December 20
MyWikiBiz, Author Your Legacy — Thursday December 26, 2024
Jump to navigationJump to search
December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.
Events
- 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.
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed
- 1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States
- 1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli
- 1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police, founded
- 1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87
- 1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed
- 1984 - The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines
- 1988 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
- 1989 - Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega
- 1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia
- 1995 - An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160
- 1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples
- 1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
- 2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
- 2004 - The Miami Dolphins upset the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots in a fourth quarter comeback and scoring two touchdowns in the final 4 minutes of the game to win 29-28.
Births
- 1537 - King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
- 1566 - Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (d. 1612)
- 1579 - (baptized) John Fletcher, English playwright (d. 1625)
- 1626 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (d. 1692)
- 1629 - Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
- 1786 - Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
- 1792 - Nicolas Charlet, French painter (d. 1845)
- 1805 - Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist (d. 1869)
- 1833 - Samuel Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
- 1838 - Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (d. 1926)
- 1841 - Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)
- 1860 - Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
- 1861 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
- 1868 - Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
- 1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
- 1886 - Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
- 1890 - Yvonne Arnaud, French-born actress (d. 1958)
- 1890 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d.1967)
- 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
- 1898 - Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)
- 1902 - Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
- 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
- 1917 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
- 1922 - George Roy Hill, American film director (d. 2002)
- 1926 - Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
- 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician
- 1927 - Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea
- 1933 - Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator
- 1942 - Bob Hayes, American football player (d. 2002)
- 1946 - Dick Wolf, American television series creator
- 1946 - Uri Geller, Israeli psychic
- 1949 - Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
- 1952 - Jenny Agutter, English actress
- 1954 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
- 1957 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
- 1957 - Billy Bragg, English singer and songwriter
- 1957 - Mike Watt, American bassist
- 1957 - Joyce Hyser, American actress
- 1960 - Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian writer
- 1965 - Rich Gannon, American football player
- 1970 - Massimo Ellul, Maltese entrepreneur and philanthropist
- 1970 - Nicole DeBoer, Canadian actress
- 1980 - Ashley Cole, English footballer
- 1990 - JoJo, American singer
Deaths
- 217 - Pope Zephyrinus
- 860 - King Ethelbald of Wessex
- 910 - Alfonso III of Leon
- 1022 - Elvira Menéndez, queen of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
- 1494 - Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet
- 1524 - Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician
- 1539 - Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer
- 1590 - Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
- 1722 - Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
- 1740 - Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and statesman (b. 1675)
- 1768 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
- 1812 - Sacagawea, Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- 1929 - Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (b.1838)
- 1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
- 1941 - Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
- 1943 - Sergei Tretyakov, Russian writer (b. 1894)
- 1954 - James Hilton, American author (b. 1900)
- 1961 - Moss Hart, American author (b. 1904)
- 1961 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
- 1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1973 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (assassinated) (b. 1903)
- 1973 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
- 1974 - André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
- 1976 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
- 1982 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist (b. 1887)
- 1984 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)
- 1989 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
- 1994 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
- 1996 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
- 1997 - Denise Levertov, English-born poet (b. 1923)
- 1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
- 1998 - Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1999 - Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
- 2000 - Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Indian statesman, politician, and philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
- 2001 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of Senegal (b. 1906)
External links
December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days
ASK Query
Listing of Deaths on December 20, tagged in Centiare:
