December 12......

December 12 is the 346th day of the year (347th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 19 days remaining in the year on this date.

EVENTS

● 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeated Emperor Khosrau II's Persian forces, commanded by General Rhahzadh.

● 1098 - First Crusaders capture and plunder for God, Mara, Syria.

● 1098 - First Crusade: Massacre of Ma'arrat al-Numan - Crusaders breach the town's walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they resort to cannibalism.

● 1474 - Isabella crowns herself queen of Castile & Aragon

● 1479 - Jews are expelled from Schlettstadt Alsace by Emperor Frederick III

● 1524 - Pope Clement VII approves Organization of Jewish Community of Rome

● 1527 - Composer Adrian Willaert moves from Milan to Venice

● 1531 - Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Juan Diego in Mexico City.

● 1653 - Barebone-parliament ends

● 1666 - The Moscow Council deposed Russian Orthodox Patriarch Nikon, 61. The church synod had sought to bring an end to the struggle between Czar Alexis and Patriarch Nikon, but the antagonism, begun as a call for liturgical reform, ultimately grew into a struggle over the relationship between church and state.

● 1677 - Brandenburgs army occupies Stettin

● 1700 - Utrecht/Overijssel/Buren/Leerdam/Ijsselstein adopt Gregorian calendar

● 1712 - The South Carolina colony passed a "Sunday Law" requiring "all...persons whatsoever" to attend church each Sunday, to refrain from skilled labor, and to do no traveling by horse or wagon beyond the necessary. Infractions of this law were met with a 10-shilling fine and/or a two-hour lock-up in the village stocks.

● 1715 - Russian/Prussian troops occupy Stralsund

● 1719 - The Boston Gazette is published for the first time.

● 1745 - John Jay, American statesman and the first chief justice of the Supreme Court, was born in New York City.

● 1767 - Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'The Lord himself is our Keeper. Nothing befalls us but what is adjusted by His wisdom and love. He will, in one way or another, sweeten every bitter cup, and ere long He will wipe away all tears from our eyes.'

● 1769 - Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee

● 1776 - Continental Congress, fearing a British attack on Philadelphia is imminent, votes dictatorial powers to George Washington and flees to Baltimore.

● 1777 - Reverend Benjamin Russen executed at Tyburn, England for rape

● 1781 - American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Ushant - A Royal Navy squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Richard Kempenfelt in HMS Victory, defeats a French fleet.

● 1787 - Pennsylvania becomes 2nd state to ratify US constitution

● 1791 - Bank of the US opens

● 1792 - In Vienna, Ludwig van Beethoven (21) receives 1st lesson in music composition from Franz Joseph Haydn

● 1800 - Washington DC established as capital of US

● 1805 - Henry Wells was born in Thetford, VT. He was one of the founders of the American Express Company and he teamed up with William Fargo to form the Wells Fargo Company.

● 1808 - The Bible Society of Philadelphia was organized, the first of its kind in America. Rev. William White was elected first president of the new organization, whose purpose it was to promote and distribute the Scriptures.

● 1812 - Death of Sacajaweya, native guide for Lewis and Clark Expedition.

● 1822 - México officially recognized as an independent nation by US

● 1858 - 1st Canadian coins circulated (1¢, 5¢, 10¢ & 20¢)

● 1862 - Battle of Dumfries VA

● 1862 - USS Cairo sank on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.

● 1863 - Norwegian painter Edvard Munch was born. His most known work is "The Scream."

● 1870 - Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the first black U.S. congressman.

● 1871 - Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum

● 1878 - Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing "St Louis Dispatch"

● 1893 - Beginning of adoption of the French "laws scolorates," adopted following Auguste Vaillant's attack on the Chamber of Deputies, which were designed to repress anarchists throughout the country.

● 1896 - Guglielmo Marconi gave the first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.

● 1897 - Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, is inaugurated.

● 1897 - Anti-Jewish violence breaks out in Bucharest Romania

● 1897 - The comic strip"The Katzenjammer Kids" (Hans and Fritz), by Rudolph Dirks, appeared in the New York Journal for the first time.

● 1899 - George F Grant of Boston (first black graduate of Harvard College, and a dentist) patents the wooden golf tee

● 1899 - 1st case of plague on Oahu HI

● 1900 - Charles M. Schwab formed the United States Steel Corporation.

