December 21
(Redirected from
21 December )
December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years ) in the Gregorian Calendar . There are 10 days remaining.
Events
69 - Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors .
1861 - The Medal of Honor first authorized
1861 - Lord Lyons , the British minister to the United States , meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys James Mason and John Slidell , arrested by the United States Navy aboard the British mail steamer Trent United Kingdom .
1872 - HMS Challenger Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography
1880 - Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote
1891 - First basketball game played
1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium
1913 - First crossword puzzle published
1914 - First feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance Marie Dressler , Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin , is released
1923 - Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state
1933 - Newfoundland becomes a crown colony
1935 - First screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President of the Fifth Republic
1962 - Rondane National Park , the first national park in Norway , was established.
1968 - Apollo 8 launched
1979 - The United States government bails out the Chrysler Corporation
1979 - The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith .
1988 - A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747 , over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground
1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts near Calatayud (Zaragoza ) a Madrid -bound van driven by ETA and loaded with 950 kg of explosives . The next day, another van loaded with 750 kg is found not far from there. The incident is known as "la caravana de la muerte " (the caravan of death). Shortly after 9/11 , ETA confirmed their plan had been to blow down Torre Picasso .
2002 - Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A. 's decades of influence and accomplishments.
2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end... Experts disagree on whether this happens today or December 23 , 2012 .
Births
1118 - Thomas Becket , English Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170 )
1804 - Benjamin Disraeli , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881 )
1811 - Archibald Campbell Tait , Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882 )
1815 - Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d. 1879 )
1843 - Thomas Bracken , New Zealand writer (d. 1898 )
1859 - Gustave Kahn , French poet (d. 1936 )
1872 - Albert Payson Terhune , American author (d. 1942 )
1876 - Jack Lang , Australian politician (d. 1975 )
1879 - Joseph Stalin , Soviet leader (d. 1953 )
1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz , Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956 )
1889 - Sewall Wright , American biologist (d. 1988 )
1892 - Walter Hagen , American golfer (d. 1969 )
1892 - Rebecca West , American writer (d. 1983 )
1908 - Pat Weaver , television pioneer (d. 2002 )
1914 - Ivan Generalić , Croatian painter (d. 1992 )
1917 - Heinrich Böll , German author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985 )
1918 - Donald Regan , Chief of Staff and U.S. Treasury Secretary (d. 2003 )
1918 - Kurt Waldheim , United Nations Secretary-General
1921 - Vampira , actress
1922 - Paul Winchell , American ventriloquist
1926 - Joe Paterno , American football coach
1935 - John G. Avildsen , director, editor
1935 - Phil Donahue , American talk show host
1935 - Jane Fonda , American actress and activist
1940 - Frank Zappa , American musician (d. 1993 )
1942 - Reinhard Mey , singer
1942 - Carla Thomas , singer
1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas , American conductor
1946 - Carl Wilson , musician (The Beach Boys ) (d. 1998 )
1947 - Paco de Lucía , musician
1948 - Samuel L. Jackson , actor
1948 - Willi Resetarits , Austrian musician and cabaret artist
1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg , producer
1954 - Chris Evert , American tennis player
1955 - Jane Kaczmarek , actress
1957 - Tom Henke , baseball player
1957 - Ray Romano , comedian, actor
1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner , American runner (d. 1998 )
1961 - Francis Ng , actor
1965 - Andy Dick , actor, comedian
1965 - Anke Engelke , comedian
1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili , President of the Republic of Georgia
1969 - Julie Delpy , actress
1973 - Karmen Stavec , Slovenian singer
1974 - Karrie Webb , golfer
Deaths
1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio , Italian writer (b. 1313 )
1807 - John Newton cleric and hymnist (b. 1725 )
1935 - Kurt Tucholsky , German journalist and satirist (b. 1890 )
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 )
1992 - Albert King , blues musician (b. 1924 )
1992 - Nathan Milstein , Ukrainian violinist (b. 1903 )
2001 - Dick Schaap , sports journalist (b. 1931 )
2002 - Giò Pomodoro , Italian sculptor (b. 1930 )
Holidays and observances
External links
December 20 - December 22 - November 21 - January 21 -- listing of all days
