What happened on December 23 ?

910 - Naum of Preslav, Bulgarian scholar

913 - Conrad of Franconia

1230 - Berengaria of Navarre, queen of Richard I of England

1556 - Nicholas Udall, English playwright (b. 1504)

1568 - Roger Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth I of England

1575 - Akiyama Nobutomo, Japanese warrior (b. 1531)

1588 - Henry I, Duke of Guise, French Catholic leader (b. 1550)

1631 - Michael Drayton, English poet (b. 1563)

1646 - François Maynard, French poet (b. 1582)

1652 - John Cotton, founder of Boston, Massachusetts (b. 1585)

1675 - Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (b. 1602)

1722 - Pierre Varignon, French mathematician (b. 1654)

1771 - Marie-Marguerite d'Youville, Canadian saint (b. 1701)

1761 - Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell, Scottish Jacobite spy

1779 - Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, British admiral and politician (b. 1724)

1789 - Charles-Michel de l'ÿpée, French philanthropist and developer of signed French (b. 1712)

1793 - Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)

1795 - Henry Clinton, British general (b. 1730)

1805 - Pehr Osbeck, Swedish explorer and naturalist (b. 1723)

1834 - Thomas Malthus, English demographer and economist (b. 1766)

1846 - Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent, French naturalist (b. 1780)

1872 - Theophile Gautier, French writer (b. 1811)

1912 - Otto Schoetensack, German anthropologist (b. 1850)

1939 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aircraft manufacturer (b. 1890)

1948 - Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister of Japan (hanged) (b. 1884)

1948 - Akira Muto, Japanese army commander (hanged) (b. 1883)

1953 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (b. 1899)

1970 - Charles Ruggles, American actor (b. 1886)

1973 - Charles Atlas, Italian-born bodybuilder (b. 1892)

1973 - Irna Phillips, American television writer, director, and producer (b. 1901)

1979 - Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector (b. 1898)

1982 - Jack Webb, American actor, producer, and director (b. 1920)

1983 - Colin Middleton, Northern Irish artist (b. 1910)

1992 - Vincent Fourcade, French American interior designer and socialite (b. 1934)

1992 - Eddie Hazel, American guitarist (Funkadelic) (b. 1950)

1994 - Sebastian Shaw, English actor (b. 1905)

2000 - Billy Barty, American actor (b. 1924)

2000 - Victor Borge, Danish-born comedian and pianist (b. 1909)

2004 - P. V. Narasimha Rao, ninth Prime Minister of India (b. 1921)

2005 - Norman D. Vaughan, polar explorer and dogsled driver (b. 1905)

2005 - Lajos Baróti, Hungarian footballer and coach (b. 1914)