Welcome to Today In History for Friday, November 20, 2009.

On this day in history...

• 1168 - Giovanni di Struma elected anti-Pope
• 1272 - Edward I proclaimed King of England
• 1342 - Pope Clemens VI names John IV of Arkel as bishop of Utrecht
• 1347 - Roman tribunal Coke di Rienzo beats nobles
• 1431 - 1st meeting of Order of Guilder Flies
• 1520 - Friesland hit by heavy hail storm
• 1521 - Arabs attribute shortage of water in Jerusalem to Jews making wine
• 1583 - Duke of Parma conquerors Aalst
• 1616 - Bishop Richelieu becomes French minister of Foreign affairs/War
• 1637 - Peter Minuit & 1st Swedish immigrants to Delaware sail from Sweden
• 1719 - Sweden & Hannover sign peace Treaty of Stockholm
• 1755 - English minister William Pitt Sr resigns
• 1759 - -22] Battle in Bay of Quiberon, British beat French
• 1780 - Britain declares war on Holland
• 1789 - New Jersey is 1st state to ratify Bill of Rights
• 1795 - Cura‡ao govt forbids slave work on Sunday
• 1805 - Beethoven's "Fidelio," premieres in Vienna
• 1815 - 2nd Peace of Paris: France & allies
• 1815 - Russia, Prussia, Austria & England signs Great Alliance
• 1817 - 1st Seminole War begins in Florida
• 1829 - Jews expelled from Nikolayev & Sevastopol Russia
• 1833 - Charles Darwin reaches Punta Gorda, sees Rio Uruguay
• 1852 - Charles Reade/Tom Taylor's "Masks & Faces," premieres in London
• 1862 - Armies of Mississippi/Kentucky merge as Army of Tennessee
• 1862 - Confederate army of Tennessee, organizes under Gen Braxton Bragg
• 1865 - Howard University forms in Washington DC
• 1866 - 1st natl convention of Grand Army of Republic (veterans' org)
• 1866 - Howard University founded (Wash, DC)
• 1866 - Pierre Lalemont patents rotary crank bicycle
• 1873 - Rival cities of Buda & Pest unite to form the capital of Hungary
• 1888 - William Bundy patents timecard clock
• 1889 - Gustav Mahlers 1st Symphony
• 1890 - Pope Leo XIII encyclical On slavery in missions
• 1894 - US intervenes in Bluefields, Nicaragua
• 1901 - Opera "Gris‚lidis" is produced (Paris)
• 1902 - Geo Lefevre & Henri Desgrange create Tour de France bicycle race
• 1906 - George Bernard Shaws "Doctor's Dilemma," premieres in London
• 1909 - Jack Williams of Ottawa Rough Riders kicks 9 singles in a game
• 1910 - Revolution broke out in Mexico, led by Francisco I Madero
• 1911 - Gustav Mahlers "Tie Song of the Erde" premieres in Munich
• 1914 - US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports
• 1915 - 7th CFL Grey Cup: Hamilton Tigers defeats Toronto Rowing, 13-7
• 1917 - 1st tank battle (Britain breaks through German lines)
• 1917 - Ukrainian Republic declared
• 1919 - 1st municipally owned airport in US opens (Tucson Az)
• 1920 - Nobel Peace Prize awarded to US president W Wilson
• 1922 - Zo‰ Akins' "Texas Nightingale," premieres in NYC
• 1923 - Garrett Morgan invents & patents traffic signal
• 1928 - Boston Gardens opens, Mont Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 1-0
• 1928 - WGH-AM in Newport News VA begins radio transmissions
• 1929 - 1st broadcast of "Goldbergs" on US radio
• 1929 - Salvador Dali's 1st one-man show
• 1931 - Commercial teletype service begins (AT&T)
• 1932 - Earthquake at Uden Netherlands
• 1934 - Eiji Sawamura, 17, gives up 1 hit, Lou Gehrig's HR, Japan beats US 1-0
• 1934 - Lillian Hellman's "Children's Hour," premieres in NYC
• 1934 - New Belgian govt of Theunis, Francqui & Gutt (3 bankers)
• 1934 - Tornoto Maple Leaf Harvey Jackson is 1st to score 4 goals in 1 period
