20th
December, on this day
069 Vespasian
becomes the fourth Emperor of Rome within a year.
1046 Synod of Sutri: German king Henry III removes Popes Gregory VI,
Benedictus IX and Silvester III and names Bishop Siutger, Pope Clemens
II
1192 Richard
the Lion-Heart was captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria
on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending
the crusade
1522 Suleiman
the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights
of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle
on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1585 English fleet and earl Robert Dudley van Leicester reach Vlissingen
1600 Ottario Rinuccini/Giulio
Caccini's opera "Euridice" published
1606 Virginia
Company settlers leave London to establish Jamestown VA
1626 Emperor
Ferdinand II/Transylvanian monarch Gábor Betlen signs Peace
of Pressburg
1661 Corporation
Act enforced in England
1669 1st jury trial in Delaware; Marcus Jacobson condemned for insurrection
and sentenced to flogging, branding and slavery
1688 Prince Willem III's troops pull into London
1694 Frederik van Brandenburg flees Schweiben
1699 Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed-Sept 1 to Jan
1
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's army meets de Esk
1780 England declares war on Netherlands
1803 Louisiana
Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $27 million
1820 Missouri imposes a $1 bachelor tax on unmarried men between 21
and 50
1823 Franz
Schubert's "Ballet-Musik aus Rosamunde" premieres in
Vienna
1830 England, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia recognize Belgium
1860 South Carolina secedes from the American Union and joins the
Confederacy
1861 Battle
of Dranesville, VA
1862 Battle of Holly Spring MS
1862 Battle of Kelly's Ford VA
1862 Brigadier-General Nathan B Forrest occupies Trenton KY
1862 Vicksburg campaign
1864 Battle
of Fort Fisher NC
1865 De Clear-Alkmaar railway opens
1879 Tom Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo
Park
1880 New York's Broadway lit by electricity, becomes known as "Great
White Way"
1880 Battle at Bronker's Spruit, Transvaal: Farmers beat Britten
1883 International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls
1891 Strongman Louis Cyr withstands the pull of 4 horses
1892 Phileas
Fogg completes around world trip, according to Verne
1892 Pneumatic automobile tire patented, Syracuse NY
1893 1st state anti-lynching statute approved, in Georgia
1900 Giacobini
discovers a comet (will be 1st comet visited by spacecraft)
1906 Venezuela (under Vice-President Gomez) attacks Dutch fleet
1907 Explosion at Yolande AL, coal mine kills 91
1910 The British General Election produces a tie with the Liberal
Party and Tory Party each winning 272 seats
1912 Paul Claudels "L'Annonce Faite à Marie" premieres
in Paris
1915 Russian troops overrun Qom, Persia
1917 Russian secret police in Czechoslovakia forms under Felix Dzerzjinski
1918 Eugene
O'Neill's "Moon of the Caribees" premieres in New York
NY
1919 Canadian
National Railways established (North America's longest, 50,000
KM)
1919 US House of Representatives restricts immigration
1920 Bob
Hope becomes an American citizen
1922 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR)
1922 Polish parliament selects Stanislaw Wojcieckowski as president
1924 The leader of the German Nationalist Party, Adolf Hitler is released
from prison after serving eight months for high treason
1928 1st international dogsled mail leaves Minot ME for Montréal,
Québec
1928 In Britain, Harry
Ramsden opens his first Fish and Chip shop
1933 Bolivia and Paraguay sign weapon cease fire
1933 "Flying
Down To Rio", the first film to feature dancing partners
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, is first shown in New York
1936 At least 200 are reported dead in an earthquake in El Salvador
1938 Vladimir
K Zworykin (Pennsylvania) receives patent on the Iconoscope TV
system
1939 Radio
Australia begins overseas short-wave service
1941 Free France under Admiral
Muselier occupies St-Pierre et Miquélon
1941 Japanese troops lands on Mindanao
1942 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta
1943 "International" is no longer USSR National Anthem
1944 General McAuliff's famous message of "Nuts" is sent
to German officers at Bastogne demanding surrender.
