Historical Events on November 15

1492 Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to tobacco

1532 Pope Clement VII tells England's King Henry VIII to end relationship with Anna Boleyn

1533 Francisco Pizarro arrives at Cuzco

1620 Myles Standish leads 16 men in a foot exploration of the northern portion of Cape Cod

1720 Pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and John Rackham are captured by Capt. Jonathan Barnet and brought to Spanish Town, Jamaica, for trial

1811 José Miguel Carrera takes control of the Chilean government in a coup d’état becoming the country's first President

1832 Felix Mendelssohn's "Symphony No. 5 (Reformation)" premieres

1835 Charles Darwin reaches Tahiti on board HMS Beagle, the location where he would formulate his ideas later written in The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs

1864 Union Major General Sherman leaves Atlanta on his "March to the Sea"

1898 David Beatty is promoted to commander

1899 Morning Post reporter Winston Churchill captured by Boers in Natal

1901 James J. Jeffries TKOs Gus Ruhlin in 6 for heavyweight boxing title in San Francisco

1904 King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade

1914 Italian socialist Benito Mussolini founds newspaper Il Populo d'Italia

1916 Canadian pilot William George Barker flying over Ancre River, spots concentration of German troops massing for counter-attack on Beaumont Hamel, sends emergency Zone Call to break up German infantry apart. Barker later receives Military Cross

1922 British General Election: Conservative party wins a majority under Andrew Bonar Law

1939 FDR lays cornerstone of Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

1941 Yugoslav government in exile names Draza Mihailovic premier

1945 Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral becomes the first Latin American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

1946 Ted Williams is picked as AL MVP

1947 Bradman scores his 100th 100, 172 v Indians at the SCG

1948 Louis St. Laurent is sworn in as the 12th Prime Minister of Canada

1948 Mackenzie King retires after 22 years as Prime Minister of Canada

1949 Dmitri Shostakovich' oratorio "Song of the Forests" premieres in Leningrad

1956 "Love Me Tender" (The Reno Brothers) film with Elvis Presley in his debut premieres in the US

1959 Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith murder four members of the Clutter Family at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas (subject of Truman Capote book In Cold Blood)

1960 Elgin Baylor of NBA LA Lakers scores 71 points vs NY Knicks

1961 Roger Maris is voted AL MVP

1962 Don Drysdale wins Cy Young Award

1964 Mickey Wright shoots a 62, lowest golf score for a woman pro at the Tall City Open, Midland, Texas

1967 Boston's Carl Yastrzemski wins AL MVP

1968 1st date in controversial Jim Bouton baseball diary "Ball Four"

1969 Janis Joplin, accused of vulgar & indicent language in Tampa, Florida

1970 Paul Brown, as head coach of the expansion Cincinnati Bengals, defeats his former team the Cleveland Browns, a moment he calls his "greatest victory"

1971 Intel advertises 4004-processor

1974 Ringo Starr releases singles "Goodnight Vienna" and "Only You" in the UK

1977 US President Jimmy Carter welcomes Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

1978 Harold Pinter's play "Betrayal" premieres in London

1979 A package from the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing

1980 30th NASCAR Sprint Cup: Dale Earnhardt wins

1980 Pope John Paul II began 5 day visit to West Germany

1982 Funeral service held in Moscow's Red Square for Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev

1983 75th hat trick in Islander history-Mike Bossy

1986 2nd time "Saturday Night Live" uses a time delay (Sam Kinison hosts)

1986 Beastie Boys release their debut album "Licensed to Ill" - 1st No. 1 rap album on Billboard charts

1987 Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet retires from Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide with break trouble but wins his 3rd Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 12 points from Nigel Mansell

1989 Test Cricket debut of Waqar Younis & Sachin Tendulkar at Karachi

1990 US President George H. W. Bush signs Clear Air Act of 1990

1993 Joe Buttafuoco sentenced to 6 months for statutory rape of Amy Fisher

1994 German Bundestag officially elects Helmut Kohl as Chancellor by a single vote (341-340)

2002 Hu Jintao becomes the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

2004 Maria Sharapova becomes the first Russian to win the tennis season-ending WTA Tour Championship; beats American Serena Williams 4–6, 6–2, 6–4 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles

2005 39th Country Music Association Award: Keith Urban & Gretchen Wilson win

2005 Carrie Underwood releases her debut album “Some Hearts” (2006 Billboard Album of the Year, Grammy Award Best New Artist 2007)