On This Day December 1

In 1885, a young pharmacist called Charles Alderton was working and serving carbonated soft drinks at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store, in Waco, Texas. Having noted that customers soon tired of drinking the same old fruit flavors, the inventive Alderton decided to make something new by blending several fruit extracts. After numerous experiments, he finally created one he liked, which he named Dr. Pepper after his employer. The first serving of the new soft drink was on December 1, 1885.

By Amin 

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On This Day November 30

Comic actress Lucille Ball first met Cuban-born bandleader Desi Arnaz while filming the Rodgers and Hart stage hit Too Many Girls. At first, Arnaz was not fond of Lucy. When they met again later that day, the two connected immediately and eloped the same year. They got married in Greenwich, Connecticut on November 30, 1940. Lucy said "It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes."

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On This Day November 29

Louis Antoine Godey, the publisher of Godey's Lady's Book, died on November 29, 1878. The largest circulation magazine of its time, Godey's Lady's Book's illustrations not only influenced nineteenth century women's fashions, but would become documents for social historians and prized items for collectors. A publisher also of children's and music journals, Godey was among the first to copyright magazine contents.

Cover from June 1867 issue

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On This Day November 28

On November 28, 1582, the 18-year-old William Shakespeare married the 26-year-old daughter of a yeoman farmer Anne Hathaway (1556-1623). There appears to have been some haste in arranging the ceremony: Anne was three months pregnant. Shakespeare was not a faithful husband and it is thought he had an affair with the mysterious "Dark Lady" who featured in many of his sonnets.

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On This Day November 27

English chemist John Walker had developed an interest in trying to find a means of obtaining fire easily. He experimented with several chemical mixtures which were already known to ignite by a sudden explosion and made the discovery on November 27, 1826 that when a stick coated in potassium chlorate and antimony sulphide was brushed across stone, it created a flame. Walker appreciated the practical value of the discovery, and started making the first friction matches.

Sulphur-head matches, 1828, lit by dipping into a bottle of phosphorus

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On This Day November 26

Charles Dodgson's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published on November 26, 1865 under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The book grew out of a story told by Charles Dodgson to amuse three little girls, the daughters of the Dean of Christchurch, during a rowing trip. Afterwards he wrote down the story for one of them - the ten-year-old Alice Liddell. Below is a page from Carroll's original manuscript copy titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground, 1864, held in the British Library.

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On This Day November 25

On November 25, 1944 a carrier pigeon Paddy was decorated for his effort in the war against Nazi Germany. In the service of Royal Air Force, Paddy had achieved to get a message from Normandy to England in the fastest crossing of the English Channel: 4 hours and 50 minutes. When receiving his Order of Merit Paddy was described as "exceptionally intelligent".

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On This Day November 24

The first live televised murder occurred on November 24, 1963, when Jack Ruby killed President John Kennedy's alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. As Oswald was being transported from the Dallas Police Department to the county jail, Ruby lunged from the crowd and shot Oswald in the abdomen. Oswald was rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. CST.

The shooting of Oswald was broadcast live on television by NBC, and it was seen by millions of Americans across the country. The event was a shocking and traumatic one for many people, and it raised questions about the role of violence in American society.

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On This Day November 23

The world's first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royal Hotel in San Francisco on November 23, 1899. At a nickel per play, the machine earned nearly $1000 during the first six months of operation. Early manufacturers of Jukeboxes never referred to them as "jukeboxes", they called them Automatic Coin-Operated Phonographs. The term "juke" is Southern US slang for dancing.

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On This Day November 22

President John F Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. He was being driven through the city in an open-top convertible with his wife sat beside him. As the car drove into Dealey Plaza, shots were fired. Kennedy was hit twice. The first bullet struck him in the upper back and exited through his throat. The second bullet struck him in his head. He was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital and at 1:00 p.m, was pronounced dead.

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On This Day November 21

Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone as the underdog prizefighter Rocky Balboa, debuted on November 21, 1976 in New York City. It was a huge box-office hit and received 10 Academy Awards. Just before Sylvester Stallone sold the script for Rocky, he was homeless and sold his dog for $50. A week later, he bought his dog back for $3000.

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On This Day November 20

Princess Elizabeth first fell in love with Philip Mountbatten after they met at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in July 1939, They were married on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey before 2,000 guests. Because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war, Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her wedding dress, which was designed by Norman Hartnell.

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On This Day November 19

Abraham Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address was delivered by the President on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. He gave it at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Though it came to be regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history, Lincoln at the time thought it was a failure.

Lincoln (center, facing camera) at Gettysburg, taken just after he arrived

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On This Day November 18

After Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler developed in 1885 a high-speed internal combustion engine, he fitted the engine to a bicycle to create the first internal combustion motorcycle. Daimler's 17-year-old son, Paul, was the first to ride the motorcycle taking it 5–12 kilometers (3.1–7.5 mi), from Cannstatt to Untertürkheim in Stuttgart, Germany on November 18, 1885. The seat caught fire during that journey, due to the engine's hot tube ignition being located directly underneath.

Replica of the Daimler-Maybach Reitwagen. Wikipedia Commons

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On This Day November 17

The Elizabethan age began when Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne on November 17, 1558, following the death of her half sister Mary. Elizabeth was told the news of her accession to the throne whilst sitting under an oak tree in the Hatfield Palace gardens. She reacted by getting on her knees and quoting Psalm 118 “This is the Lord’s day. It is marvelous in our eyes.”

Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, 

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On This Day November 16

The Sound of Music musical opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959. Both of the major New York critics hated it, finding it way too saccharine, but producers already had $2 million in advance ticket sales, so their lack of enthusiasm didn't really matter. The play won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

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On This Day November 15

Winston Churchill was The Morning Post's war correspondent during the Boer War. On November 15, 1899, he was captured and imprisoned by Boers. The following month, Churchill and two other inmates successfully made an escape from the prison camp in Pretoria over the latrine wall, hiding in a mine shaft for three days.

Churchill in 4th Queen's Own Hussars uniform in 1895

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On This Day November 14

Aviator Eugene Burton Ely performed the first take off from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia on November 14, 1910. He took off from a makeshift deck erected over the bow of the light cruiser USS Birmingham. The airplane plunged downward as soon as it cleared the 83-foot platform runway; and the aircraft wheels dipped into the water before rising. Ely's goggles were covered with spray, and the aviator promptly landed on a beach rather than landing at the Norfolk Navy Yard as planned.

Ely takes off from the USS Birmingham November 14, 1910

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On This Day November 13

Arthur A Denny and his group of travelers from New York State, arrived on a cold, stormy day on the schooner Exact at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. They originally called their settlement in what’s today known as West Seattle, "New York." After the party moved across Elliott Bay, they renamed the territory "Seattle" after Chief Si'ahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes befriended them.

Photographer Theodore Peiser captured an image of this painting of early Seattle

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On This Day November 12

Jules Léotard (1838–1870) abandoned his law studies to become a trapeze artist. Léotard won almost immediate success during a performance in Cirque Napoleon in Paris on November 12, 1859 when for the first time he swung from one trapeze to the other. The acrobatic act was called “La Course aux Trapèze” and it lasted for 12 minutes.

Jules Léotard

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On This Day November 11

On November 11, 1864, after Atlanta surrendered to the Union Army during the Civil War, General Sherman ordered the city to be burned to the ground, sparing only its churches and hospitals. Four days later he started Sherman's March to the Sea. Only 400 buildings survived, which is why Atlanta's symbol is a phoenix.

Atlanta in ruins during the Civil War, 1864

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On This Day November 10

In January 1866, the missionary and explorer David Livingstone traveled to Africa to seek the source of the Nile. By 1871 he had been lost to the world for over five years and had trekked 30,000 miles in his attempt to find the river's source. The journalist H.M. Stanley eventually found Livingstone at Ujiji, on the bank of Lake Tanganyika in present day Tanzania on November 10, 1871, and greeted him with the famous words "Dr Livingstone I presume."

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On This Day November 9

After Germany's defeat in the First World War, the emperor Wilhelm II lost the support of the German army. He abdicated on November 9, 1918. So many significant events in German history have happened on November 9 that historians have called the date 'The Day of Fate'. Other events that have occurred on this date include the the failed Beer Hall Putsch and the fall of the Berlin Wall. 

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On This Day November 8

While experimenting with high voltages applied to an evacuated tube on November 8, 1895, German scientist Wilhelm Röntgen noticed a fluorescence on a nearby plate of coated glass. Within a month, he discovered that the radiation causing this was able to pass through everyday materials such as paper, wood and living tissue and it produced an image on photographic plates as well as a fluorescent screen. Röntgen called this type of radiation X rays. Below is the first medical X-ray by Wilhelm Röntgen of his wife Anna Bertha Ludwig's hand.

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On This Day November 7

American outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their The Wild Bunch gang became so proficient at robbing banks, payrolls and trains all over Colorado and Utah that the Pinkerton Detective Agency was hired to run them down. The pressures of being pursued forced Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to flee first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where they were killed in a shoot-out on November 7, 1908.

Butch Cassidy poses in the Wild Bunch group photo, Fort Worth, Texas

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On This Day November 6

In December 1526, Charles V commissioned Spanish conquistador Pánfilo de Narváez to explore, conquer and settle a portion of North America stretching along the Gulf coast from Mexico to Florida.  The expedition's treasurer, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, along with 79 others were the first known Europeans to set foot in Texas on November 6, 1528.  Only de Vaca, and three others survived the next eight years, during which they wandered through what is now the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. They eventually reached Mexico City in 1536. 

Below is the route of the Narváez expedition (until November 1528 at Galveston Island), and speculative historical reconstruction of Cabeza de Vaca's later wanderings.

By Lencer - Own work (Original text: own work, used:)

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On This Day November 5

Following the World Bank's refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam in 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal sparking international condemnation. Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt to get back the Suez Canal with the initial Anglo-French assault taking place on Port Said on November 5, 1956. Despite being a military success and having minor losses, the Suez Crisis had so much political fallout that most historians consider it the end of Britain as a superpower.

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On This Day November 4

Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842 at the Springfield, Illinois, mansion of Mary's married sister. Mary was a hysterical and madly jealous wife and she refused her husband to receive female visitors alone. She was the first presidential wife to be referred to as the First Lady. Mary was so disliked in her day she was nicknamed the “she-wolf”.

Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln

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On This Day November 3

Martha Hughes Cannon became the first female state senator elected in the United States when she was elected as a Utah State Senator on November 3, 1896. A Mormon polygamous wife, she ran against and defeated her own husband. Martha Hughes Cannon was the author of Utah sanitation laws and was a founder and member of Utah's first State Board of Health.

Martha Hughes Cannon

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On This Day November 2

The first radio broadcast license by the U.S. Commerce Department was given in 1920 to Westinghouse for station KDKA in Pittsburgh. On November 2, 1920, KDKA broadcast the US presidential election returns from a shack on the roof of the K Building of the Westinghouse Electric Company "East Pittsburgh Works" in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania. The original broadcast was said to be heard as far away as Canada.

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