today.nukz.net: Almanac December 11

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984) was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record the hit song "Hound Dog" in 1952. The record was #1 on the Billboard R&B charts for seven weeks in 1953; the single sold almost two million copies. Its B-side was "They Call Me Big Mama." Three years later, Elvis Presley recorded his even more broadly successful rendition of "Hound Dog," based on a version performed by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys. Similarly, Thornton wrote and recorded "Ball 'n' Chain", which became a hit for her, yet Janis Joplin's later recording of it made a bigger impact in the late 1960s.

Events

361 – Julian the Apostate enters Constantinople as sole Emperor of the Roman Empire.
969 – Byzatine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas is assassinated by his wife Theophano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes.
1282 – Llywelyn the Last, the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales.
1602 – A surprise attack by forces under the command of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva.
1789 – The University of North Carolina is chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly.
1792 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
1815 – The U.S. Senate created a select committee on finance and a uniform national currency, predecessor of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
1868 – Brazilians defeat Paraguayans at the Battle of Avay during the Paraguayan War.
1905 – A workers' uprising occurs in Kiev, Ukraine and establishes the Shuliavka Republic.
1907 – The New Zealand Parliament Buildings are almost completely destroyed by fire.
1917 – British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot and declares martial law.
1920 – Irish War of Independence: In revenge for an IRA ambush, British forces burn and loot numerous buildings in Cork city. Many civilians also reported being beaten, shot at, robbed and verbally abused by British forces.
1925 – Roman Catholic papal encyclical Quas Primas introduces the Feast of Christ the King.
1927 – Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker Red Guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
1931 – The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster 1931, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time.
1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India becomes effective.
1937 – Second Italo–Ethiopian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.
1941 – World War II: Germany and [Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy.
1946 – The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
1948 – The United Nations passes General Assembly Resolution 194, which established and defined the role of the United Nations Conciliation Commission as an organization to facilitate peace in the British Mandate for Palestine.
1958 – French Upper Volta and French Dahomey gain self-government from France, becoming the Republic of Upper Volta and the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin) respectively, joining the French Community.
1960 – French forces crack down in a violent clash with protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French president Charles de Gaulle.
1962 – Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, is the last person to be executed in Canada.
1964 – Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York.
1972 – Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.
1980 – The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or Superfund, is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
1981 – El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.
1993 – Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1994 – First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
1994 – A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila, Philippines to Tokyo, Japan, killing one. The captain is able to safely land the plane.
1997 – The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature.
1998 – Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Thai Airways Airbus A310-300 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.
2001 – China joins the World Trade Organization.
2005 – The Buncefield Oil Depot catches fire in Hemel Hempstead, England, United Kingdom.
2005 – Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who are not) in Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia. These are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
2006 – The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.
2006 – Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican Drug War.
2007 – Two car bombs explode at the Constitutional court building in Algiers, Algeria and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
2008 – Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

