Today in History

On This Day In History, November 1st

1993 Maastricht Treaty comes into force

The Maastricht Treaty that created a common currency, the Euro, for European Union countries, came into force

1955 United Airlines Flight 629 blows up over Colorado

A bomb hidden in checked luggage of United Airlines Flight 629 exploded over Longmont, Colorado killing all 44 people on board.

1952 First large hydrogen bomb tested by the U.S.
The bomb codenamed Mike, was part of Operation Ivy and was tested in the Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands.

1911 First bomb dropped from an aircraft
Prior to this, bombs were dropped using unmanned balloons. The first bomb launched from an aircraft was used by the Italians in the Italo-Turkish War.

1894 Nicholas II became Tsar of Russia
The last Tsar of Russia took over the reign of the empire after his father, Alexander III died. Nicholas was forced to abdicate in 1917 and was executed a year later along with his family.
 


Births On This Day, November 1st 🎂


1972 Jenny McCarthy
American model, actress, author

1967 Tina Arena
Australian singer-songwriter, producer, actress

1935 Edward Said
Palestinian/American theoretician

1871 Stephen Crane
American journalist, author, poet

1864 Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine

Deaths On This Day, November 1st 🪦

2015 Fred Thompson
American politician, actor

2012 Agustín García Calvo
Spanish philosopher, poet

1999 Walter Payton
American football player

1972 Ezra Pound
American poet

1678 William Coddington
American politician, 1st Governor of Rhode Island
 
1683
English Crown colony NY is subdivided into 12 counties
1894
vaccine for diptheria is announced in Paris by physician/immunologist, Emile Roux
1924
Boston Bruins officially join NHL,the 1st U. S. based team in the league
1938
horse, Seabiscuit with jockey, George Woolf aboard defeats 1937 Triple Crown winner, War Admiral by 3 lengths at Pimlico race track,won $15,000. Its considered one of the greatest match race match in horse history
1959
Montreal goaltender, Jacques Plante becomes the 1st to wear a fiberglass protective face mask
1982
Honda becomes the 1st Asian car company to produce cars in U.S. in Marysville, Ohio. Honda Accord is 1st car produced there
2012
Google's Gmail becomes world's most popular email service
 

On This Day In History, November 2nd

1982 Ronald Reagan signed a bill to create Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

The day, observed every year on the third Monday of January, commemorates the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. a leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement.

1964 Coup in Saudi Arabia
Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud takes over the government of Saudi Arabia while his half-brother, King Saud is overseas for medical reasons.

1938 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation established
Officially known as CBC/Radio-Canada, the network is Canada's public radio and television broadcaster.

1930 Haile Selassie I becomes the emperor of Ethiopia

Considered a leading figure in the Rastafari movement, Selassie reigned over Ethiopia for 44 years.

1917 Balfour Declaration

Originally sent as a letter on this day to Baron Rothschild from British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, it declared British support for a Jewish state in Palestine. The letter was eventually added to the Sevres peace treaty.
 
Births On This Day, November 2nd 🎂

1965 Shahrukh Khan
Indian actor

1934 Ken Rosewall
Australian tennis player

1865 Warren G. Harding
American politician, 29th President of the United States

1755 Marie Antoinette
Austrian wife of Louis XVI of France

971 Mahmud of Ghazni

Deaths On This Day, November 2nd 🪦

2007 The Fabulous Moolah
American wrestler

2004 Theo van Gogh
Dutch director

1966 Peter Debye
Dutch/American physicist, chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

1963 Ngo Dinh Diem
South Vietnamese politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam

1950 George Bernard Shaw
Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate
 
2nd November

1899 Boer War: The start of the Siege of Ladysmith in Natal when Boers encircled British troops and civilians inside the town. The siege lasted for 118 days.

1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour submitted a declaration of intent to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

1924 Almost 11 years after its appearance in America, the first crossword puzzle was published in a British newspaper, sold to the Sunday Express by C.W. Shepherd.

1953 The foundation of the Samaritans, (the world's first crisis hotline organisation), by the Anglican priest Chad Varah, who was born in Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire.

