December 4
December 4 is the 338th day of the year (339th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 27 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
Up to 1900
- 749 – John of Damascus, Syrian monk, priest and saint (b. 676)
- 771 – Carloman, Frankish ruler
- 1075 – Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne (b. 1010)
- 1123 – Omar Khayyam, Persian poet, philosopher, astronomer and mathematician (b. 1048)
- 1214 – William the Lion, King of Scotland (b. 1143)
- 1334 – Pope John XXII (b. 1249)
- 1576 – George Joachim Rheticus, Austrian–Slovakian mathematician (b. 1544)
- 1609 – Alexander Hume, Scottish poet (b. 1560)
- 1642 – Cardinal Richelieu (b. 1885)
- 1679 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (b. 1588)
- 1680 – Thomas Bartholin, Danish physician, mathematician and theologian (b. 1616)
- 1696 – Empress Meisho of Japan (b. 1624)
- 1798 – Luigi Galvani, Italian physicist (b. 1737)
- 1828 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1770)
- 1850 – William Sturgeon, British physicist and inventor (b. 1783)
- 1891 – Frederick Whitaker, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1812)
- 1893 – John Tyndall, Irish physicist (b. 1820)
- 1894 – Leon Ribbett, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1836)
- 1897 – Griffith Rhys Jones, Welsh conductor (b. 1834)
1901 – 1950
- 1908 – Alfred Hershey, American bacteriologist (d. 1997)
- 1909 – Archduke Karl Pius of Austria, Prince of Tuscany (d. 1953)
- 1910 – R. Venkataraman, 8th President of India (d. 2009)
- 1913 – Robert Adler, American physicist and inventor (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Mark Robson, Canadian–American movie director, producer and editor (d. 1978)
- 1914 – Claude Renoir, French cinematographer (d. 1993)
- 1917 – Movita Castaneda, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
- 1918 – Robert Ettinger, American academic and pioneer of Cryonics (d. 2011)
- 1919 – I. K. Gujral, Prime Minister of India (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Nadir Afonso, Portuguese painter (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Deanna Durbin, Canadian actress (d. 2013)
- 1921 – Carlos Franqui, Cuban writer and journalist (d. 2010)
- 1923 – Charles Keating, American lawyer, financier and real estate developer (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Demmus Hentze, Faroese politician (d. 2016)
- 1923 – John Krish, British screenwriter and director (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountain climber (d. 2009)
- 1926 – Shigeo Sugimoto, Japanese footballer (d. 2002)
- 1926 – Monty M. Wyche, American judge (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Gae Aulenti, Italian architect and designer (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Spanish writer (d. 2019)
- 1930 – Ronnie Corbett, Scottish actor and comedian (d. 2016)
- 1930 – Jim Hall, American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Alex Delvecchio, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1932 – Roh Tae-woo, former President of South Korea
- 1933 – Horst Buchholz, German actor (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Paul Henry O'Neill, 72nd United States Secretary of the Treasury
- 1939 – Freddy Cannon, American rock musician
- 1939 – Stephen W. Bosworth, American diplomat (d. 2016)
- 1939 – Etienne Mourrut, French politician (d. 2014)
- 1940 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (d. 1977)
- 1942 – Gemma Jones, English actress
- 1944 – Anna McGarrigle, Canadian folk musician, singer and songwriter
- 1944 – Dennis Wilson, American musician (d. 1983)
- 1944 – Chris Hillman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1945 – Roberta Bondar, Canadian astronaut
- 1949 – Jeff Bridges, American actor
- 1949 – Pamela Stephenson, New Zealand–born actress and psychologist
1951 – 2000
- 1951 – Mir Waiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusouf appointed President of Azad Kashmir Government.
- 1952 – Great Smog of 1952: A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing up to 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow.
- 1954 – The first Burger King opens in Miami, Florida.
- 1958 – Dahomey (present–day Benin) becomes a self–governing country within the French Community.
- 1967 – Vietnam War: US and South Vietnamese forces engage NLF troops in the Mekong Delta.
- 1969 – Black Panther members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are shot and killed in their sleep during a raid by 14 Chicago, Illinois police officers.
