text:
December 1

Pre-1600

 * 800 – A council is convened in the Vatican, at which Charlemagne is to judge the accusations against Pope Leo III.
 * 1420 – Henry V of England enters Paris alongside his father-in-law King Charles VI of France.
 * 1577 – Courtiers Christopher Hatton and Thomas Heneage are knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England.

1601–1900

 * 1640 – End of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaims as King João IV of Portugal, ending 59 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the Philippine Dynasty.
 * 1662 – Diarist John Evelyn records skating on the frozen lake in St James's Park, London, watched by Charles II and Queen Catherine.
 * 1768 – The former slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøya in Norway.
 * 1821 – José Núñez de Cáceres wins the independence of the Dominican Republic from Spain and names the new territory the Republic of Spanish Haiti.
 * 1822 – Pedro I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.
 * 1824 – United States presidential election: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
 * 1828 – Argentine general Juan Lavalle makes a coup against governor Manuel Dorrego, beginning the Decembrist revolution.
 * 1834 – Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
 * 1862 – In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
 * 1865 – Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.
 * 1878 – President Rutherford B. Hayes gets the first telephone installed in the White House.
 * 1900 – Nicaragua sells canal rights to U.S. for $5 million. The canal agreement fails in March 1901. Great Britain rejects amended treaty

1901–present

 * 1913 – The Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in Latin America, begins operation.
 * 1913 – Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.
 * 1918 – Transylvania unites with Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28) and thus concluding the Great Union.
 * 1918 – Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
 * 1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
 * 1919 – Lady Astor becomes the first female Member of Parliament (MP) to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. (She had been elected to that position on November 28.)
 * 1924 – The National Hockey League's first United States-based franchise, the Boston Bruins, plays their first game in league play at home, at the still-extant Boston Arena indoor hockey facility.
 * 1934 – Sergei Kirov is assassinated, paving way for the repressive Great Purge, and Vinnytsia massacre by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.
 * 1939 – World War II: A day after the beginning of the Winter War in Finland, the Cajander III Cabinet resigns and is replaced by the Ryti I Cabinet, while the Finnish Parliament move from Helsinki to Kauhajoki to escape the Soviet airstrikes.
 * 1939 – The Soviet Union establishes the Finnish Democratic Republic puppet state in Terijoki.
 * 1941 – World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives his tacit approval to the decision of the imperial council to initiate war against the United States.
 * 1941 – World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
 * 1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sex reassignment surgery.
 * 1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to that city's bus boycott.
 * 1958 – The Central African Republic attains self-rule within the French Union.
 * 1958 – The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns.
 * 1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.
 * 1960 – Patrice Lumumba is arrested by Mobutu Sese Seko's men on the banks of the Sankuru River, for inciting the army to rebellion.
 * 1963 – Nagaland, became the 16th state of India.
 * 1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.
 * 1969 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
 * 1971 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
 * 1971 – Purge of Croatian Spring leaders starts in Yugoslavia at the meeting of the League of Communists at the Karađorđevo estate.
 * 1973 – Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia.
 * 1974 – TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.
 * 1974 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, another Boeing 727, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
 * 1981 – Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
 * 1984 – NASA conducts the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner is deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of crashes.
 * 1988 – World AIDS Day is proclaimed worldwide by the UN member states.
 * 1988 – Benazir Bhutto, is named as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first female leader to lead a Muslim nation.
 * 1989 – Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état.
 * 1989 – Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state.
 * 1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet beneath the seabed.
 * 1991 – Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
 * 1997 – In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacks the CPI (ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
 * 1997 – Fourteen year-old Michael Carneal opens fire at a group of students in Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, killing three and injuring five.
 * 2000 – Vicente Fox Quesada is inaugurated as the president of Mexico, marking the first peaceful transfer of executive federal power to an opposing political party following a free and democratic election in Mexico's history.
 * 2001 – The United Russia political party was founded.
 * 2005 – As a result of the merger of the Perm Oblast and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug, a new subject of the Russian Federation, the Perm Krai, was created.
 * 2006 – The law on same-sex marriage comes into force in South Africa, legalizing same-sex marriage for the first time on the African continent.
 * 2009 – The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in the European Union.
 * 2011 – The Alma-Ata Metro was opened.
 * 2018 – The Oulu Police informed the public about the first offence of the much larger child sexual exploitation in Oulu, Finland.
 * 2019 – Arsenal Women 11–1 Bristol City Women breaks the record for most goals scored in a FA Women's Super League match, with Vivianne Miedema involved in ten of the eleven Arsenal goals.
 * 2019 – The outbreak of coronavirus infection began in Wuhan.
 * 2020 – The Arecibo Telescope collapsed.

Pre-1600

 * 624 – Hasan ibn Ali, the second Shia Imam (d. 670)
 * 1081 – Louis VI, French king (d. 1137)
 * 1083 – Anna Komnene, Byzantine physician and scholar (d. 1153)
 * 1415 – Jan Długosz, Polish historian (d. 1480)
 * 1438 – Peter II, Duke of Bourbon, son of Charles I (d. 1503)
 * 1443 – Magdalena of France, French princess (d. 1495)
 * 1521 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyō (d. 1573)
 * 1525 – Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician and astronomer (d. 1600)
 * 1530 – Bernardino Realino, Italian Jesuit (d. 1616)
 * 1561 – Sophie Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Duchess consort of Pomerania-Wolgast (d. 1631)
 * 1580 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer and historian (d. 1637)

