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December 2
British-American writer Leslie Charteris's works include his series on stories featuring Simon Templar, also known as The Saint. Charteris's first novel, X Esquire, was published in 1927, which he later described as "an appallingly bad book"; his second novel—The White Rider, published in 1928—is "overwritten and poorly constructed", according to his biographer Joan DelFattore. In his third novel, Meet the Tiger (1928), he introduced the character of Simon Templar, a debonair gentleman crook who goes by the nom de guerre, The Saint. Charteris continued writing Saint books and the series gained in popularity because of its "mix of light humour, sophisticated settings, and story-line emphasising the role of a crusader tackling the forces of evil", which had "special appeal in the depression". Charteris moved to the United States in 1932 and soon began writing screenplays, the first of which resulted in Midnight Club, released in 1933. Charteris also worked on three books of non-fiction and an introduction to the 1980 re-issue of The Saint Meets the Tiger. (Full list...)
December 5
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Sixteen destroyers have served, or currently serve, in the Indian Navy. Currently the navy operates 10 guided-missile destroyers from the Kolkata, Delhi, and Rajput classes. Six other destroyers (three each from the R and Hunt classes) have been decommissioned and scrapped. The R-class INS Ranjit was the first destroyer commissioned in the Indian Navy. Two more R-class ships were later commissioned. Three Hunt-class destroyers were commissioned in 1953 to succeed the R-class destroyers. These ships were decommissioned by 1976, with the Hunt-class INS Godavari the last. During the 1980s, India signed an agreement with the Soviet Union for five guided-missile destroyers, built under the Rajput class. The first ship (INS Rajput) of the class was commissioned on 30 September 1980. All five Rajput-class ships are still in active service. The Rajput class was succeeded by the Delhi class of three ships. The Delhi-class destroyers were succeeded by the Kolkata class in 2014. The three Kolkata-class ships have been commissioned in 2014–2015, with INS Chennai being the last. An improvement of the Kolkata-class, INS Visakhapatnam (part of the Visakhapatnam class), was introduced in April 2015 and will reportedly be commissioned by the end of 2018. Three more vessels are planned as part of the Visakhapatnam class. (Full list...)
December 9
During or shortly after World War II, 457 servicemen of the Waffen-SS received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Along with its variants, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was the highest award in the military of the Third Reich. Of the 457 recipients, 411 presentations were formally made and evidence of the award is available in the German Federal Archives. One recipient, Hermann Fegelein, was court-martialed and executed on 29 April 1945. According to German law he was deprived of rank and all awards previously. Fegelein must therefore be considered a de facto but not de jure recipient. A further 46 Knight's Cross, 8 Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and 4 Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords recipients are either lacking the evidence to sustain their listings or received the award under questionable legal terms. However, all of them were accepted by the Association of Knight's Cross Recipients as legitimate recipients. (Full list...)
December 12
Rajinikanth's film career includes over 150 films. He made his screen debut with a small role in the Tamil film Apoorva Raagangal (1975). After playing antagonistic roles for the most part in his early career, he graduated to a lead actor. His performance in Mullum Malarum (1978) earned him a Special Mention at the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. In the 1980s, he starred in a series of commercially successful films in Tamil cinema. During this time, he also had a brief stint in Bollywood, where he mostly played supporting roles; however, in the 1990s he had continued success as a lead actor in Tamil cinema with films like Annamalai (1992), Uzhaippali (1993), Baashha (1995) and Muthu (1995). The last one was a commercial success in Japan and was instrumental in creating a large fan base for him in the country. Rajinikanth was paid ₹260 million for Sivaji; it made him the second-highest paid actor in Asia. He played dual roles – as a scientist and an android – in the 2010 science fiction film Enthiran, which is among the highest grossing Indian films of all time. (Full list...)
