December 11
December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining.
Events
- 1282 - Llywelyn ap Gruffydd or Gruffudd (b. c. 1228) the last native Prince of Wales, was killed at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales. He was the last prince of an independent Wales before its conquest by King Edward I of England. Some would say he was the penultimate, but in effect he was the last ruler. In Welsh, he is remembered by the alliterative soubriquet Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf (Llywelyn, Our Last Leader).
- 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. (This actually takes place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.)
- 1792 - French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
- 1816 - Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
- 1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
- 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, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
- 1934 - A fire at the Hotel Kerns in Lansing, Michigan, kills 34 people.
- 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.
- 1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
- 1951 - Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement from baseball.
- 1958 - Upper Volta declares its independence from France, and becomes an autonomous republic in the French Community.
- 1961 - Melvin Calvin Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for process of photosynthesis.
- 1964 - An unknown terrorist fired a mortar shell at the United Nations building in New York City during a speech by Che Guevara
- 1970 - John Lennon releases the album Plastic Ono Band.
- 1971 - The Libertarian Party of the United States is formed.
- 1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.
- 1981 - In his last fight, Muhammad Ali is defeated by Trevor Berbick.
- 1981 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes UN Secretary-General
- 1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's 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 assembled by Ramzi Yousef explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman.
- 1997 - The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change opens for signature.
- 1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
- 2000 - Real Madrid football club is awarded 20th Century's best club award by Fifa
- 2001 - The People's Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.
- 2005 - The Buncefield Oil Depot in Hemel Hempstead is rocked by explosions, causing a huge oil fire.
- 2005 - 2005 Cronulla riots: Thousands of Australians demonstate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who were not) in Cronulla Sydney. These are followed up by ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
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
- 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, British 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)
- 1843 - Robert Koch, German bacteriologist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
- 1858 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian-born Soviet theatre director (d. 1943)
- 1863 - Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (d. 1941)
- 1873 - Josip Plemelj, Austro-Hungarian-born Yugoslav mathematician (d. 1967)
- 1880 - Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
- 1882 - Subramanya Bharathy, Indian poet (d. 1921)
- 1882 - Max Born, German physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1882 - Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City (d. 1947)
- 1883 - Victor McLaglen, British-born American actor (d. 1959)
- 1889 - Walter Knott, farmer and creator of Knott's Berry Farm (d. 1981).
- 1890 - Mark Tobey, American painter (d. 1976)
- 1905 - Gilbert Roland, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1908 - Elliott Carter, American composer
- 1911 - Naguib Mahfouz, Egyptian writer and Nobel Prize laureate
- 1911 - Val Guest, British film director (d. 2006)
- 1912 - Carlo Ponti, Italian film producer
- 1913 - Jean Marais, French actor (d. 1998)
- 1916 - Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban-born bandleader and composer (d. 1989)
- 1918 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Soviet-born Russian writer and Nobel Prize laureate
- 1919 - Marie Windsor, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1920 - Big Mama Thornton (Willie Mae Thornton), American blues singer (d. 1984)
- 1922 - Grace Paley, American writer
- 1925 - Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist and Nobel Prize laureate
- 1930 - Jean-Louis Trintignant, French actor
- 1931 - Rita Moreno, Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actress
- 1933 - Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., Filipino politician
- 1935 - Pranab Mukherjee, Indian politician
- 1936 - Taku Yamasaki, Japanese politician
- 1938 - McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist
- 1939 - Tom Hayden, American politician
- 1940 - David Gates, American musician from the band Bread
- 1942 - Donna Mills, American actress
- 1943 - John Kerry, American politician and Presidential candidate
- 1944 - Teri Garr, American film actress
- 1944 - Brenda Lee, American singer
- 1950 - Christina Onassis, American heiress (d. 1988)
- 1954 - Jermaine Jackson, American singer and bassist
- 1954 - Guðlaugur Kristinn Óttarsson, Icelandic guitar player, polytechnic engineer and inventor
- 1958 - Nikki Sixx, American bassist (Mötley Crüe)
- 1959 - Lisa Gastineau, American reality show star
- 1962 - Ben Browder, American actor
- 1964 - David Schools, American singer and bassist (Widespread Panic)
- 1964 - Cosy Sheridan, American singer and songwriter
- 1966 - Gary Dourdan, American actor
- 1966 - Leon Lai, Beijing-born Canadian actor and Cantopop singer
- 1967 - DJ Yella, American music producer and film director
- 1969 - Vishwanathan Anand, Indian chess grandmaster
- 1969 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Norwegian footballer
- 1972 - Daniel Alfredsson, right winger for the Ottawa Senators (NHL)
- 1972 - Dana Macsim, Romanian television news reporter
- 1973 - Mos Def, American MC
- 1974 - Oscar Gutierrez, American wrestler
- 1974 - Ben Shephard, TV personality
- 1975 - Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist
- 1979 - Rider Strong, American actor
- 1981 - Zachary Jonathan "Zacky Vengeance" Baker, American musician (Avenged Sevenfold)
- 1981 - Javier Saviola, Argentine international footballer and Olympic gold medalist
- 1988 - Murugan Thiruchelvam, chess prodigy
Deaths
- 384 - Pope Damasus I
- 1121 - Al-Afdal Shahanshah, Caliph of Egypt (b. 1066)
- 1226 - Robert de Ros, English politician (b. 1177)
- 1282 - Llywelyn the Last, King of Gwynedd
- 1282 - Michael VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1225)
- 1532 - Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1455)
- 1694 - Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1630)
- 1737 - John Strype, English historian (b. 1643)
- 1757 - Edmund Curll, English bookseller (b. 1675)
- 1797 - Richard Brocklesby, British physician (b. 1722)
- 1840 - Emperor Kokaku of Japan (b. 1771)
- 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 and recipient of Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
- 1941 - John Gillespie Magee, Jr., American poet and aviator (b. 1922)
- 1945 - Charles Fabry, French physicist (b. 1867)
- 1950 - Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer (b. 1893)
- 1957 - Musidora (Jeanne Roques), French actress (b. 1889)
- 1964 - Sam Cooke, American singer (b. 1931)
- 1978 - Vincent du Vigneaud, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
- 1983 - Sir Neil Ritchie, British General (b. 1897)
- 1984 - Oskar Seidlin, Silesian-born scholar (b. 1911)
- 1989 - Louise Dahl-Wolfe, American photographer (b. 1895)
- 1994 - Philip Phillips, American archaeologist (b. 1900)
- 1996 - Willie Rushton, British cartoonist (b. 1937)
- 1998 - André Lichnerowicz, Polish-French physicist (b. 1915)
- 2003 - Ahmadou Kourouma, Côte d'Ivoire writer (b. 1927)
- 2004 - M.S. Subbulakshmi, Indian singer (b. 1916)
Holidays and observances
- Roman festivals - One of the four Agonalia, this day in honour of Sol Indiges; also the Septimontium festival
- R.C. Saints - pope Damasus I: optional memorial; also Daniel the Stylite (not universal)
- Also see December 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Argentina - Tango Day, Buenos Aires
- Burkina Faso - Republic Day (1958, Upper Volta became an autonomous republic in the French Community.)
- USA - Admission day for Indiana (19th state, 1816)
External links
December 10 - December 12 - November 11 - January 11 -- listing of all days