1601–1900

 * 1690 – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
 * 1709 – Franz Xaver Richter, Czech composer, violinist, and conductor (d. 1789)
 * 1716 – Étienne Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (d. 1791)
 * 1743 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (d. 1817)
 * 1761 – Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (d. 1850)
 * 1792 – Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and geometer (d. 1856)
 * 1800 – Mihály Vörösmarty, Hungarian poet (d. 1855)
 * 1805 – 9th Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader (d. 1815)
 * 1844 – Alexandra of Denmark (d. 1925)
 * 1846 – Ledi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (d. 1923)
 * 1847 – Julia A. Moore, American poet (d. 1920)
 * 1855 – John Evans, English-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1943)
 * 1869 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (d. 1923)
 * 1871 – Archie MacLaren, English cricketer (d. 1944)
 * 1883 – Henry Cadbury, American historian, scholar, and academic (d. 1974)
 * 1884 – Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter and etcher (d. 1976)
 * 1886 – Rex Stout, American detective novelist (d. 1975)
 * 1886 – Zhu De, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China (d. 1976)
 * 1894 – Afrânio Pompílio Gastos do Amaral, Brazilian herpetologist (d. 1982)
 * 1895 – Henry Williamson, English farmer, soldier, and author (d. 1977)
 * 1896 – Georgy Zhukov, Russian general and politician, 2nd Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (d. 1974)
 * 1898 – Stuart Garson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1977)
 * 1898 – Cyril Ritchard, Australian-American actor and singer (d. 1977)
 * 1900 – Karna Maria Birmingham, Australian artist, illustrator and print maker (d. 1987)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Ilona Fehér, Hungarian-Israeli violinist and educator (d. 1988)
 * 1903 – Nikolai Voznesensky, Soviet economic planner, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (d. 1950)
 * 1905 – Alex Wilson, Canadian sprinter and coach (d. 1994)
 * 1910 – Alicia Markova, English ballerina and choreographer (d. 2004)
 * 1911 – Walter Alston, American baseball player and manager (d. 1984)
 * 1911 – Calvin Griffith, Canadian-American businessman (d. 1999)
 * 1912 – Billy Raimondi, American baseball player (d. 2010)
 * 1912 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (d. 1986)
 * 1913 – Mary Martin, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
 * 1916 – Wan Li, Chinese educator and politician, 4th Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (d. 2015)
 * 1917 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor and actor (d. 1995)
 * 1917 – Marty Marion, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
 * 1920 – Peter Baptist Tadamaro Ishigami, Japanese priest, 1st Bishop of Naha (d. 2014)
 * 1921 – Vernon McGarity, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
 * 1922 – Vsevolod Bobrov, Russian ice hockey player, footballer, and manager (d. 1979)
 * 1923 – Dick Shawn, American actor (d. 1987)
 * 1923 – Stansfield Turner, American admiral and academic, 12th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 2018)
 * 1924 – Masao Horiba, Japanese businessman, founded Horiba (d. 2015)
 * 1925 – Martin Rodbell, American biochemist and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
 * 1926 – Mother Antonia, American-Mexican nun and activist (d. 2013)
 * 1926 – Allyn Ann McLerie, Canadian-American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2018)
 * 1926 – Keith Michell, Australian actor (d. 2015)
 * 1926 – Robert Symonds, American actor (d. 2007)
 * 1926 – Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, Scottish businessman (d. 2010)
 * 1927 – Micheline Bernardini, French dancer and model
 * 1928 – Emily McLaughlin, American actress (d. 1991)
 * 1928 – Malachi Throne, American actor (d. 2013)
 * 1929 – David Doyle, American actor (d. 1997)
 * 1930 – Marie Bashir, Australian psychiatrist, academic, and politician, 37th Governor of New South Wales
 * 1930 – Joachim Hoffmann, German historian and author (d. 2002)
 * 1931 – Jimmy Lyons, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
 * 1931 – Jim Nesbitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007)
 * 1931 – George Maxwell Richards, Trinidadian politician, 4th President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2018)
 * 1933 – Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
 * 1933 – Violette Verdy, French ballerina (d. 2016)
 * 1934 – Billy Paul, American soul singer (d. 2016)
 * 1935 – Sola Sierra, Chilean human rights activist (d. 1999)
 * 1936 – Igor Rodionov, Russian general and politician, 3rd Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2014)
 * 1937 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American soprano and actress (d. 2005)
 * 1937 – Gordon Crosse, English composer and academic (d. 2021)
 * 1937 – Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Latvian psychologist and politician, President of Latvia
 * 1938 – Sandy Nelson, American rock and roll drummer (d. 2022)
 * 1939 – Lee Trevino, American golfer and sportscaster
 * 1940 – Mike Denness, Scottish cricketer and referee (d. 2013)
 * 1940 – Jerry Lawson, American electronic engineer and inventor (d. 2011)
 * 1940 – Richard Pryor, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2005)
 * 1940 – Tasso Wild, German footballer
 * 1942 – Mohamed Kamel Amr, Egyptian politician, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs
 * 1942 – John Crowley, American author and academic
 * 1942 – Ross Edwards, Australian cricketer
 * 1943 – Kenny Moore, American runner and journalist (d. 2022)
 * 1944 – Eric Bloom, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1944 – John Densmore, American drummer and songwriter
 * 1944 – Michael Hagee, American general
 * 1944 – Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan author and poet
 * 1945 – Lyle Bien, American vice admiral in the United States Navy
 * 1945 – Bette Midler, American singer-songwriter, actress and producer
 * 1946 – Jonathan Katz, American comedian and actor
 * 1946 – Kemal Kurspahić, Bosnian journalist and author (d. 2021)
 * 1946 – Gilbert O'Sullivan, Irish singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1947 – Alain Bashung, French singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2009)
 * 1947 – Bob Fulton, English-Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2021)
 * 1948 – George Foster, American baseball player and radio host
 * 1948 – Sarfraz Nawaz, Pakistani cricketer and politician
 * 1948 – John Roskelley, American mountaineer and author
 * 1948 – Neil Warnock, English footballer and manager
 * 1948 – N. T. Wright, English bishop and scholar
 * 1948 – Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Nigerian civil servant and politician, Governor of Kaduna State (d. 2012)
 * 1949 – Jan Brett, American author and illustrator
 * 1949 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist (d. 1993)
 * 1949 – Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and politician, 35th President of Chile (d. 2024)
 * 1950 – Manju Bansal, Indian biologist and academic
 * 1950 – Ross Hannaford, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
 * 1950 – Richard Keith, American actor and drummer
 * 1950 – Gary Panter, American illustrator and painter
 * 1950 – Filippos Petsalnikos, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice (d. 2020)
 * 1951 – Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov, Bulgarian cosmonaut
 * 1951 – Obba Babatundé, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1951 – Doug Mulray, Australian radio and television host (d. 2023)
 * 1951 – Jaco Pastorius, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 1987)
 * 1951 – Nozipho Schroeder, South African lawn bowler
 * 1951 – Treat Williams, American actor (d. 2023)
 * 1952 – Stephen Poliakoff, English director, producer, and playwright
 * 1954 – Alan Dedicoat, English journalist
 * 1954 – Judith Hackitt, English chemist and engineer
 * 1954 – François Van der Elst, Belgian footballer (d. 2017)
 * 1955 – Veikko Aaltonen, Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1955 – Verónica Forqué, Spanish actress (d. 2021)
 * 1955 – Udit Narayan, Indian playback singer
 * 1955 – Pat Spillane, Irish footballer and sportscaster
 * 1955 – Karen Tumulty, American journalist
 * 1956 – Julee Cruise, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 2022)
 * 1957 – Chris Poland, American guitarist and songwriter
 * 1957 – Deep Roy, Kenyan-British actor
 * 1957 – Vesta Williams, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2011)
 * 1958 – Javier Aguirre, Mexican footballer and manager
 * 1958 – Candace Bushnell, American journalist and author
 * 1958 – Alberto Cova, Italian runner
 * 1958 – Gary Peters, American politician
 * 1958 – Charlene Tilton, American actress and singer
 * 1959 – Billy Childish, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter
 * 1959 – Wally Lewis, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
 * 1960 – Carol Alt, American model and actress
 * 1960 – Shirin M. Rai, Indian-English political scientist and academic
 * 1960 – Jane Turner, Australian actress and producer
 * 1961 – Safra Catz, Israeli-American businesswoman
 * 1961 – Raymond E. Goldstein, American biophysicist and academic
 * 1961 – Jeremy Northam, English actor
 * 1962 – Sylvie Daigle, Canadian speed skater
 * 1962 – Pamela McGee, American basketball player and coach
 * 1963 – Marco Greco, Brazilian race car driver
 * 1963 – Nathalie Lambert, Canadian speed skater
 * 1963 – Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician
 * 1964 – Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
 * 1964 – Jo Walton, Welsh-Canadian author and poet
 * 1965 – Henry Honiball, South African rugby player
 * 1965 – Magnifico, Slovenian singer
 * 1966 – Andrew Adamson, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1966 – Katherine LaNasa, American actress, ballet dancer, and choreographer
 * 1966 – Larry Walker, Canadian baseball player and coach
 * 1967 – Nestor Carbonell, American actor
 * 1967 – Reggie Sanders, American baseball player
 * 1968 – Justin Chadwick, English actor and director
 * 1968 – Sarah Fitzgerald, Australian squash player
 * 1968 – Anders Holmertz, Swedish swimmer
 * 1969 – Richard Carrier, American author and blogger
 * 1970 – Golden Brooks, American actress
 * 1970 – Jonathan Coulton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1970 – Kirk Rueter, American baseball player
 * 1970 – Sarah Silverman, American comedian, actress, and singer
 * 1970 – Tisha Waller, American high jumper and educator
 * 1971 – Christian Pescatori, Italian race car driver
 * 1971 – Mika Pohjola, Finnish-American pianist and composer
 * 1971 – John Schlimm, American author and educator
 * 1972 – Stanton Barrett, American race car driver and stuntman
 * 1972 – Bart Millard, American singer-songwriter
 * 1973 – Steve Gibb, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1974 – Costinha, Portuguese footballer and manager
 * 1975 – Matt Fraction, American author
 * 1975 – Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, American keyboard player and producer (d. 2014)
 * 1975 – Thomas Schie, Norwegian racing driver and sportscaster
 * 1975 – Farah Shah, Pakistani actress and host
 * 1975 – Sophia Skou, Danish swimmer
 * 1976 – Tomasz Adamek, Polish boxer
 * 1976 – Laura Ling, American journalist and author
 * 1976 – Dean O'Gorman, New Zealand actor, artist, and photographer
 * 1976 – Matthew Shepard, American hate crime victim (d. 1998)
 * 1976 – Evangelos Sklavos, Greek basketball player
 * 1977 – Brad Delson, American guitarist and producer
 * 1977 – Sophie Guillemin, French actress
 * 1977 – Lee McKenzie, Scottish journalist
 * 1977 – Nate Torrence, American actor and comedian
 * 1978 – Mat Kearney, American musician
 * 1979 – Stephanie Brown Trafton, American discus thrower
 * 1979 – Ryan Malone, American ice hockey player
 * 1980 – Iftikhar Anjum, Pakistani cricketer
 * 1980 – Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer and politician
 * 1980 – Mubarak Hassan Shami, Kenyan-Qatari runner
 * 1980 – Gianna Terzi, Greek singer
 * 1981 – Park Hyo-shin, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1981 – Luke McPharlin, Australian footballer
 * 1981 – I Made Wirawan, Indonesian footballer
 * 1982 – Riz Ahmed, English actor and rapper
 * 1982 – Christos Kalantzis, Greek footballer
 * 1982 – Christos Melissis, Greek footballer
 * 1984 – Charles Michael Davis, American actor
 * 1984 – Yolandi Visser, South African rapper and actress
 * 1985 – Ilfenesh Hadera, American actress
 * 1985 – Janelle Monáe, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
 * 1985 – Emiliano Viviano, Italian footballer
 * 1986 – DeSean Jackson, American football player
 * 1987 – Simon Dawkins, English footballer
 * 1987 – Tabarie Henry, Virgin Islander sprinter
 * 1987 – Vance Joy, Australian singer-songwriter
 * 1987 – Brett Williams, English footballer
 * 1988 – Tyler Joseph, American musician and singer
 * 1988 – Zoë Kravitz, American actress, singer, and model
 * 1988 – Dan Mavraides, Greek-American basketball player
 * 1988 – Michael Raffl, Austrian ice hockey player
 * 1989 – Sotelúm, Mexican trumpet player, composer, and producer
 * 1990 – Tomáš Tatar, Slovak ice hockey player
 * 1991 – Rakeem Christmas, American basketball player
 * 1991 – Hilda Melander, Swedish tennis player
 * 1991 – Sun Yang, Chinese swimmer
 * 1992 – Masahudu Alhassan, Ghanaian footballer
 * 1992 – Javier Báez, Puerto Rican baseball player
 * 1992 – Linos Chrysikopoulos, Greek basketball player
 * 1992 – Gary Payton II, American basketball player
 * 1992 – Marco van Ginkel, Dutch footballer
 * 1993 – Reena Pärnat, Estonian archer
 * 1993 – Beau Webster, Australian cricketer
 * 1994 – Seedy Njie, English footballer
 * 1995 – Agnė Čepelytė, Lithuanian tennis player
 * 1995 – Jenna Fife, Scottish footballer
 * 1995 – James Wilson, English footballer
 * 1997 – Sada Williams, Barbadian sprinter
 * 1999 – Nico Schlotterbeck, German footballer
 * 2001 – Carole Monnet, French tennis player

Pre-1600

 * 217 – Yehudah HaNasi, 'Nasi', Rabbi and editor of the Mishnah (b. 135)
 * 660 – Eligius, Frankish bishop and saint (b. 588)
 * 948 – Gao Conghui, Chinese governor and prince (b. 891)
 * 969 – Fujiwara no Morotada, Japanese statesman (b. 920)
 * 1018 – Thietmar of Merseburg, German bishop (b. 975)
 * 1135 – Henry I, king of England (b. 1068)
 * 1241 – Isabella of England, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1214)
 * 1255 – Muhammad III of Alamut, Nizari Ismaili Imam
 * 1335 – Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, Mongol ruler of the Ilkhanate (b. 1305)
 * 1374 – Magnus Ericson, king of Sweden (b. 1316)
 * 1433 – Go-Komatsu, emperor of Japan (b. 1377)
 * 1455 – Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian goldsmith and sculptor (b. 1378)
 * 1521 – Leo X, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1475)
 * 1530 – Margaret of Austria, duchess of Savoy (b. 1480)
 * 1580 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (b. 1509)
 * 1581 – Alexander Briant, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr and saint (b. 1556)
 * 1581 – Edmund Campion, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr, and saint (b. 1540)
 * 1581 – Ralph Sherwin, English Roman Catholic priest, martyr, and saint (b. 1550)

