November 30

Birthdays:

1965 ~ Ben Stiller, American comedic actor.

1962 ~ Bo Jackson, American football and baseball player.

1957 ~ Colin Mochrie, Canadian comedian and actor.

1957 ~ Margaret Spellings, 8^th Secretary of Education.  She served under President George W. Bush.

1955 ~ Billy Idol (né William Michael Albert Broad), British musician.

1954 ~ Lawrence Summers, American economist and 27^th President of Harvard University.

1952 ~ Mandy Patinkin (né Mandel Bruce Patinkin), American actor.

1947 ~ David Mamet, American playwright.

1936 ~ Abbie Hoffman (né Abbot Howard Hoffman, d. Apr. 12, 1989), American political activist.  He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts.  He committed suicide at age 52.

1936 ~ Dmitry Anosov (d. Aug. 5, 2014), Russian mathematician.  He died at age 77.

1930 ~ G. Gordon Liddy, American politician who was involved in the Nixon Watergate scandal.

1929 ~ Dick Clark (né Richard Augustus Wagstaff Clark, d. Apr. 18, 2012), American radio and television personality, best known for hosting American Bandstand.  He was 82 years old.

1927 ~ Robert Guillaume (né Robert Peter Williams, d. Oct. 24, 2017), African-American actor who refused to be stereotyped.  He is best known for his role as Benson on the television series Soap.  He died of prostate cancer at age 89.

1926 ~ Andrew Schally, Polish-born American endocrinologist and recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1924 ~ Shirley Chisholm (née Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, d. Jan. 1, 2005), American politician.  In 1968, she was the first African-American woman elected to Congress.  In 1972, she became the first black candidate and woman to run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.  She died at age 80.

1919 ~ Joseph Wilson Rogers (d. Mar. 3, 2017), American businessman and Waffle House co-founder who put the customer first.  He died at age 97.

1918 ~ Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (d. May 2, 2014), American actor, best known for his role in the TV show, The FBI.  He died at age 95.

1915 ~ Henry Taube (d. Nov. 16, 2005), Canadian-born American chemist and recipient of the 1983 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died 14 days before his 90^th birthday.

1912 ~ Gordon Parks (b. Mar. 7, 2006), African American photographer and film director.  He died at age 93.

1889 ~ Reuvein Margolies (d. Aug. 28, 1971), Hungarian-born Israeli author and Talmudic scholar.  He died at age 81.

1889 ~ Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1^st Baron Adrian (d. Aug. 4, 1977), British electrophysiologist and recipient of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Physiology or medicine for his work on the function of neurons.  He died at age 87.

1874 ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery (d. Apr. 24, 1942), Canadian author, best known for Anne of Green Gables.  She died at age 67.

1874 ~ Sir Winston Churchill (d. Jan. 24, 1965), British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II.  He was also the recipient of the 1953 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died at age 90.

1869 ~ Nils Gustaf Dalén (d. Dec. 9, 1937), Swedish physicist and recipient of the 1912 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died 9 days after his 68^th birthday.

1866 ~ Andrey Lyapchev (d. Nov. 6, 1933), Bulgarian attorney and Prime Minister of Bulgaria.  He served as Prime Minister from January 1926 until June 1931.  He died 24 days before his 67^th birthday.

1835 ~ Mark Twain (né Samuel Clemens, d. Apr. 21, 1910), American novelist.  He died at age 74.

1817 ~ Theodor Mommsen (né Christian Matthhias Theodor Mommsen, d. Nov. 1, 1903), German writer and recipient of the 1902 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He died 29 days before his 86^th birthday.

1810 ~ Oliver Winchester (d. Dec. 11, 1880), American businessman and manufacturer of the Winchester Repeating Arms.  He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and died in New Haven, Connecticut 11 days after his 70^th birthday.

1723 ~ William Livingston (d. July 25, 1790), 1^st Governor of New Jersey.  He was Governor from August 1776 until his death on this date 4 years later.  He was also one of the signers of the United States Constitution.  He was 66 years old.

1719 ~ Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (d. Feb. 8, 1772), Princess of Wales.  She was married to Frederick, Prince of Wales.  He died before becoming King, so she was never the Queen Consort.  She died at age 52.

1699 ~ Christian VI of Denmark and Norway (d. Aug. 6, 1746).  He died at age 46.

1667 ~ Jonathan Swift (d. Oct. 19, 1745), English author and satirist, best known for his novel, Gulliver’s Travels.  He died at age 77.

1628 ~ John Bunyan (d. Aug. 31, 1688), English writer.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he was baptized on November 30, 1628.  He died at age 59.

1466 ~ Andrea Doria (d. Nov. 25, 1560), Italian admiral and naval leader.  He died 5 days before his 94^th birthday.

