TODAY IS ... 18 NOVEMBER

TODAY IS ... 18 NOVEMBER

BIRTHDAYS: 1968 - Owen Wilson, an American actor, comedian and writer. - the voice of Lightning McQueen in the 2006 Cars. Wilson's initial acting role was as "Dignan" in the Wes Anderson film Bottle Rocket. He also worked with Anderson as a creative collaborator on Anderson's next two directorial efforts, Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Other movies include Night at the Museum, Marley and Me, The Darjeeling Limited and Shanghai Nights.

Owen Wilson

1960 - Actress Elizabeth Perkins, was listed as one of the twelve "Promising New Actors of 1986" in John Willis' Screen World, and has since landed numerous film roles. Perkins made her film debut in 1986 in Edward Zwick's About Last Night... and had a career breakthrough co-starring with Tom Hanks in Big. She received critical acclaim for her performance in Barry Levinson's Avalon, and was a standout opposite William Hurt in The Doctor (1991), receiving critical acclaim for her performance as a terminal cancer patient. She played Wilma Flintstone in the 1994 live-action comedy The Flintstones.

Elizabeth Perkins

1960 - Kim Wilde, singer, burst onto the music scene in 1981 with the new wave classic "Kids in America", which hit number two in the UK Singles Chart. Major U.S. success eluded her until 1987, when she topped the charts with her version of The Supremes' hit "You Keep Me Hangin' On". plus 20 other Top 50 UK singles. 1942 – Linda Evans - American actress known primarily for her roles on television. She rose to fame as Barbara Stanwyck's daughter, Audra Barkley, on the 1960s Western, The Big Valley (1965-1969). Evans' most prominent role was as Krystle Carrington on the 1980s ABC prime-time television soap opera Dynasty, a role she played from 1981-1989.

Linda Evans

1936 - Hank Ballard - a rhythm and blues singer, the lead vocalist of Hank Ballard and The Midnighters and one of the first proto-rock 'n' roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an integral part in the development of rock music, releasing the hit singles "Work With Me, Annie" and answer songs "Annie Had a Baby" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie" with his Midnighters. He later wrote and recorded "The Twist" and invented the dance, which was notably covered by Chubby Checker.

Hank Ballard

1936 - Don Cherry - started on trumpet in junior high school and began working with Ornette Coleman in 1956. The Coleman quartet moved to New York City in 1959, creating controversy and making revolutionary albums for Atlantic until it disbanded in late 1961. Shortly thereafter, Cherry worked with a wide array of musicians in this country and Europe: John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Steve Lacy, George Russell, and Albert Ayler.

Don Cherry OTHER EVENTS: 2008 – Baz Luhrman’s epic Australia commences screening in Australia. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, Australia is nominated for many awards. Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand.

2008 - Burning Up: On Tour with the Jonas Brothers, a new book published by Hyperion, is released. It chronicles the band's latest tour, with exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of Kevin, Joe, and Nick. 2007 - 22-year-old X Factor winner Leona Lewis set a British record for the fastest-selling debut album with Spirit. The singer sold more than 375,000 copies in seven days.

2006 - Actor Tom Cruise and actress Katie Holmes were married in Italy.

2004 – No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani makes her solo television performance debut when she opens the American Music Awards broadcast on ABC. She joins performers Kenny Chesney, Josh Groban, Toby Keith, Jessica Simpson, Usher, Kanye West and Gretchen Wilson. 2003 – Tori Amos, having sifted through her Atlantic back catalog to pick the tracks that will comprise her first best-of compilation, releases the 20-track “Tales of a Librarian.” The set comes packaged as a two-disc with a bonus DVD. 2003 – John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics to the Beatles’ “Nowhere Man” sell for over $300,000 at a New York auction. 2001 - Westlife went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'World Of Our Own'.

2001 - British boy band Blue scored their second UK No.1 single with 'If You Come Back.' 2000 - The film world celebrates the celebrity wedding of the year as film star Michael Douglas marries Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones.

1999 – Queen Latifah and Angelina Jolie star with Denzel Washington in the suspense thriller The Bone Collector which commences screening in Australia. Two cops on the trail of a brutal killer. They must see as one, they must act as one, they must think as one, before the next victim falls. 1997 - The CD The Lion King - Original Broadway Cast Recording is released worldwide.

1997 – John Denver’s last recording, “The Unplugged Collection,” is released in the U.S. The album features versions of such well-known Denver compositions as “Annie’s Song,” Rocky Mountain High, and “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” 1997 – Hanson fever continues, as the teen trio release Snowed In, featuring their take on holiday favorites like “Everybody Knows the Claus.” 1997 - Two Willem de Kooning paintings topped the lots at Christie's blue-chip contemporary sale in New York City. "Two Standing Women" (1949), sold for $4,182,500 and "Woman (Blue Eyes)" (1953), which went for about $2 million.

Two Standing Women

1995 - The Rolling Stones become the first act to broadcast a concert on the Internet. 1992 - Black Sabbath were honoured with a star at the Rock Walk in Hollywood. 1990 - Paul McCartney's birth certificate goes for $18,000 in an auction. 1987 – Performing a second night in Los Angeles, U2 decide to support themselves as a fictional country group called the Dalton Brothers. 1985 - Paul McCartney releases "Spies Like Us"

1978 - A commemorative plaque is installed at the Broadway Theater - site of the former Colony Theater - at 1681 Broadway (W. 53rd St.) in New York City, marking the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Disney's Steamboat Willie.

1978 - Billy Joel went to No.1 on the US album chart with '52nd Street', his first US No.1 album.

1978 - Ihis week's UK Top 5 singles: No.5, The Cars, 'My Best Friend's Girl', No.4, Rod Stewart, 'Do You Think I'm Sexy', No.3, Dan Hartman, 'Instant Replay', No.2, Olivia Newton- John, 'Hopelessly Devoted To You' and No.1, The Boomtown Rats, 'Rat Trap' giving the Irish band their first UK No.1 single and the first chart topper by a punk or new wave act. 1978 - In Jonestown, Guyana, Reverend Jim Jones persuaded his followers to commit suicide by drinking a death potion. Some people were shot to death. 914 cult members were left dead including over 200 children. 1973 – UK No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Photograph,” Ringo Starr. The song is written by Starr and former Beatle mate George Harrison. 1973 - Gary Glitter was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'I Love You Love Me Love', the singers second No.1. 1972 - Cat Stevens started a three-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Catch Bull At Four'.

Cat Stevens

1969 - Apollo 12 astronauts Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr. and Alan L. Bean landed on the lunar surface during the second manned mission to the moon.

Apollo 12 Bean and Conrad

1967 - Lulu’s "To Sir with Love", from the movie of the same name, started its fifth and final week at number one on the "Billboard Hot 100" chart. Lulu was born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie (November 3, 1948). She changed her name to Lulu (and The Luvvers) in Scotland, early in her career. 1964 - The Supremes appear on "Shindig!" singing "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me." The Righteous Brothers are also on the show and perform "Little Latin Lupe Lu." 1961 – US President John Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam

1959 - William Wyler's "Ben-Hur" premiered at Loew's Theater in New York City's Times Square.

1957 - Ricky Nelson records "Stood Up" and "Waitin' In School".

1956 - Fats Domino appeared on the US TV Ed Sullivan Show performing 'Blueberry Hill.' 1954 - ABC radio network in US bans Rosemary Clooney hit 'Mambo Italiana' because of what it considers to be 'offensive lyrics'

1948 – Bobe Hope comedy The Fuller Brush Man opons in Australia. Co-starring were Janet Blair and Don McGuire. Poor Red Jones gets fired from every job he tries. His fiancée gives him one last chance to make good when he becomes a Fuller Brush man.

1928 - Mickey Mouse stars in Steamboat Willie, the first commercially successful animated cartoon to use synchronized sound. Disney's third Mickey short (but the first with sound) debuts as a sneak preview at Universal's Colony Theatre - located at Broadway & 53rd Street in New York City. Steamboat Willie is co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks and features the first appearance of Minnie Mouse. 1919 - One of the first ticker-tape parades was held -- to welcome the Prince of Wales to New York City. Rolls of paper were used to record stock trades. As the paper rolled over pins that punched stock information read by stock brokers, it would leave holes. When a big parade was organized, the shredded tape was scooped up and thrown out of windows on the marchers below. 1894 - First Sunday comics in a U.S. newspaper: Cartoons by Richard Felton Outcault appear in The New York World.

Richard Felton Outcault

1889 – First U.S. battleship: The USS Maine is launched. 1865 - Samuel L. Clemens published "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" under the pen name "Mark Twain" in the New York "Saturday Press."

E. W. Kemble’s original illustration for Twain’s “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.”

1477 - William Caxton set "Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers," the first book to be printed in England. Caxton went on to print almost 100 books in England, including the "Canterbury Tales."

William Caxton at work in Westminster Abbey