Folies-Bergere: Tous les Soirs

1886

Folies Bergère stages first revue

Born on This Day

New York State Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm at Black Caucus State of the Union event, Washington, D.C., USA, Warren K. Leffler, January 31, 1973

Shirley Chisholm

1924 - 2005

Politician and social justice advocate who in 1968 became the first Black woman elected to Congress.

Billy Idol Honored With Star On The Hollywood Walk Of Fame

Billy Idol

1955 -

British punk musician whose rebel yell led to '80s hits like "White Wedding" and "Dancing With Myself."

3rd Annual Academy Museum Gala - Arrivals

Gael García Bernal

1978 -

Shirley Chisholm

Universal History Archive/Univer

Billy Idol

Getty Images

Gael García Bernal

Getty Images

1954

NOV

30

While napping on her couch, Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, is hit by a 8.5-lb., 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite that tore through her roof, ricocheted off her radio cabinet and hit her torso. She’s the only known human injured by a meteorite.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on November 30th

1609

Galileo begins observing the moon

Galileo Galilei first begins observing the moon with his telescope on November 30, 1609. He discovers that the surface of the moon is not smooth, as previously thought, but full of mountains and valleys, like Earth. Galileo was an Italian astronomer and physicist. In 1609, he constructed his own telescope to observe the heavens. Dutch […]

1:56m read read

1835

Mark Twain is born

Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twain, is born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. Clemens was apprenticed to a printer at age 13 and later worked for his older brother, who established the Hannibal Journal. In 1857, the Keokuk Daily Post commissioned him to write a series of comic travel letters, but after […]

2:02m read read

1864

Battle of Franklin, Tennessee

On November 30, 1864, the once proud Confederate Army of Tennessee suffers a devastating defeat after its commander, General John Bell Hood, orders a frontal assault on strong Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee. The loss cost Hood six of his finest generals and nearly a third of his force. Hood assumed command in late July […]

2:50m read read

1874

Winston Churchill born

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, the British leader who guided Great Britain and the Allies through the crisis of World War II, is born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. Churchill came from a prestigious family with a long history of military service and joined the British Fourth Hussars upon his father’s death in 1895. During […]

1876

First Thanksgiving college football game played

On November 30, 1876, Yale defeats Princeton, 2-0, in Hoboken, New Jersey in the first collegiate football game played on Thanksgiving. Nearly 1,000 fans attend the game, played in cold, rainy weather. “The friends of both colleges mustered in good force,” the New York Times reports. “Several carriages containing ladies were on the ground, and […]

1:38m read read

1939

U.S.S.R. attacks Finland

On November 30, 1939, the Red Army crosses the Soviet-Finnish border with 465,000 men and 1,000 aircraft. Helsinki was bombed, and 61 Finns were killed in an air raid that steeled the Finns for resistance, not capitulation. The overwhelming forces arrayed against Finland convinced most Western nations, as well as the Soviets themselves, that the […]

1:12m read read

1950

President Truman refuses to rule out atomic weapons

On November 30, 1950, President Harry S. Truman announces during a press conference that he is prepared to authorize the use of atomic weapons in order to achieve peace in Korea. At the time of Truman’s announcement, communist China had joined North Korean forces in their attacks on United Nations troops, including U.S. soldiers, who […]

1954

Meteorite strikes Alabama woman

The first modern instance of a meteorite striking a human being occurs at Sylacauga, Alabama, when a meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and into a living room, bounces off a radio, and strikes a woman on the hip. The victim, Mrs. Elizabeth Hodges, was sleeping on a couch at the time of […]

0:46m read read

1965

Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at Any Speed” hits bookstores

On November 30, 1965, 32-year-old lawyer Ralph Nader publishes the muckraking book Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. The book became a best-seller right away. It also prompted the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966, seat-belt laws in 49 states (all but New Hampshire) […]

1974

“Elton John’s Greatest Hits” reaches #1

On November 30, 1974, Elton John’s Greatest Hits began a 10-week run atop the Billboard 200 pop album chart on its way to selling more than 24 million copies worldwide. Elton John was born and raised as Reginald Dwight in suburban London, and if you’d rearranged his DNA or his childhood environment just a bit, […]

2:12m read read

1981

The United States and U.S.S.R. open talks to reduce intermediate-range nuclear forces

Representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union open talks to reduce their intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) in Europe. The talks lasted until December 17, but ended inconclusively. SALT I (1972) and SALT II (1979) reduced the number of strategic nuclear weapons held by the two superpowers, but left unresolved the issue of the […]

2:02m read read

1989

Female serial killer strikes in Florida

Richard Mallory, a storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida, is last seen taking a ride with Aileen Wuornos. The following day, his car—containing his wallet, some condoms, and an empty vodka bottle—was found abandoned in a remote area of Ormond Beach. Nearly two weeks later, his body turned up in a Daytona Beach junkyard with three […]

2:04m read read

1993

Brady Bill signed into law

During a White House ceremony attended by James S. Brady, President Bill Clinton signs the Brady handgun-control bill into law. The law requires a prospective handgun buyer to wait five business days while the authorities check on his or her background, during which time the sale is approved or prohibited based on an established set […]

1:16m read read

2004

“Jeopardy!” contestant’s record winning streak ends

On November 30, 2004, after winning 74 straight games and more than $2.5 million—a record for U.S. game shows—Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings loses. Jennings’ extended winning streak gave the game show a huge ratings boost and turned the software engineer from Salt Lake City, Utah into a TV hero and household name. Barbara Walters named […]

2:22m read read

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