Died on Saturday, 20th December – Famous Deaths

20/12/2024

Casey Chaos, American singer (born 1965)

Karim George Chmielinski, known professionally as Casey Chaos, was an American musician, best known as the lead singer of Amen. His music encompassed a number of styles in the punk and metal genres.

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George Eastham, English footballer (born 1936)

George Edward Eastham, OBE was an English footballer who played as a midfielder or inside forward for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as being a member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad. He is also notable for his involvement in a 1963 court case which proved a landmark in improving players' freedom to move between clubs.

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Rickey Henderson, American baseball player (born 1958)

Rickey Nelson Henley Henderson, nicknamed "Man of Steal", was an American professional baseball left fielder who played 25 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams from 1979 to 2003, including four separate tenures with his original team, the Oakland Athletics. He is widely regarded as baseball's greatest leadoff hitter and baserunner. He holds MLB records for career stolen bases, runs, unintentional walks, and leadoff home runs. At the time of his last major league game in 2003, the 10-time American League (AL) All-Star ranked among the sport's top 100 all-time home run hitters and was its all-time leader in walks. In 2009, he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

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20/12/2022

Franco Harris, American football player (born 1950)

Franco Harris was an American professional football player who was a fullback for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions and was selected by the Steelers in the first round of the 1972 NFL draft. Harris spent his first 12 seasons with Pittsburgh, earning nine Pro Bowl selections, and was a member of the Seattle Seahawks in his last.

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20/12/2020

Fanny Waterman, British pianist (born 1920)

Dame Fanny Waterman was a British pianist and academic piano teacher, who is particularly known as the founder, chair and artistic director of the Leeds International Piano Competition. She was also president of the Harrogate International Music Festival.

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Ezra Vogel, American sociologist (born 1930)

Ezra Feivel Vogel was an American sociologist who wrote on modern Japan, China, and Korea. He was Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University.

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20/12/2014

Per-Ingvar Brånemark, Swedish surgeon and academic (born 1929)

Per-Ingvar Brånemark was a Swedish physician and researcher, known as the "father of modern dental implantology". The Brånemark Osseointegration Center (BOC), named after its founder, was founded in 1989 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

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John Freeman, English lawyer, politician, and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States (born 1915)

Major John Horace Freeman was a British politician, diplomat, broadcaster, and British Army officer. He was the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Watford from 1945 to 1955.

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20/12/2013

Pyotr Bolotnikov, Russian runner (born 1930)

Pyotr Grigoryevich Bolotnikov was a Soviet Track and field athlete who competed mainly in long-distance running events. He was the winner of the 10,000 metres at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

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20/12/2012

Stan Charlton, English footballer and manager (born 1929)

Stanley Charlton was an English footballer and manager. Charlton featured as a right back with clubs Bromley, Leyton Orient and Arsenal. As a manager he was one of the longest serving at Weymouth.

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Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (born 1929)

Robert Litchfield Juniper, AM was an Australian artist, art teacher, illustrator, painter, printmaker and sculptor.

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Victor Merzhanov, Russian pianist and educator (born 1919)

Victor Karpovich Merzhanov was a Russian pianist, honoured as People's Artist of the USSR in 1990.

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20/12/2011

Barry Reckord, Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (born 1926)

Barrington John Reckord, known as Barry Reckord, was a Jamaican playwright, one of the earliest Caribbean writers to make a contribution to theatre in Britain. His brother was the actor and director Lloyd Reckord, with whom he sometimes worked.

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20/12/2010

K. P. Ratnam, Sri Lankan academic and politician (born 1914)

Kaarthigesar Ponnambalam Ratnam was a Sri Lankan Tamil academic, politician and Member of Parliament.

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20/12/2009

Brittany Murphy, American actress and singer (born 1977)

Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack was an American actress and singer, known for her equal mastery of the comedy and drama genres. Her famed roles include Tai Frasier in the teen film Clueless (1995), Alex Latourno in 8 Mile (2002), Daisy Randone in Girl, Interrupted (1999), Molly Gunn in Uptown Girls (2003), Sarah in Just Married (2003), and Gloria in Happy Feet (2006).

