December 13

Events

Pre-1600

• 1294 – Saint Celestine V resigns the papacy after only five months to return to his previous life as an ascetic hermit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1545 – The Council of Trent begins as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

1601–1900

• 1623 – The Plymouth Colony establishes the system of trial by 12-men jury in the American colonies.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians, a date now considered the founding of the National Guard of the United States.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1642 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1643 – English Civil War: The Battle of Alton takes place in Hampshire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1758 – The English transport ship Duke William sinks in the North Atlantic, killing over 360 people.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1769 – Dartmouth College is founded by the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, with a royal charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal governor John Wentworth.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1818 – Cyril VI of Constantinople resigns from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch under pressure from the Ottoman Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee repulses attacks by Union Major General Ambrose Burnside on Marye's Heights, inflicting heavy casualties.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1867 – A Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, killing 12 people and injuring 50.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

1901–present

• 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking: The city of Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and slaughter hundreds of thousands of civilians.
• 1938 – The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.
• 1939 – The Battle of the River Plate is fought off the coast of Uruguay; the first naval battle of World War II. The Kriegsmarine's Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with three Royal Navy cruisers: Template:HMS, Template:Ship and Template:HMS.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1943 – World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.
• 1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
• 1957 – The Template:M 6.5 Farsinaj earthquake strikes Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII, causing at least 1,119 deaths and damaging over 5,000 homes.<ref name="AMBRASEYS">Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1959 – Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.
• 1960 – While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.
• 1962 – NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.
• 1967 – Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels.
• 1968 – Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5), enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.
• 1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or "Moonwalk" of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.
• 1974 – Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1974 – In the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese forces launch their 1975 Spring Offensive (to 30 April 1975), which results in the final capitulation of South Vietnam.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1977 – Air Indiana Flight 216 crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff, and boosters of the team.
• 1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland, largely due to the actions by Solidarity.
• 1982 – The 6.0 Template:M North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800, and injuring 1,500.
• 1988 – PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat gives a speech at a UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, after United States authorities refused to grant him a visa to visit UN headquarters in New York.
• 1989 – The Troubles: Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and two others are wounded.
• 1994 – Flagship Airlines Flight 3379 crashes in Morrisville, North Carolina, near Raleigh–Durham International Airport, killing 15.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1995 – Banat Air Flight 166 crashes in Sommacampagna near Verona Villafranca Airport in Verona, Italy, killing 49.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2001 – 2001 Indian Parliament attack: Sansad Bhavan, the building housing the Indian Parliament, is attacked by 5 Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. Twelve people are killed, including the terrorists.
• 2002 – European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members on May 1, 2004.
• 2003 – Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.
• 2007 – The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by the EU member states to amend both the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty which together form the constitutional basis of the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon is effective from 1 December 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Births

Pre-1600

• 1272 – King Frederick III of Sicily (d. 1337)
• 1363 – Jean Gerson, chancellor of the University of Paris (d. 1429)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1476 – Lucy Brocadelli, Dominican tertiary and stigmatic (d. 1544)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1484 – Paul Speratus, German Lutheran (d. 1551)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1491 – Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (d. 1586)
• 1499 – Justus Menius, German Lutheran pastor (d. 1558)
• 1521 – Pope Sixtus V (d. 1590)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1533 – Eric XIV of Sweden (d. 1577)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1553 – Henry IV of France (d. 1610)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1560 – Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, 2nd Prime Minister of France (d. 1641)
• 1585 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet (d. 1649)

