On this day in History - Dec. 11

• 0359 - The first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, Honoratus, took office.
• 0384 - Pope Damasus I dies.
• 1121 - Al-Afdal Shahanshah dies (b. 1066). Caliph of Egypt.
• 1226 - Robert de Ros dies (b. 1177). English politician.
• 1282 - Llywelyn the Last dies in battle. Welsh King of Gwynedd
• 1282 - Michael VIII Palaeologus dies (b. 1225). Byzantine Emperor
• 1465 - Ashikaga Yoshihisa was born (d. 1489). Japanese shogun.
• 1474 - Enrique IV de Castilla y León dies.
• 1475 - Pope Leo X was born (d. 1521).
• 1513 - Bernardino Pinturicchio dies. Italian painter.
• 1532 - Pietro Accolti dies (b. 1455). Italian Catholic cardinal.
• 1566 - Manuel Cardoso was born (d. 1650). Portuguese composer.
• 1602 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. (This actually took place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.)
• 1680 - Emanuele d'Astorga was born. Italian composer.
• 1694 - Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma dies (b. 1630)
• 1712 - Francesco Algarotti was born (d. 1764). Italian philosopher.
• 1725 - George Mason was born (d. 1792). American statesman.
• 1737 - John Strype was born (d. 1643). English historian and biographer.
• 1757 - Edmund Curll dies (b. 1675). English bookseller and publisher.
• 1761 - Gian Domenico Romagnosi was born (d. 1835). Italian physicist.
• 1769 - Paul Revere becomes initiated into The Free masons
• 1781 - Sir David Brewster was born (d. 1868). British physicist.
• 1792 - French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
• 1797 - Richard Brocklesby dies (b. 1722). British physician.
• 1801 - Christian Dietrich Grabbe was born (d. 1836). German writer.
• 1803 - Louis-Hector Berlioz was born (d. 1869). French composer.
• 1807 - Motim em Lisboa, motivado pelo içar da bandeira francesa no castelo de São Jorge, após uma parada militar pelo exército francês de ocupação, comandado pelo general Junot.
• 1810 - Alfred de Musset was born (d. 1857). French poet.
• 1816 - United States: Indiana became the 19th state.
• 1817 - Max von Schenkendorf dies. German poet.
• 1826 - Maria Leopoldina de Áustria dies (b. 1797). First emperess of Brazil.
• 1838 - John Labatt was born (d. 1915). Irish-Canadian businessman and brewer (Labatt Brewing Company).
• 1838 - Francisco Manuel Trigoso dies (b. 1777). Portuguese politician.
• 1840 - Emperor Kokaku of Japan dies (b. 1771)
• 1843 - Robert Koch was born (d. 1910). German bacteriologist and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1844 - Nitrous oxide was used for the first time in dentistry.
• 1845 - Começo da primeira Guerra Anglo-Sikh na Índia, com o ataque dos Sikhs a forças coloniais britânicas. Os Sikhs foram derrotados após quatro batalhas, e a região do Punjab foi anexada pelos britânicos
• 1858 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko was born (d. 1943). Russian-born Soviet theatre .
• 1863 - Annie Jump Cannon was born (d. 1941). American astronomer.
• 1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• 1873 - Josip Plemelj was born (d. 1967). Austro-Hungarian-born Yugoslav mathematician.
• 1880 - Frank Tarrant was born (d. 1951). Australian cricketer.
• 1880 - Oliver Fisher Winchester dies (b. 1810). American businessman and politician.
• 1882 - Subramanya Bharathy was born (d. 1921). Indian poet.
• 1882 - Max Born was born (d. 5 Jan 1970). German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in 1954, with Walther Bothe of Germany, for his statistical formulation of the behaviour of subatomic particles
• 1882 - Fiorello LaGuardia was born (d. 1947). Mayor of New York City.
• 1883 - Victor McLaglen was born (d. 1959). British-born American actor.
• 1886 - Dial Square FC, a football club from Woolwich, London that will eventually become known as Arsenal FC, play their first match, a 6-0 win over Eastern Wanderers.
• 1889 - Walter Knott was born (d. 1981). American farmer.
• 1890 - Mark Tobey was born (d. 1976). American painter.
• 1890 - Carlos Gardel (Charles Romuald Gardés) was born in Toulouse (d. 24 Jun 1935). French-Argentine singer of Tango.
• 1893 - Alceu Amoroso Lima (Tristão de Ataíde) was born in Petropólis (d. 14 Ago 1983). Brazilian literary critic and poligrapher.
• 1904 - Felix Nussbaum was born. German painter.
• 1905 - Gilbert Roland was born (d. 1994). American actor.
• 1905 - Robert Henriques was born (d. 1967). British writer.
• 1905 - Erskine Childers was born. President of Irland (1973-1974)
• 1908 - Elliott Carter was born. American composer.
• 1909 - Innokenty Annensky dies (b. 1855). Russian poet .
