2022
The Batman, featuring lead actor Robert Pattinson, hit the box office in 4,217 locations in North America.
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2020
Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.
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2001
A Real IRA car bomb exploded in front of the BBC’s headquarters in London, injuring one person.
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1986
The Soviet Union’s Vega 1 Space Probe began sending back images of Halley’s Comet.
Vega 1 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Proton rocket on December 15, 1984, on a mission to Venus to do a flyby of Halley’s Comet. Vega 1 reached the vicinity of Venus by June 1985, from which point it began heading for Halley’s Comet. Vega 1′s instruments sent back a detailed analysis of the comet, including its core temperatures and surface composition.
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1984
World tennis champion Martina Navratilova won her 74th match streak.
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1975
The first People’s Choice Awards aired on CBS.
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1966
John Lennon made a controversial statement saying that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus.”
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1954
The first successful kidney transplant took place at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
The procedure was carried out by Dr. Joseph E. Murray, who later won a Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine.
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1936
The Hindenburg disaster occurred.
On this day, the Hindenburg airship caught fire for unknown reasons. There were 36 passengers and 61 crew on board, of which 36 lost their lives.
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1922
The silent horror movie “Nosferatu” was released in Berlin, making it the first-ever vampire movie.
Nosferatu is an adaptation of the original novel “Dracula” by Bram Stoker.
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1797
America’s second president John Adams was inaugurated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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1789
The Senate convened for the first time after the new federal government was set up in the USA.
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1665
The Second Anglo-Dutch War began as England fought the Dutch republic for the control of seas and trade routes.
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1522
Anne Boleyn made her first public appearance in court, where she took part in “The Château Vert” pageant.
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