1944 Battle
of Bastogne, Nazis surround 101st Airborne (NUTS!)
1944 Terence
Rattigan's "O Mistress Mine" premieres in London
1945 Rationing of auto tires ends in US
1945 In Rome, Edda
Mussolini, the daughter of Italian dictator Benitto Mussolini,
is jailed for two years for aiding Fascism
1946 Darius
Milhaud's 2nd Symphony, premieres
1946 Frank Capra's
"It's
a Wonderful Life" premieres
1949 Maurice
Ravel/John Cranko's ballet "Beauty and the Beast" premieres
1949 American film actor Clark
Gable marries the former Lady Ashley
1950 "Harvey", starring James
Stewart, premieres in New York
1955 Cardiff
is officially named the capital of Wales
1956 Israel says it will not return the territory of Gaza to Egypt
1956 Military
coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra
1956 Montgomery AL, removed race-based seat assignments on its buses
1957 Elvis
Presley given draft notice to join US Army for National Service
1960 Auschwitz-commandant Richard
Bär arrested in German Federal Republic
1962 The Osmond brothers debut on the Andy
Williams Show
1962 Dmitri
Shostakovich opera "Katerina Ismailova" premieres in
Moscow
1963 Berlin Wall opens for 1st time to West Berliners
1963 Massemba-Debate elected President of Congo-Brazzaville
1963 Trial against 21 camp guards of Auschwitz begins
1964 Levi Eshkol forms Israeli government
1964 In the Congo, in Africa, rebels massacre 15 British missionaries
1966 Brussels: Nuclear Planning Group established
1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1967 "The
Graduate", starring Dustin
Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, premieres
1967 474,300 US soldiers in Vietnam
1967 Ian Anderson and Glenn Cornick form rock group Jethro
Tull
1969 Peter, Paul and Mary's "Leaving
on a Jet Plane" reaches number 1
1970 Edward Gierek succeeds Wladyslaw Gomulka as Poland's party leader
1971 In Pakistan, Ali Bhutto becomes President following the resignation
of Yahya Khan after Pakistan is defeated in a two-week war with India
and lost control of East Pakistan which has become the state of Bangladesh
1972 Neil Simon's "Sunshine
Boys" premieres in New York NY
1973 Spanish Prime Minister Admiral Luis
Carrero Blanco is assassinated in a bomb explosion while driving
back from church. The Basque separatist movement, ETA claims responsibility
1974 George Harrison releases his "Dark
Horse" album in UK
1974 Ethiopia becomes socialist one-party state
1976 Israel's PM Yitzhak
Rabin resigns
1977 1st Space walk made by G
Grechko from Salyut
1977 Terrorist Knut Folkerts sentenced to 20 years
1978 H
R Haldeman, Nixon's White House chief of staff released from jail
1979 In Britain, the introduction of the Housing
Bill - forcing local councils to sell their houses to any tenants
who wish to buy them
1980 USSR formally announces death of Alexei
Kosygin
1983 PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon
1983 El Salvador adopts constitution
1984 33 unknown Bach keyboard works found in the Yale library
1984 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1985 Position of American Poet
Laureate established (Robert Warren is 1st)
1986 White teenagers beat blacks in Howard Beach NY
1987 Worst
peacetime shipping disaster, Dona Paz ferry sinks after collision
with oil tanker Vector; 1,749 confirmed deaths (probably closer to
3,000)
1988 Animal rights terrorists fire-bomb Harrod's department store,
London
1988 Premier Ranasinghe
Premadasa elected President of Sri Lanka
1989 US troops invade Panamá and oust Manuel
Noriega, but don't catch him
1990 Pentagon warns Saddam Hussein that US air power is ready to attack
on 1/15
1990 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze resigns
1991 Paul
Keating installed as premier of Australia
1992 Slobodan
Milosevic re-elected President of Serbia
1993
Donald Trump weds Marla Maples
1995 American
Flight 965 crashes in Colombia, 159 die, 5 survive
1999 Portugal returns Macau
to China
2005 New
York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union
Local 100 goes on strike, shutting down all New York City Subway and
Bus services
2005 US District Court Judge John E. Jones III ruled against mandating
teaching "intelligent
design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller
v. Dover Area School District.
