On this day in History - Dec. 09

• 0536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters in Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire.
• 1165 - King Malcolm IV of Scotland dies.
• 1292 - Sheikh Saadi dies. Persian sufi poet.
• 1425 - The Catholic University of Leuven is founded.
• 1437 - Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor dies [b. 1368].
• 1447 - Chenghua was born [d. 1487]. Emperor of China.
• 1508 - Gemma Frisius was born [d. 1555]. Dutch mathematician and cartographer.
• 1531 - First supposed apparition of the Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Guadalupe) to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on Tepeyac Hill, Mexico.
• 1544 - Teofilo Folengo dies [b. 1491]. Italian poet.
• 1561 - Sir Edwin Sandys was born [d. 1629]. British-born Virginian colonist.
• 1565 - Pope Pius IV [Gianangelo de' Medici] dies [b. 31 Mar 1499].
• 1571 - Metius (Adriaan Adriaanszoon) was born [d. 1635]. Dutch mathematician and astronomer.
• 1573 - André de Resende dies [b. c. 1500]. Portuguese archaelogist.
• 1579 - Martin de Porres was born [d. 1639]. Peruvian saint.
• 1594 - King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was born [d. 1632].
• 1603 - William Watson dies [b. 1559]. English conspirator.
• 1608 - John Milton was born in London [d. 1674]. One of the greatest poets of the English language.
• 1610 - Baldassare Ferri was born [d. 1680]. Italian castrato.
• 1625 - Ubbo Emmius dies [b. 1547]. Dutch historian and geographer.
• 1636 - Fabian Birkowski dies [b. 1566]. Polish writer.
• 1640 - Pierre Fourier dies [b. 1565]. Roman Catholic saint and French priest.
• 1641 - Anton Van Dyck dies in London [b. 1599]. Flemish portrait-painter.
• 1652 - Augustus Quirinus Rivinus was born [d. 1723]. German physician.
• 1667 - William Whiston was born [d. 1752]. English mathematician.
• 1669 - Pope Clement IX dies [b. 28 Jan 1600].
• 1674 - Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon dies [b. 1609]. English statesman and historian.
• 1692 - William Mountfort dies. English actor and dramatist.
• 1706 - Peter II of Portugal / D. Pedro II of Portugal II dies [b. 1648]. King of Portugal (1683 - 1706).
• 1718 - Vincenzo Coronelli dies [b. 1650]. Italian cartographer and encylopaedist.
• 1748 - Claude Louis Berthollet was born [d. 1822]. French chemist.
• 1751 - Maria Luisa of Parma was born (d. 1819). Queen of Charles IV of Spain.
• 1787 - John Dobson was born (d. 1865). British architect.
• 1793 - New York City's first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.
• 1793 - Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac dies [b. 1749]. French aristocrat.
• 1798 - Johann Reinhold Forster dies [b. 1729]. German botanist.
• 1806 - Jean-Olivier Chénier was born [d. 1838]. French Canadian physician and Patriote.
• 1824 - Patriot forces led by General Antonio José de Sucre defeat a Royalist army in the Battle of Ayacucho, putting an end to the Peruvian War of Independence.
• 1830 - Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher dies [b. 1757]. Danish surgeon, botanist and professor of anatomy.
• 1835 - The Republic of Texas captures San Antonio.
• 1837 - Émile Waldteufel was born [d. 1915]. French composer.
• 1842 - Peter Kropotkin was born [d. 1921]. Russian anarchist.
• 1847 - George Grossmith was born [d. 1912]. English actor.
• 1850 - Emma Abbott was born [d. 1891]. American soprano.
• 1851 - The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.
• 1854 - Almeida Garrett dies in Lisbon [b. 1799 in Oporto]. Portuguese writer, journalist and politician.
• 1854 - Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," was published in England.
• 1856 - The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.
• 1858 - Robert Baldwin dies [b. 1804]. Canadian politician.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.
• 1868 - Fritz Haber was born [d. 1934]. German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate in 1918.
• 1871 - Joe Kelley was born [d. 1943]. American baseball player.
• 1872 - In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African-American governor of a U.S. state.
• 1875 - Massachusetts Rifle Association "America's Oldest Active Gun Club" is founded.
