Food & History: December 31

1600  The British East India Company created to compete in the East Indian spice trade.

1907  The Times introduces the New Years Eve Ball on their building at Times Square in New York, descending to mark the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year ever since.  The original iron and wood ball was 5 feet in diameter and weighed 700 pounds.

1917  Sugar rationing begins in Britain as a result of World War I (then known as The Great War)

1928  Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played ‘Auld Lang Syne’ as their New Years Eve song for the first time

1938  The Harger ‘Drunkometer’, the first alcohol breath testing device, was introduced in Indiana.