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Birthdates which
occurred on 20th December :
1539 Paul Melissus
[Paul Schede] German poet/composer
1579 John Fletcher Elizabethan dramatist (Phylaster) (baptized)
1594 Giovanni Battista Gagliano composer
1606 Christoph Schultze composer
1629 Pieter de Hoogh Dutch painter
1659 François Fagel Dutch lawyer/statesman
1720 Charles Edward Stuart [Bonnie Prince Charlie/Young Pretender]
1729 Franz Xaver Thomas Pokorny composer
1758 Othon Joseph Vandenbroek composer
1774 Guillaume-Perre-Antoine Gatayes composer
1786 Pietro Raimondi composer
1805 Thomas Graham father of colloid chemistry
1807 Richard Lucian Page Brigadier-General (Confederate Army), died
in 1901
1808 Thomas Tinsley Craven Commander (Union Navy), died in 1887
1809 Friedrich Karl Kuhmstedt composer
1812 Achille Peri composer
1813 Samuel Jordan Kirkwood (Governor-IA)/US Secretary of Interior
(1881-82)
1819 John Geary 1st San Francisco postmaster, 1st mayor (May 1, 1850)
1825 Romeyn Beck Ayres Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in
1888
1833 Dr Samuel A Mudd convicted of giving medical aid to John Wilkes
Booth
1841 Ferdinand-Èdouard Buisson France, educator (Nobel Peace
Prize 1927)
1858 Jean/Johannes T "Jan" Toorop Dutch painter/graphic
artist (3 Brides)
1859 Antonius J Derkinderen Dutch painter/etcher
1865 Maude Gonne Irish nationalist (Irish Joan of Arc)
1867 Fini Valdemar Henriques composer
1868 Harvey S Firestone Industrialist, where the rubber meets the
road
1869 Charley Grapewin Xenia OH, actor (Wizard of Oz, Libeled Lady)
1870 Pieter C Boutens Dutch poet (Voices, Carmina)
1871 Henry Kimball Hadley composer
1872 Lorenzo Perosi Italian composer
1875 T F Powys Wales, writer (Captain Patch, Goat Green)
1876 Jan Van Oudshoorn [Jan K Feylbrief] Dutch writer (Maze of Senses)
1876 Walter S Adams US astronomer/director of Mount Wilson (1923-46)
1881 Branch Rickey baseball executive (Dodgers)
1884 Marius HLW "Max" Blokzijl Dutch nazi collaborator/traitor
1886 Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman California, tennis player (US Open 1909-11)
1886 Domingo Julio Gomez Garcia composer
1889 Bozidar Sirola composer
1894 Sir Robert Menzies Australian PM (1939-41, 1949-66)
1895 Susanne Langer US, philosopher/educator (Philosophy in a New
Key)
1898 Irene [Marie] Dunne Louisville KY, actress (Show Boat, I Remember
Mama, My Favorite Wife)
19-- Luisa Maria Guell Havana Cuba, singer (Tres Palabras)
1900 Gabby Harnett (National League MVP 1935)
1901 Robert Van de Graaff Alabama, physicist (Mobility of Gaseous
Ions)
1901 Louis I Kahn US architect [or Feb 20]
1902 Max Lerner US, columnist (New York Post)
1902 Sidney Hook anticommunist philosopher (Paradoxes of Freedom)
1902 George English prince/earl of St Andrews
1904 [Schmidt] Hans Burkhardt artist
1904 Albert Van Dekker Brooklyn NY, actor (Dr Cyclops, Beau Gesture)
1905 "Tiger" Bill O'Reilly cricketer (mighty Australian
leg-spinner)
1906 Dick White head of British secret service (MI-5/MI-6)
1906 Irving Krick meteorologist
