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Revision as of 01:31, 29 May 2013

Template:December calendar

December 7 is the 341st day of the year (342nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 24 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated.
• 574 – Emperor Justin II retires due to recurring seizures of insanity, he abdicates the throne in favor of his general Tiberius and proclaims him Caesar.
• 1724 – Tumult of Thorn – religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.
• 1732 – The Royal Opera House opens at Covent Garden, London, England.
• 1776 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette arranges to enter the American military as a major general.
• 1787 – Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Prairie Grove, Arkansas.
• 1869 – American outlaw Jesse James commits his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri.
• 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.
• 1930 – W1XAV in Boston, Massachusetts broadcasts video from the CBS radio orchestra program, The Fox Trappers. The broadcast also includes the first television commercial in the United States, an advertisement for I.J. Fox Furriers, who sponsored the radio show.
• 1936 – Australian cricketer Jack Fingleton becomes the first player to score centuries in four consecutive Test innings.
• 1941 – World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy attacks the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army Air Forces and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing a declaration of war upon Japan by the United States. Japan also invades Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies at the same time (December 8 in Asia).
• 1946 – A fire at the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia kills 119 people, the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history.
• 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The government of Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei, Taiwan.
• 1962 – Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality's constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.
• 1963 – Instant replay makes its debut during an Army–Navy game.
• 1965 – Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.
• 1971 – Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a Coalition Government at Centre with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Vice-Prime Minister.
• 1972 – Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.
• 1975 – Indonesia invades East Timor.
• 1982 – In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr. becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.
• 1983 – An Iberia Airlines Boeing 727 collides with an Aviaco DC-9 in dense fog while the two airliners are taxiing down the runway at Madrid–Barajas Airport, killing 93 people.
• 1987 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes near Paso Robles, California, killing all 43 on board, after a disgruntled passenger shoots his ex-boss traveling on the flight, then shoots both pilots and himself.
• 1988 – Spitak Earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills nearly 25,000, injures 15,000 and leaves 400,000 homeless.
• 1988 – Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.
• 1993 – The Long Island Rail Road massacre: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.
• 1995 – The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.
• 1999 – The Recording Industry Association of America files a lawsuit against the Napster file-sharing client alleging copyright infringement.
• 2003 – The Conservative Party of Canada is officially recognized after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
• 2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 924 who allegedly claimed to have a bomb, is shot and killed by a team of U.S. federal air marshals at Miami International Airport.
• 2005 – Ante Gotovina, a Croatian army general accused of war crimes, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife by the Spanish police.
• 2006 – A tornado strikes Kensal Green, North West London, seriously damaging about 150 properties.
• 2007 – The Hebei Spirit oil spill begins in South Korea after a crane barge that had broken free from a tug collides with the Very Large Crude Carrier, Hebei Spirit.

