December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 13 days remaining until the end of the year. [edit] Events - 218 BC – Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
- 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia and China.
- 1620 – The Mayflower lands in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts with 102 Pilgrims on board.
- 1642 – Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.
- 1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October.
- 1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
- 1793 – Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French Royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
- 1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Lexington, General Nathan Bedford Forrest defeats a Union force under Colonel Robert Ingersoll.
- 1878 – John Kehoe, the last of the Molly Maguires is executed in Pennsylvania.
- 1888 – Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discover the ancient Indian ruins of Mesa Verde.
- 1898 – Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the new land speed record going 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h), in a Jeantaud electric car. This is the first recognized land speed record.
- 1900 – The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic.
- 1912 –The Piltdown Man, later discovered to be a hoax, is found in the Piltdown Gravel Pit, by Charles Dawson.
- 1915 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson marries Edith Bolling Galt Wilson.
- 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends when German forces under Chief of Staff Erich Von Falkenhayn are defeated by the French and suffer 337,000 casualties.
- 1932 – The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the first ever NFL Championship Game. Because of a blizzard, the game was moved from Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the field measuring 80 yards (73 m) long.
- 1935 – The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
- 1944 – World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.
- 1956 – Japan joins the United Nations.
- 1961 – Indonesia invades Netherlands New Guinea.
- 1966 – Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
- 1969 – Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan's motion to make permanent the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965, which had temporarily suspended capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for murder (but not for all crimes) for a period of five years, is carried by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
- 1971 – Capitol Reef National Park is established in Utah.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
- 1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
- 1978 – Dominica joins the United Nations.
- 1979 – Saint Lucia joins the United Nations.
- 1987 – Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language.
- 1989 – The European Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and commercial and economic cooperation.
- 1996 – The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring "Ebonics" a language or dialect.
- 1997 – HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
- 1999 – NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
- 2002 – 2003 California recall: Then Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
[edit] Births - 1507 – Ōuchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (d. 1551)
- 1602 – Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian and politician (d. 1650)
- 1610 – Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (d. 1688)
- 1620 – Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)
- 1661 – Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
- 1662 – James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (d. 1711)
- 1707 – Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist (d. 1788)
- 1725 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (d. 1791)
- 1778 – Joseph Grimaldi, English clown (d. 1837)
- 1786 – Carl Maria von Weber, German composer (d. 1826)
- 1825 – Charles Griffin, American general (d. 1876)
- 1825 – John S. Harris, American politician (d. 1906)
- 1835 – Lyman Abbott, American author (d. 1922)
- 1847 – Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
- 1849 – Henrietta Edwards, Canadian women’s rights activist (d. 1931)
- 1851 – Graciano Lopez Jaena, Filipino orator and satirist (d. 1896)
- 1856 – Sir J. J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
- 1860 – Edward MacDowell, American composer and pianist (d. 1908)
- 1861 – Lionel Monckton, English composer for the musical theatre (d. 1924)
- 1863 – Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
- 1870 – Saki, English writer (d. 1916)
- 1873 – Francis Burton Harrison, American political figure (d. 1957)
- 1878 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
- 1879 – Paul Klee, Swiss-born painter (d. 1940)
- 1886 – Ty Cobb, American baseball player (d. 1961)
- 1888 – Dame Gladys Cooper, English actress (d. 1971)
- 1888 – Robert Moses, American public works official (d. 1981)
- 1890 – Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (d. 1954)
- 1897 – Fletcher Henderson, American arranger and composer (d. 1952)
- 1899 – Peter Wessel Zapffe, Norwegian author and philosopher (d. 1990)
