December 1
day of the year
December 1 is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 30 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events change
Up to 1900 change
- 800 – Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican.
- 1420 - Henry V of England enters Paris.
- 1640 – Portugal regains its independence from Spain.
- 1821 – The first constitution of Costa Rica is issued.
- 1822 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil is crowned.
- 1824 - The United States House of Representatives is given the task to decide the winner of the US Presidential Election after no candidate got an overall majority of Electoral College votes.
- 1828 - Argentine general Juan Lavalle carries out a coup against Governor Manuel Dorrego, beginning the Decembrist revolution.
- 1835 – Hans Christian Andersen publishes his first book of fairy tales.
- 1864 - Great Fire of Brisbane.
- 1865 - Shaw University, the first historically black university in the Southern United States, is founded in North Carolina.
- 1885 - The fizzy drink Dr Pepper is first served at a drug store in Waco, Texas.
1901 – 1950 change
- 1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
- 1913 – Crete is annexed by Greece.
- 1913 - The Buenos Aires Metro opens to the public.
- 1918 – Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
- 1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
- 1918 - Transylvania unites with the Kingdom of Romania.
- 1919 - Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor officially takes her seat in the House of Commons as the UK's first female Member of Parliament.
- 1923 – The dam of the Gleno Reservoir near Bergamo, Italy, bursts, killing around 600 people.
- 1934 - In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergey Kirov is shot dead by Leonid Nikolaev at Communist Headquarters in Leningrad.
- 1941 - World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives the final approval to begin war against the United States.
- 1941 - World War II: New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia signs the Administration Order No. 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
- 1948 - Taman Shud Case: The body of an unidentified man is found in Adelaide, South Australia, involving an undetectable poison and a secret code in a rare book. The case remains unsolved.
1951 – 2000 change
- 1953 - Hugh Hefner publishes the first edition of Playboy magazine.
- 1955 – In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
- 1958 – Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
- 1958 - The Our Lady of the Angels school fire in Chicago kills 92 children and 3 nuns.
- 1959 – Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent.
- 1960 - Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested in Hamburg after being accused of attempted arson.
- 1961 – The independent Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day Western New Guinea.
- 1963 – Nagaland becomes the 16th state of India.
- 1964 – Malta, Malawi and Zambia join the UN.
- 1965 - India's Border Security Force is founded.
- 1966 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger succeeds Ludwig Erhard as Chancellor of West Germany.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
- 1971 – Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
- 1971 – The Indian Army occupies part of Kashmir.
- 1973 – Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia.
- 1974 - TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC, killing all 92 people on board.
- 1974 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of JFK International Airport outside New York City, killing all 3 crew members. There were no passengers on board at the time.
- 1976 – Angola joins the UN.
- 1981 - Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
- 1986 - The Musee d'Orsay art museum in Paris opens.
- 1988 - Benazir Bhutto becomes Prime Minister of Pakistan.
- 1989 - A right-wing rebel group attempts to remove then-President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino from power in a failed coup attempt.
- 1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 meters beneath the seabed.
- 1991 – Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
- 2000 – Vicente Fox becomes President of Mexico.
From 2001 change
- 2006 – Felipe Calderon becomes President of Mexico.
- 2006 – A typhoon causes landslides on the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines, burying about 1,000 people.
- 2009 – The European Union's Lisbon Treaty takes effect.
- 2012 - Enrique Peña Nieto becomes President of Mexico.
- 2013 - A train derails in the Bronx, New York City, on the banks of the Hudson River, killing four people and injuring around 60.
- 2014 - The Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab rounds up and kills 36 Non-Muslims in northeastern Kenya.
- 2016 - Vajiralongkorn officially becomes King of Thailand.
- 2017 - Japanese Emperor Akihito's abdication date is set for April 30, 2019.
- 2017 - The groups are drawn for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
- 2018 - Andrés Manuel López Obrador becomes President of Mexico.
- 2019 - Ursula von der Leyen takes office as the first female President of the European Commission.
Births change
Up to 1900 change
- 1081 – Louis VI of France (d. 1137)
- 1083 – Anna Komnene, Byzantine princess and scholar (d. 1153)
- 1438 - Peter II, Duke of Bourbon (d. 1503)
- 1443 - Magdalena of France, French princess (d. 1495)
- 1521 - Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyo (d. 1573)
- 1580 - Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (d. 1637)
- 1690 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, English lawyer and politician (d. 1764)
- 1709 - Franz Xaver Richter, Austrian-Moravian singer, violinist, composer and conductor (d. 1789)
- 1716 - Etienne Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (d. 1791)
- 1743 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (d. 1817)
- 1761 – Marie Tussaud, French creator of waxworks (d. 1850)
- 1766 – Nikolay Karamzin, Russian writer (d. 1826)
- 1785 - Victor de Broglie, French politician and diplomat (d. 1850)
- 1792 - Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1856)
- 1823 - Karl Schenk, Swiss politician (d. 1895)
- 1840 - Marie Bracquemond, French painter (d. 1916)
- 1844 – Alexandra of Denmark, queen consort of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (d. 1925)
- 1847 - Julia Ann Moore, American poet (d. 1920)
- 1855 - John Evans, Australian politician, 21st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1943)
- 1864 - Carsten Borchgrevink, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1934)
- 1867 - Ignacy Moscicki, Polish scientist and politician (d. 1946)
- 1869 - Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (d. 1923)
- 1873 - Valery Bryusov, Russian poet (d. 1924)
- 1873 - Viktor Chernov, Russian politician (d. 1952)
- 1884 - Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter (d. 1976)
- 1886 – Rex Stout, American writer (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Henry Williamson, English writer (d. 1977)
- 1896 – Georgy Zhukov, Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1974)
- 1898 - Stuart Garson, Canadian politician, 12th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1977)
1901 – 1950 change
- 1901 - Ilona Feher, Hungarian violinist (d. 1988)
- 1901 - Jane Gray, Scottish-Australian supercentenarian (d. 2014)
- 1905 – Clarence Zener, American physicist (d. 1993)
- 1910 – Alicia Markova, British ballet dancer (d. 2004)
- 1911 – Franz Binder, Austrian footballer (d. 1989)
- 1911 - Walter Alston, American baseball player and manager (d. 1984)
- 1911 - Calvin Griffith, Canadian-American businessman (d. 1999)
- 1912 - Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (d. 1986)
- 1913 – Mary Martin, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1916 - Wan Li, Chinese politician (d. 2015)
- 1922 – Vsevolod Bobrov, Soviet ice hockey player (d. 1979)
- 1923 – Morris, Belgian cartoonist (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Stansfield Turner, American admiral (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist (d. 1998)
- 1926 - Keith Michell, Australian actor (d. 2015)
- 1928 - Emily McLaughlin, American actress (d. 1991)
- 1928 - Malachi Throne, American actor (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Alfred Moisiu, former President of Albania
- 1929 - Karl Otto Pöhl, German economist (d. 2014)
- 1929 - David Doyle, American actor (d. 1997)
- 1930 - Marie Bashir, 37th Governor of New South Wales
- 1930 – Matt Monro, English singer (d. 1985)
- 1931 - Jimmy Lyons, American saxophonist (d. 1986)
- 1931 - George Maxwell Richards, President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2018)
- 1933 - Fujiko Fujio, Japanese writer and illustrator (d. 1996)
- 1933 - Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter, producer and actor (d. 2006)
- 1933 - Violette Verdy, French ballerina (d. 2016)
- 1933 - James Wolfensohn, 9th President of the World Bank
- 1934 – Billy Paul, American singer (d. 2016)
- 1935 – Woody Allen, American director and actor
- 1936 - María Romilda Servini, Argentine lawyer and judge
- 1936 - Igor Rodionov, Russian general and politician (d. 2014)
- 1937 – Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia
- 1938 - Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani politician, Governor of Sindh (d. 2017)
- 1939 – Lee Trevino, American golf player
- 1940 – Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
- 1942 - Mohamed Kamel Amr, Egyptian diplomat
- 1943 - Finn E. Kydland, Norwegian economist
- 1943 - Kenny Moore, American runner and journalist
- 1944 - Pierre Arditi, French actor
- 1944 - A. B. M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Bangladeshi politician (d. 2017)
- 1944 - Michael Hagee, American general
- 1944 - Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan-French poet
- 1944 - Daniel Pennac, French writer
- 1944 – John Densmore, American musician
- 1945 – Bette Midler, American singer and actress
- 1946 – Gilbert O'Sullivan, Irish singer
- 1947 – Alain Bashung, French singer (d. 2009)
