the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
1928 - Bernard Cribbins, English actor
1931 – Prince Gu of Korea (d. 2005)
1932 - Inga Swenson, American actress
1934 – Ed Flanders, American actor (d. 1995)
1936 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore) (d. 2017)
1936 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (d. 1998)
1937 – Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, former President of the Maldives
1937 – Dieter Thomas Heck, German singer and entertainer
1937 – Barbara Steele, British actress
1938 - Michael Hill, New Zealand businessman
1938 – Jon Voight, American actor
1941 - Daphne Arden, English athlete
1941 - Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter (d. 2018)
1942 - Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor (d. 2012)
1942 – Rick Danko, Canadian musician ("The Band") (d. 1999)
1942 - Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Honduran cardinal
1943 - Atsutoshi Nishida, Japanese business executive (d. 2017)
1946 – Marianne Faithfull, British singer
1947 – Ted Danson, American actor
1947 - Cozy Powell, English musician (d. 1998)
1948 – Peter Robinson, Northern Irish politician, former First Minister of Northern Ireland
1949 - Grant McBride, Australian politician (d. 2018)
1950 - Jon Polito, American actor (d. 2016)
1951 – Mike deGruy, American documentary movie maker (d. 2012)
1951 - Yvonne Elliman, American singer, songwriter and actress
1952 – Gelsey Kirkland, American dancer
1953 - Gali Atari, Israeli singer and actress
1953 - Thomas Bach, German fencer and IOC President
1953 - Matthias Platzeck, German politician
1953 - Alan Rusbridger, British newspaper editor
1954 – Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter
1954 – Prince Takamado of Japan (d. 2002)
1954 – Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician
1956 - Fred MacAulay, Scottish comedian and radio presenter
1957 - Iain Paxton, Scottish rugby player and coach
1957 – Bruce Beutler, American Nobel Prize-winning immunologist
1957 - Oliver Hirschbiegel, German movie director
1958 - Nancy J. Currie, American colonel, engineer and astronaut
1959 – Patricia Clarkson, American actress
1959 - Keith Crossan, Irish rugby player
1959 - Paula Poundstone, American comedienne, actress and author
1960 - Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Congolese militia leader
1961 - Jim Reid, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Wynton Rufer, New Zealand footballer
1962 - Carles Puigdemont, Catalan politician
1963 - Dave McKean, English artist, graphic designer, filmmaker and musician
1965 – Dexter Holland, American singer and musician
1966 - Stefano Eranio, Italian footballer and manager
1966 - Chris Barnes, American singer
1967 - Evan Seinfeld, American actor and musician
1967 – Andy Wachowski, American director (The Matrix)
1969 - Jennifer Ehle, American actress
1969 – Allan McNish, Scottish racing driver
1970 – Aled Jones, Welsh singer
1970 – Kevin Weisman, American actor
1970 – Enrico Chiesa, Italian footballer
1971 - Dominic Dale, Welsh snooker player
1972 – Jason Kreis, American soccer player
1972 – Jude Law, British actor
1973 - Pimp C, American rapper (d. 2007)
1974 – Richie Sexson, American Major League Baseball All-Star
1974 - Mekhi Phifer, American actor and producer
1976 - Danny McBride, American actor, screenwriter and producer
1977 - Katherine Moennig, American actress
1978 – Kieron Dyer, English footballer
1978 - Danny Higginbotham, English footballer
1979 - Diego Luna, Mexican actor
1981 – Shizuka Arakawa, Japanese figure skater
1982 - Alison Brie, American actress
1983 – Dereck Chisora, British boxer
1983 - Angela Scanlon, Irish television presenter
1983 – Gonzalo Olave, Chilean actor (d. 2009)
1985 – Alexa Ray Joel, American musician
1987 - Iain De Caestecker, Scottish actor
1989 - Jane Levy, American actress
1989 - Kei Nishikori, Japanese tennis player
1990 - Allen Kim, South Korean singer, dancer and actor (U-KISS)
1994 – Princess Kako of Akishino of Japan
1995 - Rina Ikoma, Japanese singer
1995 - Ross Lynch, American actor and singer
1996 - Dylan Minnette, American actor
721 – Empress Gemmei of Japan (b. 661)
1170 – Thomas Becket, English bishop (assassinated) (b. 1118)
1565 - Queen Munjeong of Korea (b. 1501)
1605 - John Davis, English explorer (b. 1550)
1634 - John Albert Vasa, Polish cardinal (b. 1612)
1661 - Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
1689 - Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
1731 - Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1624)
1743 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter (b. 1659)
1785 – Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
1825 – Jacques-Louis David, French painter (b. 1748)
1886 - A. C. Gibbs, American politician, Governor of Oregon (b. 1825)
1891 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (b. 1823)
1894 – Christina Rossetti, English poet (b. 1830)
1897 - William James Linton, English-American painter, author and activist (b. 1812)
1910 - Reginald Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1872)
1924 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer (b. 1845)
1925 - Félix Vallotton, Swiss-French artist (b. 1865)
1926 – Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian writer (b. 1875)
1929 - Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)
1934 - Alma Tell, American actress (b. 1898)
1937 – Don Marquis, writer (b. 1878)
1941 - Tullio Levi-Civita, Italian mathematician (b. 1873)
1952 - Fletcher Henderson, American pianist, composer and bandleader (b. 1897)
1960 – Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
1967 – Paul Whiteman, American musician and conductor (b. 1890)
1972 - Joseph Cornell, American sculptor, painter and filmmaker (b. 1903)
1976 – Ivo van Damme, Belgian athlete (b. 1954)
1980 – Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
1980 – Tim Hardin, musician (b. 1941)
1986 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director (b. 1932)
1986 – Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
1995 - Lita Grey, American actress (b. 1908)
1996 - Mireille Hartuch, French singer and actress (b. 1906)
2003 – Earl Hindman, American actor (b. 1942)
2003 – Bob Monkhouse, British comedian (b. 1928)
2004 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient (b. 1912)
2004 – Liddy Holloway, New Zealand actress (b. 1945)
2005 - Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-English psychotherapist and author (b. 1922)
2007 – Phil O'Donnell, Scottish footballer (b. 1972)
2008 – Freddie Hubbard, American musician (b. 1938)
2009 – Akmal Shaikh, British citizen executed for drug trafficking in China (b. 1956)
