2nd December 1918
Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright, died. 100 years.
2nd December 1923
Maria Callas, Greek-American soprano and one of the most influential opera singers of the 20th century was born in New York. 95 years.
3rd December 1818
Illinois becomes the 21st U.S. state. 200 years.
3rd December 1368
Charles VI of France was born. 650 years.
5th December 1443
Pope Julius II, "The Warrior Pope", great patron for the arts (he commissioned the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica andMichelangelo's decoration of the Sistine Chapel) was born. 575 years.
5th December 2013
Nelson Mandela, South African lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate, died. 5 years.
6th December 1768
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published. 250 years
8th December 1793
Madame du Barry, French mistress of Louis XV of France, died. 225 years.
8th December 1978
Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel, died. 40 years
10th December 1928
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect, died. 90 years.
11th December 1918
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, Russian novelist and Nobel Prize winner, critic of the communism, the Soviet Union and the Gulag camp system, was born. 100 years.
12th December 1863
Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and print maker, was born. 155 years.
12th December 1928
Helen Frankenthaler, American painter and academic, was born. 90 years.
14th December 1788
Charles III, King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788, was born. 300 years. 230 years.
14th December 1993
Myrna Loy, American actress and singer, died. 25 years.
14th December 2013
Peter O'Toole, Irish-English actor, singer, and producer, died.5 years.
19th December 1848
Emily Brontë, English author and poet, died. 170 years.
20th December 1968
John Steinbeck, American author, Nobel Prize laureate, died. 50 years.
21st December 1118
Thomas Becket, English archbishop and saint, was born. 900 years.
23rd December 1888
Vincent van Gogh cuts off his left ear. 130 years.

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