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Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

Events

★ 1444 - Battle of Varna: The crusading forces of King Vladislaus III of Varna (aka ''Ulaszlo I of Hungary'' and ''Wladyslaw III of Poland'') are crushed by the Turks under Sultan Murad II and Vladislaus is killed.

★ 1520 - Danish King Christian II executes dozens of people in the Stockholm Bloodbath after a successful invasion of Sweden.

★ 1619 - René Descartes has the dreams that inspire his ''Meditations on First Philosophy''.

★ 1674 - Anglo-Dutch War: As provided in the Treaty of Westminster, Netherlands cedes New Netherlands to England.

★ 1766 - The last Colonial governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, signs the charter of Queen's College (later renamed Rutgers University).

★ 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress passes a resolution creating two battalions of Continental Marines (later renamed the United States Marine Corps) to serve as landing troops for the recently created Continental Navy.

★ 1792 - The White House: Construction begins by placing of the cornerstone.

★ 1865 - Major Henry Wirz, the superintendent of a prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia, is hanged, becoming the only American Civil War soldier executed for war crimes.

★ 1871 - Henry Morton Stanley locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"

★ 1910 - The date of Thomas A. Davis' openning of the San Diego Army and Navy Academy, though the official founding date is November 23, 1910.

★ 1919 - The first national convention of the American Legion is held in Minneapolis, Minnesota (convention ended on November 12).

★ 1924 - Dion O'Banion, leader of the North Side Gang is assassinated in his flower shop by members of Johnny Torrio's gang, sparking the bloody gang war of the 1920s in Chicago.

★ 1928 - Michinomiya Hirohito is crowned the 124th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Showa.

★ 1928 - Playing against Army at Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne gives what is considered the greatest locker room speeches of all time by saying "Win one for the Gipper." The Fighting Irish would win the game 12-6.

★ 1938 - Kate Smith, on her weekly radio show, sings Irving Berlin's ''God Bless America'' for the first time.

★ 1940 - Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI; his job is to report back information on Hollywood subversives.

★ 1942 - World War II: Germany invades Vichy France following French Admiral François Darlan agreement to an armistice with the Allies in North Africa.

★ 1944 - Ammunition ship USS ''Mount Hood'' (AE-11) exploded at Seeadler Harbour, Manus, Admiralty Islands

★ 1945 - Heavy battle in Surabaya between Indonesian nationalists and returning colonialists after World War II, celebrated as Heroes' Day (Hari Pahlawan).

★ 1951 - Direct-dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins in the United States.

★ 1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.

★ 1958 - The Hope Diamond was donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston.

★ 1969 - National Educational Television (the predecessor to the Public Broadcasting Service) in the United States debuts the children's television program ''Sesame Street''.

★ 1970 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - For the first time in five years, an entire week ends with no reports of American combat fatalities in Southeast Asia.

★ 1970 - Soviet Lunar probe Lunokhod 1 launched.

★ 1971 - In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge forces attack the city Phnom Penh and its airport, killing 44, wounding at least 30 and damaging nine airplanes.

★ 1972 - Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.

★ 1975 - The 729-foot-long freighter SS ''Edmund Fitzgerald'' sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.

★ 1975 - United Nations Resolution 3379: United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism (the resolution was repealed in December 1991 with Resolution 4686).

★ 1995 - In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) are hanged by government forces.

★ 1997 - WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a $37 billion merger (the largest merger in US history at the time).

★ 2006 - Sri Lankan Tamil Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj assassinated in Colombo.

Births

★ 745 - Musa al-Kazim, Shia Imam (d. 799)

★ 1341 - Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (d. 1408)

★ 1433 - Charles, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1477)

★ 1483 - Martin Luther, German Protestant reformer (d. 1546)

★ 1565 - Laurentius Paulinus Gothus, Swedish theologian and astronomer (d. 1646)

★ 1566 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, English politician (d. 1601)

★ 1577 - Jacob Cats, Dutch poet, jurist and politician (d. 1660)

★ 1620 - Ninon de l'Enclos, french courtesan and writer (d. 1705)

★ 1668 - Louis III, Prince of Condé (d. 1710)

★ 1668 - François Couperin, French composer (d. 1733)

★ 1683 - George II of Great Britain (d. 1760)

★ 1695 - John Bevis, English physician and astronomer (d. 1771)

★ 1697 - William Hogarth, English artist (d. 1764)

★ 1710 - Adam Gottlob Moltke, Danish statesman (d. 1792)

★ 1728 - Oliver Goldsmith, English playwright (d. 1774)

★ 1735 - Granville Sharp, English campaigner for the abolition of slavery (d. 1813)

★ 1759 - Friedrich von Schiller, German writer (d. 1805)

★ 1801 - Samuel Gridley Howe, American social reformer (d. 1876)

★ 1801 - Vladimir Dal, Russian lexicographer (d. 1872)

★ 1844 - Henry Eyster Jacobs, American Lutheran theologian (d. 1932)

★ 1845 - Sir John Sparrow David Thompson, fourth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1894)

★ 1850 - Arthur Goring Thomas, English composer (d. 1892)

★ 1868 - Gichin Funakoshi, father of Japanese Shotokan Karatedo (d. 1957)

★ 1871 - Winston Churchill, American novelist (d. 1947)

★ 1878 - Cy Morgan, American baseball player (d. 1962)

★ 1879 - Vachel Lindsay, American poet (d. 1931)

★ 1880 - Jacob Epstein, American-born sculptor (d. 1959)

★ 1887 - Arnold Zweig, German author (d. 1968)

★ 1888 - Andrei Tupolev, Russian aircraft designer (d. 1972)

★ 1889 - Claude Rains, English actor (d. 1967)

★ 1893 - John P. Marquand, American writer (d. 1960)

★ 1895 - John Knudsen Northrop, American airplane manufacturer (d. 1981)

★ 1895 - Mabel Normand, American silent actress (d. 1930)

★ 1896 - Jimmie Dykes, American baseball player and manager (d. 1976)

★ 1906 - Josef Kramer, commandant of Bergen Belsen concentration camp (d. 1945)

★ 1907 - Jane Froman, American actor and singer (d. 1980)

★ 1909 - Paweł Jasienica, Polish historian (d. 1970)

★ 1912 - Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (d. 1999)

★ 1918 - Ernst Otto Fischer, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)

★ 1919 - Mikhail Timofeevich Kalashnikov, Russian inventor

★ 1919 - George Fenneman, American radio and television announcer (d. 1997)

★ 1919 - Moise Tshombe, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 1969)

★ 1920 - Rafael del Pino, Spanish entrepreneur

★ 1924 - Russell Johnson, American actor (Gilligan's Island)

★ 1925 - Richard Burton, Welsh actor (d. 1984)

★ 1928 - Ennio Morricone, Italian composer

★ 1929 - Marilyn Bergman, American composer and songwriter

★ 1932 - Roy Scheider, American actor

★ 1933 - Ronald Evans, American astronaut (d. 1990)

★ 1934 - Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (d. 1969)

★ 1935 - Igor Dmitrievich Novikov, Russian astrophysicist

★ 1935 - Bernard Babior, American biochemist

★ 1939 - Russell Means, Native American activist

★ 1939 - Allan Moffat, Canadian-Australian race car driver

★ 1940 - Screaming Lord Sutch, English musician and politician (d. 1999)

★ 1941 - Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer and actor (d. 1985)

★ 1942 - Robert F. Engle, American economist, Nobel laureate

★ 1942 - Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss Federal Councilor

★ 1943 - Saxby Chambliss, American politician

★ 1944 - Silvestre Reyes, American politician

★ 1944 - Sir Tim Rice, English lyricist

★ 1945 - Donna Fargo, American singer

★ 1947 - Greg Lake, British musician

★ 1947 - Glen Buxton, American musician (Alice Cooper) (d. 1997)

★ 1947 - Dave Loggins, American songwriter and singer

★ 1948 - Vincent Schiavelli, American actor (d. 2005)

★ 1948 - Aaron Brown, American broadcast journalist

★ 1948 - Hugh Moffatt, American songwriter

★ 1949 - Ann Reinking, American dancer

★ 1950 - Debra Hill, American screenwriter and film producer (d. 2005)

★ 1952 - Gerry DiNardo, American football coach

★ 1954 - Mario Cipollina, American bass player (Huey Lewis & the News)

