Events

• 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht.
• 1613 - Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, marries Frances Howard, occasioning John Donne's " Eclogue"
• 1620 - Elizabeth Báthory's crimes are uncovered.
• 1620 - Pilgrim Fathers land at what becomes New Plymouth in Massachusetts.
• 1776 - American Revolutionary War: The British are defeated in the Battle of Trenton.
• 1790 - Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
• 1792 - The final trial of Louis XVI of France begins in Paris.
• 1793 - Battle of Geisberg: French defeat Austrians.
• 1793 - The wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz takes place.
• 1805 - Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
• 1806 - Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
• 1811 - A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
• 1825 - Several Imperial Russia army officers lead circa 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising.
• 1848 - The Phi Delta Theta fraternity is founded at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
• 1860 - The first ever inter-club football match takes place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and Britain.
• 1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins.
• 1862 - Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship.
• 1862 - The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, killing 39.
• 1870 - The 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.
• 1871 - Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years.
• 1883 - The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.
• 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.
• 1916 - Joseph Joffre is made Marshal of France.
• 1919 - Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee.
• 1925 - The Communist Party of India is founded.
• 1925 - Turkey adopts the Gregorian Calendar.
• 1933 - The Nissan Motor Company is organized in Tokyo, Japan.
• 1933 - FM radio is patented.
• 1943 - World War II: The German warship Scharnhorst sinks off the coast of North Cape in Norway after being attacked by the Royal Navy late the previous evening.
• 1944 - World War II: U.S. troops repulse German forces at Bastogne.
• 1945 - CFP franc and CFA franc are created.
• 1948 - Cardinal Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
• 1966 - The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
• 1973 - Comet Kohoutek reaches perihelion but is not as spectacular a display as expected.
• 1973 - Soyuz 13 lands on earth after a week in orbit.
• 1974 - Salyut 4 is launched.
• 1975 - The Tupolev Tu-144 goes into service in Soviet Union.
• 1976 - The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) is founded.
• 1979 - Soviet Special forces take over presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.
• 1979 - Opening night of the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea at the Hammersmith Odeon; a benefit concert for the citizens of Cambodia who were victims of dictator Pol Pot.
• 1980 - Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.
• 1982 - Time Magazine's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.
• 1986 - The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its final episode after thirty-five years on the air.
• 1986 - World Population reaches 5 billion according to www.ibiblio.org world population tracker.
• 1988 - The Nanjing Anti-African protests in Nanjing, the People's Republic of China begin.
• 1991 - The Supreme Soviet meets and formally dissolves the USSR.
• 1996 - Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.
• 1996 - The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification goes into force.
• 1996 - Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.
• 1997 - The Soufriere Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.
• 1998 - Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
• 1998 - Severe gales over Ireland, northern England, and southern Scotland cause widespread disruption and widespread power outages in Northern Ireland and southern Scotland.
• 1999 - Severe weather in France kills over 100 people and causes extensive damage to property, trees and the French national power grid (see Lothar).
• 2003 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.
• 2004 - A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people.
• 2005 - Boxing Day shooting on a busy shopping street in Toronto.
• 2006 - The 2006 Hengchun earthquake with 7.1 magnitude hit Taiwan.

