Died on Saturday, 6th December – Famous Deaths

06/12/2024

Maggie Tabberer, Australian fashion model and television personality (born 1936)

Margaret May Tabberer was an Australian fashion, publishing and television personality. She was a dual recipient of the Gold Logie award for her television work. Tabberer founded her own fashion label and PR companies and was known for her long-time position as fashion editor of the Australian Women's Weekly magazine.

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06/12/2016

Peter Vaughan, British actor (born 1923)

Peter Ewart Ohm, known professionally as Peter Vaughan, was an English actor known for many supporting roles in British film and television productions. He also acted extensively on stage.

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06/12/2015

Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director, and politician (born 1945)

Ko Chun-hsiung was a Taiwanese actor, director and politician. He had been acting since the 1960s and had appeared in more than 200 films.

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Liu Juying, Chinese general and politician (born 1917)

Liu Juying was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and general in the People's Liberation Army.

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Nicholas Smith, British actor (born 1934)

Nicholas John Smith was an English comedian and actor. He appeared in the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served?, playing Mr (Cuthbert) Rumbold, the manager of the fictional Grace Brothers department store.

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06/12/2014

Ralph H. Baer, German-American video game designer, created the Magnavox Odyssey (born 1922)

Ralph Henry Baer was a German-born American inventor, game developer, and engineer.

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Jimmy Del Ray, American wrestler and manager (born 1962)

David Everett Ferrier was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Gigolo" Jimmy Del Ray. Del Ray was best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as one half of the Heavenly Bodies with his tag team partner, Tom Prichard.

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Fred Hawkins, American golfer (born 1923)

Fred Hawkins was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s.

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Luke Somers, English-American photographer and journalist (born 1981)

Luke Daniel Somers was a British-born American photojournalist who had been held hostage by the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. He was a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. He traveled to Egypt before settling in Yemen.

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06/12/2013

Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers, French poet and critic (born 1939)

Jean-Pierre Desthuilliers was a French writer and poet. He was born on 22 October 1939 in Versailles and died on 6 December 2013.

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Stan Tracey, English pianist and composer (born 1926)

Stanley William Tracey was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood", which is based on the BBC radio drama Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas.

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M. K. Turk, American basketball player and coach (born 1942)

M. K. Turk was an American college basketball player and coach.

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06/12/2012

Miguel Abia Biteo Boricó, Equatoguinean engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (born 1961)

Miguel Abia Biteo Boricó was an Equatoguinean politician. He was the 5th Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea having served from 11 July 2004 to 14 August 2006. He was a member of the Bubi ethnic group.

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Jan Carew, Guyanese author, poet, and playwright (born 1920)

Jan Rynveld Carew was a Guyana-born novelist, playwright, poet and educator, who lived at various times in The Netherlands, Mexico, the UK, France, Spain, Ghana, Jamaica, Canada and the United States.

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Jeffrey Koo Sr., Taiwanese banker and businessman (born 1933)

Jeffrey Koo Sr. was a Taiwanese billionaire banker and the third-generation of the Koo Family who served as honorary chairman and governor of CTBC Financial Holding, and co-founded the Koos Group.

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Huw Lloyd-Langton, English guitarist (born 1951)

Richard Hugh "Huw" Lloyd-Langton was an English musician, best known as the guitarist for the rock band Hawkwind at various times. He also had his own band, The Lloyd Langton Group, and was the session lead guitarist for The Meads of Asphodel.

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Pedro Vaz, Uruguayan lawyer and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay (born 1963)

Pedro Humberto Vaz Ramela was a Uruguayan diplomat, politician, and lawyer. Vaz served as the Minister of Foreign Relations of Uruguay from August 31, 2009 until March 1, 2010. In 2010, President José Mujica appointed him Ambassador to Chile.

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06/12/2011

Dobie Gray, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1940)

Dobie Gray was an American singer and songwriter. Gray's music spanned multiple genres, including soul, country, pop, and musical theater. His hit songs included "The 'In' Crowd" in 1965 and "Drift Away". "Drift Away" was one of the biggest hits of 1973, has sold over one million copies, and remains a staple of radio airplay.

