today.nukz.net: Almanac December 7

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.

In 2011, Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Events

43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated.
1724 – Tumult of Thorn – religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Torun) by Polish authorities.
1732 – The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London.
1776 – Marquis de Lafayette arranges to enter the American military as a major general.
1787 – Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1862 – US Civil War: Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas.
1869 – American outlaw Jesse James commits his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
1930 – W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts broadcasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The broadcast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for I.J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show.
1936 – Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton becomes the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy attacks the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing a declaration of war upon Japan by the United States. Japan also invades Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies at the same time (December 8 in Asia).
1946 – A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The government of Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei.
1962 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.
1963 – Instant replay makes its debut during an Army–Navy game.
1965 – Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.
1970 – The first ever general election on the basis of direct adult franchise is held in Pakistan for 313 National Assembly seats.
1971 – Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a Coalition Government at Centre with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as Vice-Prime Minister.
1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.
1975 – Indonesia invades East Timor.
1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr. becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.
1983 – An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in dense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid Barajas International Airport, killing 93 people.
1987 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.
1988 – Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
1988 – Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
1993 – The Long Island Rail Road massacre: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.
1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
1999 – The Recording Industry Association of America files a lawsuit against the Napster file-sharing client alleging copyright infringement.
2003 – The Conservative Party of Canada is officially recognized after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of U.S. federal air marshals at Miami International Airport.
2005 – Ante Gotovina, a Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish police.
2006 – A tornado strikes Kensal Green, North West London, seriously damaging about 150 properties.
2007 – The Hebei Spirit oil spill begins in South Korea after a crane barge that had broken free from a tug collides with the Very Large Crude Carrier, Hebei Spirit.

Births

521 – Saint Columba, Irish Christian missionary to Scotland (d. 597)
903 – Abd Al-Rahman Al Sufi, Persian astronomer (d. 986)
1302 – Azzone Visconti lord of Milan (d. 1339)
1545 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1567)
1561 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese politician (d. 1625)
1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian artist (d. 1680)
1637 – Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
1724 – Louise of Great Britain, queen of Denmark and Norway (d. 1751)
1764 – Claude Victor-Perrin, duc de Belluno, French marshal (d. 1841)
1784 – Allan Cunningham, British poet (d. 1842)
1791 – Ferenc Novák Hungarian Slovene writer (d. 1836)
1792 – Abraham Jacob van der Aa, Dutch literator (d. 1857)
1801 – Johann Nestroy, Austrian dramatist and actor (d. 1862)
1803 – Maria Josepha of Saxony (d. 1829)
1810 – Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (d. 1894)
1810 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (d. 1882)
1823 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (d. 1891)
1838 – Sir Thomas Bent, Premier of Victoria (d. 1909)
1847 – Deacon White, Early American Baseball player (d. 1939)
1860 – Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1947)
1862 – Paul Adam, French novelist (d. 1920)
1863 – Felix Calonder, Swiss politician (d. 1952)
1863 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (d. 1945)
1863 – Richard Sears, American department store founder (d. 1914)
1873 – Willa Cather, American novelist (d. 1947)
1879 – Rudolf Friml, American composer (d. 1972)
1885 – Mason Phelps, American golfer (d. 1945)
1885 – Peter Sturholdt, American boxer (d. 1919)
1887 – Ernst Toch, Austrian composer (d. 1964)
1888 – Joyce Cary, Irish author (d. 1957)
1888 – Hamilton Fish III, American politician (d. 1991)
1891 – Fay Bainter, Academy Award-winning American actress (d. 1968)
1903 – Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician (d. 1987)
1904 – Konstantin Sokolsky, Russian singer (d. 1991)
1905 – Gerard Kuiper, Dutch-born American astronomer (d. 1973)
1907 – Fred Rose, Canadian communist politician (d. 1983)
1909 – Nikola Vaptsarov, Bulgarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1942)
1910 – Louis Prima, American musician (d. 1978)
1910 – Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian musician (d. 2011)
1912 – Daniel Jones, British composer (d. 1993)
1913 – Kersti Merilaas, Estonian author and poet (d. 1986)
1915 – Eli Wallach, American actor
1915 – Leigh Brackett, American screenwriter (d. 1978)
1916 – Yekaterina Budanova, Soviet pilot, one of only two female flying aces (d. 1943)
1916 – Jean Carignan, French Canadian fiddler (d. 1988)
1919 – Lis Løwert, Danish actress (d. 2009)
1920 – Fiorenzo Magni, Italian cyclist (d. 2012)
1920 – Walter Nowotny, Austrian fighter pilot (d. 1944)
1920 – Tatamkulu Afrika, South African poet and writer (d. 2002)
1921 – Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader
1923 – Ted Knight, American actor (d. 1986)
1924 – John Love, Zimbabwean Formula One driver (d. 2005)
1924 – Mário Soares, former (17th) President of Portugal
1925 – Hernando da Silva Ramos, Brazilian racing driver
1927 – Helen Watts, British contralto (d. 2009)
1928 – Noam Chomsky, American linguist and political writer
1930 – Hal Smith, American baseball player
1930 – Christopher Nicole, British writer
1932 – Ellen Burstyn, American actress
1932 – Paul Caponigro, American photographer
1932 – Rosemary Rogers, Sri Lankan-born American novelist.
1937 – Thad Cochran, American politician, senator from Mississippi

