December 19 December 19 is the 353rd day of the year (354th in leap years ) in the Gregorian calendar . There are 12 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
– 20001907 – 239 coal miners die in a mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania .1909 – The German football club Borussia Dortmund is founded.1912 – William H. Van Schaick, captain of the steamship General Slocum which killed over 1,000 people was pardoned by President Taft after 3 1 ⁄ 2 years in Sing Sing prison .1916 – The Battle of Verdun ended during World War I .1920 – King Constantine I of Greece is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son, Alexander of Greece , and a vote.1927 – Indian activists Ashfaqulla Khan , Ram Prasad Bismil and Roshan Singh are executed by British colonial authorities.1928 – First autogiro flight in the United States .1932 – The BBC World Service begins broadcasting, as the BBC Empire Service.1941 – World War II : Limpet mines placed by Italian divers sink the HMS Valiant and HMS Elizabeth in Alexandria harbor .1944 – The Soviet Union completely occupies Estonia (Ruhnu island).1944 – French newspaper Le Monde 1945 – Austria becomes a republic for the second time, the first having been founded in 1918 and interrupted by the Austro-fascist dictatorship from 1934 onwards and the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938 .1946 – Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi .1956 – Irish–born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of over 160 patients. Eventually, he is only convicted of minor charges.1961 – The Indian Army invades the Portuguese province of Estado da India Portuguesa (Portuguese State of India) which will become part of India.1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia and Nyasaland .1963 – Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom to become a constitutional monarchy under the sultan .1964 – The South Vietnamese military junta of Nguyen Khanh dissolves the High National Council and arrest some of the members.1965 – Prisoners Ronald Ryan and Peter Walker escape from HM Prison Pentridge , Melbourne . During the escape a guard is killed. Ryan would hang for his death, in 1967.1967 – Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt is declared dead, two days after going missing.1972 – Apollo 17 , the last manned lunar flight, returns to Earth .1974 – The Altair 8800 , the first personal computer , goes on sale.1975 – John Paul Stevens is appointed as a justice of the United States Supreme Court .1980 – Anguilla is made a dependency of the United Kingdom separate from Saint Kitts and Nevis .1982 – A tanker fire in Tacoa, Venezuela , kills 150 people.1983 – The Jules Rimet FIFA World Cup trophy is stolen from the Headquarters of the Brazilian Football Federation in Rio de Janeiro and is never seen again.1984 – The United Kingdom and People's Republic of China sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration , which handed Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 .1984 – Ted Hughes becomes Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom .1986 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner , from exile in Gorky .1997 – A Silkair Boeing 737 –300 crashes into the Musi River, in Sumatra , Indonesia killing 1041997 – Titanic 1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives passes articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton over the Lewinsky scandal .2000 – The Leninist Guerrilla Units attack a party office of the far–right MHP in Istanbul , Turkey . One MHP member is killed and several wounded.Births
Up to 1900
