Died on Monday, 15th December – Famous Deaths

15/12/2025

William J. Bauer, senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and previously a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, (born 1926)

William Joseph Bauer was an American judge who was a senior circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago from 1974 until his death, having been nominated to the position by President Gerald Ford. He previously was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1971 until 1975, having been nominated by President Richard Nixon. He was known for presiding over the Amoco Cadiz oil spill case.

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15/12/2024

Zakir Hussain, Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer (born 1951)

Ustad Zakir Hussain Qureshi was an Indian tabla player, composer, arranger, percussionist, music producer and film actor who was based for much of his career in the San Francisco Bay Area. The eldest son of esteemed tabla player Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain was widely regarded as the greatest tabla player of his generation and one of its finest percussionists. He produced music across multiple genres and contributed to popularizing Indian classical music to a global audience.

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15/12/2020

Saufatu Sopoanga, Tuvaluan politician, 8th Prime Minister of Tuvalu (born 1952)

Saufatu Sopoanga was a Tuvaluan politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Tuvalu from 2 August 2002 to 27 August 2004. He drew international attention for his speeches warning about the effects of the rising sea level on Tuvalu and other low-lying island countries.

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15/12/2018

Eryue He, Chinese historical fiction writer (born 1945)

Ling Jiefang, better known by his pen name Eryue He, was a Chinese historical fiction writer. He is best known for writing biographical novels of three Qing dynasty emperors, all of which have been adapted into award-winning television series.

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Girma Wolde-Giorgis, President of Ethiopia (born 1924)

Girma Wolde-Giorgis was an Ethiopian politician who was the president of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2013. He was the second person to hold the office of president since the founding of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1995.

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15/12/2017

Heinz Wolff, scientist and TV presenter (born 1928)

Heinz Siegfried Wolff, was a German-born British scientist as well as a television and radio presenter. He was best known for the BBC television series The Great Egg Race.

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Calestous Juma, academic (born 1953)

Calestous Juma was a Kenyan scientist and academic, specializing in sustainable development. He was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine. He was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Juma was Director of the School's Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School as well as the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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15/12/2016

Craig Sager, American sports journalist (born 1951)

Craig Graham Sager was an American sports reporter who covered an array of sports for CNN and its sister stations TBS and TNT, from 1981 until his death in late 2016.

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15/12/2015

Harry Zvi Tabor, English-Israeli physicist and engineer (born 1917)

Harry Zvi Tabor was an Israeli physicist. He is known as the father of Israeli solar energy. He is generally credited with having brought Israel's solar energy program to international prominence.

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15/12/2014

Donald Metcalf, Australian physiologist and immunologist (born 1929)

Donald Metcalf AC FRS FAA was an Australian medical researcher who spent most of his career at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne. In 1954 he received the Carden Fellowship from the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria; while he officially retired in 1996, he continued working and held his fellowship until his death in December 2014.

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Fausto Zapata, Mexican journalist, lawyer, and politician, Governor of San Luis Potosí (born 1940)

Fausto Zapata Loredo was a Mexican lawyer, politician, diplomat, journalist and television presenter. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he briefly served as governor of San Luis Potosí in 1991 before being forced to resign amid post-election fraud accusations. He had previously served in both chambers of Congress and also held a variety of diplomatic positions.

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15/12/2013

Harold Camping, American evangelist, author, radio host (born 1921)

Harold Egbert Camping was an American Christian radio broadcaster and evangelist. Beginning in 1958, he served as president of Family Radio, a California-based radio station group that, at its peak, broadcast to more than 150 markets in the United States. In October 2011, he retired from active broadcasting following a stroke, but still maintained a role at Family Radio until his death. Camping was notorious for issuing a succession of failed predictions of dates for the End Times, which temporarily gained him a global following and millions of dollars of donations.

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Joan Fontaine, British-American actress (born 1917)

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress best known for her roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades. She was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. Their rivalry was well documented in the media at the height of Fontaine's career.

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Dyron Nix, American basketball player (born 1967)

Dyron Patrick Nix was an American professional basketball player. During his professional career, he played in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as well as in several other leagues worldwide.

