today.nukz.net: Almanac December 1

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, social critic, writer, and MC.

Pryor won an Emmy Award (1973), and five Grammy Awards (1974, 1975, 1976, 1981, and 1982). In 1974, he also won two American Academy of Humor awards and the Writers Guild of America Award. The first ever Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor was presented to him in 1998. Pryor is listed at Number 1 on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians.

Events

800 – Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican.
1420 – Henry V of England enters Paris.
1640 – End of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaims as King João IV of Portugal, ending 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the House of Habsburg (also called the Philippine Dynasty).
1768 – The slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøy in Norway.
1822 – Peter I is crowned Emperor of Brazil.
1824 – United States presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1826 – French philhellene Charles Nicolas Fabvier forces his way through the Turkish cordon and ascends the Acropolis of Athens, which had been under siege.
1834 – Slavery is abolished in the Cape Colony in accordance with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
1862 – In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
1865 – Shaw University, the first historically black university in the southern United States, is founded in Raleigh, North Carolina.
1885 – First serving of the soft drink Dr Pepper at a drug store in Waco, Texas (United States).
1913 – The Buenos Aires Metro, the first underground railway system in the southern hemisphere and in Latin America, begins operation.
1913 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
1913 – Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.
1918 – Transylvania unites with Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28), thus concluding the Great Union.
1918 – The Kingdom of Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
1918 – The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
1919 – Lady Astor becomes the first female Member of Parliament to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (she had been elected to that position on November 28).
1934 – In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergei Kirov is shot dead by Leonid Nikolayev at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad.
1941 – Pacific War: Emperor Hirohito of Japan gave the final approval to initiate war against the United States.
1941 – World War II: Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
1948 – Taman Shud Case: The body of an unidentified man is found in Adelaide, Australia, involving an undetectable poison and a secret code in a very rare book; the case remains unsolved and is "one of Australia's most profound mysteries."
1952 – The New York Daily News reports the news of Christine Jorgenson, the first notable case of sexual reassignment surgery.
1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1958 – The Central African Republic attains self rule within the French Union.
1958 – The Our Lady of the Angels School fire in Chicago, Illinois, kills 92 children and three nuns.
1959 – Cold War: Opening date for signature of the Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent.
1960 – Paul McCartney and Pete Best are arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany, after accusations of attempted arson.
1963 – Nagaland becomes the 16th state of India.
1964 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.
1964 – Malawi, Malta and Zambia join the United Nations.
1965 – The Border Security Force is formed in India as a special force to guard the borders.
1966 – The first Gävle goat, an annual Swedish Yule Goat tradition, is first erected in Gävle.
1969 – Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
1969 – The first legislation to limit aircraft noise levels at airports is introduced in U.S. Federal Air Regulation, Part 36.
1971 – Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
1971 – The Indian Army recaptures part of Kashmir occupied forcibly by Pakistan.
1973 – Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia.
1974 – TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport, killing all 92 people on board.
1974 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
1976 – Angola joins the United Nations.
1981 – A Yugoslavian Inex Adria Aviopromet DC-9 crashes in Corsica killing all 180 people on board.
1981 – The AIDS virus is officially recognized.
1984 – NASA conducts the Controlled Impact Demonstration, wherein an airliner was deliberately crashed in order to test technologies and gather data to help improve survivability of airplane crashes.
1988 – Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1989 – 1989 Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état.
1989 – Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the communist party the leading role in the state.
1990 – Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 metres beneath the seabed.
1991 – Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
1997 – In the Indian state of Bihar, Ranvir Sena attacked the CPI(ML) Party Unity stronghold Lakshmanpur-Bathe, killing 63 lower caste people.
2001 – Captain Bill Compton brings Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-83, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA's purchase by American Airlines.
2009 – The Treaty of Lisbon, which amends the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, which together comprise the constitutional basis of European Union, comes into effect.