• 1875 - Antonio Borrero y Cortázar assumes the presidency of Ecuador.
• 1876 - Berton Churchill was born [d. 1940]. American actor.
• 1882 - Joaquín Turina was born [d. 1949]. Spanish composer.
• 1883 - Nikolai Luzin was born [d. 1950]. Russian mathematician.
• 1886 - Clarence Birdseye was born [d. 1956]. American frozen food manufacturer.
• 1887 - Tim Moore was born [d. 1958]. American actor and vaudevillian.
• 1887 - Mahmadu Lamine dies. Senegalese marabout and military leader.
• 1888 - Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his self-designed computing device at the United States War Department.
• 1888 - Maria de Arruda Müller was born [b. 2001]. Brazilian poet.
• 1889 - Hannes Kolehmainen was born [d. 1966]. Finnish Olympic gold medalist.
• 1891 - Maksim Bahdanovič was born [d. 1917]. Belarusian poet.
• 1892 - The football clubs Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End merge to form Newcastle United F.C.
• 1894 - Aníbal Machado was born in Sabará, Minas Gerais [d. 1964]. Brazilian writer.
• 1894 - Pafnuty Chebyshev dies [b. 1821]. Russian mathematician.
• 1895 - Conchita Supervía was born [d. 1936]. Spanish opera singer.
• 1897 - Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde in Paris.
• 1897 - Hermione Gingold was born [d. 1987]. British actress.
• 1898 - Emmett Kelly was born [d. 1979]. American circus clown.
• 1899 - Jean de Brunhoff was born [d. 1937]. French author.
• 1900 - In France, women are authorized to do advocacy.
• 1900 - Albert Weisbord was born (d. 1977). American labor organizer.
• 1901 - José Rodrigues Miguéis was born in Lisbon [d. 1980]. Portuguese writer.
• 1901 - Carol Dempster was born [d. 1991]. American actress.
• 1901 - Ödön von Horváth was born [d. 1938]. Hungarian-born writer.
• 1901 - Jean Mermoz was born [d. 1936]. French pilot.
• 1902 - Margaret Hamilton was born [d. 1985]. American actress.
• 1904 - Robert Livingston was born [d. 1988]. American actor.
• 1905 - In France, the law separating church and state is passed.
• 1905 - Dalton Trumbo was born [d. 1976]. American writer.
• 1906 - Grace Murray Hopper was born [d. 1992]. American computer pioneer.
• 1905 - In France, the law separating church and state is passed.
• 1907 - Christmas seals went on sale for the first time, at the Wilmington, Del., post office; proceeds went to fight tuberculosis.
• 1909 - António Pedro was born in Cape Verde (d. 1966). Portuguese writer and plastic artist (surrealist painter).
• 1909 - Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was born. American actor.
• 1911 - Broderick Crawford was born [d. 1986]. American actor.
• 1911 - Ryūzō Sejima was born [d. 2007]. Japanese educator.
• 1912 - Tip O'Neill was born [d. 1994]. Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
• 1913 - O ministro dos negócios estrangeiros alemão, fazendo no Reichtag o discurso anual sobre política externa, torna pública a existência de negociações com a Grã-Bretanha sobre a divisão das colónias portuguesas pelas duas potencias e prevê o êxito das mesmas
• 1914 - Frances Reid was born. American actress.
• 1915 - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf was born [d. 2006]. German soprano.
• 1916 - Kirk Douglas was born. American actor.
• 1916 - Natsume Soseki dies [b. 1867]. Japanese novelist.
• 1917 - In Palestine, General Allenby beats Turkey forces and captures Jerusalem.
• 1917 - James Rainwater was born [d. 1986]. American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1918 - Jerome Beatty Jr. was born. American author.
• 1919 - William Lipscomb was born. American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate in 1976.
• 1920 - Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was born. President of the Italian Republic
• 1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz is announced the first president of Poland.
• 1922 - Redd Foxx was born [d. 1991]. American comedian.
• 1924 - Bernard Zweers dies [b. 1854]. Dutch composer and music teacher.
  
• 1925 - Dina Merrill was born. American actress.
• 1925 - Ernest Gellner was born. Anthropologist and philosopher.
• 1926 - Henry Way Kendall was born [d. 1999]. American physicist and Nobel Prize laureate in 1990.