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15/12/2012

Owoye Andrew Azazi, Nigerian general (born 1952)

Owoye Andrew Azazi GSS DSS MSS CMH was a Nigerian army general who served as National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, was Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) of Nigeria, and Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Before his first service chief appointment (COAS), he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1 Division, Kaduna State.

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Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Nigerian politician, 18th Governor of Kaduna State (born 1948)

Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa (1 December 1948 – 15 December 2012) was a Nigerian politician who served as governor of Kaduna State from 2010 to 2012. He was appointed deputy governor of Kaduna State in July 2005, following the death of Stephen Shekari and was elected in 2007. He was sworn in as governor on 20 May 2010, replacing governor Namadi Sambo who had been sworn in as vice president the day before. Yakowa successfully ran for election as Kaduna Governor in the 26 April 2011 polls.

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Olga Zubarry, Argentinian actress (born 1929)

Olga Zubarry was an Argentine actress who appeared in film between 1943 and 1997. She made over 60 appearances in film, spanning six decades of Argentine cinema, but is best known for her work during the Golden Age of Argentine cinema. Throughout the course of her career, she received four Silver Condor Awards, two Martín Fierro Awards, a Konex Foundation Award and several others for her films and television performances. She is credited with starring in the first film in Argentina which featured nudity, though only her back was shown and she stated repeatedly that she wore a flesh-colored mesh and was not truly nude.

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15/12/2011

Bob Brookmeyer, American trombone player and composer (born 1929)

Robert Edward "Bob" Brookmeyer was an American jazz valve trombonist, pianist, arranger, and composer. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Brookmeyer first gained widespread public attention as a member of Gerry Mulligan's quartet from 1954 to 1957. He later worked with Jimmy Giuffre, before rejoining Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band. He received eight Grammy Award nominations during his lifetime.

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Christopher Hitchens, English-American essayist, literary critic, and journalist (born 1949)

Christopher Eric Hitchens was a British and American author and journalist. Known as one of the "Four Horsemen" of New Atheism, he gained prominence as a columnist and speaker. His epistemological razor, which states that "what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence", is used in philosophy and law.

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15/12/2010

Blake Edwards, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922)

Blake Edwards was an American filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter. Often thought of as primarily a director of comedies, he also directed several drama, musical, and detective films. Late in his career, he took up writing, producing and directing for theater. He received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of his writing, directing and producing an extraordinary body of work for the screen.

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Bob Feller, American baseball player and sportscaster (born 1918)

Robert William Andrew Feller, nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American baseball player who was a pitcher for 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians between 1936 and 1956. In a career spanning 570 games, Feller pitched 3,827 innings and posted a win–loss record of 266–162, with 279 complete games, 44 shutouts, and a 3.25 earned run average (ERA). His career 2,581 strikeouts were third all-time upon his retirement.

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Eugene Victor Wolfenstein, American psychoanalyst and theorist (born 1940)

Eugene Victor Wolfenstein was an American social theorist, practicing psychoanalyst, and a professor of political science at University of California, Los Angeles.

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15/12/2009

Eliza Atkins Gleason, American librarian (born 1909)

Eliza Atkins Gleason was the first African American to receive a doctorate in Library Science at the University of Chicago Graduate Library School in 1940. In 1941, she established and became the first Dean of the School of Library Service at Atlanta University and created a library education program that trained 90 percent of all African-American librarians by 1986.

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Oral Roberts, American evangelist, founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (born 1918)

Granville Oral Roberts was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, who was one of the first to propagate Prosperity Gospel Theology. He was ordained in the Pentecostal Holiness Church from 1936 until his transfer to the United Methodist church in 1968, a controversial relationship that ended in 1987 when his credentials were revoked. He is considered one of the forerunners of the charismatic movement, and at the height of his career was one of the most recognized preachers in the US. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association and Oral Roberts University.

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15/12/2008

León Febres Cordero, Ecuadorian engineer and politician, 46th President of Ecuador (born 1931)

León Esteban Febres-Cordero Ribadeneyra, known in the Ecuadorian media as LFC or more simply Febres-Cordero, was an Ecuadorian politician who was the 35th President of Ecuador, serving a four-year term from 10 August 1984 to 10 August 1988. During his presidency he sought to introduce market-oriented reforms, and also led a security crackdown on a small guerrilla group named ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!.

