21st
December, on this day
1124 Pope
Honorius II begins papacy
1163 Hurricane hits villages in Holland/Friesland, causing floods
1421 Battle
of Kutná Hora
1620 The Pilgrim
Fathers arrive at Plymouth Rock , Massachusetts aboard The Mayflower.
Passengers and crew have increased to 103 after two births on the
voyage from Plymouth, England
1688 Pro-James II-earl of Devonshire occupies Nottingham
1762 James
Cook marries Elizabeth Batts
1788 Hue Tay Son becomes emperor
Quang Trung of Vietnam
1829 1st stone arch railroad bridge in US dedicated, Baltimore
1835 HMS Beagle sails into Bay
of Islands (New Zealand)
1846 Robert Lister uses an anaesthetic (ether) for the first time
in Britain during an operation at University College Hospital, London
to amputate a leg
1864 American Civil War: Union commander W.T.Sherman occupies Savannah,
Georgia after Confederate forces surrender
1866 Cheyennes, Arapho's, Sioux, Fetterman
Massacre
1879 The first performance takes place of Ibsen's "A
Doll's House" at the Royalty Theatre Copenhagen
1898 Scientists Pierre
and Marie
Curie discover radium
1900 Gerhart
Hauptmann's "Michael Kramer" premieres in Berlin
1905 Japan declares Korea a protectorate
1907 Dutch government of De Master falls due to war budget
1910 Explosion in coal mine in Hulton, England, 344 mine workers dies
1912 Denmark, Norway and Sweden declare neutrality in Comende war
1913 The first crossword
puzzle is published in the New York World. The puzzle has been
compiled by Liverpool-born Arthur
Wynne
1914 1st feature-length silent film comedy, "Tillie's
Punctured Romance" released (starring Marie Dressler, Mabel
Normand and Charles Chaplin)
1919 J Edgar Hoover deports anarchists/feminist Emma
Goldman to Russia
1920 Jerome
Kern/BG
DeSylva's musical "Sally"
premieres in New York NY
1923 Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent nation
1925 Eisenstein's
movie "Potemkin"
premieres in Moscow
1929 1st US group hospital insurance plan instituted, Dallas TX
1932 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, 1st joint movie (Flying
Down to Rio)
1933 Dried human blood serum 1st prepared, University of Pennsylvania
1933 Newfoundland
reverts to being a crown colony
1933 20th Century Fox signs Shirley
Temple, 5, to a studio contract
1937 Walt Disney's first full-length colour animated cartoon "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres in Los Angeles in the
United States of America
1939 Hitler named Adolf
Eichmann leader of "Referat IV B"
1941 The suffering of besieged Leningrad continues; thousands die
of starvation and various diseases. It is estimated that about 3,000
are dying each day.
1941 David
Diamond's 1st Symphony, premieres
1946 Earthquake in South Japan, kills 1,086
1946 Morton
Gould's "Minstrel Show" premieres in Indianapolis
1948 O'Neil
Place in the Bronx erroneously renamed O'Neill Place
1948 State
of Eire (formerly Irish Free State) declares its independence
1951 Joe
DiMaggio announces his retirement
1954 Dr
Sam Sheppard is convicted of his wife, Marilyn's murder
1957 Indonesia proclaims end to state of war
1958 Charles
De Gaulle wins 7 year term as 1st President of 5th Republic of
France
1959 Shah of Persia marries Farah
Diba
1961 Beatles record "Sweet
Georgia Brown" and "Ready Teddy"
1961 JFK
and British PM MacMillan
meet in Bermuda
1962 Angolin leaves Comecon
1962 US and Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive
1966 USSR launches Luna
13; soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum
1968 Apollo
8 (Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage
1968 David
Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash premiere together in California
1969 Diana
Ross final TV appearance as a Supreme (Ed Sullivan Show)
1971 UN Security Council chooses Kurt
Waldheim as 4th Secretary General
1972 Soviet Union signs a separate peace with East Germany
1973 Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US and USSR meet in Geneva
