Christmas Day
Birthdays:
1978 ~ Jeremy Strong, American actor. He is best known for his role as Kendall Roy on the television drama Succession. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts.
1973 ~ Alexandre Trudeau (né Alexandre Emmanuel Trudeau), Canadian journalist and brother of Canadian Prime Minister of Justin Trudeau. He is the son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau. He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
1971 ~ Justin Trudeau (né Justin Pierre James Trudeau), Canadian Prime Minister and son of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau. He assumed the Office of Prime Minister in November 2015. He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
1959 ~ Michael P. Anderson (né Michael Phillip Anderson; d. Feb. 1, 2003), African-American astronaut who perished in the Columbia shuttle explosion. He was 43 at the time of his death.
1954 ~ Annie Lennox (née Ann Lennox), Scottish singer. She was born in Aberdeen, Scotland.
1950 ~ Karl Rove (né Karl Christian Rove), American presidential advisor to President George W. Bush. He was born in Denver, Colorado.
1949 ~ Sissy Spacek (née Mary Elizabeth Spacek), American actress. She was born in Quitman, Texas.
1947 ~ Bruce Wasserstein (né Bruce Jay Wasserstein; d. Oct. 14, 2009), American investment banker whose deals made for high drama. He was born and died in New York, New York. He died at age 61.
1946 ~ Jimmy Buffett (né James William Buffett), American singer and songwriter. He was born in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
1945 ~ Ken Stabler (né Kenneth Michael Stabler, d. July 8, 2015), American football and one of the National Football League’s most successful quarterback. He partied as hard as he threw. Following his career as a football player, he became a sportscaster. He was born in Foley, Alabama and died in Gulfport, Mississippi. He was 69 years old.
1936 ~ Ismail Merchant (d. May 25, 2005), Indian-born film producer who helped create stylish period dramas. He was born in Mumbai, India. He died following surgery at age 68 in London, England.
1935 ~ Michael McKinnell (né Noel Michael McKinnell; d. Mar. 27, 2020), British-born American architect. He co-designed Boston City Hall, which helped spur the City’s urban revival in the late 1960s. He was born in Salford, England. He died of Covid-19 at age 84 in Beverly, Massachusetts.
1935 ~ Anne Roiphe, American author and feminist. She was born in New York, New York.
1928 ~ Barbara Costikyan (née Barbara Virginia Fatt; d. June 18, 2020), American food critic for New Yorkmagazine. She wrote about the city’s low-budget, high-quality restaurants and offered advice on how to troubleshoot kitchen problems, such as if your oven breaks on the day of a party. She was born and died in New York, New York. She died of Covid-19 at age 91.
1924 ~ Rod Serling (né Rodman Edward Serling, d. June 28, 1975), American television producer and author. He is best known for hosting The Twilight Zone. He died at age 50 following heart surgery.
1918 ~ Anwar el-Sadat (né Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat; d. Oct. 6, 1981), President of Egypt from 1970 until his assassination. He was the recipient of the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated at age 62 by Islamic extremist.
1911 ~ Louise Bourgeois (née Louise Joséphine Bourgeois; d. May 31, 2010), French artist, sculptor and painter. She died at age 98.
1908 ~ Quentin Crisp (né Denis Charles Pratt; d. Nov. 21, 1999), English author. He died about a month before his 91st birthday.
1907 ~ Cab Calloway (né Cabell Calloway, III; d. Nov. 18, 1994), American Jazz singer and bandleader. He died at age 86.
1906 ~ Ernst Ruska (né Ernst August Friedrich Ruska; d. May 27, 1988), German physicist and recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in electron optics. He died at age 81.
1906 ~ Clark Clifford (né Clark McAdams Clifford; d. Oct. 10, 1998), 9th United States Secretary of Defense. He served in the Lyndon Johnson administration from February 1968 until January 1969. He had previously served as White House Counsel during the Truman administration from February 1946 until January 1950. He was born in Fort Scott, Kansas. He died at age 91 in Bethesda, Maryland.
1904 ~ Gerhard Herzberg (né Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Otto Julius Herzberg; d. Mar. 3, 1999), German-born Canadian physicist and chemist. He was the recipient of the 1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the knowledge of electron structure and geometry of molecules, especially free radicals. He died at age 94.
1901 ~ Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (née Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; d. Oct. 29, 2004), British wife of Prince Henry, third son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was an aunt by marriage to Queen Elizabeth II. She died at age 102.
1899 ~ Humphrey Bogart (né Humphrey DeForest Bogart; d. Jan. 14, 1957), American actor. He died of esophageal cancer 20 days after his 57th birthday.
