On This Day in History

Two trains collided near Valemount, Canada, killing 21 people; the subsequent trial brought future prime minister John Diefenbaker to greater political attention.

American disc jockey Alan Freed (pictured), who popularized the term rock and roll, was fired from WABC-AM for his role in the payola scandal.

La Ronde (pictured), the first revolving restaurant in the United States, was inaugurated.

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City, opened to traffic as the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time.

Vietnam War: American forces raided the North Vietnamese Sơn Tây prison camp in an attempt to rescue 61 American POWs who were thought to be held there.

Bombs exploded in two pubs in central Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and leading to the imprisonment of six people who were later exonerated.

"God Defend New Zealand" became New Zealand's second national anthem, on equal standing with "God Save the King", which had been the traditional anthem since 1840.

A fire broke out at the MGM Grand Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, killing 85 people and injuring 650 others.

An explosion in a coal mine in Heilongjiang, China, killed 108 miners.

A remote-controlled bomb exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel, injuring at least 28 people on board.

The Belgian government imposed a four-day security lockdown in Brussels based on information about potential terrorist attacks.