What happened this week in history

In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, aboard the Mayflower.
This popular image of Snow White was created by Walt Disney in 1937. EMN-161219-130651001This popular image of Snow White was created by Walt Disney in 1937. EMN-161219-130651001
This popular image of Snow White was created by Walt Disney in 1937. EMN-161219-130651001

1840 - The Isle of Man decided to give the vote to selected widows and spinsters.

1846 - Augustus Appelgarth patented the first rotary press to be used in Britain.

1891 - James Naismith invented basketball.

1908 - The Port of London Authority was inaugurated.

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1910 - An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, killed 344 miners.

1913 - Arthur Wynne’s word-cross, the first crossword puzzle, was published in the New York World.

1937 - Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world’s first full-length animated feature, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

1940 - American novelist and short story writer F Scott Fitzgerald died from a heart attack in Hollywood. He was 44.

1958 - Charles De Gaulle became President of France.

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1962 - Rondane National Park was established as Norway’s first national park.

1963 - The episode of intercommunal violence called Bloody Christmas began in Cyprus, ultimately resulting in the displacement of 25,000-30,000 Turkish Cypriots and the destruction of more than 100 villages.

1965 - Plans were introduced to the House of Commons for a road safety bill, which would include a legal alcohol limit and random breath tests.

1967 - Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died in Cape Town having lived for 18 days after the transplant.

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1968 - Apollo 8 launched from cape Kennedy. It was the first flight to take man into orbit around the moon.

1988 - A Pan Am jet blew up mid-flight, over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. In total, 259 people on board the flight and 11 on the ground died.

1995 - The city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control.

2003 - A secret list of 300 people who had refused knighthoods and other honours was released. It included David Bowie and John Cleese.

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