1906 Lowell Gilmore Minnesota, actor (Living Christ Series)
1908 Giulio Cesare Brero composer
1908 Norman Hackforth broadcaster
1909 Vagn Holmboe composer
1911 Hortense Calisher New York NY, novelist (Arts & Letters 1967)
1915 Aziz Nesin writer
1918 Audrey Totter Joliet IL, actress (Carpetbaggers, Set-Up)
1920 Väinö Linna writer
1922 Charita Bauer Newark NJ, actress (Guiding Light, Aldrich Family)
1922 George Roy Hill director (Slap Shot, Little Drummer Girl, Little
Romance)
1923 Nadine Gordimer Springs South Africa, novelist
1924 Charlie Callas Brooklyn NY, comedian/actor (High Anxiety, Hysterical)
1924 Errol John Port-of-Spain Trinidad, actor (PT-109, Assault on
a Queen)
1924 F Mayröcker writer
1924 Inge[borg] Beekman actress (Horizon)
1925 Bob de Moor Flemish comic strip artist (Kuifje, Lion of Flanders)
1925 Datuk Seri Mahathir bin Mahamad premier of Malaysia (1981- )
1925 Frederick Edward Nicklin architect
1925 Vlastimir Nikolovski composer
1926 David Levine US painter
1927 Jim Simpson sportscaster
1928 Jack Christiansen Kansas, NFL hall of famer defensive back (Lions)
1928 Charles Donald Adams singer
1929 Milan Panic premier of little Yugoslavia
1931 Mala [Mary Ellen] Powers San Francisco CA, actress (Cyrano de
Bergerac, Death in Small Doses)
1932 John Hillerman Denison TX, actor (Higgins-Magnum PI)
1933 Gordon Getty
1933 Rik Van Looy Belgian cyclist (world champion, 1961)
1935 Khalid "Billy" Ibadulla cricketer (166 on debut Pakistan
vs Australia 1964)
1938 John Harris Harbison Orange NJ, composer
1939 Agatha N "Kim" Weston US gospel/singer (It Takes Two)
1939 Dianne Arndt artist/photographer
1939 Klaus Schweizer composer
1940 Larry Willis rock keyboardist (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
1941 Frank Creton Suriname/Netherlands painter
1942 Robert L Hayes Jacksonville FL, 100 meter/4x100 meter runner
(Olympics-2 gold-1964)
1943 Angel Tompkins Albany CA, actress (Gloria-Search)
1944 G Wolfgruber writer
1944 Robert Colomby New York NY, rock drummer (Blood Sweat & Tears-When
I Die)
1946 John Spencer actor (Tommy Mullanney-LA Law)
1946 Patti Smith singer/songwriter
1946 Uri Geller Israel, psychic (bends forks)
1947 Gigliola Cinquetti Italian singer
1947 Peter Criss[coula] Brooklyn NY, rocker (Kiss-Beth)
1948 Alan Parsons England, musician/producer/engineer (Alan Parsons
Project, Pink Floyd, Beatles)
1948 "Little" Stevie Wright rocker (Easybeats)
1949 Claudia Jennings [Mary Ellen Chestrerton] Minnesota, playmate
(November 1969)
1952 Jenny Agutter Taunton England, actress (Logan's Run, Equus, Amy)
1952 Sergio Vastano Italian actor (Nightclub, Prete Bello)
1955 Ed Kuepper German/Australian, singer/songwriter (Saints)
1955 Pierre Bokma Dutch actor (Avonden, Leedvermaak)
1955 Sammy Mitchell US programmer (Qedit/TSE/Semware)
1956 Blanche Baker New York NY, actress/Carroll Baker's Daughter (French
Postcard)
1957 Anita Baker [Ward] Detroit MI, vocalist (Rapture)
1957 Billy Bragg Barking Essex England, singer/songwriter (It Says
Here, Ideology)
1957 Mike Watt US bassist (Rockband Firehose)
1959 David Lutz NFL guard/tackle (Detroit Lions)
