On this day

1684: Puppet shows performed and shopping stalls were set up on the Thames in London during a deep freeze.

1799: Prime minister William Pitt (the Younger) introduced income tax at two shillings in the pound to raise funds for the Napoleonic Wars.

1902: New York State introduced a bill to outlaw flirting in public.

1927: Greta Garbo and John Gilbert - real-life lovers - shocked cinemagoers in New York by their uninhibited kissing in the silent film Flesh And The Devil.

1951: Life After Tomorrow, the first film to receive an X rating in Britain, opened in London.

1957: Anthony Eden resigned as prime minister in the wake of the Suez crisis.

1972: The liner Queen Elizabeth, after being removed to Hong Kong to serve as a floating marine university, sank after catching fire.

1997: Yachtsman Tony Bullimore was found alive, five days after his boat capsized in the freezing wastes of the Southern Ocean, 2,200km off the coast of Australia.

2007: Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone.