Calendar for November 21st, 2009

1620: The Mayflower Compact, a preliminary plan of government for the Pilgrims, was signed in the cabin of the Mayflower near what is now Provincetown, Massachusetts

Born 1694: Voltaire (writer)

Died 1695: Henry Purcell (composer)

Born 1785: William Beaumont (surgeon)

Born 1787: Sir Samuel Cunard (merchant and shipowner who founded the first regular Atlantic steamship line)

1789: North Carolina became the 21st state

Born 1898: Rene Francois-Ghislain Magritte (painter)

1916: HMHS Britannic sank

Born 1920: Stan Musial (baseball player)

Died 1924: Florence Kling Harding (U.S. First Lady)

1942: "Tweety Bird" debuted

Born 1945: Goldie Hawn (actress)

Died 1945: Robert Benchley (humorist)

1946: President Harry Truman became the first U.S. president to ride underwater in a submarine

Born 1952: Lorna Luft (actress & singer)

Born 1963: Nicolette Sheridan (actress)

1964: Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island, the the world's longest suspension bridge, formally opened

Born 1965: Reggie Lewis (basketball player)

Born 1966: Troy Aikman (football player)

Born 1969: Kenneth Griffey, Jr. (baseball player)

1980: After a summer of asking, "Who shot J.R.?," viewers tuned in to see J.R.'s mistress, Kristin Shepard, holding the smoking gun

1980: Deadly fire at MGM Grand Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada

Born 1984: Jena Malone (actress)

1985: Jonathan Jay Pollard arrested for spying

Died 1993: Bill Bixby (actor & director)

Died 1999: Quentin Crisp (writer)