In 1999 King Hussein Bin Talal of Jordan died and his son Abdallah bin Hussein becomes king.
In 1992 representatives from the twelve European Community countries met for the Maastricht Treaties officially becoming the European Union. The treaties still had to be agreed upon by the individual countries; with a marginal win in a French referendum, a loss in a Dutch referendum, a win in Germany through their constitutional courts, and a slight win through parliamentary vote.
In 1984 Captain Bruce McCandless became the first human to experience free flight in space. The astronaut left the United States ‘Challenger’ shuttle and floated into space without a safety line. He then ignited his rocket backpack, which he had designed and shot flew approximately 320 ft from the shuttle. While in orbit at a height of 170 miles above the Earth, Captain McCandless was travelling at 175,000mph, as was the Challenger. Using his backpack he navigated his way back to the safety of the shuttle.
In 1974 Grenada joined the Commonwealth of Nations.
In 1964 the Beatles arrived in New York to start their first tour of the United States. They were greeted by over 3,000 screaming fans at the airport, many of which had skipped school just to see the ‘fab four’. Their first appearance was on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ on the 9th of February ’64 and tickets for the show were in very high demand and it was reported that 73 million people tuned in to watch them perform. This was the start of what later became known as ‘Beatlemania’ in the United States.
In 1945 The Yalta Conference took place where U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt and Russian Marshal Joseph Stalin met to discuss plans to end the Second World War and the defeat of Germany. The location was initially kept secret but it was known at the time to be held in the Black Sea.
