December 24 is the 358th day of the year (359th in leap years A leap year is a year containing one or more extra days (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year. For example, in the Gregorian calendar, February in a leap year has 29 days instead of the usual 28 so the year lasts 366 days instead of the usual 3) in the Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, on 24 February 1582 by the papal bull Inter gravissimas. There are seven remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 563 – The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and to have "changed the history of architecture." It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion in Constantinople Constantinople was the imperial capital (Gr: Βασιλεύουσα, Basileúousa) of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude of an earthquake is conventionally reported, or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being.
- 1294 Year 1294 was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar – Pope Boniface VIII Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Caetani, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in a circle of Hell in his Commedia, and King Philip IV of France is elected Pope The Pope is the Bishop of Rome and as such is the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church (that is, all Latin Rite and Eastern Rite churches which are in full communion with the Roman Pontiff). The Pope is also head of state of Vatican City. The current (265th) pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in papal conclave, replacing St. Celestine V According to a tradition, he was born in 1215 in the village of Sant'Angelo Limosano, in Molise, the son of Angelo Angelerio and Maria Leone. Recently, the towns of Isernia and Sant'Angelo in Grotte, have been mentioned as his possible birthplaces. His date of birth has been also assigned to 1209, who had resigned.
- 1777 Year 1777 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar) – Kiritimati Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean atoll in the northern Line Islands and part of the Republic of Kiribati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook Captain James Cook FRS RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy. Cook was the first to map Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean during which he achieved the first European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands as.
- 1814 Year 1814 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar) – The Treaty of Ghent The Treaty of Ghent , signed on December 24, 1814, in Ghent, currently in Belgium, was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The treaty largely restored relations between the two countries to status quo ante bellum. Due to the era's slow speed of is signed ending the War of 1812 The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , was fought from 1812 to 1815.
- 1851 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar) – Library of Congress The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress and is the oldest federal institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and holds the largest number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James burns.
- 1865 Year 1865 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar) – Several U.S. Civil War The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the U.S. and formed the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). Led by Jefferson Davis, they fought against the U.S. federal government (the Confederate The Confederate States of America formed as the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States. The CSA's control over its claimed territory varied during the course of the American Civil War, depending on the success veterans form the Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan , informally known as The Klan, is the name of several past and present secret militant organizations in the United States whose avowed purpose was to protect the rights of and further the interests of white Americans by violence and intimidation. The first such organizations originated in the Southern states and eventually grew to.
- 1906 Year 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar) – Radio Radio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space. Information is carried by systematically changing some property of the radiated waves, such as: Reginald Fessenden Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was a Canadian inventor who performed pioneering experiments in radio, including early—possibly the first— transmissions of voice and music. In his later career he received hundreds of patents for devices in fields such as high-powered transmitting, sonar, and television transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello and bass fiddle solo, and a speech.
- 1914 Year 1914 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar) – World War I World War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict that embroiled most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Entente and the Central Powers. Over 70 million military personnel were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. The main: The "Christmas truce The "Christmas truce" is a term used to describe several brief unofficial cessations of hostilities that occurred on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day between German and British or French troops in World War I, particularly that between British and German troops stationed along the Western Front during Christmas 1914. In 1915 there was a" begins.
- 1924 Year 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar – Albania Albania /ælˈbeɪniə/ , officially the Republic of Albania (Albanian: Republika e Shqipërisë, pronounced [ɾɛˈpublika ɛ ʃcipəˈɾiːs], or simply Shqipëria), is a country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo[a] to the northeast, and Macedonia to the east. It has a coast on becomes a republic.
- 1929 The year 1929 was a Gregorian calendar year in the 20th century. The year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a counter-revolution in Mexico. A British high court – Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Irigoyen Alem was twice President of Argentina (from 1916 to 1922 and again from 1928 to 1930). Yrigoyen (he signed that way to distinguish himself from Bernardo de Irigoyen's political ideas) was popularly known as "el peludo" (The hairy armadillo) due to his introverted character and.
- 1939 Year 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar – World War II World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all of the great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history: Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (March 2, 1876 – October 9, 1958), reigned as the 260th Pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death in 1958 makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
- 1941 Year 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link will display 1941 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar – World War II: Hong Kong Beginning as a trading port, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the United Kingdom in 1842, reclassified as a British dependent territory in 1983, and remained so until the transfer of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. Under the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of autonomy in all falls to the Japanese Imperial Army The Imperial Japanese Army (Kyūjitai: 大日本帝國陸軍, Shinjitai: 大日本帝国陸軍, Romaji: Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun), or literally Army of the Empire of Greater Japan was the official ground based armed force of Imperial Japan from 1867 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of War,.
