December 23

December 23 is the 357th day of the year (358th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are eight days remaining until the end of the year.

• 583 - Maya Queen Yohl Ik'nal is crowned ruler of Palenque.
• 679 - King Dagobert II of Paris is murdered on a hunting trip.
• 962 - Arab-Byzantine Wars: Under future Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo in present-day Syria.
• 1572 – Theologian Johann Sylvan is executed in Heidelberg.
• 1631 - Thirty Years' War: Sweden takes over the city of Mainz.
• 1672 – Giovanni Cassini discovers Saturn's moon Rhea.
• 1688 – James II of England flees to Paris, as Mary II and William III take the throne to rule jointly.
• 1783 - George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis.
• 1787 – The HMVA Bounty is sent to Tahiti to collect breadfruit plants.
• 1793 - Battle of Savenay: Decisive defeat of the royalist counter-revolutionaries in the war in the Vendee during the French Revolution.
• 1823 - "A Visit from St. Nicholas", also known as "The Night Before Christmas", is published anonymously.
• 1876 - First day of the Constantinople Conference which results in an agreement for the political reforms in the Balkans.
• 1888 – Part of Vincent van Gogh's left ear is cut off in as-yet unexplained circumstances.
• 1893 - The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is performed for the first time.

• 1913 - The Federal Reserve Act is signed into law by US President Woodrow Wilson, creating the Federal Reserve Bank.
• 1914 – World War I: Australian and New Zealand troops land in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1916 - World War I: Battle of Maghdaba - Allied forces defeat Turkish forces on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
• 1920 - The UK government agrees on the Government of Ireland Act, which ends up splitting the island of Ireland in two.
• 1933 - A train crash occurs at Lagny-Pomponne in France, killing 204 people, and injuring 120.
• 1936 – Colombia becomes a signatory of the Buenos Aires Convention.
• 1938 - The first modern coelacanth fish is discovered in South Africa. The species was thought to be extinct.
• 1940 - World War II: Greek submarine Papanikolis (Y-2) sinks the Italian motor ship Antonietta.
• 1941 – World War II: After 15 days of fighting, Japan takes control of Wake Island.
• 1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated.
• 1948 – Japanese officials who were found guilty of war crimes, are executed.
• 1954 - The first successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.
• 1957 - Ian Craig of Australia becomes the youngest test cricket captain in history.
• 1958 – The Tokyo Tower is dedicated, becoming the world's tallest self-supporting iron tower.
• 1968 - The 82 sailors from the USS Pueblo are released after 11 months of internment in North Korea.
• 1970 – The North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City is topped out at a height of 417 metres.
• 1970 - The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a single-party state.
• 1972 – A major earthquake hits Nicaragua, killing thousands of people. It was of magnitude 6.2.
• 1972 – Members of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes, near the border between Chile and Argentina, are rescued.
• 1973 - Royal Air Maroc airliner crashes over Morocco, killing 106 people.
• 1978 - An Alitalia Douglas DC-9 crashes on landing, into the Mediterranean Sea off Palermo, Sicily, killing 108 people. 22 people are saved and transported to land in fishing boats.
• 1979 – Soviet forces occupy Kabul, Afghanistan.
• 1982 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency announces that it has detected dangerous levels of dioxin in the soil of Times Beach, Missouri.
• 1986 – Voyager becomes the first aircraft without an aerial or ground refuelling to fly non-stop around the world.
• 1990 – In a referendum, most of Slovenia's voters support independence from Yugoslavia.
• 1991 – Germany recognises Croatia's independence.

• 2003 – An explosion at the PetroChina Chuandongbei natural gas field near Chongqing, China, kills 234 people.
• 2005 – Lech Kaczynski becomes President of Poland. His time in office ends with his death in a plane crash on April 10, 2010.
• 2007 - An agreement is made for Nepal to change its system of government from a monarchy to a republic.
• 2011 – At least 40 people are killed in bomb attacks in Damascus, Syria.
• 2013 - A storm hits the UK and Ireland, with strong winds and heavy rain, killing 2 people and affecting transport in the run-up to Christmas.
• 2017 - A fire at a shopping center in Davao City, Southern Philippines, kills at least 37 people.

