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Today December 22nd 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1790 – The Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies.
1807 – The Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, is passed by the U.S. Congress, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson.
1808 – The premiere of Beethoven s Fourth Piano Concerto, Fifth and Sixth symphonies amongst other pieces.
1809 – The Non-Intercourse Act, lifting the Embargo Act except for the United Kingdom and France, is passed by the U.S. Congress.
1849 – The execution of Fyodor Dostoevsky is called off at the last second.
1851 – The first freight train is operated in Roorkee, India.
1864 – Savannah, Georgia falls to General William Tecumseh Sherman, concluding his March to the Sea.
1885 – Ito Hirobumi, a samurai, became the first Prime Minister of Japan.
1890 – Cornwallis Valley Railway begins operation between Kingsport and Kentville, Nova Scotia.
1894 – The Dreyfus affair begins, in France, when Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason, on antisemitic grounds.
1920 – The GOELRO economic development plan is adopted by the 8th Congress of Soviets of the Russian SFSR.
1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City.
1940 – World War II: Himarë is captured by the Greek army.
1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.
1944 – World War II: Battle of the Bulge – German troops demand the surrender of United States troops at Bastogne, Belgium, prompting the famous one word reply by General Anthony McAuliffe: Nuts!
1944 – World War II: The Vietnam People s Army is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indo-China, now Vietnam.
1947 – The Constituent Assembly of Italy approves its constitution.
1956 – Colo is born, the first gorilla to be bred in captivity.
1963 – The cruise ship Lakonia burns 180 miles north of Madeira with the loss of 128 lives.
1964 – Comedian Lenny Bruce is convicted of obscenity.
1964 – First flight of the SR-71 (Blackbird).
1965 – In the United Kingdom, a 70mph speed limit is applied to all rural roads including motorways for the first time. Previously, there had been no speed limit.
1974 – Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.
1974 – The house of former British Prime Minister Ted Heath house is attacked by members of the Provisional IRA.
1978 – The pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is held in Beijing, with Deng Xiaoping reversing Mao-era policies to pursue a program for Chinese economic reform.
1984 – Subway vigilante Bernhard Hugo Goetz shoots four African-American men on an express train in The Bronx borough of New York City.
1988 – Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist and environmental activist, is assassinated.
1989 – After a week of bloody demonstrations, Ion Iliescu takes over as president of Romania, ending Nicolae Ceausescu s Communist dictatorship.
1989 – Berlin s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.
1989 – Kempsey bus crash: Two tourist coaches collide on the Pacific Highway north of Kempsey, New South Wales
1990 – Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship.
1997 – Acteal massacre: Attendees at a prayer meeting of Roman Catholic activists for indigenous causes in the small village of Acteal in the Mexican state of Chiapas are massacred by paramilitary forces.
1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard finds near Calatayud (Zaragoza) another van loaded by ETA with 750 kg of explosives (see related event on December 21, 1999).
2001 – Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Afghan Northern Alliance, hands over power in Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.
2001 – Richard Reid attempts to destroy a passenger airliner by igniting explosives hidden in his shoes aboard American Airlines Flight 63.
2003 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits near San Simeon, California.
