A birthday on the globe
1 December on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born
For 1 December, the English Wikipedia lists 71 events and 221 births. 34 of the events stand at their places as rays of light; 14 more are dashed circles, where the sentence links only to a country or a sea. The taller the ray, the longer ago it happened. The people born that day come further down, as blue points.
A birthday, yours or someone else’s:
Turn it into a greetingScroll: the globe turns to each place
The day you were born, on the globe.
Three things from your day
Scroll: your day first, then 1 December through the years
The Earth on 1 December
The picture on the globe was assembled by NASA from satellite photographs taken in December 2004: the snow, the ice and the green are those of the month.
On 1 December the Sun passes straight overhead at noon along the parallel of 21.8° south. In London, the day lasts about 8 hours 10 minutes.
Beyond 68° south the Sun no longer sets; beyond 68° north it no longer rises.
The line between day and night is tilted on the globe exactly as on this day of the year. On the dark side you can see the lights of towns.
1 December
Britain and Ireland#
Two events from the day’s list are placed here, between 1662 and 2019.
Britain & Ireland · St James's Park
1662
Diarist John Evelyn records skating on the frozen lake in St James's Park, London, watched by Charles II and Queen Catherine.
On the map: St James's Park.
Britain & Ireland · Meadow Park
2019
Arsenal Women 11–1 Bristol City Women breaks the record for most goals scored in a FA Women's Super League match, with Vivianne Miedema involved in ten of the eleven Arsenal goals.
On the map: Meadow Park.
Europe · Apostolic Palace
800
A council is convened in the Vatican, at which Charlemagne is to judge the accusations against Pope Leo III.
On the map: Apostolic Palace.
Europe · Paris
1420
Henry V of England enters Paris alongside his father-in-law King Charles VI of France.
On the map: Paris.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish and Chinese.
Europe · Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg
1939
The Soviet Union establishes the Finnish Democratic Republic puppet state in Terijoki.
On the map: Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg.
Asia · Almaty Metro
2011
The Alma-Ata Metro was opened.
On the map: Almaty Metro.
Oceania · Somerton Park, South Australia
1948
In "one of Australia's most profound mysteries", the body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton beach in Adelaide, a case which remains unsolved.
On the map: Somerton Park, South Australia.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
Latin America · Buenos Aires Underground
1913
The Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in Latin America, begins operation.
On the map: Buenos Aires Underground.
Also on the day’s list of Wikipedia in Spanish.
North America · Chicago
1953
American men's magazine Playboy was founded in Chicago by Hugh Hefner and his associates.
On the map: Chicago.
North America · Broadway theatre
1958
The musical Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein premiered on Broadway.
On the map: Broadway theatre.
North America · The Pit
1966
The Pit, one of U.S. college basketball's premier arenas, opened on the campus of the University of New Mexico.
On the map: The Pit.
1 December
What the other Wikipedias remember#
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and were translated for this page.
From Wikipedia in Spanish · Madrid
1764
In Madrid, Charles III inaugurates the Royal Palace.
On the map: Madrid.
Translated from the list on Wikipedia in Spanish.
1 December
Born on 1 December#
The English Wikipedia lists 221 births for this day. The blue points are the birthplaces of 60 of these people: those written about in the most Wikipedia editions, where Wikidata gives a place of birth.
Born on 1 December
1792
Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and geometer (died 1856)
Place of birth: Nizhny Novgorod.
Born on 1 December
1945
Bette Midler, American singer-songwriter, actress and producer
Place of birth: Honolulu.
Born on 1 December
1083
Anna Komnene, Byzantine medical doctor and scholar (died 1153)
Place of birth: Constantinople.
Born on 1 December
1964
Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer (died 2024)
Place of birth: Palermo.
Born on 1 December
1761
Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (died 1850)
Place of birth: Strasbourg.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1982
Riz Ahmed, English actor and rapper
Place of birth: Wembley.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1961
Jeremy Northam, English actor
Place of birth: Cambridge.
Born in Britain and Ireland
1995
James Wilson, English footballer
Place of birth: Biddulph.
1 December
Number one in the charts that week
At the cinema
An animal recorded that day
The record can be seen in GBIF, which brings together wildlife records from around the world.