- 1969 – Surfer Greg Noll rides a 65–foot wave on the North Shore of Oahu, still the highest ever recorded.
- 1971 – UN Security Council calls emergency session to consider deteriorating situation between India and Pakistan.
- 1971 – The Montreux Casino in Switzerland is set ablaze by someone wielding a flare gun during a Frank Zappa concert.
- 1974 – A Dutch Douglas DC–8 airliner, carrying Indonesian pilgrims to Mecca, crashes in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing all 191 people on board.
- 1975 – Suriname joins the UN.
- 1977 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, president of the Central African Republic, crowns himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire.
- 1977 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjong Kupang, Johor, killing 100.
- 1978 – Following the murder of Mayor George Moscone, Dianne Feinstein becomes San Francisco, California's first woman mayor (she served until January 8, 1988).
- 1979 – The Hastie fire in Hull, kills three schoolboys and eventually leads police to arrest Bruce George Peter Lee.
- 1980 – The rock group Led Zeppelin formally announce their breakup.
- 1981 – South Africa grants "homeland" Ciskei independence (not recognized outside South Africa).
- 1982 – The People's Republic of China adopts its current constitution.
- 1984 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan army soldiers kill between 107 and 150 civilians.
- 1984 – Hezbollah militants hijack a Kuwaiti Airlines plane, killing 4 passengers.
- 1991 – Journalist Terry Anderson is released after 7 years in captivity as a hostage in Beirut (he was the last and longest–held American hostage in Lebanon).
- 1991 – United States airline Pan Am ends operations.
- 1992 – Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 US troops to Somalia.
- 1993 – A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.
- 1994 – Pakistan wins World Hockey Championship after 12 years, beating the Netherlands by four goals to three, in Sydney.
- 1998 – Unity, the second module of the International Space Station, is launched.
From 2001
- 2004 – Elizabeth Azcona Cranwell, Argentine poet and translator (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Pimp C, American rapper (b. 1973)
- 2008 – Forrest J Ackerman, American science fiction publisher (b. 1916)
- 2009 – Eddie Fatu, professional wrestler better known as Umaga (b. 1973)
- 2011 – Dev Anand, Indian actor, director and producer (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Socrates, Brazilian footballer (b. 1954)
- 2011 – Hubert Sumlin, American blues guitarist (b. 1931)
- 2011 – Matti Yrjana Joensuu, Finnish crime fiction writer (b. 1948)
- 2012 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer (b. 1971)
- 2012 – Besse Cooper, American supercentenarian, oldest person in the world from June 21, 2011 (b. 1896)
- 2013 – Joana Raspall i Juanola, Catalan writer (b. 1913)
- 2014 – Claudia Emerson, American poet (b. 1957)
- 2014 – V. R. Krishna Iyer, Indian judge (b. 1914)
- 2014 – Lynne Kosky, Australian politician (b. 1958)
- 2014 – Jeremy Thorpe, English politician (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Bill Bennett, Canadian politician, Premier of British Columbia (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Robert Loggia, American actor (b. 1930)
- 2015 – Yossi Sarid, Israeli politician (b. 1940)
- 2015 – Dag Skogheim, Norwegian writer (b. 1928)
- 2015 – Erik De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist (b. 1945)
- 2016 – Gotlib, French comics artist (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Jimmy Hood, Scottish politician (b. 1948)
- 2017 – Shashi Kapoor, Indian actor (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Christine Keeler, English model (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Manuel Marín, Spanish politician (b. 1949)
- 2017 – Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of Yemen (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Carles Santos, Spanish pianist (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Rudolph G. Wilson, American professor, storyteller, writer and public speaker (b. 1935)
