What happened on December 24 ?

1166 - King John of England (d. 1216)

1389 - John VI, Duke of Brittany (d. 1442)

1475 - Thomas Murner, German writer

1491 - Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish founder of the Jesuit order (d. 1556)

1508 - Pietro Carnesecchi, Italian humanist (d. 1567)

1609 - Philip Warwick, English writer and politician (d. 1683)

1698 - William Warburton, English Bishop of Gloucester (d. 1779)

1724 - Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (d. 1811)

1761 - Jean-Louis Pons, French astronomer (d. 1831)

1798 - Adam Mickiewicz, Polish poet (d. 1855)

1809 - Kit Carson, American frontiersman (d. 1868)

1812 - Karl Eduard Zachariae, German jurist (d. 1894)

1818 - James Prescott Joule, British physicist (d. 1889)

1822 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (d. 1888)

1837 - Elisabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria (d. 1898)

1845 - King George I of Greece (d. 1913)

1867 - Kantaro Suzuki, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)

1868 - Emanuel Lasker, German chess player (d. 1941)

1880 - Johnny Gruelle, American cartoonist, children's book writer and creator of Raggedy Ann (d. 1939)

1881 - Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)

1886 - Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-born director (d. 1962)

1895 - E. Roland Harriman, American financier (d. 1978)

1898 - Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1967)

1898 - Baby Dodds, American jazz drummer (d. 1959)

1905 - Howard Hughes, American film producer and inventor (d. 1976)

1910 - Fritz Leiber, American writer (d. 1992)

1914 - Herbert Reinecker, German writer

1920 - Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (d. 1944)

1922 - Ava Gardner, American actress (d. 1990)

1923 - George Patton IV, American general (d. 2004)

1924 - Mohd. Rafi, Indian actor and playback singer (d. 1980)

1929 - Mary Higgins Clark, American author

1931 - Mauricio Kagel, Argentine composer

1937 - Felix Miéli Venerando, Brazilian football player

1941 - John Levene, British actor

1943 - Tarja Halonen, President of Finland

1945 - Lemmy Kilmister, British singer, bassist (Motörhead)

1945 - Nicholas Meyer, American author

1946 - Brenda Howard, American bisexual activist (d. 2005)

1949 - Randy Neugebauer, American politician

1950 - Dana Gioia, American poet

1955 - Clarence Gilyard, American actor

1957 - Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan

1960 - Carol Vorderman, British television presenter

1963 - Mary Ramsey, American singer (10,000 Maniacs)

1966 - Diedrich Bader, American actor

1968 - Doyle Bramhall II, American guitarist

1969 - Mark Millar, Scottish comic book writer

1970 - Will Oldham, American songwriter

1971 - Ricky Martin, Puerto Rican singer

1973 - Eddie Pope, American soccer player

1974 - Marcelo Salas, Chilean footballer

1974 - Ryan Seacrest, American television host