Today In History

Today in History: Thursday, November  17, 2016
AP Highlight in History:
On Nov. 17, 1558, Elizabeth I ascended to the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary.
On this date in:
1800 Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C., in the partially completed Capitol building.
1869 The Suez Canal opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas.
1934 Lyndon B. Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor, better known as “Lady Bird.”

AP Photo

1962 Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., was dedicated.
1968 NBC outraged football fans by cutting away from the final minutes of a game to air a TV special, “Heidi,” on schedule.
1970 The Soviet Union landed an unmanned, remote-controlled vehicle on the moon.
1973 President Richard M. Nixon told an Associated Press managing editors meeting in Orlando, Fla., “I’m not a crook.”

1997 Six militants opened fire at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt, killing 62 people, most of them foreign tourists. The attackers were killed by police.
2003 John Allen Muhammad was convicted of two counts of capital murder in the Washington-area sniper shootings. (He was later sentenced to death and executed.)
2003 Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as governor of California.
2008 The vampire romance movie “Twilight” premiered in Los Angeles.
2010 A hand-count of votes affirmed the re-election of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the first Senate candidate in over 50 years to win a write-in campaign.
2010 The first Guantanamo detainee to face civilian trial, Ahmed Ghailani, was convicted by federal jury in New York on one charge of conspiracy related to 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Ghailani’s native Tanzania.
Today’s Birthdays:
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, turns 67 years old today.

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Name Profession Age
James Inhofe U.S. senator, R-Okla. 82
Gordon Lightfoot Singer 78
Martin Scorsese Director 74
Lauren Hutton Actress 73
Jim Boeheim College basketball coach 72
Lorne Michaels TV producer (“Saturday Night Live”) 72
Tom Seaver Baseball Hall of Famer 72
Elvin Hayes Basketball Hall of Famer 71
Howard Dean Former governor of Vermont 68
Stephen Root Actor (“NewsRadio,” “Office Space”) 65
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Actress 58
RuPaul Entertainer 56
Patrick Toomey U.S. senator, R-Pa. 55
Daisy Fuentes Actress, model 50
Rachel McAdams Actress (“The Notebook,” “Mean Girls”) 38
Reggie Wayne Football player 38
Isaac Hanson Rock musician (Hanson) 36
Ryan Braun Baseball player 33
Actor Danny DeVito turns 72 years old today.

AP Photo/Kai Uwe Knoth

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