Today in History

"On November 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia passed a resolution stating that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces with the fleet. This resolution established the Continental Marines and marked the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.

"Serving on land and at sea, these first Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations, including their first amphibious raid into the Bahamas in March 1776, under the command of Captain (later Major) Samuel Nicholas. The first commissioned officer in the Continental Marines, Nicholas remained the senior Marine officer throughout the American Revolution and is considered to be the first Marine Commandant. The Treaty of Paris in April 1783 brought an end to the Revolutionary War and as the last of the Navy's ships were sold, the Continental Navy and Marines went out of existence."

Proud to say I am a Marine, prouder still to say so is my son. Yes, present tense -- Once a Marine, always a Marine. Semper Fi!
 

On This Day In History, November 11th

1999 – House of Lords Act 1999 passed
The act removed the right to a place in the House of Lords based on peerage and hereditary rights.

1975 – Angola independence
Angola gained its independence after over 300 years of Portuguese rule.

1965 – Rhodesia declares its independence
Rhodesia, a region that is comprised of present day Zimbabwe declared its freedom from the United Kingdom under the leadership of predominantly white leaders. It lasted for 14 years when it was renamed the Republic of Zimbabwe after being recognized by the UN and the UK.

1926 – Approval of numbered highways in the US
Under this system odd numbered highways run north to south while even numbered highways run east to west. Lower odd numbers are in the west, and higher odd number are in the east. Lower even numbers are in the south, and higher even numbers are in the north.

1918 – World War I ends
An armistice was signed to formally end the war. With 17 million casualties, the First World War was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history.
 

Births on 11 November 🎂

1974 – Leonardo DiCaprio
American actor, producer

1945 – Daniel Ortega
Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua

1922 – Kurt Vonnegut
American author

1885 – George S. Patton
American general

1821 – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Russian author

Deaths on 11 November 🪦

2004 – Yasser Arafat
Palestinian engineer, politician

1945 – Jerome Kern
American composer

1938 – Typhoid Mary
Irish/American carrier of Typhoid fever

1880 – Ned Kelly
Australian murderer

1855 – Søren Kierkegaard
Danish philosopher, author
 

11th November




1673 General Jan Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth successfully used military rockets designed by Kazimierz Siemienowicz in the Second Battle of Khotyn in Ukraine, helping to defeat Ottoman forces.





1620 The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship in what is now Provincetown Harbour near Cape Cod. It was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony and was written by those who had fled to America in the ship the Mayflower to escape religious persecution from King James VI of Scotland (James I of England). Note:- The Pilgrim Fathers were thwarted in their first attempt to sail to America when they left from Havenside, near Boston, Lincolnshire in September 1607.





1724 The highwayman Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, was hanged in London. He had attracted attention for attacking the nation's leading policeman and 'Thief Taker' Jonathan Wild with a pocket knife. The policeman was also a successful gang leader and became the most infamous criminal in Britain during the 18th century. The attack by Blake left Wild incapacitated for weeks, and his grip over his criminal empire started to slip during his recuperation. Like Blake, he too was later hanged for his crimes.




1946 Stevenage was officially designed as Britain’s first New Town, one of ten which were planned to relieve London’s post-war housing problems.



1953 The BBC television programme Panorama was first broadcast.




1954 Thousands of elderly people took part in a rally in London calling for an increase in their pensions.





1969: Upon arriving in Phoenix, Arizona, Jim Morrison of the Doors was arrested by the FBI for drunk and disorderly conduct aboard a plane. Morrison was fined heavily and spent the night in jail.
 
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11th November

1987 A painting by Vincent Van Gogh sold for $49m (£27m) - a world record for a work of art. The final price was more than twice what the painting, called Irises, had been expected to reach.

1992 Women fighting for the right to be Anglican priests celebrated a narrow victory. After a five-and-a-half hour debate the General Synod - the Church of England's parliament - passed the controversial legislation by a margin of only two votes.

2000 155 people died in an intense fire on board a funicular railway in the Austrian Alps. Most of those who died were weekend skiers, many of them children. The cause was traced to a faulty fan heater.

2004 The veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in hospital in Paris, France, aged 75.
 
1890
D.McCree patents portable fire escape that can be attached to businessnesses& homes for people to escape fires
1926
U.S Route 66 is established from Chicago,Ill-Santa Monica, Calif spanning 2,448 miles.85% of the road is still driveable
1957
Sun Records releases single' Great Balls of Fire' by Jerry Lee Lewis,sold a million copies in 1st 10 days. It has sold over 5 million copies world wide,has become one of the best selling singles of all time
1994
Bill Gates buys Leonardo da Vinci's Codex' for $30.8 mil,was the most expensive manuscript ever sold at the time
2015
a flawless 12 carat Blue Moon Diamond sells for $48.4 mil at an auction in Geneva
 
November 12th1660 English author John Bunyan was arrested for preaching without a licence. He refused to give up preaching and remained in jail for 12 years.





1847 The first public demonstration of the use of chloroform as an anaesthetic was given by James Simpson, at Edinburgh University.











1936The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened to traffic, connecting the two major cities across San Francisco Bay. This engineering marvel reduced travel time and transformed the region’s transportation networks.The bridge’s opening sparked economic development throughout the Bay Area. Its construction demonstrated American engineering capabilities during the Great Depression era.




1966 Pink Floyd appear at the Corn Exchange, Bedford. The set list includes 'Let's Roll Another One', 'Gimme A Break', 'Interstellar Overdrive', 'Astronomy Domine' and 'Stoned Alone'. 'Stoned Alone' was also known as 'I Get Stoned', and is considered by many rock historians to be the first song that Syd Barrett wrote for the group
 
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November 13th
1002 English king Aethelred II ordered the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre.

1093 Malcolm III of Scotland, son of King Duncan, died at Alnwick, Northumberland, during his fifth attempt to invade England.

1887 'Bloody Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.




1901 The Caister (Norfolk) Lifeboat Disaster. Lifeboat Beauchamp and its crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. The following morning, eight bodies were recovered at the scene with another, that of Charles Bonney George being washed away, only to be recovered months later in April of the following year. The victims are all buried in Caister Cemetery where this monument raised by public donation was erected to them in 1903. The total number of lives which the lifeboats at Caister have saved during the past forty-three years is 1281, a 'record' as regards the lifeboat stations of the United Kingdom. Closed in 1969, the Caister Lifeboat station re-opened as an independently run lifeboat station, and continues to save lives today.

13 Nov 1970
Syd Barrett released his second solo album Barrett only 10 months after his debut The Madcap Laughs. David Gilmour produced the whole album, which also featured performances by Pink Floyd 's Richard Wright on keyboards. The album has since been reissued in remastered form with extra tracks from the sessions.


13 Nov 1968
Rolling Stone Brian Jones bought 'Cotchford Farm' in Sussex. The author AA Milne who wrote Winnie The Pooh had owned the house.
 
November 13th
1002 English king Aethelred II ordered the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice's Day massacre.

1093 Malcolm III of Scotland, son of King Duncan, died at Alnwick, Northumberland, during his fifth attempt to invade England.

1887 'Bloody Sunday' in London when violence erupted in Trafalgar Square at a Socialist rally attended by Irish agitators.




1901 The Caister (Norfolk) Lifeboat Disaster. Lifeboat Beauchamp and its crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. The following morning, eight bodies were recovered at the scene with another, that of Charles Bonney George being washed away, only to be recovered months later in April of the following year. The victims are all buried in Caister Cemetery where this monument raised by public donation was erected to them in 1903. The total number of lives which the lifeboats at Caister have saved during the past forty-three years is 1281, a 'record' as regards the lifeboat stations of the United Kingdom. Closed in 1969, the Caister Lifeboat station re-opened as an independently run lifeboat station, and continues to save lives today.

13 Nov 1970
Syd Barrett released his second solo album Barrett only 10 months after his debut The Madcap Laughs. David Gilmour produced the whole album, which also featured performances by Pink Floyd 's Richard Wright on keyboards. The album has since been reissued in remastered form with extra tracks from the sessions.