• 1926 - Jan Křesadlo was born [d. 1995]. Czech writer.
• 1927 - Pierre Henry was born. French composer.
• 1928 - André Milhoux was born. Belgian racing driver.
• 1928 - Dick Van Patten was born. American actor.
• 1929 - Bob Hawke was born. 23rd Prime Minister of Australia.
• 1929 - John Cassavetes was born [d. 1989]. American actor and film director.
• 1929 - Ginger Rogers makes Broadway debut.
• 1930 - Oscar Humberto Mejía Victores was born. President of Guatemala (1983-1986).
• 1930 - Buck Henry was born. American actor.
• 1930 - Andrew "Rube" Foster dies [b. 1879]. American baseball player and founder of the Negro National League.
• 1931 - The Constituent Cortes approves the constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.
• 1931 - Ladislav Smoljak was born. Czech actor.
• 1931 - William Reynolds was born. American actor.
• 1932 - Edd Wheeler was born. American singer-songwriter.
• 1932 - Sílvia Fernanda was born. Brazilian dancer and actress.
• 1933 - Milton Gonçalves was born om Monte Santo, Minas Gerais. Brazilian actor.
• 1933 - Morton Downey Jr. was born [d. 2001]. American talk show host.
• 1933 - Monique Miller was born. French Canadian actress.
• 1933 - Orville Moody was born [d. 2008]. American golfer.
• 1934 - Judi Dench was born. British actress.
• 1934 - Junior Wells was born [d. 1998]. American harmonica player.
• 1935 - Walter Liggett American newspaper editor and muckraker killed in gangland murder.
• 1937 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanjing - Japanese troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Asaka Yasuhiko launch an assault on the Chinese city of Nanjing.
• 1937 - Darwin Joston was born [d. 1998]. American actor.
• 1937 - Nils Gustaf Dalén dies [b. 1869]. Swedish physicist and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1938 - Deacon Jones was born. American football player.
• 1938 - David Houston was born (d. 1993). American country music singer.
• 1940 - World War II: Operation Compass : British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O'Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.
• 1941 - The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, and the Philippine Commonwealth declared war against Japan, Germany, and Italy.
• 1941 - World War II: The 19th Bombardment Group attack Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon.
• 1941 - Beau Bridges was born. American actor.
• 1941 - Dan Hicks was born. American musician.
• 1941 - Dmitry Merezhkovsky dies [b. 1865]. Russian writer and philosopher.
• 1942 - The Aram Khachaturian ballet "Gayane," featuring the surging "Saber Dance," was first performed by the Kirov Ballet.
• 1942 - Billy Bremner was born [d. 1997]. Scottish footballer.
• 1942 - Dick Butkus was born. American football player
• 1943 - Pit Martin was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1944 - Ki Longfellow was born. American novelist.
• 1944 - Neil Innes was born. British singerBonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.
• 1944 - Bob O'Connor was born. American politician.
• 1944 - Max Bill dies (b. 22 Dec 1918). Swiss plastic artist (designer, painter, sculptor) and architect.
• 1945 - General George S. Patton is injured in an automobile crash in occupied Germany. He dies twelve days later.
• 1945 - Matti Mäntylä was born. Finnish actor.
• 1945 - Michael Nouri was born. American actor.
• 1946 - The "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials" began with the "Doctors' Trial", prosecuting doctors alleged to be involved in human experimentation.
• 1946 - Shatrughan Sinha was born. Indian actor.
• 1946 - Sonia Gandhi was born. Italian-born Indian politician.
• 1947 - Tom Daschle was born. American politician.
• 1947 - Jaak Jõerüüt was born. Soviet-born Estonian politician.
• 1947 - Steve Owens was born. English football player.
• 1948 - A Assembleia Geral da Organização das Nações Unidas (ONU) aprovou por unanimidade a Convenção para a Prevenção e o Castigo do Crime de Genocídio. A convenção entrou em funcionamento em 12 de Janeiro de 1951, quando foi ratificada por 20 países.
• 1948 - Dennis Dunaway was born. American musician.
• 1948 - Marleen Gorris was born. Dutch film director.
• 1949 - O governo nacionalista chinês, liderado por Chiang Kai-shek, se instala na Ilha de Formosa.
• 1949 - Nando Parrado was born. Uruguayan plane crash survivor.
• 1949 - Tom Kite was born. American golfer.
• 1950 - Harry Gold is sentenced to thirty years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
• 1950 - Joan Armatrading was born. St. Kitts-born English singer.
• 1952 - London fog clears after days of chaos: The sunshine returns following four days of thick fog that brought the capital to a standstill.
• 1952 - Michael Dorn was born. American actor.
• 1952 - Liaqat Baloch was born. Pakistani politician.
• 1953 - Red Scare: General Electric announces that all Communist employees will be discharged from the company.
• 1953 - John Malkovich was born. American actor.
• 1953 - World B. Free was born. American basketball player.
• 1954 - Herman Finkers was born. Dutch comedian.
• 1955 - Chamras Saewataporn was born. Thai composer and musician.
• 1955 - Hermann Weyl dies [b. 1885]. German mathematician.
• 1957 - Donny Osmond was born. American singer and actor.
• 1958 - Red Scare: The John Birch Society founded in the United States.
• 1958 - The anti-Communist John Birch Society was formed in Indianopolis.
• 1958 - Nick Seymour was born. Australian bassist (Crowded House).
• 1958 - Rikk Agnew was born. American guitar player (The Adolescents).
• 1959 - Miguel Rovisco was born. Portuguese writer.
• 1960 - The first episode of ITV soap-opera Coronation Street is aired.
• 1960 - Dobroslav Paraga was born. Croatian politician and editor.
• 1960 - Juan Samuel was born. Dominican baseball player.
• 1960 - Terry Moran was born. American TV reporter.
• 1961 - The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Israel ends with him being found guilty of 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.
• 1961 - Tanganyika (now Tanzania) achieves independence.
• 1961 - David Anthony Higgins was born. American actor.
• 1961 - Joe Lando was born. American actor.
• 1962 - Julius Kambarage Nyerere is first president of newly formed Republic of Tanganyika.
• 1962 - Petrified Forest National Park was established in Arizona.
• 1962 - Felicity Huffman was born. American actress.
• 1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent.
• 1963 - Masako was born. Crown princess of Japan.
• 1963 - Dave Hilton, Jr. was born. Canadian boxer.
• 1964 - Paul Landers was born. German guitarist (Rammstein).
• 1964 - Dame Edith Sitwell dies [b. 1887]. British poet and critic.
• 1965 - "A Charlie Brown Christmas" premiered.
• 1965 - Nikolai V. Podgorny replaced Anastas I. Mikoyan as president of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
• 1965 - The Kecksburg UFO incident: a fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh. In 2005 NASA admits it examined an object.
• 1965 - Joe Ausanio was born. American baseball player.
• 1965 - Vecepia Towery was born. American Survivor contestant.
• 1965 - Branch Rickey dies [b. 1884]. American baseball commissione.
• 1966 - Barbados e Emiratos Árabes Unidos são admitidos como Estados-Membros da ONU
• 1966 - Kirsten Gillibrand was born. American politician.
• 1966 - Toby Huss was born. American actor.
• 1967 - Gheorghe Popescu was born. Romanian football player.
• 1967 - Jason Dozzell was born. English footballer.
• 1967 - Joshua Bell was born. American violinist.
• 1967 - Charles Léon Hammes dies [b. 1898]. Luxembourgian lawyer and President of the European Court of Justice.
• 1968 - NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.
• 1968 - Kurt Angle was born. American wrestler.
• 1968 - Dave Harold was born. British snooker player.
• 1968 - Brian Bell was born. American guitarist (Weezer).
• 1969 - Groundbreaking of Washington, D.C.'s Metrorail system.
• 1969 - Allison Smith was born. American actress.
• 1969 - Bixente Lizarazu was born. French footballer.
• 1969 - Jakob Dylan was born. American singer (The Wallflowers).
• 1969 - Sebastian Spence was born. Canadian actor.
• 1970 - Kara DioGuardi was born. American songwriter, record producer, and singer.
• 1970 - Artem Mikoyan dies [b. 1905]. Soviet aircraft designer.
• 1970 - Sir Feroz Khan Noon dies [b. 1893]. Prime Minister of Pakistan.
