Today in history

On Dec. 3, 1926, a real-life mystery began as English novelist Agatha Christie, 36, drove away from her home in Sunningdale, Berkshire, and disappeared. (Christie turned up 11days later at a hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire, under an assumed name, for reasons never quite explained.)

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.

In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio — the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States — began holding classes.

In 1925, George Gershwin's Concerto in F had its world premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin at the piano.

In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway.

In 1953, the musical "Kismet," featuring the song "Stranger in Paradise," opened on Broadway.

In 1960, the Lerner and Loewe musical "Camelot" opened on Broadway.

In 1965, The Beatles' sixth studio album, "Rubber Soul," was released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone (it was released in the U.S. by Capitol Records three days later).

In 1967, surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lived 18 days with the donor heart, which came from Denise Darvall, a 25-year-old bank clerk who'd died in a traffic accident. The 20th Century Limited, the famed luxury train, completed its final run from New York to Chicago.

In 1979, 11 people were killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum, where the British rock group The Who was performing.

In 1984, thousands of people died after a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

In 1991, radicals in Lebanon released American hostage Alann (cq) Steen, who'd been held captive nearly five years.

Ten years ago: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (OO'-goh CHAH'-vez) won re-election, defeating Manuel Rosales. Marat Safin had 16 aces in beating Jose Acasuso 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in the fifth and deciding match on, giving Russia a 3-2 decision over Argentina for its second Davis Cup crown.

“What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.” — Pearl Bailey, American entertainer (19181990).