^B{^#!16!14 December^N! Feast day of St John of the Cross, Saints Fingar or Gwinnear and Phiala, St Spiridion, St Venantius Fortunatus, and St Nicasius of Reims.
^B{1900^B} Professor Max Planck of Berlin University revealed his revolutionary Quantum Theory. ^B{1911^B} A Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen became the first to reach the South Pole - 35 days ahead of Captain Scott. ^B{1918^B} For the first time in Britain women (over 30) voted in a General Election. ^B{1959^B} Archbishop Makarios was elected Cyprus' first president. ^B{1962^B} US ^I{Mariner II^I} sent the first close-up pictures of the planet Venus back to Earth. ^B{1990^B} After 30 years in exile, ANC president Oliver Tambo returned to South Africa.
^B{^I{^#!14!Born ^N}Nostradamus, French physician and astrologer, ^B{1503^B}; Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer and mathematician, ^B{1546^B}; Roger Fry, English painter and critic, ^B{1866^B}; King George VI, ^B{1895^B}; Lee Remick, US actress, ^B{1935^B}; Stan Smith, US tennis player, ^B{1946^B}.
^B{^I{^#!14!Died ^N}George Washington, 1st US president, ^B{1799^B}; Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, ^B{1861^B}; Stanley Baldwin, British politician, ^B{1947^B}; Stanley Spencer, English painter, ^B{1959^B}; Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and human-rights campaigner, ^B{1989^B}.
