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1954–Singer-actor, Sammy Davis, Jr., is involved in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino, California. Three days later, Davis lost the sight in his left eye. He later referred to the accident as the turning point of his career.


461–Libius Severus is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The real power is in the hands of the magister militum Ricimer.

636–The Rashidun Caliphate defeats the Sasanian Empire at the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah in Iraq.

1493–Christopher Columbus discovers Puerto Rico on his second voyage to the New World.

1789–Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha Antonia of Austria dies in Klagenfurt, Austria, at age 51.

1794–The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.

1802–The Garinagu arrive at British Honduras (present-day Belize).

1816–Warsaw University is established in Poland.

1828–Austrian composer, Franz Schubert, dies from typhoid fever in Vienna, Austria, at age 31. His musical output consists of over 600 secular vocal works (mainly Lieder), seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music, and a large body of chamber and piano music.

1847–The second Canadian railway line, the Montreal and Lachine Railway, is opened.

1850–Alfred Lord Tennyson is named Poet Laureate, succeeding William Wordsworth.

1863–Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg Address.

1881–A meteorite lands near the village of Grossliebenthal, southwest of Odessa, Ukraine.

1885–Bulgaria is victorious in the Battle of Slivnitsa, which solidifies the unification between the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia.

1905–Bandleader, Tommy Dorsey, is born Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. in Mahoney, Pennsylvania. He was a jazz trombonist, trumpeter, and composer, of the Big Band era. He is best remembered for standards such as Song of India, Marie, On Treasure Island, The Music Goes 'Round and ‘Round, and You. He was the younger brother of bandleader, Jimmy Dorsey.

1911–The Doom Bar in Cornwall claims two ships, Island Maid and Angele, the latter killing the entire crew except the captain.

1912–In the First Balkan War, the Serbian Army captures Bitola, ending the five-century-long Ottoman rule of Macedonia.

1916–Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures.

1919–Actor, Alan Young, is born Angus Young in North Shields, Northumberland, England. He starred in the TV shows The Alan Young Show and Mister Ed. He appeared in the films Margie, Tom Thumb, The Time Machine, and The Cat from Outer Space.

1920–Actress, Gene (Eliza) Tierney, is born in Brooklyn, New York. Acclaimed as a great beauty, she became established as a leading lady in Hollywood. She appeared in the films The Return of Frank James, Tobacco Road, Belle Starr, Heaven Can Wait, Laura, Leave Her to Heaven, The Razor’s Edge, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Whirlpool, Night and the City, Advise and Consent, Toys in the Attic, and The Pleasure Seekers. She was married to fashion designer, Oleg Cassini.

1921–Baseball catcher, Roy Campanella, is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He played for the Negro leagues and Mexican League for several seasons, before moving into the Minor leagues in 1946. He made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 1948, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His career ended in 1958, when he was paralyzed by an automobile accident.

1926–The Paramount Theater in New York City opens with a seating capacity of 3,600 and a four-keyboard Wurlitzer organ. It will close 39 years later, a victim of television.

1933–Radio and TV talk show host, Larry King, is born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York. From 1985 to 2010, he hosted the nightly interview television program Larry King Live on CNN.

1934–One of the later female voices of the Beat Generation, Joanne Kyger, is born in Vallejo, California. Following her divorce from Gary Snyder in 1964, she will publish her first collection of poetry The Tapestry and the Web.

1936–Talk show host, Dick Cavett, is born Richard Alva Cavett in Kearney, Nebraska. Since 1968, Cavett has been host of his own talk show, in various formats and on various television and radio networks: ABC, CBA, PBS, USA, and CNBC. Although his shows did not attract a wide audience, remaining in third place in the ratings behind Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin, Cavett earned a reputation as "the thinking man's talk show host" and received favorable reviews from critics.

1938–Ted Turner, billionaire broadcasting mogul, is born Robert Edward Turner III. He was the founder of Cable News Network (CNN). He was married to actress, Jane Fonda.

1941–Actor, Dan Haggerty, is born in Pound, Wisconsin. He is best known for his role on the the TV series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. He appeared in the films Muscle Beach Party, Easy Rider, Terror Out of the Sky, King of the Mountain, Americana, and Terror Night.

1942–Mutesa II is crowned the 35th and last Kabaka (king) of Buganda, prior to the restoration of the kingdom in 1993.

1942–Fashion designer, Calvin Klein, is born in the Bronx, New York.

1943–Nazis liquidate Janowska concentration camp in Lemberg (Lviv), western Ukraine, murdering at least 6,000 Jews after a failed uprising and mass escape attempt.

1944–President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the 6th War Loan Drive, aimed at selling $14 billion in war bonds to help pay for the war effort.

1944–During World War II, 30 members of the Luxembourgish resistance defend the town of Vianden against a larger Waffen-SS attack in the Battle of Vianden.

1944–Charlie Coe, of Paul Revere & the Raiders, is born.

1946–Afghanistan, Iceland, and Sweden join the United Nations.

1947–George Grantham, of Poco, is born in Cordell, Oklahoma.

1950–U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of NATO-Europe.

1952–Greek Field Marshal, Alexander Papagos, becomes the 152nd Prime Minister of Greece.

1954–Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III.

1954–Singer-actor, Sammy Davis, Jr., is involved in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino, California. Three days later, Davis lost the sight in his left eye. He later referred to the accident as the turning point of his career.

1955–National Review publishes its first issue.

1957–Chicago radio station WCFL bans Elvis Presley’s records from the airwaves and is picketed by the local chapter of the Elvis Fan Club.

