1954 fully automated railroad freight yard (Gary IN)

1955 Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis.

1957 The Atlas U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile makes its inaugural test flight.

1959 On the Beach premiered this day at the Astor Theatre in New York City -- and in 17 other cities. It was the first motion picture to debut simultaneously in major cities around the world

1961 Disgruntled employee set fire to a circus tent in Niteroi Brazil

1961 India seizes Goa and 2 other Portuguese colonies

1962 Current constitution of Monaco promulgated

1963 The U.S. Congress passed the Clean Air Act, a sweeping set of laws designed to protect the environment from air pollution. It was the first legislation to place pollution controls on the automobile industry.

1965 Largest newspaper-Sunday New York Times at 946 pages ($0.50)

1969 50m TV viewers saw singer Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicky, on Tonight Show

1969 USAF closes Project Blue Book, concluding no evidence of extraterrestrial spaceships behind thousands of UFO sightings

1970 The Beach Boys played to royalty at Royal Albert Hall in London. Princess Margaret was in attendance and shook the royal jewelry to such classics as Good Vibrations, I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda.

1971 Cease-fire between India and Pakistan in Kashmir

1971 Radio Bangladesh begins transmitting

1972 New line of control agreed to in Kashmir between India and Pakistan

1975 Lynette Fromme was sentenced to life for attempt on President Ford's life

1978 Referendum approves new constitution of Rwanda

1979 Budweiser rocket car reaches 1190 kph (record for wheeled vehicle)

1979 Driver Stan Barrett became the first person in the world to travel faster than sound on land. He drove the Budweiser Rocket car at a top speed of 739.666 in a one-way run at Rogers Dry Lake,California.

1981 Members of the Red Brigades kidnap Brigadier General James L Dozier

1986 Richard Kuklinski, a suspect in several murders, is arrested by undercover agents at a truck stop off the New Jersey Turnpike, marking the culmination of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' "Operation Iceman."

1986 Wayne Danke Schoen Newton won a $19.2 million judgment against NBC News, which had aired reports linking Newton to mob figures

1988 USS Tennessee, first sub to carry Trident 2 missiles, commissioned

1991 Soap opera "One Life To Live" airs its 6,000th episode

1994 North Korea shoots down a US Army helicopter when it strays north of the demilitarized zone.dec18

1996 Intel Corporation and the Energy Department announced the development of a high-speed computer capable of performing more than one trillion calculations per second.

1997 Microsoft and Silicon Graphics Inc ended their conflict over the display of three-dimensional graphics online. The companies had engaged in a long battle over technical standards, which delayed development of graphics technology.

1843 A Christmas Carol', by Charles Dickens, is published

1954 British Petroleum Company (BP) formed

1770 The birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer

1903 The birth of Erskine Caldwell, American novelist

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