Almanac - December 31
Henri Matisse 1869-1954
Events
- 406 – Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
- 535 – Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
- 1225 – The Ly Dynasty of Vietnam ends after 216 years by the enthronement of the boy emperor Tran Thai Tong, husband of the last Ly monarch, Ly Chieu Hoang, starting the Tran Dynasty.
- 1229 – James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian reconquest of the island of Majorca.
- 1600 – The British East India Company is chartered.
- 1660 – James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
- 1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1695 – A window tax is imposed in England, causing many householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax.
- 1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000 year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
- 1831 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
- 1857 – Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, then a small logging town, as the capital of Canada.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- 1879 – Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, NJ.
- 1907 – The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York City, New York.
- 1906 – Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.
- 1909 – Manhattan Bridge opens.
- 1923 – The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
- 1944 – World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.
- 1946 – President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
- 1951 – The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $13.3 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
- 1955 – The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
- 1960 – The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
- 1963 – The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
- 1965 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begins a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
- 1981 – A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
- 1983 – The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
- 1983 – In Nigeria a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Nigerian Second Republic.
- 1986 – A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
- 1991 – All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
- 1992 – Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
- 1994 – This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
- 1994 – The first Chechen war: Russian army began a New Year's storm of Grozny
- 1998– The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
- 1999 – Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
- 1999 – Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
- 1999 – The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
- 2004 – The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).
Births
- 695 – Muhammad bin Qasim, Syrian general (d. 715)
- 1378 – Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)
- 1491 – Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
- 1514 – Andreas Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (d. 1564)
- 1572 – Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, (d. 1617)
- 1585 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, (d. 1645)
- 1668 – Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738)
- 1720 – Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1788)
- 1738 – Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (d. 1805)
- 1741 – Isabella Maria of Parma, wife of future Holy Roman emperor (d. 1763)
- 1763 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
- 1815 – George Meade, American Civil War general (d. 1872)
- 1823 – Sándor Petofi, Hungarian poet (d. 1849)
- 1830 – Isma'il Pasha, Governor of Egypt (d. 1895)
- 1830 – Alexander Smith, Scottish poet (d. 1867)
- 1864 – Robert Grant Aitken, American astronomer (d. 1951)
- 1855 – Giovanni Pascoli, Italian poet (d. 1912)
- 1857 – King Kelly, American baseball player (d. 1894)
- 1860 – Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (d. 1937)
- 1869 – Henri Matisse, French painter (d. 1954)
- 1877 – Lawrence Beesley, English journalist and author (d. 1967)
- 1878 – Elizabeth Arden, Canadian businesswoman (d. 1966)
- 1878 – Horacio Quiroga, Uruguayan-Argentinian writer (d. 1937)
- 1880 – Fred Beebe, American baseball player (d. 1957)
- 1880 – George C. Marshall, United States Secretary of State, Nobel Laureate (d. 1959)
- 1881 – Max Pechstein, German painter (d. 1955)
- 1882 – Martin O'Meara, Australian soldier (d. 1935)
- 1884 – Bobby Byrne, American baseball player (d. 1964)
- 1885 – Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1970)
- 1899 – Silvestre Revueltas, Mexican composer (d. 1940)
- 1901 – Julia Bathory, Hungarian glass designer(d. 2000)
- 1901 – Nikos Ploumpidis, Greek resistance fighter (d. 1954)
- 1902 – Lionel Daunais, French-Canadian singer and composer (d. 1982)
- 1903 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992)
- 1904 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer and actress (d. 1975)
- 1905 – Jule Styne, English-born composer (d. 1994)
- 1908 – Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor (d. 2005)
- 1909 – Jonah Jones, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2000)
- 1910 – Carl Dudley, American film director (d. 1973)
- 1911 – Dal Stivens, Australian novelist (d. 1997)
- 1912 – Maj-Gen John Frost, British para commander (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Wilfrid Noyce, English mountaineer (d. 1962)
