Meeting of Interest
1519 1st meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico
- 1520 Stockholm Bloodbath begins: A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces results in the execution of around 100 people.
- 1575 French Roman Catholics & Huguenots signs treaty
- 1576 Eighty Years' War: Pacification of Ghent - 17 Dutch provinces sign anti-Spanish covenant
- 1598 Spanish troops under Bernardino de Mendoza conquer Doetinchem
- 1602 The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened
- 1620 Battle of White Mountain, Prague - 1st major victory of the Catholic Habsburgs over the Protestant Alliance in The Thirty Years' War
Historic Event
1627 English fleet under George Villiers leaves Île de Ré
- 1658 Battle of the Sound: Swedish fleet prevails over the Dutch fleet during the 2nd Northern War
Historic Event
1701 William Penn presents Charter of Privileges, guaranteed religious freedom for the colony in Pennsylvania
Historic Event
1731 In Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin opens 1st library in the north American colonies, the Library Company of Philadelphia
Historic Event
1798 Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone is sentenced to death by hanging for his part in the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Tone requests to be shot instead so as to die a soldier's death.
Historic Event
1833 Train derails at Hightstown, New Jersey, killing two people. Also onboard are Cornelius Vanderbilt and former President John Quincy Adams.
- 1837 Mount Holyoke Seminary in Massachusetts founded - 1st US college founded for women
Historic Event
1838 Victor Hugo's "Ruy Blas" premieres in Paris
Historic Event
1861 USS San Jacinto commanded by Charles Wilkes captures two Confederate diplomats from the British mail steamer Trent, almost causing a war between the US and the UK
Election of Interest
1864 Abraham Lincoln (R) elected to his 2nd term as American President
Film & TV History
1880 French actress Sarah Bernhardt makes her US debut at NY's Booth Theater
Election of Interest
1892 Grover Cleveland (D) elected 24th US President
Historic Event
1895 German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen produces and detects electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range today known as X-rays or Röntgen rays
- 1900 Theodore Dreiser's novel "Sister Carrie" is published
Historic Event
1900 David Beatty takes part in the successful relief of the naval brigade and is promoted to captain
- 1901 Bloody clashes take place in Athens following the translation of the Gospels into demotic Greek.
Election of Interest
1904 American President Theodore Roosevelt (R) defeats Alton B. Parker (D)
- 1904 Inventor and manufacturer Harvey Hubbell receives the first U.S. patent for a separable electric attachment plug
- 1907 In a landmark decision for Australia, the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration rules that the Sunshine Harvester Work must pay 'fair and reasonable wages'
- 1910 1st Washington State election in which women could vote
- 1910 For the first time since 1894, the US elects a Democratic Congress, including the first socialist ever to sit in Congress, Victor L Berger of Milwaukee
- 1910 William H. Frost receives the first U.S. patent for an electrical insect destroyer
- 1915 An Austrian-Hungarian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Italian liner 'Ancona' without warning, killing over 200 people
- 1917 Telephone Co runs 1st advertisement for Army operators, receives 7,000 applicants
- 1918 Pro-German supreme commander general Cutters lay-offs
Sports History
1920 Baseball meeting to depose Ban Johnson is set for Nov 12th
- 1920 Rupert Bear by illustrator Mary Tourtel first appears in the Daily Express newspaper in the UK
Coup d'état
1923 Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party stage "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich, Germany
Talking Revolution that Silenced Hollywood Stars
1926 George Gershwin's musical "Oh, Kay" premieres in NYC
Election of Interest
1932 Amidst the Great Depression, Democrat candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover
Mutiny On The Bounty
1935 "Mutiny on the Bounty" directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Charles Laughton and Clark Gable premieres in New York (Best Production/Picture 1936)
- 1937 The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") opens in Munich.