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06/12/2010

Mark Dailey, American-Canadian journalist and actor (born 1953)

Mark Edward Dailey was an American-born Canadian television journalist and announcer. He was the host of 11 p.m. weeknight CityNews newscasts in Toronto, Ontario, and a prominent continuity announcer voicing interstitial program announcements on CITY-TV.

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06/12/2006

John Feeney, New Zealand director and producer (born 1922)

John Feeney was a New Zealand-born director, photographer and writer.

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06/12/2005

Charly Gaul, Luxembourger cyclist (born 1932)

Charly Gaul was a Luxembourgish professional cyclist. He was a national cyclo-cross champion, an accomplished time triallist and superb climber. His ability earned him the nickname of Angel of the Mountains in the 1958 Tour de France, which he won with four stage victories. He also won the Giro d'Italia in 1956 and 1959. Gaul rode best in cold, wet weather. In later life, he became a recluse and lost much of his memory.

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Devan Nair, Malaysian-Singaporean union leader and politician, 3rd President of Singapore (born 1923)

Chengara Veetil Devan Nair was a Singaporean union leader and politician who served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resignation in 1985.

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Danny Williams, South African singer (born 1942)

Danny Williams was a South African-born British pop singer who earned the nickname "Britain's Johnny Mathis", for his smooth and stylish way with a ballad. He is best known for his 1961 UK number one version of "Moon River" and his 1964 U.S. top ten hit, "White on White".

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William P. Yarborough, American general (born 1912)

Lieutenant General William Pelham Yarborough was a senior United States Army officer. Yarborough designed the U.S. Army's parachutist badge, paratrooper or 'jump' boots, and the M42 airborne jump uniform. He is known as the "Father of the Modern Green Berets." He was descended from the Yorkshire House of Yarborough. Yarborough was a distant cousin to such British noble figures as the Baron Deramore, Lord Alvingham, the Duke of Buccleuch and the Marquess of Bath.

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06/12/2003

Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, Guatemalan general and politician, President of Guatemala (born 1918)

Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio was a military officer and politician who served as the 35th president of Guatemala from 1970 to 1974. A member of the National Liberation Movement, his government enforced torture, disappearances, and killings against political and military adversaries, as well as common criminals.

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06/12/2002

Philip Berrigan, American priest and activist (born 1923)

Philip Francis "Phil" Berrigan was an American peace activist and Catholic priest with the Josephites. He engaged in nonviolent, civil disobedience in the cause of peace and nuclear disarmament and was often arrested.

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06/12/2001

Charles McClendon, American football player and coach (born 1923)

Charles Youmans McClendon, also known as "Cholly Mac", was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 1962 to 1979, compiling a record of 137–59–7. McClendon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1986.

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06/12/2000

Werner Klemperer, German-American actor (born 1920)

Werner Klemperer was an American actor. He was best known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968 and 1969.

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Aziz Mian, Pakistani singer-songwriter and poet (born 1942)

Aziz Mian Qawwal was a Pakistani traditional qawwal famous for singing ghazals in his own style of qawwali and is considered one of the greatest qawwals in South Asia.

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06/12/1998

César Baldaccini, French sculptor and educator (born 1921)

César, also occasionally referred to as César Baldaccini, was a French sculptor.

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06/12/1997

Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (born 1918)

Willemijntje den Ouden was a competitive swimmer from the Netherlands, who held the 100-meter freestyle world record for nearly 23 years, from 1933 to 1956.

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06/12/1996

Pete Rozelle, American businessman (born 1926)

Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was an American professional football executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retirement in November 1989. He became the youngest commissioner in NFL history at the age of just 33. He is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world.

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Harry Babcock, American football player and first overall draft pick (born 1930)

Harry Lewis Babcock was an American professional football end in the National Football League (NFL). He was the first overall selection in the 1953 NFL draft.

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06/12/1994

Heinz Baas, German footballer and manager (born 1922)

Heinrich "Heinz" Baas was a German football player and manager.

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Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor and director (born 1933)

Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and activist. He is known for his roles in Italian Western films: Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964), El Indio in Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965), El Chuncho Munoz in Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General (1966) and Professor Brad Fletcher in Sergio Sollima's Face to Face (1967) as well as high-profile social dramas depicting the political and social stirrings of Italian and European society in the 1960s and 1970s, including four films directed by Elio Petri – We Still Kill the Old Way (1967), Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971), and Todo modo (1976). He is also recognized for his performances in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge (1970), Giuliano Montaldo's Sacco & Vanzetti (1971) and Giordano Bruno (1973), and Francesco Rosi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979).

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06/12/1993

Don Ameche, American actor (born 1908)

Don Ameche was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, repertory theatre, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which led to the offer of a movie contract from 20th Century Fox in 1935.

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06/12/1991

Mimi Smith, English nurse (born 1906)

Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith, informally known as Aunt Mimi, was a maternal aunt and the parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. She was born in Toxteth, Liverpool, as the oldest of five daughters. She became a resident trainee nurse at the Woolton Convalescent Hospital and later worked as a private secretary. On 15 September 1939, she married George Toogood Smith, who ran his family's dairy farm and a shop in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool.

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Richard Stone, English economist and statistician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1913)

Sir John Richard Nicholas Stone was an eminent British economist. He was educated at Gonville and Caius College and King's College at the University of Cambridge. In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing an accounting model that could be used to track economic activities on a national and, later, an international scale.

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06/12/1990

Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1948)

Pavlos Sidiropoulos was a Greek musician noted for combining rock music with Greek music. He is considered one of the pillars of Greek rock due to his involvement so early in its foundation. In particular, Flou (1976), an album produced with his band Spyridoula, had a major impact on the rock scene in Greece.

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Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (born 1903)

Tunku Abdul Rahman, widely known simply as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as the first prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 until 1970. He was also the only chief minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1957, president of UMNO from 1951 to 1971, and leader of the Alliance Party from 1952 to 1971. As the leading advocate for self-governance, Tunku was central to the Malayan Declaration of Independence and the creation of Malaysia in 1963. He is widely recognised as the country's founding father and remains its second longest-serving prime minister.

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06/12/1989

Frances Bavier, American actress (born 1902)

Frances Elizabeth Bavier was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is widely known for her role as Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D. from 1960 to 1970. Aunt Bee logged more Mayberry years (ten) than any other character. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Comedy Actress for the role in 1967. Bavier was also known for playing Amy Morgan on It's a Great Life (1954–1956).

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Sammy Fain, American pianist and composer (born 1902)

Sammy Fain was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatre.

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John Payne, American actor, singer, and producer (born 1912)

John Howard Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered from film noir crime stories and 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC Western television series The Restless Gun.

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06/12/1988

Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1936)

Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s. Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male performers projected strength. He performed with minimal motion and in black clothes, matching his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.

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06/12/1985

Burr Tillstrom, American actor and puppeteer (born 1917)

Franklin Burr Tillstrom was a puppeteer and the creator of Kukla, Fran and Ollie.

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Burleigh Grimes, American baseball player and manager (born 1893)

Burleigh Arland Grimes was an American professional baseball player and manager, and the last major league pitcher who was officially permitted to throw the spitball. Grimes made the most of this advantage, as well as his unshaven, menacing presence on the mound, which earned him the nickname "Ol' Stubblebeard." In his career, Grimes won 270 games, with 190 of them occurring in the 1920s, the most for all pitchers in the decade. He pitched in the World Series four times in his nineteen-season career and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. A decade earlier, he had been inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame.

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Carroll Cole, American serial killer, arsonist, and cannibal (born 1938)

Carroll Edward "Eddie" Cole was an American serial killer who was executed in Nevada in 1985 for killing two women by strangulation. He was also convicted of murdering three other women in Texas and is believed to have murdered dozens between 1947 and 1980.

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06/12/1983

Lucienne Boyer, French singer and actress (born 1903)

Lucienne Boyer was a French entertainer and musician, best known for her song "Parlez-moi d'amour". Her impresario was Bruno Coquatrix. According to the New York Times, she "reigned as queen of Paris nightlife during the 1930s".

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Gul Khan Nasir, Pakistani poet, historian, and politician (born 1914)

Gul Khan Naseer also known as Malek o-Sho'arā Balochistan ; 14 May 1914 – 6 December 1983) was a Pakistani politician, poet, historian, and journalist from Balochistan. Most of his work is in Balochi language, but he also wrote in English, Urdu, Brahui and Persian.