- 1941 – World War II: Kuching Kuching is the capital of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak. Being the most populous city in the state of Sarawak, Kuching emerged as one of the most vibrant cities in the region and it is the largest city on the island of Borneo and the fourth largest city in Malaysia. Kuching was elevated to city status on 1 August 1988 and carries the nick is conquered by Japanese Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters which make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which forces.
- 1942 Year 1942 was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar – World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy Vichy is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It is known as a spa and resort town. It was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944. It has a population of 26,528 (1999) French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers Algiers (Arabic: الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, Algerian Arabic: Dzayer ([dzæjer] , Kabyle: Dzayer [ldzæjər] or Dzayer tamaneγt, French: Alger [ɑlʒe]) is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb (after Casablanca). According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and.
- 1943 Year 1943 was a common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general in the United States Army. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944 becomes the Supreme Allied Commander.
- 1946 Year 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar – France France (pronounced /ˈfræns/ or /ˈfrɑːns/; French: [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the's Fourth Republic The Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems. France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic on 13 October 1946 is founded.
- 1951 – Libya Libya (Arabic: ليبيا Lībiyā pronunciation ; Libyan vernacular: Lībya pronunciation (help·info); Amazigh: ), officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya ( الجماهيرية العربية الليبية الشعبية الإشتراكية العظمى Al-Jamāhīriyyah al-ʿArabiyyah al-Lībiyyah aš-Šaʿ becomes independent from Italy Italy /ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica Italiana), is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. The. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
- 1953 – Tangiwai disaster: A railway bridge is destroyed by a lahar at Tangiwai, in the Central North Island of New Zealand, sending a fully loaded passenger train into the Whangaehu River, and killing 153 people.
- 1966 – A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 129.
- 1968 – The crew of the USS Pueblo is released by North Korea after being held for 11 months on suspicion of spying.
- 1968 – Apollo Program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed 10 lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures that became the famous Christmas Eve Broadcast, one of the most watched programs in history.
- 1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
- 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
- 1979 – The first European Ariane rocket is launched.
- 1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre (or Sidi Lamri) in Algeria kills 50-100 people.
- 1997 – The Dominican Republic becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 2000 – The Texas 7 hold up a sports store in Irving, Texas. Police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot during the robbery.
- 2003 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
Births
- 1508 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)
- 1588 – Constance of Austria, queen of Poland (d. 1631)
- 1609 – Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (d. 1683)
- 1635 – Mariana of Austria, second wife of king Philip IV of Spain (d. 1696)
- 1698 – William Warburton, English Bishop of Gloucester (d. 1779)
- 1724 – Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (d. 1811)
- 1745 – Benjamin Rush, doctor and Founding Father of the United States (d. 1813)
- 1754 – George Crabbe, British poet and naturalist (d. 1832)
- 1761 – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831)
- 1784 – Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia (d. 1803)
- 1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)
- 1809 – Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)
- 1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter (d. 1873)
- 1812 – Karl Eduard Zachariae, German jurist (d. 1894)
- 1818 – James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)
- 1822 – Matthew Arnold, British poet (d. 1888)
- 1837 – Elisabeth of Bavaria a.k.a Sissi, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)
- 1843 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet (d. 1886)
- 1845 – King George I of Greece (d. 1913)
- 1867 – Kantaro Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
- 1868 – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)
- 1879 – Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, Queen Consort to Christian X (d. 1952)
- 1879 – Émile Nelligan, Quebec poet (d. 1941)
- 1880 – Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children's book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann (d. 1939)
- 1881 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1886 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (d. 1962)
- 1887 – Louis Jouvet, French actor and producer (d. 1951)
- 1893 – Harry Warren, American composer and lyricist (Chattanooga Choo Choo – I Only Have Eyes for You) (d. 1981)
- 1893 – Ruth Chatterton, American actress (d. 1961)
- 1894 – Georges Guynemer, French aviator (d. 1917)
- 1895 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier (d. 1978)
- 1898 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1967)
- 1898 – Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (d. 1959)
- 1900 – Joey Smallwood, Canadian politician, Premier of Newfoundland (d. 1991)
- 1904 – Joseph Moses Juran, American industrial engineer and philanthropist. (d. 2008)
- 1905 – Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)
- 1906 – Franz Waxman, German film composer (d. 1967)
- 1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist (d. 1989)
- 1910 – Fritz Leiber, American writer (d. 1992)
- 1910 – Max Miedinger, typeface designer, famous for creating Helvetica in 1957. (d. 1980)
- 1914 – Ralph Marterie, American trumpet player and big band leader (d. 1978)
- 1914 – Herbert Reinecker, German writer (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Kim Jong-suk, Wife of Kim Il-sung, mother of Kim Jung-Il, "The Heroine of the Anti-Japanese Revolution" (d. 1949)
- 1920 – Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (d. 1944)
- 1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1923 – George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Michael DiBiase, American wrestler (d. 1969)
- 1924 – Lee Dorsey, American singer (d. 1986)
- 1924 – Grigory Kriss, Russian Olympic champion fencer
- 1925 – Mohd. Rafi, Indian actor and playback singer (d. 1980)
- 1926 – Paul Buissonneau, French-born Quebec theatre director
- 1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, American author
- 1931 – Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer (d. 2008)
- 1931 – Ray Bryant, American jazz pianist and composer
- 1932 – On Kawara, Japanese conceptual artist
- 1934 – Stjepan Mesić, president of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement and president of Croatia.
