November 18
is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in
leap years) in the
Gregorian Calendar with 43 days remaining.
*
326 - The old
St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.
*
1095 - The
Council of Clermont, called by
Pope Urban II to discuss sending the
First Crusade to the
Holy Land, begins.
*
1302 -
Pope Boniface VIII issues the
Papal bull Unam sanctam ("The One Holy").
*
1307 - According to legend,
William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head.
*
1421 - A seawall at the
Zuider Zee dike breaks, flooding 72 villages and killing about 10,000 people in the
Netherlands.
*
1477 -
William Caxton produces
Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, the first book printed on a printing press in
England.
*
1493 -
Christopher Columbus first sights what is now
Puerto Rico.
*
1626 -
St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated.
*
1686 -
Charles Francois Felix operates on King
Louis XIV's
anal fistula after practicing the surgery on several peasants.
*
1803 - the
Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the
Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the
Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.
*
1865 -
Mark Twain's story
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is published in the
New York Saturday Press.
*
1883 - American and Canadian
railroads institute five standard continental
time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
*
1903 - The
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the
United States and
Panama, giving the Americans exclusive rights over the
Panama Canal Zone.
*
1904 - General
Esteban Huertas steps down after the government of Panama fears he wants to stage a
coup.
*
1905 - Prince Carl of
Denmark becomes King
Haakon VII of Norway.
*
1909 - Two United States
warships are sent to
Nicaragua after 500
revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of
José Santos Zelaya.
*
1916 -
World War I:
First Battle of the Somme ends - In
France,
British Expeditionary Force commander
Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on
July 1, 1916.
*
1918 -
Latvia declares its independence from
Russia.
*
1926 -
George Bernard Shaw refuses to accept the money for his
Nobel Prize, saying, "I can forgive
Alfred Nobel for inventing
dynamite, but only a fiend in human form could have invented the Nobel Prize."
*
1928 - Release of the animated short
Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound
cartoon, directed by
Walt Disney and
Ub Iwerks, featuring the second appearances of cartoon stars
Mickey and
Minnie Mouse.
*
1929 -
Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of
Newfoundland in the
Atlantic Ocean, a
Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine
earthquake, centered on
Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine
transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a
tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the
Burin Peninsula area.
*
1938 -
Trade union members elect
John L. Lewis as the first president of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations.
*
1940 -
World War II: German leader
Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister
Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss
Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of
Greece.
*
1943 - World War II: 440
Royal Air Force planes bomb
Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF lost nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
*
1959 -
William Wyler's film
Ben-Hur premieres at Loew's Theater in
New York City.
*
1970 - U.S. President
Richard Nixon asks the
U.S. Congress for US$155 million in supplemental aid for the
Cambodian government.
* 1970 - Singer
Jerry Lee Lewis divorces his third wife,
Myra Gail, after 12 years.
*
1978 -
Jonestown mass suicide: In Jonestown,
Guyana,
Jim Jones leads his
Peoples Temple in a mass
murder-suicide; 913 die, including 276 children.
* 1978 -
The Blues Brothers appear for the first time on
Saturday Night Live.
*
1982 -
Duk Koo Kim dies unexpectedly from injuries sustained during a 14-round match against
Ray Mancini in
Las Vegas, prompting reforms in the sport of
boxing.
*
1985 -
Calvin and Hobbes, a
comic strip by
Bill Watterson, is first published.
* 1985 -
Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theisman breaks his leg, ending his career.
*
1987 -
Iran-Contra scandal: The
U.S. Congress issues its final report on the
Iran-
Contra affair.
* 1987 -
King's Cross fire: In
London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest
underground station at
King's Cross St Pancras.
*
1988 -
War on Drugs: US President Ronald Reagan signs a bill into law providing the
death penalty for murderous
drug traffickers.
*
1991 -
Shiite Muslim kidnappers in
Lebanon set
Anglican Church envoys
Terry Waite and
Thomas Sutherland free.
* 1991 - After the
3-month siege, the
Croatian city of
Vukovar is invaded by
Serbians
*
1993 - In
South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new
constitution.
*
1996 - A fire occurs in the
Channel Tunnel soon after it opens.
*
1997 -
Gary Glitter is arrested in the
United Kingdom on
child pornography charges.
*
1999 - In
College Station, Texas, 12 are killed and 27 injured at
Texas A&M University when a huge
bonfire under construction collapses.