• 1971 - Petr Nedved was born. National Hockey League player.
• 1971 - Ralph Bunche dies [b. 1904]. American diplomat and Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1971 - Sergey Konenkov dies [b. 1874]. Russian sculptor.
• 1972 - Tre Cool was born. German-born American drummer (Green Day).
• 1972 - Reiko Aylesworth was born. American actress.
• 1972 - Fabrice Santoro was born. Tahitian-born French tennis player.
• 1972 - Louella Parsons dies [b. 1881]. American gossip columnist.
• 1973 - Sunningdale Agreement signed : Tripartite talks on Northern Ireland end in an historic agreement to set up a Council of Ireland.
• 1974 - Portuguese and Rhodesian soldiers are accused in a UN report of torturing and killing over 1,000 Africans in Mozambique during the war of independence.
• 1974 - Começo em Portugal do recenseamento eleitoral com vista à realização das primeiras eleições a realizar após o 25 de Abril.
• 1974 - Canibus was born. American rapper.
• 1974 - Wendy Dillinger was born. American female soccer player and coach.
• 1975 - Dino Morea was born. Indian actor.
• 1975 - William A. Wellman dies [b. 1896]. American movie director.
• 1976 - Chris Booker was born. American baseball player.
• 1977 - Kermit Washington of the Los Angeles Lakers punches Rudy Tomjanovich of the Houston Rockets. The punch nearly kills Tomjanovich and leads to major rules changes in the National Basketball Association.
• 1977 - Saskia Garel was born. Canadian actress.
• 1977 - Shayne Graham was born. American football player.
• 1977 - Imogen Heap was born. British singer and songwriter.
• 1977 - Clarice Lispector dies in Rio de Janeiro [b. 1920]. Ukranian-born, Brazilian writer.
• 1978 - Jesse Metcalfe was born. American actor (Desperate Housewives).
• 1978 - Gastón Gaudio was born. Argentine tennis player.
• 1978 - Eva Aichmajerova was born in Litoměřice, Československo. Model and actress.
• 1979 - The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.
• 1979 - Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, the religious broadcaster, died in New York City at age 84.
• 1979 - Olivia Lufkin was born. Japanese singer.
• 1979 - Stephen McPhail was born. Irish footballer.
• 1979 - Fulton J. Sheen dies [b. 1895]. American archbishop and television preacher (Life is Worth Living).
• 1980 - Ryder Hesjedal was born. Canadian professional cyclist.
• 1981 - Diya Mirza was born. Indian actress.
• 1981 - Mardy Fish was born. American tennis player.
• 1981 - Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner is shot and killed during a routine traffic stop. Mumia Abu-Jamal is later convicted of the murder.
• 1981 - Daniel Faulkner dies [b. 1955]. Philadelphia police officer.
• 1982 - Activist Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.
• 1982 - Leon Jaworski dies [b. 1905]. Watergate scandal special prosecutor.
• 1982 - Nathalie De Vos was born. Belgian athlete.
• 1982 - Tamilla Abassova was born. Russian cyclist.
• 1982 - Vincent Accardi was born. American guitarist Brand New.
• 1982 - Leon Jaworski dies [b. 1905]. Watergate scandal special prosecutor.
• 1983 - Dariusz Dudka was born. Polish football player.
• 1983 - Jermaine Beckford was born. English footballer.
• 1984 - The five-day-old hijacking of a Kuwaiti jetliner that claimed the lives of two Americans ended as Iranian security men seized control of the plane, which was parked at Tehran airport.
• 1984 - Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley dies [b. 1960]. British drummer (Hanoi Rocks).
• 1985 - O ex-presidente argentino Jorge Videla é condenado à prisão perpétua por ter liderado a “guerra suja” na qual milhares de pessoas desapareceram.
• 1987 - Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank
• 1987 - Gatting row halts play in Pakistan: The England cricket tour hangs in the balance as a row erupts between England captain Mike Gatting and the umpire Shakoor Rana.
• 1988 - The Michael Hughes Bridge in Sligo, Ireland is officially opened.
• 1990 - Lech Wałęsa becomes the first directly elected president of Poland.
• 1990 - LaFee was born. German singer.
