TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018

On this day in history:

1431 - In Paris, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France.

1732 - The original Covent Garden Theatre Royal (now the Royal Opera House) was opened.

1800 - James Grant discovers and names Portland Bay and Cape Otway on the southern coast.

1846 - Leichhardt departs Jimbour Station on his second but unsuccessful expedition.

1907 - At London’s National Sporting Club, Eugene Corri became the first referee to officiate from inside a boxing ring.

1941 - Pearl Harbor, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese warplanes. The attack resulted in the US. entering into World War II.

1971 - Libya announced the nationalisation of British Petroleum’s assets.

1972 - Imelda Marcos, wife of Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos, was stabbed and seriously wounded by an assailant. The man was then shot and killed by her bodyguards.

1974 - President Makarios returned to Cyprus after five months in exile.

1980 - General Antonio Ramlho Eanes was re-elected president of Portugal. His right-wing opposition was thrown into disarray by the death of Premier Francisco Sa Carneiro in a plane crash.

1983 - Madrid, Spain, an Aviaco DC-9 collided on a runway with an Iberia Air Lines Boeing 727 that was accelerating for take-off. The collision resulted in the death of all 42 people aboard the DC-9 and 51 on the Iberia jet.

1989 - East Germany’s Communist Party agreed to cooperate with the plan for free elections and a revised constitution.

2002 - In Amsterdam, Netherlands, two Van Gogh paintings were stolen from the Van Gogh Museum. The two works were View of the Sea st Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen. On July 26, 2004, two men were convicted for the crime and were sentenced to at least four years in prison each.