Events that Changed the World:

2004 ~ Longtime Jeopardy! contestant, Ken Jennings, lost in his 75^th appearance on the show.  During the course of his long tenure on the show, he accumulated over $2.5 Million.

1998 ~ Exxon and Mobil signed a merger agreement, thereby creating ExxonMobil.

1995 ~ Operation Desert Storm officially ended.

1993 ~ President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Bill) into law, which mandated a waiting period and background check for handgun purchases.  The Bill was named after James Brady (1940 ~ 2014), who was a staff member in the Ronald Reagan administration.  James Brady was shot and seriously injured in the same assassination attempt on Reagan’s life.

1972 ~ Michael Jackson’s album, Thriller, was released.

1971 ~ Iran seized the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the United Arab Emirates.

1967 ~ The Pakistan Peoples Party was founded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (1928 ~ 1979), who later became its Head of State.

1967 ~ The People’s Republic of South Yemen gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1966 ~ Barbados gained its independence from the United Kingdom.

1954 ~ In Oak Grove, Alabama, the Hodges meteorite crashed through a house and hit Ann Elizabeth Fowler Hodges (1920 ~ 1972), who was taking a nap.  She was badly bruised, but not killed.  This is the only documented case of a human being hit by a rock from space in the United States.

1940 ~ Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were eloped.  They divorced 20 years later.

1939 ~ The Russo-Finnish Winter War began when Soviet forces crossed into Finland and bombed Helsinki and several other Finnish cities.

1936 ~ The Crystal Palace in London, England was destroyed by fire.

1804 ~ The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate began impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase (1741 ~ 1811) who was a Federalist.

1803 ~ In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transferred the Louisiana Territory to France.  Within a month, France transferred the same portion of land to the United State as the Louisiana Purchase.

1786 ~ Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgated penal reforms abolishing the death penalty, making his country the first state to do such.

1782 ~ Following the American Revolutionary War, representatives from the United States and from Great Britain met in Paris and signed the preliminary peace articles, that were later formalized as the 1873 Treaty of Paris.

1700 ~ At the Battle of Navra, the Swedish army under King Charles XII defeated a much larger Russian army.  Under the calendar in use at the time, this battle occurred on November 19, 1700.

Good-Byes:

2014 ~ Ian Player (b. Mar. 15, 1927), South African game warden who saved the white rhinoceros.  He died at age 87.

2007 ~ Evel Knievel (né Robert Craig Knievel, b. Oct. 16, 1938), American stuntman.  He died at age 69.

2003 ~ Gertrude Caroline Ederle (b. Oct. 23, 1905), American athlete and swimmer.  On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel.  She died at age 98.

1996 ~ Tiny Tim (né Herbert Khaury, b. Apr. 12, 1932). American musician.  He died of a massive heart attack at age 64.

1979 ~ Zeppo Marx (né Herbert Manfred Marx, b. Feb. 25, 1901), American actor and comedian.  He was the youngest of the Marx brothers.  He was the last surviving Marx brother.  He died of lung cancer at age 78.

1979 ~ Laura Gilpin (b. Apr. 22, 1891), American photographer.  She died at age 88.

1944 ~ Albert Bacon Fall (b. Nov. 26, 1861), 28^th United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under President Warren G. Harding from March 1921 until March 1923.  He died 4 days after his 83^rdbirthday.

1934 ~ Hélène Boucher (b. May 23, 1908), French pilot.  She set several women’s world speed records for flying.  She was killed at age 26 in a plane crash in 1934.

1930 ~ Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (b. 1837), American labor organizer.  Her actual birthdate is unknown, although she was baptized on August 1, 1837.  May 1 is ascribed to her birth because it is International Labor Day.  She was 93 at the time of her death.

1900 ~ Oscar Wilde (Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wild, b. Oct. 16, 1854), Irish author and playwright.  He died at age 46.

1836 ~ Pierre-Simon Girard (b. Nov. 4, 1765), French mathematician.  He is known for his work in fluid dynamics.  He died 26 days after his 71^st birthday.

1830 ~ Pope Pius VIII (né Francesco Saverio Castiglioni, b. Nov. 20, 1761).  He was Pope for a year and a half, from March 31, 1829 until his death on November 30 1830.  He died 10 days after his 69^th birthday.

1718 ~ King Charles XII of Sweden (b. June 17, 1682).  He was killed during the Siege Fredriksten in Norway at age 36.

1675 ~ Cecil Calvert, 2^nd Baron Baltimore (b. Aug. 8, 1605), British colonial governor of Maryland.  He died at age 70.

1647 ~ Bonaventura Cavalieri (b. 1598), Italian mathematician and astronomer.  The exact date of his birth is not known.

1016 ~ King Edmund II of England (b. 993).  He was also known as Edmund Ironside.  The exact date of his birth is unknown but he is believed to have been 26 at the time of his death.