A bit of November 25th history…

1839 - Cyclone slams south eastern India with high winds and a 40 ft storm surge, destroying city of Coringa; storm waves sweep inland, destroying 20,000 ships, and killing an estimated 300,000 people

1940 - Woody Woodpecker debuts with release of Walter Lantz’s “Knock Knock”

1949 - “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” appears on music charts (pictured)

1973 - US cuts maximum speed limit to 55 mph as an energy conservation measure

1986 - Iran-Contra Affair erupts, President Reagan reveals secret arms deal

2018 - Historic north Californian Camp Fire declared 100% contained with 85 dead, 249 missing, covering 153,000 acres with 14,000 homes burnt

2018 - EU leaders approve an agreement for Britain to leave the EU (Brexit) 

“I have not come 20,000 miles,” Yankee trader Franklin A. Buck wrote to his sister Mary on November 25, 1849, “to turn around and go right back again like some persons who have been here and gotten homesick.” Buck was one of 40,000 people who traveled to California by sea during the gold rush of 1849. Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of November 24th history…

1639 - 1st observation of transit of Venus - helped establish size of Solar System

1859 - English Naturalist Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species” radically changing the view of evolution and laying the foundation for evolutionary biology

1874 - Joseph Glidden receives patent for his barbed wire

1979 - US admits troops in Vietnam were exposed to the toxic Agent Orange

2012 - Gangham Style becomes the most viewed Youtube video surpassing 808 million views (pictured) 

On November 24, 1602, the eve of St. Catherine’s Day, Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno sighted three islands. He renamed Pimu, the largest island, Santa Catalina. Continue reading.

On November 24, 1963, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby shot and killed President John F. Kennedy‘s accused assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a Dallas police station. Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of November 23rd history…

1644 - “Areopagitica”, a pamphlet by John Milton decrying censorship is published

1890 - King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law passed to allow his daughter Wilhelmina to inherit

1921 - US President Harding signs Willis-Campbell Act (anti-beer bill) forbidding doctors prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes

1963 - Debut of “Doctor Who”

1991 - Freddy Mercury, 45, confirms he has AIDS the day before he dies (pictured)

2018 - US Federal Climate report finds climate change will reduce economy 10% by 2100 with $141 billion cost from heat related deaths, $118 billion from sea level rise

2019 - Sumatran rhino officially declared extinct 

Franklin Pierce, fourteenth president of the United States, was born on November 23, 1804, in Hillsboro, New Hampshire. Continue reading.

On November 23, 1863, the Battle of Chattanooga began. Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of November 22nd history…

1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to 1st voyage from Europe to reach India

1934 - “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” 1st heard on Eddie Cantor’s show

1954 - Humane Society forms in Washington DC

1955 - RCA Records makes its best investment paying $35,000 to Sun Records for Elvis Presley’s contract

1963 - US President John F Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in an open topped motorcade in Dallas, TX (pictured)

1965 - “Miss Goodall and Wild Chimpanzees” broadcast on CBS, watched by 25 million, brings Jane Goodall to international attention

1968 - 1st interracial TV kiss - Star Trek, Captain Kirk and Uhura

1995 - “Toy Story”, 1st feature length film created completely using computer generated imagery (CGI), is released 

On Friday, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas; he died shortly thereafter. Continue reading.

On November 22, 1880, “Lillian Russell” made her debut at Tony Pastor’s Theatre in New York City. Continue reading.

Click here to search Today in History for other historic moments.

A bit of November 21st history…

164 BC - During Maccabbean Revolt, Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jerusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah

1906 - China prohibits the Opium trade

1931 - Horror film “Frankenstein” is released (pictured)

1953 - Authorities at the British Natural History Museum announce the “Piltdown Man” skull, one of the most famous fossil skulls in the world, is a hoax

2019 - 44% of Americans work in low wage jobs with a medium wage of just $18,000, with most aged 25 - 54 according to analysis by Brookings Institutions Metropolitan Policy Program