^B{^#!16!19 December^N! Feast day of St Timothy, St Gregory of Auxerre, St Anastasius I of Antioch, and St Nemesius of Alexandria.
^B{1154^B} Henry II became King of England. ^B{1562^B} The Battle of Dreux was fought between the Huguenots and the Catholics, beginning the French Wars of Religion. ^B{1842^B} Hawaii's independence was recognized by the US. ^B{1955^B} 'Blue Suede Shoes' was recorded by Carl Perkins in Memphis, Tennessee. ^B{1957^B} An air service between London and Moscow was inaugurated. ^B{1984^B} Ted Hughes was appointed Poet Laureate. ^B{1984^B} Britain and China signed an agreement in Beijing, in which Britain agreed to transfer full sovereignty of Hong Kong to China in 1997. ^B{1991^B} Bob Hawke was deposed as Australia's prime minister by his parliamentary colleagues and replaced by Paul Keating.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}William Edward Parry, English Arctic explorer, ^B{1790^B}; Albert Abraham Michelson, US physicist, ^B{1852^B}; Ralph Richardson, English actor, ^B{1902^B}; Leonid Brezhnev, Soviet leader, ^B{1906^B}; Jean Genet, French dramatist and essayist, ^B{1910^B}; Edith Piaf, French singer, ^B{1915^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}Vitus Bering, Danish navigator, ^B{1741^B}; Emily Brontδ, English novelist, ^B{1848^B}; Joseph Turner, English painter, ^B{1851^B}; Robert Andrews Millikan, US physicist, ^B{1953^B}; Alexei Nikolaievich Kosygin, Soviet politician, ^B{1980^B}; Stella Gibbons, English author, ^B{1989^B}.