Births

1081 – Louis VI of France (d. 1137)
1083 – Anna Comnena, Byzantine historian (d. 1153)
1521 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (d. 1573)
1525 – Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician and astronomer (d. 1600)
1580 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (d. 1637)
1690 – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1764)
1709 – Franz Xaver Richter, Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician (d. 1789)
1716 – Etienne-Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (d. 1791)
1743 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (d. 1817)
1761 – Marie Tussaud, French creator of wax sculptures (Madame Tussauds) (d. 1850)
1766 – Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, Russian writer (d. 1826)
1792 – Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1856)
1844 – Alexandra of Denmark, Danish Queen Consort of Edward VII of the United Kingdom (d. 1925)
1847 – Julia Ann Moore, American poet (d. 1920)
1869 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (d. 1923)
1873 – Valery Bryusov, Russian poet (d. 1924)
1884 – Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter (d. 1976)
1886 – Rex Stout, American author (d. 1975)
1895 – Henry Williamson, English author (d. 1977)
1896 – Georgy Zhukov, Russian general & Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1974)
1898 – Stuart Sinclair Garson, Canadian Premier of Manitoba (d. 1977)
1901 – Ilona Feher, Hungarian-Jewish violinist (d. 1988)
1905 – Alex Wilson, Canadian athlete (d. 1994)
1908 – Georgios Kasassoglou, Greek musician (d. 1984)
1910 – Alicia Markova, English ballerina (d. 2004)
1911 – Walter Alston, American baseball manager (d. 1984)
1911 – Calvin Griffith, Canadian-born baseball executive (d. 1999)
1912 – Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (d. 1986)
1913 – Mary Martin, American actor and singer (d. 1990)
1916 – Wan Li, Chinese government official
1917 – Marty Marion, American baseball player and manager (d.2011)
1917 – Thomas Hayward, American tenor (d.1995)
1922 – Vsevolod Bobrov, Soviet ice hockey player (d. 1979)
1922 – Paul Picerni, American actor (d. 2011)
1923 – Stansfield Turner, American admiral and 12th Director of Central Intelligence
1923 – Morris, Belgian cartoonist (Lucky Luke) (d. 2001)
1925 – Martin Rodbell, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
1926 – Robert Symonds, American actor (d. 2007)
1926 – Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner, Scottish noble (d. 2010)
1928 – Emily McLaughlin, American actress (d. 1991)
1929 – David Doyle, American Actor (d. 1997)
1930 – Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (d. 2002)
1930 – Matt Monro, English singer (d.1985)
1931 – Jimmy Lyons, American musician (d. 1986)
1931 – Jim Nesbitt, singer (d. 2007)
1933 – Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoon artist (d. 1996)
1933 – Lou Rawls, American singer (d. 2006)
1934 – Billy Paul, American singer
1935 – Woody Allen, American film director, actor, and comedian
1937 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (d. 2005)
1937 – Chuck Low, American actor
1937 – Vaira Vike-Freiberga, 6th President of Latvia
1938 – Sandy Nelson, American drummer
1939 – Lee Trevino, American golfer
1940 – Richard Pryor, American comic and actor (d. 2005)
1940 – Tasso Wild, German footballer
1942 – Mohamed Kamel Amr, Egyptian diplomat
1942 – John Crowley, American author
1943 – Kenny Moore, American athlete and journalist
1944 – Pierre Arditi, French film and stage actor
1944 – Eric Bloom, American musician (Blue Öyster Cult)
1944 – John Densmore, American drummer (The Doors)
1944 – Michael W. Hagee, 33rd Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
1944 – Tahar Ben Jelloun, French writer
1944 – Daniel Pennac, French writer
1944 – Werner Scholz, German footballer
1945 – Bette Midler, American actress and singer
1946 – Gilbert O'Sullivan, Irish singer
1946 – Kemal Kurspahic, Bosnian journalist
1947 – Alain Bashung, French singer (d. 2009)
1947 – Bob Fulton, English-born Australian rugby league footballer
1948 – George Foster, American baseball player
1948 – John Roskelley, American mountaineer