- 1904 – George Stevens, American film director (d. 1975)
- 1905 – Irving Kahn, American financial analyst and investor
- 1907 – Bill Holland, American auto racer (d. 1984)
- 1908 – Paul Siple, American Antarctic explorer (d. 1969)
- 1908 – Celia Johnson, English actress (d. 1982)
- 1910 – Abe Burrows, American playwright (d. 1985)
- 1910 – Eric Tindill, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player
- 1911 – Jules Dassin, American film director (d. 2008)
- 1912 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American General (d. 2002)
- 1913 – Alfred Bester, American author (d. 1987)
- 1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)
- 1913 – Ray Meyer, American basketball coach (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Douglas Fraser, Scottish-born American trade unionist (d. 2008)
- 1916 – Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973)
- 1917 – Ossie Davis, American actor and activist (d. 2005)
- 1927 – Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General
- 1927 – Roméo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada
- 1928 – Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal
- 1929 – Gino Cimoli, American baseball player
- 1929 – Józef Cardinal Glemp, Cardinal-Archbishop Emeritus of Warsaw
- 1930 – Moose Skowron, American baseball player
- 1931 – Allen Klein, American rock and roll business manager
- 1931 – Alison Plowden, English historian (d. 2007)
- 1932 – Roger Smith, American actor
- 1933 – Arthur Leigh Allen, American suspected serial killer (d. 1992)
- 1933 – Lonnie Brooks, American blues musician
- 1934 – Boris Volynov, Soviet cosmonaut
- 1935 – Jacques Pépin, French chef
- 1936 – Malcolm Kirk, English professional wrestler (d. 1987)
- 1938 – Chas Chandler, English musician (The Animals) (d. 1996)
- 1938 – Joel Hirschhorn, American songwriter and composer (d. 2005)
- 1938 – Roger E. Mosley, American actor
- 1939 – Michael Moorcock, English author
- 1939 – Harold E. Varmus, American scientist, Nobel laureate
- 1940 – Bramwell Morrison, member of Sharon, Lois & Bram
- 1941 – Wadada Leo Smith, American trumpeter and composer
- 1942 – Harvey Atkin, Canadian actor
- 1943 – Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones)
- 1943 – Alan Rudolph, American film director and screenwriter
- 1945 – Jean Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1946 – Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
- 1946 – Steven Spielberg, American film director
- 1948 – Bill Nelson, English musician (Be Bop Deluxe)
- 1948 – Laurent Voulzy, French singer and composer
- 1948 – Edmund Kemper, American serial killer
- 1949 – David A. Johnston, American volcanologist (d. 1980)
- 1949 – Terry Hertzler, American Poet
- 1950 – Gillian Armstrong, Australian film director
- 1950 – Randy Castillo, American drummer (Ozzy Osbourne) (d. 2002)
- 1950 – Leonard Maltin, American film critic
- 1953 – Elliot Easton, American guitarist (The Cars)
- 1953 – Khas-Magomed Hadjimuradov, Chechen singer-songwriter
- 1954 – Ray Liotta, American actor
- 1956 – Ron White, American comedian
- 1960 – Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
- 1961 – Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater
- 1962 – Renaldo Lapuz, Filipino-born American singer
- 1963 – Karl Dorrell, American football coach
- 1963 – Greg D'Angelo, American musician (White Lion)
- 1963 – Pauline Ester, French singer
- 1963 – Allan Kayser, American actor
- 1963 – Norman Brown, smooth jazz musician
- 1963 – Charles Oakley, American basketball player
- 1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor
- 1964 – Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler
- 1964 – Don Beebe, American football player
- 1964 – Robson Green, English actor and singer
- 1965 – Mick Collins, American musician (The Gories, The Dirtbombs)
- 1966 – Makiko Esumi, Japanese actress
- 1966 – Mille Petrozza, German singer (Kreator)
- 1967 – Toine van Peperstraten, Dutch sports journalist
- 1968 – Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
- 1968 – Alejandro Sanz, Spanish singer
- 1968 – Casper Van Dien, American actor
- 1968 – Mark Cooper, Manager of Kettering F.C
- 1969 – Santiago Cañizares, Spanish footballer
- 1969 – Justin Edinburgh, English footballer
- 1969 – Akira Iida, Japanese racing driver
- 1970 – Anthony Catanzaro, American fitness model
- 1970 – Cowboy Troy, American rapper
- 1970 – DMX, American rapper and actor
- 1970 – Lucious Harris, American basketball player
- 1970 – Miles Marshall Lewis, American author
- 1970 – Victoria Pratt, Canadian actress and fitness model
- 1970 – Rob Van Dam, American professional wrestler
- 1970 – Johnny Yeo, English artist
- 1971 – Barkha Dutt, Indian journalist
- 1971 – Noriko Matsueda, Japanese composer
- 1971 – Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
- 1972 – Trevor Chowning, American painter
- 1972 – DJ Lethal, Latvian-born American DJ (House of Pain, Limp Bizkit)
- 1972 – Raymond Herrera, American drummer (Fear Factory) and businessman
- 1973 – Leila Arcieri, American actress and model
- 1974 – Peter Boulware, American football player
- 1974 – Kari Byron, artist and television personality
- 1974 – Euroboy, Norwegian musician (Turbonegro)
- 1974 – Bill Duggan, American television actor and host
- 1975 – Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler
- 1975 – Masaki Sumitani, Japanese comedian