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15/12/2007

Julia Carson, American lawyer and politician (born 1938)

Julia May Carson was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 7th congressional district from 1997 until she died in 2007. Carson was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis in the U.S. Congress. She was also the second African American woman elected to Congress from Indiana, after Katie Hall, and her grandson André Carson succeeded to her seat following her death.

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15/12/2006

Clay Regazzoni, Swiss race car driver (born 1939)

Gianclaudio Giuseppe "Clay" Regazzoni was a Swiss racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from 1970 to 1980. Regazzoni was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1974 with Ferrari, and won five Grands Prix across 11 seasons.

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Mary Stolz, American journalist and author (born 1920)

Mary Stolz was an American writer of fiction for children and young adults. She received the 1953 Child Study Association of America's Children's Book Award for In a Mirror, Newbery Honors in 1962 for Belling the Tiger and 1966 for The Noonday Friends, and her entire body of work was awarded the George G. Stone Recognition of Merit in 1982.

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15/12/2005

Heinrich Gross, Austrian physician and psychiatrist (born 1914)

Heinrich Gross was an Austrian psychiatrist, medical doctor and neurologist, a reputed expert as a leading court-appointed psychiatrist, known for his proven involvement in the killing of at least nine children with physical, mental and/or emotional/behavioral characteristics considered "unclean" by the Nazi regime, under its Euthanasia Program. His role in hundreds of other cases of infanticide is unclear. Gross was head of the Spiegelgrund children's psychiatric clinic for two years during World War II.

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Stan Leonard, Canadian golfer (born 1915)

Stan Leonard was a Canadian professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s. Leonard won three PGA Tour events, eight Canadian PGA Championships, and 16 other significant events in Canada. He is a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.

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William Proxmire, American soldier, journalist, and politician (born 1915)

Edward William Proxmire was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989. He holds the record for being the longest-serving senator from Wisconsin.

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Darrell Russell, American football player (born 1976)

Darrell Anthony Russell Jr. was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He died in a car crash near Los Angeles after being indefinitely banned from the NFL for repeated violations of the league's substance abuse policy.

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15/12/2004

Vassal Gadoengin, Nauruan educator and politician, Speaker of the Nauru Parliament (born 1943)

Vassal Abago Bagobagan Gadoengin was a political figure from the Pacific nation of Nauru.

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15/12/2003

Vincent Apap, Maltese sculptor (born 1909)

Vincent Apap, OBE was a Maltese sculptor who is well known for designing various public monuments and church statues, most notably the Triton Fountain in Valletta. He has been called "one of Malta's foremost sculptors of the Modern Period" by the studio of Renzo Piano.

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George Fisher, American cartoonist (born 1923)

George Fisher was an American political cartoonist.

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Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1947)

Keith Arlen Magnuson was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman from Wadena, Saskatchewan who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) between 1969 and 1979.

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15/12/2000

Haris Brkić, Bosnian-Serbian basketball player (born 1974)

Haris Brkić was a Yugoslavian basketball player. He achieved greatest results in Partizan and he is still remembered by fans for his great contribution to the club.

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15/12/1993

William Dale Phillips, American chemist and engineer (born 1925)

William Dale Phillips was an American chemist, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopist, federal science policy advisor and member of the National Academy of Sciences.

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15/12/1991

Vasily Zaytsev, Russian captain (born 1915)

Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev was a Soviet sniper who served in World War II.

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15/12/1989

Edward Underdown, English actor and jockey (born 1908)

Charles Edward Underdown was an English theatre, cinema and television actor.

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15/12/1986

Serge Lifar, Russian-French ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1905)

Serge Lifar was a Ukrainian dancer. Lifar was also a choreographer, director, writer, theoretician about dance, and collector.

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15/12/1985

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, Mauritian physician and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Mauritius (born 1900)

Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, often referred to as Chacha "Uncle" Ramgoolam or SSR, was a Mauritian physician, politician, and statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first prime minister, and fifth governor-general.

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15/12/1984

Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (born 1904)

Jan Peerce was an American operatic tenor. Peerce was an accomplished performer on the operatic and Broadway concert stages, in solo recitals, and as a recording artist. He is the father of film director Larry Peerce.

