Anniversaries and commemorations come and go daily. Most of us, even the best historians, miss most occasions. If we think of history as events then we are faced with a continually showering in the grains of sand. Nevertheless, we do pick out certain patterns in the remembrance of historical dates. The blog here reminds us of some dates where the local, state, national, and global perspectives entwine.
What Time is It? It is flow of a sandstorm that will on each day compress somewhere into a structure – sandstone, selected and only remembered in the longue durée.
On Sunday, 20 December 1970, General Secretary of the Polish United Workers’ Party, Władysław Gomułka, resigns; Edward Gierek replaces him.
On Sunday, 20 December 1970, An Egyptian delegation leaves for Moscow to ask for economic and military aid.
On Saturday, 20 December 1980, The Woolworths Orange store receives a call from a man threatening to bomb a Woolworths store unless he is paid $1 million.
On Thursday, 20 December 1990, Eduard Shevardnadze announces his resignation as Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs
On Thursday, 20 December 1990, Tim Berners-Lee completes the test for the first webpage at CERN.
On Wednesday, 20 December 1995, American Airlines Flight 965 (Boeing 757) crashes into a mountain near Buga, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, after veering off its course en route to Cali, Colombia. Of the 164 people on board, 4 passengers survive.
On Wednesday, 20 December 1995, NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
On Sunday, 20 December 2015, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett announces that Perth’s Children’s Hospital would not be open until late 2016, a year later than originally planned. Mr. Barnett also reveals that he expects his next term to be his last in politics.
Images Citations in Composite: ID 17208541 © Anhong | Dreamstime.com; ID 35001957 © DiversityStudio1 | Dreamstime.com; ID 156394527 © Gerd Zahn | Dreamstime.com
Neville Buch
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