- 1919 – Tommy Byrne, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1920 – Rex Allen, American actor, singer, and songwriter (d. 1999)
- 1924 – Taylor Mead, American actor
- 1926 – Billy Snedden, Australian politician (d. 1987)
- 1928 – Siné, French cartoonist
- 1929 – Mies Bouwman, Dutch television personality
- 1930 – Odetta, American singer (d. 2008)
- 1930 – Jaime Escalante, American teacher (d. 2010)
- 1931 – Bob Shaw, Irish writer (d. 1996)
- 1933 – Edward Bunker, American author and actor (d. 2005)
- 1934 – Akram Awan, Islamic scholar
- 1937 – Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, Nobel laureate
- 1937 – Sir Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor
- 1938 – Rosalind Cash, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1940 – Mani Neumeier, German musician (Guru Guru)
- 1941 – Sean S. Cunningham, American film director
- 1941 – Alex Ferguson, Scottish football manager
- 1941 – Sarah Miles, English actress
- 1942 – Andy Summers, British guitarist (The Police)
- 1943 – John Denver, American singer and songwriter (d. 1997)
- 1943 – Sir Ben Kingsley, English actor
- 1943 – Pete Quaife, English bassist (The Kinks) (d. 2010)
- 1944 – Taylor Hackford, American producer and director
- 1944 – Neil Ross, British-American voice actor
- 1945 – Diane von Fürstenberg, Belgian-born fashion designer
- 1945 – Barbara Carrera, Nicaraguan actress and model
- 1945 – Connie Willis, American writer
- 1946 – Pius Ncube, Zimbabwean human rights advocate
- 1947 – Burton Cummings, Canadian keyboardist (The Guess Who)
- 1947 – Rita Lee, Brazilian rock singer
- 1947 – Tim Matheson, American actor
- 1948 – Joe Dallesandro American actor
- 1948 – René Robert, National Hockey League player
- 1948 – Donna Summer, American singer
- 1949 – Ellen Datlow, American editor
- 1949 – Seub Nakhasathien, Thai conservationist (d. 1990)
- 1949 – Susan Shwartz, American writer
- 1951 – Tom Hamilton, American bassist (Aerosmith)
- 1953 – James Remar, American actor
- 1953 – Jane Badler, American actress
- 1953 – Michael Hedges, American composer, singer-songwriter, guitarist
- 1954 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician
- 1954 – Hermann Tilke, German racing circuit architect
- 1956 – Steve Rude, American comics artist
- 1958 – Bebe Neuwirth, American actress
- 1959 – Liveris Andritsos, Greek basketball player
- 1959 – Alfie Anido, Filipino actor (d. 1981)
- 1959 – Val Kilmer, American actor
- 1959 – Phill Kline, American politician
- 1959 – Baron Waqa, Nauruan politician and musician
- 1959 – Paul Westerberg, American musician (The Replacements)
- 1960 – John Allen Muhammad, American spree killer (d. 2009)
- 1960 – Steve Bruce, English footballer
- 1961 – Rick Aguilera, American baseball player
- 1961 – Nina Li Chi, Chinese actress
- 1962 – Tyrone Corbin, American basketball player
- 1962 – Don Diamont, American actor
- 1962 – Heather McCartney, British activist
- 1963 – Scott Ian, American guitarist (Anthrax)
- 1963 – Konishiki, American sumo wrestler
- 1964 – Michael McDonald, American actor-comedian
- 1965 – Tony Dorigo, English footballer
- 1965 – Julie Doucet, Canadian underground cartoonist
- 1965 – Gong Li, Chinese actress
- 1965 – Nicholas Sparks, American author
- 1966 – Lisa Joyner, American entertainment reporter
- 1968 – Gerry Dee, Canadian comedian and actor
- 1969 – Dominik Diamond, Scottish presenter and newspaper columnist
- 1969 – Are Kalvø, Norwegian writer and satirist
- 1969 – Lance Reddick, American actor
- 1970 – Jorjão, Brazilian footballer
- 1970 – Carlos Morales Quintana, husband of Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark
- 1970 – Bryon Russell, American basketball player
- 1970 – Danny McNamara, Lead singer of English band Embrace
- 1971 – Brent Barry, American basketball player
- 1971 – Esteban Loaiza, Mexican Major League Baseball player
- 1972 – Joe McIntyre, American singer (New Kids on the Block)
- 1973 – Shandon Anderson, American basketball player
- 1973 – Crystal Knight, American pornographic actress and model
- 1973 – Malcolm Middleton, Scottish musician (Arab Strap)
- 1974 – Mario Aerts, Belgian cyclist
- 1974 – Tony Kanaan, Brazilian racing driver
- 1974 – Ryan Sakoda, Japanese American professional wrestler
- 1975 – Rami Alanko, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1975 – Toni Kuivasto, Finnish footballer
- 1975 – Rob Penders, Dutch footballer
- 1976 – Craig Reucassel, Australian comedian, member of The Chaser
- 1977 – Wardy Alfaro, Costa Rican footballer
- 1977 – Donald Trump Jr., son of Donald Trump and Ivana Trump
- 1978 – Papoose, American rapper
- 1979 – Elaine Cassidy, Irish actress
- 1979 – Paul O'Neill, British racing driver
- 1980 – Matthew Capiccioni, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Jesse Carlson, American baseball player
- 1980 – Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player
- 1981 – Jason Campbell, American football player
- 1981 – Matthew Pavlich, Australian football player
- 1982 – Bryce Avary, The Rocket Summer, American musician
- 1982 – Julio DePaula, Dominican baseball player
- 1982 – Craig Gordon, Scottish footballer
- 1982 – Luke Schenscher, Australian basketball player
- 1983 – Mariana Renata, French-Indonesian Actress
- 1984 – Paul Rodriguez Jr., Professional skateboarder
- 1985 – Jan Smit, Dutch singer
- 1986 – Bronson Pelletier, Canadian actor
- 1987 – Javaris Crittenton, American basketball player
- 1987 – Danny Holla, Dutch footballer
- 1987 – Émilie Le Pennec, French gymnast
- 1990 – Patrick Chan, Canadian figure skater
Deaths
- 192 – Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)