1975 Madagascar adopts constitution
1976 UN General Assembly passes a resolution declaring 1979-Year
of Child
1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1978 Police in Des Plaines IL, arrest John
Wayne Gacy for murder
1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk
USSR
1979 Zimbabwe adopts constitution
1983 Loretta
Swit weds Dennis Holahan
1984 USSR launches Vega
2 for fly-by of Halley's Comet
1985 ARCO Anchorage runs aground near Port Angeles, WA
1987 3 white New York teens convicted of manslaughter in death of
a black man
1987 Soyuz TM-4 carries 3 cosmonauts (Musa Manarov, Anatoly Levchenko
& Vladimir Titov) to space station
Mir
1988 Drexel
agrees guilt to security felonies, pays a $650 million fine
1988 Terrorists
blow up a Pan-Am jumbo jet carrying more than 270 passengers and crew
as it flies over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. All on board
are killed as well as 11 people in the town when the plane crashes
1988 Vladimir
Titov, Anatoly Levchenko and Musa Manarov return to earth (a year)
with Chretien
1989 Romania's dictator Nicolae
Ceausescu's final speech (he is executed 12/25)
1989 US invades Panamá and ousts General Noriega
1989 Vice-President Quayle
sends out 30,000 Xmas cards with word beacon spelled beakon
1990 Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein says he will ignore the United Nations
deadline to pull his invasion troops out of Kuwait
1991 95 share in Madrid Spain $1.3 billion lottery
1991 El Sayid Nosair acquitted of killing Meir
Kahane
1991 Soviet Union formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty
forming Commonwealth
of Independent States
1991 US actress Jane
Fonda marries CNN-director Ted
Turner
1992 Dutch
DC-10 in fire at landing on Faro Portugal, 56 die
1993 American newspapers report allegations that both US President
Bill
Clinton and his wife Hillary have committed adultery
1994 A homemade
bomb goes off on the # 4 train on Fulton Street in New York City.
1995 The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control
1997 The Spice
Girls knock The Teletubbies
off the top of the British pop charts to land the coveted Christmas
Day No 1 single for the second year running with ' Too Much'
1999 The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950
kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso
in Madrid.
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Birthdates which
occurred on 21st December :
1117 Thomas Becket
archbishop of Canterbury
1518 Mark van Vaernewijck Flemish nobleman/politician
1537 Johan III king of Sweden (1569-92)
1573 Mathurin Régnier French poet (Macette)
1616 Pietro Andrea Ziani composer
1628 Samuel Friedrich Capricornus composer
1639 Jean Racin writer
1728 Hermann Friedrich Raupach composer
1756 Thomas Anton Kunz composer
1800 Barnwell Rhett Robert (Confederacy), died in 1876
1804 Benjamin Disraeli (Tory) British PM (1868, 1874-80)
1810 Ludwig Schuncke composer
1815 Thomas Couture French painter/author
1818 Amalia wife of king Otto of Greece
1818 Lewis H Morgan US, etnologist (Systems of Consanguinity)
1823 Jean Henri Fabre France, entomologist (insects & spiders)
1826 Ernst Pauer composer
1832 John Henry Ketcham Brevet Major General (Union volunteers), died
in 1906
1840 Mehmed N Kemal Turkish journalist (Vatan)
1848 Edward Everett Rice composer
1849 James Lane Allen US writer (Kentucky Cardinal)
1850 Zdenek Fibich composer
1853 Isolde Kurz German writer/poetess (Meine Mutter)
1859 Gustave Kahn France, poet (claimed to have invented vers libre)
1860 Henrietta Szold founder (Hadassah)
1867 John Winter Thompson composer
1872 Albert P Terhune US, novelist (Lad, a Dog)
1874 Juan Bautista Sacasa President of Nicaragua (1932-36)
1879 Joseph Stalin [Dzoegashvili] Russian dictator; murdered 11,000,000
1879 Theodore Limperg business economist (substitute value)
1886 George Norman Peterkin composer
