| In 1799, revolutionary France enacted a constitution that conferred supreme executive powers upon three officials that bore the title "consul" as chief magistracy of the republic. In reality, however, the state was de facto under personal control of the First Consul, general Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte was the ruler of France from November 9, 1799 to May 18, 1804 |
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| In 1842, the first U.S. design patent was issued for typefaces and borders patented by George Bruce of New York City. This new form of patent was authorized by Act of Congress on August 29, 1842. In his description, Bruce wrote "It is difficult to find much in Printer's Types that is new in design if we regard only their characteristic lines, but if we look at the ways in which the figures are varies while the characteristic lines are retained, we find the same variety that would be expected in the portraits of a person painted by many different artists in different positions" and "...these Types are different from all others in their size, proportions, details and impressive effects, containing peculiarities by which they are distinguished..." |
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| A Carrington Rotation is a period of 27.3 days, representing one full rotation of the Sun as seen from the Earth. The use of the numbers began on November 9, 1853 and continue to this day. |
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| The Great Boston Fire started in a dry-goods warehouse then spread rapidly in windy weather, destroying nearly 800 buildings. Damage was estimated at more than $75 million. The fire's bright red glare could be seen in the sky for nearly 100 miles. |
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| In 1877, the first U.S. national society for chemists was chartered. The American Chemical Society had been organized in New York City on April 20, 1876, though many meetings to form the society had been held previous to that date. The first president was John William Draper. The society was incorporated as a non-profit, nonstock corporation of the state of New York, for "the advancement of chemistry and the promotion of chemical research." |
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| The Wrights made 105 flights in 1904, but racked up only 45 minutes in total flight time. The two best flights, on November 9 and December 1, exceeded five minutes and about three miles (4.8 kilometers) in length (almost four circles of the field). Still, many of their flights were short hops and slight accidents were common. |
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| Neon lamps are lights created when an electric current is put through a glass container that contained some sort of inert gas under low pressure. When this happens, the gas ionizes and glows a bright color. George Claude discovered this in 1910 when he ran an electrical current through a glass envelope of neon and it glowed a bright red. |
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| Pop Warner was a legendary coach of the Carlisle School for Indians in Pennsylvania (Jim Thorpe played for Warner at Carlisle). On this day, Carlisle hammered Army 27-6. Playing right halfback on the Army team was a future U.S. war hero and president: Dwight D. Eisenhower. | |
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| On July 22, 1932 in a Donier seaplane called the "Gronland-Wal" (Greenland Whale) he took off from List, Island of Sylt (northern most part of Germany) for his Atlantic crossing flight which he changed to a round-the-world flight. He was accompanied by his co-pilot, Gerth von Roth and mechanic, Franzl Hack and radio operator, Frtiz Albrecht. They returned to Germany touching down at Lake Constance on November 9, 1932 visiting the Dornier works and then returned to List to make their mark completing a round-the-world flight. |
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| Martin's stardom as a singer, dancer and actress began in New York City in 1938 with her nightly show-stopping rendition of "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" in the Cole Porter musical "Leave it to Me." She then made 10 films in four years with Paramount Pictures, but her real power remained on the Broadway stage, where she returned in the 1940s. |
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| "This is Your Life" was the creation of host Ralph Edwards, who was also the host of radio's popular "Truth or Consequences." In a 1946 radio broadcast of the latter program Edwards presented a capsule narrative of the past life of a disabled World War II veteran who was having difficulties adjusting to post-war life. Edwards received such positive feedback from this show that he developed the formula for a separate radio program called "This is Your Life." It began airing on radio in 1948, and became a live television program in 1952, running on the NBC network until 1961. |
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| The U.S. Supreme Court decides 7-2 that baseball is a sport and not a business and therefore not subject to antitrust laws. The ruling is made in a case involving Yankee farmhand George Toolson, who refused to move from AAA to AA. |
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| Harry's next effort in 1956, titled simply Belafonte, reached number one, kick-starting a national craze for calypso music; Calypso, also issued in 1956, topped the charts for a staggering 31 weeks on the strength of hits like "Jamaica Farewell" and the immortal "Banana Boat (Day-O)." |
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| "Jailhouse Rock" was featured in the Elvis movie of the same name. It is considered one of the best of his 31 movies. Elvis joined the army shortly after this was released.This was #1 on the US pop charts for 7 weeks. It also reached #1 on the Country and R&B charts. |
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| In 1961, the X-15 rocket plane achieved a world record speed of 4,093 mph (Mach 6.04) and reached 101,600 feet (30,970 m or over 19 miles) altitude, piloted by U.S.Air Force Major Robert M. White. Its internal structure of titanium was covered with a skin of Inconel X, a chrome-nickel alloy. To save fuel, the X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at about 45,000 ft. Test flights between June 8, 1959 and October 24, 1968 provided data on hypersonic air flow, aerodynamic heating, control at hypersonic speeds and piloting techniques for reentry used in the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo spaceflight programs. |
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| "Sugar Shack" was recorded in Clovis, New Mexico at Norman Petty's studio in 1963. The Fireballs recorded the song and took a break before doing another. It is said when they came back Norman had put a keyboard part on. They were upset, but when the song went to #1 they thought different. |
