Historical calendar - December 21

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Reuters historical calendar - December 21

  
LONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Following are some of the major events to
have occurred on December 21 in history: 

1118 - Thomas Becket born. As Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 he
fought with England's King Henry II over the rights of the church. He
was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. 

1375 - Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian poet and scholar, died. Best
remembered as the author of the earthy stories taken from popular tales
of the time titled ``The Decameron.'' 

1401 - Masaccio, Influential Florentine painter, born as Tommaso di
Giovanni di Simone Guidi. His realistic depiction of biblical events
made him a pioneer of the early Renaissance. 

1804 - Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman, novelist and twice prime
minister (1868 and 1874-80), born in London. 

1846 - The first surgical operation under anaesthesia in Britain was
performed at University College Hospital, London by Robert Liston who
amputated the leg of a servant. 

1879 - Josef Stalin born. After the death of Lenin, he transformed the
Soviet Union by brutal industrialisation and party purges. He
successfully repulsed the German invasion in World War Two and his
armies carried on to occupy most of Eastern Europe. He died in 1953. 

1913 - The first crossword puzzle was published in the weekend edition
of the New York World and was compiled by Liverpool-born Arthur Wynne. 

1917 - Heinrich Boell, German novelist, born. Noted for his novels ``The
Clown'' and ``Acquainted with the Night,'' he won the Nobel Literature
Prize in 1972. 

1918 - Kurt Waldheim, former Austrian president and former
secretary-general of the United Nations, born. On the same date in 1971,
he was elected U.N. secretary-general to succeed U Thant of Burma. 

1937 - ``Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' the first full length
feature cartoon in colour, by Walt Disney, was premiered in Los Angeles. 

1937 - Jane Fonda, U.S. film actress and daughter of film star Henry
Fonda, born. Her films include ``Klute'' and ``Coming Home'' for which
she won Oscars. She also appeared with her father in the film ``On
Golden Pond.'' 

1940 - F. Scott Fitzgerald, U.S. short story writer and novelist, died.
Famous for his depictions of the jazz age, (the 1920s) he is best
remembered for his novel ``The Great Gatsby.'' 

1945 - General George Patton, brilliant tank commander in World War Two
and referred to by his men as ``Old Blood and Guts,'' died after a car
accident in Germany. 

1948 - The Republic of Ireland Bill was signed by the president of Eire,
ending the association with Britain. 

1958 - Charles De Gaulle was elected the first president of the fifth
Republic of France with 78.5 percent of the votes cast by the electoral
college. 

1960 - King Saud took over the government of Saudi Arabia after Crown
Prince Faisal resigned as prime minister. 

1963 - Sir Jack Hobbs, English cricketer, died. Regarded as one of the
world's greatest batsman of his time, in 1953 he became the first
cricketer to be knighted. 

1967 - Louis Washkansky, the world's first heart transplant patient,
died 18 days after surgery. 

1968 - Apollo 8, with astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William
Anders, was launched by a Saturn 5 booster from Cape Kennedy. Three days
later they carried out the first manned flight around the moon. 

1972 - After nearly two decades of Cold War hostility, East and West
Germany established diplomatic ties in a treaty which committed them to
good-neighbourly relations, paving the way for international recognition
of East Germany. 

1973 - The first peace conference between Israel and its Arab neighbours
opened in Geneva attended by Jordan, Israel, Egypt, the United States,
the Soviet Union and the United Nations. 

1975 - Terrorists of the ``Arm of the Arab Revolution'' led by ``Carlos
the Jackal'' raided the OPEC headquarters in Vienna and held 11 oil
ministers and their staff hostage. 

1979 - In Britain, the Lancaster House conference on Rhodesia ended
after a peace agreement was signed. 

1988 - A Pan Am Boeing 747 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland,
killing all 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground. 

1989 - Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu declared a state of
emergency in the western district of Timis, where security police had
earlier crushed anti-government riots. 

1990 - Albania tore down eastern Europe's last towering statues of
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. 

1992 - 54 people were killed when a Martinair DC-10 charter plane
carrying Dutch holidaymakers crashed in flames at Faro, Portugal; the
plane was carrying 327 passengers and 13 crew. 

1993 - President Boris Yeltsin abruptly abolished the former KGB
security police, saying the huge force Russian citizens feared for
decades was ``incapable of being reformed.'' 

1995 - In the worst disaster on the accident-prone Egyptian railways for
more than 15 years, 75 people were killed and 76 injured when a crowded
train ran into the back of another in fog at in the town of Badrasheen,
28 km (17 miles) south of Cairo. 

1997 - Milan Milutinovic, Socialist candidate and a close ally of
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, won 58.6 percent of the vote in
Serbia's presidential election run off. 

18:57 12-14-99