December 11

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MMXI

December 11 in recent years

2010 (Saturday)

2009 (Friday)

2008 (Thursday)

2007 (Tuesday)

2006 (Monday)

2005 (Sunday)

2004 (Saturday)

2003 (Thursday)

2002 (Wednesday)

2001 (Tuesday)

December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 361 – Julian the Apostate becomes sole Emperor of the Roman Empire, he rules from Constantinople and tries to restore paganism.
• 969 – Byzatine Emperor Nikephoros II is assassinated by his wife Theofano and her lover, the later Emperor John I Tzimiskes.
• 1282 – Llywelyn the Last, the last native Prince of Wales, is killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales.
• 1602 – A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva.
• 1789 – The University of North Carolina is chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly.
• 1792 – French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
• 1815 – the U.S. Senate created a select committee on finance and a uniform national currency, predecessor of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.
• 1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
• 1868 – Brazilians defeat Paraguayans at the Battle of Avaí during the War of the Triple Alliance.
• 1905 – A workers' uprising occurs in Kiev and establishes the Shuliavka Republic.
• 1907 – The New Zealand Parliament Buildings are almost completely destroyed by fire.
• 1917 – British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot and declares martial law.
• 1925 – Roman Catholic papal encyclical Quas Primas introduces the Feast of Christ the King.
• 1927 – Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker Red Guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
• 1931 – The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster 1931, establishing legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Dominion of Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
• 1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time.
• 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India becomes effective.
• 1937 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.
• 1941 – World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy.
• 1946 – The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
• 1948 – The United Nations passes General Assembly Resolution 194, which established and defined the role of the United Nations Conciliation Commission as an organization to facilitate peace in the British Mandate for Palestine.
• 1958 – French Upper Volta gains self-government from France, becomes the Republic of Upper Volta, and joins the French Community.
• 1960 – French forces crack down in a violent clash with protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French president Charles de Gaulle.
• 1962 – Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, is the last person to be executed in Canada.
• 1964 – Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
• 1968 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
• 1972 – Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.
• 1980 – The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, also known as CERCLA or Superfund, is enacted by the U.S. Congress.
• 1981 – El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.
• 1993 – Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
• 1994 – First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
• 1994 – A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila to Tokyo, killing one. The captain is able to safely land the plane.
• 1997 – The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature.
• 1998 – Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Thai Airways Airbus A310-300 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.
• 2001 – The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
• 2005 – The Buncefield Oil Depot catches fire in Hemel Hempstead, England.
• 2005 – Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who are not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
• 2006 – The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.
  • 2006 – Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, the president of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacan. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican Drug War.
• 2007 – Two car bombs explode at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.
• 2008 – Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
• 2010 – Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one and injuring two others. Officials say the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.