All your birthdays
The weather that day
Data: Met Office Hadley Centre (HadCET); NOAA (GHCN-Daily, Mauna Loa).
Above the Earth
Sources: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (launches); GFZ Potsdam (Kp index). Days are counted in Universal Time.
Football that day
International matches played that day:
Source: the “International football results” dataset kept by Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
Also that day
The earthquake’s page at the USGS
Source: the USGS catalogue. The day is counted in Universal Time (UTC).
In those days
Make a link for someone
Type the name, pick the day and the year of birth. The link opens straight on their day, with their name in the greeting.
The link carries the name, date and place typed here; anyone who gets it can see them.
Put another birthday beside it
Your mother’s, your child’s, a friend’s: the two days appear side by side.
Below: 1 December through the years.
The whole globe of the day
Drag the globe to turn it. Touch a ray or a point to read what happened there.
Everything Wikipedia lists for 1 December
The list is the English Wikipedia’s, in its own wording, as it stood in October 2026. 23 events have no place on the map: the sentence links to no place with coordinates, only to places too wide to mark, or to several countries.
- 800
A council is convened in the Vatican, at which Charlemagne is to judge the accusations against Pope Leo III.
Europe · Apostolic PalaceWikipedia: Apostolic Palace - 1420
Henry V of England enters Paris alongside his father-in-law King Charles VI of France.
Europe · ParisWikipedia: Henry V of England - 1577
English Courtiers Christopher Hatton and Thomas Heneage are knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Christopher Hatton - 1640
End of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaims as King João IV of Portugal, ending 59 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the Philippine Dynasty.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Iberian Union - 1662
Diarist John Evelyn records skating on the frozen lake in St James's Park, London, watched by Charles II and Queen Catherine.
Britain & Ireland · St James's ParkWikipedia: John Evelyn - 1768
The slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøya in Norway.
Europe · TromøyaWikipedia: Slave ship - 1800
French Revolutionary Wars: Austrian forces, led by Archduke John of Austria, defeated two divisions of the French First Republic, led by Paul Grenier, at the Battle of Ampfing.
Europe · Battle of AmpfingWikipedia: Battle of Ampfing - 1821
José Núñez de Cáceres wins the independence of the Dominican Republic from Spain and names the new territory the Republic of Spanish Haiti.
no place on the mapWikipedia: José Núñez de Cáceres - 1822
Pedro I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Pedro I of Brazil - 1824
United States presidential election: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1824 United States presidential election - 1828
Argentine general Juan Lavalle makes a coup against governor Manuel Dorrego, beginning the Decembrist revolution.
Latin America · ArgentinaWikipedia: Decembrist revolution - 1834
Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
Africa · Cape ColonyWikipedia: Cape Colony - 1862
American Civil War: In his second State of the Union Address, President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
no place on the mapWikipedia: American Civil War - 1865
Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.
North America · Shaw UniversityWikipedia: Shaw University - 1878
President Rutherford B. Hayes gets the first telephone installed in the White House.
North America · White HouseWikipedia: White House - 1900
Nicaragua sells canal rights to U.S. for $5 million. The canal agreement fails in March 1901. Great Britain rejects the amended treaty.
no place on the map - 1913
Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Crete - 1913
The Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway system in the Southern Hemisphere and in Latin America, begins operation.
Latin America · Buenos Aires UndergroundWikipedia: Buenos Aires Underground - 1916
An armed confrontation in Athens between the Kingdom of Greece and the Allied Powers, arising from a dispute over Greece's neutrality in World War I, followed by reprisals and riots against Greek supporters of the Allies marking the height of the National Schism.
Europe · AthensWikipedia: Noemvriana - 1918
Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
Europe · Kingdom of IcelandWikipedia: Kingdom of Iceland - 1918
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
Europe · Kingdom of YugoslaviaWikipedia: Kingdom of Yugoslavia - 1918
Transylvania unites with Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28) and thus concluding the Great Union.
Europe · Kingdom of RomaniaWikipedia: Union of Transylvania with Romania - 1919
Lady Astor becomes the first female Member of Parliament (MP) to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. (She had been elected to that position on November 28.)
no place on the mapWikipedia: Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor - 1923
The Gleno Dam in the Italian province of Bergamo failed due to poor workmanship, flooding the downstream valley and killing at least 356 people.
