Anniversaries 21 December

Birth

Roger Williams (theologian)22

English Protestant theologian and founder of the colony of … 1603–1684

Benjamin Disraeli306

British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Pri… 1804–1881

Thomas Bracken1

poet 1843–1898

Albert Payson Terhune1

American writer 1872–1942

Rebecca West38

British feminist and author 1892–1983

Anthony Powell11

English novelist 1905–2000

George Ball (diplomat)2

American diplomat 1909–1994

Heinrich Böll6

German author, novelist, and short story writer 1917–1985

Kurt Waldheim7

4th Secretary-General of the United Nations, President of A… 1918–2007

Paul Kurtz12

American professor of philosophy 1925–2012

Elisabeth Elliot58

American missionary 1926–2015

Douglas T. Ross27

American computer scientist 1929–2007

Phil Donahue1

American talk show host, film producer and writer 1935

Barbara Roberts1

American politician 1936

Jane Fonda22

American actress and activist 1937

Frank Zappa129

American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and fil… 1940–1993

Matthew Fox (priest)2

priest and theologian 1940

Anthony Summers1

writer 1942

Hu Jintao17

former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China 1942

Ricardo Galvão4

Brazilian physicist and engineer 1947

Thomas Sankara12

President of Upper Volta 1949–1987

Gustavo García-Siller1

Roman Catholic archbishop 1950

Nancy A. Moran9

American biologist 1954

Ray Romano2

American stand-up comedian 1957

Steven Mnuchin1

77th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury 1962

Dmitry Rogozin11

Russian diplomat 1963

Daniel Suarez20

American writer 1964

Anke Engelke3

German actress 1965

Tomasz Vetulani18

Polish artist 1965

Kiefer Sutherland1

English-Canadian actor, director, producer, voice actor 1966

Mikheil Saakashvili8

Georgian-Ukrainian politician, President of Georgia and Gov… 1967

Patrick Morrisey2

West Virginia politician 1967

Vivek Agnihotri17

director 1973

Emmanuel Macron12

25th President of the French Republic 1977

Isabel Durant1

Australian actor and dancer 1991

Death

Giovanni Boccaccio27

Italian author and poet 1313–1375

Ikkyu8

Japanese Buddhist monk 1394–1481

Marguerite de Navarre14

Queen consort of Navarre 1492–1549

John Newton24

Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer 1725–1807

Matthias Barr2

British writer 1831–1911

Franz Boas7

German-American anthropologist 1858–1942

Frank I. Cobb1

American newspaper editor 1869–1923

Kodo Sawaki9

Japanese zen Buddhist monk 1880–1965

Eric Temple Bell14

mathematician and science fiction author born in Scotland w… 1883–1960

George S. Patton77

United States Army general 1885–1945

Kurt Tucholský8

German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer 1890–1935

Marc Connelly2

American playwright 1890–1980

F. Scott Fitzgerald411

American novelist and screenwriter 1896–1940

Stella Adler15

American actress and teaching coach 1901–1992

Nélson Rodrigues31

Brazilian writer and playwright 1912–1980

Paul De Man1

literary theorist 1919–1983

Philippa Pearce2

English children's writer 1920–2006

Sidney Drell1

American physicist 1926–2016

Edgar Bronfman, Sr.17

Canadian-American businessman 1929–2013

Adrian Henri9

British poet 1932–2000

Stephen Mitchell9

American psychologist 1946–2000