Friday, 26th December 2025 in Lisbon

26th December in the Stars – Star Sign Capricorn

Today, the zodiac sign Capricorn celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on December 26th blend Capricorn ambition with Mercury's intellectual sharpness and Master Number 11's spiritual depth. They appear serious and focused, yet their minds explore profound connections. A quiet intensity marks their personality, combining logic with hidden intuitive wisdom.

Strengths & Weaknesses Strengths: analytical brilliance, dependability, strategic vision. Weaknesses: emotional reserve and over-analysis can strain relationships. Perfectionism and self-doubt occasionally undermine their confidence and connection with others.

Love In relationships, they prioritize deep understanding over romantic gestures. Partners who respect their intellectual ambitions and offer emotional stability win their loyalty. Long-term commitment matters far more than passionate intensity.

Caree & Finance Ideal paths: management, science, consulting, spiritual teaching. Financial security drives them; they plan methodically and save diligently. Leadership roles naturally suit their talents and disciplined nature.

Health Mind often dominates body—stress manifests as tension and insomnia. Regular movement and meditation practices stabilize their nervous system. Finding inner balance matters more than intense physical training.

That night, the moon was in its waning gibbous phase.

Chinese year of the Snake (Wood).

Fun Facts About 26th December

Name Days in Your Language: Esteban, Estefania, Estefany, Estevan, Stefan, Stefanie, Stephan, Stephanie, Stephany, Stephen, Steve, Steven, Stevie

Someone born on this day would be just 179 days old today — roughly 4,301 hours, 258,109 minutes, or 15,486,583 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 360. day of the year. In 2025, 26th December falls on a Friday.

There are 5 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 52 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 26th December

On this day, 201 notable people were born on 26th December — spanning from 1194 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

26/12/2002

Josh Wilson-Esbrand, English footballer

Joshua Darius Kamani Wilson-Esbrand is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ekstraklasa club Radomiak Radom, on loan from Premier League club Manchester City.

26/12/2001

Aleksej Pokuševski, Serbian basketball player

Aleksej Pokuševski is a Serbian professional basketball player and the vice-captain for Partizan Belgrade of the Basketball League of Serbia (KLS), the ABA League and the EuroLeague. Standing at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) and weighing 210 pounds (95 kg), he plays at the power forward position.

26/12/1997

Tamara Zidanšek, Slovenian tennis player

Tamara Zidanšek is a Slovenian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 22 in singles and No. 47 in doubles. She has won one singles title, as well as four doubles titles on the WTA Tour along with three singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Challenger Tour. Additionally, she has won 18 titles in singles and six in doubles on the ITF Circuit. She is currently the No. 2 player from Slovenia.

26/12/1994

Colby Cave, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2020)

Colby Alexander Cave was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He was a centre in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers.

Souleymane Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer

Souleymane Coulibaly is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a striker.

26/12/1992

Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player

Cecilia Raquel Costa Melgar is a Chilean former tennis player.

Jade Thirlwall, English singer

Jade Amelia Thirlwall, known professionally as Jade, is an English singer. Her music career began at the age of 15, when she auditioned for The X Factor on three occasions before rising to prominence as a member of the girl group Little Mix. Formed during the show's eighth series, Little Mix became the first group to win the competition, and together went on to release six studio albums and amassed nineteen UK top-ten singles, five of which reached number one. Before going into hiatus in 2022, they became the first girl group to win the Brit Award for British Group.

26/12/1991

Brandon Scherff, American football player

Brandon Scherff is an American former professional football player who was a guard for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2014. He was selected by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft, where he played for seven seasons and earned five Pro Bowls and one All-Pro selection. He also played for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Eden Sher, American actress

Eden Rebecca Sher is an American actress. The accolades she has received include a Critics' Choice Television Award, alongside a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

Trevor Siemian, American football player

Trevor John Siemian is an American professional football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Northwestern Wildcats and was selected by the Denver Broncos in the seventh round of the 2015 NFL draft. Siemian was part of the Broncos when they won Super Bowl 50, serving as the third-string quarterback behind starter Peyton Manning and backup Brock Osweiler. He has also been a member of the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, and Cincinnati Bengals

26/12/1990

Denis Cheryshev, Russian footballer

Denis Dmitriyevich Cheryshev is a Russian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Cypriot First Division club Krasava ENY Ypsonas.

Cory Jefferson, American basketball player

Cory Allen Jefferson is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Baylor University and represented the United States at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia.

Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer

Aaron James Ramsey is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He mainly played as a box-to-box midfielder, but had also been deployed on the left and right wings.

26/12/1989

Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter

Yohan Blake is a Jamaican sprinter specialising in the 100-metre and 200-metre sprint races. He won gold at the 100 m at the 2011 World Athletics Championships as the youngest 100 m world champion ever, and a silver medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London in the 100 m and 200 m races for the Jamaican team behind Usain Bolt. His times of 9.75 in 100 m and 19.44 in 200 m are the fastest 100 m and 200 m Olympic sprints in history to place second.

Sofiane Feghouli, Algerian footballer

Sofiane Feghouli is a professional footballer who plays for the Algeria national team. He mainly operates as a winger, but can also play as an attacking midfielder.

Tomáš Kundrátek, Czech ice hockey player

Tomáš Kundrátek is a Czech professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for HC Oceláři Třinec of the Czech Extraliga (ELH). He has previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Washington Capitals.

26/12/1987

Oskar Osala, Finnish ice hockey player

Oskar Osala is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player. He played in three National Hockey League (NHL) games with the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes and represented Finland in Olympic Winter Games 2018.

26/12/1986

Joe Alexander, American-Israeli basketball player

Joseph Anthony Alexander is a Taiwan-born American-Israeli former professional basketball player. Alexander, at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) played both forward positions, was selected for the 2007 All-Big East squad during his collegiate career with West Virginia and was an All-American Honorable Mention. He was selected eighth overall in the 2008 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, and became the first Taiwanese-born NBA player.

Kit Harington, English actor

Christopher Catesby Harington, known professionally as Kit Harington, is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Jon Snow in the HBO fantasy television series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination and two nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards and Critics' Choice Television Awards.

Hugo Lloris, French footballer

Hugo Hadrien Dominique Lloris is a French professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC.

Selen Soyder, Turkish actress and beauty queen

Mükerrem Selen Soyder is a Turkish actress, activist, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss World Turkey 2007 and represented her country in the Miss World 2007 in Sanya, China.

26/12/1985

Damir Markota, Croatian basketball player

Damir Markota is a Croatian professional basketball player who last played for Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian League. Standing at 2.08 m, he plays at the power forward position.

26/12/1984

Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian footballer

Ahmed Apimah Barusso is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Italian club A.S.D. Terme Monticelli.

Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player

Leonardo Ghiraldini is a retired Italian international rugby union player. Ghiraldini's playing position is hooker.

Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker

Alex Schwazer, OMRI, is an Italian race walker. He was the 2008 Olympic 50k walk champion.

26/12/1983

Jeroen Soete, Belgian politician

Jeroen B. Soete is a Belgian politician and member of the Chamber of Representatives. A member of Vooruit, he has represented West Flanders since June 2024.

Yu Takahashi, Japanese singer-songwriter

Yu Takahashi is a Japanese singer-songwriter. He debuted on a major label in 2010, with his singles "Subarashiki Nichijō" and "Honto no Kimochi".

Alexander Wang, American fashion designer

Alexander Wang is an American fashion designer. Wang launched his eponymous fashion brand in 2005 and came to prominence after being awarded the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2008. He is known for his urban-inspired designs and use of black.

26/12/1982

Kenneth Darby, American football player

Kenneth Darby is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide. He was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL draft. Darby was also a member of the Atlanta Falcons and St. Louis Rams.

Noel Hunt, Irish footballer

Noel Hunt is an Irish football manager and former professional footballer who was formerly the head coach at Reading.

Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier

Aksel Lund Svindal is a Norwegian former World Cup alpine ski racer. Born in Lørenskog in Akershus county, Svindal is a two-time overall World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist in super-G at the 2010 Winter Olympics and in downhill at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and a five-time World Champion in downhill, giant slalom, and super combined. With his victory in the downhill in 2013, Svindal became the first male alpine racer to win titles in four consecutive world championships.

26/12/1981

Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-Italian rugby player

Pablo Canavosio is an Italian Argentine rugby union footballer. Canavosio played for Rovigo, Calvisano, Castres Olympique and Aironi. His usual position is at scrum half or wing.

Omar Infante, Venezuelan baseball player

Omar Rafael Infante is a Venezuelan former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers, Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, and Kansas City Royals. He was an All-Star in 2010, and won a World Series in 2015. While primarily a second baseman, he has experience at every position except for pitcher, catcher, and first base.

26/12/1980

Todd Dunivant, American soccer player

Todd Dunivant is an American soccer executive and former defender who played 13 years in Major League Soccer winning 5 MLS Cup trophies. After retirement he spearheaded the San Francisco Deltas professional soccer team as the Director of Soccer Operations and Business Development, winning the NASL Championship in its expansion season. He served as the president and general manager of Sacramento Republic FC from 2018 to 2025, leading the team to the 2022 U.S. Open Cup Final. Beginning in 2026, Dunivant will be the new sporting director of Major League Soccer side New York City FC.

Ceylan Ertem, Turkish singer

Ceylan Ertem, sometimes stylized as Ceyl'an Ertem is a Turkish singer-songwriter.

26/12/1979

Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer

Héctor Fabián Carini Hernández is a Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Chris Daughtry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Christopher Adam Daughtry is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and comic book artist. He is the lead vocalist and a guitarist for the rock band Daughtry, which he formed after placing fourth on the fifth season of American Idol. Released by RCA Records, Daughtry's self-titled debut album became the fastest selling debut rock album in Nielsen SoundScan history, selling more than one million copies within five weeks of release, and music's top-selling album of 2007. The album was recorded before the band was officially formed, making him the only official member present on the album.

Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper

Dimitry Viktorovich Vassiliev is a Russian former ski jumper who has competed at World Cup level from 1998 to 2021.

Craig Wing, Australian rugby player

Craig Wing, also known by the nickname of "Wingy", is an Australian-born former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer. He began his career in rugby league, playing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters in the NRL, representing Australia internationally and New South Wales in State of Origin. He switched to rugby union, playing in Japan for the NTT Communications Shining Arcs and the Kobelco Steelers, earning selection for the Japanese national team after completing three years residency.

26/12/1978

Karel Rüütli, Estonian lawyer and politician

Karel Rüütli was Chairman of the Estonian People's Union and also leader of the Estonian People's Union faction in the Estonian Parliament. He left the ERL and joined the Social Democratic Party of Estonia on 14 June 2010.

Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player

Kaoru Sugayama is a Japanese volleyball player. Although her nickname is "yuu", Ai Otomo already had that nickname on the All-Japan women's Team, so she was given the new nickname "kaoru". Her nickname in television broadcasts is "koushuni kagayaku Kaoru-hime",. Also, she is sometimes known as "shiroi yousei" due in part to her fair skin. However, she is embarrassed to be called "Princess Kaoru" or "White fairy". She belongs to the volleyball team JT Marvelous of the V.League. In May 2008, she retired from the team and from organized volleyball.

26/12/1977

Fatih Akyel, Turkish footballer and manager

Fatih Akyel is a Turkish football manager and former professional player. He played as a defender for clubs such as Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe during his 15-year career. He was capped by the Turkey national team 64 times from 1997 to 2004, and also won a silver medal with the Olympic team at the 1997 Mediterranean Games.

Adrienn Hegedűs, Hungarian tennis player

Adrienn Hegedűs is a Hungarian former tennis player. In her career, she won a total of 18 titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 24 September 2001, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 178.

26/12/1976

Simon Goodwin, Australian footballer and coach

Simon Goodwin is a retired Australian rules football player and coach, who played 275 games for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He went on to become the interim senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in 2013 and the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club between 2017 and 2025, helping lead the club to its first premiership in 57 years in 2021.

26/12/1975

Chris Calaguio, Filipino basketball player

Christian Jay Calaguio is a Filipino former professional basketball player. He last played for the San Miguel Beermen in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He is a former San Beda Red Cub cager and was one of the star players of the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights during his college days in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. After playing for the Knights, he went on to play in the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association as a member of the San Juan Knights.

Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player

Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga is a Chilean former professional tennis player. In 1998, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), becoming the first such Latin American. Ríos won 18 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including five Masters events, and was the runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open. He is the only man to have been world No. 1 in the ATP singles rankings without ever winning a major singles tournament.

María Vasco, Spanish race walker

María del Monte Vasco Pes Gallardo is a Spanish race walker. She won the bronze medal in the 20 km at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. Vasco was also a gold and bronze medalist at the IAAF Race Walking Championships. She was born in Viladecans near Barcelona, Spain.

26/12/1974

Joshua John Miller, American actor, director, and screenwriter

Joshua John Miller is an American actor, screenwriter, author, and director. Miller co-writes with his life partner M. A. Fortin; the two wrote the screenplay for the 2015 horror comedy The Final Girls, and the USA Network drama series Queen of the South.

26/12/1973

Paulo Frederico Benevenute, Brazilian footballer

Paulo Frederico Benevenute, known as Paulão, is a retired Brazilian footballer.

Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player

Gianluca Faliva is a retired Italian rugby union player. He played as a loosehead prop forward.

Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Japanese baseball player

Nobuhiko Matsunaka is a former left fielder and designated hitter for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He is currently the hitting coach for the Chunichi Dragons in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league.

Steve Prescott, English rugby player (died 2013)

Stephen Prescott was a professional rugby league footballer who played as a fullback during the 1990s and 2000s.

26/12/1972

Gaby Colebunders, Belgian politician

Gaby Colebunders is a Belgian trade unionist, politician and member of the Flemish Parliament. A member of the Workers' Party of Belgium, he has represented Limburg since July 2024. He had previously been a member of the Chamber of Representatives from June 2019 to May 2024.

Esteban Fuertes, Argentinian footballer

Esteban Óscar Fuertes is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Robert Muchamore, English author

Robert Kilgore Muchamore is an English author of young adult fiction, best known for his CHERUB, Henderson's Boys and Rock War series.

