Stephen E Ambrose

Stephen E Ambrose was an American historian, author, and academic who passed away in the early 21st century. His name may not ring a bell, but his non fiction book turned HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” probably does. Stephen also served as a historical consultant during the development of the film “Saving Private Ryan” and was commissioned to write the biographies for President Eisenhower and President Nixon.

November 30

Holy Roman Emperor Otto II ends the siege of Paris (978); Preliminary Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War, signed (1782); Woody Allen born (1935); London's Crystal Palace destroyed by fire (1936); Billy Idol born (1955).

November 29

"Chronicles of Narnia" author CS Lewis born (1898); Warren Commission is established to investigate President Kennedy's assassination (1963); Social activist Dorothy Day dies (1980); The Beatles guitarist George Harrison dies (2001).

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was 11 years old when his uncle showed him a picture of Niagara Falls. In that moment Tesla told his uncle he would one day harness the power of the falls.I’m not sure how many meals he skipped, hours of sleep he lost, friends he neglected, or love interests he didn’t pursue, but almost 30 years later, he made good on his promise. He opened an electric plant which remained operational for 65 years and launched America into a new electrical age.

November 26

Abolitionist Sojourner Truth dies (1883); National Hockey League founded (1917); "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz born (1922); Archaeologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon enter King Tut's tomb (1922); Singer and actress Tina Turner born (1939).

November 25

Businessman Andrew Carnegie born (1835); Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” opens, becomes longest-running play in history (1952); John F. Kennedy Jr. born (1960); Author Upton Sinclair dies (1968); Cuban leader Fidel Castro dies (2016)

November 24

Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species” published (1859); Lee Harvey Oswald is shot and killed just two days after assassinating President Kennedy (1963); Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury dies (1991); “Brady Bunch” actress Florence Henderson dies (2016).

November 23

First issue of Life magazine published (1936); First episode of "Doctor Who" airs on BBC (1963); Hockey great Wayne Gretzky scores his 600th goal (1988); Children’s book author Roald Dahl dies (1990); Miley Cyrus born (1992).

November 21

Author Jack London dies (1916); Tennis star and social activist Billie Jean King born (1943); President John F. Kennedy assassinated (1963); Author C.S. Lewis dies (1963); Max Headroom hijacking of Chicago TV signals (1987); British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces resignation after 11 years (1990).

November 22

Author Jack London dies (1916); Tennis star and social activist Billie Jean King born (1943); President John F. Kennedy assassinated (1963); Author C.S. Lewis dies (1963); Max Headroom hijacking of Chicago TV signals (1987); British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher announces resignation after 11 years (1990).

November 20

US Sen. Robert F. Kennedy born (1925); Former President Joe Biden born (1942); Nuremberg trials against 24 Nazi war criminals begin (1945); Actress Bo Derek born (1956); Microsoft Windows 1.0 released (1985).

November 19

President James Garfield born (1831); President Abraham Lincoln delivers Gettysburg Address (1863); Indira Gandhi, first and only female prime minister of India, born (1917); Actress Meg Ryan born (1961); First lady Rosalynn Carter dies (2023).

November 18

Disney's "Steamboat Willie," first cartoon with synchronized sound, premieres (1928); Poet and novelist Margaret Atwood born (1939); 918 people die in a mass murder-suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (1978); Massachusetts court ruling makes the state the first to recognize same-sex marriage (2003).

November 17

Suez Canal opens (1869); Actor Danny DeVito born (1944); Former US national security adviser Susan Rice born (1964); Arnold Schwarzenegger sworn in as governor of California (2003); First known case of COVID-19 traced to man who visited Wuhan, China (2019).

November 16

Blues musician WC Handy born (1873); UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, is founded (1945); Benazir Bhutto elected prime minister of Pakistan, becomes first woman in modern history to lead Muslim-majority country (1988); Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman dies (2006).

November 15

Articles of Confederation is adopted by Continental Congress (1777); Artist Georgia O’Keeffe born (1887); Famed anthropologist Margaret Mead dies (1978); Mircosoft releases first Xbox gaming console (2001); World population tops 8 billion (2022). 

November 14

French painter Claude Monet born (1840); "Moby-Dick" is first published in the US (1851); Albert Einstein first presents quantum theory of light (1908); Booker T. Washington dies (1915); Condoleezza Rice born (1954).

November 13

Walt Disney’s groundbreaking animated film "Fantasia" premieres (1940); Actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg born (1955); Montgomery bus boycott pushes US Supreme Court to rule Alabama bus segregation illegal (1956); Kim Ng named first female MLB general manager (2020)

November 12

American suffragist and civil rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton born (1815); Josef Stalin gains undisputed control of the Soviet Union (1927); Actress and Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly born (1929); Actor Ryan Gosling born (1980); Comic book writer Stan Lee dies (2018).

November 11

Nat Turner is hanged after organizing rebellion of enslaved persons (1831); Armistice signed by Germany and Allies, ending World War I (1918); Armistice Day, now known as Veterans Day, observed for first time in the US (1919); American novelist Kurt Vonnegut born (1922); Demi Moore born (1962).

November 10

Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther born (1483); US Marine Corps is founded (1775); Singer and actress Jane Froman born (1907); "Sesame Street" debuts (1969); Bill Gates announces Windows 1.0 to public (1983).

November 9

Napoleon Bonaparte leads coup and becomes dictator of France (1799); American poet and Pulitzer Prize-winner Anne Sexton born (1928); Astronomer Carl Sagan born (1934); First issue of Rolling Stone published (1967).

November 8

Astronomer Edmond Halley born (1656); X-rays are discovered (1895); Teddy Roosevelt embarks on 17-day trip to Panama and Puerto Rico, becoming first president to make diplomatic tour outside continental US (1906); Edward Brooke becomes first African American since Reconstruction elected to US Senate (1966); "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek dies (2020).

November 7

Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist Marie Curie born (1867); Jeannette Rankin becomes first woman elected to US Congress (1916); Evangelist Billy Graham born (1918); Former first lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt dies (1962); Earvin "Magic" Johnson announces HIV-positive diagnosis (1991).

November 6

Abraham Lincoln elected 16th president of the US (1860); Basketball inventor Dr. James Naismith born (1861); The UN formally condemns apartheid in South Africa (1962); Hollywood great Gene Tierney dies (1991).

November 5

"Gone with the Wind" actress Vivien Leigh born (1913); Writer Sinclair Lewis is first American to win Nobel Prize for literature (1930); Franklin D. Roosevelt is first and only US president elected to third term (1940); Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death (2006); Google unveils Android (2007).

November 4

Journalist Walter Cronkite born (1916); Nellie Tayloe Ross becomes first woman elected governor in the US (1924); Former first lady Laura Bush born (1946); Iran hostage crisis begins (1979); Barack Obama becomes first African American elected US president (2008).

November 3

American sharpshooter Annie Oakley dies (1926); Journalist and fashion icon Dame Anna Wintour born (1949); The Soviet Union launches first animal into space (1957); US arms sale to Iran revealed (1986); One World Trade Center officially opens on former site of Twin Towers (2014).

November 2

Marie Antoinette born (1755); Nobel Prize-winning playwright George Bernard Shaw dies (1950); First president of South Vietnam Ngô Đình Diệm assassinated (1963); Indian actor and "King of Bollywood" Shah Rukh Khan born (1965); Martin Luther King Jr. Day is created in the US (1983).