Anniversaries 25 December

Birth

Pope Pius VI3

pope and sovereign of the Papal States 1717–1799

William Collins19

English poet, born 1721 1721–1759

Prithvi Narayan Shah1

far-sighted king/unifier of Nepal 1722–1775

Richard Porson1

British classical scholar 1759–1808

Dorothy Wordsworth6

English author, poet and diarist 1771–1855

Clara Barton1

American Civil War nurse 1821–1912

Stephen F. Chadwick1

American politician 1825–1895

Christian David Ginsburg2

Polish-British Bible scholar 1831–1914

Muhammad Ali Jinnah50

Founder and 1st Governor General of Pakistan 1876–1948

Franz Rosenzweig3

Jewish theologian and philosopher 1886–1929

Conrad Hilton1

American hotelier 1887–1979

Humphrey Bogart3

American actor 1899–1957

Raphael Soyer2

American artist 1899–1987

Lew Grade1

Imperial Russian/Ukrainian-born British media proprietor, i… 1906–1998

Ernst Ruska2

German physicist 1906–1988

Quentin Crisp66

writer, Actor 1908–1999

Louise Bourgeois14

American and French sculptor 1911–2010

Noel Langley1

South African writer 1911–1980

Ahmed Ben Bella3

First President of Algeria 1916–2012

Anwar Sadat5

Egyptian president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient 1918–1981

René Girard9

French historian, literary critic, and philosopher of socia… 1923–2015

Rod Serling41

American screenwriter 1924–1975

Carlos Castaneda98

Peruvian-American author 1925–1998

Ram Narayan5

classical sarangi player from India 1927

Stuart Hall11

sociologist and cultural theorist 1929–2014

Joe Gores1

American writer 1931–2011

Donald A. Norman29

American academic 1935

Ismail Merchant2

Indian-born film producer and director 1936–2005

Jimmy Buffett58

American singer–songwriter and businessman 1946

Sukanto Tanoto13

Indonesian businessman 1949

Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira13

Brazilian singer 1949

Karl Rove8

American political consultant and policy advisor 1950

Robert Ndlovu2

Archbishop of Harare 1955

Paul Cilliers12

South African philosopher 1956–2011

Chris Kamara3

English association football player and manager 1957

Christina Romer1

economist 1958

Noel Emmanuel1

1960

Íngrid Betancourt1

Colombian-French politician 1961

Justin Trudeau26

23rd Prime Minister of Canada; eldest son of Pierre Trudeau 1971

Dido14

English singer-songwriter 1971

Yoji Shinkawa1

Japanese illustrator 1971

Sheila Heti1

Canadian writer 1976

Marco Mengoni1

Italian singer-songwriter 1988

Jena Powell1

American politician 1993

Death

Jacopone da Todi14

Italian Franciscan mystic 1236–1306

Francesco Maria Zanotti2

Italian philosopher 1692–1777

Yosa Buson3

poet from Japan 1716–1783

Paul Bourget44

French writer 1852–1935

Артур Бризбейн1

1864–1936

C. Rajagopalachari11

Political leader 1878–1972

Robert Walser8

Swiss writer 1878–1956

W.C. Fields47

actor 1880–1946

Charlie Chaplin75

British comic actor and filmmaker 1889–1977

Karel Čapek51

Czech writer 1890–1938

Oliver P. Smith1

United States Marine Corps general 1893–1977

Joan Miró26

Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist 1893–1983

Tristan Tzara19

Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performa… 1896–1963

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov1

Bulgarian philosopher 1900–1986

Emmanuel Levinas11

French philosopher 1906–1995

Willard van Orman Quine25

American philosopher and logician 1908–2000

Zail Singh18

Indian politician and former President of India 1916–1994

Elena Ceaușescu3

Romanian politician 1916–1989

Dean Martin1

American singer, actor, comedian and film producer 1917–1995

Nicolae Ceaușescu13

General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party 1918–1989

Vera Rubin9

American astronomer 1928–2016

Billy Martin3

American baseball player and coach 1928–1989

James Brown22

American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist 1933–2006

Anatoli Boukreev1

Russian mountain climber 1958–1997

George Michael6

English singer-songwriter, musician, producer 1963–2016