Today In History

Today is Friday, Nov. 24, the 328th day of 2017. There are 37 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

› 1859: British naturalist Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species,” which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.

ON THIS DATE

› 1944: During World War II, U.S. bombers based on Saipan attacked Tokyo in the first raid against the Japanese capital by land-based planes.

› 1947: A group of writers, producers and directors that became known as the “Hollywood Ten” was cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about alleged Communist influence in the movie industry. John Steinbeck’s novel “The Pearl” was first published.

› 1963: Jack Ruby shot and mortally wounded Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.

› 1971: A hijacker calling himself “Dan Cooper” (but who became popularly known as “D.B. Cooper”) parachuted from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 over the Pacific Northwest after receiving $200,000 dollars in ransom; his fate remains unknown.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS

Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson is 79. Country singer Johnny Carver is 77. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is 77. Rock drummer Pete Best is

76. Actor-comedian Billy Connolly is 75. Former White House news secretary Marlin Fitzwater is 75. Former Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman is 73. Singer Lee Michaels is 72. Actor Dwight Schultz is 70. Actor Stanley Livingston is 67. Rock musician Clem Burke (Blondie; The Romantics) is 63. Record producer Terry Lewis is

61. Actor/director Ruben Santiago-Hudson is 61. Actress Denise Crosby is

60. Actress Shae D’Lyn is

55. Rock musician John Squire (The Stone Roses) is 55. Rock musician Gary Stonadge (Big Audio) is

55. Actor Conleth Hill is 53. Actor-comedian Brad Sherwood is 53. Actor Garret Dillahunt is 53. Rock musician Chad Taylor (Live) is 47. Actress Lola Glaudini is 46. Actor-writer-director-producer Stephen Merchant is 43. Actor Colin Hanks is

40. Actress Katherine Heigl is 39. Actress Sarah Hyland is 27.