Thomas Becket
1170 Thomas Becket, English Archbishop of Canterbury, assassinated by 4 knights of King Henry II at 52
Thomas Becket
- 1563 Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (b. 1515)
- 1619 Antoine Arnauld, French lawyer (Philippica), dies
- 1634 John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop, dies at 22
- 1661 Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594)
- 1689 Olfert Dapper, Amsterdam historian/geographer, buried
- 1689 Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)
- 1731 Brook Taylor, English mathematician, discoverer of Taylor's Theorem, dies at 46
- 1737 Joseph Saurin, French mathematician (b. 1659)
- 1785 Johan Herman Wessel, Norwegian poet (b. 1742)
- 1815 Saartjie Baartman, Hottentot Venus, dies in Paris
- 1821 Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau de Bergendael, S Neth general, dies at 61
- 1825 Jacques-Louis David, French Neoclassical painter (Death of Marat), dies at 77
- 1877 Willem Sassen, Dutch attorney general on Curacao (Affair-S), dies
- 1890 Big Foot, Sioux Indian chief, dies at Wounded Knee
- 1891 Leopold Kronecker, German mathematician (Tensor of Kronecker), dies at 68
- 1894 Christina Rossetti, English poet (Winter Rain, Passing Away) dies at 64
- 1897 William James Linton, American wood engraver and political reformer. (b. 1812)
- 1905 Martin Wiberg, Swedish computer pioneer, dies at 79
Grigori Rasputin
1916 Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk and confidant of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, assassinated by conservative Russian aristocrats at 45
Grigori Rasputin
- 1919 William Osler, Canadian physician and author (circulatory system), dies at 70
- 1924 Carl Spitteler, Swiss writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
- 1925 Félix E Vallotton, Swiss painter/writer (Chaste Susanne), dies at 60
- 1926 Rainer Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (Ana, The City, Duino Elegies), dies at 51
- 1929 Wilhelm Maybach, German automobile designer (b. 1846)
- 1933 Joh Georghe Duca, premier of Romania, murdered
- 1937 Don Marquis, American author (b. 1878)
- 1942 Frank D Adams, Canadian geologist, dies at 83
- 1943 William Henry Singer, American painter and collector (Singer Museum, Laren), dies at 75
- 1947 Joseph Cuvelier, Belgian historian/general, dies at 78
- 1956 Martin Albertz, German theologist (Jesus Christ's Church) and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime, dies at 73
- 1960 Eden Phillpotts, British writer (b. 1862)
- 1960 Philippe Panneton, Quebec physician, diplomat and writer (b. 1895)
- 1964 Bernard von Brentano, German writer (Big Cats), dies at 63
- 1968 Austin Farrer, English theologian and philosopher (b. 1904)
- 1970 John de Mol, Dutch accordionist, dies at 58
- 1970 William King Gregory, American palaeontologist (mammalian teeth, evolutionary theory), dies at 94
- 1975 Euell Gibbons, American outdoorsman and proponent of natural diets (b. 1911).
- 1980 Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer (b. 1899)
- 1981 Guido Provoost, Belgian historian, dies at 41
- 1981 Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (b. 1893)
- 1984 Sidney Garfield, American physician and pioneer of health maintenance organizations (Kaiser Permanente), dies at 78
- 1986 Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet director (Solaris, Stalker), dies at 54
Harold Macmillan
1986 Harold Macmillan, British Conservative politician and Prime Minister (1957-63), dies at 92
Harold Macmillan
- 1991 Julia McCarthy, dies of cancer at 64
- 1992 LH Ruitenberg, vicar/editor in chief (Reform Netherlands), dies at 87
- 1995 Hope Clara Chenhalls, food inspector, dies at 85
- 1995 Madeleine Barot, French activist and theologian, dies at 86
- 1995 Nello Celio, President of Switzerland (1972), dies at 81
- 1995 Philip Idenburg, Dutch statistician, dies at 94
- 1996 Alma Birk, journalist/politician, dies at 77
- 1996 Daniel Raphaeautl Mayer, journalist/resistance leader, dies at 86
- 1996 Oswald Szemerényi, Hungarian linguist, dies at 83
- 1996 Peggy (Margaret McCrorie) Herbison, politician, dies at 89
- 1996 Robert Morris, lawyer, dies at 81
- 1996 Willaim Brown, British TV executive, dies at 67
- 1996 William Thomas Pennar Davies, poet author/theologian, dies at 85
- 1998 Jean-Claude Forest, writer and illustrator of comics (Barbarella) (b. 1930)
- 1999 Leon Radzinowicz, British criminologist (b. 1906)
- 2004 Julius Axelrod, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1912)
- 2005 Gerda Boyesen, Norwegian-born body psychotherapist (b. 1922)
- 2007 Kevin Greening, British radio presenter (b. 1962)
- 2008 Kees [Cornelis Pieter] van Dijk, Dutch minister of the Interior, dies at 77
- 2009 Akmal Shaikh, British drug trafficker, executed by lethal injection in the People's Republic of China (b. 1956)
- 2009 David Levine, American artist (New York Review of Books caricatures), dies at 83
- 2017 John C. Portman Jr., American architect (Ivan Allen Award-1964), dies at 93
December in History
Business a Rocky Road for Hansom Cab Pioneer
Architect and inventor Joseph Hansom was a man of vision who somehow found it impossible to turn his great ideas into money-making ventures.
December 23, 1834
The Day Murdoch Spoilt the Queen's Christmas
Queen Elizabeth II made the first live Christmas Day broadcast of her reign on December 25, 1952. Forty years later a pre-recorded message would be leaked.
December 25, 1952
'Hitler Will Have to Break Us or Lose the War'
The German Luftwaffe were hammering the British RAF until a furious and frustrated Hitler changed the plan and possibly the outcome of the war.
December 29, 1940
The Taming of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill made an emotional speech to the Canadian Parliament on this day, December 30, 1941. His photograph from that day is just as memorable.
December 30, 1941