Did you know that on this day in 1177 Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard? Or that on this day in 1491 the siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, begins?
And on this day in 1703, during the Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die, in 1839 a cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster, in 1864 during the American Civil War, a group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City and in 1947, in what has become known as the Red Scare, the “Hollywood Ten” are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
In 1952 on this day Agatha Christie‘s murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London later becoming the longest continuously-running play in history (I have seen it and thoroughly enjoyed it), in 1984 36 top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid‘s Do They Know It’s Christmas in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia and in 1999 the United Nations establishes the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to commemorate the murder of three Mirabal Sisters for resistance against the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship in Dominican Republic.
Some birthdays to remember on this day are John Bigelow, American statesman and author (1817-1911), Joe DiMaggio, American baseball player (1914-1999), Percy Sledge, American musician (1941), John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher; son of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy (1960-1999) and Christina Applegate, American actress (1971).
Need a reason to raise a glass of bubbly on this day? Why not do so in celebration of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (International), Evacuation Day (19th century New York City) or Teacher’s Day or Hari Guru (Indonesia)?
For more information about historic events on this day, please go here.
A Glass of Bubbly 