- 625 Boniface V ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1131 Crowning of Louis VII the Young, King of France
- 1147 King Afonso I of Portugal occupiers Lisbon
- 1147 Seljuk Turks defeat German crusaders under Conrad III at the Battle of Dorylaeum
- 1241 Goffredo Castiglioni elected as Pope Coelestinus IV (-Nov 10 1241)
- 1315 Adam Banastre, Henry de Lea and William Bradshaw, led an attack on Liverpool Castle
- 1415 Battle of Agincourt: Henry V's forces defeat larger French army and the longbow defeats the armoured knight
- 1415 John IV van Bourgondy becomes Duke of Brabant and Limburg
Dutch Discover Australia
1616 Dutch East India Company ship "The Eendracht" discovers Dirk-Hartog Island, Australia
More >>
- 1621 Governor Bradford head of the colony of American Plymouth disallows sport on Christmas Day
- 1666 Brandenburg, Brunswick, Denmark and The Netherlands form anti-French Quadruple Alliance
- 1671 Giovanni Cassini discovers Iapetus, satellite of Saturn
- 1747 British fleet under Admiral Sir Edward Hawke defeats the French at the second battle of Cape Finisterre
- 1760 George III becomes King of Great Britain
Event of Interest
1780 John Hancock becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts
John Hancock
- 1812 US frigate United States captures British vessel Macedonian
- 1828 St Katharine Docks opens in London, England
- 1854 The infamous Charge of Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War; over 100 killed
- 1854 Prince Menshikov of Crimea occupies British base at Balaclava
- 1859 Merchant vessel Royal Charter runs aground at Liverpool, 459 die
- 1861 First Battle of Springfield [Zagonyi's Charge], fought in Springfield, Missouri, Union victory (US Civil War)
- 1861 Telegraph message sent from St Louis to San Francisco
- 1861 Toronto Stock Exchange created
- 1864 Battle of Marais Des Cygnes River, Kansas (Mine Creek)
- 1870 Pimlico Race Course opens in Baltimore
- 1870 Postcards first used in USA
Event of Interest
1875 The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts with Hans von Bülow as soloist
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- 1884 1st World Series OK by AA, Providence (NL) sweeps NY Mets (AA) in 3
- 1885 John Brahms' 4th Symphony in E premieres
- 1891 1st International 6 day bike race (NY Madison Square Garden) ends
- 1893 Battle of Shangani, Matabeleland: Dr Jameson beats Ndebeles
- 1900 Great Britain annexes the former Boer South African Republic, renaming it the Transvaal Colony
- 1901 Joseph Chamberlain, British Colonial Affairs Secretary, makes an anti-German speech in Edinburgh; when word reaches Germany leads to widespread agitation against the British and breakdown of negotiations for Anglo-German alliance
Event of Interest
1902 Maxim Gorky's "The Lower Depths" premieres in Moscow
Maxim Gorky
Event of Interest
1906 Georges Clémenceau succeeds Ferdinand Sarien as Prime Minister of France
Georges Clémenceau
- 1906 US inventor Lee de Forest patents "Audion", a 3-diode amplification valve which proved a pioneering development in radio & broadcasting
- 1907 Frederik of Oaths disbands mental home colony Walden
- 1911 London's last horse drawn omnibus made its way from London Bridge Station to Moorgate
- 1915 James L Curtis named US Minister for Liberia
- 1917 Pan-Russian Congress opens in Petrograd
- 1918 Canadian steamship "Princess Sophia" hits a reef off Alaska, 398 die
- 1923 Senate committee publishes 1st report on Teapot Dome scandal
- 1925 Lester Patrick takes over NY Rangers
- 1925 Rightist German ministers disavows Treaty of Locarno
- 1926 Lester Patrick becomes 1st coach & gm of NY Rangers
Event of Interest
1929 Former Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall convicted of accepting $100,000 bribe in the Teapot scandal - 1st US Cabinet member to go to jail
Albert B. Fall
Event of Interest
1932 Benito Mussolini promises to remain dictator for 30 years
Benito Mussolini
- 1935 Hurricane-produced floods kill 2,000 in Jeremie & Jacmel Haiti
- 1937 Belgian government of Zealand falls due to black money
- 1937 Casey Stengel signs to manage Boston Bees
- 1938 Japanese troops occupies Hankou & Wuhan
- 1938 The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces Swing music as "a degenerated musical system... turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people", warning that it leads down a "primrose path to hell".
