13th December anniversaries

• Birth
  • 1906
  • South Africa
  • "Birth of Laurens van der Post, South African-born British writer"
• event
  • 1545
  • "Start of the Council of Trent (Trento, Italy) – convened by the Catholic Church three times, ending 4 Dec 1563, as a response to the Protestant Reformation"
  • 1577
  • Drake Starts round the world voyage
  • 1643
  • Battle of Alton – victory for Parliamentarians – Sir Richard Bolle killed in St Lawrence's church
  • 1918
  • "US President Woodrow Wilson visited France, becoming the first president to leave the USA while in office."
  • 1928
  • George Gershwin’s musical ‘An American in Paris’ premiered in New York City.
  • 1939
  • "World War II: Battle of the River Plate a naval battle in the South Atlantic. The British defeated the Germans by using misinformation, tricking them into scuttling their battleship Admiral Graf Spee"
  • 1949
  • Jerusalem became the capital of Israel
  • 1959
  • Archbishop Makarios was elected as the first President of Cyprus as the country prepared for independence from Britain in August 1960
  • 1981
  • Martial law was imposed in Poland
  • 1988
  • "Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), recognised the right of Israel to exist and renounced terrorism."
  • 1989
  • South African President F.W. de Klerk met imprisoned African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela for the first time
  • 1998
  • Puerto Rican voters decided against becoming a US state .
• Death
  • 1983
  • "Death of Mary Renault, British novelist ."