December 3

1753 English inventor and pioneer of the spinning industry Samuel Crompton was born on December 3, 1753. Building on the work of James Hargreaves and Richard Arkwright he invented the spinning mule, which transformed spinning from a hand-operated cottage industry to the machine-operated factory process of today. The mule was the most common spinning machine from 1790 until about 1900 and was still used for fine yarns until the early 1980s.

The only surviving Samuel Crompton spinning mule. By Pezzab

1775 The USS Alfred was the first vessel to fly the Grand Union Flag (the precursor to the Stars and Stripes) on December 3, 1775; the flag was hoisted by John Paul Jones. The flag featured 13 alternating red and white stripes representing the 13 American colonies, along with the British Union Jack in the upper left corner. It symbolized the unity of the American colonies in their struggle for independence from British rule.

1818 At the end the French and Indian Wars, France ceded the entire Illinois region to Britain. The region was brought within US boundaries 20 years later by the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution. Made part of Indiana Territory in 1800, Illinois was granted statehood on December 3, 1818, becoming the 21st state in the union of the United States.

1857 Joseph Conrad was born on December 3, 1857 in Berdychiv, in a part of Ukraine that was at the time of his birth under Russian rule. He became a naturalized British subject in 1886. Conrad is famous for his novels Lord Jim, Nostromo, Heart Of Darkness and The Secret Agent and has been described as ‘one of the greatest English novelists’.

1894 On December 3, 1894, the author Robert Louis Stevenson was preparing a supper salad and talking to his wife. He went to fetch a bottle of wine from his cellar and suddenly collapsed. Stevenson died within a few hours, probably of a brain (cerebral) haemorrhage, aged 44.

1910 Modern neon lighting was first demonstrated by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show on December 3, 1910. His neon lamp worked by means of "glow discharge" tubes that generate light when an electric current is passed through the rarefied gas within the tube. With the introduction of inner fluorescent coatings, the fluorescent light was developed and began to replace the incandescent lamp in industrial and some home-lighting uses.

1910 Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of the Christian Science movement. Having founded the mother church in Boston in 1879, Eddy devoted her remaining years to the development of her Christian Science movement, which she built up through her healing work. She died of pneumonia on the evening of December 3, 1910 at her home at 400 Beacon Street, in the Chestnut Hill section of Newton, Massachusetts.

1927 Putting Pants on Philip, the first Laurel and Hardy film, was released on December 3, 1927. The idea for the short was Stan Laurel's and was based on a story recounted by a friend while Laurel worked in music hall. As a team Laurel and Hardy appeared in 107 films, with the pair starring in 32 silent shorts, 40 sound shorts and 23 full-length features.

1931 Alka-Seltzer was introduced by the Dr. Miles Medical Company of Elkhart, Indiana, on December 3, 1931. Its origin was traced to the newsroom of The Elkhart Truth, where reporters mixed aspirin with bicarbonate of soda to ward off winter colds. A Miles chemist added citric acid for taste.

1935 The 38th president of the United States Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King Jr. in 1913, His father was wool trader Leslie Lynch King Sr. His mother, Dorothy, separated from King just sixteen days after her son's birth. Dorothy married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family-owned paint and varnish company on February 1, 1916. Leslie changed his name to Gerald Ford, Jr until December 3, 1935.

1945 American businessman William Phelps Eno died on December 3, 1945. He was responsible for many of the earliest traffic regulations, the stop sign, the pedestrian crosswalk, the traffic circle, the one-way street, the taxi stand, and pedestrian safety islands. Ironically, William Phelps Eno never drove a car himself.

1947 When Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire premiered at a New York theater on December 3, 1947, Marlon Brando took to the stage wearing a bright white capped-sleeve T-shirt. It was one of the first times it had appeared in public as anything but an undergarment. Brando's wearing of the apparel was not because of prior stage direction, but because the actor had worn one to rehearsals.

Marlon Brando

1959 The national flag of Singapore was adopted on December 3, 1959, the year Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire. The five stars on Singapore’s flag represent democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. The crescent moon is a rising, young nation.

1967 Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa on December 3, 1967. A 54-year-old, Louis Washkansky, received a heart from a 24-year-old woman, who had died in a motor accident. He died of pneumonia 18 days later as drugs given to prevent tissue rejection had heightened the risk of infection.

1976 On December 3, 1976 an assassination attempt was made on Bob Marley. The reggae star was shot twice by unknown assailants, and played a concert two days later. During the assassination attempt on Bob Marley, his wife, Rita, was shot in the head—doctors said that her thick dreadlocks saved her life.

1983 The longest closure in the Golden Gate Bridge's history occurred on December 3, 1983, when winds reached 75 mph. The roadway was shut down for three hours and 27 minutes. The Golden Gate Bridge is designed to withstand winds of up to 65 miles per hour, but the gusts experienced during this storm exceeded that threshold, prompting the closure as a safety precaution.

1984 103-year-old Harry Stevens married 84-year-old Thelma Lucas at the Caravilla Retirement Home in Wisconsin on December 3, 1984. Harry was the oldest bridegroom in history.

1989 Mikhail Gorbachev's attempts at reform and partnership with Ronald Reagan led to the end of the Cold War. On December 3, 1989 Presidents George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev announced the official end to the Cold War at a meeting in Malta.

1992 Neil Papworth sent the first (unabbreviated) text message on December 3, 1992. The 22-year-old British engineer had been working as a developer and test engineer to create a Short Message Service (SMS) for his client, Vodafone. He used a personal computer to send his message to Vodafone director Richard Jarvis who received it on an Orbitel 901 handset. It read: "MERRY CHRISTMAS".

2013 Ida Pollock was the world’s oldest working author, writing 123 books over her 90 year career before her death at the age of 105 on December 3, 2013. In the 1940s, she had an affair with Hugh Pollock, the husband of Enid Blyton, whom she went on to marry.

2014 Wisdom is the oldest known wild bird. The Laysan albatross was 62 years old (at least) when on December 3, 2014, she hatched a healthy chick in the U.S. Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Wisdom has outlived several mates and raised anywhere from 30 to 35 chicks.

2018 President George H.W. Bush suffered from Parkinson's disease in his last years and was forced to use a motorized scooter or wheelchair from at least 2012. He died  aged 94, and Bush's service dog Sully slept next to his coffin before his state funeral, which occurred over a period of three days from December 3–6, 2018.

2018 Karre Mastanamma was an Indian YouTube celebrity chef who got her big break at the age of 105. Filmed by her grandson, she became an Internet sensation following her first recording making an Baingan bharta (aubergine curry) in 2016. At the time of Mastanamma's death on December 3, 2018, she had 2 million followers on YouTube.