Anniversaries 9 December

Birth

John Milton190

English epic poet 1608–1674

Richard Lovelace16

English writer and poet 1617–1658

Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow5

British lawyer and Tory politician 1731–1806

James Hogg3

British writer 1770–1835

Joseph Dietzgen12

german philosopher 1828–1888

Gerard Bilders14

painter from the Netherlands 1838–1865

George Grossmith3

English comedian, writer, composer, actor, and singer 1847–1912

Joel Chandler Harris11

Journalist, children's writer 1848–1908

Géza Révész3

Hungarian psychologist and musicologist 1878–1955

Joseph Stalin95

General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1879–1953

Begum Rokeya8

Bengali feminist writer and social worker 1880–1932

Joseph Pilates3

German inventor of pilates 1883–1967

Dolores Ibárruri1

Spanish Republican leader of the Spanish Civil War and comm… 1895–1989

Konstantin Rokossovsky5

Soviet and Polish military commander 1896–1968

Hermione Gingold2

English actress 1897–1987

Ödön von Horváth2

Austro-Hungarian writer 1901–1938

Rab Butler18

British politician 1902–1982

Dalton Trumbo18

American screenwriter and novelist 1905–1976

Grace Hopper22

American computer scientist and United States Navy officer 1906–1992

Tip O'Neill2

American politician 1912–1994

Eloise Jarvis McGraw2

American writer 1915–2000

I. J. Good2

British statistician, cryptographer 1916–2009

Kirk Douglas14

American stage and film actor 1916–2020

James Jesus Angleton3

chief of the CIA's counterintelligence (CI) staff from 1954… 1917–1987

Redd Foxx4

American comedian and actor 1922–1991

Ernest Gellner32

Czech anthropologist, philosopher and sociologist 1925–1995

Henry Way Kendall2

American physicist 1926–1999

Sarah E. Wright1

American writer 1929–2009

Ashleigh Brilliant34

American author and cartoonist 1933

Judi Dench2

English film, stage and television actress 1934

Cao Gangchuan1

former Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of … 1935

Bertrice Small1

American writer 1937–2015

Mary Downing Hahn4

American children's writer 1937

Rein Vihalemm3

Estonian philosopher of chemistry 1938–2015

Václav Smil1

Canadian geographer 1943

Joanna Trollope4

British writer 1943

Neil Innes2

British comic songwriter 1944–2019

Joan Armatrading1

British singer-songwriter 1950

Jean-Claude Juncker14

Luxembourgian politician 1954

Helmin Wiels1

Curaçao politician 1958–2013

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh2

American television director, writer, producer, storyboard … 1960

Caroline Lucas5

British politician, MP of the Green Party for Brighton Pavi… 1960

Zafar Sareshwala2

Indian businessman 1962

Enrique Eguía Seguí1

Catholic bishop 1962

Dan Greenberg1

American politician 1965

Kirsten Gillibrand9

United States Senator from New York 1966

Jakob Dylan10

singer and songwriter 1969

Anna Gavalda4

French writer 1970

Tré Cool12

Drummer, punk rock musician 1972

Gastón Gaudio2

Argentine tennis player 1978

Ashleigh Brewer2

Australian actress 1990

Death

Al-Biruni14

Persian scholar and polymath 973–1048

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor2

Monarch from the House Luxemburg, 1387 to 1437 King of Hung… 1368–1437

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon1

English politician 1609–1674

John Oldham (poet)7

English satirical poet and translator 1653–1683

Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher1

Danish scientist 1757–1830

Samuel Woodworth3

American writer 1784–1842

John P. Gaines1

American politician 1795–1857

James Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance4

British judge and rose breeder 1816–1899

Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley19

English judge 1828–1921

Natsume Soseki1

Japanese novelist 1867–1916

Begum Rokeya8

Bengali feminist writer and social worker 1880–1932

Branch Rickey7

American baseball player and coach 1881–1965

Edith Sitwell50

British poet 1887–1964

Robert Quillen4

American journalist 1887–1948

John Kieran1

American sportswriter 1892–1981

Fulton J. Sheen78

Catholic bishop and television presenter 1895–1979

Henri Peyre4

American linguist 1901–1988

Angelo Herndon3

African American communist 1913–1997

Jens Risom1

American furniture designer 1916–2016

Clarice Lispector34

Brazilian writer 1920–1977

Patrick Moore2

English writer, broadcaster and astronomer 1923–2012

Charles Rosen69

American pianist and writer on music 1927–2012

June Nash6

American anthropologist 1927–2019

Robert Sheckley114

American writer 1928–2005

William Blum17

American author and historian 1933–2018

Phillip Abbott Luce20

1935–1998

John du Pont1

American heir to the Du Pont family fortune, ornothologist,… 1938–2010

Toni Cade Bambara3

author, activist, professor 1939–1995

Luiz Carlos Alborghetti23

Italian-Brazilian radio commenter, showman and political fi… 1945–2009