Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

November 6

1991
The last Kuwait oil well fire is extinguished: Iraqi forces has ignited them while retreating in the Gulf War.

1987
A banana is used to demonstrate how to put on a condom, by singer Ruben Blades on a PBS special.

1967
Donahue: The TV show debuts as a local program in Dayton, Ohio. It was a pioneer in controversial daytime talk-shows.

1963
Laura Bush: Laura Welch, the 17-year-old future first lady, runs a stop sign striking a car and killing its sole occupant, Michael Douglass, her 17-year-old friend and classmate.

1928
First animated electric sign in the U.S. is installed, on the Times Building in New York's Time Square.

1923
The electric razor is patented, by Colonel Jacob Schick.

1869
First U.S. intercollegiate football game: Rutgers beats Princeton 6-4, although the rules were more like soccer.

1860
The Only Third-Party U.S. president: Abraham Lincoln (Republican) is elected.

1955
Maria Shriver, journalist. TV: First Person (anchorwoman).

1949     d. 1991
Brad Davis, American actor. Film: Midnight Express. He died of AIDS.

1948
Glenn Frey, American singer, with The Eagles. Music: Take It Easy (1972), Hotel California (1976, #1), and Smuggler's Blues (1985).

1946
Sally Field, American Oscar-Emmy-winning actress. TV: Gidget (title role) and The Flying Nun (title roll).

1931
Mike Nichols (Michael Igor Peschkowsky), German-born American Oscar-Tony-winning director. Stage: Barefoot in the Park (1963, Tony) and The Odd Couple (1965, Tony). Film: The Graduate (1967, Oscar).

1921     d. 1977
James Jones, American author. Writings: From Here to Eternity (1951), which in 1954 was declared unmailable by the U.S. Post Office.

1914     d. 2002
Jonathan Harris (Jonathan Charasuchin), American actor. TV: Lost in Space (Dr. Zachary Smith).

1903     d. 1984
June Marlowe (Gisella Goetten), American actress. Film: The Little Rascals series (Mrs. Crabtree, the schoolteacher).

1861     d. 1939
James Naismith, American gym instructor. He invented basketball while an instructor for the YMCA (1891). A few years later basketball was banned by the YMCA, which claimed not enough people could play at one time.

1854     d. 1932
John Philip Sousa, American bandmaster, The March King, bandmaster of the U.S. Marine Band. He composed The Stars and Stripes Forever (1897).

1814     d. 1894
Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrument maker. He patented the saxophone (1846).

1671     d. 1757
Colley Cibber, English actor, dramatist. He wrote the first opera performed in America: Flora; or Hob in the Well (1735).

1963     b. 1891
Clarence Elmer Mitchell, American baseball player. He is the only person to have hit a triple in a World Series game (1920).

1905     b. 1821
Sir George Williams, English merchant, founded the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA, 1844).

1893     b. 1840
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer. Music: The Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker.

1836     b. 1757
Charles X, King of France (1824-30), his unpopular rule led to a revolution in which he lost the throne.

1672     b. 1585
Heinrich Schutz, German composer, called the "Father of German music." He composed Dafne (1727), the first German opera.

1406     b. 1336
Innocent VII, Italian religious leader, 204th Pope (1404-06).

Please send Corrections and Omissions to epicidiot.com