Europe · Gleno DamWikipedia: Gleno Dam - 1924
A Soviet-backed communist 1924 Estonian coup d'état attempt fails in Estonia.
Europe · 1924 Estonian coup attemptWikipedia: 1924 Estonian coup attempt - 1924
The National Hockey League's first United States–based franchise, the Boston Bruins, plays their first game in league play at home, at the still-extant Boston Arena indoor hockey facility.
North America · Matthews ArenaWikipedia: Boston Bruins - 1934
Sergei Kirov is assassinated, paving way for the repressive Great Purge, and Vinnytsia massacre by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Great Purge - 1939
The Soviet Union establishes the Finnish Democratic Republic puppet state in Terijoki.
Europe · Zelenogorsk, Saint PetersburgWikipedia: Finnish Democratic Republic - 1939
World War II: A day after the beginning of the Winter War in Finland, the Cajander III Cabinet resigns and is replaced by the Ryti I Cabinet, while the Finnish Parliament move from Helsinki to Kauhajoki to escape the Soviet airstrikes.
Europe · HelsinkiWikipedia: World War II - 1941
World War II: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives his tacit approval to the decision of the imperial council to initiate war against the United States.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Hirohito - 1941
World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Fiorello La Guardia - 1948
In "one of Australia's most profound mysteries", the body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton beach in Adelaide, a case which remains unsolved.
Oceania · Somerton Park, South AustraliaWikipedia: Somerton Man - 1952
The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgensen, the first notable case of sex reassignment surgery.
no place on the mapWikipedia: New York Daily News - 1953
American men's magazine Playboy was founded in Chicago by Hugh Hefner and his associates.
North America · ChicagoWikipedia: Playboy - 1955
American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to that city's bus boycott.
North America · Montgomery, AlabamaWikipedia: Montgomery bus boycott - 1958
The Central African Republic attains self-rule within the French Union.
Africa · Central African RepublicWikipedia: Central African Republic - 1958
The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago kills 92 children and three nuns.
North America · Our Lady of the Angels School fireWikipedia: Our Lady of the Angels School fire - 1958
The musical Flower Drum Song by Rodgers and Hammerstein premiered on Broadway.
North America · Broadway theatreWikipedia: Flower Drum Song - 1959
Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Antarctic Treaty System - 1960
Patrice Lumumba is arrested by Mobutu Sese Seko's men on the banks of the Sankuru River, for inciting the army to rebellion.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Patrice Lumumba - 1963
Nagaland, became the 16th state of India.
Asia · NagalandWikipedia: Nagaland - 1964
Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.
Asia · North VietnamWikipedia: Vietnam War - 1966
The Pit, one of U.S. college basketball's premier arenas, opened on the campus of the University of New Mexico.
North America · The PitWikipedia: The Pit - 1966
The first Gävle goat, a Swedish Yule goat tradition, was constructed in Gävle and then burned to the ground on New Year's Eve.
Europe · Gävle goatWikipedia: Gävle goat - 1969
Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
no place on the mapWikipedia: World War II - 1971
Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
Asia · CambodiaWikipedia: Cambodian Civil War - 1971
Purge of Croatian Spring leaders starts in Yugoslavia at the meeting of the League of Communists at the Karađorđevo estate.
Europe · Karađorđevo estateWikipedia: Croatian Spring - 1973
Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia.
Oceania · Papua New GuineaWikipedia: Papua New Guinea - 1974
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, another Boeing 727, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
North America · Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231Wikipedia: Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 - 1974
TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.
North America · TWA Flight 514Wikipedia: TWA Flight 514 - 1981
Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashes in Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
Europe · Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308Wikipedia: Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 - 1984
NASA conducts the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner is deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of crashes.
North America · Controlled Impact DemonstrationWikipedia: Controlled Impact Demonstration - 1988
Benazir Bhutto, is named as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first female leader to lead a Muslim nation.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Benazir Bhutto - 1988
Five armed men hijacked a bus carrying schoolchildren and a teacher in Ordzhonikidze (now Vladikavkaz, Russia), and were later given an Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft and ransom for the release of the hostages.