26/12/1971

Jared Leto, American actor and musician

Jared Joseph Leto is an American actor and musician. Known for his method acting in a variety of roles, he has received numerous accolades over a career spanning three decades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Additionally, he is recognized for his musicianship and eccentric stage persona as frontman of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars.

Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer

Mika Nurmela is a Finnish football coach and former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder or winger. He is currently the sporting director of AC Oulu.

Tatiana Sorokko, Russian-American model and journalist

Tatiana Sorokko is a Russian-born American model, fashion journalist, and haute couture collector. She walked the runways for the world's most prominent designers and fashion houses, appeared on covers of leading fashion magazines, and became the first Russian model of the post-Soviet period to gain international recognition. After modeling, Sorokko worked as contributing editor for Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harper's Bazaar. Her distinct personal style and her private collection of historically important haute couture clothing were subjects of museum exhibitions in Russia and the U.S.

26/12/1970

James Mercer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

James Russell Mercer is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is the founder, vocalist, lead songwriter, and sole remaining original member of the indie rock group The Shins. In 2009, Mercer and producer Danger Mouse formed the side project Broken Bells, for which they released a self-titled album in March 2010, followed by After the Disco in 2014, and then Into the Blue in 2022. Mercer also has acted, appearing in Matt McCormick's feature film Some Days Are Better Than Others, which premiered in 2010.

26/12/1969

Isaac Viciosa, Spanish runner

Isaac Viciosa is a Spanish former middle distance runner.

26/12/1968

Matt Zoller Seitz, American film critic and author

Matt Zoller Seitz is an American film and television critic, author and filmmaker.

26/12/1966

Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Jay Stuart Farrar is an American songwriter and musician based in St. Louis. A member of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond being a songwriter, Farrar plays guitar, piano, harmonica, and sings.

Tim Legler, American basketball player and sportscaster

Timothy Eugene Legler, nicknamed "Legs", is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently an ESPN basketball analyst and co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio.

26/12/1964

Elizabeth Kostova, American author

Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author best known for her debut novel The Historian.

26/12/1963

Craig Teitzel, Australian rugby league player

Craig Teitzel is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Primarily a prop, he played for the Western Suburbs Magpies, Illawarra Steelers, Warrington Wolves and was a foundation player for the North Queensland Cowboys.

Lars Ulrich, Danish-American drummer, songwriter, and producer

Lars Ulrich is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the two of them are the only remaining original members of the band.

26/12/1962

James Kottak, American drummer (died 2024)

James Kottak was an American drummer, best known for his work with the German hard rock band Scorpions, which he joined in 1996. At the time of his firing from the band in 2016, he was their longest-serving drummer. Kottak was also an original member of Kingdom Come, of whom he was their drummer from 1987 to 1989 and again from 2018 to his death in 2024.

Mark Starr, English wrestler (died 2013)

Mark Ashford-Smith, best known by his ring name Mark Starr, was an English professional wrestler.

26/12/1961

Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer

Andrew James Lock OAM is an Australian mountaineer. He became the first, and still remains the only, Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" on 2 October 2009, and is the 18th person to ever complete this feat. He climbed 13 of the 14 without bottled oxygen, only using it on Mount Everest, which he has summited three times. He retired from eight-thousander climbing in 2012.

26/12/1960

Keith Martin Ball, American mathematician and academic

Keith Martin Ball is a mathematician and professor at the University of Warwick. He was scientific director of the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (ICMS) from 2010 to 2014.

Ruud Kaiser, Dutch footballer and manager

Ruud Kaiser is a Dutch football manager, coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the coach of Helmond Sport's under-19 team.

Cem Uzan, Turkish businessman and politician

Cem Cengiz Uzan is a Turkish businessman and politician involved in the media and banking industries, while also chairing the social liberal Young Party (GENÇPARTİ). His family's media empire at one time included both television stations and print media. His family was one of Turkey's most influential families. His supporters claim Uzan's political rivalry resulted in the group's companies being seized by the government under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, eventually resulting in Uzan's flight to France to escape what he claimed was political persecution. He has been sentenced in absentia to jail terms in the United Kingdom, United States and Turkey for fraud-related offences. Uzan attempted to buy three units of Trump World Tower, but he ultimately defaulted on the contract and lost an $8 million deposit.

26/12/1959

Wang Lijun, Chinese police officer and politician

Wang Lijun is a Chinese former police chief. He served as vice-mayor and police chief of the megacity of Chongqing. Wang is ethnically Mongol and was born in Arxan, Inner Mongolia. Prior to taking on positions in Chongqing, Wang served as vice-mayor and police chief of Jinzhou, Liaoning, and the police chief of Tieling, Liaoning.

Kōji Morimoto, Japanese animator and director

Kōji Morimoto is a Japanese anime director. Some of his works include being an animator in the Akira film; shorts in Robot Carnival, Short Peace, and The Animatrix; and key animation in anime such as Kiki's Delivery Service, City Hunter, and Fist of the North Star. He is the co-founder of Studio 4°C. He has hosted the independent creative team "phy" since 2009.

Hans Nielsen, Danish motorcycle racer

Hans Hollen Nielsen is a Danish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1977 to 1999. Nielsen is notable for winning four Speedway World Championship titles. During his career, he won a total of 22 world championships, making him arguably the most successful speedway rider of all time. In 2012, Nielsen was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements. He later managed the Danish national team.

26/12/1958

Adrian Newey, English aerodynamicist and engineer

Adrian Martin Newey is a British engineer, aerodynamicist, automotive designer, and motorsport executive. Since 2026, Newey has served as team principal, technical director, and co-owner of Aston Martin in Formula One; he previously served as technical director of Leyton House and McLaren, chief designer of March and Williams, and chief technical officer of Red Bull Racing. Widely regarded as one of the greatest engineers in Formula One history, Newey's designs have won 14 Drivers' and 12 Constructors' titles and 223 Grands Prix between 1991 and 2024.

26/12/1957

Dermot Murnaghan, English-Northern Irish journalist and game show host

Dermot John Murnaghan is an English media personality, notable as a journalist, news reporter and television host. He has been a presenter for numerous networks, including at Channel 4, a news presenter at CNBC Europe, Independent Television News and BBC News. He presented news programmes in a variety of time slots from when he joined Sky News in 2007, until the end of February 2023. Murnaghan also presented the BBC quiz show Eggheads between 2003 and 2014.

26/12/1956

David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host

David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000 collection Me Talk Pretty One Day won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

26/12/1955

Evan Bayh, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of Indiana

Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III is an American politician who served as the 46th governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997 and as a United States senator representing Indiana from 1999 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served on the President's Intelligence Advisory Board under President Joe Biden.

26/12/1954

Peter Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist

Peter Edmund Hillary, born 26 December 1954 is a New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist. He is the son of Sir Edmund Hillary, who, along with mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, completed the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. When Peter Hillary summited Everest in 1990, he and his father were the first father/son duo to achieve the feat. Hillary has achieved two summits of Everest, an 84-day trek across Antarctica to the South Pole, and an expedition guiding astronaut Neil Armstrong to land a small aircraft at the North Pole. He has climbed many of the world's major peaks, and on 19 June 2008, completed the Seven Summits, reaching the top of the highest mountains on all seven continents, when he summited Denali in Alaska.

Ozzie Smith, American baseball player and sportscaster

Osborne Earl Smith is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball (MLB). Renowned for his acrobatic athletic ability, Smith is now widely regarded as one of the greatest defensive players of all time, winning the National League (NL) Gold Glove Award for defensive play at shortstop for 13 consecutive seasons. He was also a 15-time All-Star, accumulated 2,460 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career, and won the National League Silver Slugger Award as the best hitter at shortstop in 1987.

26/12/1953

Leonel Fernández, Dominican lawyer and politician, 51st President of the Dominican Republic

Leonel Antonio Fernández Reyna, is a Dominican lawyer, academic, and was the 50th and 52nd President of the Dominican Republic from 1996 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2012. From 2016 until 2020, he was the President of the EU–LAC Foundation.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Swedish-Estonian journalist and politician, 4th President of Estonia

Toomas Hendrik Ilves is an Estonian politician who served as the fourth president of Estonia from 2006 until 2016.

Makis Katsavakis, Greek footballer and manager

Makis Katsavakis is a Greek professional football manager and former player.

Henning Schmitz, German drummer

Kraftwerk is a German electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful acts to popularise the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders. Wolfgang Flür joined in 1973 and Karl Bartos in 1975.

26/12/1950

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Pakistani businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan

Raja Pervez Ashraf is a Pakistani politician, businessman and agriculturist who served as the 17th prime minister of Pakistan from June 2012 to March 2013 and as the Speaker of the National Assembly from April 2022 to March 2024. Ashraf was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-58 (Rawalpindi-II). He has also served as the Senior Vice President of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance of political parties opposed to Imran Khan's PTI party.

Mario Mendoza, Mexican baseball player and manager

Mario Mendoza Aizpuru is a Mexican former professional baseball infielder who later managed Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican League. Mendoza, a lifetime .215 hitter, is best known for being the source of the name for the threshold for batting ineptitude, the "Mendoza Line", meaning a batting average of .200. Mendoza managed in the minor leagues and in Mexico after his nine-year Major League Baseball (MLB) playing career. He is a member of the Mexican Professional Baseball Hall of Fame.

26/12/1949

José Ramos-Horta, East Timorese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of East Timor, Nobel Prize laureate

José Manuel Ramos-Horta is an East Timorese politician who has been the seventh president of Timor-Leste since 2022, having previously been the fourth president from 2007 to 2012. He was a co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, for working "towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".

26/12/1948

Candy Crowley, American journalist

Candy Alt Crowley is an American news anchor who was employed as CNN's chief political correspondent, specializing in American national and state elections. She was based in CNN's Washington, D.C. bureau and was the anchor of its Sunday morning talk show State of the Union with Candy Crowley. She has covered elections for over two decades.

26/12/1947

James T. Conway, American general

James Terry Conway is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 34th Commandant of the Marine Corps. Among his previous postings were Director of Operations (J-3) on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Commanding General of 1st Marine Division and I Marine Expeditionary Force, taking part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the First Battle of Fallujah.

Jean Echenoz, French author

Jean Echenoz is a French writer.

Carlton Fisk, American baseball player

Carlton Ernest Fisk, nicknamed "Pudge" and "the Commander", is an American former professional baseball catcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. In 1972, he was the first player to be unanimously voted American League (AL) Rookie of the Year. Fisk is best known for his game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series, during which he memorably waved his arms hoping for the batted ball to remain fair.

Josef Janíček, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and keyboard player

Josef Janíček is a Czech rock keyboardist, singer, accordion and guitar player. He was a former guitarist of The Primitives Group; from 1969 he played with The Plastic People of the Universe. He was also a member of Milan Hlavsa's band called Půlnoc. Since 1990, he is a member of The Velvet Underground Revival Band.

Liz Lochhead, Scottish poet and playwright

Liz Lochhead Hon FRSE is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland, and served as Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011.

Richard Levis McCormick, American historian and academic

Richard Levis McCormick is an American historian and university administrator. He served as the interim president of Stony Brook University from 2024 to 2025, as the 19th president of Rutgers University from 2002 to 2012, as the 28th president of the University of Washington from 1995 to 2002, and as the provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1992 to 1995.

26/12/1946

Alan Frumin, American lawyer and politician

Alan Scott Frumin is a former parliamentarian of the United States Senate.

Tiit Rosenberg, Estonian historian and academic

Tiit Rosenberg is an Estonian historian and professor of Estonian History in University of Tartu. In 1996–2008, was he also chairman of Õpetatud Eesti Selts.

26/12/1945

John Walsh, American television host, producer, and activist, created America's Most Wanted

John Edward Walsh, Jr. is an American television presenter, victims' rights activist, and the host/creator of America's Most Wanted. He is known for his anti-crime activism, with which he became involved following the murder of his son, Adam, in 1981; in 2008, deceased serial killer Ottis Toole was officially named as Adam's killer. Walsh was part-owner of the now defunct National Museum of Crime and Punishment in Washington, D.C. He also anchored an investigative documentary series, The Hunt with John Walsh, which debuted on CNN in 2014.

26/12/1944

William Ayers, American academic and activist

William Charles Ayers is an American retired professor and former community organizer. In 1969, Ayers co-founded the far-left militant organization the Weather Underground, a revolutionary group that sought to overthrow the United States government which they viewed as American imperialism. During the 1960s and 1970s, the Weather Underground conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings in opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The bombings resulted in the deaths of three members, who were killed when one of the group's devices accidentally exploded. The FBI described the Weather Underground as a domestic terrorist group. Ayers was hunted as a fugitive for several years, until charges were dropped due to illegal actions by the FBI agents pursuing him and others.

26/12/1942

Vinicio Cerezo, Guatemalan politician, 28th President of Guatemala

Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo is a Guatemalan politician who served as the 40th President of Guatemala from 1986 to 1991. He also served as the Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA) from 2017 to 2021.

Catherine Coulter, American author

Jean Catherine Coulter is an American author of romantic suspense thrillers and historical romances who lives in northern California.

Gray Davis, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of California

Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 until he was recalled and removed from office in 2003. He is the second state governor in U.S. history to have been recalled, after Lynn Frazier of North Dakota.

26/12/1941

Daniel Schmid, Swiss actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2006)

Daniel Walter Schmid was a Swiss theatre and film director.

26/12/1940

Edward C. Prescott, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2022)

Edward Christian Prescott was an American economist. He received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 2004, sharing the award with Finn E. Kydland, "for their contributions to dynamic macroeconomics: the time consistency of economic policy and the driving forces behind business cycles". This research was primarily conducted while both Kydland and Prescott were affiliated with the Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University. According to the IDEAS/RePEc rankings, he was the 19th most widely cited economist in the world in 2013. In August 2014, Prescott was appointed an Adjunct Distinguished Economic Professor at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Australia. Prescott died of cancer on November 6, 2022, at the age of 81.

