November 27, 2020
Day 332 of 366

November 27th is the 332nd day of the year. It is Teacher’s Day in Spain.

In the United States, today is “celebrated” as National Bavarian Cream Pie Day, and National Craft Jerky Day. It is also recognized as a slew of events set on the day after Thanksgiving: National Day of Listening, National Native American Heritage Day, Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, Flossing Day, Maize Day, and You’re Welcomegiving Day.

Historical items of note:

• In 1835, James Pratt and John Smith were hanged in London. They were the last two people to be executed for sodomy in England.
• In 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament. It set aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after he died.
• In 1896, Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss was first performed.
• In 1911, vegetables were thrown at actors by an audience for the first time in recorded American history.
• In 1924, in New York City, the first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.
• In 1935, English television and film producer Verity Lambert was born. She began her career as a producer at the BBC by becoming the founding producer of the science-fiction series Doctor Who from 1963 until 1965.
• In 1940, American-Chinese actor, martial artist, and screenwriter Bruce Lee was born.
• In 1945, actor James Avery was born.
• In 1951, director, producer, and screenwriter Kathryn Bigelow was born.
• In 1952, astronaut Jim Wetherbee was born.
• In 1955, engineer, educator, and television host Bill Nye was born.
• In 1956, actor William Fichtner was born.
• In 1957, game designer and author Michael A. Stackpole was born.
• In 1961, English actress Samantha Bond was born.
• In 1963, actor, director, and producer Fisher Stevens was born.
• In 1968, Penny Ann Early became the first woman to play major professional basketball for the Kentucky Colonels in an ABA game against the Los Angeles Stars.
• In 1971, the Soviet space program’s Mars 2 orbiter released a descent module. It malfunctioned and crashed, but it was the first man-made object to reach the surface of Mars.
• In 1976, actor and screenwriter Jaleel White was born.
• In 1978, San Francisco city mayor George Moscone and openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former supervisor Dan White.
• In 1985, Canadian actress Alison Pill was born.
• In 2001, a hydrogen atmosphere was discovered on the extrasolar planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope. It was the first atmosphere detected on an extrasolar planet.
• In 2013, Disney’s Frozen was released. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time.

November 27th is Lancashire Day, a county day for historic Lancashire in England.

It commemorates the day in 1295 when Lancashire first sent representatives to Parliament. This was to attend the Model Parliament of King Edward I. Lancashire Day was first held in 1996.

Curated by the Friends of Real Lancashire, it is observed with the loyal toast to “The Queen, Duke of Lancaster”, and is celebrated from everywhere within the county palatine. The day is marked throughout the historic county by town criers announcing the Lancashire Day proclamation which declares the historic regions boundaries of the county, and finishes with “God bless Lancashire, and God save the Queen, Duke of Lancaster”.

The Thing About Today is an effort to look at each day of 2020 with respect to its historical context.

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