ON THIS DAY
1552: Death of Spanish missionary Francis Xavier, who helped Ignatius Loyola found the Jesuits. 1836: Three people died at Great Corby, near Carlisle in Cumbria, in the first fatal railway derailment. 1894: Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and other works, died of a stroke at his villa in Samoa. 1910: Neon lighting, developed by French physicist Georges Claude, was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor Show. 1919: French Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir died near Cannes. He was 78.
1926: Novelist Agatha Christie disappeared from her Surrey home. She was discovered on December 14 staying under an assumed name at a hotel in Harrogate but had no recollection of how she got there.
1967: The first heart transplant was performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard and a team of surgeons in South Africa.
1984: More than 3,000 people died in a chemical factory spillage at Bhopal, central India.
1988: Health minister Edwina Currie claimed that most of Britain’s egg production was affected by salmonella.
2012: St James’s Palace announced that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were expecting their first baby.
ON THIS DAY LAST YEAR:
Scientists revealed they’d found a way to attach artificial neurons onto silicon chips which they believed could be used to help cure a number of chronic diseases. BIRTHDAYS: Jean-Luc Godard, film director, 90; Paul Nicholas, actor, 76; Ozzy Osbourne, rock singer, 72; Daryl Hannah, actress, 60; Julianne Moore, actress, 60; Daniel Bedingfield, singer/ songwriter, 41; Anna Chlumsky, actress, 40; Amanda Seyfried, actress, 35.