1601–1900

• 1640 – Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (d. 1696)
• 1662 – Francesco Bianchini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (d. 1729)
• 1678 – Yongzheng Emperor of China (d. 1735)
• 1720 – Carlo Gozzi, Italian playwright (d. 1804)
• 1724 – Franz Aepinus, German astronomer and philosopher (d. 1802)
• 1769 – James Scarlett Abinger, English judge (d. 1844)
• 1780 – Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner, German chemist, invented the Döbereiner's lamp (d. 1849)
• 1784 – Archduke Louis of Austria (d. 1864)
• 1797 – Heinrich Heine, German journalist, poet, and critic (d. 1856)
• 1804 – Joseph Howe, Canadian journalist and politician, 5th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 1873)
• 1814 – Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (d. 1880)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1816 – Werner von Siemens, German engineer and businessman, founded Siemens (d. 1892)
• 1818 – Mary Todd Lincoln, 16th First Lady of the United States (d. 1882)
• 1830 – Mathilde Fibiger, Danish feminist, novelist and telegraphist (d. 1892)
• 1836 – Franz von Lenbach, German painter and academic (d. 1904)
• 1854 – Herman Bavinck, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and academic (d. 1921)
• 1856 – Svetozar Boroević, Croatian-Austrian field marshal (d. 1920)
• 1860 – Lucien Guitry, French actor (d. 1925)
• 1864 – Emil Seidel, American woodcarver and politician, 36th Mayor of Milwaukee (d. 1947)
• 1867 – Kristian Birkeland, Norwegian physicist and author (d. 1917)
• 1870 – Edward LeSaint, American actor and director (d. 1940)
• 1871 – Emily Carr, Canadian painter and author (d. 1945)
• 1874 – Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist and educator (d. 1944)
• 1882 – Jane Edna Hunter, African-American social worker (d. 1971)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1883 – Belle da Costa Greene, American librarian and bibliographer (d. 1950)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1884 – Aimilios Veakis, Greek actor, director, and playwright (d. 1951)
• 1885 – Annie Dale Biddle Andrews, American mathematician (d. 1940)
• 1887 – George Pólya, Hungarian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1985)
• 1887 – Alvin C. York, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
• 1895 – Lucía Sánchez Saornil, Spanish anarchist feminist (d. 1970)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1897 – Albert Aalbers, Dutch architect, designed the Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel (d. 1961)
• 1897 – Drew Pearson, American journalist and author (d. 1969)
• 1900 – Jonel Perlea, Romanian-American conductor and educator (d. 1970)

1901–present

• 1901 – Olev Roomet, Estonian singer, violinist, and bagpipe player (d. 1987)
• 1902 – Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Greek philosopher and politician, 138th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1986)
• 1902 – Talcott Parsons, American sociologist and academic (d. 1979)
• 1903 – Ella Baker, American activist (d. 1986)
• 1903 – Carlos Montoya, Spanish guitarist and composer (d. 1993)
• 1905 – Ann Barzel, American writer and dance critic (d. 2007)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1906 – Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (d. 1968)
• 1906 – Laurens van der Post, South African-English soldier and author (d. 1996)
• 1908 – Elizabeth Alexander, English geologist, academic, and physicist (d. 1958)
• 1908 – Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Brazilian historian and activist (d. 1995)
• 1908 – Van Heflin, American film actor (d. 1971)
• 1911 – Trygve Haavelmo, Norwegian economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
• 1911 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and painter (d. 1972)
• 1912 – Luiz Gonzaga, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 1989)
• 1913 – Archie Moore, American boxer and actor (d. 1998)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1914 – Alan Bullock, English historian and author (d. 2004)
• 1914 – Larry Noble, English comedian and actor (d. 1993)
• 1915 – B. J. Vorster, South African lawyer and politician, 4th State President of South Africa (d. 1983)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1916 – Leonard Weisgard, American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
• 1919 – Hans-Joachim Marseille, German captain and pilot (d. 1942)
• 1920 – George P. Shultz, American economist and politician, 60th United States Secretary of State (d. 2021)<ref name="wapost">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
• 1921 – Turgut Demirağ, Turkish film producer, director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
• 1923 – Philip Warren Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
• 1923 – Larry Doby, American baseball player (d. 2003)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1925 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor, singer, and dancer<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1927 – James Wright, American poet and academic (d. 1980)
• 1928 – Solomon Feferman, American philosopher and mathematician (d. 2016)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1929 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor and producer (d. 2021)<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1931 - Ida Vos, Dutch Jewish author of books for children and adults (d. 2006)Template:Cn
• 1933 – Paul Bracq, French automotive designer<ref name=RTp505>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• 1934 – Richard D. Zanuck, American film producer (d. 2012)