Births

• 521 – Columba, Irish missionary, monk, and saint (d. 597)
• 903 – Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, Persian astronomer (d. 986)
• 1302 – Azzone Visconti, Italian ruler, founded Milan (d. 1339)
• 1545 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (d. 1567)
• 1561 – Kikkawa Hiroie, Japanese daimyo (d. 1625)
• 1598 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor and painter (d. 1680)
• 1637 – Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer (d. 1710)
• 1724 – Louise of Great Britain (d. 1751)
• 1764 – Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno, French marshal (d. 1841)
• 1784 – Allan Cunningham, Scottish author and poet (d. 1842)
• 1791 – Ferenc Novák Hungarian-Slovene priest (d. 1836)
• 1792 – Abraham Jacob van der Aa, Dutch literator (d. 1857)
• 1801 – Johann Nestroy, Austrian actor and playwright (d. 1862)
• 1803 – Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony (d. 1829)
• 1810 – Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (d. 1894)
• 1810 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist (d. 1882)
• 1823 – Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (d. 1891)
• 1838 – Thomas Bent, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Victoria (d. 1909)
• 1847 – Deacon White, American baseball player (d. 1939)
• 1860 – Joseph Cook, Australian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1947)
• 1862 – Paul Adam, French author (d. 1920)
• 1863 – Felix Calonder, Swiss politician (d. 1952)
• 1863 – Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer (d. 1945)
• 1863 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (d. 1914)
• 1873 – Willa Cather, American author (d. 1947)
• 1879 – Rudolf Friml, American composer (d. 1972)
• 1885 – Mason Phelps, American golfer (d. 1945)
• 1885 – Peter Sturholdt, American boxer (d. 1919)
• 1887 – Ernst Toch, Austrian composer (d. 1964)
• 1888 – Joyce Cary, Irish author (d. 1957)
• 1888 – Hamilton Fish III, American soldier and politician (d. 1991)
• 1891 – Fay Bainter, American actress (d. 1968)
• 1894 – Freddie Adkins, British cartoonist (d. circa 1986)
• 1903 – Danilo Blanuša, Croatian mathematician (d. 1987)
• 1904 – Clarence Nash, American voice actor (d. 1985)
• 1904 – Konstantin Sokolsky, Russian singer (d. 1991)
• 1905 – Gerard Kuiper, Dutch-American astronomer (d. 1973)
• 1907 – Fred Rose, Canadian politician (d. 1983)
• 1909 – Nikola Vaptsarov, Bulgarian poet and activist (d. 1942)
• 1910 – Louis Prima, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and actor (d. 1978)
• 1910 – Edmundo Ros, Trinidadian singer (d. 2011)
• 1912 – Daniel Jones, Welsh composer (d. 1993)
• 1913 – Kersti Merilaas, Estonian author and poet (d. 1986)
• 1915 – Leigh Brackett, American author and screenwriter (d. 1978)
• 1915 – Eli Wallach, American actor
• 1916 – Jean Carignan, Canadian fiddler (d. 1988)
• 1919 – Lis Løwert, Danish actress (d. 2009)
• 1920 – Tatamkulu Afrika, South African poet and author (d. 2002)
• 1920 – Fiorenzo Magni, Italian cyclist (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Walter Nowotny, Austrian pilot (d. 1944)
• 1921 – Pramukh Swami Maharaj, Indian guru and scholar
• 1923 – Intizar Hussain, Pakistani author
• 1923 – Ted Knight, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1924 – John Love, Zimbabwean race car driver (d. 2005)
• 1924 – Mário Soares, Portuguese politician, 17th President of Portugal
• 1925 – Hernando da Silva Ramos, French-Brazilian race car driver
• 1927 – Helen Watts, Welsh opera singer (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Noam Chomsky, American linguist and philosopher
• 1930 – Christopher Nicole, Guyanese author
• 1930 – Hal Smith, American baseball player
• 1931 – Allan B. Calhamer, American game designer, created Diplomacy (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Ellen Burstyn, American actress
• 1932 – Paul Caponigro, American photographer
• 1932 – Rosemary Rogers, Sri Lankan-American author
• 1933 – Krsto Papić, Croatian director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1937 – Thad Cochran, American politician
• 1940 – Stan Boardman, English comedian
• 1940 – Gerry Cheevers, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1941 – Melba Pattillo Beals, American journalist
• 1942 – Harry Chapin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
• 1942 – Alex Johnson, American baseball player
• 1942 – Peter Tomarken, American game show host (d. 2006)
• 1943 – Susan Isaacs, American author