Ray Sadecki, American baseball player (died 2014)

Raymond Michael Sadecki was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He is best remembered as the left-handed complement to Bob Gibson, who in 1964, won 20 games to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to their first World Series title in eighteen years. He was notable for throwing the palmball.

26/12/1939

Fred Schepisi, Australian director and screenwriter

Frederic Alan Schepisi is an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. His credits include The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Plenty, Roxanne, A Cry in the Dark, Mr. Baseball, Six Degrees of Separation, and Last Orders.

Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2021)

Harvey Phillip Spector was an American record producer and songwriter primarily known for his Wall of Sound production style in the 1960s, followed by his trials and imprisonment for murder after the 2000s. Considered the first music producer auteur, he is the most successful American producer of the 1960s and widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history.

26/12/1938

Bahram Beyzai, Iranian director, screenwriter, and playwright (died 2025)

Bahrām Beyzai was an Iranian filmmaker, playwright, theatre director, researcher, and ostād ("master") of Persian literature, mythology, and Iranian studies.

Robert Hamerton-Kelly, South African-American pastor, scholar, and author (died 2013)

Robert Gerald Hamerton-Kelly was a Christian theologian, ordained United Methodist pastor, ethics scholar, and author and editor of several books on religion and violence. He served as Dean of the Chapel at Stanford Memorial Church at Stanford University for 14 years and was on the faculty of the university for more than 30 years. A leading advocate of the work of René Girard's theory of mimetic desire, Hamerton-Kelly co-founded several organizations dedicated to the study of the theory and edited several important texts about it.

Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1989)

Alamgir Kabir was a Bangladeshi film director and cultural activist. Three of his feature films are featured in the "Top 10 Bangladeshi Films" list by British Film Institute.

Mirko Kovač, Yugoslav-Croatian author, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2013)

Mirko Kovač was a Montenegrin writer. In his rich career he wrote novels, short stories, essays, film scripts, TV and radio plays. Among his best known works are the novella Životopis Malvine Trifković, the novels Vrata od utrobe, Grad u zrcalu, the short story collection Ruže za Nives Koen, the book of essays Europska trulež and the scripts for some of the most successful films of Yugoslav cinema like Handcuffs, Playing Soldiers and Occupation in 26 Pictures among others. He was one quarter of the infamous Belgrade quartet, the other three being Danilo Kiš, Borislav Pekić and Filip David.

26/12/1937

John Horton Conway, English mathematician, known for Conway's Game of Life (died 2020)

John Horton Conway was an English mathematician. He was active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches of recreational mathematics, most notably the invention of the cellular automaton called the Game of Life.

26/12/1936

Kitty Dukakis, American author, First Lady of Massachusetts (died 2025)

Katharine Virginia "Kitty" Dickson Dukakis was an American author and activist for various social causes. She served as the First Lady of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and 1983 to 1991, as the wife of the Governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis.

Peep Jänes, Estonian architect

Peep Jänes is an Estonian architect.

Trevor Taylor, English race car driver (died 2010)

Trevor Patrick Taylor was a British motor racing driver from England.

26/12/1935

Rohan Kanhai, Guyanese cricketer

Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is a Guyanese former cricketer of Indo-Guyanese origin, who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured on several great West Indian teams, playing alongside Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, Clive Lloyd, and Alvin Kallicharran among others. C. L. R. James wrote in the New World Journal that Kanhai was "the high peak of West Indian cricketing development", and praised his "adventuresome" attitude. Kanhai was part of the West Indian team that won the inaugural, 1975 Cricket World Cup without losing a match.

Norm Ullman, Canadian ice hockey player

Norman Victor Alexander Ullman is a Canadian former ice hockey centre for 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. He also played two seasons in the World Hockey Association (WHA) for the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1977.

26/12/1933

Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and voice actor (died 2019)

Caroll Edwin Spinney was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street from its inception in 1969 until 2018.

26/12/1930

Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter and poet (died 2010)

Jean Ferrat was a French singer-songwriter and poet. He specialized in singing poetry, particularly that of Louis Aragon.

Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (died 2014)

Harry T. Gamble was an American football coach and executive. He was the head coach at the Lafayette College and University of Pennsylvania and general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Donald Moffat, English-American actor (died 2018)

Donald Moffat was a British-American actor with a decades-long career in film and stage in the United States.

26/12/1929

Kathleen Crowley, American actress (died 2017)

Kathleen Crowley was an American actress. She appeared in over 100 movies and television series in the 1950s and 1960s, almost always as a leading lady.

Régine Zylberberg, Belgian-French singer and actress (died 2022)

Régine Zylberberg, often known mononymously as Régine, was a Belgian-born French singer, actress, nightclub impresario, and businesswoman.

26/12/1928

Martin Cooper, American engineer, invented the mobile phone

Martin Cooper is an American engineer. He is a pioneer in the wireless communications industry, especially in radio spectrum management, with eleven patents in the field.

26/12/1927

Denis Gifford, English journalist and historian (died 2000)

Denis Gifford was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In his lengthy career, he wrote and drew for British comics; wrote more than fifty books on the creators, performers, characters and history of popular media; devised, compiled and contributed to popular programmes for radio and television; and directed several short films. Gifford was also a major comics collector, owning what was perhaps the largest collection of British comics in the world.

Alan King, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2004)

Alan King was an American comedian, actor and satirist known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. He was also a serious actor who appeared in a number of films and television shows. King wrote several books, produced films, and appeared in plays. In his later years, he helped many philanthropic causes.

Stu Miller, American baseball player (died 2015)

Stuart Leonard Miller, nicknamed "the Butterfly Man", was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1952–56), Philadelphia Phillies (1956), New York/San Francisco Giants (1957–62), Baltimore Orioles (1963–67) and Atlanta Braves (1968). He batted and threw right-handed. In a 16-season career, Miller posted a 105–103 record with a 3.24 earned run average, 1164 strikeouts, and 154 saves in 704 games pitched.

Denis Quilley, English actor (died 2003)

Denis Clifford Quilley was an English actor and singer. From a family with no theatrical connections, Quilley was determined from an early age to become an actor. He was taken on by the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in his teens, and after a break for compulsory military service he began a West End career in 1950, succeeding Richard Burton in The Lady's Not For Burning. In the 1950s he appeared in revue, musicals, operetta and on television as well as in classic and modern drama in the theatre.

26/12/1926

Earle Brown, American composer (died 2002)

Earle Brown was an American music composer, producer, and educator who, as a composer, was a close associate of John Cage, and established his own formal and notational systems. As such, he created "open form," a style of musical construction that influenced composers like John Zorn and the downtown New York scene of the 1980s, as well as later generations of composers.

26/12/1924

Frank Broyles, American football player, coach, and sportscaster (died 2017)

John Franklin Broyles was an American college football player and coach, college athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach for one season at the University of Missouri in 1957 and at the University of Arkansas from 1958 to 1976, compiling a career coaching record of 149–62–6. Broyles was also the athletic director at Arkansas from 1974 to 2007. His mark of 144–58–5 in 19 seasons at the helm of the Arkansas Razorbacks football gives him the most wins and the most coached games of any head coach in program history. With Arkansas, Broyles won seven Southwest Conference titles and his 1964 team was named a national champion by a number of selectors including the Football Writers Association of America.

26/12/1923

Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (died 2013)

Richard Ernst Artschwager was an American painter, illustrator and sculptor. His work has associations with pop art, conceptual art, and minimalism.

26/12/1922

Richard Mayes, English actor (died 2006)

Derek Leonard Richard Mayes was an English stage, film and television actor. He trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. A well-known face on British television, he was primarily a theatrical actor, described by The Stage as "an RSC stalwart." He appeared in many roles on stage and small screen, including roles in Doctor Who and as Jedediah Dingle in Emmerdale. He suffered a stroke in 2004.

26/12/1921

Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (died 2000)

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. Though he got his start in radio, he is best known for his extensive network television career.

John Severin, American illustrator (died 2012)

John Powers Severin was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat; for Marvel Comics, especially its war and Western comics; and for his 45-year stint with the satiric magazine Cracked. He was one of the founding cartoonists of Mad in 1952.

26/12/1918

Olga Lopes-Seale, Guyanese-Barbadian singer and radio host (died 2011)

Dame Olga Lopes-Seale DA MBE, was a Guyanese-born Barbados-based social and community worker, radio broadcaster and singer.

Georgios Rallis, Greek lieutenant and politician, 173rd Prime Minister of Greece (died 2006)

Georgios Ioannou Rallis, anglicised to George Rallis, was a Greek conservative politician and Prime Minister of Greece from 1980 to 1981.

26/12/1915

Rolf Botvid, Swedish actor and screenwriter (died 1998)

Rolf Botvid was a Swedish actor and screenwriter. He appeared in over 30 films. He was the son of actor and comedian John Botvid and was married to actress Marianne Gyllenhammar.

26/12/1914

Richard Widmark, American actor (died 2008)

Richard Weedt Widmark was an American actor and film producer. For his debut film role as the villainous Tommy Udo in the film noir Kiss of Death (1947), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

26/12/1913

Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (died 1958)

Frank Victor Swift was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with Fleetwood, near his hometown of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed by First Division Manchester City, with whom he played his entire professional career.

26/12/1912

Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (died 1962)

Arsenio Hilario Sison Lacson Sr. was a Filipino lawyer, journalist and politician who gained widespread attention as the 17th Mayor of Manila and the first to be democratically elected. An active executive likened by Time and The New York Times to New York City's Fiorello La Guardia, he was the first Manila mayor to be reelected to three terms, remaining in office for over a decade from January 1952 to April 1962. Nicknamed "Arsenic" and described as "a good man with a bad mouth", Lacson's fiery temperament became a trademark of his political and broadcasting career. He died suddenly from a stroke amidst talk that he was planning to run in the 1965 presidential election.

26/12/1910

Imperio Argentina, Argentine-Spanish actress and singer (died 2003)

Imperio Argentina was an Argentine-born Spanish actress and singer who became one of the biggest stars of Spanish cinema during the Second Republican period. She achieved mainstream stardom after being cast by director Florián Rey in the 1927 silent film Sister San Sulpicio.

Marguerite Churchill, American actress (died 2000)

Marguerite Graham Churchill was an American stage and film actress whose career spanned 30 years, from 1922 to 1952. Marguerite made her debut as a child actress on Broadway in 1922. She debuted onscreen in 1929, and appeared in more than 25 films. She frequently appeared in westerns such as Riders of the Purple Sage (1931) and was John Wayne's first leading lady in The Big Trail (1930). She also appeared in action films and in mysteries such as Charlie Chan Carries On (1931).

26/12/1909

Matt Gordy, American pole vaulter (died 1989)

Matthew Bell Gordy was an American pole vaulter. In 1933 Gordy shared first place at both the NCAA championships and the national championships and helped Louisiana State University win the NCAA team title.

26/12/1908

Ralph Hill, American runner (died 1994)

Ralph Anthony Hill was an American runner. He set an American record over the mile in 1930 and won a silver medal in the 5000 m event at the 1932 Olympics.

26/12/1907

Albert Gore, Sr., American lawyer and politician (died 1998)

Albert Arnold Gore Sr. was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Tennessee from 1953 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a U.S. representative from the state's 4th congressional district from 1939 to 1953. He was the father of Al Gore, who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 until 2001, and who held Tennessee's other U.S. Senate seat from 1985 to 1993. A native of Granville, Tennessee, Gore graduated from Middle Tennessee State Teachers College and taught school. From 1932 to 1936 he was superintendent of schools for Smith County. He attended the Nashville Y.M.C.A. Night Law School, now the Nashville School of Law, from which he graduated in 1936.

26/12/1905

William Loeb III, American publisher (died 1981)

William Loeb III was an American newspaper publisher. He is remembered for his unyieldingly conservative political views, which helped made the Manchester Union Leader of Manchester, New Hampshire, one of the best-known small papers in the country. The newspaper also benefited from nationwide attention every four years during the New Hampshire presidential primary. Loeb was publisher of the Union Leader from 1946 until his death, a period of 35 years.

26/12/1904

Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (died 1980)

Alejo Carpentier y Valmont was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French and Russian parentage, Carpentier grew up in Havana, Cuba, and despite his European birthplace, he strongly identified as Cuban throughout his life. He traveled extensively, particularly in France, and to South America and Mexico, where he met prominent members of the Latin American cultural and artistic community. Carpentier took a keen interest in Latin American politics and often aligned himself with revolutionary movements, such as Fidel Castro's Communist Revolution in Cuba in the mid-20th century. Carpentier was jailed and exiled for his leftist political philosophies.

26/12/1903

Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (died 1995)

Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. was an American character actor famed for his work in film noir. He played cheerful, brainy collegiates until he was cast against type as the bug-eyed baby-faced killer Wilmer Cook in the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon. He went on to play deceptively mild-mannered villains. Cook's acting career spanned more than 60 years, with roles in productions including The Big Sleep, Shane, The Killing, House on Haunted Hill and Rosemary's Baby.

26/12/1902

Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter and sculptor (died 1980)

Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, was a Soviet-era Russian painter, sculptor and printmaker, whose works often reflect his Jewish origins.

26/12/1901

Elmar Muuk, Estonian linguist and author (died 1941)

Elmar Muuk was an Estonian linguist, lexicographer, and author of a number of dictionaries and textbooks of the Estonian language, and was, together with Johannes Voldemar Veski and Johannes Aavik, responsible for development of Estonian as a modern European language.

26/12/1900

Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (died 1993)

Evelyn Elizabeth Patricia Bark, was a leading member of the British Red Cross.

26/12/1894

Jean Toomer, American author and poet (died 1967)

Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist commonly associated with modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, though he actively resisted the latter association. His reputation stems from his novel Cane (1923), which Toomer wrote during and after a stint as a school principal at a black school in rural Sparta, Georgia. The novel intertwines the stories of six women and includes an apparently autobiographical thread; sociologist Charles S. Johnson called it "the most astonishingly brilliant beginning of any Negro writer of his generation". He resisted being classified as a "Negro" writer and he identified as "American". For more than a decade Toomer was an influential follower and representative of the pioneering spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff.

26/12/1893

Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (died 1976)

Mao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, politician, writer, political theorist and the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He led China from the PRC's establishment in October 1949 until his death in September 1976, primarily through his role as the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). His theories, which he advocated as a Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism, are known as Maoism.

26/12/1892

Don Barclay, American actor and illustrator (died 1975)

Don Barclay was an American actor, artist and caricaturist whose many roles spanned the period from the Keystone Cops in 1915 to Mary Poppins in 1964 and whose many paintings and caricatures of celebrities filled establishments worldwide and are archived in the Library of Congress.

26/12/1891

Henry Miller, American author and painter (died 1980)

Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blends character study, social criticism, philosophical reflection, stream of consciousness, explicit language, sex, surrealist free association, and mysticism. His most characteristic works of this kind are Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, and the trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion, which are based on his experiences in New York City and Paris, and all of which were banned in the United States until 1961. He also wrote travel memoirs and literary criticism and painted watercolors.

26/12/1890

Konstantinos Georgakopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1973)

Konstantinos Georgakopoulos was a Greek lawyer, politician and Prime Minister of Greece.

Percy Hodge, English runner (died 1967)

Percy Hodge was a British athlete, winner of the 3000 m steeplechase at the 1920 Summer Olympics.

26/12/1889

Ragnhild Kaarbø, Norwegian painter (died 1949)

Ragnhild Kaarbø was a Norwegian painter. Influenced by Fauvism, she painted expressionistic portraits. She was also influenced by Cubism, but as her cubistic paintings were criticized by the press, she eventually focused on impressionistic landscape paintings.

26/12/1888

Marius Canard, French orientalist and historian (died 1982)

Marius Canard FBA was a French Orientalist and historian.

26/12/1887

Arthur Percival, English general (died 1966)

Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, was a British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period, but is best known for his defeat in the Second World War, when Percival commanded British Commonwealth forces during the Malayan campaign, which culminated in a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Singapore.

26/12/1885

Bazoline Estelle Usher, African-American educator (died 1992)

Bazoline Estelle Usher was an American educator known for her work in the Atlanta Public Schools. As director of education for African-American children in the district prior to integration, she was the first African American to have an office at Atlanta City Hall. She founded the first Girl Scout troop for African-American girls in Atlanta in 1943. Her career as an educator lasted over 50 years, over 40 of which were in the Atlanta schools. A school in Atlanta is named for her, and in 2014 she was posthumously named a Georgia Woman of Achievement.

26/12/1883

Maurice Utrillo, French painter (died 1955)

Maurice Utrillo was a French painter of the School of Paris who specialized in cityscapes. From the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous painters of Montmartre to have been born there.

26/12/1874

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and academic (died 1965)

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah was an educator, litterateur, Islamic theologist and social reformer of pre-partition India.

26/12/1873

Thomas Wass, English cricketer (died 1953)

Thomas George Wass was a Nottinghamshire cricketer, a bowler best remembered, alongside Albert Hallam, for bowling that gave Nottinghamshire a brilliant County Championship win in 1907. Wass also holds the record for the most wickets taken for Nottinghamshire — 1633 for 20.34 each.

26/12/1872

Norman Angell, English journalist, academic, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1967)

Sir Ralph Norman Angell was a lecturer, journalist, author and Member of Parliament for the Labour Party. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote peace, particularly through writings that argued that modern economic interdependence made war irrational and self-defeating.

26/12/1870

Virginia Bolten, Argentine feminist and trade unionist (died 1960)

Virginia Bolten (1870–1960) was an Argentine journalist and anarchist feminist activist. An anarchist agitator from an early age, she became a leading figure among the working women of Rosario, organising for the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA) and leading the first women's strike in the country's history. After being recruited into the anarchist movement in Buenos Aires by the Italian anarchist Pietro Gori, she joined some of the country's first anarchist women's organisations and established one of the world's first anarchist feminist periodicals: La Voz de la Mujer.

26/12/1869

Mathieu Cordang, Dutch cyclist (died 1942)

Mathieu Cordang was a Dutch professional cyclist. His specialties were track racing and endurance racing.

26/12/1867

Phan Bội Châu, Vietnamese activist (died 1940)

Phan Bội Châu was a Vietnamese nationalist and revolutionary. In 1904, he formed a revolutionary organization called Duy Tân Hội and initiated the Đông Du movement. From 1905 to 1908, he lived in Japan where he wrote political tracts calling for the independence of Vietnam from French colonial rule. After being forced to leave Japan, he moved to China where he was influenced by Sun Yat-sen and gradually shifted his political position from monarchist to democrat. In 1912, he disbanded Duy Tân Hội to form Việt Nam Quang Phục Hội, modeled after Sun Yat-sen's republican party. In 1925, French agents seized him in Shanghai. He was convicted of treason and spent the rest of his life under house arrest in Huế.

26/12/1864

Yun Chi-ho, Korean activist and politician (died 1945)

Yun Ch'iho was a Korean politician. His name is sometimes spelled Yun Tchi-Ho, his art name was Chwaong (좌옹), and his courtesy name was Sŏnghŭm (성흠).

26/12/1863

Charles Pathé, French record producer, co-founded Pathé Records (died 1957)

Charles Morand Pathé was a pioneer of the French film and recording industries. As the founder of Pathé Frères, its roots lie in 1896 Paris, France, when Pathé and his brothers pioneered the development of the moving image. Pathé adopted the national emblem of France, the cockerel, as the trademark for his company. The firm, as Compagnie Générale des Éstablissements Pathé Frères Phonographes & Cinématographes, invented the cinema newsreel with Pathé-Journal.

26/12/1859

William Stephens, American lawyer and politician, 24th Governor of California (died 1944)

William Dennison Stephens was an American federal and state politician. A three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1916, Stephens was the 24th governor of California from 1917 to 1923. Prior to becoming Governor, Stephens served as the 27th lieutenant governor of California from 1916 to 1917, due to the death of John Morton Eshleman, and served a brief time as Mayor of Los Angeles in 1909 due to the resignation of Arthur C. Harper. He served as the 27th Mayor of Los Angeles in 1909.

26/12/1854

José Yves Limantour, Mexican financier and politician, Mexican Secretary of Finance (died 1935)

José Yves Limantour Marquet was a Mexican financier and politician who served as Secretary of the Finance of Mexico from 1893 until the fall of the Porfirio Díaz regime in 1911. One of the most prominent politicians of the Porfiriato era, he was a key member of Díaz's technocratic advisors known as Los Científicos.

26/12/1853

René Bazin, French author and academic (died 1932)

René François Nicolas Marie Bazin was a French novelist.

26/12/1852

Johannes François Snelleman, Dutch zoologist, orientalist, and ethnographer (died 1938)

Johannes François Snelleman was a Dutch zoologist, orientalist, ethnographer and museum director. He was a son of Christiaan Snelleman and Sara Lacombe. Snelleman was married three times, to Josepha Hendrika Dupont, Catharina Johanna Elisabeth Augusta Inckel, and Theodora Maria Beun.

26/12/1837

Morgan Bulkeley, American soldier and politician, 54th governor of Connecticut (died 1922)

Morgan Gardner Bulkeley was an American politician of the Republican Party, businessman, and insurance executive. In 1876, he served as the first president of baseball's National League and, because of that, was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, a choice that remains controversial, since his time as a baseball executive was short.

George Dewey, American admiral (died 1917)

George Dewey was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, without a single combat death.

26/12/1820

Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (died 1890)

Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the English-speaking theatre. The New York Times hailed him in his obituary as "the most conspicuous English dramatist of the 19th century"; he and his second wife, Agnes Robertson Boucicault, applied for, and received, American citizenship in 1873.

26/12/1819

E. D. E. N. Southworth, American author and educator (died 1899)

Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth was an American writer of more than 60 novels in the latter part of the 19th century. She was the most popular American novelist of her day.

26/12/1803

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian physician and author (died 1882)

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald was an Estonian writer who is considered to be the father of the national literature for the country. He is the author of Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg.

26/12/1791

Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (died 1871)

Charles Babbage was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer.

26/12/1785

Étienne Constantin de Gerlache, Belgian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Belgium (died 1871)

Étienne Constantin, Baron de Gerlache was a lawyer and politician in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and later became in 1831 the first prime minister of the newly founded Belgian state.

26/12/1782

Philaret Drozdov, Russian metropolitan and saint (died 1867)

Metropolitan Philaret was Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna and the most influential figure in the Russian Orthodox Church for more than 40 years, from 1821 to 1867.

26/12/1780

Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (died 1872)

Mary Somerville was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.

26/12/1769

Ernst Moritz Arndt, German writer and poet (died 1860)

Ernst Moritz Arndt was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Sweden for some time due to his anti-French positions. He is one of the main founders of German nationalism during the Napoleonic wars and the 19th century movement for German unification. After the Carlsbad Decrees, the forces of the restoration counted him as a demagogue.

26/12/1751

Lord George Gordon, English lieutenant and politician (died 1793)

Lord George Gordon was a British nobleman and politician best known for lending his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780. An eccentric and flighty personality, he was born into the Scottish nobility and sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1780. His life ended after a number of controversies, notably one surrounding his conversion to Judaism, for which he was ostracised. He died in Newgate Prison.

Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Austrian priest, missionary, and saint (died 1820)

Clement Mary Hofbauer was a Moravian hermit and later a priest of the Redemptorist congregation. He established his congregation, founded in Italy, north of the Alps. For this, he is considered a co-founder of the congregation. He was widely known for his lifelong dedication to care of the poor during a tumultuous period in Europe, that had left thousands destitute. He laboured in the care of the Polish people until expelled, when he moved to Austria.

26/12/1737

Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (died 1815)

General Field Marshal Frederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was an Austrian army officer who served in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor. He began his career at the age of 18 in a cavalry regiment with which he took part in the Seven Years' War. Coburg's bravery allowed him to quickly rise through the ranks. Promoted to colonel in 1759, he became a general officer in the following years and, in this capacity, took command of an army corps during the Austro-Turkish War. Coburg campaigned successfully in Moldavia where he won the battles of Focşani, Rymnik and Martinestje against the Ottomans, which earned him the rank of field marshal in 1789.

26/12/1723

Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (died 1807)

Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm was a German-born French-language journalist, art critic, diplomat and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. In 1765 Grimm wrote Poème lyrique, an influential article for the Encyclopédie on lyric and opera librettos. Like Christoph Willibald Gluck and Ranieri de' Calzabigi, Grimm became interested in opera reform. According to Martin Fontius, a German literary theorist, "sooner or later a book entitled The Aesthetic Ideas of Grimm will have to be written."

26/12/1716

Thomas Gray, English poet and scholar (died 1771)

Thomas Gray was an English poet, letter-writer, and classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751. Gray was a self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber, though he declined.

Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier and philosopher (died 1803)

Jean François de Saint-Lambert was a French poet, philosopher and military officer.

26/12/1687

Johann Georg Pisendel, German violinist and composer (died 1755)

Johann Georg Pisendel was a German Baroque violinist and composer who, for many years, led the Court Orchestra in Dresden as concertmaster, then the finest instrumental ensemble in Europe. He was the leading violinist of his time, and composers such as Tomaso Albinoni, Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi all dedicated violin compositions to him.

26/12/1646

Robert Bolling, English/English Colonial merchant and planter (died 1709)

Robert Bolling was an English-born merchant, planter and politician. He was the founder of the Bolling family of Virginia, one of the First Families of Virginia, with at least fifteen descendants serving in the Virginia General Assembly as well as holding local offices, as did he.

26/12/1628

John Page, English Colonial politician (died 1692)

Colonel John Page was an English-born planter, merchant, slave trader and politician who spent most of his life in North America. Born in Bedfont, Middlesex, Page eventually migrated to the English colony of Virginia, where he lived in Middle Plantation and served as a member of the House of Burgesses from 1665 to 1677 and a member of the Virginia Governor's Council from 1677 to 1692. A wealthy landowner, Page donated land and funds towards construction of the Bruton Parish Church. Page was also involved in the establishment of the College of William & Mary in 1693, as well as being a chief proponent of Middle Plantation being designated the colony's capital in 1698.

26/12/1618

Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German princess, philosopher, and Calvinist (died 1680)

Elisabeth of the Palatinate, also known as Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Elisabeth of the Palatinate, or Princess-Abbess of Herford Abbey, was the eldest daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth Stuart. Elisabeth of the Palatinate was a philosopher best known for her correspondence with René Descartes. She was critical of Descartes' dualistic metaphysics and her work anticipated the metaphysical concerns of later philosophers.

26/12/1581

Philip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach (died 1643)

Landgrave Philip III of Hesse-Butzbach was Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach from 1609 to 1643.

26/12/1537

Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (died 1593)

Albert of Nassau-Weilburg-Ottweiler, was a count of the House of Nassau. His territory included the areas around Weilburg, Ottweiler and Lahr in the Black Forest. Like his father, Philip III of Nassau-Weilburg he was an advocate of the Reformation.

26/12/1536

Yi I, Korean philosopher and scholar (died 1584)

Yi I was a Korean philosopher, writer, and Confucian scholar of the Joseon period. Yi is often referred to by his art name Yulgok. He was also a politician and was the academical successor of Cho Kwangjo.

26/12/1532

Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar and academic (died 1576)

Wilhelm Xylander was a German classical scholar and humanist. He served as rector of Heidelberg University in 1564.

26/12/1526

Rose Lok, businesswoman and Protestant exile (died 1613)

Rose Lok was an English businesswoman and Protestant exile during the Tudor period. At the age of eighty-four, she wrote an account covering the first part of her life.

26/12/1446

Charles de Valois, Duke de Berry, French noble (died 1472)

Charles, Duke of Berry, later Duke of Normandy and Duke of Aquitaine, was a son of Charles VII, King of France. He spent most of his life in conflict with his elder brother, King Louis XI.

26/12/1194

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1250)

Frederick II was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220, and King of Jerusalem from 1225 to 1228. He was the son of Emperor Henry VI, of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, and Queen Constance I of Sicily, of the Hauteville dynasty.

Lives Remembered on 26th December

On 26th December, 119 remarkable people passed away — from 268 to 2025. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

26/12/2025

Pate Mustajärvi, Finnish rock singer (born 1956)

Pauli Antero "Pate" Mustajärvi was a Finnish rock singer. He was known as the vocalist, frontman and until his death in late 2025 the only original member of Popeda as well as a solo artist. In his birthplace of Tampere he was known as "Ikurin turbiini".

26/12/2024

Richard Parsons, American business executive (born 1948)

Richard Dean Parsons was an American business executive, notably the chairman of Citigroup and the chairman and CEO of Time Warner. He had also been the interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the interim chairman of the board for CBS.

Manmohan Singh, Indian economist and politician, 13th Prime Minister of India (born 1932)

Manmohan Singh was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician and statesman who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Narendra Modi. A member of the Indian National Congress, Singh was the first and remains the only Sikh prime minister of India. He was also the first prime minister since Nehru to be re-appointed after completing a full five-year term.

26/12/2023

Lukas Enembe, Indonesian politician, Governor of Papua from 2013 to 2023 (born1967)

Lukas Enembe was an Indonesian politician from West Papua, who served as the 13th Governor of Papua Province from April 2013 to January 2023. He had previously served as Regent of Puncak Jaya Regency between 2007 and 2012, and Vice Regent of the same regency from 2001 until 2006.

Tom Smothers, American comedian, actor, and activist (born 1937)

Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was an American comedian, actor, composer, and musician, widely known as half of the musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. In the 1960s they were known for their network comedy and variety shows, The Smothers Brothers Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

26/12/2021

Giacomo Capuzzi, Italian Roman Catholic prelate, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodi (born 1929)

Giacomo Capuzzi was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate, who served as a bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lodi.

Paul B. Kidd, Australian author, journalist, and radio show host (born 1945)

Paul Benjamin Kidd was an Australian author, journalist, and radio show host. From 2001 until 2020, Kidd was the co-host of the 2UE George and Paul weekend show with George Moore; from 2020 until his death, he co-hosted Weekends with John and Paul with John Stanley on 2GB. Kidd was also a prolific true crime writer, having published a large number of books about high-profile murder cases across Australia and the world.

Karolos Papoulias, Greek politician, President of Greece from 2005 to 2015 (born 1929)

Karolos Papoulias was a Greek politician who served as the president of Greece from 2005 to 2015.

Desmond Tutu, South African Anglican bishop, theologian and anti-apartheid and human rights activist (born 1931)

Desmond Mpilo Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, in both cases being the first Black African to hold the position. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from Black theology with African theology.

Nell Hall Williams, American quilter (born 1933)

Nell Hall Williams was an American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters. Her work is included in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

Edward O. Wilson, American biologist (born 1929)

Edward Osborne Wilson was an American biologist, naturalist, ecologist, and entomologist who developed the field of sociobiology.

26/12/2020

Brodie Lee, American Professional Wrestler (born 1979)

Jonathan Huber, known professionally as Brodie Lee, was an American professional wrestler. Huber performed in WWE from 2012 to 2019 under the ring name Luke Harper and performed in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in 2020 under the name Mr. Brodie Lee.

26/12/2017

Irv Weinstein, American broadcaster and television news anchor (born 1930)

Irwin B. "Irv" Weinstein was an American local television news anchor and occasional radio actor. He hosted WKBW-TV's Eyewitness News in Buffalo, New York, for 34 years, from 1964 to 1998, becoming an iconic broadcaster well known in both the Buffalo area and in Southern Ontario, which was within WKBW's broadcast area. Weinstein was known for his powerful delivery and sense of humor. Weinstein, weatherman Tom Jolls and sports anchor Rick Azar fronted the broadcast from 1965 until Azar's retirement in 1989. Weinstein was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998 and the N.Y. State Broadcasters Association in 2006.

26/12/2016

Ricky Harris, American comedian, actor (born 1962)

Richard George Harris II, known professionally as Ricky Harris, was an American producer, actor, and comedian. He was best known for his role as Malvo in the UPN/The CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris.

George S. Irving, American actor, singer and dancer (born 1922)

George S. Irving was an American actor known primarily for his character roles on Broadway and as the voice of Heat Miser in the American Christmas television specials The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) and A Miser Brothers' Christmas (2008).

26/12/2015

Sidney Mintz, American anthropologist and academic (born 1922)

Sidney Wilfred Mintz was an American anthropologist best known for his studies of the Caribbean, creolization, and the anthropology of food. Mintz received his PhD at Columbia University in 1951 and conducted his primary fieldwork among sugar-cane workers in Puerto Rico. Later expanding his ethnographic research to Haiti and Jamaica, he produced historical and ethnographic studies of slavery and global capitalism, cultural hybridity, Caribbean peasants, and the political economy of food commodities. He taught for two decades at Yale University before helping to found the Anthropology Department at Johns Hopkins University, where he remained for the duration of his career. Mintz's history of sugar, Sweetness and Power, is considered one of the most influential publications in cultural anthropology and food studies.

Jim O'Toole, American baseball player (born 1937)

James Jerome O'Toole was an American professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox during his 10-year career.

26/12/2014

Stanisław Barańczak, Polish-American poet, critic, and scholar (born 1946)

Stanisław Barańczak was a Polish poet, literary critic, scholar, editor, translator and lecturer. He is perhaps most well known for his English-to-Polish translations of the dramas of William Shakespeare and of the poetry of E.E. Cummings, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Wystan Hugh Auden, Seamus Heaney, Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Stearns Eliot, John Keats, Robert Frost, Edward Lear and others.

James B. Edwards, American dentist, soldier, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Energy (born 1927)

James Burrows Edwards was an American politician and administrator from South Carolina. He was the first Republican to be elected governor of South Carolina since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era in the 1870s. He later served as the U.S. secretary of energy under Ronald Reagan.

Leo Tindemans, Belgian politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Belgium (born 1922)

Leonard Clemence "Leo" Tindemans was a Belgian politician. He served as the prime minister of Belgium from 25 April 1974 until he resigned as minister on 20 October 1978. He was a member of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party.

26/12/2013

Paul Blair, American baseball player and coach (born 1944)

Paul L. D. Blair was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1964 through 1980, most notably as the center fielder for the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won four American League pennants and two World Series championships between 1966 and 1971. He also played for the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds.

Marta Eggerth, Hungarian-American actress and singer (born 1912)

Marta Eggerth was a Hungarian-American actress and singer from "The Silver Age of Operetta". Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz, Oscar Straus, and Paul Abraham, composed works especially for her.

26/12/2012

Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1929)

Gerald Alexander Anderson was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist, who is known for his futuristic TV series, especially his 1960s productions filmed with "Supermarionation".

Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (born 1941)

Gerald McDermott was an American film-maker, creator of children's picture books, and expert on mythology. His creative works typically combine bright colors and styles with ancient imagery. His picture books feature folktales and cultures from all around the world.

Ibrahim Tannous, Lebanese general (born 1929)

Ibrahim Tannous was a former commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces. General Tannous earned a reputation for honesty and was seen as “a general willing to get his uniform dirty to build a fighting Lebanese Army,” in the words of one Arab authority.

26/12/2011

Houston Antwine, American football player (born 1939)

Houston J. "Twine" Antwine was an American football defensive tackle who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons.

Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (born 1940)

Pedro Armendáriz Bohr was a Mexican actor. The son of actor Pedro Armendáriz, he had an extensive career in both Mexican and American films, appearing in over 200 productions between the 1960s and the 2010s. He was a two-time Ariel Award winner, Best Actor for Mina, Wind of Freedom (1977) and Best Supporting Actor for Herod's Law (1999).

Sarekoppa Bangarappa, Indian politician, 15th Chief Minister of Karnataka (born 1932)

Sarekoppa Bangarappa was an Indian politician who was the 9th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1990 to 1992.

Joe Bodolai, American screenwriter and producer (born 1948)

Joe Bodolai was an American film and television producer and writer.

James Rizzi, American painter and illustrator (born 1950)

James Rizzi was an American pop artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

26/12/2010

Salvador Jorge Blanco, 48th President of the Dominican Republic (born 1926)

José Salvador Omar Jorge Blanco was a Dominican politician, lawyer and writer who served as the 48th president of the Dominican Republic from 1982 to 1986. He was a Senator running for the PRD party. He started his political career as a Committee Secretary for the Unión Cívica de Santiago in 1963 and joined the PRD in 1964.

Edward Bhengu, South African activist (born 1934)

Edward "Sonnyboy" Bhengu was a South African activist and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania.

Teena Marie, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1956)

Mary Christine Brockert, known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie and later acquired the nickname Lady T, given to her by her collaborator and friend Rick James.

26/12/2009

Felix Wurman, American cellist and composer (born 1958)

Felix Wurman was an American cellist and composer.

26/12/2006

Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (born 1913)

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. He assumed the presidency after the resignation of Richard Nixon, under whom he served as the 40th vice president from 1973 to 1974, after the resignation of Spiro Agnew. A member of the Republican Party, Ford previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1949 to 1973.

Ivar Formo, Norwegian skier and engineer (born 1951)

Ivar Formo was a Norwegian cross-country skier and orienteer who competed during the 1970s.

Munir Niazi, Pakistani poet (born 1923)

Munir Niazi, was a Pakistani poet. He mostly wrote in the Punjabi and Urdu languages and also wrote for newspapers, magazines and radio.

26/12/2005

Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American soprano (born 1937)

Muriel Salina Costa-Greenspon was an American mezzo-soprano who had a lengthy career at the New York City Opera from 1963 to 1993.

Ted Ditchburn, English footballer and manager (born 1921)

Edwin George Ditchburn was an English professional football goalkeeper who played for Northfleet United, Tottenham Hotspur, Romford, Brentwood Town and represented England on six occasions at international level.

Kerry Packer, Australian publisher and businessman (born 1937)

Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling interest in both the Nine Network and the publishing company Australian Consolidated Press, which were later merged to form Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (PBL). Outside Australia, Packer was best known for founding World Series Cricket. At the time of his death, he was the richest and one of the most influential men in Australia. In 2004, Business Review Weekly magazine estimated Packer's net worth at A$6.5 billion.

Viacheslav Platonov, Russian volleyball player and coach (born 1939)

Viacheslav Platonov was a Russian volleyball player and coach. He led the Soviet men's national volleyball team to gold medals at the 1978 FIVB World Championship in Italy, 1982 FIVB World Championship in Argentina, and the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (born 1948)

Vincent Andrew Schiavelli was an American character actor noted for his work on stage, screen, and television. Described as an "instantly recognizable sad-faced actor", he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome in childhood.

Erich Topp, German commander (born 1914)

Erich Topp was a German U-boat commander of World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords of Nazi Germany. He sank 35 ships for a total of 197,460 gross register tons (GRT). After the war, he served with the Federal German Navy, in which he reached the rank of Konteradmiral. He later served in NATO.

26/12/2004

Jonathan Drummond-Webb, South African surgeon and academic (born 1959)

Jonathan Drummond-Webb was a South African pediatric heart surgeon.

Angus Ogilvy, English businessman (born 1928)

Sir Angus James Bruce Ogilvy was a British businessman, courtier, and philanthropist. He is best known as the husband of Princess Alexandra of Kent. Ogilvy is also remembered for his role in a business scandal, known as the Lonrho affair, involving the breaking of sanctions against Rhodesia during the 1970s. In later years, he was involved in charity work.

Reggie White, American football player and wrestler (born 1961)

Reginald Howard White was an American professional football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. White played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, earning unanimous All-American honors. After playing two seasons for the Memphis Showboats of the United States Football League (USFL), he was selected in the first round of the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft, and then played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers, becoming one of the most awarded defensive players in NFL history.

26/12/2003

Virginia Coffey, American civil rights activist (born 1904)

Virginia Coffey (1904–2003), was an American social reformer and civil rights activist who worked for improved race relations in and around Cincinnati, Ohio. She advised and directed several organisations during her career, including a variety of boards and committees.

26/12/2002

Herb Ritts, American photographer and director (born 1952)

Herbert Ritts Jr. was an American fashion photographer and music video director known for his photographs of celebrities, models, and other cultural figures throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His work concentrated on black and white photography and portraits, often in the style of classical Greek sculpture, which emphasized the human shape.

Armand Zildjian, American businessman, founded the Avedis Zildjian Company (born 1921)

Armand Zildjian was an American manufacturer of cymbals and the head of the Avedis Zildjian Company.

26/12/2001

Nigel Hawthorne, English actor (born 1929)

Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne was an English actor. He is known for his stage acting and his portrayal of Sir Humphrey Appleby, the permanent secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role, he won four British Academy Television Awards for Best Entertainment Performance.

26/12/2000

Jason Robards, American actor (born 1922)

Jason Nelson Robards Jr. was an American actor. Known for his roles on stage and screen, he gained a reputation as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robards received numerous accolades and is one of 24 performers to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting having earned competitive wins for two Academy Awards, a Tony Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In addition to these plaudits, Robards was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Laurel Award and a Grammy Award. He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, earned the National Medal of Arts in 1997, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1999.

26/12/1999

Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1942)

Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the Gentle Genius, he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious African-American music. Mayfield first achieved success and recognition with the vocal group the Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and the 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.

Shankar Dayal Sharma, Indian academic and politician, 9th President of India (born 1918)

Shankar Dayal Sharma was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the president of India from 1992 to 1997 and vice president of India from 1987 to 1992.

26/12/1998

Ram Swarup, Indian writer on Hindu philosophy and religion (born 1920)

Ram Swarup, born Ram Swarup Agarwal, was an Indian Hindutva author.

26/12/1997

Cahit Arf, Turkish mathematician and academic (born 1910)

Cahit Arf was a Turkish mathematician. He is known for the Arf invariant of a quadratic form in characteristic 2 in topology, the Hasse–Arf theorem in ramification theory, Arf semigroups and Arf rings.

Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek economist and philosopher (born 1922)

Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek-French philosopher, sociologist, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie collective.

26/12/1994

Sylva Koscina, Italian actress (born 1933)

Sylva Koscina was a Yugoslav-born Italian actress, best known for her role as Iole, the bride of Hercules in Hercules (1958) and Hercules Unchained (1960). She also played Paul Newman's romantic interest in The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968).