Europe · VladikavkazWikipedia: 1988 Ordzhonikidze bus hijacking - 1988
World AIDS Day is proclaimed worldwide by the UN member states.
no place on the mapWikipedia: World AIDS Day - 1989
Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state.
Europe · East GermanyWikipedia: Cold War - 1989
Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état.
Asia · Villamor AirbaseWikipedia: 1989 Philippine coup attempt - 1990
Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet beneath the seabed.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Channel Tunnel - 1991
Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
no place on the mapWikipedia: 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum - 1997
Fourteen-year-old Michael Carneal opens fire at a group of students in Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, killing three and injuring five.
North America · 1997 Heath High School shootingWikipedia: 1997 Heath High School shooting - 1997
In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacks the CPI (ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
Asia · BiharWikipedia: Bihar - 2000
Vicente Fox Quesada is inaugurated as the president of Mexico, marking the first peaceful transfer of executive federal power to an opposing political party following a free and democratic election in Mexico's history.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Vicente Fox - 2001
The United Russia political party was founded.
no place on the mapWikipedia: United Russia - 2005
As a result of the merger of the Perm Oblast and the Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug, a new subject of the Russian Federation, the Perm Krai, was created.
no place on the mapWikipedia: Perm Oblast - 2006
The law on same-sex marriage comes into force in South Africa, legalizing same-sex marriage for the first time on the African continent.
Africa · South AfricaWikipedia: Same-sex marriage in South Africa - 2009
The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in the European Union.
Europe · European UnionWikipedia: Treaty of Lisbon - 2011
The Alma-Ata Metro was opened.
Asia · Almaty MetroWikipedia: Almaty Metro - 2018
The Oulu Police informed the public about the first offence of the much larger child sexual exploitation in Oulu, Finland.
Europe · OuluWikipedia: Oulu child sexual exploitation scandal - 2019
Arsenal Women 11–1 Bristol City Women breaks the record for most goals scored in a FA Women's Super League match, with Vivianne Miedema involved in ten of the eleven Arsenal goals.
Britain & Ireland · Meadow ParkWikipedia: Arsenal Women 11–1 Bristol City Women - 2019
The outbreak of coronavirus infection begins in Wuhan.
Asia · WuhanWikipedia: COVID-19 pandemic - 2020
The Arecibo Telescope collapses.
Latin America · Arecibo TelescopeWikipedia: Arecibo Telescope
What the other Wikipedias remember
For these years the English list has nothing on this day. The events below come from the same day’s lists on Wikipedia in Spanish and were translated for this page.
- 1764
In Madrid, Charles III inaugurates the Royal Palace.
Who was born on 1 December
In order of how many Wikipedia editions have an article about each. The first 60 of 221 are shown.
- 1949
Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist (died 1993)
Rio negroWikipedia: Pablo Escobar - 1896
Georgy Zhukov, Russian general and politician, 2nd Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (died 1974)
StrelkovkaWikipedia: Georgy Zhukov - 1792
Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and geometer (died 1856)
Nizhny NovgorodWikipedia: Nikolai Lobachevsky - 1949
Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and politician, 35th President of Chile (died 2024)
SantiagoWikipedia: Sebastián Piñera - 624
Hasan ibn Ali, the second Shia Imam (died 670)
MedinaWikipedia: Hasan ibn Ali - 1945
Bette Midler, American singer-songwriter, actress and producer
HonoluluWikipedia: Bette Midler - 1083
Anna Komnene, Byzantine medical doctor and scholar (died 1153)
ConstantinopleWikipedia: Anna Komnene - 1964
Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer (died 2024)
- 1081
Louis VI, French king (died 1137)
- 1844
Alexandra of Denmark, Queen Consort of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Empress Consort of India (died 1925)
Yellow PalaceWikipedia: Alexandra of Denmark - 1937
Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Latvian psychologist and politician, President of Latvia
- 1761
Marie Tussaud, French-English sculptor, founded Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (died 1850)
StrasbourgWikipedia: Marie Tussaud - 1988
Zoë Kravitz, American actress, singer, and model
Los AngelesWikipedia: Zoë Kravitz - 1940
Richard Pryor, American comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2005)
PeoriaWikipedia: Richard Pryor - 1958
Javier Aguirre, Mexican footballer and manager
Mexico CityWikipedia: Javier Aguirre - 1886
