HISTORY
On this day December 8-14 (week 50)
December 8, 2024 - December 14, 2024 - Graphics show birthdays and anniversaries on each day for the week. This week features the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, Oscar-winning British actress Judi Dench, the first flight from England to Australia, the first recorded sighting in the United States of the aurora borealis, the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, a landmark gas pipeline from Central Asia to China and the Millau viaduct - the world’s tallest bridge
December 8, 1864: The Clifton Suspension Bridge, one of the world’s oldest surviving iron suspension bridges, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was opened in Bristol, England
December 9, 1934: Oscar-winning British actress Judi Dench was born. A star of stage and screen for 70 years, she reached mass audiences as spy chief M in seven James Bond films
December 10, 1919: Australian aviators Ross and Keith Smith completed the first flight from England to Australia in their Vickers Vimy biplane, a converted WWI bomber
December 11, 1719: The first recorded sighting in the United States of the aurora borealis occurred in New England. The oldest known auroral citing was written in China in 2600BCE
December 12, 1792: Ludwig van Beethoven, aged 22 and newly arrived in Vienna, noted in his diary he had 15 ducats, enough for his first music lesson with Franz Joseph Haydn
December 13, 2009: The presidents of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China inaugurated a landmark pipeline to transport natural gas from Central Asia to China
December 14, 2004: The Millau viaduct, the world’s tallest bridge, opened in southern France. The soaring, 343m-high structure spans the Tarn valley in the Massif Central mountains