1960 Penguin publishers were cleared of obscenity for printing the D.H. Lawrence novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. After a six-day trial, British publishing house Penguin Books was found 'not guilty' under the Obscene Publications Act for its printing of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The landmark ruling had a significant impact on the publishing world, paving the way for greater freedom of the written word.

1981 Citizens Band radio (CB radio) was legally allowed in Britain.
 
On This Day In History, November 3rd

1978 Dominica gains independence

The Caribbean Island nation gained its independence from the British after being colonized in 1805.

1973 NASA launches Mariner 10
The last of the Mariner Program, Mariner 10 was the first spacecraft to fly by two planets - Venus and Mercury. The probe flew by Venus on February 5, 1974, and did 3 flybys of Mercury on March 29, 1974, September 21, 1974, and on March 16, 1975, after which communications with the probe were terminated.

1954 Godzilla released

The Japanese science fiction starring a mutated monster of the same name became an instant hit.

1868 John Willis Menard elected to the U.S. House of Representatives

He became the first African-American to be elected to the House.

1838 The Times of India founded
The world's largest English-language daily was launched as a bi-weekly as the Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce in Bombay, India.
 
Births On This Day, November 3rd 🎂

1957 Dolph Lundgren
Swedish actor

1949 Anna Wintour
English/American journalist, editor

1933 Amartya Sen
Indian economist, Nobel Prize laureate

1918 Bob Feller
American baseball player

1815 John Mitchel
Irish journalist, activist

Deaths On This Day, November 3rd 🪦

1996 Jean-Bédel Bokassa
Central African politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic

1957 Wilhelm Reich
Austrian/American psychotherapist

1954 Henri Matisse
French painter

1926 Annie Oakley
American target shooter

361 Constantius II
Roman Emperor
 
3rd November

1534 England's Parliament met and passed an Act of Supremacy which made King Henry VIII head of the English church, a role formerly held by the Pope. Many refused to accept the decision and between May 1535 and August 1540 eighteen Carthusian monks were executed for refusing to acknowledge the king as the head of the Church of England. Nine were starved to death in Newgate Prison, seven were hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn and two were executed in York.

1728 The explorer James Cook was baptised in the parish church of St. Cuthbert at Marton, near Middlesborough. Cook was also a Captain in the British Navy and a cartographer. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.

1957 Russians launch dog into space. The Soviet Union launched the first ever living creature into the cosmos. The dog, described as a female Russian breed, was projected into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard the artificial space satellite Sputnik II.

1964 Lyndon Baines Johnson was elected president of the United States defeating hard-line Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona by an overwhelming majority.

1975 Queen Elizabeth II opened the North Sea pipeline - the first to be built underwater - bringing ashore 400,000 barrels a day to Grangemouth Refinery on the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

1985 Two French agents in New Zealand pleaded guilty to sinking the Greenpeace ship, Rainbow Warrior and to the manslaughter of a photographer on board.

2004 George W Bush won a second term as president of the United States, beating his Democratic rival, John Kerry, by a comfortable margin.
 
On This Day In History, November 4th

2008 Barack Obama was elected

The first African-American to be elected President of the United States, Obama is the 44th person to occupy the Oval Office. He succeeded President George W. Bush and he has been elected to the office twice.

1995 Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
He was the Prime Minister of Israel when he was killed in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, an Israel who opposed the role that Rabin played in the Oslo Peace Accords. The Accords were a collection of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that set up the process of Palestinian self-determination and created the Palestinian Authority.

1979 Iran Hostage Crisis
The 444-day crisis began when a group of students took over the American Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostages. The crisis led to a breakdown in American and Iranian diplomatic relations.

1952 US National Security Agency formed

The NSA as it is popularly known is an intelligence organization that is responsible for monitoring and collecting signal intelligence around the world. The agency was preceded by the Armed Forces Security Agency.

1925 First woman governor of a state in the US
Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first and only female governor of the state of Wyoming in the United States. In addition to being the first woman to be ever elected as a state governor in the US, she was also the first female director of the United States Mint.
 