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Arnold Stang, American actor (born 1918)

Arnold Sidney Stang was an American actor and comedian. Recognized by his small stature and squawky, Brooklyn-accented speaking voice, he steadily worked on the stage, radio, and television and provided animation voice-over for 70 years. He was the voice of Top Cat in the cartoon series, Frank Sinatra's best friend in The Man with the Golden Arm, and one of the hapless gas station owners in the all-star comedy film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

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20/12/2008

Adrian Mitchell, English author, poet, and playwright (born 1932)

Adrian Mitchell FRSL was an English poet, novelist, and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament movement. His best-known poem, "To Whom It May Concern", was his bitterly sarcastic reaction to the televised horrors of the Vietnam War. Mitchell's poems ranged from anarchistic anti-war satire, through love poetry, to stories and poems for children. He also wrote librettos. In 2002, he was nominated, semi-seriously, as Britain's "Shadow Poet Laureate".

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Robert Mulligan, American director and producer (born 1925)

Robert Patrick Mulligan was an American director and producer. He is best known for his sensitive dramas, including To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Summer of '42 (1971), The Other (1972), Same Time, Next Year (1978), and The Man in the Moon (1991). He was also known for his extensive collaborations with producer Alan J. Pakula in the 1960s.

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Igor Troubetzkoy, Russian aristocrat and racing driver (born 1912)

Prince Igor Nikolayevich Troubetzkoy was a French aristocrat and athlete of Russian descent. He was styled His Serene Highness, but did not use the style often.

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20/12/2006

Anne Rogers Clark, American dog breeder and trainer (born 1929)

Anne Rogers Clark was an American dog breeder and trainer and one of the few people licensed to judge all 165 breeds and varieties recognized by the American Kennel Club.

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20/12/2005

Raoul Bott, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (born 1923)

Raoul Bott was a Hungarian-American mathematician known for numerous foundational contributions to geometry in its broad sense. He is best known for his Bott periodicity theorem, the Morse–Bott functions which he used in this context, and the Borel–Bott–Weil theorem.

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20/12/2001

Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and politician, 1st President of Senegal (born 1906)

Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese politician, cultural theorist and poet who served as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980.

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20/12/1999

Riccardo Freda, Egyptian-Italian director and screenwriter (born 1909)

Riccardo Freda was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, giallo and spy films.

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Hank Snow, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1914)

Clarence Eugene "Hank" Snow was a Canadian country music guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded 140 albums and charted more than 85 singles on the Billboard country charts between 1950 and 1980. Snow had success on country music record charts with his songs including: "I'm Moving On", "The Golden Rocket", "The Rhumba Boogie", "I Don't Hurt Anymore", "Let Me Go, Lover!", "I've Been Everywhere", and "Hello Love".

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20/12/1998

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English physiologist and biophysicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles.

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20/12/1997

Denise Levertov, English-American poet and translator (born 1923)

Priscilla Denise Levertov was a British-born naturalised American poet. She was heavily influenced by the Black Mountain poets and by the political context of the Vietnam War, which she explored in her poetry book The Freeing of the Dust. She was a recipient of the Lannan Literary Award for Poetry.

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Dick Spooner, English cricketer (born 1919)

Richard Thompson Spooner was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire and England.

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Dawn Steel, American film producer (born 1946)

Dawn Leslie Steel was an American film studio executive and producer. She was one of the first women to run a major Hollywood film studio, rising through the ranks of merchandising and production to head Columbia Pictures in 1987.

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20/12/1996

Carl Sagan, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and cosmologist (born 1934)

Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. Initially an assistant professor at Harvard, Sagan later moved to Cornell, where he was the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He played an active role in the Mariner, Viking and Voyager programs. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and several popular science books, starting with The Cosmic Connection. He won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for The Dragons of Eden.

