1988 - British actor Trevor Howard, famous for his portrayals of rugged, hard-living characters in films such as The Third Man, Mutiny on the Bounty and Odette, died after a short illness. He was 71. Howard, whose strong sense of humour matched his screen image as a hardened leader of men, trained in Shakespearean theatre but moved into the film industry where he made his name as in Mutiny on the Bounty, playing alongside Marlon Brando. The most memorable and popular among them was Brief Encounter in 1946, in which he co-starred with Celia Johnson. Howard was nominated for an Academy Award for his vivid performance as the father in Sons and Lovers in 1960 and won a television Emmy for playing the title role in The Invincible Mr. Disraeli.
Other important events
1610 - The astronomer Galileo Galilei sees four of Jupiter’s moons.
1714 - British inventor Henry Mill is granted a patent for the first typewriter.
1782 - The first commercial American bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
1789 - The first US presidential election is held.
1894 - A patent for motion picture film is granted to W.K. Dickson.
1913 - A cracking process to obtain gasoline from crude oil is patented in the US.
1927 - Commercial trans-Atlantic telephone service is inaugurated between New York and London.
1931 - Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes.
1953 - US president Harry Truman announces the development of the hydrogen bomb.
1959 - US recognises Fidel Castro’s Cuban government.
1968 - Surveyor 7 space probe makes a soft landing on the moon.
1972 - India resists US pressure and grants full diplomatic recognition to China.
1979 - Vietnamese forces capture the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
1986 - US proclaims economic sanctions against Libya.
1989 - Japanese Emperor Hirohito dies of cancer at the age of 87.
1993 - Jerry Rawlings is sworn in as the President of Ghana, the first president of the 4th Republic.
1997 - British tycoon Richard Branson and two co-pilots soar slowly skyward in a giant balloon on a “great adventure”, hoping to be the first balloonists to fly around the world.
1998 - Oil tanker sinks in Ajman.
1999 - The US Senate opens the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, first such trial in 130 years.
2006 - The Brazilian commander of UN peacekeepers in Haiti is found dead after shooting himself in the head.
2007 - Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus of Warsaw, an appointee of Pope Benedict XVI, resigns after admitting to spying for Poland’s former communist regime.
2015 - At least 12 people are killed in shootings at the office of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in eastern Paris.
2017 - Etihad Museum in Dubai opens to the public.
