December 21

Birthdays:

1969 ~ Julie Delpy, French model and actress.

1966 ~ Kiefer Sutherland (né Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland), Canadian actor.

1959 ~ Florence Griffith Joyner (d. Sept. 21, 1998), American athlete.  She was known as Flo-Jo.  She died of an epileptic seizure at age 38.

1955 ~ Jane Kaczmarek, American actress.

1954 ~ Christine “Chris” Evert, American tennis player.

1950 ~ Jeffrey Katzenberg, American screenwriter and producer.  He co-founded DreamWorks Animation.

1948 ~ Samuel L. Jackson, American actor.

1947 ~ Paco de Lucía (d. Feb. 25, 2014), the Mexican guitarist who reinvented flamenco.  He died at age 66.

1940 ~ Frank Zappa (d. Dec. 4, 1993), American musician and composer.  He died of prostate cancer 17 days before his 53^rd birthday.

1937 ~ Jane Fonda, American actress.

1935 ~ John G. Avildsen (d. June 16, 2017), American film director who made underdogs into champions.  He directed such movies as Rocky and The Karate Kid.  He died at age 81.

1935 ~ Phillip John “Phil” Donahue, American talk show host.

1926 ~ Arnošt Lustig (d. Feb. 26, 2011), Czech novelist who recalled the horrors of the Holocaust.  He died at age 84.

1926 ~ Joseph Vincent Paterno (d. Jan. 22, 2012), legendary football coach at Pennsylvania State University.  He was forced to resign from his coaching position in November 2011 following the arrest of his long-time assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, who was arrested on child sexual abuse charges.  Paterno allowed his staff to ignore sexual abuse towards young boys by Sandusky, thus his resignation was due to his inaction after learning Sandusky had been abusing young boys.  He died a month after his 85^th birthday.

1922 ~ Cécile DeWitt-Morette (d. May 8, 2017), French mathematician and physicist.  She died at age 94.

1922 ~ Paul Winchell (né Paul Wilchinksy, d. June 24, 2005), American ventriloquist who was the voice of Jerry Mahoney and Tigger.  He died at age 82.

1918 ~ Donald Regan (d. June 10, 2003), 11^th White House Chief of Staff.  He served under President Ronald Reagan.  He had previously served as the 66^th Secretary of the Treasury, also during the Ronald Reagan administration.  He was 84 years old.

1918 ~ Kurt Waldheim (d. June 14, 2007), 9^th President of Austria.  He had also served as the 4^th Secretary-General of the United Nations.  He served in that Office from January 1972 until December 1981.  He died of heart failure at age 88.

1917 ~ Heinrich Böll (d. July 16, 1985), German writer and recipient of the 1972 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 67.

1915 ~ Werner von Trapp (d. Oct. 11, 2007), Austrian singer and member of the Von Trapp family.  He was the second oldest son in the family.  He died in Waitsfield, Vermont at age 91.

1914 ~ Frank Fenner (d. Nov. 22, 2010), Australian virologist who fought smallpox, malaria and rabbits.  He died a month before his 96^th birthday.

1905 ~ Käte Fenchel (d. Dec. 19, 1983), German mathematician.  She died 2 days before her 78^th birthday.

1892 ~ Dame Rebecca West (née Dame Cicely Isabel Fairfield, d. Mar. 15, 1983), English writer.  She died at age 90.

1891 ~ John William McCormack (d. Nov. 22, 1980), Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States Congress.  He served as Speaker of the House from January 1962 until January 1971.  He was from Massachusetts.  He died a month before his 89^th birthday.

1890 ~ Hermann Joseph Muller (d. Apr. 5, 1967), American geneticist and recipient of the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 76.

1878 ~ Jan Łukasiewicz (d. Feb. 13, 1956), Polish mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1877 ~ Jaan Sarv (d. Aug. 23, 1954), Estonian mathematician.  He died at age 76.

1860 ~ Henrietta Szold (b. Feb. 13, 1945), American activist and founder of Hadassah.  She died at age 84.

1804 ~ Benjamin Disraeli, 1^st Earl of Beaconsfield (d. Apr. 19, 1881), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.  He served as Prime Minister for two terms, first from February 1868 until December 1868, and second from February 1874 until April 1880.  He was born Jewish, but later converted to the Church of England.  He died at age 76.

