December 11

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining.

[edit] Events

• 359 - The first known Prefect of the City of Constantinople, Honoratus, took office.
• 1282 - Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Gruffudd (b. c. 1228) the last native Prince of Wales, was killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales. He was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by King Edward I of England. Some would say he was the penultimate, but in effect he was the last ruler. In Welsh, he is remembered by the alliterative soubriquet Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf (Llywelyn, Our Last Leader).
• 1602 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. (This actually takes place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.)
• 1792 - French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
• 1816 - Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
• 1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• 1886 - Dial Square FC, a football club from Woolwich, London that will eventually become known as Arsenal FC, play their first match, a 6-0 win over Eastern Wanderers.
• 1927 - Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker red guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
• 1917 - British troops take Jerusalem from the troops of the Ottoman Empire
• 1931 - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
• 1934 - A fire at the Hotel Kerns in Lansing, Michigan, kills 34 people.
• 1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India becomes effective.
• 1937 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations
• 1941 - World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
• 1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
• 1951 - Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.
• 1958 - Upper Volta declares its independence from France, and becomes an autonomous republic in the French Community.
• 1961 - Melvin Calvin Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for process of photosynthesis.
• 1964 - An unknown terrorist fired a mortar shell at the United Nations building in New York City during a speech by Che Guevara
• 1971 - The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed.
• 1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.
• 1980 - The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as either CERCLA or Superfund) is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
• 1981 - In his last fight, Muhammad Ali is defeated by Trevor Berbick.
• 1981 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes UN Secretary-General
• 1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
• 1993 - Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• 1994 - First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya
• 1994 - A bomb assembled by Ramzi Yousef explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman.
• 1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
• 1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
• 2000 - Real Madrid football club is awarded 20th Century's Best Club award by FIFA.
• 2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
• 2005 - The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
• 2005 - 2005 Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
• 2006 - The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

[edit] Births

• 1465 - Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (d. 1489)
• 1475 - Pope Leo X (d. 1521)
• 1566 - Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (d. 1650)
• 1680 - Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer (d. 1736)
• 1712 - Francesco Algarotti. Italian philosopher and art critic (d. 1764)
• 1725 - George Mason, American statesman (d. 1792)
• 1761 - Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (d. 1835)
• 1781 - Sir David Brewster, British physicist (d. 1868)
• 1801 - Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German writer (d. 1836)
• 1803 - Hector Berlioz, French composer (d. 1869)
• 1810 - Alfred de Musset, French poet (d. 1857)
• 1838 - John Labatt, Irish-Canadian businessman and brewer (Labatt Brewing Company) (d. 1915)
• 1843 - Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
• 1858 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (d. 1943)
• 1863 - Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (d. 1941)
• 1873 - Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician (d. 1967)
• 1880 - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
• 1882 - Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (d. 1921)
• 1882 - Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
• 1882 - Fiorello LaGuardia, American statesman (d. 1947)
• 1883 - Victor McLaglen, British-born American actor (d. 1959)
• 1889 - Walter Knott, American farmer (d. 1981).
• 1890 - Carlos Gardel, tango singer, composer, and actor (d. 1935)
• 1890 - Mark Tobey, American painter (d. 1976)
• 1905 - Gilbert Roland, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1905 - Robert Henriques, British writer (d. 1967)
• 1908 - Elliott Carter, American composer
• 1911 - Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
• 1911 - Val Guest, British film director (d. 2006)
• 1912 - Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer
• 1913 - Jean Marais, French actor (d. 1998)
• 1916 - Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban-born bandleader (d. 1989)
• 1918 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1919 - Marie Windsor, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1922 - Grace Paley, American writer
• 1922 - Dilip Kumar, Indian actor
• 1923 - Betsy Blair, American actress
• 1925 - Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1926 - Big Mama Thornton, American singer (d. 1984)
• 1930 - Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actor
• 1931 - Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican / American actress
• 1931 - Pierre Pilote, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1931 - Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian guru (d. 1990)
• 1933 - Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician
• 1935 - Ron Carey, American actor
• 1935 - Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
• 1935 - Elmer Vasko, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
• 1936 - Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
• 1937 - Jim Harrison, American writer
• 1938 - McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
• 1938 - Enrico Macias, Algerian-born French singer
• 1939 - Tom Hayden, American politician
• 1939 - Thomas McGuane, American writer
• 1940 - David Gates, American musician (Bread)
• 1942 - Donna Mills, American actress
• 1943 - John Kerry, American politician
• 1944 - Teri Garr, American film actress
• 1944 - Lynda Day George, American actress
• 1944 - Brenda Lee, American singer
• 1950 - Christina Onassis, American heiress (d. 1988)
• 1953 - Bess Armstrong, American actress
• 1954 - Jermaine Jackson, American musician
• 1954 - Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson, Icelandic engineer
• 1958 - Nikki Sixx, American bassist (Mötley Crüe)
• 1959 - Lisa Gastineau, American reality show star
• 1962 - Ben Browder, American actor
• 1962 - Nele Karajlić, singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
• 1964 - Michel Courtemanche, Quebec comedian and actor
• 1964 - John Mark Karr, American who claimed involvement in JonBenét Ramsey case
• 1964 - David Schools, American musician (Widespread Panic)
• 1964 - Cosy Sheridan, American singer
• 1964 - Carolyn Waldo, Canadian synchronized swimmer
• 1966 - Gary Dourdan, American actor
• 1966 - Leon Lai, Cantopop singer/actor
• 1967 - DJ Yella, American music producer
• 1969 - Vishwanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster
• 1969 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
• 1969 - Sean Grande, American sportscaster
• 1972 - Daniel Alfredsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1972 - Dana Macsim, Romanian television news reporter
• 1973 - Mos Def, American emcee and actor
• 1974 - Rey Mysterio, American professional wrestler
• 1974 - Ben Shephard, English TV personality
• 1975 - Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist
• 1977 - Mark Streit, Swiss ice hockey player
• 1979 - Rider Strong, American actor
• 1980 - Arya, Indian actor
• 1981 - Zacky Vengeance, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
• 1981 - Nikki Benz, Canadian actress
• 1981 - Hamish Blake, Australian comedian
• 1981 - Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer
• 1988 - Murugan Thiruchelvam, English chess prodigy

