December 14 - Definition and Overview

December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 17 days remaining.

Events

• 867 - Adrian II becomes Pope
• 872 - John VIII becomes Pope
• 1287 - Zuider Zee sea wall collapses, killing over 50,000 people
• 1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland.
• 1790 - Alexander Hamilton proposes creation of a Bank of the United States
• 1819 - Alabama becomes the 22nd U.S. state
• 1825 - Several Imperial Russia army officers lead circa 3000 soldiers on the Senate Square in the failed Decembrist uprising
• 1896 - Glasgow Underground Railway, third in the world, opens (an accident closes it the same day and it only reopens in 1897),
• 1900 - Max Planck publishes his study of quantum theory (The birth of Quantum Theory)
• 1902 - First telegraph cable laid across the Pacific Ocean
• 1911 - First expedition reaches the South Pole, led by Roald Amundsen
• 1918 - Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a German prince elected by the Parliament of Finland to become King Väinö I, renounced the Finnish throne.
• 1927 - Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom
• 1939 - USSR expelled from the League of Nations
• 1946 - UN General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in New York City
• 1947 - NASCAR founded
• 1959 - Motown, a famed record label whose roster included The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Boyz II Men and many other musicians, was founded in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1962 - Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
• 1962 - The Mona Lisa was assessed at US$100 million, the highest insurance valuance for a painting in history.
• 1964 - Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States 379 US 241 1964 decided by U.S. Supreme Court
• 1979 - Punk rock band The Clash release the influencial double album London Calling.
• 1981 - Israel annexes the Golan Heights
• 1989 - Chile holds its first free election in 16 years. Patricio Aylwin was elected president.
• 1991 - A rock slide takes off 10 metres of Mount Cook's elevation in New Zealand.
• 1995 - The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris to end the Yugoslav wars.
• 1999 - Charles M. Schulz, creator of the comic strip Peanuts, announced his retirement.
• 2000 - The Texas 7 robs a Radio Shack in Pearland, Texas. They stole police scanners that would be used in their following infamous heist.
• 2003 - The news of the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's capture is finally announced.
• 2003 - Celebration of the reopening of the Fenice Theater in Venice, Italy.
• 2004 - The Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, is officially opened.

Births

• 1503 - Nostradamus, astrologer and mathematician (d. 1566)
• 1546 - Tycho Brahe, astronomer (d. 1601)
• 1640 (baptism date) - Aphra Behn, playwright, novelist (d. 1689)
• 1824 - Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter (d. 1898)
• 1866 - Roger Fry, artist, art critic (d. 1934)
• 1870 - Karl Renner, politician and President of Austria 1945-1950 (d. 1950)
• 1884 - Jane Cowl, Broadway actress & playwright, played Juliet over 2000 times, (d. 1950)
• 1895 - Paul Eluard, French poet (d. 1952)
• 1896 - King George VI of the United Kingdom (d. 1952)
• 1896 - Jimmy Doolittle, American World War II General (d. 1993)
• 1897 - Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d. 1995)
• 1902 - Frances Bavier, actress (d. 1989)
• 1908 - Morey Amsterdam, comedian, actor (d. 1996)
• 1909 - Edward Tatum, geneticist (d. 1975)
• 1911 - Spike Jones, comedian, musician (d. 1965)
• 1913 - Dan Dailey, actor (d. 1978)
• 1914 - Karl Carstens, politician and President of Germany 1979-1984 (d. 1992)
• 1918 - B.K.S. Iyengar, Yoga exponent
• 1918 - James T. Aubrey, American television executive (d. 1994)
• 1919 - Shirley Jackson, writer (d. 1965)
• 1923 - Gerard Reve, Dutch writer
• 1932 - Charlie Rich, country music performer (d. 1995)
• 1935 - Lee Remick, actress (d. 1991)
• 1938 - Leonardo Boff, theologian
• 1939 - Ernie Davis, American football star (d. 1963)
• 1946 - Patty Duke, actress
• 1946 - Jane Birkin, actress
• 1946 - Michael Ovitz, film producer
• 1946 - Stan Smith, tennis player
• 1947 - Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
• 1948 - Marianne Fritz, writer
• 1954 - Alan Kulwicki, NASCAR driver (d. 1993)
• 1962 - Ginger Lynn, pornographic film actress
• 1965 - Craig Biggio, baseball player
• 1974 - Billy Koch, baseball relief pitcher
• 1979 - Michael Owen, football star

Deaths

• 1542 - James V of Scotland (b. 1512)
• 1788 - Charles III of Spain (b. 1716)
• 1799 - George Washington, first President of the United States (b. 1732)
• 1861 - Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria (b. 1819)
• 1873 - Louis Agassiz, zoologist, geologist (b. 1807)
• 1963 - Dinah Washington, singer (b. 1924)
• 1964 - William Bendix, actor
• 1984 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (b. 1898)
• 1985 - Roger Maris, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1934)
• 1989 - Andrei D. Sakharov, physicist, Soviet dissident (b. 1921)
• 1990 - Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer (b. 1921)
• 1993 - Myrna Loy, actress (b. 1905)
• 1998 - Norman Fell, actor
• 1998 - Annette Strauss, philanthropist, former mayor of Dallas, Texas (b. 1924)
• 2003 - Jeanne Crain, American actress
• 2003 - Blas Ople, foreign minister of the Philippines
• 2004 - Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino actor
• 2004 - Rod Kanehl, Major League Baseball player (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances

• Feast of Saint John of the Cross (in the Roman Catholic Church and Church of England)

December 13 - December 15 - November 14 - January 14 -- listing of all days