Zhu De, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China (died 1976)
Zhu De's Former ResidenceWikipedia: Zhu De - 1970
Sarah Silverman, American comedian, actress, and singer
BedfordWikipedia: Sarah Silverman - 1977
Brad Delson, American guitarist and producer
Agoura HillsWikipedia: Brad Delson - 1985
Janelle Monáe, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
Kansas CityWikipedia: Janelle Monáe - 1743
Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (died 1817)
WernigerodeWikipedia: Martin Heinrich Klaproth - 1925
Martin Rodbell, American biochemist and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998)
BaltimoreWikipedia: Martin Rodbell - 1951
Treat Williams, American actor (died 2023)
StamfordWikipedia: Treat Williams - 1999
Nico Schlotterbeck, German footballer
WaiblingenWikipedia: Nico Schlotterbeck - 1886
Rex Stout, American detective novelist (died 1975)
NoblesvilleWikipedia: Rex Stout - 1951
Jaco Pastorius, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (died 1987)
NorristownWikipedia: Jaco Pastorius - 1982
Riz Ahmed, English actor and rapper
WembleyWikipedia: Riz Ahmed - 1521
Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyō (died 1573)
Yogaisan CastleWikipedia: Takeda Shingen - 1944
Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan author and poet
- 1967
Nestor Carbonell, American actor
New York CityWikipedia: Néstor Carbonell - 1800
Mihály Vörösmarty, Hungarian poet (died 1855)
KápolnásnyékWikipedia: Mihály Vörösmarty - 1884
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter and etcher (died 1976)
RottluffWikipedia: Karl Schmidt-Rottluff - 1955
Udit Narayan, Indian playback singer
BhardahaWikipedia: Udit Narayan - 1991
Sun Yang, Chinese swimmer
HangzhouWikipedia: Sun Yang - 1805
9th Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader (died 1815)
- 1415
Jan Długosz, Polish historian (died 1480)
Nowa BrzeźnicaWikipedia: Jan Długosz - 1931
George Maxwell Richards, Trinidadian politician, 4th President of Trinidad and Tobago (died 2018)
San FernandoWikipedia: George Maxwell Richards - 1974
Costinha, Portuguese footballer and manager
LisbonWikipedia: Costinha - 1913
Mary Martin, American actress and singer (died 1990)
WeatherfordWikipedia: Mary Martin - 1988
Tyler Joseph, American musician and singer
ColumbusWikipedia: Tyler Joseph - 1992
Marco van Ginkel, Dutch footballer
AmersfoortWikipedia: Marco van Ginkel - 1944
John Densmore, American drummer and songwriter
Los AngelesWikipedia: John Densmore - 1952
Rick Scott, American politician and businessman
BloomingtonWikipedia: Rick Scott - 1976
Matthew Shepard, American hate crime victim (died 1998)
- 1580
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer and historian (died 1637)
- 1716
Étienne Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (died 1791)
- 1958
Candace Bushnell, American journalist and author
GlastonburyWikipedia: Candace Bushnell - 1912
Minoru Yamasaki, American architect, designed the World Trade Center (died 1986)
SeattleWikipedia: Minoru Yamasaki - 1922
Vsevolod Bobrov, Russian ice hockey player, footballer, and manager (died 1979)
MorshanskWikipedia: Vsevolod Bobrov - 1939
Lee Trevino, American golfer and sportscaster
DallasWikipedia: Lee Trevino - 1955
Verónica Forqué, Spanish actress (died 2021)
- 1961
Jeremy Northam, English actor
CambridgeWikipedia: Jeremy Northam - 1985
Emiliano Viviano, Italian footballer
FiesoleWikipedia: Emiliano Viviano - 1995
James Wilson, English footballer
BiddulphWikipedia: James Wilson - 1966
Andrew Adamson, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
AucklandWikipedia: Andrew Adamson - 1951
Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov, Bulgarian cosmonaut
- 1966
Katherine LaNasa, American actress, ballet dancer, and choreographer
New OrleansWikipedia: Katherine LaNasa - 1980
Gianna Terzi, Greek singer
ThessalonikiWikipedia: Yianna Terzi - 1984
Yolandi Visser, South African rapper and actress
Port AlfredWikipedia: Yolandi Visser - 1933
Lou Rawls, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (died 2006)
ChicagoWikipedia: Lou Rawls - 1961
Safra Catz, Israeli-American businesswoman and boss of Oracle
What is celebrated on 1 December
- Battle of the Sinop Day (Russia)
- Christian feast day: Alexander Briant
- Christian feast day: Ansanus
- Christian feast day: Blessed Bruna Pellesi
- Christian feast day: Castritian
- Christian feast day: Charles de Foucauld
- Christian feast day: Edmund Campion
- Christian feast day: Eligius
- Christian feast day: Evasius
- Christian feast day: Grwst
- Christian feast day: Nahum
- Christian feast day: Nicholas Ferrar (Episcopal Church)
- Christian feast day: Ralph Sherwin
- Christian feast day: Ursicinus of Brescia
A greeting link for someone
Type a name and, if you like, the year of birth. The link opens with a greeting, and beside each event it says how old the person turned that day, or how many years before their birth it happened.
