Dec 1 in History
1761 — Madame Tussaud, wax sculptor, is born in Strasbourg, France. Anna Maria (Marie) Grosholtz marries François Tussaud in 1795. She travels to London in 1802 to present her collection of portraits, but is unable to return to France because of the Napoleonic Wars. She opens the famous Madame Tussaud wax museum in London in 1835. Her two sons join her in the business, but François remains in France and they never see each other again.
1822 — Franz Liszt (Hungarian composer), 11, makes his debut as a pianist for Spanish opera singer Isabella Colbran, wife of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. 1834 — Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony, in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which abolishes slavery throughout the British
Empire and came into force on August 1.
1913 — Crete — having obtained self-rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War — officially unites with Greece, fulfilling the century-long dream of Cretans. At 8,450km², it is the largest and most populous (about 640,000) of the Greek Islands.
1919 — Lady Nancy Astor is sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.
1941 — Japanese emperor Hirohito signs a declaration of war against the US, UK and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The British declare a state of emergency in Malaya following Japanese attacks. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor on December 7. The UK declares war on Japan nine hours before the US does, partly due to Japanese attacks on Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong, and partly due to Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s promise to declare war “within the hour” of a Japanese attack on the US. On December 11, Germany and Italy declare war on the US. The US retaliates later that day.
1943 — Churchill, US President Franklin D Roosevelt and Soviet leader Josef Stalin conclude their Tehran Conference (which started on November 28) and agree to the details of Operation Overlord (D-Day). 1988 — The first World Aids Day is held.
1990 — British and French workers digging the 50.45km Channel Tunnel between their countries (work started in 1988) finally meet after knocking out a passage in a service tunnel large enough for Englishman Graham Fagg and Frenchman Phillippe Cozette to walk through and shake hands.
2010 — Attie Potgieter, 40, his wife Wilna, 36, and daughter Wilmien, 2, are brutally murdered on their farm near Lindley. On July 28 2011, two of the six men (aged 18-34) convicted of the murders, are sentenced to three life terms in prison each, one to life in prison, two to 30 and one to seven years.