2005
The Civil Partnership Act comes into force in Britain
Great Britain
1993
American astronauts repaired the faulty Hubble space telescope by fitting corrective optics.
1988
American TV evangelist Jim Bakker was charged with 24 counts of fraud and conspiring to defraud churchgoers of $158 million.
1983
Death of Robert Aldrich, American film director, writer and producer (‘The Dirty Dozen’, ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’ etc).
1978
The USSR signed a ‘friendship treaty’ with Afghanistan .
1958
Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) began operating in the UK, though initially only in the Bristol area. The Queen made the first call.
1958
Britain’s first motorway, the Preston bypass, was opened by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
1933
Prohibition was repealed in the USA after more than 13 years .
United States
1926
Death of Claude Monet, French artist
1908
The first American football game in which the players wore numbered uniforms was played at the University of Pittsburgh.
1859
Birth of John Jellicoe, British admiral of the fleet during World War I
1765
Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
1492
Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola.