December 18

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December 18 is the 352nd day of the year (353rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 13 days remain until the end of the year.

Events

• 218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Roman Republic.
• 1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China.
• 1352 - Innocent VI is elected Pope.
• 1642 - Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand
• 1787 - New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the United States Constitution.
• 1791 - Brissot de Warville, a leading member of the Girondist party, urges France to declare war on Austria.
• 1793 - Surrender of the frigate La Lutine by French royalists to Lord Hood; renamed HMS Lutine, she later becomes a famous treasure wreck.
• 1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified by Georgia, fulfilling the two-thirds requirement for ratification, and banning slavery in the United States.
• 1892 - The first performance of Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker is held at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.
• 1900 - The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia opened for traffic.
• 1926 - The first performance of Leoš Janáček's opera The Makropulos Affair is held in Brno, Czechoslovakia.
• 1932 - The Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the first ever NFL Championship Game. Due to a blizzard, the game was moved from Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the field measuring 60 yards long.
• 1935 - The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Sri Lanka.
• 1944 - World War II: 77 B-29 Superfortress and 200 other aircraft of U.S. Fourteenth Air Force bomb Hankow, China, a Japanese supply base.
• 1961 - Indonesia invades Netherlands New Guinea.
• 1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
• 1969 - Capital punishment in the United Kingdom: Home Secretary James Callaghan's motion to remove the limit on the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act, which suspended Capital punishment in England, Wales and Scotland for all crimes, except treason, piracy with violence, and certain crimes under the jurisdiction of the armed forces for a period of five years, is carried by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
• 1973 - Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13, crewed by cosmonauts Valentin Lebedev and Pyotr Klimuk, is launched from Baikonur in the Soviet Union.
• 1987 - Larry Wall releases the first version of the Perl programming language.
• 1996 - The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring "Ebonics" a language or dialect.
• 1997 - HTML 4.0 is published by the World Wide Web Consortium.
• 1999 - NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
• 2001 - The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan, New York City, is damaged by fire.
• 2002 - 2003 California recall: Governor of California Gray Davis announces that the state would face a record budget deficit of $35 billion, roughly double the figure reported during his reelection campaign one month earlier.
• 2006 - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigns, Robert Gates is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense.

Births

• 1507 - Ōuchi Yoshitaka, Japanese warlord (d. 1551)
• 1602 - Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian and politician (d. 1650)
• 1610 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (d. 1688)
• 1620 - Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (d. 1668)
• 1626 - Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)
• 1661 - Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
• 1662 - James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry, Scottish politician (d. 1711)
• 1707 - Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist (d. 1788)
• 1724 - Louise of Great Britain, wife of Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1751)
• 1725 - Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and Bible commentator (d. 1791)
• 1825 - Charles Griffin (general), American general (d. 1876)
• 1835 - Lyman Abbott, American author (d. 1922)
• 1847 - Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
• 1856 - Sir J.J. Thomson, British physicist and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
• 1860 - Edward MacDowell, American composer and pianist (d. 1908)
• 1863 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (d. 1914)
• 1870 - Saki, British writer (d. 1916)
• 1873 - Francis Burton Harrison, American political figure (d. 1957)
• 1878 - Josef Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
• 1879 - Paul Klee, Swiss-born painter (d. 1940)
• 1886 - Ty Cobb, American baseball player (d. 1961)
• 1888 - Robert Moses, American public works official (d. 1981)
• 1888 - Dame Gladys Cooper, British actress (d. 1971)
• 1890 - Edwin Armstrong, American inventor (d. 1954)
• 1897 - Fletcher Henderson, American arranger and composer (d. 1952)
• 1904 - George Stevens, American film director (d. 1975)
• 1907 - Bill Holland, American auto racer (d. 1984)
• 1908 - Paul Siple, American Antarctic explorer (d. 1969)
• 1910 - Abe Burrows, American playwright (d. 1985)
• 1911 - Jules Dassin, American film director
• 1912 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr., American General (d. 2002)
• 1913 - Alfred Bester, American author (d. 1987)
• 1913 - Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
• 1913 - Ray Meyer, former head coach of DePaul University men's basketball team (d. 2006)
• 1916 - Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973)
• 1916 - Douglas Fraser, British-born trade unionist
• 1917 - Ossie Davis, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1927 - Ramsey Clark, U.S. Attorney General
• 1927 - Romeo LeBlanc, 25th Governor General of Canada
• 1928 - Józef Glemp, Polish cardinal
• 1929 - Gino Cimoli, baseball player
• 1930 - Moose Skowron, baseball player
• 1931 - Allen Klein, rock and roll business manager
• 1934 - Boris Volynov, cosmonaut
• 1935 - Jacques Pépin, French chef
• 1936 - Malcolm Kirk, wrestler (d. 1987)
• 1938 - Roger E. Mosley, American actor
• 1938 - Joel Hirschhorn, American songwriter and composer (d. 2005)
• 1938 - Chas Chandler, English musician (The Animals) (d. 1996)
• 1939 - Michael Moorcock, British author
• 1939 - Harold E. Varmus, American scientist and Nobel Prize laureate
• 1940 - Bramwell Morrison, member of Sharon, Lois & Bram
• 1943 - Keith Richards, British guitarist (The Rolling Stones)
• 1945 - Jean Pronovost, National Hockey League player
• 1946 - Steven Spielberg, American film director
• 1946 - Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
• 1948 - Bill Nelson, British musician (Be Bop Deluxe)
• 1948 - Laurent Voulzy, French singer and composer
• 1949 - David A. Johnston, USGS volcanoligist first to report mt StHelens 1980 eruption
• 1950 - Gillian Armstrong, Australian film director
• 1950 - Leonard Maltin, American film critic
• 1950 - Randy Castillo, American drummer (Ozzy Osbourne) (d.2002)
• 1953 - Elliot Easton, American guitarist (The Cars)
• 1955 - Ray Liotta, American actor
• 1956 - Ron White, American comedian
• 1960 - Kazuhide Uekusa, Japanese economist
• 1961 - Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater
• 1963 - Karl Dorrell, American football coach
• 1963 - Brad Pitt, American actor
• 1964 - Stone Cold Steve Austin, American professional wrestler
• 1964 - Don Beebe, American football player
• 1964 - Robson Green, British actor and singer
• 1965 - Tommy Davidson, American actor
• 1966 - Mille Petrozza, German singer (Kreator)
• 1967 - Toine van Peperstraten, Dutch sports journalist
• 1968 - Rachel Griffiths, Australian actress
• 1968 - Casper Van Dien, American actor
• 1968 - Alejandro Sanz, Spanish singer
• 1969 - Santiago Cañizares, Spanish footballer
• 1970 - DMX, American rapper and actor
• 1970 - Miles Marshall Lewis, American author
• 1970 - Rob Van Dam, American professional wrestler
• 1970 - Cowboy Troy, American rapper
• 1970 - Anthony Catanzaro, American fitness model
• 1970 - Johnny Yeo, British artist
• 1971 - Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Spanish tennis player
• 1971 - Barkha Dutt, Indian journalist
• 1972 - DJ Lethal, Latvian DJ (House of Pain & Limp Bizkit)
• 1973 - Raymond Herrera, American drummer (Fear Factory)
• 1974 - Kari Byron, artist and television personality
• 1974 - Peter Boulware, American football player
• 1974 - Euroboy, Norwegian musician (Turbonegro)
• 1975 - Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler
• 1975 - Masaki Sumitani, Japanese comedian
• 1976 - Koyuki, Japanese actress and model
• 1977 - José Acevedo, baseball player
• 1978 - Katie Holmes, American actress
• 1978 - Ali Curtis, American footballer
• 1978 - Daniel Cleary, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 - Carlos Fernandes, Portuguese footballer
• 1980 - Christina Aguilera, American singer
• 1980 - Lakeisha Burford,American Film director and Producer
• 1982 - Dave Luetkenhoelter, American bassist (Kutless)
• 1983 - Darren Carter, English footballer
• 1985 - Hana Soukupová, Czech supermodel
• 1985 - Tara Conner, 2006 Miss USA
• 1987 - Ayaka, Japanese singer
• 1987 - Miki Ando, Japanese figure skater
• 1989 - Ashley Benson, American actress

