November 20
Today is marked by the LGBT community as a
Transgender Day of Remembrance to memorialize those murdered because of their lifestyle.
Today is observed, throughout the Universe apparently, as
Universal Children's Day. It is observed even in those parts of the Universe where children are seen only as appetizers.
There are
41 days remaining in 2016.
There are
34 days until Christmas.
Events
284 –
Diocletian is chosen as Roman emperor.
1739 – Start of the
Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the
War of Jenkins' Ear.
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 is in part inspired by this story.)
1945 –
Nuremberg trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
1947 – Princess
Elizabeth marries Lieutenant
Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.
1959 – United Nations General Assembly adopts the
Declaration of the Rights of the Child; annual anniversary observed as
Universal Children's Day.
1961 -
Bob Dylan started recording his debut album over two days at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City.
1969 – Vietnam War:
The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the
My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
1969 –
Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of
Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.
1974 - Drummer with
The Who,
Keith Moon collapsed during a concert after his drink was spiked with horse tranquillizer. 19 year-old
Scott Halpin who was in the audience, volunteered to replace him on drums for the remaining three numbers.
1974 – The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against
AT&T Corporation. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its
Bell System.
1980 –
Lake Peigneur (<--Interesting read.), in Louisiana, drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole.
1985 – Microsoft
Windows 1.0 is released.
1990 –
Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific serial killers, is arrested; he eventually confesses to 56 killings.
1992 – In England,
a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
1993 – Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator
Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive
Charles Keating.
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.
Births
1866 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis 91st Commissioner of MLB); 1889 – Edwin Hubble; 1900 – Chester Gould (created
Dick Tracy); 1913 – Judy Canova; 1916 – Evelyn Keyes (
Gone With The Wind); 1917 – Robert Byrd; 1924 – Benoit Mandelbrot; 1925 – George Barris; 1925 – Robert F. Kennedy; 1927 – Estelle Parsons (
Roseanne); 1928 – Franklin Cover (upstairs neighbor 'Tom Willis' on
The Jeffersons); 1932 – Richard Dawson (
Hogan's Heroes, host of
Family Feud); 1939 – Dick Smothers (the younger of
The Smothers Brothers); 1942 – Shotgun Joe Biden (47th VPOTUS); 1942 – Bob Einstein (performed as and created "Super Dave Osborne", older brother to Albert Brooks (whose real last name is also Einstein)); 1942 – Norman Greenbaum (sang "
Spirit In The Sky"); 1943 – Veronica Hamel
(
Hill Street Blues);
1946 – Duane Allman
(Allman Bros Band); 1946 – Judy Woodruff;
1947 – Joe Walsh
(James Gang, Eagles); 1948 – Richard Masur; 1956 – Bo Derek
(
10); 1971 – Joel McHale (
Community, The Great Indoors); 1975 – Dierks Bentley♪ ♫; 1977 – Josh Turner♪ ♫; 1986 – Ashley Fink (Glee)
Deaths
1910 – Leo Tolstoy (author of "
War And Peace" & "
Anna Karenina"); 1954 – Clyde Vernon Cessna (yeah,
that Cessna); 1973 – Allan Sherman (sang "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh"); 2006 – Robert Altman