The name and the year go only into the link you send.
All 366 days
How the globe is made
Where the events come from
Each edition of this page uses the day’s list from Wikipedia in its own language: Romanian, English, Spanish, Chinese. The lists are written by volunteers and differ from one edition to the next; the text of each event is Wikipedia’s, with a link to the article. A row that appears twice in a list is shown once. The lists have not been checked event by event: they are Wikipedia’s, mistakes included.
For events before 1582, and for countries that moved to the Gregorian calendar later (Britain in 1752, Russia in 1918), the same day may be counted Old Style in one list and New Style in another.
The chapter “What the other Wikipedias remember” adds up to five events a day from the lists of the other three editions, only for years in which the English list has nothing on that day. They were translated for this page, passed the same filters as the tour, and are not counted among the events of the English list.
How an event gets onto the map
The place comes from Wikidata. If the sentence links to the article about the event itself (a battle, an opening, an earthquake), dated to the same year, the ray stands on its coordinates or on those of its location. Otherwise it stands on the first place the sentence links to: a town, a building, a mountain, an island. This second step can be wrong: sometimes the sentence only mentions the place. That is why the page says, under each event, which place the ray stands on.
When the sentence links to a single state or province, or to a single sea, lake or desert larger than 5,000 km², the globe shows a dashed circle, not a ray. The circle has the area Wikidata gives, with its radius kept between 1.2° and 16°, or a radius of 4.5° when Wikidata gives no area; it says only that the sentence links to that place. Organisations, ships, spacecraft, museum objects, rivers, mountain ranges, languages and continents are never used as places. When a sentence names several states and no exact place, the event stays in the list only.
What the height means
The height of a ray shows how many years have passed, on a logarithmic scale: 10 years, 100 years and 1,000 years are equal steps apart; anything older than about 2,600 years has the tallest ray. The colour runs from pale yellow for recent years to violet for antiquity.
Where the tour stops
In each region the tour stops at up to three events (five in Britain and Ireland), chosen mainly by three things: whether Wikipedia’s editors put the event in the “On this day” box of their main page (the English, Spanish and Chinese editions), how many Wikipedia editions have an article about it, and how many of the four lists include it. Events whose sentence or article is about a war, an attack, a crime or a disaster are left out of the tour; they stay in the whole list, in Wikipedia’s wording. The filter is a list of words and a list of Wikidata types, so it can miss some.
The tour of births names the people with articles in the most editions and leaves aside those whom the list or Wikidata describes as rulers, politicians, commanders, leaders of movements or criminals; they stay in the list.
The Earth and the Sun
The daytime images are NASA’s Blue Marble Next Generation mosaics, one for each month of 2004; the night side is Black Marble 2016. The tilt of the line between day and night is computed for the day; the hour is chosen so that the place being read is in daylight. The latitude where the Sun stands overhead is the average of the four years of the leap cycle; in a given year it can differ by up to 0.4°.
The day you were born
The number ones come from the weekly lists on Wikipedia: Billboard for the United States (from 1940; the Hot 100 from August 1958), the UK Singles Chart (from November 1952), Los 40 Principales for Spain (from July 1966) and, for Romania, the Romanian Top 100 and Airplay 100 (2001–2021, with missing weeks). The page shows the chart of the week in which the day of birth falls, with its date; Billboard and the UK chart are dated at the end of their week. For Romania before 2001 and for China these sources have no weekly chart.