- 335 – St. Silvester, Pope
- 1164 – Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)
- 1194 – Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)
- 1297 – Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)
- 1302 – Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
- 1384 – John Wycliffe, English theologian and Bible translator (b. circa 1328)
- 1424 – Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader
- 1460 – Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)
- 1510 – Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)
- 1535 – William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)
- 1568 – Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)
- 1575 – Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502)
- 1583 – Thomas Erastus, Swiss theologian (b. 1524)
- 1610 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)
- 1650 – Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)
- 1655 – Janusz Radziwill, Polish–Lithuanian noble and magnate (b. 1612)
- 1673 – Oliver St John, English statesman and judge
- 1679 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
- 1691 – Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)
- 1719 – John Flamsteed, English astronomer (b. 1646)
- 1742 – Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)
- 1799 – Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (b. 1723)
- 1872 – Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (b. 1834)
- 1876 – Catherine Labouré, French visionary and saint (b. 1806)
- 1877 – Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)
- 1888 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)
- 1889 – Ion Creanga, Romanian writer
- 1890 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican war heroine (b. 1826)
- 1891 – Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Nigerian bishop. (b. 1809)
- 1894 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch mathematician (b. 1856)
- 1905 – Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)
- 1909 – Spencer Trask, American financier (b. 1844)
- 1910 – John Moisant, American aviator (b. 1868)
- 1910 – Arch Hoxsey, American aviator (b. 1884)
- 1921 – Boies Penrose, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)
- 1936 – Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer and philosopher (b. 1864)
- 1948 – Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (b. 1885)
- 1953 – Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)
- 1964 – Ólafur Thors, Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1892)
- 1964 – Bobby Byrne, baseball player (b. 1884)
- 1969 – George Lewis, American clarinetist (b. 1900)
- 1971 – Pete Duel American actor (b. 1940)
- 1971 – Marin Sais, American actress (b. 1890)
- 1971 – Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
- 1972 – Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rican baseball player (b. 1934)
- 1977 – Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924)
- 1980 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (b. 1911)
- 1980 – Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)
- 1985 – Ricky Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)
- 1986–Raj Narain.Indian Politician(b.1917)
- 1986 – Lloyd Haynes, American actor (b. 1934)
- 1987 – Jerry Turner, American television anchorman (b. 1929)
- 1988 – Nicolas Calas, Greek-American poet and art critic (b. 1907)
- 1990 – Vasili Lazarev, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1928)
- 1990 – George Allen, American football coach (b. 1918)
- 1993 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first President of Georgia (b. 1939)
- 1993 – Brandon Teena, American murder victim (b. 1972)
- 1994 – Leigh Bowery, Australian-born English fashion performance artist (b. 1961)
- 1994 – Woody Strode, American actor and decathlete (b. 1914)
- 1997 – Floyd Cramer, American musician (b. 1933)
- 1997 – Billie Dove, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Michael Kennedy, American politician (b. 1958)
- 1999 – Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Alan Cranston, American politician (b. 1914)
- 2000 – José Greco, Italian-born American flamenco dancer and choreographer (b. 1918)
- 2000 – Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, Israeli leader of Kahane Chai party and son of Rabbi Meir Kahane (b. 1966)
- 2001 – Eileen Heckart, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2002 – Kevin Scott MacMichael, American guitarist (Cutting Crew) (b. 1951)
- 2003 – Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898)
- 2004 – Gerard Debreu, French economist, Bank of Sweden Prize laureate (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Phillip Whitehead, British politician (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Enrico di Giuseppe, American tenor (b. 1932)
- 2006 – George Sisler, Jr., American baseball executive (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Tommy Dickson, British footballer (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Tony Elliott, American football player (b. 1959)
- 2007 – Michael Goldberg, American painter (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Bill Idelson, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Kathryn Ish, American actress (b. 1936)
- 2007 – Milton L. Klein, Canadian politician (b. 1910)
- 2007 – Markku Peltola, Finnish actor and musician (b. 1956)
- 2007 – Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect and designer (b. 1917)
- 2008 – Donald E. Westlake, American author (b. 1933)
Holidays and observances
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