Friday 18th of December 1626

Queen of Sweden Kristina Augusta is born in Tre Cronor Castle, Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden.

Wednesday 18th of December 1737

Stringed instruments crafter Antonio Stradivari dies of natural causes at the age of 93 in Cremona, Lombardia, Italy.

Friday 18th of December 1863

Archduke of Austria-Este and Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia Franz Ferdinand is born as Franz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Josef von Habsburg-Lothringen in Graz, Steiermark, Austria.

Thursday 18th of December 1879

Artist Paul Klee is born in Münchenbuchsee, Mittelland, Switzerland.

Thursday 18th of December 1879

General secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin is born as Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili in Gori, Shida Kartli, Georgia.

Thursday 18th of December 1890

Electrical engineer and inventor Edwin Howard Armstrong known inventing frequency modulation (FM) radio transmission is born in 347 West 29th Street, New York, Chelsea, New York, United States.

Sunday 18th of December 1892

First performance of the ballet 'The Nutcracker' by 52-year-old Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, Northwestern Federal District, Russia.

Wednesday 18th of December 1907

43-year-old Murderer John Henry George Lee aka Babbacombe Lee aka The Man They Couldn't Hang is released from prison in Exeter Prison, Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom.

On 23 February 1885 three attempts were made to carry out Lee's execution. All ended in failure as the trapdoor of the scaffold failed to open despite being carefully tested by executioner James Berry beforehand. As a result Home Secretary Sir William Harcourt commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

Friday 18th of December 1914

38-year-old Margaret Elizabeth Lloyd is drowned by serial killer George Joseph Smith aka The Brides in the Bath Murderer in 14 Bismarck Road, London, Highgate, Greater London, United Kingdom.

Monday 18th of December 1916

Actress, dancer, singer and sex symbol Betty Elizabeth Ruth Grable aka The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs is born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Saturday 18th of December 1943

Musician Keith Richards known from The Rolling Stones is born in Dartford, Kent, United Kingdom.

Wednesday 18th of December 1946

Anti-apartheid activist Steve Stephen Bantu Biko is born in King William's Town, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Thursday 18th of December 1947

Film director Steven Allan Spielberg is born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Saturday 18th of December 1948

Serial killer Edmund Emil Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer is born in Santa Cruz, California, United States.

Friday 18th of December 1953

Kidnapper and murderer Carl Austin Hall aka John James Byrne is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 34 in Missouri State Penitentiary aka The Walls, 115 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, United States.

Friday 18th of December 1953

Kidnapper and murderess Bonnie Emily Brown Heady is executed by the gas chamber at the age of 41 in Missouri State Penitentiary aka The Walls, 115 Lafayette Street, Jefferson City, Missouri, United States.

Along with her lover Carl Hall the two were allowed to hold hands for a moment and they kissed goodbye. They were blindfolded, led into the chamber and strapped into adjacent chairs. Heady said "Are you doing all right, honey?" Hall replied "Yes, mama."

Wednesday 18th of December 1963

Murderer John William Byrd is born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.

Friday 18th of December 1964

Actor Brad William Bradley Pitt is born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, United States.

Monday 18th of December 1967

Child killer Günther Volz is executed by the Guillotine at the age of 29 in Metz, Lorraine, France.

Thursday 18th of December 1969

21-year-old Serial killer Edmund Emil Kemper aka The Co-ed Killer is released on parole after killing his grandparents in August 1964 in Atascadero State Hospital, Atascadero, California, United States.

Wednesday 18th of December 1974

Serial killer Paul John Knowles aka The Casanova Killer is shot dead by FBI-agent Ron Angel after making a grab for Sheriff Earl Lee’s gun on transport to a maximum security jail at the age of 28 in Henry County, Georgia, United States.

Thursday 18th of December 1980

Soviet statesman Alexei Nikolayevich Kosygin dies of a heart attack at the age of 76 in Moscow, Central Federal District, Russia.

Thursday 18th of December 1980

34-year-old Mass murderer Freddy André Horion aka De Zonnebril and Roland Feneulle are convicted to death in Assisenhof, Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

Thursday 18th of December 1986

Murderer Richard Andrade is executed by lethal injection at the age of 25 in Huntsville Prison, 815 12th Street, Huntsville, Texas, United States.

Friday 18th of December 1987

Sound engineer and producer Conny Konrad Plank dies of cancer at the age of 47 in Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Thursday 18th of December 1997

55-year-old Serial killer Myra Hindley aka The Moors Murderers (with Ian Brady) is rushed to a hospital only hours after her appeal against having to spend the rest of her life in jail was turned down in Durham Gaol, Durham, Elvet, North East, United Kingdom.

Saturday 18th of December 1999

A magician in the bustling street of Soi Wanit in Bangkok, Pahurat, Central Thailand, Thailand.

Tuesday 18th of December 2001

Singer and actor Gilbert Bécaud aka Monsieur 100.000 Volts dies of cancer at the age of 74 in Paris, Île-de-France, France.

Thursday 18th of December 2003

26-year-old Serial killer Richard Arinaitwe is sentenced to death in Kampala, Kampala, Uganda.

Saturday 18th of December 2004

Standing on the corner of Koolmijnenkaai and Vandermaelenstraat where serial killer András Pándy killed two of his wives and four of his children and dissolved their bodies in acid in Vandermaelenstraat, Brussel, Sint-Jans-Molenbeek, Brabant, Belgium.

Sunday 18th of December 2011

Multiple murderer Donald Neilson aka The Black Panther dies of motor neurone disease at the age of 75 in Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, off the A11 road and the Watton Road, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom.

Sunday 18th of December 2011

1st President of the Czech Republic Václav Havel dies of respiratory failure at the age of 75 in Hrádeček, Královéhradecký Kraj, Czech Republic.

Sunday 18th of December 2016

Actress Zsa Zsa Gábor aka Sári Prinzessin von Anhalt dies of a heart attack at the age of 99 in Los Angeles, Bel Air, California, United States.