NOW & THEN
DECEMBER 1
1640: Portugal regained independence following 60 years of Spanish rule.
1742: Empress Elisabeth ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Russia.
1768: The first of three volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica appeared, edited by William Smellie, published in Edinburgh. 1787: The first lighthouse in Scotland, built at Kinnaird Head, Fraserburgh, by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson, went into operation.
1835: Hans Christian Andersen published his first book of fairy tales.
1878: The first telephone was installed at the White House. 1886: The Severn Railway Tunnel under the Bristol Channel was opened to trains, making it the longest railway tunnel in Britain.
1887: Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes made his first print appearance in A Study in Scarlet, which featured in Beeton’s Christmas Annual.
1895: The first credit card in Britain, called The Golden Promise and Guarantee of Honour, was issued. It was limited to shops in Kingston upon Hull. 1903: The first western film, The Great Train Robbery, a 12-minute silent movie, was released. 1906: The Cinema Omnia Pathé, the world’s first purpose-built picture palace, opened in Paris. 1909: Degania Alef, Israel’s first kibbutz, was established.
1913: The Ford Motor Company introduced a continuous moving assembly line, with one car produced every two minutes, 38 seconds.
1916: First road safety campaign opened in London.
1921: Henri Landru – Bluebeard – found guilty of the murder of ten women and the son of one of them.
1925: The Summer Time Act was made permanent.
1929: The game of bingo was invented by Edwin S Lowe, 1942: The Beveridge Report on Social Security, which was the basis of the welfare state, was issued.
1953: Hugh Hefner published the first edition of Playboy magazine, featuring Marilyn Monroe as its first centrefold.
1959: The first colour photograph of Earth was received from outer space.
1966: Britain’s post offices issued the first Christmas stamps, designed by children.
1973: Jack Nicklaus became the first golfer to earn $2 million in a year.
1987: Department of Trade inspectors were ordered into the Guinness company after allegations of misconduct which ended with four arrests, including the chairman, Ernest Saunders. 1988: Benazir Bhutto was named Pakistan’s prime minister, becoming first woman to lead a modern-day Muslim nation. 1990: At 11:12am in the Channel Tunnel, the British and French tunnelling teams joined by shaking hands and exchanging national flags.
2009: The Treaty of Lisbon, which amended the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which together comprised the constitutional basis of the European Union, came into effect.