1795 ~ John Russell (d. Apr. 28, 1883), English parson and dog breeder.  He died at age 87.

1603 ~ Roger Williams (d. 1683), English theologian and founder of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  The exact date of his death is not known, but it is believed to have been between January and March 1683.

1542 ~ Thomas Allen (d. Sept. 30, 1632), English mathematician and astrologer.  He died at age 89.

1119 ~ Saint Thomas Becket of Canterbury (d. Dec. 29, 1170), Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of Canterbury and Christian martyr.  Although Becket was appointed archbishop by King Henry II in 1162, conflicts erupted between the two and the King’s nights murdered Becket in the Canterbury Cathedral.  He is now an English saint.  The exact date of his birth is not known, December 21 is generally considered to be his birthday.  He was about 51 at the time of his death.

Events that Changed the World:

1995 ~ The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.

1994 ~ Mexican volcano Popocatepetl, which had been dormant for 47 years, erupted gases and ash.

1988 ~ A bomb exploded aboard Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 270 aboard and 11 others on the ground.

1973 ~ The Geneva Conference on the Arab-Israeli conflict began.

1962 ~ Norway established its first national park with the creation of Rondane National Park.

1951 ~ Libya gained its independence.  It had been under Italian control until 1943, when it was under Allied occupation and was under British and French administration.

1946 ~ A massive 8.1 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan killed over 1,300 people.

1937 ~ The first full-length animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater.

1919 ~ Emma Goldman (1869 ~ 1940), an American anarchist, was deported to Russia.  Although born in Russia, her family immigrated to the United States as a child.

1913 ~ Arthur Wayne (1871 ~ 1945) created the first modern crossword puzzle.  It was published in the Sunday edition of the New York World newspaper.

1907 ~ The Chilean Army committed the Santa María School massacre by killing an estimated 2000 striking nitrate miners along with their wives and children.  The massacre occurred at the Domingo Santa María School in Iquique, Chile.

1879 ~ The world première of Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, was performed at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1826 ~ American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declared their independence and started the Fredonian Rebellion.

1620 ~ The Pilgrims are believed to have landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Good-Byes:

2009 ~ Edwin G. Krebs (b. June 6, 1918), American biochemist and recipient of the 1992 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He was 91 years old.

1996 ~ Margret Rey (b. May 16, 1906), German-born author, who along with her husband, H.A. Rey (né Hans Augusto Rey 1898 ~ 1977), created the Curious George series of children’s books.  She died at age 90.

1992 ~ Stella Adler (b. Feb. 10, 1901), American actress.  She died at age 91.

1988 ~ Nikolaas Tinbergen (b. Apr. 15, 1907), Dutch ethologist and recipient of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.  He died at age 81.

1967 ~ Louis Washkansky (b. 1913), the first human to have a heart transplant died 18 days after receiving the transplant.  He was 54 years old.

1945 ~ George S. Patton, Jr. (b. Nov. 11, 1885), American general.  He died at age 60 of injuries suffered in a car accident.

1940 ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald (né Francis Scott Fitzgerald, b. Sept. 24, 1896), American novelist, best known for his novel, The Great Gatsby.  He died at age 44.

1937 ~ Frank B. Kellogg (b. Dec. 22, 1856), 45^th Secretary of State.  He served under Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover from March 1925 until March 1929.  He was also the recipient of the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize.  He died 1 day before his 81^st birthday.

1900 ~ Roger Wolcott (b. July 13, 1847), 39^th Governor of Massachusetts.  He served as Governor from January 1897 until January 1900.  He died of typhoid fever at age 53.

1880 ~ Amos Akerman (b. Feb. 23, 1821), 31^st US Attorney General.  He served during Ulysses S. Grant administration from November 1870 until December 1871.  He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He died at age 59.

1824 ~ James Parkinson (b. Apr. 11, 1755), English physician, surgeon, geologist, paleontologist and political activist.  He was the first to describe the condition now known as Parkinson’s disease.  He died of a stroke at age 69.

1765 ~ Prokop Diviš (b. Mar. 26, 1698), Czech scientist and inventor of the lightning rod.  He died at age 67.

1549 ~ Marguerite de Navarre (b. Apr. 11, 1492), French wife of Henry II of Navarre.  She died at age 57.