December 2......

December 2 is the 336th day of the year (337th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining in the year on this date.

EVENTS

● 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens.

● 1620 - English language newspaper "Namloos" begins publishing in Amsterdam

● 1682 - English Earl of Shaftesbury's flight to Amsterdam

● 1697 - St Paul's Cathedral opens in London

● 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.

● 1763 - The Touro Synagogue opened in Newport, RI. Sephardic Jews in Jamaica, Surinam, London and Amsterdam sponsored the building of this first major center of Jewish culture in America.

● 1777 - British General Howe plots attack on Washington's army for Dec 4

● 1790 - Austrian army occupies Brussels

● 1802 - English sell Suriname to Dutch

● 1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte crowned 1st emperor of France at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris by Pope Pius VII

● 1805 - Napoleon defeats Russians & Austrians at Austerlitz

● 1812 - James Madison re-elected President of US, Elbridge Gerry Vice-President

● 1813 - Prince Willem Frederik accepts constitutional monarchy

● 1814 - The Marquis de Sade dies in mental asylum near Paris.

● 1816 - 1st savings bank in US opens (Philadelphia Savings Fund Society)

● 1822 - In San Salvador, a congress proposes incorporation into US

● 1823 - United States announces Monroe Doctrine: essentially, that the U.S. is entitled to do whatever it wants in the Western Hemisphere.

● 1823 - President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine"

● 1831 - Authorities regain control of Lyon, France, nine days after the Silk Workers' Revolt had taken control of the city.

● 1831 - Birth of Francis N. Peloubet, American Congregational clergyman. A promoter of the Sunday School, he penned 44 annual volumes of "Select Notes on the International Sunday School Lessons" between 1875 and his death in 1920. They were known afterward as "Peloubet's Notes."

● 1840 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "La Favorita" premieres in Paris

● 1840 - William H Harrison elected President of US, John Tyler Vice-President

● 1842 - Birth of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin.

● 1845 - Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.

● 1848 - Franz Josef I becomes emperor of Austria and King of Hungary

● 1851 - Newly-elected French President Charles Louis Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.

● 1852 - 2nd French empire established; Louis Napoleon becomes emperor Napoleon III

● 1859 - John Brown executed by state of Virginia for his leadership of a plot to incite slave rebellion. Charleston, (West) Virginia.

● 1861 - The small town of Champoeg, Oregon is flooded by the Willamette River. No deaths occurred.

● 1862 - Circus entrepreneur Charles Ringling was born.

● 1864 - Skirmish at Rocky Creek Church, Georgia

● 1867 - In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.

● 1868 - 1st British government of Disraeli resigns

● 1873 - The Reformed Episcopal Church was organized in New York City when 8 clergymen and 20 laymen broke from the Protestant Episcopal Church over a debate regarding proper church ritual.

● 1877 - Camille Saint-Saëns' opera "Samson et Dalila" premieres in Weimar

● 1882 - Amsterdam Artis Zoo opens aquarium

● 1883 - Johannes Brahms' 3rd Symphony in F, premieres

● 1885 - The opera "Regina di Saba" is produced (Vienna)

● 1887 - Amsterdam's Oscar Carrés Circus Theater opens

● 1887 - Charles Dickens' 1st public reading in US (New York NY)

● 1887 - French President Grévy (80) resigns

● 1891 - 52nd Congress (1891-93) convenes

● 1895 - 54th Congress (1895-97) convenes

● 1896 - Gerhart Hauptmann's "Die versunkene Glocke" premieres in Berlin

● 1899 - Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.

● 1899 - US & Germany agree to divide Samoa between them

● 1900 - South African President Paul Kruger arrives in Germany

● 1901 - King Camp Gillette begins selling safety razor blades and patented the first disposable razor.

● 1902 - Soccer team Go Ahead forms in Deventer

● 1904 - Puget Sound Cooperative officially ends, Washington State.

● 1907 - Tommy Burns KOs Gunner Moir in 10 to retain the heavyweight boxing title

● 1907 - English Professional Football Player's Association forms

● 1908 - Pu Yi (Hsuan-T'ung) became China's Last Emperor at age 3

● 1908 - The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America was founded in Philadelphia. (In 1950 this ecumenical organization was replaced by the National Council of Churches.)