1960 Carolyn Seaward Devonshire England, Miss United Kingdom (1979)
1960 John Fitzgerald Australia, tennis star
1960 Piet Keur Dutch soccer player/trainer, (SC Heerenveen)
1961 Bonnie Marino Cleveland OH, playmate (June 1990)
1961 Gale Gilbert NFL quarterback (San Diego Chargers)
1961 Nate Newton NFL guard (Dallas Cowboys)
1962 Thomas Newberry NFL guard (Pittsburgh Steelers)
1963 Pam Casale Camden NJ, tennis player (Marco Island finals 1985)
1963 Karen Moncrieff Sacramento CA, actress (Xtro 3, Days of Our Lives)
1966 Chris Robinson Atlanta GA, rocker (Black Crowes-Shake Your Money
Maker)
1966 Ed de Goey Dutch soccer goalie (Feyenoord)
1967 Duncan Kennedy Burlington CA, luger (Olympics-1994)
1967 Wendy Hamilton Detroit MI, playmate (December 1991)
1969 Bobby Phills NBA guard (Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets)
1970 Dino Felicetti hockey forward (Team Italy 1998)
1970 Grant Flower cricketer (brother of Andy Zimbabwe Test opening
batsman)
1970 Jason Simmons CFL/WLAF defensive tackle (Roughriders, Claymores)
1970 Scott Slutzker tight end (Indianapolis Colts)
1970 Tony Semple NFL guard (Detroit Lions)
1970 Travis Green Castlegar, NHL center (New York Islanders)
1971 Jerry Ellison NFL running back (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1972 Jan Caloun hockey forward (Team Czechoslovakia Olympics-gold-1998)
1972 Jonathan Wyatt Lower Hutt New Zealand, 5000 meter (Olympics-96)
1974 Augie Ojeda Los Angeles CA, baseball infielder (Olympics-bronze-96)
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Deaths which occurred on 20th December:
0069 Aulus Vitellius Roman commandant of Rhine & 7th emperor,
murdered
0910 Alfonso III de Great king of Asturias, dies
1073 Domingo Spanish monastery founder/abbot/saint, dies
1355 Stefanus IX Uros IV Dusan king (1331-46)/Serbia (1346-55), dies
1590 Ambroise Paré French surgeon, dies at 80
1632 Nicolas Antoine French cath pastor who converted to Judaism,
executed
1676 John Galle Flemish engraver/printer, dies at 76
1679 Johan Maurits count of Nassau-Siegen, dies at 75
1738 Jean-Joseph Mouret composer, dies at 56
1749 Pakubuwono II susuhunan of Mataram Java, dies
1783 Antonio Francisco Jawer Jose Soler Sp composer (Fandango), dies
at 54
1793 Joseph Legros composer, dies at 54
1798 Cornelis Ploos van Amstel Dutch engraver/art collector, dies
at 72
1799 David Traugott Nicolai composer, dies at 66
1812 Sacagawea Shoshone interpreter for Lewis & Clark, dies
1815 Giovanni Meli Sicilian poet (Buccolica), dies at 75
1819 Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis composer, dies at 50
1821 Gian Francesco Fortunati composer, dies at 75
1875 Michail P Pogodin Russian historian/writer (Povesti), dies at
75
1876 Hannah Omish at 12 is youngest ever hanged in US
1903 Gavriil Musicescu composer, dies at 56
1909 Benjamin Ipavec composer, dies at 79
1916 Manuel Giro composer, dies at 68
1916 William Wallace Gilchrist composer, dies at 70
1929 Emile Loubet French premier (1892)/President (1899-1906), dies
at 90
1936 Baron De Borchgrave Belgian ambassador, murdered in Madrid
