Historical Anniversaries this Week

December 21

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballerina

 Deaths (1050 years ago today): 975 – Al-Mu'izz, Fatimid caliph (born 932)

 Deaths (650 years ago today): 1375 – Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author and poet (born 1313)

December 22

 Events (50 years ago today): 1975 – U.S. President Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis.^[29]

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Lewis Glucksman, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2006)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Lefter Küçükandonyadis, Turkish footballer and manager (died 2012)

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Sergei Aschwanden, Swiss martial artist

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Dmitri Khokhlov, Russian footballer and manager

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Marcin Mi?ciel, Polish footballer

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Stanislav Necká?, Czech ice hockey player

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Takuya Onishi, Japanese astronaut^[56]

 Deaths (100 years ago today): 1925 – Amelie Beese, German pilot and engineer (born 1886)

December 23

 Births (500 years ago today): 1525 – John Albert I, duke of Mecklenburg (died 1576)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Duncan Hallas, English author and politician (died 2002)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Rayner Unwin, English publisher (died 2000)

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Vadim Sharifijanov, Russian ice hockey player

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Lady Starlight, American singer-songwriter

 Deaths (450 years ago today): 1575 – Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese samurai (born 1531)

 Deaths (350 years ago today): 1675 – Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French general and diplomat (born 1602)

December 24

 Births (550 years ago today): 1475 – Thomas Murner, German poet and translator (died 1537)^[51]

 Births (400 years ago today): 1625 – Johann Rudolph Ahle, German organist, composer, and theorist (died 1673)

 Births (150 years ago today): 1875 – Émile Wegelin, French rower (died 1962)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1975 – Bernard Herrmann, American composer and conductor (born 1911)

December 25

 Events (1000 years ago today): 1025 – Coronation of Mieszko II Lambert as king of Poland.

 Events (300 years ago today): 1725 – J. S. Bach leads the first performance of the Christmas cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110, making laughter audible in singing.^[20]

 Births (200 years ago today): 1825 – Stephen F. Chadwick, American lawyer and politician, 5th Governor of Oregon (died 1895)

 Births (150 years ago today): 1875 – Francis Aveling, Canadian psychologist and priest (died 1941)

 Births (150 years ago today): 1875 – Theodor Innitzer, Austrian cardinal (died 1955)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (died 1998)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Ned Garver, American baseball player (died 2017)

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (died 2007)

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Hideki Okajima, Japanese baseball player

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Choi Sung-yong, South Korean footballer and manager

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Marcus Trescothick, English cricketer

 Deaths (150 years ago today): 1875 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (born 1851)

 Deaths (100 years ago today): 1925 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (born 1877)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1975 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (born 1881)

 Deaths (50 years ago today): 1975 – Gunnar Kangro, Estonian mathematician and author (born 1913)

December 26

 Events (200 years ago today): 1825 – Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I in the Decembrist revolt, but are later suppressed.^[14]

 Events (50 years ago today): 1975 – Tu-144, the world's first commercial supersonic aircraft, surpassing Mach 2, goes into service.

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Chris Calaguio, Filipino basketball player

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player^[47]

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – María Vasco, Spanish race walker

 Deaths (100 years ago today): 1925 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect, designed the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (born 1880)

December 27

 Births (100 years ago today): 1925 – Michel Piccoli, French actor, singer, director, and producer (died 2020)

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Aigars Fadejevs, Latvian race walker and therapist

 Births (50 years ago today): 1975 – Heather O'Rourke, American actress (died 1988)^[69]

 Deaths (1050 years ago today): 975 – Balderic, bishop of Utrecht (born 897)