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20/12/1995

Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (born 1938)

Madge Dorita Sinclair CD was a Jamaican actress best known for her roles in Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), Convoy (1978), Coming to America (1988), Trapper John, M.D. (1980–1986), and the ABC TV miniseries Roots (1977). Sinclair also voiced the character of Sarabi, Mufasa's mate and Simba's mother, in the Disney animated feature film The Lion King (1994). A five-time Emmy Award nominee, Sinclair won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as "Empress" Josephine in Gabriel's Fire in 1991.

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20/12/1994

Dean Rusk, American lawyer, and politician, 54th United States Secretary of State (born 1909)

David Dean Rusk was the United States secretary of state from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the second-longest serving secretary of state after Cordell Hull from the Franklin Roosevelt administration. He had been a high government official in the 1940s and early 1950s, as well as the head of a leading foundation.

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20/12/1993

W. Edwards Deming, American statistician, author, and academic (born 1900)

William Edwards Deming was an American business theorist, composer, economist, industrial engineer, management consultant, statistician, and writer. Educated initially as an electrical engineer and later specializing in mathematical physics, he helped develop the sampling techniques still used by the United States Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He is also known as the father of the quality movement, known as "Lean manufacturing" today, and was hugely influential in post-WWII Japan, credited with revolutionizing Japan's industry and making it one of the most dominant economies in the world. He is best known for his theories of management.

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Nazife Güran, Turkish composer and educator (born 1921)

Avniye Nazife Aral Güran was a Turkish composer and pianist, born in Vienna of a diplomat father. She is one of the first Turkish female composers to write classical music. She studied music as a child with her mother and completed primary education in Ankara and high school in Istanbul. She continued her music education at the Berlin Hochschule Music Academy, studying with Rudolph Schmidt for piano and Paul Hoffer for composition. After returning to Ankara, she studied with Ernst Praetorius.

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20/12/1991

Simone Beck, French chef and author (born 1904)

Simone "Simca" Beck was a French cookbook writer and cooking teacher who, along with colleagues Julia Child and Louisette Bertholle, played a significant role in the introduction of French cooking technique and recipes into American kitchens.

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Sam Rabin, English wrestler, singer, and sculptor (born 1903)

Samuel (Sam) Rabin, originally Samuel Rabinovitch, was an English sculptor, artist, film actor, art teacher, singer, boxer, wrestler and a 1928 Olympic bronze medalist in Middleweight wrestling.

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Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (born 1942)

Albert Van Vlierberghe was a Belgian professional road bicycle racer. Van Vlierberghe won three stages in the Tour de France, and three stages in the Giro d'Italia. He also competed in the team time trial and the team pursuit events at the 1964 Summer Olympics.

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20/12/1986

Joe DeSa, American baseball player (born 1959)

Joseph DeSa was an American Major League Baseball first baseman.

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20/12/1984

Stanley Milgram, American psychologist and academic (born 1933)

Stanley Milgram was an American social psychologist who conducted controversial experiments on obedience in the 1960s during his professorship at Yale.

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Dmitry Ustinov, Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (1976–84) (born 1908)

Dmitry Fyodorovich Ustinov was a Soviet politician and a Marshal of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He served as a Central Committee secretary in charge of the Soviet military–industrial complex from 1965 to 1976 and as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1976 until his death in 1984.

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20/12/1982

Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and composer (born 1887)

Arthur Rubinstein KBE OMRI was a Polish and American pianist. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time, he received international acclaim for his interpretations of classical music compositions, particularly Chopin. Rubinstein played in public for eight decades with a vast repertoire consisting of Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, and Schumann, amongst others.

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20/12/1981

Dimitris Rontiris, Greek actor and director (born 1899)

Dimitris Rontiris was a Greek actor and director.

