TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017

On this day in history:

1503 - Physician, astrologer and clairvoyant Nostradamus was born at St. Remy, Provence, France.

1903 - Orville Wright made the first attempt at powered flight. The engine stalled during take-off and the plane was damaged in the attempt. Three days later, after repairs were made, the modern aviation age was born when the plane stayed aloft for 12 seconds and flew 102 feet.

1911 - Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first man to reach the South Pole. He reached the destination 35 days ahead of Captain Robert F. Scott.

1918 - For the first time in Britain women (over 30) voted in a General Election.

1939 - The Soviet Union was dropped from the League of Nations.

1945 - Josef Kramer, known as “the beast of Belsen,” and 10 others were executed in Hamelin for the crimes they committed at the Belsen and Auschwitz Nazi concentration camps.

1959 - Archbishop Makarios was elected Cyprus’ first president.

1981 - Israel annexed the Golan Heights, seized from Syria in war in 1967.

1997 - Cuban President Fidel Castro declared Christmas 1997 an official holiday to ensure the success of Pope John Paul II’s upcoming visit to Cuba.

1999 - Charles M. Schulz announced he was retiring the “Peanuts” comic strip. The last original “Peanuts” comic strip was published on February 13, 2000.

2001 - European Union leaders agreed to dispatch 3000-4000 troops to join an international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.

2013 - The Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 3 became the first spacecraft to “soft”-land on the Moon since 1976. It was only the third robotic rover to land on the moon.