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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 in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
1872 - HMS Challenger sails from 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, starring 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
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, lord chancellor and archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, politician, writer (d. 1881)
1815 - Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d. 1879)
1843 - Thomas Bracken, New Zealand poet, author of God's Own Country (d. 1898)
1859 - Gustave Kahn, French Symbolist 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, philosopher, mathematician (d. 1956)
1889 - Sewall Wright, American biologist (d. 1988)
1892 - Walter Hagen, American golf champion (d. 1969)
1892 - Rebecca West, American writer (d. 1983)
1908 - Pat Weaver, television pioneer (d. 2002)
1914 - Ivan Generalić, painter naïve art, Croatia (d. 1992)
1917 - Heinrich Böll, author, Nobel laureate 1972 (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, ventriloquist
1926 - Joe Paterno, American football coach
1935 - John G. Avildsen, director, editor
1935 - Phil Donahue, talk show host
1935 - Jane Fonda, actress, activist, exercise guru
1940 - Frank Zappa, musician (d. 1993)
1942 - Reinhard Mey, singer
1942 - Carla Thomas, soul 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
1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg, producer
1954 - Chris Evert, tennis player
1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, actress (Malcolm in the Middle)
1957 - Tom Henke, baseball relief pitcher
1957 - Ray Romano, comedian, actor
1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner, track and field champion (d. 1998)
1961 - Francis Ng, actor
1965 - Andy Dick, actor, comedian
1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgian politician, President of the Republic of Georgia since January 4, 2004.
1969 - Julie Delpy, actress
1973 - Karmen Stavec, Slovenian singer
1974 - Karrie Webb, golf champion
1986 - The Darling, politician, scholar
Deaths
1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio, writer (b. 1313)
1807 - John Newton cleric, songwriter (Amazing Grace) (b. 1725)
1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, writer (b. 1896)
1945 - George S. Patton, U.S. general (b. 1885)
1935 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b. 1890)
1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b. 1884)
1992 - Albert King, blues musician
1992 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinst (b. 1903)
2001 - Dick Schaap, sports journalist (b. 1931)
2002 - Giò Pomodoro, Italian sculptor
Holidays and observances
The summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere) or winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. It is an important festival in the Chinese calendar.
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December 20 - December 22 - November 21 - January 21 -- listing of all days
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