Happy Birthday November 22

Abigail Adams, USA's second First Lady, was born on November 22, 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts to Elizabeth and Reverend William Smith, a Congregationalist minister. She is remembered for the many letters she wrote to her husband, John Adams, while he stayed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during the Continental Congresses.

Portrait of Adams by Benjamin Blyth, 1766

Thomas Cook was born on November 22, 1808 at 9 Quick Close in the village of Melbourne, Derbyshire, England. The founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son, he organized his first international tour in 1855, taking two groups on a 'grand circular tour' of of Belgium, Germany and France, ending in Paris for the Exhibition.

English novelist Mary Ann Evans, known by her pen name George Eliot, was born on November 22, 1819 at Gaff House, Chilvers Coton, a micro-metropolis near Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Her novels portrayed rural Victorian society, particularly its intellectual hypocrisy, with realism and irony. Though highly esteemed by critics in her day, Eliot's novels had tiny print runs compared with popular writers such as Dickens.

Tennis star Boris Becker was born on November 22, 1967 in Leimen, Germany, the only son of Elvira and Karl-Heinz Becker. Karl-Heinz Becker, an architect, designed the tennis center where Becker and Steffi Graf played against each other as children. Boris Becker became the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon's men's singles title in 1985. He is also the youngest men's Wimbledon champ in history (at age 17 years, 7 months).

South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was born to Henke and Sheila Pistorius on November 22, 1986 in Sandton, Johannesburg, in what was then Transvaal Province (now Gauteng Province) of South Africa. He had his lower legs amputated at the age of 11 months, having been born without a fibula in either leg. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Pistorius became the first double-leg amputee to compete in the Olympics, after a long legal battle.

For more November 22nd anniversaries, including the killing of the pirate Blackbeard, the debut of Ravel's Boléro, and the first interracial kiss on US TV, check out OnThatDay.