Today in History
- 1576 Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, the Spanish defeat the Walloons and capture Antwerp
- 1841 The first wagon train arrives in California after a five-and-a-half-month, 1,730-mile journey over the Sierra Nevada from Missouri [1]
- 1845 First nationally observed uniform election day in the United States, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November
- 1862 American inventor Richard Jordan Gatling patents the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun in Indianapolis
- 1879 African American inventor Thomas Elkins patents the Refrigerating Apparatus [1]
- 1922 Howard Carter discovers the intact tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt
- 2008 Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate John McCain
Today in Film & TV
- 2001 "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," the first film adaptation of the book series by J. K. Rowling, starring Daniel Radcliffe, premieres in London (titled "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in some markets)
Today in Music
- 1876 Johannes Brahms' 1st Symphony in C premieres in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden
Today in Sport
- 1987 NBA announces four new franchises: Charlotte and Miami for 1988, and Minneapolis and Orlando for 1989
Did You Know?
James Ritty invents the first cash register to prevent his bartenders from stealing money from the till at his bar in Dayton, Ohio
Famous Birthdays
William B. Cushing
1842 - 1874
Will Rogers
1879 - 1935
Harry Ferguson
1884 - 1960
Walter Cronkite
1916 - 2009
Art Carney
1918 - 2003
Shakuntala Devi
1929 - 2013
Celebrity Birthdays
Doris Roberts
1925 - 2016
Loretta Swit
1937 - 2025
Kathy Griffin
66th Birthday
Matthew McConaughey
57th Birthday
Puff Daddy
57th Birthday
Fun Fact About Today
John Lennon utters his famous quip at a Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London: "For our last number, I'd like to ask your help. Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands? And for the rest of you, if you’ll just rattle your jewelry"
Famous Weddings
- 1773 American seamstress Elizabeth Griscom (Betsy Ross) weds American upholster John Ross at Huggs Tavern in Gloucester City, New Jersey
- 1817 German composer Carl Maria von Weber (30) weds opera singer Caroline Brandt
- 1842 American socialite Mary Todd (23) weds Illinois Congressman and lawyer Abraham Lincoln (33) in Springfield, Illinois
Famous Divorces
- 1940 American "A Farewell to Arms" novelist Ernest Hemingway (41) divorces 2nd wife American journalist Pauline Pfeiffer (44) divorce after 13 years of marriage
- 1993 Nia Peeples files for divorce from Howard Hewett
- 2009 R&B singer Usher (30) divorces hair stylist and wardrobe stylist Tameka Foster (38) due to irretrievably broken marriage after 2 years
Abraham Lincoln
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Frederick Douglass
George Washington
Martin Luther King Jr.
Thomas Edison