THIS DATE IN HISTORY, Nov. 17: Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
Today is Friday, Nov. 17, the 321st day of 2017. There are 44 days left in the year.
On Nov. 17, 1917, French sculptor Auguste Rodin died in Meudon at age 77.
In 1558, Elizabeth I acceded to the English throne upon the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary, beginning a 44-year reign.
In 1800, Congress held its first session in the partially completed U.S. Capitol building.
In 1869, the Suez Canal opened in Egypt.
In 1889, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. began direct, daily railroad service between Chicago and Portland, Oregon, as well as Chicago and San Francisco.
In 1934, Lyndon Baines Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as Lady Bird, in San Antonio, Texas.
In 1968, NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the closing minutes of a New York Jets-Oakland Raiders game to begin the TV special "Heidi" on schedule. (After being taken off the air, the Raiders came from behind to beat the Jets, 43-32.)
In 1973, President Richard Nixon told Associated Press managing editors in Orlando, Florida: "People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook."
In 1979, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the release of 13 black and/or female American hostages being held at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
In 1987, a federal jury in Denver convicted two white supremacists of civil rights violations in the 1984 slaying of radio talk show host Alan Berg. (Both men later died in prison.)
In 2007, a Nobel-winning U.N. scientific panel said in a landmark report released in Valencia, Spain, that the Earth was hurtling toward a warmer climate at a quickening pace.
Birthdays: Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., is 83. Rock musician Gerry McGee (The Ventures) is 80. Singer Gordon Lightfoot is 79. Martin Scorsese is 75. Lauren Hutton is 74. Danny DeVito is 73. "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels is 73. Baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver is 73. Howard Dean is 69. Former House Speaker John Boehner is 68. Actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is 59. RuPaul is 57. Actress Sophie Marceau is 51. Actress-model Daisy Fuentes is 51. Rhythm-and-blues singer Ronnie DeVoe (New Edition; Bell Biv DeVoe) is 50.
Thought for Today: "Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college." -- Lillian Smith, American writer and social critic (1897-1966).
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