What happened this week in history
1884 - The first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
1893 - Thomas Edison opened the first film studio, to produce films for peep-show machines in New Jersey.
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Hide Ad1902 - China officially abolished the binding of women’s feet.
1910 - The first labour exchanges opened and were inundated with job seekers.
1918 - Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar.
1928 - Tutankhamun’s vital organs were found in jars hidden in his tomb.
1930 - The Times published the first newspaper crossword puzzle.
1938 - Italian troops adopted the goose step.
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Hide Ad1946 - Trygve Lie of Norway was picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.
1949 - Post-war clothes rationing ended in Britain.
1953 - The east coast suffered extensive flooding as a result of a heavy storm overnight combining with high spring tides and a storm surge. More than 300 people died. The floods also hit the Netherlands, where 1,800 people died, and Belgium.
1964 - The Beatles had their first number one hit in the United States with I Want to Hold Your Hand.
1965 - Medical prescriptions on the NHS briefly became free of charge.
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Hide Ad1973 - Women were allowed on the floor of the London Stock exchange for the first time.
1974 - Great Train Robber Ronnie Briggs was arrested in Brazil.
1977 - The Pompidou Centre opened in Paris.
1979 - Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned to Tehran after 15 years exile.
2000 - The £35 million London Eye opened for selected VIPs.
2003 - The space shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere. The crew, including Israel’s first astronaut and six Americans, were all killed.
2013 - The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union, is opened to the public.