This Day in History (1967): British parliamentarians enjoy Aramco hospitality

From the April 12, 1967, edition of Sun and Flare

Ten members of the British House of Commons were in Saudi Arabia from March 29 through April 5 as guests of the Ministry of Information, and spent the last day of their week-long stay visiting some of Aramco’s operations and the men who run them.

The British visitors began their Wednesday tour of Dhahran’s Oil Exhibit Centre. There they met President T. C. Barger, Harry McDonald, general manager, Government Relations Organization, and Public Relations Manager J. V. Knight, and learned with the aid of exhibit displays about the company’s oil operation and its interest in the local community.

Group members then moved on to Ras Tanura, where they toured the refinery and where guests at a luncheon hosted by Ras Tanura Acting District Manager R. W. Ryrholm.

The group stopped first in Jiddah, where they talked with Government officials and saw much of the city’s industrial development.

Then they flew to Riyadh, where they had an opportunity to meet and talk to most of the Saudi Arabia Government ministers.

Also on this date

2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency

1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park's name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris

1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle, Columbia takes place

1962 – Rolling Stones perform for the first time in the Marquee Club, London

1961 – Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first crewed orbital flight, Vostok 1

1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective

467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire