Today in history, November 21: Invention of the phonograph

Thomas Edison announced the invention of the phonograph on this day in 1877, a machine that can record and play sound. 

Highlights in history on this date:

1620: Near Cape Cod in North America, the heads of all 41 households aboard the Mayflower sign the Mayflower Compact, which establishes a plan for pilgrims to govern in the new colony.
1759: Prussian army of Friedrich von Finck capitulates at Maxen, Germany.
1783: First successful flight made in a hot-air balloon when Frenchmen Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d’Arlandes, fly for 25 minutes above Paris.
1806: France’s Napoleon Bonaparte issues Berlin Decrees, declaring blockade of Britain.
1877: Thomas A Edison announces invention of the phonograph in the United States.

1916: Death of ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire since 1848, Emperor Franz Josef. His attack on Serbia helped precipitate World War I.
1920: The Irish Republican Army shoots dead 14 British agents in what becomes known as the country’s first Bloody Sunday.
1956: UN General Assembly censures Soviet Union for invading Hungary.
1962: China agrees to ceasefire on India-China border.
1967: Violent student riots break out in Egypt.
1974: Twenty-one people are killed and 162 injured in Birmingham, England, when bombs explode in two pubs. The IRA claims responsibility.

1977: An estimated 3000 people are believed to have perished in a cyclone that strikes southeastern India, with entire villages submerged by tidal waves.
1985: Former US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard is arrested and accused of spying for Israel.
1991: UN Security Council chooses Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt to be the new Secretary-General.
1995: Former Nazi SS Captain Erich Priebke is extradited from Argentina to Italy to face charges in the massacre of 335 Italian civilians in Nazi-occupied Rome.

2013: Former Bundaberg doctor Jayant Patel is handed a two-year suspended sentence for lying to gain employment.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
“Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.” – The fourth Earl of Chesterfield, English author (1694-1773).