On This Day in History - November 14th - Almanac

Today is Thursday, Nov. 14, the 319th day of 2024 with 47 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Saturn and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.

Those born on this date are under the sign of Scorpio. They include artist Claude Monet, in 1840; first lady Mamie Eisenhower in 1896; writer Astrid Lindgren in 1907; U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy in 1908; former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1922; actor Veronica Lake in 1922; astronaut Edward White in 1930; astronaut Fred Haise in 1933 (age 91); King Hussein of Jordan in 1935; writer P.J. O'Rourke in 1947; musician Buckwheat Zydeco in 1947; Britain's King Charles III in 1948 (age 76); musician James Young (Styx) in 1949 (age 75); musician/actor Stephen Bishop in 1951 (age 73); former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 1954 (age 70); musician Yanni, born Yiannis Chryssomallis, in 1954 (age 70); actor D.B. Sweeney in 1961 (age 63); actor Laura San Giacomo in 1962 (age 62); actor Patrick Warburton in 1964 (age 60); musician Joseph Simmons of Run-D.M.C., also known as Run or Rev. Run, in 1964 (age 60); TV newscaster Bill Hemmer in 1964 (age 60); musician Brian Yale (Matchbox Twenty) in 1968 (age 56); actor Josh Duhamel in 1972 (age 52); musician Travis Barker (Blink-182) in 1975 (age 49); actor Olga Kurylenko in 1979 (age 45); musician Tobin Esperance (Papa Roach) in 1979 (age 45); comedian/actor Vanessa Bayer in 1981 (age 43); actor Russell Tovey in 1981 (age 43); actor Cory Michael Smith in 1986 (age 38); actor Stella Maeve in 1989 (age 35).

On this date in history:

In 1666, the first blood transfusion took place in London. Blood from one dog was transfused into another.

In 1832, the first horse-drawn streetcar made its appearance in New York City.

In 1889, newspaper reporter Nellie Bly set off to break the fictional record of voyaging around the world in 80 days set by Jules Verne's character Phileas Fogg. She made the trip in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.

In 1910, pilot Eugene Burton Ely successfully completed the first shipboard take off, paving the way toward the development of aircraft carriers as part of modern naval fleets.

In 1922, the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) radio service began daily broadcasting in the United Kingdom.

In 1940, German planes bombed Coventry, England, killing and injuring hundreds of people and destroying or damaging 69,000 buildings.

In 1960, accompanied by federal marshals, 6-year-old Ruby Bridges became a symbol of the civil rights movement when she walked into William Frantz Elementary School to jeers from protesters. She was the first Black student at the Louisiana school after a court ordered the desegregation of schools. Ten days later, Ruby told a UPI reporter she enjoyed learning to draw pictures in school.

In 1969, Apollo 12 launched from Kennedy Space Center to carry out NASA's second mission to the moon.

In 1970, members of the Marshall University football team were among 75 casualties when Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed outside of Huntington, W.Va.

In 1986, the White House acknowledged the CIA's role in secretly shipping weapons to Iran.

In 1993, residents of Puerto Rico voted in favor of continuing their U.S. commonwealth status.

In 1994, the 31-mile Chunnel Tunnel under the English Channel opened to passenger traffic between England and France.

In 2009, NASA scientists reported finding at least 26 gallons of water on the moon after studying results of their L-cross satellite mission, demonstrating what they called the possibility of sustaining life there.

In 2013, a federal judge sentenced former Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger to two life-in-prison terms plus five years on 11 murder convictions.

In 2022, soul singer Roberta Flack announced she had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS and Lou Gehrig's disease, causing her to lose her ability to speak or sing.

A thought for the day: "The longer the title, the less important the job." -- American politician George McGovern