Births

1465 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (d. 1489)
1475 – Pope Leo X (d. 1521)
1566 – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (d. 1650)
1680 – Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer (d. 1736)
1709 – Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, queen consort of Spain (d. 1742)
1712 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (d. 1764)
1725 – George Mason, American statesman (d. 1792)
1758 – Carl Friedrich Zelter, German composer, conductor and teacher of music (d. 1832)
1761 – Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (d. 1835)
1781 – Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist (d. 1868)
1801 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German writer (d. 1836)
1803 – Hector Berlioz, French composer (d. 1869)
1810 – Alfred de Musset, French poet (d. 1857)
1830 – Kamehameha V, Hawaiian king (d. 1872)
1838 – John Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer (d. 1915)
1843 – Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
1856 – Georgi Plekhanov, Russian revolutionary and Marxist theoretician (d. 1918)
1858 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (d. 1943)
1863 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (d. 1941)
1867 – Antonio Conte, Italian fencer (d. 1953)
1872 – René Bull, Irish illustrator (d. 1942)
1873 – Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician (d. 1967)
1875 – Yehuda Leib Maimon, Bassarabian-born Israeli rabbi and government minister (d. 1962)
1880 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
1882 – Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (d. 1921)
1882 – Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
1882 – Fiorello La Guardia, American statesman (d. 1947)
1883 – Victor McLaglen, English-born American actor (d. 1959)
1884 – Piet Ooms, Dutch freestyle swimmer and water polo player (d. 1961)
1885 – Carlo Wieth, Danish actor (d. 1943)
1889 – Walter Knott, American farmer (d. 1981)
1890 – Carlos Gardel, tango singer (d. 1935)
1890 – Mark Tobey, American painter (d. 1976)
1897 – Ronald Skirth, conscientious objector of the First World War (d. 1977)
1904 – Marge, American cartoonist (d. 1993)
1905 – Robert Henriques, English writer (d. 1967)
1905 – Gilbert Roland, American actor (d. 1994)
1908 – Elliott Carter, American composer (d. 2012)
1908 – Hákun Djurhuus, Faroese politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1987)
1908 – Amon Göth, commandant of Nazi concentration camp (d. 1946)
1908 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese director
1909 – Ronald McKie, Australian author (d. 1991)
1909 – John Wyer, English sports car racing team manager (d. 1989)
1910 – Noel Rosa, Brazilian songwriter (d. 1937)
1911 – Val Guest, English film director (d. 2006)
1911 – Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2006)
1911 – Qian Xuesen, Chinese scientist (d. 2009)
1912 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (d. 2007)
1913 – Jean Marais, French actor (d. 1998)
1916 – Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban-born bandleader (d. 1989)
1918 – Clinton Adams, American artist (d. 2002)
1918 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and Soviet dissident, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
1919 – Marie Windsor, American actress (d. 2000)
1921 – Liz Smith, British actress
1922 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer (d. 2005)
1922 – Dilip Kumar, Indian actor
1922 – Grace Paley, American writer (d. 2007)
1922 – Maila Nurmi, Finnish-American actress (d. 2008)
1923 – Betsy Blair, American actress (d. 2009)
1924 – Doc Blanchard, American football player (d. 2009)
1925 – Aaron Feuerstein, American businessman
1925 – Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 – James Sullivan, American politician (d. 2012)
1926 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer (d. 1984)
1927 – John Buscema, American comics artist (d. 2002)
1930 – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress
1930 – Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actor
1931 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress
1931 – Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher
1931 – Pierre Pilote, Canadian ice hockey player
1931 – Osho, Mystic (d. 1990)
1932 – Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan Contra leader (d. 1991)
1932 – Anne Heywood, English actress
1932 – Aladár Kovácsi, Hungarian modern pentathlon (d. 2010)
1933 – Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician
1935 – Ron Carey, American actor (d. 2007)
1935 – Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
1935 – Elmer Vasko, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
1936 – Hans van den Broek, Dutch politician
1936 – Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
1937 – Jim Harrison, American writer
1938 – Enrico Macias, Algerian-born French singer
