text:
December 19

Pre-1600

 * 1154 – Henry II of England is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
 * 1187 – Pope Clement III is elected.
 * 1490 – Anne, Duchess of Brittany, is married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor by proxy.
 * 1562 – The Battle of Dreux takes place during the French Wars of Religion.

1601–1900

 * 1606 – The ships Susan Constant,  Godspeed, and  Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
 * 1675 – The Great Swamp Fight, a pivotal battle in King Philip's War, gives the English settlers a bitterly won victory.
 * 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled "The American Crisis".
 * 1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
 * 1783 – William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at 24.
 * 1793 – War of the First Coalition: The Siege of Toulon ends when Napoleon's French artillery forces the British to abandon the city, securing southern France from invasion.
 * 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Two British frigates under Commodore Horatio Nelson and two Spanish frigates under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart engage in battle off the coast of Murcia.
 * 1828 – Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun sparks the Nullification Crisis when he anonymously publishes the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828.
 * 1900 – Hopetoun Blunder: The first Governor-General of Australia John Hope, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, appoints Sir William Lyne premier of the new state of New South Wales, but he is unable to persuade other colonial politicians to join his government and is forced to resign.
 * 1900  – French parliament votes amnesty for all involved in scandalous army treason trial known as Dreyfus affair.

1901–present

 * 1907 – Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania.
 * 1912 – William Van Schaick, captain of the steamship PS General Slocum which caught fire and killed over one thousand people, is pardoned by U.S. President William Howard Taft after $3 1/2$ years in Sing Sing prison.
 * 1920 – King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite.
 * 1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.
 * 1924  – German serial killer Fritz Haarmann is sentenced to death for a series of murders.
 * 1927 – Three Indian revolutionaries, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, are executed by the British Raj for participation in the Kakori conspiracy.
 * 1929 – The Indian National Congress promulgates the Purna Swaraj (the Declaration of the Independence of India).
 * 1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
 * 1940 – Risto Ryti, the Prime Minister of Finland, is elected President of the Republic of Finland in a presidential election, which is exceptionally held by the 1937 electoral college.
 * 1941 – World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres.
 * 1941  – World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers heavily damage HMS Valiant (1914) and HMS Queen Elizabeth (1913) in Alexandria harbour.
 * 1945 – John Amery, British Fascist, is executed at the age of 33 by the British Government for treason.
 * 1946 – Start of the First Indochina War.
 * 1956 – Irish-born physician John Bodkin Adams is arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 patients. Eventually he is convicted only of minor charges.
 * 1961 – India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.
 * 1967 – Harold Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, is officially presumed dead.
 * 1972 – Apollo program: The last crewed lunar flight, Apollo 17, carrying Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt, returns to Earth.
 * 1974 – Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
 * 1977 – The 5.8 Bob–Tangol earthquake strikes Kerman Province in Iran, destroying villages and killing 665 people.
 * 1981 – Sixteen lives are lost when the Penlee lifeboat goes to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas.
 * 1983 – The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
 * 1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.
 * 1985 – Aeroflot Flight 101/435 is hijacked to China by its first officer.
 * 1986 – Mikhail Gorbachev, leader of the Soviet Union, releases Andrei Sakharov and his wife from exile in Gorky.
 * 1995 – The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.
 * 1997 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashes into the Musi River, near Palembang in Indonesia, killing 104.
 * 1998 – President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second president of the United States to be impeached.
 * 2000 – The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, Turkey, killing one person and injuring three.
 * 2001 – A record high barometric pressure of 1085.6 hPa is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.
 * 2001  – Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 * 2005 – Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashes into the Government Cut channel immediately after takeoff from Miami Seaplane Base, killing 20.
 * 2012 – Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.
 * 2013 – Spacecraft Gaia is launched by the European Space Agency.
 * 2016 – Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov is assassinated while at an art exhibition in Ankara. The assassin, Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, is shot and killed by a Turkish guard.
 * 2016  – A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills and injures multiple people at a Christmas market.

Pre-1600

 * 1343 – William I, Margrave of Meissen (d. 1407)
 * 1498 – Andreas Osiander, German Protestant theologian (d. 1552)
 * 1554 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (d. 1618)
 * 1587 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1645)

