1865 - Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” novel was published. It would become one of the most famous works of English language fiction.

1984 - The cream of the British pop world including Bono, George Michael, Boy George, Paul Young and Sting gathered to record the historic Do They Know It’s Christmas? as Band Aid.

1991 - Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara) died at the age of 45, following complications from the AIDS virus. His death came just one day after he announced his diagnosis. Mercury co-founded Queen in 1970, and remained the band’s frontman throughout his life.

2014 - Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wins the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit to clinch his second Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

1963 - President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas with his wife, Jacqueline Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and his wife, Nelly Connally. Vice president Lyndon B Johnson is sworn in as President aboard Air Force One.

2019 - Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s first electric cyber truck with shatterproof windows. However, at the grand reveal, when the shatterproof windows were tested by being repeatedly hit by the design chief Franz von Holzhausen, the windows shattered.

2014 - The UK’s first bus powered entirely by human and food waste went into service between Bristol and Bath. The 40-seat ‘Bio-Bus’ runs on biomethane gas generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste.

1994 - Britain’s first National Lottery draw was shown live on BBC television with a jackpot of 7 million pounds.

1987 - The worst fire in the history of the London Underground killed 30 people. The blaze began in the machinery below a wooden escalator in King’s Cross Underground station and soon filled the tunnels with dense, choking smoke and intense heat.