* 1999 - In
Jasper, Texas, 24-year old
Shawn Allen Berry is sentenced to life in prison, becoming the third person convicted in the
racially-motivated death of
James Byrd, Jr..
*
2001 - The
Nintendo GameCube was released
*
2002 -
Iraq disarmament crisis:
United Nations weapons inspectors led by
Hans Blix arrive in
Iraq.
*
2003 - In the UK the
Local Government Act 2003, repealing controversial anti-gay amendment
Section 28, becomes effective.
* 2003 - The congress of the
Communist Party of Indian Union (Marxist-Leninist) decides to merge the party into
Kanu Sanyal's
CPI(ML).
*
2004 - Russia officially ratifies the
Kyoto Protocol.
*
2005 -
Robert Blake was found liable for the
wrongful death of his wife in a civil trial. The jury has ordered him to pay $30 million.
*
1522 -
Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Flemish general and statesman (d.
1568)
*
1647 -
Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (d.
1706)
*
1772 -
Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, German prince (d.
1806)
*
1785 -
David Wilkie, British artist (d.
1841)
*
1786 -
Carl Maria von Weber, German composer (d.
1826)
*
1787 -
Louis-Jacques Daguerre, French inventor and photographer (d.
1851)
*
1804 -
Alfonso Ferrero la Marmora, Italian general and statesman (d.
1878)
*
1832 -
Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Swedish explorer (d.
1901)
*
1836 -
Sir William S. Gilbert, British dramatist (d.
1911)
* 1836 -
Cesare Lombroso, Italian psychiatrist and founder of criminology (d.
1909)
*
1839 -
August Kundt, German physicist (d.
1894)
*
1856 -
Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Grand Duke of
Russia (d.
1929)
*
1861 -
Dorothea Dix, American activist (d.
1887)
*
1870 -
Dorothy Dix, pseudonym of US journalist Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer (d.
1951)
*
1874 -
Clarence Day, American author (d.
1935)
*
1882 -
Jacques Maritain, French philosopher (d.
1973)
*
1883 -
Carl Vinson, U.S. Congressman (d.
1981)
*
1897 -
Patrick Blackett, British physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1974)
*
1898 -
Joris Ivens, Dutch filmmaker (d.
1989)
*
1899 -
Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-born conductor (d.
1985)
*
1901 -
George Gallup, American statistician and opinion pollster (d.
1984)
*
1906 -
Klaus Mann, German writer (d.
1949)
* 1906 -
George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d.
1997)
*
1907 -
Compay Segundo, Cuban musician (
Buena Vista Social Club) (d.
2003)
*
1908 -
Imogene Coca, American actress and comedienne (d.
2001)
*
1909 -
Johnny Mercer, American lyricist (d.
1976)
*
1915 -
Ken Burkhart, Baseball player (d.
2004)
*
1916 -
Amelita Galli-Curci, Italian soprano (d.
1963)
*
1919 -
Jocelyn Brando, American actress (d.
2005)
*
1922 -
Luis Somoza Debayle, Nicaraguan president (d.
1967)
*
1923 -
Alan Shepard, American astronaut (d.
1998)
*
1925 -
Gene Mauch, baseball manager (d.
2005)
*
1927 -
Hank Ballard, American musician (d.
2003)
*
1935 -
Rudolf Bahro, German dissident (d.
1997)
*
1939 -
Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer
* 1939 -
Brenda Vaccaro, American actress
*
1940 -
Qaboos ibn Sa'id,
Sultan of Oman*
1941 -
David Hemmings, British actor (d.
2003)
*
1942 -
Linda Evans, American actress
*
1944 -
Susan Sullivan, American actress
* 1944 -
Wolfgang Joop, German artist, fashion designer and art collector
*
1946 -
Alan Dean Foster, American author
*
1947 -
Jameson Parker, American actor
*
1948 -
Andrea Marcovicci, American singer and actress
* 1948 -
Jack Tatum, American football player
*
1950 -
Eric Pierpoint, American actor
*
1951 -
Justin Raimondo, American author
*
1952 -
Delroy Lindo, British actor
*
1953 -
Alan Moore, British comic book writer and novelist
*
1954 -
John Parr, British pop singer
*
1956 -
Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (d.
