today.nukz.net: Almanac November 30

David Alan Mamet ( born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director. Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nominations for The Verdict (1982) and Wag the Dog (1997). Mamet's books include: The Old Religion (1997), a novel about the lynching of Leo Frank; Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy (2004), a Torah commentary with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner; The Wicked Son (2006), a study of Jewish self-hatred and antisemitism; and Bambi vs. Godzilla, a commentary on the movie business.

Events

1700 – Battle of Narva – A Swedish army of 8,500 men under Charles XII defeats a much larger Russian army at Narva.
1718 – Swedish king Charles XII dies during a siege of the fortress Fredriksten in Norway.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Treaty of Paris – In Paris, representatives from the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign preliminary peace articles (later formalized as the 1783 Treaty of Paris).
1786 – Peter Leopold Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, Grand Duke of Tuscany, promulgates a penal reform making his country the first state to abolish the death penalty. Consequently, November 30 is commemorated by 300 cities around the world as Cities for Life Day.
1803 – In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.
1804 – The Democratic-Republican-controlled United States Senate begins an impeachment trial against Federalist-partisan Supreme Court of the United States Justice Samuel Chase.
1824 – First ground is broken at Allenburg for the building of the original Welland Canal.
1829 – First Welland Canal opens for a trial run, 5 years to the day from the ground breaking.
1853 – Crimean War: Battle of Sinop – The Imperial Russian Navy under Pavel Nakhimov destroys the Ottoman fleet under Osman Pasha at Sinop, a sea port in northern Turkey.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Franklin – The Army of Tennessee led by General John Bell Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions commanded by John McAllister Schofield around Franklin, Tennessee, with Hood losing six generals and almost a third of his troops.
1868 – The inauguration of a statue of King Charles XII of Sweden takes place in the King's garden in Stockholm.
1872 – The first-ever international football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scotland and England.
1886 – The Folies Bergère stages its first revue.
1902 – American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor.
1908 – A mine explosion in the mining town of Marianna, Pennsylvania kills 154.
1916 – Costa Rica becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1934 – The steam locomotive Flying Scotsman becomes the first to officially exceed 100mph.
1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire.
1939 – Winter War: Soviet forces cross the Finnish border in several places and bomb Helsinki and several other Finnish cities, starting the war.
1940 – Lucille Ball marries Desi Arnaz in Greenwich, Connecticut.
1942 – World War II: Guadalcanal Campaign: Battle of Tassafaronga – A smaller squadron of Japanese destroyers led by Raizo Tanaka defeats a US cruiser force under Carleton H. Wright.
1947 – 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins on this day, leading up to the creation of the state of Israel.
1953 – Edward Mutesa II, the kabaka (king) of Buganda is deposed and exiled to London by Sir Andrew Cohen, Governor of Uganda.
1954 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, United States, the Hodges Meteorite crashes through a roof and hits a woman taking an afternoon nap in the only documented case of a human being hit by a rock from space.
1966 – Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 – The People's Republic of South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
1967 – The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who becomes its first Chairman later as the Head of state and Head of government after the 1971 Civil War.
1971 – Iran seizes the Greater and Lesser Tunbs from the United Arab Emirates.
1972 – Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam due to the fact that troop levels are now down to 27,000.
1981 – Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17).
1982 – Michael Jackson's Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, is released.
1989 – Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen is killed by a Red Army Faction terrorist bomb.
1993 – U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (the Brady Bill) into law.
1994 – MS Achille Lauro fire off Somalia coast.
1995 – Official end of Operation Desert Storm.
1995 – Bill Clinton, then President of the United States, visited Northern Ireland, and spoke in favour of the "Northern Ireland peace process" to a huge rally at Belfast City Hall. He called terrorists "yesterday's men".
1998 – Exxon and Mobil sign a $73.7 billion USD agreement to merge, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company.
1999 – In Seattle, Washington, United States, protests against the WTO meeting by anti-globalization protesters catch police unprepared and force the cancellation of opening ceremonies.
