Today in History 12/10

1394: James I of Scotland is born.

1541: Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, wife of King Henry VIII

1750: Tipu Sultan, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore is born

1817: Mississippi becomes the 20th state

1830: Emily Dickenson born.

1845: First pneumatic tires receive patent.

1851: Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System is born.

1864: Sherman reaches Savannah, GA.

1898: Treaty of Paris ends the Spanish-American War

1901: First Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine and peace.

1911: Chet Huntley, journalist is born.

1914: Dorothy Lamour is born

1919: Alexander Courage is born. He wrote the original theme to Star Trek.

1928: Dan Blocker is born. He played Hoss on Bonanza.

1933: Mako is born. He played the wizard in Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer.

1936: Edward VIII signs his Instrument of Abdication.

1936: Luigi Pirandello, playwright and author dies. A book of his collected plays is currently holding up my computer.

1947: Douglas Kenney is born. He co-founded National Lampoon magazine and co-wrote Caddyshack (with Brian Doyle-Murray). He also played Stork in Animal House.

1950: Tom Towles is born. He played Mr. Cooper in Tom Savini's Night of the Living Dead remake.

1960: Kenneth Branagh is born.

1965: The Grateful Dead play their first concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

1941: Tommy Rettig is born. He played Jeff on the old Lassie TV show and was screwed out of residuals by the producers. In adulthood, he became an outspoken advocate for child actor's rights and also an expert computer programmer.

1963: The x-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane program is cancelled by Rober McNamara.

1967: Otis Redding dies in a plane crash.

1971: Jim Hart throws a football for a record 98 yards.

1974: Meg White, drummer for The White Stripes is born.

1978: Edward D. Woord, Jr dies. Plan 9 From Outer Space is his magnum opus, but I also recommed The Sinister Urge.

2005: Richard Pryor dies.