1948 – Tom Wright, English bishop and theologian
1949 – Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord (d. 1993)
1949 – Jan Brett, American author illustrator
1949 – Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and politician
1950 – Filippos Petsalnikos, Greek politician
1950 – Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and drummer
1951 – Obba Babatundé, American actor
1951 – Albert Ho, Hong Kong politician
1951 – Jaco Pastorius, American bassist (Weather Report) (d. 1987)
1951 – Treat Williams, American actor
1954 – Bob Goen, American television host
1954 – Annette Haven, American pornographic actress
1955 – Verónica Forqué, Spanish actress
1955 – Pat Spillane, Gaelic footballer
1955 – Mark Thompson, American disc jockey and actor
1956 – Julee Cruise, American singer and actress
1957 – Chris Poland, American guitarist (Megadeth)
1957 – Vesta Williams, American recording artist and songwriter (d. 2011)
1958 – Javier Aguirre, Mexican footballer and coach
1958 – Candace Bushnell, American author
1958 – Charlene Tilton, American actress
1958 – Gary Peters, American politician
1959 – Billy Childish, English painter, writer and musician
1959 – Wally Lewis, Australian rugby league footballer
1960 – Carol Alt, American supermodel
1960 – Jane Turner, Australian actress/comedian
1961 – Jeremy Northam, English actor
1961 – Armin Meiwes, German cannibal
1962 – Sylvie Daigle, Canadian speed skater
1962 – Joe Quesada, American comic book writer
1963 – Marco Greco, Brazilian racing driver
1963 – Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer
1963 – Nathalie Lambert, Canadian short track speed skater
1964 – Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
1966 – Katherine LaNasa, American actress
1966 – Larry Walker, Canadian baseball player
1966 – Andrew Adamson, New Zealand film director, producer and screenwriter
1966 – Ali Mosaffa, Iranian actor and director
1967 – Nestor Carbonell, American actor
1967 – Reggie Sanders, American baseball player
1968 – Justin Chadwick, British actor and director
1968 – Anders Holmertz, Swedish swimmer
1970 – Jouko Ahola, Finnish strongman
1970 – Jonathan Coulton, American musician
1970 – Kirk Rueter, American baseball player
1970 – Sarah Silverman, American actress and comedian
1971 – Melanie Peres, Israeli singer, actress and model
1971 – Emily Mortimer, English actress
1971 – Stephanie Finochio, American professional wrestler
1971 – Mika Pohjola, Finnish jazz pianist and composer
1971 – Dolgorsürengiin Serjbüdee, Mongolian professional wrestler
1971 – Peter Van de Veire, Belgian radio-presenter
1971 – John Schlimm, American author
1973 – Jon Theodore, American musician
1973 – Steve Gibb, American musician (Black Label Society)
1974 – Costinha, Portuguese footballer
1974 – Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, American keyboardist (The Mars Volta)
1975 – Sophia Skou, Danish swimmer
1975 – Matt Fraction, American comic book writer
1976 – Laura Ling, American journalist
1976 – Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
1977 – Brad Delson, American guitarist (Linkin Park)
1977 – Jared Fogle, American spokesperson
1977 – Lee McKenzie, Scottish television presenter
1978 – Mat Kearney, American singer and songwriter
1979 – Ryan Malone, American hockey player
1979 – Angelique Bates, American actress
1980 – Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer
1980 – Roger Peterson, Aruban-Dutch musician
1981 – Luke McPharlin, Australian rules footballer
1981 – Park Hyo Shin, Korean singer
1982 – Christos Kalantzis, Greek footballer
1982 – Christos Melissis, Greek footballer
1982 – Lloyd Doyley, English footballer
1985 – John Coughlin, American figure skater
1985 – Emiliano Viviano, Italian footballer
1985 – Janelle Monáe, American musician
1985 – Philip DeFranco, American video blogger, YouTube celebrity
1986 – DeSean Jackson, American football player
1987 – Tabarie Henry, Virgin Islander sprinter
1987 – Brett Williams, English footballer
1988 – Zoe Kravitz, American actress
1990 – Tomáš Tatar, Slovak ice hockey player
1990 – Chanel Iman, American model
1992 – Masahudu Alhassan, Ghanaian footballer
2001 – Aiko, Princess Toshi, Japanese royalty

