November 20
869
Edmund, King of England, was martyred by Danish invaders. When the Danes overran England they insisted on terms of surrender that, as a Christian, Edmund could not accept. He said that his faith was dearer to him than life, and that he would never purchase his life by offending God. Infuriated, the Danes tortured then killed the king. Having been crowned king on Christmas day in 855 at fourteen or fifteen years of age, Edmund died while still in his twenties.
1572
The first Presbyterian meeting house in England was established at Wandsworth, Surrey.
1620
Peregrine White, son of William and Susanna White, was born aboard the Mayflower in Massachusetts Bay. He was the first child to be born of English parents in present-day New England.
1789
New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
1850
Blind Fanny Crosby underwent a dramatic spiritual conversion at age 30. Fifteen years later, she began writing her first of over 8,000 hymns texts. Many of these remain popular today, including "Rescue the Perishing," "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross," "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" and "Tell Me the Story of Jesus."
1866
The first U.S. patent for a yoyo was issued to James L. Haven and Charles Hittrick of Cincinnati, Ohio. Although termed a "Whirligig" or a "Bandalore" in the patent title, it had the familiar construction of a yoyo with two disks "coupled together at their centers by means of a clutch".
1889
Astronomer Edwin Hubble was born in Marshfield, Mo.
1906
Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce formed Rolls-Royce.
1923
African-American Garrett Morgan patented an automatic traffic signal. His invention came after he had seen an automobile crash into a horse-drawn carriage. Morgan was distressed by that traffic accident, and so he developed a new way to make streets safer for motorists and pedestrians.
1945
Twenty-four Nazi leaders went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany.
1947
Britain's future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, in Westminster Abbey in London.
1959
The United Nations issued its "Declaration of the Rights of the Child," saying countries had an obligation to ensure a "happy childhood" for the world’s young people.
1977
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's parliament.
1985
A successful heart transplant to a 4-day-old infant, Eddie Anguiano known then as Baby Moses, was performed by Dr. Leonard Lee Bailey of the Loma Linda University Medical Center. The third such transplant attempted, Eddie was the first to survive. He celebrated his 21st birthday in 2006.
1996
House Republicans chose Newt Gingrich to be speaker for a second term.
1998
The first module of the International Space Station was launched on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
