1194 – Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI.
1272 – Edward I proclaimed King of England
1407 – A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans is agreed under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy.
1789 – New Jersey is first state to ratify Bill of Rights
1795 – Curacao government forbids slave work on Sunday
1805 – Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” premieres in Vienna
1866 – Pierre Lalemont patents rotary crank bicycle
1873 – Rival cities of Buda and Pest unite to form the capital of Hungary
1888 – William Bundy patents timecard clock
1889 – Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony
1902 – Geo Lefevre & Henri Desgrange create Tour de France
1914 – US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports
1923 – Garrett Morgan invents and patents traffic signal
1938 – First documented anti-semitic remarks over US radio by Father Coughlin
1945 – 24 Nazi leaders put on trial at Nuremberg, Germany
1947 – “Meet the Press” makes network TV debut on NBC
1959 – WABC fires Alan Freed over payola scandal
1962 – Mickey Mantle wins AL MVP
1962 – USSR agrees to remove bombers from Cuba, and US lifts blockade
1976 – George Harrison appears on Saturday Night Live
1977 – Egyptian Pres Sadat became first Arab leader to address Israeli Knesset
1980 – Steve Ptacek in Solar Challenger makes 1st solar-powered flight
1998 – A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden “a man without a sin” in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
1998 – The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
2012 – Toshiba unveils a robot designed to help in nuclear disasters
Births
270 – Maximinus II, Roman emperor (d. 313)
1625 – Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
1884 – Norman Thomas, American minister and politician (d. 1968)
1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1953)
1908 – Alistair Cooke, journalist and author (d. 2004)
1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, 64th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
1939 – Dick Smothers, American actor and comedian
1942 – Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States
1942 – Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer
1948 – Gunnar Nilsson, Swedish race car driver (d. 1978)
1956 – Bo Derek, American actress and producer
1959 – Alison Simko writer and co-founder of The Broadsheet
Deaths
927 – Xu Wen, Chinese general (b. 862)
1316 – John I of France (b. 1316)
1695 – Zumbi, Brazilian king (b. 1655)
1910 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (b. 1828)
1973 – Allan Sherman, (November 30, 1924 – November 20, 1973) was an American comedy writer and television producer who became famous as a song parodist in the early 1960s. His first album, My Son, the Folk Singer (1962), became the fastest-selling record album up to that time. His biggest hit single was ” Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh”, a comic novelty in which a boy describes his summer camp experiences to the tune of Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours.
Here are a few more links to funny, silly songs from long ago!
Sarah Jackman
The Ballad of Harry Lewis
and one more…
Shake Hands With Your Uncle Max