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20/12/1976

Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (born 1902)

Richard Joseph Daley was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of the big city bosses" who controlled and mobilized American cities. He was the patriarch of a powerful Chicago political family. His son Richard M. Daley went on to serve as mayor of Chicago, and another son, William M. Daley, served as United States Secretary of Commerce and White House Chief of Staff.

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Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo, Indonesian politician, 1st Governor of West Java (born 1890)

Soetardjo Kartohadikusumo was an Indonesian politician who served as the first Governor of West Java in 1945. A former member of the Volksraad, he was also renowned for the 1936 Soetardjo Petition.

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20/12/1974

Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (born 1896)

Rajani Palme Dutt was a British political figure, journalist and theoretician who served as the fourth general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain during World War II from October 1939 to June 1941. His classic book India Today heralded the Marxist approach in Indian historiography.

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André Jolivet, French composer and conductor (born 1905)

André Jolivet was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influences, particularly on instruments used in ancient times. He composed in a wide variety of forms for many different types of ensembles.

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20/12/1973

Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (born 1904; assassinated)

Admiral-General Luis Carrero Blanco was a Spanish Navy officer and politician. A long-time confidant and right-hand man of dictator Francisco Franco, Carrero served as Prime Minister of Spain. Upon graduating from the naval academy Carrero Blanco participated in the Rif War, and later the Spanish Civil War, in which he supported the Nationalist faction. He became one of the most prominent figures in Francoist Spain's power structure and held throughout his career a number of high-ranking offices such as those of Undersecretary of the Presidency from 1941 to 1967 and Franco's deputy from 1967 to 1973. He also was the main drafter behind the 1947 Law of Succession to the Headship of the State. Franco handpicked him as his successor in the role of head of government, with Carrero thereby taking office in June 1973.

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Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1936)

Walden Robert Cassotto, known by the stage name Bobby Darin, was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed pop, swing, folk, rock and roll and country music.

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20/12/1972

Adolfo Orsi, Italian businessman (born 1888)

Adolfo Orsi was an Italian industrialist, known for owning the Maserati automobile maker.

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20/12/1971

Roy O. Disney, American banker and businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (born 1893)

Roy Oliver Disney was an American entrepreneur. He co-founded with his younger brother Walt what is now the Walt Disney Company in October of 1923. Disney also served as the company's first chief executive officer and was the father of Roy E. Disney.

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20/12/1968

John Steinbeck, American novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1902)

John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer and novelist. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters".

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20/12/1961

Moss Hart, American director and playwright (born 1904)

Moss Hart was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director.

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Earle Page, Australian soldier and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (born 1880)

Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page was an Australian politician and surgeon who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Australia from 7 to 26 April 1939, in a caretaker capacity following the death of Joseph Lyons. He was the leader of the Country Party from 1921 to 1939, and was the most influential figure in its later years.

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20/12/1959

Juhan Simm, Estonian composer and conductor (born 1885)

Juhan Simm was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choir director.

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20/12/1956

Ramón Carrillo, Argentinian neurologist and physician (born 1906)

Ramón Carrillo was an Argentine neurosurgeon, neurobiologist, physician, academic, public health advocate, and from 1949 to 1954 the nation's first Minister of Public Health.

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20/12/1954

James Hilton, English-American author and screenwriter (born 1900)

James Hilton was a British-American novelist and screenwriter. He is best remembered for his novels Lost Horizon; Goodbye, Mr. Chips and Random Harvest; and co-writing screenplays for the films Camille (1936) and Mrs. Miniver (1942), the latter earning him an Academy Award.

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20/12/1950

Enrico Mizzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1885)

Enrico Mizzi was a Maltese politician, leader of the Maltese Nationalist Party from 1926 and briefly Prime Minister of Malta in 1950.

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20/12/1941

Igor Severyanin, Russian-Estonian poet and author (born 1887)

Igor Severyanin was a Russian poet who presided over the circle of the so-called Ego-Futurists.