• 1938 - 1st documented anti-semitic remarks over US radio (by Father Coughlin)
• 1940 - German air raid on Birmingham fails
• 1940 - Hungary joins 3 Power pact
• 1941 - Adm Nomura & Kurusu hands over Japanese last diplomatic note
• 1941 - German Q/pirate ship Kormoran sinks near Australia
• 1942 - 26th Russian Armoured Corps recaptures Perelazovski
• 1942 - British 8th Army recaptures Benghazi, Libya
• 1942 - Hitler names fieldmarshal Erich von Manstein becomes commanding
• 1942 - NHL abolishes regular season OT until WW II is over
• 1942 - Soviet army offensive, 1 million Russians breach German lines
• 1943 - U-538 sinks in Atlantic Ocean
• 1943 - US forces land on Tarawa & Makin Atoll in Gilbert Island
• 1944 - 1st Japanse suicide submarine attack (Ulithi Atol, Carolines)
• 1944 - Amsterdam: Vondelpark closed because of kappen of trees
• 1944 - Prince Bernhard establishes staff in Breda
• 1945 - 24 Nazi leaders put on trial at Nuremberg, Germany
• 1945 - Dmitri Sjostakovitch's 9th Symphony under J Mravinski premieres
• 1945 - Queen Wilhelmina opens parliament in Hague
• 1946 - Lillian Hellman's "Another Part of the Forest," premieres in NYC
• 1947 - "Meet the Press" makes network TV debut on NBC
• 1947 - 1st permanent TV installed on seagoing vessel (New Jersey)
• 1947 - Britain's Princess Elizabeth, marries Duke Philip Mountbatten
• 1947 - Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Mediator Dei
• 1947 - UN General assembly begins debate on printing their own stamps
• 1948 - US balloon reaches height of 42.7 km (record)
• 1949 - Jewish population of Israel reaches 1,000,000
• 1951 - Snowdonia becomes a National Park
• 1952 - Cubs slugger Hank Sauer wins NL MVP
• 1952 - George Axelrods "7 Year Itch," premieres in NYC
• 1952 - Prague show trial against 14 communists (9 Jewish) begin
• 1953 - Scott Crossfield in Douglas Skyrocket, 1st to break Mach 2 (1,300 MPH)
• 1954 - KTRK TV channel 13 in Houston, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1955 - Kripal Singh scores 100 on Test Cricket debut, India v NZ
• 1955 - Polly Umrigar scores India's 1st Test Cricket double century, 223 v NZ
• 1957 - Morton Wishengrad's "Rope Dancers," premieres in NYC
• 1959 - UN adopts Universal Declaration of Children's Rights
• 1959 - WABC fires Alan Freed over payola scandal
• 1961 - WPLG TV channel 10 in Miami, FL (ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1962 - Mickey Mantle wins AL MVP
• 1962 - USSR agrees to remove bombers from Cuba, & US lifts blockade
• 1964 - Dmitri Sjostakovitch's 9th/10th String Quartet premiers in Moscow
• 1965 - "Pickwick" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 56 performances
• 1965 - UN Security council calls for boycott of Rhodesia
• 1965 - WCNY TV channel 24 in Syracuse, NY (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1966 - "Cabaret" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 1166 performances
• 1966 - Clifford Ann Creed wins LPGA Success Golf Open
• 1966 - Dallas sacks Pittsburgh QBs an NFL record 12 times
• 1966 - Men in Zurich vote against female suffrage
• 1967 - At 11 AM, Census Clock at Dept of Commerce ticks past 200 million
• 1967 - Mets pitcher Tom Seaver (16-12) is named NL Rookie of Year
• 1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1969 - Alcatraz Island off SF, is seized by militant Native Americans
• 1969 - Gundappa Viswanath scores 137 on Test Cricket debut v Australia Kanpur
• 1969 - Pele scores his 1,000th soccer goal
• 1969 - SF Giant Willie McCovey edges Tom Seaver as NL MVP
• 1970 - UN General Assembly accepts membership of China PR
• 1971 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1974 - Rangers' Jeff Burroughs wins AL MVP
• 1974 - The US files antitrust suit to break-up AT&T
• 1975 - Ronald Reagan announced candidacy for Rep nomination for president
• 1976 - George Harrison appears on Saturday Night Live
• 1976 - Judy Rankin wins LPGA Colgate-Hong Kong Golf Open
• 1977 - Egyptian Pres Sadat became 1st Arab leader to address Israeli Knesset
• 1977 - Steve Largent begins NFL streak of 177 consecutive game receptions
• 1977 - Walter Payton (Bears) rushes for NFL-record 275 yards
• 1979 - Sji'ieten occupies great mosque of Mecca, 100s killed
• 1979 - US's 1st artificial blood transfusion occurs at U of Minn Hospital
• 1980 - Billy Martin named AL Manager of Year (Oakland A's)
• 1980 - Steve Ptacek in Solar Challenger makes 1st solar-powered flight
• 1980 - UA withdraws $44 million movie "Heaven's Gate" for reediting
• 1981 - Anatoly Karpov, USSR retains world chess championship
• 1981 - Burundia adopts its constitution
• 1981 - El Salvador guerrilla group FMLN opens "limited offensive"
• 1981 - Ringo releases "Stop & Smell Roses" album
• 1982 - Drew Barrymore at age 7 hosts Saturday Night Live
• 1983 - "Marilyn: An American Fable" opens at Minskoff NYC for 16 perfs
• 1983 - 100 million watch ABC-TV movie "Day After," about nuclear war
• 1983 - Cleveland Browns shutout Patriots 30-0
• 1983 - NY Giants Butch Woolfolk ties NFL record of 43 attempts rushing
• 1984 - McDonald's made its 50 billionth hamburger
• 1984 - Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden wins NL Rookie of Year
• 1985 - NY Yankee Don Mattingly easily wins AL MVP
• 1986 - Afghanistan President Babrak Karmal flees
• 1986 - UN's WHO announces 1st global effort to combat AIDS
• 1988 - "Les Miserables," opens a Bus & Truck tour in Tampa
• 1989 - Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Robin Yount wins AL MVP
• 1990 - Oakland's Rickey Henderson wins AL MVP
• 1990 - Sacramento Kings last NBA win on the road for over a year
• 1990 - Thatcher fails to defeat Heseltine's bid for party leadership
• 1990 - US 68th manned space mission STS 38 (Atlantis 7) returns from space
• 1991 - Atlanta Braves Terry Pendleton wins NL MVP
• 1992 - "Malcolm X" premieres
• 1992 - Queen Elizabeth's home Windsor Castle catches fire
• 1993 - Jakovlev-42 crashes into mountain at Ohrid Macedonia, 116 killed
• 1993 - Sam's Town Bowling Invitational won by Robin Romeo
• 1993 - Winnie Mandela's driver/bodyguard murdered in Johannesburg
• 1994 - "Flying Karamzov Brothers..." opens at Helen Hayes NYC for 50 perfs
• 1994 - "Shadow Box" opens at Circle in Sq Theater NYC for 49 performances
• 1994 - Kosmos 2294/2295/2296 launches
• 1994 - Patti Davis weds Paul Hayeland
• 1995 - "Beatles' Anthology, Vol 1" released
• 1995 - "Racing Demon" opens at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC for 48 perfs
• 1995 - FDA approves new therapy for use as an initial AIDS treatment, 3TC
• 1995 - Princess Di admits she cheated on Prince Charles in a TV interview
• 1995 - STS 74 (Atlantis 15), lands
• 1997 - "Ivanov," opens at Vivian Beaumont Theater NYC for 51 performances
• 1997 - Flyers Eric Lindros tries to bite San Jose defenseman Marty McSorley
• 1997 - Last original Florida Marlin, Jeff Conine, traded to KC Royals
• 1997 - Mavericks' A C Green sets NBA record of 907 consecutive games played
• 1997 - NY Islanders lose, beginning a 10 game losing streak