1940 – Stan Boardman, English comedian
1940 – Gerry Cheevers, Canadian ice hockey player
1941 – Melba Pattillo Beals, American journalist and writer
1942 – Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (d. 1981)
1942 – Alex Johnson, American baseball player
1942 – Peter Tomarken, American game show host (d. 2006)
1943 – Susan Isaacs, American novelist
1943 – Nicholas Katz, American mathematician
1943 – Göran Lennmarker, Swedish politician
1943 – Bernard C. Parks, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
1944 – Jamiel Chagra, American drug trafficker
1944 – Daniel Chorzempa, American organist
1944 – Miroslav Macek, Czech politician
1945 – Marion Rung, Finnish singer
1947 – Johnny Bench, American baseball player
1947 – Tony Thomas, American TV and film producer
1947 – Garry Unger, Canadian ice hockey player
1948 – Gary Morris, American singer and actor
1948 – Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
1949 – Tom Waits, American singer, composer, and actor
1952 – Georges Corraface, Greek actor, president of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival
1952 – Susan Collins, American politician
1952 – Eckhard Märzke, East German footballer
1954 – Mary Fallin, American politician
1954 – Mark Hofmann, American forger and bomber
1954 – Mike Nolan, Irish singer (Bucks Fizz)
1955 – Chuck Loeb, Contemporary Jazz guitarist
1955 – Priscilla Barnes, American actress
1955 – John Watkins, Australian politician
1956 – Larry Bird, American basketball player
1957 – Tom Winsor, British lawyer and economic regulator
1958 – Tim Butler, English musician (The Psychedelic Furs)
1958 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (d. 1999)
1960 – Craig Scanlon, English guitarist (The Fall)
1961 – Lisa Fischer, American R&B singer
1961 – Mario Miethig, German footballer
1962 – Grecia Colmenares, Venezuelan actress
1963 – Theo Snelders, former Dutch footballer
1964 – Roberta Close, Brazilian model
1964 – Patrick Fabian, American actor
1964 – Peter Laviolette, head coach Philadelphia Flyers
1965 – Colin Hendry, Scottish footballer
1965 – Dorien de Vries, Dutch windsurfer
1965 – Jeffrey Wright, American actor
1966 – C. Thomas Howell, American actor
1966 – Shinichi Itoh, Japanese motorcycle racer
1967 – Tino Martinez, American baseball player
1968 – Mark Geyer, Australian rugby league footballer
1969 – Andrea Claudio Galluzzo, Italian writer and journalist
1969 – Patrice O'Neal, American stand-up comedian and actor (d. 2011)
1970 – Carmen Campuzano, Mexican actress and fashion model
1971 – Vladimir Akopian, Armenian chess player
1971 – Chasey Lain, American pornographic actress
1972 – Hermann Maier, Austrian skier
1972 – Tammy Lynn Sytch, American professional wrestler
1973 – Terrell Owens, American football player
1973 – Fabien Pelous, French international rugby player
1973 – Damien Rice, Irish musician
1973 – Charles Carl Roberts, American spree killer (d. 2006)
1974 – Nicole Appleton, Canadian-born singer
1974 – Kang Full, South Korean webcomic artist
1975 – Jamie Clapham, English footballer
1976 – Alan Faneca, American football player
1976 – Ivan Franceschini, Italian footballer
1976 – Brent Johnson, Canadian football player
1976 – Georges Laraque, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Vanessa Lorenzo, Spanish fashion model
1977 – Dominic Howard, English drummer (Muse)
1977 – Eric Chavez, American baseball player
1978 – Shiri Appleby, American actress
1978 – Kon Artis, American rapper
1978 – Frankie J, Mexican-born American singer
1978 – Chad Dukes, Radio Personality
1979 – Sara Bareilles, American singer
1979 – Jennifer Carpenter, American actress
1979 – Lampros Choutos, Greek footballer
1979 – Ayako Fujitani, Japanese actress
1979 – Derek Ramsay, Filipino actor and model
1980 – John Terry, English footballer
1982 – Chrispa, Greek singer
1982 – Jack Huston, English actor
1983 – Fausto Carmona, Dominican baseball player
1984 – Robert Kubica, Polish racing driver
1984 – Aaron Gray, American basketball player
1984 – Luca Rigoni, Italian footballer
1984 – Milan Michalek, Czech ice hockey player
1985 – Jon Moxley, American professional wrestler
1986 – Thomas Fiss, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Varsity Fanclub)
1986 – Jonathan Gill, English singer (JLS)
1987 – Aaron Carter, American singer and actor
1988 – Emily Browning, Australian actress
1988 – Asia Ray Smith, American actress
1988 – Nathan Adrian, American swimmer
1989 – Nicholas Hoult, English actor
1989 – Alessandro Marchi, Italian footballer
1990 – Urszula Radwanska, Polish tennis player
1991 – Dori Sakurada, Japanese actor
1992 – Michael Barron, English footballer/dancer
1993 – Jasmine Villegas, American R&B and pop singer
2003 – Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands

Deaths

43 BC – Cicero, Roman politician and author (b. 106 BC)
283 – Pope Eutychian
983 – Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 955)
1254 – Pope Innocent IV
1279 – King Boleslaus V of Poland (b. 1226)
1295 – Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1243)
1498 – Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist (b. 1433)
1562 – Adrian Willaert, Flemish composer
1649 – Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1606)
1672 – Richard Bellingham, English colonial magistrate (b. 1592)
1683 – John Oldham, English poet (b. 1653)
1683 – Algernon Sydney, English politician (b. 1623)
1723 – Jan Santini Aichel, Bohemian architect (b. 1677)
1725 – Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (b. 1661)
1775 – Charles Saunders, British admiral
1793 – Joseph Bara, French revolutionary (b. 1780)
1815 – Michel Ney, French marshall (b. 1769)
1817 – William Bligh, British admiral and HMS Bounty figure (b. 1745)
1842 – Thomas Hamilton, Scottish writer (b. 1789)
1874 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German biblical scholar (b. 1815)
1879 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence movement figure (b. 1811)
1894 – Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and entrepreneur (Suez Canal) (b. 1805)
1899 – Juan Luna, Filipino painter (b. 1857)
1902 – Thomas Nast, German-born American cartoonist (b. 1840)
1906 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1833)
1913 – Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian religious figure (b. 1828)
1917 – Léon Minkus, German-born Czech composer and violinist (b. 1826)
1938 – Anna Marie Hahn, German-born American serial killer (b. 1906)
1941 – Among the 2,400 dead from the attack on Pearl Harbor
- Mervyn S. Bennion, American US Navy Captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1887)
- Herbert C. Jones, American US Navy Ensign, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1918)
- Isaac C. Kidd, American US Navy Rear Admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1884)
- Thomas J. Reeves, American US Navy radioman, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1895)
- Franklin Van Valkenburgh, American US Navy Captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1888)
1946 – Sada Yacco, Japanese stage actress (b. 1871)
1947 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American university president, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1862)
1947 – Tristan Bernard, French playwright and novelist (b. 1866)
1949 – Rex Beach, American novelist, playwright and water polo player (b. 1877)
1956 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
1960 – Clara Haskil, Swiss pianist (b. 1895)
1969 – Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player (b. 1897)
1969 – Eric Portman, English actor (b. 1903)
1970 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
1975 – Thornton Wilder, American playwright (b. 1897)
1977 – Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-born American engineer (b. 1906)
1978 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist (b. 1886)
1980 – Darby Crash, American punk-rock musician (b. 1958)
1981 – Ava Helen Pauling, American human rights activist (b. 1903)
1982 – Will Lee, American actor (b. 1908)
1983 – Fanny Cano, Mexican actress (b. 1944)
1984 – Charles Ray Hatcher, American serial killer (b. 1929)
1984 – Lee Roy Yarbrough, American race car driver (b. 1938)
1985 – Robert Graves, British author (b. 1895)
1985 – J. R. Eyerman, American photographer and photojournalist (b. 1906)
1985 – Potter Stewart, American jurist (b. 1915)
1989 – William Calhoun, American professional wrestler (b. 1934)
1990 – Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
1990 – Jean Duceppe, French-Canadian actor (b. 1923)
1990 – Jean Paul Lemieux, French-Canadian artist (b. 1904)
1993 – Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian politician (b. 1905)
1993 – Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
1994 – J.C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1939)
1997 – Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer (b. 1942)
1998 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1925)
1998 – John Addison, British composer (b. 1920)
2000 – Vladimir Gotovac, Croatian poet and politician (b. 1930)
2003 – Carl F. H. Henry American theologian and publisher (b. 1913)
2003 – Azie Taylor Morton, Treasurer of the United States (b. 1936)
2004 – Frederick Fennell, American conductor (b. 1914)
2004 – Jerry Scoggins, American singer (b. 1913)
2004 – Jay Van Andel, American entrepreneur (b. 1924)
2005 – Bud Carson, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
2005 – Lucy d'Abreu, Scottish supercentenarian (b. 1892)
2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, Costa Rica-born American airline passenger (b. 1961)
2006 – Jeane Kirkpatrick, American diplomat (b. 1926)
2006 – Jay McShann, American musician (b. 1910)
2008 – Marky Cielo, Filipino-Igorot dancer and actor (b. 1988)
2008 – Herbert Hutner, American banker and attorney (b. 1908)
2009 – Mark Ritts, American actor (b. 1946)
2010 – Elizabeth Edwards, American lawyer and wife of John Edwards (b. 1949)
2010 – Gus Mercurio, American-born Australian actor (b. 1928)
2011 – Harry Morgan, American actor (b. 1915)