• 1935 – Türkan Saylan, Turkish physician and academic (d. 2009)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1936 – Prince Karim al-Husayn Shāh, Aga Khan IV, Swiss humanitarian and religious leader (d. 2025)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1938 – Gus Johnson, American basketball player (d. 1987)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1940 – Sanjaya Lall, Indian economist and academic (d. 2005)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1942 – Howard Brenton, English playwright and screenwriter<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1942 – Ferguson Jenkins, Canadian baseball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1945 – Herman Cain, American businessman, politician, and activist (d. 2020)<ref name="UPI">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1948 – Jeff Baxter, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1948 – Lillian Board, British athlete (d. 1970)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1948 – Ted Nugent, American musician<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1950 – Wendie Malick, American actress<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1952 – Muhsin Kenon, American basketball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1953 – Ben Bernanke, American economist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1953 – Bob Gainey, Canadian ice hockey player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1956 – Phil Hubbard, American basketball player and coach<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1957 – Steve Buscemi, American actor and director<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1957 – Morris Day, American musician and actor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1959 – Johnny Whitaker, American actor<ref name="AP">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1960 – Richard Dent, American football player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1961 – Gary Zimmerman, American football player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1962 – Rex Ryan, American football coach and analyst<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1964 – Krišjānis Kariņš, American-Latvian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Latvia<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1965 – Petra Wimmer, Austrian politician<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1967 – Jamie Foxx, American actor, singer, songwriter, producer, and comedian<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1969 – Sergei Fedorov, Russian ice hockey player and coach<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1971 – Scott Sattler, Australian rugby league player<ref>RLP</ref>
• 1972 – Matti Kärki, Swedish heavy metal singer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1975 – Tom DeLonge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, author, and filmmaker<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1975 – James Kyson, American actor<ref name="AP"></ref>
• 1975 – Matthew LeCroy, American baseball player and manager<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1978 – Cameron Douglas, American actor<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1981 – Amy Lee, American singer, songwriter and pianist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1982 – Dan Hamhuis, Canadian ice hockey player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1982 – Ricky Nolasco, American baseball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1983 – Laura Hodges, Australian basketball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1984 – Santi Cazorla, Spanish footballer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1984 – Hanna-Maria Seppälä, Finnish freestyle swimmer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1987 – James Holmes, American mass murderer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1988 – Rickie Fowler, American golfer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989 – Hellen Obiri, Kenyan runner<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989 – Katherine Schwarzenegger, American author<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1989 – Taylor Swift, American singer-songwriter<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1990 – Fletcher Cox, American football player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1990 – Joseph Garrett, English YouTuber, actor, and author<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite news</ref>
• 1990 – Arantxa Rus, Dutch tennis player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1991 – Dave Leduc, Canadian martial artist<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1991 – Vladimir Tarasenko, Russian ice hockey player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1993 – Danielle Collins, American tennis player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1993 – Jamal Fogarty, Australian rugby league player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1995 – Emma Corrin, English actor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1996 – Gleyber Torres, Venezuelan baseball player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1999 – Marina Bassols Ribera, Spanish tennis player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2000 – Simona Waltert, Swiss tennis player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2001 – Jayden Goodwin, Australian cricketer<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2002 – Brock Bowers, American football player<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 558 – Childebert I, Frankish king (b. 496)
• 769 – Du Hongjian, Chinese politician (b. 709)
• 838 – Pepin I of Aquitaine (b. 797)
• 859 – Angilbert II, archbishop of Milan
• 1124 – Pope Callixtus II (b. 1065)
• 1126 – Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1075)
• 1204 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
• 1250 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1194)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1272 – Bertold of Regensburg, German preacher
• 1404 – Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1336)
• 1466 – Donatello, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1386)
• 1516 – Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer and historian (b. 1462)
• 1521 – Manuel I of Portugal (b. 1469)
• 1557 – Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia, Italian mathematician and engineer (b. 1499)
• 1565 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss botanist and physician (b. 1516)