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| In 1965, the biggest electricity grid failure in U.S. history caused a 13-hour blackout in northeast America and parts of Canada. The power lines from Niagra Falls to New York City were operating near their maximum capacity. At about 5:15 pm, a transmission line relay failed. Now there was insufficient line capacity for New York City. New England and New York are inter-connected on a power grid, and the power that had been flowing toward New York City had to go elswhere, instantly. Unable to handle this overload, generator operators shut down to protect their equipment. Almost the entire grid failed, affecting 80,000 square miles, and 25 million people. In the subways of New York, 800,000 people were trapped. |
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| Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by editor and publisher Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." This has become the de-facto motto of the magazine. |
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| "Hey Jude" was going to be the B-side to "Revolution," but it ended up the other way around. It is a testament to this song that it pushed "Revolution" to the other side of the record. This is the most commercially successful Beatles song. It was #1 in at least 12 countries and by the end of 1968 had sold more than 5 million copies. |
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| Randy Bachman didn't intend to release this with the stuttering vocal. He sang it with the stutter to make fun his brother, Gary, who had a speech impediment. During microphone checks, he would sing it with the stutter and recorded a version that was to give to Gary. His record company liked it a lot better than the non-stuttering version, so that's the one they released. |
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| The soldiers are purposefully identifiable as White American, Black American, and Hispanic. The statue and the Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their dead comrades. It has been suggested that the sculpture was positioned especially for that effect. |
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| In 1985, "Miami Vice Theme" (MCA Records) hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart and, in so doing, became the first and only original version of an instrumental theme for television to reach this pinnacle of success. "Miami Vice Theme" became a top 5 international hit and earned Jan two Grammy awards: "Best Pop Instrumental Performance" and "Best Instrumental Composition." The Miami Vice Soundtrack album stayed #1 in Billboard for 12 weeks, hitting quadruple-platinum and selling over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone. |
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| When a government statement that crossing of the border would be permitted was broadcast on November 9, 1989, masses of East Germans approached and then crossed the wall, and were joined by crowds of West Germans in a celebratory atmosphere. The Wall was subsequently destroyed by a euphoric public over a period of several weeks, and its fall was the first step toward German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990. |
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| In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. The Diamonds & Pearls album in 1991 gave Prince another big hit on the album charts with the song 'Cream' giving him his fifth US number one single. Diamonds & Pearls also marked the debut of the New Power Generation featuring rapper Tony M, Rosie Gaines on vocals, Michael Bland on drums, Levi Seacer and Kirk Johnson on guitar, Sonny T on bass and Tommy Barbarella on keyboards. |
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| The raps on this song, in order of appearance, were performed by Dr. Dre, Teddy Riley and Queen Pen. Riley is a very successful producer, and has developed many innovative sounds used by R&B groups in the '80s and '90s. "No Diggity" won the 1997 Grammy for Best R & B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. | |
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1799 Napoleon becomes dictator (first
consul) of France
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1842 George Bruce received the first Design Patent
for printing type faces
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1853 Origin of Carrington rotation numbers for
rotation of the Sun
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1857 "Atlantic Monthly" first published
1872 The Great Boston Fire started
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1877 American Chemical Society chartered in NY
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1904 First airplane flight to last more than 5
minutes
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1911 George Claude of Paris, France applied for
a patent on neon advertising signs
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1912 Carlisle defeats Army 27-6
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1932 Round the world flight by seaplane ends
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1938 The kids’ magazine, "Jack and Jill",
was published
1938 Mary Martin made her Broadway stage debut
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1948 "This is Your Life" debuted on
NBC radio
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1953 Supreme Court rules Major League baseball
exempt from anti-trust laws
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1953 Maurice Richard set a National Hockey League
record by scoring his 325th career goal
1955 Harry Belafonte recorded "Jamaica Farewell"
and "Come Back Liza"
More ...
1957 "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley
topped the charts
More ...
1961 PGA eliminates Caucasians only rule
1961 USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to 101,600
feet
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1963 "Sugar Shack" by Jimmy Gilmer &
the Fireballs topped the charts
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1965 5:16 PM, massive power failure strikes the northeast
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1965 First NY Knick game postponed (black-out)
vs St Louis
1967 The first issue of "Rolling Stone"
was published
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1968 "Hey Jude" by the Beatles topped
the charts
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1974 "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" by
Bachman-Turner Overdrive topped the charts
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1982 Sugar Ray Leonard retired from boxing, five
months after having retinal surgery on his left eye
1984 Most shots in an Islander game-88-Isles 45,
Rangers 43
1984 Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("3 Servicemen")
completed
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1985 Gary Kasparov (USSR) becomes World Chess
Champion at age of 22
1985 "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer
topped the charts
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1989 The Berlin Wall opened
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1990 President Bush announces DOUBLING of US forces
in Gulf
1991 "Cream" by Prince & the N.P.G.
topped the charts
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1996 "No Diggity" by Blackstreet topped
the charts
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