December 14th in History

Michael Dobson | December 14

The Montgolfier Brothers fly their first balloon, December 14, 1782

Today in History

  • Mary, Queen of Scots, takes the throne (1542)
  • The Montgolfier Brothers fly their first balloon (1782)
  • Alabama becomes a US state (1819)
  • Roald Amundsen and his team become the first to reach the South Pole (1911)
  • Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus (1962)
  • Eugene Cernan becomes the last Apollo astronaut to walk on the Moon (1972)
  • Construction of China’s Three Gorges Dam begins (1994)
  • Shoes are thrown at US President George W. Bush (2008)
  • Mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School (2012)

Birthdays

 

  • Tycho Brahe, astronomer and alchemist (1546)
  • George VI, British monarch (1895)
  • Jimmy Doolittle, pilot (1896)*
  • Margaret Chase Smith, politician (1897)
  • Morey Amsterdam, actor and comedian (1908)
  • Spike Jones, bandleader (1911)
  • Hans von Ohain, jet engine pioneer (1911)
  • Shirley Jackson, author (1916)
  • June Taylor, dancer and choreographer (1917)
  • Sad Sam Jones, baseball player (1925)
  • Charlie Rich, singer-songwriter (1932)
  • Lee Remick, actress (1935)
  • Michael Ovitz, talent agent (1946)
  • Ginger Lynn, porn star (1962)

* I stood next to Jimmy Doolittle in an elevator once back when I worked at the National Air and Space Museum.

Deaths

  • John of the Cross, saint (1591)
  • George Washington, US President (1799)
  • Prince Albert, royal consort (1861)
  • George Gipp, football player known as “the Gipper” (1920)
  • Stanley G. Weinbaum, science fiction writer (1935)
  • Dinah Washington, singer (1963)
  • William Bendix, actor (1964)
  • Walter Lippman, journalist (1974)
  • Arthur Treacher, actor (1975)
  • Roger Maris, baseball player (1895)
  • Andrei Sakharov, physicist and activist, Nobel laureate (1989)
  • Myrna Loy, actress (1993)
  • Stubby Kaye, actor (1997)
  • Norman Fell, actor (1998)
  • Ahmet Ertegün, music producer and label owner (2006)
  • Joe Simon, comic book writer and Jack Kirby partner (2011)
  • Peter O’Toole, actor (2013)
  • Bess Myerson, Miss America, model, actress (2014)

Holidays and Celebrations

 

  • Alabama Day (Alabama)
  • Forty-seven Ronin Remembrance Day (Sengaku-ji, Tokyo)
  • Martyred Intellectuals Day (Bangladesh)
  • Monkey Day (worldwide)
Informal and made-up holidays include National Bouillabaisse Day, and Roast Chestnuts Day.
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December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years). There are 17 days remaining until the end of the year.