1601–1900

 * 1633 – Isabella Clara Eugenia, infanta of Spain (b. 1566)
 * 1640 – Miguel de Vasconcelos, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1590)
 * 1660 – Pierre d'Hozier, French genealogist and historian (b. 1592)
 * 1729 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer and mathematician (b. 1665)
 * 1750 – Johann Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (b. 1671)
 * 1755 – Maurice Greene, English organist and composer (b. 1696)
 * 1767 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (b. 1710)
 * 1825 – Alexander I, emperor and autocrat of Russia (b. 1777)
 * 1865 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss pastor, poet, and educator (b. 1796)
 * 1866 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (b. 1790)
 * 1867 – Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (b. 1797)
 * 1884 – William Swainson, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of the Crown Colony of New Zealand (b. 1809)

1901–present

 * 1913 – Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet and author (b. 1864)
 * 1914 – Alfred Thayer Mahan, American captain and historian (b. 1840)
 * 1916 – Charles de Foucauld, French priest and martyr (b. 1858)
 * 1923 – Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet (b. 1836)
 * 1928 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian-American lawyer and poet (b. 1888)
 * 1933 – Pekka Halonen, Finnish painter (b. 1865)
 * 1934 – Sergey Kirov, Russian engineer and politician (b. 1886)
 * 1935 – Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German optician, invented the Schmidt camera (b. 1879)
 * 1942 – Leon Wachholz, Polish scientist and medical examiner (b. 1867)
 * 1943 – Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai historian and educator (b. 1862)
 * 1944 – Charlie Kerins, Executed Irish Republican (b. 1918)
 * 1947 – Aleister Crowley, English magician, poet, and mountaineer (b. 1875)
 * 1947 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1877)
 * 1950 – Ernest John Moeran, English pianist and composer (b. 1894)
 * 1954 – Fred Rose, American pianist, composer, and publisher (b. 1898)
 * 1958 – Elizabeth Peratrovich, Alaskan-American civil rights activist (b. 1911)
 * 1964 – J. B. S. Haldane, English-Indian geneticist and biologist (b. 1892)
 * 1964 – Charilaos Vasilakos, Greek runner (b. 1877)
 * 1968 – Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer, composer, and conductor (b. 1887)
 * 1968 – Darío Moreno, Turkish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1921)
 * 1973 – David Ben-Gurion, Israeli politician, 1st Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
 * 1975 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player and coach (b. 1927)
 * 1975 – Ernesto Maserati, Italian race car driver and engineer (b. 1898)
 * 1975 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist (b. 1906)
 * 1981 – Russ Manning, American author and illustrator (b. 1929)
 * 1984 – Roelof Frankot, Dutch painter and photographer (b. 1911)
 * 1986 – Frank McCarthy, American general and film producer (b. 1912)
 * 1987 – James Baldwin, American novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1924)
 * 1987 – Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1918)
 * 1988 – J. Vernon McGee, American pastor and theologian (b. 1904)
 * 1989 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1931)
 * 1990 – Carla Lehmann, Canadian-English actress (b. 1917)
 * 1991 – Pat O'Callaghan, Irish athlete (b. 1906)
 * 1991 – George Stigler, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
 * 1993 – Ray Gillen, American singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
 * 1995 – Hopper Levett, English cricketer (b. 1908)
 * 1995 – Colin Tapley, New Zealand-English actor (b. 1907)
 * 1995 – Maxwell R. Thurman, American general (b. 1931)
 * 1996 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1928)
 * 1997 – Michel Bélanger, Canadian banker and businessman (b. 1929)
 * 1997 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (b. 1908)
 * 1997 – Endicott Peabody, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1920)
 * 1998 – Janet Lewis, American poet and novelist (b. 1899)
 * 2001 – Ellis R. Dungan, American director and producer (b. 1909)
 * 2002 – Edward L. Beach Jr., American captain and author (b. 1918)
 * 2002 – Dave McNally, American baseball player (b. 1942)
 * 2003 – Clark Kerr, American economist and academic (b. 1911)
 * 2003 – Eugenio Monti, Italian bobsledder (b. 1928)
 * 2004 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (b. 1911)
 * 2004 – Bill Brown, Scottish footballer (b. 1931)
 * 2005 – Gust Avrakotos, American CIA officer (b. 1938)
 * 2005 – Mary Hayley Bell, English actress and playwright (b. 1911)
 * 2005  – Freeman V. Horner, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1922)
 * 2006 – Claude Jade, French actress (b. 1948)
 * 2006 – Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist, and historian (b. 1937)
 * 2007 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player and footballer (b. 1929)
 * 2007 – Anton Rodgers, British actor (b. 1933)
 * 2007 – Ivo Rojnica, Croatian-Argentine war crimes suspect, businessman, diplomat, and intelligence agent (b. 1915)
 * 2008 – Paul Benedict, American actor (b. 1938)
 * 2008 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (b. 1917)
 * 2010 – Adriaan Blaauw, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1914)
 * 2010 – Hillard Elkins, American actor and producer (b. 1929)
 * 2011 – Christa Wolf, German author and critic (b. 1929)
 * 2012 – Jovan Belcher, American football player (b. 1987)
 * 2012 – Arthur Chaskalson, South African lawyer and judge, 18th Chief Justice of South Africa (b. 1931)
 * 2012 – Rick Majerus, American basketball player and coach (b. 1948)
 * 2012 – Ed Price, American soldier, pilot, and politician (b. 1918)
 * 2013 – Richard Coughlan, English drummer (b. 1947)
 * 2013 – Stirling Colgate, American physicist and academic (b. 1925)
 * 2013 – Edward Heffron, American soldier (b. 1923)
 * 2013 – Martin Sharp, Australian cartoonist and songwriter (b. 1942)
 * 2014 – Mario Abramovich, Argentinian violinist and composer (b. 1926)
 * 2014 – Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Greek epidemiologist, oncologist, and academic (b. 1938)
 * 2014 – Rocky Wood, New Zealand-Australian author (b. 1959)
 * 2015 – Rob Blokzijl, Dutch physicist and computer scientist (b. 1943)
 * 2015 – Joseph Engelberger, American physicist and engineer (b. 1925)
 * 2015 – John F. Kurtzke, American neurologist and academic (b. 1926)
 * 2015 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (b. 1930)
 * 2015 – Trevor Obst, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1940)
 * 2018 – Vivian Lynn, New Zealand artist (b. 1931)
 * 2018 – Ken Berry, American actor, dancer, and singer (b. 1933)
 * 2019 – Paula Tilbrook, English actress (b. 1930)
 * 2020 – Arnie Robinson, American athlete (b. 1948)
 * 2022 – Gaylord Perry, American baseball player and coach (b. 1938)
 * 2023 – Sandra Day O'Connor, first female U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1981–2006) (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances

 * Battle of the Sinop Day (Russia)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Alexander Briant
 * Ansanus
 * Blessed Bruna Pellesi
 * Castritian
 * Charles de Foucauld
 * Edmund Campion
 * Eligius
 * Evasius
 * Grwst
 * Nahum
 * Nicholas Ferrar (Episcopal Church)
 * Ralph Sherwin
 * Ursicinus of Brescia
 * December 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Damrong Rajanubhab Day (Thailand)
 * Earliest day on which Farmer's Day can fall, while December 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Friday in December. (Ghana)
 * Earliest day on which Good Neighborliness Day can fall, while December 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in December. (Turkmenistan)
 * Earliest day on which Sindhi Cultural Day can fall, while December 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in December. (Sindhi diaspora)
 * First President Day (Kazakhstan)
 * Freedom and Democracy Day (Chad)
 * Great Union Day, celebrates the union of Transylvania with Romania in 1918 (Romania)
 * Military Abolition Day (Costa Rica)
 * National Day (Myanmar)
 * Republic Day (Central African Republic)
 * Restoration of Independence Day (Portugal)
 * Rosa Parks Day (Ohio and Oregon, United States)
 * Self-governance Day or Fullveldisdagurinn (Iceland)
 * Teachers' Day (Panama)
 * World AIDS Day, and its related observances:
 * Day Without Art

title: December 1


text:
December 24

Pre-1600

 * 502 – Chinese emperor Xiao Yan names Xiao Tong his heir designate.
 * 640 – Pope John IV is elected, several months after his predecessor's death.
 * 759 – Tang dynasty poet Du Fu departs for Chengdu, where he is hosted by fellow poet Pei Di.
 * 971 – Battle of Ayn Shams: The Fatimids under Jawhar defeat the Qarmatians at the gates of Cairo, putting an end to the First Qarmatian invasion of Egypt.
 * 1144 – The capital of the crusader County of Edessa falls to Imad ad-Din Zengi, the atabeg of Mosul and Aleppo.
 * 1294 – Pope Boniface VIII is elected, replacing St. Celestine V, who had resigned.
 * 1500 – A joint Venetian–Spanish fleet captures the Castle of St. George on the island of Cephalonia.

1601–1900

 * 1737 – The Marathas defeat the combined forces of the Mughal Empire, Rajputs of Jaipur, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of Awadh and Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Bhopal.
 * 1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, is discovered by James Cook.
 * 1800 – The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise fails to kill Napoleon Bonaparte.
 * 1814 – Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States sign the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.
 * 1818 – The first performance of "Silent Night" takes place in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria.
 * 1826 – The Eggnog Riot at the United States Military Academy begins that night, wrapping up the following morning.
 * 1846 – British acquired Labuan from the Sultanate of Brunei for Great Britain.
 * 1865 – Jonathan Shank and Barry Ownby form The Ku Klux Klan.
 * 1868 – The Greek Presidential Guard is established as the royal escort by King George I.
 * 1871 – The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt.

