December 16

Events

 * 714 – Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille (modern Belgium). He is succeeded by his infant grandson Theudoald while his wife Plectrude holds actual power in the Frankish Kingdom.
 * 755 – An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Yanjing, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Tang dynasty of China.
 * 1431 – Hundred Years' War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.
 * 1497 – Vasco da Gama passes the Great Fish River, where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
 * 1575 – An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.5 strikes Valdivia, Chile.
 * 1598 – Seven-Year War: Battle of Noryang: The final battle of the Seven-Year War is fought between the China and the Korean allied forces and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive allied forces victory.
 * 1653 – English Interregnum: The Protectorate: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
 * 1689 – Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
 * 1761 – Seven Years' War: After a four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kołobrzeg.
 * 1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
 * 1811 – The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri.
 * 1826 – Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas, and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
 * 1838 – Great Trek: Battle of Blood River: Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers defeat Zulu impis, led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
 * 1850 – The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.
 * 1863 – American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Nashville: Major General George Thomas's Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee.
 * 1880 – Outbreak of the First Boer War between the Boer South African Republic and the British Empire.
 * 1883 – Tonkin Campaign: French forces capture the Sơn Tây citadel.
 * 1903 – Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Bombay first opens its doors to guests.
 * 1907 – The American Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world.
 * 1912 – First Balkan War: The Royal Hellenic Navy defeats the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Elli.
 * 1914 – World War I: Admiral Franz von Hipper commands a raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby.
 * 1918 – Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic; it is dissolved in 1919.
 * 1920 – The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.
 * 1922 – President of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw.
 * 1930 – Bank robber Herman Lamm and members of his crew are killed by a 200-strong posse, following a botched bank robbery, in Clinton, Indiana.
 * 1937 – Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
 * 1938 – Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honour of the German Mother.
 * 1941 – World War II: Japanese forces occupy Miri, Sarawak.
 * 1942 – The Holocaust: Schutzstaffel chief Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.
 * 1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
 * 1947 – William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor.
 * 1950 – Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the fight in support of communist North Korea.
 * 1960 – A United Airlines Douglas DC-8 and a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York and crash, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft and six more on the ground.
 * 1965 – Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966.
 * 1968 – Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain.
 * 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh, and as Vijay Diwas in India.
 * 1971  – The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.
 * 1978 – Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first major American city to default on its financial obligations since the Great Depression.
 * 1979 – Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, which has an immediate, dramatic effect on the United States.
 * 1985 – Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti, who assumes leadership of New York's Gambino crime family.
 * 1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
 * 1989  – U.S. Appeals Court Judge Robert Smith Vance is assassinated by a mail bomb sent by Walter Leroy Moody, Jr.
 * 1991 – Kazakhstan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
 * 2013 – A bus falls from an elevated highway in the Philippines capital Manila killing at least 18 people with 20 injured.
 * 2014 – Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants attacked an Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 145 people, mostly schoolchildren.

Births

 * 1364 – Emperor Manuel III of Trebizond (d. 1417)
 * 1485 – Catherine of Aragon (d. 1536)
 * 1534 – Hans Bol, Flemish artist (d. 1593)
 * 1582 – Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey (d. 1642)
 * 1584 – John Selden, English jurist and scholar (d. 1654)
 * 1585 – Livia della Rovere, Italian noble (d. 1641)
 * 1614 – Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1674)
 * 1630 – Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, British botanist (d. 1715)
 * 1714 – George Whitefield, English Anglican priest (d. 1770)
 * 1716 – Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French poet and diplomat (d. 1798)
 * 1717 – Elizabeth Carter, English poet and scholar (d. 1806)
 * 1742 – Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, German field marshal (d. 1819)
 * 1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven, composer (d. 1827)
 * 1775 – Jane Austen, English novelist (d. 1817)
 * 1775  – François-Adrien Boieldieu, French pianist and composer (d. 1834)
 * 1776 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist, physicist, and philosopher (d. 1810)
 * 1778 – John Ordronaux, French-American soldier (d. 1841)
 * 1787 – Mary Russell Mitford, English author and playwright (d. 1855)
 * 1795 – Stanislaus III Albert (d. 1859)
 * 1804 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1889)
 * 1812 – Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1867)
 * 1834 – Léon Walras, French-Swiss economist and theorist (d. 1910)
 * 1836 – Ernst von Bergmann, Latvian-German surgeon and academic (d. 1907)
 * 1861 – Antonio de La Gándara, French painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
 * 1863 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet (d. 1952)
 * 1865 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian journalist and poet (d. 1918)
 * 1866 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French painter and theorist (d. 1944)
 * 1867 – Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian (d. 1951)
 * 1869 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian physician and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1952)
 * 1869  – Bertha Lamme Feicht, American electrical engineer (d. 1943)
 * 1872 – Anton Denikin, Russian general (d. 1947)
 * 1882 – Jack Hobbs, English cricketer and journalist (d. 1963)
 * 1882  – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, conductor, and musicologist (d. 1967)
 * 1882  – Walther Meissner, German physicist and engineer (d. 1974)
 * 1883 – Károly Kós, Hungarian-Romanian architect, ethnologist, and politician (d. 1977)
 * 1883  – Max Linder, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1925)
 * 1884 – John Gunn, Australian politician, 29th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
 * 1884  – Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor (d. 1987)
 * 1888 – Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
 * 1888  – Alphonse Juin, Algerian-French general (d. 1967)
 * 1889 – Kim Chwa-chin, South Korean guerrilla leader (d. 1930)
 * 1895 – Marie Hall Ets, American author and illustrator (d. 1984)
 * 1896 - Anna Anderson, an imposter who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (d. 1984)
 * 1899 – Noël Coward, English actor, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
 * 1900 – Lucille Lortel, American actress and producer (d. 1999)
 * 1900  – V. S. Pritchett,  British writer and literary critic (d. 1997)
 * 1901 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist and author (d. 1978)
 * 1902 – Rafael Alberti, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1999)
 * 1903 – Hardie Albright, American actor (d. 1975)
 * 1903  – Harold Whitlock, English race walker and coach (d. 1985)
 * 1905 – Piet Hein, Danish mathematician, author, and poet (d. 1996)
 * 1907 – Barbara Kent, Canadian-born American film actress (d. 2011)
 * 1908 – Remedios Varo, Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter & anarchist (d. 1963)
 * 1910 – Freddie Brown, Peruvian-English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1991)
 * 1913 – George Ignatieff, Russian-Canadian scholar and diplomat, 8th Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1989)
 * 1914 – O. Winston Link, American photographer (d. 2001)
 * 1916 – Ruth Johnson Colvin, American author and educator, founded ProLiteracy Worldwide
 * 1917 – Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Pakistani author and scholar (d. 2011)
 * 1917  – Pete T. Cenarrusa, American soldier, pilot, and politician, Secretary of State of Idaho (d. 2013)
