This day in history

In Vienna, Austria, Carlos the Jackal leads a raid on a meeting of oil ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

German and Arab terrorists stormed in with machine guns, killed three people, and took 63 people hostage, including 11 OPEC ministers. Calling his group the Arm of the Arab Revolution, Carlos demanded that an anti-Israeli political statement be broadcast over radio, and that a bus and jet be provided for the terrorists and their hostages. Austrian authorities complied, and all the hostages were released unharmed. OPEC did not hold another summit for 25 years.

Carlos, born in Venezuela as Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, was sentenced to life imprisonment in France in 1997 for his terrorist activities.

Pop star Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish become one of the first couples to have a same-sex civil partnership ceremony following a change in the law in England and Wales.  
 

Walt Disney’s first full-length colour animated cartoon Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premieres in Los Angeles, U.S.A.