1601–1900

 * 1683 – Philip V of Spain (d. 1746)
 * 1699 – William Bowyer, English printer (d. 1777)
 * 1714 – John Winthrop, American astronomer and educator (d. 1779)
 * 1778 – Marie Thérèse of France (d. 1851)
 * 1796 – Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, Spanish poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1873)
 * 1797 – Antoine Louis Dugès, French obstetrician and naturalist (d. 1838)
 * 1817 – James J. Archer, American lawyer and general (d. 1864)
 * 1820 – Mary Livermore, American journalist and activist (d. 1905)
 * 1825 – George Frederick Bristow, American violinist and composer (d. 1898)
 * 1831 – Bernice Pauahi Bishop, American philanthropist (d. 1884)
 * 1849 – Henry Clay Frick, American businessman and financier (d. 1919)
 * 1852 – Albert Abraham Michelson, Prussian-American physicist, chemist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
 * 1853 – Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec (d. 1942)
 * 1861 – Italo Svevo, Italian author and playwright (d. 1928)
 * 1863 – Wallace Bryant, American archer (d. 1953)
 * 1865 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, American actress and playwright (d. 1932)
 * 1873 – Alphonse Kirchhoffer, French fencer (d. 1913)
 * 1875 – Mileva Marić, Serbian physicist (d. 1948)
 * 1875  – Carter G. Woodson, American historian and author, founded Black History Month (d. 1950)
 * 1875  – Grace Marie Bareis, American mathematician (d. 1962)
 * 1876 – Bernard Friedberg, Austrian-Israeli scholar and author (d. 1961)
 * 1884 – Antonín Zápotocký, Czech politician, President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (d. 1957)
 * 1888 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian-American conductor (d. 1963)
 * 1891 – Edward Bernard Raczyński, Polish politician and diplomat, 4th President-in-exile of Poland (d. 1993)
 * 1894 – Ford Frick, American journalist and businessman (d. 1978)
 * 1895 – Ingeborg Refling Hagen, Norwegian author and educator (d. 1989)
 * 1899 – Martin Luther King Sr., American pastor, missionary, and activist (d. 1984)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Rudolf Hell, German engineer, invented the Hellschreiber (d. 2002)
 * 1901  – Oliver La Farge, American anthropologist and author (d. 1963)
 * 1901  – Fritz Mauruschat, German footballer and manager (d. 1974)
 * 1902 – Ralph Richardson, English actor (d. 1983)
 * 1903 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
 * 1905 – Irving Kahn, American businessman (d. 2015)
 * 1905  – Giovanni Lurani, Italian race car driver, engineer, and journalist (d. 1995)
 * 1906 – Leonid Brezhnev, Ukrainian-Russian marshal, engineer, and politician, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)
 * 1907 – Jimmy McLarnin, Irish-American boxer, actor, and golfer (d. 2004)
 * 1909 – W. A. Criswell, American pastor and author (d. 2002)
 * 1910 – Jean Genet, French novelist, playwright, and poet (d. 1986)
 * 1914 – Mel Shaw, American animator and screenwriter (d. 2012)
 * 1915 – Édith Piaf, French singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1963)
 * 1915  – Claudia Testoni, Italian hurdler, sprinter, and long jumper (d. 1998)
 * 1916 – Roy Ward Baker, English director and producer (d. 2010)
 * 1916  – Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, German political scientist, journalist, and academic (d. 2010)
 * 1918 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1980)
 * 1918  – Lee Rich, American producer and production manager (d. 2012)
 * 1920 – Little Jimmy Dickens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
 * 1920  – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (d. 1987)
 * 1922 – Eamonn Andrews, Irish radio and television host (d. 1987)
 * 1923 – Robert V. Bruce, American historian and author (d. 2008)
 * 1923  – Gordon Jackson, Scottish-English actor and singer (d. 1990)
 * 1924 – Carlo Chiti, Italian engineer (d. 1994)
 * 1924  – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1989)
 * 1924  – Gary Morton, American comedian and producer (d. 1999)
 * 1924  – Edmund Purdom, British-Italian actor (d. 2009)
 * 1924  – Michel Tournier, French journalist and author (d. 2016)
 * 1924  – Cicely Tyson, American actress (d. 2021)
 * 1925 – Tankred Dorst, German author and playwright (d. 2017)
 * 1925  – William Schutz, American psychologist and academic (d. 2002)
 * 1925  – Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2012)
 * 1926 – Bobby Layne, American football player and coach (d. 1986)
 * 1926  – Fikret Otyam, Turkish painter and journalist (d. 2015)
 * 1927 – James Booth, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)
 * 1928 – Eve Bunting, Irish-American author and academic (d. 2023)
 * 1928  – Nathan Oliveira, American painter and sculptor (d. 2010)
 * 1929 – Bob Brookmeyer, American trombonist, pianist, and composer (d. 2011)
 * 1929  – Gregory Carroll, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
 * 1929  – David Douglas, 12th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish potter
 * 1929  – Howard Sackler, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1982)
 * 1930 – Knut Helle, Norwegian historian and professor (d. 2015)
 * 1930  – Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (d. 2014)
 * 1931 – Ginger Stanley, American model, actress and stunt woman (d. 2023)
 * 1932 – Salvador Elizondo, Mexican author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2006)
 * 1932  – Lola Hendricks, African American civil rights activist (d. 2013)
 * 1932  – Wayne Tippit, American actor (d. 2009)
 * 1933 – Kevan Gosper, Australian runner and politician
 * 1933  – Christopher Smout, Scottish historian and academic
 * 1934 – Al Kaline, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2020)
 * 1934  – Pratibha Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th President of India
 * 1934  – Casper R. Taylor, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 2023)
 * 1935 – Tony Taylor, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2020)
 * 1935  – Bobby Timmons, American pianist and composer (d. 1974)
 * 1935  – Joanne Weaver, American baseball player (d. 2000)
 * 1938 – Jay Arnette, American basketball player
 * 1940 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
 * 1941 – Lee Myung-bak, South Korean businessman and politician, 10th President of South Korea
 * 1941  – Maurice White, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
 * 1942 – Cornell Dupree, American guitarist (d. 2011)
 * 1942  – Gene Okerlund, American sports announcer (d. 2019)
 * 1943 – James L. Jones, American general and politician, 22nd United States National Security Advisor
 * 1943  – Elaine Joyce, American actress, singer, and dancer
 * 1943  – Ross M. Lence, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
 * 1944 – William Christie, American-French harpsichord player and conductor
 * 1944  – Mitchell Feigenbaum, American physicist and mathematician (d. 2019)
 * 1944  – Martin Hume Johnson, English physiologist and academic
 * 1944  – Richard Leakey, Kenyan paleontologist and politician (d. 2022)
 * 1944  – Alvin Lee, English singer-songwriter and guitarist  (d. 2013)
 * 1944  – Tim Reid, American actor and director
 * 1944  – Steve Tyrell, American singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1944  – Zal Yanovsky, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
 * 1945 – John McEuen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1946 – Rosemary Conley, English businesswoman, author, and broadcaster
 * 1946  – Robert Urich, American actor and producer (d. 2002)
 * 1947 – Jimmy Bain, Scottish bass player and songwriter (d. 2016)
 * 1948 – Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2022)
 * 1949 – Orna Berry, Israeli computer scientist and businesswoman
 * 1949  – Claudia Kolb, American swimmer
 * 1949  – Sebastian, Danish singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1949  – Lenny White, American musician
 * 1950 – Eleanor J. Hill, American lawyer and diplomat
 * 1951 – Mohammad Reza Aref, Iranian engineer and politician, 2nd Vice President of Iran
 * 1951  – Alan Rouse, English mountaineer and author (d. 1986)
 * 1952 – Walter Murphy, American pianist and composer
 * 1954 – Jeff Allam, English race car driver
 * 1954  – Tim Parks, English author and translator
 * 1955 – Lincoln Hall, Australian mountaineer and author (d. 2012)
 * 1955  – Rob Portman, American lawyer and politician
 * 1956 – Phil Harris, American captain and fisherman (d. 2010)
 * 1956  – Tom Lawless, American baseball player and manager
 * 1956  – Shane McEntee, Irish farmer and politician, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (d. 2012)
 * 1956  – Merzbow, Japanese noise musician
 * 1957 – Cyril Collard, French actor, director, and composer (d. 1993)
 * 1957  – Kevin McHale, American basketball player, coach, and manager
 * 1958 – Steven Isserlis, English cellist and author
 * 1958  – Limahl, English pop singer
 * 1959 – Iván Vallejo, Ecuadorian mountaineer
 * 1959  – Lisa Wilkinson, Australian television host and journalist
 * 1960 – Derrick Jensen, American author and activist
 * 1960  – Michelangelo Signorile, American journalist and author
 * 1961 – Scott Cohen, American actor
 * 1961  – Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1961  – Matthew Waterhouse, English actor and author
 * 1961  – Reggie White, American football player and wrestler (d. 2004)
 * 1962 – Gary Fleder, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1963 – Jennifer Beals, American model and actress
 * 1963  – Til Schweiger, German actor, director, and producer
 * 1964 – Béatrice Dalle, French actress
 * 1964  – Lorie Kane, Canadian golfer
 * 1964  – Randall McDaniel, American football player
 * 1964  – Arvydas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
 * 1965 – Chito Martínez, Belizean-American baseball player
 * 1966 – Chuckii Booker, American singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1966  – Rajesh Chauhan, Indian cricketer
 * 1966  – Robert MacNaughton, American actor
 * 1966  – Alberto Tomba, Italian skier
 * 1966  – Eric Weinrich, American ice hockey player and coach
 * 1967 – Criss Angel, American magician
 * 1967  – Charles Austin, American high jumper
 * 1968 – Kristina Keneally, American-Australian politician, 42nd Premier of New South Wales
 * 1968  – Ken Marino, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1969 – Michael Bates, American sprinter and football player
 * 1969  – Tom Gugliotta, American basketball player
 * 1969  – Richard Hammond, English journalist and producer
 * 1969  – Nayan Mongia, Indian cricketer
 * 1969  – Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Azerbaijani composer, pianist, and singer
 * 1969  – Kristy Swanson, American actress
 * 1970 – Tyson Beckford, American model and actor
 * 1970  – Robert Lang, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1971 – Amy Locane, American actress
 * 1971  – Karen Pickering, English swimmer
 * 1972 – Rosa Blasi, American actress
 * 1972  – Alyssa Milano, American actress, television personality, and activist
 * 1972  – Warren Sapp, American football player and analyst
 * 1973 – Michalis Grigoriou, Greek footballer and coach
 * 1973  – Erick Wainaina, Kenyan runner
 * 1973  – Zulfiya Zabirova, Russian cyclist
 * 1974 – Eduard Ivakdalam, Indonesian footballer
 * 1974  – Joe Jurevicius, American football player
 * 1974  – Felipe Lopez, Dominican-American basketball player
 * 1974  – Jake Plummer, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1974  – Ricky Ponting, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1975 – Makis Belevonis, Greek footballer
 * 1975  – Brandon Sanderson, American author and academic
 * 1975  – Jeremy Soule, American composer
 * 1975  – Olivier Tébily, Ivorian-French footballer
 * 1975  – Dean Treister, Australian rugby league player
 * 1977 – Jorge Garbajosa, Spanish basketball player
 * 1977  – LaTasha Jenkins, American sprinter
 * 1977  – Irina Voronina, Russian model
 * 1978 – Patrick Casey, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1979 – Kevin Devine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1979  – Rafael Soriano, Dominican baseball player
 * 1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor and producer
 * 1980  – Marla Sokoloff, American actress and musician
 * 1981 – Grégory Dufer, Belgian footballer
 * 1982 – Mo Williams, American basketball player
 * 1983 – Nektarios Alexandrou, Cypriot footballer
 * 1983  – Casey Crescenzo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1983  – Bridget Phillipson, English politician
 * 1983  – Laura Pomeroy, Canadian swimmer
 * 1983  – Matt Stajan, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1984 – Ian Kennedy, American baseball player
 * 1985 – Andrea Baldini, Italian fencer
 * 1985  – Gary Cahill, English footballer
 * 1985  – Neil Kilkenny, English-Australian footballer
 * 1985  – Sally Kipyego, Kenyan runner
 * 1985  – Dan Logan, English bass player
 * 1985  – Lady Sovereign, English rapper
 * 1986 – Calvin Andrew, English footballer
 * 1986  – Ryan Babel, Dutch footballer
 * 1986  – Ingrid Burley, American rapper and songwriter
 * 1986  – Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Greek footballer
 * 1986  – Zuzana Hejnová, Czech hurdler
 * 1986  – Miguel Lopes, Portuguese footballer
 * 1986  – Annie Murphy, Canadian actress
 * 1987 – Cédric Baseya, French-Congolese footballer
 * 1987  – Karim Benzema, French footballer
 * 1987  – Ronan Farrow, American activist, journalist, and lawyer
 * 1988 – Alexis Sánchez, Chilean footballer
 * 1988  – Peter Winn, English footballer
 * 1989 – Yong Jun-hyung, South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper and producer
 * 1989  – Michał Masłowski, Polish footballer
 * 1989  – Kousei Miura, Japanese jockey
 * 1989  – Hamza Riazuddin, English cricketer
 * 1990 – Greg Bretz, American snowboarder
 * 1990  – Torrey Craig, American basketball player
 * 1991 – Steven Berghuis, Dutch footballer
 * 1991  – Declan Galbraith, English singer-songwriter
 * 1991  – Josh Huestis, American basketball player
 * 1991  – Keiynan Lonsdale, Australian actor, singer-songwriter, and dancer
 * 1991  – Sumire Uesaka, Japanese voice actress and singer
 * 1992 – Iker Muniain, Spanish footballer
 * 1992  – Raphael Spiegel, Swiss footballer
 * 1993 – Young K, South Korean singer-songwriter
 * 1993  – Isiah Koech, Kenyan runner
 * 1994 – Maudy Ayunda, Indonesian actress and singer-songwriter
 * 1994  – M'Baye Niang, French footballer
 * 1996 – Franck Kessié, Ivorian footballer
 * 1998 – King Princess, American singer-songwriter and musician

Pre-1600

 * 401 – Pope Anastasius I
 * 966 – Sancho I, king of León
 * 1091 – Adelaide of Susa, margravine of Turin
 * 1111 – Al-Ghazali, Persian jurist, philosopher, theologian, and mystic (b. 1058)
 * 1123 – Saint Berardo, Italian bishop and saint
 * 1327 – Agnes of France, Duchess of Burgundy (b. 1260)
 * 1370 – Pope Urban V (b. 1310)
 * 1442 – Elizabeth of Luxembourg (b. 1409)
 * 1385 – Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan (b. 1319)
 * 1558 – Cornelius Grapheus, Flemish writer (b. 1482)

1601–1900

 * 1637 – Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess consort of Tuscany (b. 1565)
 * 1741 – Vitus Bering, Dutch explorer (b. 1681)
 * 1745 – Jean-Baptiste van Loo, French painter (b. 1684)
 * 1749 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (b. 1672)
 * 1807 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (b. 1723)
 * 1813 – James McGill, Scottish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded McGill University (b. 1744)
 * 1819 – Thomas Fremantle, English admiral and politician (b. 1765)
 * 1848 – Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1818)
 * 1851 – Joseph Mallord William Turner, English painter (b. 1775)
 * 1878 – Bayard Taylor, American author and poet (b. 1825)
 * 1899 – Henry Ware Lawton, American general (b. 1843)