1343 – William I, Margrave of Meissen (d. 1407 )1498 – Andreas Osiander , German theologian (d. 1552 )1554 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (d. 1618 )1587 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1645 )1594 – Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden (d. 1632 )1683 – King Philip V of Spain (d. 1746 )1699 – William Bowyer , printer (d. 1777 )1714 – John Winthrop , American astronomer (d. 1779 )1753 – John Taylor Gilman , Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1828 )1778 – Marie Thérèse of France (d. 1851 )1784 – Marcus Morton , 16th and 18th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1864 )1790 – William Parry , English admiral and polar explorer (d. 1855 )1796 – Manuel Breton de los Herreros , Spanish playwright (d. 1873 )1813 – Thomas Andrews , chemist (d. 1885 )1815 – Edwin M. Stanton , American politician (d. 1869 )1816 – Franz Sacher , Austrian confectioner (d. 1907 )1817 – James J. Archer , American lawyer and general (d. 1864 )1819 – James Spriggs Payne , 4th and 8th President of Liberia (d. 1882 )1820 – Mary Ashton Livermore , women's rights activist (d. 1905 )1838 – Ghedrub Gyatso , 11th Dalai Lama (d. 1856 )1845 – Henri Joseph Perrotin , French astronomer (d. 1904 )1852 – Albert Abraham Michelson , Prussian –born physicist (d. 1931 )1854 – Marcel Brillouin , French physicist (d. 1948 )1861 – Italo Svevo , Italian writer (d. 1928 )1865 – Minnie Maddern Fiske , stage actress (d. 1932 )1875 – Mileva Maric , Serbian–Swiss scientist , was married to Albert Einstein (d. 1948 )1875 – Carter G. Woodson , American historian , author and journalist (d. 1950 )1876 – Enrique Pla y Deniel , Archbishop of Toledo, Spain (d. 1968 )1879 – Beals Wright , American tennis player (d. 1961 )1882 – Walter Braunfels , German composer (d. 1954 )1884 – Antonin Zapotocky , Czech politician (d. 1957 )1885 – Joe "King" Oliver , jazz musician (d. 1938 )1888 – Fritz Reiner , Hungarian conductor (d. 1963 )1891 – Edward Raczynski , Polish diplomat and politician (d. 1993 )1894 – Ford Frick , American commissioner of baseball (d. 1978 )1899 – Martin Luther King, Sr. , father of Martin Luther King, Jr. (d. 1984 )1900 – Géza von Cziffra , movie director (d. 1989 )– 19501901 – Rudolf Hell , German inventor (d. 2002 )1902 – Ralph Richardson , English actor (d. 1983 )1903 – George Davis Snell , American geneticist (d. 1996 )1905 – Irving Kahn , American businessman (d. 2015 )1906 – Leonid Brezhnev , Soviet politician (d. 1982 )1910 – Jean Genet , French writer (d. 1986 )1913 – Juan Landazuri Ricketts , Archbishop of Lima (d. 1997 )1915 – Claudia Testoni , Italian athlete (d. 1998 )1915 – Édith Piaf , French singer and actress (d. 1963 )1916 – Manoel de Barros , Brazilian poet (d. 2014 )1916 – Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann , German publicist (d. 2010 )1918 – Professor Longhair , American musician (d. 1980 )1920 – Little Jimmy Dickens , American country music singer (d. 2015 )1920 – Alexander McAllister , Scottish cricketer1920 – David Susskind , movie, stage, and television producer (d. 1987 )1922 – Eamonn Andrews , Irish radio and television host (d. 1987 )1923 – Gordon Jackson , Scottish movie, stage and television actor (d. 1990 )1924 – Michel Tournier , French writer (d. 2016 )1925 – Tankred Dorst , German dramatist (d. 2017 )1925 – Robert B. Sherman , American songwriter (d. 2012 )1925 – Rabah Bitat , President of Algeria (d. 2000 )1926 – Fikret Otyam , Turkish painter and journalist (d. 2015 )1927 – Remo Capitani , Italian actor (d. 2014 )1929 – Lorenzo Buffon , Italian footballer 1929 – Bob Brookmeyer , American musician (d. 2011 )1930 – Georg Stollenwerk , German footballer (d. 2014 )1932 – Thomas Hunter , American actor (d. 2017 )1932 – Bernhard Vogel , German politician1933 – Cicely Tyson , American actress1934 – Rudi Carrell , Dutch entertainer (d. 2006 )1934 – Al Kaline , American Baseball Hall of Famer 1934 – Pratibha Patil , former President of India 1935 – Bobby Timmons , American jazz pianist (d. 1974 )1936 – Marian McKnight , American model1938 – Karel Svoboda , Czech composer (d. 2007 )1940 – Phil Ochs , singer, songwriter (d. 1976 )1941 – Maurice White , American musician (d. 2016 )1941 – Lee Myung-bak , former President of South Korea 1942 – Cornell Dupree , American musician (d. 2011 )1943 – Sam Kelly , English actor (d. 2014 )1944 – Richard Leakey , Kenyan anthropologist (d. 2022 )1944 – Alvin