● 1900 - National Negro Anthem, "Lift Every Voice & Sing" is composed

● 1901 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.

● 1903 - The city of Fairfield, California is incorporated.

● 1903 - Roger Casement completes report about abuses in Belgian Congo

● 1906 - Oscar Straus, 1st Jewish cabinet member, appointed Secretary of Commerce

● 1907 - Zulu King Dinizulu surrenders to British.

● 1911 - Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.

● 1912 - Senator Hiram Johnson (R-CA) denounces U.S. invasion of revolutionary Russia.

● 1912 - The Mother's Day International Association was incorporated with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's Day.

● 1913 - "Mona Lisa", recovered after being stolen from the Louvre Museum in 1911

● 1913 - Hebrew language officially used to teach in Palestinian schools

● 1914 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst percentage drop in history - 24.39 percent - on the first day of trading in more than four months. (The New York Stock Exchange had shut down when World War I began in July.)

● 1915 - President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.

● 1915 - 1st all-metal aircraft (Junkers J.1) test flown at Dessau Germany

● 1915 - Aristide Briand forms French war government

● 1915 - Russian troops overrun Hamadan, Persia

● 1915 - Frank Sinatra, the American singer and actor who elevated popular song into an art, was born.

● 1916 - Dr. Ben Reitman is arrested in Cleveland for organizing volunteers to distribute birth control information at an Emma Goldman lecture on birth control. He is later sentenced to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, plus court costs, for the crime.

● 1917 - Worst train disaster (derailment near mouth of Mount Cenis tunnel) ever (Modane France-543 French troops killed)

● 1917 - Reverend Edward Flanagan founds Boys Town outside Omaha NE

● 1920 - Maurice Ravels ballet "La Valse" premieres in Paris

● 1925 - Arthur Heinman coins term "motel", opens Motel Inn, San Luis Obispo

● 1925 - Last Qajar Shah of Iran deposed; Rexa Shah Pahlavi takes over

● 1925 - Cossack officer/ex-premier Reza Chan becomes shah of Persia

● 1929 - After being framed by police, Salvatore Accorsi is acquitted of murder in the death of a policeman.

● 1930 - Baseball Rules Committee greatly revises the rule book, when a ball bounces into stands now a double, not a homerun

● 1931 - Japanese Government of Imukai forms

● 1932 - USSR & China resume diplomatic relations

● 1936 - Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek declares war on Japan

● 1936 - Xi'an Incident: The Generalissimo of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-shek was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang.

● 1937 - Japanese aircraft shell & sink US gunboat Panay on Yangtze River in China. (Japan apologized & eventually paid US $2.2 million in reparations)

● 1937 - NBC & RCA sends 1st mobile-TV vans onto the streets of New York

● 1939 - Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi - Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.

● 1939 - Soviet prison ship Indigirka, carrying 2,500 prisoners capsizes in blizzard off Japanese coast; 2,470 die

● 1940 - Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield as a result of a German air raid.

● 1940 - British troops conquer Sidi el-Barrani

● 1941 - World War II: Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesus Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; Cesar Basa is killed.

● 1941 - World War II: USMC F4F "Wildcats" sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.

● 1941 - World War II: Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.

● 1941 - German occupying army do a house search in Paris looking for Jews

● 1941 - European reservists on Java mobilizes

● 1941 - Russian 20th army recaptures Soljetsjnogorsk

● 1942 - German offensive in South Western Stalingrad

● 1942 - A fire in a hostel in St. John's, Newfoundland kills 100 people.

● 1945 - Special Court of justice convicts NSB-leader Mussert to death

● 1946 - Ice plant collapses, shearing a tenement building & burying 38

● 1946 - A United Nations committee voted to accept a six-block tract of Manhattan real estate to be the site of the UN's headquarters. The land was offered as a gift by John D. Rockefeller Jr.

● 1946 - Tide detergent introduced

● 1947 - United Mine Workers union withdrew from AFL

● 1948 - Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre - 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.

● 1950 - Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.

● 1951 - The U.S. Navy Department announced that the world's first nuclear powered submarine would become the sixth ship to bear the name Nautilus.

● 1953 - Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in Bell X-1A rocket plane

● 1955 - It was announced that the Ford Foundation gave $500,000,000 to private hospitals, colleges and medical schools.

