Trevor WholohanThis Day in History, November 20th
November 20th 2007 00:43
This Day in History
1620 - Peregrine White was born aboard the Mayflower in Massachusetts Bay. White was the first child to be born of English parents in present-day New England.
1789 - New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1820 - An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this story).
1917 - World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins - British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
1940 - World War II: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers.
1942 - Soviet army offensive, 1 million Russians breach German lines
1943 - WW II: Battle of Tarawa begins - United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
1945 - Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Nuremberg Palace of Justice.
1953 - Scott Crossfield in Douglas Skyrocket, 1st to break Mach 2 (1,300 MPH)
1955 - Bo Diddley becomes the first African American performer to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Apparently Sullivan was infuriated when Diddley sang his self-titled song instead of Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit, "Sixteen Tons".
1955 - RCA offers a $35,000 contract for Elvis Presley.
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union's agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
1962 - Mickey Mantle was named the A L Most Valuable Player for the third time.
1967 - At 11 AM, Census Clock at Dept. of Commerce ticks past 200 million people.
1969 - Alcatraz Island off SF, is seized by militant Native Americans
1975 - Ronald Reagan announced candidacy for Rep nomination for president
1979 - Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages in the Kaaba.
1982 - Drew Barrymore at age 7 hosts Saturday Night Live
1983 - 100 million watch ABC-TV movie "Day After," about nuclear war
1984 - McDonald's made its 50 billionth hamburger
1990 - Saddam Hussein ordered another 250,000 Iraqi troops into the country of Kuwait.
1995 - Princess Di admits she cheated on Prince Charles in a TV interview
1998 - Afghanistan's Taliban militia offered Osama bin Laden safe haven. Osama bin Laden had been accused of orchestrating two U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and later terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.
1998 - Forty-six states agreed to a $206 billion settlement of health claims against the tobacco industry. The industry also agreed to give up billboard advertising.
2001 - Abu Qatada (40), a Muslim cleric living in London, was named in a Spanish indictment as a pivotal figure in the al Qaeda network in Europe.
2001 - In Afghanistan the Northern Alliance gave the Taliban in Kunduz 3 days to give up.
2003 - Michael Jackson is arrested by police on charges of child molestation.
Famous Birthday’s
1889 - Astronomer Edwin Hubble was born. Hubble discovered existence of galaxies other than our own.
1925 - Robert Francis Kennedy Brookline MA (D-Sen-NY) AG; assassinated
1929 - Dick Clark Mt Vernon NY, TV host (American Bandstand)
1932 - Richard Dawson Hampshire England, actor (Hogan's Heroes, Family Feud)
1939 - Dick Smothers NYC, comedian (Smother Brothers' Show)
1947 - Joe Walsh, guitarist/rocker (Eagles-Take it Easy, Rocky Mountain Way)
1956 - Bo Derek, actress/model(10, Tarzan the ape man, Bolero, Tommy Boy)
Joke of the Day
Locked Car
I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car.
"Do you need some help?" I asked.
She replied, "I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car.
"Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenient store) would have a battery to fit this?" "Hmmm, I dunno," she replied.
"Do you have an alarm too?" I asked.
"No, just this remote thingy," she answered, handing it and the car keys to me.
As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, "Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk."
1932
A little boy asked his grandfather what year he was born.
He told him she was born in 1932.
"Wow!" the boy exclaimed. "I wish I had coins as old as you, they’d be worth alot!”
World Records
Largest Millipede
The largest millipede in the world is a full grown African giant black millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas) which is owned by Jim Klinger of Coppell, Texas, USA and measures 15.2 in in length, 2.6 in in circumference and has 256 legs.
Longest Domestic Goat Horns
The world's longest goat horns measured a tip-to-tip spread of 132 cm (52 in) on April 16, 2004 and belong to 'Uncle Sam' the goat, who is owned by William A and Vivian A Wentling (both USA) of Rothsville, Pennsylvania, USA.
Highest Jump by a Pig
The world record for the highest jump by a pig is 27.5 in and was achieved by Kotetsu, a pot-bellied pig on 22 August 2004 at the Mokumoku Tedsukuri Farm, Mie, Japan.
| 40 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