1901–present

 * 1915 – Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist and neuropathologist (b. 1864)
 * 1916 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (b. 1859)
 * 1927 – Ashfaqulla Khan, Indian activist (b. 1900)
 * 1927  – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian poet and activist (b. 1897)
 * 1932 – Yun Bong-gil, South Korean activist (b. 1908)
 * 1933 – George Jackson Churchward, English engineer and businessman (b. 1857)
 * 1938 – Stephen Warfield Gambrill, American lawyer and politician (b. 1873)
 * 1940 – Kyösti Kallio, Finnish politician, the 4th President of Finland (b. 1873)
 * 1944 – Abbas II of Egypt (b. 1874)
 * 1944  – Rudolph Karstadt, German businessman (b. 1856)
 * 1946 – Paul Langevin, French physicist and academic (b. 1872)
 * 1953 – Robert Andrews Millikan, American physicist and eugenicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
 * 1968 – Norman Thomas, American minister and politician (b. 1884)
 * 1972 – Ahmet Emin Yalman, Turkish journalist, author, and academic (b. 1888)
 * 1976 – Giuseppe Caselli, Italian painter (b. 1893)
 * 1982 – Dwight Macdonald, American philosopher, author, and critic (b. 1906)
 * 1984 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (b. 1903)
 * 1986 – V. C. Andrews, American author (b. 1923)
 * 1986  – Werner Dankwort, Russian-German colonel and diplomat (b. 1895)
 * 1987 – August Mälk, Estonian author, playwright, and politician (b. 1900)
 * 1988 – Robert Bernstein, American author and playwright (b. 1919)
 * 1988 - Win Maw Oo, Burmese student activist (b. 1971)
 * 1989 – Stella Gibbons, English journalist, author, and poet (b. 1902)
 * 1989  – Kirill Mazurov, Belarusian Soviet politician (b. 1914)
 * 1993 – Michael Clarke, American drummer (b. 1946)
 * 1996 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian-French actor and singer (b. 1924)
 * 1997 – Sara Northrup Hollister, American occultist (b. 1924)
 * 1997  – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (b. 1908)
 * 1997  – Jimmy Rogers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1924)
 * 1998 – Mel Fisher, American treasure hunter (b. 1922)
 * 1999 – Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh soldier and actor (b. 1914)
 * 2000 – Rob Buck, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1958)
 * 2000  – Milt Hinton, American bassist and photographer (b. 1910)
 * 2000  – John Lindsay, American lawyer and politician, 103rd Mayor of New York City (b. 1921)
 * 2002 – Will Hoy, English race car driver (b. 1952)
 * 2002  – Arthur Rowley, English footballer and manager (b. 1926)
 * 2002  – George Weller, American author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1907)
 * 2003 – Peter Carter-Ruck, English lawyer, founded Carter-Ruck (b. 1914)
 * 2003  – Hope Lange, American actress (b. 1933)
 * 2004 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
 * 2004  – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano and actress (b. 1922)
 * 2005 – Vincent Gigante, American mobster (b. 1927)
 * 2008 – James Bevel, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
 * 2008  – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and educator (b. 1930)
 * 2008  – Michael Connell, American political consultant (b. 1963)
 * 2008  – Dock Ellis, American baseball player and coach (b. 1945)
 * 2009 – Kim Peek, American megasavant (b. 1951)
 * 2010 – Anthony Howard, English journalist and author (b. 1934)
 * 2012 – Robert Bork, American lawyer, judge, and scholar, United States Attorney General (b. 1927)
 * 2012  – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (b. 1944)
 * 2012  – Larry Morris, American football player (b. 1933)
 * 2012  – Peter Struck, German lawyer and politician, 13th German Federal Minister of Defence (b. 1943)
 * 2013 – Winton Dean, English musicologist and author (b. 1916)
 * 2013  – Al Goldstein, American publisher and pornographer (b. 1936)
 * 2013  – Ned Vizzini, American author and screenwriter (b. 1981)
 * 2014 – S. Balasubramanian, Indian journalist and director (b. 1936)
 * 2014  – Philip Bradbourn, English lawyer and politician (b. 1951)
 * 2014  – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (b. 1910)
 * 2014  – Igor Rodionov, Russian general and politician, 3rd Russian Minister of Defence (b. 1936)
 * 2014  – Dick Thornton, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1939)
 * 2014  – Roberta Leigh (Rita Shulman Lewin), British writer, artist and TV producer (b. 1926).
 * 2015 – Jimmy Hill, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster (b. 1928)
 * 2015  – Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, Welsh-English lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
 * 2015  – Karin Söder, Swedish educator and politician, 33rd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1928)
 * 2016 – Andrei Karlov, Russian diplomat, Ambassador to Turkey (b. 1954)
 * 2020 – Rosalind Knight, English actress (b. 1933)
 * 2021 – Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress (b. 1930)
 * 2021  – Johnny Isakson, American politician (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Lillian Trasher (Episcopal Church)
 * O Radix
 * Pope Anastasius I
 * Pope Urban V
 * December 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Saint Nicholas Day
 * Goa Liberation Day (Goa, India)
 * National Heroes and Heroines Day (Anguilla)

title: December 19


text:
December 20

Pre-1600

 * AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 1967 – A Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 155 mph on their New York Division, also present-day Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.
 * 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 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 institution 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 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
 * 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.
 * 2019 – The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

Pre-1600

 * 1494 – Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (d. 1555)
 * 1496 – Joseph ha-Kohen, historian and physician (d. 1575)
 * 1537 – John III, king of Sweden (d. 1592)
 * 1576 – John Sarkander, Moravian priest and saint (d. 1620)

