Today:
1. 1859: The clock tower at the Palace of Westminster, which houses Big Ben, began keeping time.
2. 1889: The Johnstown Flood occurred in Pennsylvania, killing over 2,200 people after a dam burst.
3. 1910: The Union of South Africa was founded.
4. 1911: The RMS Titanic was launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
5. 1927: The last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line after more than 15 million units were built.
6. 1961: South Africa became a republic, severing its ties with the British Commonwealth.
7. 1970: The Great Peruvian Earthquake killed 47,000 people.
8. 1977: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was completed.
9. 1990: The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases.
10. 2005: Vanity Fair revealed that former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt was “Deep Throat” of the Watergate scandal.