• 968 - Emperor Zhenzong of Song of China (d. 1022)
• 1173 - Louis I, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1231)
• 1525 - John I, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1576)
• 1537 – John III of Sweden, King of Sweden (d. 1592)
• 1582 – Severo Bonini, composer (d. 1663)
• 1597 – Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (d. 1639)
• 1613 – Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish soldier (d. 1676)
• 1689 - Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, French composer (d. 1755)
• 1690 - Pamheiba, Indian Emperor (d. 1755)
• 1713 - Maruyama Gondazaemon, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1749)
• 1732 – Richard Arkwright, industrialist, and inventor of the Water Frame (d. 1792)
• 1750 – King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (d. 1827)
• 1777 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia (d. 1825)
• 1783 - Giovanni Bechet, Italian poet and patriot (d. 1851)
• 1790 – Jean François Champollion, French Egyptologist, deciphered the Rosetta Stone (d. 1832)
• 1793 - Dost Mohammad Khan, ruler of Afghanistan (d. 1863)
• 1797 - Adrien-Henri de Jussieu, French botanist and physician (d. 1853)
• 1799 - Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (d. 1852)
• 1804 – Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic (d. 1869)
• 1805 – Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement (d. 1844)
• 1810 - Edward Blyth, English zoologist and ornithologist (d. 1873)
• 1819 – Jan Jakob Lodewijk ten Kate, Dutch poet and clergyman (d. 1889)
• 1822 – Wilhelm Bauer, engineer (d. 1875)
• 1839 - Janos Murkovics, Slovenian-Hungarian writer and clergyman (d. 1889)
• 1841 - Ignacio Agramonte, Cuban revolutionary (d. 1873)
• 1854 - Henry B. Guppy, English botanist (d. 1926)
• 1856 - James Buchanan Duke, American industrialist (d. 1925)
• 1858 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director, writer and playwright (d. 1943)
• 1864 – Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (d. 1890)
• 1867 – Madam C. J. Walker, first African American millionaire (d. 1919).
• 1878 - Mikheil Tsereteli, Georgian historian, philologist and sociologist (d. 1965)
• 1881 - Juan Ramon Jimenez, Spanish poet (d. 1958)
• 1885 – Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)
• 1886 - Albert Ehrenstein, Austrian-German poet (d. 1950)
• 1887 - John Cromwell, American actor and director (d. 1979)
• 1891 – Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter and photographer (d. 1956)
• 1896 – Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Italian writer (d. 1957)
• 1900 - Arnold Bode, German artist (d. 1977)

• 1902 – Charan Singh, Prime Minister of India (d. 1987)
• 1903 - Boleslaw Kominek, Polish Roman Catholic Archbishop of Wroclaw (d. 1974)
• 1907 – Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean writer and poet (d. 2005)
• 1907 – Avraham Stern, Zionist group leader (d. 1942)
• 1908 – Yousuf Karsh, Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer (d. 2002)
• 1910 - Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (d. 1961)
• 1911 – Niels Kaj Jerne, Danish immunologist (d. 1994)
• 1911 - James Gregory, American actor (d. 2002)
• 1911 - Marie Olav, Estonian chess player (d. 1994)
• 1916 – Dino Risi, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2008)
• 1918 – Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1974-1982 (d. 2015)
• 1918 – José Greco, dancer (d. 2000)
• 1922 – Calder Willingham, writer (d. 1995)
• 1922 – Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician (d. 2001)
• 1923 – James Stockdale, United States Navy admiral (d. 2005)
• 1923 – Günther Schifter, Austrian music journalist (d. 2008)
• 1924 - Bob Kurland, American basketball player (d. 2013)
• 1925 - Pierre Bérégovoy, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
• 1925 – Mohammed Mzali, Prime Minister of Tunisia (d. 2010)
• 1926 – Robert Bly, American poet
• 1929 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1988)
• 1931 - Lev Durov, Russian actor (d. 2015)
• 1933 – Akihito, Emperor of Japan
• 1934 - Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor
• 1935 – Paul Hornung, American football player
• 1935 - Esther Phillips, American singer (d. 1984)
• 1936 – Frederic Forrest, American actor
• 1937 - Barney Rosenzweig, American screenwriter and producer
• 1937 - Nelson Shanks, American artist (d. 2015)
• 1939 - La Lupe, Cuban-American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
• 1939 - Nancy Graves, American sculptor, painter and printmaker (d. 1995)
• 1940 – Jorma Kaukonen, Finnish-American musician (Jefferson Airplane)
• 1941 – Tim Hardin, musician
• 1941 - Nigel Anthony, English actor
• 1942 – Quentin Bryce, 25th Governor-General of Australia
• 1942 - M. M. Ruhul Amin, Bangladeshi judge (d. 2017)
• 1942 - Lars-Erik Berenett, Swedish actor (d. 2017)
• 1943 – Mikhail Gromov, Russian mathematician
• 1943 – Harry Shearer, American actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons)
• 1943 – Silvia, Queen of Sweden
• 1943 - Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (d. 1987)
• 1944 – Wesley Clark, American General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
• 1945 - Adly Mansour, Interim President of Egypt
• 1946 - Ray Tabano, American musician
• 1946 – John Sullivan, English television writer (d. 2011)
• 1947 – Susan Lucci, soap opera actress
• 1948 - David Davis, British politician
• 1948 - Jim Ferguson, American guitarist, composer, writer and journalist
• 1948 – Jack Ham, American football player
• 1949 - Adrian Belew, American guitarist
• 1950 – Michael C. Burgess, American politician
• 1950 – Vicente del Bosque, Spanish football manager
• 1950 - Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, English general

• 1951 – Anthony Phillips, British musician (Genesis)
• 1952 – William Kristol, American conservative commentator
• 1952 - David Loebsack, American politician
• 1953 - Andres Alver, Estonian architect
• 1953 - Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Russian aristocrat
• 1955 – Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish poet and playwright
• 1956 – Dave Murray, English musician (Iron Maiden)
• 1957 – Trisha Goddard, English television presenter
• 1958 – Victoria Williams, singer
• 1961 – Carol Smillie, Scottish television personality
• 1962 - Stefan Hell, Romanian-German physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize winner
• 1962 - Kang Je-gyu, South Korean movie director, producer and screenwriter
• 1963 – Jim Harbaugh, American football quarterback
• 1964 – Eddie Vedder, musician (Pearl Jam)
• 1966 - Badi Assad, Brazilian singer, guitarist and composer
• 1967 – Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Italian-French singer, model and former First Lady of France
• 1968 - Quincy Jones III, English-Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
• 1968 - Barry Kooser, American artist and animation filmmaker
• 1968 - Manuel Rivera-Ortiz, Puerto Rican photographer
• 1968 - Sandra Roelofs, Dutch-born former First Lady of Georgia
• 1968 - Olga Shishigina, Kazakhstani hurdler
• 1969 – Martha Byrne, soap opera actress
• 1969 - Rob Pelinka, American basketball player, agent and lawyer
• 1970 – Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
• 1971 – Corey Haim, Canadian actor (d. 2010)
• 1971 – Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite (d. 2017)
• 1971 - Jo Johnson, British politician
• 1974 – Agustin Delgado, Ecuadorean footballer

• 1976 - Joanna Hayes, American hurdler
• 1977 – Matt Baker, British television presenter
• 1977 – Alge Crumpler, American football player
• 1978 – Andra Davis, American football player
• 1978 – Víctor Martínez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1978 – Estella Warren, Canadian actress and model
• 1978 – Esthero, Canadian musician and singer
• 1979 – Kenny Miller, Scottish footballer
• 1979 - Holly Madison, American model and actress
• 1981 - Agnes Milowka, Polish-Australian diver, explorer, writer and photographer (d. 2011)
• 1981 – Beth, Spanish singer
• 1981 – Mario Santana, Argentine footballer
• 1983 – Michael Chopra, English footballer
• 1983 - Lisa Dobriskey, English middle-distance runner
• 1984 - Alison Sudol, American actress, singer and songwriter
• 1985 - Harry Judd, English drummer (McFly)
• 1987 – Owen Franks, New Zealand rugby player
• 1988 - Eri Kamei, Japanese singer
• 1988 - Yuka Kashino, Japanese singer and dancer
• 1989 - Lils Koger, Estonian painter and architect
• 1990 – Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, American actress
• 1992 - Spencer Daniels, American actor
• 1992 - Jeff Schlupp, German-Ghananian footballer
• 1996 - Bartosz Kapustka, Polish footballer
• 2002 - Finn Wolfhard, Canadian actor

