11 December - Definition and Overview

December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining.

Events

• 1205 - John Grey, Bishop of Norwich, elected Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1792 - King Louis XVI of France goes on trial for treason
• 1816 - Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
• 1816 - Citizens of Geneva, Switzerland repel attack by Savoy.
• 1917 - Lithuania declares its independence (Kingdom of Lithuania)
• 1931 - Statute of Westminster gives complete legislative independence to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and Newfoundland
• 1937 - Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom becomes effective.
• 1937 - Italy leaves the League of Nations
• 1941 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
• 1944 - JCI (Junior Chamber International) is founded in Mexico City
• 1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
• 1954 - The American Nuclear Society is founded
• 1958 - Upper Volta declares its independence from France
• 1970 - John Lennon releases the classic album Plastic Ono Band.
• 1971 - The United States Libertarian Party is formed.
• 1972 - Apollo 17 lands on the Moon
• 1981 - Muhammad Ali's last fight – he loses to Trevor Berbick
• 1981 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru becomes UN Secretary-General
• 1981 - The Salvadoran armed forces massacre 900 villagers in the El Mozote massacre
• 1994 - Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya
• 1994 - A small bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. The bombing was a field test done by Ramzi Yousef to test explosives that would have been used in Project Bojinka, a terrorist attack plan that would be exposed after an apartment fire.
• 1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes just short of runway at Surat Thani airport, located in southern Thailand, killing 101.
• 2001 - DrinkOrDie raids.
• 2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization

Births

• 1465 - Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Ashikaga shogun (d. 1489)
• 1475 - Pope Leo X (d. 1521)
• 1725 - George Mason, U.S. patriot, "Father of the Bill of Rights" (d. 1792)
• 1781 - Sir David Brewster, physicist (d. 1868)
• 1801 - Christian Dietrich Grabbe, writer (d. 1836)
• 1803 - Hector Berlioz, composer (d. 1869)
• 1810 - Alfred de Musset, poet (d. 1857)
• 1843 - Robert Koch, bacteriologist and 1905 Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
• 1863 - Annie Jump Cannon, astronomer (d. 1941)
• 1873 - Josip Plemelj, mathematician (d. 1967)
• 1882 - Max Born, physicist and 1954 Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
• 1882 - Fiorello LaGuardia, mayor of New York City (d. 1947)
• 1882 - Subramanya Bharathy, a Tamil Indian poet (d. 1921)
• 1883 - Victor McLaglen, actor (d. 1959)
• 1890 - Mark Tobey, painter (d. 1976)
• 1905 - Gilbert Roland, actor (d. 1994)
• 1911 - Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian novelist, 1988 Nobel laureate
• 1912 - Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer
• 1913 - Jean Marais, actor (d. 1998)
• 1916 - Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban musician (d. 1989)
• 1918 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian author, 1970 Nobel laureate
• 1919 - Marie Windsor, actress (d. 2000)
• 1920 - Big Mama Thornton, singer (d. 1984)
• 1924 - Doc Blanchard, Heisman Trophy winner
• 1925 - Paul Greengard, scientist, 2001 Nobel laureate
• 1930 - Jean-Louis Trintignant, actor
• 1931 - Rita Moreno, singer, dancer, actress
• 1935 - Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
• 1936 - Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
• 1939 - Tom Hayden, American radical and politician
• 1943 - John Kerry, US politician
• 1944 - Booker T. Jones, musician
• 1944 - Brenda Lee, singer
• 1950 - Christina Onassis shipowner (d. 1988)
• 1954 - Jermaine Jackson, musician
• 1958 - Nikki Sixx, musician
• 1969 - Vishwanathan Anand, Indian Chess Champion
• 1981 - Javier Saviola, Argentinan Soccer Player

Deaths

• 384 - St. Damasus, Pope
• 1282 - Llywelyn the Last, Prince of Wales
• 1920 - Olive Schreiner, writer (b. 1855)
• 1941 - John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
• 1945 - Charles Fabry, physicist
• 1950 - Leslie Comrie, astronomer and computing pioneer (b. 1893)
• 1964 - Sam Cooke, singer (b. 1931)
• 1996 - Willie Rushton, UK comedian, satirist, actor and cartoonist (b. 1937)
• 2003 - Ahmadou Kourouma, author from Côte d'Ivoire
• 2003 - Paulos Tzadua, Roman Catholic cardinal from Ethiopia
• 2004 - M.S. Subbulakshmi, Carnatic vocalist

Holidays and observances

Annual events

• Tango Day, Buenos Aires

December 10 - December 12 - November 11 - January 11 -- listing of all days