Deaths

1135 – Henry I of England
1241 – Isabella of England, wife of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1214)
1377 – King Magnus II of Sweden (b. 1316)
1433 – Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (b. 1377)
1455 – Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian artist and metal smith (b. 1378)
1521 – Pope Leo X (b. 1475)
1530 – Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (b. 1480)
1580 – Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (b. 1509)
1581 – Edmund Campion, English Jesuit (b. 1540)
1581 – Ralph Sherwin, English Catholic saint (b. 1550)
1581 – Alexander Briant, English Jesuit and martyr (b. 1556)
1602 – Kobayakawa Hideaki, Japanese warlord (b. 1582)
1633 – Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (b. 1566)
1640 – Miguel de Vasconcelos, last Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Portugal, during the Iberian Union (b. c. 1590)
1660 – Pierre d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1592)
1707 – Jeremiah Clarke, English composer (b. 1674)
1709 – Abraham a Sancta Clara, Austrian preacher (b. 1644)
1723 – Susanna Centlivre, English dramatist and actress (b. 1667)
1729 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (b. 1665)
1750 – Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (b. 1671)
1755 – Maurice Greene, English composer (b. 1696)
1767 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, British Freemason (b. 1710)
1825 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia (b. 1777)
1830 – Pope Pius VIII (b. 1761)
1865 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss poet (b. 1796)
1866 – George Everest, Welsh surveyor and namesake of Mt. Everest (b. 1790)
1884 – William Swainson, British attorney and Attorney General of New Zealand (b. 1809)
1914 – Alfred Thayer Mahan, American captain and historian (b. 1840)
1916 – Charles de Foucauld, French religious figure (b. 1858)
1917 – John January, American soccer player (b. 1882)
1923 – Virginie Loveling, Belgian writer and poet (b. 1836)
1928 – José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b. 1888)
1934 – Sergey Kirov, Russian revolutionary (b. 1886)
1943 – Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (b. 1862)
1947 – Aleister Crowley, English occultist (b. 1875)
1947 – G. H. Hardy, English mathematician (b. 1877)
1950 – E. J. Moeran, English composer (b. 1894)
1954 – Fred Rose, American songwriter and music publishing executive (b. 1897)
1964 – J. B. S. Haldane, Scottish geneticist (b. 1892)
1964 – Charilaos Vasilakos, Greek athlete, the first man to win a marathon race (b. 1877)
1968 – Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer (b. 1887)
1968 – Darío Moreno, Turkish-Jewish singer (b. 1921)
1969 – Magic Sam, American blues guitarist and singer (b. 1937)
1973 – David Ben-Gurion, Israeli statesman (b. 1886)
1975 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player (b. 1927)
1975 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American daughter of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (b. 1906)
1984 – Roelof Frankot, Dutch painter (b. 1911)
1986 – Lee Dorsey, American R&B singer (b. 1924)
1986 – Frank McCarthy, American producer (b. 1912)
1987 – James Baldwin, American writer (b. 1924)
1987 – Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager (b. 1918)
1989 – Alvin Ailey, American dancer, choreographer (b. 1931)
1991 – George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1911)
1993 – Ray Gillen, American rock singer (Badlands, Black Sabbath) (b. 1959)
1995 – Maxwell R. Thurman, United States Army general (b. 1931)
1995 – Colin Tapley, British actor (b. 1907)
1995 – Hopper Levett, English cricketer (b. 1908)
1996 – Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1928)
1997 – Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (b. 1908)
1997 – Michel Bélanger, French Canadian businessman and banker (b. 1929)
1997 – Endicott Peabody, American politician (b. 1920)
1998 – Freddie Young, British cinematographer (b. 1902)
2001 – Ellis R Dungan, American-born Indian film director (b. 1909)
2002 – Dave McNally, American baseball player (b. 1942)
2003 – Clark Kerr, American academic (b. 1911)
2003 – Eugenio Monti, Italian bobsledder (b. 1928)
2004 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, German born Prince Consort of the Netherlands (1948-1980) (b. 1911)
2005 – Gust Avrakotos, American intelligence case officer (b. 1938)
2005 – Mary Hayley Bell, English dramatist, wife of Sir John Mills (b. 1911)
2005 – Freeman V. Horner, United States Army officer (b. 1922)
2006 – Claude Jade, French actress (b. 1948)
2006 – Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist (b. 1937)
2007 – Anton Rodgers, British actor (b. 1933)
2008 – Mikel Laboa, Basque singer and songwriter (b. 1934)
2008 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American religious figure (b. 1917)
2008 – Paul Benedict, American actor (b. 1938)
2009 – Gustavo Adolfo Palma, Guatemalan singer (b. 1920)
2010 – Hillard Elkins, American theatre and film producer (b. 1929)
2010 – Adriaan Blaauw, Dutch astronomer (b. 1914)
2011 – Christa Wolf, German writer (b. 1929)
2012 – Jovan Belcher, American football player (b. 1987)