Steam elevator patented by Elisha Otis. Abraham Lincoln declared president. 1st Italian Parliament met at Turin.

Maiden voyage of steamship “Great Western”. Coronation of Queen Victoria. Mexico declares war on France.

Storm off Irish and English coast immortalized as “The Night of the Big Wind”. The First Opium War begins.

Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam. Eliot Ness leads prohibition unit in Chicago. Escriva founds Opus Dei.

Terracotta Army discovered in China. Patty Hearst kidnapped. Halie Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia, deposed.

The first London Marathon starts with 7,500 runners. Peter Sutcliffe found guilty of being the Yorkshire Ripper.

The first U.S. Census is conducted. President George Washington delivers first “State of the Union” address.

The light switch is invented. The Battle of Verdun ends. Summer Olympic Games in Berlin are cancelled.

Thomas Cook opens first travel agency. British magazine “Punch” first published.

Thomas Crapper pioneers one-piece pedestal flushing toilet. Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.

Tollund Man unearthed in Denmark. British comic Eagle launched. Uruguay beat Brazil to win World Cup.

U.S. declares war on Germany. Dancer Mata Hari executed for being a German spy. Third Battle of Ypres fought.

Uncle Sam cartoon figure debuts. First edition of Roget’s Thesaurus published. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” published.

United Kingdom changes to decimal system for currency. London Bridge brought to the U.S. Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.

The U.S. declares war on Germany. Cottingley Fairies photographs taken in Yorkshire. Conscription begins in the U.S.A.

The U.S. declares war on Mexico. Iowa becomes 29th state of the U.S.A. The saxophone is patented by Antoine Joseph Sax.

U.S.S. Maine sinks in Havana harbor. The U.S. annexes Hawaii. American flag raised in Puerto Rico.

Viagra becomes available. U.S. President Clinton impeached. India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons.

Wreck of the Titanic found. Hole in the ozone layer discovered. Famine in Ethiopia.

Yellowstone becomes world’s first national park. First international soccer game, Scotland-England 0-0.

Scientists split the atom. Amelia Earhart first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo. Zippo lighters introduced.

“Fatty” Arbuckle scandal. Extreme inflation in Germany. Lie detector invented. Irish Free State proclaimed.

“The Scream” is stolen in Oslo. “Schindler’s List” wins 7 Oscars. Songwriter Kurt Cobain is found dead.

First British Golf Open. Pony Express begins. Garibaldi’s forces capture Naples in the Second Italian independence war.

The first filmed version of Frankenstein comes out. Halley’s Comet visible from Earth. George V becomes King.

First telephone call made. Battle of Little Bighorn. Baseball’s National League forms.

Baltimore becomes first U.S. city lit by gas. A typhus epidemic occurs in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

First U.S. postal card issued. Levi Strauss patents first blue jeans with copper rivets.

First U.S. zoo opens, in Philadelphia. Disraeli succeeds Gladstone in UK. David Livingstone buried in Westminster Abbey.

First Wimbledon tennis championship. Edison patents phonograph. R. B. Hayes inaugurated as U.S. president.

First commercial Concorde flight takes off. The UK and Iceland end Cod War. Outbreak of Ebola virus.

2001: A Space Odyssey premieres. The Beatles announce the creation of Apple records. Hawaii Five-0 debuts on CBS.

The Eiffel Tower opens. Edison shows his first motion picture. Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Gondoliers” premieres.

3M company markets Scotch Tape. Warner Brothers release Looney Tunes. Chocolate chip cookie is invented.

ABBA wins Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo. Stephen King publishes Carrie. Nixon announces resignation.

Abraham Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth. “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll published in the U.S.A.

Academy Award for Best Picture: The Artist. U.S. president Obama is re-elected. Up All Night released worldwide by One Direction.

Act of Union comes into force, uniting Great Britain and Ireland. London Stock Exchange founded. Battle of Copenhagen.

Alamo besieged for 13 days. Samuel Colt manufactures first pistol. Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Alfred Dreyfus is exonerated. Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples. San Francisco earthquake.

Allies invade Normandy on D-Day. Battle of the Bulge begins. Anne Frank and her family betrayed.

Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale, centigrade. The New York Slave Insurrection.

Antarctica discovered. First adhesive postage stamps issued. New Zealand becomes a British colony.

Apollo 11 astronauts walk on the Moon. Best Picture at the Oscars: Oliver! Woodstock Festival held in August.

Argentina ousts Juan Peron. Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus. Best Picture at the Oscars: On the Waterfront.

Armenian Genocide. Lusitania Sunk by German U-Boat. D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation Released.

Arthur Ashe first black man to win Wimbledon. Microsoft founded. Civil War begins in Lebanon.

Arthur Conan Doyle publishes The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. James Corbett KOs John Sullivan in 21st round.

Aston Villa wins European Cup. Channel 4, British TV channel, is launched. Michael Jackson releases Thriller.