1901–present

 * 1906 – Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.
 * 1913 – The Italian Hall disaster in Calumet, Michigan results in the deaths of 73 striking workers families at a Christmas party participants (including 59 children) when someone falsely yells "fire".
 * 1914 – World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins.
 * 1918 – Region of Međimurje is captured by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from Hungary.
 * 1920 – Gabriele D'Annunzio surrendered the Italian Regency of Carnaro in the city of Fiume to Italian Armed Forces.
 * 1924 – Albania becomes a republic.
 * 1929 – Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
 * 1929  – A four alarm fire breaks out in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C.
 * 1939 – World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.
 * 1941 – World War II: Kuching is conquered by Japanese forces.
 * 1941  – World War II: Benghazi is conquered by the British Eighth Army.
 * 1942 – World War II: French monarchist, Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, assassinates Vichy French Admiral François Darlan in Algiers, Algeria.
 * 1943 – World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for Operation Overlord.
 * 1944 – World War II: The Belgian Troopship Leopoldville was torpedoed and sank with the loss of 763 soldiers and 56 crew.
 * 1945 – Five of nine children become missing after their home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, is burned down.
 * 1951 – Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
 * 1952 – First flight of Britain's Handley Page Victor strategic bomber.
 * 1953 – Tangiwai disaster: In New Zealand's North Island, at Tangiwai, a railway bridge is damaged by a lahar and collapses beneath a passenger train, killing 151 people.
 * 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.
 * 1964  – Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 crashes after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing three.
 * 1966 – A Canadair CL-44 chartered by the United States military crashes into a small village in South Vietnam, killing 111.
 * 1968 – Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 enters into orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits, took the Earthrise photograph, broadcast live TV pictures, and read the first ten verses of Genesis.
 * 1969 – Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.
 * 1971 – LANSA Flight 508 is struck by lightning and crashes in the Puerto Inca District in the Department of Huánuco in Peru, killing 91.
 * 1973 – District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
 * 1974 – Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
 * 1983 – Aeroflot Flight 601 crashes during takeoff from Leshukonskoye Airport, killing 44 of the 49 people on board.
 * 1994 – Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked on the ground at Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria. Over the course of three days three passengers are killed, as are all four terrorists.
 * 1996 – A Learjet 35 crashes into Smarts Mountain near Dorchester, New Hampshire, killing both pilots on board.
 * 1997 – The Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria kills between 50 and 100 people.
 * 1999 – Indian Airlines Flight 814 is hijacked in Indian airspace between Kathmandu, Nepal, and Delhi, India. The aircraft landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. The incident ended on December 31 with the release of 190 survivors (one passenger is killed).
 * 2003 – The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50 kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station.
 * 2005 – Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
 * 2008 – The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
 * 2018 – A helicopter crash kills Martha Érika Alonso, first female Governor of Puebla, Mexico, and her husband Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor.
 * 2021 – Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.

Pre-1600

 * 3 BC – Galba, Roman emperor (d. 69)
 * 1166 – John, King of England (d. 1216)
 * 1389 – John V, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)
 * 1474 – Bartolomeo degli Organi, Italian musician (d. 1539)
 * 1475 – Thomas Murner, German poet and translator (d. 1537)
 * 1508 – Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian scholar (d. 1567)
 * 1520 – Martha Leijonhufvud, Swedish noble (d. 1584)
 * 1537 – Willem IV van den Bergh, Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen (d. 1586)
 * 1549 – Kaspar Ulenberg, German theologian (d. 1617)
 * 1588 – Constance of Austria (d. 1631)
 * 1596 – Leonaert Bramer, Dutch painter (d. 1674)
 * 1597 – Honoré II, Prince of Monaco (d. 1662)

1601–1900

 * 1625 – Johann Rudolph Ahle, German organist, composer, and theorist (d. 1673)
 * 1635 – Mariana of Austria (d. 1696)
 * 1679 – Domenico Sarro, Italian composer and educator (d. 1744)
 * 1698 – William Warburton, English bishop (d. 1779)
 * 1726 – Johann Hartmann, Danish composer (d. 1793)
 * 1731 – Julie Bondeli, Swiss salonist and lady of letters (d. 1778)
 * 1754 – George Crabbe, English priest, surgeon, and poet (d. 1832)
 * 1761 – Selim III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1808)
 * 1761  – Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831)
 * 1797 – Carl Georg von Wächter, German jurist (d. 1880)
 * 1798 – Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet and playwright (d. 1855)
 * 1809 – Kit Carson, American general (d. 1868)
 * 1810 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator (d. 1873)
 * 1812 – Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal, German lawyer and jurist (d. 1894)
 * 1818 – James Prescott Joule, English physicist and brewer (d. 1889)
 * 1822 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (d. 1888)
 * 1827 – Alexander von Oettingen, German theologian and statistician (d. 1905)
 * 1837 – Empress Elisabeth of Austria (d. 1898)
 * 1843 – Lydia Koidula, Estonian poet and playwright (d. 1886)
 * 1845 – George I of Greece (d. 1913)
 * 1865 – Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian, educator, and diplomat, founded the Askenazy school (d. 1935)
 * 1867 – Tevfik Fikret, Turkish poet and educator (d. 1915)
 * 1868 – Charles Harvey Bollman, American naturalist (d. 1889)
 * 1868  – Emanuel Lasker, German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1941)
 * 1869 – Henriette Roland Holst, Dutch poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1952)
 * 1872 – Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (d. 1927)
 * 1875 – Émile Wegelin, French rower (d. 1962)
 * 1877 – Sigrid Schauman, Finnish painter and critic (d. 1979)
 * 1879 – Émile Nelligan, Canadian poet (d. 1941)
 * 1879  – Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1952)
 * 1880 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (d. 1939)
 * 1881 – Charles Wakefield Cadman, American composer and critic (d. 1946)
 * 1882 – Hans Rebane, Estonian journalist and politician, 8th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1961)
 * 1882  – Georges Legagneux, French aviator (d. 1914)
 * 1883 – Stefan Jaracz, Polish actor and producer (d. 1945)
 * 1885 – Paul Manship, American sculptor (d. 1966)
 * 1886 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-American actor, director, and producer (d. 1962)
 * 1887 – Louis Jouvet, French actor and producer (d. 1951)
 * 1887  – Axel Revold, Norwegian painter (d. 1962)
 * 1891 – Feodor Stepanovich Rojankovsky, Russian illustrator and painter (d. 1970)
 * 1892 – Ruth Chatterton, American actress (d. 1961)
 * 1893  – Harry Warren, American pianist and composer (d. 1981)
 * 1894 – Georges Guynemer, French captain and pilot (d. 1917)
 * 1894  – Jack Thayer, American businessman (d. 1945)
 * 1895 – E. Roland Harriman, American financier and philanthropist (d. 1978)
 * 1895  – Noel Streatfeild, English author (d. 1986)
 * 1895  – Marguerite Williams, American geologist (d. 1991)
 * 1897 – Ville Pörhölä, Finnish shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1964)
 * 1897  – Väinö Sipilä, Finnish runner (d. 1987)
 * 1898 – Baby Dodds, American drummer (d. 1959)
 * 1900 – Joey Smallwood, Canadian journalist and politician, 1st Premier of Newfoundland (d. 1991)
 * 1900  – Hawayo Takata, Japanese-American teacher and master practitioner of Reiki (d. 1980)