[edit] Deaths

• 384 - Pope Damasus I
• 1121 - Al-Afdal Shahanshah, Caliph of Egypt (b. 1066)
• 1226 - Robert de Ros, English politician (b. 1177)
• 1282 - Llywelyn the Last, King of Gwynedd
• 1282 - Michael VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1225)
• 1532 - Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1455)
• 1694 - Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1630)
• 1737 - John Strype, English historian (b. 1643)
• 1757 - Edmund Curll, English bookseller (b. 1675)
• 1797 - Richard Brocklesby, English physician (b. 1722)
• 1840 - Emperor Kokaku of Japan (b. 1771)
• 1880 - Oliver Fisher Winchester, American businessman and politician (b. 1810)
• 1892 - William Milligan, Scottish theologian (b. 1821)
• 1909 - Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet (b. 1855)
• 1918 - Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b. 1876)
• 1920 - Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
• 1938 - Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist and recipient of Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
• 1941 - John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
• 1941 - Charles Émile Picard, French mathematician (b. 1856)
• 1945 - Charles Fabry, French physicist (b. 1867)
• 1950 - Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1893)
• 1957 - Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress (b. 1889)
• 1959 - Jim Bottomley, American baseball player (b. 1900)
• 1964 - Sam Cooke, American singer (b. 1931)
• 1964 - Percy Kilbride, American actor (b. 1888)
• 1978 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• 1983 - Sir Neil Ritchie, British General (b. 1897)
• 1984 - Oskar Seidlin, German-born American scholar (b. 1911)
• 1989 - Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (b. 1895)
• 1991 - Robert Q. Lewis, American game show host and actor (b. 1921)
• 1991 - Artur Lundkvist, Swedish author and critic (b. 1906)
• 1994 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
• 1996 - Willie Rushton, English cartoonist (b. 1937)
• 1998 - André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b. 1915)
• 1998 - Lynn Strait, American singer (b. 1968)
• 2000 - Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Pakistani politician, diplomat and author (b. 1915)
• 2000 - David Lewis, American actor (b. 1916)
• 2003 - Ahmadou Kourouma, Côte d'Ivoire writer (b. 1927)
• 2004 - M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (b. 1916)
• 2004 - Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand running coach (b. 1917)
• 2006 - Elizabeth Bolden, American, oldest verified person in the world at the time of her death (b. 1890)

[edit] Holidays and observances

• Roman festivals - One of the four Agonalia, this day in honour of Sol Indiges; also the Septimontium festival
• R.C. Saints - pope Damasus I: optional memorial
• Argentina - Tango Day, Buenos Aires
• Burkina Faso - Republic Day (1958, Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community.)
• USA - Admission day for Indiana (19th state, 1816)
• Wales - Remembrance Day of Llywelyn II

[edit] External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

December 10 - December 12 - November 11 - January 11 -- listing of all days