TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2016

On this day in history:

1783 - George Washington returned home to Mount Vernon, after the disbanding of his army following the Revolutionary War.

1834 - English architect Joseph Hansom patented his ‘safety cab’, better known as the Hansom cab.

1880 - Thomas Edison incorporated the Edison Electric Light Company of Europe.

1888 - Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh cut off part of his own earlobe.

1893 - The South Australian Parliament gives assent to the Act which supports the founding of communal settlements, or village settlements, most of which are built along the Murray River. 1906 - Australian invention, the surf lifesaving reel, is demonstrated for the first time.

1922 - The British Broadcasting Corporation began daily news broadcasts.

1941 - During the Second World War, American forces on Wake Island surrendered to the Japanese.

1948 - Former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders were executed in Tokyo. They had been found guilty of crimes against humanity. 1953 - Soviet secret police chief Lavrenti Beria and six of his associates were shot for treason following a secret trial. 1965 - A 70mph speed limit was introduced in Britain. 1989 - Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, were captured as they were attempting to flee their country.

1990 - Elections in Yugoslavia ended, leaving four of its six republics with non-Communist governments.

1995 - A fire in Dabwali, India, killed 540 people, including 170 children, during a year-end party being held near the children’s school.

1995 - The bodies of 16 members of the Solar Temple religious sect were found in a clearing near Grenoble, France. 14 were presumed shot by two people who then committed suicide.

1998 - Guerrillas in south Lebanon fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel.