Archaeologists enter King Tut’s tomb

November 26, 1922

THIS day, in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first souls to enter King Tutankhamen’s tomb in more than 3,000 years.

Tutankhamen’s sealed burial chambers were miraculously intact, and inside was a collection of several thousand priceless objects, including a gold coffin containing the mummy of the teenage king.

King Tutankhamen was enthroned in 1333BC when he was still a child. He died a decade later at the age of 18. The four-room tomb had incredible collection of several thousand objects, including numerous pieces of jewellery and gold, there was statuary, furniture, clothes, a chariot and weapons. Most of these treasures are now housed in the Cairo Museum.

November 23, 1889

On this day, the first commercial jukebox (an automated coin operated music-playing device) was installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco, US. It becomes an overnight sensation around the world.

This first jukebox was constructed by the Pacific Phonograph Company. The machine was originally called the “nickel-in-the-slot player” by Louis Glass, the entrepreneur who installed it at the Palais Royale.

November 27, 1940

ON this day, the actor and martial-arts expert Bruce Lee was born in San Francisco, California. In his all-too-brief career, Lee became a film star in Asia, and a pop-culture icon, posthumously, in America.

Lee was a child actor who appeared in some 20 Chinese films; he also studied dancing and trained in the Wing Chun style of gung fu (also known as kung fu). Lee attended the University of Washington in 1959 and opened a martial-arts school in Seattle. Lee successfully established himself as a star in Asian as well as Hollywood action movies such as The Big Boss and The Way of the Dragon, tragically, Lee died a month before the release of his hit movie Enter the Dragon, in August 1973.