Also known as 20 December, December 20th, 20th of December
December 20 is the 354th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 11 days remain until the end of the year.
Notable quotes
“4 ♞☤☮♌︎Kalki ⚚⚓︎⊙☳☶⚡ 21:06, 19 December 2020 (UTC) 1 Kalki (talk · contributions) 05:11, 16 December 2010 (UTC) 3 Kalki 02:01, 11 December 2008 (UTC) with a lean toward 2, or perhaps 3 eventually, but prefer to trim it to the first sentence.”
— The coming back in another way is the part that I like though... Zarbon 18:15, 18 December 2008 (UTC)
Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.
December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 11 days remain until the end of the year.
Contents
Events
Pre-1600
AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.
944 – Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos is arrested by two of his sons, forced to abdicate and to live as a monk for the rest of his life.
1046 – Emperor Henry III convenes the synod of Sutri to mediate between different claimants to the papacy.
1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.
1334 – Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII.
1601–1900
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.
1832 – HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.
1848 – French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.
1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession.
1901–present
1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.
1940 – Captain America Comics #1, containing the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published.
1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China.
1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.
1946 – It's a Wonderful Life premieres at the Globe Theatre in New York to mixed reviews. [1]
1946 – An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes.
1948 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87 of the 115 people on board.
1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
Births
Pre-1600
1494 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (died 1555)
1496 – Joseph ha-Kohen, historian and physician (died 1575)
1537 – John III, king of Sweden (died 1592)
1576 – John Sarkander, Moravian priest and saint (died 1620)
1601–1900
1626 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German scholar and politician (died 1692)
1629 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (died 1684)
1641 – Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist, geologist, and physician (died 1724)
1740 – Arthur Lee, American physician and diplomat (died 1792)
1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (died 1853)
1792 – Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, French painter and educator (died 1845)
1806 – Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (died 1871)
1812 – Laura M. Hawley Thurston, American poet and educator (died 1842)
1838 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian, author, and educator (died 1926)
1841 – Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1932)
1851 – Knut Wicksell, Swedish economist (died 1926)
1861 – Ferdinand Bonn, German actor (died 1933)
1861 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (died 1926)
1865 – Elsie de Wolfe, American actress and interior decorator (died 1950)
1868 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (died 1938)
1901–present
1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic, invented the Van de Graaff generator (died 1967)
1902 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (died 1942)
1902 – Sidney Hook, American philosopher and author (died 1989)
1904 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 1984)
1905 – Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (died 1992)
1907 – Paul Francis Webster, American soldier and songwriter (died 1984)
1908 – Dennis Morgan, American actor and singer (died 1994)
1909 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian journalist and politician (died 2000)
1911 – Hortense Calisher, American author (died 2009)
1914 – Harry F. Byrd Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (died 2013)
1915 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish author and poet (died 1995)
1916 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian trade union leader and activist (died 2010)
1917 – David Bohm, American-English physicist, neuropsychologist, and philosopher (died 1992)
1917 – Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (died 1997)
Deaths
Pre-1600
69 – Titus Flavius Sabinus, a Roman politician and soldier
217 – Zephyrinus, pope of the Catholic Church
910 – Alfonso III, king of Asturias
977 – Fujiwara no Kanemichi, Japanese statesman (born 925)
1295 – Margaret of Provence, French queen (born 1221)
1326 – Peter of Moscow, Russian metropolitan bishop
1340 – John I, duke of Bavaria (born 1329)
1355 – Stefan Dušan, emperor of Serbia (born 1308)
1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (born 1506)
1552 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (born 1499)
1590 – Ambroise Paré, French physician and surgeon (born 1510)
1601–1900
1658 – Jean Jannon, French designer and typefounder (born 1580)
1722 – Kangxi, emperor of the Qing Dynasty (born 1654)
1723 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (born 1652)
1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (born 1675)
1765 – Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France (born 1729)
1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (born 1692)
1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (born 1729)
1812 – Sacagawea, American explorer (born 1788)
1820 – John Bell, American farmer (born 1750)
1849 – Kyai Maja, Javanese ulama and commander of Java War (born 1792)
1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (born 1820)
1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (born 1791)
1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (born 1797)
1889 – George F. Durand, Canadian architect (born 1850)
1893 – George C. Magoun, American businessman (born 1840)
1901–present
1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (born 1863)
1916 – Arthur Morgan, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Queensland (born 1856)
1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (born 1882)
1919 – Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (born 1835)
1920 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (born 1863)
1921 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist (born 1852)
1925 – João Ferreira Sardo, the founder of Gafanha da Nazaré, also known as Prior Sardo (born 1873).
1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (born 1872)
1929 – Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 8th President of France (born 1838)
1935 – Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1882)
1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (born 1865)
1938 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary (born 1850)
1938 – Lida Howell, American archer (born 1859)
1939 – Hans Langsdorff, German captain (born 1894)
1940 – Sarita Colonia, Peruvian folk saint (born 1914)
Holidays and observances
Abolition of Slavery Day, also known as Fête des Cafres (Réunion, French Guiana)
Bo Aung Kyaw Day (Myanmar)
Christian feast day:
Dominic of Silos
Blessed Michał Piaszczyński
O Clavis
Philogonius
Ursicinus of Saint-Ursanne
Katharina von Bora (Lutheran)
December 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest date for Winter solstice's eve (Northern Hemisphere), and its related observances:
Yaldā (Iran)
International Human Solidarity Day (International)
Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Macau)
Article from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), where it is maintained by volunteer editors.
1960 – Vietnam War: The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, popularly known as the Viet Cong, is formally established in Tân Lập village, present day Tây Ninh province.
1968 – The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.
1970 – Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.
1973 – Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.
1977 – With the approval of the State Council, China's two largest newspapers, the People's Daily and the Guangming Daily, publish in full for the first time the Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme.
1984 – The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.
1984 – Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head."
1985 – Pope John Paul II announces the creation of World Youth Day.
1987 – In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
1988 – War on drugs: The United Nations agrees upon and promulgates the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, one of three major drug control treaties currently in force.
1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
1991 – A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1995 – American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159 of the 163 people on board.
1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.
2004 – A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.
2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.
2007 – The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. Both will be recovered a few weeks later.
2016 – Aerosucre Flight 157 crashes during takeoff from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, killing five people.
2019 – The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.
2024 – Six people are killed and over 200 are injured when an anti-Islam activist drives a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.
2024 – A mass stabbing occurs in a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia, in which a 7-year-old pupil is killed and six more are injured by a knife-wielding 19-year-old male.
1869 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (died 1956)
1871 – Henry Kimball Hadley, American composer and conductor (died 1937)
1873 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian, author, and academic (died 1948)
1873 – Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, academic, and politician (died 1936)
1874 – Mary Ann Bevan, English nurse who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world" (died 1933)
1881 – Branch Rickey, American baseball player and manager (died 1965)
1884 – Ruhana Kuddus, Indonesian activist and journalist (died 1972)
1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player and businessman (died 1974)
1888 – Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian and academic (died 1980)
1888 – Fred Merkle, American baseball player and manager (died 1956)
1890 – Yvonne Arnaud, French pianist, actress and singer (died 1958)
1890 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967)
1891 – Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper (died 1971)
1894 – Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1978)
1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician, 156th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1973)
1898 – Irene Dunne, American actress and singer (died 1990)
1899 – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Welsh preacher and physician (died 1981)
1900 – Lissy Arna, German actress (died 1964)
1900 – Gabby Hartnett, American baseball player and manager (died 1972)
1917 – Audrey Totter, American actress (died 2013)
1918 – Jean Marchand, Canadian trade union leader and politician, 43rd Secretary of State for Canada (died 1988)
1920 – Väinö Linna, Finnish author (died 1992)
1921 – George Roy Hill, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2002)
1922 – Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter (died 2020)
1922 – William Soeryadjaya, Chinese-Indonesian businessman and co-founder of Astra International (died 2010)
1924 – Charlie Callas, American actor and comedian (died 2011)
1924 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 42nd Secretary of State for Canada (died 1980)
1925 – Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (died 2007)
1926 – Marcel Douzima, Central African lawyer and politician (died 2012)
1926 – Geoffrey Howe, Welsh lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 2015)
1926 – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Economics (died 2009)
1927 – Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark, English engineer and politician (died 2016)
1927 – Jim Simpson, American sportscaster (died 2016)
1927 – Kim Young-sam, South Korean soldier and politician, 7th President of South Korea (died 2015)
1927 – James Lawrence King, American jurist (died 2026)
1928 – John Menkes, Austrian-American pediatric and writer (died 2008)
1929 – Milan Panić, Serbian businessman and politician, 1st Prime Minister of FR Yugoslavia (died 2026)
1929 – Don Sunderlage, American basketball player (died 1961)
1931 – Mala Powers, American actress (died 2007)
1931 – Hristina Obradović, Serbian hegumenia and abbess (died 2026)
1932 – Antoine Mbary-Daba, Central African politician, bureaucrat, and diplomat (died c. 1997).
1932 – John Hillerman, American actor (died 2017)
1933 – Olavi Salonen, Finnish runner (died 2025)
1933 – Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist (died 2024)
1935 – Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster (died 2024)
1939 – Kathryn Joosten, American actress (died 2012)
1939 – Kim Weston, American soul singer
1942 – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (died 2015)
1942 – Bob Hayes, American sprinter and football player (died 2002)
1942 – Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
1942 – Roger Woodward, Australian classical pianist, composer, conductor, teacher and human rights activist.
1944 – Ray Martin, Australian television host and journalist
1945 – Peter Criss, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
1945 – Sivakant Tiwari, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and author (died 2010)
1946 – Uri Geller, Israeli-English magician and psychic
1946 – Bill Hosket Jr., American basketball player
1946 – Sonny Perdue, American politician, 31st United States Secretary of Agriculture, 81st Governor of Georgia
1946 – Dick Wolf, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1947 – Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer-songwriter
1948 – Alan Parsons, English keyboard player and producer
1948 – Mitsuko Uchida, Japanese pianist
1949 – Soumaïla Cissé, Malian engineer and politician (died 2020)
1949 – Cecil Cooper, American baseball player and manager