● 1955 - 1st prototype of hovercraft patented by British engineer Christoper Cockerell

● 1956 - Commencement of the Irish Republican Army's Border Campaign.

● 1957 - US announces manufacture of Borazon (harder than diamond)

● 1957 - Jerry Lee Lewis weds his cousin Myra Gale Brown, 13, while still married to his 1st wife, Jane Mitcham

● 1957 - Major Adrian Drew flies 1,943 kph in F-101 Voodoo

● 1958 - Rev. Maurice McCrackin sentenced to six months in jail for refusing to provide subpoenaed financial documents relating to his war tax resistance. Cincinnati, Ohio.

● 1958 - Dutch social democratic party-ministers/premier Drees dismissed

● 1959 - UN Committee on Peaceful Use of Outer Space is established

● 1961 - Ham radio satellite Oscar 1 launched with military Discoverer 36

● 1961 - Martin Luther King Jr & 700 demonstrators arrested in Albany GA

● 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1963 - Frank Sinatra Jr returned after being kidnapped

● 1963 - Argentina asks for extradition of ex-President Peron

● 1963 - Kenya (formerly British East Africa) declares independence from UK

● 1964 - Solidarity Bookstore opens, Chicago, Illinois, distributing anarchist, surrealist, Wobbly, and libertarian socialist literature to the nation.

● 1964 - Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.

● 1964 - Shooting starts for "Star Trek" pilot, "The Cage" (Menagerie)

● 1965 - Beatles last Great Britain concert (Capitol Theatre in Cardiff Wales)

● 1966 - US Supreme Courts votes 4-3 allowing Braves to move to Atlanta

● 1967 - US launches Pioneer 8 into solar orbit

● 1967 - Stones guitarist escapes jail for drugs; Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones has a nine-month jail sentence overturned at the Court of Appeal in London.

● 1968 - Rolling Stones film TV show "Rock 'n Roll Circus" - it never airs

● 1968 - Arthur Ashe becomes 1st black to be ranked #1 in tennis

● 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1969 - "Hello Dolly" with Barbra Streisand premieres

● 1969 - Bomb explodes, Banque Nationale d'Agriculture, Milan, Italy. Eighteen die, many injured. Blamed on the Red Brigades, the explosion triggers repression against the autonomy movement and anarchists. Authorities later admit the bombing was the work of fascists.

● 1970 - Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays

● 1970 - Polish government proclaims price rise

● 1970 - USSR performs underground nuclear test

● 1973 - Women members of United Steelworkers of America (Local 1066) protest sex discrimination, Gary, Indiana.

● 1973 - San Diego files anti-trust against National League (stopping Padres move to DC)

● 1973 - Canada begins selling Olympic coins ($5 & $10 silver coins)

● 1974 - Pope Paul VI announced his intention of canonizing Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton (1774-1821), who had founded the first free Catholic school in the U.S. as well as the religious order known as the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph.

● 1975 - Balcombe Street siege ends; A six-day siege ends peacefully in London after four IRA gunmen free their two hostages and give themselves up to police.

● 1975 - Gas stove explodes & starts fire killing 138 (Mecca Saudi Arabia)

● 1975 - Sara Jane Moore pled guilty to trying to kill President Gerald Ford

● 1976 - QB Joe Namath's last game as a New York Jet

● 1978 - Some hundred thousends of people filled the streets of Azadi Square (Then Shahyad Square) in Tehran to protest against the Shah.

● 1979 - NATO decides to deploy cruise and Pershing missiles across Europe. Annual protests follow.

● 1979 - Coup d'état of December Twelfth: South Korean military officer Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung Hee.

● 1979 - Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq conferred Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.

● 1979 - Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce

● 1979 - Rhodesia becomes the independent nation of Zimbabwe

● 1980 - US's copyright law amended to include computer programs

● 1981 - Gambia & Senegal sign agreement to be known as Senegambia in Feb 1982

● 1982 - Women's peace protest at Greenham Common a U.S. cruise missile base - 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 km (9 mi) perimeter fence.

● 1982 - $9,800,000 in cash stolen from money transport car in New York NY

● 1983 - Takoma Park, Maryland becomes first U.S. city to announce refusal to do business with nuclear weapon manufacturers.

