November 19th, 2008

Today in History

2004:
The largest brawl in the history of American professional sports breaks out between fans and NBA players during a game between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers. The melee is instigated after an altercation between Detroit's Ben Wallace and Indiana's Ron Artest when a fan throws a cup of beer and hits Artest in the chest.

1997:
In Carlisle, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive.

1994:
In Britain, the first National Lottery draw was held. A £1 ticket gives a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.

1941:
World War II: The Royal Australian Navy cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran sink each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.

1924:
In Los Angeles, California, famous silent film director Thomas Ince ("The Father of the Western") dies of a heart attack in his bed (rumors soon surface that he was shot dead by publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst.)