Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Nov. 13: Journalist-author Peter Arnett is 89. Folksinger Bonnie Dobson is 83. Blues singer John Hammond is 81. Country singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard is 77. Actor Joe Mantegna is 76. Country singer J.C. Crowley is 76.

Today in History for Nov. 24: On this date: In 1639, astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks first observed the transit of Venus across the Sun.

Today in History for Nov. 21: On this date: In 1766, the first theatre in the U.S. -- the "Southfork" -- opened in Philadelphia. In 1783, the first free flight was made by two men who rose 100 metres above Paris in a hot-air balloon.

Today in Music History for Nov. 24: In 1868, Scott Joplin, the foremost composer of ragtime music, was born in Texarkana, Texas. Ragtime was the earliest form of jazz to become widely popular.

Today in Music History for Nov. 22: In 1899, songwriter, singer and actor Hoagy Carmichael, composer of the standards "Star Dust" and "Georgia on My Mind," was born in Bloomington, Ind. "Star Dust" was Carmichael's first major success.

Today in History for Nov. 22: On this date: In 1718, the English pirate Blackbeard was killed during a battle off the Virginia coast.

Today in History for Nov. 19: On this date: In 1794, the United States and Britain signed the "Jay Treaty" concerning trade boundaries and commerce.

Today in Music History for Nov. 23: In 1889, the Pacific Phonograph Company, owned by Louis Glass, installed the world's first jukebox at his Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.

Today in Music History for Nov. 20: In 1886, the Toronto Conservatory of Music was incorporated. It began with 200 students and 50 teachers, and operated in a space over a music store in the downtown area.

Today in History for Nov. 25: On this date: In 2,348 B.C., according to Archbishop James Ussher's Old Testament chronology, the Great Deluge (Noah's Flood) began.