1937 Erich Ludendorff German general (WWI), dies at 72
1939 Hans Langsdorff German captain (Graaf Spee), commits suicide
1942 Jean Gilbert [Max Winterfield] German composer, dies at 63
1944 Abbas Hilmi II viceroy of Egypt (1892-1914), dies at 70
1945 Charles Eady cricketer (Tasmanian player for Australia 1896-1901),
dies
1947 St-Georges de Bouchélier French author (Children's Carnival),
dies at 71
1948 C Aubrey Smith actor (Prisoner of Zenda), dies at 85
1948 Ladha Ramji cricketer (brother of Amar Singh, Test India 1933-34),
dies
1954 Emilis Melngailis composer, dies at 80
1954 James Hilton English author (Lost Horizon), dies at 54
1961 Moss Heart US dramatist (You can't take it with you), dies at
57
1962 Erik William Gustav Leidzen composer, dies at 68
1962 Luis Abraham Delgadillo composer, dies at 75
1963 Paul Constantinescu composer, dies at 54
1965 Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt German anthropologist, dies at 73
1968 Bax Brod composer, dies at 84
1968 John Steinbeck author (Grapes of Wrath, Nobel 1962), dies in
New York at 66
1968 Max Brod writer, dies at 84
1971 Roy O Disney Brother of Walt, dies of cerebral hemorrhage at
78
1972 Günter Eich German literary (Botschaften des Regens), dies
at 65
1973 Bobby Darin singer (Mack the Knife), dies of heart failure at
37
1973 Luis Carrero Blanco PM of Spain (1973), assassinated by ETA
1974 André Jolivet French composer (L'eunuque), dies at 69
1975 Vincent Lopez orchestra leader (Welcome Aboard), dies at 76
1975 William Lundigan Syracuse NY, actor (Climax), dies at 61
1976 Richard J Daley Chicago mayor dies at 74
1976 Walter Fitzgerald actor (Adventures of Sadie, Fallen Idol), dies
at 80
1982 Artur Rubinstein pianist (My Young Years), dies in Geneva Switzerland
at 95
1988 Max Robinson 1st black network (ABC) TV anchor, dies of AIDS
at 49
1989 Audrey Christie actress (Splendor in the Grass), dies at 77
1991 Andries D Copier Dutch glass designer (Guild glass), dies
1991 Fop[pe] I Brouwer biologist (Everything That Lives & Grows),
dies
1991 Helene Heigh actress (Undercover Woman, Teen Age Thunder), dies
at 86
1991 Sam Rabin speaker of house, dies at 88
1991 Stephen Birnbaum US tourism writer, dies at 54
1991 Thomas Newman actor/composer (Cape Fear), dies of heart attack
at 60
1991 Walter Chiari actor (Girl Under Sheet), dies of heart attack
at 67
1993 Moses Gunn actor (Shaft), dies at 64
1993 W Edwards Deming US economist (helped Japan after WWII), dies
at 93
1994 Dean Rusk US Secretary of State (1961-69), dies at 85
1994 J C "Jody" Bateman fiddler, dies at 75
1995 John Henry Jacques co-operative retailer, dies at 90
1995 Madge Sinclair actress (Star Trek IV, Conrack, Convoy), dies
at 55
1996 Amata Kabua President of Marshall Islands (1979-96), dies
1996 Carl Sagan scientist (Contact), dies at 62
1996 Roger Peacock writer, dies at 76
1997 Dawn Steel film maker (When Harry Met Sally), dies at 51
1997 Denise Levertov poet, dies at 74
1997 Vincent Ciccone inventor (Blow-Pops candy), dies at 81
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