● 1913 - Archdiocese of Managua created

● 1913 - Government-Barthou falls due to overtime conscription

● 1914 - Karl Liebknecht is only member of German Parliament to vote against war with France and Britain.

● 1914 - Austria army occupies Belgrade Serbia

● 1916 - Baseballers who are injured now get full pay for duration of contract

● 1917 - During World War I, hostilities were suspended on the eastern front.

● 1917 - Han Yong-woon, found Zen awakening at Osean Monastery Korea

● 1919 - General strike in Italy to protest killing of socialist MP for refusing to hear king's address.

● 1922 - 10th CFL Grey Cup: Queen's University defeats Edmonton Eskimos, 13-1

● 1924 - British-German trade agreement signed

● 1927 - Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile. 1st Model A Fords sold, for $385

● 1928 - Cardinals 1B Jim Bottomley is voted National League MVP

● 1929 - 1st skull of Peking man found, 50 km out of Peking at Tsjoe Koe Tien

● 1930 - Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.

● 1932 - "Adventures of Charlie Chan" 1st heard on NBC-Blue radio network

● 1933 - 1st transatlantic telephone wedding (Bertil Clason-Sigrid Carlson)

● 1933 - Fred Astaire's 1st film, "Dancing Lady" is released

● 1934 - 5.08-m (200") Mount Palomar Observatory mirror is cast

● 1935 - Albert Kessel first to die in California gas chamber.

● 1939 - British Imperial Airways & British Airways merge to form BOAC

● 1939 - New York's La Guardia Airport began operations as an airliner from Chicago lands, 1 minute after midnight

● 1941 - Largest roller skating rink (outside of NYC) opens in Peekskill NY

● 1941 - Naval Intelligence ceases bugging Japanese consul

● 1941 - New York Giants name Mel Ott as player-manager, replacing Bill Terry

● 1941 - Yamamoto sends his fleet to Pearl Harbor

● 1942 - 1st controlled nuclear chain reaction was demonstrated by Dr. Enrico Fermi and his staff at the University of Chicago at Stagg Field, Chicago.

● 1943 - "Carmen Jones" opened on Broadway.

● 1943 - 1st RSHA transport out of Vienna reaches Birkenau camp

● 1944 - 10th Heisman Trophy Award: Les(lie) Horvath, Ohio State (QB)

● 1944 - General De Gaulle arrives in Moscow

● 1944 - German troops seize Betuwse dikes

● 1944 - US 95th Infantry division occupies bridge at Saar

● 1945 - First congress, of the post-war period, of the Federation Anarchiste Francaise.

● 1946 - Rev. E.V. Steele founded the European Christian Orphanage and Mission Society in Alberta, Canada. Its name was changed in 1953 to World Missions Fellowship and has been headquartered since 1961 in Grants Pass. OR.

● 1946 - British Government invites four Indian leaders, Nehru, Baldev Singh, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan to obtain the participation of all parties in the Constituent Assembly.

● 1947 - Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.

● 1947 - 13th Heisman Trophy Award: Johnny Lujack, Notre Dame (QB)

● 1948 - Stan Musial is picked National League MVP

● 1950 - Vic Toweel knocks down Danny O'Sullivan 14 times in a title fight

● 1951 - Philadelphia sets NFL record of 25 1st-downs rushing

● 1951 - "Borscht Capades" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 90 performances

● 1952 - 18th Heisman Trophy Award: Billy Vessels, Oklahoma (HB)

● 1952 - 1st human birth televised to public (KOA-TV Denver CO)

● 1954 - The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and the Republic of China, is signed in Washington, DC.

● 1954 - Frank Selvy of Milwaukee sets then NBA record of 24 of 26 free throws

● 1954 - US Senate censures Joe McCarthy (Senator-R-WI) for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute." The vote was 65 to 22. The censure was related to McCarthy's controversial investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military and civilian society. The House of Representatives and many states continue their own investigations. Later, several southern states convert the same committees into apparatus for harassing and jailing civil rights supporters.

