1999: A record price (in dollars unadjusted for inflation) is paid for a membership seat on the New York Stock Exchange: $2.65 million — quite a rise from the record low price for a seat, set in 1942, of $17,000. Five years later, seats will be trading for around $1 million.

1754: William Murdock is born in Bellow Mill, near Cumnock in Ayrshire, England. In 1792 he invents coal-gas lighting, enabling the streets of London — and, soon, most of the world's major cities — to be illuminated at night. For the first time, sunset does not have to mean darkness, fear does not have to fill the streets at night, and human productivity and safety take a great leap forward.