The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg begins in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. December December 2 – British prime minister Stanley Baldwin ends the martial law that had been declared due to the general strike. December 3 – Agatha Christie disappears from her home in Surrey; on December 14 she is found at a Harrogate hotel. December 7 – The Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE) is founded (later the Campaign to Protect Rural England). December 13 – Miina Sillanpää becomes Finland's first female government minister. December 17 – 1926 Lithuanian coup d'état: A democratically elected government is overthrown in Lithuania; Antanas Smetona assumes power. December 18 – Turkey converts to the Gregorian calendar, making the next day January 1 1927. December 23 – Nicaraguan President Adolfo Díaz requests U.S. military assistance in the ongoing civil war. American peacekeeping troops immediately set up neutral zones in Puerto Cabezas and at the mouth of the Rio Grande to protect American and foreign lives and property. December 26 – In the history of Japan, the Shōwa period begins from this day, due to the death of Emperor Taishō on the day before. His son Hirohito will reign as Emperor of Japan until 1989. Date unknown Dr Muthulakshmi Reddi becomes the first woman to be appointed to a legislature in India, the Madras Legislative Council. Stephen H. Langdon begins excavations in Jemdet Nasr, finding proto-cuneiform clay tablets (3100–2900 BCE). Phencyclidine (PCP, angel dust) is first synthesized. Earl W. Bascom, rodeo cowboy and artist, designs and marks rodeo's first high-cut rodeo chaps at Stirling, Alberta, Canada. The International African Institute is founded in London. Industrial output surpasses the level of 1913 in the USSR. Births January January 1 Blanca Rodríguez, First Lady of Venezuela during the 1970s-1990s (d. 2020) Claudio Villa, Italian singer (d. 1987) January 3 Murray Dowey, Canadian ice hockey goaltender (d. 2021) Felicitas Kuhn, Austrian children's illustrator (d. 2022) Mohamed Yaacob, Malaysian lawyer, judge and Menteri Besar of Kelantan (d. 2009) Sir George Martin, English record producer (d. 2016) January 6 – Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian actor, bodybuilder (d. 2006) January 7 – Kim Jong-pil, South Korean politician (d. 2018) January 8 – Evelyn Lear, American soprano (d. 2012) January 10 – Júlio Pomar, Portuguese painter (d. 2018) January 11 Lev Dyomin, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1998) Ahmad Fuad Mohieddin, 42nd Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 1984) January 12 Ray Price, American country