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06/12/1982

Jean-Marie Seroney, Kenyan activist and politician (born 1927)

Jean-Marie Seroney was a Kenyan human rights advocate, legislator, and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. He was detained as a prisoner of conscience for 1,155 days.

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06/12/1980

Charles Deutsch, French engineer and businessman, co-founded DB (born 1911)

Charles Deutsch (1911–1980) was a French aerodynamics engineer and automobile maker, founder of the brand "DB" with René Bonnet, and later of the "CD".

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06/12/1976

João Goulart, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Brazil (born 1918)

João Belchior Marques Goulart, commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil from 1961 until a military coup d'état deposed him in 1964. He was considered the last left-wing president of Brazil until Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva took office in 2003.

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06/12/1974

Nikolay Kuznetsov, Soviet naval officer (born 1904)

Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov was a Soviet naval officer who achieved the rank of Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union and served as People's Commissar of the Navy during the Winter War and the Second World War. The N. G. Kuznetsov Naval Academy and the lead ship of the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier are named in his honor.

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06/12/1972

Janet Munro, English actress and singer (born 1934)

Janet Munro was a British actress. She won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959) and received a BAFTA Film Award nomination for her performance in the film Life for Ruth (1962).

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06/12/1964

Evert van Linge, Dutch footballer and architect (born 1895)

Evert van Linge was a Dutch footballer who earned 13 caps for the Dutch national side between 1919 and 1926, scoring three goals. He also participated at the 1924 Summer Olympics. He played for Be Quick 1887 and SC Veendam.

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06/12/1961

Frantz Fanon, Martinique-French psychiatrist and author (born 1925)

Frantz Omar Fanon was a French West Indian psychiatrist and political philosopher from the French colony of Martinique. His works have become influential in the fields of post-colonial studies and critical theory. As well as being an intellectual, Fanon was a political radical and Pan-Africanist, concerned with the psychopathology of colonization and the human, social, and cultural consequences of decolonization.

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06/12/1956

B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Justice (born 1891)

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and politician who chaired the committee that drafted the Constitution of India based on the debates of the Constituent Assembly of India and the first draft of Sir Benegal Narsing Rau. Ambedkar served as Law and Justice minister in the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru. He later renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism, inspiring the Dalit Buddhist movement.

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06/12/1955

Honus Wagner, American baseball player and manager (born 1874)

Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner was an American professional baseball shortstop who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1897 to 1917, mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Nicknamed "the Flying Dutchman" due to his superb speed and German heritage, Wagner was a prototypical five-tool player, known for being a versatile defender who could combine a strong throwing arm with the ability to play almost any defensive position as well as being capable of hitting for average and for power. He is widely regarded as the greatest shortstop of all time. In 1936, the Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Wagner as one of the first five members.

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06/12/1951

Harold Ross, American journalist and publisher, founded The New Yorker (born 1892)

Harold Wallace Ross was an American journalist who co-founded The New Yorker magazine in 1925 with his wife Jane Grant, and was its editor-in-chief until his death.

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06/12/1945

Edmund Dwyer-Gray, Irish-Australian politician, 29th Premier of Tasmania (born 1870)

Edmund John Chisholm Dwyer-Gray was an Irish-Australian politician, who was the 29th Premier of Tasmania from 11 June to 18 December 1939. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

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06/12/1924

Gene Stratton-Porter, American author and screenwriter (born 1863)

Gene Stratton-Porter, born Geneva Grace Stratton, was an American writer, nature photographer, and naturalist from Wabash County, Indiana. In 1917 Stratton-Porter urged legislative support for the conservation of Limberlost Swamp and other wetlands in Indiana. She was also a silent film-era producer who founded her own production company, Gene Stratton Porter Productions, in 1924.

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06/12/1921

Said Halim Pasha, Ottoman politician, 280th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (born 1865)

Mehmed Said Halim Pasha was a writer and statesman who served as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1917. He is said to be one of the perpetrators of the Armenian genocide and later assassinated by Arshavir Shirakian as part of Operation Nemesis, a retribution campaign to kill genocidiers. It is unsure if he was actually involved, as he did not hold much political power and was kept in the dark on most matters of state by members of the Central Committee of the CUP.