Lee , British musician (d. 2013 )1946 – Robert Urich , American actor (d. 2002 )1947 – Jimmy Bain , Scottish musician (d. 2016 )1949 – Jupp Kapellmann , German footballer1949 – Nasser Hejazi , Iranian footballer (d. 2011 )1949 – Claudia Kolb , swimmer1949 – Carlos Gomes Junior , former Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau 1950 – Walter Frosch , German footballer (d. 2013 )– 19751951 – Mohammed Reza Aref , 2nd Vice President of Iran 1952 – Walter Murphy , American songwriter and musician 1955 – Rob Portman , American politician1956 – Jens Fink-Jensen , Danish writer1957 – Kevin McHale , American basketball player1957 – Cyril Collard , French actor , director and composer (d. 1993 )1957 – Michael E. Fossum , American astronaut 1957 – John Gulager , American actor , cinematographer and director 1958 – José Aguilar , Cuban boxer (d. 2014 )1959 – Ivan Vallejo , Ecuadorean footballer 1960 – Mike Lookinland , actor1961 – Eric Allin Cornell , American physicist 1961 – Reggie White , American football player (d. 2004 )1963 – Til Schweiger , German actor1963 – Jennifer Beals , American actress1964 – Arvydas Sabonis , Lithuanian basketball player1964 – Béatrice Dalle , French actress1965 – Jessica Steen , Canadian actress1965 – Chito Martinez , Belizean baseball player1966 – Alberto Tomba , Italian skier1967 – Criss Angel , American illusionist1968 – Ken Marino , American actor and comedian1968 – Kristina Keneally , 42nd Premier of New South Wales 1969 – Aziza Mustafa Zadeh , Azerbaijani composer, pianist and singer1969 – Kristy Swanson , American actress1969 – Richard Hammond , British television presenter1971 – Tiffany Towers , American actress1972 – Alyssa Milano , American actress1972 – Warren Sapp , American football player1974 – Jake Plummer , American football player1974 – Ricky Ponting , Australian cricketer From 1976
1978 – Patrick Casey , American screenwriter and actor 1979 – Gareth Williams , Welsh rugby player1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal , American actor1980 – Billy O'Sullivan, American actor1980 – Marla Sokoloff , actress1982 – Tero Pitkamaki , Finnish javelin thrower1983 – Matt Stajan , Canadian ice hockey player1985 – Neil Kilkenny , Australian footballer 1985 – Gary Cahill , English footballer 1985 – Lady Sovereign , English musician1985 – Dan Logan , English bass player1986 – Ryan Babel , Dutch footballer 1987 – Karim Benzema , French footballer 1988 – Alexis Sanchez , Chilean footballer 1989 – Yong Jun-hyung , South Korean singer , rapper and actor 1991 – Declan Galbraith , English singer1991 – Edwin Jackson , American football player (d. 2018 )1991 – Jorge Blanco , Mexican actor and singer 1992 – Iker Muniain , Spanish footballer 1993 – Leonardo Bittencourt , German footballer 1994 – Michele Bravi , Italian singer1994 – Estelle Balet , Swiss snowboarder (d. 2016 )1995 – Brandur Olsen , Faroese footballer 1998 – Frans Jeppsson Wall , Swedish singerDeaths
Up to 1900
211 – Geta , Roman Emperor401 – Pope Anastasius I 1075 – Edith of Wessex , queen of Edward the Confessor of England1111 – Al-Ghazali , Persian theologian and philosopher 1123 – Saint Berardo , Italian bishop 1327 – Agnes of France , Duchess of Burgundy1370 – Pope Urban V (b. 1310 )1475 – Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol (b. 1418 )1737 – James Sobieski , Crown Prince of Poland (b. 1667 )1741 – Vitus Bering , Danish–born explorer (b. 1681 )1745 – Jean-Baptiste van Loo , French painter (b. 1684 )1749 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti , Italian priest and composer (b. 1672 )1751 – Louise of Great Britain , queen of Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1724 )1807 – Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm , German writer (b. 1723 )1813 – James McGill , Scottish–Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1744 )1814 – Joseph Bramah , English inventor and locksmith (b. 1748 )1819 – Sir Thomas Fremantle , English naval officer and politician (b. 1765 )1848 – Emily Brontë , English writer (b. 