Events for December 11
1925 – Roman Catholic papal encyclical Quas primas introduces the Feast of Christ the King.
1981 – El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.
2007 – Insurgency in the Maghreb: Two car bombs explode in Algiers, Algeria, one near the Supreme Constitutional Court and the other near the offices of the United Nations.
361 – Julian enters Constantinople as sole Roman Emperor.[2]
1990 – Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin, which eventually trigger the fall of communism in Albania.
1960 – French forces crack down in a violent clash with protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French president Charles de Gaulle.
1994 – A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo, Japan, killing one. The captain is able to land the plane safely.
1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India, becomes effective.
1937 – Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.
1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
1941 – World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans' declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on them.
2020 – The Food and Drug Administration issues an Emergency Use Authorization on the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the agency.[18]
2009 – Finnish game developer Rovio Entertainment releases the hit mobile game Angry Birds internationally on iOS.[16]
2005 – Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese in Cronulla, New South Wales; these are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.
1998 – Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Airbus A310-200 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.
1990 – Several fatal collisions in the 1990 Interstate 75 fog disaster result in a total of 12 deaths and 42 being injured[13]
1907 – The New Zealand Parliament Buildings are almost completely destroyed by fire.
1913 – More than two years after it was stolen from the Louvre, Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa is recovered in Florence, Italy. The thief, Vincenzo Peruggia, is immediately arrested.[11]
1941 – World War II: Poland declares war on the Empire of Japan.
1962 – Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, is the last person to be executed in Canada.
1999 – SATA Air Açores Flight 530M crashes into Pico da Esperança on São Jorge Island in the Azores, killing 35.[15]
1997 – The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature.
1688 – Glorious Revolution: James II of England, while trying to flee to France, throws the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames.
1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the final time.
Notable Births & Deaths for December 11
2004 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand runner and coach (born 1917)
1987 – Clifton Geathers, American football player
1982 – Pablo Pérez Companc, Argentine race car driver
2020 – James Flynn, New Zealand intelligence researcher. (born 1934)[56]
2015 – John "Hot Rod" Williams, American basketball player (born 1962)
2008 – Bettie Page, American model (born 1923)
2010 – Dick Hoerner, American football player (born 1922)
2015 – Ken Woolley, Australian architect (born 1933)
1990 – Alexa Demie, American actress and singer[27]
2024 – Purushottam Upadhyay, Indian musician, singer and composer (born 1934)[61]
2013 – Nadir Afonso, Portuguese painter and architect (born 1920)
1987 – Violetta Bock, German politician[41]
1984 – Sandra Echeverría, Mexican actress and singer
2015 – Hema Upadhyay, Indian painter and sculptor (born 1972)
2017 – Keith Chegwin, British TV presenter (born 1957)[55]
1995 – Abbi Grant, Scottish footballer[46]
1989 – Kellie Harrington, Irish boxer[43]
1985 – Karla Souza, Mexican actress[27]
1987 – Miranda Tapsell, Australian actress
2015 – Abish Kekilbayev, Kazakh academic and politician (born 1939)
2012 – Mendel Weinbach, Polish-Israeli rabbi and scholar (born 1933)
2015 – H. Arnold Steinberg, Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and academic (born 1933)
2024 – David Bonderman, American billionaire businessman (born 1942)[59]
1981 – Javier Saviola, Argentine footballer
1984 – James Ellsworth, American wrestler
1986 – Roy Hibbert, American basketball player
1984 – Xosha Roquemore, American actress[29]
1984 – Leighton Baines, English footballer
2024 – Khalil Haqqani, Afghan politician and warlord (born 1966)[60]
1987 – Alex Russell, Australian actor[42]
2014 – Hans Wallat, German conductor and director (born 1929)
2000 – Onyeka Okongwu, American basketball player[48]
2012 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (born 1920)
2013 – Javier Jáuregui (boxer), Mexican boxer (born 1973)
1982 – Roman Harper, American football player[40]
1997 – Matthew Tkachuk, American ice hockey player[47]
1996 – Hailee Steinfeld, American actress, singer and songwriter[29]
1992 – Tiffany Alvord, American singer-songwriter
2011 – John Patrick Foley, American cardinal (born 1935)
2012 – Galina Vishnevskaya, Russian soprano and actress (born 1926)
2013 – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author and academic (born 1929)
2023 – Andre Braugher, American actor (born 1962)[58]
1992 – Malcolm Brogdon, American basketball player[44]
1988 – Tim Southee, New Zealand cricketer
2013 – Sheikh Mussa Shariefi, Indian philosopher and scholar (born 1942)
1981 – Paul Medhurst, Australian footballer
1993 – Yalitza Aparicio, Mexican actress[45]
Quick Start
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Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for current server time (UTC).
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[
{
"text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>."
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Births":[
{
"text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)"
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Deaths":[
{
"text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
}
]
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>