 * 1917  – Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer (d. 2008)
 * 1920 – Frederick Rotimi Williams, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 2005)
 * 1921 – Eulalio González, Mexican singer-songwriter, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
 * 1922 – Cy Leslie, American record producer, founded Pickwick Records (d. 2008)
 * 1923 – Menahem Pressler, German-American pianist (Beaux Arts Trio)
 * 1923  – Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (d. 2014)
 * 1924 – Nicolas Sidjakov, Latvian-American illustrator (d. 1993)
 * 1926 – James McCracken, American tenor and actor (d. 1988)
 * 1926  – A. N. R. Robinson, Trinidadian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2014)
 * 1926  – Jeffrey Stone, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2012)
 * 1927 – Peter Dickinson, Rhodesian-English author and poet (d. 2015)
 * 1927  – Randall Garrett, American author and poet (d. 1987)
 * 1928 – Terry Carter, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1928  – Philip K. Dick, American philosopher and author (d. 1982)
 * 1929 – Nicholas Courtney, Egyptian-English actor (d. 2011)
 * 1930 – Bill Brittain, American author (d. 2011)
 * 1930  – Sam Most, American flute player and saxophonist (d. 2013)
 * 1930  – Bill Young, American sergeant and politician (d. 2013)
 * 1932 – Quentin Blake, English author and illustrator
 * 1932  – Grace Alele-Williams, Nigerian mathematician and academic
 * 1936 – Morris Dees, American lawyer and activist, co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center
 * 1937 – Joyce Bulifant, American actress
 * 1937  – Edward Ruscha, American painter and photographer
 * 1938 – Frank Deford, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
 * 1938  – Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress, director, and screenwriter
 * 1939 – Philip Langridge, English tenor (d. 2010)
 * 1939  – Gordon Miller, English high jumper
 * 1941 – Lesley Stahl, American journalist and actress
 * 1941  – Roger Neil Wheeler, English general
 * 1942 – Donald Carcieri, American educator and politician, 73rd Governor of Rhode Island
 * 1943 – Steven Bochco, American screenwriter and producer
 * 1944 – Jeff Kanew, American director and screenwriter
 * 1944  – Don Meyer, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
 * 1945 – Patti Deutsch, American actress and comedian (d. 2017)
 * 1945  – Tony Hicks, English singer and guitarist
 * 1946 – Benny Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
 * 1946  – Charles Dennis, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1946  – Trevor Pinnock, English harpsichord player and conductor
 * 1946  – Tom Stern, American cinematographer
 * 1947 – Ben Cross, English actor
 * 1947  – Vincent Matthews, American sprinter
 * 1947  – Martyn Poliakoff, English chemist and academic
 * 1949 – Billy Gibbons, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1949  – Heather Hallett, English lawyer and judge
 * 1950 – Claudia Cohen, American journalist (d. 2007)
 * 1950  – Roy Schuiten, Dutch cyclist and manager (d. 2006)
 * 1951 – Sally Emerson, English author and poet
 * 1951  – Mike Flanagan, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2011)
 * 1951  – Robben Ford, American guitarist and songwriter
 * 1951  – Mark Heard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
 * 1951  – Aykut Barka, Turkish scientist (d. 2002)
 * 1952 – Joel Garner, Barbadian cricketer and manager
 * 1952  – Francesco Graziani, Italian footballer and manager
 * 1953 – Rebecca Forstadt, American voice actress and screenwriter
 * 1955 – Xander Berkeley, American actor and producer
 * 1955  – Carol Browner, American lawyer and environmentalist, 8th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
 * 1955  – Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
 * 1955  – Chiharu Matsuyama, Japanese singer-songwriter
 * 1956 – Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (d. 2004)
 * 1957 – Antonio Vega, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
 * 1958 – Bart Oates, American football player and lawyer
 * 1959 – H. D. Kumaraswamy, Indian social worker and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka
 * 1959  – Alexander Lebedev, Russian businessman and politician
 * 1959  – Steve Mattsson, American author and illustrator
 * 1960 – Pat Van Den Hauwe, Belgian footballer and manager
 * 1961 – André Andersen, Russian-Danish keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
 * 1961  – Shane Black, American actor, director, and screenwriter
