Epic Idiot's what happened
On This Day

December 1

1992
Police rush a video store and draw weapons on an armed gunman. The gunman turned out to be a cardboard cutout of Denzel Washington.

1990
Eurotunnel: The first stage of the tunnel under the English Channel connecting Britain to France is completed.

1989
The Vatican: Pope John Paul II and Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Rome, signalling the end of 70 years of hostility between the Vatican and the USSR.

1961
Fidel Castro: The Cuban leader announces that he is a Marxist-Leninist and had hidden this fact in order to seize power.

1959
First color photograph of Earth taken from outer space: A Thor missile, launched from Cape Canaveral, takes the photos, although they weren't recovered until two months later, when the missile's nose cone was found in the Bahamas Islands.

1955
Civil Rights: Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man. Her arrest prompted a year-long city bus boycott and led to the ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

1942
World War II: Nationwide gas rationing goes into effect as a result of the war.

1938
First black woman state legislator: Crystal Byrd Fauset begins her term of office to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

1921
First helium-balloon flight: The U.S. Navy tests a balloon filled with 181,000 cubic feet of helium in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1919
First woman elected to the British Parliament: American-born Viscountess Lady Astor takes her seat in the House of Commons.

1917
Boys Town: Father Flanagan founds the Omaha, Nebraska home for troubled boys. He believed, "There is no such thing as a bad boy."

1913
First drive-up gas station: Opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1842
First U.S. naval officer executed for mutiny: Midshipman Philip Spencer is hanged from the yardarm of the USS Somers for attempted mutiny. His father was Pres. Tyler's Secretary of War at the time.

1824
Presidential election: Andrew Jackson defeats John Quincy Adams (99 to 84 electoral votes). But since this is not the necessary majority, the House of Representatives is allowed to choose and they selected Adams.

1958
Charlene Tilton, American actress. TV: Dallas (Lucy Ewing).

1950
Richard Keith (Keith Thibodeaux), American actor. TV: I Love Lucy (Little Ricky).

1945
John Paul Densmore, American drummer, with the Doors. Music: Light My Fire (1967, #1) and L.A. Woman (1971).

1945
Bette Midler, American Grammy-winning singer, actress. Film: The Rose (1979), Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Ruthless People (1986), and Outrageous Fortune (1987).

1940     d. 2005
Richard Pryor, American Emmy-Grammy winning comedian. Film: Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Blazing Saddles (1974, co-wrote), Silverstreak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), Richard Pryor Live on Sunset Strip (1982), and Brewster's Millions (1985).

1939
Lee Trevino, American golfer, 2-time U.S. Open winner (1968, 71), 2-time British Open winner (1971-72), 2-time PGA Championship winner (1974, 84), and winner of the U.S. Senior Open (1990).

1939
Dianne Lennon, American singer, one of the Lennon Sisters.

1935
Woody Allen (Allen Stewart Konigsberg), American Oscar-winning director, comedian, writer. Film: What's New Pussycat? (1965), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (1972), Annie Hall (1977, winner of four Oscars, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, Oscar).

1933     d. 2006
Lou Rawls, American Grammy-winning blues singer, actor. Music: Love Is A Hurtin' Thing (1966, #1) and You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine (1976, #1). Also known for his phrase "Yeahhhh, buddy!"

1925
David Doyle, American actor. TV: Charlie's Angels (Bosley) and Rugrats (voice of Grandpa Pickles).

1913     d. 1990
Mary Martin, American Tony-Emmy-winning actress. Stage: Peter Pan (title role), South Pacific, and The Sound of Music. TV: Peter Pan (1956, Emmy). She is the real-life mother of Larry Hagman.

1898     d. 1977
Cyril Ritchard, Australian actor. Stage: Peter Pan (1954, Captain Hook).

1886     d. 1975
Rex Todhunter Stout, American author, creator of the detective Nero Wolfe (1934).

1844     d. 1925
Alexandra, Queen of England, wife of King Edward VII of England.

1761     d. 1850
Madame Tussaud (Marie Grosholtz ), French wax sculptor. Her wax museum (founded 1835) is one of the major tourist attraction in London, and now has branches in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Copenhagen and New York City. She was imprisoned for being a royalist during the French Revolution and sentenced to execution by guillotine. However, she was saved for her talents in wax and employed to make death masks of the victims of the guillotine, including Marie Antoinette, Marat, and Robespierre.

1963     b. 1898
James Hatlo, American cartoonist, creator of They'll Do It Every Time (1929) and Little Iodine (1943).

1918     b. 1868
Edmond Rostand, French poet, playwright. Plays: Cyrano de Bergarac (1897).

1866     b. 1790
Sir George Everest, British surveyor, and for whom Mt. Everest is named.

1797     b. 1726
Oliver Wolcott, American statesman, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and governor of Connecticut (1796-97).

1521     b. 1475
Leo X, Italian religious leader, 217th Pope (1513-21). His granting of indulgences to the faithful who contributed to the Church led to the Reformation. He excommunicated Luther in 1521.

1135     b. 1068
Henry I, King of England (1100-35).

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