On this day

December 8th

1829 - USA: In his first State of the Union Address, President Andrew Jackson stated his goal was to remove all Indians in the south eastern part of the United States to lands west of the Mississippi. A law to that effect was passed by Congress on May 28 1830.

1863 - USA: President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction, offering full pardon to all southerners who voluntarily took a "prescribed oath."

1914 - New York: Watch Your Step by Irving Berlin a "syncopated music show" opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. It was the first of many musicals by Berlin that were to establish him as one of the giants of the American stage.

1929 - Germany: The Nazis are victorious in Bavarian municipal elections.

1933 - Los Angeles: Actress Mary Pickford files for divorce from Actor Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

1936 - Nicaragua: Anastasio Somoza is elected president.

1937 - London: Joseph Kennedy is made US ambassador.

1938 - Germany: Germany's first aircraft carrier the Graf Zeppelin is launched.

1939 - Washington: The USA protests at the British blockade of Germany, saying it interferes with the right of neutral nations to trade freely.

1940 - London: The House of Commons and the Tower of London are hit in a heavy Luftwaffe bombing raid.

1941 - China: Japan occupies the foreign concessions at Shanghai, Gulang Islands and Tianjin.

1943 - New Guinea: The Australians take Wareo and drive towards Wandokai and the Japanese stronghold of Sio.

1944 - Pacific: US ships and aircraft attack Japanese positions on Iwo Jima.

1954 - London: The Road Traffic Bill is published bringing in roadworthiness tests and parking meters.

1956 - UK: 11-year-old Brenda Lee releases her first UK single in Britain "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus."

1959 - USA: Ingemar Johansson is selected fighter of the year by the Boxing Writers Association.

1963 - USA: Frank Sinatra Jnr, son of the singer-actor, and himself an aspiring popular singer is kidnapped at Lake Tahoe. He was released unhurt in Los Angeles on Dec 11 after his father paid $240,000. Most of the money was recovered two days later when the FBI arrested three suspects.

1967 - USA: Major Robert H. Lawrence Jnr, the first black astronaut, is killed after a crash in his F-104 jet at Edwards Air Force Base.

1973 - UK: Roxy Music achieve their first UK No.1 album with Stranded. The sleeve featured Playboy's Playmate of the Year, model Marilyn Cole.

1974 - Athens: Greece votes to become a republic and abolish the monarchy.

1980 - New York: John Lennon is shot and killed outside his apartment building in New York City. Mark David Chapman 25, a former mental patient. was held for the shooting.

1980 - USA: NASA: reports that the Voyager 1 space probe has discovered a 15th moon around Saturn.

1981 - UK: Arthur Scargill is elected President of the National Union of Mine-workers.

1983 - London: Peers vote to allow the Lords to be televised for an experimental period.

1987 - USA: The first treaty to reduce nuclear arsenals was signed in Washington by President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev. Under the terms of the treaty 2611 US and Soviet medium and short-range missiles sited in Europe would be destroyed. The pact provided for on-site verification by both countries.

1993 - UK: Acetone, The Verve, and Oasis, begin a UK tour at Wulfren Hall in Wolverhampton.

1995 - London: Headmaster Philip Lawrence is stabbed to death as he defends a pupil being attacked by a local gang.

2006 - USA: Three people are killed and a fourth person is injured after a gunman begins shooting at a Chicago skyscraper. The Gunman was later shot dead by a Chicago PD SWAT sniper.

2010 - UK: A rare meteor fireball is sighted over large parts of the UK.

2011 - Somalia: Fighting breaks out in the Somalian capital Mogadishu between government and militant troops.

(01-12-2013 13:00 )4evadionne Wrote:  1991 - UK: Shops across England and Wales open and defy the Sunday trading laws.

A move towards a relaxation of the Sunday trading laws had been in the offing for some years, because the law as it stood (under the 1950 Shops Act) was regarded as being outdated and unenforceable.

The law did not apply to Scotland, and there were a number of regional variations - some seaside resorts were exempt during the peak season and I still remember my surprise at finding Woolworths and M&S open on a Sunday when I went on holiday as a kid.

Corner shops and newsagents were allowed to open but anomalies in the law prevailed. Fresh carrots could be sold but not tinned, and the example most held up by the pro-trading lobby was the ridiculous situation by which it was legal to sell newspapers and magazines but not books, so you could buy a porn mag but not a bible!

