December 14
is the 348th day of the year (349th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 17 days remaining.
*
867 -
Adrian II becomes
Pope.
*
872 -
John VIII becomes
Pope.
*
1287 -
St. Lucia's flood: The
Zuider Zee sea wall in the
Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people.
*
1542 - Princess Mary Stuart becomes Queen
Mary I of Scotland.
*
1702 - The 47 Ronin (master less samurai), under the command of Ă"ishi Kuranosuke, avenged the death of their master, Asano Takumi no kami Naganori, by beheading Kira Kozukenosuke Yoshinaka. Later the 46 surviving ronin would commit ritual suicide, seppuku (disembowelment), and would later achieve legendary status as the embodiments of the ideals of the samurai.
*
1769 -
Dartmouth College is chartered by
King George III of
England.
*
1819 -
Alabama becomes the 22nd
U.S. state.
*
1896 - The
Glasgow Underground Railway is opened by the Glasgow District Subway Company.
*
1900 -
Quantum Mechanics:
Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his
black-body radiation law.
*
1902 - The
Commercial Pacific Cable Company lays the first
Pacific telegraph cable, from
Ocean Beach, San Francisco to
Honolulu, Hawaii.
*
1903 - The
Wright Brothers make their first attempt to fly with the
Wright Flyer at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It crashes, and 3 days later, after repairs, they get it to fly.
*
1911 -
Roald Amundsen's team, comprising himself,
Olav Bjaaland,
Helmer Hanssen,
Sverre Hassel, and
Oscar Wisting, becomes the first to reach the
South Pole.
*
1918 -
Friedrich Karl von Hessen, a
German prince elected by the
Parliament of Finland to become King
Väinö I, renounces the
Finnish throne.
*
1939 -
Winter War: The
Soviet Union is expelled from the
League of Nations.
*
1946 - The
UN General Assembly votes to establish its headquarters in
New York City.
*
1947 - The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (
NASCAR) is founded in
Daytona Beach, Florida.
*
1958 - The 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition becomes the first-ever to reach
The Pole of Relative Inaccessibility in the
Antarctic.
*
1959 - The
Motown record label is founded in
Detroit, Michigan by
Berry Gordy.
*
1962 -
NASA's
Mariner 2 becomes the first
spacecraft to fly by
Venus.
* 1962 - The
Mona Lisa is assessed at
US$100 million, the
highest insurance valuance for a painting in history.
*
1964 -
American Civil Rights Movement:
Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States - The
United States Supreme Court rules that the
U.S. Congress can use its
Commerce Clause power to fight discrimination.
*
1977 - Releasing of
Saturday Night Fever film.
*
1979 - First release of the album
London Calling by
The Clash.
*
1981 -
Arab-Israeli conflict:
Israel's
Knesset passes
The Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the area of the
Golan Heights.
*
1982 -
Government of the 23rd Dáil first sits
*
1989 -
Patricio Aylwin is elected
President of Chile.
*
1995 -
Yugoslav Wars: The
Dayton Agreement is signed in
Paris by
President Slobodan Milošević,
President Franjo Tuđman,
President Alija Izetbegović,
President Jacques Chirac,
President Bill Clinton,
Prime Minister John Major,
Chancellor Helmut Kohl and
Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin.
*
1999 -
Charles M. Schulz, creator of the
comic strip Peanuts, announces his retirement.
*
2000 - The "
Texas 7" rob a
Radio Shack store in
Pearland, Texas, stealing police
radio scanners.
*
2003 - The
La Fenice opera house in
Venice, Italy, rebuilt following
arson, is reopened.
* 2003 -
President of Pakistan Pervez Musharaf narrowly escaped an assassination attempt.
*
2004 - The
Millau viaduct, the highest bridge in the world, spanning the valley of the
River Tarn near
Millau,
France and designed by British architect
Lord Foster in collaboration with French bridge engineer
Michel Virlogeux, is officially opened.