1601–1900

 * 1626 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German scholar and politician (d. 1692)
 * 1629 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (d. 1684)
 * 1641 – Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist, geologist, and physician (d. 1724)
 * 1740 – Arthur Lee, American physician and diplomat (d. 1792)
 * 1786 – Pietro Raimondi, Italian composer (d. 1853)
 * 1792 – Nicolas Toussaint Charlet, French painter and educator (d. 1845)
 * 1806 – Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1871)
 * 1812 – Laura M. Hawley Thurston, American poet and educator (d. 1842)
 * 1838 – Edwin Abbott Abbott, English theologian, author, and educator (d. 1926)
 * 1841 – Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
 * 1851 – Knut Wicksell, Swedish economist (d. 1926)
 * 1861 – Ferdinand Bonn, German actor (d. 1933)
 * 1861  – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian painter (d. 1926)
 * 1865 – Elsie de Wolfe, American actress and interior decorator (d. 1950)
 * 1868 – Harvey Samuel Firestone, American businessman, founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (d. 1938)
 * 1869 – Charley Grapewin, American actor (d. 1956)
 * 1871 – Henry Kimball Hadley, American composer and conductor (d. 1937)
 * 1873 – Kan'ichi Asakawa, Japanese historian, author, and academic (d. 1948)
 * 1873  – Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Turkish poet, academic, and politician (d. 1936)
 * 1881 – Branch Rickey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
 * 1884 – Ruhana Kuddus, Indonesian activist and journalist (d. 1972)
 * 1886 – Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, American tennis player and businessman (d. 1974)
 * 1888 – Yitzhak Baer, German-Israeli historian and academic (d. 1980)
 * 1888  – Fred Merkle, American baseball player and manager (d. 1956)
 * 1890 – Yvonne Arnaud, French pianist, actress and singer (d. 1958)
 * 1890  – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
 * 1891 – Erik Almlöf, Swedish triple jumper (d. 1971)
 * 1894 – Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1978)
 * 1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician, 156th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1973)
 * 1898  – Irene Dunne, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
 * 1899 – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Welsh preacher and physician (d. 1981)
 * 1900 – Lissy Arna, German actress (d. 1964)
 * 1900  – Gabby Hartnett, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Robert J. Van de Graaff, American physicist and academic, invented the Van de Graaff generator (d. 1967)
 * 1902 – Prince George, Duke of Kent (d. 1942)
 * 1902  – Sidney Hook, American philosopher and author (d. 1989)
 * 1904 – Spud Davis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1984)
 * 1904  – Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian author (d. 1977)
 * 1905 – Bill O'Reilly, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1992)
 * 1907 – Paul Francis Webster, American soldier and songwriter (d. 1984)
 * 1908 – Dennis Morgan, American actor and singer (d. 1994)
 * 1909 – Vakkom Majeed, Indian journalist and politician (d. 2000)
 * 1911 – Hortense Calisher, American author (d. 2009)
 * 1914 – Harry F. Byrd Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (d. 2013)
 * 1915 – Aziz Nesin, Turkish author and poet (d. 1995)
 * 1916 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian trade union leader and activist (d. 2010)
 * 1917 – David Bohm, American-English physicist, neuropsychologist, and philosopher (d. 1992)
 * 1917  – Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (d. 1997)
 * 1917  – Audrey Totter, American actress (d. 2013)
 * 1918 – Jean Marchand, Canadian trade union leader and politician, 43rd Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1988)
 * 1920 – Väinö Linna, Finnish author (d. 1992)
 * 1921 – George Roy Hill, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
 * 1922 – Beverly Pepper, American sculptor and painter (d. 2020)
 * 1922  – William Soeryadjaya, Chinese-Indonesian businessman and co-founder of Astra International (d. 2010)
 * 1924 – Charlie Callas, American actor and comedian (d. 2011)
 * 1924  – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 42nd Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1980)
 * 1925 – Benito Lorenzi, Italian footballer (d. 2007)
 * 1926 – Geoffrey Howe, Welsh lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2015)
 * 1926  – Otto Graf Lambsdorff, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Economics (d. 2009)
 * 1927 – Michael Beaumont, 22nd Seigneur of Sark, English engineer and politician (d. 2016)
 * 1927  – Jim Simpson, American sportscaster (d. 2016)
 * 1927  – Kim Young-sam, South Korean soldier and politician, 7th President of South Korea (d. 2015)
 * 1928 – John Menkes, Austrian-American pediatric and writer (d. 2008)
 * 1929 – Don Sunderlage, American basketball player (d. 1961)
 * 1931 – Mala Powers, American actress (d. 2007)
 * 1932 – John Hillerman, American actor (d. 2017)
 * 1933 – Olavi Salonen, Finnish runner
 * 1933  – Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist
 * 1935 – Khalid Ibadulla, Pakistani cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1939 – Kathryn Joosten, American actress (d. 2012)
 * 1939  – Kim Weston, American soul singer
 * 1942 – Rana Bhagwandas, Pakistani lawyer and judge, Chief Justice of Pakistan (d. 2015)
 * 1942  – Bob Hayes, American sprinter and football player (d. 2002)
 * 1942  – Jean-Claude Trichet, French banker and economist
 * 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 (d. 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 (d. 2020)
 * 1949  – Cecil Cooper, American baseball player and manager
 * 1950 – Arturo Márquez, Mexican-American composer
 * 1951 – Nuala O'Loan, Baroness O'Loan, Northern Irish academic and police ombudsman
 * 1951  – Marta Russell, American author and activist (d. 2013)
 * 1952 – Jenny Agutter, English actress
 * 1954 – Michael Badalucco, American actor
 * 1954  – Sandra Cisneros, American author and poet
 * 1955 – David Breashears, American mountaineer, director, and producer (d. 2024)
 * 1955  – Martin Schulz, German politician
 * 1955  – Binali Yıldırım, Turkish lawyer and politician, Turkish Minister of Transport
 * 1956 – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritanian general and politician, President of Mauritania
 * 1956  – Guy Babylon, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2009)
 * 1956  – Blanche Baker, American actress and screenwriter
 * 1956  – Junji Hirata, Japanese wrestler
 * 1956  – Andrew Mackenzie, Scottish geologist and businessman
 * 1956  – Anita Ward, American disco/R&B singer
 * 1957 – Billy Bragg, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1957  – Anna Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and actress
 * 1957  – Mike Watt, American singer-songwriter and bass player
 * 1958 – Doug Nordquist, American high jumper
 * 1958  – James Thomson, American biologist and academic
 * 1959 – George Coupland, Scottish scientist
 * 1959  – Hildegard Körner, German runner
 * 1959  – Jackie Fox, American bass player
 * 1959  – Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Polish physicist and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Poland
 * 1959  – Trent Tucker, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1960 – Nalo Hopkinson, Jamaican-Canadian author and educator
 * 1960  – Kim Ki-duk, South Korean director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
 * 1961 – Mohammad Fouad, Egyptian singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1961  – Mike Keneally, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1961  – Freddie Spencer, American motorcycle racer
 * 1963 – Joel Gretsch, American actor
 * 1964 – Mark Coleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
 * 1965 – Rich Gannon, American football player and sportscaster
 * 1966 – Matt Neal, English racing driver
 * 1966  – Veronica Pershina, Russian-American figure skater and coach
 * 1966  – Chris Robinson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1968 – Joe Cornish, English actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1968  – Karl Wendlinger, Austrian racing driver
 * 1969 – Alain de Botton, Swiss-English philosopher and author
 * 1969  – Zahra Ouaziz, Moroccan runner
 * 1970 – Nicole de Boer, Canadian actress
 * 1970  – Grant Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
 * 1970  – Jörg Schmidt, German footballer
 * 1972 – Jan Čaloun, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1972  – Anders Odden, Norwegian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
 * 1972  – Anja Rücker, German sprinter
 * 1973 – David Nedohin, Canadian curler and sportscaster
 * 1974 – Die, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
 * 1975 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer
 * 1976 – Nenad Vučković, Croatian footballer
 * 1978 – Yoon Kye-sang, South Korean singer
 * 1978  – Andrei Markov, Russian-Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1978  – Geremi Njitap, Cameroon footballer
 * 1978  – Bouabdellah Tahri, French runner
 * 1979 – Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist
 * 1980 – Israel Castro, Mexican footballer
 * 1980  – Ashley Cole, English footballer
 * 1980  – Anthony da Silva, French-Portuguese footballer
 * 1980  – Martín Demichelis, Argentine footballer
 * 1981 – Royal Ivey, American basketball player and coach
 * 1981  – James Shields, American baseball player
 * 1982 – Mohammad Asif, Pakistani cricketer
 * 1982  – David Cook, American singer-songwriter
 * 1982  – Kasper Klausen, Danish footballer
 * 1982  – David Wright, American baseball player
 * 1983 – Jonah Hill, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1984 – Bob Morley, Australian actor
 * 1984  – David Tavaré, Spanish singer and DJ
 * 1986 – Chay Genoway, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1987 – Malcolm Jenkins, American football player
 * 1990 – JoJo, American singer and actress
 * 1990  – Marta Xargay, Spanish basketball player
 * 1991 – Rachael Boyle, Scottish footballer
 * 1991  – Jorginho, Brazilian footballer
 * 1991  – Jillian Rose Reed, American actress
 * 1991  – Fabian Schär, Swiss footballer
 * 1992 – Ksenia Makarova, Russian-American figure skater
 * 1993 – Robeisy Ramírez, Cuban boxer
 * 1994 – Calvin Ridley, American football player
 * 1995 – Anžejs Pasečņiks, Latvian basketball player
 * 1995  – Christian Wilkins, American football player
 * 1997 – De'Aaron Fox, American basketball player
 * 1997  – Suzuka Nakamoto, Japanese singer
 * 1998 – Kylian Mbappé, French footballer
 * 2001 – Facundo Pellistri, Uruguayan footballer
 * 2002 – Marcelo Pitaluga, Brazilian footballer

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 (b. 925)
 * 1295 – Margaret of Provence, French queen (b. 1221)
 * 1326 – Peter of Moscow, Russian metropolitan bishop
 * 1340 – John I, duke of Bavaria (b. 1329)
 * 1355 – Stefan Dušan, emperor of Serbia (b. 1308)
 * 1539 – Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (b. 1506)
 * 1552 – Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (b. 1499)
 * 1590 – Ambroise Paré, French physician and surgeon (b. 1510)

1601–1900

 * 1658 – Jean Jannon, French designer and typefounder (b. 1580)
 * 1722 – Kangxi, emperor of the Qing Dynasty (b. 1654)
 * 1723 – Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (b. 1652)
 * 1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (b. 1675)
 * 1765 – Louis, dauphin of France (b. 1729)
 * 1768 – Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (b. 1692)
 * 1783 – Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (b. 1729)
 * 1812 – Sacagawea, American explorer (b. 1788)
 * 1820 – John Bell, American farmer (b. 1750)
 * 1856 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (b. 1820)
 * 1862 – Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (b. 1791)
 * 1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (b. 1797)
 * 1893 – George C. Magoun, American businessman (b. 1840)

