This is a list of selected December 19 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.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Bill Clinton -
John C. Calhoun -
Andrei Sakharov
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Frontispiece to "A Christmas Carol"
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Liberation Day in Goa ( 1961) | Goa: refimprove; Annexation of Goa: unreferenced/refimprove sections |
| 1920 – Constantine I returned as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander I and a plebiscite. | refimprove section |
| 1932 – The BBC launched its World Service, now the world's largest international broadcaster, as BBC Empire Service. | refimprove section |
| 1946 – The First Indochina War began when Viet Minh operatives attacked French military positions and homes in Hanoi. | refimprove section |
| 1981 – Sixteen lives were lost when a Penlee lifeboat went to the aid of the stricken coaster Union Star in heavy seas off the south-west coast of England. | refimprove section |
| 1985 – Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was hijacked by the co-pilot and landed in a rice field in China, where he was apprehended. | confusion about the article title |
| 1986 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released dissident Andrei Sakharov after six years of internal exile in Gorky. | refimprove section |
| 1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives issued articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton following the Lewinsky scandal. | refimprove section |
Eligible
- 1154 – Henry II was crowned King of England in London's Westminster Abbey.
- 1776 – Thomas Paine published the first in a series of pamphlets entitled The American Crisis, opening with the line, "These are the times that try men's souls."
- 1941 – Second World War: Three Italian Royal Navy divers on manned torpedoes detonated limpet mines on Royal Navy ships, disabling two battleships.
- 1956 – Irish-born British physician John Bodkin Adams was arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of more than 160 of his patients, although he was only convicted on minor charges.
- 1983 – The Jules Rimet Trophy, awarded to the winner of the FIFA World Cup, was stolen from a display case in the Brazilian Football Confederation offices.
- 1984 – China and the United Kingdom signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997.
- 1997 – The film Titanic was released, eventually becoming the second-highest-grossing film of all time with a worldwide total of over US$1.8 billion.
- 1997 – SilkAir Flight 185 crashed into the Musi River in Indonesia, killing 104 people.
- Born/died: Vitus Bering (d. 1741) · Ann Bishop (b. 1899) · Stella Gibbons (d. 1989)
- 1154 – Henry II was crowned King of England in London's Westminster Abbey.
- 1828 – Nullification Crisis: Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun wrote the South Carolina Exposition and Protest to protest the Tariff of 1828.
- 1843 – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (pictured), a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published.
- 1964 – The ruling junta of South Vietnam, led by Nguyễn Khánh, initiated a coup, dissolving the High National Council, a civilian advisory body.
- 2016 – Andrei Karlov, Russia's ambassador to Turkey, was assassinated at an art gallery in Ankara.
Adelaide of Susa (d. 1091) · Mary Livermore (b. 1820) · Kristina Keneally (b. 1968)