• 1910 - Noel Rosa was born in Rio de Janeiro (d. 04 May 1937). Brazilian singer and composer.
• 1911 - Naguib Mahfouz was born. Egyptian writer and Nobel Prize in 1988.
• 1911 - Val Guest was born (d. 2006). British film director.
• 1912 - Carlo Ponti was born. Italian film producer.
• 1913 - Jean Marais was born (d. 1998). French actor.
• 1916 - Dámaso Pérez Prado was born (d. 1989). Cuban-born bandleader and composer.
• 1918 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born. Russian Writer, 1970 Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1918 - Ivan Cankar dies (b. 1876). Slovenian writer.
• 1919 - Marie Windsor was born (d. 2000). American actress.
• 1920 - Big Mama Thornton (Willie Mae Thornton) was born (d. 1984). American blues singer
• 1920 - Olive Schreiner dies (b. 1855). South African writer.
• 1922 - Grace Paley was born. American writer
• 1923 - Betsy Blair was born. American actress
• 1925 - Bernardino Machado substitui Manuel Teixeira Gomes no cargo de presidente da República Portuguesa.
• 1925 - Paul Greengard was born. American neuroscientist and Nobel Prize laureate
• 1927 - Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker red guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
• 1928 - police in Buenos Aires thwarted an attempt on the life of President-elect Herbert Hoover.
• 1930 - Jean-Louis Trintignant was born. French actor (Trois Couleurs: Rouge, Is Paris Burning?, And God Created Woman, A Man and a Woman)
• 1931 - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
• 1931 - Japan leaves the Golden Standard
• 1931 - Rita Moreno was born. Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actress.
• 1931 - Pierre Pilote was born. National Hockey League defenseman
• 1933 - Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. was born. Filipino politician
• 1934 - A fire at the Hotel Kerns in Lansing, Michigan, kills 34 people.
• 1935 - Pranab Mukherjee was born. Indian politician.
• 1935 - Elmer Vasko was born (d. 1998). National Hockey League defenseman.
• 1936 - Taku Yamasaki was born. Japanese politician
• 1936 - King Edward VIII abdicated the throne of Britain in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson.
• 1937 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations
• 1938 - McCoy Tyner was born. American jazz pianist
• 1938 - Enrico Macias was born. Algerian-born French singer
• 1938 - Christian Lous Lange dies (b. 1869). Norwegian pacifist and recipient of Nobel Prize laureate
• 1939 - Marlene Dietrich recorded Falling In Love Again - on the Decca label.
• 1939 - Tom Hayden was born. American politician.
• 1940 - David Gates was born. American musician (Bread)
• 1941 - World War II: Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
• 1941 - John Gillespie Magee, Jr. dies (b. 1922). American poet and aviator.
• 1941 - Charles Émile Picard dies (b. 1856). French mathematician.
• 1942 - Donna Mills was born. American actress.
• 1943 - John Kerry was born. American politician and Presidential candidate.
• 1944 - Brenda Lee was born. American singer.
• 1944 - Teri Garr was born. American film actress.
• 1945 - Charles Fabry dies (b. 1867). French physicist.
• 1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established.
• 1950 - Christina Onassis was born (d. 1988). American heiress.
• 1950 - Leslie Comrie dies (b. 1893). New Zealand-born astronomer and computing pioneer.
• 1951 - Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.
• 1953 - Bess Armstrong was born. American actress.
• 1954 - The American Nuclear Society is founded.
• 1954 - Jermaine Jackson was born. American singer and bassist.
• 1954 - Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson was born. Icelandic engineer.
• 1957 - Musidora (Jeanne Roques) dies (b. 1889). French actress and director.
• 1958 - Nikki Sixx was born. American bassist (Mötley Crüe)
• 1958 - Upper Volta declares its independence from France.
• 1959 - Lisa Gastineau was born. American reality show star.
• 1959 - Jim Bottomley dies (b. 1900). Baseball player.
• 1960 - Black Sunday - Riot in Algiers, 114 die.
• 1961 - Melvin Calvin awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for process of photosynthesis.
• 1961 - Urbano Ortega was born. Uruguyan football player.
• 1962 - Ben Browder was born. American actor.
• 1962 - Nele Karajlić was born. Singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 1964 - An unknown terrorist fired a mortar shell at the United Nations building in New York City during a speech by Che Guevara
• 1964 - Cosy Sheridan was born. American singer and songwriter.
• 1964 - David Schools was born. American musician (Widespread Panic)
• 1964 - John Mark Karr was born. American involved in JonBenét Ramsey case
• 1964 - Michel Courtemanche was born. Quebec comedian and actor
• 1964 - Carolyn Waldo was born. Canadian synchronized swimmer
• 1964 - Tuca Andrada was born in Recife. Brazilian actor.
• 1964 - Sam Cooke dies (b. 1931). American singer.
• 1964 - Percy Kilbride dies (b. 1888). American actor.