1938 – McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
1938 – Reg Livermore, Australian entertainer
1939 – Tom Hayden, American politician and activist
1939 – Thomas McGuane, American writer
1940 – David Gates, American musician (Bread)
1941 – Max Baucus, American politician, senior senator of Montana
1941 – Rogier van Otterloo, Dutch conductor and composer (d. 1988)
1941 – J. P. Parisé, Canadian ice hockey player
1941 – J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (d. 1991)
1942 – Donna Mills, American actress
1943 – John Kerry, American politician
1944 – Jon Garrison, American tenor
1944 – Teri Garr, American film actress
1944 – Lynda Day George, American actress
1944 – Brenda Lee, American singer
1944 – Juan E. Méndez, Argentinian human rights activist
1946 – Rhoma Irama, Indonesian musician, King of Dangdut
1946 – Susan Kyle (aka Diana Palmer, Susan S. Kyle, Diana Blayne, Katy Currie), American writer
1948 – Stamatis Spanoudakis, Greek composer
1949 – Noel Campbell, Irish footballer
1950 – Nino Frassica, Italian actor
1950 – Christina Onassis, American heiress (d. 1988)
1951 – Ria Stalman, Dutch discus thrower
1952 – Peter Geyer, German footballer
1953 – Bess Armstrong, American actress
1954 – Jermaine Jackson, American singer (Jackson 5)
1954 – Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson, Icelandic engineer
1954 – Santiago Creel, Mexican politician
1954 – Brad Bryant, American golfer
1955 – Stu Jackson, American basketball head coach
1955 – Christian Sackewitz, German footballer
1956 – Andrew Lansley, British politician
1956 – Lani Brockman, American actress, director and playwright
1957 – Peter Bagge, American cartoonist
1958 – Nikki Sixx, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
1958 – Isabella Hofmann, American actress
1960 – Rachel Portman, English film composer
1961 – Marco Pierre White, English chef and restaurateur
1961 – Macky Sall, Senegalese politician who has been President of Senegal
1961 – Dave King, Irish singer (Flogging Molly)
1962 – Ben Browder, American actor
1962 – Paul Haslinger, Austrian-born composer
1962 – Nele Karajlic, Bosnian singer
1963 – Mario Been, Dutch footballer and football manager
1963 – Jon Brion, American musician/record producer
1963 – John Lammers, Dutch footballer and football manager
1964 – Michel Courtemanche, French Canadian comedian
1964 – Justin Currie, Scottish singer and songwriter
1964 – John Mark Karr, American who claimed involvement in JonBenét Ramsey case
1964 – David Schools, American musician (Widespread Panic)
1964 – Cosy Sheridan, American singer
1964 – Carolyn Waldo, Canadian synchronized swimmer
1965 – Jay Bell, American baseball player
1965 – Giannis Ragousis, Greek politician
1966 – Gary Dourdan, American actor
1966 – Leon Lai, Hong Kong Cantonese singer/actor
1967 – Mo'Nique, American actress/comedienne
1967 – DJ Yella, American DJ and music producer (N.W.A)
1968 – Fabrizio Ravanelli, Italian footballer
1969 – Francisco Javier Arellano Félix, Mexican drug trafficker
1969 – Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
1969 – Sean Grande, American sportscaster
1969 – Alessandro Melli, Italian footballer
1969 – Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster, current World Chess Champion
1971 – Willie McGinest, American football player
1972 – Daniel Alfredsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1972 – Sami Al-Jaber, Saudi Arabian footballer
1973 – Mos Def, American rapper and actor
1974 – Rey Mysterio, Mexican professional wrestler
1974 – Maarten Lafeber, Dutch professional golfer
1974 – Lisa Ortiz, TV animation and video game voice actress
1974 – Ben Shephard, English TV personality
1975 – Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist
1975 – Tomoka Kurotani, Japanese actress
1976 – Shareef Abdur-Rahim, American basketball player
1977 – Mark Streit, Swiss ice hockey player
1978 – Roy Wood, Jr., American comedian and actor
1979 – Rider Strong, American actor
1980 – Arya, Indian actor
1981 – Nikki Benz, Ukraine-born Canadian pornographic actress
1981 – Hamish Blake, Australian comedian
1981 – Jeff McComsey, American artist
1981 – Paul Medhurst, Australian rules footballer
1981 – Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer
1981 – Zacky Vengeance, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
1982 – Pablo Pérez Companc, Argentine racing driver
1983 – Yoh Miyamori, Japanese musician (Orange Range)
1984 – Leighton Baines, English footballer
1984 – Spyros Vrontaras, Greek footballer
1985 – Aiko Kayo, Japanese idol singer
1985 – Yekta Kurtulus, Turkish footballer
1986 – Roy Hibbert, American basketball player
1987 – Clifton Geathers, American football player
1987 – Natalia Gordienko, Moldovan singer and dancer
1988 – Tim Southee, New Zealand cricketer
1989 – Murugan Thiruchelvam, English chess player
1996 – Hailee Steinfeld, American actress

