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SCMP Reporter

In Hong Kong

1962: A Royal Air Force pilot was killed when a Hawker Hunter jet crashed into the northern slopes of Lion Rock during a routine exercise.

1964: Hundreds of teenagers descended on the Hong Kong Hilton for the 'Hippy Christmas Ball'. They were entertained by teenage bands Groups Incorporated and the Astronotes and soloist Angel Pena.

1967: Police raided a building at Kam Chin Village, Sheung Shiu, and found equipment used for making counterfeit dollar coins. The fakes were almost exact replicas, only lighter in weight than real currency.

1969: Juan B Gomez, vice-consul for Panama in Hong Kong, was sacked for sending congratulatory messages to the colonels who had staged an unsuccessful coup in Panama, December 13.

Around the world

1832: John Caldwell Calhoun resigned as US vice-president, the only one to quit for political reasons. Spiro Agnew was forced out in disgrace in 1973.

1856: Woodrow Wilson, 28th US president for two terms from 1912, who led his country into the World War I and responsible for the Fourteen Points peace plan to end it, was born.

1869: William F Semple of Mount Vernon, Ohio, became the first person to receive a patent for chewing gum.

1895: The Lumiere brothers Antoine and Louis unveiled their Cinematographe in the basement of the Grand Cafe in Paris. Only 33 people paid to see it.

1908: More than 82,000 people were killed in an earthquake which reduced Messina, Sicily's second town, to rubble. A tsunami that followed caused more devastation.

1908: Lew Ayres, US actor noted for his portrayal of the young German soldier in All Quiet on the Western Front in 1930, was born.

1923: Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, French engineer who built the tower in Paris that bears his name, died.

1937: French composer Maurice Ravel died; his works included Bolero, which won popular fame.

1945: Nepal's King Birendra was born. He inherited the world's only Hindu kingdom in 1972, barely 20 years after it was opened to the world.

1950: During the Korean War, Chinese troops crossed the 38th parallel.

1968: Israeli commandos bombed Beirut airport, destroying 13 planes, after attacks on Israeli aircraft.

1972: Palestinian Black September guerillas captured the Israeli embassy in Bangkok and took six hostages. The next day the hostages were freed and the guerillas flown to Cairo.

1985: Lebanon's Moslem and Christian militias agreed to a Syrian-brokered ceasefire after four months of negotiations.

1989: Authorities in Lithuania formally launched the Soviet Union's first multi-party system.

1995: China named the committee responsible for steering Hong Kong through its transition from British colony to Chinese Special Administration Region (SAR) in 1997.

1999: Portugal and Indonesia restored full diplomatic relations after a break of nearly a quarter of a century.



Today in history