2010 – Avi Cohen, Israeli footballer (b. 1956)
2011 – Leopold Hawelka, Austrian cafetier (b. 1911)
2012 - Paulo Rocha, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
2012 - Mike Auldridge, American singer and guitarist (b. 1938)
2012 - Tony Greig, South African-born cricketer (b. 1946)
2013 - Wojciech Kilar, Polish composer (b. 1932)
2013 - Mary Wibberley, English novelist (b. 1934)
2014 - Odd Iversen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1945)
2015 - Pavel Srnicek, Czech footballer (b. 1968)
2015 - Elzbieta Krzesinska, Polish athlete (b. 1934)
2015 - Om Prakash Malhotra, Indian politician, 25th Governor of the Punjab (b. 1922)
2015 - Frank Malzone, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2015 - Kim Yang-gon, North Korean politician (b. 1942)
2016 - Ferdinand Kübler, Swiss cyclist (b. 1919)
2016 - Néstor Gonçalves, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1936)
2017 - Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco, Spanish noble (b. 1926)
2017 - John C. Portman Jr., American architect (b. 1924)
Constitution Day (Republic of Ireland)
Start of the Four Hills Ski jumping tournament (Germany and Austria)
69 – Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors.
640 - Muslim Arabs capture the Babylonian fortress in the Nile Delta after a seven-month siege.
1124 - Pope Honorius II is elected.
1361 - The Battle of Linuesa is fought during the Spanish Reconquista between forces of the Emirate of Granada and the combined army of the Kingdoms of Castile and Jaen, resulting in a Castilian victory.
1471 – The first European reaches the island of Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea.
1598 - Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by Cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on the Spanish troops in Southern Chile.
1620 – The Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock
1780 – Great Britain declares war on The Netherlands in response to the Dutch joining the League of Armed Neutrality and for assisting French and American forces during the American Revolution.
1832 - Egyptian-Ottoman War: Egyptian forces  decisively defeat Ottoman Empire troops in the Battle of Konya in present-day Turkey.
1859 – Sam Houston becomes Governor of Texas.
1861 – The Medal of Honor is first authorized.
1861 – Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys  arrested by the United States Navy in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
1872 – HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography.
1879 - The first performance of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House takes place in Copenhagen.
1880 – Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote
1891 – The first basketball game is played.
1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium.
1907 - The Chilean army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 workers striking saltpeter miners in Iquique.
1910 - An underground explosion at Hulton Bank Colliery in Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.
1913 – First crossword puzzle is published in the New York World paper, created by Arthur Wynne.
1914 – First feature-length silent movie comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, is released
1919 – Municipal elections held in Senegal (First round, second round is held December 28).
The multiracial lists of the Independent Socialist Republican Party (PRSI) wins in all four municipalities.
1923 – Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state.
1933 – Newfoundland becomes a crown colony.
1934 - President of Bolivia Daniel Salamanca is overthrown in a military coup.
1937 – First screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated movie.
1941 - A treaty of alliance is signed by Japan and Thailand.
1942 - Hundreds of workers striking for better pay and conditions at a tin mine in Bolivia are massacred.
1946 - The Nankaido earthquake in Japan kills over 1,300 people.
1958 – Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President and establishes the Fifth Republic.
1962 – Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, is established.
1965 - The UN adopts the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
1967 - Louis Washkansky, who received the first successful heart transplant in Cape Town on December 3, dies 18 days after the operation.
1968 – Apollo 8 is launched.
1969 - The UN adopts the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
1978 - John Wayne Gacy is arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men.
1979 – The United States government bails out the Chrysler Corporation
1979 – The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith.
1984 - The Soviet Vega 2 probe is launched to the planet Venus.
1987 – The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Philippines.
1988 – A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground.
1991 - The former Soviet Union countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan join the Commonwealth of Independent States.
1994 – The Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico erupts.
1995 – Bethlehem goes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
1999 – Chadrika Kumaratunga is confirmed as Sri Lanka's Head of State.
1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives intended by ETA to blow down Torre Picasso.
2001 – Japanese television performer Masashi Tashiro got No.
1 temporarily in the Internet vote of Time's Person of the Year.
2002 – Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments.
2005 - The United Kingdom introduces Civil Partnership for same-sex couples.
Elton John and his partner David Furnish are among those who make use of this law on its first day.
2006 – Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov dies.
2007 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary implement the Schengen Agreement.
2010 – A partial lunar eclipse occurs on the day of the December solstice.
2012 – The Long Count of the Maya calendar resets itself according to the most popular correlation.
A minority argues that it does so on December 23, 2012.
This has been central to various predictions about December 21, 2012, ranging from spiritual and transformative to apocalyptic.
2012 - Having been posted on YouTube in July, and becoming a worldwide hit, the video of PSY's Gangnam Style reaches the milestone of a billion views on the video-sharing website.
2014 - Klaus Iohannis becomes President of Romania.
2014 - Beji Caid Essebsi is elected President of Tunisia.
2015 - Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini are banned from football for 8 years over corruption at FIFA.