1901–present

 * 1903 – Joseph Cornell, American sculptor and director (d. 1972)
 * 1903  – Ernst Krenkel, Polish-Russian geographer and explorer (d. 1971)
 * 1903  – Ava Helen Pauling, American humanitarian and activist (d. 1981)
 * 1904 – Joseph M. Juran, Romanian-American engineer and businessman (d. 2008)
 * 1905 – Howard Hughes, American businessman, engineer, and pilot (d. 1976)
 * 1906 – Franz Waxman, German-American composer and conductor (d. 1967)
 * 1907 – I. F. Stone, American journalist and author (d. 1989)
 * 1910 – Ellen Braumüller, German javelin thrower and triathlete (d. 1991)
 * 1910  – Fritz Leiber, American author and poet (d. 1992)
 * 1910  – Max Miedinger, Swiss typeface designer, created Helvetica (d. 1980)
 * 1913 – Ad Reinhardt, American painter and academic (d. 1967)
 * 1914 – Ralph Marterie, Italian-American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1978)
 * 1914  – Herbert Reinecker, German author and screenwriter (d. 2007)
 * 1918 – Dave Bartholomew, American bandleader, composer and arranger (d. 2019)
 * 1919 – Qateel Shifai, Pakistani poet and songwriter (d. 2001)
 * 1919  – Pierre Soulages, French artist (d. 2022)
 * 1920 – Franco Lucentini, Italian author and screenwriter (d. 2002)
 * 1920  – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian-Russian lieutenant and navigator (d. 1944)
 * 1921 – Bill Dudley, American football player (d. 2010)
 * 1922 – Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)
 * 1923 – George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)
 * 1923  – William C. Schneider, American aerospace engineer (d. 1999)
 * 1924 – Lee Dorsey, American singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
 * 1924  – Abdirizak Haji Hussein, Somalian soldier and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Somalia (d. 2014)
 * 1924  – Mohammed Rafi, Indian singer (d. 1980)
 * 1927 – Mary Higgins Clark, American author (d. 2020)
 * 1928 – Adam Exner, Canadian Roman Catholic prelate (d. 2023)
 * 1928  – Norman Rossington, English actor (d. 1999)
 * 1928  – Lev Vlassenko, Georgian-Australian pianist and educator (d. 1996)
 * 1929 – Lennart Skoglund, Swedish footballer (d. 1975)
 * 1929  – Red Sullivan, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2019)
 * 1929  – Philip Ziegler, English historian and author (d. 2023)
 * 1930 – Robert Joffrey, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1988)
 * 1930  – John J. Kelley, American runner (d. 2011)
 * 1931 – Ray Bryant, American pianist and composer (d. 2011)
 * 1931  – Mauricio Kagel, Argentinian-German composer and scholar (d. 2008)
 * 1932 – Colin Cowdrey, Indian-English cricketer (d. 2000)
 * 1932  – On Kawara, Japanese-American painter (d. 2014)
 * 1934 – John Critchinson, English pianist and composer (d. 2017)
 * 1934  – Alex Hutchinson, Australian jazz musician
 * 1934  – Stjepan Mesić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Croatia
 * 1936 – Ivan Lawrence, English lawyer and politician
 * 1937 – Félix, Brazilian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
 * 1937  – John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney, Northern Irish politician, Irish Minister of Home Affairs
 * 1938 – Bobby Henrich, American baseball player
 * 1938  – Valentim Loureiro, Portuguese soldier and politician
 * 1940 – Janet Carroll, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
 * 1940  – Anthony Fauci, American physician, Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
 * 1941 – Mike Hazlewood, English singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
 * 1942 – Indra Bania, Indian actor, director, and playwright (d. 2015)
 * 1942  – Jonathan Borofsky, American sculptor and painter
 * 1942  – Đoàn Viết Hoạt, Vietnamese journalist, educator, and activist
 * 1943 – Tarja Halonen, Finnish lawyer and politician, 11th President of Finland
 * 1943  – Suzy Menkes, English journalist and critic
 * 1944 – Barry Elliott, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2018)
 * 1944  – Mike Curb, American businessman and politician, 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California
 * 1944  – Oswald Gracias, Indian cardinal
 * 1944  – Daniel Johnson, Jr., Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Premier of Quebec
 * 1944  – Erhard Keller, German speed skater
 * 1944  – Bob Shaw, Australian golfer
 * 1944  – Woody Shaw, American trumpeter (d. 1989)
 * 1945 – Lemmy, English hard rock singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015)
 * 1945  – Nicholas Meyer, American screenwriter, film director, and author
 * 1945  – Steve Smith, Canadian-American actor and comedian
 * 1946 – Jan Akkerman, Dutch rock guitarist and songwriter
 * 1946  – Jeff Sessions, American lawyer and politician, 44th Attorney General of Alabama and 84th Attorney General of the United States
 * 1947 – Kevin Sheedy, Australian footballer and coach
 * 1948 – Stan Bowles, English footballer and sportscaster (d. 2024)
 * 1948  – Frank Oliver, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2014)
 * 1949 – Warwick Brown, Australian race car driver
 * 1949  – Randy Neugebauer, American accountant and politician
 * 1950 – Dana Gioia, American poet and critic
 * 1950  – Hiroshi Ikushima, Japanese businessman and academic
 * 1950  – Libby Larsen, American composer
 * 1950  – Tommy Turtle, British soldier (d. 2020)
 * 1951 – John D'Acquisto, American baseball player
 * 1951  – Nick Kent, English-French journalist and author
 * 1952 – Michael Ray, American jazz musician
 * 1953 – Timothy Carhart, American actor
 * 1954 – Yves Debay, Congolese-French commander and journalist (d. 2013)
 * 1954  – José María Figueres, Costa Rican businessman and politician, President of Costa Rica (1994-1998)
 * 1954  – Helen Jones, English lawyer and politician
 * 1955 – Grand L. Bush, American actor
 * 1955  – Scott Fischer, American mountaineer and guide (d. 1996)
 * 1955  – Clarence Gilyard, American actor and educator (d. 2022)
 * 1956 – Shim Hwa-jin, South Korean academic and educator
 * 1956  – Anil Kapoor, Indian actor and producer
 * 1957 – Hamid Karzai, Afghan politician, 12th President of Afghanistan
 * 1958 – Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese drummer and producer (d. 2008)
 * 1958  – Paul Pressey, American basketball player and coach
 * 1958  – Gene Sperling, American economist
 * 1958  – Diane Tell, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1959 – Chris Blackhurst, English journalist
 * 1959  – Lee Daniels, American director and producer
 * 1960 – Glenn McQueen, Canadian-American animator (d. 2002)
 * 1960  – Carol Vorderman, Welsh television host
 * 1961 – Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijani businessman and politician, 4th President of Azerbaijan
 * 1961  – Mary Barra, American businesswoman, current CEO and chairwoman of General Motors
 * 1961  – Eriko Kitagawa, Japanese director and screenwriter
 * 1961  – Darren Wharton, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
 * 1961  – Wade Williams, American actor
 * 1961  – Jay Wright, American basketball player and coach
 * 1962 – Kate Spade, American fashion designer (d. 2018)
 * 1963 – Caroline Aherne, English actress, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
 * 1963  – Jay Bilas, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1963  – Timo Jutila, Finnish ice hockey player and sportscaster
 * 1963  – Mary Ramsey, American singer-songwriter and violinist
 * 1963  – Neil Turbin, American singer-songwriter
 * 1964 – Mark Valley, American actor
 * 1965 – Millard Powers, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
 * 1966 – Diedrich Bader, American actor
 * 1967 – Mikhail Shchennikov, Russian race walker
 * 1967  – Pernilla Wahlgren, Swedish singer and actress
 * 1968 – Doyle Bramhall II, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1968  – Marleen Renders, Belgian runner
 * 1969 – Milan Blagojevic, Australian footballer and manager
 * 1969  – Pernille Fischer Christensen, Danish director and screenwriter
 * 1969  – Taro Goto, Japanese soccer player
 * 1969  – Leavander Johnson, American boxer (d. 2005)
 * 1969  – Ryuji Kato, Japanese soccer player
 * 1969  – Nick Love, English director and screenwriter
 * 1969  – Ed Miliband, English academic and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
 * 1969  – Mark Millar, Scottish author
 * 1969  – Luis Musrri, Chilean footballer and manager
 * 1969  – Oleg Skripochka, Russian astronaut and engineer
 * 1969  – Gintaras Staučė, Lithuanian footballer and manager
 * 1970 – Adam Haslett, American author and academic
 * 1970  – Amaury Nolasco, Puerto Rican actor
 * 1971 – Geoff Allott, New Zealand cricketer
 * 1971  – Sascha Fischer, German rugby player
 * 1971  – Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1972 – Álvaro Mesén, Costa Rican footballer
 * 1972  – Klaus Schnellenkamp, Chilean businessman and author
 * 1973 – Liu Dong, Chinese-Spanish runner
 * 1973  – Paul Foot, English comedian
 * 1973  – Stephenie Meyer, American author and film producer
 * 1973  – Ali Salem Tamek, Moroccan activist
 * 1974 – Thure Lindhardt, Danish actor
 * 1974  – Paal Nilssen-Love, Norwegian drummer and composer
 * 1974  – Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer
 * 1974  – Ryan Seacrest, American radio host and television personality, and producer
 * 1974  – J.D. Walsh, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1976 – Linda Ferga, French hurdler
 * 1977 – Michael Raymond-James, American actor
 * 1978 – Yıldıray Baştürk, German-Turkish footballer
 * 1978  – Warren Tredrea, Australian footballer and sportscaster
 * 1979 – Chris Hero, American wrestler and trainer
 * 1980 – Stephen Appiah, Ghanaian footballer
 * 1980  – Tomas Kalnoky, Czech-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1980  – Maarja-Liis Ilus, Estonian pop musician
 * 1981 – Dima Bilan, Russian singer-songwriter and actor
 * 1983 – Gregor Blanco, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1983  – Tim Jennings, American football player
 * 1984 – Isaac De Gois, Australian rugby league player
 * 1984  – Austin Stowell, American actor
 * 1985 – Alexey Dmitriev, German ice hockey player
 * 1985  – David Ragan, American race car driver
 * 1986 – Tim Elliott, American mixed martial artist
 * 1986  – Kyrylo Fesenko, Ukrainian basketball player
 * 1987 – Jane Summersett, American ice dancer
 * 1988 – Stefanos Athanasiadis, Greek footballer
 * 1988  – Emre Özkan, Turkish footballer
 * 1988  – Simon Zenke, Nigerian footballer
 * 1989 – Matt Calvert, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1990 – Brigetta Barrett, American high jumper
 * 1990  – Marcus Jordan, American basketball player
 * 1990  – Ryo Miyake, Japanese fencer
 * 1991 – Sofia Black-D'Elia, American actress
 * 1991  – Lara Michel, Swiss tennis player
 * 1991  – Eric Moreland, American basketball player
 * 1991  – Louis Tomlinson, English singer
 * 1991  – Taylor Zakhar Perez, American actor
 * 1992 – Davante Adams, American football player
 * 1992  – P. J. Hairston, American basketball player
 * 1994 – Fa'amanu Brown, New Zealand rugby league player
 * 1994  – Miguel Castro, Dominican baseball player
 * 1994  – Matt Frawley, Australian rugby league player
 * 1994  – Han Seung-woo, South Korean singer
 * 1995 – Anett Kontaveit, Estonian tennis player
 * 1998 – Alexis Mac Allister, Argentine footballer
 * 2002 – Joshua Primo, Canadian basketball player

Pre-1600

 * 36 – Gongsun Shu, emperor of Chengjia
 * 427 – Archbishop Sisinnius I of Constantinople
 * 903 – Hedwiga, duchess of Saxony
 * 950 – Shi Hongzhao, Chinese general
 * 950  – Wang Zhang, Chinese official
 * 950  – Yang Bin, Chinese chancellor
 * 1193 – Roger III of Sicily (b. 1175)
 * 1257 – John I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1218)
 * 1263 – Hōjō Tokiyori, regent of Japan (b. 1227)
 * 1281 – Henry V of Luxembourg (b. 1216)
 * 1449 – Walter Bower, Scottish chronicler (b. 1385)
 * 1453 – John Dunstaple, English composer (b. 1390)
 * 1456 – Đurađ Branković, Despot of Serbia (b. 1377)
 * 1473 – John Cantius, Polish scholar and theologian (b. 1390)
 * 1524 – Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1469)
 * 1541 – Andreas Karlstadt, Christian theologian and reformer (b. 1486)

1601–1900

 * 1635 – Hester Jonas, German nurse (b. 1570)
 * 1660 – Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1631)
 * 1707 – Noël Coypel, French painter and educator (b. 1628)
 * 1813 – Empress Go-Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1740)
 * 1844 – Friedrich Bernhard Westphal, Danish-German painter (b. 1803)
 * 1863 – William Makepeace Thackeray, English author and poet (b. 1811)
 * 1865 – Charles Lock Eastlake, English painter and historian (b. 1793)
 * 1867 – José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician. President of Mexico (1846, 1859) and regent of the Second Mexican Empire (b. 1797)
 * 1868 – Adolphe d'Archiac, French paleontologist and geologist (b. 1802)
 * 1872 – William John Macquorn Rankine, Scottish physicist and engineer (b. 1820)
 * 1873 – Johns Hopkins, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1795)
 * 1879 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer (b. 1815)
 * 1889 – Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch pastor and poet (b. 1819)
 * 1893 – B. T. Finniss, Australian politician, 1st Premier of South Australia (b. 1807)
 * 1898 – Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese priest and saint (b. 1828)

