Historical Events
1216 – Pope Honorius III delegates decree “Religiosam vitam eligentibus”
1923 – Bill Ponsford and Edgar Mayne make 456 opening stand for Vict
1939 – Finnish counter offensive at Petsamo
1947 – Italian constituent assembly adopts new constitution
1974 – Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb home of former UK Prime Minister, Edward Heath, just before announcing Christmas ceasefire
1983 – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak meets with PLO leader Yasser Arafat
Famous Birthdays
1819 – Franz Abt, German composer and choir conductor, born in Eilenburg, Germany (d. 1885)
1881 – Enver Pasa, Turkish politician, born in Istanbul, Turkey (d. 1922)
1903 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American biophysicist (Nobel 1967), born in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania (d. 1983)
1905 – Pierre Brasseur [Espinasse], French actor (Eyes Without a Face, Children of Paradise), born in Paris, France (d. 1972)
1942 – Dick Parry, English session and touring rock saxophonist (Pink Floyd – “Money”), born in Kentford, Suffolk
1961 – Yuri Ivanovich Malinchenko, Russian cosmonaut (1st person to marry in space), born in Khrushchev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Famous Deaths
1788 – Percivall Pott, English physician and surgeon (b. 1714)
1828 – William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist and physicist (famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium), dies at 62
1969 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director (Shanghai Express), dies at 75
1996 – Hetta Empson, South African-British artist, dies at 81
1997 – Juzo Itami, Japanese director, commits suicide at 64
2006 – Dennis Linde, American songwriter (b. 1943)