Born On This Day:

• Branch Rickey, 1881
• Sir Robert Menzies, 1894
• Irene Dunne, 1898
• Hortense Calisher, 1911
• George Roy Hill, 1922
• David Levine, 1926
• John Hillerman, 1932
• Uri Geller, 1946
• Peter Criss, 1947
• Jenny Agutter, 1952

Died On This Day:

• Moss Hart, 1961
• John Steinbeck, 1968
• Bobby Darin, 1973
• Richard Daley, 1976
• Steve Ross, 1992
• Dean Rusk, 1994
• Dawn Steel, 1997
• Steve Landesberg, 2010

Today's Events:

• 1560 - First General Assembly of the Church off Scotland.
• 1606 - Virginia company under Captain Chris. Newport departs London for America with 120 settlers.
• 1699 - Peter the Great reforms Russian calendar.
• 1803 - Louisiana purchase final-LA,AR,MS,IO,ND,SD,NE,OK,KS,CO,WY,MO,MN to U.S. for only $27 million.
• 1848 - Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte becomes president of French Republic.
• 1860 - South Carolina secedes from Union in protest of Abraham Lincoln's election.
• 1864 - Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman takes Savannah. Civil War.
• 1924 - Adolf Hitler released from prison after serving only 8 months of 5 year sentence.
• 1951 - Atomic energy plant in Idaho first begins producing electricity.
• 1979 - Major nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, Harrisburg, PA.
• 1987 - Worst ferry boat disaster in history; 4,386 drown when ferry collides with tanker in Philippines.
• 1989 - President George Bush sends U.S. troops into Panama to capture Manuel Noriega.
• 2004 - 2nd largest bank robbery in history in Ireland; 20 raiders steal £20 million from Northern Bank, Dunmurry.
• 2007 - Queen Elizabeth II becomes Britain's longest-living monarch surpassing the 81 years and 243 days of Queen Victoria.

Holiday:

• Day of Quetzalcoatl Aztec feathered serpent God.

Non-Specific Holiday:

• ADVENT SUNDAY, Sunday nearest to feast of Saint Andrew (Nov. 30) whether before or after.
• CHANUKKA (Jewish Feast of Lights), eight day holiday beginning on 25th day of lunar month Kislev.
• TSAO CHÜN, Festival of the Kitchen God in China (23rd day of the twelfth moon (or 24th in Kwantung)
• CH'U HSI, Night of the Thirtieth (29th day of the twelfth moon)
• KWANZAA - African American Heritage celebrated December 26 - January 1