NOW & THEN
DECEMBER 15
1612: German astronomer Simon Marius became the first to observe Andromeda through a telescope.
1840: The state funeral of Napoleon Bonaparte took place in Paris, 19 years after his death. 1916: French defeated Germans in Battle of Verdun, which resulted in the deaths of 364,000 Allied soldiers and 338,000 Germans.
1917: Armistice was signed by the new Soviet government, in agreement with the Central Powers (Austro-hungarian Empire, Bulgaria, German Empire and Ottoman Empire). 1939: Nylon was first produced commercially in the US.
1944: The plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel while he was en route to Paris where he was due to play for troops.
1957: UN rejected Greek proposal that Cyprus was entitled to self-determination.
1958: Last steam locomotive made at Crewe works was the 7,331st steam loco built there since 1843.
1961: Adolph Eichmann, the Nazi who organised the execution of millions of Jews, was sentenced to death after a fourmonth trial in Jerusalem. He was hanged on 31 May, 1962.
1961: UN General Assembly voted to admit Chinese People’s Republic.
1964: The Maple Leaf adopted as the national flag of Canada. 1965: US Mariner spacecraft relayed data about Venus as it flew past that planet.
1973: John Paul Getty III was released by kidnappers in Italy who had held him for five months and cut off his ear. 1976: The oil tanker Argo Merchant ran aground on Nantucket Shoals and spilled 7.6 million gallons of oil, one of the largest oil spills in marine history.
1982: Gibraltar’s frontier with Spain was opened to pedestrians after 13 years.
1985: Street battles broke out in Johannesburg between police and anti-apartheid crowd demanding freedom for Nelson Mandela.
1988: A script of the only play written by George Orwell sold at Sotheby’s for £4,400.
1989: Panamanian Assembly named Manuel Noriega head of government and declared “a state of war” with the US.
1991: Scottish runner Liz Mccolgan was voted BBC television’s Sports Personality of the Year.
1993: John Major and Irish premier Albert Reynolds signed a joint declaration aimed at bringing peace to Ulster.
2000: The third reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine was shut down.
2001: The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopened after 11 years and £20 million to fortify it, without fixing its famous lean.
2011: A French court gave former president Jacques Chirac a two-year suspended sentence for diverting public funds and abusing public trust dating back to his time as mayor of Paris. 2014: A cafe in Sydney, Australia was under siege for 16 hours as an armed terrorist held the occupants hostage. The siege ended when security forces stormed the building. Three people, including the gunman, died.