13 Nov 1968
Rolling Stone Brian Jones bought 'Cotchford Farm' in Sussex. The author AA Milne who wrote Winnie The Pooh had owned the house.
 
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1946
scientist, Vincent Schaefer produces 1st artificial snow by dropping dry ice pellets into a supercooled cloudy over Mt. Greylock, Mass
1977
final Al Capp comic strip 'Li'l Abner which debuted in 1934
1982
Vietnam War Memorial opens in Washington, DC featuring names of 58,000 soldiers who were killed or missing in Vietnam War
1995
movie Golden Eye' the 17th James Bond movie with debut of Pierce Brosnan as 'Bond' he would appear in 3 other movies 'Tomorrow Never Dies' 97'World Is not Enough'99, Die Another Day' 02
2002
rapper/ songwriter, Eminem wins Best Original Song Oscar for song' Lose Yourself' from movie' 8Mile.Its the 1st rap song to win in this category
2024
world's largest coral larger than a blue whale,300yrs old is found off the Solomon Islands in SW Pacific Ocean
 
On This Day In History, November 14th

2010 – Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula One World Drivers' Championship
At 23 years old, the German competitive race driver became the youngest person to win the World Championship in Formula One.

1971 – First spacecraft to orbit a planet
NASA's Mariner 9 entered Mars' orbit after 167 days in space. Despite it being in Mars' orbit within 15 minutes, a dust storm on the planet made it impossible for Mariner 9 to take pictures of Mars until January.

1969 – Apollo 12 launched
The crew of NASA's second manned mission to the Moon included Commander Charles Conrad, Jr. Richard F. Gordon, Jr. and Alan L. Bean. It landed on the Moon on November 19 and was the first spacecraft to take a color TV camera to the Moon.

1889 – Nelie Bly sets out to go around the world in 80 days
The American journalist, whose real name was Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, followed the footsteps of fictional character Phileas Fogg from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days. She started her adventure in Hoboken and came back 72 days later.

1851 – Moby Dick Makes Its Debut in the United States
The epic novel by Herman Melville about Captain Ahab's quest to find and kill Moby Dick, a white whale, was released in the UK in October under the name The Whale. Considered to be one of the best fictional works written in recent history, the book did not sell many copies after its launch or during Melville's lifetime.
 

Births on 14 November 🎂

1971 – Adam Gilchrist
Australian cricketer

1948 – Charles III
King of the United Kingdom

1917 – Park Chung-hee
Korean general, politician, 3rd President of South Korea

1908 – Joseph McCarthy
American politician

1898 – Benjamin Fondane
Romanian/French poet, critic, philosopher

Deaths on 14 November 🪦

1988 – Haywood S. Hansell
American general officer

1921 – Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil
Princess Imperial of Brazil, abolished slavery in Brazil

1915 – Booker T. Washington
American author, educator

1831 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
German philosopher

565 – Justinian I
Byzantine Emperor
 
November 14th

1896 The speed limit for horseless carriages in Britain was raised from 4 mph (2 mph in towns) to 14 mph. It was marked by the first London to Brighton Car Run, which only became a regular and official event from 1927, when it was sponsored by the Daily Sketch.



1922 BBC radio was first broadcast from Alexandra Palace. The first programme was broadcast at 6 pm from 2LO London (later the BBC). A news bulletin, repeated again at 9 pm, and a weather report were the entire programme.






1971NASA’s Mariner 9 spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Mars, becoming the first artificial satellite of another planet. The probe arrived during a planet-wide dust storm that initially obscured surface features from observation.
As the dust settled, Mariner 9 revolutionized our understanding of Mars by revealing massive volcanoes, deep canyons, and evidence of ancient water flow. The mission’s discoveries fundamentally changed scientific perspectives on planetary geology and the possibility of past life on Mars.