Births
1095 – Roger II of Sicily, King of Sicily (d. 1154)
1178 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (d. 1185)
1546 – Kuroda Yoshitaka, Japanese Daimyo (d. 1604)
1550 – Cesare Cremonini, Italian philosopher (d. 1631)
1639 – Jean Racine, French dramatist (d. 1699)
1666 – Guru Gobind Singh, Sikh guru (d. 1708)
1690 – Meidingnu Pamheiba, King of Manipur (d. 1751)
1694 – Hermann Samuel Reimarus, German philosopher and writer (d. 1768)
1696 – James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia (d. 1785)
1723 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German composer (d. 1787)
1765 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician (d. 1825)
1805 – John Obadiah Westwood, British entomologist (d. 1893)
1807 – Johann Sebastian Welhaven, Norwegian poet (d. 1873)
1819 – Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer (d. 1870)
1819 – Pierre Ossian Bonnet, French mathematician (d. 1892)
1853 – Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan pianist (d. 1917)
1853 – Yevgraf Fyodorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1919)
1856 – Frank B. Kellogg, U.S. Secretary of State, Nobel laureate (d. 1937)
1858 – Giacomo Puccini, Italian composer (d. 1924)
1860 – Austin Norman Palmer, American penmanship innovator (d. 1927)
1862 – Connie Mack, American baseball executive (d. 1956)
1869 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (d. 1935)
1869 – Dmitri Egorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1931)
1872 – Camille Guérin, French veterinarian and bacteriologist (d. 1961)
1874 – Franz Schmidt, Austrian composer (d. 1939)
1876 – Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian poet and editor (d. 1944)
1883 – Edgard Varèse French-born composer (d. 1965)
1887 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (d. 1920)
1888 – J. Arthur Rank, British film producer (d. 1972)
1898 – Vladimir Aleksandrovich Fock, Russian physicist (d. 1974)
1899 – Gustav Gründgens, German actor (d. 1963)
1900 – Marc Allégret, French film director and screenwriter (d. 1973)
1901 – André Kostelanetz, American popular music orchestra leader and arranger (d. 1980)
1903 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1983)
1905 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet (d. 1982)
1905 – Pierre Brasseur, French actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Dame Peggy Ashcroft, English actress (d. 1991)
1909 – Patricia Hayes, English actress (d. 1998)
1912 – Lady Bird Johnson, First Lady of the United States (d. 2007)
1914 – Swami Satchidananda, Yogi and Spiritual teacher (d. 2002)
1915 – Barbara Billingsley, American actress
1917 – Gene Rayburn, American game show host (d. 1999)
1921 – Hawkshaw Hawkins, American country singer (d. 1963)
1922 – Jack Brooks, American politician
1922 – Ruth Roman, American actress (d. 1999)
1924 – Frank Corsaro, American stage director
1925 – Lewis Glucksman, American financier (d. 2006)
1934 – David Pearson, American racecar driver
1936 – James Burke, British writer
1936 – Hector Elizondo, American actor
1936 – Wojciech Frykowski, Polish actor (d. 1969)
1937 – Eduard Uspensky, Russian writer
1938 – Matty Alou, Dominican baseball player
1938 – Lucien Bouchard, Quebec politician
1939 – James Gurley, American musician
1942 – Dick Parry, English musician (Pink Floyd)
1943 – Paul Wolfowitz, American politician
1944 – Steve Carlton, American baseball player
1945 – Diane Sawyer, American journalist
1946 – Rick Nielsen, American musician (Cheap Trick)
1948 – Noel Edmonds, English game show host
1948 – Steve Garvey, American baseball player
1948 – Chris Old, English cricketer
1948 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress (d. 2003)
1949 – Maurice Gibb, English musician (The Bee Gees) (d. 2003)
1949 – Robin Gibb, English musician (The Bee Gees)
1951 – Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, Duke of Westminster
1953 – Bern Nadette Stanis, actress
1953 – Ian Turnbull, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 – Hideshi Matsuda, Japanese racing driver
1955 – Lonnie Smith, American baseball player
1957 – Carole James, Canadian politician
1958 – Frank Gambale, Australian musician
1958 – David Heavener, American actor and musician
1959 – Bernd Schuster, German footballer
1960 – Wakin Chau, Chinese singer
1960 – Jean-Michel Basquiat, American artist (d. 1988)
1960 – Luther Campbell (Luke), American rap artist (2 Live Crew)
1960 – Patrick Fitzgerald, American attorney
1961 – Andrew Fastow, American businessman
1962 – Ralph Fiennes, English actor
1963 – Giuseppe Bergomi, Italian footballer
1963 – Luna H. Mitani, Japanese American surrealism painter
1963 – Brian McMillan, former South African cricketer
1966 – Dmitry Bilozerchev, Soviet gymnast
1966 – Marcel Schmier Schirmer, German singer and bassplayer (Destruction)
1967 – Dan Petrescu, Romanian footballer
1967 – Richey James Edwards, Welsh musician (Manic Street Preachers) (disappeared in 1995)
1967 – Stéphane Gendron, Quebec politician
1967 – Paul Morris, Australian racing driver
1968 – Dina Meyer, American actress
1968 – Lauralee Bell, American actress
1969 – Myriam Bédard, Canadian athlete
1971 – Pat Mastroianni, Canadian actor
1972 – Big Tigger, television host
1972 – Vanessa Paradis, French singer
1974 – Heather Donahue, American actress
1975 – Chris Adler, American actor
1975 – Crissy Moran, American erotic actress
1975 – Dmitri Khokhlov, Russian footballer
1975 – Stanislav Neckár, Czech ice hockey player
1975 – Sergei Aschwanden, Swiss judoka
1976 – Brian A. Alexander, American screenwriter and director
1976 – Katleen De Caluwé, Belgian athlete
1976 – Jason Lane, American Baseball Player
1977 – Steve Kariya, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Chris Carmack, American actor
1982 – Brooke Nevin, Canadian actress
1983 – Jennifer Hawkins, Australian Miss Universe
1984 – Basshunter, popular Swedish singer
1984 – Festus, American professional wrestler
1986 – Dennis Armfield, Australian rules footballer
1989 – Jordin Sparks, American singer and American Idol winner
1990 – Jean-Baptiste Maunier, French actor
Deaths
1100 – Duke Bretislaus II of Bohemia
1550 – Richard Plantagenet (Richard of Eastwell) possibly a son of Richard III
1603 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (b. 1566)
1646 – Peter Mogila, Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (b. 1596)
1660 – André Tacquet, Flemish mathematician (b. 1612)
1681 – Richard Alleine, English Puritan clergyman (b. 1611)
1708 – Hedwig Sophia, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish writer (b. 1681)
1738 – Constantia Jones, British prostitute (executed)
1767 – John Newbery, English publisher (b. 1713)
1788 – Percivall Pott, English physician and surgeon (b. 1714)
1806 – William Vernon, American merchant (b. 1719)
1828 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (b. 1766)
Holidays and observances
1867 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician (b. 1788)
1870 – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Spanish poet and writer (b. 1836)
1880 – George Eliot, English writer (b. 1819)
1899 – Dwight L. Moody, American evangelist (b. 1837)
1902 – Richard von Krafft-Ebing, German psychiatrist (b. 1840)
1917 – Mother Cabrini, first American citizen canonized by the Catholic Church (b. 1850)
1939 – Ma Rainey, American singer (b. 1886)
1940 – Nathanael West, American writer (b. 1903)
1942 – Franz Boas, German anthropologist (b. 1858)
1943 – Beatrix Potter, English writer (b. 1866)
1944 – Harry Langdon, American silent film actor (b. 1884)
1959 – Gilda Gray, Polish-born American dancer and actress (b. 1901)
1965 – Richard Dimbleby, English journalist and broadcaster (b. 1913)
1971 – Godfried Bomans, Dutch author and television personality (b. 1913)
1979 – Darryl F. Zanuck, American producer (b. 1902)
1985 – D. Boon, American singer and guitarist (The Minutemen) (b. 1958)
1987 – Luca Prodan, Italian-Scottish singer (Sumo) (b. 1953)
1988 – Chico Mendes, Brazilian rubber tapper, unionist, and environmental activist (assassinated) (b. 1944)
1989 – Samuel Beckett, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1992 – Frederick Franz, Watchtower president (b. 1893)
1993 – Don DeFore, American actor (b. 1913)
1995 – Butterfly McQueen, American actress (b. 1911)
1995 – James Meade, English economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1907)
2001 – Ovidiu Iacov, Romanian footballer (b. 1981)
2002 – Desmond Hoyte, President of Guyana (b. 1929)
2002 – Joe Strummer, English musician (The Clash) (b. 1952)
2003 – Dave Dudley, American singer (b. 1928)
2004 – Doug Ault, American baseball player (b. 1950)
2006 – Elena Mukhina, Russian gymnast (b. 1960)
2006 – Galina Ustvolskaya, Russian composer (b. 1919)
2006 – Dennis Linde, American songwriter (b. 1943)
2007 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino writer (b. 1932)
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