1818 )1851 – J. M. W. Turner , English painter (b. 1775 )1859 – Mirabeau B. Lamar , American politician and President of Texas (b. 1798 )1860 – Konstantin Aksakov , Russian writer (b. 1817 )1899 – Henry Ware Lawton , American Civil War general (b. 1843 )– 20001915 – Alois Alzheimer , German neuroscientist (b. 1864 )1916 – Thibaw Min , King of Burma (b. 1859 )1927 – Ashfaqulla Khan , Indian activist (b. 1900 )1927 – Ram Prasad Bismil , Indian activist (b. 1897 )1927 – Roshan Singh , Indian activist (b. 1892 )1932 – Yoon Bong-Gil , Korean resister against Japanese occupation (executed) (b. 1908 )1933 – George Jackson Churchward , English engineer (b. 1857 )1939 – Hans Langsdorff , German naval officer (b. 1894 )1944 – Abbas II of Egypt (b. 1874 )1944 – Rudolph Karstadt , German entrepreneur (b. 1856 )1946 – Paul Langevin , French physicist (b. 1872 )1953 – Robert Millikan , American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868 )1967 – Harold Holt , seventeenth Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908 )1968 – Norman Thomas , American socialist (b. 1884 )1976 – Giuseppe Caselli , Italian painter (b. 1893 )1977 – Nellie Tayloe Ross , Governor of Wyoming (b. 1876 )1982 – Dwight Macdonald , American philosopher , author and critic (b. 1906 )1988 – Robert Bernstein , American author and playwright (b. 1919 )1989 – Stella Gibbons , English writer (b. 1902 )1993 – Michael Clarke , American drummer (b. 1946 )1996 – Marcello Mastroianni , Italian actor (b. 1924 )1997 – Masaru Ibuka , Japanese industrialist (b. 1908 )1998 – Mel Fisher , American treasure hunter (b. 1922 )1999 – Desmond Llewelyn , Welsh actor (b. 1914 )2000 – Pops Staples , American singer (b. 1915 )2000 – John Lindsay , 103rd Mayor of New York City (b. 1921 )2000 – Rob Buck , American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1958 )From 2001
2003 – Peter Carter-Ruck , British lawyer (b. 1914 )2003 – Hope Lange , American actress (b. 1941 )2004 – Herbert C. Brown , English–born chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912 )2004 – Renata Tebaldi , Italian soprano (b. 1922 )2008 – Carol Chomsky , American linguist and educator (b. 1930 )2009 – Hossein-Ali Montazeri , Iranian cleric (b. 1922 )2009 – Kim Peek , American megasavant, inspiration for the movie Rain Man (b. 1951 )2012 – Peter Struck , German politician (b. 1943 )2012 – Robert Bork , American judge and scholar (b. 1927 )2013 – Herb Geller , American–German saxophonist and composer (b. 1928 )2013 – Ned Vizzini , American writer (b. 1981 )2014 – Igor Rodionov , Russian general and politician (b. 1936 )2014 – Philip Bradbourn , English politician (b. 1951 )2014 – Arthur Gardner , American movie and television producer (b. 1910 )2015 – Jimmy Hill , English footballer and pundit (b. 1928 )2015 – Kurt Masur , German conductor (b. 1927 )2015 – Greville Janner , British politician (b. 1928 )2015 – Karin Söder , Swedish politician (b. 1928 )2015 – Dickie Moore , Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931 )2015 – Selma Reis , Brazilian actress and singer (b. 1960 )2016 – Andrei Karlov , Russian diplomat , Ambassador to Turkey (b. 1954 )2017 – Lito Cruz , Argentine actor (b. 1941 )2017 – Clifford Irving , American author (b. 1930 )2017 – Hiep Thi Le , Vietnamese–American actress (b. 1971 )2018 – Tömür Dawamat , Chinese Uighur politician; (b. 1927 )2018 – Mel Hutchins , American basketball player; (b. 1928 )2018 – Geetha Salam , Indian actor; (b. 1948 )2019 – Ricardo de Aparici , Argentine lawyer and politician; (b. 1940 )2019 – Francisco Brennand , Brazilian sculptor; (b. 1927 )2019 – Jules Deelder , Dutch poet; (b. 1944 )2019 – Jan de Laval , Swedish actor; (b. 1948 )2019 – Ward Just , American journalist and writer; (b. 1935 )2019 – George Metallinos , Greek priest; (b. 1940 )2019 – Yoshio Mochizuki , Japanese politician; (b. 1947 )2019 – Shahdon Winchester , Trinidadian footballer 2019 – Alba Zaluar , Brazilian anthropologist ; (b. 1942 )Observances
Liberation Day (Goa )
National Heroes and Heroines Day (Anguilla )