● 1983 - Seventy people arrested in Boston outside a hotel where a "New Trends in Missiles" trade conference is being held. Inside the hotel, over 1,000 cockroaches are let loose to symbolize the likely survivors of nuclear war.

● 1983 - Car bombs were set off in front of the French and U.S. embassies in Kuwait City. Shiite extremists were responsible for the five deaths and 86 wounded. Total of five bombs went off in different locations.

● 1984 - Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya become the third president of Mauritania after coup d'etat against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the later was attending a summit. Taya was ousted in March 2005 by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall in another coup.

● 1983 - Car bombs were set off in front of the French and U.S. embassies in Kuwait City. Shiite extremists were responsible for the five deaths and 86 wounded. Total of five bombs went off in different locations.

● 1985 - Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 248 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.

● 1985 - NASA launches space vehicle S-207

● 1986 - Plowshares activists disarm Pershing missile launcher, West Germany.

● 1986 - Microlite aircraft circles world non-stop

● 1986 - James "Bone Crusher" Smith TKO's WBA champion Tim Witherspoon at Madison Square Garden

● 1986 - Russian Tupolev-134 crashes in East Berlin, 70 killed

● 1986 - South African journalist Zwelakhe Sisulu arrested

● 1988 - NYC Subway system adds new stations (the Z line)

● 1988 - Sandra Miller of Queens sues Mike Tyson for sexual harassment

● 1988 - Clapham Junction rail crash killed 35 and injured 100's after two collisions of three commuter trains. One of the worst train crashes in Britain.

● 1988 - PLO leader Yasser Arafat accepts Israel's right to exist

● 1989 - Britain forcibly removed 51 Vietnamese from Hong Kong and returned them to their homeland.

● 1989 - Leona Helmsley was fined $7 million and sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion.

● 1990 - Pakistan became the 37th country in the world to send an expedition to Antarctica.

● 1990 - US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell leaves Kuwait

● 1990 - US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks

● 1991 - First web site in the U.S. goes up, in a system called SLAC used by high-energy physicists.

● 1991 - Actor Richard Gere marries super model Cindy Crawford

● 1991 - Orion Pictures filed Chapter 11 for bankruptcy protection

● 1991 - Maastricht Treaty signed to create a European Community

● 1992 - 6.8-7.5 earthquake strikes Flores Island (tsunami kills 3,000)

● 1992 - Japanese crown prince Naruhito announces engagement to Masaka Owada

● 1992 - Princess Royal remarries; Princess Anne becomes Mrs Timothy Laurence after a small family wedding in Scotland.

● 1993 - Ultra-Nationalists make strong gains in Russian elections

● 1994 - The Brazilian Supreme Court acquitted former President Fernando Collor de Mello of corruption charges that had forced him to resign in 1992.

● 1994 - IBM stopped shipments of personal computers with Intel's flawed Pentium chip.

● 1995 - The U.S. Senate stopped a constitutional amendment giving Congress authority to outlaw flag burning and other forms of desecration against the American flag.

● 1995 - Two French airmen shot down over Bosnia arrived home after almost four months of being held captive by the Bosnian Serbs.

● 1995 - Israeli PM Shimon Peres address both house of US congress

● 1995 - NBA referees return to work after striking

● 1996 - Assassination attempt on Uday (Iraqi's heir to Sadam Hussain)

● 1997 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the international terrorist known as "Carlos the Jackal," went on trial in Paris on charges of killing two French investigators and a Lebanese national. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

● 1997 - Federal judge sentences Autumn Jackson, who claims to be Bill Cosby's daughter, to 26 months for trying to extort $40 million from him

● 1997 - Japanese train builders (Maglev) claim world speed record at 332 MPH

● 1997 - Red Sox sign Pedro Martinez to record 6 year $69 million contract

● 1997 - SWAT team shoots John E Armstrong in Florida, freeing 2 young hostages

● 1997 - TWA 800 hearings end in Baltimore MD

● 1997 - The U.S. Justice Department ordered Microsoft to sell its Internet browser separately from its Windows operating system to prevent it from building a monopoly of Web access programs.

● 1997 - Denver Pyle received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

● 1998 - Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles died in Tallahassee at age 68.

● 1998 - The House Judiciary Committee rejected censure, and approved the final article of impeachment against U.S. President Clinton. The case was submitted to the full House for a indictment.

● 1999 - ''Catch-22'' author Joseph Heller died at age 76.

● 2000 - The U.S. Supreme Court found that the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election was unconstitutional. U.S. Vice President Al Gore conceded the election to Texas Gov. George W. Bush the next day.

● 2000 - Timothy McVeigh, over the objections of his lawyers, abandoned his final round of appeals and asked that his execution be set within 120 days. McVeigh was convicted of the April 1995 truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Fedal Building in Oklahoma City, OK, that killed 168 and injured 500.

● 2000 - The Marine Corps grounded all eight of its high-tech V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft following a fiery crash in North Carolina that killed four Marines.

● 2000 - The Texas Rangers signed Alex Rodriguez to a record breaking 10-year, $252 million contract. The contract amount broke all major league baseball records and all professional sports records.

● 2001 - The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would implement minimum federal election standards and provide funding to help states modernize their voting systems.

● 2001 - Gerardo Hernandez was sentenced to life in prison for being the leader of a Cuban spy ring. His conviction was based on his role in the infiltration of U.S. military bases and in the deaths of four Cuban-Americans whose planes were shot down five years before.

● 2001 - In Beverly Hills, CA, actress Winona Ryder was arrested at Saks Fifth Avenue for shoplifting and possessing pharmaceutical drugs without a prescription. The numerous items of clothing and hair accessories were valued at $4,760.

● 2002 - North Korea announced that it would reactivate a nuclear power plant that U.S. officials believed was being used to develop weapons.

● 2003 - Paul Martin, Jr. is sworn-in as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada.

● 2003 - Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the "Free Willy" movies, died in the Norwegian fjord that he'd made his home.

● 2005 - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to block the imminent execution of Stanley Tookie Williams, rejecting the notion that the founder of the murderous Crips gang had atoned for his crimes and found redemption on death row.

BIRTHS

● 1298 - Albert II of Austria (d. 1358)

● 1418 - Albert VI of Austria (d. 1463)

● 1526 - Alvaro de Bazan Santa Cruz, Spanish naval commander (d. 1588)

● 1574 - Anne of Denmark, wife of James I of England (d. 1619)

● 1610 - Saint Vasilije (d. 1671)

● 1659 - Francesco Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect/designer (d. 1739)

● 1712 - Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Austrian military leader (d. 1780)

● 1724 - Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (d. 1816)

● 1745 - John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1829)

● 1779 - Madeline Sophie Barat, French saint (d. 1865)

● 1783 - Ner Alexander Middleswarth, American politician (d. 1865)

● 1786 - William L. Marcy, American statesman (d. 1857)

● 1799 - Karl Briullov, Russian painter (d. 1852)

● 1805 - William Lloyd Garrison, American abolitionist (d. 1879)

● 1806 - Stand Watie, American Confederate general (d. 1871)

● 1821 - Gustave Flaubert, French writer (d. 1880)

● 1845 - Bruce Price, American architect (d. 1903)

● 1849 - William Kissam Vanderbilt, member of the Vanderbilt family (d. 1920)

● 1863 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (d. 1944)

● 1864 - Arthur Garfield Brisbane, American editor and writer (d. 1936)

● 1864 - Paul Elmer More, American essayist (d. 1937)

● 1866 - Alfred Werner, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919)

● 1870 - Walter Benona Sharp, American oil baron (d. 1912)

● 1875 - Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (d. 1953)

● 1876 - Alvin Kraenzlein, American Olympic athlete; first competitor to win four gold medals in a single Olympics (d. 1928)

● 1881 - Arthur Garfield Hays, American lawyer and defender of civil liberties (d. 1954)

● 1887 - Kurt Atterberg, Swedish composer (d. 1974)

● 1892 - Herman Potočnik Noordung, Austro-Hungarian-born rocket engineer (d. 1929)

● 1893 - Edward G. Robinson, American actor (d. 1973)

● 1900 - Sammy Davis, Sr., American dancer (d. 1988)

● 1903 - Dagmar Nordstrom, American composer (d. 1976)

● 1903 - Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese film director (d. 1963)

● 1904 - Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor and socialite (d. 1981)

● 1905 - Mànes Sperber, Austro-Hungarian-born writer (d. 1984)

● 1907 - Roy Douglas, British composer and orchestrator

● 1909 - Karen Morley, American actress (d. 2003)

