1737 – James Louis Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland, dies at 70
1957 – John Van Druten, English playwright (I Remember Mama, I am a Camera) and theater director, dies at 56
1959 – Walter Williams, American, claimed to be last survivor of the US Civil War, dies at 117 (age disputed)
1967 – Alfred Courtens, Belgian sculptor, dies at 78
1982 – Frederick Terman, American professor of engineering at Stanford University known as the “father of Silicon Valley”, dies at 82
1993 – Antoon Veerman, Dutch ARP asst sect of Education (1973-75), dies at 77
1995 – Ruth Nita Barrow, 1st female Governor-General of Barbados (1990-95), dies at 79
2000 – Rob Buck, American musician (10,000 Maniacs), dies at 42
2015 – Douglas Dick, American actor and psychologist (Rope, Waterfront), dies at 95
2019 – Shahdon Winchester, Trinidadian soccer winger (27 caps; Murciélagos), dies in a traffic collision at 27
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 19th December 2025
1487 – Opening ceremony of the sixth Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) 4,000 prisoners of war are sacrificed to Aztec gods over four days
1910 – Rayon 1st commercially produced in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania
1934 – Japan agrees to naval treaty of 1922 and 1930
1975 – The Red Hand Commandos, a very secretive Ulster loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, explode a no-warning car bomb in Dundalk, killing 2 civilians and wounding 20
1981 – Romuald Spasowski, Polish ambassador to the United States defects to show support for the Solidarity movement amid a crackdown
1983 – The original FIFA World Cup trophy, the Jules Rimet Trophy, is stolen from the headquarters of the Brazilian Football Confederation in Rio de Janeiro
2004 – World’s largest indoor water park Tropical Islands Resort, opens in the Aerium, an old airship hanger, in the world’s largest free-standing hall, south of Berlin, Germany
2018 – Houston Rockets set NBA single-game record with 26 three-pointers in 136-118 victory over Washington Wizards; 8 players hit from deep as Rockets shoot 26-of-55 (47.3%); James Harden leads charge, shooting 6-of-11 on 3s
Today in History for 19th December 2025
Historical Events
1835 – HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin aboard arrives in New Zealand
1910 – 1st US city ordinance requiring white and black residential areas in Baltimore
1920 – King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I of Greece and a plebiscite
1984 – Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration to transfer Hong Kong back to China in 1997
1993 – Marsha Norman, Bob Merrill, and Jule Styne’s fairy tale musical “Red Shoes”, directed by Stanley Donen, closes at Gershwin Theater, NYC, after 5 performances; loses nearly $8 million
Famous Birthdays
1853 – Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian politician who was the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec and 5th Chief Justice of Canada, born in Quebec City, Canada (d. 1942)
1902 – Leonard Hirsch, Irish violinist and orchestra leader (RAF Symphony Orchestra), born in Dublin, Ireland (d. 1995)
1906 – H. Allen Smith, American humorist and author (Low Man on Totem Pole), born in McLeansboro, Illinois (d. 1976)
1909 – W.A. Criswell, American Baptist pastor, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, born in Eldorado, Oklahoma (d. 2002)
1973 – Zulfiya Zabirova, Uzbek road cyclist Olympic gold time trial 1996; UCI World C’ship gold 2002), born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Famous Deaths
1737 – James Louis Sobieski, Crown Prince of Poland, dies at 70
1996 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian actor (8½; La Dolce Vita; Dark Eyes; The Pizza Triangle), dies of pancreatic cancer at 72
1997 – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese electronics industrialist (Sony Corp), dies at 89
2012 – Robert Bork, American lawyer, government official (US Solicitor General, 1973-77), jurist (US Court of Appeals, 1982-88), rejected Supreme Court nominee (1987), and professor (Yale), dies from heart disease at 85
2020 – Rosalind Knight, British stage and screen actress (Friday Night Dinner – “Horrible Grandma”), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 18th December 2025
