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Today in History: November 14

1501
Arthur Tudor of England marries Katherine of Aragon.

1680
Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch's Comet/Newton's Comet)

1812
As Napoleon Bonaparte's army retreats form Moscow, temperatures drop to 20 degrees below zero.

1908
Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light.

1921
The Cherokee Indians ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review their claim to 1 million acres of land in Texas.

1960
New Orleans integrates two all-white schools.

1961
President Kennedy increases the number of American advisors in Vietnam from 1,000 to 16,000.

1963
Iceland gets a new island when a volcano pushes its way up out of the sea five miles off the southern coast.

1965
The U.S. First Cavalry Division battles with the North Vietnamese Army in the Ia Drang Valley, the first ground combat for American troops.

1968
Yale University announces its plan to go co-ed.

1969
The United States launches Apollo 12, the second mission to the Moon, from Cape Kennedy.

1979
US President Jimmy Carter freezes all Iranian assets in the United States in response to Iranian militants holding more than 50 Americans hostage.

1982
Lech Walesa, leader of Poland's outlawed Solidarity movement, is released by communist authorities after 11 months confinement; he would win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and be elected Poland's president in 1990.

1995
Budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the US Congress forces temporary closure of national parks and museums; federal agencies forced to operate with skeleton staff.

2012
Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.

2020
Record global daily total of 660,905 COVID-19 cases declared to the WHO, with total known infections over 54 million

2022
Earliest evidence of fire being used to cook by humans found in study of fish remains 780,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in northern Israel

Today in History: Born on November 14

1908
Joseph McCarthy, anti-Communist senator from Wisconsin.

1927
McLean Stevenson, actor; best known for his role as Lt. Col. Henry Blake on the TV series M*A*S*H*.

1947
Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural Jr.), accordion player, zydeco artist.

1948
Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of England.

Joke of the Day

It's a 5 minute walk from my house to the pub. It's a 30 minute walk from the pub to my house.


The difference is staggering.