Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

November 4

1993
First Israeli commercial TV channel: It begins broadcasting. Some of its first shows included Israeli versions of Wheel of Fortune and Dr. Ruth.

1992
Nudity banned at the University of California at Berkeley: It was in response to a student, known as "Naked Guy," who regularly attended classes au naturel.

1988
Dan Quayle: Four days before the election, a federal prisoner's press conference is cancelled by prison officials and he is placed in solitary confinement. He was going to make allegations that he sold marijuana to vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle in the 1970s.

1986
Iran-Contra Affair: It is revealed that the Reagan administration had been illegally shipping weapons to Iran in hopes of obtaining the release of American hostages.

1979
Record for lowest yards by a team in an NFL game is set when the Seattle Seahawks make only 7 yards against the Los Angeles Rams.

1979
Iranian Hostage Crisis: The U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran is seized. 63 American hostages are taken and held for 444 days.

1939
First air-conditioned automobile.  Packard Motor Car Company offers it as an option for $274.

1922
King Tutankhamen: The boy king's tomb is discovered by Howard Carter.

1884
First Democratic president since the Civil War: Grover Cleveland is elected.

1879
Electric light: Thomas A. Edison files a patent for his incandescent electric lamp.

1841
First emigrant wagon train to California: It arrives, having departed from Missouri the previous May.

1646
Religious freedom: Massachusetts enacts the death penalty for anyone who persists in denying that the Holy scriptures are the word of God.

1962
Ralph Macchio, American actor. Film: The Karate Kid (1984, title role). TV: Eight is Enough (Jeremy Andretti).

1950
Markie Post, American actress. TV: Night Court (Christine Sullivan).

1937
Loretta Swit, American actress. TV: M*A*S*H (Hot Lips Houlihan).

1931     d. 1979
Darla Jean Hood, American actress. Film: Little Rascals series (Darla). She appeared in 50 Our Gang films.

1930
Doris Roberts, American Emmy-winning actress. TV: Remington Steele (secretary Mildred Krebs).

1919
Martin Balsam, American actor. TV: Archie Bunker's Place (Archie's partner Murray Klein).

1918
Art Carney, American Oscar-Emmy-winning actor. Stage: The Odd Couple. Film: Harry and Tonto (Oscar). TV: The Honeymooners (Ed Norton).

1916
Walter Cronkite, American reporter. "And that's the way it is..."

1879     d. 1935
Will Rogers, American humorist, author. He died in an airplane crash with Wiley Post.

1876     d. 1953
James Earle Fraser, American sculptor. He designed the U.S. Buffalo nickel.

1841     d. 1888
Benjamin Franklin Goodrich, American physician, rubber manufacturer, founder of the B.F. Goodrich Co. (1880).

1997     b. 1916
Eddie Arcaro, American Hall of Fame jockey. He was the first jockey to win the Triple Crown twice (1941, 1948), and he is a 5-time winner of the Kentucky Derby. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1989     b. 1901
Howard Rusk, American physician, founder of physical therapy. He developed physical therapy while working with wounded WWII soldiers.

1955     b. 1867
Cy Young (Denton True Young), American baseball Hall of Famer, winningest baseball pitcher ever with 511 wins.

1952     b. 1866
Max Adler, American philanthropist. He donated the first U.S. public planetarium, the Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum, to the city of Chicago. (Source: Famous First Facts)

1948     b. 1865
Carl Thomas Anderson, American cartoonist, creator of Henry.

1895     b. 1850
Eugene Field, American author. Poems: Wynken, Blynken, and Nod (1888) and Little Boy Blue (1888).

1869     b. 1795
George Peabody, American financier, philanthropist, and for whom Peabody, Massachusetts is named. He founded the Peabody Institute in Maryland, the Peabody Museums at Yale and Harvard, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (1900).

1847     b. 1809
Felix Mendelssohn, German composer, musician. He wrote Midsummer's Night's Dream overture before he was 17.

1212     b. 1127
Saint Felix of Valois, French Monk. He helped found the Trinitarians (c1197).

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