Timeline December 1921

Events in December 1921 7

• 1835 – 1921 Camille Saint-Saëns French Romantic composer French composer of the Carnival of the Animals, Organ Symphony and the opera Samson et Dalila. One of the most versatile composers of the 19th century.
• 1921 – 2013 Deanna Durbin (1921-2013) Canadian singer and actress whose musicals saved Universal in the 1930s, and who left Hollywood at 28.
• 1921 Deanna Durbin born in Winnipeg Deanna Durbin is born in Winnipeg.
• 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed Treaty establishes the Irish Free State Irish and British delegations signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty in London, ending the War of Independence and creating the Irish Free State as a self-governing dominion. Six northern counties retained the option to remain part of the United Kingdom, which they exercised. The treaty's terms split the Irish nationalist movement and led to civil war the following year.
• 1921 Tetraethyl lead stops the knock The worst decision in the engine's history Thomas Midgley at General Motors finds that adding tetraethyl lead to petrol eliminates engine knock and allows higher compression ratios. It works beautifully. It also puts lead into the air of every city on earth for the next seventy years, with measurable effects on the intelligence of an entire generation. Midgley later invents CFCs.
• 1921 – 2002 George Roy Hill (1921-2002) Died 27 December 2002, aged 81 George Roy Hill was an American director best known for two hits pairing Paul Newman and Robert Redford, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, the second of which won him the 1974 Academy Award for Best Director. A former Marine pilot, he also filmed Slaughterhouse-Five and The World According to Garp. His output was small but commercially and critically strong.
• 1921 – 2000 Steve Allen (1921-2000) Died 30 October 2000, aged 78 Steve Allen was an American entertainer who created and first hosted The Tonight Show in 1954, setting the template for the late-night talk format. A restless polymath, he wrote thousands of songs and dozens of books and hosted the series Meeting of Minds. His improvised, audience-driven comedy influenced generations of hosts.