1901–present

 * 1914 – John Muir, Scottish-American geologist, botanist, and author, founded Sierra Club (b. 1838)
 * 1920 – Stephen Mosher Wood, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1832)
 * 1923 – Joe Lacey, Irish Hunger Striker died during the 1923 Irish hunger strikes (b. 1895)
 * 1926 – Wesley Coe, American shot putter, hammer thrower, and discus thrower (b. 1879)
 * 1931 – Carlo Fornasini, micropalaeontologist (b. 1854)
 * 1931  – Flying Hawk, American warrior, educator and historian (b. 1854)
 * 1935 – Alban Berg, Austrian composer and educator (b. 1885)
 * 1938 – Bruno Taut, German architect and urban planner (b. 1880)
 * 1941 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (b. 1858)
 * 1942 – François Darlan, French admiral and politician, 122nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1881)
 * 1945 – Josephine Sabel, American singer and comedian (b. 1866)
 * 1947 – Charles Gondouin, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (b. 1875)
 * 1957 – Norma Talmadge, American actress and producer (b. 1894)
 * 1961 – Robert Hillyer, American poet and academic (b. 1895)
 * 1962 – Wilhelm Ackermann, German mathematician (b. 1896)
 * 1962  – Eveline Adelheid von Maydell, German illustrator (b. 1890)
 * 1964 – Claudia Jones, Trinidad-British journalist and activist (b. 1915)
 * 1965 – John Black, English businessman (b. 1895)
 * 1965  – William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (b. 1906)
 * 1967 – Burt Baskin, American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (b. 1913)
 * 1969 – Stanisław Błeszyński, Polish-German entomologist and lepidopterist (b. 1927)
 * 1969  – Cortelia Clark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1907)
 * 1969  – Olivia FitzRoy, English soldier and author (b. 1921)
 * 1969  – Alfred B. Skar, Norwegian journalist and politician (b. 1896)
 * 1971 – Maria Koepcke, German-Peruvian ornithologist and zoologist (b. 1924)
 * 1972 – Gisela Richter, English-American archaeologist and historian (b. 1882)
 * 1973 – Fritz Gause, German historian and author (b. 1893)
 * 1975 – Bernard Herrmann, American composer and conductor (b. 1911)
 * 1977 – Samael Aun Weor, Colombian author and educator (b. 1917)
 * 1980 – Karl Dönitz, German admiral and politician, President of Germany (b. 1891)
 * 1982 – Louis Aragon, French author and poet (b. 1897)
 * 1984 – Peter Lawford, English-American actor (b. 1923)
 * 1985 – Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, American lawyer (b. 1904)
 * 1985  – Camille Tourville, Canadian-American wrestler and manager (b. 1927)
 * 1986 – Gardner Fox, American author (b. 1911)
 * 1987 – Joop den Uyl, Dutch journalist, economist, and politician, 45th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1919)
 * 1987  – M. G. Ramachandran, Sri Lankan-Indian actor, producer, and politician, 5th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (b. 1917)
 * 1988 – Jainendra Kumar, Indian author (b. 1905)
 * 1990 – Thorbjørn Egner, Norwegian playwright and songwriter (b. 1922)
 * 1991 – Virginia Sorensen, American author (b. 1912)
 * 1992 – Bobby LaKind, American singer-songwriter and conga player (b. 1945)
 * 1992  – James Mathews, Australian rugby league player (b. 1968)
 * 1992  – Peyo, Belgian cartoonist, created The Smurfs (b. 1928)
 * 1993 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (b. 1898)
 * 1994 – John Boswell, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1947)
 * 1994  – Rossano Brazzi, Italian actor (b. 1916)
 * 1997 – James Komack, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
 * 1997  – Toshiro Mifune, Chinese-Japanese actor and producer (b. 1920)
 * 1997  – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman, founded Quebecor (b. 1925)
 * 1998 – Syl Apps, Canadian ice hockey player and pole vaulter (b. 1915)
 * 1999 – Bill Bowerman, American runner, coach, and businessman, co-founded Nike, Inc. (b. 1911)
 * 1999  – Maurice Couve de Murville, French soldier and politician, 152nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1907)
 * 1999  – João Figueiredo, Brazilian general and politician, 30th President of Brazil (b. 1918)
 * 1999  – William C. Schneider, American aerospace engineer (b. 1923)
 * 2000 – John Cooper, English businessman, co-founded the Cooper Car Company (b. 1923)
 * 2002 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author and poet (b. 1920)
 * 2002  – Jake Thackray, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
 * 2004 – Johnny Oates, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1946)
 * 2006 – Braguinha, Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1907)
 * 2006  – Kenneth Sivertsen, Norwegian guitarist and composer (b. 1961)
 * 2006  – Frank Stanton, American businessman (b. 1908)
 * 2007 – Nicholas Pumfrey, English lawyer and judge (b. 1951)
 * 2007  – George Warrington, American businessman (b. 1952)
 * 2008 – Ralph Harris, British journalist (b. 1921)
 * 2008  – Harold Pinter, English playwright, screenwriter, director, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
 * 2009 – Marcus Bakker, Dutch journalist and politician (b. 1923)
 * 2009  – Rafael Caldera,  Venezuelan lawyer and politician, 65th President of Venezuela (b. 1916)
 * 2009  – George Michael, American sportscaster (b. 1939)
 * 2009  – Gero von Wilpert, German author and academic (b. 1933)
 * 2010 – Elisabeth Beresford, English journalist and author (b. 1926)
 * 2010  – Frans de Munck, Dutch footballer and manager (b. 1922)
 * 2010  – Orestes Quércia, Brazilian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of São Paulo State (b. 1938)
 * 2010  – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer and educator (b. 1930)
 * 2011 – Johannes Heesters, Dutch-German entertainer (b. 1903)
 * 2012 – Richard Rodney Bennett, English-American composer and academic (b. 1936)
 * 2012  – Charles Durning, American soldier and actor (b. 1923)
 * 2012  – Jack Klugman, American actor (b. 1922)
 * 2012  – Dennis O'Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (b. 1954)
 * 2013 – Frédéric Back, German-Canadian director, animator, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
 * 2013  – Ian Barbour, Chinese-American author and scholar (b. 1923)
 * 2013  – John M. Goldman, English haematologist and oncologist (b. 1938)
 * 2013  – Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (b. 1946)
 * 2014 – Buddy DeFranco, American clarinet player (b. 1923)
 * 2014  – Edward Greenspan, Canadian lawyer and author (b. 1944)
 * 2014  – Herbert Harris, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
 * 2014  – Krzysztof Krauze, Polish director and screenwriter (b. 1953)
 * 2015 – Turid Birkeland, Norwegian businesswoman and politician, Norwegian Minister of Culture (b. 1962)
 * 2015  – Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, Filipino journalist (b. 1941)
 * 2015  – Adriana Olguín, Chilean lawyer and politician, Chilean Minister of Justice (b. 1911)
 * 2016 – Rick Parfitt, British musician (b. 1948)
 * 2016  – Liz Smith, English actress (b. 1921)
 * 2016  – Richard Adams, English author (b. 1920)
 * 2016  – Ben Xi, Chinese singer (b.1994)
 * 2017 – Jerry Kindall, American baseball player and coach (b. 1935)
 * 2017  – Heather Menzies, Canadian-American model and actress (b. 1949)
 * 2018 – Martha Érika Alonso, Governor of Puebla (b. 1973)
 * 2018  – Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas, former governor of Puebla (b. 1968)
 * 2023 – Cheri Barry, American politician and mayor of Meridian, Mississippi (b. 1955)
 * 2023  – Richard Bowes, American science fiction author (b. 1944)
 * 2023  – Troy Dargan, Cook Islands rugby league footballer (b. 1997)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Adela and Irmina
 * Paola Elisabetta Cerioli
 * Adam and Eve
 * December 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Christmas Eve (Christianity) and its related observances:
 * Aðfangadagskvöld, the day when the 13th and the last Yule Lad arrives to towns. (Iceland)
 * Feast of the Seven Fishes (Italian Americans)
 * Juleaften (Denmark)/Julaften (Norway)/Julafton (Sweden)
 * Nittel Nacht (certain Orthodox Jewish denominations)
 * Nochebuena (Spain and Spanish-speaking countries)
 * The Declaration of Christmas Peace (Old Great Square of Turku, Finland's official Christmas City)
 * Wigilia (Poland)
 * Quviasukvik, the Inuit new year (Alaska, Canada, Greenland and Russia)
 * Kūčios (Lithuania)
 * Independence Day (Libya)
 * Day of Military Honour – Siege of Ismail (Russia)

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

title: December 24


text:
December 26

Pre-1600

 * 887 – Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia.
 * 1481 – Battle of Westbroek: An army of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers raised by David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, attacks an armed mob of people from nearby Utrecht who were trying to avenge the massacre of the inhabitants of Westbroek.

1601–1900

 * 1704 – Second Battle of Anandpur: In the Second Battle of Anandpur, Aurangzeb's two generals, Wazir Khan and Zaberdast Khan executed two children of Guru Gobind Singh, Zorawar Singh aged eight and Fateh Singh aged five, by burying them alive into a wall.
 * 1709 – The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice.
 * 1723 – Bach led the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig.
 * 1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian forces.
 * 1790 – Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.
 * 1793 – Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeats Austria.
 * 1799 – Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".
 * 1805 – Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.
 * 1806 – Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.
 * 1811 – A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills 72 people, including the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.
 * 1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed.
 * 1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date.
 * 1860 – First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world.
 * 1861 – American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
 * 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins as General William Tecumseh Sherman begins landing his troops.
 * 1862 – The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native Americans died.
 * 1871 – Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts.
 * 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1901–present

 * 1919 – Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.
 * 1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
 * 1941 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.
 * 1943 – World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.
 * 1944 – World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.
 * 1948 – Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.
 * 1948  – The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
 * 1963 – The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.
 * 1966 – The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.
 * 1968 – The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.
 * 1972 – Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
 * 1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service.
 * 1978 – The inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally begins.
 * 1980 – Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".
 * 1989 – United Express Flight 2415 crashes on approach to the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Washington, killing all six people on board.
 * 1991 – The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.
 * 1994 – Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.
 * 1998 – Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.
 * 1999 – The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.
 * 2003 – The 6.6 Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 26,000 dead and 30,000 injured.
 * 2004 – The 9.1–9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis, it affected coastal and partially mainland areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898.
 * 2004  – Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
 * 2006 – Two earthquakes in Hengchun, Taiwan measuring 7.0 and 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale kill two and disrupt telecommunications across Asia.
 * 2012 – China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.
 * 2015 – During the December 2015 North American storm complex, a tornado outbreak affects the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, killing 13 people. One EF4 tornado caused 10 of the 13 fatalities, doing substantial damage to the suburb of Rowlett.