● 1954 - "Hit the Trail" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 4 performances

● 1956 - The Granma yacht reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

● 1957 - 1st US full-scale atomic electric power plant-power generated, Shippingport PA

● 1957 - Sam Cooke's "You Send Me" reaches #1

● 1958 - Benelux treaty signed by Belgium, Netherlands & Luxembourg

● 1958 - 24th Heisman Trophy Award: Pete Dawkins, Army (HB)

● 1958 - KNOP TV channel 2 in North Platte NE (NBC) begins broadcasting

● 1959 - Malpasset dam collapses destroying French Riviera town of Frejus

● 1961 - 1st OT Grey Cup game (Winnipeg 21, Hamilton 14)

● 1961 - In a nationally-broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

● 1961 - Wind Bell, journal of San Francisco Zen Center, begins publishing

● 1962 - Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress.

● 1962 - 50th CFL Grey Cup: Winnipeg beats Hamilton, 28-27 at Toronto [OT]

● 1963 - 1st Dutch rocket launched/reaches height of 10 km

● 1963 - Major League Rules Committee bans oversized catcher's mitts, effective in 1965

● 1964 - Sproul Hall sit-in, Berkeley, California. Joan Baez sings on Sproul Hall steps. Free Speech Movement holds an overnight sit-in protesting the disciplining of four students who took part in the October police car sit-in; 800 arrests result.

● 1964 - Ringo Starr's tonsils are removed

● 1966 - Love, Moby Grape & Lee Michaels perform at Fillmore East

● 1967 - Cardinal Francis Spellman died in New York City at age 78.

● 1967 - 55th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats Saskatchewan, 24-1

● 1968 - New York City high school students uprising: Brooklyn and elsewhere.

● 1968 - President Nixon names Henry Kissinger security advisor

● 1969 - "Buck White" opens at George Abbott Theater NYC for 7 performances

● 1969 - The Boeing 747 jumbo jet got its first public preview as 191 people flew from Seattle, WA, to New York City, NY. Most of the passengers were reporters and photographers.

● 1970 - The Environmental Protection Agency began operating under its first director, William Ruckelshaus.

● 1970 - Tippetts Opera "Knot Garden" premieres in London

● 1971 - Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Sharjah & Umm ak Qiwain form the United Arab Emirates

● 1971 - Soviet Mars 3 is 1st to soft land on Mars

● 1971 - Zayid bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan of Abu Dhabi becomes President of UAE

● 1972 - Gough Whitlam becomes the first Australian Labor Party Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years.

● 1972 - "December Giant" largest sinkhole in US collapses (Alabama)

● 1972 - In one of their worst trades Yankees get Rich McKinney for Stan Bahnsen

● 1972 - "Via Galactica" closes at Uris Theater NYC after 7 performances

● 1972 - 60th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeats Saskatchewan, 13-10

● 1973 - 62nd Davis Cup: Australia beats USA in Cleveland (5-0)

● 1973 - US Air Arena opens in Landover MD, Bullets beat Seattle, 98-96

● 1974 - Soyuz 16 launched into Earth orbit for 6 days

● 1974 - Cowhide, rather than just horsehide, can be used to make baseballs

● 1974 - Giant Baba beats Jack Brisco in Kagoshimi, to become NWA champion

● 1975 - Laos falls to communist forces; King Sisavang Vatthana resigns, Lao People's Democratic Republic proclaimed

● 1975 - 7 South Moluccans hijack train at Wijster Drente, 3 killed

● 1975 - G S Chappell gets ton in each inning of 1st Test Cricket as captain vs West Indies

● 1976 - Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

● 1977 - South African police cleared of Biko death; A demonstration erupts outside a South African court as a magistrate rules no police are to blame for the death of the leader of the black consciousness movement.

● 1978 - Chanting "Allah is great", anti-Shah protesters poured through Tehran

● 1978 - Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand's "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" hits #1

● 1979 - Foots Walker becomes the 1st Cleveland Cavalier to score a triple-double

● 1979 - Crowds attack US embassy at Tripoli Libya

● 1979 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1980 - The Central Committee of Poland’s Communist Party announced major Politburo changes. The changes were apparently aimed at coping with labor unrest.

● 1980 - The Russell Tribunal, an international human rights body, finds the U.S., Canada, and several Latin American countries guilty of cultural and physical genocide in their present-day treatment of Indian populations.

● 1980 - U.S.-backed Salvadoran death squads rape and murder four churchwomen: two Maryknoll nuns, one Ursuline nun, and a lay person. Bodies found the next day. The Reagan administration goes into immediate denial and cover-up mode. Alexander Haig suggests the nuns provoked the incident, running a roadblock in Marxist jeeps, and were shot trying to flee. The FBI and CIA report this is a total fabrication. The pereptrators are never caught.

● 1981 - Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco opens at 11:30 AM

● 1981 - Fernando Valenzuela (Dodgers) wins National League Rookie of the Year

● 1981 - Spanish government requests membership in NATO

● 1982 - 1st permanent artificial heart successfully implanted (University of Utah) in retired dentist Barney Clark; lived 112 days with the Jarvic-7 heart

● 1983 - Convention prohibiting inhumane weapons comes into force. Widely ignored.

● 1984 - 4th meeting of Giants-Jets, Giants even series at 2 with 20-10 win

● 1984 - Bob Holland takes 9-83 for New South Wales against South Australia, SCG

● 1984 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR

● 1985 - General Dynamics execs indicted for defense contract fraud.

● 1985 - A Philippine civilian court acquitted armed forces chief Gen. Fabian C. Ver of charges related to the 1983 shooting death of opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino. 25 other defendants were also acquitted.

● 1985 - Rupert Holmes' musical "Mystery of Edwin Drood" premieres at Imperial Theater NYC for 608 performances

● 1986 - Dow-Jones index hits record 1955.57

● 1987 - Canadian Bill of Rights enacted.

● 1987 - Chicago City Council elects Eugene Sawyer acting mayor

● 1987 - "334" club forms as 334 brave Devil fans journey through 20" of snow to attend New Jersey Devils 7-5 victory over Calgary at Meadowlands

● 1987 - Jennifer Steele, 17, of Colorado becomes Miss Teen America

● 1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1988 - Bangladesh cyclone 'worst for 20 years'; A search is under way for thousands of people feared dead after a devastating cyclone in Bangladesh.

● 1988 - Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.

● 1988 - "Naked Gun" premieres, a movie based on TV's "Police Squad"

● 1988 - 5 gunmen who hijacked Soviet Aeroflot jet, surrender in Israel

● 1988 - STS-27 Atlantis launched (Secret military mission)

● 1988 - UN votes 151-2 (Israel & US) to move PLO debate to Geneva, Britain abstains

● 1989 - KHJ-TV in Los Angeles CA changes call letters to KCAL-TV

● 1989 - 55th Heisman Trophy Award: Andre Ware, Houston (QB)

● 1989 - Vishwanath Pratap Singh sworn in as Prime Minister of India

● 1990 - A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.

● 1990 - U.S.-backed Guatemalan army kills 14 civilians at Santiago Atitlan.

● 1990 - US 69th manned space mission STS 35 (Columbia 11) launches into orbit

● 1990 - Composer Aaron Copland died at age 90.

● 1990 - 79th Davis Cup: USA beats Australia in St Petersburg (3-2)

● 1990 - Beth Daniel/Davis Love win LPGA J C Penney Golf Classic

● 1990 - The Midwest section of the U.S. prepared for a massive earthquake predicted by Iben Browning. Nothing happened.

● 1991 - Apple releases the first version of QuickTime.

● 1991 - Bobby Bonilla signs record $29 million-5 year pact with the New York Mets

● 1991 - American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released by his kidnappers. He had been held captive in Lebanon for over five years.

● 1992 - Germany's lower house of parliament voted in favor of the Maastricht Treaty on European unity.

● 1992 - WQEW-AM radio replaces WQXR on 1560 in New York NY

● 1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was shot to death by security forces in Medellin.