Deaths

384 – Pope Damasus I
861 – Al-Mutawakkil, Abbasid Caliph (b. 822)
969 – Nikephoros II Phokas (b. c. 912)
1121 – Al-Afdal Shahanshah, Galilean political advisor (b. 1066)
1226 – Robert de Ros, English politician (b. 1177)
1241 – Emperor Ogedei Khan of the Mongol Empire
1282 – Prince Llywelyn the Last of Wales
1282 – Michael VIII Palaiologos (b. 1225)
1532 – Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1455)
1582 – Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, Spanish territorial governor (b. 1508)
1686 – Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, French general (b. 1621)
1694 – Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1630)
1737 – John Strype, English historian (b. 1643)
1747 – Edmund Curll, English bookseller (b. c. 1675)
1797 – Richard Brocklesby, English physician (b. 1722)
1826 – Empress Maria Leopoldina of Austria of Empire of Brazil (b. 1797)
1840 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (b. 1771)
1872 – King Kamehameha V of Hawaii (b. 1830)
1880 – Oliver Fisher Winchester, American businessman and politician (b. 1810)
1892 – William Milligan, Scottish theologian (b. 1821)
1906 – Charles Townsend, American fencer (b. 1872)
1909 – Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet (b. 1855)
1918 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b. 1876)
1920 – Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
1938 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869)
1941 – John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
1941 – Charles Émile Picard, French mathematician (b. 1856)
1945 – Charles Fabry, French physicist (b. 1867)
1950 – Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1893)
1957 – Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress (b. 1889)
1959 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player (b. 1900)
1964 – Sam Cooke, American singer (b. 1931)
1964 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (b. 1888)
1968 – Richard Sagrits, Estonian painter (b. 1910)
1968 – Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times 1935-61 (b. 1891)
1971 – Maurice McDonald, American fast-food entrepreneur (b. 1902)
1975 – Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (b. 1908)
1978 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist and Nobel laureate (b. 1901)
1978 – Paul O'Dea, American baseball player (b. 1920)
1979 – James J. Gibson, American perceptual psychologist (b. 1904)
1983 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British General (b. 1897)
1984 – Oskar Seidlin, German-born American scholar (b. 1911)
1987 – G. A. Kulkarni, Indian (Marathi) writer (b. 1923)
1989 – Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (b. 1895)
1991 – Robert Q. Lewis, American game show host (b. 1921)
1991 – Artur Lundkvist, Swedish author and critic (b. 1906)
1992 – Michael Robbins, English actor (b. 1930)
1993 – Elvira Popescu, Romanian-born French actress (b. 1894)
1994 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
1995 – Arthur Mullard, English comedy actor (b. 1910)
1996 – Willie Rushton, English cartoonist and magazine publisher (b. 1937)
1997 – Eddie Chapman, British World War II spy (b. 1914)
1998 – André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b. 1915)
1998 – Lynn Strait, American singer (Snot) (b. 1968)
2000 – Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Pakistani diplomat and author (b. 1915)
2000 – David Lewis, American actor (b. 1916)
2003 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927)
2004 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1962)
2004 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand track & field coach (b. 1917)
2004 – M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (b. 1916)
2006 – Elizabeth Bolden, American supercentenarian (b. 1890)
2007 – Christie Hennessy, Irish singer (b. 1945)
2008 – Bettie Page, American model (b. 1923)
2008 – Maddie Blaustein, American voice actress (b. 1960)
2010 – Dick Hoerner, American football player (b. 1922)
2011 – Susan Gordon, American child actress (b. 1949)
2011 – John Patrick Foley, American cardinal (b. 1935)