• 1990 - Mike Mazurki dies [b. 1907]. Ukrainian-born professional wrestler and actor.
• 1991 - Prince Joachim, Archduke of Austria-Este dies. Belgian Prince.
• 1992 - John Major announced the separation of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales
• 1992 - É aprovado no Brasil o Imposto Provisório sobre Movimentação Financeira (IPMF).
• 1992 - US Marines land in Somalia to begin humanitarian operation in famine-stricken country.
• 1992 - Vincent Gardenia dies [b. 1922]. American stage, film and television actor.
• 1993 - The Air Force destroyed the first of 500 Minuteman II missile silos marked for elimination under an arms control treaty.
• 1993 - U.S. astronauts completed repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope.
• 1993 - Danny Blanchflower dies [b. 1926]. Northern Irish footballer and football manager.
• 1994 - Representatives of the Irish Republican Army and the British government opened peace talks in Northern Ireland.
• 1994 - Joaquim Chissano sworns as President of Mozambique.
• 1994 - Garnett Silk dies [b. 1966]. Jamaican reggae singer.
• 1995 - Douglas Corrigan dies [b. 1907]. American aviator.
• 1995 - Toni Cade Bambara dies [b. 1939]. American author.
• 1996 - Guilty verdict on school machete attacker: A man who attacked three children and four women with a machete is found guilty of attempted murder.
• 1996 - Alain Poher dies [b. 1909]. French politician.
• 1996 - Mary Leakey dies in Kenya [b. 1913]. British archeologist and anthropologist.
• 1996 - Patty Donahue dies [b. 1956]. American singer (The Waitresses).
• 1997 - In Russia 3 armed hijackers seized an Ilyushin-62 passenger plane from far east city of Magadan with at least 140 people onboard. They demanded $10 million and a flight to Switzerland.
• 1998 - In Angola Unita rebels advanced on Cuito after saying they had routed an attack by government forces on their southern stronghold.
• 1998 - Shaughnessy Cohen dies [b. 1948]. Canadian politician.
• 1998 - Archie Moore dies [b. 1913]. American boxer and World Light-Heavyweight Champion.
• 2001 - In Uganda a gasoline truck crash killed 58 people near Iganga. Many of the victims had tried to gather up fuel when it ignited.
• 2001 - Michael Carver dies [b. 1915]. British Lord Field Marshall and Baron and strong speaker against the Trident program.
• 2002 - Ian Hornak dies [b. 1944]. American painter, draughtsman and sculptor.
• 2002 - Mary Hansen dies [b. 1966]. Australian guitarist and singer (Stereolab).
• 2002 - Stan Rice dies [b. 1942]. American painter, educator, and poet.
• 2003 - Red Square Bombing: A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds at least 11.
• 2003 - Norm Sloan dies [b. 1926]. American basketball coach.
  
• 2003 - Paul Simon dies [b. 1928]. U.S. Senator from Illinois.
• 2004 - Portugal : Costa de Caparica, Estarreja, Meda e Tarouca são elevadas à categoria de cidade. Gafanha da Encarnação, Perafita, Santa Maria do Bouro, Santo Estêvão e Taveiro são elevadas à categoria de vila.
• 2004 - David Brudnoy dies [b. 1940]. American radio personality.
• 2004 - Lea De Mae dies [b. 1976]. Czech actress.
• 2005 - The draw for the 2006 Football World Cup takes place in Leipzig, Germany.
• 2005 - The last regular Routemaster bus service in London, route 159, ends.
• 2005 - György Sándor dies [b. 1912]. Hungarian pianist.
• 2005 - Robert Sheckley dies [b. 1928]. American author.
• 2006 - Moscow suffers its worst fire since 1977, killing 45 women in a drug addict rehabitational center.
• 2007 - Thore Skogman dies [b. 1931]. Swedish entertainer.
  
• Calendar of saints: Saint Leocadia; Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin : optional memorial
  Peter Fourier, founder of the Congregation of Notre Dame.
• Peru: Army Day.
• Sweden and Finland: Anna's Day. Recognizes everyone named Anna, and marks the day to start the preparation process of the lutefisk to be consumed on Christmas Eve.
• Tanzania - Independence Day (of Tanganyika from Britain, 1961).