● 1993 - An unemployed man opened fire at an unemployment agency in Oxnard, CA. He killed three workers at the location and a police officer during a chase that ended in Ventura, where the man himself was gunned down.

● 1993 - Space Shuttle program: STS-61 - NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

● 1993 - A Websters musical "Sunset Promenade" premieres in Los Angeles

● 1993 - Dow-Jones hits record 3702.11

● 1993 - Houston Rockets tie NBA record of 15-0 start

● 1994 - "Cobb" premieres

● 1994 - Achille Lauro (Willem Ruys) sinks off the coast of Somalia

● 1994 - Andrew Lloyd Webber admitted to the hospital for ulcer treatment

● 1994 - The U.S. government agreed not to seek a recall of allegedly fire-prone General Motors pickup trucks. Instead a deal was made with GM under which the company would spend more than $51 million on safety and research.

● 1994 - "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss was convicted in Los Angeles of three counts of pandering.

● 1994 - In Pensacola, FL, Paul Hill was given two life sentences for murdering a doctor and security guard outside an abortion clinic in July 1994.

● 1995 - Rogue trader jailed for six years; Nick Leeson is sentenced for financial dealings which contributed to the fall of Britain's oldest merchant bank.

● 1995 - NASA launched a U.S.-European observatory on a $1 billion dollar mission intended to study the sun.

● 1995 - 17th ACE Cable Awards

● 1997 - MCI Center opens in Washington DC, Wizards vs SuperSonics

● 1997 - U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno declined to seek an independent counsel investigation of telephone fund-raising by President Clinton and Vice President Gore. It was concluded that they had not violated election laws.

● 1997 - Actress Anat Elimelech was killed by her boyfriend David Afuta. Afuta then killed himself.

● 1998 - Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates donated $100 million to help immunize children in developing countries.

● 1999 - The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.

● 2000 - The Smashing Pumpkins perform for the last time at The Metro in Chicago.

● 2001 - A bomb went off aboard a bus in Haifa, killing 15 Israelis.

● 2001 - Enron Corp. filed for Chapter 11 reorganization. The filing came five days after Dynegy walked away from a $8.4 billion buyout. It was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.

● 2005 - Van Tuong Nguyen is executed in Singapore for drug trafficking.

● 2005 - North Carolina inmate Kenneth Boyd becomes the 1,000th person to be executed in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

BIRTHS

● 1578 - Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1640)

● 1694 - William Shirley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)

● 1703 - Ferdinand Konscak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)

● 1710 - Bertinazzi, Italian actor and writer (d. 1783)

● 1738 - Richard Montgomery, Irish-born soldier (d. 1775)

● 1754 - William Cooper, American judge

● 1760 - John Breckinridge, American politician (d. 1806)

● 1811 - Jean-Charles Chapais, French Canadian politician, Father of the Canadian Confederation (d. 1885)

● 1817 - Heinrich von Sybel, German historian (d. 1895)

● 1825 - Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)

● 1846 - Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (d. 1904)

● 1859 - Georges Seurat, French painter (d. 1891)

● 1863 - Charles Ringling, American circus owner (d. 1926)

● 1884 - Ruth Draper, American entertainer (d. 1956)

● 1885 - George Richards Minot, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize (d. 1950)

● 1886 - Harry Burleigh, American composer (d. 1949)

● 1891 - Otto Dix, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1969)

● 1892 - Leo Ornstein, Russian-born composer and pianist (d. 2002)

● 1894 - Warren William, American Broadway and film actor (d. 1948)

● 1895 - Harriet Cohen, British pianist (d. 1967)

● 1898 - Indra Lal Roy, Indian pilot (d. 1918)

● 1899 - Sir John Barbirolli, British conductor and cellist (d. 1970)

● 1901 - Raimundo Orsi, Argentine-born footballer (d. 1986)

● 1902 - Howard Koch, American screenwriter (d. 1995)

● 1906 - Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-born American engineer; developed the first commercial color television (d. 1977)

● 1914 - Adolph Green, American composer (d. 2002)

● 1914 - Bill Erwin, Actor

● 1914 - Ray Walston, American actor (d. 2001)

