On Dec. 10, 1884, Mark Twain's novel "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was first published, in Canada as well as England (the book was not released in the United States until February 1885).
On this date:
In 1520, Martin Luther publicly burned the papal edict demanding that he recant or face excommunication.
In 1787, Thomas H. Gallaudet, a pioneer of educating the deaf, was born in Philadelphia.
In 1817, Mississippi was admitted as the 20th state.
In 1869, women were granted the right to vote in the Wyoming Territory. [Next political thing Wyoming gave us was Dick Cheney. — Ed.]
In 1898, a treaty was signed in Paris officially ending the Spanish-American War. It gave Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States.
In 1901, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace.
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for helping mediate an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
In 1931, Jane Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (the co-recipient that year was Nicholas Murray Butler).
In 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated to marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson. His brother succeeded to the throne as King George VI.
In 1946, Baseball Hall of Famer Walter Johnson died at age 59. [That's Walter "The Big Train" Johnson, AP. — Ed.]
In 1948, the U.N. General Assembly adopted its Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
In 1950, Dr. Ralph J. Bunche was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the first black American to receive the award.
In 1958, the first domestic passenger jet flight took place in the United States as a National Airlines Boeing 707 flew 111 passengers from New York City to Miami.
In 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1984, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize. The National Science Foundation reported the discovery of the first planet outside our solar system, orbiting a star 21 million light-years from Earth.
In 1987, violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz died in Los Angeles at age 86.
In 1994, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1997, the Supreme Court narrowed double-jeopardy protections for people who face both civil fines and criminal prosecution for the same conduct, ruling that three Oklahoma men could be prosecuted in a bank failure case even though they'd already paid civil fines for their actions.
In 1998, six astronauts swung open the doors to the new international space station, becoming the first guests aboard the 250-mile-high outpost.
In 1999, after three years under suspicion as a spy for China, computer scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested and charged with removing secrets from secure computers at the Los Alamos weapons lab. (Lee was later freed after pleading guilty to one count of downloading restricted data to tape; 58 other counts were dropped.) More than two million people marched in Cuba to demand the return of Elian Gonzalez. Death claimed Croatian President Franjo Tudjman at 77.
In 2002, President Bush selected William H. Donaldson, an investment banker with ties to Wall Street and the Bush family, as chairman of the besieged Securities and Exchange Commission. Former President Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for his diplomacy in the Middle East in the '70s. The Roman Catholic diocese of Manchester, N.H., admitted responsibility for failing to protect children from abusive priests.
In 2003, Iranian democracy activist Shirin Ebadi, the first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, accepted the award in Oslo, Norway. The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council announced the formal establishment of a war crimes tribunal.
In 2004, a U.S. passenger jet landed in Vietnam, the first one to do so since the Vietnam War ended nearly three decades earlier. President George W. Bush picked Samuel Bodman to be the new energy secretary. Bernard Kerik withdrew his name from consideration to be President Bush's homeland security secretary. An Italian court cleared Premier Silvio Berlusconi of corruption charges in his long-running trial. Sprinter Michelle Collins was suspended for eight years for a doping violation linked to the BALCO scandal. (Collins was reinstated in May 2008.)
In 2005, former Senator Eugene McCarthy died in Washington, D.C., at age 89.
In 2006, former Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet died at age 91. [What took you so long, murderer? — Ed.] Iraqi President Jalal Talabani criticized a bipartisan US report on American war policies, saying it contained some "very dangerous" recommendations that would undermine the sovereignty of Iraq. [What sovereignty would that be? — Ed.]
In 2007, former Vice President Al Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a call for humanity to rise up against a looming climate crisis and stop waging war on the environment. NFL star Michael Vick was sentenced by a federal judge in Richmond, Va., to 23 months in prison for bankrolling a dogfighting operation and killing dogs that underperformed. Cristina Fernandez was sworn in as Argentina's first elected female president. And, Pulitzer winner and new-journalism pioneer Norman Mailer, author of "The Naked and the Dead," died in New York City of acute kidney failure at 84.
In 2008, defying calls for his resignation, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich showed up for work on his 52nd birthday despite charges he'd schemed to enrich himself by offering to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat. The House approved a plan, 237-170, to speed $14 billion in loans to Detroit's automakers. U.S. Special Forces killed six Afghan police in a case of mistaken identity by both sides after the police fired on the Americans during an operation against an insurgent commander.
Today's Birthdays: Actor Harold Gould is 86. Former Agriculture Secretary Clayton Yeutter is 79. Actor Tommy Kirk is 68. Actress Fionnula Flanagan is 68. Pop singer Chad Stuart (Chad and Jeremy) is 68. Actress-singer Gloria Loring is 63. Pop-funk musician Walter "Clyde" Orange (The Commodores) is 63. R&B singer Ralph Tavares is 61. R&B singer Jessica Cleaves (Friends of Distinction) is 61. Country singer Johnny Rodriguez is 58. Actress Susan Dey is 57. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is 53. Actor Michael Clarke Duncan is 52. Jazz musician Paul Hardcastle is 52. Actor-director Kenneth Branagh is 49. Actress Nia Peeples is 48. TV chef Bobby Flay is 45. Rock singer-musician J Mascis is 44. Country singer Kevin Sharp is 39. Rock musician Scot Alexander (Dishwalla) is 38. Actress-comedian Arden Myrin is 36. Rock musician The White Stripes) is 35. Violinist Sarah Chang is 29. Actress Raven-Symone is 24.
Other Birthdays: Emily Dickinson, poetess (1830); Melvil Dewey, library pioneer (1851); Chet Huntley, news broadcaster (1911) ["Good night, David." — Ed.]; Dorothy Lamour, actress (1914); Douglas Kenney, humorist (1947).
From The World of Show Bidness:
In 1959, the four male members of The Platters were acquitted of charges of aiding and abetting prostitution. They had been arrested four months earlier. [Keep those Negroes who are corrupting our pure white youth down. See also Chuck Berry. — Ed.]
In 1962, "Lawrence of Arabia" had its royal premiere in London. Peter O'Toole starred as English officer T.E. Lawrence.
In 1965, The Grateful Dead played their first concert, at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.
In 1967, singer Otis Redding, four members of The Bar-Kays & two others were killed in the crash of their plane in Lake Monona, Wisconsin. Redding was 26.
In 1971, Frank Zappa broke a leg and ankle and fractured his skull when he was pushed from a London stage by the jealous boyfriend of a Zappa fan. Zappa spent months in a wheelchair recovering. [When we passed through town on spring break in 1972, he was still on wheels. We called him & asked how he was doing, he said, "Alive, but not kicking." Poor bastard was never the same person after the assault. — Ed.]
In 1995, rapper Darren Robinson of the Fat Boys died while working on a comeback album. He was 28.
In 1996, country singer Faron Young ["The Singing Sheriff" — Ed.] died in a hospital in Nashville, a day after he shot himself in the head. He was 64.
In 1997, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee of Motley Crue were arrested for allegedly knocking over a security guard at a concert in Phoenix. Also in 1997, bass singer Jacob Carey of The Flamingos died of a heart attack in his home in Lanham, Maryland. He was 74. The Flamingos were best known for their hit "I Only Have Eyes For You."
In 1999, bassist Rick Danko of The Band died in Woodstock, New York. He was 56. Actress Shirley Hemphill died at 52.
In 2003, Mick Jagger became Sir Mick after the Rolling Stones' front man was knighted by Prince Charles.
In 2005, comedian Richard Pryor died of a heart attack at a hospital in Encino, California. He was 65.
In 2006, Tenor Roberto Alagna walked out of a performance of Verdi's "Aida" at Italy's famed La Scala opera house when the audience booed his rendition of the aria "Celeste Aida."
In 2007, Led Zeppelin reunited for the first time in 30 years, for a tribute concet in London for Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun (AH'-met ER'-teh-gun).
Thought for Today: "Originality and a feeling of one's own dignity are achieved only through work and struggle." — Feodor Dostoyevsky, Russian author (1821-1881). [What a feudalistic crock. "Work hard, peasants & serfs!" — Ed.]
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