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15/12/1980

Peter Gregg, American race car driver (born 1940)

Peter Holden Gregg was an American race car driver during the golden age of the Trans-Am Series and a five-time winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona. He was also the owner of Brumos, a Jacksonville, Florida, car dealership and racing team.

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15/12/1978

Chill Wills, American actor (born 1903)

Theodore Childress "Chill" Wills was an American actor and a singer in the Avalon Boys quartet.

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15/12/1977

Wilfred Kitching, English 7th General of The Salvation Army (born 1893)

Wilfred Kitching CBE was a British Salvation Army officer who was their seventh General between 1954 and 1963.

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15/12/1974

Anatole Litvak, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1902)

Anatoly Mikhailovich Litvak OBE, commonly known as Anatole Litvak, was a Russian-American filmmaker.

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15/12/1971

Paul Lévy, French mathematician and theorist (born 1886)

Paul Pierre Lévy was a French mathematician who was active especially in probability theory, introducing fundamental concepts such as local time, stable distributions and characteristic functions. Lévy processes, Lévy flights, Lévy measures, Lévy's constant, the Lévy distribution, the Lévy area, the Lévy arcsine law, and the fractal Lévy C curve are named after him.

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15/12/1969

Karl Theodor Bleek, German lawyer and politician, 12th Mayor of Marburg (born 1898)

Karl Theodor Bleek was a liberal German politician.

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15/12/1968

Antonio Barrette, Canadian politician, 18th Premier of Quebec (born 1899)

Antonio J. Barrette was a Canadian politician born in Joliette, Quebec, Canada, who served as the 18th premier of Quebec.

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Jess Willard, American boxer and actor (born 1881)

Jess Myron Willard was an American world heavyweight boxing champion billed as the Pottawatomie Giant. He won the world heavyweight title in 1915 by knocking out Jack Johnson.

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15/12/1966

Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, Indian-Scottish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire (born 1897)

Major-General Robert Keith Arbuthnott, 15th Viscount of Arbuthnott, was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First World War and the Second World War.

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Walt Disney, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (born 1901)

Walter Elias Disney was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards won (22) and nominations (59) by an individual. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and have also been named as some of the greatest films ever by the American Film Institute.

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15/12/1965

M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan journalist, lawyer, and politician (born 1903)

Murugesu Balasundaram was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

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15/12/1962

Charles Laughton, English-American actor, director, and producer (born 1899)

Charles Laughton was a British and American actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. Over his career he received an Academy Award and a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two BAFTAs and a Golden Globe. He earned a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

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15/12/1958

Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1900)

Wolfgang Ernst Pauli was an Austrian–Swiss theoretical physicist and a pioneer of quantum mechanics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the Exclusion Principle, also called the Pauli Principle". The discovery involved spin theory, which is the basis of a theory of the structure of matter.

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15/12/1950

Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Prime Minister of India (born 1875)

Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist, lawyer and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and India's political integration. In India and elsewhere, he was often called Sardar meaning "chief". He acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.

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15/12/1947

Arthur Machen, Welsh journalist and author (born 1863)

Arthur Llewellyn Jones, known by his pen name Arthur Machen, was a Welsh author and mystic of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror; Stephen King described it as "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language." He is also known for "The Bowmen", a short story that was widely read as fact, creating the legend of the Angels of Mons.

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Crawford Vaughan, Australian politician, 27th Premier of South Australia (born 1874)

Crawford Vaughan was an Australian politician, and the Premier of South Australia from 1915 to 1917. He was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1905 to 1918, representing Torrens (1905–1915) and Sturt (1915–1918). Elected for the United Labor Party, he served as Treasurer in the Verran government, succeeded Verran as Labor leader in 1913, and was elected Premier after the Labor victory at the 1915 state election.

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15/12/1944

Glenn Miller, American bandleader and composer (born 1904)

Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forces. His civilian band, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, was one of the most popular and successful bands of the 20th century and the big-band era.

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15/12/1943

Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (born 1904)

Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, and singer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz piano. A widely popular star in the jazz and swing eras, he toured internationally, achieving critical and commercial success in the United States and Europe. His best-known compositions, "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckle Rose", were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1984 and 1999, respectively.

