The Greenwich Meridian became the international standard for zero degrees longitude, ensuring continuity with most existing nautical charts.
17th December 497 BCE: The first Saturnalia festival celebrated in ancient Rome
17th December 2020
On the 5th February 1924 the BBC ‘pips’ were broadcast for the first time.
Prior to the adoption of universally accepted time zones, the vast majority of settlements around the world observed local mean solar time.
Known as the Orloj, the astronomical clock was designed and built by the Imperial clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Charles University professor Jan Šindel.
On the 4th October 1582, Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar.
The Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, most famously used by the Maya civilisation, began.
18th January 1919: The Paris Peace Conference begins
18th January 2021
17th January 1991: Gulf War combat begins with Operation Desert Storm
17th January 2021
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2020
1st September 1939: Nazi Germany invades Poland
1st September 2018
9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
9th November 2019