Birthdays
1770 -
Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist, a crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in classical music, he remains one of the most recognised and influential of all composers. His mastery of musical expression made him a dominant influence on 19th-century music. His best-known compositions include: 9 symphonies; 5 piano concertos; 1 violin concerto; 32 piano sonatas; 16 string quartets; a mass, the
Missa solemnis; and the only opera he composed,
Fidelio.
1775 -
Jane Austen,
English novelist mainly known for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. The six famous novels of Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey. Her plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Literature - Jane Austen, uploaded by The School of Life. Accessed December 16, 2018)
1866 -
Wassily Wassilyevich
Kandinsky, Russian painter and art
theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, although Swedish artist Hilma af Klimt produced paintings five years before him. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in Odessa, where he graduated from Odessa Art School. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics. Successful in his profession, he was offered a professorship (chair of Roman Law) at the University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia). Kandinsky began painting studies (life-drawing, sketching and anatomy) at the age of 30.
(
Wassily Kandinsky. Art History School.)
1867 -
Amy Beatrice Carmichael, Protestant christian missionary and writer. She was a missionary in India who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur. She served in India for 55 years without furlough and wrote many books about the
missionary work there.
1882 -
Zoltan Kodaly, Hungarian composer, pedagogue, music critic, linguist, ethnomusicologist. He is well known as the creator of the
Kodály Method. Kodály was very interested in the problems of many types of music education, and he wrote a large amount of material on teaching methods, also composing plenty of music for children's use. Beginning in 1935, along with his colleague Jenő Ádám (14 years his junior), he embarked on a long-term project to reform music teaching in Hungary's lower and middle schools. His work resulted in the publication of several highly influential books. The Hungarian music education program that developed in the 1940s became the basis for
Kodály Method. While Kodály himself did not write down a comprehensive method, he did establish a set of principles to follow in music education, and these principles were widely taken up by pedagogues. (
Zoltán Kodály-Dances of Galánta (Rajkó orchestra). YouTube, uploaded by Robert Lucaks. Accessed December 16, 2020.
Zoltán Kodály: Psalmus Hungaricus, Op. 13. YouTube, uploaded by Rique Borges. Accessed November 19, 2025.)
1899 -
Sir Noël Peirce Coward, English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what
Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise". His plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. He did not publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, but it was discussed candidly after his death by biographers including Graham Payn, his long-time partner, and in Coward's diaries and letters, published posthumously. The former Albery Theatre (originally the New Theatre) in London was renamed the Noël Coward Theatre in his honour in 2006.
1901 -
Margaret Mead, American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and 1970s. She served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1975. Mead was a communicator of anthropology in modern American and Western culture and was often controversial as an academic. Her reports detailing the attitudes towards sex in South Pacific and Southeast Asian traditional cultures influenced the 1960s sexual revolution. She was a proponent of broadening sexual conventions within a context of traditional Western religious life.
1917 - Sir Arthur Charles Clarke CBE FRAS, English science-fiction writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film
2001: A Space Odyssey, one of the most influential films of all time. He wrote many books and many essays for popular magazines. In 1961, he received the Kalinga Prize, a UNESCO award for popularising science. Clarke's science and science-fiction writings earned him the moniker "Prophet of the Space Age". His science-fiction writings earned him a number of Hugo and Nebula awards, which along with a large readership, made him one of the towering figures of the genre.
1938 -
Liv Johanne
Ullmann, Norwegian actress and film director. Recognised as one of the greatest European
actresses, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent partner of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Ulmann won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 1972 (Motion Picture Drama) for the film
The Emigrants, and has been nominated for another four. In 2000, she was nominated for the Palme d'Or for her second directorial feature film,
Faithless. She has also received two BAFTA Award nominations and two Academy Award nominations, both for her performances in
Scenes from a Marriage (1973) and
Face to Face.
1946 -
Benny Anderson (Göran Bror Benny Andersson), Swedish musician, composer, producer, songwriter, member of the Swedish music group ABBA, and co-composer of the musicals
Chess,
Kristina från Duvemåla, and
Mamma Mia!. For the 2008 film version of
Mamma Mia! and its 2018 sequel,
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, he worked also as an executive producer. Since 2001, he has been active with his own band Benny Anderssons orkester.
Lefties:
None known
More birthdays and historical events, December 16 - On This Day
Historical Events
1653 - Oliver Cromwell is declared Lord Protector of England, following the execution of Charles I.
1773 - Popularly known as "Boston Tea Party," colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians fling a cargo of tea into the harbor in protest of British taxes and trade restrictions.