1601–1900

• 1621 – Katarina Stenbock, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (b. 1535)
• 1671 – Antonio Grassi, Italian Roman Catholic priest(b. 1592)
• 1716 – Charles de La Fosse, French painter (b. 1640)
• 1721 – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor (b. 1676)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1729 – Anthony Collins, English philosopher and author (b. 1676)
• 1754 – Mahmud I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1696)
• 1758 – Noël Doiron, Canadian Acadia leader (b. 1684)
• 1769 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and hymn-writer (b. 1715)
• 1783 – Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin, Swedish astronomer and demographer (b. 1717)
• 1784 – Samuel Johnson, English poet and lexicographer (b. 1709)
• 1814 – Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, Belgian-Austrian field marshal (b. 1735)
• 1849 – Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg, German botanist and entomologist (b. 1766)
• 1862 – Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, American general, lawyer, and politician (b. 1823)
• 1863 – Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German poet and playwright (b. 1813)
• 1868 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (b. 1794)
• 1881 – August Šenoa, Croatian author and poet (b. 1838)
• 1883 – Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (b. 1812)
• 1893 – Georg August Rudolph, German lawyer and politician, 3rd Mayor of Marburg (b. 1816)
• 1895 – Ányos Jedlik, Hungarian physicist and engineer (b. 1800)

1901–present

• 1908 – Augustus Le Plongeon, French photographer and historian (b. 1825)
• 1911 – Reggie Duff, Australian cricketer (b. 1878)<ref>Reggie Duff. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2018-05-05.</ref>
• 1919 – Woldemar Voigt, German physicist and academic (b. 1850)
• 1922 – Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (b. 1857)
• 1922 – Hannes Hafstein, Icelandic poet and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1861)
• 1924 – Samuel Gompers, English-born American labor leader, founded the American Federation of Labor (b. 1850)
• 1927 – Mehmet Nadir, Turkish mathematician and academic (b. 1856)
• 1929 – Rosina Heikel, Finnish physician (b. 1842)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1930 – Fritz Pregl, Slovenian-Austrian chemist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
• 1931 – Gustave Le Bon, French psychologist, sociologist, and anthropologist (b. 1840)
• 1932 – Georgios Jakobides, Greek painter and sculptor (b. 1853)
• 1935 – Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
• 1942 – Wlodimir Ledóchowski, Austrian-Polish religious leader, 26th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1866)
• 1942 – Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (b. 1868)
• 1944 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French painter and theorist (b. 1866)
• 1945 – Irma Grese, German concentration camp guard (b. 1923)
• 1945 – Josef Kramer, German concentration camp commandant (b. 1906)
• 1945 – Elisabeth Volkenrath, Polish-German concentration camp supervisor (b. 1919)
• 1947 – Henry James, American lawyer and author (b. 1879)
• 1947 – Nicholas Roerich, Russian archaeologist, painter, and philosopher (b. 1874)
• 1950 – Abraham Wald, Hungarian mathematician and academic (b. 1902)
• 1954 – John Raymond Hubbell, American director and composer (b. 1879)
• 1955 – Egas Moniz, Portuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
• 1960 – Dora Marsden, English author and activist (b. 1882)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• 1961 – Grandma Moses, American painter (b. 1860)
• 1962 – Harry Barris, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1905)
• 1969 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines (b. 1886)
• 1973 – Henry Green, English author (b. 1905)
• 1974 – Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu, Egyptian-Turkish journalist, author, and politician (b. 1889)
• 1975 – Cyril Delevanti, English-American actor (b. 1889)
• 1975 – Addie Viola Smith, American lawyer and trade commissioner (b. 1893)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
• 1977 – Oguz Atay, Turkish engineer and author (b. 1934)
• 1979 – Jon Hall, American actor and director (b. 1915)
• 1979 – Behçet Necatigil, Turkish author, poet and translator (b. 1916)
• 1983 – Alexander Schmemann, Estonian-American priest and theologian (b. 1921)
• 1983 – Nichita Stănescu, Romanian poet and critic (b. 1933)
• 1986 – Heather Angel, British-American actress (b. 1909)
• 1986 – Ella Baker, American activist (b. 1903)
• 1986 – Smita Patil, Indian actress and journalist (b. 1955)
• 1992 – K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman (b. 1899)
• 1992 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1899)
• 1993 – Vanessa Duriès, French author (b. 1972)
• 1995 – Ann Nolan Clark, American author and educator (b. 1896)
• 1996 – Edward Blishen, English author and educator (b. 1920)
• 1997 – Don E. Fehrenbacher, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1920)
• 1998 – Lew Grade, Ukrainian-born British impresario and media proprietor (b. 1906)
• 1998 – Richard Thomas, Royal Naval Officer (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Wade Watts, civil rights activist (b. 1919)
• 2002 – Zal Yanovsky, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist who founded The Lovin' Spoonful (b. 1944)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2004 – David Wheeler, English computer scientist and academic (b. 1927)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2005 – Alan Shields, American painter and ferryboat captain (b. 1944) <ref>Template:Cite book </ref>
• 2006 – Lamar Hunt, American businessman, co-founded the American Football League and World Championship Tennis (b. 1932)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2016 – Alan Thicke, Canadian actor, songwriter, game and talk-show host (b. 1947)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2018 – Noah Klieger, Holocaust survivor who became an award-winning Israeli journalist (b. 1926)<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• 2022 – Stephen "tWitch" Boss, American dancer and media personality (b. 1982)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 2024 – Lorraine O'Grady, American artist (b. 1934)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Holidays and observances

File:Niccolò di Segna - Saint Lucy - Walters 37756.jpg

13 December is the feast day of St Lucy

• Christian feast day:
  • St Antiochus of Sulcis
  • St Judoc aka St Joyce
  • St Lucy<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • St Odile of Alsace
• Acadian Remembrance Day (Acadians)
• National Day (Saint Lucia)
• Martial Law Victims Remembrance Day (Poland)
• Nanking Massacre Memorial Day (China)
• Nusantara Day (Indonesia)
• Republic Day (Malta)
• Sailor's Day (Brazil)
• Saint Lucia Day (mainly in Scandinavia)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• Template:NYT On this day
• Historical Events on December 13