What Happened in December 1990

Historical Events

Event of Interest

Dec 1 New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing scores career high 22 field goals in his 50 point haul in 113-96 win v Charlotte at Madison Square Garden

Hall of Fame NBA Centre Patrick Ewing — Hall of Fame NBA Centre
Patrick Ewing

Dec 1 55th Iron Bowl: Alabama beats Auburn 16-7 in Birmingham
Dec 1 Davis Cup Tennis, St. Petersburg, Florida: Rick Leach and Jim Pugh beat Australian pair Pat Cash and John Fitzgerald 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 to clinch an unassailable 3-0 lead (ends 3-2) for the US
Dec 2 First parliamentary election in newly reunified Germany
Dec 2 First time 12 people in space at the same time
Dec 2 US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) launches into orbit
Dec 4 Due to Persian Gulf crisis gas hits $1.60 per gallon price in NYC
Dec 4 Iraq announces it will release all 3,300 Soviet hostages
Dec 4 An Iraqi official reports that Iraq will withdraw if it can retain control of the Rumailah field and keep Bubiyan and Werbah islands; also says that demands that the Palestinian issue be treated separately would not be surmountable
Dec 5 Blue Jays trade F McGriff & T Fernandez to SD for R Alomar & J Carter
Dec 5 Former Noriega aide Luis del Cid pleads guilty

Dec 5 British Indian novelist Salman Rushdie appears in public for 1st time in 2 years after Iran called for his assassination
Dec 5 Iraq announces willingness to speak with US about resolving the Persian Gulf crisis
Dec 6 NHL grants conditional membership to Tampa Bay Lightning

Event of Interest

Dec 6 Saddam Hussein announces release of all foreign hostages

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein — Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein

Dec 6 Shoeless Joe Jackson's signature is sold for $23,100
Dec 7 Iraqi parliment endorses Saddam Hussein's decision to free hostages

Engagement of Interest

Dec 7 Ted Turner & Jane Fonda announce their engagement

Founder of CNN Ted Turner — Founder of CNN
Ted Turner

Dec 8 Galileo Earth-1 Flyby
Dec 8 Indians agree to a lease new ballpark in Gateway (Jacobs Field)

Event of Interest

Dec 9 Betsy King wins Itoman LPGA World Match Play Golf Championship

LPGA Golfer Betsy King — LPGA Golfer
Betsy King

Dec 9 Gunda Niemann skates ladies world record 3k ladies (4:10.80)
Dec 9 Houston scores most points against Cleveland, Oilers 58, Browns 14

Election of Interest

Dec 9 Lech Wałęsa wins Poland's 1st direct presidential election in Poland

Polish Politician and Labor Activist Lech Wałęsa — Polish Politician and Labor Activist
Lech Wałęsa

Dec 9 NFL NY Giant Otis Anderson becomes 8th to rush for 10,000th yard
Dec 9 23rd NAACP Image Awards: "Coming to America" wins Outstanding Motion Picture
Dec 10 Hindu-Muslim rebellion in Hyderabad-Aligargh India, 140 die
Dec 10 Soyuz TM-10 lands
Dec 10 Space Shuttle STS 35 (Columbia 11) lands
Dec 11 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga Tn I-75, due to fog
Dec 11 US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) returns from space
Dec 12 US accuses Iraq of dragging its feet on dates for talks
Dec 12 US ambassador to Kuwait, Nathaniel Howell, leaves Kuwait
Dec 13 "Peter Pan" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 45 performances
Dec 13 Heavy earthquake strikes Sicily, 18 die

Meeting of Interest

Dec 13 South African President F. W. de Klerk meets with Nelson Mandela to talk of end of apartheid

Anti-apartheid activist and South African President Nelson Mandela — Anti-apartheid activist and South African President
Nelson Mandela

Dec 13 US Secretary of State Baker questions Iraq's seriousness about Middle East peace

