December 21

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 10 days remaining.

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and observances
5 External links

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Events

69 - Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors.
1620 - The Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock
1780 - Great Britain declares war on The Netherlands in response to the Dutch joining the League of Armed Neutrality and for assisting French and American forces during the American Revolution.
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 arrested by the United States Navy 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
1919 - Municipal elections held in Senegal (First round, second round is held December 28). The multiracial lists of the Independent Socialist Republican Party (PRSI) wins in all four municipalities.
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, the first feature-length animated movie.
1958 - Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President and establishes 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.
1983 - Former U.S. President Gerald Ford guest-stars as himself on the prime-time soap opera Dynasty.
1983 - In Winter Park Florida Metal Singer Michael Scott Whatley Was Born, Son of Tommy & Donna Whatley
1987 - The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1; well over 1,000 die.
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 a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives intended by ETA to blow down Torre Picasso.
2001 - Japanese television performer Masashi Tashiro got No. 1 temporarily in the Internet vote of Time's Person of the Year.
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 Long Count of the Maya calendar recycles according to the most popular correlation. A minority argues that it does so on December 23, 2012.

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Births

1118 - Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
1401 - Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
1596 - Peter Mogila, Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (d. 1646)
1603 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
1714 - John Bradstreet, Canadian-born soldier (d. 1774)
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)
1850 - Zdeněk Fibich, Czech 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, Australian politician (d. 1975)
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)
1896 - Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)
1914 - Ivan Generalić, Croatian painter (d. 1992)
1917 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, 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, Finnish actress
1922 - Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist (d. 2005)
1926 - Joe Paterno, American football coach
1935 - John G. Avildsen, American film director and 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, German singer
1942 - Carla Thomas, American singer
1942 - Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China
1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
1946 - Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (d. 1998)
1947 - Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
1948 - Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
1948 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg, American producer
1954 - Chris Evert, American tennis player
1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
1957 - Tom Henke, baseball player
1957 - Ray Romano, American comedian and actor
1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American runner (d. 1998)
1961 - Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor
1965 - Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
1965 - Anke Engelke, German comedienne
1966 - Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor
1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili, President of Georgia
1969 - Julie Delpy, French actress
1973 - Karmen Stavec, Slovenian singer
1974 - Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
1978 - Mike Vitar, American actor
1984 - Darren Potter, Irish footballer

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Deaths

1295 - Marguerite Berenger of Provence, queen of Louis IX of France
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, queen of Henry II of Navarre (b. 1492)
1579 - Vicente Masip, Spanish painter
1597 - Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (b. 1521)
1807 - John Newton cleric and hymnist (b. 1725)
1873 - Francis Garnier, French explorer (b. 1839)
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)
1956 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (b. 1872)
1957 - Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)
1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b. 1884)
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)

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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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