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Kurt Vonnegut (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels and three short story collections; further works were published after his death. Born and raised in Indianapolis, Vonnegut enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943. Deployed to Europe to fight in World War II, he was captured by the Germans and interned in Dresden, where he survived the Allied bombing of the city in a slaughterhouse. Vonnegut published his first novel, Player Piano, in 1952. Two of his novels, The Sirens of Titan (1959) and Cat's Cradle (1963), were nominated for the Hugo Award. Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), a best-seller that resonated with its readers for its anti-war sentiment amidst the ongoing Vietnam War, thrust Vonnegut into fame as an important contemporary writer and a dark humor commentator on American society. Numerous scholarly works have examined Vonnegut's writing and humor. This photograph by Bernard Gotfryd shows Vonnegut in 1965.Photograph credit: Bernard Gotfryd; restored by Adam Cuerden

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Gough Whitlam (left) and Malcolm Fraser (right)

The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis culminated on 11 November when Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) as prime minister and appointed Malcolm Fraser, the opposition leader, as caretaker. The Whitlam government had been rocked by scandals and political miscalculations. In October, the Opposition blocked bills in the Senate financing the government, and urged Kerr to dismiss Whitlam unless he agreed to call an election for the House of Representatives. On 11 November, Whitlam intended to call a half-Senate election instead, but when he met with Kerr to seek his approval, Kerr dismissed him as prime minister. Before the ALP parliamentarians knew what had happened, Fraser and his allies secured passage of the appropriation bills and Kerr dissolved Parliament. Fraser and his government were returned with a large majority in the following month's election. Kerr resigned early as governor-general and lived much of his remaining life abroad. (Full article...)

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Death of Isabella II

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