December 20th

December 20 is the 354th (three hundred and fifty-fourth) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar and the 355th in leap years. There are 11 days left to end the year.

Events

• 1334: In Rome, Frenchman Benedict XII is elected Pope, as successor to John XXII.
• 1494: The Catholic Kings dictate the jurisdiction for Las Palmas, the capital of the Canary Islands.
• 1591: Juan de Lanuza and Urrea, 51o Justicia de Aragón, after his defense of the Fueros in the context of the Alterations of Aragon.
• 1592: in Madrid, a royal cédula de Felipe II declares the town of Havana (Cuba).
• 1603: Spanish man Hernando Talavera Gallegos arrives in Chile as a lieutenant governor of the kingdom of Chile; then he would be "oidor" of the Royal Audience and later interim governor.
• 1795: in the present Dominican Republic, the remains of Christopher Columbus are removed from the Cathedral of Santo Domingo to move them to Havana (Cuba).
• 1803: France delivers the region of Louisiana to the United States.
• 1860: The South Carolina Assembly declares its union with the United States dissolved, which caused the War of Secession.
• 1863: In Santiago de Chile the Volunteer Fire Corps of Santiago is formed, following the great fire in the Church of the Society of Jesus, which occurred on December 8 of the same year.
• 1903: In San Bernardo (Chile) the First Fire Company of San Bernardo was founded because of the fire that occurred in the parish temple of the city.
• 1909: The claim of the discovery of the North Pole by Frederick Cook is rejected by a commission of experts.
• 1914: In Belgium the battle of Nieuport is waged.
• 1928: Hubert Wilkins makes the first flight over Antarctica.
• 1941: The Japanese land in Mindanao.
• 1943: American soldiers land on the Gilbert Islands.
• 1943: Take off from the RAF Kimbolton (England) Airfield the B-17 bomber, called Ye Olde Pub, USAF (United States Air Force) with the mission of bombing an aircraft factory in Bremen (Germany).
• 1945: in Buenos Aires, Argentina, President Juan Domingo Perón creates the National Institute of Remunerations, which compels private industries and companies from all over the country to pay the aguinaldo (annual supplementary wage) to all Argentine workers.
• 1955: After a referendum, the British Government declares the city of Cardiff as the capital of Wales.
• 1960: the foundation Juan March acquires Singing from my Cid (the most valuable manuscript of the National Library) in 10 million pesetas.
• 1962: Premiere in the Lope de Vega room of the film The Great Family, directed by Fernando Palacios and starring Alberto Closas and Amparo Soler Leal.
• 1963: in a well 414 meters underground, in the U3de area of the Nevada atomic testing site (about 100 km northwest of the city of Las Vegas), at 7:24 (local time) United States detonates its Tuna atomic bomb, of less than 20 kt. It is the bomb number 353 of the 1132 that the United States detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 1966: in a well 1215 meters underground, in the U20g area of the Nevada atomic testing site (about 100 km northwest of the city of Las Vegas), at 7:30 (local time) United States detonates its atomic bomb n.o 491, Greeley, of less than 870 kt.
• 1966: in Morlaix, France, the Bretons are on strike.
• 1966: Harold Wilson withdraws all his previous offers to the Rodesia government and announces that he will only accept independence if a black majority government is created.
• 1966: in Bangkok (Thailand) the V Asian Games culminate.
• 1969: In Egypt, Nasser appointed Anwar el-Sadat as vice president.
• 1973: In Spain, the ETA terrorist gang murders admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, president of the government with a bomb.
• 1975: in a well 716 meters underground, in the U2ek area of the Nevada atomic testing site (about 100 km northwest of the city of Las Vegas), at 12:00 (local time) United States detonates its 160 kt Chiberta atomic bomb. It is the 860 bomb of 1132 that the United States detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 1977: in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the dictatorship of Videla—in the framework of the Death Flights—shows alive (after ten days of torture) from an airplane to the Rio de la Plata to Azucena Villaflor (53), one of the founders of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.
• 1983: the Constitution of the Republic adopted by a Constituent Assembly enters into force in El Salvador.
• 1984: in a well at 245 meters underground, in the U3Lt area of the Nevada atomic testing site (about 100 km northwest of the city of Las Vegas), at 8:20 (local time) United States detonates its 2.5 kt Mining atomic bomb. It is the 1025 bomb of 1132 that the United States detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 1984: Mexico City opens the first section of Line 7 of the metro from Tacuba to Auditorium.
• 1988: in Vienna, representatives of 49 countries sign the convention against drug trafficking.
• 1989: the U.S. army invades Panama, with the aim of deposing Manuel Antonio Noriega and establishing the elected government of Guillermo Endara.
• 1989: in a well at 197nbsp; underground meters, in the U3Lp area of the Nevada atomic testing site (about 100 km northwest of the city of Las Vegas), at 14:00 (local time) United States detonates its Whiteface 1 atomic bomb, less than 20 kt. Simultaneously, on the surface, detonates the Whiteface 2 pump, also less than 20 kt. It is the 1104 and 1105 bombs that the United States detonated between 1945 and 1992.
• 1992: in the stadium "La Bombonera" (Buenos Aires), after 11 years without titles, Boca Juniors empata 1 to 1 with San Martín de Tucumán and achieves a prize in obtaining the opening 1992.
• 1994: in Mexico, Jaime Serra Puche – Secretary of Finance and Public Credit of the government of President Ernesto Zedillo – devalues the currency of 3.50 to 6.50 pesos per dollar. Former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari and Zedillo blame each other for the biggest economic crisis Mexico has ever had. Salinas called him "Error de diciembre."
• 1995: American Airlines Flight 965 crashes on a hill in Buga, Colombia. Almost all their occupiers die, saving only 4 passengers and a dog.
• 1996: The broadcasts of the children's and youth channel Nickelodeon Latin America begin.
• 1999: In Venezuela, the Venezuelan Constitution of 1999 was promulgated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
• 1999: Portugal transfers Macau to the People's Republic of China.
• 2001: In Argentina, in the midst of a major economic crisis known as Crisis of December 2001 in Argentina, which caused looting and incidents with dozens of deaths, President Fernando de la Rúa resigned leaving Casa Rosada in a helicopter, leaving one of the most iconic images of the Algerian country.
• 2001: the same day that the President of the Republic resigned, in the neighborhood Puerto Madero, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Puente de la Mujer was inaugurated. In 2018 this monument was declared Cultural Heritage of the city.
• 2003: in Barcelona (Cataluña), after 23 years as president of the Generality of Catalonia, Jordi Pujol yields his post to Pasqual Maragall.
• 2006: in Spain there is a serious accident of fans of the Real Club Recreativo de Huelva who were going to see the meeting between their team and Real Madrid. This tragedy took the lives of 5 people.
• 2011: in Spain, Mariano Rajoy takes office as president of the Government.
• 2015: Spanish elections are held at Cortes Generales.
• 2015: F. C. Barcelona wins its third Club World Cup, 5th Trophy of the Year 2015.
• 2015: In Mexico, Televisa's children's program is last broadcast, Family with Chabelo, issue presented and produced by Xavier López "Chabelo", after broadcasting uninterruptedly for 48 years.
• 2015: in Las Vegas (United States) the Miss Universe 2015 contest is held. The host of the contest, Steve Harvey, initially announced that the winner of the contest is the Colombian Ariadna Gutiérrez; then he acknowledges his error and announces that the real winner is the Filipina Pia Wurtzbach.
• 2016: In the Province of Antabamba at least 12 policemen die after the bus crash.
• 2016: In Calderon, return to the playing field Alessio Cerci, an Italian player of the Atlético de Madrid.
• 2016: In Tultepec, Mexico State, explosions are recorded in the pyrotechnic market of San Pablito, leaving a balance of at least 42 people dead; (it is the third incident in that place).
• 2016: In Puerto Carreño, Colombia a Boeing 727 cargo aircraft belonging to the Aerosucre company crashes into seconds of taking off leaving a balance of 5 people dead and 1 wound.

Births

• 1494: Oronce Finé, French mathematician (f. 1555).
• 1579: John Fletcher, British playwright (f. 1625).
• 1629: Pieter de Hooch, a Dutch painter (f. 1684).
• 1806: Martin Carrera Sabat, Mexican politician (f. 1871).
• 1811: Miguel Payá and Rico, Spanish bishop (f. 1891).
• 1834: Carl von Than, Hungarian chemist (f. 1908).
• 1838: Edwin Abbott Abbott, British professor, writer and theologian (f. 1926).
• 1841: Ferdinand Buisson, French pedagogue, Nobel Peace Prize in 1927 (f. 1932).
• 1851: Dora Montefiore, suffrageist, socialist, poet, and biography of Anglo-Australian origin (f.1933)
• 1851: Elizabeth of Bourbon, La Chata, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II (f. 1931).
• 1851: Knut Wicksell, Swedish economist (f. 1926).
• 1858: Jan Toorop, a Dutch painter (f. 1928).
• 1859: Domingo Cabred, doctor and psychiatrist of Argentina (f. 1929).
• 1861: Ivana Kobilca, Slovenian realistic painter (f. 1926).
• 1865: Elsie de Wolfe, American decorator (f. 1950).
• 1868: Arturo Alessandri, lawyer, politician and Chilean president (f. 1950).
• 1869: Juan Bautista Pérez, Venezuelan president (f. 1952).
• 1874: Joaquim Sunyer, a Spanish painter (f. 1956).
• 1876: Walter Sydney Adams, American astronomer (f. 1956).
• 1876: Carrito de Bilbao (Cástor Jaureguibeitia), Spanish bullfighter (f. 1928).
• 1876: Antonio Montes Vico, Spanish bullfighter (f. 1907).
• 1890: Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czechoslovak chemistry chemistry prize in 1959 (f. 1967).
• 1894: Sir Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister (f. 1978).
• 1897: Angel Segundo Médici, Argentine footballer (f. 1971).
• 1898: Irene Dunne, American actress (f. 1990).
• 1899: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, British presbytery physician and pastor (f. 1981).
• 1899: Claudia Lars, Salvadoran poet (f. 1974)
• 1899: Rubén Martínez Villena, Cuban politician (f. 1934)
• 1901: Robert J. Van de Graaff, American engineer and physicist (f. 1967).
• 1902: Margherita Guarducci, archaeologist and Italian epigraphist (f. 1999).
• 1903: Domingo Tarasconi, Argentine footballer (f. 1991).
• 1904: Eugenia Ginzburg, a Russian writer who spent 18 years in the Gulag (f. 1977).
• 1912: Emilio Saraco, Argentinean artist (f. 2001).
• 1917: David Bohm, American physicist (f. 1992).
• 1917: Gonzalo Rojas, Chilean poet (f. 2011).
• 1919: Nicolás Urcelay, Mexican singer (f. 1959).
• 1920: Jesús Vásquez, Peruvian singer (f. 2010).
• 1921:
  • George Roy Hill, American filmmaker (f. 2002).
  • María Rosa Gallo, Argentine actress (f. 2004).
• 1925: Oriol Bohigas, Spanish architect (f. 2021).
• 1927: Kim Young Sam, South Korean President (f. 2015).
• 1928: Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, politics and feminist of Sudan (f.2017)
• 1929: Manuel Losada Villasante, Spanish scientist.
• 1929: Don Sunderlage, American basketball player (f. 1961).
• 1930: Pipo Mancera, Argentine television presenter (f. 2011).
• 1933: Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist.
• 1935: Valerio Lazarov, director and producer of Romanian Spanish television (f. 2009).
• 1939: Kathryn Joosten, American actress (f. 2012).
• 1942: María Rosa Fugazot, an Argentine actress.
• 1942: Bob Hayes, American athlete (f. 2002).
• 1942: Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank.
• 1944: Bobby Colomby, American musician, Blood band, Sweat Tears.
• 1945: Peter Criss, American drummer, of the Kiss band.
• 1946: Dick Wolf, American producer.
• 1946: Aristobulus Istúriz, professor and politician Venezuela (f. 2021).
• 1947: Gigliola Cinquetti, Italian singer.
• 1947: Pascual Chávez, Mexican priest.
• 1948:
  • Abdulrazak Gurnah, Tanzanian novelist, Nobel Prize in Literature 2021.
  • Alan Parsons, producer, composer and British sound engineer.
  • Mohamed Bouissef Rekab, Moroccan writer in Spanish.
• 1949: Macaria, Mexican actress.
• 1950: Arturo Márquez, Mexican composer.
• 1954: Michael Badalucco, American actor.
• 1957: Billy Bragg, British singer.
• 1958: Eva Lyberten, Spanish actress.
• 1958: Anna Vissi, Greek-chipriota singer.
• 1959: Trent Tucker, American basketball player.
• 1960: Kim Ki-duk, South Korean filmmaker
• 1962: Darío Siviski, former footballer and Argentine coach.
• 1963: Elena de Borbón and Greece, Infanta de España, daughter of Juan Carlos I.
• 1963: Clara Rojas, Colombian politics.
• 1963: Iosef Kleiner, rabbi, psychologist, actor and Israeli intellectual of Argentine origin.
• 1965: Amparo Conde, actress, presenter and Colombian theatre teacher.
• 1966: Chris Robinson, American singer, The Black Crowes band.
• 1966: Claudio Orrego Larraín, Chilean lawyer.
• 1966: Matt Neal, British motor racing pilot.
• 1967: Mijeíl Saakashvili, Georgian president.
• 1967: Eduardo Sánchez, Cuban-born American filmmaker (Blair Witch Project).
• 1968: Karl Wendlinger, Austrian Formula 1 pilot.
• 1968: Eugenia Cauduro, Mexican actress and model.
• 1969: Adrian Caetano, Uruguayan filmmaker.
• 1969: Bobby Phills, American basketball player (f. 2000).
• 1969: Maby Wells, Argentine television driver.
• 1970: Todd Phillips, American Filmmaker
• 1973: Connie Ansaldi, journalist of Argentine shows.
• 1973: Lorena Paola, Argentine television actress and driver.
• 1973: Nicolás Pauls, Argentine actor and musician.
• 1973: The Monaguillo, humorist and Spanish presenter.
• 1974: María Julia Oliván, an Argentine journalist.
• 1974: Esperanza Pedreño, Spanish actress.
• 1975: Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer.
• 1975: Ignacio Escolar, journalist and Spanish blogger.
• 1976: Adam Powell, British gaming designer and businessman.

