40th year - N° 352 Thursday, 18 December 2025

BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-) 40th year - N° 352 Thursday, 18 December 2025

18 December / Today's 31 Events: (+) 399 years ago  Friday 18th of December 1626 Queen of Sweden Kristina Augusta is born in Tre Cronor Castle, Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden. (-) 288 years ago  Wednesday 18th of December 1737 Stringed instruments crafter Antonio Stradivari dies of natural causes at the age of 93 in Cremona, Lombardia, Italy. (+) 162 years ago  Friday 18th of December 1863 Archduke of Austria-Este and Royal Prince of Hungary and BohemiaFranz Ferdinand, originally Franz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Josef von Habsburg-Lothringen is born in Graz, Steiermark, Austria. (+) 146 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1879 Artist Paul Klee is born in Münchenbuchsee, Mittelland, Switzerland. (+) 146 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1879 General secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, originally Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili is born in Gori, Shida Kartli, Georgia. (+) 135 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1890 Electrical engineer and inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong is born in 347 West 29th Street, Chelsea, New York, New York, United States. (x) 133 years ago  Sunday 18th of December 1892 First performance of the ballet 'The Nutcracker' by 52-year-old Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia. (x) 118 years ago  Wednesday 18th of December 1907 43-year-old Murderer John Henry George Lee aka Babbacombe Lee aka The Man They Couldn't Hang is released from prison in Exeter Prison, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom. On 23 February 1885 three attempts were made to carry out Lee's execution. All ended in failure as the trapdoor of the scaffold failed to open despite being carefully tested by executioner James Berrybeforehand. As a result Home Secretary Sir William Harcourtcommuted the sentence to life imprisonment. (-) 111 years ago  Friday 18th of December 1914 Margaret Elizabeth Lloyd, originally Margaret Lofty is drowned by serial killer George Joseph Smith aka The Brides in the Bath Murderer in 14 Bismarck Road, Highgate, London, Greater London, United Kingdom. (+) 109 years ago  Monday 18th of December 1916 Actress, dancer, singer and sex symbol Betty Elizabeth Ruth Grable aka The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs is born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. (+) 82 years ago  Saturday 18th of December 1943 Musician Keith Richards is born in Dartford, Kent, United Kingdom. (+) 79 years ago  Wednesday 18th of December 1946 Anti-apartheid activist Steve Stephen Bantu Biko is born in King William's Town, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. (+) 78 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1947 Film director Steven Allan Spielberg is born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. (+) 77 years ago  Saturday 18th of December 1948 Serial killer Edmund Emil Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer is born in Santa Cruz, California, United States. (-) 72 years ago Honey Was Doing All Right Mama Friday 18th of December 1953 Kidnapper and murderess Bonnie Emily Brown Heady is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 41 in Missouri State Penitentiary aka The Walls, 115 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, United States. Along with her lover Carl Hall the two were allowed to hold hands for a moment and they kissed goodbye. They were blindfolded, led into the chamber and strapped into adjacent chairs. Heady said "Are you doing all right, honey?" Hall replied "Yes, mama." (-) 72 years ago  Friday 18th of December 1953 Kidnapper and murderer Carl Austin Hall aka John James Byrneis executed by the gas chamber at the age of 34 in Missouri State Penitentiary aka The Walls, 115 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, United States. (+) 62 years ago  Wednesday 18th of December 1963 Murderer John William Byrd is born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. (+) 61 years ago  Friday 18th of December 1964 Actor Brad William Bradley Pitt is born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, United States. (x) 56 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1969 21-year-old Serial killer Edmund Emil Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer is released on parole after killing his grandparents in August 1964 in Atascadero State Hospital, Atascadero, California, United States. (-) 51 years ago  Wednesday 18th of December 1974 Serial killer Paul John Knowles aka The Casanova Killer is shot dead by FBI-agent Ron Angel after making a grab for Sheriff Earl Lee’s gun on transport to a maximum security jail at the age of 28 in Henry County, Georgia, United States. (-) 45 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1980 Soviet statesman Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin dies of a heart attack at the age of 76 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia. (x) 45 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1980 34-year-old Mass murderer Freddy André Horion aka De Zonnebril and Roland Feneulle are convicted to death in Assisenhof, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium. (-) 39 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1986 Murderer Richard Andrade is executed by lethal injection at the age of 25 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States. (-) 38 years ago  Friday 18th of December 1987 Sound engineer and producer Conny Konrad Plank dies of cancer at the age of 47 in Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. (x) 28 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 1997 55-year-old Serial killer Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers (with Ian Brady) is rushed to a hospital only hours after her appeal against having to spend the rest of her life in jail was turned down in Durham Gaol, Elvet, Durham, North East, United Kingdom. (-) 24 years ago He Didn't Survive 100.000 Volts Tuesday 18th of December 2001 Singer and actor Gilbert Bécaud, originally François Gilbert Léopold Silly aka Monsieur 100.000 Volts dies of cancer at the age of 74 in Paris, Île-de-France, France. (x) 22 years ago  Thursday 18th of December 2003 26-year-old Serial killer Richard Arinaitwe is sentenced to death in Kampala, Kampala, Uganda. (-) 14 years ago  Sunday 18th of December 2011 1st President of the Czech Republic Václav Havel dies of respiratory failure at the age of 75 in Hrádeček, Královéhradecký Kraj, Czech Republic. (-) 14 years ago  Sunday 18th of December 2011 Multiple murderer Donald Neilson, originally Donald Nappey aka The Black Panther dies of motor neurone disease at the age of 75 in Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, off the A11 road and the Watton Road, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom. (-) 9 years ago  Sunday 18th of December 2016 Actress Zsa Zsa Gábor aka Sári Prinzessin von Anhalt dies of a heart attack at the age of 99 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, United States. (-) 1 years ago  Wednesday 18th of December 2024 Mass murderer Joseph Edward Corcoran is executed by lethal injection at the age of 49 in Indiana State Prison, 1 Park Row, Michigan City, Indiana, United States. Corcoran's last meal request was for ice cream from Ben & Jerry's.

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