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15/12/1890

Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Lakota tribal chief (born 1831)

Sitting Bull was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police accompanied by U.S. officers and supported by U.S. troops on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation during an attempt to arrest him at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement.

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15/12/1878

Alfred Bird, English chemist and businessman, invented baking powder (born 1811)

Alfred Bird was an English food manufacturer and chemist. He was born in Nympsfield, Gloucestershire, England in 1811 and was later a pupil at King Edward's School, Birmingham. He was the inventor of a series of food products, most notably egg-free custard and baking powder. His father was a lecturer in astronomy at Eton College. His son Alfred Frederick Bird continued to develop the business after his father's death.

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15/12/1855

Jacques Charles François Sturm, French mathematician and academic (born 1803)

Jacques Charles François Sturm was a French mathematician, who made a significant addition to equation theory with his work, Sturm's theorem.

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15/12/1819

Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (born 1749)

Daniel Rutherford was a British physician, chemist and botanist who is known for the isolation of nitrogen in 1772.

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15/12/1817

Federigo Zuccari, astronomer, director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples (born 1783)

Federigo, Vincenzo Antonio, Ludovico Zuccari was an Italian astronomer, professor of Astronomy at the Naples University, professor of Mathematical Geography at the Military Academy of Naples and director of the Astronomical Observatory of Naples.

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15/12/1812

Shneur Zalman, Russian rabbi, author and founder of Chabad (born 1745)

Shneur Zalman of Liadi, commonly known as the Alter Rebbe or Baal Hatanya, was a rabbi and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad, a branch of Hasidic Judaism. He wrote many works and is best known for Shulchan Aruch HaRav, Tanya, and his Siddur Torah Ohr, compiled according to the Nusach Ari.

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15/12/1792

Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish pianist, violinist, and composer (born 1756)

Joseph Martin Kraus, was a German-Swedish composer in the Classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Holy Roman Empire. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm. He has been referred to as "the Swedish Mozart", although his music is rarely performed today. He is best known for having been a sacred music composer, while his symphonic output was much higher than is extant today. He composed in a wide array of forms, and took his greatest aesthetic influence from Haydn and Mozart. His competency and artistic skill was praised almost universally during his time.

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15/12/1753

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, designed Chiswick House (born 1694)

Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington was a British architect and politician often called the "Apollo of the Arts" and the "Architect Earl". The son of the 2nd Earl of Burlington and 3rd Earl of Cork, Burlington never took more than a passing interest in politics despite his position as a Privy Counsellor and a member of both the British House of Lords and the Irish House of Lords.

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15/12/1715

George Hickes, English minister and scholar (born 1642)

George Hickes was an English divine and scholar.

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15/12/1698

Louis Victor de Rochechouart de Mortemart, French nobleman (born 1636)

Louis Victor de Rochechouart, 2nd Duke of Mortemart and Duke of Vivonne was a French military officer and nobleman who was a member of the ancient House of Rochechouart. His father, Gabriel de Rochechouart de Mortemart, was a childhood friend of Louis XIII. His older sister was Gabrielle de Rochechouart de Mortemart, a celebrated beauty of the era; another sister was Madame de Montespan, the mistress of Louis XIV. Louis de Rochechouart commanded the French fleet in the Battle of Palermo. He was made a Marshal of France.

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15/12/1688

Gaspar Fagel, Dutch lawyer and politician (born 1634)

Gaspar Fagel was a Dutch politician, jurist, and diplomat who authored correspondence from and on behalf of William III, Prince of Orange, during the English Revolution of 1688.

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15/12/1683

Izaak Walton, English author (born 1593)

Izaak Walton was an English writer. Best known as the author of The Compleat Angler (1653), he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been collected under the title of Walton's Lives.

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15/12/1675

Johannes Vermeer, Dutch painter and educator (born 1632)

Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch Golden Age. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful provincial genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. He produced relatively few paintings, primarily earning his living as an art dealer. He was not wealthy; at his death, his wife was left in debt.

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15/12/1673

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English noblewoman (born 1623)

Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was an English philosopher, poet, scientist, fiction writer, and playwright. She was a prolific writer, publishing over 12 original texts under her name at a time when women were largely excluded from publishing.

