This Day, That Year – April 30

London’s Big Ben stopped ticking at 12:11 PM for 54 minutes on this day in 1997.

Did you know that:

• Italian inventor Pellegrino Turri created the first practical typewriter on this day in 1808
• English physicist J. J. Thomson announced his discovery of the electron on this day in 1897
• Mr. Potato Head became the first toy to be advertised on network television on this day in 1952