- 1948 – Luciano Re Cecconi, Italian footballer (d. 1977)
- 1948 – Neil Warnock, English footballer and manager
- 1948 - Themba Dlamini, Prime Minister of Swaziland
- 1948 - Sarfraz Nawaz, Pakistani cricketer
- 1949 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian druglord (d. 1993)
- 1949 – Sebastian Pinera, President of Chile; 2010 - 2014, and since 2018
- 1950 - Ueli Maurer, Swiss politician
- 1950 - Seiichi Sakiya, Japanese footballer
- 1950 - Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and drummer
1951 – 1975 change
- 1951 – Jaco Pastorius, American musician (d. 1987)
- 1951 - Treat Williams, American actor
- 1952 - Stephen Poliakoff, British playwright and television dramatist
- 1952 - Ellen McLain, American opera singer and voice actress
- 1952 - Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist (d. 2019)
- 1954 - Viv Albertine, Australian-British singer and songwriter
- 1954 - Medha Patkar, Indian activist
- 1954 - François Van der Elst, Belgian footballer (d. 2017)
- 1956 - Julee Cruise, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1956 - Billy Stark, Scottish footballer
- 1957 - Chris Poland, American guitarist
- 1957 - Deep Roy, Kenyan actor
- 1958 – Javier Aguirre, Mexican footballer and manager
- 1958 - Candace Bushnell, American author, journalist and television producer
- 1958 - Lisa Fischer, American singer-songwriter
- 1958 - Charlene Tilton, American actress
- 1959 - Billy Childish, English singer and musician
- 1960 – Carol Alt, American supermodel
- 1961 – Jeremy Northam, British actor
- 1961 - Armin Meiwes, German cannibal and murderer
- 1962 - Pamela McGee, American basketball player and coach
- 1963 - Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician
- 1964 – Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
- 1965 - Peter Greste, Australian journalist
- 1966 - Andrew Adamson, New Zealand movie director
- 1966 - Katherine LaNasa, American actress
- 1966 - Larry Walker, Canadian baseball player
- 1967 - Nestor Carbonell, American actor, director and screenwriter
- 1968 - Justin Chadwick, English actor and director
- 1968 - Anders Holmertz, Swedish swimmer
- 1968 - Stephan Beckenbauer, German footballer (d. 2015)
- 1970 – Sarah Silverman, American comedienne
- 1971 – Emily Mortimer, English actress
- 1971 – Mika Pohjola, Finnish jazz pianist and composer
- 1971 - Melanie Peres, German-Israeli model, actress and singer
- 1974 – Costinha, Portuguese footballer
- 1974 - Simon Donnelly, Scottish footballer and manager
- 1974 - Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, American keyboardist and producer (d. 2014)
From 1976 change
- 1976 – Laura Ling, American journalist
- 1976 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
- 1977 - Brad Delson, American guitarist and producer
- 1977 - Akiva Schaffer, American actor, rapper, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1979 - Shinji Murai, Japanese footballer
- 1981 - Park Hyo-shin, South Korean singer-songwriter
- 1982 - Alfredo Pacheco, El Salvadorean footballer (d. 2015)
- 1985 – Emiliano Viviano, Italian footballer
- 1985 - John Coughlin, American figure skater
- 1985 - Chanel Preston, American pornographic actress
- 1986 - DeSean Jackson, American football player
- 1988 – Jay Simpson, English footballer
- 1988 – Zoe Kravitz, American actress
- 1989 - Barry Bannan, Scottish footballer
- 1990 - Chanel Iman, American model
- 1991 - Sun Yang, Chinese swimmer
- 1991 - Dion Waiters, American basketball player
- 1992 - Masahudu Alhassan, Ghanaian footballer
- 1992 - Marco van Ginkel, Dutch footballer
- 1995 - Eva Boto, Slovenian singer
- 2001 – Aiko, Princess Toshi of Japan
- 2001 - Savannah McReynolds, American actress
- 2001 - Alice Robinson, New Zealand alpine ski racer
Deaths change
Up to 1900 change
- 660 - Saint Eligius (b. c. 588)
- 1135 – Henry I, King of England (b. 1068)
- 1241 – Isabella of England, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1214)
- 1377 – King Magnus II of Sweden (b. 1316)
- 1433 – Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (b. 1377)
- 1455 - Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian sculptor (b. 1378)
- 1521 – Pope Leo X (b. 1475)
- 1530 - Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy (b. 1480)
- 1580 - Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (b. 1509)
- 1581 - Alexander Briant, English priest, martyr and saint (b. 1556)
- 1581 - Edmund Campion, English priest, martyr and saint (b. 1540)
- 1581 - Ralph Sherwin, English priest, martyr and saint (b. 1550)
- 1602 - Kobayakawa Hideaki, Japanese warlord (b. 1582)
- 1633 - Isabella Clara Eugenia, Spanish consort of Albert VII, Archduke of Austria (b. 1566)
- 1640 - Miguel de Vasconcelos, Portuguese politician (b. 1590)
- 1660 - Pierre d'Hozier, French genealogist (b. 1592)
- 1750 - Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer and cartographer (b. 1671)
