Born On This Day:

• Erasmus Darwin, 1731
• John Jay, 1745
• Gustave Flaubert, 1821
• Edvard Munch, 1863
• Edward G. Robinson, 1893
• Frank Sinatra, 1915
• Curt Jurgens, 1915
• Joe Williams, 1918
• Mayor Ed Koch, 1924
• John Osborne, 1929
• Connie Francis, 1938
• Dionne Warwick, 1940
• Grover Washington, 1943
• Paul Rodgers, 1949
• Cathy Rigby, 1952

Died On This Day:

• Aelim II Sultan of Turkey, 1574
• Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, 1849
• Robert Browning, 1889
• John Wanamaker, 1922
• Douglas Fairbanks Sr., 1939
• Tallulah Bankhead, 1968
• David Sarnoff, 1971
• Lady Spencer-Churchill, 1977
• Anne Baxter, 1985
• Vance Packard, 1996
• Joseph Heller, 1999
• George Montgomery, 2000
• Richard Pryor, 2005
• Eugene McCarthy, 2005
• Peter Boyle, 2006
• Ike Turner, 2007
• Van Johnson, 2008

Today's Events:

• AD 627 - After 6 years of war, Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Persian army at Nineveh in final battle.
• 1787 - Pennsylvania admitted to Union.
• 1804 - Spain declares war on Britain at France's instigation.
• 1870 - Joseph Hayne Rainey of South Carolina becomes first black person to serve in US House of Reps.
• 1872 - Labrador Duck species becomes extinct; hunter shoots last one over Long Island, New York.
• 1896 - Marconi gives first public demonstration of radio at Toynbee Hall, London.
• 1901 - Marconi receives first transatlantic radio signal from UK to Canada; antennas held aloft by kites.
• 1925 - America's first motel opens for business in San Luis Obispo.
• 1929 - George Gershwin first conducts 'An American in Paris' at Carnegie Hall.
• 1955 - Hovercraft patented by Sir Christopher Cockerell.
• 1955 - Ford Foundation gives $1/2 billion to colleges and medical institutions; world's largest philanthropy.
• 1963 - Jomo Kenyatta becomes Prime Minister of Kenya.
• 1980 - Leonardo Da Vinci notebook sold for $5. million.
• 1988 - Three Van Gogh paintings valued at $60 million stolen from Otterlo Museum in The Netherlands.
• 2008 - $50 billion Ponzi scheme, biggest in history, revealed in New York as Bernard Madoff arrested.

Feast Day of Saint:

• Edburga of Minster
• Finnian of Clonard
• Vicelin

Holiday:

• Independence Day (Jamhuri) Kenya (1964), Libya (1951)
• Day of patron saint Our Lady of Guadalupe celebrated in Mexico

Non-Specific Holiday:

• ADVENT SUNDAY, Sunday nearest to feast of Saint Andrew (Nov. 30) whether before or after.
• CHANUKKA (Jewish Feast of Lights), eight day holiday beginning on 25th day of lunar month Kislev.
• TSAO CHÜN, Festival of the Kitchen God in China (23rd day of the twelfth moon (or 24th in Kwantung)
• CH'U HSI, Night of the Thirtieth (29th day of the twelfth moon)
• KWANZAA - African American Heritage celebrated December 26 - January 1