more events on November 30
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2005
John Sentamu becomes Archbishop of York, making him the Church of England’s first black archbishop.
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2004
On the game show Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings loses after 74 consecutive victories. It is the longest winning streak in game-show history, earning him a total of over $3 million.
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1998
Exxon and Mobil oil companies agree to a $73.7 billion merge, creating the world’s largest company, Exxon-Mobil.
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1995
Operation Desert Storm officially comes to an end.
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1994
MS Achille Lauro, a ship with long history of problems including a 1985 terrorist hijacking, catches fire off the coast of Somalia.
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1993
US President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (better known as the Brady Bill) into law.
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1982
Thriller, Michael Jackson’s second solo album, released; the album, produced by Quincy Jones, became the best-selling album in history.
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1981
Representatives of the US and USSR meet in Geneva, Switzerland, to begin negotiations on reducing the number of intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe.
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1979
Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope in 1,000 years to attend an Orthodox mass.
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1974
Pioneer II sends photos back to NASA as it nears Jupiter.
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India and Pakistan decide to end a 10-year trade ban.
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1962
Bo Jackson, the only pro athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports (football and baseball); ESPN named him the greatest athlete of all time.
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1961
The Soviet Union vetoes a UN seat for Kuwait, pleasing Iraq.
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1956
The United States offers emergency oil to Europe to counter the Arab ban.
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1955
Billy Idol (William Broad), punk rock musician; member of Generation X band.
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1950
President Truman declares that the United States will use the A-bomb to get peace in Korea.
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1948
The Soviet Union complete the division of Berlin, installing the government in the Soviet sector.
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1945
Russian forces take Danzig in Poland and invade Austria.
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1937
Sir Ridley Scott, English film director and producer; (Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise) won a Best Picture Oscar for Gladiator (2000).
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1936
Abbie Hoffman, political and social activist; co-founded the Youth International Party (Yippies); he became a symbol of the counterculture era.
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1935
Non-belief in Nazism is proclaimed grounds for divorce in Germany.
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1930
G. Gordon Liddy, chief operative for the “White House Plumbers” (July-September 1971) during Richard Nixon’s administration, he organized and oversaw the Watergate burglaries of the Democratic National Committee headquarters. He served nearly 52 months in federal prison.
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1929
Dick Clark, television host; (American Bandstand, 1957-87; Pyramid game show); beginning in 1972 and continuing into the 21st century he hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on television.
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Joan Ganz Cooney, television executive, founder of the Children’s Television Workshop and mastermind behind Sesame Street.
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1924
Shirley Chisholm, first African-American congresswoman, a representative for New York.
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1919
Women cast votes for the first time in French legislative elections.
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1915
Brownie McGhee, singer and guitarist.
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1912
Gordon Parks, photographer.
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1906
President Theodore Roosevelt publicly denounces segregation of Japanese schoolchildren in San Francisco.
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1900
Oscar Wilde dies in a Paris hotel room after saying of the room’s wallpaper: “One of us had to go.”
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The French government denounces British actions in South Africa, declaring sympathy for the Boers.
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1874
Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables.
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Winston Churchill, British prime minister during and after World War II.
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1864
The Union wins the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee.
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1861
The British Parliament sends to Queen Victoria an ultimatum for the United States, demanding the release of two Confederate diplomats who were seized on the British ship Trent.
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1838
Mexico declares war on France.
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1835
Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), American writer best remembered for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
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1782
The British sign a preliminary agreement in Paris, recognizing American independence.
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1667
Jonathan Swift, English satirist who wrote Gulliver’s Travels.