1890 ~ Robert Ripley (né LeRoy Robert Ripley; d. May 27, 1949) American cartoonist and collector of odd facts. He founded the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! newspaper. He died of a heart attack at age 58.
1889 ~ Lila Bell Wallace (née Lila Bell Acheson; d. May 8, 1984), American magazine publisher. She co-founded Reader’s Digest with her husband, DeWitt Wallace. She died at age 94 of heart failure.
1887 ~ Conrad Hilton, Sr. (né Conrad Nicholson Hilton; d. Jan. 3, 1979), American hotelier and founder of the Hilton Hotels. He died 9 days after his 91st birthday.
1884 ~ Evelyn Nesbit (née Florence Evelyn Nesbit; d. Jan. 17, 1967), American actress. She is best known for her relationship with the much older architect, Stanford White. In 1906, her jealous husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, murdered White. She died 23 days after her 82nd birthday.
1878 ~ Louis Chevrolet (né Louis-Joseph Chevrolet; b. June 6, 1941), Swiss-born American racecar driver and co-founder of the Chevrolet Car Company. He died at age 62 as a result of complications from leg surgery.
1876 ~ Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus (d. June 9, 1959), German chemist and recipient of the 1928 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins. He died at age 82.
1870 ~ Helena Rubinstein (née Chaja Rubinstein; d. Apr. 1, 1965), Polish-American businesswoman and cosmetics manufacturer. She founded the Helena Rubinstein Cosmetics, Inc. She died at age 94.
1821 ~ Clara Barton (née Clarissa Harlowe Barton; d. Apr. 12, 1912), American nurse and founder of the American Red Cross. She was known as the “Angel of the Battlefield”. She was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts. She died at age 90.
1757 ~ Benjamin Pierce (d. Apr. 1, 1839), 11th Governor of New Hampshire. He was Governor for 1 year, from June 1827 through June 1828. He was the father of President Franklin Pierce. He died at age 81.
1717 ~ Pope Pius VI (né Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi; d. Aug. 29, 1799). He reigned as Pope from February 15, 1775 until his death on this date 24 years later. He succeeded Pope Clement XIV and was followed by Pope Pius VII. He was 81 years old at the time of his death.
1461 ~ Christina of Saxony (d. Dec. 8, 1521), Queen consort of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and wife of John, King of Denmark. She died 17 days before her 60th birthday.
Events that Changed the World:
1991 ~ The Soviet Union was dissolved after Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) resigned as President of the Soviet Union. The Ukraine’s referendum was finalized and the Ukraine officially left the Soviet Union.
1989 ~ Former Romanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu (1918 ~ 1989) and his wife, Elena (1916 ~ 1989), the former First-Deputy Prime Minister, were executed after a summary trial for crimes against humanity.
1977 ~ Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Began (1913 ~ 1992) met with Egyptian President, Anwar Sadat (1918 ~ 1981), in Egypt to discuss peace negotiations.
1962 ~ The movie To Kill a Mockingbird opened in theaters.
1941 ~ Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885 ~ 1966) took command of the United States Pacific Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1932 ~ A 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Gansu, China, killing 275 people.
1926 ~ Prince Hirohito (1901 ~ 1989) succeeded his father, Taishō (1879 ~ 1926), as emperor of Japan.
1914 ~ A series of unofficial truces began on the Western Front during World War I so the soldiers on both sides celebrated Christmas together.
1868 ~ President Andrew Johnson (1808 ~ 1875) granted unconditional pardons to all Civil War Confederate soldiers.
1809 ~ Dr. Ephraim McDowell (1777 ~ 1820) performed the first known successful ovariotomy when he removed a 22-pound tumor from his patient. He is considered the Father of Abdominal Surgery.
1776 ~ George Washington (1732 ~ 1799) and his men crossed the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey in the American Revolutionary War to attack the Hessian mercenaries.
1643 ~ William Mynors, captain of the East India Company ship, the Royal Mary, found and named Christmas Island. A few years later, in 1777, James Cook would visit the island on Christmas Eve.
1066 ~ William the Conqueror (1028 ~ 1087) was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in London.
1000 ~ King Stephen I of Hungary (975 ~ 1038) established Hungary as a Christian kingdom.
800 ~ Charlemagne (c. 742 ~ 814) was crowned as the Holy Roman Emperor.
508 ~ Clovis I (466 ~ 511), King of the Franks, was baptized as a Catholic at Rheims.
336 ~ The first documented evidence of a Christmas celebration in Rome, Italy.
Good-Byes:
2016 ~ George Michael (né Georgio Kyraicos Panayiotou; b. June 25, 1963), British singer-songwriter. He died at age 53.
