Sunday 13 December 1959

Holidays:

• Roman festivals - Tellus was worshipped in the district Carinae at the Esquiline Hill, and a lectisternium or table was spread for Ceres.
• R.C. Saints - memorial of Saint Lucy
• Also see December 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• In the Julian calendar before the Gregorian reform, this was the shortest day and longest night, and widely celebrated as such
• In the Irish calendar the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following the Feast of Saint Lucy were observed as Quarter tense.

• Malta - Republic Day (since 1974)
• St. Lucia's Day in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland.

Famous Birthdays:

• Johnny Whitaker: AAmerican actor and singer notable for several performances for film and television during his childhood.
• Cameron Dye
• Pat Torpey
• Heino Enden: Estonian basketball player and coach.
• Marianne Gravatte: Hollywood, California -- Playmate of year (Oct, 1982).

• Boris Zhukov: American wrestler.
• Staffan William-Olsson: Swedish guitarist and composer (The Real Thing).
• John Whitaker in Van Nuys: California, USA; actor (Family Affair, Snowball Express).
• Jim Barrell: American professional wrestler.

Facts:

• Archbishop Makarios becomes the first President of Cyprus.
• Three years after its first telecast, MGM's ''The Wizard of Oz'' is shown on television for only the second time, but it gains an even larger viewing audience than its first television outing, spurring CBS to make it an annual tradition.