Good morning. Today’s date brings a plot beneath Parliament, a trailblazing election and the first NBA game in Miami. Then we’ll tune in to an election-night Tuesday in 2002.
📅 On This Day — November 5
It’s National Donut Day—a good excuse to pick a favorite from the bakery case.
1605 — A plot uncovered. Guy Fawkes was discovered guarding explosives beneath the English Parliament.
1956 — A television first. The Nat King Cole Show made its NBC debut.
1968 — An election milestone. Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, representing a Brooklyn district.
1988 — Miami joins the NBA. The expansion Heat played their first game, falling 111–91 to the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
2007 — Writers put down their pens. Members of the Writers Guild of America began a strike affecting television and film production.
⏪ REWIND: 2002
Tuesday, November 5, 2002
If you were born on November 5, 2002, you turn 24 today. Americans were voting in the midterms, a holiday sequel had arrived in theaters, and network television was making room for election coverage.
📰 The Headlines
A political shift in Turkey
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party won a parliamentary majority in the November 3 election. Voters had gone to the polls after a severe economic crisis. All three parties in the outgoing governing coalition failed to win seats, clearing the way for a single-party government. Party leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was barred from standing in that election.
🇺🇸 Election night in America
On November 5, Americans voted in the midterm elections. Republicans retained control of the House and won control of the Senate, giving President George W. Bush’s party control of both chambers in the next Congress.
🎬 At the Movies
Santa has a new deadline
The Santa Clause 2 led the domestic box office over the November 1–3 weekend. Tim Allen returned as Scott Calvin, who learns that keeping the Santa job means finding a wife before Christmas Eve. The sequel sends its reluctant Santa back from the North Pole with a very different sort of deadline.
🎵 On the Charts
“Dilemma” — Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
“Dilemma” held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 dated November 2. The song appeared on Nelly’s album Nellyville and paired his verses with Rowland’s vocals; it also drew on Patti LaBelle’s “Love, Need and Want You.”
🏁 In Sports
Four in a row for the Big Unit
On November 5, Arizona’s Randy Johnson was unanimously named the National League’s Cy Young Award winner for the fourth straight year. His 2002 season brought 24 wins, a 2.32 earned-run average and 334 strikeouts. It was his fifth Cy Young overall, and the fourth consecutive award matched Greg Maddux’s streak.
📺 On Television
Some programs associated with Tuesday’s network broadcasts. Available national listings may not capture every program:
ABC — 8 Simple Rules; According to Jim; Life with Bonnie; Less Than Perfect; ABC 2002: The Vote.
CBS — JAG; Judging Amy; election coverage.
NBC — Fear Factor; Frasier; Dateline NBC: Decision 2002.
FOX — Fox Funniest Outtakes; 24.
🏰 Disney Vault
A treasure map among the stars
Disney’s animated Treasure Planet had its world premiere in Paris on November 5, before its U.S. release later that month. It takes Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island into outer space, with a young Jim Hawkins setting off aboard a solar galleon. An old adventure gets a new horizon.
🗞️ The Everday Family
❤️ Health Snap
Put leftovers away promptly
The CDC recommends refrigerating perishable food and cooked leftovers within two hours—or within one hour when the temperature is above 90°F. Dividing food into shallow containers helps it cool faster.
🎂 November 5 Birthdays
Art Garfunkel — turns 85 (1941). The singer was one half of Simon & Garfunkel.
Peter Noone — turns 79 (1947). He sang with Herman’s Hermits.
Bryan Adams — turns 67 (1959). The Canadian singer recorded “Summer of ’69.”
Tilda Swinton — turns 66 (1960). The actor won an Academy Award for Michael Clayton.
Tatum O’Neal — turns 63 (1963). She won an Academy Award for Paper Moon as a child.
Judy Reyes — turns 59 (1967). The actor played Carla Espinosa on Scrubs.
Know someone celebrating today? Share this edition and ask which song they would add to the day’s soundtrack.
From a Miami basketball debut to a voyage across the stars, this date has room for more than one kind of first.
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Until tomorrow,
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