1969 The BBC began colour television programmes.
 
1896
power plant at Niagara Falls begins operations
1934
movie' It Happened One Night' directed by Frank Capra is released, starring Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert. The story of a reporter{Gable} who falls in love with a runaway heiress{Cobert} on a bus trip, other cast members, Walter Connolly, Alan Hale, Ward Bond. It became the 1st movie to sweep the 5 major Oscar categories, pic/ director, actor/ actress/screenplay. The 2nd movie to do this was 'Silence of the Lambs' 91
1960
Ray Charles single' Georgia on My Mind' written by Hoagy Carmichael&Stuart Gorrell hits #1 on music charts stays there for 13 weeks. In 1979 it became the official state song
1993
Don Shula becomes the pro football coach with most wins in NFL history with 325. When he retired in 1995 he had 347 wins
2023
the world's 1st protected area for endangered sperm whales is set up off the coast of Caribbean island of Dominca
 
On This Day In History, November 15th

2006 – Al Jazeera English launched
The English language 24-hour news channel is owned and run by Al Jazeera Media Network based in Doha, Qatar.

1988 – State of Palestine was created
The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the creation of the state while in exile in Algiers, Algeria. The declaration designated eastern Jerusalem as the state's capital. Today, almost 70% of all UN members state recognize it as an independent country.

1956 – Elvis Presley makes his movie debut
Love Me Tender, a black-and-white musical starred the American singer, who is also sometimes called the King of Rock and Roll. The movie was named after Presley's hit single by the same name.

1949 – Assassins of MK Gandhi Executed in India
Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte and 6 other co-conspirators of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were hanged at the Ambala jail. On January 30, 1948, Godse who was unhappy about Gandhi's accommodation of India's Muslims shot Gandhi while he was out for his evening prayers.

1920 – League of Nations meets for the first time
The general assembly of the international organization got together for the first time after being founded in January 1920. The League was created as a response to World War I and was entrusted by member states to maintain peace in the world.
 
Births on 15 November 🎂

1942 – Daniel Barenboim
Argentine/Israeli conductor, pianist

1891 – Erwin Rommel
German field marshal

1887 – Georgia O'Keeffe
American painter

1886 – René Guénon
French/Egyptian author

1708 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham
English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Deaths on 15 November 🪦

1983 – John Le Mesurier
English actor

1978 – Margaret Mead
American anthropologist

1917 – Émile Durkheim
French sociologist

1908 – Empress Dowager Cixi
of China

1630 – Johannes Kepler
German astronomer
 
November 15th1899 The SS St. Paul became the first ship to receive radio messages, transmitted from the Needles wireless station off the Isle of Wight.



1899 Winston Churchill was captured by the Boers while covering the war as a reporter for the Morning Post. He escaped a few weeks later.



1922 Children's Hour was first broadcast on the radio. It established a tradition of drama and story-telling and built up a devoted audience of over three million at its peak.






1917 – Eduskunta Declares Supreme State PowerFinland’s parliament boldly declared itself the supreme governing authority, setting the stage for independence from Russian rule. This pivotal decision challenged centuries of foreign domination over Finnish territory.The declaration represented the first concrete step toward full sovereignty. Finnish lawmakers demonstrated remarkable courage by defying the Russian provisional government during this turbulent revolutionary period.






2014 Pensioner Kelvin Sibthorpe got his hopes up when he discovered he'd been the victim of pension mis-selling, which meant he could be entitled to a 'windfall'. The windfall entitled him to only an extra 18p a month in pension payments. It would consist of seven years of back payments, coming to a grand total of £10.08.
 
On This Day In History, November 16th

2001 – Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone released
The film version of the popular book by the same name, written by author J. K. Rowling, starred Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter and followed Potter's first year at Hogwarts, a school for magic.

1988 – Estonians declare sovereignty from the USSR
Estonians issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration as part of the Singing Revolution. The Declaration declared Estonian sovereignty from the Soviet Union and declared Estonian laws paramount over Soviet laws. The day is now celebrated as the Day of Declaration of Sovereignty.

1965 – Soviets launch Venera 3
Part of the Venera program, it was the first space probe to land on another planet - Venus. Unfortunately, due to technical issues, it was not able to send any data back to Earth. The first space probe to send data from another planet to Earth was Venera 7.

1945 – UNESCO was founded
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation is a special branch of the United Nations which promotes peace and well-being through education, scientific collaboration and cultural understanding and exchange. It is headquartered in Paris, France and has 195 member states.

1940 – The Warsaw ghetto sealed
The largest Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland, the Warsaw ghetto, was created in October 1940 by a German decree. According to the decree, all Jews in the city had to move to the ghetto, which was closed off by a 10-foot wall and had soldiers and police guarding it from the outside 24 hours a day. The ghetto was the scene of one of the largest Jewish uprisings during the Second World War in 1943.
 

Births on 16 November 🎂

1977 – Maggie Gyllenhaal
American actress

1952 – Shigeru Miyamoto
Japanese video game designer, created Mario, The Legend of Zelda

1930 – Chinua Achebe
Nigerian author, poet, and academic

1922 – José Saramago
Portuguese author, Nobel Prize laureate

42 – Tiberius
Roman Emperor

Deaths on 16 November

2006 – Milton Friedman
American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

1980 – Jayan

Indian actor
1960 – Clark Gable

American actor
1885 – Louis Riel

1724 – Jack Sheppard
English criminal
 
November 16th

1272 Whilst travelling during the Ninth Crusade, Prince Edward became King of England upon the death of Henry III, but he would not return to England for almost two years to assume the throne




1855 – David Livingstone Sees Victoria FallsOn November 16, 1855, Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone became the first European to witness the majestic Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, located on the border between present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe. Livingstone named the falls in honor of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.



1973 - David Bowie was the host of a special edition of the ABC show "Midnight Special". His show was called "1980 Floor Show", and featured Bowie doing a duet of "I Got You Babe" with Marianne Faithfull, who wore a nun's habit with an open back.
 
17th November 1963
John Weightman, the Headmaster of a Surrey Grammar School, banned all students from having Beatle haircuts.
In announcing his decision, he said "This ridiculous style brings out the worst in boys physically. It makes them look like morons."

1974
ABBA kick off their first European tour in Copenhagen, playing outside of Sweden for the first time.
 
November 17th in History

1292 John Balliol became King of Scotland. He was stripped of all his powers by Edward I, thus earning himself the Scottish nickname 'Toom Tabard'. Toom means empty, so it was likening Balliol to an empty suit.


1558 The Elizabethan era began when Mary I, England's first queen (also known as 'Bloody Mary'), died at St James's Palace London. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I.



1603 The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh began. Falsely accused of treason, he had been offered a large sum of money by Lord Cobham, a critic of England’s King James I, to make peace with the Spanish and put Arabella Stuart, James’s cousin, on the throne. Raleigh claimed he turned down the offer, but Lord Cobham told his accusers that Raleigh was involved in the plot.





1869 – Suez Canal OpensOn November 17, 1869, the Suez Canal officially opened.

It connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.

French Empress Eugénie attended the grand ceremony.

The canal became one of the world's most important trade routes.



1970The Festfolk Quartet, which later becomes ABBA , play their first-ever concert at a Gothenburg, Sweden restaurant.

 
On This Day In History, November 18th

1978 – Mass suicides in Jonestown
Over 900 people committed suicide at the behest of Jim Jones, the founder and head of a group called Peoples Temple. Formed in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the mid-1950s, members of the group moved to Guyana in 1974 and set up a settlement outside Georgetown, which they called Jonestown.

1963 – Push-button phones are used for the first time
Bell Systems started replacing rotary dial phones with push-button phones in the United States. Push-button phones use keys or buttons to dial a number.

1916 – End of the Somme Offensive
The battle was fought between German forces on one side and British and French forces on the other during the First World War. Thought to be one of the bloodiest battles of the 20th century, the conflict started on July 1, 1916, and was fought on the banks of the River Somme in France.

1903 – Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty signed between Panama and the US
The treaty created the Panama Canal Zone and set up the terms for the construction of the Panama Canal. Until 1979, the Panama Canal Zone was a territory of the United States. The French began construction on the Panama Canal in 1881 but had to stop due to engineering problems. The US took over the construction in 1904 and finished building the canal in 1914.

1883 – Canadian and American railroads adopt time zones
Prior to this, most cities had their own local time, making it difficult for railways to be on time and confusing passengers. To solve this problem, private railways decided to divide the continent into 4 distinct time zones - the lines of which are very close to the time zone lines today.
 

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