📜 This Day in History

December 9

• 1688In one of two substantial military actions in England during the Glorious Revolution, forces loyal to William of Orange were decisively victorious at the Battle of Reading.
• 1892The English association football club Newcastle United was founded by the merger of Newcastle East End and West End.
• 1940Second World War: British and Commonwealth forces began Operation Compass, the first major Allied military operation of the Western Desert campaign.
• 1968Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as "The Mother of All Demos", publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the computer system NLS.
• 1990In Serbia's first multi-party election, Slobodan Milošević won the presidential election and the Socialist Party of Serbia won the majority of seats in the National Assembly.
• 2022Members of the European Parliament, including Vice President Eva Kaili, and their associates are arrested in connection with the Qatar corruption scandal.

Born on this day

• 1608John Milton, English poet and philosopher (died 1674)
• 1842Peter Kropotkin, Russian zoologist, economist, geographer, and philosopher (died 1921)
• 1916Kirk Douglas, American actor, singer, and producer (died 2020)
• 1954Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourger lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Luxembourg