Saturday 26th of December 1863

Film pioneer Charles Pathé is born in Chevry-Cossigny, Seine-et-Marne, France.

Wednesday 26th of December 1883

Painter Maurice Utrillo is born as Maurice Valadon in Rue du Poteau, Paris, XVIIIe, Île-de-France, France.

After Maurice was born to Suzanne Valadon, she went to Renoir, for whom she had modeled nine months previously. Renoir looked at the baby and said "He can't be mine, the color is terrible!". Next she went to Degas, for whom she had also modeled. He said, "He can't be mine, the form is terrible!". At a cafe, Valadon saw an artist she knew named Miguel Utrillo, to whom she spilled her woes. The man told her to call the baby Utrillo: "I would be glad to put my name to the work of either Renoir or Degas!"

Saturday 26th of December 1891

Writer Henry Valentine Miller is born in 450 East 85th Street, New York, Manhattan, New York, United States.

Tuesday 26th of December 1893

Communist revolutionary and father of the People's Republic of China Mao Zedong aka Mao Tse-Tung aka Chairman Mao is born in Mao Zhengongci, 309 County Road, Shaoshan, Hunan, China.

Tuesday 26th of December 1899

Punjabi revolutionary Udham Singh aka Shaheed-i-Azam is born as Sher Singh Jammu in Sunam, Punjab, India.

Thursday 26th of December 1940

Record producer and songwriter Phil Harvey Phillip Spector known for the ‘Wall of Sound’ production method is born in New York, Bronx, New York, United States.

Tuesday 26th of December 1950

Serial killer Randall Brent 'Randy' Woodfield aka The I-5 Killer is born in Salem, Oregon, United States.

Saturday 26th of December 1959

19-year-old Irmgard Feder is attacked by serial killer Manfred Wittmann aka The Beast of Oberfranken in Freiberg, Sachsen, Germany.

Saturday 26th of December 1964

10-year-old Lesley Ann Downey is abducted and killed by serial killers the Moors Murderers aka Ian Brady and Myra Hindley in Manchester, Ancoats, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.

Downey was undressed, gagged and forced to pose for photographs before being raped and killed while her pleas and screams were recorded on tape. Downey was buried the next day and Brady and Hindley slept a night on a blanket on her grave on Saddleworth Moors.

Tuesday 26th of December 1972

33rd President of the United States Harry S. Truman dies of multiple organ failure at the age of 88 in Research Medical Center, 2316 East Meyer Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

Tuesday 26th of December 1972

20-year-old Eddie Edward Moore is found tortured and garotted by serial killer Randy Kraft aka The Scorecard Killer in 7th Street Intersection, Seal Beach, California, United States.

Friday 26th of December 1980

Serial killer and cannibal Richard Trenton Chase aka The Vampire of Sacramento commits suicide by an overdose of medication at the age of 30 in San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, California, United States.

Chase saved up his daily dose of prison doctor-prescribed Sinequan (doxepin hydrochloride) for several weeks.

Saturday 26th of December 1981

Noise music band Club Moral play their eighth concert in Lokaal 01, Kloosterlaan 138, Breda, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

Monday 26th of December 1983

20-year-old Martina Volkmann is raped and stabbed to death by serial killer Thomas Rath aka Der Moormörder in Bremen, Freie Hansestadt Bremen, Germany.

Saturday 26th of December 1987

47-year-old Mass murderer Ronald Gene Simmons kills his 23-year-old son William Billy and 22-year-old daughter-in-law Renata, their one-year-old son William Trae, his 24-year-old daughter Sheila and her 23-year-old husband Dennis McNulty, his incestuous 6-year-old daughter Sylvia Gail and 20-month-ol grandson Michael by gunfire and strangulation in Mockingbird Hill, Dover, Arkansas, United States.

Four days earlier Simmons had already killed seven members of his family.

Sunday 26th of December 1999

The famous Buddha head that was miraculously brought up from the earth by the roots of a Banyan tree in Wat Phra Mahathat, Ayutthaya, Ayutthaya, Thailand.

Tuesday 26th of December 2006

38th President of the United States Gerald Rudolph Ford dies of arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis at the age of 93 in Rancho Mirage, California, United States.

Thursday 26th of December 2019

Actress Sue Suellyn Lyon known for her role as ‘Lolita’ in Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 film dies of declining health at the age of 73 in Los Angeles, Studio City, California, United States.