21st November
1843 Thomas Hancock patented vulcanized rubber. In 1825 he had produced the first toy balloons in Britain, consisting of a bottle of rubber solution and a condensing syringe.
1916 HMHS Britannic, the largest Olympic-class ocean liner of the White Star Line and sister ship of RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic was sunk, with the loss of 30 lives. There were a total of 1,066 people on board, with 1,036 survivors taken from the water and lifeboats, about two hours after the ship sank at 9:07 am. She was the largest ship lost during the First World War.
1918 At the end of World War I, the German Fleet was surrendered to Britain at its northern naval base at Scapa Flow.
1953 The British Natural History Museum announced that the 'Piltdown Man' skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized skulls ever found, was a hoax.