1999 – British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world.
2001 – In Renton, Washington, United States, Gary Ridgway aka The Green River Killer is arrested.
2004 – Longtime Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with US$2,520,700, television's biggest game show winnings.
2004 – Lion Air Flight 538 crash lands in Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, killing 26.
2005 – John Sentamu becomes the first black archbishop in the Church of England with his enthronement as the 97th Archbishop of York.

Births

539 – Gregory of Tours, French bishop and historian (d. 594)
1340 – John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (d. 1416)
1364 – John FitzAlan, 2nd Baron Arundel, English soldier (d. 1390)
1427 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, King of Poland (d. 1492)
1466 – Andrea Doria, Italian naval leader (d. 1560)
1498 – Andrés de Urdaneta, Spanish Augustinian friar, sail-captain and explorer (d. 1568)
1508 – Andrea Palladio, Italian architect (d. 1580)
1554 – Philip Sidney, English courtier, soldier, and writer (d. 1586)
1594 – John Cosin, English clergyman (d. 1672)
1625 – Jean Domat, French jurist (d. 1696)
1637 – Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont, French historian (d. 1698)
1645 – Andreas Werckmeister, German organist, music theorist, and composer (d. 1706)
1667 – Jonathan Swift, Irish writer and satirist (d. 1745)
1670 – John Toland, Irish philosopher (d. 1722)
1683 – Ludwig Andreas Graf Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (d. 1744)
1719 – Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales (d. 1772)
1722 – Theodore Gardelle, Swiss painter and enameler (d. 1761)
1723 – William Livingston, revolutionary Governor of New Jersey (d. 1790)
1748 – Joachim Albertini, Italian-born composer, who spent most of his life in Poland (d. 1838)
1754 – Ferdinand Ries, German composer (d. 1812)
1756 – Ernst Chladni, German physicist (d. 1827)
1764 – Franz Xaver Gerl, Austrian bass singer and composer (d. 1827)
1768 – Jedrzej Sniadecki, Polish writer, physician, chemist and biologist (d. 1838)
1781 – Alexander Berry, British adventurer (d. 1873)
1791 – Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, Austrian soldier and statesman (d. 1848)
1796 – Carl Loewe, German composer (d. 1869)
1810 – Oliver Winchester, American gunsmith (d. 1880)
1813 – Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (d. 1890)
1813 – Charles-Valentin Alkan, French composer (d. 1888)
1817 – Theodor Mommsen, German historian, Nobel laureate (d. 1903)
1821 – Frederick Temple, 95th Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1902)
1825 – William-Adolphe Bouguereau, French academic painter (d. 1905)
1835 – Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American writer (d. 1910)
1836 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician (d. 1882)
1840 – Henry Birks, Canadian businessman (d. 1928)
1847 – Afonso Augusto Moreira Pena, 6th President of Brazil (d. 1909)
1857 – Bobby Abel, English cricketer (d. 1936)
1858 – Jagdish Chandra Bose, Indian physicist (d. 1937)
1863 – Andrés Bonifacio, head of the Philippine Revolutionary Movement Katipunan (KKK) (d. 1897)
1869 – Nils Gustaf Dalén, Swedish physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1937)
1870 – Princess Henriette, Duchess of Vendôme and Alençon (d. 1948)
1872 – Dr. John McCrae, Canadian physician and soldier (d. 1918)
1874 – Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel laureate (d. 1965)
1874 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (d. 1942)
1879 – Albert Johnson, Canadian football player (death date unknown)
1887 – Andrej Gosar, Slovenian politician and thinker (d. 1970)
