Moments in Time – November 16, 2022

#MiddleburyCT

• On Nov. 28, 1967, England’s National Hunt Committee, following the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture, canceled all horse racing in the country due to new outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.
• On Nov. 29, 1972, Atari released the table tennis-themed arcade video game Pong. While originally designed as a training exercise by creator Allan Alcorn, Atari’s founders were pleased enough by its quality to manufacture it. The first commercially successful video game, it would prove instrumental in launching that industry.
• On Nov. 30, 1982, Michael Jackson released his sixth solo studio album, “Thriller.” Earning a record 12 Grammy nominations and ultimately becoming the best-selling record album in music history, the title song’s video is the only one to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
• On Dec. 1, 1891, our beloved sport of basketball was created by Dr. James Naismith, a physical education instructor at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, after he was asked by his boss to create an indoor game that would help athletes stay in shape during cold weather. Peach baskets served as the hoops, along with a soccer-style ball, and each time a point was scored, the game was paused so the janitor could fetch a ladder to retrieve the ball.
• On Dec. 2, 2020, the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs removed cannabis from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty, which included such highly addictive substances as heroin, opium, morphine, methadone and cocaine, although the U.N. still considers cannabis a controlled substance.
• On Dec. 3, 1926, mystery novel maven Agatha Christie pulled a disappearing act from her home in Surrey, England. She rematerialized nearly two weeks later at a hotel in the spa town of Harrogate, where journalist Ritchie Calder found her using her husband’s mistress’s surname as a notable pseudonym.
• On Dec. 4, 1875, William M. “Boss” Tweed, who notoriously led New York City’s Democratic political machine, escaped from his cell at the Ludlow Street Jail and went into hiding even as a civil case for misuse of city funds proceeded against him. Found guilty in absentia, Tweed fled again, to Spain, but was quickly captured there and returned to New York to serve his sentence.

© 2022 King Features Synd., Inc.