- 1937 – Félix Miéli Venerando, Brazilian football player
- 1938 – Bobby Henrich, American baseball player
- 1938 – Valentim Loureiro, Portuguese politician, and former football chairman of Boavista F.C. and Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional
- 1941 – John Levene, British actor
- 1943 – Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
- 1944 – Daniel Johnson, Jr., Quebec politician, Premier of Quebec
- 1944 – Mike Curb, American musician, record company executive and politician
- 1944 – Oswald Gracias, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bombay
- 1944 – Barry Chuckle, British comedian
- 1945 – Lemmy, British singer, bassist (Motörhead)
- 1945 – Nicholas Meyer, American author
- 1945 – Steve Smith, Canadian Comedian, The New Red Green Show, Duct Tape Forever
- 1946 – Brenda Howard, American bisexual activist (d. 2005)
- 1946 – Jeff Sessions, American politician
- 1947 – Kevin Sheedy, coach of Australian Football League club Essendon FC
- 1948 – Frank Oliver, New Zealand rugby player
- 1949 – Randy Neugebauer, American politician
- 1949 – Warwick Brown, Australian racing driver
- 1950 – Dana Gioia, American poet
- 1951 – John D'Acquisto, baseball player
- 1952 – Christopher Buckley, American author and political commentator
- 1953 – François Loos, French politician
- 1954 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician
- 1955 – Grand L. Bush, American actor
- 1955 – Clarence Gilyard, American actor
- 1957 – Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan
- 1957 – Diane Tell, Quebec singer
- 1958 – Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese drummer (d. 2008)
- 1959 – Keith Deller, British darts player
- 1959 – Anil Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1960 – Glenn McQueen, American animator (d. 2002)
- 1960 – Carol Vorderman, British television presenter
- 1961 – Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan Republic
- 1961 – Jay Wright, American basketball coach
- 1963 – Jay Bilas, American basketball analyst
- 1963 – Mary Ramsey, American singer (10,000 Maniacs)
- 1963 – Caroline Aherne, British comedienne, writer and actress
- 1964 – Mark Valley, American actor
- 1965 – Millard Powers, American musician and songwriter
- 1966 – Diedrich Bader, American actor
- 1967 – Mikhail Shchennikov, Russian race walker
- 1968 – Choi Jin-sil, South Korean actress and model (d. 2008)
- 1968 – Doyle Bramhall II, American guitarist
- 1968 – Marleen Renders, Belgian athlete
- 1969 – Brad Anderson, American professional wrestler
- 1969 – Mark Millar, Scottish comic book writer
- 1970 – Amaury Nolasco, American actor
- 1970 – Will Oldham, American singer and songwriter
- 1971 – Giorgos Alkaios, Greek singer
- 1971 – Christopher Daniels, American professional wrestler
- 1971 – Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer
- 1971 – Oro, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 1993)
- 1972 – Alvaro Mesen, Costa Rican footballer
- 1973 – Eddie Pope, American soccer player
- 1973 – Stephenie Meyer, American author
- 1974 – Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
- 1974 – Ryan Seacrest, American television host
- 1976 – Yuri (Korean singer)
- 1978 – Warren Tredrea, Australian rules footballer
- 1978 – Yıldıray Baştürk, Turkish footballer
- 1979 – Chris Hero, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Tomas Kalnoky, American musician (Streetlight Manifesto)
- 1981 – Shane Tuck, Australian rules footballer
- 1981 – Dima Bilan, Karachay-Russian pop artist
- 1982 – Aiba Masaki, Japanese singer and actor
- 1982 – Robert Carmine, American singer
- 1985 – David Ragan, American race car driver
- 1986 – Riyo Mori, Miss Universe 2007 from Japan
- 1987 – Jane Summersett, American ice dancer
- 1991 – Wasim Tareen, Soccer Player
- 1992 – Melissa Suffield, English actress
Deaths
- 427 – Archbishop Sisinnius I of Constantinople
- 1257 – John I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1218)
- 1453 – John Dunstaple, English composer (b. c.1390)
- 1524 – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer (b. c.1469)
- 1660 – Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631)
- 1707 – Noël Coypel, French painter (b. 1628)
- 1813 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
