1966 Gemini 12, the last spacecraft in the Gemini series and the first to make an automatically controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere, was launched.

1980 The U.S. space probe Voyager 1 reached the planet Saturn.

1940 The animated film Fantasia had its first public screening, and it became one of Disney's more controversial works, derided for its portentousness and praised for its stunning visual virtuosity.

1972 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 1,000 for the first time.

1985: Anglo-Irish agreement signed
Britain and the Republic of Ireland sign a deal giving Dublin a role in Northern Ireland for the first time in more than 60 years - unionists accuse Mrs Thatcher or treachery.

1855 British explorer David Livingstone was the first European to see Victoria Falls (Mosi-oa-Tunya).

Arnold Schwarzenegger inaugurated as governor of California
Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, an Austrian-born American bodybuilder and film actor, was inaugurated on this day in 2003 as the governor of California following a recall election that ousted the sitting governor.

1987: King's Cross station fire 'kills 27'
Twenty seven people are dead after a fire at King's Cross station in central London.

1994: Britain braced for first lottery draw
Britain's first national lottery draw is about to be shown live on a flagship BBC One show.

1947 The future Queen Elizabeth II married Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey.

1931 The horror classic Frankenstein, based on a stage adaptation of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's 1818 novel, was released in the United States, and it helped make the hulking monster, who was portrayed by Boris Karloff, one of the most recognizable characters in film history.

1995 Pixar's Toy Story, the first entirely computer-animated feature-length film, was released and became a critical and commercial hit.

1963 The first episode of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who aired, and the show became a landmark of British popular culture.

1991: Giant of rock dies
Freddie Mercury dies aged 45, just one day after he publicly announced he was HIV positive.

2002 In London the Agatha Christie play The Mousetrap celebrated its 50th anniversary with a royal gala, having opened on November 25, 1952, and this performance being its 20,807th.