1886 Hermann A J Kees German Egyptologist (Problems of Egyptology)
1890 Fred M Vinson US Supreme Court Justice (1946-53)
1891 John W McCormack (D) Speaker of the House (1962-70)
1892 Dame Rebecca West [Cicily I F Andrews] England, journalist/novelist/critic/feminist
(Meaning of Treason)
1892 Walter Hagen Rochester NY, PGA golfer (US Open 1914, 1919)
1895 Paul Hoffer composer
1896 Carl Romme Dutch catholic foreman/KVP-Minister of Socialist Business
1896 Constantine Rokossovski Russian marshal/vice-premier of Poland
1896 Leroy Robertson composer
1898 Eugène Dabit French writer/painter (Hôtel du Nord)
1898 Ira S Bowen US physicist/astronomer (Mount Wilson/Palomar)
1899 Guy Wilkerson Texas, actor (Dead or Alive, West of Texas, Shootin'
Iron)
19-- Danielle Von Zerneck actress (General Hospital)
19-- Devon Ericson Salt Lake City UT, actress (Studs Lonigan, Chisholms)
19-- Ray Acevedo rocker (Menudo-Cannonball)
1900 Oda Schaefer German author/poet (Die Windharfe, Ladies Only)
1900 Wischnewski writer
1901 Juan A de Zunzunegui y Loredo Spanish writer
1901 Robin Irvine London England, actor (Easy Virtue)
1905 Anthony Powell England, novelist (Infants of the Spring)
1907 Garmt Stuiveling Dutch literary (Poet in Love)
1908 Pat Weaver Los Angeles CA, TV Executive, started Today show
1909 George Ball Iowa, lawyer/UnderSecretary of state
1909 Seichô Matsumoto Dutch Japanese detective/playwright (10
to Sen)
1911 Josh Gibson pro baseball player, "Negro Babe Ruth"
(hit 800+ homeruns)
1911 Paul Burkhard composer
1913 Raich Carter soccer star
1916 Eve Perrick journalist
1916 John Boon publisher
1917 Alicia Alonso Havana Cuba, ballerina (American Ballet Theatre)
1917 Andre Eglevsky choreographer (Limelight)
1917 Heinrich Böll Germany, writer (Group Portrait with Lady,
Nobel '72)
1918 Donald Regan White House staffer/US Secretary of Treasury (1981-85)
1918 Kurt Waldheim Nazi/4th UN Secretary-General (1972-81)/Austrian
President (1986-92)
1919 Gert Fredriksson Sweden, 1K kayak (Olympics-gold-1948, 52, 56)
1921 Alica Alonso Havana, ballerina
1921 James Tye safety expert
1921 Joan Dickson cellist
1922 Paul Winchell New York NY, ventriloquist (Jerry Mahoney, Knucklehead
Smith)
1924 Joe Paterno football coach (Penn State, SI Sportsman of 1986)
1924 Johan W "Jo" van Marle KNVB-chairman (1980-93)
1924 Rita Reys [Maria Reijs] Dutch jazz singer
1926 Pedro Gonzales-Gonzalez Aguilares TX, actor (Rio Bravo)
1926 John Herbert McDowell composer
1927 Michael Carreras film director
1928 Ed Nelson New Orleans LA, actor (Peyton Place, Along Came a Spider)
1928 Thomas Rajna composer
1929 Jack Philip Cannon composer
1930 Willem R "Wim" van der Zee Secretary of Council of
Churches
1931 David Baker Indianapolis IN, composer (Reflections)
1931 Caroline Kaart [Paterson Raitt] Dutch alto singer
1932 Ilja Zeljenka composer
1933 Huib Eversdijk Dutch 2nd chamber member (CDA)
1933 Jackie Hendriks cricketer (West Indian wicket-keeper of 60's)
1933 Miklos Kocsar composer
1934 Hanif Mohammad cricketer (prolific Pakistani batsman 1952-69)
1935 Phil Donahue Cleveland OH, talk show host (Phil Donahue Show)
1937 Jane Fonda New York NY, actress (Barbarella, Klute), physically
fit
1937 Harald Crown Prince, son of King Olav V, heir apparent of Norway
1938 Larry Bryggman Concord CA, actor (Dr John Dixon-As the World
Turns)
1940 Paul [Ray Hildebrand] Texas, singer (Hey Paula)
1940 Frank Zappa Baltimore MD, composer/musician/satirist (Mothers
of Invention, Catholic Girls)
1942 Carla Thomas US singer (Let Me Be Good to You)
1943 Albert Lee rocker
1943 Jack Nance actor (Rubbed Out)
1943 Walter Spanghero French rugby player
1944 Jared Martin New York NY, actor (Varian-Fantastic Voyage, Dusty-Dallas)
1944 Michael Tilson Thomas Los Angeles CA, conductor (New York Philharmonic
for Young People)
1945 Doug Walters cricketer (Aussie batting genius 1965-81 Extrovert)
1945 Millie Hughes-Fulford Wells TX, astronaut (STS 40)