Event of Interest

Dec 14 Louis Jordan's revue "Five Guys Named Moe" premieres in London

Musician Louis Jordan — Musician
Louis Jordan

Dec 14 Right to Die case permits Nancy Cruzan to have her feeding tube removed, she dies 12 days later
Dec 16 Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
Dec 16 KUSW, Salt Lake City Utah, final shortwave radio transmissions
Dec 16 Rev Jean Betrand Aristide elected president of Haiti
Dec 17 KTBN, Salt Lake City Utah, begins shortwave radio transmissions
Dec 18 NL announces Buffalo, Denver, Miami, Orlando, Tampa-St Petersburg, & Washington, D.C. as 6 finalist for 1993 expansion (Miami & Denver win)
Dec 18 Bush reiterates his "no concessions" stance against Iraq
Dec 20 Pentagon warns Saddam that US air power is ready to attack on 1/15
Dec 20 Robert F X Sillerman purchases WAFL NY-NJ Knights for $11 million
Dec 20 Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze resigns
Dec 20 The world's first website and server go live at CERN
Dec 21 Steve & Mark Waugh complete 464* partnership for NSW v WA
Dec 22 Iraq announces it will never give up Kuwait
Dec 22 Israeli ferry capsizes killing 21 US servicemen
Dec 22 Lech Wałęsa sworn in as Poland's 1st popularly elected president

Event of Interest

Dec 22 Paul Coffey becomes the second NHL defenceman to record 1000 points, doing so in a record-breaking 770 games

NHL Star Paul Coffey — NHL Star
Paul Coffey

Dec 23 "Lettice & Lovage" closes at Barrymore Theater NYC after 284 performances
Dec 23 Slovenians vote to secede from Yugoslavia

Event of Interest

Dec 24 Expos trade Tim Raines to White Sox for Ivan Calderon & Barry Jones

MLB Outfielder Tim Raines — MLB Outfielder
Tim Raines

Dec 24 Saddam Hussein says Israel will be Iraq's 1st target

Film Premier

Dec 25 "The Godfather Part III" directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia premieres

Actress Diane Keaton — Actress
Diane Keaton

Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola — Filmmaker
Francis Ford Coppola

Event of Interest

Dec 26 Garry Kasparov beats Antatoly Karpov to retain chess championship

Chess Grandmaster and Political Activist Garry Kasparov — Chess Grandmaster and Political Activist
Garry Kasparov

Dec 26 Reggie Williams becomes 1st GM of WLAF's NY-NJ Knights
Dec 26 Senior Professional Baseball Association folds
Dec 28 2 die and 188 injured in a NYC subway electrical fire in tunnel near Clark Street, Brooklyn
Dec 28 Blockbuster Bowl 1: Florida State beats Penn State, 24-17
Dec 30 "Miser" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 93 performances
Dec 30 11th United Negro College Fund raises $10,000,000
Dec 31 Iraq begins a military draft of 17 year olds
Dec 31 Sci-Fi Channel on cable TV begins transmitting
Dec 31 United Somali Congress seizes Presidential Palace

Famous Birthdays

Dec 9 LaFee, German singer
Dec 10 Giulia Boverio, Italian actress
Dec 12 Victor Moses, Nigerian footballer, born in Lagos, Nigeria
Dec 15 Rachel Brosnahan, American actress (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Dec 20 JoJo, American singer
Dec 22 Jean-Baptiste Maunier, French actor
Dec 23 Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress, model, and singer
Dec 26 Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
Dec 27 Luis Trujillo, Peruvian Football Player
Dec 27 Milos Raonic, Canadian tennis player (8 ATP titles), born in Titograd, Montenegro
Dec 28 David Archuleta, American Idol runner-up, American Singer

Famous Weddings

Wedding of Interest

Dec 1 Film director John Carpenter (36) weds producer Sandy King

Horror film director John Carpenter — Horror film director
John Carpenter

Wedding of Interest

Dec 15 Rocker Rod Stewart marries supermodel Rachel Hunter

Wedding of Interest

Dec 15 Actress Natasha Richardson (27) weds producer Robert Fox (37)

Wedding of Interest

Dec 15 Academy award-winning director David Lean (82) weds interior designer Sandra Cooke (51)

Film Director David Lean — Film Director
David Lean

Dec 24 Actor Tom Cruise (28) marries actress Nicole Kidman (23)
Dec 29 Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton weds Shannon Kelley

