1999
An international team of scientists announced that they had mapped an entire human chromosome. (All chromosomes were mapped by April 2003)
1990
Channel Tunnel excavation teams meet in the middle
1989
Mikhail Gorbachev became the first Soviet leader to visit the Vatican and meet the Pope
1988
A cyclone in Bangladesh killed thousands of people and left five million homeless.
1978
US President Jimmy Carter designated 56 million acres of Alaska as national monuments, doubling the size of the US national park system.
United States
1969
The US Government held its first draft lottery since WWII to determine the order in which men were selected for war service in Vietnam
1959
12 countries, including the UK and the USA, signed the Antarctic Treaty, setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve free from military activity
1958
The Central African Republic became independent from France .
1939
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer made his first ever appearance in a childrens colouring book given away by Montgomery Ward stores in the USA. (Date is approximate; it was launched for the 1939 Christmas season)
1934
Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a massive purge (i.e. assassination) of his real and perceived enemies and opponents in the Communist Party, government, armed forces, and intelligentsia
1933
Birth of Lou Rawls, American soul, jazz and blues singer .
1918
Iceland gained its independence from Denmark, but retained the King of Denmark as its monarch.
1918
The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia) was proclaimed.
1918
Proclamation of the uniting of Transylvania with Romania .
1835
Hans Christian Andersen publishes his first book of fairy tales
1707
1 Jeremiah Clarke, shot himself 1707 while mentally deranged (born c 1673). Organist and composer. Best known for the so-called 'trumpet voluntary', once thought to have been written by Purcell
1420
Henry V of England enters Paris
France
1135
Death of Henry I; Stephen seizes the throne of England amid a confusion of Matildas
Great Britain