MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP
------------------------------------
! TODAY IN HISTORY !
------------------------------------
Today is Saturday, Nov. 28, the 332nd day of 2009. There are 33 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Nov. 28, 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff's notoriously difficult Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 had its world premiere in New York, with Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Symphony and Rachmaninoff himself at the piano.
On this date:
In 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reached the Pacific Ocean after passing through the South American strait that now bears his name.
In 1859, American author Washington Irving died in present-day Tarrytown, N.Y. at age 76.
In 1919, American-born Lady Astor was elected the first female member of the British Parliament.
In 1942, nearly 500 people died in a fire that destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston.
In 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin began conferring in Tehran during World War II.
In 1958, Chad, Gabon and Middle Congo became autonomous republics within the French community.
In 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 on a course to Mars.
In 1979, an Air New Zealand DC-10 en route to the South Pole crashed into a mountain in Antarctica, killing all 257 people aboard.
In 1987, a South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean with the loss of all 159 people aboard.
In 2001, Enron Corp. collapsed after would-be rescuer Dynegy Inc. backed out of an $8.4 billion deal to take it over.
Ten years ago: Hsing-Hsing, the popular giant panda who arrived in America in 1972 as a symbol of U.S.-China detente, was euthanized at Washington, D.C.'s National Zoo at age 28 because of his deteriorating health.
Five years ago: NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol was injured, his 14-year-old son Teddy among three people killed, in a charter plane crash outside Montrose, Colo. Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for slaughtering members of the Iraqi security forces in Mosul, where dozens of bodies had been found. A gas explosion in a central Chinese coal mine killed 166 people.
One year ago: Indian forces fired grenades at the landmark Taj Mahal hotel, the last stand of suspected Muslim militants, just hours after elite commandos stormed a Jewish outreach center and found six hostages dead. (The 60-hour rampage in Mumbai came to an end the following day.) Super Bowl hero Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the right thigh with a gun tucked into his waistband at a New York nightclub (Burress was later sentenced to two years in prison for a weapons conviction).
Today's Birthdays: Recording executive Berry Gordy Jr. is 80. Former Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) is 73. Singer-songwriter Bruce Channel is 69. Singer Randy Newman is 66. CBS News correspondent Susan Spencer is 63. Movie director Joe Dante is 62. "Late Show" orchestra leader Paul Shaffer is 60. Actor Ed Harris is 59. Former NASA teacher in space Barbara Morgan is 58. Actress S. Epatha (eh-PAY'-thah) Merkerson is 57. Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is 56. Country singer Kristine Arnold (Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is 53. Actor Judd Nelson is 50. Movie director Alfonso Cuaron (kwahr-OHN') is 48. Rock musician Matt Cameron is 47. Actress Jane Sibbett is 47. Comedian Jon Stewart is 47. Actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon is 43. Rhythm-and-blues singer Dawn Robinson is 41. Hip-hop musician apl.de.ap (Black Eyed Peas) is 35. Actress Aimee Garcia is 31. Rapper Chamillionaire is 30. Actor Daniel Henney is 30. Rock musician Rostam Batmanglij (bot-man-GLEESH') (Vampire Weekend) is 26. Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead is 25. Actress Scarlett Pomers ("Reba") is 21.
Thought for Today: "Great minds have purposes; others have wishes." — Washington Irving, American author (1783-1859).
Copyright 2009, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