2017 - Catalonia holds regional elections, with the coalition of parties supporting Catalan independence keeping its majority.
2017 - Birmingham, England, is given the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
1118 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
1401 - Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
1596 - Peter Mogila, Moldovan religious figure (d. 1646)
1603 - Roger Williams, English theologian (d. 1684)
1639 - Jean Racine, French writer (d. 1699)
1728 - Hermann Raupach, German composer (d. 1778)
1773 - Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (d. 1858)
1778 - Anders Sandoe Orsted, 3rd Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1860)
1795 - Jack Russell, English dog breeder (d. 1883)
1795 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (d. 1886)
1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
1805 – Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist (d. 1869)
1811 – Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882)
1815 - Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (d. 1879)
1818 – Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece (d. 1875)
1823 - Jean-Henri Fabre, French entomologist, writer and poet (d. 1915)
1832 - John H. Ketcham, American general and politician (d. 1906)
1840 – Namik Kemal, Turkish nationalist poet (d. 1888)
1843 - Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealand poet (d. 1898)
1847 - John Chard, British military officer (d. 1897)
1850 – Zdenek Fibich, Bohemian composer (d. 1900)
1851 - Thomas Chipman McRae, 26th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1929)
1857 - Joseph Carruthers, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1932)
1859 - Gustave Kahn, French poet (d. 1936)
1872 – Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
1872 - Sidney Ainsworth, British actor (d. 1922)
1874 - Juan Bautista Sacasa, President of Nicaragua (d. 1946)
1874 - Josep Maria Sert, Catalan painter (d. 1945)
1876 - Jack Lang, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1975)
1877 - Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (d. 1954)
1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956)
1879 – Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d. 1953)
1885 - Frank Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1960)
1888 - Jean Boulin, French long-distance runner (d. 1914)
1890 – H. J. Muller, American geneticist (d. 1967)
1891 - John William McCormack, American politician (d. 1980)
1892 – Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
1892 – Rebecca West, British writer (d. 1983)
1896 – Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)
1902 – Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, German Resistance activist (d. 1944)
1905 – Anthony Powell, British writer (d. 2000)
1909 – Seicho Matsumoto, Japanese writer and journalist (d. 1992)
1913 – Arnold Friberg, American illustrator and painter (d. 2010)
1914 – Frank Fenner, Australian scientist (d. 2010)
1915 – Werner von Trapp, Austrian singer (d. 2007)
1917 – Heinrich Böll, German writer (d. 1982)
1918 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician (d. 2007)
1918 – Donald Regan, American politician (d. 2003)
1920 – Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina; d. Twenty-nineteen
1924 – Rita Reys, Dutch jazz singer (d. 2013)
1925 – Olga Aroseva, Russian actress (d. 2013)
1926 – Arnost Lustig, Czech writer (d. 2011)
1926 – Joe Paterno, American football coach (d. 2012)
1927 – Takashi Hiraoka, Japanese mayor and journalist
1928 – Ed Nelson, American actor (d. 2014)
1930 – Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 2004)
1931 – Moira Orfei, Italian actress (d. 2015)
1932 – U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian writer (d. 2014)
1933 – Robert Worcester, American businessman
1934 – Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
1934 – Giuseppina Leone, Italian sprinter
1935 – John G. Avildsen, American movie director and producer (d. 2017)
1935 – Yusuf Bey, American activist (d. 2003)
1935 – Edward Schreyer, Canadian politician
1935 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver (d. 1967)
1936 – Hershel W. Gober, American politician
1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress
1938 – Frank Moorhouse, Australian author
1939 – Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian politician
1940 – Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)
1942 – Hu Jintao, Chinese politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
1942 – Reinhard Mey, German singer-songwriter
1942 – Crispin Wright, British philosopher
1942 – Carla Thomas, American singer
1943 – Masafumi Hara, Japanese footballer
1943 – Albert Lee, English guitarist
1943 – Jack Nance, American actor (d. 1996)
1943 – Walter Spanghero, French rugby player
1944 – Bill Atkinson, English footballer
1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor, pianist and composer
1945 – Doug Walters, English cricketer
1946 – Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (d. 1998)
1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish flamenco guitarist, songwriter and producer (d. 2014)
1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
1949 – Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso (d. 1987)
1950 – Jeffrey Katzenberg, American movie producer
1953 - Betty Wright, American soul singer
1953 - András Schiff, Hungarian-British pianist and conductor
1954 – Chris Evert, American tennis player
1955 - Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
1955 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
1957 – Ray Romano, Italian-American comedian
1958 - Tamara Bykova, Russian athlete
1959 – Florence Griffith-Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
1959 - Michael Spindelegger, Austrian politician
1960 - Sherry Rehman, Pakistani journalist, politician and diplomat
1961 – Ryuji Sasai, Japanese video game designer
'62 - Steven Mnuchin, 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury
1963 - Govinda, Indian actor and politician
1965 – Cem Oezdemir, German politician
1965 – Anke Engelke, German comedienne
1965 - Andy Dick, American comedian, actor, musician and television producer
1966 – Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor
1966 - Karri Turner, American actress
1966 - William Ruto, Kenyan politician
1967 – Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia
1969 - Julie Delpy, French-American model, actress, director and screenwriter
1969 - Jack Noseworthy, American actor