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06/12/1918

Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (born 1851)

Aleksandr Pavlovich Dianin was a Russian chemist from Saint Petersburg. He carried out studies on phenols and discovered a phenol derivative now known as bisphenol A and the accordingly named Dianin's compound. He was married to the adopted daughter of fellow chemist Alexander Borodin. In 1887, Dianin succeeded his father-in-law as chair of the Chemistry Department at the Imperial Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg.

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06/12/1892

Werner von Siemens, German engineer and businessman, founded the Siemens Company (born 1816)

Ernst Werner Siemens was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He founded the electrical and telecommunications conglomerate Siemens and invented the electric tram, trolley bus, electric locomotive and electric elevator.

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06/12/1889

Jefferson Davis, American general and politician, President of the Confederate States of America (born 1808)

Jefferson F. Davis was the only president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, leading the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Before the war, he was a member of the Democratic Party who represented Mississippi in the House of Representatives from 1845 to 1846 and in the United States Senate from 1857 to 1861. From 1853 to 1857, he served as the 23rd United States secretary of war during the administration of President Franklin Pierce.

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06/12/1882

Alfred Escher, Swiss businessman and politician, founded Credit Suisse (born 1819)

Johann Heinrich Alfred Escher vom Glas, colloquially Alfred Escher, was a Swiss business magnate, banker, railway pioneer and politician who most notably served on the National Council from 1848 to 1882 for the Liberal Party.

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Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer (born 1815)

Anthony Trollope was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire and the Palliser novels, as well as The Way We Live Now. His novels address political, social, and gender issues and other topical matters. He also wrote an autobiography, a book on William Makepeace Thackeray, a book on Lord Palmerston, five travel books, and 42 short stories.

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06/12/1879

Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American businessman (born 1814)

Erastus Brigham Bigelow was an American inventor of weaving machines.

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06/12/1878

Theodoros Vryzakis, Greek painter and educator (born 1814)

Theodoros Vryzakis was a Greek painter, known mostly for his historical scenes. He was one of the founders of the "Munich School", composed of Greek artists who had studied in that city.

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06/12/1868

August Schleicher, German linguist and academic (born 1821)

August Schleicher was a German linguist. Schleicher studied the Proto-Indo-European language and devised theories concerning historical linguistics. His great work was A Compendium of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo-European Languages in which he attempted to reconstruct the Proto-Indo-European language. To show how Indo-European might have looked, he created a short tale, Schleicher's fable, to exemplify the reconstructed vocabulary and aspects of Indo-European society inferred from it.

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06/12/1867

Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist and academic (born 1794)

Marie Jean Pierre Flourens, father of Gustave Flourens, was a French physiologist, the founder of experimental brain science, and a pioneer in anesthesia.

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06/12/1855

William Swainson, English ornithologist and entomologist (born 1789)

William Swainson FLS, FRS, was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.

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06/12/1788

Jonathan Shipley, English bishop (born 1714)

Jonathan Shipley was a clergyman who held offices in the Church of England, who became Bishop of Llandaff from January to September 1769 and Bishop of St Asaph from September 1769 until his death.

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06/12/1779

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter (born 1699)

Jean Siméon Chardin was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities. Carefully balanced composition, soft diffusion of light, and granular impasto characterize his work.

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06/12/1771

Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist and pathologist (born 1682)

Giovanni Battista Morgagni was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua.

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06/12/1746

Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish poet and songwriter (born 1665)

Lady Grizel Baillie was a Scottish gentlewoman and songwriter. Her accounting ledgers, in which she kept details about her household for more than 50 years, provide information about social life in Scotland in the eighteenth century.

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06/12/1718

Nicholas Rowe, English poet and playwright (born 1674)

Nicholas Rowe was an English dramatist, poet and miscellaneous writer who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1715. His plays and poems were well-received during his lifetime, with one of his translations described as one of the greatest productions in English poetry. He was also considered the first editor of the works of William Shakespeare.

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06/12/1716

Benedictus Buns, Dutch priest and composer (born 1642)

Benedictus Buns, Benedictus à sancto Josepho, was a Carmelite priest and composer.

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06/12/1686

Eleonora Gonzaga, Queen consort of Ferdinand III (born 1630)

Eleonora Gonzaga was by birth Princess of Mantua, Nevers and Rethel from the Nevers branch of the House of Gonzaga, and was Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Queen consort of Hungary and Bohemia by marriage to Emperor Ferdinand III.

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06/12/1675

John Lightfoot, English priest, scholar, and academic (born 1602)

John Lightfoot was an English churchman, rabbinical scholar, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and Master of St Catharine's College, Cambridge.

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06/12/1658

Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (born 1601)

Baltasar Gracián y Morales, better known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit priest and Baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud (Aragón). His writings were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. He is best known for his book The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647), but his novel El Criticón (1651-57) is considered his greatest work.

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06/12/1618

Jacques Davy Duperron, French cardinal (born 1556)

Jacques Davy Duperron was a French politician and Roman Catholic cardinal.

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06/12/1616

Ahmad Ibn al-Qadi, Moroccan writer, judge and mathematician (born 1552)

Shihab al-Din abu l-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Mohammed ibn Mohammed ibn Ahmed ibn Ali ibn 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abi'l-'Afiyya al-Miknasi az-Zanati, known simply as Ahmad ibn al-Qadi or Ibn al-Qadi (1552/1553–1616), was a Maghrebi polygraph. He was the leading writer from Ahmad al-Mansur's court next to Abd al-Aziz al-Fishtali.

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06/12/1562

Jan van Scorel, Dutch painter (born 1495)

Jan van Scorel was a Dutch painter, who played a leading role in introducing aspects of Italian Renaissance painting into Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting. He was one of the early painters of the Romanist style who had spent a number of years in Italy, where he thoroughly absorbed the Italian style of painting. His trip to Italy coincided with the brief reign of the only Dutch pope in history, Adrian VI in 1522–23. The pope made him a court painter and superintendent of his collection of antiquities. His stay in Italy lasted from 1518 to 1524 and he also visited Nuremberg, Venice and Jerusalem. Venetian art had an important impact on the development of his style.

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06/12/1352

Pope Clement VI (born 1291)

Pope Clement VI, born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death, in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Black Death (1348–1350), during which he granted remission of sins to all who died of the plague.

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06/12/1306

Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk (born 1270)

Roger Bigod was 5th Earl of Norfolk.

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06/12/1305

Maximus, Metropolitan of Kyiv

Maximus or Maximos was a metropolitan bishop of the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus' in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. He was consecrated in Constantinople and reigned from 1283 to 1305. Maximos was of Greek origin.

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06/12/1185

Afonso I of Portugal (born 1109)

Dom Afonso I nicknamed "the Conqueror", "the Founder" and "the Great" by the Portuguese, was the first king of Portugal, from 26 July 1139 until his death on 6 December 1185. He achieved the independence of the County of Portugal, establishing a new kingdom and doubling its area with the Reconquista, an objective that he pursued until his death.

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06/12/0762

Muhammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, Arab rebel leader (born 710)

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan al-Muthannā ibn al-Ḥasan al-Mujtabā ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib or Muḥammad al-Nafs al-Zakiyya, was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, through his daughter Fatimah. Known for his commanding oratory skills, amiable demeanor, and impressive build, he led the Alid Revolt in Medina, a failed rebellion, against the second Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur. He and a few hundred soldiers faced against a large Abbasid force under Isa ibn Musa, and he was killed on December 6, 762 CE.

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06/12/0735

Prince Toneri of Japan (born 676)

Prince Toneri was a Japanese imperial prince in the Nara period. He was a son of Emperor Tenmu. He was given the posthumous name Emperor Sudoujinkei , as the father of Emperor Junnin. In the beginning of the Nara period, he gained political power as a leader of the Imperial family together with Prince Nagaya. He supervised the compilation of the Nihon Shoki.

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06/12/0343

Saint Nicholas, Greek bishop and saint (born 270)

Saint Nicholas of Myra, also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara in Anatolia during the time of the Roman Empire. Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, toymakers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe. His reputation evolved among the pious, as was common for early Christian saints, and his legendary habit of secret gift-giving gave rise to the folklore of Santa Claus through Sinterklaas.

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