26/12/1990

Gene Callahan, American art director and production designer (born 1923)

Gene Callahan was an American art director as well as set and production designer who contributed to over fifty films and more than a thousand TV episodes. He received nominations for the British Academy Film Award and four Oscars, including two wins.

26/12/1989

Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1924)

Douglas Norman Harvey was a Canadian professional hockey defenceman. Widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders in National Hockey League (NHL) history, Harvey was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1973 and was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history in 2017. Individually he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the best defenceman seven times, and was named to the end of season NHL All-Star team as a First All-Star 10 times. He played from 1947 until 1964, and from 1966 until 1969. Best known for playing with the Montreal Canadiens, Harvey also played for the New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, and St. Louis Blues, as well as several teams in the minor leagues. He also served as the player-coach of the Rangers for one season, and served a similar role for the minor-league Kansas City Blues. He was also a coach.

26/12/1988

Glenn McCarthy, American businessman, founded the Shamrock Hotel (born 1907)

Glenn Herbert McCarthy was an American oil tycoon. The media often referred to him as "Diamond Glenn" and "The King of the Wildcatters". McCarthy was an oil prospector and entrepreneur who owned many businesses in various sectors of the economy. McCarthy founded the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, which garnered him national fame and inspired the fictional character Jett Rink in Edna Ferber's 1952 novel Giant which, in 1956, became a film, which starred James Dean in the role.

Pablo Sorozábal, German-Spanish composer and conductor (born 1897)

Pablo Sorozábal Mariezcurrena was a Spanish composer of zarzuelas, operas, symphonic works, and the popular romanza, "No puede ser".

26/12/1987

Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist, curator at the American Museum of Natural History (born 1916)

Dorothy Elizabeth Bliss was an American carcinologist and curator of invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History, with which she was associated for over 30 years. She was known as a pioneer in the field of hormonal control in crustaceans. She was editor-in-chief of the 10-volume series The Biology of Crustacea and author of the popular book Shrimps, Lobsters and Crabs. She served as president of the American Society of Zoologists and was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

26/12/1986

Elsa Lanchester, English-American actress (born 1902)

Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was a British actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.

26/12/1983

Hans Liska, Austrian-German artist (born 1907)

Hans Liska was an Austrian artist, painter, commercial artist and illustrator.

26/12/1981

Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (born 1887)

Amber Blanco White was a New Zealand–born British feminist writer and scholar.

Suat Hayri Ürgüplü, Turkish politician, Prime Minister of Turkey (born 1903)

Ali Suat Hayri Ürgüplü was a Turkish politician who served a brief term as Prime Minister of Turkey in 1965. He was also the last Prime Minister to be born outside the territory of present-day Turkey, being born in Damascus, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

Savitri, Indian actress, playback singer, dancer, director and producer (born 1936)

Nissankara Savitri was an Indian actress and filmmaker who predominantly worked in Telugu and Tamil films. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema, she was popularly known by the epithets Mahanati in Telugu, and Nadigaiyar Thilagam in Tamil. Savitri was among the highest-paid in South Indian cinema during the 1950s and 1960s and is often considered the "Queen of Telugu cinema".

26/12/1980

Tony Smith, American sculptor and educator (born 1912)

Anthony Peter Smith was an American sculptor, painter, architectural designer, and a noted art theorist. As a leading sculptor in the 1960s and 1970s, Smith is often associated with the minimalist art movement.

Richard Chase, American cannibalistic serial killer and necrophile (born 1950)

Richard Trenton Chase was an American serial killer, cannibal, and necrophile known as the Vampire of Sacramento, the Dracula Killer, and the Vampire Killer, who killed six people between December 1977 and January 1978 in Sacramento, California.

26/12/1977

Howard Hawks, American director and screenwriter (born 1896)

Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. The critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name." Roger Ebert called Hawks "one of the greatest American directors of pure movies, and a hero of auteur critics because he found his own laconic values in so many different kinds of genre material." He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director for Sergeant York (1941) and earned the Honorary Academy Award in 1974.

26/12/1974

Farid al-Atrash, Syrian-Egyptian singer-songwriter, oud player, and actor (born 1915)

Farid al-Atrash, also spelled Farid El-Atrache, was a Syrian-Egyptian singer, oudist, composer, and actor. Although born in Syria, he immigrated to Egypt at the age of nine with his mother and siblings, where he eventually became one of the most noted figures in 20th-century Arabic music.

Jack Benny, American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, and violinist (born 1894)

Jack Benny was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with a highly popular comedic career in radio, television, and film.

Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (born 1890)

Sir Frederick Hew George Dalrymple-Hamilton was a British admiral who served in World War I and World War II. He was captain of HMS Rodney when it engaged the Bismarck on 27 May 1941.

26/12/1973

Harold B. Lee, American religious leader, 11th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1899)

Harold Bingham Lee was an American religious leader and educator who served as the 11th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from July 1972 until his death in December 1973.

26/12/1972

Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (born 1884)

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Truman subsequently implemented the Marshall Plan in the aftermath of World War II to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. A member of the Democratic Party, he proposed numerous New Deal coalition liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the conservative coalition that dominated the United States Congress.

26/12/1970

Lillian Board, South African-English runner (born 1948)

Lillian Barbara Board, was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life at the age of 22.

26/12/1968

Weegee, Ukrainian-American photographer and journalist (born 1898)

Ascher Fellig, known by his pseudonym Weegee, was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City.

26/12/1966

Ina Boudier-Bakker, Dutch author (born 1875)

Klaziena "Ina" Boudier-Bakker was a Dutch novelist. Her most famous work is De klop op de deur, written in 1930.

Herbert Otto Gille, German general (born 1897)

Herbert Otto Gille was a high-ranking German SS general, and divisional & corps commander of the Waffen-SS. He commanded the SS Division Wiking during World War II. After the war, Gille became active in HIAG, a lobby group and a negationist veteran's organisation founded by former high-ranking Waffen-SS personnel in West Germany in 1951.

Guillermo Stábile, Argentinian footballer and manager (born 1905)

Guillermo Stábile was an Argentine professional football player and manager who played as a centre forward. At club level, Stábile won two national championships with Huracán and played in Italy and France. He was the top scorer of the 1930 FIFA World Cup, the inaugural iteration of the tournament. As manager, he led Argentina to victory at six South American Championships and Racing Club to three league titles.

26/12/1963

Gorgeous George, American wrestler (born 1915)

George Raymond Wagner, known by his ring name Gorgeous George, was an American professional wrestler. In the United States, during the "First Golden Age" of professional wrestling (1940s–1950s), Gorgeous George was one of the biggest stars of the sport, gaining media attention for his outrageous character, which was described as flamboyant and charismatic. He was a major national celebrity at his peak, and was a pioneer of early entertainment television. He was posthumously inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2002 and the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2010.

26/12/1960

Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese historian and philosopher (born 1889)

Tetsurō Watsuji was a Japanese historian and moral philosopher.

26/12/1959

Jack Tresadern, English footballer and manager (born 1890)

John Tresadern was an English professional football player and manager. He played twice for the England national team.

26/12/1933

Mary Ann Bevan, English nurse who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world" (born 1874)

Mary Ann Bevan was an English nurse, who, after developing acromegaly, toured the circus sideshow circuit as "the ugliest woman in the world".

Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian journalist and politician (born 1875)

Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well as an active playwright, critic, essayist, and journalist throughout his career.

Henry Watson Fowler, English lexicographer and educator (born 1858)

Henry Watson Fowler was an English schoolmaster, lexicographer and commentator on the usage of the English language. He is notable for both A Dictionary of Modern English Usage and his work on the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and was described by The Times as "a lexicographical genius".

26/12/1931

Melvil Dewey, American librarian and educator, created the Dewey Decimal Classification (born 1851)

Melville Louis Kossuth "Melvil" Dewey was an American librarian and educator who invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification. He was a founder of the Lake Placid Club, a chief librarian at Columbia College, founder of what would later become the Columbia University School of Library Service, and a founding member of the American Library Association. Although Dewey's contributions to the modern library are widely recognized, his legacy is marred by his sexual harassment of female colleagues, as well as his racism and antisemitism.

26/12/1929

Albert Giraud, Belgian poet (born 1860)

Albert Giraud was a Belgian poet who wrote in French.

26/12/1925

Jan Letzel, Czech architect, designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (born 1880)

Jan Letzel was a Czech architect who was active in early 20th century Japan. He is most famous for designing the Hiroshima Products Exhibition Hall that was partially destroyed in the atomic bombing of the city. The ruins of the Exhibition Hall is now the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also known as the A-Bomb Dome, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

26/12/1923

Dietrich Eckart, German journalist, poet, and politician (born 1868)

Dietrich Eckart was a German völkisch poet, playwright, journalist, publicist, and political activist who was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the Nazi Party. Eckart was a key influence on Adolf Hitler in the early years of the Party, the original publisher of the party newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter, and the lyricist of the first party anthem, "Sturmlied". He was a participant in the failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 and died on 26 December of that year, shortly after his release from Landsberg Prison, of a heart attack.

26/12/1909

Frederic Remington, American painter and illustrator (born 1861)

Frederic Sackrider Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in the genre of Western American Art. His works are known for depicting the Western United States in the last quarter of the 19th century and featuring such images as cowboys, Native Americans, and the US Cavalry.

26/12/1902

Mary Hartwell Catherwood, American author and poet (born 1849)

Mary Hartwell Catherwood was an American writer of popular historical romances, short stories, and poetry. Early in her career she published under her birth name, Mary Hartwell, and under the pseudonym Lewtrah. She was known for setting her works in the Midwest, for a strong interest in American dialects, and for bringing a high standard of historical accuracy to the period detail of her novels.

26/12/1890

Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist, businessman and author (born 1822)

Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann was a German businessman and an influential archaeologist. He was an advocate of the historicity of places mentioned in the works of Homer and an archaeological excavator of Hisarlık, now presumed to be the site of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns. His work lent weight to the idea that Homer's Iliad reflects historical events. Schliemann's excavation of nine layers of archaeological remains has been criticized as destructive of significant historical artefacts, including the layer that is believed to be the Homeric Troy.

26/12/1869

Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille, French physician and physiologist (born 1797)

Jean Léonard Marie Poiseuille was a French physicist and physiologist.

26/12/1863

Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont, Irish politician, Lord Lieutenant of Tyrone (born 1775)

Francis William Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont, styled Viscount Caulfeild until 1799, was an Irish peer and politician.

26/12/1786

Gasparo Gozzi, Italian playwright and critic (born 1713)

Gasparo, count Gozzi was a Venetian critic and dramatist.

26/12/1784

Seth Warner, American colonel (born 1743)

Seth Warner was an American soldier. He was a Revolutionary War officer from Vermont who rose to the rank of Continental colonel and was often given the duties of a brigade commander. He is best known for his leadership in the capture of Fort Crown Point, the Battle of Longueuil, the siege of Quebec, the retreat from Canada, and the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington.

26/12/1780

John Fothergill, English physician and botanist (born 1712)

John Fothergill FRS was an English physician, plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker. His medical writings were influential, and he built up a sizeable botanic garden in what is now West Ham Park in London.

26/12/1771

Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher and activist (born 1715)

Claude Adrien Helvétius was a French philosopher, Freemason, and littérateur.

26/12/1731

Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (born 1672)

Antoine Houdar de la Motte was a French writer.

26/12/1646

Henri de Bourbon, prince of Condé (born 1588)

Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé was a French prince who was the head of the House of Bourbon-Condé, the senior-most cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. From the age of 2 to 12, Henri was the presumptive heir to the French throne. Henri was the father of general Louis, le Grand Condé.

26/12/1574

Charles de Lorraine, French cardinal (born 1524)

Charles de Lorraine, Duke of Chevreuse, was a French cardinal and a member of the powerful House of Guise. He was known at first as the Cardinal of Guise, and then as the second Cardinal of Lorraine, after the death of his uncle, Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (1550). He was the protector of François Rabelais and Pierre de Ronsard and founded Reims University. He is sometimes known as the Cardinal de Lorraine.

26/12/1530

Babur, Mughal emperor (born 1483)

Babur was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his father and mother respectively. He was also given the posthumous name of Firdaws Makani.

26/12/1476

Galeazzo Maria Sforza, duke of Milan (born 1444)

Galeazzo Maria Sforza was the fifth Duke of Milan from 1466 until 1476. He was born to Francesco Sforza, a popular condottiero and ally of Cosimo de' Medici who would gain the Duchy of Milan in 1450, and Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan on her own right. Sforza was betrothed into the Gonzaga family; after the engagement with Dorotea Gonzaga was called off, he married Bona of Savoy.

26/12/1458

Arthur III, duke of Brittany (born 1393)

Arthur III, more commonly known as Arthur de Richemont, was briefly Duke of Brittany from 1457 until his death. He is noted primarily, however, for his role as a leading military commander during the Hundred Years' War. Although Richemont briefly sided with the English once, he otherwise remained firmly committed to the House of Valois. He fought alongside Joan of Arc, and was appointed Constable of France. His military and administrative reforms in the French state were an important factor in assuring the final defeat of the English in the Hundred Years' War.

26/12/1441

Niccolò III d'Este, marquess of Ferrara

Niccolò III d'Este was Marquess of Ferrara from 1393 until his death. He was also a condottiero.

26/12/1413

Michele Steno, doge of Venice (born 1331)

Michele Steno was a Venetian statesman who served as the 63rd Doge of Venice from 1 December 1400 until his death. He is remembered as the ruler crucial for establishing the Domini di Terraferma, in the aftermath of the War of Padua.

26/12/1360

Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent, English commander (born 1314)

Thomas Holland, 2nd Baron Holand, and jure uxoris 1st Earl of Kent, KG was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. By the time of the Crécy campaign, he had apparently lost one of his eyes.

26/12/1352

John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English politician (born 1330)

John, an English nobleman, was the Earl of Kent (1331–1352) and 4th Baron Wake of Liddell (1349–1352). His promising career was cut short by an untimely death at the age of twenty-two.