Births

• 1465 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (d. 1489)
• 1475 – Pope Leo X (d. 1521)
• 1566 – Manuel Cardoso, Portuguese composer (d. 1650)
• 1680 – Emanuele d'Astorga, Italian composer (d. 1736)
• 1709 – Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, queen consort of Spain (d. 1742)
• 1712 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher (d. 1764)
• 1725 – George Mason, American statesman (d. 1792)
• 1761 – Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian physicist (d. 1835)
• 1781 – Sir David Brewster, Scottish physicist (d. 1868)
• 1801 – Christian Dietrich Grabbe, German writer (d. 1836)
• 1803 – Hector Berlioz, French composer (d. 1869)
• 1810 – Alfred de Musset, French poet (d. 1857)
• 1830 – Kamehameha V, Hawaiian king (d. 1872)
• 1838 – John Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer (d. 1915)
• 1843 – Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1910)
• 1856 – Georgi Plekhanov, Russian revolutionary and Marxist theoretician (d. 1918)
• 1858 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (d. 1943)
• 1863 – Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (d. 1941)
• 1873 – Josip Plemelj, Slovenian mathematician (d. 1967)
• 1875 – Yehuda Leib Maimon, Bassarabian-born Israeli rabbi and government minister (d. 1962)
• 1880 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
• 1882 – Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (d. 1921)
• 1882 – Max Born, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
• 1882 – Fiorello La Guardia, American statesman (d. 1947)
• 1883 – Victor McLaglen, English-born American actor (d. 1959)
• 1889 – Walter Knott, American farmer (d. 1981)
• 1890 – Carlos Gardel, tango singer (d. 1935)
• 1890 – Mark Tobey, American painter (d. 1976)
• 1897 – Ronald Skirth, conscientious objector of the First World War (d. 1977)
• 1904 – Marge, American cartoonist (d. 1993)
• 1905 – Robert Henriques, English writer (d. 1967)
• 1905 – Gilbert Roland, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1908 – Elliott Carter, American composer
• 1908 – Amon Göth, commandant of Nazi concentration camp (d. 1946)
• 1908 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese director
• 1909 – Ronald McKie, Australian author (d. 1991)
• 1909 – John Wyer, English sports car racing team manager (d. 1989)
• 1910 – Noel Rosa, Brazilian songwriter (d. 1937)
• 1911 – Val Guest, English film director (d. 2006)
• 1911 – Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer, Nobel laureate (d. 2006)
• 1911 – Qian Xuesen, Chinese scientist (d. 2009)
• 1912 – Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer (d. 2007)
• 1913 – Jean Marais, French actor (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban-born bandleader (d. 1989)
• 1918 – Clinton Adams, American artist (d. 2002)
• 1918 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and Soviet dissident, Nobel laureate (d. 2008)
• 1919 – Marie Windsor, American actress (d. 2000)
• 1921 – Liz Smith, British actress
• 1922 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer (d. 2005)
• 1922 – Dilip Kumar, Indian actor
• 1922 – Grace Paley, American writer (d. 2007)
• 1922 – Maila Nurmi, Finnish-American actress (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Betsy Blair, American actress (d. 2009)
• 1924 – Doc Blanchard, American football player (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Aaron Feuerstein, American businessman
• 1925 – Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist, Nobel laureate
• 1926 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer (d. 1984)
• 1927 – John Buscema, American comics artist (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress
• 1930 – Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actor
• 1931 – Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican actress
• 1931 – Ronald Dworkin, American philosopher
• 1931 – Pierre Pilote, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1931 – Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian guru (d. 1990)
• 1932 – Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan Contra leader (d. 1991)
• 1932 – Anne Heywood, English actress
• 1932 – Aladár Kovácsi, Hungarian modern pentathlon Olympic champion (1952, Helsinki) (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician
• 1935 – Ron Carey, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1935 – Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
