^B{^#!16!21 December^N! Feast day of St Thomas the Apostle, Saints Themistocles and Dioscorus, St John Vincent, St Anastasius II of Antioch, St Peter Canisius, and St Glycerius.
^B{1620^B} The Pilgrim Fathers, aboard the ^I{Mayflower^I}, landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. ^B{1879^B} Ibsen's ^I{A Doll's House^I} was first performed in Copenhagen, with a revised happy ending. ^B{1925^B} Eisenstein's film ^I{Battleship Potemkin^I} was first shown in Moscow. ^B{1937^B} Walt Disney's ^I{Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs^I} was shown in Los Angeles, the first full-length animated talking picture. ^B{1958^B} Charles de Gaulle became President of France. ^B{1988^B} A Pan Am jet blew up in mid-flight and crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers aboard and 11 people on the ground; the terrorist bomb had been concealed within a radio. ^B{1990^B} In a German television interview, Saddam Hussein declared that he would not withdraw from Kuwait by the UN deadline.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Benjamin Disraeli, British politician, ^B{1804^B}; Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader, ^B{1879^B}; Heinrich B÷ll, German author, ^B{1917^B}; Jane Fonda, US film actress, ^B{1937^B}; Frank Zappa, US rock singer and composer, ^B{1940^B}; Chris Evert, US tennis player, ^B{1954^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author, ^B{1375^B}; James Parkinson, British neurologist, ^B{1824^B}; F Scott Fitzgerald, US novelist, ^B{1940^B}; George Patton, US military leader, ^B{1945^B}; Jack Hobbs, English cricketer, ^B{1963^B}.