Martín Demichelis

• 1978: Hazem Ali, American professional fighter.
• 1978: Adrian Bastía, Argentine footballer.
• 1978: Geremi Njitap, Cameroonian footballer.
• 1978: Waleed al-Shehri, a Saudi terrorist who participated in 11S (f. 2001).
• 1979: Aldo López-Gavilán, pianist and Cuban composer.
• 1980: Ashley Cole, British footballer.
• 1980: Martín Demichelis, retired Argentine soccer player and current coach.
• 1981: Marek Matějovský, Czech footballer.
• 1981: Julien Benneteau, French tennis player.

Jonah Hill

• 1982:
  • David Cook, American singer.
  • David Wright, American baseball player.
  • Emme, Argentine actress and singer.
• 1983: Jonah Hill, American actor.
• 1983: Lucy Pinder, British model and actress.
• 1983: Ognjen Vukojević, Croatian footballer.
• 1983: Lara Stone, a Dutch model.
• 1987: Taliana Vargas, Colombian actress and model.

Jo

• 1990: Marta Xargay, basketball player of the Spanish selection.
• 1990: Jojo, American actress and singer.
• 1991: Jorge Luiz Frello, ílo-brasilero footballer.
• 1997: Suzuka Nakamoto, model, actress, dancer and Japanese singer.
• 1998: Kylian Mbappé, French footballer.
• 2001: Facundo Pellistri, Uruguayan footballer.