Deaths

• 821 - Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans
• 1133 - Hildebert, French writer
• 1290 - King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
• 1442 - Pierre Cauchon, French Catholic bishop (b. 1371)
• 1495 - King Alphonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
• 1692 - Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German statesman (b. 1626)
• 1737 - Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (b. 1644)
• 1787 - Francis William Drake, British Admiral and Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1724)
• 1787 - Soame Jenyns, English writer (b. 1704)
• 1799 - Jean-Étienne Montucla, French mathematician (b. 1725)
• 1803 - Johann Gottfried Herder, German writer (b. 1744)
• 1843 - Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, British Viceroy of India (b. 1748)
• 1848 - Bernard Bolzano, Bohemian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1781)
• 1869 - Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American composer and pianist (b. 1829)
• 1880 - Michel Chasles, French mathematician (b. 1793)
• 1936 - Andrija Mohorovičić, Austro-Hungarian-born Yugoslav seismologist (b. 1857)
• 1966 - Tara Browne, British socialite (b. 1945)
• 1971 - Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
• 1971 - Diana Lynn, American actress (b. 1926)
• 1973 - Allama Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher (b. 1908)
• 1974 - Harry Hooper, American baseball player (b. 1887)
• 1975 - Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ukrainian geneticist (b. 1900)
• 1980 - Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the USSR (b. 1904)
• 1982 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German pilot (b. 1916)
• 1985 - Xuân Diệu, Vietnamese poet (b. 1916)
• 1990 - Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (b. 1914)
• 1990 - Anne Revere, American actress (b. 1903)
• 1991 - George Abecassis, British Formula 1 driver (b. 1913)
• 1992 - Mark Goodson, American game show producer (b. 1915)
• 1993 - Sam Wanamaker, American actor (b. 1919)
• 1993 - Charizma, hip-hop artist
• 1994 - Roger Apéry, Greek-French mathematician (b. 1916)
• 1995 - Konrad Zuse, German engineer and computing pioneer (b. 1910)
• 1996 - Yulii Borisovich Khariton, Russian physicist (b. 1904)
• 1997 - Chris Farley, American actor and comedian (b. 1964)
• 1998 - Lev Demin, cosmonaut (b. 1926)
• 1999 - Robert Bresson, French film director (b. 1907)
• 2000 - Kirsty MacColl, British singer and songwriter (b. 1959)
• 2001 - Gilbert Bécaud, French singer (b. 1927)
• 2001 - Dimitris Dragatakis, Greek composer (b. 1914)
• 2002 - Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (b. 1934)
• 2004 - Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b. 1926)
• 2005 - Alan Voorhees, American engineer and urban planner (b. 1922)
• 2006 - Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
• 2006 - Ruth Bernhard, American photographer (1905)
• 2006 - Mike Dickin, British radio broadcaster (b. 1943)
• 2006 - Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani author, journalist and political activist (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances

• Roman festivals - Feast of Epona (during Saturnalia)
• R.C. Saints - Gatianus of Tours, O Adonai
• Also see December 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Niger - Republic Day (autonomous in 1958)
• Greek Orthodox Church – Feast of Sebastian the Martyr

External links

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

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