● 1917 - Sylvia Syms, American jazz singer (d. 1992)

● 1923 - Maria Callas, Greek soprano (d. 1977)

● 1924 - Alexander M. Haig, Jr., American soldier, politician and former secretary of state

● 1925 - Julie Harris, American actress

● 1930 - Gary Becker, American economist, recipient of the Bank of Sweden Prize

● 1931 - Edwin Meese, American politician

● 1933 - Michael Larrabee, American athlete (d. 2003)

● 1933 - K. Veeramani, Indian anti-caste activist

● 1934 - Andre Rodgers, baseball player (d. 2004)

● 1935 - David Hackett Fischer, American historian

● 1939 - Yael Dayan, Israeli writer and politician

● 1939 - Harry Reid, Senate majority leader, D-Nev.

● 1939 - Francis Fox, Canadian politician, member of the Senate

● 1943 - Wayne Allard, U.S. senator, R-Colo.

● 1944 - Cathy Lee Crosby, Actress

● 1944 - Ibrahim Rugova, first President of Kosovo (d. 2006)

● 1944 - Botho Strauß, German author

● 1945 - Penelope Spheeris, American film director

● 1946 - Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)

● 1948 - T. Coraghessan Boyle, American writer

● 1950 - John Wesley Ryles, Country singer

● 1950 - Bob Kevoian, American radio personality

● 1951 - Adrian Devine, American baseball pitcher

● 1952 - Keith Szarabajka, Actor

● 1954 - Dan Butler, American actor

● 1954 - Stone Phillips, American television journalist (''Dateline NBC'')

● 1955 - Dennis Christopher, Actor

● 1956 - Steven Bauer, Actor

● 1957 - Dagfinn Høybråten, Norwegian politician

● 1958 - Uladzimir Parfianovich, Belarusian canoer

● 1958 - Eric L. Harry, American novelist

● 1958 - George Saunders, American writer

● 1960 - Joe Henry, Country singer

● 1960 - Rick Savage, British bassist (Def Leppard)

● 1963 - Ann Patchett, American novelist

● 1963 - Ron Sutter, National Hockey League player

● 1966 - Jinsei Shinzaki, Japanese professional wrestler

● 1968 - Lucy Liu, American actress

● 1968 - Nate Mendel, American bassist (Foo Fighters)

● 1968 - Chris Wedge, American animator

● 1968 - Darryl Kile, baseball player (d. 2002)

● 1968 - Jimi Haha, Rock singer (Jimmie's Chicken Shack)

● 1968 - Rena Sofer, Actress

● 1970 - Treach, Rapper (Naughty by Nature)

● 1970 - Sarah Silverman, American comedian

● 1971 - Wilson Jermaine Heredia, American actor

● 1972 - Sergei Zholtok, Latvian ice hockey player (d. 2004)

● 1973 - Monica Seles, Yugoslavian-born tennis player

● 1973 - Jan Ullrich, German cyclist

● 1976 - Eddy Garabito, Professional baseball player

● 1978 - Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter

● 1978 - Chris Wolstenholme, British bassist (Muse)

● 1979 - Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress

● 1981 - Isabella Soprano, American pornographic actress

● 1981 - Britney Spears, American singer

● 1982 - Matt Ware, American football player

● 1985 - Dorell Wright, American basketball player

● 1987 - Teairra Mari, African-American R&B singer

● 1988 - Alfred Enoch, British actor

● 1989 - Cassie Steele, Canadian actress

DEATHS

● 1348 - Emperor Hanazono of Japan (b. 1297)

● 1381 - John of Ruysbroeck, Flemish mystic

● 1463 - Archduke Albert VI of Austria (b. 1418)

● 1469 - Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1416)

● 1515 - Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and statesman (b. 1453)

● 1547 - Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror (b. 1485)

● 1552 - Francis Xavier, Spanish Catholic missionary (b. 1506)

● 1594 - Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (b. 1512)

● 1615 - Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, French general

● 1665 - Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)

● 1694 - Pierre Paul Puget, French artist (b. 1622)

