1...that Palace Bridge in St Petersburg is lifted every night, making communication between the downtown and Vasilievsky Island virtually impossible? 2...that the Indian cricketer Bapu Nadkarni got the nickname Bapu - literally father and Mahatma Gandhi's sobriquet - for the curious reason that he used to wear loinclothes (langotis) instead of modern underwear? 3...that a violent incident at Pont-de-Montvert in the Cévennes, July 24, 1702, sparked the rebellion of the French Protestant Camisards? 4...that the Adrar des Ifoghas, a sandstone massif in Mali's Kidal Region, is half the size of France? 

For the first time since it was erected in 1961, the Berlin Wall was opened on this date in 1963. It remained open for the holiday season, but closed again on January 6, 1964. Some 4,000 people crossed over to visit relatives during this period. The wall had originally been erected by East Germany to prevent its citizens from defecting to the West. Over the course of the Wall's existence nearly 200 people were killed trying to escape to West Germany. In November 1989, the border was finally reopened. Over the next few days Berliners celebrated by breaking off pieces of the Wall.

"It was the first female-style revolution: no violence and we all went shopping." – Gloria Steinem, on the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989

Checkpoint Charlie: one of the gates in the Berlin Wall

Louisiana Purchase: US officially took possession of the territory from France (1803) South Carolina: became the first state to secede from the Union (1860) Operation Just Cause: the US invaded Panama (1989)

Robert Menzies: Australian PM (1894-1978) Uri Geller: psychic who can bend spoons telepathically (59) Alan Parsons: music producer, The Alan Parsons Project (57)