1946 Christopher Keene Berkeley CA, conductor (La Traviata)
1946 Carl Dean Wilson Hawthorne CA, rock vocalist (Beach Boys-Barbie)
1946 Josh Mostel New York, actor (Windy City, Animal Behavior, Money
Pit)
1948 Barry Gordon Brookline MA, actor (Gary-Archie Bunker's Place)
1948 Carol Potter New York NY, actress (Beverly Hills 90210, Maggie
Clinton-Today's FBI)
1948 Dave Kingman baseball player (Mets, Yankees, Giants)
1948 Samuel L Jackson actor (Amos & Andrew, White Sand, Pulp Fiction)
1948 Willem Vermeend Dutch economist/UnderSecretary of Finance (1994-)
1952 Dennis Boutsikaris Newark NJ, actor (Batteries Not Included)
1952 Steve Furniss US swimmer (Olympics-bronze-1972)
1953 Andras Schiff Budapest Hungary, pianist (Tchaikovsky-1974)
1953 Arie Luyendyk Netherlands, Indy-car racer (1990 Indianapolis
500)
1953 Betty Wright US gospel/singer/TV hostess (Little Miss Broadway)
1953 Tina Brown journalist (New Yorker)
1954 Chris Evert Lloyd Mills Fort Lauderdale, tennis pro 'Miss Pokerface'
1955 Jane Kaczmarek Milwaukee WI, actress (Lois-Malcolm in the Middle,
Mary-Hometown)
1956 Kevin Burnham Hollis NY, 470 yachter (Olympics-8th-1992, 96)
1956 Lee Roy Parnell Abilene TX, country singer (Oughta be a Law)
1957 Joshua Mostel New York NY, actor (Delta House, At Ease)
1957 Lisa Gerritsen Los Angeles CA, actress (Bess-Mary Tyler Moore
Show)
1957 Ray Romano Queens NY, actor (Ray Barone-Everybody Loves Raymond)
1959 Florence Griffith Joyner Los Angeles CA, runner (3 Olympics-gold-1988)
1960 Andy Van Slyke baseball player
1960 Michael Swain Elizabeth NJ, judoka (Olympics-bronze-88)
1960 Roger McDowell Cincinnati OH, pitcher (New York Mets, Baltimore
Orioles)
1961 Trevor Bayliss cricketer (New South Wales batsman)
1962 Christy Forester Lookout Mountain GA, country singer (Forester
Sister-Men)
1964 Ed Jongsma Dutch pop bassist (Sleeze Beez-Look Like Hell)
1964 Joey Kocur Calgary, NHL right wing (Vancouver Canucks)
1964 Keith Taylor NFL safety (Washington Redskins)
1965 Andy Dick Charleston SC, actor (Matthew-Newsradio)
1965 Gabrielle Glaser musician (Luscious Jackson)
1965 Rodney Thomas WLAF cornerback (Barcelona Dragons)
1965 Sue Thomas Texarkana TX, LPGA golfer (1991 Orix Hawaiian Ladies-14th)
1967 Kristi Cooke Marion OH, Miss Ohio-America (1991)
1967 Ervin Johnson NBA center (Seattle Supersonics, Milwaukee Bucks)
1967 Terry Mills NBA forward (Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons)
1968 Khrystyne Haje Santa Clara CA, actress (Simone-Head of the Class)
1968 Anthony Lynn NFL running back (Denver Broncos-Superbowl 32)
1969 Chuck Smith NFL defensive end (Atlanta Falcons)
1969 Julie Delpy actress (Before Sunrise)
1969 Leon Searcy NFL offensive tackle (Pittsburgh Steelers, Jackson
Jaguars)
1970 Irving Spikes NFL running back (Miami Dolphins)
1970 Monique Ambers WNBA forward (Phoenix Mercury)
1970 Ronnie Woolfork WLAF linebacker (Frankfurt Galaxy)
1971 Ernest Hunter NFL running back (Cleveland Browns)
1971 Irena Slavutskay Israel, athlete (Olympics-1996)
1971 Jey Phillips WLAF DB (Amsterdam Admirals)
1971 Tommie Boyd NFL/WLAF receiver (Detroit Lions, Rhein Fire)
1973 Mike Alstott fullback (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1974 Karrie Webb Ayr Queensland Australia, LPGA golfer (1994 Australian
Strokeplay)
1974 Raymond Austin cornerback/safety (New York Jets)
1978 Amber Corwin Harbor City CA, figure skater (1997 Nationals -
5th)
1978 Michael Vitar Los Angeles CA, actor (D2, D3, Sunset Grill, Sandlot
Kids)
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Deaths which occurred on 21st December:
0918 Conrad I Duke of Franconia/German King (911-918), dies
1308 Henry I the Child, 1st landgrave of Hessen (1256-1308), dies
1375 Giovanni Boccaccio Italian poet (Vita di Dante, Decameron), dies
1429 Jacquemart de Bléharies Tournay "heretic", burned
to death
1579 Juan de Juanes [Vicente Juan Maçip] Spanish ecclesiastical
painter, dies at 56
1597 Petrus Canisius Dutch jesuit/saint, dies at 76
