TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – NOV 18
1307 William Tell shoots apple off his son’s head
1477 First English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by William Caxton
1626 St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome is officially dedicated.
1820 Captain Nathaniel Palmer discovered Antarctica.
1861 The first provisional meeting of the Confederate Congress is held in Richmond, Virginia.
1865 Mark Twain’s first story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is published in the New York Saturday Press.
1906 Anarchists bomb St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
1916 British General Douglas Haig finally calls off the 1st Battle of the Somme in World War I after more than 1 million soldiers had been killed or wounded
1928 Mickey mouse makes his film debut in Steamboat Willie, the first animated talking picture.
1940 George P. Metesky ( New York Mad Bomber ) leaves his first bomb on a Consolidated Edison power plant window sill which failed to go off.
1939 The Irish Republican Army explodes three bombs in Piccadilly Circus.
1966 U.S. Roman Catholic bishops did away with the rule against eating meat on Fridays.
1978 Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones leads his followers to a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after cult member killed Congressman Leo J. Ryan of California.
1991 Muslim Shites release hostages Terry Waite & Thomas Sutherland
1993 The U.S. House of Representatives joined the U.S. Senate in approving legislation aimed at protecting abortion facilities, staff and patients.
2003 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules the state’s ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional; the legislature fails to act within the mandated 180 days, and on May 17, 2004, Massachusetts becomes the first US state to legalize same-sex marriage.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