- 2018 – Kadyrzhan Batyrov, Kyrgyz businessman and political activist (b. 1956)
- 2018 – Selma Engel-Wijnberg, Dutch Holocaust survivor (b. 1922)
- 2018 – Nika Rurua, Georgian politician (b. 1968)
- 2019 – Thomas Elsaesser, German film historian and critic (b. 1943)
- 2019 – Leonard Goldberg, American film and television producer (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Rosa Morena, Spanish flamenco pop singer and actress (b. 1941)
- 2019 – Margaret Morgan Lawrence, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (b. 1914)
- 2019 – Bob Willis, English cricketer (b. 1949)
Births
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Gary Rossington, American musician (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
- 1951 – Patricia Wettig, American actress and playwright
- 1953 – Jean-Marie Pfaff, Belgian footballer
- 1954 – Tony Todd, American actor and movie producer
- 1955 – Philip Hammond, British politician
- 1955 – Cassandra Wilson, American singer
- 1956 – Bernard King, American basketball player
- 1956 – Nia Griffith, Welsh politician
- 1957 – Eric S. Raymond, American computer programmer and author
- 1959 – Christa Luding-Rothenburger, German speed skater
- 1960 – Glynis Nunn, Australian athlete
- 1962 – Nixon Kiprotich, Kenyan middle–distance runner
- 1963 – Sergey Bubka, Ukrainian pole vaulter
- 1964 – Sertab Erener, Turkish singer
- 1964 – Marisa Tomei, American actress
- 1965 – Carlos Carvalhal, Portuguese footballer and manager
- 1965 – Alex de la Iglesia, Spanish movie director, screenwriter and producer
- 1965 – Ulf Kirsten, German footballer
- 1966 – Fred Armisen, American actor, writer, producer, director, musician and comedian
- 1969 – Jay-Z, American rapper
- 1970 – Kevin Sussman, American actor
- 1972 – Jassen Cullimore, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Tyra Banks, American model
- 1974 – Tadahito Iguchi, Japanese baseball player
From 1976
- 1976 – Mbo Mpenza, Belgian footballer
- 1979 – Jay DeMerit, American footballer
- 1982 – Waldo Ponce, Chilean footballer
- 1984 – Lindsay Felton, American actress
- 1984 – Lauren London, American actress
- 1984 – Brooke Adams, American wrestler and model
- 1985 – Krista Siegfrids, Finnish singer
- 1986 – Kaija Udras, Estonian skier
- 1987 – Orlando Brown, American actor
- 1988 – Andriy Pylyavskyi, Ukrainian footballer
- 1988 – Mario Maurer, Thai actor and singer
- 1990 – Igor Sjunin, Estonian triple jumper
- 1990 – Lukman Haruna, Nigerian footballer
- 1992 – Jean-Claude Iranzi, Rwandan footballer
- 1992 – Guan Xueting, Chinese ice dancer
- 1995 – Dina Asher-Smith, English track–and–field athlete
- 1996 – Diogo Jota, Portuguese footballer
Deaths
1901 – 2000
- 1902 – Charles Dow, American journalist (b. 1851)
- 1916 – Preston Lea, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1841)
- 1926 – Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian poet (b. 1861)
- 1935 – Charles Robert Richet, French physiologist, won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1850)
- 1935 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian violinist, composer and conductor (b. 1864)
- 1937 – Wilbur L. Adams, Governor of Delaware (b. 1884)
- 1938 – Tamanishiki San'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1903)
- 1942 – Juhan Kukk, Estonian politician (b. 1885)
- 1945 – Thomas Hunt Morgan, American geneticist and embryologist (b. 1866)
- 1967 – Bert Lahr, American actor and singer (b. 1895)
- 1971 – Shunryu Suzuki, Japanese–American spiritual teacher (b. 1904)
- 1975 – Hannah Arendt, German philosopher (b. 1906)
- 1976 – Benjamin Britten, English composer (b. 1913)
- 1976 – Tommy Bolin, American guitarist (b. 1951)
- 1980 – Francisco Sá Carneiro, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1934)
- 1980 – Stanislawa Walasiewicz, Polish athlete (b. 1911)
- 1984 – Jack Mercer, American animator, screenwriter, voice actor and singer (b. 1910)
- 1987 – Rouben Mamoulian, Armenian–American movie director (b. 1897)
- 1993 – Frank Zappa, American musician (b. 1940)
- 2000 – Henck Arron, 1st Prime Minister of Suriname (b. 1936)