• 1935 – Elmer Vasko, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
• 1936 – Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
• 1937 – Jim Harrison, American writer
• 1938 – Enrico Macias, Algerian-born French singer
• 1938 – McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
• 1938 – Reg Livermore, Australian entertainer
• 1939 – Tom Hayden, American politician and activist
• 1939 – Thomas McGuane, American writer
• 1940 – David Gates, American musician (Bread)
• 1941 – Max Baucus, American politician, senior senator of Montana
• 1941 – J. P. Parisé, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1941 – J. Frank Wilson, American singer (J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers) (d. 1991)
• 1942 – Donna Mills, American actress
• 1943 – John Kerry, American politician
• 1944 – Jon Garrison, American tenor
• 1944 – Teri Garr, American film actress
• 1944 – Lynda Day George, American actress
• 1944 – Brenda Lee, American singer
• 1946 – Rhoma Irama, Indonesian musician, King of Dangdut
• 1946 – Susan Kyle (aka Diana Palmer, Susan S. Kyle, Diana Blayne, Katy Currie), American writer
• 1948 – Stamatis Spanoudakis, Greek composer
• 1950 – Nino Frassica, Italian actor
• 1950 – Christina Onassis, American heiress (d. 1988)
• 1953 – Bess Armstrong, American actress
• 1954 – Jermaine Jackson, American singer (Jackson 5)
• 1954 – Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson, Icelandic engineer
• 1954 – Santiago Creel, Mexican politician
• 1955 – Stu Jackson, American basketball head coach
• 1955 – Christian Sackewitz, German footballer
• 1956 – Andrew Lansley, British politician
• 1956 – Lani Brockman, American actress, director and playwright
• 1958 – Nikki Sixx, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
• 1958 – Isabella Hofmann, American actress
• 1960 – Rachel Portman, English film composer
• 1961 – Marco Pierre White, English chef and restaurateur
• 1962 – Ben Browder, American actor
• 1962 – Paul Haslinger, Austrian-born composer
• 1962 – Nele Karajlić, Bosnian singer
• 1963 – Jon Brion, American musician/record producer
• 1964 – Michel Courtemanche, French Canadian comedian
• 1964 – Justin Currie, Scottish singer and songwriter
• 1964 – John Mark Karr, American who claimed involvement in JonBenét Ramsey case
• 1964 – David Schools, American musician (Widespread Panic)
• 1964 – Cosy Sheridan, American singer
• 1964 – Carolyn Waldo, Canadian synchronized swimmer
• 1965 – Jay Bell, American baseball player
• 1966 – Gary Dourdan, American actor
• 1966 – Leon Lai, Hong Kong Cantonese singer/actor
• 1967 – Mo'Nique, American actress/comedienne
• 1967 – DJ Yella, American DJ and music producer (N.W.A)
• 1968 – Fabrizio Ravanelli, Italian footballer
• 1969 – Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
• 1969 – Sean Grande, American sportscaster
• 1969 – Alessandro Melli, Italian footballer
• 1969 – Viswanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster, current World Chess Champion
• 1971 – Willie McGinest, American football player
• 1972 – Daniel Alfredsson, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1972 – Sami Al-Jaber, Saudi Arabian footballer
• 1973 – Mos Def, American rapper and actor
• 1974 – Rey Mysterio, Mexican professional wrestler
• 1974 – Lisa Ortiz, TV animation and video game voice actress.
• 1974 – Ben Shephard, English TV personality
• 1975 – Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist
• 1975 – Tomoka Kurotani, Japanese actress
• 1976 – Shareef Abdur-Rahim, American basketball player
• 1977 – Mark Streit, Swiss ice hockey player
• 1979 – Rider Strong, American actor
• 1980 – Arya, Indian actor
• 1981 – Nikki Benz, Ukraine-born Canadian pornographic actress
• 1981 – Hamish Blake, Australian comedian
• 1981 – Paul Medhurst, Australian rules footballer
• 1981 – Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer
• 1981 – Zacky Vengeance, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
• 1982 – Pablo Pérez Companc, Argentine racing driver
• 1983 – Yoh Miyamori, Japanese musician (Orange Range)
• 1984 – Leighton Baines, English footballer
• 1985 – Aiko Kayo, Japanese idol singer
• 1987 – Clifton Geathers, American football player
• 1987 – Natalia Gordienko, Moldovan singer and dancer
• 1988 – Tim Southee, New Zealand cricketer
• 1989 – Murugan Thiruchelvam, English chess player
• 1996 – Hailee Steinfeld, American Actress

