On this day: Reagan’s farewell address

Nasa and European Space Agency experts celebrate the landing of the Huygens probe in 2005. Picture: Getty

1205: A great frost gripped the whole country, lasting until 22 March.

1814: The last London Frost Fair was held. Crowds flocked on to the frozen Thames to enjoy a variety of entertainment.

1878: Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his telephone to Queen Victoria, who made the first private call in the British Isles from her residence on the Isle of Wight.

1897: Aconcagua, Argentina, the highest peak in the western hemisphere (22,834ft) first climbed by William Martin, Baron Conway of Allington, British climber and art critic.

1937: The first Gallup opinion poll took place in Britain, conducted by Doctor Henry Durant.

1938: Walt Disney’s first full-length Technicolor cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had its première in the US. It opened in London in 1939.

1943: The Casablanca conference, between President Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, began.

1950: US recalled all consular personnel from China.

1953: Tito became president of Republic of Yugoslavia.

1986: Law requiring motorists to wear seatbelts in front seats came into effect.

1987: Guinness board sacked Ernest Saunders.

1989: Ronald Reagan made a farewell address to the American people shortly before the end of his eight-year presidency.

1989: The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie, was publicly burned at a demonstration by more than 1,000 Muslims in Bradford city centre.

1991: Yasser Arafat’s deputy, Salah Khalaf, was assassinated in Tunis after criticising PLO support for Saddam Hussein.

1992: Israel opened peace talks with Jordan and resumed bargaining with Palestinians.

1995: A newspaper poll suggested that Prince William, rather than his father, Prince Charles, was the popular choice to become King.

2000: A UN tribunal sentenced five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years for the 1993 killing of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village.

2005: Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon Titan.

2011: Ben Ali, the former Tunisian president, fled the country to Saudi Arabia after popular protests requested his departure.

BIRTHDAYS

Faye Dunaway, actress, 73; Suzanne Danielle, actress, 57; Martyn Davies, television weatherman, 58; Gareth Evans, footballer, 47; Maina Gielgud, ballerina and ballet producer, 69; Dave Grohl, rock singer, 45; Jack Jones, singer, 76; Graham Marsh MBE, golfer, 69; Warren Mitchell, actor, 88; Sir Trevor Nunn CBE, artistic director, National Theatre 1997-2003, 74; Steven Soderbergh, film director, 51; Emily Watson, actress, 47.

ANNIVERSARIES

Births: 1847 Wilson Carlile, clergyman and founder of Church Army; 1875 Albert Schweitzer, medical missionary, surgeon and organist; 1886 Hugh Lofting, author (creator of Dr Doolittle); 1892 Hal Roach, producer and director of comedy classics; 1904 Sir Cecil Beaton, photographer and theatrical designer; 1934 Richard Briers CBE, actor.

Deaths: 1742 Edmond Halley, Astronomer Royal; 1867 Jean Ingres, painter; 1898 Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), author of Alice in Wonderland; 1957 Humphrey Bogart, actor; 1977 Peter Finch, film actor; 1979 Gilbert Spencer, artist; 2004 Dr Harold Shipman, serial killer (suicide); 2006 Shelley Winters, actress; 2012 Janey Buchan, Glasgow-born MEP 1979-94.