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14 December 1896: the Glasgow Subway opens to passengers
Features On this day in 1896 the Glasgow Subway, the world's third underground metro system, opened to passengers.
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12 December 1914: NYSE resumes stock trading
Features On this day in 1914, the New York Stock Exchange reopened for business after being closed at the outbreak of the First World War.
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11 December 2008: Bernie Madoff arrested for $50bn fraud
Features Billionaire financier Bernie Madoff was arrested on this day six years ago, for running a $50bn Ponzi scheme. He was later sentenced to 150 years in prison.
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11 December 1978: Lufthansa heist nets $6m
Features The Mafia carried out the Lufthansa heist at New York's JFK airport, on this day in 1978, later inspiring the Martin Scorsese film “Goodfellas”.
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10 December 1968: the “300 million yen robbery”
Features In Japan's most notorious – and ingenious – robbery, one man outwitted four guards and made off with a car containing ¥300m on this day in 1968.
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10 December 1868: world's first traffic lights installed in Britain
Features On this day in 1868, the world's first traffic lights – the Westminster Street Semaphore Signals – came to Britain. The experiment would end in tragedy.
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9 December 1960: Coronation Street is first broadcast
Features The first episode of Coronation Street, the world's longest-running soap opera, was broadcast live on this day in 1960. But its was far from assured.
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9 December 1979: smallpox virus eradicated
Features On this day in 1969, the Global Commission for Certification of Smallpox Eradication reported that the deadly disease had finally been wiped from the face of the earth.
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7 December 1732: First Covent Garden Theatre opens
Features On this day in 1732, after a successful fundraising drive, the first theatre opened on the site of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
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