● 1912 - Henry Armstrong, American boxer (d. 1998)

● 1914 - Patrick O'Brian (Richard Patrick Russ), British author (d. 2000)

● 1915 - Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (d. 1998)

● 1918 - Joe Williams, American singer (d. 1999)

● 1919 - Olivia Barclay, British astrologer (d. 2001)

● 1919 - Dan DeCarlo, American cartoonist (d. 2001)

● 1923 - Bob Barker, American television game show host (''The Price is Right'')

● 1924 - Ed Koch, Mayor of New York City

● 1927 - Honor Blackman, British actress

● 1927 - Robert Noyce, American inventor (d. 1990)

● 1928 - Chinghiz Aitmatov, Soviet-born Kyrgyz writer

● 1929 - John Osborne, British dramatist (d. 1994)

● 1929 - Toshiko Akiyoshi, Japanese musician

● 1930 - Bill Beutel, American Journalist (d. 2006)

● 1931 - Lionel Blair, British actor and choreographer

● 1932 - Bob Pettit, American basketball player

● 1934 - Miguel de la Madrid, President of Mexico

● 1938 - Connie Francis, American singer

● 1940 - Sharad Pawar, Indian politician

● 1940 - Dionne Warwick, American singer

● 1943 - Dickey Betts, American musician (The Allman Brothers)

● 1943 - Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (d. 1999)

● 1944 - Jean Doré, Quebec politician, mayor of Montreal

● 1946 - Emerson Fittipaldi, Brazilian racing driver

● 1946 - Paula Wagner, American film executive

● 1947 - Wings Hauser, Actor

● 1948 - Tom Wilkinson, English actor

● 1949 - Rajnikanth, Indian actor

● 1949 - Bill Nighy, English actor

● 1950 - Billy Smith, National Hockey League goaltender

● 1952 - Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, Canadian politician

● 1952 - Cathy Rigby, American gymnast

● 1953 - Bruce Kulick, American guitarist (KISS)

● 1954 - Liz Claman, American television anchor

● 1956 - Johan Van der Velde, Dutch cyclist

● 1957 - Sheila E., American musician

● 1957 - Robert Lepage, Quebec playwright

● 1958 - Sheree J. Wilson, Actress

● 1959 - Sheila E., Singer-musician

● 1962 - Tracy Austin, American tennis player

● 1962 - Mike Golic, former NFL football player

● 1963 - Eric Schenkman, Rock musician (Spin Doctors)

● 1964 - Sabu, American professional wrestler

● 1966 - Royce Gracie, Brazilian martial artist

● 1967 - Nicholas Dimichino, Rock musician (Nine Days)

● 1967 - John Randle, American football player

● 1968 - Laurie Williams, Indian cricket player

● 1968 - Sheldon Mydat, English Entrepreneur

● 1970 - Jennifer Connelly, American actress

● 1970 - Madchen Amick, American actress

● 1970 - Regina Hall, American actress

● 1972 - Hank Williams III, grandson of Hank Williams

● 1972 - Nicky Eaden, English footballer

● 1972 - Kevin Parent, Quebec singer and songwriter

● 1972 - Brandon Teena, American hate crime victim

● 1974 - Nolberto Solano, Peruvian footballer

● 1975 - Mayim Bialik, American actress (''Blossom'')

● 1975 - Craig Moore, Australian footballer

● 1976 - Dan Hawkins, British guitarist (The Darkness)

● 1977 - Orlando Hudson, American baseball player

● 1977 - Bridget Hall, American supermodel

● 1978 - Monica Barladeanu, Romanian actress

● 1978 - Nicole, Erica and Jaclyn Dahm, American triplet Playboy models

● 1978 - Evren Genis, Turkish composer

● 1979 - Garrett Atkins, American baseball player

● 1979 - Nate Clements, American football player

● 1981 - Jeret Peterson, American aerial skier

● 1981 - Ronnie Brown, American football player

● 1981 - Yuvraj Singh, Indian cricket player

● 1981 - Stephen Warnock, British footballer

● 1981 - Pedro Ríos, Spanish footballer

● 1982 - Dmitry Tursunov, Russian tennis player

● 1983 - Katrina Elam, American singer

● 1983 - Brad Smith, American football player

● 1984 - Daniel Agger, Danish footballer

● 1989 - Harry Eden, British actor

DEATHS

● 884 - Carloman, King of the West Franks

● 1212 - Geoffrey, Archbishop of York

● 1569 - Metropolitan Philip of Moscow (b. 1507)