26/12/1350

Jean de Marigny, French archbishop

Jean de Marigny, French bishop, was a younger brother of Enguerrand de Marigny.

26/12/1331

Philip I, Prince of Taranto, titular Latin Emperor (born 1278)

Philip II, also known as Philip I of Taranto, was titular Latin Emperor of Constantinople by marriage to Catherine of Valois–Courtenay, Despot of Romania, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto.

26/12/1302

Valdemar, king of Sweden (born 1239)

Valdemar Birgersson, also Waldemar, was King of Sweden from 1250 to 1275.

26/12/1191

Reginald Fitz Jocelin, archbishop-elect of Canterbury

Reginald Fitz Jocelin was a medieval Bishop of Bath and an Archbishop of Canterbury-elect in England. A member of an Anglo-Norman noble family, he was the son of a bishop, and was educated in Italy. He was a household clerk for Thomas Becket, but by 1167 he was serving King Henry II of England. He was also a favourite of King Louis VII of France, who had him appointed abbot of the Abbey of Corbeil. After Reginald angered Becket while attempting to help negotiate a settlement between Becket and the king, Becket called him "that offspring of fornication, that enemy to the peace of the Church, that traitor." When he was elected as a bishop, the election was challenged by King Henry's eldest son, Henry the Young King, and Reginald was forced to go to Rome to be confirmed by Pope Alexander III. He attended the Third Lateran Council in 1179, and spent much of his time administering his diocese. He was elected Archbishop of Canterbury in 1191, but died before he could be installed.

26/12/1006

Gao Qiong, Chinese general (born 935)

Gao Qiong was a Northern Song dynasty general and Zhong-Wu military governor. Gao conducted many military exploits.

26/12/0893

Masrur al-Balkhi, Abbasid general

Masrur al-Balkhi was a senior military officer in the late-9th century Abbasid Caliphate.

26/12/0865

Zheng, empress of the Tang Dynasty

Empress Dowager Zheng, formally Empress Xiaoming, was an empress dowager of the Chinese dynasty Tang dynasty. She was a concubine to Emperor Xianzong and, after her son Emperor Xuānzong became emperor, she became empress dowager, and, after his death, became the second and last Grand Empress Dowager of the Tang Dynasty during the reign of her grandson Emperor Yizong.

26/12/0831

Euthymius of Sardis, Byzantine bishop and saint (born 754)

Euthymius of Sardis or Euthymius the Confessor was metropolitan bishop of Sardis between ca. 785 and ca. 804, and a leading iconophile during the period of Byzantine Iconoclasm. Martyred in 831, he is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, celebrated on 26 December and March 8.

26/12/0418

Zosimus, pope of the Catholic Church

Pope Zosimus was the bishop of Rome from 18 March 417 to his death on 26 December 418. Zosimus took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the See of Arles over that of Vienne, giving energetic decisions in favour of the former, but without settling the controversy. His fractious temper coloured all the controversies in which he took part, in Gaul, Africa and Italy, including Rome, where at his death the clergy were very much divided.

26/12/0268

Dionysius, pope of the Catholic Church

Pope Dionysius was the Bishop of Rome from 22 July 259 to 26 December 268. His pontificate oversaw the transition from Valerian's persecutions to the toleration issued by Gallienus in 260. During this period, he reorganized the Roman church, assigning presbyters to individual parishes.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 26th December

Boxing Day, except when December 26 is a Sunday. If it is a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to December 27 by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations), and its related observances: Day of Good Will (South Africa and Namibia)

Boxing Day, also known as Offering Day, is a holiday celebrated on 26 December, the day after Christmas Day. Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part of Christmas festivities. It originated in the United Kingdom and is celebrated in several Commonwealth nations. The attached bank holiday or public holiday may take place on 27 or 28 December if necessary to ensure it falls on a weekday. Boxing Day is usually concurrent with the Christian festival Saint Stephen's Day.

Boxing Day, except when December 26 is a Sunday. If it is a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to December 27 by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations), and its related observances: Family Day (Vanuatu)

Family Day is a public holiday in the countries of Angola, Israel, Namibia, South Africa, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Vietnam; in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Saskatchewan; in the American states of Arizona and Nevada; and as the second day of Songkran in Thailand. It was formerly observed in the Australian Capital Territory from 2007 to 2017.

Boxing Day, except when December 26 is a Sunday. If it is a Sunday, Boxing Day is transferred to December 27 by Royal Proclamation. (Commonwealth of Nations), and its related observances: Thanksgiving (Solomon Islands)

The people of the Solomon Islands observe these holidays nationally.

Christian feast day: Abadiu of Antinoe (Coptic Church)

Abadiu of Antinoe was a bishop of Antinoe in the Fourth Century. He is commemorated as a saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church, and is said to have been killed in a theological dispute with the Arians. His feast day is 26 December. He is referenced in Les Martyrs d'Égypte by Hippolyte Delehaye.

Christian feast day: Pope Dionysius

Pope Dionysius was the Bishop of Rome from 22 July 259 to 26 December 268. His pontificate oversaw the transition from Valerian's persecutions to the toleration issued by Gallienus in 260. During this period, he reorganized the Roman church, assigning presbyters to individual parishes.

Christian feast day: Earliest day on which Feast of the Holy Family can fall, celebrated on Sunday after Christmas or 30 if Christmas falls on a Sunday.[citation needed]

The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in Christian art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first bishop of New France, who founded a confraternity.

Christian feast day: James the Just (Eastern Orthodox Church)

James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord, was, according to the New Testament, a brother of Jesus. James was personally known to Paul the Apostle. He was the first leader of the Church of Jerusalem. According to Josephus, he was martyred either in 62 AD by being stoned to death on the order of High Priest Ananus ben Ananus, while Hegesippus places his death in 69 AD by being thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple by scribes and Pharisees and then clubbed to death. James, Joses, Simon, and Judas are mentioned as the brothers of Jesus as well as two or more unnamed sisters.

Christian feast day: Saint Stephen (Western Church)

Stephen is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity. According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who angered members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy at his trial, he made a speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death. Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee and Roman citizen who would later become Paul the Apostle, was also involved as a witness in Stephen's execution.

Christian feast day: Synaxis of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox Church)

A synaxis is a liturgical assembly in Eastern Christianity.

Christian feast day: Vicenta María López i Vicuña

Vicenta María López y Vicuña was a Spanish professed religious and the founder of the Religious of Mary Immaculate. Her order was dedicated to administering to "working girls", or young women in domestic employment, and she took the view that these housemaids and other domestic servants needed care, with a particular emphasis on girls who suffered abuse.

Christian feast day: December 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

December 25 – Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar – December 27

Independence and Unity Day (Slovenia)

Independence and Unity Day is a Slovenian national holiday that occurs on every 26 December to commemorate the official proclamation of the Slovenian independence referendum on 26 December 1990. The referendum took place on 23 December that year. In it, 95% of the voters favoured the establishment of independent and sovereign nation. Between 1991 and 2005, the holiday used to be known simply as Independence Day. The current name was adopted in September 2005, following the proposal of the then-opposition Social Democrats, in order to emphasize the national consensus at the time of the 1990 referendum, which was supported by all political parties represented in the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia at the time.

Mauro Hamza Day (Houston, Texas)

Maher "Mauro" Hamza is a fencing coach who was born in Cairo, Egypt. He coached at Texas A&M, Rice University, for US national teams, and for the Egyptian Olympic team.

Mummer's Day (Padstow, Cornwall)

Mummer's Day, or "Darkie Day" as it is sometimes known, is a traditional Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall. It was originally part of the pagan heritage of midwinter celebrations that were regularly celebrated throughout Cornwall where people would take part in the traditional custom of guise dancing, which involves disguising themselves by painting their faces black or wearing masks.

Saint Stephen's Day (public holiday in Alsace, Austria, Catalonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland), and its related observances: Father's Day (Bulgaria)

Father's Day is a day set aside for honoring one's father, as well as fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. "Father's Day" complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother's Day and, in some countries, Siblings Day, and Grandparents' Day. The day is held on various dates across the world, and different regions maintain their own traditions of honoring fatherhood.

The first day of Kwanzaa, celebrated until January 1 (United States)

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. It was created by activist Maulana Karenga based on Karenga's research of African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West, East, and Southeast Africa. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966. A 2009 estimate placed the number of Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa between 500,000 and 2,000,000.

The first day of Junkanoo street parade, the second day is on the New Year's Day (The Bahamas)

Junkanoo is a festival that originated during the period of African chattel slavery in British American colonies. It is practiced most notably today in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize, and historically in North Carolina and Miami, where there have been significant settlements of West Indian people during the post-emancipation era. In the present day, there are considerable variations in performance and spelling of the festival, but the shared elements of masquerade, drumming, dance, and parading continue.

The second day of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity) Second day of Christmas (Public holiday in the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia)

The national holidays in the Netherlands are the following:

Wren Day (Ireland and the Isle of Man)

Wren Day, or Hunt the Wren Day, or Hunt the Wren, is an Irish and Manx custom on 26 December, Saint Stephen's Day. Traditionally, men and boys hunted a wren, which was revered as the 'king of the birds'. They displayed it on top of a staff decorated with holly, ivy and ribbons, or in a decorated box on top of a pole. This was paraded around the neighbourhood by a group of 'Wrenboys'—typically dressed in straw masks, greenery and colourful motley clothing—who sang songs and played music in exchange for donations. This was meant to ensure prosperity for the coming year. Afterwards, the wren was buried. On the Isle of Man, they held a funeral for the wren and danced around a 'wren pole'.

What Happened on 26th December?

52 significant events took place on Tuesday, 26th December — stretching from 795 to 2025. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

26/12/2025

Israel recognises Somaliland as an independent state, becoming the first country to do so.

Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. It is bordered by Lebanon to the north, Syria to the northeast, Jordan to the east, and Egypt to the southwest. Israel's western coast lies on the Mediterranean Sea, its southern tip reaches the Red Sea, and to the east is Earth's lowest point near the Dead Sea. Jerusalem is the government seat and proclaimed capital, while Tel Aviv is Israel's largest urban area and economic centre.

26/12/2021

Three people are killed when a 14-year-old opens fire on civilians at a Texaco convenience store in Garland, Texas.

On December 26, 2021, a mass shooting took place at a Texaco convenience store in Garland, Texas, United States. Three teenage boys were killed and another was seriously injured before the perpetrator, 14-year-old Abel Acosta, fled the scene. As of 2026, Acosta is wanted for the shooting and believed to be hiding in Mexico.

26/12/2015

A violent EF-4 tornado hits Garland, Texas, killing nine and injuring almost 500 others.

On the night of December 26, 2015, a violent EF4 tornado struck the Dallas suburbs of Sunnyvale, Garland, and Rowlett, located in Texas. It caused $20–26 million in damages, killed 10 people, making it the deadliest tornado in the United States in 2015, and injured 468 others. This was the third tornado to be rated an EF4 in the United States that year and the fourth such tornado worldwide.

26/12/2013

An Irkut-Avia Antonov An-12 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Northwest Airport, killing all nine people on board.

The JSC Yakovlev Corporation is a Russian aircraft manufacturer, headquartered in the Aeroport District, Northern Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is the manufacturer of the Sukhoi Su-30 family of interceptor/ground-attack aircraft. The company was founded in 1932 in the Transbaykal region of the Soviet Union as the Irkutsk Aviation Plant (IAP). It was formerly known as Irkut Corporation.

26/12/2012

China opens the world's longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

The high-speed rail network in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is almost entirely owned and operated by the China State Railway Group Co. under the brand China Railway High-speed (CRH), including HSR trains, tracks, and services. China's high-speed rail network is the world's longest and has the highest ridership, as it accounts for roughly two-thirds of the world's total and has expanded to more than 50,000 km in operational length. The HSR network encompasses newly built rail lines with a design speed of 200–380 km/h (120–240 mph).

26/12/2006

Two earthquakes in Hengchun, Taiwan measuring 7.0 and 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale kill two and disrupt telecommunications across Asia.

The 2006 Hengchun earthquakes occurred on December 26 at 20:26 and 20:34 local time off the southwest coast of Taiwan in the Luzon Strait, which connects the South China Sea with the Philippine Sea. The International Seismological Centre measured the shocks at 7.0 and 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale. The earthquakes not only caused casualties and building damage, but several submarine communications cables were cut, disrupting telecommunication services in various parts of Asia.

26/12/2004

The 9.1–9.3 Mw Indian Ocean earthquake shakes northern Sumatra with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). One of the largest observed tsunamis, it affected coastal and partially mainland areas of Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia; death toll is estimated at 227,898.

On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a Mw 9.2–9.3 earthquake struck with its epicenter off the west coast of Aceh, in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by a rupture along the fault boundary between the Burma plate and the Indian plate, and reached a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX in some areas.

Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.

The Orange Revolution was a series of protests that led to political upheaval in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. It gained momentum primarily due to the initiative of the general population, sparked by the aftermath of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election runoff which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation, and electoral fraud. Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement's campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily. Nationwide, this was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes organized by the opposition movement.

26/12/2003

The 6.6 Mw Bam earthquake shakes southeastern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 26,000 dead and 30,000 injured.

An earthquake struck the Kerman province of southeastern Iran at 01:56 UTC on December 26, 2003. The Mw 6.6 strike-slip shock had a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). The earthquake was particularly destructive in Bam and Baravat, with 34,000 fatalities and 200,000 injuries officially reported. It was the deadliest natural disaster globally since the 1999 Vargas tragedy. The effects of the earthquake were exacerbated by the use of mud brick as the standard construction medium; many of the area's structures did not comply with earthquake regulations set in 1989.

26/12/1999

The storm Lothar sweeps across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage.

Cyclone Lothar is regarded as the worst European windstorm recorded during the 20th century. Crossing France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany between 25 December and 27 December 1999, Cyclone Lothar's average winds reached up to 115 km/h inland (Orly), but with gusts exceeding 150 km/h, almost equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane, resulting in 110 deaths and more than €15 billion in damage, becoming the costliest European windstorm ever recorded.

