Events: 687 - St. Sergius I becomes Pope 1702 - Forty-seven ronin, formerly in the service of Asano Naganori, assault the household of Kira Yoshinaka, and kill him in vengence for their lord. Their display of the ideals of bushido becomes a national legend. 1791 - The United States Bill of Rights is passed. 1891 - James Naismith invents basketball 1914 - Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow 1916 - France defeats Germany in Battle of Verdun 1939 - Gone With the Wind premiers in Atlanta, Georgia 1945 - General Douglas MacArthur orders end of Shinto as state religion of Japan 1965 - Gemini program: Launch of Gemini 6A 1994 - Netscape Navigator 1.0 first released. 1995 - The European Communities Court of Justice passes the Bosman ruling 1997 - A chartered Tupolev TU-154 from Tajikistan crashes in the desert near Sharja, United Arab Emirates airport killing 85 2002 - BBC 7, television channel launched in UK Births: 37 - Nero, Roman emperor (+ 68) 130 - Lucius Verus, Roman emperor (+ 169) 1613 - La Rochefoucauld, writer (+ 1680) 1832 - Gustave Eiffel, civil engineer (+ 1923) 1852 - Antoine Henri Becquerel, physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics 1903 (+ 1908) 1859 - L. L. Zamenhof, initiator of Esperanto 1861 - Charles Duryea, automobile pioneer (+ 1938) 1888 - Maxwell Anderson, writer (+ 1959) 1892 - J. Paul Getty, oil tycoon (+ 1976) 1910 - John Hammond, musician 1912 - Ray Eames, American designer (+ 1988) 1912 - Stan Kenton, musician (+ 1979) 1916 - Buddy Cole, pianist (+ 1964) 1918 - Jeff Chandler, actor (+ 1961) 1922 - Alan Freed, disc jockey (+ 1965) 1923 - Freeman Dyson, physicist 1928 - Friedensreich Hundertwasser, painter and graphic artist (+ 2000) 1933 - Tim Conway, actor, comedian 1938 - Michael Bogdanov, film director and theatre manager 1942 - Dave Clark, musician ("Dave Clark Five") 1949 - Don Johnson, actor \'Deaths:' 1025 - Basil II, Byzantine emperor 1072 - Alp Arslan, Seljuk sultan 1263 - King Haakon IV of Norway 1683 - Izaak Walton, writer 1792 - Joseph Martin Kraus, composer 1816 - Charles Stanhope, engineer, inventor of the calculator 1890 - Sitting Bull, Sioux nation leader 1943 - Fats Waller, musician 1944 - Glenn Miller, bandleader (presumed date) 1958 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, physicist 1966 - Walt Disney, animator, cartoonist 1968 - Jess Willard, boxer 1975 - Anatole Litvak, writer 2003 - Johnny Cunningham, Scottish musician, member of Silly Wizard Holidays and Observances: Roman Empire - Consualia in honor of Consus is held. See Also: December 14 - December 16 - November 15 - January 15 -- listing of all days January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n
December 14 - December 16 - November 15 - January 15 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December\n