Births On This Day, November 4th 🎂

1960 Kathy Griffin
American comedian, actress

1957 Tony Abbott
Australian politician

1951 Traian Băsescu
Romanian politician, 4th President of Romania

1933 Charles K. Kao
Chinese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1916 Walter Cronkite
American journalist

Deaths On This Day, November 4th 🪦

2015 René Girard
French historian, critic, philosopher

2008 Michael Crichton
American author, screenwriter, director, producer

1995 Yitzhak Rabin
Israeli politician, 5th Prime Minister of Israel, Nobel Prize laureate

1924 Gabriel Fauré
French pianist, composer, educator

1847 Felix Mendelssohn
German pianist, composer, conductor
 
On This Day In History, November 5th

2009 13 killed at Fort Hood, Texas

Major Malik Hasan opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center in Fort Hood, Texas, and killed 13 people, injuring 30.

2007 China's first lunar satellite enters lunar orbit

The Chang'e 1, an unmanned lunar-orbiting spacecraft sent the first pictures of the Moon on November 26.

2003 Green Valley Killer pleads guilty

Gary Ridgeway, a serial killer also known as the Green Valley Killer plead guilty to killing 48 women in the 1980s and 1990s.

1995 Assassination attempt on Canadian Prime Minister

André Dallaire tried to assassinate Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

1943 Vatican City bombed

Vatican City was bombed by a fascist Italian aircraft breaching the neutrality of the Vatican during the Second World War
 
Births On This Day, November 5th 🎂

1960 Tilda Swinton
English actress

1959 Bryan Adams
Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

1948 Bob Barr
American politician

1941 Art Garfunkel
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor

1931 Ike Turner
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer

Deaths On This Day, November 5th 🪦

2010 Antonio Cárdenas Guillén
Mexican drug lord, co-leader

1982 E. H. Carr
English historian, theorist

1979 Al Capp
American cartoonist

1956 Art Tatum
American pianist

1879 James Clerk Maxwell
Scottish physicist
 
5th November

1605 In the early hours of 5th November, Guy Fawkes was found in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with a fuse, small lamp, box of matches and barrels of gunpowder. The Gunpowder Plot is one of the most daring plots in history. It was an attempt by radical Catholics to assassinate King James I and to destroy parliament in one devastating explosion. Fawkes was not alone in the plot but was the only one who was an explosives expert from his military days and was therefore chosen to set the fuse in the cellars. The plan very nearly succeeded, it was only thanks to an anonymous letter to the authorities, received in late October, that the King, his family and Protestant ministers were not all murdered.

Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the King and the Parliament
Three score barrels of powder below
Poor old England to overthrow
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match
Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring
Holler boys, holler boys
God save the King!
🎆🎇


1854 Nineteen Victoria Crosses were won in the defeat of the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman.

1950 Korean War: British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade successfully halted the advancing Chinese 117th Division during the Battle of Pakchon in North Korea.

1991 The body of the millionaire newspaper publisher, Robert Maxwell, was found in the sea off the coast of Tenerife.
 
On This Day In History, November 6th

1999 Australians reject a referendum to become a republic with a president as its head

The referendum was held to amend the Australian constitution, which would make the country a republic with a president as its head. If the referendum had passed the British monarchy would no longer have been a constitutional monarchy.

1985 Palace of Justice is Seized in Colombia

25 guerrillas from the 19th of April Movement or the M-19 took over the Palace of Justice which houses the Colombian Supreme Court. They took 300 people hostage. The ensuing fight between the rebels and the government's forces left more than 100 people, including 11 Supreme Court justices dead.

1962 United Nations passes resolution to condemn Apartheid in South Africa
The UN General Assembly asked its member states to stand up against apartheid and to cut off relations with South Africa in order to make a point. Apartheid was an official policy of racial discrimination and segregation followed in South Africa. Despite the UN Resolution, it remained governmental policy until 1994, when democratic general elections were held in the country.

1947 Meet the Press makes its TV debut
The longest-running TV news show was first hosted by journalist and creator Martha Rountree and aired on NBC.

1861 Jefferson Davis was elected as president of the Confederate States of America
The senator from Mississippi was the provisional president of the Confederacy since February 1861. Despite being an effective president, his popularity waned as the Confederate government experienced losses during the Civil War. He was captured by Northern Soldiers in 1865 and imprisoned for 2 years.
 