*
2005 - The
Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales,
Australia starts to issue
NSW Photo Card.
*
1009 -
Emperor Go-Suzaku of Japan (d.
1045)
*
1503 -
Nostradamus, French astrologer (d.
1566)
*
1546 -
Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer (d.
1601)
*
1625 -
Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (d.
1695)
*
1631 -
Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway, English philosopher (d.
1679)
*
1640 - (baptism date) -
Aphra Behn, English playwright and novelist (d.
1689)
*
1678 -
Daniel Neal, English historian (d.
1743)
*
1720 -
Justus Möser, German statesman (d.
1794)
*
1775 -
Philander Chase, American founder of Kenyon College (d.
1852)
* 1775 -
Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald, British admiral (d.
1860)
*
1824 -
Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, French painter (d.
1898)
*
1866 -
Roger Fry, British artist and art critic (d.
1934)
*
1870 -
Karl Renner,
President of Austria (d.
1950)
*
1881 -
Katherine MacDonald, American actress and fim producer (d.
1956)
*
1884 -
Jane Cowl, American actress and playwright (d.
1950)
*
1895 -
Paul Eluard, French poet (d.
1952)
* 1895 - King
George VI of the United Kingdom (d.
1952)
*
1896 -
Jimmy Doolittle, American General (d.
1993)
*
1897 -
Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (d.
1995)
*
1902 -
Frances Bavier, American actress (d.
1989)
*
1908 -
Morey Amsterdam, American comedian and actor (d.
1996)
*
1909 -
Edward Tatum, American geneticist and
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1975)
*
1911 -
Spike Jones, American comedian and musician (d.
1965)
*
1913 -
Dan Dailey, American actor (d.
1978)
*
1914 -
Karl Carstens,
President of Germany (d.
1992)
* 1914 -
Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (d.
2003)
*
1916 -
Shirley Jackson, American writer (d.
1965)
*
1918 -
James T. Aubrey, American television executive (d.
1994)
* 1918 -
B.K.S. Iyengar, Indian yoga advocate
*
1920 -
Clark Terry, American trumpeter
*
1922 -
Nikolay Basov, Soviet-born Russian physicist and
Noble Prize laureate (d.
2001)
*
1923 -
Gerard Reve, Dutch writer
*
1924 -
Raj Kapoor, Indian actor (d.
1988)
*
1925 -
Sam Jones, baseball player (d.
1971)
*
1932 -
Charlie Rich, American musician (d.
1995)
*
1935 -
Lee Remick, American actress (d.
1991)
*
1938 -
Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian
*
1946 -
Jane Birkin, British-born actress
* 1946 -
Patty Duke, American actress
* 1946 -
Michael Ovitz, American film producer
* 1946 -
Stan Smith, American tennis player
* 1946 -
Ruth Fuchs, East German athlete
*
1947 -
Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
*
1949 -
Bill Buckner, American baseball player
* 1949 -
Cliff Williams, British-born bassist (
AC/DC)
* 1949 -
Dee Wallace-Stone, American actress
*
1951 -
Jan Timman, Dutch chess grandmaster
*
1953 -
René Eespere, Soviet-born Estonian composer
*
1954 -
Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d.