- 1938 1st African American woman legislator, Crystal Bird Fauset of Philadelphia
- 1939 Failed assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler in Burgerbraukeller, Munich
- 1939 H Lindsay & R Crouse's play "Life with Father" premieres in NYC
- 1940 RAF bombs Munich, Adolf Hitler promises "an attack on the capital of the Nazi movement would not go unpunished"
- 1941 The Albanian Communist Party is founded
- 1942 1st WW II American expeditionary force lands in Africa (Gold Coast)
- 1942 Adolf Hitler proclaims fall of Stalingrad from Munich beer hall
Historic Event
1942 Operation Torch; began as US and British forces under Eisenhower land in French North Africa
- 1942 Vichy-France drops diplomatic relations with US
- 1943 France arrests government of Lebanon after they abolish the French mandate
- 1944 25,000 Hungarian Jews are loaned to Nazis for forced labor
- 1944 Last German troops at Walcheren Island, Netherlands surrender
- 1945 Muscial "The Girl from Nantucket" opens at Adelphi Theater, NYC; runs for 12 performances
- 1945 Riverboat sinks off Hong Kong; kills 1,550
Historic Event
1946 Jean-Paul Sartre's "La Putain Respecteuse" premieres in Paris
Film Premiere
1949 "All The King's Men" based on Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer winning novel, directed by Robert Rossen and starring Broderick Crawford premieres in New York (Best Picture 1950)
Sports History
1951 New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra wins 1st of his 3 MVP awards
Film Release
1956 Biblical drama film "The Ten Commandments", directed by Cecil B. DeMille, starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner opens in the US
Historic Event
1956 NYT critic Brooks Atkinson writes of Eugene O'Neill's latest play 'With the production of 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' at the Helen Hayes last evening, the American theater acquires size and stature." [1]
- 1957 Great Britain performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
- 1958 Gian Carlo Menotti's musical drama "Maria Golovin" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 5 performances
- 1959 KJTV (now KGET) TV channel 17 in Bakersfield, CA (NBC) 1st broadcast
- 1959 Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba's Nes Destour party wins every seat
Election of Interest
1960 John F. Kennedy is elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate Richard Nixon who was the incumbent Vice President
- 1961 Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8, a Lockheed Constellation aircraft, crashes near Richmond, Virginia, 77 die
Sports History
1961 Whitey Ford is voted Cy Young Award winner over Warren Spahn
- 1962 Canada's government orders the nickel changed back to round shape
- 1964 IMF grants Great Britain credit of $1 billion
- 1964 KUPK TV channel 13 in Garden City, KS (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1965 "Days of Our Lives" premieres on TV
- 1965 British Indian Ocean Territory formed
- 1965 Vietnam War: US, Australian and New Zealand forces launch Operation Hump, a search-and-destroy operation near Bien Hoa in South Vietnam
Election of Interest
1966 Edward W. Brooke (Rep-R-Mass) becomes 1st African American popularly elected to the US Senate
Sports History
1966 Frank Robinson, Baltimore Orioles outfielder, selected as AL MVP,first player to win MVP in both leagues
Election of Interest
1966 Movie actor Ronald Reagan elected Governor of California
Sports History
1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson signs anti-trust immunity to AFL-NFL merger
- 1967 Radio Leicester begins broadcasting on VHF, the 1st of 8 local British radio stations (now 40)
- 1967 Silver hits record $1.951 an ounce in London
- 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 Londonderry Corporation agreed to a Nationalist request to introduce a points system in the allocation of public sector housing in Northern Ireland
- 1970 Tom Dempsey of New Orleans Saints kicks NFL record 63 yard field goal
- 1970 5th Rugby League World Cup: Australia beats Great Britain 12-7
- 1973 Nevada approves pari-mutuel betting on Jai Alai
The Great Lord Lucan Mystery
1974 British peer the Earl of Lucan disappears and is never seen again after his nanny is found murdered in London
Album Release
1974 "Greatest Hits" 11th studio album by Elton John is released
Theater Premiere
1978 Tom Stoppard's play "Night & Day" premieres in London
Film & TV History
1979 Bernard Slade's stage comedy "Romantic Comedy", starring Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins, opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, NYC; runs for 396 performances
- 1979 ABC broadcasts "Iran Crisis: American Held Hostage" with Frank Reynolds (forerunner to "Nightline")
- 1979 The Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action) is formed.
- 1980 Voyager 1 space probe discovers 15th moon of Saturn
- 1981 Christian Democrats looses Belgium parliamentary election
- 1983 Martha Layne Collins (D) elected 1st female governor of Kentucky
- 1983 STS-9 vehicle again moves to launch pad
- 1983 Wilson Goode (D) elected 1st black mayor of Philadelphia
- 1984 1st-class cricket debut of Wasim Akram, 2 months before his 1st Test for Pakistan
- 1984 NASA astronaut Anna Lee Fisher becomes 1st "mom" to go into orbit aboard STS 51-A
- 1984 14th NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Discovery (STS 51-A) launches
- 1985 Atlantis moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 61-B mission
- 1986 "Song & Dance" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 474 performances
Sports History
1987 Cricket World Cup, Eden Gardens, Kolkata, India: David Boon scores 75 as Australia beats England by 7 runs for their first title;
- 1987 11 are killed in an IRA bomb attack in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
- 1988 900 die as earthquake hits China
- 1988 Arco Arena in Sacramento, California, opens, Sac Kings lose to Seattle, 97-75
