Today in History: Bomb on Pan Am flight over Scotland kills 270

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on December 21:

1907 – Strikers shot at mine in Chile.

1937 – Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the first full-length feature cartoon in colour, premiered in Los Angeles.

1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, U.S. short story writer and novelist, died. His works included “The Great Gatsby”.

1945 – General George Patton, U.S. tank commander in World War Two, died after a car accident in Germany. His men called him “Old Blood and Guts”.

1973 – The first peace conference between Israel and her Arab neighbours opened in Geneva. Jordan, Israel, Egypt, the United States, the Soviet Union and the U.N. took part.

1988 – A bomb destroyed a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard and 11 people on the ground.

1994 – Smallest robot in the world debuts in Japan.

2004 – French journalist and former hostage in Iraq Georges Malbrunot returns to Paris following release.

2004 – U.S. Army seals off parts of Mosul following attack on base.

2005 – British pop star Elton John tied the knot with long-term partner David Furnish, joining hundreds of gay couples across England taking advantage of a new law to formalise their relationships.

2006 – Turkmenistan’s President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov died after 21 years of iron rule.

(Reuters)