December 23
(Redirected from 23 December)
December 23 is the 357th day of the year (358th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are eight days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
Up to 1900
- 130 – Emperor Keiko of Japan (b. 60)
- 484 - Huneric, Vandal king
- 558 - Childebert I, King of Paris
- 668 - Mor Gabriel, Syriac bishop and saint (b. 594)
- 679 - Dagobert II, Frankish king (b. 650)
- 910 - Saint Naum of Ohrid, Macedonian missionary and scholar (b. 830)
- 918 - Conrad I of Germany (b. 890)
- 1193 – Saint Thorlak, patron Saint of Iceland (b. 1133)
- 1230 - Berengia of Navarre (b. 1165)
- 1572 – Johann Sylvan, German theologian
- 1575 – Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese military commander (b. 1531)
- 1588 - Henry I, Duke of Guise (b. 1550)
- 1631 – Michael Drayton, English poet (b. 1563)
- 1652 – John Cotton, English-born American minister (b. 1585)
- 1722 - Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)
- 1745 - Jan Dismas Zelenka, Bohemian composer (b. 1679)
- 1795 - Henry Clinton, English general and politician (b. 1730)
- 1831 - Emilie Plater, Lithuanian countess and freedom fighter (b. 1806)
- 1850 - Samuel Bell, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1770)
- 1851 - Giovanni Bechet, Italian poet and patriot (b. 1783)
- 1872 - George Catlin, American painter (b. 1796)
1901 – 2000
- 1902 – Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1821)
- 1920 - Walter Runeberg, Finnish sculptor (b. 1838)
- 1931 – Wilson Bentley, American scientist (b. 1865)
- 1939 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
- 1948 – Akira Muto, Japanese military commander (b. 1892)
- 1948 – Hideki Tōjō, 40th Prime Minister of Japan, Led the Attack on Pearl Harbour (b. 1884)
- 1950 - Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (b. 1878)
- 1953 - Lavrentiy Beria, Soviet-Georgian politician (b. 1899)
- 1954 - René Iché, French sculptor and scholar (b. 1897)
- 1961 - Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (b. 1910)
- 1970 - Aleksander Warma, Estonian politician (b. 1890)
- 1972 - Charles Atlas, American bodybuilder (b. 1892)
- 1972 – Andrei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1888)
- 1973 - Charles Atlas, Italian-American bodybuilder (b. 1892)
- 1978 - Misao Tamai, Japanese footballer (b. 1903)
- 1979 – Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)
- 1984 - Joan Lindsay, Australian writer (b. 1896)
- 1992 – Eddie Hazel, American musician (b. 1950)
- 1994 - Sebastian Shaw, British actor (b. 1905)
- 1997 - Stanley Cortez, American cinematographer (b. 1908)
- 1998 – Anatoly Rybakov, Russian writer (b. 1911)
- 1998 - Joe Orlando, Italian-American comics writer, artist and editor (b. 1927)
- 1998 - Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
- 2000 – Victor Borge, Danish comedian and pianist (b. 1909)
From 2001
- 2004 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)
- 2005 – Lajos Baroti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1914)
- 2007 – Oscar Peterson, American jazz pianist and composer (b. 1925)
- 2009 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (b. 1910)
- 2010 – K. Karunakaran, Indian politician (b. 1918)
- 2013 - Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian inventor of the AK-47 (b. 1919)
- 2013 - Yusef Lateef, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
- 2013 - Robert W. Wilson, American philanthropist and businessman (b. 1926)
- 2014 - K. Balachander, Indian director and producer (b. 1930)
- 2014 - Jeremy Lloyd, English writer, screenwriter, writer, poet and actor (b. 1930)
- 2014 - Jacques Chancel, French journalist and writer (b. 1928)
- 2015 - Hocine Aït Ahmed, Algerian politician (b. 1926)
- 2015 - Don Howe, English footballer (b. 1935)
- 2015 - Bülent Ulusu, Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1923)
- 2015 - Jean-Marie Pelt, French biologist, botanist and pharmacist (b. 1933)
- 2015 - Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist (b. 1941)
- 2016 - Anis Amri, Tunisian suspected terrorist (2016 Berlin attack) (b. 1992)
- 2016 - Heinrich Schiff, Austrian cellist and conductor (b. 1951)
- 2016 - Piers Sellers, English-American astronaut (b. 1955)
- 2017 - Maurice Hayes, Irish politician (b. 1927)
Births
1901 – 1950
- 1902 – Charan Singh, Prime Minister of India (d. 1987)
- 1903 - Boleslaw Kominek, Polish Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wroclaw (d. 1974)
- 1907 – Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean writer and poet (d. 2005)
- 1907 – Avraham Stern, Zionist group leader (d. 1942)
- 1908 – Yousuf Karsh, Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer (d. 2002)
- 1910 - Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (d. 1961)
- 1911 – Niels Kaj Jerne, Danish immunologist (d. 1994)
- 1911 - James Gregory, American actor (d. 2002)
- 1911 - Marie Olav, Estonian chess player (d. 1994)
- 1916 – Dino Risi, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1974-1982 (d. 2015)
- 1918 – José Greco, dancer (d. 2000)
- 1922 – Calder Willingham, writer (d. 1995)
- 1922 – Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (d. 2001)
- 1923 – James Stockdale, United States Navy admiral (d. 2005)
- 1923 – Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist (d. 2008)
- 1924 - Bob Kurland, American basketball player (d. 2013)
- 1925 - Pierre Bérégovoy, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
- 1925 – Mohammed Mzali, Prime Minister of Tunisia (d. 2010)
- 1926 – Robert Bly, American poet
- 1929 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1988)
- 1931 - Lev Durov, Russian actor (d. 2015)
- 1933 – Akihito, Emperor of Japan
- 1934 - Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor
- 1935 – Paul Hornung, American football player
- 1935 - Esther Phillips, American singer (d. 1984)
- 1936 – Frederic Forrest, American actor
- 1937 - Barney Rosenzweig, American screenwriter and producer
- 1937 - Nelson Shanks, American artist (d. 2015)
- 1939 - La Lupe, Cuban-American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
- 1939 - Nancy Graves, American sculptor, painter and printmaker (d. 1995)
- 1940 – Jorma Kaukonen, Finnish-American musician (Jefferson Airplane)
- 1941 – Tim Hardin, musician
- 1941 - Nigel Anthony, English actor
- 1942 – Quentin Bryce, 25th Governor-General of Australia
- 1942 - M. M. Ruhul Amin, Bangladeshi judge (d. 2017)
- 1942 - Lars-Erik Berenett, Swedish actor (d. 2017)
- 1943 – Mikhail Gromov, Russian mathematician
- 1943 – Harry Shearer, American actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons)
- 1943 – Silvia, Queen of Sweden
- 1943 - Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (d. 1987)
- 1944 – Wesley Clark, American General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
- 1945 - Adly Mansour, Interim President of Egypt
- 1946 - Ray Tabano, American musician
- 1946 – John Sullivan, English television writer (d. 2011)
- 1947 – Susan Lucci, soap opera actress
- 1948 - David Davis, British politician
- 1948 - Jim Ferguson, American guitarist, composer, writer and journalist
- 1948 – Jack Ham, American football player
- 1949 - Adrian Belew, American guitarist
- 1950 – Michael C. Burgess, American politician
- 1950 – Vicente del Bosque, Spanish football manager
- 1950 - Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, English general
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Anthony Phillips, British musician (Genesis)
- 1952 – William Kristol, American conservative commentator
- 1952 - David Loebsack, American politician
- 1953 - Andres Alver, Estonian architect
- 1953 - Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Russian aristocrat
- 1955 – Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet and playwright
- 1956 – Dave Murray, English musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1957 – Trisha Goddard, English television presenter
- 1958 – Victoria Williams, singer
- 1961 – Carol Smillie, Scottish television personality
- 1962 - Stefan Hell, Romanian-German physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize winner
- 1962 - Kang Je-gyu, South Korean movie director, producer and screenwriter
- 1963 – Jim Harbaugh, American football quarterback
- 1964 – Eddie Vedder, musician (Pearl Jam)
- 1966 - Badi Assad, Brazilian singer, guitarist and composer
- 1967 – Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Italian-French singer, model and former First Lady of France
- 1968 - Quincy Jones III, English-Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
- 1968 - Barry Kooser, American artist and animation filmmaker
- 1968 - Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Puerto Rican photographer
- 1968 - Sandra Roelofs, Dutch-born former First Lady of Georgia
- 1968 - Olga Shishigina, Kazakhstani hurdler
- 1969 – Martha Byrne, soap opera actress
- 1969 - Rob Pelinka, American basketball player, agent and lawyer
- 1970 – Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
- 1971 – Corey Haim, Canadian actor (d. 2010)
- 1971 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite (d. 2017)
- 1971 - Jo Johnson, British politician
- 1974 – Agustin Delgado, Ecuadorean footballer
From 1976
- 1976 - Joanna Hayes, American hurdler
- 1977 – Matt Baker, British television presenter
- 1977 – Alge Crumpler, American football player
- 1978 – Andra Davis, American football player
- 1978 – Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1978 – Estella Warren, Canadian actress and model
- 1978 – Esthero, Canadian musician and singer
- 1979 – Kenny Miller, Scottish footballer
- 1979 - Holly Madison, American model and actress
- 1981 - Agnes Milowka, Polish-Australian diver, explorer, writer and photographer (d. 2011)
- 1981 – Beth, Spanish singer
- 1981 – Mario Santana, Argentine footballer
- 1983 – Michael Chopra, English footballer
- 1983 - Lisa Dobriskey, English middle-distance runner
- 1984 - Alison Sudol, American actress, singer and songwriter
- 1985 - Harry Judd, English drummer (McFly)
- 1987 – Owen Franks, New Zealand rugby player
- 1988 - Eri Kamei, Japanese singer
- 1988 - Yuka Kashino, Japanese singer and dancer
- 1989 - Lils Koger, Estonian painter and architect
- 1990 – Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress
- 1992 - Spencer Daniels, American actor
- 1992 - Jeff Schlupp, German-Ghananian footballer
- 1996 - Bartosz Kapustka, Polish footballer
- 2002 - Finn Wolfhard, Canadian actor
Deaths
Observances
- Akihito's birthday (Japan)
- Saint Thorlak's Day (Iceland)
- HumanLight (secular humanism in the United States)
- Festivus
- Kiran Diwas (Uttar Pradesh)
- Victory Day (Egypt)
- Children's Day (Sudan and South Sudan)