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December 17
December 16 - December 18Events
Births - Deaths283 - St Gaius becomes Pope.
384 - St Siricius becomes Pope.
546 - Gothic War (535?552): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome bribing the Byzantine garrison.
1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.
1843 - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is first published.
1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
1903 - The Wright Brothers make the first powered heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
1939 - World War II: Battle of the River Plate - The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
1961 - History of Goa: Operation Vijay - India seizes Goa from Portugal.
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria.
1969 - Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of 'A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, Psychopathological persons, and Misidentification of various conventional objects'.
1970 - Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing hundreds.
1978 - The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
1981 - Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.
1983 - The IRA bomb Harrods Department Store in London, killing seven people.
1989 - The first episode of The Simpsons airs on FOX.
1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timisoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
2002 - Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and prrresidential elections within two years.
2003 - SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes the first privately-funded manned supersonic flight.
2003 - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is released worldwide.
2004 - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is released in theaters.
2005 - Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Births
Events - Deaths1239 - Kujo Yoritsugu, Japanese Shogun (d. 1256)
1267 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (d. 1324)
1619 - Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682)
1632 - Anthony Wood, English antiqurian (d. 1695)
1685 - Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)
1706 - ?milie du Ch?telet, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749)
1734 - Maria I of Portugal, Portuguese queen (d. 1816)
1749 - Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
1770 - (Baptism) - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (d. 1827)
1778 - Sir Humphry Davy, British chemist and physicist (d. 1829)
1796 - Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)
1799 - Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)
1807 - John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)
1830 - Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)
1853 - ?mile Roux, French physician (d. 1933)
1859 - Paul C?sar Helleu, French artist (d. 1927)
1873 - Ford Madox Ford, British writer (d. 1939)
1874 - William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)
1883 - Raimu, French actor (d. 1946)
1887 - Josef Lada, Czech painter (d. 1957)
1888 - King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
1892 - Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d. 1950)
1893 - Erwin Piscator, German film director (d. 1966)
1894 - Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
1900 - Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (d. 1998)
1901 - Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor and director (d. 1982)
1903 - Erskine Caldwell, American author (d. 1987)
1903 - Ray Noble, British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor (d. 1978)
1905 - Simo H?yh?, Finnish sniper (d. 2002)
1906 - Fernando Lopes-Gra?a, Portuguese composer and musicologist (d. 1994)
1908 - Willard Frank Libby, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
1915 - Andr? Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)
1916 - Penelope Fitzgerald, British writer (d. 2000)
1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist
1922 - Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (d. 2005)
1923 - Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian
1926 - Ray Jablonski, baseball player (d. 1985)
1929 - Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)
1929 - William Safire, American columnist
1930 - Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher
1930 - Bob Mathias, American decathlete and congressman
1930 - Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
1934 - Ray Wilson, English footballer
1936 - Tommy Steele, British singer and actor
1937 - Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)
1938 - Peter Snell, New Zealander runner
1938 - Carlo Little, UK influential rock and roll drummer (d.2005)
1939 - Eddie Kendricks, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1992)
1940 - K?re Valebrokk, Norwegian journalist
1941 - Gene Clark, American singer and songwriter (The Byrds) (d. 1991)
1942 - Paul Butterfield, American harmonica player (d. 1987)
1943 - Ron Geesin, British musician and composer
1944 - Jack L. Chalker, Canadian novelist
1944 - Bernard Hill, British actor
1945 - Ernie Hudson, American actor
1945 - Jacqueline Wilson, British author
1946 - Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
1949 - Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free & Bad Company)
1950 - Laurence F. Johnson, American futurist and educator
1951 - Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
1951 - Tatyana Kazankina, Soviet athlete
1953 - Bill Pullman, American actor
1955 - Brad Davis, American basketball player
1956 - Mike Mills, American bassist (R.E.M.)
1960 - Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist
1962 - Rocco Mediate, American golfer
1962 - Paul Dobson, English footballer
1966 - Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician
1966 - Valeri Liukin, Former Soviet Union Gymnast
1967 - Vincent Damphousse, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
1969 - Chuck Lidell, UFC Fighter
1970 - Joshua Seth, American voice actor
1971 - Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
1971 - Alan Khan, South African radio disc jockey
1972 - John Abraham, Indian actor and model
1973 - Paula Radcliffe, British runner
1975 - Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler
1975 - Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress and model
1976 - Zsanett ?gerh?zi, Hungarian-born porn actress and nude model
1976 - Patrick M?ller, Swiss footballer
1976 - Takeo Spikes, NFL Pro Bowl linebacker
1978 - Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer
1978 - Chase Utley, baseball player
Deaths
Events - Births942 - William Longsword
1187 - Pope Gregory VIII
1195 - Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)
1663 - Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)
1721 - Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)
1830 - Sim?n Bol?var, Venezuelan-born libertator, six nations (b. 1783)
1833 - Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)
1897 - Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)
1907 - William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (b. 1824)
1909 - L?opold II of Belgium (b. 1835)
1917 - Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, British physician (b. 1836)
1917 - Frank Gotch, wrestler (b. 1878)
1933 - Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)
1940 - Alicia Boole Stott, Irish mathematician (b. 1860)
1957 - Dorothy L. Sayers, British writer (b. 1893)
1964 - Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
1967 - Harold Holt, Australian Prime Minister (b. 1908)
1982 - Homer S. Ferguson, United States Senator (b. 1889)
1987 - Linda Wong, Adult film actress (b. 1951)
1987 - Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)
1992 - Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)
1998 - Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)
1999 - Grover Washington, Jr., American saxophonist (b. 1943)
2003 - Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
2003 - Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
2005 - Jack Anderson, American journalist (b. 1922)
December 16 - December 18