This day in history

[May 10, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Monday, Nov. 29, the 333rd day of 2010. There are 32 days left in the year.

Today's hghlight in history:

On Nov. 29, 1910, British explorer Robert F. Scott's ship Terra Nova set sail from New Zealand, carrying Scott's expedition toward Antarctica on what turned out to be a futile -- as well as fatal -- race to reach the South Pole first.

On this date:

In 1530, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (WOOL'-zee), onetime adviser to England's King Henry VIII, died.

In 1864, a Colorado militia killed at least 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians in the Sand Creek Massacre.

In 1924, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels before he could complete his opera "Turandot." (It was finished by Franco Alfano.)

In 1929, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd, pilot Bernt Balchen, radio operator Harold June and photographer Ashley McKinney made the first airplane flight over the South Pole.

In 1947, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the partitioning of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.

In 1961, Enos the chimp was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard the Mercury-Atlas 5 spacecraft, which orbited earth twice before returning.

In 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced he was leaving the Johnson administration to become president of the World Bank.

In 1981, actress Natalie Wood drowned in a boating accident off Santa Catalina Island, Calif., at age 43.

In 1986, actor Cary Grant died in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82.

In 1990, the U.N. Security Council voted to authorize military action to free Kuwait if Iraq did not withdraw its occupying troops and release all foreign hostages by Jan. 15, 1991.

Ten years ago: Bracing the public for more legal wrangling, Vice President Al Gore said in a series of TV interviews that he was prepared to contest the Florida presidential vote until "the middle of December." Lou Groza, the Cleveland Browns' Hall of Fame kicker and lineman affectionately known as "The Toe," died at age 76.

Five years ago: Al-Jazeera broadcast video of four Western peace activists taken hostage in Iraq by a previously unknown group, the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. (Three of the hostages were later released, but one of them, American Tom Fox, was killed.) The Vatican issued a document defending a policy designed to keep men with "deep-seated" homosexual tendencies from becoming priests, but said there would be no crackdown on gays who were already ordained. Actress Wendie Jo Sperber died in Sherman Oaks, Calif. at age 47.

One year ago: A gunman shot and killed four Lakewood, Wash. police officers at a coffee shop (Maurice Clemmons, the accused gunman, was shot to death by a Seattle police officer two days later). Iran approved plans to build 10 industrial scale uranium enrichment facilities in defiance of U.N. demands it halt enrichment. Swiss voters approved a constitutional ban on minarets, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers. Tiger Woods canceled yet another meeting with Florida state troopers but, for the first time, talked about his car crash on his Web site, saying it was his fault, that his wife acted courageously and that remaining details were private. Francesco and Edoardo Molinari of Italy became the first brother combination to win the World Cup of Golf.

Today's birthdays: Hall-of-Fame sportscaster Vin Scully is 83. Former French President Jacques Chirac is 78. Blues singer-musician John Mayall is 77. Actress Diane Ladd is 75. Composer-musician Chuck Mangione is 70. Country singer Jody Miller is 69. Pop singer-musician Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals) is 68. Olympic skier Suzy Chaffee is 64. Comedian Garry Shandling is 61. Actor Jeff Fahey is 58. Movie director Joel Coen is 56. Actor-comedian-game show host Howie Mandel is 55. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano is 53. Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is 51. Actress Cathy Moriarty is 50. Actress Kim Delaney is 49. Actor Tom Sizemore is 49. Actor Andrew McCarthy is 48. Actor Don Cheadle is 46. Actor-producer Neill Barry is 45. Musician Wallis Buchanan is 45. Pop singer Jonathan Knight (New Kids on the Block) is 42. Rock musician Martin Carr (Boo Radleys) is 42. Actress Jennifer Elise Cox is 41. Actor Larry Joe Campbell is 40. Rock musician Frank Delgado (Deftones) is 40. Actress Gena Lee Nolin is 39. Actor Brian Baumgartner is 38. Actress Anna Faris is 34. Actor Julian Ovenden is 34. Rapper The Game is 31. Rock musician Ringo Garza is 29. Actor Lucas Black is 28.

Thought for today: "Superstition is the religion of feeble minds." -- Edmund Burke, British statesman (1729-1797)

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.