Births

• 1194 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
• 1532 - Guilielmus Xylander, German classical scholar (d. 1576)
• 1536 - Yi I, Korean Confucian scholar (d. 1584)
• 1542 - Tokugawa Ieyasu, unifier of Japan and first Tokugawa Shogun (d. 1616)
• 1646 - Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (d. 1709)
• 1666 - Guru Gobind Singh, Tenth Guru of Sikhism (d. 1708)
• 1687 - Johann Georg Pisendel, German musician (d. 1755)
• 1716 - Thomas Gray, English writer (d. 1771)
• 1716 - Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French poet (d. 1803)
• 1723 - Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm, German writer (d. 1807)
• 1737 - Prince Josias of Coburg, Austrian general (d. 1815)
• 1751 - Clement Hofbauer, Austrian missionary and saint (d. 1820)
• 1771 - Julie Clary, queen consort of Naples (d. 1845)
• 1780 - Mary Fairfax Somerville, British mathematician (d. 1872)
• 1782 - Filaret Drozdov, Metropolitan of Moscow (d. 1867)
• 1791 - Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor (d. 1871)
• 1819 - E. D. E. N. Southworth, American novelist (d. 1899)
• 1822 - Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
• 1837 - George Dewey, U. S. admiral (d. 1917)
• 1837 - Morgan Bulkeley, American politician and baseball commissioner (d. 1922)
• 1853 - René Bazin, French novelist (d. 1932)
• 1859 - William Stephens, U.S. political figure (d. 1944)
• 1872 - Norman Angell, British politician, Nobel laureate (d. 1967)
• 1873 - Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
• 1883 - Maurice Utrillo, French artist (d. 1955)
• 1887 - Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army officer (d. 1966)
• 1890 - Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (d. 1992)
• 1891 - Henry Miller, American writer (d. 1980)
• 1893 - Mao Zedong, Chinese military leader and politician (d. 1976)
• 1894 - Jean Toomer, American writer (d. 1967)
• 1902 - Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter (d. 1980)
• 1903 - Elisha Cook Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
• 1904 - Alejo Carpentier, Cuban writer (d. 1980)
• 1906 - Imperio Argentina, Argentine actress and singer (d. 2003)
• 1911 - Arsenio Lacson, Filipino politician and sportswriter (d. 1962)
• 1913 - Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
• 1914 - Annemarie Wendl, German actress (d. 2006)
• 1914 - Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
• 1918 - George Rallis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
• 1921 - Steve Allen, American comedian (d. 2000)
• 1922 - Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
• 1924 - Frank Broyles, American athlete, long time athletic director of the University of Arkansas.
• 1926 - Gina Pellón, Cuban painter
• 1927 - Alan King, American comedian (d. 2004)
• 1927 - Stu Miller, American baseball player
• 1927 - Denis Quilley, British actor (d. 2003)
• 1929 - Régine, French singer and nightclub owner
• 1930 - Donald Moffat, English-born actor
• 1930 - Jean Ferrat, French singer and songwriter
• 1933 - Ugly Dave Gray, Australian television personality
• 1933 - Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer
• 1935 - Abdul "Duke" Fakir, American singer (The Four Tops)
• 1935 - Norm Ullman, Canadian hockey player
• 1937 - John Horton Conway, British mathematician
• 1937 - Jay Heimowitz, American poker player
• 1938 - Bahram Beizai, Iranian playwright and film director
• 1938 - Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi film director (d. 1989)
• 1939 - Fred Schepisi, Australian film director
• 1940 - Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel laureate
• 1940 - Ray Sadecki, American Major league baseball pitcher
• 1940 - Phil Spector, American music producer
• 1941 - Daniel Schmid, Swiss film director (d. 2006)
• 1942 - Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo, Guatemalan president
• 1942 - Gray Davis, former Governor of California
• 1944 - Jane Lapotaire, British actress
• 1945 - John Walsh, American talk show host
• 1947 - James T. Conway, 34th Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
• 1947 - Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
• 1948 - Candy Crowley, American journalist
• 1949 - José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, Nobel laureate
• 1951 - Richard Skinner, British radio presenter
• 1953 - Leonel Fernández, Dominican politician and current President of the Dominican Republic
• 1953 - Henning Schmitz, German musician (Kraftwerk)
• 1954 - Ozzie Smith, American baseball player
• 1954 - Steve Steen, English actor
• 1955 - Evan Bayh, American politician
• 1956 - David Sedaris, American essayist
• 1957 - Dermot Murnaghan, British broadcaster
• 1958 - Adrian Newey, British engineer
• 1959 - Koji Morimoto, Japanese animated film director
• 1960 - Temuera Morrison, New Zealand actor
• 1960 - Jim Toomey, American syndicated cartoonist
• 1961 - John Lynch, Irish actor
• 1963 - Lars Ulrich, Danish-born drummer (Metallica)
• 1964 - Elizabeth Kostova, American author
• 1966 - Sandra Taylor, American model and actress
• 1968 - Dennis Knight, American professional wrestler
• 1970 - James Mercer, American musician (The Shins)
• 1970 - Krissada Terrence, Thai singer and actor
• 1971 - Jared Leto, American actor and singer (30 Seconds to Mars)
• 1971 - Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
• 1971 - Jonathan M. Parisen, American film director
• 1972 - Esteban Fuertes, Argentine footballer
• 1972 - Robert Muchamore, English children's author
• 1973 - Reichen Lehmkuhl, American television personality
• 1974 - Josie Ho, Hong Kong singer and actor
• 1974 - Joshua John Miller, American actor
• 1975 - Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
• 1976 - Lea De Mae, Czech actress (d. 2004)
• 1978 - Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
• 1979 - Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
• 1979 - Chris Daughtry, American singer
• 1979 - Mzbel, Ghanaian singer
• 1979 - Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
• 1980 - Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
• 1982 - Kenneth Darby, American National Football League player
• 1982 - Oguri Shun, Japanese Actor/Model
• 1984 - Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
• 1985 - Yuu Shirota, Japanese Idol
• 1987 - Adam Walker, British flautist
• 1990 - Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
• 1995 - Zach Mills, American actor