★ 1955 - James Chapman, American novelist

★ 1955 - Jack Clark, American baseball player

★ 1955 - Roland Emmerich, German film producer and director

★ 1956 - Mohsen Badawi, Egyptian entrepreneur, political activist and writer

★ 1956 - Sinbad, American actor

★ 1958 - Massimo Morsello, Italian singer

★ 1958 - Brooks Williams, American musician

★ 1958 - Stephen Herek, American film director

★ 1959 - Linda Cohn, American sports reporter

★ 1959 - Mackenzie Phillips, American actress

★ 1960 - Neil Gaiman, English writer

★ 1961 - John Walton, English darts player

★ 1964 - Kenny Rogers, American baseball player

★ 1964 - Magnús Scheving, Icelandic athlete

★ 1965 - Eddie Irvine, Northern Irish racecar driver

★ 1965 - Jamie Dixon, American basketball coach

★ 1966 - Vanessa Angel, English actress

★ 1968 - Steve Brookstein, English X Factor winner

★ 1968 - Tracy Morgan, American actor/comedian

★ 1969 - Ellen Pompeo, American actress

★ 1969 - Faustino Asprilla, Colombian footballer

★ 1969 - Jens Lehmann, German footballer

★ 1970 - Warren G, American rapper

★ 1970 - Freddy Loix, Belgian rally driver

★ 1972 - Shawn Green, American baseball player

★ 1973 - Patrik Berger, Czech footballer

★ 1974 - Jonathan Kramm, American composer, musician and journalist

★ 1975 - Jim Adkins, American musician

★ 1976 - Steffen Iversen, Norwegian footballer

★ 1976 - Shefki Kuqi, Finnish footballer

★ 1977 - Brittany Murphy, American actress

★ 1977 - Matt Cepicky, American baseball player

★ 1978 - Eve, American rapper

★ 1978 - Kyla Cole, Slovak adult actress

★ 1980 - Troy Bell, American basketball player

★ 1980 - Red Cordell, American television personality

★ 1981 - Tony Blanco, American baseball player

★ 1981 - Jason L. Dunham, American Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2004)

★ 1981 - Alison Waite, American model and Playboy Playmate

★ 1982 - Heather Matarazzo, American actress

★ 1983 - Miranda Lambert, American singer

★ 1983 - Craig Smith, American basketball player

★ 1984 - Kendrick Perkins, American basketball player

★ 1985 - Giovonnie Samuels, American television actress

★ 1986 - Josh Peck, American actor

★ 1987 - Jessica Tovey, Australian actress

Deaths

★ 627 - Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury

★ 901 - Adelaide of Paris, Queen of Western Francia

★ 1444 - King Vladislaus III of Varna is killed in battle (b. 1424)

★ 1549 - Pope Paul III (b. 1468)

★ 1556 - Richard Chancellor, English explorer, dies in shipwreck off Scotland

★ 1596 - Peter Wentworth, English Puritan politician (b. 1530)

★ 1605 - Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian naturalist (b. 1522)

★ 1617 - Barnabe Rich, English soldier and writer

★ 1624 - Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, English patron of the theater (b. 1573)

★ 1644 - Luís Vélez de Guevara, Spanish writer (b. 1579)

★ 1673 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (b. 1640)

★ 1727 - Alphonse de Tonty, French explorer and American settler (b. 1659)

★ 1728 - Fyodor Apraksin, Russian admirals (b. 1661)

★ 1772 - Pedro Antonio Joaquim Correa da Serra Garção, Portuguese poet (b. 1724)

★ 1777 - Cornstalk, Shawnee chief

★ 1808 - Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, British soldier and Governor of Quebec (b. 1724)

★ 1891 - Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, (b. 1854)

★ 1909 - Renee Vivien, American poet (b. 1877)

★ 1909 - George Essex Evans, Australian poet (b. 1863)

★ 1912 - Louis Cyr, Canadian strongman (b. 1863)

★ 1917 - Harry Trott, Australian cricketer (b. 1866)

★ 1936 - Louis Gustave Binger, French officer and explorer (b. 1856)

★ 1938 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and the first President of Turkey (b. 1881)

★ 1964 - Jimmie Dodd, American actor (b. 1910)

★ 1975 - Ernest M. McSorley, American ship captain (b. 1912)

★ 1982 - Leonid Brezhnev, ruler of the Soviet Union (b. 1906)

★ 1981 - Abel Gance, French film director, producer, and actor (b. 1889)

★ 1985 - Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1959)

★ 1986 - King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (b. 1903)

★ 1990 - Aurelio Monteagudo, Cuban baseball player (b. 1943)

★ 1990 - Mário Schenberg, Brazilian physicist (b. 1914)

★ 1991 - William Afflis, American professional wrestler (b. 1929)

★ 1992 - Chuck Connors, American actor, baseball and basketball player (b. 1921)

★ 1994 - Carmen McRae, American singer (b. 1920)

★ 1995 - Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigerian writer and activist (b. 1941)

★ 1997 - Tommy Tedesco, American musician (b. 1930)

★ 1998 - Mary Millar, English actress (b. 1936)

★ 2000 - Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Prime Minister of France (b. 1915)

★ 2001 - Ken Kesey, American author (b. 1935)

★ 2002 - Michel Boisrond, French film director (b. 1921)

★ 2003 - Canaan Banana, first President of Zimbabwe (b. 1936)

★ 2003 - Irv "Kup" Kupcinet, American columnist and television personality (b. 1912)

★ 2006 - Diana Coupland, British comedy actress (b. 1932)

★ 2006 - Gerald Levert, American singer (b. 1966)

★ 2006 - Jack Palance, American actor (b. 1919)

★ 2006 - Nadarajah Raviraj, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1962)

Holidays and observances

★ Christianity - the feast day of Pope Leo I the Great and Andrew Avellino

★ Ancient Latvia - Martini

★ Turkey - Day of Remembrance of Ataturk

★ Russia - Day of Militsiya (analogue of police in Russia)

★ Argentina - Day of Tradition, honouring the death of José Hernández

★ United States Marine Corps Birthday

External links

★ BBC: On This Day

★

★ On This Day in Canada
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