1889 – Edgar Douglas Adrian, British physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1977)
1889 – Reuvein Margolies, Austrian-Hungarian-born Israeli author and Talmudic scholar (d. 1971)
1898 – Firpo Marberry, American baseball player (d. 1976)
1904 – Clyfford Still, American painter (d. 1980)
1906 – John Dickson Carr, American author (d. 1977)
1906 – Andrés Henestrosa, Mexican writer (d. 2008)
1907 – Jacques Barzun, French-American historian and author (d. 2012)
1909 – Robert Nighthawk, American musician (d. 1967)
1910 – Leonidas Andrianopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2011)
1911 – Jorge Negrete, Mexican singer and actor (d. 1953)
1912 – Gordon Parks, American photographer and film director (d. 2006)
1915 – Brownie McGhee, American blues musician (d. 1996)
1915 – Henry Taube, Canadian-born chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2005)
1918 – Efrem Zimbalist Jr., American actor
1920 – Virginia Mayo, American actress (d. 2005)
1922 – Graham Crowden, Scottish actor (d. 2010)
1924 – Shirley Chisholm, American politician, United States Representatives from New York (d. 2005)
1924 – Allan Sherman, American comedian (d. 1973)
1924 – Elliott Blackstone, American gay and lesbian rights activist (d. 2006)
1926 – Richard Crenna, American actor (d. 2003)
1927 – Robert Guillaume, American actor
1928 – Joe B. Hall, American basketball coach
1929 – Dick Clark, American television host (d. 2012)
1929 – Joan Ganz Cooney, American children's television pioneer
1930 – G. Gordon Liddy, American Watergate operative and talk radio host
1931 – Jack Ging, American actor
1931 – Bill Walsh, American football coach (d. 2007)
1932 – Bob Moore, American bassist and orchestra leader
1932 – Cho Namchul, South Korean professional Go player (d. 2006)
1933 – Norman Deeley, English footballer (d. 2007)
1936 – Dmitri Victorovich Anosov, Russian mathematician
1936 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist (d. 1989)
1937 – Frank Ifield, Australian/British singer
1937 – Ridley Scott, British film director
1937 – Tom Simpson, British cyclist (d. 1967)
1937 – Adeline Yen Mah, Chinese writer
1938 – Jean Eustache, French filmmaker
1940 – Dan Tieman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2012)
1943 – Terrence Malick, American director and screenwriter
1944 – Dian Parkinson, American model
1944 – George Graham, Scottish former footballer
1945 – Roger Glover, British bassist (Deep Purple)
1945 – Radu Lupu, Romanian pianist
1947 – David Mamet, American playwright
1947 – Sergio Badilla Castillo, Chilean poet
1947 – Stuart Baird, English film editor, producer and director
1947 – Jude Ciccolella, American actor
1949 – Vlassis Bonatsos, Greek entertainer (d. 2004)
1949 – Jimmy London, Jamaican reggae singer
1950 – Chris Claremont, British-American comic book writer
1951 – Christian Bernard, mystic
1951 – June Chadwick, British actress
1952 – Keith Giffen, American comic book writer and artist
1952 – Mandy Patinkin, American actor and singer
1953 – Shuggie Otis, American musician, composer and producer
1953 – June Pointer, American singer (Pointer Sisters) (d. 2006)
1954 – Simonetta Stefanelli, Italian actress (The Godfather)
1954 – Lawrence Summers, American economist and government official
1955 – Michael Beschloss, American historian
1955 – Richard Burr, American politician
1955 – Kevin Conroy, American actor (Batman in the DC animated universe)
1955 – Andy Gray, Scottish footballer
1955 – Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad), British musician
1955 – Muricy Ramalho, Brazilian manager and former football player
1957 – John Ashton, English guitarist (The Psychedelic Furs)
1957 – Richard Barbieri, British keyboardist (Porcupine Tree)
