- 1718: English pirate Edward Teach ("Blackbeard") was killed during
a battle off the Virginia coast.
- 1906: The International Radio Telegraphic Convention voted to use
SOS as the letters for the new international signal of distress.
- 1917: The National Hockey League was founded with the Montreal
Canadiens, the Montreal Maroons, the Toronto Arenas, the Ottawa
Senators and the Quebec Bulldogs.
- 1919: A labor conference committee in the U.S. urged an eight-hour
work day and a 48-hour work week.
- 1927: The first snowmobile patent was granted to Carl Eliason of
Sayner, Wis.
- 1930: Elijah Muhammad founded the Nation of Islam in Detroit.
- 1934: "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" was first heard on Eddie
Cantor's Thanksgiving radio show.
- 1950: The lowest score recorded in the National Basketball
Association was posted. The Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the
Minneapolis Lakers 19-18.
- 1954: The Humane Society was founded.
- 1955: RCA Victor made its best investment ever, paying $25,000 to
Sun Records and Sam Philips for the rights to the music of Elvis
Presley, a truck driver from Tupelo, Miss.
- 1957: The Miles Davis Quintet debuted with a jazz concert at
Carnegie Hall in New York.
- 1957: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel appeared on "American Bandstand"
as "Tom and Jerry."
- 1961: Frank Robinson became the first baseball player to be named
Most Valuable Player in both major leagues.
- 1961: Producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman announced an
expensive publicity campaign to make a star out of Sean Connery,
their choice for James Bond.
- 1963: President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a
motorcade in Dallas. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in
as the 36th president of the United States.
- 1967: The U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242, which
called for Israel to withdraw from territories it captured in 1967
and called on adversaries to recognize Israel's right to exist.
- 1968: The first interracial kiss in TV history was shown on "Star
Trek," between Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle
Nichols).
- 1968: The Beatles released their long-awaited double album, simply
called "The Beatles," but better known as "The White Album."
- 1969: The isolation of a single gene was announced by scientists at
Harvard University.
- 1972: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon lifted a 22-year-old ban on
American travel to China.
- 1976: The comic strip "Cathy," by Cathy Guisewhite, debuted.
- 1977: Regular passenger service on the supersonic Concorde between
New York and Europe began.
- 1984: Fred Rogers of PBS' "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" presented a
sweater to the Smithsonian Institution.
- 1985: The largest swearing-in ceremony took place as 38,648
immigrants became citizens of the U.S.
- 1986: Mike Tyson, 20 years, 4 months old, became the youngest to
wear the world heavyweight boxing crown after knocking out Trevor
Berbick in Las Vegas.
- 1996: O.J. Simpson took the stand as a hostile witness in the
wrongful death lawsuit filed against him, saying it was "absolutely
not true" that he killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
- 1997: Michael Hutchence, Australia's most successful rock singer,
of INXS, was found dead in a luxury Sydney hotel.
*Happy Birthday*
----------------
- Boris Becker, 31, three-time Wimbledon champ, youngest male (17) to
win Wimbledon
- Guion S. Bluford Jr., 56, first black astronaut
- Tom Conti, 56, actor, "American Dreamer"
- Jamie Lee Curtis, 40, actress, "A Fish Called Wanda"
- Rodney Dangerfield, 77, comedian/actor, "Caddyshack"
- Terry Gilliam, 58, writer/actor/director, "Monty Python's Flying
Circus," "The Fisher King"
- Mariel Hemingway, 37, actress/model, "Manhattan"
- Arthur Hiller, 75, film director, "Love Story"
- Billie Jean King, 56, six-time Wimbledon singles champ
- Jacques LaPerriere, 57, NHL defensive Hall of Famer
- Robert Vaughn, 66, actor, "The Man From UNCLE"
- Tina Weymouth, 48, musician, the Talking Heads