18th December

Events:

Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal defeats the Roman army.
1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” which marks the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty
1642 – Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.
1655 – The Whitehall Conference decides there’s no law preventing Jews from entering England
1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving
1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky i
1912 – The Piltdown Man is announced by Charles Dawson.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun ends
1917 – The 18th Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the US Congress.
1939 – World War II: The Battle of the Heligoland Bight
1956 – Japan joins the United Nations.
1966 – Saturn’s moon Epimetheus is discovered
1972 – Vietnam War: the US starts the Christmas bombings in Viet-Nam
1973 – Soviet Soyuz Programme: Soyuz 13 is launched
2010 – Anti-government protests begin in Tunisia, heralding the Arab Spring

Births:

1707 – Charles Wesley, English Methodist hymnist (d. 1788)
1778 – Joseph Grimaldi, English clown (d. 1837)
1863 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (d. 1914)
1878 – Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union (d. 1953)
1879 – Paul Klee, Swiss-born painter (d. 1940)
1913 – Willy Brandt, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1992)
1916 – Betty Grable, American actress (d. 1973)
1943 – Keith Richards, English guitarist (The Rolling Stones)
1946 – Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (d. 1977)
1946 – Steven Spielberg, American film director
1963 – Brad Pitt, American actor
1964 – Robson Green, English actor and singer
1970 – Lucious Harris, American basketball player
1980 – Christina Aguilera, American singer

Deaths

1133 – Hildebert, French writer (b. 1055)
1290 – King Magnus I of Sweden (b. 1240)
1495 – King Alfonso II of Naples (b. 1448)
1591 – Marigje Arriens, Dutch suspected witch (b. ca. 1520)
1787 – Francis William Drake, British Admiral and territorial governor (b. 1724)
1971 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (b. 1902)
1990 – Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (b. 1914)
1993 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor (b. 1919)
2000 – Kirsty MacColl, English singer and songwriter (b. 1959)
2004 – Anthony Sampson, British journalist and biographer (b. 1926)
2006 – Joseph Barbera, American cartoonist (b. 1911)
2010 – James Pickles, English jurist and columnist (b. 1925)
2010 – Jacqueline de Romilly, French philologist and classical scholar (b. 1913)
2011 – Václav Havel, playwright, philosopher and dissident, last president of Czechoslovakia, and the first president of the Czech Republic

Special days

…but the most special day of all:

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