November 30 Birthday
On November 30, 1954, a 4.5-kilogram meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in Sylacauga, Alabama, and struck Ann Hodges on the hip. She was napping on her couch. She is the only person confirmed to have been hit by a meteorite. She suffered a large bruise. The meteorite was claimed by her landlord, and a legal battle ensued. Hodges eventually received it and donated it to the Alabama Museum of Natural History. She said: "I think God intended it for me." She died in 1972, emotionally scarred by the attention. Mark Twain, born this day in 1835, came in with Halley's Comet and went out with it — he predicted his own death. He died on April 21, 1910, the day after the comet's closest approach. He said: "The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." He was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens. His pen name means "two fathoms deep" — safe water for a steamboat. Winston Churchill, also born this day in 1874, said: "I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter." He died at ninety on January 24, 1965. His state funeral was the largest in British history. People born on November 30 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 30 include 1954: Meteorite strikes Ann Hodges in Sylacauga, Alabama (only person confirmed hit), 1900: Oscar Wilde dies in Paris at age 46, 1982: Michael Jackson's Thriller album released. Famous people born on November 30 include Mark Twain (1835), Winston Churchill (1874), Ridley Scott (1937).