12 History Lessons + 7 Births & 7 Deaths for November 21, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1620 – Mayflower Compact signed in Cape Cod Bay, establishing self-governance for Plymouth Colony.
- 1783 – Pilâtre de Rozier and Marquis d’Arlandes make the first untethered human hot-air balloon flight over Paris.
- 1877 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph.
- 1920 – “Bloody Sunday” in Dublin: IRA attacks and reprisals leave dozens dead, including at Croke Park.
- 1953 – Scientists expose “Piltdown Man” as a fraudulent fossil hoax.
- 1962 – Sino-Indian War: China declares a unilateral ceasefire along the Himalayan frontier.
- 1964 – Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opens, then the world’s longest suspension span, linking Staten Island and Brooklyn.
- 1974 – Birmingham pub bombings kill 21 and injure hundreds in one of the U.K.’s deadliest terror attacks.
- 1979 – U.S. Embassy in Islamabad is attacked and burned by a mob amid false reports tied to the Mecca seizure.
- 1980 – MGM Grand Hotel fire in Las Vegas kills 85 and prompts sweeping fire-safety reforms.
- 1995 – Leaders initial the Dayton Accords at Wright-Patterson AFB, setting a framework to end the Bosnian War.
- 2013 – Ukraine’s suspension of an EU pact sparks the Euromaidan protests in Kyiv.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1945 – Goldie Hawn, actor/producer (Academy Award winner; “Cactus Flower,” “Overboard”) (80).
- 1962 – Steven Curtis Chapman, Christian singer-songwriter (multiple Grammy/Dove awards) (63).
- 1965 – Björk, Icelandic singer-composer (Sugarcubes; solo innovator) (60).
- 1966 – Troy Aikman, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback (Dallas Cowboys) (59).
- 1969 – Ken Griffey Jr., Baseball Hall of Famer (630 HR; Seattle Mariners legend) (56).
- 1971 – Michael Strahan, Pro Football Hall of Famer/TV host (“Good Morning America,” “$100,000 Pyramid”) (54).
- 1985 – Carly Rae Jepsen, singer-songwriter (“Call Me Maybe,” “Emotion”) (40).
Today’s Deaths:
- 1695 – Henry Purcell, English Baroque composer (“Dido and Aeneas”) (36).
- 1811 – Heinrich von Kleist, German dramatist/novelist (“Penthesilea,” “Michael Kohlhaas”) (34).
- 1916 – Franz Joseph I, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary (Austro-Hungarian Empire) (86).
- 1993 – Bill Bixby, American actor/director (“The Incredible Hulk,” “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father”) (59).
- 1995 – Peter Grant, influential manager of Led Zeppelin (60).
- 1996 – Abdus Salam, Pakistani theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate (electroweak theory) (70).
- 2017 – David Cassidy, singer/actor (“The Partridge Family”) (67).
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