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20/12/1940

Sarita Colonia, Peruvian folk saint (born 1914)

Sara Colonia Zambrano, popularly known as Sarita Colonia, was a Peruvian woman who became a folk saint after her death. Born into poverty, she moved to Lima and worked various jobs until her death at age 26. Her burial site became a common place for prayers, and she became associated with tales of miracles and piety. She became especially popular among the poor, and she also came to be associated with other marginalized groups such as migrants, sex workers, criminals, and people of the LGBT community. A shrine was built in her honor at the height of her popularity in 1983, and her image was commonly seen in Lima during this period.

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20/12/1939

Hans Langsdorff, German captain (born 1894)

Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee before and during the Battle of the River Plate off the coast of Uruguay in 1939. After the Panzerschiff was unable to escape a pursuing squadron of Royal Navy ships, Langsdorff scuttled his ship. Three days later he died by suicide in his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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20/12/1938

Annie Armstrong, American missionary (born 1850)

Annie Walker Armstrong was a lay Southern Baptist denominational leader instrumental in the founding of the Woman's Missionary Union.

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Lida Howell, American archer (born 1859)

Matilda "Lida" Scott Howell was an American archer who competed in the early twentieth century. She won three gold medals in Archery at the 1904 Summer Olympics in Missouri in the double national and Columbia rounds and for the US team. She was 45 when she won the medals.

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20/12/1937

Erich Ludendorff, German general (born 1865)

Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a Prussian-born German general and politician. He achieved fame during World War I (1914–1918) for his central role in the German victories at Liège and Tannenberg in 1914. After his appointment as First Quartermaster General of the Great General Staff in 1916, Ludendorff oversaw virtually all decisions regarding Germany's strategy and war effort until the country's defeat in 1918. Later during the years of the Weimar Republic, he took part in the failed 1920 Kapp Putsch and Adolf Hitler's 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, thereby contributing significantly to the Nazis' rise to power.

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20/12/1935

Martin O'Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1882)

Martin O'Meara, VC was an Irish-born Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

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20/12/1929

Émile Loubet, French lawyer and politician, 8th President of France (born 1838)

Émile François Loubet was the 45th Prime Minister of France from February to December 1892 and later President of France from 1899 to 1906.

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20/12/1927

Frederick Semple, American golfer and tennis player (born 1872)

Frederick Humphrey Semple was an American golfer and tennis player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics.

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20/12/1925

João Ferreira Sardo, the founder of Gafanha da Nazaré, also known as Prior Sardo (born 1873).

João Ferreira Sardo, known as Prior Sardo, was a Portuguese presbyter, civic leader, and entrepreneur who founded the parish of Gafanha da Nazaré during the final years of the Kingdom of Portugal and the early Portuguese First Republic. His life intertwined devout religious service with social entrepreneurship, community development, and diplomatic engagement, spanning a transformative period in Portuguese history marked by the Republican Revolution of 1910, the regicide of King Carlos I in 1908, and the subsequent exile of King Manuel II.

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20/12/1921

Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist (born 1852)

Julius Richard Petri was a German microbiologist who is generally credited with inventing the device known as the Petri dish, which is named after him, while working as assistant to bacteriologist Robert Koch.

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20/12/1920

Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (born 1863)

Linton Chorley Hope FRAes was a sailor from Great Britain, who represented his country at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Meulan, France. With Lorne Currie as helmsman and fellow crewmembers John Gretton and Algernon Maudslay, Hope took first places in both the race of the .5 to 1 ton class and the Open class.

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20/12/1919

Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (born 1835)

Sir Philip Oakley Fysh was an English-born Australian politician. He arrived in Tasmania in 1859 and became a leading merchant in Hobart. He served two terms as premier of Tasmania and became a leader of the colony's federation movement. He subsequently won election to the new federal House of Representatives (1901–1910) and was invited to represent Tasmania in the first federal ministry, serving as minister without portfolio (1901–1903) and Postmaster-General (1903–1904).

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20/12/1917

Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (born 1882)

Lucien Georges Mazan, known by the pseudonym Lucien Petit-Breton, was a French racing cyclist best known as the first two-time winner of the Tour de France.

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20/12/1916

Arthur Morgan, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Queensland (born 1856)

Sir Arthur Morgan was an Australian politician who was Premier of Queensland from 1903 to 1906.

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20/12/1915

Upendrakishore Ray, Indian painter and composer (born 1863)

Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury was a Bengali writer, painter and entrepreneur. He was the son-in-law of reformer Dwarkanath Ganguly.

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20/12/1893

George C. Magoun, American businessman (born 1840)

George C. Magoun was, in the late 1880s, the Chairman of the Board of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

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20/12/1889

George F. Durand, Canadian architect (born 1850)

George F. Durand was a Canadian architect. Born in London, Ontario, to a Scottish immigrant, he showed an interest in the arts from a young age. He apprenticed under William Robinson before working with Thomas Fuller on the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa and the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York. Returning to London by 1878, he joined Robinson, Tracy, & Company as a junior partner, being made partner in 1880; with the departure of Thomas H. Tracy in 1882, Durand became the lead architect for the firm.

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20/12/1880

Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (born 1797)

Kasper (Gaspar) Tochman was a Polish-born American lawyer and soldier who formed the Polish Brigade of Johnson's Division.

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20/12/1862

Robert Knox, Scottish surgeon and zoologist (born 1791)

Robert Knox was a Scottish anatomist and ethnologist best known for his involvement in the Burke and Hare murders. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Knox eventually partnered with anatomist and former teacher John Barclay and became a lecturer on anatomy in the city, where he introduced the theory of transcendental anatomy. However, Knox's incautious methods of obtaining cadavers for dissection before the passage of the Anatomy Act 1832 and disagreements with professional colleagues ruined his reputation in Scotland. Following these developments, he moved to London, though this did not revive his career.

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20/12/1856

Francesco Bentivegna, Italian activist (born 1820)

Baron Francesco Bentivegna was an Italian patriot, who led various revolts in Sicily against the Bourbon rulers between 1848 and 1856.

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20/12/1849

Kyai Maja, Javanese ulama and commander of Java War (born 1792)

Muslim Mochammad Khalifah, better known as Kyai Maja or Kyai Modjo, was a Javanese ulama and spiritual leader best known for his role as a key commander and religious adviser of Diponegoro during the Java War. He was a key commander of the rebels until his surrender in late 1828, and he was later exiled to Tondano where he died in 1849.

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20/12/1820

John Bell, American farmer (born 1750)

John Bell Sr was an American farmer whose death was attributed to supernatural causes. He is a central figure in the Bell Witch ghost story of southern American folklore. In 1817, Bell contracted a mysterious affliction that worsened over the next three years, ultimately leading to his death. According to the story, the Bell Witch took pleasure in tormenting him during his affliction, finally poisoning him one December morning as he lay unconscious after suffering a number of violent seizures.

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20/12/1812

Sacagawea, American explorer (born 1788)

Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone or Hidatsa woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American people and contributing to the expedition's knowledge of natural history in different regions.

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20/12/1783

Antonio Soler, Spanish priest and composer (born 1729)

Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, also known as Padre Antonio Soler, known in Catalan as Antoni Soler i Ramos was a Spanish composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He is best known for his many mostly one-movement keyboard sonatas.

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20/12/1768

Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, Italian poet and academic (born 1692)

Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni was an Italian poet and librettist. As a poet Frugoni was one of the best of the school of the Arcadian Academy, and his lyrics and pastorals had great facility and elegance. His collected works were published at Parma in 10 volumes in 1799, and a more complete edition appeared at Lucca in the same year in 15 volumes.

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20/12/1765

Louis-Ferdinand, Dauphin of France (born 1729)

Louis, Dauphin of France was the elder and only surviving son of King Louis XV and his wife, Queen Marie Leszczyńska. As a son of the king, Louis was a fils de France. As heir apparent, he became Dauphin of France. Although he died before ascending to the throne himself, all three of his sons who made it to adulthood would go on to be King: Louis XVI, Louis XVIII and Charles X.

