Once Upon A Time – Nov. 1 – 1814 – Congress Of Vienna Opens To Re-draw European Political Map

1755 Lisbon earthquake kills more than 50,000 in Portugal

1814 Congress of Vienna opens to re-draw the European political map after the defeat of France, in the Napoleonic Wars

1894 Vaccine for diphtheria announced by Dr Émile Roux of Paris

1916 Paul Miliukov delivers in the Russian State Duma the famous “stupidity or treason” speech, precipitating the downfall of the Boris Stürmer government

1952 “Ivy Mike”, the first thermonuclear weapon to utilize the H-bomb design of Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, is detonated in the Marshall Islands, Pacific Ocean

2012 Scientists detect evidence of light from the universe’s first stars, predicted to have formed 500 million years after the big bang

Historical Events Today
Today in Film & TV
1997 “Titanic” directed by James Cameron, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet premieres at the Tokyo International Film Festival (Academy Awards Best Picture 1998)

Today in Music
1969 The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album goes #1 in US and stays #1 for 11 weeks

Today in Sport
1950 Celtics’ forward Chuck Cooper becomes first African American to play in the NBA in Boston’s 107-84 loss at Fort Wayne Pistons; future Hall of Famer Bob Cousy also debuts for Celtics

MORE FACTS…
1834 First published reference to poker (as Mississippi riverboat game)

1959 Montreal Canadiens’ goal tender Jacques Plante becomes first NHL net-minder to wear a fibreglass protective face mask

Famous Weddings
1940 Theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer (36) weds biologist Katherine Harrison Puening

1954 Actor John Wayne (47) weds actress Pilar Pallete in Kona, Hawaii

1986 MLB player Kirby Puckett (24) weds Tonya Hudson (20)