1993)
* 1954 -
James Horan, American actor
*
1956 -
Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein skier
*
1957 -
Gary Ferris, American author
*
1958 -
Mike Scott, British singer and songwriter (
The Waterboys)
* 1958 -
Spider Stacy (Peter Richard Stacy), British-born
tin whistle player, (
The Pogues)
*
1960 -
Bob Paris, American bodybuilder and gay rights advocate
*
1962 -
Ginger Lynn (Ginger Lynn Allen), American adult film actress
*
1963 -
Cynthia Gibb, American actress
*
1965 -
Craig Biggio, American baseball player
* 1965 -
Ken Hill, baseball player
*
1966 -
Bill Ranford, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1966 -
Tim Skold, Swedish/American musician
*
1967 -
Ewa Białołęcka, Polish writer
*
1969 -
Scott Hatteberg, American baseball player
*
1970 -
Anna Maria Jopek, Polish singer
*
1972 -
Marcus Jensen, baseball player
*
1973 -
Tomasz Radzinski, Polish-born
Canadian international footballer
*
1974 -
Billy Koch, baseball player
*
1977 -
KaDee Strickland, American actress
*
1979 -
Michael Owen,
English international footballer
* 1979 -
Jean-Alain Boumsong, French footballer
*
1980 -
Tata Young, Thai-American singer
*
1981 -
Johnny Jeter, Professional wrestler
*
1982 -
Anthony Way, British singer and actor
*
1984 -
Chris Brunt, Northern Irish footballer
* 1984 -
Edward Rainsford, Zimbabwean cricketer
*
1985 -
Tom Smith, Welsh Rugby Union Player
*
1988 -
Nicolas Batum, French basketball player
* 1988 -
Vanessa Anne Hudgens, American actress
*
1990 -
Murakawa Daisuke, professional
Go player
*
1460 -
Guarino da Verona, Italian humanist and translator (b.
1370)
*
1510 -
Friedrich of Saxony (b.
1473)
*
1542 - King
James V of Scotland (b.
1512)
*
1591 -
Saint John of the Cross, Spanish friar and poet (b.
1542)
*
1624 -
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, English statesman (b.
1536)
*
1651 -
Pierre Dupuy, French scholar (b.
1582)
*
1713 -
Thomas Rymer, English historian (b.
1641)
*
1715 -
Thomas Tenison,
Archbishop of Canterbury (b.
1636)
*
1735 -
Thomas Tanner, English bishop and antiquarian (b.
1674)
*
1741 -
Charles Rollin, French historian (b.
1661)
*
1788 -
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, German composer (b.
1714)
* 1788 - King
Charles III of Spain (b.
1716)
*
1799 -
George Washington, first
President of the United States (b.
1732)
*
1861 -
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, consort of
Queen Victoria (b.
1819)
*
1865 -
Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish geologist (b.
1794)
*
1873 -
Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born American zoologist and geologist (b.
1807)
*
1902 -
Julia Grant, wife of
President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant (b.
1826)
*
1947 -
Edward Higgins, the 3rd General of
The Salvation Army (b.
1864)
*
1963 -
Dinah Washington, American singer (b.
1924)
*
1964 -
William Bendix, American actor (b.
1906)
*
1970 -
Franz Schlegelberger, German Nazi politician (b.
1876)
*
1984 -
Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer and
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1898)
*
1985 -
Catherine Doherty, social justice activist (b.
1896)
*1985 -
Roger Maris, baseball player (b.
1934)
*
1989 -
Andrei D. Sakharov, Russian physicist, activist and
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1921)
*
1990 -
Friedrich DĂĽrrenmatt, Swiss writer (b.
1921)
*
1993 -
Myrna Loy, American actress (b.
1905)
*
1998 -
Norman Fell, American actor (b.
1924)
* 1998 -
Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and Mayor of Dallas, Texas (b.
1924)
* 1998 -
Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham, Jr., American civil rights activist and author (b.
1928)
*
2003 -
Jeanne Crain, American actress (b.
1925)
* 2003 -
Blas Ople, foreign minister of the Philippines (b.
1927)
*
2004 -
Rod Kanehl, baseball player (b.
1934)
* 2004 -
Fernando Poe, Jr., Filipino actor and presidential candidate (b.
1939)
*
2005 - Dr. Rodney William Whitaker, of
pen name Trevanian, American author (b.
1931)
*
R.C. Saints - Memorial of Saint
John of the Cross* Precalentines Day - Unofficial Mathematics Holiday
*
BBC: On This Day*
The History Channel: This day in HistoryDecember 13 -
December 15 -
November 14 -
January 14 --
listing of all days