- 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, British writer (b. 1811)
- 1865 – Sir Charles Lock Eastlake, British painter and writer (b. 1793)
- 1868 – Adolphe d'Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist (b. 1802)
- 1872 – William John Macquorn Rankine, British physician and engenier (b. 1820)
- 1873 – Johns Hopkins, Baltimore philanthropist and businessman (b. 1795)
- 1889 – Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (b. 1819)
- 1898 – Sharbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI (b. 1828)
- 1914 – John Muir, British naturalist (b. 1838)
- 1935 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer (b. 1885)
- 1938 – Bruno Taut, German architect (b. 1880)
- 1941 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (b. 1858)
- 1942 – François Darlan, vice-premier of Vichy France (b. 1881)
- 1957 – Norma Talmadge, American actress (b. 1893)
- 1965 – William M. Branham, Christian minister (b. 1906)
- 1971 – Maria Koepcke, ornithologist (b. 1924)
- 1972 – Gisela Richter, British art historian (b. 1882)
- 1972 – Melville Ruick, American actor (b. 1898)
- 1975 – Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (b. 1911)
- 1976 – Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza, heir to the throne of Portugal (b. 1907)
- 1977 – Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (b. 1917)
- 1980 – Karl Dönitz, German naval admiral, and last leader of Nazi Germany (b. 1891)
- 1980 – Siggie Nordstrom, model, actress, entertainer, socialite and lead singer of The Nordstrom Sisters (b. 1893)
- 1982 – Louis Aragon, French writer (b. 1897)
- 1984 – Peter Lawford, British actor (b. 1923)
- 1985 – Camille Tourville, Professional Wrestler (b. 1927)
- 1985 – Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, Last Lincoln descendant (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Gardner Fox, American writer (b. 1911)
- 1987 – Joop den Uyl, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1919)
- 1987 – M. G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister of the Tamil Nadu (b. 1917)
- 1990 – Thorbjørn Egner, Norwegian author (b. 1922)
- 1992 – Peyo, Belgian comics artist, and creator of The Smurfs (b. 1928)
- 1992 – Bobby LaKind, American musician and singer (The Doobie Brothers) (b. 1945)
- 1993 – Norman Vincent Peale, American writer (b. 1898)
- 1994 – John Boswell, American historian (b. 1947)
- 1994 – Rossano Brazzi, Italian actor and singer (b. 1916)
- 1997 – Toshirō Mifune, Japanese actor (b. 1920)
- 1997 – Pierre Péladeau, Quebec businessman, founder of Quebecor (b. 1925)
- 1999 – João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Maurice Couve de Murville, French politician, Prime minister of France (b. 1907)
- 1999 – Bill Bowerman, American track and field coach (b. 1911)
- 2000 – John Cooper, English race car designer (b. 1923)
- 2000 – Nick Massi, American singer (The Four Seasons) (b. 1935)
- 2002 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Jake Thackray, English singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
- 2002 – Laci Peterson, American murder victim (b. 1975)
- 2004 – Johnny Oates, baseball player and manager (b. 1946)
- 2005 – Michael Vale, American commercial actor (b. 1922)
- 2006 – "Braguinha", Brazilian songwriter (b. 1907)
- 2006 – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian singer, poet and comedian (b. 1961)
- 2006 – Frank Stanton, American television executive (b. 1908)
- 2007 – Nicholas Pumfrey, British judge (b. 1951)
- 2007 – Akbar Radi, Iranian dramatist and playwright (b. 1939)
- 2008 – Harold Pinter, British playwright (b. 1930)
Holidays and observances
- Christmas Eve
- It is the day before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.
- In Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, among others, this is the day that presents are exchanged and opened. In some of these countries, presents are delivered to children by Santa Claus, personified by an adult dressed up as Santa who comes knocking on the door.
- Calendar of saints: Feast of Saint Adela and Saint Irmina.
- The Declaration of Christmas Peace takes place in the Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City, according to old traditions dating back to the Middle Ages.
External links
Categories: Days of the year | December