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20/12/1740

Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (born 1675)

Field Marshal Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, PC was a British army officer and politician. After serving as a junior officer at the Battle of the Boyne during the Williamite War in Ireland and at the Battle of Landen during the Nine Years' War, he commanded a brigade of grenadiers during the storming of Vigo during the War of the Spanish Succession. During this engagement the entire French-Spanish fleet was either captured or destroyed. He also took part in a successful raid on Barcelona three years later. He went on to serve as Commander-in-Chief, Ireland during the 1720s and 1730s.

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20/12/1723

Augustus Quirinus Rivinus, German physician and botanist (born 1652)

Augustus Quirinus Rivinus is the professional name of August Bachmann or A. Q. Bachmann who was a German physician and botanist who helped to develop better ways of classifying plants.

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20/12/1722

Kangxi, emperor of the Qing Dynasty (born 1654)

The Kangxi Emperor, also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 years makes him the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history and one of the longest-reigning rulers in history. He is considered one of China's greatest emperors.

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20/12/1658

Jean Jannon, French designer and typefounder (born 1580)

Jean Jannon was a French Protestant printer, type designer, punchcutter and typefounder active in Sedan in the seventeenth century. He was a reasonably prolific printer by contemporary standards, printing several hundred books.

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20/12/1590

Ambroise Paré, French physician and surgeon (born 1510)

Ambroise Paré was a French barber surgeon who served in that role for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. He is considered one of the fathers of surgery and modern forensic pathology and a pioneer in surgical techniques and battlefield medicine, especially in the treatment of wounds. He was also an anatomist, invented several surgical instruments, and was a member of the Parisian barber surgeon guild.

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20/12/1552

Katharina von Bora, wife of Martin Luther (born 1499)

Katharina von Bora, after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin", was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.

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20/12/1539

Johannes Lupi, Flemish composer (born 1506)

Jean Leleu, most commonly known by the latinized version of his name, Johannes Lupi, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. A representative of the generation after Josquin, he was a minor but skilled composer of polyphony who was mainly active in Cambrai.

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20/12/1355

Stefan Dušan, emperor of Serbia (born 1308)

Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, also known as Dušan the Mighty, was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355. Dušan is considered one of the greatest medieval Balkan conquerors.

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20/12/1340

John I, duke of Bavaria (born 1329)

John I of Bavaria, was the Duke of Lower Bavaria since 1339.

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20/12/1326

Peter of Moscow, Russian metropolitan bishop

Peter of Moscow was an Eastern Orthodox bishop of Kiev, who moved his see from Vladimir to Moscow in 1325. Later he was proclaimed a patron saint of Moscow. In spite of the move, the office remained officially entitled "Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'" until the autocephalous election of Jonah in 1448.

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20/12/1295

Margaret of Provence, French queen (born 1221)

Margaret of Provence was Queen of France by marriage to King Louis IX.

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20/12/0977

Fujiwara no Kanemichi, Japanese statesman (born 925)

Fujiwara no Kanemichi , also known as Horikawa-dono and Tōtōmi-kō, was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Heian period.

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20/12/0910

Alfonso III, king of Asturias

Alfonso III, called the Great, was king of Asturias from 866 until his death. He was the son and successor of Ordoño I. After his death, the Kingdom of Asturias was split between his sons, with García inheriting León, Ordoño inheriting Galicia, and Fruela inheriting Asturias.

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20/12/0217

Zephyrinus, pope of the Catholic Church

Pope Zephyrinus was the bishop of Rome from the year 199 until his death on 20 December 217. He was born in Rome, and succeeded Victor I. Upon his death on 20 December 217, he was succeeded by his principal advisor, Callixtus I. He is known for combating heresies and defending the divinity of Christ.

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20/12/0069

Titus Flavius Sabinus, a Roman politician and soldier

AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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