Here are 31 newsworthy and notable anniversaries coming up in December 2019.
We list the anniversaries 6 months in advance so you have time to research and write about them.
1 Dec 1919 – 100 years ago
Lady Nancy Astor became the first female Member of Parliament (MP) to take her seat in Britain’s House of Commons.
2 Dec 1939 – 80 years ago
LaGuardia Airport in New York City, USA began operating (as the New York Municipal Airport).
3 Dec 1919 – 100 years ago
Death of Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French Impressionist artist.
4 Dec 1944 – 75 years ago
Birth of Dennis Wilson, American rock/pop musician, singer and songwriter (the Beach Boys). (Died 1983.)
5 Dec 1999 – 20 years ago
Helen Clark took office as the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand.
6 Dec 1869 – 150 years ago
The Colored National Labor Union was established in the USA.
6 Dec 1944 to 16 Jan 1945 – 75 years ago
World War II – the Battle of the Bulge (Belgium). The last major German counter-offensive of the war. Allied victory.
7 Dec 1894 – 125 years ago
Death of Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat who led the building of the Suez Canal.
8 Dec 1894 – 125 years ago
Birth of James Thurber, American humorist, cartoonist and writer.
9 Dec 1979 – 40 years ago
The global eradication of the smallpox virus was certified.
10 Dec 1919 – 100 years ago
US President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in establishing the League of Nations.
11 Dec 1844 – 175 years ago
Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, was used as an anesthetic for the first time. Horace Wells, a dentist in Hartford, Connecticut, USA administered it to a patient undergoing a tooth extraction.
12 Dec 1939 – 80 years ago
Death of Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. Best known for his swashbuckling film roles (The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, The Mark of Zorro). Co-founder of United Artists. Husband of Mary Pickford. Father of Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
13 Dec 1769 – 250 years ago
Dartmouth College was established in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.
14 Dec 1819 – 200 years ago
Alabama became the 22nd state of the USA.
15 Dec 1939 – 80 years ago
The US première of the film Gone with the Wind. (Released: 17th January 1940.)
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17 Dec 1989 – 30 years ago
The Simpsons premiered on the Fox network in the USA.
18 Dec 1919 – 100 years ago
Death of Sir John Alcock, British aviator who made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic (with Arthur Whitten Brown). (Plane crash, aged 27.)
19 Dec 1959 – 60 years ago
The first Liberty Bowl college football game was played, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Penn State beat Alabama 7–0.
20 Dec 1989 to 31 Jan 1990 – 30 years ago
Operation Just Cause: the US invasion of Panama. Following Panama’s declaration of war against the USA on 15th December, the USA invaded Panama to safeguard the lives of US citizens living there, to defend democracy and human rights, to combat drug trafficking, and to protect the neutrality of the Panama Canal. Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was overthrown and taken to the USA for trial. He was later sentenced to 30 years in prison.
21 Dec 1719 – 300 years ago
The first edition of The Boston Gazette was published. It ran until 1798.
22 Dec 1894 – 125 years ago
The Dreyfus affair began in France when artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus was (wrongly) convicted of colluding with a foreign power and sentenced to life imprisonment. It remains one of the most notable cases of miscarriage of justice and antisemitism, and one of the biggest political scandals in France.
23 Dec 1944 – 75 years ago
Death of Charles Dana Gibson, American graphic artist and illustrator. Best known for his Gibson Girl drawings.
24 Dec 1979 – 40 years ago
The first European rocket, Ariane 1, was successfully launched.
25 Dec 1944 – 75 years ago
Birth of Kenny Everett, British radio DJ, comedian and TV entertainer (The Kenny Everett Video Show and The Kenny Everett Television Show). Known for his zany humor, characters and sketches. (Died 1995.)
26 Dec 1944 – 75 years ago
Tennessee Williams’s first successful play The Glass Menagerie was performed for the first time, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It opened on Broadway on 31st March 1945.
27 Dec 1994 – 25 years ago
Death of Fanny Cradock, pioneering British television cook and food writer. Known for cooking in ball gowns and for her combative manner.
28 Dec 1869 – 150 years ago
The first US patent for chewing gum was filed by William F. Semple of Ohio.
29 Dec 1919 – 100 years ago
Death of Sir William Osler, Canadian physician. Often regarded as the Father of Modern Medicine. One of the founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also transformed the training of medical students.
30 Dec 1894 – 125 years ago
Death of Amelia Jenks Bloomer, American social reformer who campaigned for women’s rights and temperance. The women’s garments known as bloomers were named after her. She didn’t invent them but was their best-known advocate, and they became a symbol of women’s rights as they represented unrestricted movement.
31 Dec 1719 – 300 years ago
Death of John Flamsteed, British astronomer. The first Astronomer Royal. Founder of the Greenwich Observatory.
More anniversaries:
You’ll find hundreds more anniversaries for each month in our Date-A-Base Book series. The 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions are currently available, as PDF ebooks and in print. Find out more at ideas4writers.com