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14 January 2005: Huygens probe lands on Saturn’s moon, Titan
Features On this day in 2005, the ESA’s Huygens probe landed on the frozen surface of Titan, one of Saturn’s moons.
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13 January 1942: Henry Ford patents his plastic car
Features On this day in 1948, Henry Ford was granted a patent for his method of making cars with plastic bodywork.
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13 January 1908: Henri Farman wins the Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize
Features On this day in 1908, Anglo-French flyer Henri Farman scooped the 50,000 franc Deutsch-Archdeacon Prize after the Wright Brothers refused to compete.
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9 January 1799: income tax introduced to Britain
Features In the 1790s, with Britain at war with Napoleon, the country urgently needed cash. And so on this day in 1799, a 10% levy was raised on all income over £60.
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8 January 1835: US national debt hits $0
Features By selling land, collecting taxes and cutting public spending, the US national debt was brought down to $0 for the first and only time in the country’s history on this day in 1835.
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8 January 1940: food rationing is introduced in Britain
Features On this day in 1940, the Ministry of Food introduced rationing in the UK to ensure there was enough food to go round during the war.
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7 January 1785: First crossing of the English Channel by air
Features On this day in 1785, French balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American doctor John Jeffries became the first people to cross the English Channel by air.
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7 January 1782: America’s first central bank opens for business
Features On this day in 1782, the Bank of North America, created to help pay for the American war of independence, opened for business.
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6 January 1639: Virginia orders the destruction of its tobacco crop
Features Faced with the plunging price of tobacco, the colonists of Virginia directed that half of the crop should be destroyed to avoid an economic catastrophe, on this day in 1639.
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