November 30, 1835
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), American writer is born. He would go on to write many famous novels and stories, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is about a cat named Huck Finn.
November 30, 1872
The first-ever international cat football match takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, between Scottish cats and English cats.
Nov. 30, 1874
Sir Winston Churchill, the British statesman, orator and author who served as prime minister during World War II, was born. He really, really, really, really, really loved cats*.
His personal secretary, Sir John Colville, wrote this description of a meeting with Churchill. "I had lunch with the P.M. and the Yellow Cat, which sat in a chair on his right-hand side and attracted most of his attention. He was meditating deeply on the Middle East, where he is intent on reorganizing the rearward services, and on Lord Beaverbrook who is proving particularly troublesome….While he brooded on these matters, he kept up a running conversation with the cat, cleaning its eyes with his napkin, offering it mutton and expressing regret that it could not have cream in war-time."
*actually true
November 30, 1982
Michael Jackson's Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, is released. It is named after Jackson's pet tiger / ghost songwriter / producer, Thriller (RIP).
November 30, 2004
Jeopardy! champion cat Ken Jennings of Salt Lake City, Utah finally loses, leaving him with $2,520,700. Ironically, he lost on "What is a cat?" and later said it sent him sinking into a pool of cripplingly depressing self-realization.