December 16
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The 2016 Tour de France featured 198 riders from 35 countries. The 21-stage race took place from 2 July to 24 July 2016, starting in Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and finishing on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. All eighteen Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) WorldTeams were automatically invited and were obliged to attend the race. In March 2016, four UCI Professional Continental teams were given wildcard places into the race by the organiser – Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) – to complete the 22-team peloton. France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Germany all had ten or more riders competing in the race. The final stage in Paris was contested by 174 riders, with 24 of the riders failing to finish the race, a record low number of withdrawals. The race was won by Chris Froome (Team Sky) (pictured), the champion from the 2013 and 2015 Tours. Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) finished second, 4 minutes and 5 seconds behind Froome, with Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) third. Adam Yates (Orica–BikeExchange) won the competition for the best young rider. The points classification was won for the fifth consecutive year by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), who also won the combativity award. Rafał Majka (Tinkoff) of Poland won the mountains classification, while Movistar won the team classification. (Full list...)
December 19
American actress and singer Alyssa Milano has recorded more than 40 songs. After signing a five-album deal with Japanese record label Pony Canyon, Inc., Milano released her debut studio album, Look in My Heart, in March 1989. Following the release of her debut album, Milano released an exercise video, titled Alyssa Milano's Teen Steam, and recorded its theme song along with a rap. Milano's second studio album, Alyssa, was released later that year, followed by her first compilation album, The Best in the World: Non-Stop Special Remix/Alyssa's Singles in 1990. In 1991, Milano contributed to the charity single "Voices That Care" as one of the choir members. The record was followed by Milano's third studio album, Locked Inside a Dream, in May 1991. Milano's fourth studio album, Do You See Me?, was released in May 1992, and her final record was her second compilation album, The Very Best of Alyssa Milano, released in January 1995. Throughout her musical career, Milano had little involvement with the songwriting and production of her albums. She did not express any interest in releasing her music in the United States, and in May 2013, she said that she had not returned to Japan since the end of her music career. (Full list...)
December 23
The U.S. state of Alabama contains 460 incorporated municipalities consisting of 169 cities and 291 towns. According to the 2010 United States Census, Alabama is the 23rd most populous state with 4,779,745 inhabitants and the 28th largest by land area spanning 50,645.33 square miles (131,170.8 km2) of land. The state is divided into 67 counties. The Code of Alabama 1975 defines the legal use of the terms "town" and "city" based on population. A municipality with a population of 2,000 or more is a city, while less than 2,000 is a town. For legislative purposes, municipalities are divided into eight classes based on population. Class 1 is defined as all cities with a population of 300,000. Although no cities in the state currently meet this population requirement, Birmingham (pictured) was allowed to remain a class 1 city since it incorporated with a 1970 population of 300,910 before the cutoff date of June 28, 1979. The largest municipality by population is Birmingham with 212,237 residents while the smallest by population is McMullen with 10 people. (Full list...)
December 26
The office of Premier of the Soviet Union was synonymous with head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Twelve individuals became premier over the time span of the office. Two of the twelve premiers died in office of natural causes (Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin), three resigned (Alexei Kosygin, Nikolai Tikhonov and Ivan Silayev), and three held the offices of party leader and premier simultaneously (Lenin, Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev). The first premier was Lenin (pictured), who was inaugurated in 1922 after the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR. Ivan Silayev spent the shortest time in office at 126 days in 1991. At over fourteen years, Kosygin spent the longest time in office, and became the only premier to head more than two government cabinets; he died shortly after his resignation in 1980. (Full list...)
December 30
Athletes earned 614 medals at the 1982 Asian Games (also known as the IX Asiad), a multi-sport event held in Delhi, India, from 12 November to 4 December 1982. A total of 3,411 athletes from 33 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) participated in these games, competing in 147 events in 21 sports and 22 disciplines. The number of participating countries was the greatest in Asian Games history. Handball, equestrian, rowing and golf were included for the first time; fencing and bowling were excluded. Athletes from 23 participating NOCs won at least one medal; athletes from 16 of these NOCs secured at least one gold. Athletes from China won 61 gold medals, the most of any nation at these games, and led the gold-medal count for the first time in their Asiad history. Athletes from both China and Japan won the most total medals, with 153. South Korea finished third in total medals. North Korea finished fifth in total medals, and fourth in the gold-medal count. Host nation India finished the games with 57 medals overall (13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze, its best performance since 1951), in fifth spot in terms of total gold medals. (Full list...)