- 1975 – David O'Doherty, Irish Comedian
- 1975 – Vincent van der Voort, Dutch dart player
- 1976 – Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
- 1977 – José Acevedo, Dominican baseball player
- 1977 – Lindsay Armaou, Irish Singer
- 1978 – Daniel Cleary, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Ali Curtis, American soccer player
- 1978 – Katie Holmes, American actress
- 1979 – Mamady Sidibe Mali and Stoke City footballer
- 1979 – Carlos, Portuguese footballer
- 1979 – Andrew Kepple, New Zealander animator
- 1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer
- 1980 – Heinz Inniger, Swiss snowboarder
- 1981 – Jeremy Accardo, American baseball player
- 1982 – Dave Luetkenhoelter, American bassist (Kutless)
- 1983 – Darren Carter, English footballer
- 1983 – Steph Jones, American R&B singer
- 1985 – Tara Conner, American beauty contestant (Miss USA)
- 1985 – Hana Soukupová, Czech supermodel
- 1987 – Miki Andō, Japanese figure skater
- 1987 – Ayaka, Japanese singer
- 1987 – Fernando Jara, Panamanian-American jockey
- 1987 – Rian Dawson, Drummer for All Time Low
- 1989 – Ashley Benson, American actress
- 1990 – James Lawrie, Northern Irish footballer
[edit] Deaths - 821 – Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans
- 1133 – Hildebert, French writer (b. 1055)
- 1290 – King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
- 1442 – Pierre Cauchon, French Catholic bishop (b. 1371)
- 1495 – King Alphonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
- 1692 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (b. 1626)
- 1737 – Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (b. 1644)
- 1787 – Francis William Drake, British Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
- 1787 – Soame Jenyns, English writer (b. 1704)
- 1799 – Jean-Étienne Montucla, French mathematician (b. 1725)
- 1803 – Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (b. 1744)
- 1829 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (b. 1744)
- 1843 – Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, British Viceroy of India (b. 1748)
- 1848 – Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1781)
- 1869 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (b. 1829)
- 1880 – Michel Chasles, French mathematician (b. 1793)
- 1936 – Andrija Mohorovičić, Austro-Hungarian-born Croatian seismologist (b. 1857)
- 1968 – Joan Tabor, American film and television actress (b. 1932)
- 1971 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
- 1971 – Diana Lynn, American actress (b. 1926)
- 1973 – Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher (b. 1908)
- 1974 – Harry Hooper, American baseball player (b. 1887)
- 1975 – Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist (b. 1900)
- 1977 – Michio Nishizawa, Japanese baseball player (b. 1921)
- 1980 – Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the USSR (b. 1904)
- 1982 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German pilot (b. 1916)
- 1985 – Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1916)
- 1987 – Conny Plank, German record producer and musician (b. 1940)
- 1990 – Anne Revere, American actress (b. 1903)
- 1990 – Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (b. 1914)
- 1991 – George Abecassis, English Formula 1 driver (b. 1913)
- 1992 – Mark Goodson, American game show producer (b. 1915)
- 1993 – Charizma, American rapper (b. 1973)
- 1993 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1994 – Roger Apéry, Greek-French mathematician (b. 1916)
- 1995 – Konrad Zuse, German engineer and computing pioneer (b. 1910)
- 1995 – Brian Brockless, English organist (b. 1926)
- 1996 – Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (b. 1904)
- 1997 – Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
- 1998 – Lev Demin, Soviet cosmonaut (b. 1926)
- 1999 – Robert Bresson, French film director (b. 1907)
- 2000 – Stan Fox, American race car driver (b. 1952)
- 2000 – Randolph Apperson Hearst, son of W. Randolph Hearst and father of Patty (b. 1915)
- 2000 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer and songwriter (b. 1959)
- 2001 – Gilbert Bécaud, French singer (b. 1927)
- 2001 – Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer (b. 1914)
- 2002 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1934)
- 2002 – Wayne Owens, former U.S. Congressman (D-Utah) (b. 1937)
- 2004 – Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (b. 1922)
- 2006 – Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Ruth Bernhard, American photographer (b. 1905)
- 2006 – Mike Dickin, British radio broadcaster (b. 1943)
- 2006 – Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani author, journalist and political activist (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Gerald Le Dain, Canadian Supreme Court judge (b. 1924)
- 2007 – Jack Linkletter, American television host, son of Art Linkletter (b. 1937)
- 2007 – Bill Strauss, American writer on generations, satirist, and founder of the Capitol Steps (b. 1947)
- 2008 – Majel Barrett, American actress and producer of Star Trek, also the widow of Gene Roddenberry (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Mark Felt, identified as Deep Throat in the Watergate Scandal (b. 1913)
[edit] Holidays and observances [edit] External links
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