The films are those that reached cinemas in the United States up to ten days before or three days after that day (some of them in a few cinemas at first), from the English Wikipedia’s yearly lists (from 1968), in order of how many editions have an article about them. The events “in those days” are the ones on the neighbouring days’ lists that carry the year of birth, passed through the same filter as the tour.
The day of birth, year included
The Moon, the star sign and the constellation are worked out by the page itself, for noon Universal Time on the day. The lit part of the Moon is rounded and can differ by a few per cent from that at the hour of birth. The sign follows the usual zodiac of twelve equal parts starting at the March equinox; the constellation is the one the Sun actually stood in front of, by the borders set by the International Astronomical Union, and within a day of a border the page does not name it. When the Sun changes sign while it is that day anywhere on Earth, the page gives the moment of crossing, rounded to ten minutes and accurate to within about a quarter of an hour, and the clock time in a few cities, with the time zone and summer time of that year.
The year in the Chinese calendar is the one your device’s own calendar gives for the date, checked against the Hong Kong Observatory’s tables. “All your birthdays” uses the same sources as the rest of the chapter for the same day in every year since the birth: the temperature, well-known launches that took place on that very day, matches of the teams the edition follows, snow deeper than 10 cm and strong geomagnetic storms. The three things at the top and the four on the picture are chosen in a fixed order (the song, the animal, a full Moon, a well-known launch before an ordinary earthquake); on the picture you can change them.
When the link carries a year of birth, the page adds a few things about that exact day. The weather is the Met Office’s Central England temperature record and the readings from New York’s Central Park; the “usual high” is the average of the daily highs of 1961–1990 for that date, with two days either side. The carbon dioxide figure is the monthly mean at the Mauna Loa observatory, where measurements begin in March 1958.
The earthquake is the one with the largest magnitude in the USGS catalogue for that day, counted in Universal Time. Before the 1960s the catalogue has gaps even above magnitude 5.5, so in the older years many days have no earthquake. The page gives only the magnitude and the place: the country the epicentre falls in or, when the epicentre is at sea within 300 km of a coast, the nearest country; farther out, only the ocean.
The launches are those that reached orbit or left for the Moon and the planets, from Jonathan McDowell’s GCAT catalogue. If nothing left that day, the page shows the nearest launch within three days before or after, and says how many days away it was. The geomagnetic storm appears only when the Kp index reached at least 5 in one of the day’s eight three-hour intervals.
The animal comes from GBIF: an observation made by a person (the animal seen or heard, or its tracks), dated to that exact day, with coordinates and a CC0 or CC BY licence. Only a few hundred well-known species are searched (mammals, birds, turtles, butterflies); of those noted that day, mammals and species with articles in many Wikipedia editions come first; birds noted almost every day, and species used recently, wait their turn. Observations dated 1 January are left out, because records without a day are often filed there. An observation shows that the animal was recorded there, not how many animals there were.
The matches are those between national teams. Only matches of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia are shown, along with those at the big final tournaments. The picture to send is drawn in the page from the day’s globe and the facts above, and stays on your device until you send it.
Sources
- Events, births and holidays: the day’s page on Wikipedia, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Coordinates, places of birth and the number of editions: Wikidata (CC0).
- The Earth by day: NASA Blue Marble Next Generation. The Earth by night: NASA Black Marble 2016.
- Borders and regions: Natural Earth.
- World population and births per year: UN World Population Prospects 2024.
- Charts and films: Wikipedia’s lists for Billboard, the UK Singles Chart, Los 40 Principales, Romanian Top 100, Airplay 100 and American films by year (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Weather: Met Office Hadley Centre, HadCET (Open Government Licence) and NOAA GHCN-Daily, New York Central Park. Carbon dioxide: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Mauna Loa.
- Earthquakes: the USGS catalogue. Launches: Jonathan McDowell, GCAT (CC BY). Kp index: GFZ Potsdam (CC BY 4.0). Matches: International football results, Mart Jürisoo (CC0).
- Animal observations: GBIF, with a link to each record; species names come from Wikidata.