26/12/1998

Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.

Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 under the one-party rule of the Iraqi regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. The regime emerged as a result of the 17 July Revolution which brought the Ba'athists to power, and lasted until the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

26/12/1994

Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.

The Armed Islamic Group was one of the two main Islamist insurgent groups that fought the Algerian government and army in the Algerian Civil War.

26/12/1993

Kuban Airlines Flight 5719 crashes during a go-around at Gyumri Shirak International Airport, killing 35 of the 36 people on board.

On 26 December 1993, Kuban Airlines Flight 5719, a scheduled international flight flying from Krasnodar International Airport, Russia, to Gyumri Shirak International Airport, Armenia, stalled and subsequently crashed whilst attempting a go-around on approach to the airport. Out of the 36 occupants on board, 35 were killed. The sole survivor was injured.

26/12/1991

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.

The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSUSSR) was the highest organ of state authority of the Soviet Union from 1936 to 1991. Based on the principle of unified power, it was the only branch of government in the Soviet state, and headed the unified state apparatus.

26/12/1989

United Express Flight 2415 crashes on approach to the Tri-Cities Airport in Pasco, Washington, killing all six people on board.

United Express Flight 2415 was a regularly scheduled flight in the northwest United States from Seattle to Pasco, Washington, operated using a BAe Jetstream 31. Late on Tuesday, December 26, 1989, Flight 2415 crashed while attempting to land at Pasco's Tri-Cities Airport, killing both pilots and all four passengers aboard.

26/12/1980

Witnesses report the first of several sightings of unexplained lights near RAF Woodbridge, in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom, an incident called "Britain's Roswell".

The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, in December 1980, which became linked with alleged UFO landings. The events occurred just outside RAF Woodbridge, which was used at the time by the United States Air Force (USAF). USAF personnel, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt, claimed to have seen things he described as a UFO.

26/12/1978

The inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally begins.

The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar", formerly known as the Paris–Dakar Rally, is an annual rally organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). It is a rally raid, an off-road endurance race, traversing terrains notably more demanding than prepared roads used in traditional stage rally competitions, and the vehicles used are purposefully built to perform off-road: cars, trucks, quads and motorcycles intentionally designed to endure cross‑country journeys on unpaved terrain. Most timed competitive segments, known as 'special stages', consist of crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks, and erg. Individual stages range in length from several dozen kilometres to as much as 800–900 kilometres (500–560 mi) per day. Hallmarks of the Dakar Rally are the physical and cognitive demands of prolonged driving, navigation and environmental stressors that the competitors are subjected to. Insufficient experience with desert navigation, mechanical troubleshooting or endurance racing techniques, combined with the fatigue and the rough terrain, often result in accidents and serious injuries.

26/12/1975

Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service.

The Tupolev Tu-144 is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev that operated commercially from 1975 to 1983, including 1977–1978 passenger service.

26/12/1972

Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

26/12/1968

The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.

The Communist Party of the Philippines is a far-left, Marxist–Leninist–Maoist revolutionary organization and communist party in the Philippines, formed by Jose Maria Sison on 26 December 1968.

Pan Am Flight 799 crashes during takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base, killing three.

Pan Am Flight 799 was an international cargo flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Cam Ranh Airport in South Vietnam that crashed on December 26, 1968, near Anchorage, Alaska. The aircraft involved was a Boeing 707-321C aircraft operated by Pan American World Airways. All three crew members died in the crash.

26/12/1966

The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. It was created by activist Maulana Karenga based on Karenga's research of African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West, East, and Southeast Africa. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966. A 2009 estimate placed the number of Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa between 500,000 and 2,000,000.

26/12/1963

The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band in popular music and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. They also explored styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.

26/12/1948

Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.

József Mindszenty was a Hungarian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Esztergom and leader of the Catholic Church in Hungary from 1945 to 1973. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, for five decades "he personified uncompromising opposition to fascism and communism in Hungary".

The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.

The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, the largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, with the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR). In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

26/12/1944

World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

George Smith Patton Jr. was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

26/12/1943

World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

26/12/1941

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving US president and the only one to have served more than two terms. His first two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth focused on US involvement in World War II. A member of the Democratic Party, Roosevelt served in the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and as the 44th governor of New York from 1929 to 1932.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

Winston Churchill's first address to the U.S. Congress was a 30-minute World War II-era radio-broadcast speech made in the chamber of the United States Senate on December 26, 1941. The prime minister of the United Kingdom addressed a joint meeting of the bicameral legislature of the United States about the state of the UK–U.S. alliance and their prospects for defeating the Axis powers.

26/12/1926

World premiere of Sibelius's tone poem Tapiola.

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when the country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century.

26/12/1919

Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", he began his MLB career as a star left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, but achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture and is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1936, Ruth was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of its "first five" members.

26/12/1898

Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie, better known as Marie Curie, was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist. She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband, Pierre Curie, "for their joint researches on the radioactivity phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel". She won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "[for] the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element".

26/12/1871

Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts.

Thespis, or The Gods Grown Old, is an operatic extravaganza that was the first collaboration between dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. No musical score of Thespis was ever published, and most of the music has been lost. Gilbert and Sullivan went on to become the most famous and successful artistic partnership in Victorian England, creating a string of enduring comic opera hits, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado.

26/12/1862

American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins as Union General William T. Sherman starts landing his troops in an attempt to advance on Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, also called the Battle of Walnut Hills, fought December 26–29, 1862, was the opening engagement of the Vicksburg Campaign during the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton repulsed an advance by Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman that was intended to lead to the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Dakota War of 1862: The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history takes place in Mankato, Minnesota, where 38 Native American prisoners are hanged.

The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several eastern bands of Dakota collectively known as the Santee Sioux. It began on August 18, 1862, when the Dakota, who were facing starvation and displacement, attacked the Lower Sioux Agency and white settlements along the Minnesota River valley in southwest Minnesota. The war lasted for five weeks and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of settlers and the displacement of thousands more. In the aftermath, the Dakota people were exiled from their homelands, forcibly sent to reservations in the Dakotas and Nebraska, and the State of Minnesota confiscated and sold all their remaining land in the state. Thirty-eight Dakota men were subsequently hanged for crimes committed during the conflict in the largest mass execution in US history.

26/12/1861

American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James Murray Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus easing tensions between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

26/12/1860

First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world.

Rules derby is a football derby played in Sheffield, England between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C. It was first played on 26 December 1860 and is the oldest football fixture in the world. The name refers to the fact that the fixture was originally played under the Sheffield Rules.

26/12/1843

The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date.

In mathematics, the octonions are a normed division algebra over the real numbers, a kind of hypercomplex number system. The octonions are usually represented by the capital letter O, using boldface O or blackboard bold . Octonions have eight dimensions; twice the number of dimensions of the quaternions, of which they are an extension. They are noncommutative and nonassociative, but satisfy weaker forms of associativity; they are alternative and power associative.

26/12/1825

Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed.

Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, right to private property, and equality before the law. Different liberals espouse various and sometimes conflicting views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support liberal democracy, private property, market economies, individual rights, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.

26/12/1811

A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills 72 people, including the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

The Richmond Theatre fire occurred in Richmond, Virginia, United States, on Thursday, December 26, 1811. It devastated the Richmond Theatre, located on the north side of Broad Street between what is now Twelfth and College Streets. The fire killed 72 people, including Virginia's governor George William Smith, former U.S. senator Abraham B. Venable, and other government officials in what was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history at the time. The Monumental Church was erected on the site as a memorial to the fire.

26/12/1806

Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.

The Battle of Pułtusk took place on 26 December 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition near Pultusk, Prussia. Despite their strong numerical superiority and artillery, the Russians under the lead of General of Cavalry Levin von Benningsen underwent heavy French attacks by Marshal Jean Lannes, before retiring the next day having suffered great losses like the French, disorganizing their army for the rest of the year.

26/12/1805

Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.

The Peace of Pressburg was signed in Pressburg on 26 December 1805 between French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, as a consequence of the French victory over the Russians and Austrians at the Battle of Austerlitz. A truce was agreed on 4 December, and negotiations for the treaty began. The treaty was signed by Johann I Joseph, Prince of Liechtenstein, and the Hungarian Count Ignác Gyulay for the Austrian Empire and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand for France.

26/12/1799

Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen".

Henry Lee III was an early American patriot and politician who served as the ninth governor of Virginia and as the Virginia representative to the United States Congress. Lee's service during the American Revolution as a cavalry officer in the Continental Army earned him the nickname by which he is best known, "Light-Horse Harry". He was a member of the Lee Family of Virginia and the father of Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

26/12/1793

Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeats Austria.

The Second Battle of Wissembourg from 26 December 1793 to 29 December 1793 saw an army of the First French Republic under General Lazare Hoche fight a series of clashes against an army of Austrians, Prussians, Bavarians, and Hessians led by two generals, namely, the Austrian Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser and the Prussian Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. There were significant actions at Wœrth on 22 December and Geisberg on 26 and 27 December. In the end, the French forced their opponents to withdraw to the east bank of the Rhine River. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition phase of the French Revolutionary Wars.

26/12/1790

Louis XVI of France gives his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution.

Louis XVI was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and Maria Josepha of Saxony, Louis became the new Dauphin when his father died in 1765. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette. He became King of France and Navarre on his paternal grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, and reigned until the abolition of the monarchy on 21 September 1792. From 1791 onwards, he used the style of king of the French.

26/12/1776

American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army under General George Washington executes a successful surprise attack and defeats a garrison of Hessian forces serving Great Britain.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

26/12/1723

Bach led the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the Cello Suites and Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St. Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. He is known for his mastery of counterpoint, as heard in The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue. Felix Mendelssohn precipitated the Bach Revival with a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Ever since, Bach has been acclaimed as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

26/12/1709

The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice.

Agrippina is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the 1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's libretto, considered one of the best that Handel set, is an "anti-heroic satirical comedy", full of topical political allusions. Some analysts believe that it reflects Grimani's political and diplomatic rivalry with Pope Clement XI.

26/12/1704

Second Battle of Anandpur: In the Second Battle of Anandpur, Aurangzeb's two generals, Wazir Khan and Zaberdast Khan executed two children of Guru Gobind Singh, Zorawar Singh aged eight and Fateh Singh aged five, by burying them alive into a wall.

The second siege of Anandpur, also known as the second battle of Anandpur (1704), was a siege at Anandpur, between Sikhs and the Mughal governors, dispatched by Aurangzeb, Wazir Khan, Dilwaar Kahn and Zaberdast Khan, and aided by the vassal Rajas of the Sivalik Hills which lasted from May 1704 to 19 December 1704.

26/12/1481

Battle of Westbroek: An army of 4,000 to 5,000 soldiers raised by David of Burgundy, Bishop of Utrecht, attacks an armed mob of people from nearby Utrecht who were trying to avenge the massacre of the inhabitants of Westbroek.

The Battle of Westbroek occurred on 26 December 1481 between the armies of the prince-bishopric of Utrecht and the county of Holland. It was one of the last battles of the Hook and Cod wars.

26/12/0887

Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia.

Berengar I was King of Italy from 887 and Holy Roman Emperor from 915 until his death in 924. He is usually known as Berengar of Friuli, since he ruled the March of Friuli from 874 until at least 890, but he had lost control of the region by 896.

26/12/0795

Election of Pope Leo III.

Pope Leo III was bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 26 December 795 to his death on 12 June 816.

On this day

Boxing Day

Kwanzaa (starts)

What the Weather Had in Store for Lissabon on 26th December 2025

26th December in the Stars – Star Sign Capricorn

Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 26th December

Famous Birthdays on 26th December

Josh Wilson-Esbrand, English footballer

Aleksej Pokuševski, Serbian basketball player

Tamara Zidanšek, Slovenian tennis player

Colby Cave, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2020)

Souleymane Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer

Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player

Jade Thirlwall, English singer

Brandon Scherff, American football player

Eden Sher, American actress

Trevor Siemian, American football player

Denis Cheryshev, Russian footballer

Cory Jefferson, American basketball player

Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer

Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter

Sofiane Feghouli, Algerian footballer

Tomáš Kundrátek, Czech ice hockey player

Oskar Osala, Finnish ice hockey player

Joe Alexander, American-Israeli basketball player

Kit Harington, English actor

Hugo Lloris, French footballer

Selen Soyder, Turkish actress and beauty queen

Damir Markota, Croatian basketball player

Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian footballer

Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player

Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker

Jeroen Soete, Belgian politician

Yu Takahashi, Japanese singer-songwriter

Alexander Wang, American fashion designer

Kenneth Darby, American football player

Noel Hunt, Irish footballer

Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier

Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-Italian rugby player

Omar Infante, Venezuelan baseball player

Todd Dunivant, American soccer player

Ceylan Ertem, Turkish singer

Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer

Chris Daughtry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper

Craig Wing, Australian rugby player

Karel Rüütli, Estonian lawyer and politician

Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player

Fatih Akyel, Turkish footballer and manager

Adrienn Hegedűs, Hungarian tennis player

Simon Goodwin, Australian footballer and coach

Chris Calaguio, Filipino basketball player

Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player

María Vasco, Spanish race walker

Joshua John Miller, American actor, director, and screenwriter

Paulo Frederico Benevenute, Brazilian footballer

Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player

Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Japanese baseball player

Steve Prescott, English rugby player (died 2013)

Gaby Colebunders, Belgian politician

Esteban Fuertes, Argentinian footballer

Robert Muchamore, English author

Jared Leto, American actor and musician

Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer

Tatiana Sorokko, Russian-American model and journalist

James Mercer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Isaac Viciosa, Spanish runner

Matt Zoller Seitz, American film critic and author

Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Tim Legler, American basketball player and sportscaster

Elizabeth Kostova, American author

Craig Teitzel, Australian rugby league player

Lars Ulrich, Danish-American drummer, songwriter, and producer

James Kottak, American drummer (died 2024)

Mark Starr, English wrestler (died 2013)

Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer

Keith Martin Ball, American mathematician and academic

Ruud Kaiser, Dutch footballer and manager

Cem Uzan, Turkish businessman and politician