The history of Sesame Street began with its conception in 1966 during discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie Corporation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal was to create a children's television show that would "master the addictive qualities of television and do something good with them", such as helping young children prepare for school. After two years of research, the newly formed Children's Television Workshop (CTW) received a combined grant of $8 million from the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation, and the U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children's television show. Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969. Featuring animation, live shorts, humor, celebrity appearances, and Jim Henson's Muppets such as Big Bird (star pictured), it was the first television program of its kind to base its contents and production values on laboratory and formative research, and the first to include a curriculum "detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes". Initial responses to the show included adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high ratings. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was broadcast in over 120 countries, and 20 independent international versions had been produced.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sesame_Street

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1775:

The United States Marine Corps was founded as the Continental Marines by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress during the American Revolutionary War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps

1945:

Indonesian National Revolution: Following the killing of the British officer Brigadier A. W. S. Mallaby a few weeks prior, British forces began their retaliation by attacking Surabaya, Indonesia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Surabaya

1958:

Merchant Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond, the "most famous diamond in the world", to the Smithsonian Institution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Diamond

1975:

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald (pictured), the largest boat on North America's Great Lakes, sank in Lake Superior with the loss of 29 lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald

2006:

Prominent Sri Lankan Tamil politician and human rights lawyer Nadarajah Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadarajah_Raviraj

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ooze: 1. To secrete or slowly leak. 2. (figuratively) To give off a sense of (something). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ooze

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There's no such thing as chance; And what to us seems merest accident Springs from the deepest source of destiny. --Friedrich Schiller https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller