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The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Today is the 40th anniversary of the sinking of the Great Lakes freighter the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot. Here are some things you may not have known about the ship, its sinking and the song. When it was launched, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the largest ship on the Great…
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210: Travel Like a President
On this date in 1906, Theodore Roosevelt became the first American president to travel outside the United States while in office. Here are some facts you may not have known about presidential travel. Roosevelt visited Panama to inspect the construction of the Panama Canal. Of the 17 days spent out of the country, 14 of…
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209: First College Football Game is Played
On this date in 1869, the first college football game was played between what is now Princeton and Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Here are some things you may not have known about the early history of football. In addition to being considered the first American football game, some see it as the first…
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208: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot
Today marks the 410th anniversary of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, an assassination attempt against King James I of England. Here are a few things you may not have known about what has come to be celebrated as Guy Fawkes Night. A group of English Catholics planned to blow up the House of Lords…
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207: The First (and Only) Flight of the Spruce Goose
On this date in 1947, the Hughes H-4 Hercules made its first and only flight. Here are some things you may not have known about the airplane known as the Spruce Goose. Henry J. Kaiser and Howard Hughes teamed up in 1942 to build the largest aircraft of its time. Kaiser, a shipbuilder, wanted a…
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206: Orson Welles’ Broadcast of “The War of the Worlds”
On this date in 1938, the village of Grover’s Mill, New Jersey, was ground zero for an invasion by Martians in the radio drama “The War of the Worlds,” directed by and starring Orson Welles. Here are some things you may not have known about “The War of the Worlds,” and the reaction to its…
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206: The Birth of the Precursor of the Internet
Welcome to the Trivia Minute, your daily dose of history, facts and tidbits from TriviaPeople.com … I’m Marcus Michelson. On this date in 1969, two computers were linked on ARPANET, a precursor of today’s Internet for the first time. Here are some things you might know about the early days of computer networking. ARPANET was named for the Advanced…
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204: Construction of the Alaska Highway
Today is the 73rd anniversary of the completion of the Alaska Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Delta Junction, Alaska. Here are some things you may not have known about the highway. A land route from the lower 48 states to Alaska was considered as far back as the 1920s. At the time, the…
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203: Wallis Simpson and the Abdication of Edward VIII
On this date in 1936, Wallis Simpson was granted a divorce from her second husband, Ernest Aldrich Simpson, setting up the British constitutional crisis that led to the abdication of King Edward VIII. Here are some things you may not have known about Wallis Simpson and the abdication crisis. Bessie Wallis Warfield was born in…
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202: “Weird Al” Yankovic
Today is the 56th birthday of musician and actor “Weird Al” Yankovic. Here are some things you may not have known about him. Alfred Matthew Yankovic was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburbs. He had his first accordion lesson the day before his sixth birthday, making yesterday the 50th anniversary of his accordion…