In England on this day in 1154, Henry II was proclaimed as the country’s king. The Battle of Dreux, fought over between the Huguenots and the Catholics in 1562 was the first battle in the French Wars of Religion which continued until 1598.

In 1732, Benjamin Franklin began publishing his ‘Poor Richards Almanac.’ The annual publication ran until 1758. Thomas Paine published his first ‘American Crisis’ essay on this day in 1776. General George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men into their winter camp of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania for the winter of 1777.

In 1871 the patent was given to Albert L Jones for corrugated paper. On this day in 1887, Jake Kilrain fought Jim Smith in a bare knuckles fight which lasted for 2 hours and 30 minutes. The bout ended in a draw and was only ended because of darkness.

The Williamsburg Bridge in New York City opened on this day in 1903. At its opening it was the worlds largest suspension bridge and remained so until 1924. It also held the record for being the first suspension bridge to use steel towers to support the main cable.

An explosion at a coal mine in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania claimed the lives of 239 miners on this day in 1907, of those working that day only one miner survived the disaster.

Robert Ripley began his ‘Believe It or Not’ column in the New York Globe in 1918. The BBC began transmitting its radio overseas programme in 1932. The  first transmission was its ‘Empire Service’ to Australia.

‘The Music Man’ opened in New York City in 1957, the show ran for 1,375 performances. On the same day the first air service began operating between London and Moscow.

Walter Williams died on this day in 1959 in Houston, Texas at the age of 117. He was believed to be the last surviving veteran of the US Civil War. Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean in 1972 bringing an end to the Apollo program of manned lunar missions.

On this day in 1978, Indira Gandhi was expelled from the Indian parliament for contempt and then imprisoned. Great Britain and China signed an agreement in 1984 to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1st 1997.

ABC Sports announced in 1985 that it was severing all ties with Howard Cosell and released ‘The Mouth’ from all his TV commitments. He did however continue to work on ABC Radio for a further five years.

The Soviet Union announced that Andrei Sakharov had been released from internal exile in 1986. The dissident and his wife, Yelena Bonner had been pardoned. US troops invaded Panama in 1989 to overthrow the regime of General Noriega.

The School Board of Oakland, California voted on this day in 1996 to recognize Black English, also known as Ebonics. The School Board later reversed its decision. The movie Titanic had its world premiere in 1997.

US President Bill Clinton was impeached on this day in 1998 on two charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the US House of Representatives.

Sanctions were imposed on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers  by the UN Security Council in 2000. The sanctions ruled that all terrorist training camps be closed and Osama bin Laden be handed over.

On this day in 2000, English singer/songwriter Kirsty MacColl was killed in a controversial boating accident. The 41 year old was scuba diving with her two sons in Mexico when she was hit by a speedboat inside a restricted to ‘swimming only’ area.

In 2008, US President George W Bush signed over a $17.4 billion rescue package to General Motors and Chrysler in the form of loans to aid the ailing auto makers.

Famous birthdays from this day in history include, English polar explorer William Parry in 1790. British actor Ralph Richardson in 1902, the Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1906 and French singer Edith Piaf in 1915. American actor Robert Urich was born this day in 1946 

As you can see over the years this has been quite an eventful day for a number of very different reasons. Check back to see what the next day in the calendar year has to offer tomorrow.