ON THIS DAY
1035: Death of Canute, Danish king of England.
1660: John Bunyan, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, was jailed for preaching without a licence.
1840: Sculptor Auguste Rodin as born in Paris.
1859: The man who invented the leotard - Jules Leotard - gave the world’s first flying trapeze display in Paris. 1911: Rev Chad Varah, founder of the Samaritans, was born.
1919: The first flight from England to Australia began from Hounslow with Ross and Keith Smith in a Vickers Vimy. They landed safely on December 10.
1931: Abbey Road recording studio in London was opened by Sir Edward Elgar.
1944: Tirpitz, last of Hitler’s fleet of “unsinkable battleships”, was sunk off the Norwegian coast by Lancaster bombers.
1979: In response to the hostage situation in Tehran, US president Jimmy Carter ordered a halt to all petroleum imports into the United States from Iran.
1990: Crown Prince Akihito was formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
1997: Ramzi Yousef was found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR: The Duke of Cambridge met with internet and technology bosses in his campaign against cyber bullying.