Today in History - December 31 | Arthur signed a 9000-year contract that changed almost every pub around the world - Voice of Asia

On December 31, 1759, Arthur Guinness leased the disused St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin for a term of 9,000 years. He had already begun brewing ale before signing this lease. The lease, for £100 plus an annual rent of £45, gave him the use of the brewery for nine millennia.

From that point on, one of the world's most popular beers, Guinness, was born. In less than 30 years, the brewery's annual production exceeded one million barrels. Today, Guinness states that over 10 million glasses of its iconic stout are consumed daily, with annual sales reaching 1.8 billion pints. Although the 9,000-year lease is no longer in effect, as Guinness bought the land outright as it expanded, the brewery remains at St. James's Gate and is now a popular tourist attraction.

On December 31, 1999, millions around the world prepared for potential IT chaos amid the "Millennium Bug" scare. This fear stemmed from computers only considering the last two digits of the year in date formats, thus being unable to distinguish between 1900 and 2000, which some believed would cause massive technological disruptions. It was estimated that potential global losses could reach $600 billion. As one of the first developed economies to enter the new year, Australia took the "Millennium Bug" threat very seriously, with the federal government investing $544 million to mitigate the danger.

However, the fears of an electronic doomsday ultimately proved to be unfounded. While some minor issues did arise, the threat of widespread damage to global computer systems did not materialize. On December 31, 192, the Roman Emperor Commodus was killed. Although depicted in the popular film "Gladiator" as being killed in the arena, the mad emperor's actual death was far less heroic. A poisoning attempt failed because he vomited the lethal food prepared for him, so a wrestling champion was brought in to strangle him. The Roman Empire descended into civil war shortly thereafter.

On December 31, 1991, the Soviet Union legally ceased to exist. The USSR had effectively dissolved 10 days earlier when its constituent republics declared independence. By New Year's Eve, all legal entities of the former superpower had ceased operations. On the same day six years later, another major event occurred in Russian history: Boris Yeltsin, the country's first president, resigned. Vladimir Putin, then Prime Minister and former KGB agent, was appointed acting president. Four months later, Putin was officially elected president.

On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in Hubei, China, reported a small cluster of cases of what they described as "viral pneumonia." Symptoms included difficulty breathing and fever. The virus was SARS-CoV-2, and the disease soon had another name: COVID-19. Within months, cities went into lockdown as the virus spread globally and was declared a pandemic. Since then, the virus has been responsible for over 7 million deaths worldwide.