1492: Columbus discovered Hispaniola, now known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1768: The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica was published in Scotland.
1774: Austria became the first nation to introduce a state education system.
1877: Thomas Edison demonstrated the first gramophone in New Jersey, with a recording of himself reciting Mary Had A Little Lamb.
1926: Mussolini introduced a tax on bachelors and black snow fell in France.
1957: The first American attempt to launch a satellite failed when it exploded on take-off.
1963: The Beatles began the tradition of releasing a Christmas record for their fans.
1967: Cliff Richard was confirmed into the Church of England.
1977: Mull of Kintyre by Wings was number one in the charts.
1983: Britain's first heart and lung transplant was carried out on a Swedish man.
1990: Saddam Hussain announced that he would free all the 2,000 foreign hostages held in Iraq as a human shield during the Gulf War.
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