December 17......

December 17 is the 351st day of the year (352nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 14 days remaining in the year on this date.

EVENTS

● 283 - St. Gaius begins his reign as Catholic Pope

● 384 - St Siricius becomes Pope.

● 546 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome bribing the Byzantine garrison.

● 1526 - Ferdinand of Austria chosen as King of Bohemia

● 1526 - Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero - forms Inquisition

● 1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicated England's King Henry VIII

● 1572 - Spanish army begins fires in Haarlem Netherlands

● 1577 - Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for British Queen Elizabeth I.

● 1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.

● 1587 - Earl Leicester’s army leaves Netherlands

● 1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.

● 1638 - French/Swedish troops occupy Breisach on the Rhine

● 1718 - England declares war on Spain

● 1728 - Congregation Shearith Israel of New York purchases a lot on Mill Street in lower Manhattan, to build New York's 1st synagogue

● 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charles army retreats to Scotland

● 1760 - Birth of Deborah Sampson, U.S. Revolutionary War soldier who fought dressed as a man.

● 1777 - France recognizes independence of English colonies in America

● 1777 - George Washington's army returns to Valley Forge PA

● 1788 - Russian army of Grigorij Potemkin occupies Ochárov

● 1790 - Aztec calendar stone discovered in México City

● 1791 - NYC traffic regulation creates 1st 1-way street

● 1792 - Opening of 1st legislative assembly of Lower Canada in Québec City

● 1798 - 1st impeachment trial against a US senator (William Blount, Tennessee) begins

● 1819 - Congress of Angostura establishes Colombia's independence from Spain

● 1821 - Kentucky abolishes debtors prisons

● 1830 - Latin American liberationist Simón Bolivar dies, Santa Marta, Colombia.

● 1832 - HMS Beagle/Charles Darwin sails in Strait Le Maire

● 1843 - Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was first published. The "social conversion" of Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve may be seen as a literary symbol (based on the events of the first Christmas night) of the human potential released through spiritual conversion.

● 1852 - 1st Hawaiian cavalry organized

● 1860 - Anaheim Township created in Los Angeles County

● 1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.

● 1862 - Birth of Urbain Gohier, Versailles. French writer, journalist, lampoonist, anti-militarist. Unfortunately, he sank gradually into anti-Semitism and patriotism, leading him to become a collaborationist during WWII. (Maybe the karma from Grant’s order above was just too much to overcome.)

● 1864 - Battle of Franklin TN

● 1875 - Violent bread riots in Montréal

● 1885 - France declares Madagascar a protectorate

● 1893 - Russia ratifies Duple Alliance with France

● 1894 - Arthur Fiedler, the American conductor who conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra , was born.

● 1895 - Anti-Saloon League of America formed, Washington DC

● 1895 - George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Massachusetts)

● 1900 - 1st prize of 100,000 francs offered for communications with extraterrestrials. Martians excluded-considered too easy

● 1900 - New Ellis Island Immigration station completed costing $1.5 million

● 1903 - At 10:35 AM, 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight (Orville Wright) in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

● 1907 - Ugyen Wangchuck became 1st hereditary king of Bhutan

● 1909 - Leopold II, king of Belgium, buried in Brussels

● 1914 - Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities

● 1914 - Austrian troops beat Russians in Limanova Poland

● 1914 - Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate

● 1917 - Confiscation of the property of the Russian Orthodox Church and abolition of religious instruction in schools was announced by the Bolshevik government.

● 1919 - Birth of South African author/teacher Ezekiel Mphahlele. His autobiography ("Down Second Avenue" [1959]), a South African classic, combines a young man's coming of age with penetrating social criticism of apartheid.

● 1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

● 1919 - Austria parliament approves 8-hour day

● 1920 - The first orphanage founded by the Church of God opened in Cleveland, Tennessee. Its establishment was the result of the vision and efforts of Church of God pioneer, A.J. Tomlinson.

● 1920 - British Empire receives League of Nations mandate to Nauru

● 1920 - Japan receives League of Nations mandate over Pacific islands

● 1920 - South Africa receives League of Nations mandate over SW Africa

● 1920 - American League votes to allow pitchers who used the spitball in 1920 to continue using it as long as they are in the league (The National League will do the same - 17 holdover spitballers in all)

● 1922 - Last British troops leave Ireland Freestate

● 1923 - Greek king George II overthrown by army/republic

● 1924 - 1st US diesel electric locomotive enters service, Bronx NY

● 1925 - Col. William "Billy" Mitchell was convicted of insubordination at his court-martial. He had insisted that air power was the power of war in the future; his bosses thought otherwise.

● 1925 - Russia & Turkey sign non-aggression pact

● 1926 - German Marx government falls due to cooperation with red army

● 1926 - Lithuanian military state under General Augustine Woldemaras

● 1927 - US sub 'S-4' sinks after collision kills all 34 aboard

● 1933 - Spain's 2nd Government of Lerroux forms

● 1934 - Birth of Kurt Kaiser, contemporary American Christian songwriter and composer. His abiding works include: "Oh, How He Loves You and Me," "Pass It On" and "Master Designer."

● 1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.

● 1936 - The "The Rudy Vallee Show" debuted on NBC.

● 1936 - Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen & dummy Charlie McCarthy, make their radio debut on Rudy Vallee’s Royal Gelatin Hour

● 1938 - Utrecht Central Station destroyed by fire

● 1939 - World War II: Battle of the River Plate - The German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo, Uruguay.

● 1940 - British troops occupies Sollum

● 1941 - German troops led by Rommel begin retreating in North Africa

● 1941 - Dutch & Australian troops lands on Portuguese-Timor

● 1941 - German submarine U-31 sunk

● 1942 - Britain condemns massacre of Jews; Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden condemns the persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe.

● 1942 - Allies in London sentence German war criminals

● 1943 - German theologian and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison: 'The consciousness of being borne up by a spiritual tradition that goes back for centuries gives one a feeling of confidence and security in the face of all passing strains and stresses.'

● 1943 - Transport 63 departs with French Jews to Nazi-Germany

● 1944 - Germany counter-attacks in Ardennes; German tanks, aircraft and paratroops cross the Luxembourg and Belgian borders in massive counter-offensive.

● 1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.

● 1944 - M-Ocean View streetcar resumes service & is extended to Market St

● 1944 - US Army announces end of excluding Japanese-Americans from West Coast; Japanese-Americans are released from detention camps

● 1944 - US destroyers sink in storm off Philippines, 790 killed

● 1946 - US V-2 rocket reaches 183 km, White Sands Proving Grounds NM

● 1947 - New York struck by a blizzard, resulting with 27" of snow

● 1949 - Burma recognizes People's Republic of China

● 1951 - Dutch Communist Party members forbidden to be civil servants

● 1953 - FCC approves RCA's black & white-compatible color TV specifications

● 1954 - 1st fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary IN)

● 1957 - US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile

● 1959 - "On The Beach" is 1st film to premiere on both sides of Iron Curtain

● 1961 - Disgruntled employee set fire to a Niteroi Circus of Rio de Janeiro circus tent in Niteroi Brazil; 323 die

● 1961 - India seizes Goa & 2 other Portuguese colonies

● 1962 - Current constitution of Monaco promulgated

● 1962 - Beatles 1st British TV appearance (People & Places)

● 1963 - U.S. Congress passes first Clean Air Act.

● 1963 - Tsjoi Doo Sun forms government in South Korea

● 1963 - West & East Berlin sign accord about travel rules

● 1965 - Ferdinand Marcos is elected president of the Philippines. (Again proving that democracy isn’t always wise.)

● 1965 - Largest newspaper-Sunday New York Times at 946 pages (50¢)

● 1965 - Astrodome opens, 1st event is Judy Garland & Supremes concert

● 1965 - British government proclaims end of oil-embargo against Rhodesia

● 1965 - David Levy begins his search for comets

● 1965 - Dutch government shuts Limburgs coal mine

● 1966 - Against U.S. wishes, U.N. General Assembly approves an international treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.

● 1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria.

● 1968 - Mary Bell found guilty of double killing; An 11-year-old girl is sentenced to life in detention at Newcastle Assizes for killing two small boys.

● 1969 - 50 million TV viewers see singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky, on Tonight Show

● 1969 - Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of 'A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, Psychopathological persons, and Misidentification of various conventional objects'. (Or maybe with Tiny Tim now married he has no time to go flying.)

● 1970 - Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.

● 1970 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1970 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1971 - Cease-fire between India & Pakistan in Kashmir

● 1971 - Radio Bangladesh begins transmitting

● 1971 - "Diamonds are Forever" premieres in US

● 1972 - New line of control agreed to in Kashmir between India & Pakistan

● 1973 - Thirty-one people were killed at Rome airport when Arab guerillas hijacked a German airliner.

● 1975 - John Paul Stevens appointed to the Supreme Court

● 1975 - Lynette Fromme is sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life

● 1976 - WTCG-TV, Atlanta, GA, changed its call letters to WTBS, and was uplinked via satellite. The station became the first commercial TV station to cover the entire U.S.

● 1977 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island

● 1978 - The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.

● 1978 - Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda

● 1978 - OPEC raises oil prices 18%

● 1979 - Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance executive, was fatally beaten after a police chase in Miami, FL. Four white police officers were later acquitted of charges stemming from McDuffie's death. (Is possible the Rodney King rioters remembered this miscarriage of justice?)

● 1979 - Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)

● 1980 - Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1980 - Mauritania provisional constitution published

● 1981 - Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.

● 1982 - Federal District Court Judge decides not to grant preliminary injunction against completion of the Gasquet-Orleans Road thru Siskiyou Indian religious area.

● 1983 - The IRA bomb Harrods Department Store in London, killing seven people, 94 injured.

● 1983 - Disco in Madrid catches fire; 83 die

● 1986 - Nine members of End Conscription Campaign placed on trial, South Africa.

● 1986 - Wayne "Danke Schoen" Newton won a $19.2 million suit against NBC News. NBC had aired reports claiming a link between Newton and mob figures. The reports were proven to be false.

● 1986 - Mrs Davina Thompson makes medical history by having the 1st heart, lung & liver transplant (Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, England)

● 1986 - Eugene Hasefus was pardoned and then released by Nicaragua. He had been convicted of running guns to the Contras.

● 1986 - US Congress forms "Irangate" committee

● 1987 - Czechoslovak party leader Gustav Husák resigns

● 1988 - USS Tennessee, 1st sub to carry Trident 2 missiles, commissioned

● 1988 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timişoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.

● 1989 - Brazil elects conservative Fernando Collor de Mello president

● 1991 - First Palestinian-Israeli peace talks begin in Madrid, Spain.

● 1991 - Patrick Manning becomes premier of Trinidad & Tobago

● 1992 - U.S. President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari signed the North American Free Trade Agreement.

● 1992 - Israel deported over 400 Palestinians to Lebanese territory in an unprecedented mass expulsion of suspected militants.

● 1992 - General Suwa finds tooth of 4.4 million year old Australopithecus ramidus

● 1993 - Bangladesh Moslems call for murder of feminist Taslima Nasrin

● 1993 - Northern Exposure star Barry Corbin falls off his horse

● 1994 - KLM's last DC-10 goes out of service

● 1996 - Kofi Annan of Ghana was appointed United Nations secretary-general.

● 1996 - The Red Cross pulled all but a few of its western staff out of Chechnya after six Red Cross workers are killed in their hospital beds 11 miles from Grozny, the capital of Chechnya.

● 1996 - Peruvian MRTA guerrillas take over the Japanese ambassador's residence, beginning a lengthy seige. (Japan, along with the U.S., was a particularly important patron of Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori.)

● 1996 - Peruvian guerrillas took hundreds of people hostage at the Japanese embassy in Lima. The siege ended on April 22, 1997, with a commando raid that resulted in the deaths of all the rebels, two commandos and one hostage.

● 1997 - U.S. President Clinton signed the No Electronic Theft Act. The act removed protection from individuals who claimed that they took no direct financial gains from stealing copyrighted works and downloading them from the Internet.

● 1998 - British/U.S. airstrikes renewed against Iraq.

● 1998 - U.S. House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston admitted he'd had extramarital affairs.

● 2000 - Terrell Owens (San Francisco 49ers) caught an NFL-record 20 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears. The previous record was held by Tom Fears (Los Angeles Rams) with 18 catches on December 3, 1950, against the Green Bay Packers. Owens also broke Jerry Rice's franchise record of 16 receptions set in 1994 against the Los Angeles Rams.

● 2002 - Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.

● 2002 - U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the Pentagon to have ready for use within two years a system for protecting American territory, troops and allies from ballistic missile attacks.

● 2002 - McDonald's Corp. warned that they would report its first quarterly loss in its 47-year history.

● 2002 - The insurance and finance company Conseco Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection. It was the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

● 2003 - SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes the first privately-funded manned supersonic flight.

● 2003 - Caretaker Ian Huntley is found guilty of killing Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both 10, in the Soham murders in the United Kingdom, in a case that dominated British media.

● 2004 - U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the largest overhaul of U.S. intelligence gathering in 50 years. The bill aimed to tighten borders and aviation security. It also created a federal counterterrorism center and a new intelligence director.

● 2005 - President George W. Bush acknowledged he'd personally authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. following Sept. 11, calling it "crucial to our national security."

● 2005 - Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong

● 2006 - A climber who had been lost days earlier in Oregon's Mount Hood had been found dead. He was amongst three men who had been lost for about ten days. His identity has not yet been released.

BIRTHS

● 1239 - Kujo Yoritsugu, Japanese Shogun (d. 1256)

● 1267 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (d. 1324)

● 1616 - Sir Roger L'Estrange, English journalist and pamphleteer (d. 1704)

● 1619 - Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682)

● 1632 - Anthony Wood, English antiqurian (d. 1695)

● 1685 - Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)

● 1706 - Émilie du Châtelet, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749)

● 1734 - Maria I of Portugal, Portuguese queen (d. 1816)

● 1749 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)

● 1770 - (Baptism) - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (d. 1827)

● 1778 - Sir Humphry Davy, British chemist and physicist (d. 1829)

● 1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)

● 1797 - Joseph Henry, American scientist (d. 1878)

● 1799 - Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)

● 1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)

● 1830 - Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)

● 1847 - Émile Faguet, French writer and critic (d. 1916)

● 1853 - Émile Roux, French physician (d. 1933)

● 1859 - Paul César Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)

● 1873 - Ford Madox Ford, British writer (d. 1939)

● 1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (1921-26, 1926-30, 1935-48) (d. 1950)

● 1883 - Raimu, French actor (d. 1946)

● 1887 - Josef Lada, Czech painter (d. 1957)

● 1888 - King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)

● 1892 - Edwin Cohn, American biochemist (d. 1953)

● 1892 - Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d. 1950)

● 1893 - Erwin Piscator, German film director (d. 1966)

● 1894 - Arthur Fiedler, American conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra (d. 1979)

● 1900 - Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (d. 1998)

● 1903 - Erskine Caldwell, American author (d. 1987)

● 1903 - Ray Noble, British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor (d. 1978)

● 1905 - Simo Häyhä, Finnish sniper (d. 2002)

● 1906 - Fernando Lopes-Graça, Portuguese composer and musicologist (d. 1994)

● 1908 - Willard Frank Libby, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)

● 1910 - Sy Oliver, American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer and bandleader (d. 1988)

● 1915 - André Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)

● 1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald, British writer (d. 2000)

● 1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist

● 1922 - Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (d. 2005)

● 1923 - Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian

● 1926 - Ray Jablonski, baseball player (d. 1985)

● 1927 - Richard Long, American actor (d. 1974)

● 1929 - Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)

● 1929 - William Safire, American columnist

● 1930 - Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher (''Penthouse'')

● 1930 - Bob Mathias, American decathlete and congressman (d. 2006)

● 1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor

● 1934 - Ray Wilson, English footballer

● 1935 - George Lindsey, Actor

● 1936 - Tommy Steele, British singer and actor

● 1937 - Art Neville, Rock musician-singer

● 1937 - Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)

● 1937 - John Kennedy Toole, American novelist (d. 1969)

● 1938 - Peter Snell, New Zealander runner

● 1938 - Carlo Little, UK influential rock and roll drummer (d. 2005)

● 1939 - Eddie Kendricks, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1992)

● 1940 - Kåre Valebrokk, Norwegian journalist

● 1942 - Paul Butterfield, American harmonica player (d. 1987)

● 1943 - Ron Geesin, British musician and composer

● 1944 - Jack L. Chalker, American novelist

● 1944 - Bernard Hill, British actor

● 1945 - Christopher Cazenove, Actor

● 1945 - Ernie Hudson, American actor

● 1945 - Jacqueline Wilson, British author

● 1946 - Eugene Levy, Canadian actor (''American Pie'' movies, ''SCTV'')

● 1947 - Wes Studi, Actor

● 1948 - Jim Bonfanti, Rock musician (The Raspberries)

● 1949 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free & Bad Company)

● 1950 - Laurence F. Johnson, American futurist and educator

● 1951 - Wanda Hutchinson, R&B singer (The Emotions)

● 1951 - Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach

● 1951 - Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet athlete

● 1953 - Barry Livingston, Actor (''My Three Sons'')

● 1953 - Sharon White, Country singer

● 1953 - Bill Pullman, American actor

● 1955 - Brad Davis, American basketball player

● 1956 - Peter Farrelly, Director-producer

● 1958 - Mike Mills, American bassist (R.E.M.)

● 1960 - Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist

● 1961 - Sarah Dallin, Pop singer (Bananarama)

● 1962 - Tim Chewning, Country musician

● 1962 - Rocco Mediate, American golfer

● 1962 - Paul Dobson, English footballer

● 1964 - Frank Musil, Czech ice hockey player and scout

● 1966 - Duane Propes, Country musician

● 1966 - Tracy Byrd, Country musician

● 1966 - Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician

● 1966 - Valeri Liukin, Former Soviet Union Gymnast

● 1967 - Vincent Damphousse, Canadian ice hockey player

● 1968 - Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver

● 1969 - Chuck Lidell, UFC Fighter

● 1970 - DJ Homicide, DJ (Sugar Ray)

● 1970 - Sean Patrick Thomas, Actor

● 1970 - Joshua Seth, American voice actor

● 1971 - Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player

● 1971 - Alan Khan, South African radio disc jockey

● 1972 - John Abraham, Indian actor and model

● 1972 - Laurie Holden, American actress

● 1973 - Paula Radcliffe, British runner

● 1974 - Sarah Paulson, Actress (''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'')

● 1974 - Marissa Ribisi, Actress

● 1974 - Giovanni Ribisi, American actor

● 1975 - Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler

● 1975 - Bree Sharp, Rock singer

● 1975 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress and model

● 1975 - Sarah Paulson, American actress

● 1976 - Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born porn actress

● 1976 - Patrick Müller, Swiss footballer

● 1976 - Takeo Spikes, NFL Pro Bowl linebacker

● 1976 - Éric Bédard, Quebec speed skater

● 1978 - Riteish Deshmukh, Indian Actor

● 1978 - Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer

● 1978 - Chase Utley, Baseball player

● 1979 - Jennifer Carpenter, Actress

● 1979 - Matt Murley, Hockey Player

● 1982 - Craig Kielburger, child labour activist

● 1986 - Vanessa Zima, Actress

DEATHS

● 942 - William Longsword

● 1187 - Pope Gregory VIII

● 1195 - Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)

● 1663 - Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)

● 1721 - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)

● 1830 - Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan-born libertator, six nations (b. 1783)

● 1833 - Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)

● 1897 - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)

● 1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (b. 1824)

● 1909 - Léopold II of Belgium (b. 1835)

● 1917 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, British physician (b. 1836)

● 1917 - Frank Gotch, wrestler (b. 1878)

● 1933 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)

● 1940 - Alicia Boole Stott, Irish mathematician (b. 1860)

● 1962 - Thomas Mitchell, American actor (b. 1892)

● 1957 - Dorothy L. Sayers, British writer (b. 1893)

● 1964 - Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)

● 1967 - Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister (b. 1908)

● 1978 - Don Ellis, American jazz trumpeter, composer and big band leader (b. 1934)

● 1982 - Homer S. Ferguson, United States Senator (b. 1889)

● 1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)

● 1987 - Linda Wong, pornographic actress (b. 1951)

● 1992 - Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)

● 1998 - Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)

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

● 1999 - Rex Allen, American actor, singer and songwriter (b. 1920)

● 2002 - James Hazeldine, British actor, known for his role on series London's Burning (b. 1947)

● 2003 - Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)

● 2003 - Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)

● 2005 - Jack Anderson, American journalist (b. 1922)

● 2005 - Marc Favreau, Quebec humorist and actor (Sol) b. 1929)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. O Sapientia
● St. Lazarus
● St. Begga
● St. John of Martha
● St. Olympias
● St. Briarch
● St. Wivina
● St. Tydecho
● St. Eigil
● St. Florian
● St. Maxentiolus

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for December 4 (Civil Date: December 17)
● Nativity Fast.
● Daniel the Prophet
● Great Martyr Barbara and Martyr Juliana at Heliopolis in Syria
● St. John Damascene.
● St. John, Bishop of Polybotum.
● Repose of St. Gennadius, Archbishop of Novgorod.
● New Hieromartyr Seraphim, Bishop of the Phanar in Greece.
● Hieromartyrs Damascene, Bishop of Glukhov (1935) and his father Priest Nicholas (Tsedrick) (1917).

● Greek Calendar:
● Martyrs Christodula and Christodulus

● Christian:
● Fiesta of the Virgin of the Lonely

● Roman festivals:
● Saturnalia, in honor of Saturn, began.

● Bhutan – Ascension to the throne of the 1st King / National Day (1907)

● Colombia : Independence Day (1819)

● US : Pan American Aviation Day/Wright Brothers Day (1903)

● Venezuela : Bolivar Day (1830)

● This Holiday is only applicable on a given "day of the week":
● World : Underdog Day - ( Friday )


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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