On This Day November 21st

 OTD

November 21st is the three hundredth twenty-fifth day of the year, and there are 40 days remaining until the end of the year.

 

Events

164 BCE – Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, rededicates the Temple in Jerusalem, an event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah. (25 Kislev 3597 in the Hebrew calendar.)

1620 – Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (November 11, O.S.)

1676 – The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.

1783 – In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

1877 – Thomas Edison announced the invention of his phonograph, a machine that could record and play sound.

1900 – Claude Monet's paintings are shown at Gallery Durand-Ruel in Paris.

1905—Albert Einstein's paper, which led to the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc², was published in Annalen der Physik.

1918—The Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 allowed women to stand for Parliament in the U.K.

1920 – Irish War of Independence: On "Bloody Sunday" in Dublin, the Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) assassinated a group of British Intelligence agents, and British forces killed 14 civilians at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park.

1959—American disc jockey Alan Freed, who popularized the term "rock and roll" and the music of that style, is fired from WABC radio over allegations that he participated in the Payola scandal.

1980 – A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). Eighty-five people are killed, and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.

 

Birthdays

 1694 – Voltaire, French writer and philosopher (d. 1778)

1787 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian businessman, founded the Cunard Line (d. 1865)

1886 – Harold Nicolson, English author and politician (d. 1968)

1904 – Coleman Hawkins, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1969)

1916 – Sid Luckman, American football player and soldier (d. 1998)

1931 – Lewis Binford, American archaeologist and academic (d. 2011)

1945 – Goldie Hawn, American actress, singer, and producer

1965 – Björk, Icelandic singer-songwriter

1969 – Ken Griffey Jr., American baseball player and actor

1985 – Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress.

  

 

Holiday Highlight

  Great American Smokeout

The Great American Smokeout originated from an event in 1970 in Randolph, Massachusetts. Arthur P. Mullaney, a high school guidance counselor, encouraged people to give up cigarettes for one day and to donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. A few years later, in 1974, newspaper editor Lynn R. Smith organized Minnesota’s first Don’t Smoke Day. These efforts gained traction, and on November 18, 1976, the California Division of the American Cancer Society mobilized 1 million people to quit smoking for the day. This event marked the first official Smokeout, which the American Cancer Society expanded nationwide in 1977. As a result, public attitudes toward tobacco advertising and use underwent a significant transformation. Many public establishments and workplaces have since become smoke-free to protect non-smokers and support those trying to quit.

 

 

Holidays And Observance

Alascattalo Day 

Beaujolais Nouveau Day

Educator for a Day  

False Confession Day

Gingerbread Day

Great American Smokeout  

National Red Mitten Day - (Canada)

National Rural Health Day  

National Stuffing Day

Pumpkin Pie Day

Social Enterprise Day  

Use Less Stuff Day  

World Hello Day

World Pancreatic Cancer Day  

World Philosophy Day  

World Television Day       

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