● 1719 - Pasquier Quesnel, French Jansenist theologian (b. 1634)

● 1723 - Philip II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France (b. 1674)

● 1726 - Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (b. 1665)

● 1747 - Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)

● 1748 - Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician (b. 1662)

● 1774 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b. 1720)

● 1814 - Marquis de Sade, French writer (b. 1740)

● 1844 - Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (b. 1768)

● 1849 - Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)

● 1859 - John Brown, American abolitionist (hanged) (b. 1800)

● 1860 - Alfred Bunn, British theatrical manager (b. 1796)

● 1892 - Jay Gould, American entrepreneur (b. 1836)

● 1918 - Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (b. 1868)

● 1924 - Kazimieras Būga, Lithuanian philologist (b. 1879)

● 1931 - Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b. 1851)

● 1936 - John Ringling, American circus owner (b. 1866)

● 1943 - Nordahl Grieg, Norwegian author and journalist (b. 1902)

● 1944 - Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist (b. 1874)

● 1944 - Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian writer (b. 1876)

● 1950 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b. 1917)

● 1957 - Manfred Sakel, Polish psychiatrist (b. 1902)

● 1963 - Thomas J. Hicks, British-born runner (b. 1875)

● 1963 - Sabu Dastagir, Indian-born American actor (b. 1924)

● 1968 - Adamson-Eric (Eric Adamson), Estonian painter (b. 1902)

● 1969 - Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, Russian politician (b. 1881)

● 1974 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1897)

● 1976 - Danny Murtaugh, baseball player and manager (b. 1917)

● 1980 - Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1905)

● 1980 - Romain Gary, Lithuanian-born French writer (b. 1914)

● 1982 - Marty Feldman, British comedian, writer and actor (b. 1933)

● 1983 - Fifi d'Orsay, Canadian actress (b. 1904)

● 1985 - Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (b. 1914)

● 1985 - Philip Larkin, English writer and jazz critic (b. 1922)

● 1986 - Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, musician, band leader, and composer (b. 1917)

● 1987 - Luis Federico Leloir, French-born chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

● 1987 - Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (b. 1914)

● 1988 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (Quartetto Cetra)

● 1990 - Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)

● 1990 - Robert Cummings, American film and television actor (b. 1908)

● 1993 - Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug dealer (b. 1949)

● 1995 - Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist (b. 1913)

● 1997 - Shirley Crabtree, British professional wrestler (b. 1930)

● 1997 - Michael Hedges, American guitarist known for originality (b. 1953)

● 2002 - Ivan Illich, Austrian priest and philosopher (b. 1926)

● 2002 - Arno Peters, German historian (b. 1916)

● 2003 - Alan Davidson, British author (b. 1924)

● 2004 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (b. 1921)

● 2004 - Alicia Markova, British ballerina (b. 1910)

● 2005 - Van Tuong Nguyen, Australian drug smuggler (hanged) (b. 1980)

● 2005 - Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer (executed) (b. 1948)

● 2006 - Mariska Veres, Dutch singer (b. 1947)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Bibiana, virgin & martyr
● St. Chromatius
● St. Lupus of Verona
● St. Pontian

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for November 20 (Civil Date: December 2)
● Nativity Fast.
● Forefeast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos.
● St. Gregory Decapolites.
● St. Proclus, Archbishop of Constantinople
● Martyrs Eustace, Thespisius and Anatolius of Nicaea.
● Martyr Dasius of Dorostorum.
● Martyrs Azaes the eunuch, Savonius, Thecla, Anna; Hieromartyrs Nerses and Joseph; and John, Severius, Isaac and Hypatius, Bishops of Persia.
● St. Theoctistus the Confessor.
● Martyrs Bautha and Denachis who suffered with Hieromartyr Nerses.
● St. Isaac, Bishop of Armenia.

● Anglican:
● Memorial of Channing Moore Williams, missionary bishop in China & Japan

● America: Pan American Health Day

● Cuba : Landing of Granma Expeditionaries

● Laos - National Day

● United Arab Emirates - National Day (independence from Britain, 1971)

● International Day for the Abolition of Slavery - United Nations


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

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