1 Dey 1403

Events

• 1832 (194 years ago) Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeat Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya.
• 1861 (165 years ago) Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
• 1923 (103 years ago) United Kingdom and Nepal formally sign an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.
• 1941 (85 years ago) World War II: A Thai-Japanese Pact of Alliance is signed.
• 1968 (58 years ago) Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
• 1992 (34 years ago) A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro Airport, Portugal, killing 56.
• 1995 (31 years ago) The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
• 1999 (27 years ago) The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain.

Births

• 1804 (222 years ago) Benjamin Disraeli, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1881)
• 1917 (109 years ago) Heinrich Böll, German novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1985)
• 1937 (89 years ago) Jane Fonda, American actress and activist
• 1940 (86 years ago) Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer (died 1993)
• 1942 (84 years ago) Hu Jintao, Chinese engineer and politician, 5th Paramount leader of China
• 1948 (78 years ago) Samuel L. Jackson, American actor and producer
• 1967 (59 years ago) Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Georgia
• 1977 (49 years ago) Emmanuel Macron, French politician, 25th President of France

Deaths

• 72 (1954 years ago) Thomas the Apostle, Roman martyr and saint (born 1 AD)
• 1375 (651 years ago) Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author and poet (born 1313)
• 1549 (477 years ago) Marguerite de Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (born 1492)
• 1940 (86 years ago) F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist and short story writer (born 1896)
• 1945 (81 years ago) George S. Patton, American general (born 1885)
• 1958 (68 years ago) Lion Feuchtwanger, German-American author and playwright (born 1884)
• 1988 (38 years ago) Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907)
• 2006 (20 years ago) Saparmyrat Nyýazow, Turkmen engineer and politician, 1st President of Turkmenistan (born 1940) (date death announced)

All 284 events, births and deaths of December 21