Deaths

• 384 – Pope Damasus I
• 969 – Nikephoros II Phokas (b. c. 912)
• 1121 – Al-Afdal Shahanshah, Galilean political advisor (b. 1066)
• 1226 – Robert de Ros, English politician (b. 1177)
• 1241 – Emperor Ogedei Khan of the Mongol Empire
• 1282 – Prince Llywelyn the Last of Wales
• 1282 – Michael VIII Palaiologos (b. 1225)
• 1532 – Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1455)
• 1582 – Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, Spanish territorial governor (b. 1508)
• 1694 – Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1630)
• 1737 – John Strype, English historian (b. 1643)
• 1747 – Edmund Curll, English bookseller (b. c. 1675)
• 1797 – Richard Brocklesby, English physician (b. 1722)
• 1840 – Emperor Kokaku of Japan (b. 1771)
• 1872 – King Kamehameha V of Hawaii (b. 1830)
• 1880 – Oliver Fisher Winchester, American businessman and politician (b. 1810)
• 1892 – William Milligan, Scottish theologian (b. 1821)
• 1909 – Innokenty Annensky, Russian poet (b. 1855)
• 1918 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (b. 1876)
• 1920 – Olive Schreiner, South African writer (b. 1855)
• 1938 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1869)
• 1941 – John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
• 1941 – Charles Émile Picard, French mathematician (b. 1856)
• 1945 – Charles Fabry, French physicist (b. 1867)
• 1950 – Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1893)
• 1957 – Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress (b. 1889)
• 1959 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player (b. 1900)
• 1964 – Sam Cooke, American singer (b. 1931)
• 1964 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (b. 1888)
• 1968 – Richard Sagrits, Estonian painter (b. 1910)
• 1968 – Arthur Hays Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times 1935-61 (b. 1891)
• 1971 – Maurice McDonald, American fast-food entrepreneur (b. 1902)
• 1975 – Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (b. 1908)
• 1978 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist and Nobel laureate (b. 1901)
• 1978 – Paul O'Dea, American baseball player (b. 1920)
• 1979 – James J. Gibson, American perceptual psychologist (b. 1904)
• 1983 – Sir Neil Ritchie, British General (b. 1897)
• 1984 – Oskar Seidlin, German-born American scholar (b. 1911)
• 1987 – G. A. Kulkarni, Indian (Marathi) writer (b. 1923)
• 1989 – Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (b. 1895)
• 1991 – Robert Q. Lewis, American game show host (b. 1921)
• 1991 – Artur Lundkvist, Swedish author and critic (b. 1906)
• 1992 – Michael Robbins, English actor (b. 1930)
• 1993 – Elvira Popescu, Romanian-born French actress (b. 1894)
• 1994 – Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
• 1995 – Arthur Mullard, English comedy actor (b. 1910)
• 1996 – Willie Rushton, English cartoonist and magazine publisher (b. 1937)
• 1997 – Eddie Chapman, British World War II spy (b. 1914)
• 1998 – André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b. 1915)
• 1998 – Lynn Strait, American singer (Snot) (b. 1968)
• 2000 – Shaista Suhrawardy Ikramullah, Pakistani diplomat and author (b. 1915)
• 2000 – David Lewis, American actor (b. 1916)
• 2003 – Ahmadou Kourouma, Ivorian writer (b. 1927)
• 2004 – José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1962)
• 2004 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand track & field coach (b. 1917)
• 2004 – M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (b. 1916)
• 2006 – Elizabeth Bolden, American supercentenarian (b. 1890)
• 2007 – Christie Hennessy, Irish singer (b. 1945)
• 2008 – Bettie Page, American model (b. 1923)
• 2008 – Maddie Blaustein, American voice actress (b. 1960)
• 2010 – Dick Hoerner, American football player (b. 1922)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day:
  • Daniel the Stylite
  • Pope Damasus I
  • Victoricus, Fuscian, and Gentian
• Human Rights and Peace Day (Kiribati)
• Indiana Day (United States)
• International Mountain Day (International)
• National Tango Day (Buenos Aires)
• One of the four Agonalia, this day in honor of Sol Indiges; also the Septimontium festival (Roman Empire)
• Pampanga Day (Pampanga Province, the Philippines)
• Remembrance Day of Llywelyn II (Wales)
• Republic Day, the day when Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community in 1958. (Burkina Faso)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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