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15/12/1621

Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, French courtier, Constable of France (born 1578)

Charles d'Albert, 1st Duke of Luynes was a French courtier and a favourite of Louis XIII. In 1619, the king made him Duke of Luynes and a Peer of France, and in 1621, Constable of France. Luynes died of scarlet fever near the end of that year at the height of his influence.

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15/12/1598

Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Dutch nobleman (born 1540)

Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Lord of West-Souburg was a Flemish and Dutch writer and statesman, and the probable author of the text of the Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus.

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15/12/1574

Selim II, Ottoman sultan (born 1524)

Selim II, also known as Selim the Blond or Selim the Drunkard, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1566 until his death in 1574. He was a son of Suleiman the Magnificent and his wife Hürrem Sultan.

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15/12/1467

Jöns Bengtsson Oxenstierna, archbishop and regent of Sweden (born 1417)

Jöns Bengtsson (Oxenstierna), in Latin known as Johannes Benedicti de Salista, was a Swedish clergyman, canon law scholar and statesman who served as Archbishop of Uppsala (1448–1467). He was also the regent of Sweden under the Kalmar Union in 1457, shared with Erik Axelsson (Tott), and alone from 1465 to 1466.

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15/12/1343

Hasan Kucek, Chopanid prince (born c. 1319)

Hasan Kuchak or Ḥasan-i Kūchik was a Chupanid prince during the 14th century. He is credited with setting up a nearly independent Chupanid state in Iran during the struggles taking place in the aftermath of the Ilkhanate. He effectively became kingmaker like his namesake Hasan Buzurg.

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15/12/1283

Philip I, Latin emperor (born 1243)

Philip I, also Philip of Courtenay, held the title of Latin Emperor of Constantinople from 1273–1283, although Constantinople had been reinstated since 1261 to the Byzantine Empire; he lived in exile and only held authority over Crusader States in Greece. He was born in Constantinople, the son of Baldwin II of Constantinople and Marie of Brienne.

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15/12/1230

Ottokar I, duke of Bohemia (born 1155)

Ottokar I was Duke of Bohemia periodically beginning in 1192, then acquired the title of King of Bohemia, first in 1198 from Philip of Swabia, later in 1203 from Otto IV of Brunswick and in 1212 from Frederick II. Ottokar was the first hereditary King of Bohemia; although two previous Bohemian monarchs had held the title of King, in each case the title was awarded only for the life of the recipient. He was an eminent member of the Přemyslid dynasty.

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15/12/1161

Wanyan Liang, Chinese emperor (born 1122)

Digunai, also known by his sinicised name Wanyan Liang and his formal title Prince of Hailing, was the fourth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He was the second son of Wanyan Zonggan, the eldest son of the dynastic founder Wanyan Aguda. He came to power in 1150 after overthrowing and murdering his predecessor, Emperor Xizong, in a coup d'état. During his reign, he moved the Jin capital from Shangjing to Yanjing, and introduced a policy of sinicisation. In 1161, after the Jin dynasty lost the Battle of Caishi against the Southern Song dynasty, Digunai's subordinates rebelled against him and assassinated him. After his death, even though he ruled as an emperor during his lifetime, he was posthumously demoted to the status of a prince – "Prince Yang of Hailing" (海陵煬王) – in 1162 by his successor, Emperor Shizong. However, in 1181, Emperor Shizong further posthumously demoted him to the status of a commoner, hence he is also known as the "Commoner of Hailing" (海陵庶人).

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15/12/1072

Alp Arslan, Turkish sultan (born 1029)

Alp Arslan was the second sultan of the Seljuk Empire and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty and the empire. He reigned from 1063 until his assassination in 1072.

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15/12/1025

Basil II, Byzantine emperor (born 958)

Basil II Porphyrogenitus, given the epithet the Bulgar Slayer, was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but they were too young to rule. The throne thus went to two generals, Nikephoros Phokas and John Tzimiskes before Basil became senior emperor, though his influential great-uncle Basil Lekapenos remained as the de facto ruler until 985. His reign of 49 years and 11 months was the longest of any Roman emperor.

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15/12/0933

Li Siyuan, Chinese emperor (born 867)

Li Siyuan, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (後唐明宗), was the second emperor of the Later Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 926 until his death. He was an ethnic Shatuo originally named, in the Shatuo language, Miaojilie (邈佶烈).

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