At 7:48 on the morning of the 7th December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack against the United States’ Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor. Sixteen US Navy ships were sunk or...

On the 6th December 1956, the “Blood in the Water” water polo match took place between the USSR and Hungary.  A semi-final in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympic Games, the game is famous as a...

On the 5th December 1934, the Wal-Wal Incident took place which laid the foundations for the Abyssinia Crisis. A skirmish between a Somali garrison in the service of Italy, and Ethiopian troops who sought the...

On the 4th December 1956, the Million Dollar Quartet featuring Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash were recorded during an impromptu jam session at Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. It...

On the 3rd December 1910, the first neon light went on show at the Paris Motor Show. Invented by Frenchman Georges Claude, the first neon lights were simply 35m long tubes. However, by 1912 he...

On the 2nd December 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor of the French at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. His coronation was attended by Pope Pius VII, but significantly he did not place the crown...

On the 1st December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama after the white section of the bus became full. Her refusal led to her being arrested...

On the 30th November 1982, Michael Jackson released the album Thriller, which went on to become the best-selling album of all time. As well as being certified 29x platinum for its 29 million sales in...

On the 29th November 1781, the crew of the slave ship Zong threw the first of at least 132 African slaves overboard in a massacre intended to allow them to cash in their insurance policy....

On the 28th November 1520, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European ships from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific as part of his planned circumnavigation of the earth. Magellan’s route into the Pacific...