December 23

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December 23 is the 357th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (358th in leap years). There are 8 days remaining.

Nov - December - Jan
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31
2004 day arrangement
All days

Table of contents

1 Events
2 Births
3 Deaths
4 Holidays and Observances

Events

619 - Boniface V becomes Pope
1620 - Construction of Plymouth Colony begins
1823 - A Visit From St. Nicholas, attributed to Clement Moore, is first published
1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King
1913 - The Federal Reserve Act becomes law
1916 - The Battle of Magdhaba, Sinai peninsula
1947 - The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories
1972 - Terry Bradshaw throws the Immaculate Reception pass "to" Franco Harris
1973 - A Sobelair Caravelle passenger jet crashes in Morocco, killing 106
1979 - Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination
1990 - Republic of Slovenia votes to secede from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end (may also be December 21).

Births

1537 - John III of Sweden, King of Sweden (d. 1592)
1582 - Severo Bonini, composer (d. 1663)
1790 - Jean FranÃÂ§ois Champollion, egyptologist, deciphered the Rosetta Stone (d. 1832)
1805 - Joseph Smith, Jr, founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement (d. 1844)
1822 - Wilhelm Bauer, engineer (d. 1875)
1885 - Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)
1891 - Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter/photographer (d. 1956)
1918 - Helmut Schmidt, German Bundeskanzler 1974-1982
1918 - JosÃÂ© Greco, dancer (d. 2000)
1922 - Calder Willingham, writer (d. 1995)
1922 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician
1923 - James Stockdale, United States Navy admiral
1926 - Robert Bly, American poet
1933 - Akihito, Emperor of Japan
1935 - Paul Hornung, American football star
1940 - Jorma Kaukonen, musician
1943 - Harry Shearer, actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons)
1943 - Silvia, Queen of Sweden
1944 - Wesley Clark, US General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
1946 - Susan Lucci, soap opera actress
1948 - Jack Ham, American football star
1956 - Dave Murray, musician (Iron Maiden)
1958 - Victoria Williams, singer
1961 - Carol Smillie, British television personality
1964 - Eddie Vedder, musician (Pearl Jam)
1970 - Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
1971 - Corey Haim, actor
1971 - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite
1978 - Victor Martinez, Venezuelan baseball player
1978 - Estella Warren, actress

Deaths

913 - Conrad of Franconia (b. c. 890)
1568 - Roger Ascham, Elizabeth I's tutor (b. c.1515)
1834 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)
1872 - Theophile Gautier, poet, novelist (b. 1811)
1939 - Anthony Fokker, aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
1948 - Hideki Tojo (Prime Minister of Japan), hanged for war crimes (b. 1884)
1953 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (b. 1899)
1970 - Charles Ruggles, actor
1973 - Charles Atlas, bodybuilder
1973 - Irna Phillips, soap opera writer, director, producer
1979 - Peggy Guggenheim, art collector (b. 1898)
1982 - Jack Webb, actor, producer, director (b. 1920)
1992 - Eddie Hazel, guitarist, originally with Funkadelic (b. 1950)
2000 - Victor Borge, Danish/Americann humorist and pianist (b. 1909)
2000 - Billy Barty, actor

Holidays and Observances

Sweden - Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day
Roman Empire - Larentalia, a festival in honor of Larenta
Ancient Latvia - Ziemassvetki held
Fans of Seinfeld - Festivus held

December 22 - December 24 - November 23 - January 23 -- listing of all days

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