December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining.
Events:
- 1803 - Louisiana Purchase completed.
- 1860 - South Carolina becomes first state to secede from the United States.
- 1915 - Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli
- 1917 - Cheka, first Soviet secret police founded.
- 1922 - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics formed
- 1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed
- 1989 - United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
- 1995 - NATO begins peacekeping in Bosnia
- 1999 - Vermont's Supreme Court rules that homosexual couples are entitled to same benefits and protections as married heterosexual couples.
- 2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
Births:
- 1579 (baptized) - John Fletcher[?], playwright (+ 1625)
- 1629 - Pieter de Hooch[?], painter (+ 1684)
- 1792 - Nicolas Charlet[?], painter (+ 1845)
- 1805 - Thomas Graham, Father of colloid chemistry (+ 1869)
- 1833 - Samuel Mudd, physician, possible conspirator in the assassinatiion[?] of Abraham Lincoln (+ 1883)
- 1856 - Ferdinand Avenarius[?], author (+ 1923)
- 1868 - Harvey Firestone[?], automobile pioneer (+ 1938)
- 1881 - Branch Rickey[?], baseball executive (+ 1965)
- 1890 - Yvonne Arnaud[?], actress
- 1893 - Charlotte Bühler[?], psychologist
- 1894 - Sir Robert Menzies, Australian politician
- 1898 - Irene Dunne, actress (+ 1990)
- 1901 - Robert Van de Graaff[?], physicist, inventor
- 1902 - George Edward Alexander Windsor, Duke of Kent (+ 1942)
- 1922 - George Roy Hill, film director
- 1923 - James Leasor[?], writer, mystery
- 1924 - Friederike Mayröcker[?], author
- 1926 - Otto Graf Lambsdorff[?], politician
- 1930 - Noel Ferrier[?], producer and actress
- 1942 - Bob Hayes, track and field star, American football star (+ 2002)
- 1946 - Uri Geller, illusionist
- 1952 - Jenny Agutter[?], actress
- 1957 - Billy Bragg, singer, songwriter
- 1957 - Mike Watt, bassist
- 1958 - Billy Bragg, famous musician
- 1959 - Tracey Ullman, actress, comedienne
Deaths:
- 1939 - Nazi Captain Hans Langsdorff committed suicide
- 1954 - James Hilton, author
- 1961 - Moss Hart, author
- 1968 - John Steinbeck, writer
- 1973 - Bobby Darin, singer
- 1976 - Richard J. Daley, mayor of Chicago, Illinois
- 1982 - Artur Rubinstein[?], musician
- 1994 - Dean Rusk, former United States Secretary of State
- 1996 - Carl Sagan, astronomer, writer
- 1999 - Hank Snow, country music singer
Holidays and Observances:
See Also:
December 19 - December 21 - November 20 - January 20 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July,
August, September, October, November, December
Common misspelling and questions (FAQ)
ecember-20 dcember-20 deember-20 decmber-20 deceber-20 decemer-20 decembr-20 decembe-20 december20 december-0 december-2 edcember-20 dceember-20 deecmber-20 decmeber-20 decebmer-20 decemebr-20 decembre-20 decembe-r20 december2-0 december-02 december-2 ddecember-20 deecember-20 deccember-20 deceember-20 decemmber-20 decembber-20 decembeer-20 decemberr-20 december--20 december-220 december-200 eecember-20 secember-20 xecember-20 recember-20 cecember-20 recember-20 fecember-20 cecember-20 d3cember-20 dwcember-20 dscember-20 d4cember-20 ddcember-20 d4cember-20 drcember-20 ddcember-20 dedember-20 dexember-20 defember-20 defember-20 devember-20 dec3mber-20 decwmber-20 decsmber-20 dec4mber-20 decdmber-20 dec4mber-20 decrmber-20 decdmber-20 decejber-20 decenber-20 decekber-20 decekber-20 dece,ber-20 decemger-20 decemver-20 decemher-20 decemher-20 decemner-20 decemb3r-20 decembwr-20 decembsr-20 decemb4r-20 decembdr-20 decemb4r-20 decembrr-20 decembdr-20 decembe4-20 decembee-20 decembed-20 decembe5-20 decembef-20 decembe5-20 decembet-20 decembef-20 december020 decemberp20 december[20 december-10 december-q0 december-w0 december-30 december-w0 december-29 december-2o december-2p december-2- december-2p december-20sI think little of it. My profession is the care of altars. found here when he came to revive the worship of the grove, some have heard of it, for it is still talked of. But surely it was a Apollo's temple?" "You mean the goose? Well, perhaps it was not precisely what the inappropriate. You will agree to that if you are a Christian, as I matter, and the name of Apollo is as good as any other. How many ruined chapel you see just beyond us. I have had something to do employment to care-takers for a while. But the thing that lasts, and them. The game has been going on for centuries. It still disports Believe me, for I know. Daphne and Apollo were shadows. But the these are the realities. Life is the game, and the world keeps it up so fair. Are you a loser in the game?" The words and tone of the speaker fitted Hermas' mood as a key fits of his life: his luxurious boyhood in his father's house; the John's preaching of the new religion; his lonely year with the teacher's house at Antioch; his weariness of duty, his distaste for life is swept as bare as a hermit's cell. There is nothing in it but then," he suggested, "to renounce your new religion and go back.