Timeline December 1943

Events in December 1943 14

• 1866 – 1943 Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) Died 22 December 1943, aged 77 Beatrix Potter was an English author and illustrator of children's books, including The Tale of Peter Rabbit. She was also a farmer and conservationist in the Lake District. She left most of her land to the National Trust.
• 1904 – 1943 Fats Waller (1904-1943) Died 15 December 1943, aged 39 Fats Waller was an American jazz pianist, composer and entertainer, and a master of stride piano. He wrote Ain't Misbehavin' and Honeysuckle Rose. He died of pneumonia on a train near Kansas City.
• 1938 – 1943 New York Childhood Grew up in Washington Heights, Manhattan, attending George Washington High School. Despite excelling academically, he initially worked in a shaving brush factory.
• 1942 – 1943 The Paramount -- bobby-soxers and mass hysteria Sinatra performs at the Paramount Theatre in New York on 30 December 1942, billed as an 'extra added attraction' to Benny Goodman's band. The audience -- overwhelmingly teenage girls, known as bobby-soxers -- erupts in screaming that is unprecedented in American popular entertainment. He returns to the Paramount the following October for a four-week engagement; thousands queue overnight for tickets; girls faint in the aisles; police are called. The phenomenon is called 'Sinatramania' and it is the first modern pop idol mania -- the template for Beatlemania twenty years later.
• 1943 Tehran Conference Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meet for first time Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met in Tehran from November 28 to December 1, 1943 — the first meeting of the "Big Three". They agreed on the opening of a second front in Western Europe in 1944.
• 1943 Tehran Conference The first meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met together for the first time, in Tehran. They agreed that the Western Allies would invade northern France in May 1944. Stalin promised to join the war against Japan after Germany was defeated.
• 1943 Air raid on Bari German bombers sink ships in an Allied harbour, releasing mustard gas German aircraft attacked the crowded harbour at Bari in southern Italy and sank 28 ships. One of them, the SS John Harvey, was secretly carrying mustard gas bombs. The gas was released, and many sailors and civilians were poisoned.
• 1943 – 1971 Jim Morrison American singer, songwriter & poet James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (1943-1971) was the lead singer and lyricist of The Doors, celebrated for his baritone voice, poetic lyrics and theatrical, unpredictable stage presence. Known as "The Lizard King", he became one of the defining and most controversial icons of 1960s counterculture before his death in Paris at the age of 27.
• 1943 Jim Morrison born in Melbourne, Florida 8 December 1943 James Douglas Morrison was born on 8 December 1943 in Melbourne, Florida, the eldest child of George Stephen Morrison, a US Navy officer who would later become an admiral, and Clara Clarke Morrison.
• 1943 – present Queen Silvia First Non-Noble Queen A German-Brazilian woman who has been pivotal in work for children's rights.
• 1943 Dwight D. Eisenhower named Supreme Allied Commander Roosevelt announces that Eisenhower will command the invasion of Western Europe.
• 1943 – present Tarja Halonen First Female President Finlands 11th President and the first woman to hold the office (2000-2012).
• 1943 – 1999 Rick Danko (1943-1999) Died 10 December 1999, aged 55 Rick Danko was a Canadian musician and founding member of The Band, playing bass and contributing vocals on albums such as Music from Big Pink. The group was highly influential in shaping American roots rock. He died in his sleep at his home in New York.
• 1943 – 1997 John Denver (1943-1997) Died 12 October 1997, aged 53 John Denver was an American singer-songwriter known for hits including Take Me Home, Country Roads and Rocky Mountain High. He died when the experimental aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Pacific Ocean near Monterey, California. He had sold tens of millions of records over his career.