History for December 11

History for December 11 - On-This-Day.com
Fiorello La Guardia 1882, Alexander Solzhenitsyn 1918, Rita Moreno 1931


Donna Mills 1943, Brenda Lee 1944, Teri Garr 1949


1769 - Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds.


1844 - Dr. Horace Wells became the first person to have a tooth extracted after receiving an anesthetic for the dental procedure. Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas, was the anesthetic.


1894 - The world's first motor show opened in Paris with nine exhibitors.


1936 - Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry American Wallis Warfield Simpson. He became the Duke of Windsor.


1941 - Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The U.S in turn declared war on the two countries.


1961 - The first direct American military support for South Vietnam occurred when a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters arrived in Saigon.


1967 - The prototype of the Concorde was shown for the first time in Toulouse, France.


1981 - Muhammad Ali fought his last fight. He lost his 61st fight to Trevor Berbick.