1787 – Soame Jenyns, British writer (View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion) and Member of Parliament (1741-80), dies at 83
1892 – Richard Owen, English zoologist (Dinosauria), dies at 88
1901 – William F. Perry, American Brigadier General in the Confederate Army (Civil War), dies at 78
1915 – Henry Enfield Roscoe, English chemist (vanadium and photochemistry), dies at 82
1937 – Robert W. Bingham, American newspaper proprietor, attorney and ambassador to the UK (1933-37), dies of cancer at 66
1977 – Cyril Ritchard, Australian actor (Peter Pan; Hans Brinker), dies at 80
1977 – Walter Breedveld, Dutch writer (Een schip vergaat), dies at 76
2004 – Vijay Hazare, Indian cricket batsman and captain (30 Tests, 7 x 100, HS 164no; Maharashtra, Central India, Baroda, Holkar), dies at 89
2007 – Jack Linkletter, American TV host (Haggis Baggis, Hootenanny), dies at 70
2022 – Count Desmond [Edward Benjamin], American sword swallower, dies at 81
Historical Events for 18th December 2025
1773 – A skirmish at Grass Cove in Queen Charlotte Sound results in the deaths of two Māori and nine members of James Cook’s expedition, New Zealand
1961 – For second consecutive year, AP names Wilma Rudolph female athlete of year
1991 – DeForest Kelly (Dr McCoy on Star Trek) gets a star in Hollywood
1996 – The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring “Ebonics” a language or dialect
2002 – Governor of California Gray Davis announces the state faces a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier
2012 – Six health workers dispensing polio vaccinations are gunned down in Pakistan
2020 – International body Covax, established to distribute COVID-19 vaccines to low and middle income countries, announces deals with vaccine manufacturers and method for countries to share excess vaccines
2022 – Cinderella’s glass slipper is a witty literary joke by Charles Perrault, poking fun at French King Louis XIV’s love of shoes and Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, according to Scottish professor Genevieve Warwick
Today in History for 18th December 2025
Historical Events
1898 – First automobile speed record set of 63 kph (39 mph) by French Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat of Paris
1968 – Musical-fantasy film “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”, co-written by Roald Dahl and director Ken Hughes, starring Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes, with songs by Sherman and Sherman, premieres in NYC
1969 – “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, 6th James Bond Film starring George Lazenby and Diana Rigg, premieres in London
1979 – Stuntman Stanley Barrett unofficially breaks the land speed record and the sound barrier in his three-wheeled vehicle the Budweiser Rocket (739.666 mph or Mach 1.01). The speed was never officially recorded and the attempt remains controversial.
2018 – Nevada becomes the first US state with a female-majority legislature with new appointments taking it to 51%
Famous Birthdays
1927 – Roméo LeBlanc, Canadian politician, 25th Governor General of Canada (1995-99), born in Memramcook, New Brunswick (d. 2009)
1939 – Sandro Lopopolo Italian lightweight boxer (Olympic-Silver-1960), born in Milan, Italy (d. 2014)
1963 – Karl Dorrell, American football coach, born in Alameda, California
1972 – Lawrence Wong, Singapore economist and politician, Prime Minister (2024-), born in Singapore
2001 – Billie Eilish, American Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter (When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?), born in Los Angeles, California
Famous Deaths
1633 – Theodoor Galle, Flemish engraver, buried at 62
1832 – Philip Freneau, American poet of the American Revolution (The American Village), dies at 80
1990 – Paul Tortelier, French concert cellist, composer, and teacher, dies at 76
2002 – Wayne Owens, former U.S. Congressman (D-Utah) (b. 1937)
2007 – Jack Linkletter, American TV host (Haggis Baggis, Hootenanny), dies at 70
Famous Deaths for 17th December 2025
1651 – Wolfgang Schonsleder, German composer (Missa super Laudate), and clergyman, dies at 81
1811 – John Antes, American composer and missionary, dies at 71
1881 – Lewis H Morgan, US ethnologist (Iroquois-indians), dies at 62
