The assassination of Rasputin, Russia's iconic "Mad Monk," provides fuel for a wonderful historical storey that combines truth and mythology. However, the death of the controversial holy man and faith healer sparked a firestorm in pre-revolutionary Russia. Rasputin was assassinated on December 30, 1916, in the basement of the Moika Palace, the Saint Petersburg home of Prince Felix Yussupov, Russia's richest man and the spouse of the Czar's only niece, Irina. A few days later, his beaten body was recovered in the Neva River.

Rudyard Kipling, an English poet and story writer, was one of the earliest masters of the short tale in English, and he was the first to utilise Cockney accent in serious poetry. Joseph Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India, on December 30, 1865. His father was an architectural sculpture professor at the Bombay School of Art. Kipling was brought to England for his studies in 1871. Rudyard enrolled in the United Services College at Westward, a boarding school in Devon, in 1878.

LeBron James was born on December 30, 1984, in Akron, Ohio, to Gloria Marie James and ex-convict Anthony McClelland. Gloria raised him on her alone because his father was uninterested in parenting. Gloria permitted him to live with the family of Frank Walker, who introduced him to basketball when he was nine years old, realising he would be better off with a more stable family. LeBron James is a professional basketball player from the United States. He had a rough childhood yet showed amazing talent at a young age. He nearly single-handedly led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in his sixth season, only to be swept in four games by the San Antonio Spurs.

Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging on the morning of Eid al-Adha, December 30, 2006, for crimes against humanity. It is a day that will live on in the minds of Iraqis who witnessed their brutal tyrant walk to the gallows and have a rope tightened around his neck. Hussein, who controlled Iraq from 1979 until his downfall and arrest by a US-led coalition in 2003, was charged of perpetrating multiple killings during his reign by an Iraqi court. These included the killing of Shias in Dujail in 1982 and the Halabja massacre in 1988, in which he deployed chemical weapons against a Kurdish community that dared to rebel against him.

Subhash Chandra Bose raised the Tricolour for the first time on free Indian soil on December 30, 1943, at the Cellular Jail in Port Blair during his visit to Andaman, declaring the island a free territory from British authority. It was long before India's independence in 1947. He also declared the Islands, the first Indian territory to be liberated from British control.

Philip Anthony Hopkins was born in Margam, Port Talbot, Wales on December 31, 1937. Anthony Hopkins is widely recognised as one of the best actors living, having epitomised evil in his horrific depiction of a cannibalistic killer in 'The Silence of the Lambs.' This well-known character actor began his career as a theatrical performer. Laurence Olivier, the legendary British actor, requested him to be his understudy at The Royal National Theatre after being impressed by the young man's abilities and devotion. The youthful Anthony excelled under the elder actor's tutelage and was well on his way to becoming a successful theatre performer.

Will Smith married Jada Koren Pinkett Smith in 1997. They met when Pinkett attended an audition for the role of Smith's character's girlfriend in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Overbrook Entertainment and Westbrook Inc., the duo's joint production firm, make films.