November 26 in History

1703 – The Great Storm – more than 8,000 people perished, and England’s first Eddystone Lighthouse (Winstanley’s lighthouse) was destroyed overnight.

1716 – First African lion was exhibited in America (in Boston). It was just a single lion, which supposedly later joined a “menagerie,” which was a traveling circus of exotic animals.

1789 – First (unofficial) national Thanksgiving in the USA was recognized by the new government. The 1621 good harvest celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts was first celebrated in North America.

1825 – Kappa Alpha fraternity was founded at Union College, NY.

1832 – The first New York City streetcar ran along Bowery Street in New York, with a 12 cent fare.

1842 – The University of Notre Dame was founded.

1867 – The patent (#71,423) for a refrigerated railroad car was issued to J.B. Sutherland of Detroit, Michigan.

1917 – The NHL (National Hockey League) formed, consisting of four teams – Montreal Canadians, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, and the Quebec Bulldogs. The Arenas replaced the Bulldogs shortly after that.

1922 – English archaeologist Howard Carter opened King Tutankhamun’s virtually intact tomb in Egypt. Over the centuries, almost every mummy tomb had been found and plundered – this was possibly the greatest archaeological find of that period.

1922 – The Toll of the Sea debuted as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor. (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so, but it was not widely distributed.)

1941 – President Franklin D Roosevelt established that Thanksgiving Day would be the fourth Thursday in November.

1942 – Casablanca premiered at Hollywood Theater in New York City. It came out in wide release on January 23, 1943.

1945 – Charlie “Bird” Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the “greatest Jazz session ever.” Recording as Charlie Parker’s Reboppers, the group included Dizzie Gillespie and Miles Davis on trumpet, Curly Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums. The tracks included during this session include Ko-Ko, Billie’s Bounce, and Now’s the Time.

#1 Hit November 26, 1949 – January 6, 1950: Frankie Laine – Mule Train

#1 Hit November 26, 1955 – January 13, 1956: Tennessee Ernie – Sixteen Tons

1970 – In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1.5 inches (38.1mm) of rain fell in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever on record

1976 – The Sex Pistols released their debut single, Anarchy In The UK. It came from their only album – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here are the Sex Pistols.

1977 – The Hobbit, produced by Rankin/Bass, was shown on NBC.

1983 – Six gunmen broke into the Brinks Mat warehouse at the Heathrow Airport, making off with three tons of gold bars valued at almost 48 million dollars (at that time). From a modern perspective, it is worth over $125,000,000. Most of the gold was never recovered.

2005 – #1 Hit November 26, 2005 – December 30, 2005: Chris Brown – Run It!

2155 – (fictional) Dave Lister was found in a cardboard box under the pool table in the Aigburth Arms on TV’s Red Dwarf.

#1 Hit November 26, 2016 – January 6, 2017: Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane – Black Beatles