NOW & THEN
DECEMBER 6
1534: Quito, the current capital of Ecuador and the world’s highest capital city, was established by Spanish settlers.
1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army, having reached Derby, began its retreat back to Scotland.
1756: British troops under the command of Robert Clive occupied Fulta, India.
1774: Austria introduced the first state system of education. 1865: The 13th amendment of the US constitution was ratified, abolishing slavery.
1877: Thomas Edison demonstrated the first gramophone in West Orange, New Jersey, with a recording of himself reciting Mary Had a Little Lamb.
1906: Britain granted self-government to Transvaal.
1912: The 3,300-year-old bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti was found by a German archaeological team in Amama, Egypt. 1917: At least 1,600 people died and more than 8,000 were injured in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when French and Belgian munitions ships blew up in the harbour after colliding.
1917: Finland proclaimed independence from Russian rule. 1921: The Anglo-irish Treaty was signed by Great Britain and members of Sinn Fein (acting on behalf of the Republic of Ireland), at the end of the Irish War of Independence.
1933: Having been banned in the UK and USA for obscenity, a US district court ruled that James Joyce’s novel Ulysses was not pornographic, and the USA therefore became the first English-speaking country in which it was freely available. 1957: Watched by the world’s press, America’s first satellite launch failed when Vanguard rocket exploded on take-off. 1959: Twelve men drowned when the Aberdeen trawler George Robb went aground at Duncansby Head as winds reached Force 15 (110mph) around Scottish coasts. The 360-tonne Leith coaster Servus, bound for Wick, also became a total loss, but her crew of eight were rescued by the Cromarty lifeboat before she was driven ashore near Dunbeath Castle. 1963: Call girl Christine Keeler was sent to prison for nine months for perjury in the Profumo scandal.
1971: India recognised Bangladesh as an independent state and went to war with Pakistan, which was attempting to retain control of its former eastern province.
1975: Balcombe Street siege began. Four IRA volunteers held two hostages in an apartment in London for six days.
1990: Iraq decided to release all foreign hostages held since the start of the Gulf crisis.
1992: Swiss voters vetoed a government-backed plan to move towards joining the European Community.
1995: Schools across Britain began taking beef off dinner menus as fears escalated about the dangers of humans catching mad cow disease.
2005: David Cameron, 39, was elected Conservative Party leader.
2006: Nasa revealed photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.