• 1943 – Nick Katz, American mathematician
• 1943 – Göran Lennmarker, Swedish politician
• 1943 – Bernard C. Parks, American politician
• 1943 – John Bennett Ramsey, American father of JonBenét Ramsey
• 1944 – Jamiel Chagra, American drug trafficker (d. 2008)
• 1944 – Daniel Chorzempa, American organist
• 1944 – Miroslav Macek, Czech politician
• 1945 – Marion Rung, Finnish singer
• 1947 – Johnny Bench, American baseball player
• 1947 – Tony Thomas, American television and film producer
• 1947 – Garry Unger, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1948 – Gary Morris, American singer and actor
• 1948 – Mads Vinding, Danish bassist
• 1949 – Tom Waits, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
• 1950 – Ron Hynes, Canadian singer-songwriter
• 1952 – Susan Collins, American politician
• 1952 – Georges Corraface, Greek actor
• 1952 – Eckhard Märzke, German footballer
• 1954 – Mary Fallin, American politician, 27th Governor of Oklahoma
• 1954 – Mark Hofmann, American criminal and murderer
• 1954 – Mike Nolan, Irish singer (Bucks Fizz and Brooks)
• 1955 – Priscilla Barnes, American actress
• 1955 – John Watkins, Australian politician
• 1956 – Larry Bird, American basketball player
• 1957 – Tom Winsor, English lawyer
• 1958 – Tim Butler, English bass player and songwriter (The Psychedelic Furs and Love Spit Love)
• 1958 – Rick Rude, American wrestler (d. 1999)
• 1959 – Barbara Wilshere, British actress
• 1960 – Craig Scanlon, English guitarist and songwriter (The Fall)
• 1961 – Mario Miethig, German footballer
• 1962 – Grecia Colmenares, Venezuelan actress
• 1963 – Theo Snelders, Dutch footballer
• 1964 – Roberta Close, Brazilian model
• 1964 – Patrick Fabian, American actor
• 1964 – Peter Laviolette, American ice hockey player and coach
• 1965 – Dorien de Vries, Dutch sailor
• 1965 – Colin Hendry, Scottish footballer
• 1965 – Jeffrey Wright, American actor
• 1966 – C. Thomas Howell, American actor and director
• 1966 – Shinichi Ito, Japanese motorcycle racer
• 1967 – Tino Martinez, American baseball player
• 1968 – Mark Geyer, Australian rugby player
• 1969 – Andrea Claudio Galluzzo, Italian historian
• 1969 – Patrice O'Neal, American comedian and actor (d. 2011)
• 1970 – Carmen Campuzano, Mexican actress and model
• 1971 – Vladimir Akopian, Armenian chess player
• 1971 – Chasey Lain, American porn actress
• 1972 – Hermann Maier, Austrian skier
• 1972 – Tammy Lynn Sytch, American wrestler and manager
• 1973 – Terrell Owens, American football player
• 1973 – Fabien Pelous, French rugby player
• 1973 – Damien Rice, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Juniper and Bell X1)
• 1973 – Charles Carl Roberts, American murderer (d. 2006)
• 1974 – Nicole Appleton, Canadian singer and actress (All Saints and Appleton)
• 1974 – Kang Full, South Korean illustrator
• 1975 – Jamie Clapham, English footballer
• 1976 – Alan Faneca, American football player
• 1976 – Ivan Franceschini, Italian footballer
• 1976 – Brent Johnson, Canadian football player
• 1976 – Georges Laraque, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 – Vanessa Lorenzo, Spanish model
• 1977 – Eric Chavez, American baseball player
• 1977 – Dominic Howard, English drummer (Muse)
• 1978 – Shiri Appleby, American actress
• 1978 – Chad Dukes, American radio host
• 1978 – Frankie J, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and producer (Kumbia Kings)
• 1978 – Mr. Porter, American rapper and producer (D12)
• 1979 – Sara Bareilles, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1979 – Jennifer Carpenter, American actress
• 1979 – Lampros Choutos, Greek footballer
• 1979 – Ayako Fujitani, Japanese actress
• 1979 – Derek Ramsay, English-Filipino actor and model
• 1980 – John Terry, English footballer
• 1982 – Chrispa, Greek singer
• 1982 – Jack Huston, English actor
• 1984 – Aaron Gray, American basketball player
• 1984 – Robert Kubica, Polish race car driver
• 1984 – Milan Michálek, Czech ice hockey player
• 1984 – Luca Rigoni, Italian footballer
• 1985 – Dean Ambrose, American wrestler
• 1987 – Aaron Carter, American singer, dancer, and actor
• 1988 – Nathan Adrian, American swimmer
• 1988 – Emily Browning, Australian actress and singer
• 1988 – Asia Ray Smith, American actress
• 1989 – Nicholas Hoult, English actor
• 1989 – Alessandro Marchi, Italian footballer
• 1990 – Urszula Radwańska, Polish tennis player
• 1991 – Dori Sakurada, Japanese actor and singer
• 1993 – Jasmine Villegas, American singer
• 2003 – Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange

Deaths

• 43 BC – Cicero, Roman politician and philosopher (b. 106 BC)
• 283 – Pope Eutychian
• 983 – Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 955)
• 1254 – Pope Innocent IV (b. 1195)
• 1279 – Bolesław V the Chaste, Polish husband of Kinga of Poland (b. 1226)
• 1295 – Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (b. 1243)
• 1498 – Alexander Hegius von Heek, German poet (b. 1433)
• 1562 – Adrian Willaert, Flemish composer (b. 1490)
• 1649 – Charles Garnier, French missionary (b. 1606)
• 1672 – Richard Bellingham, English-American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1592)
• 1683 – John Oldham, English poet (b. 1653)
• 1683 – Algernon Sidney, English politician (b. 1623)
• 1723 – Jan Santini Aichel, Bohemian architect, designed Karlova Koruna Chateau (b. 1677)
• 1725 – Florent Carton Dancourt, French actor and playwright (b. 1661)
• 1772 – Martín Sarmiento, Spanish scholar and writer (b. 1695)
• 1775 – Charles Saunders, English admiral (b. 1715)
• 1793 – Joseph Bara, French soldier (b. 1780)
• 1815 – Michel Ney, French military officer (b. 1769)
• 1817 – William Bligh, English admiral and administrator, 4th Governor of New South Wales (b. 1745)
• 1842 – Thomas Hamilton, Scottish philosopher and author (b. 1789)
• 1874 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German scholar (b. 1815)
• 1879 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence leader (b. 1811)
• 1894 – Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and businessman, co-developed the Suez Canal (b. 1805)
• 1899 – Juan Luna, Filipino painter (b. 1857)
• 1902 – Thomas Nast, German-American cartoonist (b. 1840)
• 1906 – Élie Ducommun, Swiss journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
• 1913 – Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian cardinal (b. 1828)
• 1917 – Ludwig Minkus, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1826)
• 1938 – Anna Marie Hahn, German-American murderer (b. 1906)
• 1941 – Among the 2,400 dead from the attack on Pearl Harbor
  • Mervyn S. Bennion, American navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1887)
  • Herbert C. Jones, American navy officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1918)
  • Isaac C. Kidd, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1884)
  • Thomas James Reeves, American navy officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1895)
  • Franklin Van Valkenburgh, American navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1888)
• 1946 – Sada Yacco, Japanese actress and dancer (b. 1871)
• 1947 – Tristan Bernard, French playwright and author (b. 1866)
• 1947 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
• 1949 – Rex Beach, American author, playwright, and water polo player (b. 1877)
• 1956 – Huntley Gordon, Canadian actor (b. 1887)
• 1960 – Clara Haskil, Swiss pianist (b. 1895)
• 1969 – Lefty O'Doul, American baseball player (b. 1897)
• 1969 – Eric Portman, English actor (b. 1903)
• 1970 – Rube Goldberg, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
• 1975 – Thornton Wilder, American playwright and author (b. 1897)
• 1977 – Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-American engineer (b. 1906)
• 1978 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist (b. 1886)
• 1980 – Darby Crash, American singer-songwriter (Germs and Darby Crash Band) (b. 1958)
• 1981 – Ava Helen Pauling, American activist (b. 1903)
• 1982 – Will Lee, American actor (b. 1908)
• 1983 – Fanny Cano, Mexican actress (b. 1944)
• 1984 – Charles Ray Hatcher, American serial killer (b. 1929)
• 1984 – LeeRoy Yarbrough, American race car driver (b. 1938)
• 1985 – J. R. Eyerman, American photographer and journalist (b. 1906)
• 1985 – Robert Graves, English author and poet (b. 1895)
