1552: Death of Spanish missionary Francis Xavier, who helped Ignatius Loyola found the Jesuits.

1836: Three people died at Great Corby, near Carlisle in Cumbria, in the first fatal railway derailment.

1795: Sir Rowland Hill, English postal pioneer who invented the Penny Post in 1840, was born in Kidderminster.

1894: Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island and other works, died of a stroke at his villa in Samoa.

1911: Neon lighting, developed by French physicist George Claude, was displayed for the first time at the Paris Motor Show.

1919: French Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir died near Cannes. He was 78.

1926: Novelist Agatha Christie disappeared from her Surrey home. She was discovered on December 14 staying under an assumed name at a hotel in Harrogate but had no recollection of how she got there.

1967: The first heart transplant was performed by Dr Christiaan Barnard and a team of surgeons in South Africa.

1984: More than 3,000 people died in a chemical factory spillage at Bhopal, central India.

1988: Health minister Edwina Currie, pictured, claimed that most of Britain's egg production was affected by salmonella.

On this day last year: Rival Afghan factions were trying to agree on the members of an interim government for the country, as a man believed to be a US citizen was found among captured Taliban fighters.

BIRTHDAYS: Andy Williams, singer, 75; Jean-Luc Godard, film director, 72; John Cale, rock musician (Velvet Undergound), 62; Ralph McTell, singer/guitarist, 58; Paul Nicholas, actor, 57; Ozzy Osbourne, rock singer, 54; Mel Smith, comedian/actor, 50; Julianne Moore, actress, 42; Daryl Hannah, actress, 42.