December 21
December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in
leap years) in the
Gregorian calendar. There are 10 days remaining.
*
69 -
Year of the four emperors: Following
Galba,
Otho and
Vitellius,
Vespasian becomes the fourth
Emperor of Rome within a year.
*
1620 -
Plymouth Colony:
William Bradford and the
Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as
Plymouth Rock in
Plymouth, Massachusetts.
*
1861 -
Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President
Abraham Lincoln.
*
1872 -
Challenger expedition:
HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain
George Nares, sails from
Portsmouth.
*
1913 -
Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first
crossword puzzle, is published in the
New York World.
*
1917 -
Meiji Dairies, a Japanese dairy industry company, is founded.
*
1937 - The film
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater in
Los Angeles.
*
1958 -
French presidential election, 1958:
Charles de Gaulle is elected
President of France as his
Union des Démocrates pour la République party gain 78.5% of the vote.
*
1962 -
Rondane National Park is established as
Norway's first
national park.
*
1968 -
Project Apollo:
Apollo 8, crewed by
Frank Borman,
Jim Lovell and
William Anders, is launched from the
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida.
*
1979 -
Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for
Rhodesia is signed in
London by
Lord Carrington, Sir
Ian Gilmour,
Robert Mugabe,
Joshua Nkomo, Bishop
Abel Muzorewa and Dr S C Mundawarara.
*
1987 - The passenger ferry
Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker
Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the
Philippines, killing 1,565.
*
1988 - A bomb explodes on board
Pan Am flight 103 over
Lockerbie,
Dumfries and Galloway, killing 270.
*
1999 - The
Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950
kg of explosives which
ETA intend to use to blow up
Torre Picasso in
Madrid.
*
1118 -
Thomas Becket,
Lord Chancellor of England and
Archbishop of Canterbury (d.
1170)
*
1401 -
Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d.
1428)
*
1596 -
Petro Mohyla, Moldovan Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Kiev and Galicia (d.
1646)
*
1603 -
Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d.
1684)
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1714 -
John Bradstreet, Canadian-born soldier (d.
1774)
*
1804 -
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1881)
*
1805 -
Thomas Graham, British chemist (d.
1869)
*
1811 -
Archibald Campbell Tait,
Archbishop of Canterbury (d.
1882)
*
1815 -
Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d.
1879)
*
1843 -
Thomas Bracken, Irish-born New Zealander poet (d.
1898)
*
1850 -
Zdeněk Fibich, Bohemian composer (d.
1900)
*
1859 -
Gustave Kahn, French poet (d.
1936)
*
1872 -
Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d.
1956)
* 1872 -
Albert Payson Terhune, American author (d.
1942)
*
1876 -
Jack Lang (John Thomas Lang),
Premier of New South Wales (d.
1975)
*
1878 -
Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d.
1956)
*
1879 -
Joseph Stalin, Leader of the Russian Communist Party from 1928 to 1953 (d.
1953)
*
1889 -
Sewall Wright, American biologist (d.
1988)
*
1890 -
Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1967)
*
1892 -
Walter Hagen, American golfer (d.
1969)
* 1892 -
Rebecca West, American writer (d.
1983)
*
1896 -
Leroy Robertson, American composer (d.
1971)
*
1911 -
Josh Gibson, African-American baseball player (d.
1947)
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1914 -
Ivan Generalić, Austro-Hungarian-born Croatian painter (d.
1992)
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1917 -
Heinrich Böll, German writer and
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1985)
*
1918 -
Donald Regan,
White House Chief of Staff and
United States Secretary of the Treasury (d.
2003)
* 1918 -
Kurt Waldheim, Austrian
United Nations Secretary-General and
Federal President of Austria*
1921 -
Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Finnish-born actress
* 1921 -
Alicia Alonso (Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martinez Hoya), Cuban ballerina
*
1922 -
Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist (d.
2005)
*
1926 -
Joe Paterno, American Football coach
*
1935 -
John G. Avildsen, American film director and editor
* 1935 -
Yusuf Bey (Joseph Stephens), American activist and businessman (d.
2003)
* 1935 -
Phil Donahue, American talk show host
*
1937 -
Jane Fonda, American actress and activist
*
1940 -
Frank Zappa, American singer, guitarist and composer (d.