• 1966 - Leon Lai was born. Chinese-born Canadian actor and Cantopop singer
• 1966 - Gary Dourdan was born. American actor
• 1967 - DJ Yella was born. American music producer
• 1969 - Libya adopts constitution
• 1969 - Vishwanathan Anand was born. Indian chess grandmaster. World Champion in 2000.
• 1969 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye was born. Norwegian footballer.
• 1969 - Sean Grande was born. American Sportscaster.
• 1969 - Dj Mind was born. Portuguese Dj and producer.
• 1970 - John Lennon releases the album Plastic Ono Band.
• 1971 - The United States Libertarian Party is formed.
• 1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and, to date, last mission to land on the Moon.
• 1972 - Dana Macsim was born. Romanian television news reporter
• 1972 - Paulo Jorge da Silva Santos was born in Lisbon. Portuguese football player (goalkeeper of Sp. Braga)
• 1972 - Daniel Alfredsson was born. Swedish hockey player.
• 1972 - Dana Macsim was born. Romanian television news reporter.
• 1973 - Mos Def was born. American rapper and actor.
• 1974 - Rey Mysterio was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1974 - Ben Shephard was born. TV personality
• 1975 - Gerben de Knegt was born. Dutch cyclist
• 1977 - Mark Streit was born. National Hockey League defenseman
• 1978 - Vincent du Vigneaud dies (b. 1901). American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1979 - Rider Strong was born. American actor (Boy Meets World)
• 1980 - Dr Apollo Milton Obote is finally returned to power in Uganda.
• 1980 - Victoria Louise dies (b. 1892). Princess of Prussia.
• 1980 - The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
• 1981 - In his last fight, Muhammad Ali loses to Trevor Berbick.
• 1981 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes UN Secretary-General
• 1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign durin the country's civil war.
• 1981 - Clube de Regatas do Flamengo defeat Liverpool F.C in the final of the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.
• 1981 - Javier Saviola was born. Argentine international footballer and Olympic gold medalist.
• 1981 - Zacky Vengeance was born. American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
• 1981 - Hamish Blake was born. Australian comedian
• 1983 - 72nd Australian Men Tennis: Mats Wilander beats Ivan Lendl (6-1, 6-4, 6-4)
• 1983 - Sir Neil Ritchie dies (b. 1897). British general.
• 1984 - Carlos Alberto Gomes de Jesus was born. Brazilian football player.
• 1984 - Oskar Seidlin dies (b. 1911). Silesian-born scholar.
• 1987 - Portugal: José Mattoso (b. 1933), Portuguese historian, receives The Pessoa Prize (Prémio Pessoa).
• 1988 - Murugan Thiruchelvam was born. Chess prodigy
• 1989 - "City of Angels" opens at Virginia Theater NYC for 878 performances.
• 1989 - Louise Dahl-Wolfe dies (b. 1895). American photographer.
• 1990 - Mafia: New York mafioso John Gotti is arrested.
• 1991 - Artur Lundkvist dies (b. 1906). Swedish writer.
• 1993 - Eduardo Frei is elected president of Chile.
• 1993 - Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• 1994 - A bomb assembled by Ramzi Yousef explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman.
• 1994 - Russian troups invade Chechnya in an unsuccessful attempt to restore Moscow's power in the region.
• 1994 - Dionísio Azevedo dies in S. Paulo (b. 4 Apr 1922). Brazilian actor.
• 1994 - Philip Phillips dies (b. 1900). American archaeologist.
• 1996 - Willie Rushton dies (b. 1937). British cartoonist, satirist, and actor.
• 1997 - Housing secretary Henry Cisneros is indicted for conspiracy, obstructing justice, and false statements to the FBI.
• 1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
• 1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
• 1998 - André Lichnerowicz dies (b. 1915). Polish-French physicist.
• 1998 - Lynn Strait dies (b. 1968). American singer.
• 2000 - Real Madrid football club is awarded 20th Century's Best Club award by FIFA.
• 2000 - Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah dies (b. 1915). Pakistani politician, diplomat and author.
• 2000 - Johannes Virolainen dies. Prime - Minister of Finland (1964-1966).
• 2001 - Members of the DrinkOrDie warez group are arrested in police raids.
• 2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
• 2002 - Carlos Zara dies (b. 1930). Brazilian actor.
• 2003 - Ahmadou Kourouma dies (b. 1927). Côte d'Ivoire writer.
• 2004 - M.S. Subbulakshmi dies (b. 1916). Indian singer.
• 2004 - Arthur Lydiard dies (b. 1917). New Zealand running coach.
• 2005 - The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
• 2005 - 2005 Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
• 2005 - Presidential elections in Chile.
• Roman festivals - One of the four Agonalia, this day in honour of Sol Indiges; also the Septimontium festival
• R.C. Saints - pope Damasus I: optional memorial;
• Argentina - Tango Day, Buenos Aires
• Burkina Faso - Republic Day
• Portimão (Portugal) : Municipal holiday
• Brasil: Dia do engenheiro; Dia do arquiteto; Dia do agrimensor