1957 – Andrew Calhoun, American musician
1957 – Margaret Spellings, American politician and 8th United States Secretary of Education
1957 – Joël Champetier, French Canadian author
1957 – Colin Mochrie, Scottish-born Canadian comedian
1958 – Juliette Bergmann, Dutch bodybuilder
1958 – Stacey Q, American singer
1958 – Iz the Wiz, NYC graffiti artist (d. 2009)
1959 – Lorraine Kelly, British presenter and journalist
1959 – Cherie Currie, American musician
1960 – Rich Fields, American television personality
1960 – Bill Halter, American politician
1960 – Gary Lineker, English footballer
1960 – Bob Tewksbury, American baseball player
1962 – Bo Jackson, American football and baseball player
1962 – Daniel Keys Moran, American writer
1964 – Michael Cudlitz, American actor
1964 – Jushin Liger, Japanese professional wrestler
1965 – Aldair, Brazilian footballer
1965 – Prince Akishino of Japan
1965 – Lee Klein, American writer
1965 – David Laws, British politician
1965 – Ben Stiller, American actor
1966 – David Berkoff, American swimmer
1966 – John Bishop, British comedian
1966 – Wil Mara, American author
1966 – David Nicholls, English novelist and screenwriter
1966 – Mika Salo, Finnish racing driver
1967 – Rajiv Dixit, Indian Scientist & Social Activist (d. 2010)
1968 – Des'ree, English singer
1968 – Laurent Jalabert, French cyclist
1969 – Marc Goossens, Belgian racing driver
1969 – Amy Ryan, American actress
1969 – Mike Stone, American musician (Queensryche)
1970 – Robert Griffith, American football player
1970 – Perrey Reeves, American actress
1971 – Tonci Boban, Croatian footballer
1971 – Ray Durham, American baseball player
1971 – Iván Rodríguez, Puerto Rican baseball player
1972 – Christopher Fitzgerald, American stage actor
1972 – Abel Xavier, Portuguese footballer
1973 – Lim Chang-jung, South Korean actor
1973 – John Moyer, American bassist (Disturbed)
1973 – Jason Reso (aka "Christian Cage"), Canadian professional wrestler
1974 – Sébastien Tellier, French singer
1975 – Mindy McCready, American musician
1975 – Ben Thatcher, Welsh footballer
1976 – Marco Castro, American film director
1976 – Josh Lewsey, English rugby player
1976 – Cypher Zero, American circus innovator (New York Circus Arts)
1977 – Steve Aoki, American DJ
1977 – Iván Guerrero, Honduran footballer
1977 – Kazumi Saito, Japanese baseball player
1977 – Olivier Schoenfelder, French ice dancer
1978 – Clay Aiken, American singer
1978 – Gael García Bernal, Mexican actor
1978 – Benjamin Lense, German footballer
1978 – Emil Steiner, American writer
1979 – Chris Atkinson, Australian rally driver
1979 – Andrés Nocioni, Argentine basketball player
1980 – Jamie Ashdown, English footballer
1980 – Shane Victorino, American baseball player
1981 – Zabiuddin Ansari, Indian national, Islamic fundamentalist and possible terrorist alias Abu Hamza
1981 – Rich Harden, Canadian baseball player
1981 – Billy Lush, American actor
1982 – Elisha Cuthbert, Canadian actress
1982 – Tony Giarratano, American baseball player
1982 – Clémence Poésy, French actress
1982 – Jason Pominville, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Medina, Danish singer
1983 – Andy Akinwolere, English television presenter
1983 – Adrian Cristea, Romanian footballer
1983 – Vladislav Polyakov, Kazakh swimmer
1984 – Alan Hutton, Scottish footballer
1984 – Nigel de Jong, Dutch footballer
1984 – Francisco Sandaza, Spanish footballer
1985 – Kaley Cuoco, American actress and model
1986 – Jordan Farmar, American basketball player
1987 – Vasilisa Bardina, Russian tennis player
1987 – Christel Khalil, American actress
1987 – Naomi Knight, American wrestler, model, and dancer
1987 – Dougie Poynter, British singer and bassist (McFly)
