This is a list of selected December 21 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Emperor Vespasian -
The launch of Apollo 8 -
The crew of Apollo 8 -
HMS Challenger -
Rondane National Park -
Grumman F-14 Tomcat -
Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor by William Halsall -
Emma Goldman -
Antonov An-225 -
The Rochdale Pioneers' first store
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| AD 69 – Vespasian became the fourth Roman emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors. | Vespasian: refimprove sections; Year: needs more footnotes |
| 1879 – A Doll's House, a controversial play by Henrik Ibsen that challenged 19th-century marriage norms, premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark | refimprove section, trivia |
| 1883 – The Royal Canadian Regiment and the Royal Canadian Dragoons, the oldest regular regiments of the Canadian Army, were both formed. | Regiment: refimprove section; Dragoons: refimprove |
| 1910 – In the second-worst mining accident in England, an underground explosion at the Pretoria Pit in Over Hulton killed 344 people. | multiple citations needed, including "the second-worst mining accident in England" |
| 1913 – British journalist Arthur Wynne published a "word-cross" puzzle in the New York World, which later became frequently cited as the first crossword puzzle. | multiple issues |
| 1962 – Rondane National Park, Norway's first national park, was established. | refimprove |
| Louis Washkansky |d|1967 | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1124 – Lamberto Scannabecchi was elected pope, taking the name Honorius II.
- 1826 – Settlers from the United States in Mexican Texas made the first attempt to secede from Mexico, establishing the short-lived Republic of Fredonia.
- 1844 – The Rochdale Pioneers opened their store (pictured) in Rochdale, England, forming the basis for the modern co-operative movement.
- 1872 – HMS Challenger departed Portsmouth on a scientific expedition that laid the foundations of oceanography.
- 1919 – After serving two years in prison for encouraging people to resist military conscription, anarchist Emma Goldman was deported from the United States to Russia.
- 1923 – Nepal and the United Kingdom signed the first treaty that defined the international status of Nepal as an independent and a sovereign nation.
- 1934 – Lieutenant Kijé, one of Sergei Prokofiev's best-known works, premiered.
- 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length cel-animated feature in film history, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles.
- 1965 – The United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which 88 member states have since signed.
- 1970 – The Grumman F-14 Tomcat, the primary fighter aircraft of the U.S. Navy for nearly 30 years, made its first flight.
- 1994 – Mexico's Popocatépetl volcano, dormant for 47 years, began erupting, and is now one of the nation's most active volcanoes.
- 1995 – In accordance with the Oslo II Accord, Israeli troops withdrew from Bethlehem in preparation for the transfer of control to the Palestinian National Authority.
- 1988 – The world's heaviest aircraft, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, made its first flight.
- 2012 – Countries that were part of the Maya civilization celebrated the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.
- Born/died this day: | Hugh, Margrave of Tuscany |d|1001| Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton |b|1505| William H. Osborn |b|1820| Joseph Carruthers |b|1857| Maud Gonne |b|1866| George E. Mylonas |b|1898| Iris Cummings |b|1920| Adele Goldstine |b|1920| Henry Reuterdahl |d|1925| Jane Fonda |b|1937|
Notes
- Christiaan Barnard appears on December 3, so Louis Washkansky should not appear in the same year
- United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances appears on December 20, so International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination should not appear in the same year
- Earthrise appears on December 24, so Apollo 8 should not appear in the same year
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Crew of Apollo 8
- 1620 – The Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower landed at present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, to establish the Plymouth Colony.
- 1963 – An attempt by Greek Cypriot police to search certain Turkish Cypriot women in Nicosia escalated into island-wide violence, leading to 538 deaths and the displacement of nearly 27,000 people.
- 1968 – Apollo 8 launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a trajectory to the Moon; its crew (pictured) became the first humans to visit another celestial body.
- 1988 – A bomb on board Pan Am Flight 103 detonated over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.
- 2018 – Operatives of the British Special Boat Service boarded the container ship Grande Tema in the Thames Estuary to detain four stowaways who had threatened the crew.
- Sun Sheng (d. 956)
- Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Walid (d. 1215)
- Luang Por Dattajivo (b. 1940)
- Hu Jintao (b. 1942)
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