In 1986 the then Conservative Government had tried to introduce legislation but despite their huge majority they were defeated, probably because the proposed change would have abolished all regulations and even many supporters of Sunday trading thought this was a step too far.

By the early 1990's the situation was becoming critical, and the stores were mounting a legal challenge in the European courts. Public opinion was hugely in favour of change and the major stores were threatening to ignore the laws and open anyway. The Government still had a large majority but was embroiled with the Poll Tax, the Gulf War and the recent ousting of Thatcher so didn't want another potentially damaging battle, especially with a General Election due within six months when they might not get legislation through in time anyway before a new Government took over.

Therefore, Attorney General Patrick Mayhew announced that he did not think it "appropriate" for the national government to take police action to enforce the law, and he left it to local authorities to make their own decisions, effectively giving stores the green light to open.

It was 1994 before the current legislation allowing large shops to open for six hours was introduced, with safeguards for staff who objected to working on religious grounds.

At the same time Sunday licensing laws were liberalised. Although all-day weekday opening of pubs had been introduced in 1988 Sundays were still restricted to 12.00 - 3.00* and 7.00 - 10.30 and it was another six years before pubs could open on a Sunday afternoon, much to the delight of the fledgling Sky Sports.

*Sunday lunchtime was previously only 12.00 - 2.00 and the extra hour was only approved by one vote when two anti-extension MPs, not realising that the vote was on an amendment to stop the extension, voted "no" instead of "yes". By a strange coincidence, the vote to abolish the cane in State schools in 1987 had been passed by only one vote in exactly the same circumstances when two MPs voted the wrong way on an amendment!

(05-12-2013 11:35 )4evadionne Wrote:  1964 - USA: Lorne Greene star of the NBC-TV show "Bonanza" is at No.1 on the US singles chart with "Ringo."

Bonanza ran for 14 years from 1959-1973 and 430 episodes, making it (after Gunsmoke) the second longest, and one of the most successful, western series of all time.

Set in Nevada in 1859, it told the story of thrice-widowed rancher Ben Cartwright, played by Canadian born (of Russian parents) Lorne Greene, and his three sons (one by each wife), Adam, Hoss and Little Joe, played by Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon respectively who farm a sizeable ranch, the "Pondorosa", said to be in excess of half a million acres, in the triangle between Virginia City, Carson City and the shores of Lake Tahoe.

The series is particularly remembered for its distinctive theme music, and the map of the area which catches fire in the opening credits (famously compared, by Jasper Carrott, to his arse the morning after a curry from his local Indian restaurant!). Although geographically accurate, the map is in fact on its side, with East at the top. The series was made at a television studio in California, including the sets replicating Carson and Virginia Cities, but the scene of the characters riding across a field towards the cameras in the opening credits was actually shot where the "Pondorosa" was supposedly located.

The "Bonanza" referred to had nothing to do with ranching, but the discovery of one of the biggest ever deposits of silver in the history of the world. The "Comstock Lode" as it became known (named after prospector Henry Comstock) was already known for its gold deposits but when silver was discovered in the 1850s the "Bonanza" took off. The vast fortunes made and lost turned Virginia City from a small village into a town with a permanent population of 15,000 and a transient population four times that, including the author Mark Twain whose brother was Governor of the territory at the time. In 1877, the year of peak production, over £5bn (in today's money) of ore was extracted from an area of little more than 25 square miles.

One historical error that the trainspotters among you will delight in is that the railroad scenes in Bonanza couldn't have happened, as the line from Reno-Carson City-Virginia City didn't open until the early 1870s.

Pernell Roberts left the series in 1965 after a dispute with the scriptwriters over the direction his character was taking and the fact that his contract wanted exclusivity preventing him working elsewhere. The producers of the show considered expanding the roles of several other characters or introducing a long-lost brother/cousin/nephew but they eventually decided to continue with just the three remaining main characters, and it seemed justified as there was little effect on either the show's popularity or (more importantly) the ratings.

However, in 1972 the 22-stone Dan Blocker died suddenly at the age of 43 following complications after a routine gall bladder operation. Roberts' character hadn't been killed off (he was "at sea") and the producers toyed with the idea of seeing if he would be interested in a return, but this came to nothing, they knew that the show couldn't continue and it was cancelled the following year.