- 1755 - Maurice Greene, English composer (b. 1696)
- 1825 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia (b. 1777)
- 1830 – Pope Pius VIII (b. 1761)
- 1864 - William L. Dayton, American politician (b. 1807)
- 1866 – George Everest, Welsh surveyor (b. 1790)
- 1884 - William Swainson, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician (b. 1809)
- 1886 – Emil Hartwich, German lawyer (b. 1843)
1901 – 2000 change
- 1913 - Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet and writer (b. 1864)
- 1914 - Alfred Thayer Mahan, American captain and historian (b. 1840)
- 1916 - Charles de Foucauld, French priest (b. 1858)
- 1917 - John January, American soccer player (b. 1882)
- 1934 – Sergey Kirov, Soviet politician (b. 1886)
- 1941 - Alva B. Adams, American politician (b. 1875)
- 1943 - Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai historian (b. 1862)
- 1947 – Aleister Crowley, English occultist and writer (b. 1875)
- 1947 – G.H. Hardy, English mathematician (b. 1877)
- 1954 - Fred Rose, American pianist, songwriter and publisher (b. 1898)
- 1964 - J. B. S. Haldane, English-Indian geneticist (b. 1892)
- 1964 - Charilaos Vasilakos, Greek runner (b. 1877)
- 1968 - Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer, composer and conductor (b. 1887)
- 1969 - Magic Sam, American guitarist and singer (b. 1937)
- 1972 – Antonio Segni, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1891)
- 1973 – David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
- 1975 - Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American writer (b. 1906)
- 1981 - Russ Manning, American comic book artist (b. 1929)
- 1987 – James Baldwin, American writer (b. 1924)
- 1987 - Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager (b. 1918)
- 1990 - Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Indian politician and diplomat (b. 1900)
- 1991 – George J. Stigler, American economist (b. 1911)
- 1993 - Ray Gillen, American singer-songwriter (b. 1959)
- 1995 - Maxwell R. Thurman, American general (b. 1931)
- 1997 – Stephane Grappelli, French violinist (b. 1908)
- 1997 - Endicott Peabody, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1920)
- 1998 – Bertil Nordahl, Swedish footballer (b. 1917)
From 2001 change
- 2001 - Roger Leach, British actor (b. 1948)
- 2004 – Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (b. 1911)
- 2005 - Jack Colvin, American actor (b. 1934)
- 2006 – Claude Jade, French actress (b. 1948)
- 2007 - Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (b. 1929)
- 2008 – Mikel Laboa, Basque singer and songwriter (b. 1934)
- 2010 – Adriaan Blaauw, Dutch astronomer (b. 1914)
- 2011 – Christa Wolf, German writer (b. 1929)
- 2012 - Mitchell Cole, English footballer (b. 1985)
- 2012 - Phil Taylor, English footballer (b. 1917)
- 2012 - Jovan Belcher, American football player (b. 1987)
- 2013 - Heinrich Boere, German Nazi war criminal (b. 1922)
- 2013 - Lino Grech, Maltese actor (b. 1930)
- 2013 - Edward Heffron, American World War II veteran (b. 1923)
- 2014 - Sita Murt, Spanish fashion designer and businesswoman (b. 1946)
- 2014 - Mario Abramovich, Argentine violinist and composer (b. 1926)
- 2014 - Roberto Sagastume Pinto, Guatemalan politician (b. 1944)
- 2015 - Joseph Engelberger, American engineer (b. 1925)
- 2015 - Robert E. Glennen, American academic (b. 1933)
- 2015 - Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (b. 1930)
- 2017 - Adarsh Sein Anand, former Chief Justice of India (b. 1936)
- 2017 - Philipp Graf Lerchenfeld, German politician (b. 1952)
- 2017 - Fredy Schmidtke, German cyclist (b. 1961)
- 2017 - Arif Dirlik, Turkish-born American historian (b. 1940)
- 2017 - Les Whitten, American investigative reporter (b. 1928)
- 2018 - Ken Berry, American actor (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Ennio Fantastichini, Italian actor (b. 1955)
- 2018 - Anwar Hossain, Bangladeshi photographer and cinematographer (b. 1948)
- 2018 - Scott Stearney, American Vice Admiral (b. 1960)
- 2018 - Stefanie Tücking, German television presenter (b. 1962)
- 2018 - Shoucheng Zhang, Chinese-American physicist (b. 1963)
- 2019 - Henri Biancheri, French footballer (b. 1932)
- 2019 - Shelley Morrison, American actress (b. 1936)
- 2019 - Lil Bub, American-bred celebrity cat (b. 2011)
- 2019 - Paul Sirba, American Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1960)
- 2019 - Pat Sullivan, American football player (b. 1950)
Holidays and observances change
- World AIDS Day
- Portugal – Restoration of Independence Day
- Costa Rica – Military Abolition Day
- Romania – The National Day of Romania, Union of Transylvania with Romania
- Angola's Pioneers' Day
- Australia – First day of Summer
- Iceland - Self-governance Day
- Teachers' Day (Panama)
- Chad - Freedom and Democracy Day
- Mexico - Traditionally the date the President is sworn into office every six years, last in 2012
- Saint Eligius in Western Christianity