December 20
December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining. Events1522 - 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 completed1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police, founded1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 871960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed1984 - 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 Pennines1989 - Operation Just Cause: United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia1995 - An American Airlines Flight 965 Boeing 757 crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 1601999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
Births - 1537 - King John III of Sweden (d. 1592)
- 1579 - (baptized) John Fletcher, playwright (d. 1625)
- 1629 - Pieter de Hooch, painter (d. 1684)
- 1792 - Nicolas Charlet, painter (d. 1845)
- 1805 - Thomas Graham, Father of colloid chemistry (d. 1869)
- 1833 - Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1883)
- 1838 - Edwin Abbott Abbott, schoolmaster/theologian/author of Flatland (d. 1926)
- 1841 - Ferdinand Buisson, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1927 (d. 1932)
- 1856 - Ferdinand Avenarius, author (d. 1923)
- 1860 - Dan Leno, English entertainer (d. 1904)
- 1861 - Ivana Kobilca, Slovene painter (d. 1926)
- 1865 - Elsie De Wolfe, aka Lady Mendl, actress & interior decorator (. 1950)
- 1868 - Harvey Firestone, automobile pioneer (d. 1938)
- 1881 - Branch Rickey, baseball executive (d. 1965)
- 1886 - Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis star (d. 1974)
- 1890 - Yvonne Arnaud, actress
- 1890 - Jaroslav Heyrovský, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry (d.1967)
- 1893 - Charlotte Bühler, psychologist
- 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, twelfth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
- 1898 - Irene Dunne, actress (d. 1990)
- 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff, physicist, inventor (d. 1967)
- 1902 - Sidney Hook, American philosopher (d. 1989)
- 1902 - Max Lerner, American educator (d. 1992)
- 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
- 1922 - George Roy Hill, film director (d. 2002)
- 1923 - James Leasor, writer, mystery
- 1924 - Friederike Mayröcker, author
- 1926 - Sir Geoffrey Howe (Lord Howe of Aberavon), UK politician
- 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff, politician
- 1927 - Kim Young-sam, President of South Korea
- 1930 - Noel Ferrier, producer and actress
- 1933 - Jean Carnahan, US Senator
- 1942 - Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (d. 2002)
- 1946 - Dick Wolf, American TV drama series creator
- 1946 - Uri Geller, psychic TV presenter
- 1952 - Jenny Agutter, actress
- 1954 - Michael Badalucco, actor
- 1955 - Lonesome Bob, singer, songwriter
- 1957 - Anna Vissi, Greek singer
- 1957 - Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter
- 1957 - Mike Watt, bassist
- 1960 - Nalo Hopkinson, science fiction author
- 1965 - Rich Gannon, American football quarterback
- 1970 - Nicole DeBoer, actress (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Dead Zone)
- 1990 - Joanna Levesque, AKA JoJo, singer
Deaths - 217 - Pope Zephyrinus
- 860 - Æthelbald, King of Wessex
- 910 - Alfonso III of Leon
- 1524 - Thomas Linacre, scholar and physician
- 1722 - Kangxi Emperor of China (b. 1654)
- 1812 - Sacagawea, guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
- 1937 - Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (b. 1865)
- 1954 - James Hilton, American author (b. 1900)
- 1961 - Moss Hart, author (b. 1904)
- 1961 - Earle Page, eleventh Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
- 1968 - John Steinbeck, American writer (b. 1902)
- 1973 - Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish prime minister (assassination) (b. 1903)
- 1973 - Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
- 1976 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
- 1982 - Arthur Rubinstein, musician (b. 1887)
- 1984 - Gonzalo Márquez, Major League Baseball player (b. 1946)
- 1989 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (b. 1908)
- 1994 - Dean Rusk, former United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
- 1996 - Carl Sagan, astronomer, writer (b. 1934)
- 1997 - Denise Levertov, poet
- 1997 - Juzo Itami, Japanese actor and director (b. 1933)
- 1998 - Irene Hervey, actress (b. 1910)
- 1999 - Hank Snow, country music singer (b. 1914)
- 2000 - Mirza Ghulam Hafiz, Bengali statesman, politician, and philanthropist. (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Foster Brooks, American actor and comedian (b. 1912)
- 2001 - Léopold Sédar Senghor, first president of Senegal
December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days
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