Following a vote in Virginia, the Bill of Rights becomes law in the United States, bringing the first ten amendments into effect. You know - freedom of expression and all that!

More interestingly perhaps, Marie Fontaine Harel of Normandy, France invents Camembert cheese.

In other news in France, the Academy of Science decides on the official length of a standard meter. Perhaps it is finally time to get with metric.

On the 30th of September, Mozart's "Magic Flute" debuts, and by the 5th of December Mozart is dead, leaving his unfinished masterpiece "Requiem". Unlike what happens in the film "Amadeus", it is not Antonio Salieri but Mozart's student Franz Sussmayr who actually completes this important work.