● 1574 - Selim II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1524)

● 1586 - Stefan Batory, King of Poland (b. 1533)

● 1685 - John Pell, English mathematician (b. 1610)

● 1751 - Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, English statesman and philosopher (b. 1678)

● 1754 - Wu Jingzi, Chinese writer (b. 1701)

● 1766 - Johann Christoph Gottsched, German writer (b. 1700)

● 1789 - John Ponsonby, Irish politician (b. 1713)

● 1790 - Mikhail Shcherbatov, Russian philosopher and writer (b. 1733)

● 1843 - King William I of the Netherlands, (b. 1772)

● 1858 - Jacques Viger, antiquarian and archeologist, first mayor of Montreal (b. 1787)

● 1889 - Robert Browning, British poet (b. 1812)

● 1889 - Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (b. 1804)

● 1894 - Sir John Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1845)

● 1913 - Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (b. 1844)

● 1923 - Raymond Radiguet, French author (b. 1903)

● 1926 - Jean Richepin, French poet (b. 1849)

● 1929 - Charles Goodnight, American cattle baron (b. 1836)

● 1939 - Douglas Fairbanks, American actor (b. 1883)

● 1952 - Bedřich Hrozný, Austro-Hungarian-born Czechoslovak orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)

● 1963 - Yasujiro Ozu, Japanese film director (b. 1903)

● 1968 - Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (b. 1902)

● 1970 - Doris Blackburn, Australian politician (b. 1889)

● 1971 - David Sarnoff, Russian-born American General Manager of RCA (b. 1891)

● 1976 - Vinko Zganec, Croatian ethnomusicologist (b. 1890)

● 1977 - Lady Spencer Churchill, wife of Winston Churchill (b. 1885)

● 1980 - Jean Lesage, politician, premier of Quebec (b. 1912)

● 1985 - Anne Baxter, American actress (b. 1923)

● 1985 - Ian Stewart, Scottish musician (b. 1938)

● 1993 - József Antall, Hungarian politician (b. 1932)

● 1994 - Stuart Roosa, American astronaut (b. 1933)

● 1996 - Vance Packard, American author (b. 1914)

● 1997 - Yevgeniy Landis, Russian mathematician (b. 1921)

● 1998 - Lawton Chiles, U.S. Senator from Florida and Governor of Florida (b. 1930)

● 1999 - Joseph Heller, American author (b. 1923)

● 2000 - George Montgomery, American actor (b. 1916)

● 2001 - Jean Richard, French actor (b. 1921)

● 2002 - Dee Brown, American author (b. 1908)

● 2002 - Jay Wesley Neill, American convicted murderer (b. 1965)

● 2002 - Brad Dexter, American actor (b. 1917)

● 2003 - Heydar Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan

● 2003 - Joseph Anthony Ferrario, American Catholic prelate (b. 1926)

● 2003 - Keiko, orca who played Willy in Free Willy

● 2005 - Annette Vadim, Danish actress (b. 1936)

● 2006 - Paul Arizin, American basketball player (b. 1928)

● 2006 - Peter Boyle, American actor (b. 1935)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● Memorial of Dark Virgin of Guadalupe, patron of México
● St. Corentin
● St. Abra
● St. Agatha
● St. Alexander
● St. Ammonaria
● St. Jane Frances de Chantal
● St. Vicelin
● St. Colman of Glendalough
● St. Corentius
● St. Edburga
● St. Finian of Clonard
● St. Hermogenes
● St. Maxentius
● Bl. Thomas Holland

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for November 30 (Civil Date: December 12)
● Nativity Fast.
● Holy and All praised Apostle Andrew the First Called
● St. Frumentius, Archbishop of Abyssinia.

● Greek Calendar:
● Bishop Alexander of Mithymna.

● Bahá'í Faith:
● Feast of Masá'il (Questions)
● First day of the 15th month of the Bahá'í Calendar

● Kenya - Jamhuri Day: Independence Day (from Britain, 1963)

● El Salvador : Day of the Indians

● Pennsylvania : Ratification Day (1787)

● World : National Ding-a-ling Day


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

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