Deaths

• 268 - Pope Dionysius
• 418 - Pope Zosimus
• 1350 - Jean de Marigny, French bishop
• 1458 - Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (b. 1393)
• 1476 - Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1444)
• 1530 - Babur, Emperor of the Mogul empire (b. 1483)
• 1574 - Charles of Guise, French cardinal (b. 1524)
• 1624 - Simon Marius, German astronomer (b. 1573)
• 1731 - Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (b. 1672)
• 1771 - Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (b. 1715)
• 1780 - John Fothergill, English physician (b. 1712)
• 1784 - Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (b. 1743)
• 1786 - Gasparo Gozzi, Italian critic and dramatist (b. 1713)
• 1869 - Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, French physiologist (b. 1797)
• 1890 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist (b. 1822)
• 1909 - Frederic Remington, American artist (b. 1861)
• 1923 - Dietrich Eckart, German Nazi politician (b. 1868)
• 1931 - Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey decimal classification (b. 1851)
• 1933 - Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian literary critic and politician (b. 1875)
• 1957 - Charles Pathé, French film and recording industries pioneer (b. 1863)
• 1960 - Watsuji Tetsuro, Japanese philosopher (b. 1889)
• 1963 - George Wagner (Gorgeous George), American professional wrestler and television personality (b. 1915)
• 1966 - Herbert Otto Gille, German SS officer (b. 1897)
• 1970 - Lillian Board, British athlete (b. 1948)
• 1972 - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
• 1973 - Harold B. Lee, 11th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
• 1974 - Farid al-Atrash, Arab composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor (b. 1915)
• 1974 - Jack Benny, American comedian (b. 1894)
• 1977 - Howard Hawks, American film director and writer (b. 1896)
• 1980 - Tony Smith, American sculptor (b. 1912)
• 1981 - Savithri, Indian actress (b. 1937)
• 1981 - Amber Reeves, feminist writer (b. 1887)
• 1983 - Violet Carson, British actress (b. 1898)
• 1985 - Dian Fossey, American gorilla specialist (b. 1932)
• 1985 - Harold P. Warren, American movie director (d. 1928)
• 1986 - Elsa Lanchester, British-born actress (b. 1902)
• 1988 - Glenn McCarthy, American oil tycoon and businessman (b. 1907)
• 1989 - Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1924)
• 1992 - Nikita Magaloff, Russian pianist (b. 1912)
• 1996 - JonBenét Ramsey, noted murder victim (b. 1990)
• 1997 - Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher and economist (b. 1922)
• 1999 - Curtis Mayfield, American musician (b. 1942)
• 1999 - Shankar Dayal Sharma, President of India (b. 1918)
• 2000 - Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
• 2001 - Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
• 2002 - Herb Ritts, American photographer (b. 1952)
• 2002 - Armand Zildjian, American cymbal manufacturer (b. 1921)
• 2004 - Sir Angus Ogilvy, British businessman, husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent (b. 1928)
• 2004 - Marianne Heiberg, Norwegian mediator (b. 1945)
• 2004 - Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African pediatric heart surgeon (b. 1959)
• 2004 - Sigurd Køhn, Norwegian jazz musician, in 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (b. 1959)
• 2004 - Reggie White, American football player (b. 1961)
• 2004 - Aki Sirkesalo, Finnish musician, in 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (b. 1962)
• 2004 - Mieszko Talarczyk, Lead singer/Guitarist of grindcore band, Nasum, in 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (b. 1974)
• 2004 - Troy Broadbridge, Australian rules footballer, in 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake (b. 1980)
• 2005 - Erich Topp, German submarine commander (b. 1914)
• 2005 - Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1937)
• 2005 - Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (b. 1937)
• 2005 - Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
• 2006 - Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 2006 - Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier (b. 1951)
• 2007 - John A. Garraty, American biographer (b. 1920)
• 2007 - Stu Nahan, American Sportscaster (b. 1926)
• 2007 - Joe Dolan, Irish singer and entertainer (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances

• St. Stephen's Day, a public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Ireland.
• Synaxis of Theotokos and feast of St. Joseph,King and Prophet David and St. James the Just (Orthodox Christianity)
• The first of the twelve days of Christmas in Western Christianity.
• Boxing Day in the Commonwealth of Nations except when 26 December is a Sunday Boxing Day is transferred to 27 December by Royal Proclamation.
• Wren day in Ireland and the Isle of Man.
• Australia - Proclamation Day (South Australian public holiday), for the foundation of the Australian state of South Australia on December 28 1836 but commemorated on this day.
• South Africa - Day of Goodwill, a public holiday
• First day of Kwanzaa
• Abadiu of Antinoe is commemorated in the Coptic Church on this date.
• First day of Junkanoo street parade in the Bahamas (the second day is on the New Year's Day)
• In Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Slovakia, Suriname,Cyprus and Sweden, the 26th is known as the Second day of Christmas In some of these countries it is also a public holiday.

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada