December 11
is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining.
*
359 - The first known
Prefect of the City of
Constantinople,
Honoratus, took office.
*
1282 -
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Gruffudd (b. c. 1228) the last native
Prince of Wales, was killed at
Cilmeri, near
Builth Wells, south
Wales. He was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by King
Edward I of England. Some would say he was the penultimate, but in effect he was the last ruler. In
Welsh, he is remembered by the alliterative soubriquet
Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf (Llywelyn, Our Last Leader).
*
1602 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the
Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law,
Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of
Geneva. (This actually takes place after midnight, in the early morning of
December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on
Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.)
*
1792 -
French Revolution: King
Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the
National Convention.
*
1816 -
Indiana becomes the 19th
U.S. state.
*
1872 -
P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the
U.S. House of Representatives.
*
1927 -
Guangzhou Uprising:
Communist militia and worker
red guards launch an uprising in the
Chinese city of
Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou
Soviet.
*
1931 - The
British Parliament enacts the
Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the
Commonwealth of Australia, the
Dominion of Canada, the
Irish Free State,
Newfoundland, the
Dominion of New Zealand, and the
Union of South Africa.
*
1934 - A fire at the Hotel Kerns in
Lansing, Michigan, kills 34 people.
*
1936 -
Abdication Crisis:
Edward VIII's abdication as King of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the
British Dominions beyond the Seas, and
Emperor of India becomes effective.
*
1937 -
Second Italo-Abyssinian War:
Italy leaves the
League of Nations*
1941 -
World War II:
Germany and
Italy declare war on the
United States.
*
1946 - The
United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
*
1951 -
Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.
*
1958 -
Upper Volta declares its independence from
France, and becomes an autonomous republic in the
French Community.
*
1961 -
Melvin Calvin Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for process of photosynthesis.
*
1964 - An unknown terrorist fired a mortar shell at the
United Nations building in New York City during a speech by
Che Guevara*
1971 - The
Libertarian Party of the
United States is formed.
*
1972 -
Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the
Moon.
*
1981 - In his last fight,
Muhammad Ali is defeated by
Trevor Berbick.
* 1981 -
Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes
UN Secretary-General* 1981 -
El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
*
1993 - Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the
Highland Towers collapses near
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia.
*
1994 -
First Chechen War:
Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders
Russian troops into
Chechnya* 1994 - A bomb assembled by
Ramzi Yousef explodes on
Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a
Japanese businessman.
*
1997 - The
Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
*
1998 - A
Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near
Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
*
2000 -
Real Madrid football club is awarded
20th Century's Best Club award by
FIFA.
*
2001 - The
People's Republic of China joins the
World Trade Organization.
*
2005 - The
Buncefield Oil Depot in
Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
* 2005 -
2005 Cronulla riots: Thousands of
Australians demonstate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be
Lebanese (and many who were not) in
Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on
Cronulla.
*
1465 -
Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (d.
1489)
*
1475 -
Pope Leo X (d.
1521)
*
1566 -
Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (d.
1650)
*
1680 -
Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer
*
1712 -
Francesco Algarotti. Italian philosopher (d.
1764)
*
1725 -
George Mason, American statesman (d.
1792)
*
1761 -
Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (d.
1835)
*
1781 - Sir
David Brewster, British physicist (d.
1868)
*
1801 -
Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German writer (d.
1836)
*
1803 -
Hector Berlioz, French composer (d.
1869)
*
1810 -
Alfred de Musset, French poet (d.
1857)
*
1843 -
Robert Koch, German bacteriologist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1910)
*
1858 -
Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Soviet theatre director (d.
1943)
*
1863 -
Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (d.
1941)
*
1873 -
Josip Plemelj, Yugoslav mathematician (d.
1967)
*
1880 -
Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d.
1951)
*
1882 -
Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (d.
1921)
* 1882 -
Max Born, German physicist,
Nobel laureate (d.
1970)
* 1882 -
Fiorello LaGuardia, American statesman (d.
1947)
*
1883 -
Victor McLaglen, British-born American actor (d.
1959)
*
1889 -
Walter Knott, American farmer (d.
1981).
*
1890 -
Mark Tobey, American painter (d.
1976)
*
1905 -
Gilbert Roland, American actor (d.
1994)
*1905 -
Robert Henriques, British writer (d.
1967)
*
1908 -
Elliott Carter, American composer
*
1911 -
Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer,
Nobel laureate *1911 -
Val Guest, British film director (d.
2006)
*
1912 -
Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer
*
1913 -
Jean Marais, French actor (d.
1998)
*
1916 -
Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban-born bandleader (d.
1989)
*
1918 -
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer,
Nobel laureate*
1919 -
Marie Windsor, American actress (d.
2000)
*
1920 -
Big Mama Thornton, American singer (d.
1984)
*
1922 -
Grace Paley, American writer
*
1925 -
Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist,
Nobel laureate *
1930 -
Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actor
*
1931 -
Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican entertainer
*
1933 -
Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician
*
1935 -
Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
*
1936 -
Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
*
1938 -
McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
*
1939 -
Tom Hayden, American politician
*
1940 -
David Gates, American musician (
Bread)
*
1942 -
Donna Mills, American actress
*
1943 -
John Kerry, American politician
*
1944 -
Teri Garr, American film actress
* 1944 -
Brenda Lee, American singer
*
1950 -
Christina Onassis, American heiress (d.
1988)
*
1954 -
Jermaine Jackson, American musician
* 1954 -
Guðlaugur Kristinn Ã"ttarsson, Icelandic engineer
*
1958 -
Nikki Sixx, American bassist (
Mötley Crüe)
*
1959 -
Lisa Gastineau, American reality show star
*
1962 -
Ben Browder, American actor
*
1964 -
David Schools, American musician (
Widespread Panic)
* 1964 -
Cosy Sheridan, American singer
*
1966 -
Gary Dourdan, American actor
* 1966 -
Leon Lai, Beijing-born Canadian actor
*
1967 -
DJ Yella, American music producer
*
1969 -
Vishwanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster
* 1969 -
Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
*
1972 -
Daniel Alfredsson, Candadian hockey player
* 1972 -
Dana Macsim, Romanian television news reporter
*
1973 -
Mos Def, American emcee
*
1974 -
Oscar Gutierrez, American professional wrestler
* 1974 -
Ben Shephard, TV personality
*
1975 -
Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist
*
1979 -
Rider Strong, American actor
*
1981 -
Zacky Vengeance, American musician (
Avenged Sevenfold)
* 1981 -
Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer
*
1988 -
Murugan Thiruchelvam, chess prodigy
*
384 -
Pope Damasus I*
1121 -
Al-Afdal Shahanshah, Caliph of Egypt (b.
1066)
*
1226 -
Robert de Ros, English politician (b.
1177)
*
1282 -
Llywelyn the Last,
King of Gwynedd* 1282 -
Michael VIII Palaeologus,
Byzantine Emperor (b.
1225)
*
1532 -
Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b.
1455)
*
1694 -
Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (b.
1630)
*
1737 -
John Strype, English historian (b.
1643)
*
1757 -
Edmund Curll, English bookseller (b.
1675)
*
1797 -
Richard Brocklesby, British physician (b.
1722)
*
1840 -
Emperor Kokaku of Japan (b.
1771)
*
1909 -
Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet (b.
1855)
*
1918 -
Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b.
1876)
*
1920 -
Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b.
1855)
*
1938 -
Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist and recipient of
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1869)
*
1941 -
John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b.
1922)
*
1945 -
Charles Fabry, French physicist (b.
1867)
*
1950 -
Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer (b.
1893)
*
1957 -
Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress (b.
1889)
*
1959 -
Jim Bottomley, Baseball player (b.
1900)
*
1964 -
Sam Cooke, American singer (b.
1931)
*
1978 -
Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist and
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1901)
*
1983 - Sir
Neil Ritchie, British General (b.
1897)
*
1984 -
Oskar Seidlin, Silesian-born scholar (b.
1911)
*
1989 -
Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (b. 1895)
*
1994 -
Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b.
1900)
*
1996 -
Willie Rushton, British cartoonist (b.
1937)
*
1998 -
André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b.
1915)
*
2003 -
Ahmadou Kourouma, Côte d'Ivoire writer (b.
1927)
*
2004 -
M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (b.
1916)
*
2004 -
Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand Running Coach (b.
1917)
*
Roman festivals - One of the four
Agonalia, this day in honour of
Sol Indiges; also the
Septimontium festival
*
R.C. Saints -
pope Damasus I: optional memorial; also
Daniel the Stylite (not universal)
* Also see
December 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
Argentina -
Tango Day,
Buenos Aires*
Burkina Faso -
Republic Day (
1958,
Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the
French Community.)
*
USA - Admission day for
Indiana (19th state,
1816)
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaDecember 10 -
December 12 -
November 11 -
January 11 --
listing of all days
