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December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 10 days remaining.
Events
- 69 - Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors.
- 1861 - The Medal of Honor first authorized
- 1861 - Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell, arrested by the United States Navy aboard the British mail steamer Trent in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
- 1872 - HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography
- 1880 - Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote
- 1891 - First basketball game played
- 1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium
- 1913 - First crossword puzzle published
- 1914 - First feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, is released
- 1923 - Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state
- 1933 - Newfoundland becomes a crown colony
- 1935 - First screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
- 1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President of the Fifth Republic
- 1962 - Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, was established.
- 1968 - Apollo 8 launched
- 1979 - The United States government bails out the Chrysler Corporation
- 1988 - A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground
- 1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near Calatayud (Zaragoza) a Madrid-bound van driven by ETA and loaded with 950 kg of explosives. The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as "la caravana de la muerte" (the caravan of death). Shortly after 9/11, ETA confirmed their plan had been to blow down Torre Picasso.
- 2002 - Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments.
- 2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end... Experts disagree on whether this happens today or December 23, 2012.
Births
- 1118 - Thomas Becket, lord chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
- 1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, politician, writer (d. 1881)
- 1815 - Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d. 1879)
- 1843 - Thomas Bracken, New Zealand poet, author of God's Own Country (d. 1898)
- 1859 - Gustave Kahn, French Symbolist poet (d. 1936)
- 1872 - Albert Payson Terhune, American author (d. 1942)
- 1876 - Jack Lang, Australian politician (d. 1975)
- 1879 - Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d. 1953)
- 1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz, philosopher, mathematician (d. 1956)
- 1889 - Sewall Wright, American biologist (d. 1988)
- 1892 - Walter Hagen, American golf champion (d. 1969)
- 1892 - Rebecca West, American writer (d. 1983)
- 1908 - Pat Weaver, television pioneer (d. 2002)
- 1914 - Ivan Generalić, painter naïve art, Croatia (d. 1992)
- 1917 - Heinrich Böll, author, Nobel laureate 1972 (d. 1985)
- 1918 - Donald Regan, Chief of Staff and U.S. Treasury Secretary (d. 2003)
- 1918 - Kurt Waldheim, United Nations Secretary-General
- 1921 - Vampira, actress
- 1922 - Paul Winchell, ventriloquist
- 1926 - Joe Paterno, American football coach
- 1935 - John G. Avildsen, director, editor
- 1935 - Phil Donahue, talk show host
- 1935 - Jane Fonda, actress, activist, exercise guru
- 1940 - Frank Zappa, musician (d. 1993)
- 1942 - Reinhard Mey, singer
- 1942 - Carla Thomas, soul singer
- 1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
- 1946 - Carl Wilson, musician ("The Beach Boys") (d. 1998)
- 1947 - Paco de Lucía, musician
- 1948 - Samuel L. Jackson, actor
- 1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg, producer
- 1954 - Chris Evert, tennis player
- 1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, actress (Malcolm in the Middle)
- 1957 - Tom Henke, baseball relief pitcher
- 1957 - Ray Romano, comedian, actor
- 1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner, track and field champion (d. 1998)
- 1961 - Francis Ng, actor
- 1965 - Andy Dick, actor, comedian
- 1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian politician, President of the Republic of Georgia since January 4, 2004.
- 1969 - Julie Delpy, actress
- 1973 - Karmen Stavec, Slovenian singer
- 1974 - Karrie Webb, golf champion
- 1986 - The Darling, politician, scholar
Deaths
- 1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio, writer (b. 1313)
- 1807 - John Newton cleric, songwriter (Amazing Grace) (b. 1725)
- 1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, writer (b. 1896)
- 1945 - George S. Patton, U.S. general (b. 1885)
- 1935 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b. 1890)
- 1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b. 1884)
- 1992 - Albert King, blues musician
- 1992 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinst (b. 1903)
- 2001 - Dick Schaap, sports journalist (b. 1931)
- 2002 - Giò Pomodoro, Italian sculptor
Holidays and observances
December 20 - December 22 - November 21 - January 21 -- listing of all days
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