1969 - Mihails Zemlinskis, Latvian footballer
1970 - Jamie Theakston, English television presenter
1970 - Stefan Lövgren, Swedish handball player
1972 - Claudia Poll, Costa Rican swimmer
1972 - Gloria De Piero, English politician
1972 - Kirsten Oswald, Scottish politician
1972 - Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Indian politician
1973 - Irakli Alasania, Georgian colonel and politician
1974 - Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
1975 - Charles Michel, President of the European Council and former Prime Minister of Belgium
1976 – Lukas Rossi, Canadian rock singer
1977 - Emmanuel Macron, President of France
1978 - Alexander Wolf, German biathlete
1979 - Tuva Novotny, Swedish actress, singer and director
1979 - Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1980 – Stefan Liv, Polish-born Swedish ice hockey player (d. 2011)
1981 – Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
1982 – Mike Gansey, American basketball player
1982 – Iljo Keisse, Belgian cyclist
1983 - Steven Yeun, Korean-American actor
1984 – Darren Potter, Irish footballer
1985 – Tom Sturridge, British actor
1985 - Andrea Jeremiah, Indian actress and singer
1987 – Brad Howard, Australian footballer
1988 - Perri Shakes-Drayton, British athlete
1988 - Yasmin, British singer
1989 - Tamannaah, Indian actress
1990 - Alexa Goddard, British singer
1991 - Riccardo Saponara, Italian footballer
1995 - Bobby, South Korean rapper and composer
1996 - Kaitlyn Dever, American actress
72 – Thomas the Apostle
882 - Hincmar, French archbishop (b. 806)
1295 – Marguerite Berenger of Provence, queen of Louis IX of France (b. 1221)
1308 – Henry I of Hesse (born 1244)
1375 – Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (born 1313)
1504 – Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild, German archbishop and elector (born 1442)
1549 – Marguerite of Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (born 1492)
1579 – Vicente Masip, Spanish painter (b. 1500)
1597 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (born 1521)
1737 - Alessandro Galilei, Italian architect (born 1691)
1807 – John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (born 1725)
1839 - Andrew Dung-Lac, Vietnamese martyr (born 1795)
1873 – Francis Garnier, French explorer (born 1839)
1882 - Francesco Hayez, Italian painter (born 1791)
1900 - Roger Wolcott, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1847)
1907 - Klara Hitler, mother of Adolf Hitler (b. 1860)
1920 – Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Somali nationalist leader (b. 1856)
1933 – Knud Rasmussen, Greenlandic explorer and anthropologist (b. 1879)
1935 – Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (born 1890)
1937 – Frank B. Kellogg, 45th United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1856)
1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (born 1896)
1945 – George S. Patton, American general (born 1885)
1951  2015
1955 - Garegin Njdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
1957 – Eric Coates, English composer (born 1886)
1958 – Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (born 1884)
1964 – Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (b. 1880)
1967 - Louis Washkansky, heart transplant patient (b. 1913)
1968 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian FIFA World Cup-winning football manager (b. 1886)
1982 - Hafeez Jullundhri, Pakistani writer, poet and composer (b. 1900)
1983 - Paul de Man, Belgian critic (b. 1919)
1987 - John Spence, American musician (b. 1969)
1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1907)
1989 - Rotimi Fani-Koyode, Nigerian-English photographer (b. 1955)
1990 - Clarence Johnson, American engineer (b. 1910)
1992 – Albert King, American musician (born 1924)
1992 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (born 1903)
2001 – Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (born 1931)
2004 – Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (born 1925)
2006 – Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940)
2008 - Dale Wasserman, American writer (b. 1914)
2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist (b. 1918)
2010 – Enzo Bearzot, Italian footballer and FIFA World Cup-winning manager (b. 1927)
2012 - Lee Dorman, American musician (b. 1942)
2013 - David Coleman, British broadcaster (b. 1926)
2013 - Edgar Bronfman, Sr.,
Canadian-American businessman (b. 1929)
2013 - John Eisenhower, American general, historian and diplomat (b. 1922)
2014 - Horacio Ferrer, Uruguayan writer and poet (b. 1933)
2014 - Udo Jürgens, Austrian singer (b. 1934)
2014 - Sitor Situmorang, Indonesian poet and writer (b. 1923)
2014 - Billie Whitelaw, English actress (b. 1932)
2014 - Alan Williams, Welsh politician (b. 1930)
2014 - Morteza Ahmadi, Iranian actor (b. 1924)
2014 - Jane Bown, British photographer (b. 1925)
2014 - Frank Truitt, American basketball coach (b. 1925)
2015 - Carol Burns, Australian actress (b. 1947)
2017 - Manouchehr Boroumand, Iranian weightlifter (b. 1934)
2017 - Ken Catchpole, Australian rugby player (b. 1939)
2017 - Dick Enberg, American sports broadcaster (b. 1935)
2017 - March Fong Eu, American politician; b. '22
2017 - Halvard Kausland, Norwegian jazz guitarist (b. 1945)
2017 - Jean-Pierre Lehmann, American-born Swiss economist; b. '45
2017 - Bruce McCandless II, American astronaut (b. 1937)
2017 - Francelino Pereira, Brazilian politician (b. 1921)
2017 - June Rowlands, Canadian politician, 60th Mayor of Toronto (b. 1924)
2017 - Roswell Rudd, American jazz trombonist (b. 1935)
2017 - Jerry Yellin, American World War II fighter pilot (b. 1924)
2018 - Gerard Bernacki, Polish priest; b. '42
2018 - Lars Hindmar, Swedish racewalker; b. '21
Twenty-nineteen
Ramachandra Babu, Indian cinematographer; b. '47
Martin Peters, English footballer; b. '43
Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer; b. '33
Krisztián Zahorecz, Hungarian footballer; b. '75
Winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), can also occur on December 22
Summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere), can also occur on December 22
Christian feast day of Saint Thomas the Apostle
537 – The Hagia Sophia is consecrated as a church in Byzantium.
1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
1814 - War of 1812: American schooner (a type of sailing boat) USS Carolina is destroyed.
1831 – Charles Darwin begins his trip on the boat the HMS Beagle, where he will think of the theory of evolution.