Births On This Day, November 6th 🎂

1988 Emma Stone
American actress

1987 Ana Ivanovic
Serbian tennis player

1970 Ethan Hawke
American actor, director, screenwriter

1949 Joseph C. Wilson
American diplomat

1814 Adolphe Sax
Belgian musician invented the saxophone

Deaths On This Day, November 6th 🪦

2004 Fred Dibnah
English steeplejack

1991 Gene Tierney
American actress

1960 Erich Raeder
German Admiral

1893 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Russian composer

1836 Charles X of France
 
On This Day In History, November 7th

1987 Coup in Tunisia

In a bloodless coup in Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali took over the Presidentship of Tunisia from President Habib Bourguiba.

1947 Coup in Thailand

The military staged a coup against Thawan Thamrong Nawasawat and installed Khuang Aphaiwong as Prime Minister.

1917 October Revolution
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, took over the Winter Palace ended the rule of the post-Tsarist provisional government, and transferred all powers to the communists in Russia

1916 First woman to be elected to US Congress
Jeannette Rankin from Montana became the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

1869 First inter-city cycle race
The first city-to-city cycle race was held between Paris and Rouen. James Moore, an Englishman living in Paris at that time won the race.
 
Births On This Day, November 7th 🎂

1952 David Petraeus
American military officer, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

1943 Joni Mitchell
Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist

1913 Albert Camus
French author, journalist, philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate

1888 C. V. Raman
Indian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1867 Marie Curie
Polish chemist, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

Deaths On This Day, November 7th 🪦


2011 Joe Frazier
American boxer

1980 Steve McQueen
American actor

1962 Eleanor Roosevelt
American politician, humanitarian, 34th First Lady of the United States

1913 Alfred Russel Wallace
Welsh/English geographer, biologist, explorer

644 Umar
Islamic caliph
 
7th November 1963
The Beatles made their first and only appearance in Ireland when they played two gigs in Dublin, at the Adelphi Cinema on Middle Abbey Street.
At the end of the show the band had to escape the crowd by hiding in an Evening Herald Newspaper delivery van.
Although thousands of fans turned out to see them, the local press was anything but kind in their reviews, with one columnist writing about his discomfort at having to wait among an audience of teenagers until "at last, four hairy youngsters appeared onstage to be greeted with shrieks and whistles.
Three of them walloped electric guitars which appeared to be amplified to the decibel limit, the fourth walloped a set of drums.
They all opened their mouths and made noises that sounded to me like: 'Mew; Me-ooh, me-ooh, me-ooh-ooh!'"
 
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On This Day In History, November 8th

1972 Home Box Office launched

The premium TV channel, informally known as HBO, is the oldest paid TV channel in the United States. The first program to screen on the channel was Sometimes a Great Notion, a movie starring Paul Newman and Henry Fonda.

1971 Coup in Thailand
Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn staged a coup against his own government and dismissed the parliament citing increasing communist influence.

1939 Assassination attempt on Hitler

Johann Georg Elser, a German woodworker, attempted to kill Adolf Hilter and other high-ranking members of the Nazi party during the 16th-anniversary observances of the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup attempt by Hitler in 1923. The time bomb Elser used in a beer hall called Bürgerbräukeller in Munich went off but failed to kill Hitler. Elser was caught and imprisoned in Dachau for 5 years.

1923 Beer Hall Putsch

On this day, Adolf Hitler and other members of the Nazi party attempted to overthrow the current government by marching to Berlin. They started the march at the Bürgerbräu Keller in Munich. The coup attempt was eventually unsuccessful and Hitler was captured and imprisoned for 2 years.

1895 First person to observe X-rays

German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen accidentally discovered X-rays, also sometimes called Röntgen rays while working on cathode rays. X-rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation that is often used today in medicine. Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his discovery.
 
Births On This Day, November 8th 🎂

1986 Aaron Swartz
American computer programmer, activist

1966 Gordon Ramsay
Scottish chef, television host

1961 Micky Adams
English footballer, manager

1927 Nguyen Khanh
Vietnamese general, politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam

1900 Margaret Mitchell
American author

Deaths On This Day, November 8th 🪦

1986 Vyacheslav Molotov
Soviet politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Soviet Union

1965 Dorothy Kilgallen
American journalist

1953 Ivan Bunin
Russian author, poet, Nobel Prize laureate

1887 Doc Holliday
American gambler, dentist

1674 John Milton
English poet
 

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