December 17
is the 351st day of the year (352nd in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar. There are 14 days remaining.
*
283 -
St Gaius becomes
Pope.
*
384 -
St Siricius becomes
Pope.
*
1586 -
Emperor Go-Yozei becomes
Emperor of Japan.
*
1637 -
Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by
Amakusa Shiro rise against
daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.
*
1843 -
Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol is first published.
*
1862 -
American Civil War: General
Ulysses S. Grant issues
General Order No. 11, expelling
Jews from
Tennessee,
Mississippi, and
Kentucky.
*
1903 - The
Wright Brothers make the first powered heavier-than-air flight in the
Wright Flyer at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
*
1919 -
Uruguay becomes a signatory to the
Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
*
1935 - First flight of the
Douglas DC-3 airplane.
*
1939 -
World War II:
Battle of the River Plate - The
Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain
Hans Langsdorff outside
Montevideo.
*
1944 - World War II:
Battle of the Bulge -
Malmedy massacre -
American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion
POWs are shot by
Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
*
1961 -
History of Goa:
Operation Vijay -
India seizes
Goa from
Portugal.
*
1967 -
Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near
Portsea, Victoria.
*
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'.
*
1970 -
Polish 1970 protests: In
Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing hundreds.
*
1978 - The
Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by
Trevor Munroe.
*
1981 - Brigadier General
James L. Dozier is abducted by the
Red Brigade in
Verona, Italy.
*
1983 - The
IRA bomb
Harrods Department Store in
London, killing seven people.
*
1989 - The first episode of
The Simpsons airs on
FOX.
* 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.
*
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 prrresidential elections within two years.
*
2003 -
SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by
Brian Binnie, makes the first privately-funded manned supersonic flight.
* 2003 -
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is released worldwide.
*
2004 -
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is released in theaters.
*
2005 - Anti-
WTO protesters
riot in
Wan Chai,
Hong Kong*
1239 -
Kujo Yoritsugu, Japanese Shogun (d.
1256)
*
1267 -
Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (d.
1324)
*
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)
*
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)
*
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 (d.
1950)
*
1883 -
Raimu, French actor (d.
1946)
*
1887 -
Josef Lada, Czech painter (d.
1957)
*
1888 - King
Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d.
1934)
*
1892 -
Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d.
1950)
*
1893 -
Erwin Piscator, German film director (d.
1966)
*
1894 -
Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d.
1979)
*
1901 -
Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor and director (d.
1982)
*
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)
*
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)
*
1929 -
Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d.
1993)
* 1929 -
William Safire, American columnist
*
1930 -
Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher
* 1930 -
Bob Mathias, American decathlete and congressman
* 1930 -
Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
*
1934 -
Ray Wilson, English footballer
*
1936 -
Tommy Steele, British singer and actor
*
1937 -
Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d.
2005)
*
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
*
1941 -
Gene Clark, American singer and songwriter (
The Byrds) (d.
1991)
*
1942 -
Paul Butterfield, American harmonica player (d.
1987)
*
1943 -
Ron Geesin, British musician and composer
*
1944 -
Jack L. Chalker, Canadian novelist
* 1944 -
Bernard Hill, British actor
*
1945 -
Ernie Hudson, American actor
* 1945 -
Jacqueline Wilson, British author
*
1946 -
Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
*
1949 -
Paul Rodgers, British singer (
Free &
Bad Company)
*
1951 -
Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
* 1951 -
Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet athlete
*
1955 -
Brad Davis, American basketball player
*
1956 -
Mike Mills, American bassist (
R.E.M.)
*
1960 -
Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist
*
1962 -
Rocco Mediate, American golfer
* 1962 -
Paul Dobson, English footballer
*
1966 -
Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician
*
1967 -
Vincent Damphousse, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1968 -
Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
*
1970 -
Joshua Seth, American voice actor
*
1971 -
Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
*1971 -
Alan Khan, South African radio disc jockey
*
1973 -
Paula Radcliffe, British runner
*
1975 -
Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler
* 1975 -
Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress and model
*
1976 -
Zsanett Égerházi, Hungarian-born porn actress and nude model
*
1978 -
Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer
*1978 -
Chase Utley, baseball player
*
1980 -
Larry Broadway, professional baseball player
*
942 -
William Longsword*
1187 -
Pope Gregory VIII*
1195 -
Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b.
1150)
*
1663 - Queen
Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b.
1583)
*
1721 -
Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b.
1640)
*
1830 -
Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan-born
President of Bolivia (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 - King
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)
*
1987 -
Linda Wong, Pornographic actress (b.
1951)
*
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, believed drowned, (b.
1908)
*
1987 -
Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b.
1903)
*
1992 -
Dana Andrews, American actor (b.
1909)
*
1998 -
Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b.
1959)
*
1999 -
Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (b.
1943)
*
2003 -
Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b.
1925)
* 2003 -
Otto Graham, American football player (b.
1921)
*
2005 -
Jack Anderson, American journalist (b.
1922)
*
Roman festivals –
Saturnalia, in honor of
Saturn, began.
*
R.C. Saints –
O Sapientia ;
Saint Lazarus*
Greek Orthodox Church – Feast of
Daniel the Prophet
*
Bhutan –
National Day (
1907)
*
USA –
Wright Brothers Day (by Presidential Proclamation)
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaDecember 16 -
December 18 -
November 17 -
January 17 --
listing of all days