• 1985 – Potter Stewart, American jurist (b. 1915)
• 1989 – William Calhoun, American wrestler and actor (b. 1934)
• 1990 – Joan Bennett, American actress (b. 1910)
• 1990 – Dee Clark, American singer (b. 1938)
• 1990 – Jean Duceppe, Canadian actor (b. 1923)
• 1990 – Jean Paul Lemieux, Canadian painter (b. 1904)
• 1993 – Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Ivoirian politician, 1st President of Ivory Coast (b. 1905)
• 1993 – Wolfgang Paul, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
• 1994 – J. C. Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1939)
• 1997 – Billy Bremner, Scottish footballer (b. 1942)
• 1998 – John Addison, English composer (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Martin Rodbell, American biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
• 2000 – Vlado Gotovac, Croatian poet and politician (b. 1930)
• 2003 – Carl F. H. Henry American theologian and journalist (b. 1913)
• 2003 – Azie Taylor Morton, American politician, 36th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1933)
• 2004 – Frederick Fennell, American conductor (b. 1914)
• 2004 – Jerry Scoggins, American singer (b. 1913)
• 2004 – Jay Van Andel, American businessman, co-founded Amway (b. 1924)
• 2005 – Rigoberto Alpizar, Costa Rica-American shooting victim (b. 1961)
• 2005 – Bud Carson, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Lucy d'Abreu, Scottish super-centenarian (b. 1892)
• 2006 – Jeane Kirkpatrick, American diplomat, 16th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (b. 1926)
• 2006 – Jay McShann, American singer and pianist (b. 1910)
• 2008 – Marky Cielo, Filipino actor and dancer (b. 1988)
• 2008 – Herbert Hutner, American banker and lawyer (b. 1908)
• 2009 – Mark Ritts, American actor (b. 1946)
• 2010 – Elizabeth Edwards, American lawyer and author (b. 1949)
• 2010 – Gus Mercurio, American-Australian actor (b. 1928)
• 2011 – Harry Morgan, American actor and director (b. 1915)
• 2012 – Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti, Kuwaiti terrorist (b. 1965)
• 2012 – Ammar El Sherei, Egyptian music icon and composer (b. 1948)
• 2012 – Berthold Albrecht, German businessman (b. 1954)
• 2012 – P. J. Carey, American baseball player and manager (b. 1953)
• 2012 – Thomas Cornell, American painter (b. 1937)
• 2012 – Gilbert Durand, French academic (b. 1921)
• 2012 – Denis Houf, Belgian footballer (b. 1932)
• 2012 – William F. House, American physician (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Irene Hughes, American psychic (b. 1920)
• 2012 – Nikola Ilić, Serbian basketball player (b. 1985)
• 2012 – Roelof Kruisinga, Dutch physician and politician (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Jeni Le Gon, American actress and dancer (b. 1916)
• 2012 – Ralph Parr, American pilot (b. 1924)
• 2012 – Marty Reisman, American table tennis player and author (b. 1930)
• 2012 – Saul Steinberg, American businessman (b. 1939)
• 2012 – George Suppiah, Singaporean football referee (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Joseph R. Weisberger, American politician and jurist (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Flag Day (India)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Aemilianus (Greek Church)
  • Ambrose
  • December 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Eve of the Immaculate Conception-related observances:
  • Day of the Little Candles, begins after sunset. (Colombia)
  • Quema del Diablo, begins after sunset. (Guatemala)
• International Civil Aviation Day (International)
• National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day (United States)
• Spitak Remembrance Day (Armenia)
• Student Day (Iran)

External links

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

• Days of the year
• December