1995)
* 1956 -
Warren Moon, American football player
*
1957 -
Seán Mac Falls, Irish-born poet
*
1958 -
Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
*
1959 -
Jimmy Quinn, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
*
1960 -
Kim Wilde, British singer
*
1962 -
Kirk Hammett, American guitarist (
Metallica)
* 1962 -
Jamie Moyer, baseball player
*
1963 -
Dante Bichette, baseball player
* 1963 -
Peter Schmeichel, Danish footballer
* 1963 -
Len Bias, American basketball player (d.
1986)
*
1965 -
Michael Sanie, Composer/pianist
*
1966 -
Jorge Camacho, Spanish poet
*
1968 -
Barry Hunter, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
* 1968 -
Gary Sheffield, baseball player
* 1968 -
Owen Wilson, American actor
*
1969 -
Sam Cassell, American basketball player
*
1970 -
Peta Wilson, Australian actress
*
1973 -
Nic Pothas, South African/English Wicket-keeper
*
1974 -
Chloë Sevigny, American actress
*
1975 -
David Ortiz, Dominican
Major League Baseball player
*
1976 -
Martin Bertram, author of
Vanity of Vanities*
1977 -
Trent Barrett, Australian rugby league player
* 1977 -
Fabolous, American rapper
*
1978 -
Damien Johnson, Northern Irish footballer
*
1983 -
Jon Johansen, Norwegian software developer
*
1984 -
Jonathan "Johnny Christ" Seward, American musician (
Avenged Sevenfold)
*
1985 -
Rex Goudie, Canadian singer
*
1154 -
Adélaide de Maurienne, wife of
Louis VI of France (b.
1092)
*
1305 -
John II, Duke of Brittany (b.
1239)
*
1559 -
Cuthbert Tunstall, English churchman (b.
1474)
*
1590 -
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, English statesman (b.
1528)
*
1724 -
Bartolomeu de Gusmão, Portuguese naturalist (b.
1685)
*
1785 -
Louis Philip I, Duke of Orléans, French soldier and writer (b.
1725)
*
1797 -
Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat, French shipbuilder and merchant (b.
1719)
*
1814 -
William Jessop, British civil engineer (b.
1745)
*
1886 -
Chester A. Arthur, 21st
President of the United States (b.
1829)
*
1889 -
William Allingham, Irish author
*
1922 -
Marcel Proust, French novelist (b.
1871)
*
1941 -
Walther Nernst, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1864)
* 1941 -
Chris Watson, third
Prime Minister of Australia (b.
1867)
*
1952 -
Paul Eluard, French poet (b.
1895)
*
1962 -
Niels Bohr, Danish physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1885)
*
1965 -
Henry A. Wallace,
Vice President of the United States (b.
1888)
*
1967 -
Luis Somoza Debayle, Nicaraguan president (b.
1922)
*
1969 -
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (b.
1888)
*
1976 -
Man Ray, American artist (b.
1890)
*
1978 -
Jim Jones, American cult leader
suicide (b.
1931)
* 1978 -
Leo Ryan, U.S. Congressman (b.
1905)
*
1979 -
Freddie Fitzsimmons, baseball player (b.
1901)
*
1980 -
Conn Smythe,
NHL coach 1927-1931 (b.
1895)
*
1982 -
Duk Koo Kim, Korean boxer (b.
1959)
*
1984 -
Mary Hamman, American writer and editor, modern living editor
LIFE and eidtor in chief
Bride & Home (b.
1907)
*
1986 -
Gia Carangi, American model
AIDS (b.
1960)
*
1987 -
Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist
cancer (b.
1934)
*
1991 -
Gustáv Husák,
President of Czechoslovakia (b.
1913)
*
1994 -
Cab Calloway, American bandleader (b.
1907)
*
1999 -
Paul Bowles, American novelist (b.
1910)
*
2002 -
James Coburn, American actor (b.
1928)
*
2003 -
Michael Kamen, American composer (b.
1948)
*
Roman festivals - day
1 Dios dedicated to the sun god by emperor
Licinius*
R.C. Saints - Dedication of the
Basilicas of
Saints Peter and
Paul ;
Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne ; also
St Mawes,
St Odo of Cluny,
St Romanus of Antioch* Also see
November 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)*
Latvia -
Independence Day (
1918)
*
Oman -
National Holiday*
Venezuela - Feast of the Virgen de Chiquinquirá, also known as la Chinita, in the western state of
Zulia*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This DayNovember 17 -
November 19 -
October 18 -
December 18 --
listing of all days