1993)
*
1942 -
Hu Jintao,
President of the People's Republic of China* 1942 -
Reinhard Mey, German singer
* 1942 -
Carla Thomas, American singer
*
1944 -
Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
* 1944 -
Bill Atkinson, English footballer
*
1946 -
Carl Wilson, American singer and guitarist (
The Beach Boys) (d.
1998)
*
1947 -
Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
* 1947 -
Bryan Hamilton, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
*
1948 -
Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
* 1948 -
Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
*
1950 -
Jeffrey Katzenberg, American producer
*
1952 -
Joaquín Andújar, Baseball player
*
1954 -
Chris Evert, American tennis player
*
1955 -
Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
* 1955 -
Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese musician
*
1957 -
Tom Henke, American baseball player
* 1957 -
Ray Romano, American comedian and actor
*
1959 -
Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter, Olympic gold medalist and 100 m & 200 m world record holder (d.
1998)
*
1960 -
Louis Demetrius Alvanis, London-based pianist
*
1961 -
Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor
*
1964 -
Rob Kelly, English football manager
*
1965 -
Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
* 1965 -
Anke Engelke, German comedienne
*
1966 -
Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor
*
1967 -
Mikhail Saakashvili, Soviet-born
President of Georgia*
1969 -
Julie Delpy, French actress
* 1969 -
Mihails Zemļinskis, Latvian footballer
*
1971 -
Brett Scallions, American singer (
Fuel)
*
1972 -
Latroy Hawkins, professional baseball player
* 1972 -
Dustin Hermanson, baseball player
*
1973 -
Karmen Stavec, German-born Slovenian singer
* 1973 -
Mike Alstott, American football player
*
1974 -
Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
*
1975 -
Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballet dancer (
American Ballet Theatre)
*
1977 -
Jim Carson, American music producer and disc jockey
*
1978 -
Mike Vitar, American actor
*
1980 -
Lee Eun Ju, Korean actress (d.
2005)
*
1981 -
Dima Bilan, Russian singer
*
1981 -
Cristian Zaccardo, Italian
Footballer*
1982 -
Mike Gansey, American basketball player
*
1984 -
Darren Potter, Irish footballer
*
1985 -
James Stewart Jr., professional
motocross racer
*
1987 -
Edward Speleers, Brtish Actor
*
1295 -
Marguerite Berenger of Provence, wife of
Louis IX of France (bc.
1221)
*
1308 -
Henry I of Hesse (b.
1244)
*
1375 -
Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (b.
1313)
*
1504 -
Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild, German archbishop and elector (b.
1442)
*
1549 -
Marguerite of Navarre, wife of
Henry II of Navarre (b.
1492)
*
1579 -
Vicente Masip, Spanish painter
*
1597 -
Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (b.
1521)
*
1807 -
John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (b.
1725)
*
1824 -
James Parkinson, English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist (b.
1755)
*
1873 -
Francis Garnier, French explorer (b.
1839)
*
1889 -
Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist (b.
1809)
*
1935 -
Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b.
1890)
*
1937 -
Frank B. Kellogg,
United States Secretary of State, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1856)
*
1940 -
F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b.
1896)
*
1945 -
George S. Patton, U.S. general (b.
1885)
*
1957 -
Eric Coates, English composer (b.
1886)
*
1958 -
Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b.
1884)
*
1959 -
Rosanjin, Japanese
calligrapher, restauranteur and ceramicist (b.
1883)
*
1964 -
Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (b.
1880)
*
1974 -
James Henry Govier, British artist (b.
1910)
*
1983 -
Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (b.
1919)
*
1988 -
Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1907)
*
1992 -
Albert King, American musician (b.
1924)
* 1992 -
Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (b.
1903)
*
2001 -
Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (b.
1931)
*
2004 -
Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (b.
1925)
*
Roman festivals -
Divalia in honour of
Angerona*
R.C. Saints - Saint
Petrus Canisius ; formerly feast day of
Thomas the apostle* Also see
December 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)* The
December solstice, sometimes known as
Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. It is an important festival in the
Chinese calendar.
*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: December 21December 20 -
December 22 -
November 21 -
January 21 --
listing of all days
