December 20

December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.

Events

• 1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually re-settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
• 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed
• 1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States
• 1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli
• 1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police, founded
• 1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87
• 1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed
• 1984 - The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines
• 1988 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.
• 1989 - Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega
• 1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia
• 1995 - An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160
• 1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples
• 1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
• 2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
• 2004 - The Miami Dolphins upset the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots in a fourth quarter comeback and scoring two touchdowns in the final 4 minutes of the game to win 29-28.

Births

• 1537 - King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
• 1566 - Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (d. 1612)
• 1579 - (baptized) John Fletcher, English playwright (d. 1625)
• 1626 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (d. 1692)
• 1629 - Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
• 1786 - Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
• 1792 - Nicolas Charlet, French painter (d. [[Death Date:=1845|1845]])
• 1805 - Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist (d. 1869)
• 1833 - Samuel Mudd, American physician (d. 1883)
• 1838 - Edwin Abbott Abbott, English schoolmaster, theologian, and author (d. 1926)
• 1841 - Ferdinand Buisson, French pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1932)
• 1860 - Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
• 1861 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
• 1868 - Harvey Firestone, American automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
• 1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
• 1886 - Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player (d. 1974)
• 1890 - Yvonne Arnaud, French-born actress (d. 1958)
• 1890 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d.1967)
• 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
• 1898 - Irene Dunne, American actress (d. 1990)
• 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, American physicist and inventor (d. 1967)
• 1902 - Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
• 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
• 1917 - David Bohm, American-born physicist, philosopher and neuropsychologist (d. 1992)
• 1922 - George Roy Hill, American film director (d. 2002)
• 1926 - Sir Geoffrey Howe, British politician
• 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German politician
• 1927 - Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea
• 1933 - Jean Carnahan, U.S. Senator
• 1942 - Bob Hayes, American football player (d. 2002)
• 1946 - Dick Wolf, American television series creator
• 1946 - Uri Geller, Israeli psychic
• 1949 - Soumaïla Cissé, Malian politician
• 1952 - Jenny Agutter, English actress
• 1954 - Michael Badalucco, American actor
• 1957 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
• 1957 - Billy Bragg, English singer and songwriter
• 1957 - Mike Watt, American bassist
• 1957 - Joyce Hyser, American actress
• 1960 - Nalo Hopkinson, Canadian writer
• 1965 - Rich Gannon, American football player
• 1970 - Massimo Ellul, Maltese entrepreneur and philanthropist
• 1970 - Nicole DeBoer, Canadian actress
• 1980 - Ashley Cole, English footballer
• 1990 - JoJo, American singer

Deaths

• 217 - Pope Zephyrinus
• 860 - King Ethelbald of Wessex
• 910 - Alfonso III of Leon
• 1022 - Elvira Menéndez, queen of Alfonso V of Castile (b. 996)
• 1494 - Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet
• 1524 - Thomas Linacre, English scholar and physician
• 1539 - Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer
• 1590 - Ambroise Paré, French physician (b. 1510)
• 1722 - Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
• 1740 - Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English military officer and statesman (b. 1675)
• 1768 - Carlo Innocenzio Maria Frugoni, Italian poet (b. 1692)
• 1812 - Sacagawea, Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
• 1929 - Émile Loubet, 7th President of France (b.1838)
• 1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
• 1941 - Igor Severyanin, Russian poet (b. 1887)
• 1943 - Sergei Tretyakov, Russian writer (b. 1894)
• 1954 - James Hilton, American author (b. 1900)
• 1961 - Moss Hart, American author (b. 1904)
• 1961 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
• 1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
• 1973 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Prime Minister of Spain (assassinated) (b. 1903)
• 1973 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
• 1974 - André Jolivet, French composer (b. 1905)
• 1976 - Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
• 1982 - Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-born pianist (b. 1887)
• 1984 - Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)
• 1989 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
• 1994 - Dean Rusk, United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
• 1996 - Carl Sagan, American astronomer and writer (b. 1934)
• 1997 - Denise Levertov, English-born poet (b. 1923)
• 1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
• 1998 - Irene Hervey, American actress (b. 1910)
• 1999 - Hank Snow, Canadian singer (b. 1914)
• 2000 - Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Indian statesman, politician, and philanthropist (b. 1920)
• 2001 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
• 2001 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of Senegal (b. 1906)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

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December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days