1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England happens at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people.
1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time (Dr. Crawford Williamson Long in Jefferson, Georgia).
1904 – James Barrie's play Peter Pan begins to be shown in London.
1904 – The Abbey Theatre opens.
1911 - Jana Gana Mana, the national anthem of India, is first sung at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.
1918 – Beginning of Great Poland Uprising.
The Poles in Poland beign to fight against the Germans so that they can become free.
1922 - Japanese aircraft carrier Hosho becomes the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
1923 - Daisuke Namba, Japanese student, tries to assassinate Japan's then-Prince-Regent Hirohito.
1932 – Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City.
1936 - Spanish Civil War: Francisco Franco's forces bomb Santander.
1939 - Erzincan, Turkey, is struck by a major earthquake, killing 30,000 people.
1939 - Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet Union attack in the Battle of Kelja.
1945 – The World Bank is created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations.
1945 – Korea is divided (put into two pieces).
1947 – Howdy Doody, a children's television program, makes its debut (NBC).
1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands recognises Indonesia as an independent country.
1959 – In a referendum, voters in the Pacific islands of Wallis and Futuna decide that their islands should have the status of a French overseas territory.
1960 - The Beatles play their first performance in Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool.
1966 - The Cave of Swallows, the largest-known cave shaft, is discovered near San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
1968 – Long-time radio show The Breakfast Club ends on ABC radio.
1975 – A mining explosion in Jharkhand, India, causes a flood, in which 372 miners drown.
1978 – Spain becomes a democracy (a place where people vote) after 40 years of dictatorship.
1979 – The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and Babrak Karmal becomes the new President.
The old one, Hafizullah Amin, was killed.
1985 – Palestinian fighters kill twenty people in the Rome and Vienna airports (places where airplanes take off and land).
1985 – American naturalist Dian Fossey is found murdered in Rwanda.
1996 – Taliban fighters take over the Bagram air base.
They became safer and stronger in Kabul after they did that.
1997 – Protestant paramilitary (paramilitary is what you call an army that is not legal and part of the government) leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland.
2001 – The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.
2002 – Two truck bombs in Grozny kill 72 and hurt 200 at the building where the government of Chechnya works.
2004 - Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar "SGR 1806-20" reaches Earth.
It is the brightest extrasolar (outside the Solar System) event known to have been witnessed on the planet.
2006 - Space telescope COROT is launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
2007 – Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan, is killed in a terrorist attack in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
2007 - Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of a disputed Presidential election in Kenya.
Riots start, which ultimately lead to a political, economic and humanitarian crisis.
2008 – A three-week war begins in the Gaza Strip, as Israel launches Operation Cast Lead on suspected Hamas militants in Gaza, lasting three weeks.
1350 – John I of Aragon (d. 1396)
1390 - Anne de Mortimer, claimant to the English throne (d. 1411)
1459 – John I Albert, King of Poland (d. 1501)
1555 - Johann Arndt, German theologian (d. 1621)
1566 - Jan Jesenius, Slovakian physician, politician and philosopher (d. 1621)
1571 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer (d. 1630)
1572 - Johannes Vodnianus Campanus, Czech humanist (d. 1622)
1654 – Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (d. 1705)
1717 – Pope Pius VI (d. 1799)
1755 - Anthony of Saxony (d. 1836)
1761 - Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal (d. 1818)
1773 – George Cayley, English naturalist, physical scientist, engineer, politician (d. 1857)
1776 - Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1811)
1793 - Alexander Gordon Laing, Scottish explorer (d. 1826)
1796 – Mirza Ghalib, poet of Urdu (d. 1869)
1797 - Manuela Saenz, South American independence activist (d. 1856)
1802 - Gerardus Johannes Mulder, Dutch physician and chemist (d. 1880)
1803 - François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier, Canadian activist (d. 1839)
1822 – Louis Pasteur, French scientist (d. 1895)
1823 – Sir Mackenzie Bowell, fifth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1896)
1832 - Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and patron of art (d. 1897)
1851 – Percy Gilchrist, metallurgist (d. 1935)
1858 – Juan Luis Sanfuentes, President of Chile (d. 1930)
1860 – David Hendricks Bergey, bacteriologist (d. 1937)
1863 - Louis Lincoln Emmerson, 27th Governor of Illinois (d. 1941)
1867 - Léon Delacroix, Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1929)
1879 – Sydney Greenstreet, British actor (d. 1954)
1881 – Antonio Granjo, Portuguese politician (d. 1921)
1883 - Cyrus S. Eaton, Canadian-American financier, businessman and philanthropist (d. 1979)
1888 – Thea von Harbou, German writer and actress (d. 1954)
1892 - Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian pilot (d. 1917)
1896 – Carl Zuckmayer, German writer (d. 1977)
1896 – Louis Bromfield, writer (d. 1956)
1900 – Hans Stuck, German automobile racer (d. 1978)
1901 – Marlene Dietrich, German actress and singer (d. 1992)
1903 - Hermann Volk, German cardinal (d. 1988)
1906 – Oscar Levant, composer and actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Sebastian Haffner, German publicist (someone who tells people about things) (d. 1999)
1907 - Willem van Otterloo, Dutch conductor and composer (d. 1978)