2016 ~ Vera Rubin (née Vera Florence Cooper; b. July 23, 1928), American astronomer. She was a pioneer in galaxy rotation. She died at age 88.
2014 ~ Mary F. Lyon (née Mary Frances Lyon; b. May 15, 1925), British geneticist best known for her discovery of X-chromosome inactivation. She died at age 89.
2009 ~ Knut Haugland (né Knut Magne Haugland; b. Sept. 23, 1917), Norwegian commando and resistance fighter during World War II who sailed on Kon-Tiki. He was born in Rjukan, Norway. He died at age 92 in Oslo, Norway.
2008 ~ Eartha Kitt (née Eartha Mae Keith; b. Jan. 17, 1927), American singer and actress. She died 23 days before her 82nd birthday.
2006 ~ James Brown (né James Joseph Brown; b. May 3, 1933), American singer-songwriter. He was known as the Godfather of Soul. He died of congestive heart failure at age 73.
1996 ~ JonBenét Ramsey (b. Aug. 6, 1990), American child beauty queen and murder victim. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia. She died in Boulder, Colorado. She was 6 years old.
1995 ~ Dean Martin (né Dino Paul Crocetti; b. June 7, 1917), American singer and actor. He was 78 years old.
1995 ~ Emmanuel Levinas (b. Jan. 12, 1906), French philosopher. He was born in Kovno, Russian Empire (currently Kaunas, Lithuania). He died 19 days after his 89th birthday in Paris France.
1989 ~ Billy Martin (né Alfred Manuel Pesano, Jr.; b. May 16, 1928), American baseball player and manager of the New York Yankees. He was killed on Christmas day in a single car accident. He was 61 years old.
1989 ~ Nicolae Ceauşescu (b. Jan. 26, 1918), 11th Romanian president and husband of Elena Ceauşescu. He was executed for crimes against humanity after a brief summary trial. He was executed a month before his 72ndbirthday.
1989 ~ Elena Ceauşescu (née Lenuţa Petrescu; b. Jan. 7, 1916), Romanian politician and wife of former Romanian president, Nicolae Ceauşescu, who was executed for her crimes against humanity. She died 13 days before her 74thbirthday.
1983 ~ Joan Miró (b. Apr. 20, 1893), Spanish painter. He died at age 90.
1977 ~ Sir Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin (b. Apr. 16, 1889), English film star. He died at age 88.
1975 ~ Gunnar Kangro (b. Nov. 21, 1913), Estonian mathematician. He died just over a month after his 62nd birthday.
1961 ~ Reinhold Rudenberg (b. Feb. 4, 1883), German inventor and pioneer of electron microscopy. He was born in Hanover, Germany. He died at age 78 in Boston, Massachusetts.
1961 ~ Otto Loewi (b. June 3, 1873), German pharmacologist and recipient of the 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of how acetylcholine helped enhance medical therapy. He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but immigrated to the United States. He died at age 88.
1961 ~ Owen Brewster (né Ralph Owen Brewster; b. Feb. 22, 1888), 54th Governor of Maine. He served as governor from 1925 to 1929. He died of cancer at age 73.
1954 ~ Liberty Hyde Bailey (b. Mar. 15, 1858), American botanist and horticulturist. He was the co-founder of the American Society for Horticultural Science. He is also credited as being instrumental in the formation of the 4-H club for children. He was born in South Haven, Michigan. He died in Ithaca, New York at age 96.
1946 ~ W.C. Fields (né William Claude Dunkenfield; b. Jan. 29, 1880), American comedian, actor and writer, best known for his comic persona as a misanthropic egotist. He died just over a month before his 67th birthday.
1938 ~ Karel Čapek (b. Jan. 9, 1890), Czech author best known for coining the term Robot. He died of pneumonia 15 days before his 49th birthday.
1926 ~ Emperor Taishō (b. Aug. 31, 1870), Emperor of Japan. He died of a heart attack at age 47.
1868 ~ Linus Yale, Jr. (b. Apr. 4, 1821), American mechanical engineer and inventor, best known for his invention of the cylinder locks. He was the founder of the Yale Lock Company. He died of a heart attack at age 47.
1635 ~ Samuel de Champlain (b. 1567), French explorer. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but baptismal records show he was baptized on August 13, 1574. He died at age 61.
1553 ~ Pedro de Valdiva (b. Apr. 17, 1497), Spanish-Chilean explorer and 1st Royal Governor of Chile. He was captured and killed in a campaign against the Araucanian Indians. The city of Valdivia, Chile is named in his honor. He was 56 at the time of his death.
795 ~ Pope Adrian I (b. 700). He was Pope from February 772 until his death on this date 23 years later. The exact date of his birth is not known, but he is believed to have been 95 at the time of his death.
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