Michael Landon went on to star in "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway to Heaven", but he also died young, of pancreatic cancer in 1991 at the age of 51.

Lorne Greene went on to star in "Battlstar Gallactica" and for many years was the voice of a well-known American dog food commercial. He died in 1987 at the age of 72.

Pernell Roberts went on to star in the title role of "Trapper John MD", the story of what had happened to Dr "Trapper" John McIntyre in the 25 years since the M*A*S*H character returned from Korea (Wayne Rogers, who played the role in the TV series, had turned it down). A lifelong civil rights activist, Roberts died in 2010 at the age of 81 coincidentally from pancreatic cancer which had also killed Landon.

As for the Comstock Lode, it was largely mined out by the early 1900s, although small scale mining continues to this day. The area around Virginia City, however, fell into decline as the population collapsed. Nowadays the town has a population of around 2,000 and is little more than a tourist attraction, with tawdry souvenir stalls selling wild west memorabilia, fast food outlets, small casinos and "saloons" (although the Red Dog Saloon does have a role in modern culture as in the 1960s its then owner was one of the founders of the West Coast hippie movement and the bar saw early performances from Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead).

I visited Virginia City some 11/12 years ago and whilst it is a harmless enough place to spend a couple of hours on a late spring afternoon alongside the other (supposedly) two million visitors a year I dread to think what it must be like living there in the depths of winter when the tourists aren't around.

It is 6,200 feet above sea level in a bleak, desolate area 16 miles from the nearest town. No main roads or routes go through it, there is no public transport of any kind (the train service was axed in 1948 although a steam preservation company runs for a couple of miles) and although it still has its own school and a few small stores it is not the sort of place I'd choose to retire to!

December 9th

1902 - Switzerland: The Swiss parliament approve the construction of a railway through Simplon.

1905 - Dresden: Richard Strauss's opera "Salome" has it's first performance.

1910 - Palestine: Turkish troops supress an Arab Uprising.

1914 - Rome: Italy demands the South Tyrol from Austria as price of its neutrality.

1925 - UK: The UK National Opera is formed.

1926 - UK: Coal restrictions in force during the miners strike come to an end.

1936 - UK: An air crash kills 14 people, including autogiro inventor Juan de la Cierva.

1938 - Lithuania: Memel Germans demand to join to the Reich.

1939 - France: Corporal Thomas Priday, of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry is killed, becoming the first fatal British casualty on the Western Front.

1940 - Libya: Allied Troops of the Western Desert Force launch a surprise attack, taking around 1,000 Italian prisoners in the first thrust of "Operation Compass."

1941 - China: The Nationalist Government declares war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

1942 - New Guinea: Australian Forces capture Gona after a fierce hand-to-hand battle.

1943 - Italy: The British X Corps takes Rocca d'Evandro, completing the capture of Monte Camino.

1945 - Frankfurt: US General George S. Patton suffers chest injuries and is paralysed from the neck down, after his car hit a truck.

1948 - London: The parliamentary secretary at the Board of Trade, John Belcher MP, states he will resign as a bribery probe continues.

1949 - New York: The UN approves the internationalisation of Jerusalem.

1953 - London: The government unveils a £10 million aid plan for Kenya.

1954 - London: Dr Roger Bannister retires from athletics to devote himself to his medical practice.

1959 - UK: North Sea gales claim 27 lives as two ships are sunk.

1964 - London: Paul McCartney visits the recovering Ringo Starr at London's University hospital after his tonsillectomy.

1967 - Bucharest: Nicolae Ceausescu becomes Romanian premier.

1968 - USA: The Jimi Hendrix Experience have the US No.1 album with "Electric Ladyland."

1971 - Dacca: 300 children are killed after Indian planes bomb an orphanage.

1972 - US: The Moody Blues begin a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with "Seventh Sojourn."

1978 - UK: Boney M achieve their second UK No.1 single with their version of Harry Belafonte's 1957 hit "Mary's Boy Child."

1982 - Lesotho: 41 people are killed in a raid by South African troops against alleged guerrilla bases.

1986 - UK: The NSPCC announce cases of child sex abuse have doubled in the last year.

1988 - USA: A poll released in the US states that the music of Neil Diamond was favoured as being the best background music for sex, with Beethoven and Luther Vandross, in second and third place.

1990 - Poland: Lech Walesa wins a landslide victory in the presidential elections.

1994 - Belfast: British officials meet representatives of Sinn Fein for their first formal talks in 22 years.

1995 - UK: Michael Jackson achieves his sixth solo UK No.1 single when "Earth Song" begins a six week run at the top of the charts.

1997 - London: Oasis play the first of three sell-out nights at the Wembley Arena supported by Supergrass.

2001 - UK: Channel 4 apologises to viewers after Madonna said "motherfucker" during live TV coverage at the Tate Gallery. Madonna was presenting a prize to artist Martin Creed.

2006 - France: DNA test confirm that blood with a high blood alcohol content did indeed belong to Henri Paul, the driver in the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, Dodi Al Fayed, and Paul himself in 1997.

2008 - Rep. of Ireland: Around 1,400 workers are laid off as a result of the 2008 Irish Pork Crisis.

2010 - Egypt: A stretch of beach in Sharm-el-Sheikh re-opens after a series of Shark attacks.

2011 - UK: British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore, presenter of "The Sky At Night" for over 55 years passes away in Selsey, West Sussex aged 89.

December 10th

1831 - USA: A popular weekly racing sheet, Spirit of the Times, founded by William Trotter Porter, began publication. Its stated purpose was to raise the reputation of horse racing and other sports.

1898 - Paris: The treaty ending the Spanish-American War is signed.

1909 - London: Herbert Asquith puts Irish home rule and the abolition of the Lords veto, at the centre of his election campaign.

1910 - New York: "The Girl of the Golden West" by Giacomo Puccini was staged in New York City by the Metropolitan Opera Company. It became the most talked about production of the opera season.

1913 - USA: The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Elihu Root in recognition of his work as President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

1927 - London: Greyhound Racing begins at the Empire Stadium, Wembley.

1928 - London: Piccadilly Tube Station opens.

1931 - Spain: Senor Niceto Alcala Zamora is elected Spain's first constitutional President by the National Assembly.

1937 - Glasgow: 34 people are killed and 34 are injured when an express train crashes in a blizzard.

1939 - Washington: The USA loans Finland $10 million.

1940 - Berlin: Adolf Hitler issues a directive for the seizure of French military resources and the future occupation of Vichy France (Operation Atilla), and cancels plans to invade Gibraltar via Spain (Operation Felix).

1941 - Malaya: Japanese aircraft sink the British battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Repulse

1942 - Tunisia: British and free French defenders drive off a strong German attack on Madjez el Bab.

1943 - USSR: Soviet forces retake Znamenka.

1944 - Burma: Allied engineers complete a 1,154ft long Bailey Bridge, the world's largest across the Chindwin River.

1956 - Washington: The IMF authorises $1,300 million for Britain to bolster the economy.

1961 - London: "The Young Ones" starring Cliff Richard, premieres in London.

1964 - UK: The Beatles achieve their sixth UK No.1 single with "I Feel Fine"

1966 - USA: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Robert S. Mulliken of the University of Chicago for his work on the chemical bonds of atoms in a molecule.

1968 - London: Led Zeppelin appear at the Marquee Club on Wardour Street. Tickets £7 or £6 in advance.

1971 - London: While playing the first of two nights at London's Rainbow Theatre Frank Zappa is pushed off stage by jealous boyfriend Trevor Howell. Zappa broke a leg and suffered a fractured skull.

1973 - New York: The CBGB Club opened in New York's lower east side. Over the years it became home for bands such as Blondie, Patti Smith and The Ramones.

1976 - London: Billy Idol's new band Generation X made their live debut at the Central College of Art.

1976 - USA: In the Bronfman kidnapping case, a White Plains, New York jury acquitted Mel Lynch and Dominic Byrne of kidnapping Samuel Bronfman II in 1975. The two men were convicted of extorting $2,300,000 from Bronfman's father. The defense had contended that the scheme was engineered by the younger Bronfman.

1977 - USA: Steve Cauthen becomes the first jockey to win more than $5,000,000 in purse money in one year. Cauthen ended 1977 with 488 wins.

