December 21: Encyclopedia - December 21

December 21

December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 10 days remaining.

December 21 - Events

• 69 - Year of the four emperors: Following Galba, Otho and Vitellius, Vespasian becomes the fourth Emperor of Rome within a year.
• 1620 - Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
• 1861 - Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
• 1872 - Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth.
• 1913 - Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
• 1937 - The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles.
• 1958 - French presidential election, 1958: Charles de Gaulle is elected President of France as his Union des Démocrates pour la République party gain 78.5% of the vote.
• 1962 - Rondane National Park is established as Norway's first national park.
• 1968 - Project Apollo: Apollo 8, crewed by Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
• 1979 - Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and Dr S C Mundawarara.
• 1983 - Former U.S. President Gerald Ford appears as himself in the soap opera Dynasty.
• 1987 - The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1 in the Tablas Strait in the Philippines, killing 1,565.
• 1988 - A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, killing 270.
• 1999 - The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives which ETA intend to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid.
• 2001 - Argentine economic crisis (1999-2002): President of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa is forced out of office.
• 2012 - The Long Count of the Maya calendar recycles according to the most popular correlation. A minority argues that it does so on December 23, 2012.

December 21 - Births

• 1118 - Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
• 1401 - Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
• 1596 - Petro Mohyla, Moldovan Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Kiev and Galicia (d. 1646)
• 1603 - Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
• 1714 - John Bradstreet, Canadian-born soldier (d. 1774)
• 1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
• 1805 - Thomas Graham, British chemist (d. 1869)
• 1811 - Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882)
• 1815 - Thomas Couture French painter and teacher (d. 1879)
• 1843 - Thomas Bracken, Irish-born New Zealander poet (d. 1898)
• 1850 - Zdeněk Fibich, Bohemian composer (d. 1900)
• 1859 - Gustave Kahn, French poet (d. 1936)
• 1872 - Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
• 1872 - Albert Payson Terhune, American author (d. 1942)
• 1876 - Jack Lang (John Thomas Lang), Premier of New South Wales (d. 1975)
• 1878 - Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956)
• 1889 - Sewall Wright, American biologist (d. 1988)
• 1890 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
• 1892 - Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
• 1892 - Rebecca West, American writer (d. 1983)
• 1896 - Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)
• 1914 - Ivan Generalić, Austro-Hungarian-born Croatian painter (d. 1992)
• 1917 - Heinrich Böll, German writer and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
• 1918 - Donald Regan, White House Chief of Staff and United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 2003)
• 1918 - Kurt Waldheim, Austrian United Nations Secretary-General and Federal President of Austria
• 1921 - Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Finnish-born actress
• 1921 - Alicia Alonso (Alicia Ernestina de la Caridad del Cobre Martinez Hoya), Cuban ballerina
• 1922 - Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist (d. 2005)
• 1926 - Joe Paterno, American Football coach
• 1935 - John G. Avildsen, American film director and editor
• 1935 - Yusuf Bey (Joseph Stephens), American activist and businessman 2003)
• 1935 - Phil Donahue, American talk show host
• 1937 - Jane Fonda, American actress and activist
• 1940 - Frank Zappa, American singer, guitarist and composer (d. 1993)
• 1942 - Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China
• 1942 - Reinhard Mey, German singer
• 1942 - Carla Thomas, American singer
• 1944 - Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor
• 1946 - Carl Wilson, American singer and guitarist (The Beach Boys) (d. 1998)
• 1947 - Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist
• 1948 - Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
• 1948 - Willi Resetarits, Austrian musician and cabaret artist
• 1950 - Jeffrey Katzenberg, American producer
• 1954 - Chris Evert, American tennis player
• 1955 - Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
• 1957 - Tom Henke, American baseball player
• 1957 - Ray Romano, American comedian and actor
• 1959 - Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter, Olympic gold medalist and 100m & 200m world record holder (d. 1998)
• 1960 - Louis Demetrius Alvanis, London-based pianist
• 1961 - Francis Ng, Hong Kong actor
• 1965 - Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
• 1965 - Anke Engelke, German comedienne
• 1965 - Gabrielle Glaser, American singer and guitarist (Luscious Jackson)
• 1966 - Kiefer Sutherland, British-born Canadian actor
• 1967 - Mikhail Saakashvili, Soviet-born President of Georgia
• 1969 - Julie Delpy, French actress
• 1971 - Brett Scallions, American singer (Fuel)
• 1973 - Karmen Stavec, German-born Slovenian singer
• 1974 - Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
• 1977 - Jim Carson, American music producer and disc jockey
• 1978 - Mike Vitar, American actor
• 1984 - Darren Potter, Irish international footballer

December 21 - Deaths

• 1295 - Marguerite Berenger of Provence, queen of Louis IX of France
• 1308 - Henry I of Hesse (b. 1244)
• 1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (b. 1313)
• 1504 - Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild, German archbishop and elector (b. 1442)
• 1549 - Marguerite of Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (b. 1492)
• 1579 - Vicente Masip, Spanish painter
• 1597 - Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (b. 1521)
• 1807 - John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (b. 1725)
• 1824 - James Parkinson, English physician, geologist, paleontologist, and political activist (b. 1755)
• 1873 - Francis Garnier, French explorer (b. 1839)
• 1889 - Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist (b. 1809)
• 1935 - Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (b. 1890)
• 1937 - Frank B. Kellogg, United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1856)
• 1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
• 1945 - George S. Patton, U.S. general (b. 1885)
• 1957 - Eric Coates, English composer (b. 1886)
• 1958 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (b. 1884)
• 1983 - Paul de Man, Belgian-born literary critic (b. 1919)
• 1988 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1907)
• 1992 - Albert King, American musician (b. 1924)
• 1992 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1903)
• 2001 - Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (b. 1931)
• 2004 - Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (b. 1925)

December 21 - Holidays and observances

• Roman festivals - Divalia in hounour of Angerona
• R.C. Saints - Saint Petrus Canisius ; formerly feast day of Thomas the apostle
• Also see December 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• USA - Forefathers' Day: commemoration of the landing of the Mayflower in 1620 on this date in the Gregorian calendar (11 December Old Style)
• The summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere) or winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), sometimes known as Yule, occurs on or very close to this date. It is an important festival in the Chinese calendar.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "December 21", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki