1999: Single European currency debuts
For the first time since Charlemagne's reign in the ninth century, Europe is united with a common currency when the Euro debuts as a financial unit in corporate and investment markets. Eleven European Union nations, representing 290 million people, launch the currency with hopes of increasing European integration and economic growth. Closing at a robust 1.17 US dollars on its first day, the euro promises to give the dollar a run for its money in the new global economy.
This initial optimism, however, soon peters out as the euro begins a long, steady decline, dropping below dollar parity in December 1999, and losing another 20 percent of its value in 2000.
Despite these setbacks, hard euro currency - decorated with architectural images, symbols of European unity, and member-state motifs - is scheduled to hit the streets on January 1, 2002, permanently replacing the mark, markka, franc, lira, peseta, florin, Irish pound, Austrian schilling, and escudo by July of that year.
2000
Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill become the first British women to reach the South Pole, crossing 680 miles of Antartica where temperatures are often as low as minus 48 degrees Centigrade.1999
British Chancellor Gordon Brown's press advisor Charles Whelan resigns in wake of the Mandelson and Robinson loan affair.1998
Loyalist prisoners in Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, vote to withdraw support for the Ulster Peace Process. They claim that too many concessions have been made to Republicans.1987
Spanish Guitar legend Andres Segovia embarks on his final tour of America. Widely credited with popularising the instrument, Segovia dies four months later in Madrid aged 94.
1974
American President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
1972
Rose Heilbron becomes the first woman to be appointed a judge at the Old Bailey Court in London, England.
1967
Donald Campbell dies attempting to break the world water speed record on Coniston Water in the Lake District in England.
1958
Sir Edmund Hilary successfully leads the first overland expedition to the South Pole since Captain Robert F. Scott's in 1912.
1951
Residents of the South Korean capital, Seoul, are warned of imminent invasion by North Korean and Chinese Communist forces.
1936
Billboard Magazine publishes the first popular music chart, with rankings based on national sales figures.
1929
Australian cricketer Don Bradman makes his first Test Match century playing for Australia against England in Melbourne.
1885
The first successful appendix operation is performed by Dr William West Grant in Iowa in the United States of America.1884
In London, Socialist group the Fabian Society is launched.1642
Under the orders of King Charles I, armed soldiers enter Parliament. The English Civil War started shortly afterwards.46BC
Titus Labienus defeats Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.