1982 - Las Vegas: The WBA heavyweight boxing championship is won by Michael Dokes, who knocked out Mike Weaver in the first round.

1985 - USA: The highest award for damages in US history was upheld by a Texas state judge. A jury had ordered Texaco, Inc, to pay $11, 100,000,000 to the Pennzoil Company because it had interfered with an agreement for Pennzoil to acquire the Getty Oil Company in 1984. Texaco announced it would appeal the decision.

1987 - USA: Teaching about the use of condoms in the battle against the disease AIDS was given qualified support by the Roman Catholic bishops of the US, in spite of the church's opposition to birth control. The bishops position paper called on all Catholic schools to teach AIDS prevention.

1990 - USA: The first essentially new contraceptive device in 25 years was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It was a small set of tubes which were implanted under a woman's skin, which then released Progestin, a hormone that prevented conception for five years.

1992 - Brussels: Britain, Italy, Germany, and Spain agree to go ahead with a scaled-down version of the European Fighter Aircraft.

1993 - Outer Space: Spacewalking astronauts from the shuttle "Endeavour" repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

1996 - South Africa: President Nelson Mandela signs South Africa's post-apartheid constitution in Sharpville, site of a 1960 massacre of unarmed black demonstrators.

1997 - Russia: President Boris Yeltsin is admitted to a sanatorium near Moscow, fuelling new fears about his ability to perform his duties.

2000 - UK: Eminem reaches No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Stan."

2003 - USA: Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin marries Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow in a ceremony in California.

2007 - USA: Former media Tycoon Conrad Black receives a 6 and a half year jail sentence for mail fraud and obstruction of justice.

2009 - Norway: US President Barack Obama receives the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.

2010 - Spain: FC Barcelona ends its 111 year history of refusing commercial shirt sponsorship as it signs a record £125 million deal with the Qatar Foundation.

2011 - Mexico: A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits the Mexican state of Guerrero, causing three deaths.

December 11th

1816 - USA: Indiana is admitted to the Union as the 19th state.

1838 - USA: The so-called "Atherton Gag" was adopted by the House of Representatives. Named for a New Hampshire representative, Charles G. Atherton, it was the 1838 version of the 1836 gag rule that tabled automatically any petition to discuss slavery in the House.

1882 - USA: Incandescent stage lighting was first used in the US at the Bijou Theatre in Boston at a performance of Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan. Some 650 incandescent bulbs were used.

1904 - St Petersburg: Police clash with anti-government demonstrators.

1909 - Africa: A 2,147 mile section of the Cape-to-Cairo Railway is completed by a link up at the Sudan-Congo border.

1924 - Berlin: Dr. Wilhelm Marx resigns as Chancellor.

1930 - USA: The Bank of the United States in New York City, with 60 local branches and 400,000 depositors, closed. More than 1,300 banks throughout had been closed down by the deepening economic crisis.

1931 - Tokyo: The Japanese government abandons the gold standard.

1937 - Geneva: Italy leaves the League of Nations.

1939 - Poland: A forced labour programme is instituted for all Jews in the General Government area.

1940 - Libya: Ships of the British Fleet begin shelling Sollum.

1941 - Berlin and Rome: Hitler and Mussolini declare war on the US.

1942 - Vinnitsa: Adolf Hitler refuses to allow the Sixth Army to pull out of Stalingrad.

1943 - New Delhi: USAAF and RAF units in South East Asia Command are put under a single Eastern Air Command under Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Peirse.

1950 - Singapore: Thousands of Malays riot against the return of "Jungle Girl" Bertha Hertogh to her Dutch parents.

1952 - London: Lord Kelsey sells "The Daily Graphic" to Associated Newspapers.

1954 - USA: The largest warship ever built, the 59,650-ton aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal is launched at Newport News, Virginia.

1956 - London: The government approves TV broadcasting between 6pm and 7pm.

1961 - USA: Elvis Presley begins a 20 week run at No.1 on the US album charts with "Blue Hawaii."

1963 - USA: Soul Singer Sam Cooke is shot dead by his manager Bertha Franklin, who claimed she had been assaulted by Cooke while staying at the Hacienda Hotel in Los Angeles. He was 33 years old.

1968 - UK: The Scaffold were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Lily The Pink."

1969 - USA: A new world record decathlon score of 8417 points was set by Bill Toomey at the Southern Pacific AAU meeting at UCLA.

1973 - USA: The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City receives the country's largest and best collection of Italian drawings a gift courtesy of Janos Scholz.

1974 - Rhodesia: Premier Ian Smith agrees an immediate cease-fire with black nationalists.

1984 - USA: The discovery of 7,000 year-old Skulls with brains virtually intact is reported by archaeologists in Florida. The skulls were found buried in peat at the bottom of a lake. They were described as the oldest skulls from which it had thus far been possible to extract and analyze DNA.

1985 - Belfast: 38 police officers are injured in clashes with Loyalists during the first Anglo-Irish Conference.

1989 - USA: Robert E. Peary did reach the North Pole on April 6 1909 according to a report sponsored by the National Geographic Society. In recent years doubts had been cast on his claim, either on the grounds that he falsified his data, or had made an honest mistake.

1990 - UK: The government makes £42 million compensation available to 1,200 haemophiliacs infected with the AIDS virus by blood transfusions.

1993 - USA: Snoop Doggy Dogg goes to No.1 on the US album chart with "Doggy Style."

1998 - USA: Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson is hit by a bottle thrown from the audience,during a gig in Tucson, Arizona. A security guard is then stabbed trying to eject a man from the crowd.

2001 - UK: Former East 17 singer Brian Harvey undergoes surgery after suffering a serious head injury in an attack. He was set upon by a group of youths as he left the Works nightclub in Nottingham.

2003 - USA: Bobby Brown is charged with battery after allegedly hitting his wife Whitney Houston in the face.

2006 - Outer Space: The Space Shuttle Discovery successfully docks with the International Space Station, with its crew spending a week rewiring the space station.

2009 - Spain: The Airbus Military A400M has its maiden flight in Seville.

2011 - Taipei: Around 1,000 people protest in Taipei, demanding that the government makes a weekly day off a legal right for Taiwan's 200,000 foreign live-in caregivers.

December 12th

1791 - USA: The Bank of the U.S opened its main branch in Philadelphia and additional brancesin the main urban centers of America. The Bank served the federal government as its fiscal representative.

1876 - USA: A Prohibition amendment to the Constitution was introduced for the first time. It was proposed before the House in a bill by Henry W. Blair of New Hampshire.

1903 - Germany: The Reichstag approves a bill to extend by two years, preferential treatment for British imports.

1913 - Florence: The "Mona Lisa" is recovered and Vincent Perugia is arrested over its theft.

1921 - India: Mahatma Gandhi organises a complete boycott of the Prince of Wale's visit to the town of Allahabad.

1927 - Washington: President Calvin Coolidge approves a $I,000 million five-year naval building programme.

1928 - USA: The International Civil Aeronautics Conference, part of the 25th anniversary celebration of the first powered flight, opened in Washington D.C. 137 delegates from 31 countries attended.

1935 - Cairo: King Fuad restores Egypt's 1923 parliamentary constitution.

1937 - China: The US gunboat Panay is sunk in Chinese waters by Japanese air force planes, killing two people and sparking a crisis in US-Japanese relations.

1939 - Germany: The German liner Bremen arrives at Bremerhaven from Murmansk, having evaded the British blockade.

1940 - Sheffield: The Yorkshire city suffers heavy Luftwaffe raids.

1942 - Berlin: The State Opera House, bombed by British planes the previous year, re-opens with a performance of Wagner's Die Meistersinger.

1943 - Rastenburg: Irwin Rommel is appointed Commander-in-Chief of Hitler's "Fortress Europe" under the overall command of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt.

1950 - Singapore: 19 people are killed in clashes between troops and rioting Malays.

1955 - USA: A record educational grant of $500,000,000 was awarded by the Ford Foundation to 4157 privately supported colleges, universities, and hospitals.

1957 - USA: A new jet speed record was set by Major Adrian E. Drew, USAF, in a F-101 Voodoo. Drew's speed over a course above the Mojave Desert, California was 1207.6 mph.

1963 - UK: The Beatles were No.1 on the UK singles chart with "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

1969 - Milan: !3 people are killed and at least 100 are injured when a bomb devastates Milan's National Agricultural Bank.

