IT HAPPENED TODAY
1684:
Puppet shows performed and shopping stalls were set up on the Thames in London during a deep freeze.
1799:
Prime minister William Pitt (the Younger) introduced income tax at two shillings in the pound to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.
1902:
New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.
1914:
Striptease artiste Gypsy Rose Lee was born in Seattle. She became Queen of Burlesque in the 1930s and her autobiography, Gypsy, became a hit musical.
1927:
Greta Garbo (above) and John Gilbert — real-life lovers — shocked cinemagoers in New York by their uninhibited kissing in the silent film Flesh And The Devil.
1951:
Life After Tomorrow, the first film to receive an X rating in the UK, opened in London.
Anthony Eden (above) resigned as prime minister in the wake of the Suez crisis.
1972:
The liner Queen Elizabeth, after being removed to Hong Kong to serve as a floating marine university, sank after catching fire.
1997:
Yachtsman Tony Bullimore was found alive, five days after his boat capsized in the freezing wastes of the Southern Ocean, 2,200km off the coast of Australia.
2007:
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Aldi reported record sales over the Christmas period after shoppers snapped up both luxury products and cut-price fruit and vegetables.
BIRTHDAYS:
Joan Baez, singer, 77; Jimmy Page, rock guitarist, 74; Crystal Gayle, singer, 67; Joely Richardson, actress, 53; Jimmy Adams, former cricketer, 50; the Duchess of Cambridge (above), 36; Paolo Nutini, singer/songwriter, 31.