- 1939 William Saroyan's "Time of Your Life" premieres in NYC
- 1940 Benjamin O Davis Sr. becomes 1st African American general in US Army
- 1940 Duke, Latouche & Felter's musical premieres in NYC
- 1941 16,000 Jews massacred in Odessa Ukraine
- 1941 Germany attacks Moscow
Event of Interest
1941 Winston Churchill routes "Forces South" to SE Asia
Winston Churchill
Erwin Rommel
Event of Interest
1945 Japanese surrender Taiwan to General Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Donald Bradman
- 1947 Sam Breadon sells Cards to Robert Hannegan & Fred Saigh for $4M
- 1948 Special Council of Annulment convicts F Weinreb for collaboration
- 1950 Dutch NSB leader C van Gelderen sentenced to life
- 1950 Jean Anouilh's "La Repetition, ou L'Amour Pani" premieres in Paris
- 1951 Peace talks aimed at ending Korean War resumed in Panmunjom
- 1952 First Dutch edition of children's magazine "Donald Duck"
- 1952 French president inaugurates Donzère-Mondragonstuw Dam
- 1952 Nazar Mohammad scores Pakistan's 1st Test century 124* v India
NFL Record
1953 Cleveland Browns' QB Otto Graham sets club record with 4 fumbles
Otto Graham
- 1953 Coal mine in Seraing Belgium explodes, 26 die
Event of Interest
1953 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 10th Symphony
Dmitri Shostakovich
- 1953 KIEM TV channel 3 in Eureka, CA (NBC/CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1955 Austria resumed its sovereignty after departure of last Allied occupation forces, for 1st time since German occupation of 1938
- 1955 Branch Rickey steps down as GM of the Pirates
- 1955 Tappan sells 1st microwave oven
- 1956 White Sox manager Marty Marion resigns. AL Lopez replaces him
- 1957 Russian minister of Defense Zjoekov deposed
Murder of Interest
1957 Cosa Nostra crime boss Albert Anastasia is murdered in a barber's chair in New York City, probably by fellow mobster Joe Gallo
Albert Anastasia
Joe Gallo
Nobel Prize
1962 American author John Steinbeck awarded Nobel Prize for Literature
John Steinbeck
Event of Interest
1962 US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson demands USSR UN rep Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over"
Adlai Stevenson II
- 1963 Anti-Kennedy "WANTED FOR TREASON" pamphlets scattered in Dallas
- 1963 Beatles begin their 1st full foreign tour in Sweden
- 1964 Dutchman Anton Geesink is 1st non-Japanese Olympic judo gold medal winner
- 1964 Ruth Jessen wins LPGA Phoenix Thunderbirds Ladies' Golf Open
- 1964 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1964 "The Wrong Way Run", Viking Jim Marshall runs 66 yards in wrong direction for a safety (NFL's #1 blooper)
- 1964 Rolling Stones appear on Ed Sullivan for the 1st time
- 1964 15th Formula One WDC: John Surtees wins by one point
- 1965 Rolling Stones release "Get Off of My Cloud"
- 1966 6 youths sentenced in "Johnson murderer!" in Amsterdam
Event of Interest
1966 Jimi Hendrix Experience play their first UK gig as a private showcase at The Scotch of St. James in London
Jimi Hendrix
- 1968 US men's basketball team beats Yugoslavia 65-50 to win the gold medal at the Mexico City Olympics; 7th straight basketball title for the Americans
- 1968 Czech gymnast Věra Čáslavská wins the uneven bars and vault gold medals at the Mexico City Olympics; her 6th & 7th career gold medals and her 4th at these Games
- 1968 American swimmer Claudia Kolb wraps up the women's individual medley double in Mexico City, winning the 400m I/M in Olympic record 5:08.5; she also won the 200m I/M in OR 2:24.7
- 1968 East German swimmer Roland Matthes wins the 200m backstroke gold medal in Olympic record 2:09.6 at the Mexico City Games; wraps up backstroke double
- 1970 Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Women's Golf Charities Open
- 1970 21st Formula One WDC: Jochen Rindt wins by five points (the only season in which the World Championship title has been awarded posthumously)
- 1971 Belgium & People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations
- 1971 General Meeting of UN agrees to admit People's Republic of China
- 1971 United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People's Republic of China
- 1971 A man dies two days after being shot during an Irish Republican Army attack on the British Army in Belfast
- 1972 Eddy Merckx (Belgium) covers 30 miles, 1,258 yards in 1 hr
- 1972 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Kenneth J Arrow & John R Hicks
- 1973 Chris Wills wins 1st National hang-gliding championship
- 1973 Cubs trade Ferguson Jenkins to Rangers for Bill Madlock & Vic Harris
- 1973 SF Giants trade Willie McCovey to San Diego Padres for pitcher Mike Caldwell
- 1974 US Air Force fires 1st ICBM
- 1974 Dmitri Shostakovitch' 15th String Quartet premieres in Leningrad
- 1974 Wings release "Junior's Farm"
- 1975 Denver Nuggets 1st game at McNichols Sports Arena beat St Louis Spirits
- 1975 USSR's Venera 10 makes day-side Venus landing
- 1976 5th Enterprise, approach & lands test (ALT) flight
- 1976 Governor Wallace grants full pardon to Clarence Norris, last known survivor of 9 Scottsboro Boys who were convicted in 1931 rape
- 1977 Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.
