19 November

World Toilet Day

1493     Christopher Columbus goes ashore on an island he first saw the day before. He names it San Juan Bautista (later renamed Puerto Rico).

1805     Ferdinand de Lesseps (born), French diplomat and engineer, developed the Suez Canal (died 1894)

1828     Franz Schubert (died), Austrian composer (born 1797)

1863     U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the military cemetery ceremony at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

1898     Arthur R. von Hippel (born), German-American physicist (died 2003)

1905     Tommy Dorsey (born), American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (The California Ramblers) (died 1956)

1916     Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures.

1917     Indira Gandhi (born), Indian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of India (died 1984)

1933     Larry King (born), American journalist and talk show host

1936     Dick Cavett (born), American talk show host

1942     Calvin Klein (born), American fashion designer, founded Calvin Klein Inc.

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

1950     US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of NATO-Europe

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

1955     National Review publishes its first issue.

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

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.

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

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

1994     In the United Kingdom, the first National Lottery draw is held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.

1998     The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings against U.S. President Bill Clinton.

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

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

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EO Smith

Interests include biological anthropology, evolution, social behavior, and human behavior. Conducted field research in the Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya and on Angaur, Palau, Micronesia, as well as research with captive nonhuman primates at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Institute for Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya.
EO Smith
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