1909 – Henryk Jablonski, Polish politician (d. 2003)
1914 - Doris Bowdon, American actress (d. 2005)
1915 – William Masters, American sexologist (d. 2001)
1917 - Buddy Boudreaux, American jazz musician (d. 2015)
1923 - Lucas Mangope, South African politician (d. 2018)
1925 – Michel Piccoli, French actor
1926 - Jerome Courtland, American actor, director and producer
1926 - Rodrigo Carazo Odio, President of Costa Rica (d. 2009)
1927 - Nityanand Swami, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (d. 2012)
1928 - Walter Romberg, German politician (d. 2014)
1930 - Marshall Sahlins, American anthropologist
1931 - John Charles, Welsh footballer (d. 2004)
1931 – Tommy Lapid, Israeli politician (d. 2008)
1931 - Scotty Moore, American rock musician (d. 2016)
1934 - Larisa Latynina, Russian gymnast
1935 - Michael Turnbull, English bishop
1938 - Stanislav Stanojevic, Serbian-born French movie director and actor
1938 - Rolf Wolfsohl, German cyclist
1939 – John Amos, American actor
1941 - Miles Aiken, American basketball player and coach
1941 - Mike Pinder, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist
1941 - Nolan Richardson, American basketball player and coach
1942 - Charmian Carr, American actress (d. 2016)
1942 - Thomas Menino, 53rd Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2014)
1942 - Ron Jacobs, American basketball coach (d. 2015)
1943 - Joan Manuel Serrat, Catalan singer-songwriter
1943 – Cokie Roberts, American journalist (d. 2019)
1944 - Markus Werner, Swiss writer (d. 2016)
1946 – Janet Street-Porter, English journalist and television presenter
1946 - Polly Toynbee, English journalist
1948 – Gérard Depardieu, French actor
1949 – Klaus Fischer, German footballer
1950 – Roberto Bettega, Italian footballer
1951 – Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico
1952 – David Knopfler, British musician (Dire Straits)
1952 - Tovah Feldshuh, American actress
1954 - Kent Benson, American basketball player
1956 - Doina Melinte, Romanian athlete
1957 - Dane Witherspoon, American actor (d. 2014)
1958 - Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Prime Minister of Pakistan
1959 – Gerina Dunwich, occult writer
1960 – Maryam d'Abo, British actress
1961 – Guido Westerwelle, German politician (d. 2016)
1963 - Claus Meyer, Danish chef, television host and restaurateur
1963 – Gaspar Noé, Argentine-born director
1964 - Theresa Randle, American actress
1965 – Salman Khan, Indian actor
1966 - Masahiro Fukuda, Japanese footballer
1966 – Bill Goldberg, American professional wrestler, American football player
1966 - Eva LaRue, American actress
1969 – Sarah Vowell, American writer and journalist
1970 - Chyna, American professional wrestler and pornographic actress (d. 2016)
1971 – Duncan Ferguson, Scottish footballer
1971 - Sergei Bodrov, Jr., Russian movie actor and director (d. 2002)
1971 - Sabine Spitz, German cyclist
1973 – Wilson Cruz, actor
1974 – Masi Oka, Japanese-American actor
1975 – Heather O'Rourke, American child actress (Poltergeist) (d. 1988)
1976 - Curro Torres, Spanish footballer
1976 - Aaron Stanford, American actor and producer
1976 - Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (d. 2009)
1976 - Tim Roberts, American professional wrestler (d. 2015)
1979 – David Dunn, English footballer
1979 – Carson Palmer, American football quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner
1981 – Emilie de Ravin, Australian actress
1981 – Javine, British singer
1981 - Lise Darly, French singer
1981 - Patrick Sharp, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 - Anthony Boric, New Zealand rugby player
1983 - Cole Hamels, American baseball player
1984 - Black M, French rapper and singer-songwriter
1984 – Gilles Simon, French tennis player
1985 - Adil Rami, French footballer
1985 - Cristian Villagra, Argentine footballer
1986 - Torah Bright, Australian snowboarder
1986 - Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaican athlete
1987 - Logan Bailly, Belgian footballer
1988 - Hiroki Yamada, Japanese footballer
1988 – Hayley Williams, American singer (Paramore)
1988 - Zavon Hines, Jamaican-English footballer
1990 - Milos Raonic, Canadian tennis player
1991 - Chloe Bridges, American actress
1991 - Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht, German actor and rapper
1991 - Danny Wilson, Scottish footballer
1995 - Mark Lapidus, Estonian chess player
1997 - Ana Konjuh, Croatian tennis player
1065 - King Ferdinand I of Leon and Castile (b. 1018)
1076 - Prince Sviatoslav of Kiev (b. 1027)
1087 - Bertha of Savoy, German queen and Holy Roman Empress (b. 1051)
1381 - Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March, English politician
1543 - George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1484)
1743 - Hyacinthe Rigaud, French sculptor (b. 1659)
1771 - Henri Pitot, French inventor (b. 1695)
1782 – Henry Home, Lord Kames, Scottish lawyer and philosopher (b. 1697)
1800 - Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (b. 1718)
1812 – Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad Hasidic movement (b. 1745)
1836 – Stephen F. Austin, American pioneer (someone who goes to new places) (b. 1793)
1873 - Edward Blyth, English zoologist and ornithologist (b. 1810)
1881 - John J. Bagley, American politician, 16th Governor of Michigan (b. 1832)
1891 - Antonio Arenas, President of Peru (b. 1808)
1896 – John Brown, manufacturer (b. 1861)
1900 – William George Armstrong, inventor, industrialist and engineer (b. 1810)
1914 – Charles Martin Hall, chemist, inventor (b. 1863)
1923 - Gustave Eiffel, French engineer and architect (b. 1832)
1925 – Sergei Yesenin, Russian poet (b. 1895)
1936 - Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, writer and academic (b. 1873)
1937 - William Noble Andrews, American politician (b. 1876)
1938 – Calvin Bridges, geneticist (b. 1889)
1942 - William G. Morgan, American inventor of volleyball (b. 1870)
1950 – Max Beckmann, German painter (b. 1884)
1953 – Julian Tuwim, Polish poet (b. 1894)
1957 - Otto Nuschke, German politician (b. 1883)
1958 - Harry Warner, American studio executive (b. 1881)
1966 – Guillermo Stabile, Argentine footballer (b. 1905)