1901–present

 * 1915 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (b. 1863)
 * 1916 – Arthur Morgan, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Queensland (b. 1856)
 * 1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (b. 1882)
 * 1919 – Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1835)
 * 1920 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (b. 1863)
 * 1921 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist (b. 1852)
 * 1925 – João Ferreira Sardo, the founder of Gafanha da Nazaré, also known as Prior Sardo (b. 1873).
 * 1927 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1872)
 * 1929 – Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 8th President of France (b. 1838)
 * 1935 – Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1882)
 * 1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865)
 * 1938 – Annie Armstrong, American missionary (b. 1850)
 * 1938  – Lida Howell, American archer (b. 1859)
 * 1939 – Hans Langsdorff, German captain (b. 1894)
 * 1941 – Igor Severyanin, Russian-Estonian poet and author (b. 1887)
 * 1950 – Enrico Mizzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1885)
 * 1954 – James Hilton, English-American author and screenwriter (b. 1900)
 * 1956 – Ramón Carrillo, Argentinian neurologist and physician (b. 1906)
 * 1959 – Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1885)
 * 1961 – Moss Hart, American director and playwright (b. 1904)
 * 1961  – Earle Page, Australian soldier and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880)
 * 1968 – John Steinbeck, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
 * 1971 – Roy O. Disney, American banker and businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (b. 1893)
 * 1972 – Adolfo Orsi, Italian businessman (b. 1888)
 * 1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (b. 1904; assassinated)
 * 1973  – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1936)
 * 1974 – Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (b. 1896)
 * 1974  – André Jolivet, French composer and conductor (b. 1905)
 * 1976 – Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1902)
 * 1976 – Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo, Indonesian politician, 1st Governor of West Java (b. 1890)
 * 1981 – Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (b. 1899)
 * 1982 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1887)
 * 1984 – Stanley Milgram, American psychologist and academic (b. 1933)
 * 1984  – Dmitry Ustinov, Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (1976-84) (b. 1908)
 * 1986 – Joe DeSa, American baseball player (b. 1959)
 * 1991 – Simone Beck, French chef and author (b. 1904)
 * 1991  – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, singer, and sculptor (b. 1903)
 * 1991  – Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942)
 * 1993 – W. Edwards Deming, American statistician, author, and academic (b. 1900)
 * 1993  – Nazife Güran, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1921)
 * 1994 – Dean Rusk, American lawyer, and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (b. 1909)
 * 1995 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (b. 1938)
 * 1996 – Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (b. 1934)
 * 1997 – Denise Levertov, English-American poet and translator (b. 1923)
 * 1997  – Dick Spooner, English cricketer (b. 1919)
 * 1997  – Dawn Steel, American film producer (b. 1946)
 * 1998 – Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
 * 1999 – Riccardo Freda, Egyptian-Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1909)
 * 1999  – Hank Snow, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
 * 2001 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and politician, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)
 * 2005 – Raoul Bott, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1923)
 * 2006 – Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (b. 1929)
 * 2008 – Adrian Mitchell, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932)
 * 2008  – Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (b. 1925)
 * 2008  – Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (b. 1912)
 * 2009 – Brittany Murphy, American actress and singer (b. 1977)
 * 2009  – Arnold Stang, American actor (b. 1918)
 * 2010 – K. P. Ratnam, Sri Lankan academic and politician (b. 1914)
 * 2011 – Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (b. 1926)
 * 2012 – Stan Charlton, English footballer and manager (b. 1929)
 * 2012  – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (b. 1929)
 * 2012  – Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist and educator (b. 1919)
 * 2013 – Pyotr Bolotnikov, Russian runner (b. 1930)
 * 2014 – Per-Ingvar Brånemark, Swedish surgeon and academic (b. 1929)
 * 2014  – John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (b. 1915)
 * 2020 – Fanny Waterman, British pianist (b. 1920)
 * 2020  – Ezra Vogel, American sociologist (b. 1930)
 * 2022 – Franco Harris, American football player (b. 1950)

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
 * O Clavis
 * 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)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: December 20


text:
December 21

Pre-1600

 * AD 69 – The Roman Senate declares Vespasian emperor of Rome, the last in the Year of the Four Emperors.
 * 1124 – Pope Honorius II is consecrated, having been elected after the controversial dethroning of Pope Celestine II.
 * 1140 – After a siege of several weeks, the city of Weinsberg and its castle surrender to Conrad III of Germany.
 * 1237 – The city of Ryazan is sacked by the Mongol army of Batu Khan.
 * 1361 – The Battle of Linuesa is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the forces of the Emirate of Granada and the combined army of the Kingdom of Castile and of Jaén resulting in a Castilian victory.
 * 1598 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile.

1601–1900

 * 1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land near what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
 * 1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.
 * 1832 – Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeat Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya.
 * 1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
 * 1861 – Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
 * 1872 – Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger (1858), commanded by Captain George Nares, sails from Portsmouth, England.
 * 1879 – World premiere of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
 * 1883 – The Royal Canadian Dragoons and The Royal Canadian Regiment, the first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army, are formed.
 * 1891 – James Naismith, a Canadian-American gym teacher at Springfield College, publishes the first rules for the game now known as basketball and brings it to his class, which then plays the first game of basketball.

1901–present

 * 1907 – The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 striking saltpeter miners in Iquique, Chile.
 * 1910 – An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.
 * 1913 – Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
 * 1919 – American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.
 * 1923 – United Kingdom and Nepal formally sign an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.
 * 1934 – Lieutenant Kijé, one of Sergei Prokofiev's best-known works, premiered.
 * 1936 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 88 multi-role combat aircraft.
 * 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
 * 1941 – World War II: A Thai-Japanese Pact of Alliance is signed.
 * 1946 – An 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō, Japan, kills over 1,300 people and destroys over 38,000 homes.
 * 1963 – "Bloody Christmas" begins in Cyprus, ultimately resulting in the displacement of 25,000–30,000 Turkish Cypriots and destruction of more than 100 villages.
 * 1965 – International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is adopted.
 * 1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a human-to-human heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, having lived for 18 days after the transplant.
 * 1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
 * 1970 – First flight of F-14 multi-role combat aircraft.
 * 1973 – The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.
 * 1979 – Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
 * 1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270. This is to date the deadliest air disaster to occur on British soil.
 * 1988  – The first flight of Antonov An-225 Mriya, the largest aircraft in the world.
 * 1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The leaders of 11 now effectively autonomous Soviet republics sign the Alma-Ata Protocol establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States in place of the collapsing Soviet Union.
 * 1992 – A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, killing 56.
 * 1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
 * 1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain.
 * 1999  – Cubana de Aviación Flight 1216 overshoots the runway at La Aurora International Airport, killing 18.
 * 2004 – Iraq War: A suicide bomber kills 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.
 * 2012 – 2012 phenomenon: Festivities are held in parts of Mesoamerica to commemorate the conclusion of b’ak’tun 13, a roughly 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar whose passing many New Age spiritualists had earlier held to portend a variety of cataclysmic or transformative events.
 * 2020 – A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees. This is the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623.
 * 2023 – 14 people are killed and 25 others injured during a mass shooting at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. The perpetrator, a student at the university, kills himself after police arrived; he also killed his father before the shooting.

