December 23

2023 Calendar

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)