Warrel Dane, American heavy metal singer-songwriter (b. 1961)
2017 - Simon Dickie, New Zealand rower (b. 1951)
2017 - Bruce Gray, Puerto Rican-Canadian actor (b. 1936)
2017 - Bill Hudson, American football player (b. 1935)
2017 - Dan Johnson, American politician (b. 1960)
2017 - Frank Lary, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2017 - Gerald O'Brien, New Zealand politician (b. 1924)
2021 - Tank, dog of Tristan Corso
Saint Lucy's Day, celebrated in some European countries, mainly in Sweden
National Day of Saint Lucia
Republic Day (Malta)
Acadian Remembrance Day
533 – The Battle of Ticameron begins.
687 – St. Sergius I becomes Pope.
1161 - China: Military officers conspire against Emperor Hailingwang of Jin, of the Jin Dynasty, and kill him in a military coup near the Yangtze River front.
1167 - Sicilian Chancellor Stephen du Perche moves the royal court to Messina to prevent rebellion.
1256 – Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran.
1467 - Stephen III of Moldavia defeats Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, with the latter being injured, at the Battle of Baia.
1640 - John IV of Portugal becomes King.
1778 - American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.
1791 – The United States Bill of Rights is passed.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Nashville - Union forces under George Thomas almost completely destroy the Army of Tennessee under John Hood.
1881 - The El Habra dam in Algeria breaks, resulting in a flood that kills around 250 people.
1890 – Native American chief Sitting Bull is shot dead by Reservation police.
1891 – James Naismith introduces basketball.
1905 - The Pushkin House is founded in St. Petersburg, Russia, to preserve the cultural heritage of Alexander Pushkin.
1913 – Nicaragua becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires Convention.
1914 – A gas explosion at the Mitsubishi Hojyo coal mine, Kyushu, kills 687 people.
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Łódź ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow.
1914 - World War I: The Serbian army recaptures Belgrade from the invading Hungarian army.
1916 – World War I: France defeats Germany in the Battle of Verdun.
1917 - World War I: An armistice is reached between Russia's new Bolshevik government and the Central Powers.
1933 - The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution becomes effective, reversing the 18th Amendment, which had banned the sale, manufacture and transportation of alcohol.
1939 – Gone with the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia.
1941 – Holocaust: Nazi troops murder 15,000 Jews at Drobitsky Yar, near Kharkiv.
1943 - World War II: The Battle of Arawe begins during the New Britain campaign.
1945 – General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan.
1946 - US-backed Iranian troops evict the leadership of the breakaway Republic of Mahabad, putting an end to the Iran crisis of 1946.
1954 – The Charter for the Netherlands enters effect.
1957 - The population of Munich reaches one million.
1960 – Mahendra of Nepal imposes direct rule.
1960 - Richard Pavlik is arrested for plotting to kill US President-elect John F. Kennedy.
1961 –  An Israeli war crimes tribunal sentences Adolf Eichmann to die for his part in the Jewish Holocaust
1965 – Gemini program: Gemini 6A is launched.
1967 – The Silver Bridge over the Ohio River collapses, killing 46 people.
1970 – Soviet spacecraft Venera 7 successfully lands on Venus.
1970 – South Korean ferry Namyong Ho capsizes in Korea Strait, killing 308 people.
1973 – John Paul Getty III is found alive after being kidnapped in Naples, Italy, a few months earlier.
1973 - The American Psychiatric Association votes 13-0 to remove Homosexuality from its list of psychiatric disorders.
1976 – Samoa becomes a member of the UN.
1976 - The oil tanker MV Argo Merchant runs aground off Nantucket, Massachusetts, causing an oil spill.
1978 - US President Jimmy Carter announces that the US is to start diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China and would therefore sever relations with the Republic of China, exiled on the island of Taiwan.
1979 - The board game Trivial Pursuit is created by Canadians Chris Haney and Scott Abbott.
1993 - The Troubles: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
1994 – Netscape Navigator 1.0 is first released.
1994 – Palau becomes a member of the UN.