Pre-1600

 * 968 – Minamoto no Yorinobu, Japanese samurai (d. 1048)
 * 1401 – Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
 * 1468 – William Conyers, 1st Baron Conyers, English baron (d. 1524)
 * 1505 – Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician (d. 1550)
 * 1538 – Luigi d'Este, Catholic cardinal (d. 1586)
 * 1542 – Thomas Allen, English mathematician and astrologer (d. 1632)
 * 1550 – Man Singh I, Mughal noble (d. 1614)
 * 1596 – Peter Mohyla, Ruthenian Orthodox metropolitan and saint (d. 1646)

1601–1900

 * 1603 – Roger Williams, English minister, theologian, and politician, 9th President of the Colony of Rhode Island (d. 1684)
 * 1615 – Benedict Arnold, Rhode Island colonial governor (d. 1678)
 * 1672 – Benjamin Schmolck, German pastor and composer (d. 1737)
 * 1714 – John Bradstreet, Canadian-English general (d. 1774)
 * 1728 – Hermann Raupach, German harpsichord player and composer (d. 1778)
 * 1778 – Anders Sandøe Ørsted, Danish jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1860)
 * 1795 – Jack Russell, English priest, hunter, and dog breeder (d. 1883)
 * 1795  – Leopold von Ranke, German historian, author, and academic (d. 1886)
 * 1803 – Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (d. 1894)
 * 1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
 * 1805 – Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist and academic (d. 1869)
 * 1811 – Archibald Tait, Scottish-English archbishop (d. 1882)
 * 1815 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (d. 1879)
 * 1820 – William H. Osborn, American businessman (d. 1894)
 * 1830 – Bartolomé Masó, Cuban soldier and politician (d. 1907)
 * 1832 – John H. Ketcham, American general and politician (d. 1906)
 * 1840 – Namık Kemal, Turkish journalist, playwright, and activist (d. 1888)
 * 1843 – Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealander journalist, poet, and politician (d. 1898)
 * 1850 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer and poet (d. 1900)
 * 1851 – Thomas Chipman McRae, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1929)
 * 1857 – Joseph Carruthers, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1932)
 * 1859 – Gustave Kahn, French poet and critic (d. 1936)
 * 1866 – Maud Gonne, Irish nationalist and political activist (d. 1953)
 * 1868 – George W. Fuller, American chemist and engineer (d. 1934)
 * 1872 – Trevor Kincaid, Canadian-American zoologist and academic (d. 1970)
 * 1872  – Lorenzo Perosi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1956)
 * 1872  – Albert Payson Terhune, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
 * 1876 – Jack Lang, Australian lawyer and politician, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1975)
 * 1877 – Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (d. 1954)
 * 1878 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish-Irish mathematician and philosopher (d. 1956)
 * 1884 – María Cadilla, Puerto Rican writer, educator, women's rights activist (d. 1951)
 * 1885 – Frank Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1960)
 * 1888 – Jean Bouin, French runner and rugby player (d. 1914)
 * 1889 – Sewall Wright, American geneticist and biologist (d. 1988)
 * 1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
 * 1891 – John William McCormack, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1980)
 * 1892 – Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
 * 1892  – Rebecca West, English journalist and author (d. 1983)
 * 1896 – Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union during World War II (d. 1968)
 * 1900 – Luis Arturo González López, Guatemalan supreme court judge and briefly acting president (d. 1965)

1901–present

 * 1905 – Käte Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1983)
 * 1905  – Anthony Powell, English author (d. 2000)
 * 1909 – Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese journalist and author (d. 1992)
 * 1911 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (d. 1947)
 * 1913 – Arnold Friberg, American illustrator and painter (d. 2010)
 * 1914 – Frank Fenner, Australian microbiologist and virologist (d. 2010)
 * 1917 – Heinrich Böll, German novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
 * 1918 – Donald Regan, American colonel and politician, 11th White House Chief of Staff (d. 2003)
 * 1918  – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian colonel and politician; 9th President of Austria (d. 2007)
 * 1919 – Doug Young, American voice actor (d. 2018)
 * 1920 – Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina and choreographer, founded the Cuban National Ballet (d. 2019)
 * 1920  – Adele Goldstine, American computer programmer (d. 1964)
 * 1922 – Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (d. 1989)
 * 1922  – Cécile DeWitt-Morette, French mathematician and physicist (d. 2017)
 * 1922  – Paul Winchell, American actor, voice artist, and ventriloquist (d. 2005)
 * 1923 – Wat Misaka, American basketball player (d. 2019)
 * 1926 – Arnošt Lustig, Czech author and playwright (d. 2011)
 * 1926  – Joe Paterno, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
 * 1930 – Phil Roman, American animator
 * 1932 – U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian author, poet, and critic (d. 2014)
 * 1932  – Edward Hoagland, American author and critic
 * 1933 – Jackie Hendriks, Jamaican cricketer
 * 1933  – Robert Worcester, American businessman and academic, founded MORI
 * 1934 – Giuseppina Leone, Italian sprinter
 * 1934  – Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
 * 1935 – John G. Avildsen, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2017)
 * 1935  – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver (d. 1967)
 * 1935  – Phil Donahue, American talk show host and producer
 * 1935  – Stela Popescu, Romanian actress (d. 2017)
 * 1935  – Edward Schreyer, Canadian academic and politician, Governor General of Canada
 * 1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress and activist
 * 1938 – Larry Bryggman, American actor
 * 1939 – Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian academic and politician, 2nd Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * 1939  – Wafic Saïd, Syrian-Saudi Arabian financier, businessman and philanthropist
 * 1940 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer (d. 1993)
 * 1942 – Hu Jintao, Chinese engineer and politician, 5th Paramount leader of China
 * 1942  – Carla Thomas, American singer
 * 1943 – Albert Lee, English guitarist and songwriter
 * 1943  – Walter Spanghero, French rugby player
 * 1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, American pianist, composer, and conductor
 * 1944  – Zheng Xiaoyu, Chinese diplomat (d. 2007)
 * 1945 – Doug Walters, Australian cricketer
 * 1946 – Roy Karch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1946  – Carl Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
 * 1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 2014)
 * 1948 – Barry Gordon, American actor and voice artist; longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild (1988–95)
 * 1948  – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor and producer
 * 1948  – Dave Kingman, American baseball player
 * 1949 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabé captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (d. 1987)
 * 1949  – Nikolaos Sifounakis, Greek lawyer and politician
 * 1950 – Jeffrey Katzenberg, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded DreamWorks Animation
 * 1950  – Max Maven, American magician and mentalist (d. 2022)
 * 1950  – Lillebjørn Nilsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2024)
 * 1951 – Steve Perryman, English footballer and manager
 * 1952 – Joaquín Andújar, Dominican baseball player (d. 2015)
 * 1952  – Dennis Boutsikaris, American actor
 * 1952  – Steve Furniss, American swimmer
 * 1953 – András Schiff, Hungarian-English pianist and conductor
 * 1953  – Betty Wright, American singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
 * 1954 – Chris Evert, American tennis player and coach
 * 1955 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
 * 1955  – Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
 * 1956 – Dave Laut, American shot putter (d. 2009)
 * 1957 – Ray Romano, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1957  – Tony Lewis, English singer and songwriter (d. 2020)
 * 1958 – Tamara Bykova, Russian high jumper
 * 1959 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter and actress (d. 1998)
 * 1959  – Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Indian cricketer
 * 1960 – Sherry Rehman, Pakistani journalist, politician, and diplomat, 25th Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
 * 1961 – Ryuji Sasai, Japanese bass player and composer
 * 1963 – Govinda, Indian actor, singer, and politician
 * 1964 – Kunihiko Ikuhara, Japanese director and illustrator
 * 1964  – Joe Kocur, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1965 – Glenn Coleman, Australian rugby league player
 * 1965  – Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
 * 1965  – Anke Engelke, Canadian-German actress, director, and screenwriter
 * 1966 – Michelle Hurd, American actress
 * 1966  – William Ruto, 5th President of Kenya
 * 1966  – Kiefer Sutherland, British-Canadian actor, director, and producer
 * 1967 – Terry Mills, American basketball player and coach
 * 1967  – Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Georgia
 * 1969 – Julie Delpy, French model, actress, director, and screenwriter
 * 1969  – Mihails Zemļinskis, Latvian footballer, coach, and manager
 * 1971 – Matthieu Chedid, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1971  – Natalie Grant, American singer-songwriter and author
 * 1972 – Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Indian Politician, 17th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
 * 1973 – Irakli Alasania, Georgian colonel and politician, Georgian Minister of Defense
 * 1973  – Matías Almeyda, Argentine footballer and manager
 * 1974 – Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
 * 1975 – Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballerina
 * 1977 – Buddy Carlyle, American baseball player
 * 1977  – Corey Collymore, Barbadian cricketer
 * 1977  – Leon MacDonald, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1977  – Emmanuel Macron, French politician, 25th President of France
 * 1977  – Freddy Sanchez, American baseball player
 * 1978 – Emiliano Brembilla, Italian swimmer
 * 1978  – Charles Dera, American pornographic actor, dancer, model, and mixed martial arts fighter
 * 1978  – Shaun Morgan, South African musician, singer, and guitarist
 * 1978  – Rutina Wesley, American actress
 * 1979 – Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
 * 1981 – Marta Fernández, Spanish basketball player
 * 1981  – Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
 * 1982 – Primo Colón, Puerto Rican wrestler
 * 1982  – Philip Humber, American baseball player
 * 1982  – Tom Payne, English actor
 * 1983 – Taylor Teagarden, American baseball player
 * 1983  – Steven Yeun, American actor
 * 1985 – Tom Sturridge, English actor
 * 1987 – Khris Davis, American baseball player
 * 1988 – Danny Duffy, American baseball player
 * 1988  – Perri Shakes-Drayton, English sprinter and hurdler
 * 1989 – Mark Ingram II, American football player
 * 1989  – Tamannaah, Indian actress
 * 1991 – Nic Maddinson, Australian cricketer
 * 1991  – Otis, American wrestler
 * 1991  – Riccardo Saponara, Italian footballer
 * 1992 – Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, American football player
 * 1992  – Jamie Oleksiak, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1994 – Luke Brooks, Australian rugby league player
 * 1996 – Kaitlyn Dever, American actress
 * 1997 – Madelyn Cline, American actress and model
 * 1997  – Charlie McAvoy, American ice hockey player
 * 2002 – Clara Tauson, Danish tennis player