1674 Rutger van Haersolte viceroy of Overijsselse, dies at about 66
1734 Philipp Hyacinth Lobkowitz composer, dies at 54
1736 Alessandro Galilei Italian architect (Cappella Corsini), dies
at 45
1755 Caspar Ruetz composer, dies at 47
1765 Joseph Thaddäus Stammel Austrian sculptor, dies at 70
1820 Charles-François Dumonchau composer, dies at 45
1859 Nicolaas C Kist Dutch church historian/archivist, dies at 66
1864 William Henry Fry composer, dies at 51
1889 Joseph B Lightfoot English theologist/bishop of Durham, dies
at 61
1890 Niels Vilhelm Gade Danish composer, dies at 73
1906 Adalbert von Goldschmidt composer, dies at 58
1907 Oskar Lassar German dermatologist (public baths), dies at 58
1914 A O Jones cricketer (12 Tests for England 1899-1909), dies
1920 Claude Tozer cricketer (dashing New South Wales batsman, shot
to death
1921 P B S Pinchback major Reconstruction politician, dies at 84
1927 Jack Saunders cricketer (79 wickets-14 Tests for Australia 1902-08),
dies
1928 Harry Butt cricketer (England wicket-keeper vs South Africa 1895-96),
dies
1928 Luigi Cadorna Italian fieldmarshal (WWI, Caporetto), dies at
78
1931 John-French Cantré Flemish wood carver/painter/cartoonist,
dies at 45
1933 Knud J V Rasmussen Danish Pole explorer (Thule), dies at 54
1935 Kurt Tucholsky German journalist/writer (Panter, Tiger &
Co), dies at 45
1937 Frank Kellog US foreign minister (Nobel 1929), dies at 80
1940 F[rancis] Scott [Key] Fitzgerald author (Great Gatsby, Zelda),
dies of a heart attack in Hollywood at 44
1942 Leendert Round sculptor (Giraffen, Blijdorp), dies at 63
1945 George S Patton US general (Sicily/Normandy), dies in car accident
in Heidelberg at 60
1948 Seishiro Itagaki Japanese general/Minister of War, hanged
1955 Dorothy Bernard actress (Margaret-Life With Father), dies at
65
1956 Lewis M Terman psychologist (Genetic studies of genius), dies
at 79
1957 Eric Coates composer, dies at 71
1958 H[arry] B[yron] Warner actor (10 Commandments, New Moon), dies
at 83
1958 Lion Feuchtwanger philosopher/writer (Der falsche Nero), dies
at 74
1963 Jack Hobbs cricketer (61 Tests for England), dies
1965 Claude Adonai Champagne composer, dies at 74
1967 Louis Washkansky dies 18 days after 1st heart transplant at 55
1967 Stuart Erwin actor (Trouble With Father), dies of heart attack
at 64
1972 Horace Mann Bond president of Lincoln University (Pennsylvania),
dies at 70
1974 Richard Long actor (Professor-Nanny & the Professor), dies
at 47
1975 William Lundigan announcer (CBS Mystery Theater), dies at 61
1976 Edward Bartlett cricketer (West Indies Test batsman in 5 Tests
1928-31), dies
1979 Bill Anderson cricketer (Test for New Zealand 1946, scored five
& one), dies
1980 Marc Connelly playwright (One Minute Please), dies at 90
1983 Rod Cameron actor (Santa Fe Passage, Stampede), dies at 73
1987 Robert Paige actor (Son of Dracula, Pardon My Sarong), dies
1988 Bob Steele [Robert Bradbury] dies after short illness at 60
1988 Nicholas Tinbergen Dutch/British biologist, dies at 81
1989 Jan Cikker composer, dies at 78
1992 Albert King US blues singer/guitarist (Crosscut Saw), dies at
71
1992 Nathan Milstein Ukrainian/US violist (Beethoven, Bach), dies
at 87
1992 Stella Adler US actress (Love on Toast), dies at 90
1992 Sybil Andrews English/Canada painter, dies at 94
1993 Philip Christison British general (Rangoon), dies at 100
1994 Dean Rusk US Secretary of State, dies at 85
1994 Shauna McDonald Brown British TV producer, dies at 37
1995 Robert Francis Vere Heuston professor of law, dies at 72
1995 Trenchard Cox museum director, dies at 90
1996 Margaret E Rey author of children's books, dies at 90
1996 Olga Maria Nicolis di Robilant patron of the arts, dies at 96
1997 Bruce Woodcock boxer, dies at 76
1997 Juzo Itami film director/actor (Lord Jim, Yuuguremade), dies
at 64
1997 Michael Lyne air-marshal, dies at 78
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