December 23

• 619 - Boniface V becomes Pope
• 1620 - Construction of Plymouth Colony begins
• 1823 - A Visit From St. Nicholas, attributed to Clement Moore, is first published
• 1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King
• 1913 - The Federal Reserve Act becomes law
• 1916 - The Battle of Magdhaba, Sinai peninsula
• 1947 - The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories
• 1972 - Terry Bradshaw throws the Immaculate Reception pass "to" Franco Harris
• 1973 - A Sobelair Caravelle passenger jet crashes in Morocco, killing 106
• 1979 - Soviet military units occupy Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan
• 1982 - The Environmental Protection Agency recommends the evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri due to dangerous levels of dioxin contamination
• 1990 - Republic of Slovenia votes to secede from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• 2012 - The Mayan calendar comes to an end (may also be December 21).

• 1537 - John III of Sweden, King of Sweden (d. 1592)
• 1582 - Severo Bonini, composer (d. 1663)
• 1790 - Jean François Champollion, egyptologist, deciphered the Rosetta Stone (d. 1832)
• 1805 - Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1844)
• 1822 - Wilhelm Bauer, engineer (d. 1875)
• 1885 - Pierre Brissaud, French artist (d. 1964)
• 1891 - Alexandr Rodchenko, Russian painter/photographer (d. 1956)
• 1918 - Helmut Schmidt, German Bundeskanzler 1974-1982
• 1918 - José Greco, dancer (d. 2000)
• 1922 - Calder Willingham, writer (d. 1995)
• 1922 - Micheline Ostermeyer, French athlete and musician
• 1923 - James Stockdale, United States Navy admiral
• 1926 - Robert Bly, American poet
• 1933 - Akihito, Emperor of Japan
• 1935 - Paul Hornung, American football star
• 1940 - Jorma Kaukonen, musician
• 1943 - Harry Shearer, actor, voice actor (This Is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons)
• 1943 - Silvia, Queen of Sweden
• 1944 - Wesley Clark, US General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
• 1946 - Susan Lucci, soap opera actress
• 1948 - Jack Ham, American football star
• 1956 - Dave Murray, musician (Iron Maiden)
• 1958 - Victoria Williams, singer
• 1961 - Carol Smillie, British television personality
• 1964 - Eddie Vedder, musician (Pearl Jam)
• 1970 - Catriona LeMay Doan, Canadian speed skater
• 1971 - Corey Haim, actor
• 1971 - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, British socialite
• 1978 - Estella Warren, actress

• 913 - Conrad of Franconia (b. c. 890)
• 1568 - Roger Ascham, Elizabeth I's tutor (b. c.1515)
• 1834 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)
• 1872 - Theophile Gautier, poet, novelist (b. 1811)
• 1939 - Anthony Fokker, aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)
• 1948 - Hideki Tojo (Prime Minister of Japan), hanged for war crimes (b. 1884)
• 1953 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (b. 1899)
• 1970 - Charles Ruggles, actor
• 1973 - Charles Atlas, bodybuilder
• 1973 - Irna Phillips, soap opera writer, director, producer
• 1979 - Peggy Guggenheim, art collector (b. 1898)
• 1982 - Jack Webb, actor, producer, director (b. 1920)
• 1992 - Eddie Hazel, guitarist, originally with Funkadelic (b. 1950)
• 2000 - Victor Borge, Danish/American humorist and pianist (b. 1909)
• 2000 - Billy Barty, actor

• Sweden - Birthday of Queen Silvia, an official flag day
• Roman Empire - Larentalia, a festival in honor of Larenta
• Ancient Latvia - Ziemassvetki held
• Fans of Seinfeld - Festivus held