Associated Press
On Nov. 17, 1558, Elizabeth I ascended the English throne upon the death of Queen Mary.
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.”
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 a 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 66 years old today.
James Inhofe, U.S. senator, R-Okla., 81
Gordon Lightfoot, Singer, 77
Martin Scorsese, Director, 73
Lauren Hutton, Actress, 72
Jim Boeheim, College basketball coach, 71
Lorne Michaels, TV producer (“Saturday Night Live”), 71
Tom Seaver, Baseball Hall of Famer, 71
Elvin Hayes, Basketball Hall of Famer, 70
Howard Dean, Former governor of Vermont, 67
Stephen Root, Actor (“NewsRadio,” “Office Space”), 64
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Actress, 57
RuPaul, Entertainer, 55
Patrick Toomey, U.S. senator, R-Pa., 54
Daisy Fuentes, Actress, model, 49
Rachel McAdams, Actress (“The Notebook,” “Mean Girls”), 37
Reggie Wayne, Football player, 37
Isaac Hanson, Rock musician (Hanson), 35
Ryan Braun, Baseball player, 32
Actor Danny DeVito turns 71 years old today.