Pre-1600

 * AD 72 – Thomas the Apostle, Roman martyr and saint (b. 1 AD)
 * 882 – Hincmar, French archbishop and historian (b. 806)
 * 956 – Sun Sheng, Chinese chancellor
 * 975 – Al-Mu'izz, Fatimid caliph (b. 932)
 * 1001 – Hugh of Tuscany, Italian margrave (b. 950)
 * 1215 – Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid, Dāʿī al-Muṭlaq of Tayyibi Isma'ilism (b. c. 1128)
 * 1308 – Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse (b. 1244)
 * 1338 – Thomas Hemenhale, bishop of Worcester
 * 1362 – Constantine III, king of Armenia (b. 1313)
 * 1375 – Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author and poet (b. 1313)
 * 1504 – Berthold von Henneberg, German archbishop (b. 1442)
 * 1536 – John Seymour, English courtier (b. 1474)
 * 1549 – Marguerite de Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (b. 1492)
 * 1581 – Jean de la Cassière, 51st Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1502)
 * 1597 – Peter Canisius, Dutch priest and saint (b. 1521)

1601–1900

 * 1608 – William Davison, secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. c. 1541)
 * 1610 – Catherine Vasa, Swedish princess (b. 1539)
 * 1701 – Sir Hugh Paterson, Baronet of Bannockburn (b. 1659)
 * 1807 – John Newton, English soldier and minister (b. 1725)
 * 1824 – James Parkinson, English physician and paleontologist (b. 1755)
 * 1869 – Friedrich Ernst Scheller, German jurist and politician (b. 1791)
 * 1873 – Francis Garnier, French admiral and explorer (b. 1839)
 * 1889 – Friedrich August von Quenstedt, German geologist and palaeontologist (b. 1809)

1901–present

 * 1920 – Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, leader of the Dervish movement (b. 1856)
 * 1929 – I. L. Patterson, American politician, 18th Governor of Oregon (b. 1859)
 * 1933 – Knud Rasmussen, Greenlandic anthropologist and explorer (b. 1879)
 * 1935 – Ted Birnie, English footballer and manager (b. 1878)
 * 1935  – Kurt Tucholsky, German-Swedish journalist and author (b. 1890)
 * 1937 – Violette Neatley Anderson, American judge (b. 1882)
 * 1937  – Ted Healy, American comedian and actor (b. 1896)
 * 1937  – Frank B. Kellogg, American lawyer and politician, 45th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
 * 1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1896)
 * 1945 – George S. Patton, American general (b. 1885)
 * 1948 – Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (b. 1878)
 * 1952 – Kenneth Edwards, American golfer (b. 1886)
 * 1953 – Kaarlo Koskelo, Finnish-American wrestler and businessman (b. 1888)
 * 1957 – Eric Coates, English viola player and composer (b. 1886)
 * 1958 – H.B. Warner, English actor (b. 1875)
 * 1958  – Lion Feuchtwanger, German-American author and playwright (b. 1884)
 * 1959 – Rosanjin, Japanese calligrapher, engraver, and painter (b. 1883)
 * 1963 – Jack Hobbs, English cricketer and journalist (b. 1882)
 * 1964 – Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (b. 1880)
 * 1965 – Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (b. 1891)
 * 1968 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1886)
 * 1974 – Richard Long, American actor and director (b. 1927)
 * 1982 – Abu Al-Asar Hafeez Jullundhri, Pakistani poet and composer (b. 1900)
 * 1983 – Paul de Man, Belgian-born philosopher, literary critic and theorist (b. 1919)
 * 1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
 * 1992 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (b. 1901)
 * 1992  – Albert King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1924)
 * 1992  – Nathan Milstein, Russian-American violinist and composer (b. 1903)
 * 1998 – Ernst-Günther Schenck, German colonel and physician (b. 1904)
 * 2004 – Autar Singh Paintal, Indian physiologist and neurologist (b. 1925)
 * 2006 – Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940)
 * 2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
 * 2009  – Christos Lambrakis, Greek journalist and businessman (b. 1934)
 * 2010 – Enzo Bearzot, Italian footballer and manager (b. 1927)
 * 2013 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1929)
 * 2013  – John Eisenhower, American historian, general, and diplomat, 45th United States Ambassador to Belgium (b. 1922)
 * 2014 – Udo Jürgens, Austrian-Swiss singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1934)
 * 2014  – Sitor Situmorang, Indonesian poet and author (b. 1923)
 * 2014  – Billie Whitelaw, English actress (b. 1932)
 * 2017 – Bruce McCandless II, US astronaut who conducted the first untethered spacewalk (b. 1937)
 * 2019 – Andrew Clennel Palmer, British engineer (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances

 * Armed Forces Day (Philippines)
 * Christian feast day:
 * O Oriens
 * Peter Canisius
 * Thomas the Apostle (Anglicanism)
 * December 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Forefathers' Day (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
 * São Tomé Day (São Tomé and Príncipe)
 * The first day of Pancha Ganapati, celebrated until December 25 (Saiva Siddhanta Church)
 * Gravy Day (Australia), celebrated in honour of the song How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly

title: December 21