Pre-1600

 * 1194 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
 * 1446 – Charles de Valois, Duke de Berry, French noble (d. 1472)
 * 1526 – Rose Lok, businesswoman and Protestant exile (d. 1613)
 * 1532 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar and academic (d. 1576)
 * 1536 – Yi I, Korean philosopher and scholar (d. 1584)
 * 1537 – Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1593)
 * 1581 – Philip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach (d. 1643)

1601–1900

 * 1618 – Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German princess, philosopher, and Calvinist (d. 1680)
 * 1628 – John Page, English Colonial politician (d. 1692)
 * 1646 – Robert Bolling, English/English Colonial merchant and planter (d. 1709)
 * 1687 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German violinist and composer (d. 1755)
 * 1716 – Thomas Gray, English poet and scholar (d. 1771)
 * 1716  – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier and philosopher (d. 1803)
 * 1723 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (d. 1807)
 * 1737 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1815)
 * 1751 – Lord George Gordon, English lieutenant and politician (d. 1793)
 * 1751  – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Austrian priest, missionary, and saint (d. 1820)
 * 1769 – Ernst Moritz Arndt, German writer and poet (d. 1860)
 * 1780 – Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (d. 1872)
 * 1785 – Étienne Constantin de Gerlache, Belgian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1871)
 * 1782 – Philaret Drozdov, Russian metropolitan and saint (d. 1867)
 * 1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (d. 1871)
 * 1803 – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian physician and author (d. 1882)
 * 1819 – E. D. E. N. Southworth, American author and educator (d. 1899)
 * 1820 – Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
 * 1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American soldier and politician, 54th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1922)
 * 1837  – George Dewey, American admiral (d. 1917)
 * 1852 – Johannes François Snelleman, Dutch zoologist, orientalist, and ethnographer (d. 1938)
 * 1853 – René Bazin, French author and academic (d. 1932)
 * 1854 – José Yves Limantour, Mexican financier and politician, Mexican Secretary of Finance (d. 1935)
 * 1859 – William Stephens, American lawyer and politician, 24th Governor of California (d. 1944)
 * 1863 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, co-founded Pathé Records (d. 1957)
 * 1864 – Yun Chi-ho, Korean activist and politician (d. 1945)
 * 1867 – Phan Bội Châu, Vietnamese activist (d. 1940)
 * 1869 – Mathieu Cordang, Dutch cyclist (d. 1942)
 * 1872 – Norman Angell, English journalist, academic, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
 * 1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
 * 1874 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and academic (d. 1965)
 * 1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French painter (d. 1955)
 * 1885 – Bazoline Estelle Usher, African-American educator (d. 1992)
 * 1887 – Arthur Percival, English general (d. 1966)
 * 1888 – Marius Canard, French orientalist and historian (d. 1982)
 * 1889 – Ragnhild Kaarbø, Norwegian painter (d. 1949)
 * 1890 – Konstantinos Georgakopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1973)
 * 1890  – Percy Hodge, English runner (d. 1967)
 * 1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980)
 * 1892 – Don Barclay, American actor and illustrator (d. 1975)
 * 1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (d. 1976)
 * 1894 – Jean Toomer, American author and poet (d. 1967)
 * 1900 – Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (d. 1993)

1901–present

 * 1901 – Elmar Muuk, Estonian linguist and author (d. 1941)
 * 1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1980)
 * 1903 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
 * 1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (d. 1980)
 * 1905 – William Loeb III, American publisher (d. 1981)
 * 1907 – Albert Gore, Sr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1998)
 * 1908 – Ralph Hill, American runner (d. 1994)
 * 1909 – Matt Gordy, American pole vaulter (d. 1989)
 * 1910 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine-Spanish actress and singer (d. 2003)
 * 1910  – Marguerite Churchill, American actress (d. 2000)
 * 1912 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (d. 1962)
 * 1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
 * 1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
 * 1915 – Rolf Botvid, Swedish actor and screenwriter (d. 1998)
 * 1918 – Olga Lopes-Seale, Guyanese-Barbadian singer and radio host (d. 2011)
 * 1918  – Georgios Rallis, Greek lieutenant and politician, 173rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
 * 1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
 * 1921  – John Severin, American illustrator (d. 2012)
 * 1922 – Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
 * 1923 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 2013)
 * 1924 – Frank Broyles, American football player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2017)
 * 1926 – Earle Brown, American composer (d. 2002)
 * 1927 – Denis Gifford, English journalist and historian (d. 2000)
 * 1927  – Alan King, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
 * 1927  – Stu Miller, American baseball player (d. 2015)
 * 1927  – Denis Quilley, English actor (d. 2003)
 * 1928 – Martin Cooper, American engineer, invented the mobile phone
 * 1929 – Kathleen Crowley, American actress (d. 2017)
 * 1929  – Régine Zylberberg, Belgian-French singer and actress (d. 2022)
 * 1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2010)
 * 1930  – Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
 * 1930  – Donald Moffat, English-American actor (d. 2018)
 * 1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2019)
 * 1935 – Rohan Kanhai, Guyanese cricketer
 * 1935  – Norm Ullman, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1936 – Peep Jänes, Estonian architect
 * 1936  – Trevor Taylor, English race car driver (d. 2010)
 * 1937 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician, known for Conway's Game of Life (d. 2020)
 * 1938 – Bahram Beyzai, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1938  – Robert Hamerton-Kelly, South African-American pastor, scholar, and author (d. 2013)
 * 1938  – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
 * 1938  – Mirko Kovač, Yugoslav-Croatian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
 * 1939 – Fred Schepisi, Australian director and screenwriter
 * 1939  – Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2021)
 * 1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
 * 1940  – Ray Sadecki, American baseball player (d. 2014)
 * 1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
 * 1942 – Vinicio Cerezo, Guatemalan politician, 28th President of Guatemala
 * 1942  – Catherine Coulter, American author
 * 1942  – Gray Davis, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of California
 * 1944 – William Ayers, American academic and activist
 * 1945 – John Walsh, American television host, producer, and activist, created America's Most Wanted
 * 1946 – Alan Frumin, American lawyer and politician
 * 1946  – Tiit Rosenberg, Estonian historian and academic
 * 1947 – James T. Conway, American general
 * 1947  – Jean Echenoz, French author
 * 1947  – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
 * 1947  – Josef Janíček, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and keyboard player
 * 1947  – Liz Lochhead, Scottish poet and playwright
 * 1947  – Richard Levis McCormick, American historian and academic
 * 1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist
 * 1949 – José Ramos-Horta, East Timorese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of East Timor, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1950 – Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Pakistani businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan
 * 1950  – Mario Mendoza, Mexican baseball player and manager
 * 1953 – Leonel Fernández, Dominican lawyer and politician, 51st President of the Dominican Republic
 * 1953  – Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Swedish-Estonian journalist and politician, 4th President of Estonia
 * 1953  – Makis Katsavakis, Greek footballer and manager
 * 1953  – Henning Schmitz, German drummer
 * 1954 – Peter Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist
 * 1954  – Ozzie Smith, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1955 – Evan Bayh, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of Indiana
 * 1956 – David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host
 * 1957 – Dermot Murnaghan, English-Northern Irish journalist and game show host
 * 1958 – Adrian Newey, English aerodynamicist and engineer
 * 1959 – Wang Lijun, Chinese police officer and politician
 * 1959  – Kōji Morimoto, Japanese animator and director
 * 1959  – Hans Nielsen, Danish motorcycle racer
 * 1960 – Keith Martin Ball, American mathematician and academic
 * 1960  – Ruud Kaiser, Dutch footballer and manager
 * 1960  – Cem Uzan, Turkish businessman and politician
 * 1961 – Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer
 * 1962 – James Kottak, American drummer (d. 2024)
 * 1962  – Mark Starr, English wrestler (d. 2013)
 * 1963 – Craig Teitzel, Australian rugby league player
 * 1963  – Lars Ulrich, Danish-American drummer, songwriter, and producer
 * 1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
 * 1966 – Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1966  – Tim Legler, American basketball player and sportscaster
 * 1968 – Matt Zoller Seitz, American film critic and author
 * 1969 – Isaac Viciosa, Spanish runner
 * 1970 – James Mercer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and musician
 * 1971  – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
 * 1971  – Tatiana Sorokko, Russian-American model and journalist
 * 1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentinian footballer
 * 1972  – Robert Muchamore, English author
 * 1973 – Paulo Frederico Benevenute, Brazilian footballer
 * 1973  – Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player
 * 1973  – Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Japanese baseball player
 * 1973  – Steve Prescott, English rugby player (d. 2013)
 * 1974 – Joshua John Miller, American actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1975 – Chris Calaguio, Filipino basketball player
 * 1975  – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
 * 1975  – María Vasco, Spanish race walker
 * 1976 – Simon Goodwin, Australian footballer and coach
 * 1977 – Fatih Akyel, Turkish footballer and manager
 * 1977  – Adrienn Hegedűs, Hungarian tennis player
 * 1978 – Karel Rüütli, Estonian lawyer and politician
 * 1978  – Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
 * 1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
 * 1979  – Chris Daughtry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1979  – Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
 * 1979  – Craig Wing, Australian rugby player
 * 1980 – Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
 * 1980  – Ceylan Ertem, Turkish singer
 * 1981 – Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-Italian rugby player
 * 1981  – Omar Infante, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1982 – Kenneth Darby, American football player
 * 1982  – Noel Hunt, Irish footballer
 * 1982  – Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier
 * 1983 – Yu Takahashi, Japanese singer-songwriter
 * 1983  – Alexander Wang, American fashion designer
 * 1984 – Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian footballer
 * 1984  – Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player
 * 1984  – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
 * 1985 – Damir Markota, Croatian basketball player
 * 1986 – Joe Alexander, American-Israeli basketball player
 * 1986  – Kit Harington, English actor
 * 1986  – Hugo Lloris, French footballer
 * 1986  – Selen Soyder, Turkish actress and beauty queen
 * 1987 – Oskar Osala, Finnish ice hockey player
 * 1989 – Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter
 * 1989  – Tomáš Kundrátek, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1990 – Denis Cheryshev, Russian footballer
 * 1990  – Cory Jefferson, American basketball player
 * 1990  – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
 * 1991 – Brandon Scherff, American football player
 * 1991  – Eden Sher, American actress
 * 1991  – Trevor Siemian, American football player
 * 1992 – Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player
 * 1992  – Jade Thirlwall, English singer
 * 1994 – Colby Cave, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
 * 1994  – Souleymane Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer
 * 1997 – Tamara Zidanšek, Slovenian tennis player
 * 2001 – Aleksej Pokuševski, Serbian basketball player

Pre-1600

 * 268 – Dionysius, pope of the Catholic Church
 * 418 – Zosimus, pope of the Catholic Church
 * 831 – Euthymius of Sardis, Byzantine bishop and saint (b. 754)
 * 865 – Zheng, empress of the Tang Dynasty
 * 893 – Masrur al-Balkhi, Abbasid general
 * 1006 – Gao Qiong, Chinese general (b. 935)
 * 1191 – Reginald Fitz Jocelin, archbishop-elect of Canterbury
 * 1302 – Valdemar, king of Sweden (b. 1239)
 * 1331 – Philip I, Prince of Taranto, titular Latin Emperor (b. 1278)
 * 1350 – Jean de Marigny, French archbishop
 * 1352 – John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1330)
 * 1360 – Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, English commander (b. 1314)
 * 1413 – Michele Steno, doge of Venice (b. 1331)
 * 1441 – Niccolò III d'Este, marquess of Ferrara
 * 1458 – Arthur III, duke of Brittany (b. 1393)
 * 1476 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duke of Milan (b. 1444)
 * 1530 – Babur, Mughal emperor (b. 1483)
 * 1574 – Charles de Lorraine, French cardinal (b. 1524)

1601–1900

 * 1646 – Henri de Bourbon, prince of Condé (b. 1588)
 * 1731 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (b. 1672)
 * 1771 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher and activist (b. 1715)
 * 1780 – John Fothergill, English physician and botanist (b. 1712)
 * 1784 – Seth Warner, American colonel (b. 1743)
 * 1786 – Gasparo Gozzi, Italian playwright and critic (b. 1713)
 * 1863 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont, Irish politician, Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone (b. 1775)
 * 1869 – Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille, French physician and physiologist (b. 1797)
 * 1890 – Heinrich Schliemann, German-Italian archaeologist and author (b. 1822)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Mary Hartwell Catherwood, American author and poet (b. 1849)
 * 1909 – Frederic Remington, American painter and illustrator (b. 1861)
 * 1923 – Dietrich Eckart, German journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1868)
 * 1925 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect, designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (b. 1880)
 * 1929 – Albert Giraud, Belgian poet (b. 1860)
 * 1931 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian and educator, created the Dewey Decimal Classification (b. 1851)
 * 1933 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian journalist and politician (b. 1875)
 * 1933  – Henry Watson Fowler, English lexicographer and educator (b. 1858)
 * 1959 – Jack Tresadern, English footballer and manager (b. 1890)
 * 1960 – Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese historian and philosopher (b. 1889)
 * 1963 – Gorgeous George, American wrestler (b. 1915)
 * 1966 – Ina Boudier-Bakker, Dutch author (b. 1875)
 * 1966  – Herbert Otto Gille, German general (b. 1897)
 * 1966  – Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (b. 1905)
 * 1968 – Weegee, Ukrainian-American photographer and journalist (b. 1898)
 * 1970 – Lillian Board, South African-English runner (b. 1948)
 * 1972 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (b. 1884)
 * 1973 – Harold B. Lee, American religious leader, 11th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
 * 1974 – Farid al-Atrash, Syrian-Egyptian singer-songwriter, oud player, and actor (b. 1915)
 * 1974  – Jack Benny, American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, and violinist (b. 1894)
 * 1974  – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (b. 1890)
 * 1977 – Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (b. 1896)
 * 1980 – Tony Smith, American sculptor and educator (b. 1912)
 * 1980 – Richard Chase, American cannibalistic serial killer and necrophile (b. 1950)
 * 1981 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (b. 1887)
 * 1981  – Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, Turkish politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1903)
 * 1981  – Savitri, Indian actress, playback singer, dancer, director and producer (b. 1936)
 * 1983 – Hans Liska, Austrian-German artist (b. 1907)
 * 1986 – Elsa Lanchester, English-American actress (b. 1902)
 * 1987 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist, curator at the American Museum of Natural History (b. 1916)
 * 1988 – Glenn McCarthy, American businessman, founded the Shamrock Hotel (b. 1907)
 * 1988  – Pablo Sorozábal, German-Spanish composer and conductor (b. 1897)
 * 1989 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1924)
 * 1990 – Gene Callahan, American art director and production designer (b. 1923)
 * 1994 – Sylva Koscina, Italian actress (b. 1933)
 * 1996 – JonBenét Ramsey, American child beauty queen and prominent unsolved murder victim (b. 1990)
 * 1997 – Cahit Arf, Turkish mathematician and academic (b. 1910)
 * 1997  – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek economist and philosopher (b. 1922)
 * 1998 – Ram Swarup, Indian writer on Hindu philosophy and religion (b. 1920)
 * 1999 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1942)
 * 1999  – Shankar Dayal Sharma, Indian academic and politician, 9th President of India (b. 1918)
 * 2000 – Jason Robards, American actor (b. 1922)
 * 2001 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (b. 1929)
 * 2002 – Herb Ritts, American photographer and director (b. 1952)
 * 2002  – Armand Zildjian, American businessman, founded the Avedis Zildjian Company (b. 1921)
 * 2003 – Virginia Coffey, American civil rights activist (b. 1904)
 * 2004 – Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African surgeon and academic (b. 1959)
 * 2004  – Angus Ogilvy, English businessman (b. 1928)
 * 2004  – Reggie White, American football player and wrestler (b. 1961)
 * Casualties of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami:
 * Troy Broadbridge, Australian footballer (b. 1980)
 * Sigurd Køhn, Norwegian saxophonist and composer (b. 1959)
 * Mieszko Talarczyk, Polish-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1974)
 * 2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American soprano (b. 1937)
 * 2005  – Ted Ditchburn, English footballerand manager (b. 1921)
 * 2005  – Kerry Packer, Australian publisher and businessman (b. 1937)
 * 2005  – Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (b. 1939)
 * 2005  – Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (b. 1948)
 * 2005  – Erich Topp, German commander (b. 1914)
 * 2006 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (b. 1913)
 * 2006  – Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier and engineer (b. 1951)
 * 2006  – Munir Niazi, Indian-Pakistani poet (b. 1928)
 * 2009 – Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (b. 1958)
 * 2010 – Salvador Jorge Blanco, 48th President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1926)
 * 2010  – Edward Bhengu, South African activist (b. 1934)
 * 2010  – Teena Marie, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1956)
 * 2011 – Houston Antwine, American football player (b. 1939)
 * 2011  – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (b. 1940)
 * 2011  – Sarekoppa Bangarappa, Indian politician, 15th Chief Minister of Karnataka (b. 1932)
 * 2011  – Joe Bodolai, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1948)
 * 2011  – James Rizzi, American painter and illustrator (b. 1950)
 * 2012 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
 * 2012  – Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (b. 1941)
 * 2012  – Ibrahim Tannous, Lebanese general (b. 1929)
 * 2013 – Paul Blair, American baseball player and coach (b. 1944)
 * 2013  – Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer (b. 1912)
 * 2014 – Stanisław Barańczak, Polish-American poet, critic, and scholar (b. 1946)
 * 2014  – James B. Edwards, American dentist, soldier, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Energy (b. 1927)
 * 2014  – Leo Tindemans, Belgian politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1922)
 * 2015 – Sidney Mintz, American anthropologist and academic (b. 1922)
 * 2015  – Jim O'Toole, American baseball player (b. 1937)
 * 2016 – Ricky Harris, American comedian, actor (b. 1962)
 * 2016  – George S. Irving, American actor, singer and dancer (b. 1922)
 * 2017 – Irv Weinstein, American broadcaster and television news anchor (b. 1930)
 * 2020 – Brodie Lee, American Professional Wrestler (b. 1979)
 * 2021 – Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodi (b. 1929)
 * 2021  – Paul B. Kidd, Australian author, journalist, and radio show host (b. 1945)
 * 2021  – Karolos Papoulias, Greek politician, President of Greece from 2005 to 2015 (b. 1929)
 * 2021  – Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican bishop, theologian and anti-apartheid and human rights activist (b. 1931)
 * 2021  – Edward O. Wilson, American biologist (b. 1929)
 * 2023 – Lukas Enembe, Indonesian politician, Governor of Papua from 2013 to 2023 (b.1967)
 * 2023  – Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist (b. 1937)

Holidays and observances

 * Boxing Day, except when December 26 is a Sunday. If it is a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to December 27 by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations), and its related observances:
 * Day of Good Will (South Africa and Namibia)
 * Family Day (Vanuatu)
 * Thanksgiving (Solomon Islands)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Abadiu of Antinoe (Coptic Church)
 * Earliest day on which Feast of the Holy Family can fall, celebrated on Sunday after Christmas or 30 if Christmas falls on a Sunday.
 * James the Just (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * Saint Stephen (Western Church)
 * Synaxis of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Church)
 * December 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Independence and Unity Day (Slovenia)
 * Mauro Hamza Day (Houston, Texas)
 * Mummer's Day (Padstow, Cornwall)
 * St. Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland), and its related observances:
 * Father's Day (Bulgaria)
 * The first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1 (United States)
 * The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day (The Bahamas)
 * The second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
 * Second day of Christmas (Public holiday in the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia)
 * Veer Baal Divas, is observed to pay tribute to martyr sons of Guru Gobind Singh ji.
 * Wren Day (Ireland and the Isle of Man)

title: December 26