December 1st

On this date in:
1824	The House of Representatives convened to decide the presidential election because no candidate had received a majority in the Electoral College. John Quincy Adams was eventually chosen the winner over Andrew Jackson and Henry Clay.
1913	The first drive-in automobile service station opened, in Pittsburgh.
1919	Lady Astor was sworn in as the first female member of the British Parliament.
1934	Sergei M. Kirov, the head of the Communist Party in Leningrad, was assassinated as Soviet leader Josef Stalin began a massive purge that would claim tens of millions of lives.
1942	Nationwide gasoline rationing went into effect in the United States.
1955	Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, defied the law by refusing to give up her seat to a white man aboard a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Parks was arrested, sparking a year-long boycott of the buses by blacks.
1963	The Beatles' first single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand," was released in the United States.
1965	An airlift of refugees from Cuba to the United States began in which thousands of Cubans were allowed to leave their homeland.
1969	The U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.
1973	David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, died at age 87.
1991	Ukrainians voted overwhelmingly for independence from the Soviet Union.
1992	Amy Fisher was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison for shooting and seriously wounding Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of the teenager's lover, Joey Buttafuoco, on New York's Long Island.
1997	A 14-year-old student opened fire on a morning prayer group at a high school in West Paducah, Ky., killing three students and wounding five.
2000	Vicente Fox was sworn in as president of Mexico, ending 71 years of ruling-party domination.
2004	Tom Brokaw signed off for the last time as anchor of the "NBC Nightly News."

Article of the day

Chunnel makes breakthrough

Shortly after 11 a.m. on December 1, 1990, 132 feet below the English Channel, workers drill an opening the size of a car through a wall of rock. This was no ordinary hole--it connected the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in more than 8,000 years.

The Channel Tunnel, or "Chunnel," was not a new idea. It had been suggested to Napoleon Bonaparte, in fact, as early as 1802. It wasn't until the late 20th century, though, that the necessary technology was developed. In 1986, Britain and France signed a treaty authorizing the construction of a tunnel running between Folkestone, England, and Calais, France.

Over the next four years, nearly 13,000 workers dug 95 miles of tunnels at an average depth of 150 feet (45 meters) below sea level. Eight million cubic meters of soil were removed, at a rate of some 2,400 tons per hour. The completed Chunnel would have three interconnected tubes, including one rail track in each direction and one service tunnel. The price? A whopping $15 billion.

After workers drilled that final hole on December 1, 1990, they exchanged French and British flags and toasted each other with champagne. Final construction took four more years, and the Channel Tunnel finally opened for passenger service on May 6, 1994, with Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and France's President Francois Mitterrand on hand in Calais for the inaugural run. A company called Eurotunnel won the 55-year concession to operate the Chunnel, which is the crucial stretch of the Eurostar high-speed rail link between London and Paris. The regular shuttle train through the tunnel runs 31 miles in total--23 of those underwater--and takes 20 minutes, with an additional 15-minute loop to turn the train around. The Chunnel is the second-longest rail tunnel in the world, after the Seikan Tunnel in Japan.

Today Birthdays

Sarah Silverman turns 38 years old today.

AP Photo/Dan Steinberg Comedian-actress Sarah Silverman turns 38 years old today.

86 Paul Picerni Actor 85 Stansfield Turner Former CIA director 74 Billy Paul R&B singer 73 Woody Allen Writer, director 69 Lee Trevino Golfer 69 Dianne Lennon Singer (The Lennon Sisters) 66 Casey Van Beek Country musician 65 David Salzman TV producer 64 Eric Bloom Rock musician (Blue Oyster Cult) 64 John Densmore Rock musician (The Doors) 63 Bette Midler Actress, singer 62 Gilbert O'Sullivan Singer 57 Treat Williams Actor 52 Kim Richey Country singer 50 Charlene Tilton Actress ("Dallas") 48 Carol Alt Model, actress 47 Jeremy Northam Actor 42 Larry Walker Baseball player 41 Nestor Carbonell Actor ("Lost") 38 Golden Brooks Actress 36 Ron Melendez Actor 33 Sarah Masen Singer 31 Brad Delson Rock musician (Linkin Park) 20 Ashley Monique Clark Actress