- 1988 Vice President George H. W. Bush is elected President of the United States, defeating Democrat candidate Michael Dukakis
- 1988 Rafael Fernandez Colón re-elected Governor of Puerto Rico
- 1989 Cubs Jerome Walton wins the NL Rookie of Year
- 1989 Douglas Wilder wins election for Governor of Virginia, 1st African-American elected to the office in any state
- 1989 Hong Kong's MTR Lam Tin Station comes into service
- 1989 "Byker Grove" begins broadcasting on the BBC
- 1990 "6 Degrees of Separation" opens at Vivian Beaumont NYC for 496 performances
- 1990 100,000 additional US troops are sent to Persian gulf
Contract of Interest
1990 Darryl Strawberry signs 5-year contract with LA Dodgers
Music Single
1990 Musician Chris Isaak releases single "Wicked Game"
Sports History
1991 Paul Coffey sets NHL defenseman scoring mark with 311th goal
Sports History
1992 Nigel Mansell in a Williams crashes during the season ending Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide but wins his first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship by 52 points; Mansell won record 9 GPs during the season
- 1994 Cleveland Cavaliers 1st game at Gund Arena, lose to Hous Rockets, 100-98
- 1994 Haitian government of Smarck Michel forms
- 1994 Republican Party nominee Tom Ridge wins Pennsylvania Gubernatorial election with 45% of the vote
- 1997 Tampa Bay Devil Rays name their 1st manager Larry Rothschild
- 1997 Breeders' Cup Horse Racing, Hollywood Park; winners: Countess Diana, Elmhurst, Ajina, Spinning World, Favorite Trick, Chief Bearhart, Skip Away
Film Premiere
1999 "The World is Not Enough" 19th James Bond film starring Pierce Brosnan, Robert Carlyle and Denise Richards premieres in Los Angeles
Album Release
1999 Tenor Andrea Bocelli releases his "Sacred Arias" album, the world's best-selling classical album by a single artist
Historic Event
2002 Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council under Resolution 1441 unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences"
- 2004 War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
Album Release
2004 "Greatest Hits" album by Shania Twain is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2005)
Election of Interest
2005 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia, the first woman to lead an African country
Election of Interest
2008 John Key leads the National Party to victory in New Zealand's general election, defeating nine year Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Labour-led coalition government
- 2009 Federation Cup Women's Tennis, Reggio Calabria, Italy: Flavia Pennetta beats American Melanie Oudin 7-5, 6-2 to give the home team an unassailable 3-0 lead (ends 4-0) and their 2nd title
- 2011 The potentially hazardous asteroid 2005 YU55 passed 0.85 lunar distances from Earth (about 324,600 kilometres or 201,700 miles), the closest known approach by an asteroid of its brightness since 2010 XC15 in 1976.
- 2013 11 people are killed in a car park bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia
- 2013 At least 6,000 people are killed after Typhoon Haiyan, tied with Typhoon Meranti as being the strongest storm ever recorded at landfall, hits the Philippines
- 2013 27th Soul Train Music Awards: Miguel, Tamar Braxton win
- 2014 Protests across New Zealand against the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations
Historic Event
2014 Mikhail Gorbachev warns that tensions between America and Russia over Ukraine have put the world on the brink of a new Cold War
Election of Interest
2016 Republican Donald Trump is elected President of the United States of America, defeating democrat Hillary Clinton, who received 2.9 million more votes
Historic Event
2016 Indian PM Narendra Modi announces the demonetization of all ₹500 and ₹1,000 banknotes during an unscheduled live televised address, canceling 86% of the notes in circulation in a battle against corruption
- 2017 UK Minister Priti Patel resigns after secret meetings revealed with Israeli officials
- 2017 Louvre Abu Dhabi is inaugurated, largest art museum on Arabian peninsula
- 2017 In unprecedented move, Indian officials close all Delhi schools for rest of the week due to smog
- 2017 Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa breaks the world record for surfing the biggest-ever wave at 24.4m at Nazaré, Portugal
- 2018 Mass grave of 200 people discovered on border of Somali and Oromia regions, Ethiopia, in investigation into atrocities by former regional president Abdi Mohammed
- 2018 Virtual newsreader unveiled by China's state news agency Xinhua News, able to work 24 hours a day
- 2018 Authorities report more than 150 people have been killed in week-long assault by government forces on port of Hudaydah in Yemen
- 2018 Azerbaijan woman who spent £16m in Harrods granted bail in UK after being arrested for suspested embezzlement under new laws
- 2018 CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's White House clearance revoked after continuing to question President Donald Trump while an intern tried to wrestle the microphone off him
- 2018 Deadliest fire in Californian history, the Camp Fire starts at Plumas National Forest spreads in Butte County destroying town of Paradise, more than 13,000 buildings and killing at least 88
- 2018 Woolsey Fire starts near Thousand Oaks, California with Malibu and Calabasas evacuated, kills three
- 2018 Qatar delivers $15 million in cash to pay civil servants in Gaza after earlier sending fuel to increase electricity from 4 to 8 hours a day
- 2020 Global recorded cases of COVID-19 pass 50 million, with the known death toll at 1,245,240 (Johns Hopkins data)
- 2020 More than 50 people beheaded in latest attack by Islamist militants in Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique [1]
Historic Event
2020 First test of a high-speed levitating pod system to carry people and cargo, by Richard Branson's Virgin Hyperloop in Las Vegas, Nevada
- 2021 US reopens its borders to vaccinated non US citizens after more than 18 months, lifting restrictions imposed because of COVID-19