In Hong Kong 1954: A giant ray fish, entangled in the anchor chain of a five-tonne yacht, the Bettina, towed the boat for more than a mile on a zigzag course through Junk Bay, reaching a speed of six to seven knots. 1957: There was great excitement at the Man Yee Building as hundreds of people queued-up to test out Hong Kong's first escalator in a public building. The expressions on some of the faces of the passengers showed sheer delight or apprehension. Others rode with a look of superior indifference. 1972: The Peak Tower Restaurant, run by the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotel Group, had a fully booked house on its opening night. 1973: The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club announced that Hong Kong punters would be able to lay off-course bets on horse racing and Macau dogs by the beginning of 1974. Around the world 1100: King William II of England, son of William the Conqueror, was killed by an arrow while hunting in the New Forest. 1718: The Quadruple Alliance was formed by Britain, the Netherlands, France and the Holy Roman Empire against the aggressive policy pursued by Spain. 1754: Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French engineer, architect and urban designer responsible for the city layout of Washington, was born. 1788: Thomas Gainsborough, one of the best known English portrait and landscape artists, died. 1802: Napoleon Bonaparte of France was declared 'Consul for Life', giving him the power to name his successor. 1835: US inventor Elisha Gray was born. Founder of the Western Electric Company, he filed a patent on a telephone device only hours after Alexander Graham Bell. 1858: The British Parliament passed the India Bill, transferring the government of India to the Crown from the East India Company. 1876: Wild Bill Hickok, US marshal and one of the most colourful figures of the Wild West, was killed in a saloon. 1892: Jack Warner, US film executive, was born. He was co-founder with his brother Harry of Warner Brothers Pictures Inc. 1922: Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor of the telephone in 1876, died. 1939: Albert Einstein, concerned that German scientists were working on bombs using uranium, wrote to US President Franklin Roosevelt urging him to start an atomic project. 1970: The British army used rubber bullets for the first time to quell a riot in Northern Ireland. 1990: Iraq invaded Kuwait. The Emir fled to Saudi Arabia; the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the Iraqi occupation and demanded Baghdad withdraw. 1997: Nigeria's musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who popularised the Afro-music beat globally, died of Aids, aged 58. 1999: In eastern India, the Awadh-Assam Express, heading for the state of Assam, and the Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail collided head-on, killing 285 people and injuring nearly 300.
