1980: Gold prices soar
Gold reaches a new record price, hitting more than $800 an ounce. Scattered sparsely throughout the earth's crust, gold has been treasured since ancient times for both its scarcity and metallurgic properties.
Beginning in Great Britain in 1821, units of currency were redeemable for a fixed quantity of gold, and by the 1870s most other industrialized nations had adopted the gold standard. The standard collapsed during World War I and the Great Depression, and by 1937 not a single nation remained entirely on the gold standard.
During the 1950s, gold was again tied to some currency exchanges, but dwindling global reserves in the 1970s signaled the final death knell of the standard. After being released from government control, the price of gold soared, with its most staggering increase recorded on January 14, 1980, to over $800 an ounce.
2002
After three months of no cases being reported, the United Kingdom is finally declared free from the Foot-and-Mouth infection, after a crisis started in 2001 in which millions of cows and sheep were destroyed.1994
The Duchess of Kent becomes the first member of the Royal Family to convert to Catholicism for three hundred years.1994
American President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords.
1980
In a diplomatic rebuke to the Soviet Union, the UN General Assembly votes 104 to 18 to 'deplore' the Russian intervention in Afghanistan.
1969
Football legend Sir Matt Busby announces that he will retire as manager of Manchester United at the end of the season.
1963
Segregationist George Wallace is inaugurated as the governer of Alabama, promising his followers 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!'
1953
Marshal Josip Broz Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia.1943
World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt meet in Casablanca, Morocco, to discuss their strategy for the next phase of the war.
1942
World War II: The Unites States and Great Britain agree to form a combined Chiefs of Staff.
1929
King Amanullah of Afghanistan abdicates.
1900
Giacomo Puccini's opera 'Tosca' permieres in Rome.
1784
The Continental Congress ratifies the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence between the US and Britain.