Deaths

• 217: Ceferino, Italian Catholic Pope (n. centuryII).
• 639: Chintila, king Visigoth in Spain; of natural death (n. centuryVI).
• 860: Ethebaldo, king of Wessex (n. 834).
• 910: Alfonso III, Asturian king (n. c. 848).
• 1073: Santo Domingo de Silos, a Spanish religious (n. 1000).
• 1295: Margarita de Provenza, aristocrat, wife of the king (n. 1221).
• 1355: Stephen Uroš IV Dušan, Serbian king (n. c. 1308).
• 1552: Catherine of Bora, wife of Martin Luther (n. 1499).
• 1590: Ambroise Paré, a French surgeon (n. 1510).
• 1591: Juan de Lanuza and Urrea, 51° Justicia de Aragón (n. 1564).
• 1679: Juan Mauricio, aristocrat of Nassau (n. 1604).
• 1722: Kangxi, Chinese emperor (n. 1654).
• 1783: Antonio Soler, Spanish composer (n. 1729).
• 1812: Sacajawea, Native American explorer (n. 1787).
• 1849: Dionisio Aguado and García, a Spanish musician (n. 1784).
• 1911: Joan Maragall, Spanish poet (n. 1860).
• 1916: Henry Wallis, British painter (n. 1830).
• 1917: Lucien Petit-Breton, Franco-Argentine cyclist (n. 1882).
• 1924: Ricardo Bellver, Spanish sculptor (n. 1845).
• 1927: Michael Georg Conrad, German writer (n. 1846).
• 1928: Manuel Azueta, Mexican marine (n. 1862).
• 1929: Émile Loubet, French President (n. 1838).
• 1937: Erich Ludendorff, German military (n. 1865).
• 1952: Francisco Serrat and Bonastre, a Spanish diplomat (n. 1871).
• 1954: James Hilton, British writer (n. 1900).
• 1956: Ramón Carrillo, doctor and politician of Argentina (n. 1906).
• 1959: Antonia Maymon, anarchist militant and Spanish feminist (n. 1881).
• 1967: Arturo Capdevila, Argentine intellectual (n. 1899).
• 1968: Max Brod, Czech writer (n. 1884).
• 1968: John Steinbeck, American novelist, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962 (n. 1902).
• 1971: Jorge Prat, Chilean politician (n. 1918).
• 1971: Roy O. Disney entrepreneur and co-founder of The Walt Disney Productions (The Walt Disney Company) (n. 1893).
• 1973: Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish President (n. 1904).
• 1973: Bobby Darin, American singer (n. 1936).
• 1977: Azucena Villaflor, an Argentine housewife, founder of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo; murdered (n. 1924).
• 1982: Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist (n. 1887).
• 1983: Bill Brandt, British photographer (n. 1904).
• 1984: Dmitri Ustinov, Soviet military (n. 1908).
• 1989: Kurt Böhme, German bassist (n. 1908).
• 1993: William Edwards Deming, a statistician, professor and American writer, a diffuser of the concept of "total quality" (n. 1900).
• 1996: Osvaldo Lira, Chilean priest and philosopher (n. 1904).
• 1996: Carl Sagan, American astronomer (n. 1934).
• 1998: Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, British physicist, nobel physics award in 1963 (n. 1914).
• 2001: Léopold Sédar Senghor, writer and first Senegalese president (n. 1906).
• 2002: Eftim III (Selçuk Erenerol), third patriarch of the Turkish Orthodox Church.
• 2002: Tomás Polanco Alcántara, a Venezuelan writer and politician (n. 1927).
• 2002: José Suárez Carreño, poet, narrator and Spanish playwright (n. 1915).
• 2004: Eusebio García Luengo, a Spanish writer (n. 1910).
• 2007: José Luis Pécker, journalist and Spanish radio announcer (n. 1927).
• 2007: Jeanne Carmen, American actress and model (n. 1930).
• 2007: Lydia Mendoza, American singer and guitarist (n. 1916).
• 2008: Robert Mulligan, American filmmaker (n. 1925).
• 2008: Manuel Quindimil, an Argentine politician (n. 1923).
• 2009: Husein Ali Montazerí, an Iranian Ayatollah, leader of the revolution in his country (n. 1922).
• 2009: Brittany Murphy, American actress (n. 1977).
• 2009: Tedy Villalba, Spanish Film Producer (n. 1935).
• 2011: Iván Heyn, an Argentine economist and politician (n. 1977).
• 2011: Tushar Ranganath, Indian filmmaker (n. 1974).
• 2011: Yoshimitsu Morita, Japanese filmmaker (n. 1950).
• 2011: Hana Andronikova, Czech writer (n. 1967).
• 2011: Robert Ader, American psychiatrist and academic (n. 1932).
• 2013: Nelly Omar, Argentinean singer (n. 1911).
• 2014: Alberto Valdiri, Colombian actor (n. 1959).
• 2017: Rosa Brítez, Paraguayan pottery (n. 1941).
• 2018: Aslan Jade Callenreese [Ash Linx], Banana Fish.
• 2020: Florencio Olvera Ochoa, Mexican bishop (n. 1933).
• 2020: Chad Stuart, British singer (n. 1941)
• 2022: José Kaor Dokú, Colombian footballer (n.1924)

Celebrations

• International Day of Human Solidarity
• AragonAragon: Day of Justice and Rights and Freedoms of Aragon

Catholic saints list

• San Ceferino, Papa (217).
• San Liberal of Rome, martyr.
• Saint Filogonio of Antioch, bishop (324).
• San Ursicino de Jura, eremita (c. 620).
• Saint Dominic of Silos, Abbot (1073).
• Blessed Vincent Romano, priest (1831).
• Blessed Miguel Piaszczynski, priest and martyr (1940).