SY Aurora, c. 1912

The drift of the Antarctic exploration vessel SY Aurora was a 312-day ordeal during the Ross Sea section of Ernest Shackleton's expedition between 1914 and 1917. It began when the ship broke loose from its anchorage in McMurdo Sound during a gale. Caught in heavy pack ice, Aurora was carried into open waters with eighteen men aboard, leaving ten men stranded ashore with meagre provisions. With first officer Joseph Stenhouse in command, the ship suffered severe damage, including the loss of its rudder and anchors. It was finally freed from the ice in March 1916 after it had drifted north of the Antarctic Circle. It was able to reach New Zealand for repairs and resupply before returning to Antarctica to rescue the surviving members of the shore party. Stenhouse was removed from command by the organisers of the Ross Sea party relief expedition, but was later appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his service aboard the ship. (Full article...)

Gants Hill tube station concourse

• ... that the design of Gants Hill tube station concourse (pictured) was inspired by stations on the Moscow Metro?
• ... that Tadashi Suzuki, librettist for the opera Vision of Lear, also served as stage director and costume and lighting designer for its premiere at the 1998 Munich Biennale?
• ... that Qerim Sadiku, an Albanian Catholic saint, said "Long live Christ our King. Long live Albania!" just before his execution?
• ... that the Estadio Jesús Martínez "Palillo" in Mexico City has housed Olympic field hockey, professional American football, and Central American migrants?
• ... that before becoming a writer for Saturday Night Live, actress Alison Gates said "my dream job would be writing instead of performing"?
• ... that the underwater Ujlān volcanic complex in the Marshall Islands is a potential site for cobalt mining?
• ... that Erin Zwiener ran for the Texas House of Representatives after her incumbent representative blocked her on Facebook?
• ... that a member of a Waffen-SS lobby group contributed to Germany's official history of World War II?

Christmas market in Strasbourg

• French police kill the suspect in a shooting at the Christmas market (pictured in 2014) in Strasbourg, France, in which four people died.
• Scientists announce that Voyager 2 has left the heliosphere and entered interstellar space, becoming the second man-made object to do so.
• In South American association football, the Copa Libertadores concludes with River Plate defeating Boca Juniors in the finals.
• The sample-return spacecraft OSIRIS-REx arrives at the asteroid 101955 Bennu.

December 14: Martyred Intellectuals Day in Bangladesh (1971); Monkey Day

George W. Bush (l) and Nouri al-Maliki (r) defend themselves against a thrown shoe

• 557 – A large earthquake severely damaged the city of Constantinople.
• 835 – In the Sweet Dew incident, Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspired to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot was foiled.
• 1918 – In the 1918 United Kingdom general election women over thirty were permitted to vote, making it the first British election with female voters.
• 1948 – American physicists Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann were awarded a patent for their cathode-ray tube amusement device, the first interactive electronic game.
• 2008 – During a press conference in Baghdad, Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush and Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki (pictured), yelling that "this is for the widows and orphans and all those killed in Iraq".

Aldfrith of Northumbria (d. 704 or 705) · Louis Marshall (b. 1856) · Lupe Vélez (d. 1944)