Welcome to today’s edition, Friday, Nov. 22, the 327th day of 2024. With only 39 days left in the year, let’s take a look back at some significant events that have shaped history on this date.
On this day in history:
On Nov. 22, 1963, the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kennedy, was tragically shot and killed during a motorcade in Dallas. Texas Governor John B. Connally, who was also in the car, was seriously injured. The suspected gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was apprehended, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as president.
Other notable events on this date:
In 1718, the infamous English pirate Edward Teach, known as “Blackbeard,” met his end in a battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina.
In 1935, the China Clipper, a flying boat, embarked on its journey from Alameda, California, carrying over 100,000 pieces of mail on the first trans-Pacific airmail flight.
In 1986, 20-year-old Mike Tyson made history by becoming the youngest heavyweight boxing champion ever, defeating WBC titleholder Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas.
In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announced her resignation after failing to secure reelection to the Conservative Party leadership.
In 2005, Angela Merkel assumed office as Germany’s first female chancellor.
In 2010, a tragic stampede at a festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, resulted in the loss of approximately 350 lives and left hundreds injured.
In 2017, Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb general responsible for the worst massacre in Europe since World War II, was convicted of genocide and other crimes by the United Nations’ Yugoslav war crimes tribunal and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Celebrity Birthdays:
- Actor-filmmaker Terry Gilliam turns 84 today.
- Hockey Hall of Famer Jacques Laperrière celebrates his 83rd birthday.
- Astronaut Guion Bluford marks his 82nd year.
- Tennis legend Billie Jean King turns 81.
- Rock musician-actor Steven Van Zandt celebrates his 74th birthday.
- Rock musician Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads fame is also 74 today.
- Actor Richard Kind turns 68.
- Actor Jamie Lee Curtis celebrates her 66th birthday.
- Actor Mads Mikkelsen turns 59.
- Actor Mark Ruffalo celebrates his 57th birthday.
- Tennis Hall of Famer Boris Becker marks his 57th year.
- Actor Scarlett Johansson turns 40.
- Actor Alden Ehrenreich celebrates his 35th birthday.
- Actor Dacre Montgomery turns 30.
- Actor Auliʻi Cravalho celebrates her 24th birthday.
