Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

November 29

1990
Gulf War: In response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, the United Nations sets a deadline of January 15th for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.

1961
First U.S. animal to orbit the Earth: Enos, a 5-year-old chimpanzee, is launched aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 satellite. He orbited the Earth twice and was recovered later in the day.

1951
First underground atomic explosion: The U.S. explodes a device at Frenchman Flat, Nevada. It left an 800-foot wide by 100-foot deep crater.

1948
Kukla, Fran and Ollie: The children's TV show debuts on NBC. Fran Allison and the Kuklapolitan Players had been a local hit for a year on a Chicago TV station.

1941
Coffee rationing: The U.S. begins rationing coffee as a result of World War II. This remained in effect until 1943.

1929
First person to fly over the South Pole: American explorer Richard E. Byrd.

1890
First Army-Navy football game: Navy wins 24-0.

1864
Chivington Massacre: Disarmed and awaiting terms of surrender, 105 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian women and children and 28 Indian men are slaughtered by calvary troops led by Col. John M. Chivington at Sand Creek, Colorado.

1492
Smoking: Columbus first notes in his diary the smoking of tobacco by the Indians.

1968
Jon Knight (Jonathan Rasleigh Knight), American pop musician, member of New Kids on the Block.

1949
Gary Shandling, American comic actor. TV: It's Gary Shandling's Show and The Larry Sanders Show.

1941
Dennis Doherty, Canadian folk singer, with The Mamas and the Papas. Music: California Dreamin' (1965) and Monday, Monday (1966, #1).

1940
Chuck Mangione, American Grammy-winning musician. Music: Feels So Good (1977).

1933
David Reuben, American psychiatrist, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (1969).

1932
Diane Ladd (Rose Diane Ladner), American actress. Film: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974, waitress Flo). TV: Alice (waitress Belle Dupree).

1928
Paul Simon, American politician, U.S. Senator (Democrat Illinois).

1927
Vincent Scully, American sportscaster, game-show host. TV: Challenge of the Sexes, It Takes Two, and The Vin Scully Show.

1923     d. 1983
Frank Reynolds, American anchorman. TV: ABC Evening News.

1898     d. 1963
C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis), British author, Christian apologist. Books: The Allegory of Love (1936), The Screwtape Letters (1942), Out of the Silent Planet (1938), and The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-56).

1876     d. 1977
Nellie Tayloe Ross, American politician, first woman state governor (Wyoming, 1925-27), and the first woman director of the U.S. Mint (1933).

1849     d. 1945
Sir John Ambrose Fleming, English engineer. He patented the first vacuum tube (1904), revolutionizing the wireless telegraph. He also made numerous contributions to the development of the telephone and electric lighting.

1832     d. 1888
Louisa May Alcott, American author. Writings: Little Women (1868) and Little Men (1871).

1825     d. 1893
Jean-Martin Charcot, French physician. He and Guillaume Duchenne founded modern neurology. As one of his pupils, Sigmund Freud's interest in the psychological aspects of neurosis was initiated by his use of hypnosis.

1816     d. 1888
Morrison Remick Waite, American jurist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1874-88).

1803     d. 1853
Christian Johann Doppler, Austrian physicist. He discovered the "Doppler effect" (1842, The frequency of a wave is relative to the motion between its source and observer).

2001     b. 1943
George Harrison, British singer, one of the Beatles.

1992     b. 1910
Robert Shayne (Robert Shaen Dawe), American actor. TV: The Adventures of Superman (Inspector Henderson).

1986     b. 1904
Cary Grant (Archibald Leach), British-born Oscar-winning actor. Film: North By Northwest (1959) and That Touch of Mink (1962).

1984     b. circa 1957
Miss Baker, Peruvian-born squirrel monkey, in 1958 she was flown into space by the U.S. to prove that primates could survive space travel.

1981     b. 1938
Natalie Wood (Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko, billed as Natasha Gurdin by the age of four), American actress. Film: Miracle on 34th Street (1947, as the little girl who trusted Santa Claus) and Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Judy). She drowned off the side of her yacht while it was docked (What kind of wood doesn't float?).

1924     b. 1854
Giacomo Puccini, Italian operatic composer, La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly.

1872     b. 1811
Horace Greeley, American editor, author, co-founder of the New Yorker (1834), founder of the New York Tribune (1841), and famous for the phrase "Go West, young man."

1530     b. circa 1475
Thomas Wolsey, English statesman and Cardinal. It is believed that he is the Little Boy Blue of the nursery rhyme.

1378     b. 1316
Charles IV, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and King of Bohemia (1347-78).

1268     b. ????
Clement IV, French-born religious leader, 183rd Pope (1265-68).

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