1970 - USA: Smokey Robinson And The Miracles begin a two week stint at No.1 on the UK singles chart with "Tears Of A Clown." It was the groups 26th Top 40 hit and their first No.1.

1974 - USA: An art theft occurred at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. The museum reported that it lost a painting by Renoir, Still Life with Blue Cup.

1980 - USA: A notebook of sketches and writings by Leonardo Da Vinci was bought at auction by the industrialist Armand Hammer, for $5,280,000. He planned to bequeath the book to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

1982 - USA: The largest cash robbery in US history occurred when thieves in New York City made off with $9,800,000 from an armoured truck company.

1985 - Newfoundland: An Arrow Airlines charter jet crashes in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 248 US Army soldiers on board, and the planes crew of eight. The Soldiers, members of the 101st Airborne Division were on their way to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after a tour of duty in the Sinai Peninsula. It was reported that the DC-8 had a history of mechanical problems.

1986 - USA: The WBA heavyweight Boxing Championship was won by James "Bonecrusher" Smith, who knocked out Tim Witherspoon in the first round in the bout in New York City.

1992 - Indonesia: An Earthquake kills around 1,500 people.

1993 - London: Olympic 100-metre champion Linford Christie is voted Sports Personality of the Year.

2006 - UK: Police in Ipswich hunt a possible serial killer after five prostitutes are found dead in the space of ten days.

2008 - Afghanistan: Four members of the Royal Marines are killed in two explosions in Afghanistan.

2011 - Outer Space: 4179 Toutatis, a three-mile wide asteroid passes within 4.3 million miles or 18 lunar distances of the Earth.

December 13th

1862 - USA: The Battle of Fredericksburg, was a grave defeat for the North under General Burnside. General Lee's men killed or wounded 12,653 Union soldiers. Confederate casualties were 5,300.

1902 - London: The Committee of Imperial Defence hold their first meeting

1904 - Budapest: The interior of the Hungarian parliament building is wrecked by government opponents.

1909 - UK: South Pole explorer Ernest Shackleton is knighted.

1923 - London: Lord Alfred Douglas is sentenced to six months in prison for libelling Winston Churchill.

1928 - New York: George Gershwin's "An American in Paris" has it's first performance.

1937 - China: The Japanese Army occupies Nanking.

1939 - USA: The legendary screen star Douglas Fairbanks dies at his home in Santa Monica, California from a heart attack aged 56.

1940 - Libya: RAF bombers damage Italian bases at Derna and Bardia.

1941 - Mediterranean: The British ships Legion, Sikh and Maori sink two Italian cruisers off Cape Bon.

1942 - UK: The Jewish populace observe a day of mourning for their European brethren persecuted by the Nazis.

1943 - Germany: 710 USAAF bombers escorted by new P-51 Mustang fighters carry out raids on Bremen and Kiel.

1944 - Sulu Sea: Kamikaze attacks damage the US cruiser Nashville and the destroyer Haraden

1955 - West Berlin: Ex-West Berlin security boss Otto John flees back to the West from East Germany.

1957 - Iran: 2,000 people are reported killed after an earthquake hits.

1962 - UK: Elvis Presley achieves his 13th UK No.1 single with "Return To Sender."

1966 - UK: Jimi Hendrix makes his TV debut on ITV's "Ready Steady Go!. Marc Bolan also makes an appearance.

1970 - Laos: A US bomber carrying top secret equipment is reported to have been shot down.

1975 - USA: Chicago begin a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with "Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits."

1979 - London: Simple Minds play the first of two sell out gigs at the Marquee Club. Tickets cost £1.25.

1981 - London: Two Iranians are killed when a bomb they are carrying explodes near Marble Arch.

1985 - Cyprus: Briton Ian Davison, who joined the PLO, gets life for killing three Israeli's.

1986 - USA: Bruce Hornsby and The Range go to No.1 on the US singles charts with "The Way It Is."

1994 - London: The Beautiful South begin a five date UK tour at the Brixton Academy.

1998 - Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico votes "no" to becoming the 51st member-state of USA.

2000: London: Sir Paul McCartney holds his first-ever London book signing at Waterstone's in Piccadilly. Sir Paul was signing copies of his new book, Paul McCartney Paintings.

2005 - Iraq: Four American Soldiers are killed following an IED attack in Baghdad.

2007 - Dominican Republic: An Archaeological expedition from Indiana University finds the remains of William Kidd's ship Quedagh Merchant believed to have sunk in 1699 near Catalina Island.

2010 - Madagascar: A new species of fork-marked Lemur is identified in North-East Madagascar.

2011 - Denmark: The Tallow Candle an early work by Hans Christian Anderson is found at the bottom of a box near the Danish Fairy Tale writers home city.

December 14th

1774 - USA: The first military encounter of the American Revolution occurred. On the report (the news was carried by Paul Revere) that the British intended to station a garrison at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Major John Sullivan led a band of militia to Fort William and Mary, broke into its arsenal, and carried off a store of arms and ammunition. Neither side suffered casualties.

1819 - USA: Alabama was admitted into the union, becoming the 22nd state.

1889 - USA: The American Academy of Political and Social Science was founded in Philadelphia.

1894 - USA: Evidence of corruption in the New York City police department was highlighted by the admission of Captain Timothy J. Creeden to a state Senate investigating committee that he paid $15, 000 for his captaincy.

1903 - Australia: England Batsman R.E. Foster scores a record Test innings of 287 against Australia.

1906 - Germany: The First German Submarine the U1 enters service.

1910 - Palestine: Turkish Troops are sent to suppress an uprising of around 20,000 Bedouin Arabs.

1922 - London: John Reith is appointed General Manager of the BBC.

1923 - UK: A foot and mouth epidemic sees the slaughter of 73,500 animals.

1927 - China: Chiang Kai-shek's forces crush a communist coup attempt in Canton.

1939 - Germany: Adolf Hitler orders his Supreme Command to prepare plans for Weserubung [Exercise Weber] the invasion of Norway.

1940 - UK: Winston Churchill enjoys a private screening of Charlie Chaplin's film "The Great Dictator."

1941 - Mediterranean: The cruiser HMS Galatea is sunk by the U-boat U577 off Alexandria.

1942 - Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe flies in a record, but still inadequate, 100 tons of supplies to the trapped Sixth Army.

1943 - Greece: 300 allied bombers launch a raid on Athens.

1944 - London: The "Greater London Plan" is published advocating the creation of a "green belt" around the capital and the transfer of a million people to ten new towns.

1955 - New York: The UN admits 16 new members but bars Mongolia and Japan.

1959 - Cardiff: Archaeologists claim Stonehenge is not of Druid origin.

1962 - Outer Space: Mariner II on it's 109th day of flight, transmits information about Venus for 42 minutes.

1967 - USA: Production of synthetic DNA, the substance that controls heredity, is announced by biochemists at Stanford University.

1971 - Dacca: The official government of East Pakistan resigns as Indian troops close in on city.

1972 - London: The Ringo Starr directed movie "Born To Boogie" featuring T-Rex has its premiere.

1977 - USA: The Movie "Saturday Night Fever" starring John Travolta, has its premiere in New York.

1980 - Liverpool/New York: Thousands of fans hold a 10 minute vigil for murdered ex-Beatle John Lennon.

1981 - UK: Adam and the Ants begin a 23 date UK tour at the St Austell Coliseum, Cornwall.

1985 - UK: Whitney Houston scores her first UK No.1 single with "Saving All My Love For You."

1991 - USA: Michael Jackson begins a four-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with "Dangerous."

1996 - Australia: Michael Jackson weds Debbie Rowe, a 37 year-old nurse, who is pregnant with his first child.

1999 - UK: Sir Paul McCartney plays a live show at the Cavern Club in Liverpool - his last gig at the venue was in 1963.

2003 - UK: Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne go to No.1 on the Uk singles chart with "Changes". It was a remake of a track first sung by Ozzy on the Black Sabbath album "Volume 4" in 1972.

2005 -Pakistan: Doctors marvel at the survival of Naqsha Bibi, rescued after 63 days afre she was buried in 8th October Kashmir Earthquake.

2009 - UK: British Airways cabin crew vote overwhelmingly in favour of a planed 12 days of strike action over the Xmas and New year, in a dispute over job cuts and staff contract services.

2012 - Isle of Wight: Kenneth Kendall who became the BBC's first in-vision Television news-reader in 1955 dies after suffering a stroke aged 89.

This happened exactly ten years ago :