Once Upon A Time – December 15 – 1970 – Soviet Venera 7 Is 1st Spacecraft To Land On Another Planet (Venus)

533 Byzantine General Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron

1256 Hulagu Khan captures and destroys Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut, in present-day Iran, part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia

1488 Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming 1st known European to sail round the Cape of Good Hope

1612 German Astronomer Simon Marius is 1st to observe Andromeda galaxy through a telescope

1791 US Bill of Rights ratified when Virginia gives its approval, becomes amendments 1-10 of the US constitution

1840 Napoleon Bonaparte receives a French state funeral in Paris 19 years after his death

1915 WWI: ANZAC forces begin their withdrawal from the Gallipoli Peninsula after Ottoman forces successfully defend access to Constantinople

Historical Events Today

Today in Film & TV

1939 “Gone With The Wind”, drama film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, premieres in Atlanta (Best Picture 1940, inflation not adjusted highest-grossing film of all time)

Today in Music

1955 “Folsom Prison Blues” single released by Johnny Cash (Billboard Song of the Year 1968)

Today in Sport

1992 Arthur Ashe is named Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year

1593 State of Holland grants patent on windmill with a crankshaft

1970 Soviet Venera 7 is 1st spacecraft to land on another planet (Venus)

Famous Weddings

1875 Sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi (41) weds Jeanne-Emilie Baheux Puysieux in Newport, Rhode Island

1933 American actor Gary Cooper (32) weds American actress Veronica Balfe (20) at her mother’s home on Park Avenue, New York City

1944 Country music star Hank Williams (21) weds Audrey Sheppard. It was her second marriage and his first.