Today in History
Important Events
- 1586 Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia
- 1854 Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences
- 1967 1st human heart transplant performed in South Africa by Dr Christiaan Barnard on Louis Washkansky
- 1984 Bhopal disaster: Union Carbide pesticide plant leak 45 tons of methyl isocyanate and other toxic compounds in Bhopal, India, kills 2,259 (official figure) - other estimates as high as 16,000 (including later deaths) and over half a million injured
- 1989 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over
Today in Music
- 1908 Edward Elgar's 1st Symphony in A performed by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter, premieres in Manchester, England
- 2019 Spotify say Drake the most streamed star of the 2010s with 28 billion streams, Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You" most streamed track with 2.4 billion streams
Today in Sport
- 1961 Dutchman Anton Geesink becomes 1st non-Japanese judo world champion
Did You Know?
First official US flag raised (Grand Union Flag) aboard naval vessel USS Alfred
On this day in 1775
Famous Birthdays
George McClellan
(1826 - 1885)- Ozzy Osbourne
72nd Birthday - Julianne Moore
60th Birthday
George McClellan
Ozzy Osbourne
Julianne MooreTomorrow's Famous Birthdays
- Crazy Horse
(1840 - 1877) - Chester Greenwood
(1858 - 1937) - Francisco Franco
(1892 - 1975)
Crazy Horse
Chester Greenwood
Francisco FrancoWould You Believe?
NASA loses radio contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere
On this day in 1999
Famous Weddings
- 1931 Silent film actress Clara Bow (26) weds actor and politician Rex Bell (28) in Las Vegas
- 1940 Nobel Prize winning author Albert Camus (27) weds pianist and mathematician Francine Faure (25) in Lyon, France
- 1984 Oldest groom - Harry Stevens, 103, weds Thelma Lucas, 83, in Wisconsin
Diocletian
Robert Louis Stevenson
Mary Baker Eddy
Thomas Hobbes
Robert Jenkinson
Hannah ArendtThis Month in History
How the First Sherlock Holmes Story was Sold for a Song
How did an English publisher most famous for giving the world Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management come to publish the first Sherlock Holmes story?
December 1, 1887Fish Dish Finishes Off a King
Doctors warned King Henry I against eating lampreys. But he enjoyed the slippery fish and happily devoured a plateful of them leading to his death on this day.
December 1, 1135Mozart, the Incomparable Musical Genius
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a musical genius who composed over 600 works in his short lifetime, died mysteriously on this day and was buried unceremoniously.
December 5, 1791'Infamy' as Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor
Japan launched its shock attack against the American Navy base at Pearl Harbor on this day – a date to “live in infamy,” according to the US President.
December 7, 1941
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