Famous Deaths

Dec 1 Jan H de Groot, Dutch co-founder (Vrij Nederland), dies

Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Dec 1 Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Indian diplomat and politician, dies at 90

Aaron Copland

Dec 2 Aaron Copland, American composer (Billy the Kid, Fanfare for Common Man), dies at 90

Dec 2 Robert Cummings, American actor (Love that Bob, Dial M For Murder), dies of kidney failure at 80
Dec 3 Gavin Reed, actor (Body Beneath), dies at 59
Dec 4 Edward Binns, US actor (12 Angry One), dies of heart attack at 74
Dec 5 Steven Shaw, dies at 25

Tunku Abdul Rahman

Dec 6 Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's founding father, 1st Prime Minister of Malaya (1957-63) and Malaysia (1963-70), dies at 87

Dec 7 Delecta "Dee" Clark, US singer (Raindrops), dies at 52
Dec 7 Horst Bienek, German writer and director (The First Polka), dies at 60
Dec 7 Joan Bennett, US actress (House Across the Bay), dies at 80
Dec 7 Jean Paul Lemieux, Quebec painter (b. 1904)
Dec 7 Peter Mieg, Swiss composer, dies at 84
Dec 7 Jean Duceppe, Quebec actor (Mon oncle Antoine), dies at 67
Dec 7 Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet and novelist (Pentagonia), dies at 47
Dec 8 Martin Ritt, American actor and director (The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Slugger's Wife, End of the Game), dies at 76
Dec 8 Pony Sherrell Metcalf, NY, singer, dies of heart attack
Dec 9 Mike Mazurki, Austrian-American actor and and professional wrestler (Some Like It Hot, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World), dies at 82
Dec 10 Armand Hammer, CEO (Occidental Petroleum), dies at 92
Dec 11 Fernand J Collin, Belgian economist/banker, dies at 92

Alice Marble

Dec 13 Alice Marble, California, tennis star, dies at 77

Dec 13 Friedrich Dörrenmatt, Swiss writer (Besuch der alten Dame), dies at 69
Dec 14 Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Swiss writer, dies of heart failure at 69
Dec 14 Hope Sansberry, actress (Rats are Coming), dies at 94
Dec 14 Johannes von Thurn und Taxis, prince in Germany, dies at 64
Dec 15 Betty Warren actress (Passport to Pimlico), dies
Dec 15 Jean Paige, actress (Capt Blood, Black Beauty), dies
Dec 16 Douglas Campbell, American aviator and World War I flying ace, dies at 94
Dec 17 Don Draper, actor (Pepper Agent 00X), dies of AIDS at 61
Dec 17 Mieke Verstraete [Maria Augustina De Graef], Belgian-Dutch actress (Pleasantly Settled), dies at 79
Dec 18 Anne Revere, actress (National Velvet), dies of pneumonia at 87
Dec 18 Paul Tortelier, composer, dies at 76
Dec 19 Basil Henson, actor (Change Partners), dies of stroke at 71
Dec 21 Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, American aeronautical engineer (Lockheed Skunk Works; b. 1910)
Dec 22 Cecil Effinger, composer, dies at 76
Dec 22 Helene Stanley, actress (Carnival Story, Roar of the Crowd), dies
Dec 23 Frank King, West Indian cricketer (WI fast bowler played 14 Tests 1953-56), dies at 64
Dec 24 Thorbjørn Egner, Norwegian author (b. 1922)
Dec 25 Marguerite N Wittenberg, entertainer, dies of cancer at 77
Dec 26 Nancy Cruznan, accident victim/right-to-die case, dies at 33
Dec 28 Ed van der Elsken, Dutch photographer (Sweet Life), dies at 65
Dec 28 Kiel Martin, American actor (Det LaRue-Hill Street Blues), dies of cancer at 46
Dec 28 Lucas Polhaupessy, Moluccan leader, dies
Dec 28 Walter Burle Marx, Brazilian pianist and composer, dies at 88
Dec 31 Dalton Cathey, American actor dies of AIDS at 44
Dec 31 George Allen, US football coach (LA Rams, Wash Redskins), dies
Dec 31 Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev, cosmonaut (Soyuz 12, 18A), dies at 62

1989
On This Day
1991