9th January: Today In History

Today is January,  the 9th day of 2016. There are 348 days left in the year. Today's Highlight In History; Birthdays:   1898 Dame Gracie Fields, English singer   1908 Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist   1913 Richard Nixon, Former (37th) US President   1914 Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress   1922 Clive Dunn, Actor in 'Dads Army'   1933 Kelsey Harrison Atangamuerimo, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology. A winner of the 1989 national merit award, he is a former vice-chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt   1941 Joan Baez, American singer   1951 Crystal Gayle, American singer Events:   1799 Income tax was introduced into Britain to raise funds for the Napoleonic War   1949 Tommy Handley, the English radio comedian, died   1957 Sir Anthony Eden resigned as British Prime Minister   1960 Work began on the Aswan High Dam, on the Nile in Egypt   1969 The supersonic airliner, Concorde, made its first test flight   1972 A miners strike began, which caused power cuts and industrial disruption   1972 The liner 'Queen Elizabeth' caught fire in Hong Kong harbour   1985 Cocoa House in lbadan, the 25-storey building which used to be the tallest edifice in Africa, is razed by fire.   1986 Michael Heseltine resigned as Defence Secretary over the 'Westland affair'