- 1978 Israeli government approves "in principle", a draft compromise peace
- 1978 Padres Gaylord Perry is 1st to win Cy Young in both leagues (NL)
Film Release
1978 "Halloween", directed by John Carpenter, starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut, is released
Jamie Lee Curtis
John Carpenter
- 1979 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Boxing Title Fight
1980 Mike Weaver KOs Gerrie Coetzee in 13 for heavyweight boxing title
Mike Weaver
#1 in the Charts
1980 Barbra Streisand's "Guilty" album goes #1 for 3 weeks & her single "Woman In Love," goes #1 for 3 weeks
Barbra Streisand
Event of Interest
1981 George Steinbrenner scuffles with 2 fans in a hotel elevator
George Steinbrenner
- 1982 David Hookes scores Cricket century in 34 balls 43 mins, SA v Victoria
- 1983 US invades Grenada, a country 1/2,000 its population (US Wins!)
- 1984 "Give My Regards to Broad Street" premieres (Gotham Theater-NYC)
- 1984 King Boudouin opens Museum for Modern Art in Brussels
- 1984 Rangers beat Devils 11-2
- 1984 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1984 West German Chancellor Rainer Barzel resigns due to corruption
- 1985 Angels announce that they will not offer Rod Carew a new contract
- 1985 Kosmos 1700 communications satellite placed in geostationary orbit
- 1986 International Red Cross ousted from South Africa
- 1986 Michael Sergio Parachutes into Shea Stadium during game 6 of WS
- 1986 Trailing 5-3 with 2 out & no one on in bottom of 10th, NY rallies to win Game 6 of the World Series, 6-5, Bill Buckner misplays a ball
- 1987 Minnesota Twins win their 1st World Series championship beating St Louis Cards, 4 games to 3 in 84th World Series
- 1988 ABC News reports on potbellied pygmy pigs' popularity as pets
- 1988 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1990 "Les Miserables" opens again at Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia
Boxing Title Fight
1990 Evander Holyfield KOs Buster Douglas in 3 for heavyweight boxing title
Evander Holyfield
- 1990 NY Daily News goes on strike (lasts through March, 1991)
- 1990 "40-Hour Week" 9th studio album by Alabama is re-released (original release 1985)
- 1991 Aaqib Javed takes 7-37 in 10 overs v India in cricket 1-dayer at Sharjah
- 1992 "Dancing at Lughnasa" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 421 performances
- 1992 "Jake's Women" closes at Neil Simon Theater NYC after 245 performances
- 1992 Rene Lachemann hired as Fla Marlins 1st manager
- 1992 Lithuania holds a referendum on its first post-Soviet constitution.
- 1993 Airbus A310 of Air Nigeria hijacked, 1 dead
- 1993 Canada Liberal Party and Bloc Québécois wins parliamentary election
- 1993 Daryll Cullinan hits 337* for Transvaal, South African 1st-class cricket record
- 1994 Susan Smith claims her 2 kids were carjacked (she actually killed them)
- 1995 "Victor/Victoria" opens at Marquis Theater NYC for 738 performances
Knighthood
1995 Singer Cliff Richard receives his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, - 1st rock star to be knighted
Cliff Richard
Elizabeth II
- 1996 Frank, brother of Yank manager Joe Torre, receives a heart transplant
- 1997 After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou-Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.
- 2000 A team led by Brigitte Senut and Martin Pickford discover Orrorin tugenensis, one of the earliest species on the human family tree that lived about 6 million years ago, in the Tugen Hills, Kenya
- 2001 Windows XP first becomes available
- 2003 MLB World Series: Florida Marlins defeat New York Yankees to win 4-2
Event of Interest
2004 Fidel Castro, Cuba's President, announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned by November 8
Fidel Castro
- 2007 The first Airbus A380 passenger flight, operating for Singapore Airlines, with flight number SQ 380, flying scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney, Australia.
- 2009 The 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.
- 2009 MLB American League Championship: New York Yankees beat Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, 4 games to 2
Album Release
2010 "Speak Now" 3rd studio album by Taylor Swift is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2011)
Taylor Swift
- 2012 Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Cuba and Haiti killing 65 people and causing over $80 million in damage
- 2012 The double dip recession in the UK economy ends with growth of 1.0% in GDP in the third quarter of 2012, with help from the London Olympic Games
- 2013 74 Boko Harem members killed in a coordinated assault in Borno State, Nigeria
- 2016 Paul Beatty becomes the 1st American to win the Man Booker Prize for his novel "The Sellout"
- 2016 4 killed on a theme park ride at Dreamworld, in Queensland, Australia
Event of Interest
2017 Chinese Premier Xi Jinping unveils his new ruling council in the Great Hall of the People, none of the five are young enough to succeed him
Xi Jinping
- 2017 First fossil of a ichthyosaur (marine reptile, 152 million years old) found in India. Reports published in "Plos One" science journal.