1968 – Victor Ernest Shelford, zoologist (b. 1877)
1972 – Lester Pearson, fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1897)
1974 - Vladimir Fock, Russian physicist and mathematician (b. 1898)
1974 - Amy Vanderbilt, American author (b. 1908)
1978 – Houari Boumedienne, President of Algeria (b. 1932)
1979 – Hafizullah Amin, President of Afghanistan (b. 1929)
1981 – Hoagy Carmichael, American composer, singer (b. 1899)
1982 - Jack Swigert, American astronaut (b. 1931)
1985 – Dian Fossey, American biologist (b. 1932)
1988 – Hal Ashby, movie director (b. 1929)
1994 – Fanny Cradock, British chef and cookery writer (b. 1909)
1997 – Billy Wright, Irish Protestant paramilitary leader (b. 1960)
1997 – Brendan Gill, columnist, humorist (someone who makes people laugh) (b. 1953)
2002 – George Roy Hill, movie director (b. 1922)
2003 – Alan Bates, British actor (b. 1934)
2003 – Ivan Calderon, baseball player (b. 1962) (murdered)
2007 – Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1953)
2007 – Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Polish movie director (b. 1922)
2007 – Jaan Kross, Estonian writer (b. 1920)
2008 – Alfred Pfaff, German footballer (b. 1926)
2009 - Takashi Takabayashi, Japanese footballer (b. 1931)
2010 – Ronald Lee Herrick, organ donor (b. 1931)
2011 – Helen Frankenthaler, American painter (b. 1928)
2011 - Michael Dummett, British philosopher (b. 1925)
2012 - Harry Carey, Jr., American actor (b. 1921)
2012 - Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., American general (b. 1934)
2012 - Jesco von Puttkamer, German-American engineer (b. 1933)
2013 - Mohamad Chatah, Lebanese economist and diplomat (b. 1951) (car bombing)
2013 - Elvira Quintilla, Spanish actress (b. 1928)
2014 - Tomaz Salamun, Slovenian poet (b. 1941)
2014 - Karel Poma, Belgian politician (b. 1920)
2015 - Alfredo Pacheco, El Salvadorean footballer (b. 1982)
2015 - Haskell Wexler, American cinematographer, movie producer and director (b. 1922)
2015 - Dave Henderson, American baseball player (b. 1958)
2015 - Ellsworth Kelly, American painter, sculptor and printmaker (b. 1923)
2015 - Meadowlark Lemon, American basketball player (b. 1932)
2015 - Stein Eriksen, Norwegian skier (b. 1927)
2015 - Gabriel Tambon, French politician (b. 1930)
2016 - Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (b. 1951)
2016 - Claude Gensac, French actress (b. 1927)
2016 - Carrie Fisher, American actress and writer (b. 1956)
2016 - Hans Tietmeyer, German economist (b. 1931)
2017 - Ben Barres, American neurobiologist (b. 1954)
2017 - Osvaldo Fattori, Italian footballer (b. 1922)
2017 - Thomas Hunter, American actor (b. 1932)
Constitution Day (North Korea)
Saint Stephen's Day (Eastern Orthodox Church), public holiday in Romania.
324 – Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.
1154 - Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
1187 – Pope Clement III is elected.
1490 - Anne, Duchess of Brittany marries Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.
1666 - Lund University in southern Sweden is founded.
1732 – Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanack
1777 – George Washington's army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
1783 - At age 24, William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest-ever Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1828 – John C. Calhoun pens South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.
1835 – The Toledo Blade newspaper begins publishing.
1842 – The United States recognizes the independence of Hawaii.
1907 - 239 coal miners die in a mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
1909 - The German football club Borussia Dortmund is founded.
1912 – William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which killed over 1,000 people was pardoned by President Taft after 3 1/2 years in Sing Sing prison .
1916 – The Battle of Verdun ended during World War I.
1920 - King Constantine I of Greece is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son, Alexander of Greece, and a vote.
1927 - Indian activists Ashfaqulla Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil and Roshan Singh are executed by British colonial authorities.
1928 – First autogiro flight in the United States.
1932 - The BBC World Service begins broadcasting, as the BBC Empire Service.
1941 - World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers sink the HMS Valiant and HMS Elizabeth in Alexandria harbor.
1944 – The Soviet Union completely occupies Estonia (Ruhnu island).
1944 - French newspaper Le Monde is founded.
1945 – Austria becomes a republic for the second time, the first having been founded in 1918 and interrupted by the Austro-fascist dictatorship from 1934 onwards and the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938.
1946 – Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi.
1956 - Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of over 160 patients.
Eventually, he is only convicted of minor charges.
1961 – The Indian Army invades the Portuguese province of Estado da India Portuguesa (Portuguese State of India) which will become part of India.
1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
1963 – Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom to become a constitutional monarchy under the sultan.
1964 - The South Vietnamese military junta of Nguyen Khanh dissolves the High National Council and arrest some of the members.
1965 – Prisoners Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker escape from HM Prison Pentridge, Melbourne.
During the escape a guard is killed.
Ryan would hang for his death, in 1967.
1967 – Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is declared dead, two days after going missing.
1972 – Apollo 17, the last manned lunar flight, returns to Earth.
1974 – The Altair 8800, the first personal computer, goes on sale.
1975 - John Paul Stevens is appointed as a justice of the United States Supreme Court.
1980 – Anguilla is made a dependency of the United Kingdom separate from Saint Kitts and Nevis.
1982 - A tanker fire in Tacoa, Venezuela, kills 150 people.
