As of today, December 13, 2022

What happened like today in Greece and the world.

1577: Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth to circumnavigate the world.

1642: The Dutch navigator and explorer, Abel Tasman, discovers New Zealand.

1803: The holocaust takes place in Kugi. The hieromonk Samuel, faced with the danger that he and five Souliots would be arrested by the Tourkalvans of Ali, sets fire to the gunpowder barrel and they all explode together.

1913: Leonardo da Vinci’s famous “Mona Lisa” is returning to Florence, after it was stolen more than 2 years ago from the Louvre museum by the Italian Vincenzo Perugia.

1939: Battle of the River Plate: Captain Hans Langsdorf of the German battleship Admiral Graf Spee engages the Royal Navy cruisers Exeter, Achilles and Aias.

1941: Hungary declares war on the USA and Great Britain.

1943: The Massacre of Kalavryta takes place. The Nazi invaders destroy the mountain town and execute 1,100 people.

1959: Archbishop Makarios with 66.29% becomes the first president of the Republic of Cyprus, the official proclamation of which is expected to take place in August 1960.

1967: After the failure of the royalist movement to overthrow the dictatorial regime, King Constantine flees with his family to Rome, where he will seek political asylum.

1971: The UN Security Council reaches resolution number 305 on the Cyprus issue, based on which the institution of enhanced talks is recommended, with the participation of the UN special representative and experts from Greece and Turkey.

1974: Malta is declared a republic within the British commonwealth.

1980: In San Salvador, Christian Democrat Jose Napoléon Duarte becomes the country’s first civilian president in 49 years.

1982: Magnitude 6 earthquake kills 3,000 and injures 2,000 in Yemen.

1983: Civil engineer Turgut Özal becomes prime minister of Turkey, after three years of military dictatorship.

1990: The government of Constantinos Mitsotakis passes the so-called “terror law”, which prohibits the publication of proclamations by terrorist organizations.

2003: About 600 men of the US 4th Infantry Regiment, assisted by special forces men, capture former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in a dugout just outside Tikrit.

2004: Alekos Alavanos succeeds Nikos Konstantopoulos in the leadership of the Coalition.

2007: The Constitutional Treaty is signed in Lisbon by the leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union.

2007: The lawyer Kostas Pleuris is sentenced to 14 months in prison with suspension, for violating the law on racial discrimination, which concerns his book entitled “Jews, the whole truth”. Two years later he will be acquitted by the Five-member Court of Appeal of Athens.

2021: 106 members of a Ukrainian neo-Nazi youth group are arrested in Russia on suspicion of planning attacks, including mass murder. Russia has accused Ukrainian intelligence services of financing the group. Ukraine claims the arrests and subsequent Russian media reports are staged as part of Russian intelligence measures.

Births

1272 – Frederick II, King of Sicily

1521 – Pope Sixtus V

1533 – Henry XIV, King of Sweden

1553 – Henry IV, King of France

1684 – Ludwig Holberg, Norwegian historian, philosopher and writer

1720 – Carlo Gozzi, Italian playwright

1784 – Louis, Archduke of Austria

1797 – Heinrich Heine, German poet

1816 – Werner von Siemens, German engineer, inventor and industrialist

1848 – Enrico Forlanini, Italian engineer and inventor

1884 – Emilios Veakis, Greek actor

1902 – Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, Greek politician

1902 – Talcott Parsons, American sociologist

1906 – Princess Marina of Greece

1908 – Wolfgang Reinhard, German screenwriter

1908 – Van Heflin, American actor

1909 – Nikolaos Pavlopoulos, Greek sculptor and engraver

1925 – Dick Van Dyke, American actor

1928 – Loula Anagnostaki, Greek playwright

1929 – Christopher Plummer, Canadian actor

[1945–NenaMendiGreekactress

1948 – Lillian Board, British athlete

1948 – Ted Nugent, American guitarist and singer

1952 – Junkyard Dogg, American wrestler

1953 – Ben Bernanke, American economist

1964 – Hide, Japanese singer and musician (X Japan)

1967 – Jamie Foxx, American actor

1970 – Dragan Vulević, Serbian football player

1975 – Kostas Kiassos, Greek football player

1979 – Matias Smodis, Slovenian basketball player

1981 – Amy Lee, American singer and musician

1984 – Sadi Catorla, Spanish soccer player

1989 – Stefanos Sitaras, Greek director

1989 – Taylor Swift, American singer

Deaths

838 – Pepin I, king of Aquitaine

1124 – Pope Callisto II

1160 – Mathilde of Carinthia, Countess of Campania

1204 – Maimonides, Spanish philosopher

1250 – Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor

1466 – Donatello, Italian painter and sculptor

1521 – Emmanuel I, King of Portugal

1721 – Alexander Selkirk, Scottish sailor

1754 – Mahmut I, Ottoman sultan

1784 – Samuel Johnson, English author

1883 – John Stringfellow, English engineer and inventor

1892 – Ioannis Vitsaris, Greek sculptor

1931 – Gustave Le Bon, French sociologist

1932 – Georgios Iakovides, Greek painter

1944 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter

1947 – Nicholas Rairich, Russian painter

1981 – Fotos Iofyllis, Greek poet, journalist and painter

1984 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer

1984 – Pavlos Paleologos, Greek journalist

1992 – Giorgos Sourelis, Greek writer

1994 – Michalis Nikolinakos, Greek actor

1995 – Bost (born Chrysanthos Vostanzoglou), Greek cartoonist and playwright

2009 – Paul Samuelson, American economist

2017 – Worrell Dane, American singer.