 * 1961  – Bill Hicks, American comedian and musician (d. 1994)
 * 1961  – LaChanze, American actress, singer, and dancer
 * 1961  – Jon Tenney, American actor and director
 * 1962 – Maruschka Detmers, Dutch-French actress
 * 1962  – William Perry, American football player and wrestler
 * 1963 – Benjamin Bratt, American actor and producer
 * 1963  – Cathy Johnston-Forbes, American golfer
 * 1963  – James Mangold, American director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1964 – Heike Drechsler, German sprinter and long jumper
 * 1964  – John Kirwan, New Zealand rugby player and coach
 * 1964  – Georgie Parker, Australian actress
 * 1964  – Billy Ripken, American baseball player and sportscaster
 * 1964  – Todd Glass, American comedian
 * 1965 – Chris Jones, American baseball player and manager
 * 1965  – Melanie Sloan, American lawyer and activist
 * 1966 – Paul McGinley, Irish golfer
 * 1966  – Clifford Robinson, American basketball player
 * 1966  – Dennis Wise, English footballer and manager
 * 1967 – Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter and sportscaster
 * 1967  – Indrek Kaseorg, Estonian decathlete
 * 1967  – Miranda Otto, Australian actress
 * 1968 – Wendy Doolan, Australian golfer
 * 1968  – Lalah Hathaway, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
 * 1968  – Greg Kovacs, Canadian bodybuilder (d. 2013)
 * 1969 – Simon Grayson, English footballer and manager
 * 1969  – Adam Riess, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1969  – Michelle Smith, Irish swimmer
 * 1969  – Dmitri Tymoczko, American composer and theorist
 * 1969  – Craig White, English cricketer and coach
 * 1969  – Kent Hehr, Canadian Politician
 * 1970 – Valerie Chow, Canadian-Hong Kong actress and publicist
 * 1971 – Seyhan Kurt, French-Turkish poet and sociologist
 * 1971  – Michael McCary, American R&B singer
 * 1972 – Charles Gipson, American baseball player
 * 1972  – Paul Leyden, Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1972  – Travis Morrison, American singer-songwriter
 * 1973 – Themba Mnguni, South African footballer
 * 1973  – Jason Molina, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
 * 1973  – Scott Storch, American songwriter and producer, founded Storch Music Company
 * 1975 – Valentin Bădoi, Romanian footballer and manager
 * 1975  – Kaba Diawara, French-Guinean footballer
 * 1975  – Benjamin Kowalewicz, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1975  – Paul Maynard, English politician
 * 1976 – Jen Golbeck, American computer scientist and academic
 * 1977 – Éric Bélanger, Canadian ice hockey player
 * 1977  – Sylvain Distin, French footballer
 * 1978 – John Morris, Canadian curler and firefighter
 * 1978  – Gunter Van Handenhoven, Belgian footballer and manager
 * 1979 – Luke Harper, American wrestler
 * 1979  – Trevor Immelman, South African golfer
 * 1979  – Mihai Trăistariu, Romanian singer-songwriter
 * 1979  – Jessie Ward, American wrestler and producer
 * 1980 – Danish Kaneria, Pakistani cricketer
 * 1981 – Krysten Ritter, American actress, musician, and model
 * 1981  – Gareth Williams, Scottish footballer
 * 1982 – Antrel Rolle, American football player
 * 1982  – Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian singer, actress and television presenter
 * 1982  – Stanislav Šesták, Slovak footballer
 * 1983 – Kelenna Azubuike, American basketball player
 * 1983  – Frankie Ballard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1984 – Theo James, English actor
 * 1985 – Stanislav Manolev, Bulgarian footballer
 * 1985  – James Nash, English race car driver
 * 1986 – Alcides Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
 * 1986  – Zoltán Kovács, Hungarian footballer (d. 2013)
 * 1986  – Pärt Uusberg, Estonian actor, composer, and conductor
 * 1987 – Mame Biram Diouf, Senegalese footballer
 * 1987  – Beau Dowler, Australian footballer
 * 1987  – Hallee Hirsh, American actress
 * 1988 – Mats Hummels, German footballer
 * 1988  – Anna Popplewell, English actress
 * 1989 – Mirei Kiritani, Japanese model, actress, and journalist
 * 1992 – Ulrikke Eikeri, Norwegian tennis player
 * 1992  – Anamul Haque, Bangladeshi cricketer
 * 1992  – Moe Miura, Japanese model, actress, and singer (9nine)
 * 1992  – Pietro Perdichizzi, Belgian footballer
 * 1992  – Tom Rogic, Australian footballer
 * 1994 – Elliot Lee, English footballer
 * 1994  – Nicola Murru, Italian footballer
 * 1994  – José Rodríguez Martínez, Spanish footballer
 * 1997 – Zara Larsson, Swedish singer and songwriter
 * 1998 – Mira Antonitsch, Austrian tennis player

Deaths

 * 604 – Houzhu, emperor of the Chen Dynasty (b. 553)
 * 705 – Wu Zetian, Empress of the Zhou Dynasty (b. 624)
 * 714 – Pepin of Herstal, Frankish statesman (b. 635)
 * 867 – Eberhard of Friuli, Frankish duke (b. 815)
 * 874 – Ado, archbishop of Vienne
 * 882 – John VIII, pope of Rome
 * 902 – Wei Yifan, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
 * 999 – Adelaide of Italy (b. 931)
 * 1153 – Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester (b. c. 1100)
 * 1263 – Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
 * 1316 – Öljaitü, Mongolian ruler (b. 1280)
 * 1325 – Charles, Count of Valois (b. 1270)
 * 1378 – Secondotto, Marquess of Montferrat (b. 1360)
 * 1379 – John FitzAlan, 1st Baron Arundel, English general and politician, Lord Marshall of England (b. 1348)
 * 1470 – John II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1425)
 * 1474 – Ali Qushji, Uzbek astronomer, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1403)
 * 1515 – Afonso de Albuquerque, Portuguese admiral and politician, 3rd Viceroy of Portuguese India (b. 1453)
 * 1558 – Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. c. 1485)
 * 1583 – Ivan Fyodorov, Russian printer
 * 1594 – Allison Balfour, alleged Scottish witch
 * 1598 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean general (b. 1545)
 * 1669 – Nathaniel Fiennes, English soldier and politician (b. 1608)
 * 1687 – William Petty, English economist and philosopher (b. 1623)
 * 1751 – Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. 1700)
 * 1765 – Peter Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-Canadian lieutenant and surveyor (b. 1741)
 * 1774 – François Quesnay, French economist, physician, and philosopher (b. 1694)
 * 1783 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer and educator (b. 1699)
 * 1783  – Sir William James, 1st Baronet, Welsh-English commander and politician (b. 1720)
 * 1805 – Saverio Cassar, Gozitan priest and rebel leader (b. 1746)
 * 1809 – Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist and entomologist (b. 1755)
 * 1859 – Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist and author (b. 1786)
 * 1892 – Henry Yesler, American businessman and politician, 7th Mayor of Seattle (b. 1810)
 * 1897 – Alphonse Daudet, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1840)
 * 1898 – Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and art collector (b. 1832)
 * 1908 – American Horse, American tribal leader and educator (b. 1840)
 * 1917 – Frank Gotch, American wrestler (b. 1878)
 * 1921 – Camille Saint-Saëns, French pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1835)
 * 1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz, Lithuanian-Polish engineer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1865)
 * 1928 – Elinor Wylie, American poet and author (b. 1885)
 * 1935 – Thelma Todd, American actress and comedian (b. 1905)
 * 1936 – Frank Eugene, American-German photographer and educator (b. 1865)
 * 1940 – Eugene Dubois, Dutch paleoanthropologist (b. 1858)
 * 1940 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager (b. 1866)
 * 1943 – George Bambridge, English diplomat (b. 1892)
 * 1944 – Betsie ten Boom, Dutch Holocaust victim (b. 1885)
 * 1945 – Giovanni Agnelli, Italian businessman, founded the Fiat Automobile Company (b. 1866)
 * 1945  – Fumimaro Konoe, Japanese lawyer and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1891)
 * 1949 – Sidney Olcott, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1873)
 * 1952 – Robert Henry Best, American journalist (b. 1896)
 * 1956 – Nina Hamnett, Welsh painter and author (b. 1890)
 * 1961 – Hans Rebane, Estonian journalist and politician, 8th Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1882)
 * 1965 – W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1874)
 * 1968 – Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 35th Yokozuna (b. 1912)
 * 1968  – Muhammad Suheimat, Jordanian general and politician (b. 1916)
 * 1969 – Alphonse Castex, French rugby union player (b. 1899)
 * 1969  – Soe Hok Gie, Indonesian activist and academic (b. 1942)
 * 1970 – Oscar Lewis, American anthropologist of Latin America (b. 1914)
 * 1974 – Kostas Varnalis, Greek poet and playwright (b. 1884)
 * 1976 – Réal Caouette, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1917)
 * 1977 – Risto Jarva, Finnish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
 * 1980 – Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founded KFC (b. 1890)
 * 1980  – Hellmuth Walter, German-American engineer (b. 1900)
 * 1982 – Colin Chapman, English engineer and businessman, founded Lotus Cars (b. 1928)
 * 1983 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (b. 1907)
 * 1984 – Karl Deichgräber, German philologist and academic (b. 1903)
 * 1985 – Thomas Bilotti, American mobster (b. 1940)
 * 1985  – Paul Castellano, American mobster (b. 1915)
 * 1989 – Oscar Alfredo Gálvez, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1913)
 * 1989  – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
 * 1989  – Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
 * 1989  – Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
 * 1990 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1896)
 * 1991 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress and journalist (b. 1938)
 * 1993 – Moses Gunn, American actor (b. 1929)
 * 1993  – Kakuei Tanaka, Japanese soldier and politician, 64th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1918)
 * 1996 – Quentin Bell, English historian and author (b. 1910)
 * 1997 – Lillian Disney, American illustrator and philanthropist (b. 1899)
 * 1998 – William Gaddis, American author and academic (b. 1922)
 * 2001 – Stuart Adamson, English-Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
 * 2001  – Stefan Heym, German-American soldier and author (b. 1913)
 * 2003 – Robert Stanfield, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician, 17th Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1914)
 * 2003  – Gary Stewart, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
 * 2004 – Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (b. 1933)
 * 2004  – Deyda Hydara, Gambian journalist, co-founded The Point (b. 1946)
 * 2004  – Agnes Martin, American painter and educator (b. 1912)
 * 2005 – Kenneth Bulmer, English author (b. 1921)
 * 2005  – Ed Hansen, American director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
 * 2005  – John Spencer, American actor (b. 1946)
 * 2006 – Don Jardine, Canadian wrestler and trainer (b. 1940)
 * 2006  – Taliep Petersen, South African singer-songwriter and director (b. 1950)
 * 2006  – Pnina Salzman, Israeli pianist and educator (b. 1922)
 * 2006  – Stanford J. Shaw, American historian and academic (b. 1930)
 * 2007 – Dan Fogelberg, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1951)
 * 2009 – Roy E. Disney, American businessman (b. 1930)
 * 2009  – Yegor Gaidar, Russian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Russia (b. 1956)
 * 2009  – Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, South African physician and politician, 22nd South African Minister of Health (b. 1940)
 * 2010 – Melvin E. Biddle, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1923)
 * 2011 – Robert Easton, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)
 * 2011  – Nicol Williamson, Scottish actor (b. 1938)
 * 2012 – Elwood V. Jensen, American biologist and academic (b. 1920)
 * 2012  – Jake Adam York, American poet and academic (b. 1972)
 * 2013 – James Flint, English commander (b. 1913)
 * 2013  – Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1926)
 * 2013  – Marta Russell, American journalist, author, and activist (b. 1951)
 * 2014 – Martin Brasier, English paleontologist, biologist, and academic (b. 1947)
 * 2014  – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (b. 1955)
 * 2015 – Peter Dickinson, Rhodesian-English author and poet (b. 1927)
 * 2015  – Lizmark, Mexican wrestler (b. 1950)
 * 2015  – George Earl Ortman, American painter and sculptor (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Adelaide of Italy
 * Ralph Adams Cram, Richard Upjohn and John La Farge (Episcopal Church (USA))
 * December 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Day of Reconciliation, formerly celebrated as Day of the Vow by the Afrikaners (South Africa)
 * National Day, celebrates the withdrawal of United Kingdom from Bahrain, making Bahrain an independent emirate in 1971.
 * National Sports Day (Thailand)
 * The beginning of the nine-day celebration beginning December 16 and ending December 24, celebrating the trials which Mary and Joseph endured before finding a place to stay where Jesus could be born (Hispanidad):
 * The first day of Las Posadas (Mexico, Latin America)
 * The first day of the Simbang Gabi novena of masses (Philippines)
 * Republic Day, celebrates the independence of Kazakhstan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
 * Victory Day (Bangladesh)
 * Victory Day (India)