Today is Sunday, Nov. 24, the 329th day of 2024. There are 37 days left in the year.
On this day in 1991, Queen’s legendary frontman Freddie Mercury died in London at age 45 from AIDS-related pneumonia.
Other notable events:
- In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, introducing his theory of evolution by natural selection.
- In 1865, Mississippi enacted the first “Black Codes” restricting the rights of newly freed African Americans.
- In 1947, the “Hollywood Ten” were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about alleged Communist ties.
- In 1963, Jack Ruby fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, during a live broadcast.
- In 1971, the infamous hijacker “D.B. Cooper” parachuted from a plane over the Pacific Northwest with $200,000 in ransom; his fate remains a mystery.
- In 1974, scientists in Ethiopia discovered the 3.2 million-year-old hominid skeleton nicknamed “Lucy.”
- In 2012, a fire in a Bangladeshi garment factory killed 112 people, exposing unsafe working conditions.
- In 2014, a grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in Michael Brown’s death, igniting protests.
- In 2021, three white men were convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man jogging in Georgia in 2020.
Today’s Birthdays:
- Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson is 86.
- Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is 84.
- Rock drummer Pete Best is 83.
- Comedian Billy Connolly is 82.
- Basketball great Dave Bing is 81.
- Director Emir Kusturica is 70.
- Author Arundhati Roy is 63.
- Actor Colin Hanks is 47.
- Actor Katherine Heigl is 46.
- Actor Sarah Hyland is 34.