1957–Film and television composer, Joel Goldsmith, is born in Los Angeles, California. His films include Laserblast, The Man with Two Brains, Joshua Tree, Man's Best Friend, and Star Trek: First Contact. His father is composer, Jerry Goldsmith.

1958–A chart topper: Beep Beep by The Playmates.

1959–The Ford Motor Company announces the discontinuation of the unpopular Edsel.

1959–Actress, Allison (Brooks) Janney, is born in Boston, Massachusetts. She is best known for the role of C.J. Cregg on the TV series The West Wing. She also appeared as Margaret Scully on the Showtime series Masters of Sex. Janney was cast in the Broadway revival of A View From the Bridge. She appeared in the films The Cowboy Way, Walking and Talking, Big Night, Private Parts, The Ice Storm, Primary Colors, Celebrity, American Beauty, The Hours, Hairspray, Juno, The Help, and The Way, Way Back.

1966–A chart topper: Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys.

1966–Celebrity chef, restaurateur, and author, Rocco DiSpirito, is born in Jamaica, Queens, New York. DiSpirito has appeared on The Restaurant, Top Chef, Rocco's Dinner Party, and Food Network Star. He was also host of Food Talk on WOR radio in New York. DiSpirito specializes in healthy Italian-American cuisine.

1967–TVB, the first wireless commercial television station is established in Hong Kong.

1969–Apollo 12 astronauts, Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.

1969–Association football player, Pelé, scores his 1,000th goal.

1976–George Harrison and Paul Simon record Here Comes the Sun and Homeward Bound for the late night TV series Saturday Night Live. The segment will be broadcast on November 20th.

1977–TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes in the Madeira Islands, killing 131 people.

1979–Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

1979–Chuck Berry is released from Lamproc Prison Farm in California. He had been serving a four-month sentence for tax evasion.

1983–Tom Evans, of Badfinger, dies of suicide by hanging in London, England, at age 36. Pete Ham, also a member of the band, had hung himself eight years earlier. The group’s hits include Come and Get It, No Matter What, Day After Day, and Baby Blue.

1984–A series of explosions at the Pemex petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City, Mexico, starts a major fire that kills about 500 people.

1985–U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland.

1985–Pennzoil wins a $10.53 billion judgment against Texaco, in the largest civil verdict in the history of the United States, stemming from Texaco executing a contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.

1985–Police in Baling, Malaysia, lay siege to houses occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud.

1988–Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo, as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.

1990–Pop duo, Milli Vanilli, are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing on the Girl You Know It's True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

1992–Actress, Diane Varsi, dies of respiratory failure in Los Angeles, California, at age 54. She had been suffering from Lyme disease. She appeared in the films Peyton Place, Ten North Frederick, From Hell to Texas, Compulsion, Roseanna, Wild in the Streets, Killers Three, Bloody Mama, Johnny Got His Gun, and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.

1994–In the United Kingdom, the first National Lottery draw is held.

1998–In the Monica Lewinsky scandal, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against President Bill Clinton.

1998–Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of the Artist Without Beard sells at auction for $71.5 million.

1998–Film director, Alan J. Pakula, dies in a car accident on the Long Island Expressway in Melville, New York, at age 70. His films include Fear Strikes Out, To Kill a Mockingbird, Love with the Proper Stranger, Baby the Rain Must Fall, Inside Daisy Clover, Up the Down Staircase, The Sterile Cuckoo, Klute, The Parallax View, All the President’s Men, Comes a Horseman, Sophie’s Choice, Presumed Innocent, and The Pelican Brief.

1999–The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft.

2002–The Greek oil tanker, Prestige, splits in half and sinks off the coast of Galicia, releasing over 20 million gallons of oil in the largest environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history.

2004–Singer-songwriter and music producer, Terry Melcher, dies of melanoma in Beverly Hills, California, at age 62. In the mid-1960s, Melcher joined the staff of Columbia Records, and produced records for The Byrds. He also worked with Paul Revere & the Raiders, Wayne Newton, Frankie Laine, Pat Boone, Glen Campbell, and The Mamas & The Papas.

2008–Clive Barnes, critic for The New York Times and The New York Post, dies of liver cancer in New York, New York, at age 81.

2010–The first of four explosions takes place at the Pike River Mine in New Zealand, killing 29 people.

2013–A double suicide bombing at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, kills 23 people and injures 160 others.

2014–Film director, Mike Nichols, dies of a heart attack in Manhattan, New York, at age 83. This films include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, Silkwood, Heartburn, Biloxi Blues, Working Girl, Postcards from the Edge, Regarding Henry, and The Birdcage.

2016–Pope Francis creates 17 new members of the College of Cardinals at a consistory in Vatican City.

2016–After a software error, Mexicans purchase $2500 Dell Alienware laptops for just $33 each.

2016–Professor Stephen Hawking predicts that the Earth may be doomed in 1,000 years due to disaster such as a nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or the rising threat of artificial intelligence.

2016–An Atlas V rocket launches the GOES-R geosynchronous environmental satellite that will cover the Western Hemisphere for weather forecasting.

2016–Fire retardant foam floods the streets around a hangar at San José International Airport in Santa Clara County, California, after a fire alarm malfunction.


PHOTOS TOP TO BOTTOM: Franz Schubert; Gene Tierney; Dick Cavett; Sammy Davis, Jr.; Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys; Tom Evans; Diane Varsi; and Mike Nichols.
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