• 130 – Emperor Keiko of Japan (b. 60)
• 484 - Huneric, Vandal king
• 558 - Childebert I, King of Paris
• 668 - Mor Gabriel, Syriac bishop and saint (b. 594)
• 679 - Dagobert II, Frankish king (b. 650)
• 910 - Saint Naum of Ohrid, Macedonian missionary and scholar (b. 830)
• 918 - Conrad I of Germany (b. 890)
• 1193 – Saint Thorlak, patron Saint of Iceland (b. 1133)
• 1230 - Berengia of Navarre (b. 1165)
• 1572 – Johann Sylvan, German theologian
• 1575 – Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese military commander (b. 1531)
• 1588 - Henry I, Duke of Guise (b. 1550)
• 1631 – Michael Drayton, English poet (b. 1563)
• 1652 – John Cotton, English-born American minister (b. 1585)
• 1722 - Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)
• 1745 - Jan Dismas Zelenka, Bohemian composer (b. 1679)
• 1795 - Henry Clinton, English general and politician (b. 1730)
• 1831 - Emilie Plater, Lithuanian countess and freedom fighter (b. 1806)
• 1850 - Samuel Bell, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1770)
• 1851 - Giovanni Bechet, Italian poet and patriot (b. 1783)
• 1872 - George Catlin, American painter (b. 1796)

• 1902 – Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1821)
• 1920 - Walter Runeberg, Finnish sculptor (b. 1838)
• 1931 – Wilson Bentley, American scientist (b. 1865)
• 1939 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
• 1948 – Akira Muto, Japanese military commander (b. 1892)
• 1948 – Hideki Tōjō, 40th Prime Minister of Japan, Led the Attack on Pearl Harbour (b. 1884)
• 1950 - Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (b. 1878)
• 1953 - Lavrentiy Beria, Soviet-Georgian politician (b. 1899)
• 1954 - René Iché, French sculptor and scholar (b. 1897)
• 1961 - Kurt Meyer, German SS officer (b. 1910)
• 1970 - Aleksander Warma, Estonian politician (b. 1890)
• 1972 - Charles Atlas, American bodybuilder (b. 1892)
• 1972 – Andrei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (b. 1888)
• 1973 - Charles Atlas, Italian-American bodybuilder (b. 1892)
• 1978 - Misao Tamai, Japanese footballer (b. 1903)
• 1979 – Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)
• 1984 - Joan Lindsay, Australian writer (b. 1896)
• 1992 – Eddie Hazel, American musician (b. 1950)
• 1994 - Sebastian Shaw, British actor (b. 1905)
• 1997 - Stanley Cortez, American cinematographer (b. 1908)
• 1998 – Anatoly Rybakov, Russian writer (b. 1911)
• 1998 - Joe Orlando, Italian-American comics writer, artist and editor (b. 1927)
• 1998 - Michelle Thomas, American actress (b. 1969)
• 2000 – Victor Borge, Danish comedian and pianist (b. 1909)

• 2004 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Lajos Baroti, Hungarian footballer (b. 1914)
• 2007 – Oscar Peterson, American jazz pianist and composer (b. 1925)
• 2009 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Tibetan politician (b. 1910)
• 2010 – K. Karunakaran, Indian politician (b. 1918)
• 2013 - Mikhail Kalashnikov, Russian inventor of the AK-47 (b. 1919)
• 2013 - Yusef Lateef, American saxophonist (b. 1920)
• 2013 - Robert W. Wilson, American philanthropist and businessman (b. 1926)
• 2014 - K. Balachander, Indian director and producer (b. 1930)
• 2014 - Jeremy Lloyd, English writer, screenwriter, writer, poet and actor (b. 1930)
• 2014 - Jacques Chancel, French journalist and writer (b. 1928)
• 2015 - Hocine Aït Ahmed, Algerian politician (b. 1926)
• 2015 - Don Howe, English footballer (b. 1935)
• 2015 - Bülent Ulusu, Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1923)
• 2015 - Jean-Marie Pelt, French biologist, botanist and pharmacist (b. 1933)
• 2015 - Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist (b. 1941)
• 2016 - Anis Amri, Tunisian suspected terrorist (2016 Berlin attack) (b. 1992)
• 2016 - Heinrich Schiff, Austrian cellist and conductor (b. 1951)
• 2016 - Piers Sellers, English-American astronaut (b. 1955)
• 2017 - Maurice Hayes, Irish politician (b. 1927)
• 2020 – Kay Purcell, English actress (b. 1963)

• Akihito's birthday (Japan)
• Saint Thorlak's Day (Iceland)
• HumanLight (secular humanism in the United States)
• Festivus
• Kiran Diwas (Uttar Pradesh)
• Victory Day (Egypt)
• Children's Day (Sudan and South Sudan)