1995 – The European Communities Court of Justice passes the Bosman ruling
1997 – A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85.
1997 - The Treaty of Bangkok is signed, making Southeast Asia a nuclear weapon-free zone.
1999 - After weeks of heavy rain, several landslides occur in Northern Venezuela, killing hundreds of people.
2000 - The Third Reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Pant in present-day Ukraine is shut down.
2001 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa is reopened to the public almost 12 years after it was closed for restoration.
2002 – BBC 7, digital radio station, is launched in UK.
2004 – David Blunkett, Home Secretary in the British Government, resigns over a VISA scandal.
2009 – First flight of a Boeing 787
2010 – A boat carrying about 90 asylum seekers crashes on rocks off Christmas Island, killing around 30 people.
2011 – American troops withdraw from Iraq.
2013 - The funeral and burial of Nelson Mandela take place in his home village of Qunu, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
He had died on December 5 at the age of 95 - See Death and state funeral of Nelson Mandela.
2013 - Michelle Bachelet wins Chile's Presidential election.
She had previously served as President from 2006 until 2010.
2014 - 2014 Sydney hostage crisis: Iranian refugee and known criminal Man Haron Monis takes several people hostage in a café in Sydney, Australia.
The siege is ended early the next day in a gun battle in which the attacker and two hostages are killed.
2017 - Star Wars: The Last Jedi is released in theaters in the U.S.A.
37 – Nero, Roman Emperor (d. 68)
130 - Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor {d.169}
1447 – Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1508)
1567 - Christoph Demantius, German composer (d. 1643)
1588 - Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1658)
1657 - Michel Richard Delalande, French composer and organist (d. 1726)
1686 - Jean-Joseph Fiocco, Flemish composer (d. 1746)
1719 - Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1790)
1760 - David Heinrich Hoppe, German pharmacist, entomologist and physician (d. 1846)
1789 - Carlos Soublette, 11th President of Venezuela (d. 1870)
1796 - Hiram Runnels, Governor of Mississippi (d. 1857)
1810 - Peter Andreas Munch, Norwegian historian (d. 1863)
1832 – Gustave Eiffel, French architect (d. 1923)
1834 - Charles Augustus Young, American astronomer (d. 1908)
1852 – Henri Becquerel, French physicist (d. 1908)
1853 - Francisco Silvela, Spanish historian and politician (d. 1905)
1859 – L. L. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto (d. 1917)
1860 – Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish doctor, won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1904)
1861 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (d. 1944)
1861 - Charles Duryea, American engineer (d. 1938)
1875 - Emilio Jacinto, Filipino journalist and revolutionary (d. 1899)
1878 – Hans Carossa, German writer (d. 1956)
1881 – Eugen Bolz, German politician and Resistance activist (d. 1945)
1885 - Leonid Pitamic, Yugoslavian legal philosopher and diplomat (d. 1974)
1888 - Maxwell Anderson, American journalist and playwright (d. 1959)
1890 - Harry Babcock, American pole vaulter (d. 1965)
1892 – J. Paul Getty, American oil tycoon (d. 1976)
1894 - Josef Imbach, Swiss sprinter (d. 1964)
1896 – Betty Smith, American writer (d. 1972)
1899 – Harold Abrahams, British sprinter (d. 1978)
1902 - Robert F. Bradford, 57th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1983)
1903 - Tamanishiki San'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1938)
1906 - Edmond Debeaumarché, French resistance activist (d. 1959)
1907 – Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect (d. 2012)
1907 - Gordon Douglas, American film director (d. 1993)
1909 - Sattar Bahlulzade, Azerbaijani painter (d. 1974)
1910 – John H. Hammond, American musician and record producer (d. 1987)
1911 – Stan Kenton, American musician (d. 1979)
1916 – Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist (d. 2004)
1916 - Buddy Cole, American pianist (d. 1964)
1917 - Hilde Zadek, German operatic soprano (d. 2019)
1918 - Jeff Chandler, American actor, film producer and singer (d. 1961)
1919 - Max Yasgur, American farmer, owner of the site of the Woodstock festival (d. 1973)