1983 - The Jules Rimet FIFA World Cup trophy is stolen from the Headquarters of the Brazilian Football Federation in Rio de Janeiro and is never seen again.
1984 – The United Kingdom and People's Republic of China sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which handed Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
1984 - Ted Hughes becomes Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom.
1986 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, from exile in Gorky.
1997 – A Silkair Boeing 737-300 crashes into the Musi River, in Sumatra, Indonesia killing 104
1997 – Titanic (the highest-grossing movie ever as of 2005) opens in U.S. theaters.
1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives passes articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal.
2000 – The Leninist Guerrilla Units attack a party office of the far-right MHP in Istanbul, Turkey.
One MHP member is killed and several wounded.
2001 – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first movie in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, opens in theaters.
2001 – A new world-record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa (32.06 inHg) is set at Tosontsengel, Hövsgöl Aymag, Mongolia.
2001 – The Argentine economic crisis bursts into street riots after the announcement by the economy minister of the measures of holding back the bank deposits.
2005 – Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon suffers a minor stroke.
2007 – Marcus Stephen becomes President of Nauru.
2007 - Lee Myung-bak is elected President of South Korea.
2011 – North Korean state television announces that Kim Jong-il died two days earlier.
His son Kim Jong-un has been named as his successor, as North Korea's leader.
2012 - Park Geunhye is elected President of South Korea, as the first woman elected to lead South Korea.
2016 - Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated at an art gallery in Ankara by an off-duty police officer.
2016 - A lorry is driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing at least 12 people.
1343 - William I, Margrave of Meissen (d. 1407)
1498 - Andreas Osiander, German theologian (d. 1552)
1554 - Philip William, Prince of Orange (d. 1618)
1587 - Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1645)
1594 - Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632)
1683 – King Philip V of Spain (d. 1746)
1699 – William Bowyer, printer (d. 1777)
1714 - John Winthrop, American astronomer (d. 1779)
1753 - John Taylor Gilman, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1828)
1778 - Marie Thérèse of France (d. 1851)
1784 - Marcus Morton, 16th and 18th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1864)
1790 - William Parry, English admiral and polar explorer (d. 1855)
1796 - Manuel Breton de los Herreros, Spanish playwright (d. 1873)
1813 – Thomas Andrews, chemist (d. 1885)
1815 - Edwin M. Stanton, American politician (d. 1869)
1816 - Franz Sacher, Austrian confectioner (d. 1907)
1817 - James J. Archer, American lawyer and general (d. 1864)
1819 – James Spriggs Payne, 4th and 8th President of Liberia (d. 1882)
1820 – Mary Ashton Livermore, women's rights activist (d. 1905)
1838 - Ghedrub Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama (d. 1856)
1845 - Henri Joseph Perrotin, French astronomer (d. 1904)
1852 – Albert Abraham Michelson, Prussian-born physicist (d. 1931)
1854 - Marcel Brillouin, French physicist (d. 1948)
1861 – Italo Svevo, Italian writer (d. 1928)
1865 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, stage actress (d. 1932)
1875 – Mileva Maric, Serbian-Swiss scientist, was married to Albert Einstein (d. 1948)
1875 - Carter G. Woodson, American historian, author and journalist (d. 1950)
1876 - Enrique Pla y Deniel, Archbishop of Toledo, Spain (d. 1968)
1879 - Beals Wright, American tennis player (d. 1961)
1882 - Walter Braunfels, German composer (d. 1954)
1884 - Antonin Zapotocky, Czech politician (d. 1957)
1885 – Joe "King" Oliver, jazz musician (d. 1938)
1888 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (d. 1963)
1891 – Edward Raczynski, Polish diplomat and politician (d. 1993)
1894 – Ford Frick, American commissioner of baseball (d. 1978)
1899 - Martin Luther King, Sr.,
father of Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 1984)
1900 – Géza von Cziffra, movie director (d. 1989)
1901 – Rudolf Hell, German inventor (d. 2002)
1902 - Ralph Richardson, English actor (d. 1983)
1903 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist (d. 1996)
1905 - Irving Kahn, American businessman (d. 2015)
1906 – Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet politician (d. 1982)
1913 - Juan Landazuri Ricketts, Archbishop of Lima (d. 1997)
1915 - Claudia Testoni, Italian athlete (d. 1998)
1915 – Édith Piaf, French singer and actress (d. 1963)
1916 - Manoel de Barros, Brazilian poet (d. 2014)
1916 – Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, German publicist (d. 2010)
1918 – Professor Longhair, American musician (d. 1980)
1920 - Little Jimmy Dickens, American country music singer (d. 2015)
1920 - Alexander McAllister, Scottish cricketer
1920 – David Susskind, movie, stage, and television producer (d. 1987)
1922 - Eamonn Andrews, Irish radio and television host (d. 1987)
1923 – Gordon Jackson, Scottish movie, stage and television actor (d. 1990)
1924 - Michel Tournier, French writer (d. 2016)
1925 – Tankred Dorst, German dramatist (d. 2017)
1925 - Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter (d. 2012)
1925 - Rabah Bitat, President of Algeria (d. 2000)
1926 - Fikret Otyam, Turkish painter and journalist (d. 2015)
1927 - Remo Capitani, Italian actor (d. 2014)
1929 - Lorenzo Buffon, Italian footballer
1929 – Bob Brookmeyer, American musician (d. 2011)
1930 - Georg Stollenwerk, German footballer (d. 2014)
1932 - Thomas Hunter, American actor (d. 2017)
1932 - Bernhard Vogel, German politician
1933 – Cicely Tyson, American actress
1934 – Rudi Carrell, Dutch entertainer (d. 2006)
1934 – Al Kaline, American Baseball Hall of Famer