1891 – Msiri, ruler of the Garanganze Kingdom, Congo (Katanga), dies in battle against Belgian funded expedition
1892 – George Brayton, American engineer who developed the Brayton Cycle combustion engine, dies at 62
1946 – Constance Garnett, English translator of Russian (first to translate Chekhov and Dostoevsky into English), dies at 84
1967 – Barry Byrne, American architect (Church of St. Francis Xavier in Kansas City), dies at 83
1992 – Günther Anders, German Jewish philosopher, dies at 90
1994 – Jan Wiegel, director and producer (Uninhabitable Country), dies at 64
2011 – Kim Jong-il, Supreme Leader of North Korea (1994-2011), dies of a suspected heart attack at 70
Historical Events for 17th December 2025
1938 – Utrecht Central Station destroyed by fire
1989 – Brazil elects conservative Fernando Collor de Mello as president
1992 – “A Christmas Carol” opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 22 performances
2007 – Republic of Lakotah asserts independence from the United States
2013 – Angela Merkel is elected Chancellor of Germany for a third term
2015 – Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals is arrested on fraud charges in New York by the FBI
2019 – Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf sentenced to death in absentia for high treason
2021 – Discovery of the first true millipede (Eumillipes persephone) with 1,000 legs found down a drill hole in Western Australia is published in “Scientific Reports”
Today in History for 17th December 2025
Historical Events
283 – St. Caius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
1843 – Henry Cole, founder of London’s VandA Museum, commissions printing of the 1st Christmas card
1914 – Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities
1991 – Pittsburgh Penguins score team record 8 goals in one period in 2nd session of 10-2 win over NHL expansion San Jose Sharks
2019 – Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf sentenced to death in absentia for high treason
Famous Birthdays
1869 – Nikolai Ivanovich Kazanli, Russian composer, born in Tiraspol, Russian Empire (d. 1916)
1893 – Erwin Piscator, German stage director (Der Stellvertreter), born in Greifenstein-Ulm, German Empire (d. 1966)
1903 – Ray Noble, English jazz bandleader, songwriter (“The Very Thought of You”; “Goodnight, Sweetheart”), composer, and actor, born in Brighton, Sussex, England (d. 1978)
1914 – Syed Mushtaq Ali, Indian cricketer (prolific batsman of 30’s and 40’s), born in Indore, British India (d. 2005)
1923 – Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian of Christianity, born in Arkon, Ohio(d. 2006)
Famous Deaths
1962 – Thomas Mitchell, American Academy Award-winning actor (Gone With The Wind; High Noon), dies of bone cancer at 70
1962 – Carl Diem, German sports executive (Sec Gen Organising Committee 1936 Berlin Olympics; creator Olympic torch relay), dies at 80
1982 – Big Joe Williams, American Delta blues singer-songwriter, and nine-string guitarist (“Baby, Please Don’t Go”), dies at 79
2006 – Larry Sherry, American baseball pitcher (World Series MVP 1959, LA Dodgers), dies at 71
2022 – Manuel Muñoz, Chilean soccer striker (26 caps; CSD Colo-Colo), dies at 94
Famous Deaths for 16th December 2025
1783 – Yoriyuki Arima, Japanese mathematician (approximated the value of pi and its square, pi^2), dies at 68
1858 – Richard Bright, English physician (Bright’s disease/nephritis), dies at 69
1861 – Karol Joseph Lipinski, Polish composer and virtuoso violinist, dies at 71
1928 – Elinor Wylie, American poet and writer (b. 1885)
1935 – Thelma Todd, actress (Horse Feathers, Bohemian Girl), dies of 30
1940 – William Wallace, Scottish composer, dies at 80
1944 – Philip Guedalla, English barrister and historian, dies at 55
1991 – Ferdinando Orlandi, Italian actor (The House with Laughing Windows), dies at 66
2020 – Kálmán Sóvári, Hungarian soccer defender (17 caps; Újpesti Dózsa, VM Egyetértés), dies at 79
2022 – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian soccer defender (63 caps Yugoslavia; RS Belgrade, Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio) and manager (Serbia, Bologna, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, AC Milan, Torino), dies from leukemia at 53