1989 – Vladimír Weiss, Slovakian footballer
1990 – Magnus Carlsen, Norwegian chess player
1990 – Antoine N'Gossan, Ivorian footballer
1993 – Yuri Chinen, Japanese actor and singer
1994 – William Melling, English actor

Deaths

1016 – Edmund II of England
1580 – Richard Farrant, English composer
1626 – Thomas Weelkes, English composer
1654 – John Selden, English jurist and oriental scholar (b. 1584)
1675 – Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, British colonial governor (b. 1605)
1703 – Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (b. 1672)
1705 – Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II of England (b. 1638)
1718 – King Charles XII of Sweden (b. 1682)
1761 – John Dollond, British optician (b. 1706)
1765 – George Glas, British merchant and adventurer (b. 1725)
1886 – Dimitrios Valvis, Greek judge and politician (b. 1814)
1900 – Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (b. 1854)
1901 – Edward John Eyre, British explorer (b. 1815)
1908 – Nishinoumi Kajiro I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 16th Yokozuna (b. 1855)
1916 – Dorrit Weixler, German actress (b. 1892)
1920 – Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1867)
1923 – John Maclean, Scottish Socialist (b. 1879)
1933 – Sir Arthur Currie, Canadian general (b. 1875)
1934 – Hélène Boucher, French aviatrix (b. 1908)
1934 – Roy Turk, American songwriter and lyricist (d. 1892)
1935 – Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (b. 1888)
1943 – Etty Hillesum, Dutch diarist (b. 1914)
1944 – Paul Masson (b. 1876)
1953 – Francis Picabia, French painter and poet (b. 1879)
1954 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
1955 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski, Croatian composer (b. 1896)
1956 – Viggo Wiehe, Danish actor (b. 1874)
1957 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian tenor (b. 1890)
1958 – Hubert Wilkins, Australian polar explorer (b. 1888)
1966 – Salah Suheimat, Jordanian parliamentarian (b. 1914)
1967 – Patrick Kavanagh, Irish poet (b. 1904)
1977 – Terence Rattigan, British writer and playwright (b. 1911)
1979 – Zeppo Marx, American actor and comedian (b. 1901)
1987 – Simon Carmiggelt, Dutch journalist and writer (b. 1913)
1988 – Pannonica de Koenigswarter, jazz patroness and writer (b. 1913)
1989 – Alfred Herrhausen, German banker (Deutsche Bank) (b. 1930)
1993 – David Houston, American country music singer (b. 1938)
1994 – Guy Debord, French writer and filmmaker (b. 1931)
1994 – Lionel Stander, American actor (b. 1908)
1995 – Randy Walker, American musician (b. 1968)
1996 – Tiny Tim, American entertainer (b. 1932)
1997 – Kathy Acker, American author (b. 1947)
1998 – Margaret Walker, African-American poet (b. 1915)
1999 – Charlie Byrd, American jazz guitarist (b. 1925)
2000 – Scott Smith, Canadian musician (Loverboy) (b. 1955)
2002 – Tim Woods, American professional wrestler (b. 1934)
2003 – Gertrude Ederle, American swimmer (b. 1906)
2004 – Pierre Berton, Canadian author (b. 1920)
2004 – Seung Sahn, Korean spiritual figure (b. 1927)
2005 – Jean Parker, American actress (b. 1915)
2006 – Elhadi Adam, Sudanese poet and lyricist (b. 1927)
2006 – Rafael Buenaventura, Filipino banker and politician (b. 1938)
2007 – Engin Arik, Turkish nuclear physicist (b. 1948)
2007 – Evel Knievel, American motorcycle daredevil (b. 1938)
2008 – Munetaka Higuchi, Japanese musician (Loudness) (b. 1958)
2010 – Rajiv Dixit, Indian social activist (b. 1967)
2010 – Garry Gross, American photographer (b. 1937)
2010 – Peter Hofmann, Czech-born German operatic tenor (b. 1944)
2010 – Faye Wright, American spiritual figure (b. 1914)
2011 – Leka, Crown Prince of Albania (b. 1939)
2012 – I. K. Gujral 12th Prime Minister of India (b. 1919)