Today in History
November 20
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| Dali’s Mustache – Photo by Philippe Halsman |
1194 – Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI.
1272 – Edward I proclaimed King of England
1637 – Peter Minuit and first Swedish immigrants to Delaware sail from Sweden
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
1861 – Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky’s Confederate government.
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
1890 – Pope Leo XIII encyclical “On Slavery in the Missions“
1902 – Geo Lefevre and Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle race
1914 – US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports
1920 – Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President W Wilson
1923 – Garrett Morgan invents and patents traffic signal
1929 – Salvador Dali’s first one-man show
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
1948 – US balloon reaches height of 26.5miles, a record
1959 – Alison Simko born in upstate New York, co-founder of The Broadsheet.
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 President Sadat became first Arab leader to address Israeli Knesset
1980 – Steve Ptacek in Solar Challenger makes first solar-powered flight
1984 – McDonald’s made its 50 billionth hamburger
1990 – US 68th manned space mission STS 38 (Atlantis 7) returns from space
1992 – Queen Elizabeth’s home Windsor Castle catches fire
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.
2008 – After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.
2012 – Toshiba unveils a robot designed to help in nuclear disasters
Births
270 – Maximinus II, Roman emperor (d. 313)
1603 – Fasilides, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1667)
1715 – Pierre Charles Le Monnier, French astronomer (d. 1799)
1776 – Ignaz Schuppanzigh, Austrian violinist (d. 1830)
1874 – James Michael Curley, lawyer, politician, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts, and criminal (d. 1958)
270 – Maximinus II, Roman emperor (d. 313)
1603 – Fasilides, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1667)
1715 – Pierre Charles Le Monnier, French astronomer (d. 1799)
1776 – Ignaz Schuppanzigh, Austrian violinist (d. 1830)
1874 – James Michael Curley, lawyer, politician, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts, and criminal (d. 1958)
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Hubble
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1889 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 1953)
1892 – James Collip, Canadian biochemist and academic, co-discovered insulin (d. 1965)
1908 – Alistair Cooke, British-American journalist and author (d. 2004)
1913 – Charles Berlitz, American linguist (d. 2003)
1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
1942 – Joe Biden, lawyer and politician, 47th Vice President of the United States
1946 – Duane Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1971)
1948 – John R. Bolton, American lawyer and diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
1956 – Bo Derek, American actress and producer
Deaths
1480 – Eleanor of Scotland, Scottish princess (b. 1433)
1910 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (b. 1828)
1973 – Allan Sherman, American actor, comedian, and producer (b. 1924)
2006 – Robert Altman, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
1892 – James Collip, Canadian biochemist and academic, co-discovered insulin (d. 1965)
1908 – Alistair Cooke, British-American journalist and author (d. 2004)
1913 – Charles Berlitz, American linguist (d. 2003)
1925 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
1942 – Joe Biden, lawyer and politician, 47th Vice President of the United States
1946 – Duane Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1971)
1948 – John R. Bolton, American lawyer and diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
1956 – Bo Derek, American actress and producer
Deaths
1480 – Eleanor of Scotland, Scottish princess (b. 1433)
1910 – Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright (b. 1828)
1973 – Allan Sherman, American actor, comedian, and producer (b. 1924)
2006 – Robert Altman, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)